North Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1867-current, 1870-03-16
George D. Prentice. His Last DAYS.

In his eulogy, Mr.. Watterson give.
the following account of the last yeal
Of Mr.. Prentice's life:
ale was greatly exasperated by the
Byron scandal, and wrote all the edito.
rials that appeared in the Courier
Jounal on that subject. Most of them
he read to me, as was his habit when
any thing seriously interested him
and 1 shall never forget how, reading
one of them he broke down twice,
thrice, and finally altogether; his voice
grew hoarse; his utterance failed him /;
the tears came raining down his cheek,
and he rose silently and glided out of
the room. 1t was not decreptitude. 1t
was feeling; for, excepting few tri-
fling exaggerations which marked his
style of writing when he was deeply
moved, the article was clear, vigorous,
and compact Strangers supposed that
he was decrepit, and there existed an
impression that he had resigned his old
place to younger and more active spir-
it. He resigned nothing. l doubt
whether he ever did more work, or bet
ter work, during any single day of his
life than during his last year. He said,
on the first day of January, 1869. Il
Mill make the last years of my life the
best years of my life, and l shall work
like tiger and he did work machine
which seemed to heve no stop in it. In
a note to Mr.. Haldeman, two or three
months ago, he wrote: Il work twenty
four hours day, and the reason l do
not work any more is because the days
are no longer He accually averaged
from fifteen to eighteen hours day,
and kept this up month after month,
turning out column upon column of all
sorts of matter, from gay to grave, from
lively to severe
"For FIVE and thirty years his life
realized an uninterrupted success. His
imagination, however, took habitually |
turn, and threw out in the
midst of wild and partisan bursts fash
es of somewhat merbid description. 1t
is not strange that, as he grew aged.
he withdrew himself from very close
and active intercourse with men. The
little ambition he ever had deserted
him. His domesticity, to which he was
attached, was gone. Society was bore.
All his faculties remained clear and
full but the motive for personal effort
vas wanting. and he worked because it
vas his nature to work. He would have
lied else. He quoted on three occasions
j verse of fine poem Of Mangan's
which seemed to represent his condi-
ion:
Homeless, wifeless, HaRonlesa, alone;
Not quite boskiess though. unlets choose,
With nothing left to do except 10 groan,
Not soul to WOO except the muse;
H. this is hard for me to bear,
Me that whom lived much en- hdut-
Ne, that broke all hearts. like shinaware,
Twenty golden years ago.
"Mr. Prentice quilted the Office on
christmas eve to go to the country and
pend the holidays. A few days before
lie placed in my hands long manu-
cript which he had written in his own
land. It is an autobiographic note of
he leading dales and events of his life,
md though the writing must have been
,ainful, it is neat and clear. file said
,loomily on one occasion, L hope you
won't let me snuff out like tallow can
lle;' but he had no thought of snuff
ng-out' when he brought the Christ
mas presents for little George. The
est, however, is told in line. A cold
ide of ten miles, an influenza, pneu-
nonia, weeks of prostration and death"