American telegraph. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1851-1851, 1851-04-07

Nj. +. TUPPER.

city for lew days ana, as men BeherhAy ue-
sire to know all they can of an admired author,
we take pleasure in laying before our readers
some account of him and his works.
A gentleman who had the pleasure of a long
conversation with him, after making some re-
marks on his writings, drew from him the fol-
lowing history
>ssIt is Of course very iattering to me that
you have read my works; and as you are
pleased with them, it may, perhaps, be interest
ing to know under what circumstances they
were written. | purchased a house at Brigh-
ton; and, in the improvements which made
in the grounds about it had occasion to have
ditch dug. Standing one day by the ditch, /
said to workman who was digging, My
friend, wouldn't you like to dig up crock Of
gold ?,sfYes, sir, said he, pausing in his work
i would like it very much Then, after re-
fecting few moments he looked up at me
seriously, and said, think, sir, it would not
be well for me to find crock of gold. There
is something it would be better to have than
that sAnd what is that = said i. Good
health and plenty of work, he answered Twas
so struck with the excellence of the sentiment,
coming from man in his situation, and with
the honest manner in which he expressed it,
that9I could not forget it. went into the
house, and the words of the laborer were still
ringing in my ears Good health and plenty
of work 2 At length took sheet Of paper,
andwrote on it in large characters, The Crock
of Gold; Tale of Covetousness' looked at
it for some time, and it struck me that ! could
make something out of it; SO | sat at once and
wrote, and did not stop writing until my fingers
were so cramped that the pen fell from my
hand In three weeks the story was pub
lished." a a2' !''&i II 4xshs
He gave me the following account Of his
Proverbial Philosophy Z. I. Il
81 was engaged at the age Of seventeen to
young lady, who is now my wife, but whom
did not marry till nine years afterward.
wished to give her my ideas Of marriage, but
did not care to write them in a sermon, nor
yet to put them into rhyme; SO / wrote, i'll
q style Of my own, my article on Mar
riage.' This naturally suggested Love- and
I composed a piece in the same style on Love
The young lady put them away in her escri-
A year or two after, literary friend of NINE
who was publishing a magazine, came to me
and told me he wished me to write some poetry
for him. told him did not write poetry.
However, as he insisted upon it, said would
think Of it. On leaving me, he went to the
house of the young lady, with whom he was
well acquainted, and asked her whether she
had any thing of my composition. She looked
among her papers and found the two pieces !
had written for her. lie soon came back to me
with copies of them, and said he was going to
publish them / told him not to do so, and
would try tegive him some more like them. In
ten days from that time, the first series of g Pro-
verbal Philosophy" was published.
OF his poem called Yesterday, he gave the
following account: There was large elm tree
before his house which he wished to have cut
down. When it was nearly cut through, it was
found that it would fall directly upon the house.
To prevent this, the workmen tied ropes to the
upper part of the tree, and pulled it in the OPP
posite direction. A school in the ncighborhood |
was dismissed at the same time, and the boys |
got hold Of the ropes and helped to pull. Mr..
Upper recollected the theory that the age of
tree could be determined by the number Of con-
centric rings in the trunk, and that the breadth
Of those rings depended upon the different states
Of moisture Of the atmosphere. There had been
a great drought just seven years before and
he thought this good opportunity of verifying
or disproving this theory. On examining the
tree, he found that after the first seven circles
in the trunk, there was very sensible decrease
in the breadth Of the next circle. From this he
was led to reflect upon man, and to compare
his life to these concentric rings. Yester-
day" was the result The name naturally sug
gested a poem on "To-Day," and another on
To-Morrow." This is his manner of writing.
He composcs only when some striking occur
renee suggests an idea.
In person, Mr.. Upper is small. lie is thor
oughly English in his appearance, having that
clear, forid complexion peculiar to his country;
and he is altogether good specimen of an
English gentleman. His manners are unaffected
and agreeable; he is lively and full of CONVEX
sation, and very free in his remarks upon men
and things. lie Is much pleased with our coun-
try and people. Though he expected to find us
great nation, he finds us greater than he an
ticipated. He thinks there are only two great
dangers ahead Of this Goyernment--one is, that
our religious liberation may lead us into inf
deity; and the other, that the Jacobinism of q
great number Of the people may finally destroy
the conservative spirit which alone can pre-
serve us. This, doubtless, is natural to gen
tleman Of his education and predictions
Mr.. Upper seems much annoyed at the at
tacks which have been made upon him by some
Of our journals. lie declares IL is not his pur-
pose to write book on America, and is aston
ished that any should doubt the truth Of his