The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1873-02-28
HORACE GREELEY.
a Tribute by Bayard Taylor.

"ueA was Doy OF nineteen. / APP
piled to him for an engagement to write
letters to the Tribune from Germany.
His reply was terse enough. 'sNo de-
scriptive letters 70 he said - 1 am sick
of them. When You have been there
long enough to know something, send to
me, and If there is any thing in your
letters, 1 will publish them" 1 waited
nearly year, and then sent seventeen
letters, which were published. They
were shallow enough, suspect; but
= what might they not have been without
his warning?
Toward the end Of 1S47, while 1 was
engaged in the unfortunate enterprise
of trying to establish weekly paper in
Phanixville, Pennsylvania, I wrote to
hirn-fore-seeing the failure of my hopes
asking his assistance in procuring
Literary work in New York. He advised
me (as 1 suspect he advised thousands
Of young mem to stay in the country.
But had stayed IN the country a year
too long so another month found me
in New York, IN his Office, with my
story OF disappointment, and my re-
peated requests for his favorable infiu-
ence. :" I think you are mistaken, " he
said &C bat viii bear you in mind if
hear of any chance"
Six weeks afterwards, to my great
surprise, (for suppose he had quite
forgotten me- he sent for me and offer
ed me place on the Tribune. I work
ed hard and necessarily during the sum-
mer of 1848, hearing never a word of
communication or encouragement but
one day in October he suddenly came
to my desk, laid his hand upon nv
shoulder and said You have been
faithful but now you need rest. Take
a weeks holiday, and go into New Eng
land. " obeyed, and found, on my re-
turn, that he had ordered my salary to
be increased
1 think none of his associates, Mt that
time, ever wrote line which he did
not critically read. His comments
sometimes seemed rough. but they were
always wholesome, and almost invaria-
bly, just. Once he called me into his
room, pointed to poem of mine which
had just appeared in literary maya
zine, and abruptly asked: "Why did
You publish that gassy stuff ?" Nv
Indignation was even greater than my
establishment. I retorted fierceIy ::
81 Mr.. Greeley, should feel hurt by
your question, if I had any respect
whatever for your Judgment in regard
to poetry p He smiled a sad, forgiv-
ing smile, and said nothing. Years af-
terward i saw that he was right the
poem was only a piece OF sounding
rhetoric, for which ''gassy" was perhaps
a coarse but certainly not an inappro-
pirate epithet. In this, as in other re-
spects. the discipline to which he sub
jected me was excellent if not the re-
suit of his intellectual perception, it
manifested an instinct even more re-
markable.
Two pictures, illustrative of the man,
remain with me from that first year.
One, an afternoon in the little editorial
office under the roof; Mr.. Greeley bend.
ing over the yellow transfer-paper on
which telegraphic dispatches We're writ.
ten The light from the window fell
upon the top of his head, which pre-
sented It's full circumference to as he
leaned down. I was looking at it, va.
cantfv, when saw fiery scarlet flush
from his neck and temples like wave
and flood the white crown. The Mex
moment ne rose, threw back his head
and uttered a fearful shrek For {
minute, nearly, I thought him mad
BE flung his hands up and down, cried
cit has come 1t has come r ant
laughed in half-delirious ecstasy
Tt was the news of passage of the Viii
mot Proviso.
Another day, his little son Arthur
whose exquisite features, blue eyes
and golden hair remain in my memory
as a more angelic apparition than am
cherub-faee which Raphael ever painted
came into the Office to meet him, on hi
return from journey. When he saw
the boy he gave a similar shrek, caugh
him under the arms, tossed him aloft
and finally clagped him to his breas
with a wordless outcry of passionat
love and Joy, so intense that I almos
shuddered to hear it. I felt then tina
had caught one of the clues to cor
rect understanding of his nature; tina
he was powered with a love of love,
which, in this reticent world, feels il
self to be something akin to weakness
and often feigns its opposite in order t
mask its presence. He did not not sec
nor do the most so lowered see, ths
strength. have had many difference
of opinion with Mr.. Greeley, but I ca
conscientiously declare that There wa
none of them which did not hnall
draw me the closer to him. A littl
moro than year ago he published a
article which 1 thought unjust to a. Coz
eminent official, who is an intimate pei
sonal friend of mine. wrote to bin
at once Directing to his views, an
claiming, at least, suspension of Iude
mcnt He replied, giving his reason
for the unfriendly criticism, yet, as
thought, according too little weight {
my contrary representations. wrot
again. and more earnestly than befor
SO earnestly, indeed, that, after til
letter was dispatched, felt that b
might have reason to feel offended {
some Of the expressions it contained
4