Famous Single Poems
1815, and died in Brooklyn, New York, December 27, 1878. He came to America in his youth, became an architect and builder, and in 1855 was general superintendent of the Erie Railway. On February 11, 1862, he was appointed director of all the military railroads in the United States, with the staff rank of colonel, and served in that position throughout the Civil War. He seems to have been a thoroughly competent executive, his work was always referred to in the highest terms, and to him was credited in large part the efficiency which the northern railroads attained during the great struggle. He was mustered out of the service in 1866 with the rank of major-general of volunteers.
General McCallum seems to have had a fondness throughout his life, and especially in his later years, for writing verses of a moralistic character and in 1870, as has been said, gathered some of them together in a book dedicated “To My Dearest Friend.” There were twenty-five poems altogether, the first being “The Water-Mill.” The nature of the others may be judged from such titles as “The Creed of Life,” “A Warning Voice,” “The Madman’s Reverie,” "Be Kind to the Erring,” and “All, All Alone.” They are tinged with pious melancholy, abound in frightful visions, and their quality may be judged very fairly by these two
282
