ters’ or

The Omaha Republican gives the

following history of the origin of

this production which the London

Spectator has pronounced th e finest

poem ever written in America

“ The early part of the war on

dark Saturday night in the dead 0

winter there died in the Commerci •

Hospital in Cincinnati a young wo

man over whose head only two and

twenty summers had passed She

had been once possessed of an envi-

able share of beauty and had been

as she herself says “ flattered and

sought for the charms of the face ”

but alas upon her fair brow had

long been written that terrible word

—prostitute Once the pride of

respectable parentage her first wrong

step was the small beginning of the

“ same old story over again ” which

has been the only life history of

thousands Highly educated and

accomplished in manners she might

have shone in the best of society

But the evil hour that proved her

ruin was the door from childhood

and having spent a young life in dis-

grace and shame the poor friendless

one died the melancholy death of a

broken hearted outcast

« Among her personal effects was

found in manuscript ‘ The beautiful

Snow ’ which was immediately carried

to Enos B Reed a gentleman of cul-

ture and literary tastes who was at

that time editor of the National Un-

ion In the columns of that paper

on the morning of the day following

the girl’s death the poem appeared

in print for the first time When

the paper containing the poem came

out on Sunday morning the body of

the victim had not yet received bu

rial The attention of Thomas

Buchanan Reed one of the first

American poets was soon directed

to the newly published lines who

was so taken with their Stirling pa-

thos that he immediately followed

the corpse to its final resting place

“Such are the plain facts concern-

ing her whose ‘Beautiful Snow shall

long be remembered as one of the

brightest gems in American litera-

ture ”

THE BEAUTIFUL SNOW