PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION

The first edition of the "Ballads of America" having been completely disposed of, and having been complimented with flattering words from something more than a hundred periodicals and recognized critics, including the world-prized poets John G. Whittier and Oliver Wendell Holmes, the author has felt warranted in sending forth a second. The plates of all the pages hae been gone over with care for verbal and typographical improvements; and at the end of the Miscellaneous there have been added the fifteen new poems - from "A Life's Love Song" to the "Naval Ode" written for the City of Boston.

I am almost afraid to compliment you on your fresh and
beautiful book after the flattering tribute you have paid me
in your Dedication and in the poem especially inscribed to
me. I must, however, thank you for the spirited and variously
pleasing poems which come to me in a dress which commends
them to my taste and makes the new volume a most welcome
ornament to my book-table. I hope that you will live to
give us many more songs of patriotism, friendship, and all
the generous emotions which find their fitting expression in
melodious verse.