THE 
 
 Story of the Fountain. 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM CULLED BRYANT. 
 
 Illustrated with Forty-two Engravings on Wood, 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 D. APPLETON & COMPANY 
 
 MDCCCLXXII. 
 

 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871 by 
 
 D. APPLETON & CO., 
 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 
 
 JJfP 
 
///£ 
 
 SUBJECT. AKTIST 
 
 Fountain, that springest on this grassy slope," Fenn. 
 
 " Thou dost wear 
 
 No stain of thy dark birthplace," Fenn. 
 
 " This tangled thicket on the bank above," 
 
 In and out 
 
 The chipping sparrow," 
 
 Fenn. 
 
 " There the spice-bush lifts 
 Her leafy lances," Hows. 
 
 Hows. 
 
 Not such thou wert of yore, ere yet the axe," Fenn. 
 
 " — the maple burst into a flush 
 Of scarlet flowers." Hows. 
 
 ENGRAVER. PAGE 
 
 Harley. 9 
 
 Harley. 10 
 
 Harley. 1 1 
 
 H. Linton. 12 
 
 Ear st. 13 
 
 Harley. 14 
 
 Harley. 15 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 SUBJECT. AETIST. 
 
 " Humming-birds 
 And silken-winged insects of the skv," Fenn. 
 
 ENGEAYEE. PAGE 
 
 Harley. 16 
 
 " Frail wood-plants clustered round thy edge," Hows. Harley. 17 
 
 Here the quick-footed wolf,' 
 
 Fenn. Harley. 
 
 18 
 
 " The deer, too, left 
 Her delicate footprint " Fenn. Fihner. 
 
 19 
 
 The slow-paced bear," 
 
 Fenn. Bobbett. 
 
 20 
 
 " But thou hast histories," 
 
 Fenn. Langridge. 21 
 
 The Indian warrior, whom a hand unseen, 
 
 Fredericks. H. Linton. 22 
 
 " — a throng of savage men 
 
 With naked arms," 
 
 Fredericks. Bobbett. 
 
 23 
 
 Each makes a tree his shield, 
 
 Fredericks. Bobbett. 
 
 24 
 
 " — and the dead remain 
 Mangled by tomahawks," Fenn. 
 
 Harley. 25 
 
 Figures of men that crouch and creep unheard," Fenn. 
 
 Fihner. 26 
 
 " — a hunter's lodge is built, 
 "With poles and boughs," 
 
 Fenn. 
 
 Harley. 27 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 8UEJECT. ARTIST. ENGRAVER. PAGE 
 
 " — flings down 
 The deer from his strong shoulders," Fenn. Karst. 28 
 
 Loud the black-eyed Indian maidens laugh/' Fredericks. Bobhett. 29 
 
 — glistened in the frozen rains," 
 
 Fenn. 
 
 " All around was heard the crash of trees," Fenn. 
 
 Harley. 30 
 
 Langridge. 31 
 
 The low of ox, and shouts of men who fired 
 The brushwood," 
 
 Fenn. 
 
 Harley. 32 
 
 " The grain sprang thick and tall," 
 
 Hows. Harley. 
 
 33 
 
 ranks of spiky maize," 
 
 Perkins. Filmer. 
 
 34 
 
 " — the buckwheat 
 Whitened broad acres," Hows. Bobbett. 
 
 35 
 
 " White cottages were seen," 
 
 Fenn. 
 
 Karst. 
 
 36 
 
 " Barns from which 
 Came loud and shrill," Fenn. 
 
 Edmonds. 36 
 
 Pastures where rolled and neighed the lordly horse," Fenn. Harral. 37 
 
 A rich turf 
 
 Of grasses," 
 
 Fenn. Harley. 
 
 37 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 " Blue-eyed girls, 1 ' 
 
 Homer. 
 
 ENGEAVEK. PAGE 
 
 Harley. 
 
 Children, ruddy-cheeked," 
 
 Homer. 
 
 Harley. 
 
 39 
 
 " — as they stooped to taste thy stream," 
 
 Fenn. Han 
 
 40 
 
 The sportsman . . . bathed his heated brow," Fenn. Harley. 41 
 
 " Shouting boys, let loose 
 For a wild holiday," Homer. Karst. 
 
