Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1872-10-26
AN AsToSIsHED ENGLIsHMAN.
MS ~ Morror NJ nenrlng .n"t
waldo Emerson are Negro mfn-
strels-A Corner An Pennuts.

His Horror ut Hearing that VIII
liam Cullen Bryant and Ralph
waldo Emerson are Negro mfu'
strels-A Corner I'm Peanuts.
New York Letter to Chicago Tribuno.l
The fluctuations Of fortune in this
country are so sudden, and men 80 fire.
quently change their avocations, that il
is not strange foreigners can be made
dupes in regard to the antecedent8 and
occupations of the public men.
An Englishman, quite we'll informed
for an Englishman in regard to Ameri-
ca, arrived here recently, and was much
astonishcd 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 St.
Louis, depended for subsistence upon
selling small wagon loads of wood, and,
on account of his habits, was unable to
support his family. He thought that
they who told him this we're trying to
take him in, you know" and received
the little history with exclamations of
"Walkerl Walker" Finally, con-
vinced of its truth, he was prepared to
credit anything, aud strolling through
Barclay street the other morning, OBJ
served over a small shop the sign
WILLIAM c. BRYANT, TAILOR"
" / say now" he remarked to his com
panion, journalistic wag Of some note
:" do you see that name there2 It's
the name of your favorite poet, the au-
thor OF Thanatopsis.' 1t isn't the
SINE family, dare say, now" hs
. Not only the same family" was the
reply, but the same man" s
" Is it, indeed2 Well, that's 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 became bankrupt, aud was
for some time dependent on the charity
of his friends"
Really, that is very cxs.aordi-
nary, nowl | think remember some
thing of your Mr.. Bryant's singular
career. Let me see. After he lost his
fortune, didn't he 60 into The negro MIN
strel business2 Seems TO me that have
heard of Bryant's minstSels. Devilsh
queer that great poet should black his
face and play tamborine, now, n'titw
"Oh, nol-not queer here; nothing is
queer in this country. Bryant made
great deal of money with his minstrels
by dancing the Camptown hofnpipe
every night to crowded houses"
How did he happen to be tailor,
then2" 4,
He tried to monopolise the peanut
market by getting up corner in the
trade, and again losing every dollar he
had he was forced to set up this shop in
order to make livelihood. 1q
"A corner in peanuts2" Now / don't
exactly understand that, you know. Did
he get into the corner himself, or did he
get somebody else into the eorner2 But
there's no use in my trying to under
stand such a beastly business. It's
enough to floor fellow completely, you
know, to think of great poet getting
peanuts in a corner, and then bursting
up, as you say in America, you know.
Not many of our public men do go
into the peanut trade; but the minstrel
business is quite a favorite with our
scholars and thinkers. You've heard of
Emerson, the Sage Of Concord, as he is
often called, have you not2"
Ralph Waldo Emerson2 On, yes;
he whom we name the American Car
lyle. you know. He isn't negro min
strel, is he2"
"0f course he is. He's playing here
now, and when it comes to a first-class
banjo solo, Ralph Waldo Emerson is
mighty hard to beat"
But really now" said the perplexed
Euglishman, I" | shouldn't think a man
who wrote the English Traits would be
forced to do that sort of thing. What's
the use Of being a man OF genius in
America, you know, if you have to earn
your bread and butter by playing a
banjo, you know2 This is indeed an ex-
traordinary country, and the more /
learn about it the less understand it.