James Russell Lowell

Last weekend my grandma was able to explain to me our exact relation to our only famous relative, James Russell Lowell.  It turns out that he is my great-grandmother's (my mom's mom's mom's) second cousin which means that my great-great-great-great grandfather and J.R. Lowell's great grandfather are the same person.  Below is my grandma's favorite poem which we tracked down and she recited as much as she could from memory as I read it aloud:

THE FIRST SNOWFALL by James Russell Lowell:

THE SNOW had begun in the gloaming,
And busily all the night
Had been heaping field and highway
With a silence deep and white.
Every pine and fir and hemlock
Wore ermine too dear for an earl,
And the poorest twig on the elm-tree
Was ridged inch deep with pearl.
From sheds new-roofed with Carrara
Came Chanticleer’s muffled crow,
The stiff rails softened to swan’s-down,
And still fluttered down the snow.
I stood and watched by the window
The noiseless work of the sky,
And the sudden flurries of snow-birds,
Like brown leaves whirling by.
I thought of a mound in sweet Auburn
Where a little headstone stood;
How the flakes were folding it gently,
As did robins the babes in the wood.
Up spoke our own little Mabel,
Saying, “Father, who makes it snow?”
And I told of the good All-father
Who cares for us here below.
Again I looked at the snow-fall,
And thought of the leaden sky
That arched o’er our first great sorrow,
When that mound was heaped so high.
I remembered the gradual patience
That fell from that cloud like snow,
Flake by flake, healing and hiding
The scar that renewed our woe.
And again to the child I whispered,
“The snow that husheth all,
Darling, the merciful Father
Alone can make it fall!”
Then, with eyes that saw not, I kissed her;
And she, kissing back, could not know
That my kiss was given to her sister,
Folded close under deepening snow.

Comments

[outsitvox]

Just discovered a complete list of all marked down products at Amazon, sorted by category
and % off, ranging from 50% off to 90% off (thanks Sonja for the effort).

Actually I never thought Amazon would have articles with 90% off, but only in the category
Electronics there are more than 3000 of them - look for yourself, the list is on
http://peoplewhospammyblogshoulddieinafire.com
or on http://iliketodressuplikeboygeorgeandspamotherpeoplesblogs.com
(which is a blog of a man who specializes in [spamming other people's blogs]).

[Micah L.]

Wow, thanks outsitwox!

You know, as I was writing this post some two years ago, what I was really thinking about was how I could find a good deal on electronics. Finally, after almost two years of waiting, someone has been able to see through my thinly veiled metaphors and find what I was looking for. Thanks so much! I'll be sure to click on all these links immediately right before I edit them.