 42 
 
 " The plumed soldier by thy side 
 Has sat," Fredericks. Bobbett. 
 
 43 
 
 " Lovers have gazed upon thee," 
 
 Fenn. 
 
 Harley. 
 
 44 
 
 " Here the sage, 
 Gazing into thy self-replenished depth," 
 
 Fredericks. Bobbett. 
 
 45 
 
 " — strange arts to wither and deform," 
 
 Fenn. Karst. 
 
 46 
 
 u — thy source be lost 
 Amidst the bitter brine," Hows. Filmer, 
 
 47 
 
 ' — broken cliffs and airy peaks," 
 
 Hows. 
 
 W. J. Linton. 48 
 
THE STORY OF THE FOUNTAIN. 
 
 Fountain, that springest on this grassy slope, 
 Thy quick cool murmur mingles pleasantly, 
 With the cool sound of breezes in the beech, 
 Above me in the noontide. 
 
Thou dost wear 
 JSTo stain of thy dark birthplace ; gushing up 
 From the red mould and slimy roots of earth, 
 Thou nashest in the sun. The mountain-air, 
 In winter, is not clearer, nor the dew 
 That shines on mountain-blossom. Thus cloth God 
 Bring, from the dark and foul, the pure and bright. 
 
ImmWMimmm 
 
 -;!% 
 
 Tliis tangled thicket on the bank above 
 Thy basin, how thy waters keep it green ! 
 For thou dost feed the roots of the wild vine 
 That trails all over it, and to the twigs 
 Ties fast her clusters. 
 
There the spice-bush lifts 
 Her leafy lances ; the viburnum there, 
 Paler of foliage, to the sun holds up 
 Her circlet of green berries. 
 
In and out 
 The chipping sparrow, in her coat of brown, 
 Steals silently, lest I should mark her nest. 
 

 Not such thou wert of yore, ere yet the axe 
 Had smitten the old woods. Then hoary trunks 
 Of oak, and plane, and hickory, o'er thee held 
 A mighty canopy. When April winds 
 
Grew soft, the maple burst into a flush 
 Of scarlet flowers. 
 

 The tulip-tree, high up. 
 Opened, in airs of June, her multitude 
 Of golden chalices to humming-birds 
 And silken-winged insects of the sky. 
 
 16 
 
Frail wood-plants clustered round thy edge in Spring. 
 The liver-leaf put forth her sister blooms 
 Of faintest blue. 
 

 18 
 
The deer, too, left 
 Her delicate footprint in the soft moist mould, 
 And on the fallen leaves. 
 
 19 
 
The slow-paced bear, 
 In such a sultry summer noon as this, 
 Stopped at thy stream, and drank, and leaped across. 
 
Bat thou hast histories that stir the heart 
 With deeper feeling; while I look 
 on thee 
 They rise before me. 
 ji£.. I behold the scene 
 
 \; f—; Hoary again with 
 
 v > forests ; 
 1, I behold 
 
The Indian warrior, whom a hand unseen 
 
 Has smitten with his death-wound in the woods, 
 
 Creep slowly to thy well-known rivulet, 
 
 And slake his death-thirst. Hark, that quick fierce cry 
 

 iS^ 
 
 III ^ "" ; ^">^ '..'■■ ; 
 
 iiss 
 
 fllfl 
 
 It 
 
 I'M' AvHrJfe w 
 
 
 H : * '' " 
 11" ^ Bill*"''' ' 
 
 V'''-:'i 
 
 
 
 B^slSfci^PPpR?S^I||^S|J^^ 
 
 
 
 KjjffiffW Jpt >S 
 
 
 3_:^ii ^^«M^I» mi fHSoli^^^^ 
 
 Rh 
 
 iiiiEfflsl&vn 
 
 
 
 ^H^fe^^H mMM 
 
 
 Wmm ! ' ; 
 
 1 •'5fth&4"*aM5B*«i 
 
 
 
 
 HHPf' // i l 
 Massed 
 
 
 31 
 
 
 ¥%*;% 
 
 mmfe 
 
 
 IBS 
 
 That rends the utter silence ; 'tis the whoop 
 Of battle, and a throng of savage men 
 With naked arms and faces stained like blood, 
 Fill the green wilderness. The long bare arms 
 
 23 
 
Then, as the sun goes down, 
 Amid the deepening twilight I descry 
 Figures of men that crouch and creep unheard, 
 And bear away the dead. The next day's shower 
 Shall wash the tokens of the light away. 
 
