Page:Southern Life in Southern Literature.djvu/296

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278
SOUTHERN LIFE IN SOUTHERN LITERATURE

And many a heart grew sore afraid,
We still hoped on while gleamed the blade
Of noble Robert Lee.

Forth from its scabbard all in vain
Forth flashed the sword of Lee;
'T is shrouded now in its sheath again,
It sleeps the sleep of our noble slain,
Defeated, yet without a stain,
Proudly and peacefully.


HENRY TIMROD

[Henry Timrod was born in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1829. On his father's side he was of German descent, and on his mother's, of English.

HENRY TIMROD

He was educated in Charleston schools and in the University of Georgia, but was compelled to leave college before taking his degree on account of poverty. Returning to Charleston, he prepared himself for the practice of law, but finding this distasteful, he began to fit himself for a college professorship. Failing to secure the position he sought, he taught private classes for about ten years. In the meantime he was writing poetry and contributing his verse to the Southern Literary Messenger and Russell's Magazine. A volume of Timrod's verses was published in Boston in 1860, but in the excitement of those times did not attract widespread attention. At the outbreak of the war