Poetry by Mattie Griffith, Recited by A Captain of U. S. Dragoons

One of the most astounding passages in "Scenes Beyond the Western Border" appears in the last installment
(August 1853), when the homeward-bound "Captain of U. S. Dragoons" breaks into poetry:

Well!—I have long been a wanderer, and I rather like it.

Yes! it has its pleasures.

It is easy to turn aside to perfect solitude, when—

"the twilight soft comes stealing on,
With its one star,—the star of Memory,
Pale,—pale,—but very beautiful!"

A gentle air rustles the grass or leaves; the running waters too, give music: and then, they seem the voices of gentle spirits, which may in this hour of calm and loveliness awake to Eden memories. As sometimes suddenly, the innocent prattle of children falls as music on the mother's ears,— banishing happily, vexing cares,—so, nature now seems soothed, and harmony reigns.

And as the mother, first musing in loving mood, then timidly questioning her happiness; — so too, to the eloquence of this sweet hour, my heart first beats a pleased response; and then, in reverie, my soul wanders over spare and time, until all sense is wrapt, in a thought,—a memory.

Then ever I awake with a convulsive sigh, which comes unbidden—like an echo. 'Tis the answer to the summons of the REAL.

The mortal sound has banished the happy whispering spirits; I am recalled mayhap to find the tone, the colouring, the vitality of the scene all gone: 'tis a dismal prairie now. It is dark; the winds are hoarse.

And so we wear on—like all the world. Often in the broad field of labour and care, which in prospect was all barren, we find that Heaven has provided for us little flowery valleys of rest, where our souls are strengthened and our hearts refreshed. 
("Scenes Beyond the Western Border," August 1853); and
Scenes and Adventures in the Army

The "little vein" (as the Captain calls it subsequently in dialogue with his critical friend "Frank") of poetry is mined from Poems by Mattie Griffith (New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1852).  Weirdly enough in view of the new prairie setting, the quoted lines come from Griffith's poem of spurned affection,  "Thou Lovest Me No More." 

Harvard has Charles Sumner's copy of Mattie Griffith's Poems, digitized by Google Books in January 2009.  The review of Griffith's Poems in the New York Literary World (October 30, 1852) points out that many of the poems were first published in the Louisville Journal.  For more on Mattie or Martha Griffith Browne, check out
American National Biography Online
and the entry by William L Andrews at Documenting the American South

One cool chick for sure, but what is she (not to mention the jilted speaker from "Thou Lovest Me No More") doing on the prairie?