Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-08-07
The Uutold Love of Alice Gary.

g.
Alice Cary lived and died maiden queen Of
poesy. 1t has seemed to many impossible that
She should have carried her tender and passion
ate heart through the social and literary
thoroughfares wherein she was called to tread
unpierced by any amorous shaft. And it was
indeed impossible. There is a secret page OF
the history of the deceased poetess which has
never been written, and seldom, of late years,
been told. To this Phebe Cary briefly and in
definitely alludes in the sketch published in the
Ladies' Repository of last month, and widely
copied. The writer says substantially therein
that if her sister ever loved there is no line in
her published works to- tell the tale; over the
mouth of the sepulcher of her sad experience
she rolled the stone never by herself removed.
closes the truth 1t seems intended to stop flying
rumors, while refraining from an UNI
equivocal and impossible denial. As the
story can only serve as foil TO the
many virtues and amiable qualities OF
its subject, we need no further excuse for our
effort 10 rescue the fragmentary record from
the oblivion to which the mistaken and morbid
kindness of friends would fain consign 1t.
When the Cary sisters made their first pilgrim
grimage TO the eastern literary Mecca, Rufus
Wilmot Griswold was among their earliest ac-
Quaintances. This gentleman was a prominent
literateur when men of letters was less numer-
Gus in New York than at present. He was born
in Benson, VT, in 1915, and was, consequently,
but about five years the senior of the elder sis
ter. Having been educated as printer, he be-
came successfully a Baptist preacher, a jour-
nalist and an author. As an editor he presided
over the destinies of the Brother Jonathan and
the New World, mammoth weeklies; the New
Yorker, celebrated literary hebdomadal, and
Graham's and the International magazines. To
the first monthly mentioned he added consider
able character The last resembed Har-
pers Monthly, and was brought out by the
owners of that magazine after brief existence.
In the wider field Of letters he should be spoken
of rather as compiler than as an author. He
published various collections of the prose and
poetry of England and America, and, in connec-
ton with other authors, several works Of popu-
lar biography. No one was better acquainted
with the state of the literary market, or with
the publishers of the metropolis, than Mr.. Girls
void. The two rural devotees of literature from
the far west were strangers, and needed chap
erone. He came to the rescue. He gave them
space in his book, flattered them, encouraged
their hopes, and assisted in finding market for
their wares Toward Alice he more especially
inclined. Their first acquaintance ripened into
friendship, friendship into intimacy, and init
macy into love. 1t was said at last that
the parties were solemnly atfianced. This was
nearly twenty years ago, and Alice had
then passed 30. He was still older, and would
seem to have passed the bounds of juvenile folly,
if those bounds are ever passed by man. But
he was bldSe citizen Of the world, and she was
quiet, retired, sensitive, domestic, and unassum-
ing. Trouble came between the two in the
shape of woman of society externally more
attractive than Alice Cary. This HGson pro-
duced separation. The engagement was bro
ken, and Alice, concealing her sorrows, kept
herself more closely at home, and turned her
attention more assiduously to her special labors.
The story needs not to be fully detailed here. II
has been told over and over again, ever since
the world has had literature. Several years
passed. and in 1857 Rufus Wilmot GriswOld lay
dying of lingering disease in the metropolis,
in poverty and alone. His literary ven
lures had brought inadequate remu.
neration, and he had lived a life which
it was not altogether pleasant to look back upon
But the sisters had made many friends, and
been reasonably blessed by fortune. The in
iured woman forgot her wrongs and forgave
the past with a readiness characteristic of hel
SEX She came again to the bedside of the man
who had so grievously deceived her, and watched
with him day after day and week after week as
life slowly ebbed away. The sick room was
made cheerful with books, flowers, and all neces
sary comforts; and, to defray the necessary ex
penses, the money earned by days and nights Of
labor with the pen was freely lavished. AT last
death ended the sufferings of the false lover and
the grave closed over the secret of woman'S
sorrow, now for the first time made public,