Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-01-29
DEATH OF NATHANIEL PARKER


household word in polite society in
America and Europe, is no more. He
died on Sunday, January 20th, his
sixtieth birthday, a victim Of c0nsump-
ten, at hlz beautiful residence, "Idle-
wild.n on the banks of the Hudson river.
Although Of late years, enfeebled by the
/ incurable malady to which he has fallen
a victim. Mr. WILLS has not been
prominently before the public, there is
/ herdly any American author who has
achieved a more splendid reputation or
more completely won the hearts Of the
reading public, young and old, Of both
sexes Mr.. WILLIS was a graceful word
painter in either prose or verse. With
out affecting the moralist or philosopher,
his sketches of life and travel and ad-
venture were always brilliant and charm
ing. His style was graceful, natural,
and social His publications were al
ways eagerly sought, and his books
found a favorite place in almost every
collection. We copy from the New
York Times the following biographical
sketch
Nathaniel P. Willis was born in Port
land. Ne, January ID, 1907. His father
and grandfather were publishers, the lat
ter having been an apprentice in the
Office with Benjamin Franklin, and
member of the famous Boston tea-paTty.
His father was one Of the founders OF the
Boston Recorder, the first firmly estab-
lished religious newspaper in the cOUn-
=. So
and grandfather bore the same name
received the rudimeDts Of education at
the Boston Latin school and the Phillips
academy at Andover, and went thence
/ to Yale college, where he graduated at
| the age of twenty. During bis college
I life he followed the fashion of the day
and wrote verses for newspapers and
magazines, college exc" ses, etc, many
Of which were Of more than ordinary eX-
/ cellenos. The success which brought
him into literary life was getting q prize
Of $50 offered by the publishers Of the
| Album. an illustrated annual Soon after
| leaving college, Mr.. Willis was en-
ployed by G. ;. Goodrich the well
I known " Peter Farley ~ to edit certain
volumes published under the title OF The
! Legendary" f." and also to have supervision
| OF the Token About 1928 he started the
41FftCl tl'tlt AbstltttF 4@-tfrtf "AitNAA A-I
conducted for two years, and then
merged Il in the New York Mirror, a
weekly literary journal, established in
| 1923 by George 2. Morris and Samuel
| WoodWorth, the author OF THE Old
| Oaken Bucket Mr.. Willis soon after
went to Europe, where he wrote " Pen
cillings by the Way for his paper-a
series Of pleasant sketches that were very
populsr at the time. At Paris our min
lister, William c. Rives, gave Mr. Willis
a place ia his diplomatic family, and be
was thus enabled TO secure the entree to
the highest society Of all the cities he
had the opportunity OF vtsiting-a cir
/ cumstance that was seldom forgotten in
l his letters. He Travelled considerably in
| France, Italy, Greece and Turkey, and
returned 10 England, where he married
lin 1885, Mary Leighton STAGE, daughter
/ of CemmissaTy Gen. STAGE, in COM
msnd Of the royal arsenal, at WOolwich.
| 10 the same year he published in book
l form his peucillings by the way, and the
English critics-fOllOwiug their natural
| inelinations-Cut him up as sever ely as
| they could, accusing him OF too
much freedom in personal sketches,
Z and other offenSas 50 quickly seen in the
/ writings of Americans. Among other
| free speskings, he said something Of the
! novels Of CsFt. MarTyatt which stirred
l the wrath OF that redoubtable navigator,
and Mr. Willis felt called upon to chal
/ lenge the bold BritOn. There wSs hos
| tile meeting at Chatham, but no blood
was split About this time he published
/ in London Inklings Of Adventure, and
some other volumes, both there and
here, which proved popular and lucra-
I tive. In 1887 be returned and purchased
a retreat on the Susquehanus river, near
! Oswt 90, y. Y, which he christened,
I Glen Mary, after his wife, and from
| which he sent 70 the printers now and
| then some pleasant letters. But his
/ hobby was agriculture in which he did
as all literary farmers dO-waste money,
( and WA compelled 10 return TO legiu-
mate occupations. Ii was at Glen Mary
| that his daughter Imogene was born.
/ In 1899, in company with VIM. T. POr-
/ ter, he started very handsome and
| during its brief life brilliantly written
weekly paper nsmed the COrsdir. Dur
| ing that or the next year be vent
/ again to England, where accord
/ ing to GriswOld) he engaged Thackeray,
I who was comparatively unknown, 70
| write for his pGper. About this time Mr.
| Willis published in England Letters
from under Bridge, - written while he
/ lived at Glen Mary; LOiterings Of
Travel, variety Of short stories, and
two dramas: " Tortesa the Csurer
and [" Blanca NiscOnti,n which he pre-
sented In one cover, and called by the
unpoetic title OF Two Ways Of Dying
for 3 Husband" During these years he
had accumulated q great number Of
| poems, which he now revised and issued
in single volume. He also wrote the
ietter-press for q series Of Views in the
United States and CaY,da,' published
by Bartlett. On his return to New
| York he found the Corsdir cast away on
the reefs OF bankruptcy, and, with for
tunate instinct, re-esteblished business
with his former partner aud true friend,
Gen. Morris. The product was neat
daily, called the EUe5liRq Mirror. Here
he worked with unfagging zeal, but the
exaetions OF the position were more
than he could endure, and the death
Of his wife, which happened soon
after, quite overcame him., and
he returned to Europe, where, in
England and Germany, he was for long
time an invalid, suffering particularly
from brain fever. He was Sffectionately
eomforted by his former literary partner,
Theodore 5. Fay, and by Henry Whea-
ton, our minister to Prussia, who at
tached hiua TO his legation. His health,
however, was poor at the best, and he
soon returned with his daughter to this
country. While abroad be published in
London " Dashes at Life with a Free
Penciln II 1915, IN New York, he puO-
ished the first collected edition Of his
works In one large volume; and during
that year ne married Cornelis, the only
daughter Of Hon. Joseph Grinnell, OF
New Bedford, Mass, by whom ne had q
son and two daughters. Soon after his
marriage he and Gen. Morris established
the well-knOwn weekly, the Homo
Journal which still fiOurishes, and upon
which devolves the sad duty Of present
ing more In detail aud with more per-
sonal knowledge the biography Of its
oldest and most brilliant writer. We
have only TO say that not long after his
second marriage he selected for his home
the pleasant Idiewild, where bis latest
labors and his death have made the place
memorable.
The Baltimore Sun furnished the fol-
lowing statistics: The trade between
Baltimore and the southern states dur
ing the past year, ,Cey water, has been OF
q gratifying char ter. The receipts OF
cotton during the year ending Decem-
Der 81 were 2S, ,6S3 bales Of which 1927
bales came from Norfolk, 9498 from 5a-
vannsh 1868 from Charleston, 2443 from
Wilmington and other North Carolina
ports, 10 from Apslachicola, 924 from
New Orleans, 364 from Richmond, 3S3
from Mobile, and 207 from Galveston.
OF tobacco the receipts were 81, 70l pack
ages, 2949 h0gsheads, SOC boxes and 263
cases, principally from Richmond, Pc
teTsburg and other Virginia ports. The
receipts Of wool during the wear were
1884 bags, while the amount Of fiaxseed
brought 10 market from the south foots
up 1864 barrels. The receipts OF naval
! stores from North Carolina were 2S 822
barrels rosin, 1865 barrels tar, 24S5 bar
rels turpentine, and 27l3 barrels pitch.
Besides the above, there have been very
heavy receipts Of lumber, shingles, old
iron, and hundreds Of other small ar
ticles,