The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1865-11-09
The Poet Bryant.

Mr.. Bryant will be seventy one years
old on the ID of November inst. He
bears his age we'll Frost lies white up
on his ample beard, but the fire of his
youth is in his eye, and his heart still
beats strongly and steadily, with vital
force that shows no sign of serious ply
siical decay. His mind working alertly
and clearly, is as quick in PERCEPTION and
as logical in deduction As it was twenty
wears ago His slight and agile figure,
passing rapidly among the crowds OF the
street is that of 4 man of thirty years
rather than the frame which men usually
associate with septuagenarian s weight
of wears. He uses no glasses to aid his
vision. The nearest approach he was
ever known to make confession of inn
perfect sight was in my hearing about
= year rgo. Going to window TO read
newspaper, he muttered a good natur-
ed remonstrance against the fineness OF
the print, observing that he 'didn t intend
to wear spectacles so long as he could
help it, but wished the papers would not
use such small type"
In the matter of dress, Mr. Bryant is
neither Count d D'Orsay nor a Horace
Greeley. He greatly prefers cleanliness
to style; is always tidy, but blissfully un
conscious of the requirements Of fash
ion. and like Dominic Sampson, would
be quite likely to attribute to the pre-
servative qualities of the atmosphere the
the exceeding glossiness of any new gar
meut surreptltously introduced into his
apartment over night Yet he is order
ly and precise in his intellectual life
almost to the extreme of fastidiousness
and hvpercriticism, rs if natures princi-
pie of composition was specially Illus
. trated III his case. He has q hearty con
tempt for shamS, snobs and Stiffness al
mires pluck perseverance and industry;
adores nature, and works hard for the
love of work, and readily recognizes q
worker when he sees him: finds his re
creation in recondite studies, in green
fields, babblinG brooks, and the study of
natural forms-in digging among the
roots of language, i. planting trees,
making newspapers, and observing man
E<nI-in the pr3ttie of children and the
wisdom of the schools--in short every
thing that the world does and men think.
he has pleasant ways. At odd no
meuts he invites his friends to little tri-
ais OF gymnastic exercise Can you dc
that he said once to a much youn weE
man, SuItlng the action 10 lAe wofi, ana
lifting himself to the top of the floor by
his hands and swim ging up and down and
sideways, varying the sport by grasping
the decreasing and repeating the feat in
more difficult position. The junior
tried it, but failed; he had not leaped SO
many high rail fences in the country as
Mr.. Bryant had leaped, and the brown
beard could not wag in the air as the
white one wagged- Rarely, if a fence
or a gate is in the way at Roslyn, does
its owner stop to dodge it or open it
He leaps it. If horse is not harnessed
he walks If storm howls and a valued
friend is lonely in distant house. he
trudges off, with an umbella in one hand
and a boquet of flowers in the other; Of
fering the latter-and his company, where
he knows that both will be welcome.
i Examiner and Chronicle.