The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1867-08-15
Gossis Writers.
From the New York Evening Gazette
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WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT
Mr.. Bryant, new seventy three
years old. furnishes an example OF
serene and beautiful old age which
stands almost without a parallel
among the men with whosernames the
reading world is familiar. From first
to last. the life of VIM. Cullen Bry-
ant has been happy-tranquh far be-
yond that which falls to the common
lot of men. From first to last, it has
been pure, wise, and virtuous to a de-
gree which is seldom illustrated In
this world. He has, so far as we
know, never had to struggle with adj
versity in any shape. scarcely even
with temptation so much as omost
men do. In his childhood, the bent OF
his mind was lovingly and assidiously
encouraged by his father; and all
through his life he has enjoyed the
good will and esteem of his cotempo-
raries to an extent almost unparalleled
ed. He has deserved it, too, which is
more, as the world wags. In our
opinion, he stands at the head of
American poetry, beyond a question.
As a poet, Mr. Bryant has no critics
in this day. =
Tracing the political history of Mr.
Bryant, we find OURSELVES taken back
almost to the cradle. 1t is not as
serted that his first utterance were In
rhyme, nor that the lullaby to which
his cradle was rocked was sung to
his own words. But it is clear that
he must have began verse making at
In age when !" the common man. or
child is still f~oundering 10 the puz-
zling mazes of alphabet; for no poet
prints his first attempt, and little Will
liam had achieved print when he was
but nine years old. The Hampshire
Gazette, a weekly newspaper publish
ed at Northampton, Massachusetts,,
was the medium through which the
little rhymer sought publicity for his
precocious illusions. There were
Poets Corners in those days. The
practical progressiveness of this age,
with its railroads, its telegraphs, and
its lightning presses, has obIiterated
that, among other institutions of the
good old times. Village newspa-
pers ape the fashions of the metro
politan giants of the press.Viand
goodbye to the Poets Corner"
In those days literature was looked
upon by most people, with more dis
favor than now. It is still common
enough for ~worldwise parents to look
upon a literary turn of mind as a
fatal bar to the success in life of their
progeny; but in that day it was the
rute to look askance at the unhappy
child who exhibited love for
That useless and d Roeroxhi art
But good DR.. Peter Bryant, Williams
father, was a man of strong literary
tastes and fine scholarship. He
hailed with delight these exhibitions
of genius in his boy, and entered into
his pursuits with genuine enthusiasm.
He encouraged him in every way, and,
recognizing the common danger of too
great percocity in a youth, sought
earnestly and faithfully to inculcate
habits of careful composition, syste-
matte study, and thorough mastery of
the rules of poetic art. Few success
full itteratears are able to look back
on the influence exerted by their pa
rents upon their young minds, with
a love and veneration so profound as
that which William Cullen Bryant
feels for the gentle and scholarly vii
lage doctor of Ccmmington. All his
life. Mr.. Bryant's affection and graft
tu9e to his father, and recognition of
his influence in-making the poet what
he is, has been one ofhis most marked
peculiarities. Any allusion to his ia
ther. rel at this day, is sure to
IN Mr.. Bryant the fondest
words of eulogy, He has also snng
his good parents praise in manyofhis
poems. 1t is nj of those questions I
which we never expect to decide.
whether 1this feeling confers most
credit on the father who could
it, or on the son who could L
cherish itso vividly through so many
but Che world can never fully
know how wonderfully tenacious, are
the affections of Mr.. Bryant's heart
how deep, how strong, how deathless.
His precocity nus carefully die |.
it was non the less carefully
encouraged. When the lad was but
fourteen, he composed a poem Of con-
character, entitled The
Embargo, or Sketches of the Times"
This was published in Boston, and :.
made a small volume, which had a 4.
remarkable sale for the period. A
edition was called for within
The year. 1t was a satire upon Presi-
lent Jefferson and his measures. In
The same year another considerable
poem, The Spanish Revolution"
vas published. The astonished pub
ic received these poems with such
.ncredulity as to their being the work
IF such a young head, that in the
alter edition it was found advisable
print a sworn certificate as to their
af
At the age of sixteen, young Bry-
ant entered Williams College, where