And sheds his golden sunshine. 
 

 To the door 
 The red-man slowly drags the enormous bear 
 Slain in the chestnut-thicket, or flings down 
 The deer from his strong shoulders. Shaggy fells 
 Of wolf and cougar hang upon the walls, 
 
And loud the black-eyed Indian maidens laugh, 
 That gather, from the rustling heaps of leaves, 
 The hickory's white nuts, and the dark fruit 
 That falls from the gray butternut's long boughs. 
 
So centuries passed by, and still the woods 
 Blossomed in spring, and reddened when the year 
 Grew chill, and glistened in the frozen rains 
 Of winter, till the white man swung the axe 
 
Beside thee — signal of a mighty change. 
 Then all around was heard the crash of trees, 
 Trembling awhile and rushing to the ground, 
 
The low of ox, and shouts of men who fired 
 
 The brushwood, or who tore the earth with ploughs. 
 
The grain sprang thick and tall, and hid in green 
 The blackened hill-side ; 
 
 33 
 
^ Ranks of spiky maize 
 
 Rose like a host embattled 
 
Sweetening with its flowers 
 The August wind. White cottages were seen 
 With rose-trees at the windows ; barns from which 
 
 
 
 (' I tfit/ w 
 
 Came loud and shrill the crowing of the cock 
 
 36 
 
Pastures where rolled and neighed the lordly horse, 
 And white nocks browsed and bleated. A rich turf 
 
 F£Wi 
 
 Of grasses brought from far o'ercrept thy bank. 
 Spotted with the white clover. 
 
Blue-eyed girls 
 Brought pails, and dipped them in thy crystal pool 
 
 3* 
 
And children, ruddy-cheeked and flaxen-haired, 
 Gathered the glistening cowslip from thy edge. 
 
 39 
 
Since then, what steps have trod thy border ! Here 
 On thy green bank, the woodman of the swamp 
 Has laid his axe, the reaper of the hill 
 His sickle, as they stooped to taste thy stream. 
 
 4 o 
 
The sportsman, tired with wandering in the still 
 September noon, has bathed his heated brow 
 In thv cool current. 
 
Shouting hoys, let loose 
 For a wild holiday, have quaintly shaped 
 Into a cup the folded linden-leaf, 
 And dipped thy sliding crystal. 
 
l*s$ M 
 
 From the wars 
 Returning, the plumed soldier by thy side 
 Has sat, and mused- how pleasant 'twere to dwell 
 In such a spot, and be as free as thou, 
 And move for no man's bidding more. At eve, 
 
When thou wert crimson with the crimson sky, 
 Lovers have gazed upon thee, and have thought 
 Their mingled lives should now as peacefully 
 
 uorc 
 
 44 
 
And brightly as thy waters. Here the sage, 
 Gazing into thy self-replenished depth, 
 Has seen eternal order circumscribe 
 And bind the motions of eternal change, 
 And from the gushing of thy simple fount 
 Has reasoned to the mighty universe. 
 
Is there no other change 
 
 for thee, that lurks 
 Anions: the future as;es ? 
 
 Will not man 
 Seek out strange arts to wither 
 
 and deform 
 The pleasant landscape which 
 
 thou makest green ? 
 Or shall the veins that feed 
 
 thy constant stream 
 Be choked in middle earth, 
 
 and now no more 
 For ever, that the water-plant 
 
 along 
 Thy channel perish, and the 
 
 bird in vain 
 Alight to 
 
 drink ? 
 
Haply shall these green hills 
 Sink, with the lapse of years, into the gulf 
 Of ocean-waters, and thy source be lost 
 Amidst the bitter brine ? Or shall they rise 
 
Upheaved in broken cliffs and airy peaks, 
 Haunts of the eagle and the snake, and thou 
 Gush midway from the bare and barren steep 
 
L 1 
 
 FFF 
 
Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
 Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
 Treatment Date: Sept. 2009 
 
 PreservationTechnologies 
 
 A WORLD LEADER IN COLLECTIONS PRESERVATION 
 111 Thomson Park Drive 
 Cranberry Township, PA 1 6066 
 (724) 779-2111