New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-08-29
9Ohp and HIS poUeLE.
6Y q W. DUEFIELfh


with its honors and dishopOrs, and by Il
help of the legislature to begin anew. Fl
there was born ct about the same time wit
myself . young man whose parents CAV
him the very name my parents gave to M
The TOdds are an old and honorable famiI,
but by eOme whim, to make me separat
and distinct among them, was entitle
DrOmio-tbe pseudo Anthony-had draw
the came prize from the wheel of fate.
was to he we'll educated. School pr
ceded college, and college preceded tn
profession Of law. Az Anthony Todd ha,
my fair share Of success. There was.a ces
tain ''taking" character to my name whicl
was in my favor. / was never blessed o
Cursed with nickname. And by my
label in the great cabinet of humankind
l. might rs easily be gold as quartz N,
success became impossible by reason O.
the fact that my father and mother
had made mistake in nomenclature. Had
they marked me "Coal," I should have
burned down quietly in the furnace of life
Had been .christened "Malschite. !" might
have risen to Russian royalty. But plain
Anthony Todd" meant neither one thing
nor the other. A scholar, poet, financier,
. statesmap-nay, even doctor of divinity
a. If the name and the pursuit fitted we'll
Meanwhile, growing up, can't tell how
land wish never need have thought about
it,, was my alter ego, the aforesaid spurious
Anthony Todd. But he kept his light under
. bushel, and no one knew of him.
Let me fee-it was after had graduated
from Columbia College Law School and
had entered my uncle's Office in New York
City. About this date acollege classma.e
dropped into the office with paper, en-
claiming:
"Why. Todd, I really congratulate you!
Didn't know you wrote verses, old boy.
Knew yoR wrote contounded good Eng
lish, but wasn't prepared tor this, ! must
took the paper. It was the Evsnino
Post, in which Mr.. Bryant is popu-
larry supposed to care for the poetical tone.
And there l certainly saw an "Ode on
Italian Liberty" with my name as that Of
its author.
When 1 look back see at this verv
moment made the blunder which has cost
me 30 dear. Harrington, my clsssmate,
WAS an inveterate joker-s rhymester Of
more than ordinary pQwer.-and it flashed
into my mind that certain things in the
poem made it desirable to take the edge
from his joke. II he had given me the
glory Of his own production it would feil
his stratsgem if failed to he surprised. So
] smiled, and said to him:
''There isn't much difference between
good prose and good verse;"
"But did you really write it! Because, BE-
Siously, its uncommonly nice-sort Of super.
80! come now, Harrington; I'm nervous
about fret attempts. Don't bother me. Be-
sides, I'm b1ey-got case in court -"
"Bah! Garry law books, you mean. Look
here, this is good deal more valuable than |
law books or cases in court. Eonfound it |
all, can't You comprehend that you're the |
and hammer it into your stupid 6esd!'-
Well, this was certainly carrying Joke |
some distance, but l was sure of the Joke, |
So the more he praised the |
more simpered about it; and he went away,
convinced that when man did achieve
literary success i: aesuredly made an ass of
him. Yet the success remained in spite of
its author.
i heard of that lode" so often that I took
paine to read it through. 1t was largely
after the manner of Swinburne, ewit6 q
dull glow OF fieshy color striking up
through its fervor, suggesting the Rome
Of the decadence, and the luxurious.
ness Of Pompeiisn aristocracy. In
fact, should not have liked to read il
aloud before some Of my lady friends.
snll, l found they did NOT get possession of
1
most interestingly wicked personaee-cslm
outside but volcanic within. / became q
ion, and understood practically Horace's |
remark about the
Aonstrari disito &C dicier. 1ic este
Light whispers attended me. and 7 wa.
waited along BY them upon the perfumed
waves of "gOod society,""
Now, l would have Won observe that
} mans public 10 not st best q yerv Largo
many . feeble taper casts
to rays into . charmed circle totally IN
conscious of some other equally brilliant
in some other circle equally
harmed. And to confess it, Twas sSining
I the expense of . very different tallow.
lip called Anthony Todd. But plead in
attenuation two circumstances. First, I
,.ccepted homage. but never claimed it OF
ought it, or said in 60 many words, II am
no author" Secondly, / really had no
nowledge Of the existence of any other
Anthony Todd than myself, and still sup-
osed this to be the joke of my jovisl friend
harrington, who took every pains and care
spread my fame, and 80 encouraged the
bought.
A few more of my butterflies took wing I
leanwhile. | ought to confess that had I
led verse after the "Ode" appeared. and
I'd totally failed inside the limit of: three
ncs:t Wherefore when the name of An
,cny Todd became moro common property.
I'D even lsy down gently in the green pcs.
Tres of the cover Of Putnam's MontAtv-I 4
ut truly democratic magazine-I grew b
mewhat uneasy. q
How glad was that I had not. to q
rite in albums like Charles Lamb and G;
,m Hood. and was not .pessered for b
ltogrephs ike Tennyson and LongfeI + L
=. Yet with D. faint fragrance of b,
rupture to my thought, ] doubted
'ereunto this would grow" BECAME q