IN SNOW O English mother, in the ruddy glow Hugging your baby closer when outside You see the silent, soft, and cruel snow Falling again, and think what ills betide Unshelter'd creatures, your sad thoughts may go Where War and Winter now, two spectre-wolves, Hunt in the freezing vapour that involves Those Asian peaks of ice and gulfs below. -- William ALLINGHAM. Born in the Mall at Ballyshannon (Donegal) where his father was a ship-owner and merchant. He was educated in Wray's School, Church Lane, Ballyshannon before going to boarding school in Killeshandra, County Cavan in 1837. Allingham left school at fourteen and began working in the local bank in Ballyshannon where his father was then manager. He later became a customs officer in which capacity he worked in various locations in Ireland and in England between 1846 and 1870 when he left the Customs service to write full-time. In 1850 his first volume *Poems* was published. Allingham published *Day and Night Songs.* He published *The Ballad Book* and an epic poem about landlords and tenants entitled *Laurence Bloomfield in Ireland* after which he was granted a Civil List pension. Allingham was editor of the influential *Frazer's Magazine* between 1874-1879. In 1888 he published *Flower Pieces and Other Poems*. Allingham died in London in 1889. His ashes were returned to Ballyshannon where they rest in the Church of Ireland cemetery.