The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1872-10-01
An Astonished EnglIshman.

I1S horror uC nearing tHdt T2LL1un1
Cullen Bryant and Ralph Waldo En-
erson are Negro Minstrels-A Corner
IN Peanuts
tNewlYork Correspondence Chicago Tribune
The fuctuaton of fortune in this coun-
try are so sudden, and men so frequently
change their avocations, that it is not
strange foreigners can be made dupes in
regard to the antecedents and occupations
of our public men.
An Englishman, quite well informed
for an Englishman in regard to America,
arrived here recently, anu was much as.
tonished at the peculiar things he saw and
heard. He could hardly credit the story
that the president of the United States
once had small farm near 81. Louis, de-
pended for subsistence upon selling small
wagon loads of wood, and on account of
his habits, was unable to support his fam.
lily, He thought they who told him this
were trying to stake him in you know"
and received the little history with excla-
nations of "Walker ~ "Walker !" Fin
ally, convinced of its truth, he was pre-
pared to credit anything, and strolling
through Barclay street the other morning
observed ever u small shop the sign -
WILLIAM G. BRYANT, TAILOR"
81 say, now," he remarked to his COM
panion-a journalistic wag of some note
lido you see that name there? It's
the same as your favorite poet, the author
of 'Thanatopsis.' 1t isn't the same fami.
ly, dare say, now 2"
mot only the same family" was the
reply, "but the same man."
"Is it, indeed We'll, that is very
strange! thought Mr.. Bryant was a
wealthy journalist, the publisher Of one
of the great newspapers here"
"He was" answered the joker, "a few
years ago Then he owned the greater
part of the Evening Post, but he went up
to Saratoga one summer, got to drinking
champagne and betting on faro till he be-
came bankrupt, and was for sometime de.
pendent on the charity of his friends"
"Really, that is very extraordinary,
now. | think remember something Of
yonr Mr.. Bryant's singular career. Let
me see. After he lost his fortune, didn't
he 90 into the negro minstrel business ?
Seems to me that have heard Of Bry.
ants minstrels. Devilsh queer that a
great poet should black his face and play
tamborine, now isn't tt"
"Oh, no mot queer in this country.
Bryant made great deal of money with
his miustrels by dancing the Camptown
bornpipe every night to crowded houses"
"How did he happen to be a tailor,
then ?"
"He tried to monopolize the peanut
market by getting up a corner in the
trade, and again losing every dollar he
had, he was forced to set up this shop in
order to make livelihood"
"A corner in peanuts? Now | don't
exactly understand that you know. Did
he get into the corner himself, or did he
get somebody else into the corner? But
there's no use in my trying to understand
such beastly business. It's enough to
floor fellow completely, you know, to
think of a great poet getting peanuts iu a
corner, and then bursting up as you say
in America, you know"
"Not many Of our public men do 60 in.
to the peanut trade; but the minstrel
business is quite favoritc with our
scholars and thinkers. You've heard Of
Emerson the Sage of Concord, as he is
often called, have you not p
"Ralph Waldo Emerson Oh, yes
he whom we name the American Carlyle,
you know. He isn't a negro minstrel, is
he ?"
"Of course he Is. He's playing here
now, and when it comes to first-class
banjo solo, Ralph Waldo Emerson, is
mighty hard to beat"
"But really, now," said the perplexed
Englishman, II shouldn't think man
who wrote the English Traits would be
forced to DO that sort Of thing. What's
the use of being man of genius in Amer
lea, you know, if you have 20 earn your
bread and butter by playing bloody
banjo, you know? This is indeed an ex.
traordinary country, and the more learn
about it the less | understand it,"