Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1872-02-08
llAL1cE CARY.

shAkSE Oany.
AAef TIN svees singer passed awsy
nesspaper gossipa- - they will ssme
times. took mp certain old and half.for
gotten stories. In which her name vas con
sseeed. with that Of . person once vel
kno1n in literaryNcircles. and rehearscs
them in the public ear. From what y,
know Of the man himself, No never be
lieved il possible for woman like Alic.
Cary to have any feeling toward him high
er than gratitude for sesvice rendered
and we always felt something o. -yNtn N
rePulsioR whenever We heard theirnsso
assoeiaasa. ssS : - 4 -
1t was, therefore. wi.h feeling ofdce,
satisfaction that we read. in the Iadspen
dent, from the pen Of Mrs Mary Clem.
mer Ames. the true story Of her love and
live. Here it is:
''1f q public career comes to . woman.
" woman. the secret almost always lies In
the story Of her heart. Alice Cary wa.
born a singer Whit,ier's words Of he,
are tenderly true:
lquerried not with destinv;
knew the trial and the need.
Yet all the more | said, God speedr
Had she been happy wife and moth.
or. her song would not have been less.
but gladder. But it was not the faculty
divine. it was the inexorable facts Of fate
that made her writer hy profession.
Had she married the man whom she low
ed. she would never have come to New
York at all. to coin the rare gift. of her
brain and soul into money for shelter and
bread. Phoebe Cary, in her touching
sketch Of her sister. Alice. written last
Spring. says Of her: If in her mortal
life she ever felt any deeper or holier af-
fection than that for her kindred. excep,
in dreams Of poesv. she rolled the stone
over the youth of its dead sepulchre. and
sealed it with everlasting silence. Among
the things hallowed by her use there was
not left a single relic which could reveal
such secret. And so. knowing there
was oM chamber in her heart kept by her
always as n safe and sacred sactuarv mine
Is surely not the hand to lift from it now
the solemn and eternal curtain of the
past"
yet; no less because Of these words.
sacrilegious hands have rudely attempted
to lift it. The sanctuary Of that pure
heart is ruthlcssly invaded even in the
grave, A story under the title of the
Unknown Love Of Alice Cary in the
newspapers. is still travelling through the
length of the land. 1t asserts that in her
youth she was afsianced TO Rufus w. Girls.
void ; that he was false to her-forsak;ng
her for a woman Of the world that. long
after. when lie returned to New York.
friendless. poor. and sick, she forgave
him tic great wrong that he had done,
and nurscd him till he died This story,
in many conflicting phases. was often, to
her great annoyance. told OF her during
her life. The fact that Rufus ". Girls
void did in his last will bequeath to her
his personal effects was made much Of in
print and in private circles, and used as
an unanswerable proof that 4. one time he
bad been her lover Within n week I
have read in letter 10 the New York
Erening Post that the will proved the love
and relationship between the two person.
beyond doubt. Yet no less. in it's faun-
dations, the story is false Referring to
it once, while We two sat alone together,
Alice said to me: L will tell you just
the truth. If YOU ever think it nccessa-
ry. you can tell it l believe il to be but
justice to her sacred life. with which idle
gossip is yet too busy. to tell i, now.
bereavement; in death AMI in life had
made her Western home too desoIate to be
borne. These. with tile impulse Of the
brave will that served her to the last,
brought her to New York to make not the
life that she would have chosen for her
self, yet life worthy to be lived. L.
norance stool me in the stead of courage. :
she said. Had | known the great world
as ! have learned it since, | should no,
have dared but | didn't. Thus | came. ;
The leading li,erateur at that time was
DR.. Rufus W. Griswold. lie had com.
piled the books called The Female Prose
Writers and the Female Poets of Aneri
ca He was sharply on the lookout for
every new genius in literature that ap-
peared. He had visited the sisters in their
Ohio home. and in 1850 obtained a pub
Usher for their FIRST volume. and had ad
aed both their names with selections from
their poems to his own Poets of America.
He knew everything necessary to their
success in the sphere Of labor they had
chosen. while they practically knew mex,
to nothing. He encouraged and helped
them in many ways, and thus commanded
their gratitude.
''For Alice 81 ineur . debt Of gratitude
was to pay it. if at the COS, Of her life
Yet even the good will of one type of man
TO woman is oftcn a misfortune. Her
soul may be white as snow, vet he can
not take her innocent name upon his lips
without smirrhing it with somewhat, of his
own rilencss. His vanity has been fa,-
tered by idle women. till copgsea has be-
come not only the habit. bat the neccssi-
y, OF his morbid and miserable soul till.
where he knows he has not Won it. he vet
is base enough TO boas, Of il. Such IN an
Judging ty every record lcf; Of him. was
Rufus W. GriswoId.
He was a man Of poetic temperament.
Of fine scholarship. of generous impulses.
and, in certain directions, Of rare gifts,
yet no less be was q man of ickle fancies.
Of violent temper which often fell upon
bis dearest friends. Of mous,rous vanity.
and Of ungovernable passions. L was nes-