Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1865-11-03
Portrait afa Poet.

In the editorial rooms of the New York
Post--one ofthe best papers in the land
works poet second to few Of this age
A cotemporary thus sketches the author of
Thanatopsis:
Mr.. Bryant will be II years old on the
I'd of November next He bears his age
well Frost lies white on his ample beard,
but the fire of youth is in his eye, and his
heart still beats strongly and steadily,
with a vital force that shows no sign of Sc
rious physical decay. His mind, working
alertly and clearly, is as quick in percep-
ton and as logical in deduction, as it was
twenty years ago. His slight and agile
figure, passing rapidly among the crowds
of the street, is that of a man of thirty
years rather than the frame which men
usually associate with septuagenarian's
weight of years. He uses no glasses to
aid his vision. The nearest approach he
was ever known to make to confession of
imperfect sight was in my hearing year
ago. Going to a window. to read news
paper, he muttered a good natured re-
monstranee against the fineness ofthe print,
observing that he "didn't want 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 a Count D'Orsay nor Horace
Greeley. He greatly prefers cleanliness
to style; is always tidy, but blissfully un-
conscious of the requirements of fashion,
and, like Dominic Sampson, would be
quite likely to attribute to the preservatiye
qualities Of the atmosphere the exceeding
glossiness of any new garment surreptit-
Ously introduced into his apartment over
night. Yet he is orderly and precise in
his intellectual life-almost to the extreme
of fastidiousness and hypercriticism, as if
natures principle of compensation were
specially illustrated in his case. He
has a hearty contempt for shams, snobs
and Stiffness; admires pluck, perseverance
and industry; adores nature, and works
hard for the love of work, and readily
recognizes a worker when he sees him !;
finds his recreation in reeondite studies, in
green fields, babbling brooks, and the
study of natural forms-in digging among
the roots OF language, in planting trees,
making newspapers, and Observing man.
kind-in the prattle of children and the
wisdom of the schools-in short, in every
thing that the world does and men think.
He has pleasant ways. AT odd mo-
ments, he invites his friends to little trials
of gymnastic exercise. ssCan you do
that ?" he said once to much younger
man, and lifting himself to the top of the
floor by his hands, and swinging 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 leap
ed 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 fence or
gate is in the way at Roslyn, does its own
er stop to dodge it or open it. He leaps it.
If horse is not harnessed he walks. If "a
storm howls and valued friend is lonely
in distant house, he trudges of, with an
umbrella in one hand and boquet Of
flowers in the other, offering the latter and
his company, where he knows that both
will be MISUNDERSTANDING and Ckron-
;cIe.