DANIEL J. DONAHOE. 255 HON. DANIEL J. DONAHOE. ANIEL J. DONAHOE was born in Brimfield, DANIE Mass., February 27th, 1853. He is a wellknown member of the Connecticut bar, ranking high in his profession; he has been since 1883 a judge of the City Court of the City and Town of Middletown, and since 1886 has held the office of town-attorney. Judge Donahoe is known to his friends as a high-souled gentleman, possessed of pure thoughts and noble impulses, desiring to do good and detesting evil. Three months after his birth his family removed to Connecticut, and there they have ever since lived. His parents, like most Irish exiles, were not wealthy; it was therefore necessary for him to assist in earning his living from an early age. At twelve years of age, with the previous advantages of but little schooling, his work-a-day life began, and he might be seen trudging six miles a day in all sorts of weather to and from his work. With his fifteenth year came a desire for education. The effort to accomplish this was a severe task, calling for sacrifice, perseverance and drudgery. He worked overtime in order to obtain money to purchase books, and labored far into the night at his studies, wasting much valuable time for want of a competent guide. In 1871 he entered Wesleyan University, in Middletown, where he was elected poet of his class, but he left college at the end of his first year to take up the study of law. While engaged in his law studies, he taught school and did such other work as came convenient, so as to prevent his being a burden on his parents. In 1875 he was admitted to the bar and at once opened an office in Meriden. He was there married two years later to a Miss Burnes, of Middletown. Not meeting the success he desired in Meriden, he returned to Middletown in 1878. There he has succeeded, after many battles with adversity, in establishing a good and profitable business. In 1885 three of his lovely children were carried away, within a few days of each other, by scarlet fever, and a loved and loving wife was lost when their mother followed them in 1887. Judge Donahoe began scribbling while still a boy, the local papers receiving and publishing his first efforts. In later years his verse has appeared in papers and magazines of national reputation. In 1888 appeared his first book of verse, "Idyls of Israel, and Other Poems," which has been well received both by the press and the public. This book was followed in 1889 by "A Tent by the Lake, and Other Poems." Another volume, "Songs of the Country-side," is ready for publication. Several of his songs have been set to music by Mr. Frederic Vinal, the rising young musician of Chicago. "When Night is on the Hills," and a Christmas hymn, "The Wondrous Vision," are perhaps the most popular of these songs. In the Middletown Constitution appeared during 1889 a series of articles on "Social Studies," showing that Judge Donahoe is conscious of the tendencies of the times and able to appreciate the aspirations of the people. He is of an inquiring and growing mind, and it may be taken as an assured fact that his good work of the past will be supplemented by even better in the future. On October 7th, 1891, Judge Donahoe was united in marriage to Miss Sarah A. D'Arsey, a lady of culture and education and a fitting helpmeet for her distinguished husband. J. J. F. JUNE. UP FROM the fragrant fields, all purple and white with clover, Softly the songs of birds arise and the murmur of bees; Down from the azure skies, that never a cloud flows over, Comes the fluttering wind and plays in the dark some trees. Herds on the hill-side graze, and down in the valley lower, Where, like a ray of heaven, the river rolls silent along, Out of the distant meadow the clattering sound of the mower Rises in mingled chorus joined with the haymakers' song. All day long in the elm, on their swaying perches swinging, New-fledged orioles utter their restless, querulous notes, While thro' the blue of the sky the swallows, flitting and flinging, Send their slender twitterings down from a thousand throats. Oft from the shadowy forest, robed in its darkest splendor, Wild and weird the wood-thrush winds his golden horn; Wild and weird is the sound, and it sings of love as tender, Oh, the glory of love that lives in a bright June morn! 258 H' HELEN A. MANVILLE. ELEN ADELIA MANVILLE, born Wood, was for many years known to the literary world as Nellie A. Mann. Under the non de plume she contributed largely for leading periodicals east and west, and obtained a national reputation as a writer of acceptable verse. At the zenith of her fame she decided to renounce the pen-name and assume her own. Acting upon that resolution, she had only succeeded in making the latter name familiar, virtually winning laurels for two cognomens, when ill-health and many cares necessitated a suspension of literary work. A collection of her poems was published in 1875, under the title of "Heart Echoes," which contains but a small Mrs. Manville proportion of her voluminous verse. was born in New Berlin, Chenango county, N. Y., August 3rd, 1839. Accompanying her father, Colonel Artemus Wood, she removed to the West at an early date, where she was married and has since resided in La Crosse, Wis. She has one child, Marion. On the maternal side of the house she inherits literary talent from several members of her mother's family who won local celebrity, and is connected with the Carys from whom Alice and Phoebe were descended, and also the house of Douglas, whose distinguished representative was Stephen A. The chief characteristics of Mrs. Manville's verse are natural melody, smoothness of versification and exalted inspiration. No thought ever emanated from her mind which was not refining and uplifting in its tendency. Her spirituality is pronounced, and an abiding faith in a supreme wisdom, whose dictations proceed from infinite love, has carried many a message of comfort to sorrowing hearts, and inspired strangers to become her grateful friends. This quality of sympathy and understanding of others' trials and sorrows is peculiar to her verse and to the earnest sincere womanliness of the woman herself. J. W. O the hopes that are gone-that have drifted on O the joys gone by with that desolate cry, On the shore of the Lost wrecks ruthlessly tossed Of the dreams that I dreamed, and the star that gleamed Once out of the sweet "To be." IF. IF I COULD but subdue this wild unrest, If I could think and dream no more of thee, If I could still this voice within my breast, Forgetting, dear, the sad reality, That, severed by the cruel hand of Fate, Our lives on earth can never blend as one; If, rather than these haunting words, "Too late!" My lips could only say, "Thy will be done!" I should be happier, I know; I wish each dreary hour that it were so. If hand of mine could curb the swooping wind, From out the gallery of my soul. IN THE DUST. WE TOIL from the rise to the set of the sun, The days clasp hands with the days that are dead, Our lives, O alas! are not what they seem, We walk in a maze, for we live in a dream; We hunger and thirst for what never may be But the shackles of Fate weigh us down to the dust, The chain of our hopes is moth-eaten, and rust Is wearing its way to our hearts' very core. |