She was one of those who had been unable to join the excursion to Rouen when the President was there; but she had listened avidly to her friends' descriptions of the crowds.
Before that time her muse had been sylvan, speaking of "Flow'rs of May," and hinting at thoughts that overcame her when she roved the woodlands thro'; but now the inspiration was become decidedly municipal and urban, evidently reluctant to depart beyond the retail portions of a metropolis.

Her verses beginning, "O, my native city, bride of Hibbard's winding stream,"-- Hibbard's Creek runs west of Plattville, except in time of drought--"When thy myriad lights are shining, and thy faces, like a dream, Go flitting down thy sidewalks when their daily toil is done," were pronounced, at the time of their publication, the best poem that had ever appeared in the "Herald." This unlucky newspaper was a thorn in the side of every patriot of Carlow County.

It was a poor paper; everybody knew it was a poor paper; it was so poor that everybody admitted it was a poor paper--worse, the neighboring county of Amo possessed a better paper, the "Amo Gazette." The "Carlow County Herald" was so everlastingly bad that Plattville people bent their heads bitterly and admitted even to citizens of Amo that the "Gazette" was the better paper.

The "Herald" was a weekly, issued on Saturday; sometimes it hung fire over Sunday and appeared Monday evening.

In their pride, the Carlow people supported the "Herald" loyally and long; but finally subscriptions began to fall off and the "Gazette" gained them.