Excerpt from Songs by the WaysideKeats desired ten years for the purpose of Singing himself into immortality. Give me time to develop, is the cry of many a young poet. And time is required. Few really great works of literature are produced without infinite labor. The poet must carve his. Gems. As well as the lapidary. He must Shape patiently and polish skillfully. He may have genius, but out of pa tient toil the highest excellence is born. And is it not Emerson who assures us that what's ex cellent, as God lives, is permanent?The poems of William J. Fischer reveal that a new man is about to arrive in the field of Ameri can letters. It is not contended that his work is perfect. Now and then disco-rds are sounded, but it is true work, nevertheless. There are pas sages of exquisite melody, and, through it all, rays a morning-light, which is a presage of splendid noon. Grant that impenfections exist, still it is a new voice Singing. Here is a poet whose work is not a mere echo of that of great er poets. He is not an imitator of Swinburne or Tennyson. Here we find no lines reminding us of Poe, Longfellow or Lanier. His voice is a young, glad voice, yet full of power and original ity. Give its possessor opportunity to develop it and the result will be a new American singer worth the hearing. No one can read this little volume without becoming conscious of the young poet's promise.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.