Cactus; or, Thorns and blossoms: a collection of satirical and miscellaneous, embracing religious, temperance, and memorial poems

Dedication

TO THE NOBLE WOMEN

BALTIMORE,

WHO HAVE ENDEARED THEMSELVES TO THEIR SOUTHERN SISTERS BY THEIR GENEROUS DEEDS OF LOVE AND MERCY,

Preface

I— RELIEVING that a discerning, and honest Public will discover, and justly award to it, whatever of merit it may possess, I have ventured to give this Volume to the world. Without deeming it necessary to state the reasons which Have led to its publication, I would simply say that it goes out not as the finished and elaborated work of a literary recluse; the poems which it contains are like the flying sparks from the anvil of the blacksmith, which hrigliten his gloomy surroundings whilst he wields, amid the din and dust, his hammer, in unceasing toil. In the midst of household cares, surrounded by six romping boys, have I often snatched up my pen to note a golden nugget of thought wedged, as it were, by some passing Muse into a brain already crowded. Into a noisy, bustling, world it goes from the busy active scenes of home life, as a timid pilot upon the fitful waves of a literary sea, to be followed, if not engulfed in the vortex of criticism, by something of more studied finish when time has borne my noisy boys into the quiet dignity of manhood, and converted my home into a retreat of silence. When it no longer becomes necessary to dismount my Pegasian .steed to bridle a hobbyhorse for an incorrigible three years old equestrian, or to descend from a visionary, star-bound flight to arbitrate a complicated dispute over a ball, or top, it may be in my power to make amends, and conciliate those who may feel that they have been imposed upon by a "so called" poem.

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Vlll PREFACE.

It is, perhaps, only by my Southern friends, so well acquainted with the life of a Southern women before and since the War, and the marvellous changes of that life, that I can expect allowances to be made for defects which, under more favorable circumstances,mighthave been avoided :

Having, in 1866, consented to write for a weekly paper, a series of satirical poems, I selected for my nom de 'plume "Cactus", the name of a plant bearing thorns, flowers, and fruit, as a signature suggestive of much liberty, under which might appear the variegated flowers of poesy, the mature fruits of sober thought, or the formidable thorns of satire. The same considerations have led to its selection as the title of my Poem; and whether it shall live and bloom, or, after a brief existence, wither and decay under the chilling blasts of unfriendly criticism, time alone can prove.

Most of the poems contained in this volume have appearedin the various periodicals and magazines of the day, and hence have already stood the test of editorial criticism. Those containing political allusions will readily suggest the time, and circumstances under which they were written. They are republished more for their historical, than poetic worth, and with no intention, or desire of arousing buried animosity, now that time is so kindly healing the wounds inflicted by the late civil war. But the past has its history, a compound of stern, and unpalatable facts, to be received as a whole, and not as a whimsical child, selecting, and picking out the raisins, would partake of a plum-pudding. Suflice it to say, it is with the best of motives that my first Volume is now offered to the public.

Elizabeth O. Dannelly.

Baltimore, Md.

Introduction

HE amiable and gifted authoress of this volume of poems has been long known to the writer. She is a native Georgian, born in the town of Monticello, June 13th, 1838, graduated in the Female College in Madison, Ga., July 26th, 1855, and was married in the same place, September 4th, 1862, her husband being, at that time, a surgeon in the Confederate army. In early girlhood, her poetic taste was manifested; and the composition which, under the authorities of the institution, she was required to prepare, as her last public exercise, to be read at commencement, and before diplomas were conferred, was illustrative of her talent for poetry and satire. It was a brief, sarcastic Poem upon the question supposed to be prominent with many young men in quest of a fair partner for life, viz.: "Has she any tin?" A distinguished gentleman who was present at the occasion when it was delivered, afterwards wrote in relation to it: — "I doubt whether another head in the vast assemblage could have perpetrated the like." This, with some others of her poems, have, I think, been favorably noticed in "Hart's American Literature" and in "The Living Writers of the South," by Davidson.

The foregoing article, although an early production, is included in this collection.

Since that period, she has continued to indulge her governing proclivity, and has often invoked the aid of the myrtle-crowned Erato.

INTRODUCTION.

For the last many years she has resided in the city of Baltimore, Md., and made frequent contributions to magazines and other periodicals, and has now embodied her various articles, written for the press, in the present chaste and beautiful volume.

She is highly meritorious and deserving in all the relations of life. In her modest and retiring manners, her intelligence, refinement and piety, the public have a sufficient guarantee that they will not find one indelicate nor impure line or sentiment, to sully, in the slightest degree, any effusion from her pen.

The writer, therefore, feels warranted to commend Mrs. Dannelly's (whose maiden name was Marshall) virgin volume to the attention of an appreciating public, with the hope that it may receive a liberal patronage.

A. MEANS.

Emory College, Oxford, Ga., June 10th, 1879.