New-York tribune., 1879-01-30
Tributes TO BAYARD TAILOR.
THE GOETHE CLUB MEMORIAL MEETING.

ADDRESSES BY PARKE GOODWIN, THE REV. o. B'
FRorHINGHAM, v. c. sTEDMAN. THE REV. Dr.
OsG0oD AND OTHERS.
The Goethe Club paid its memorial tribute
TO Baya Taylor last evening" at steeks aii' NO IL
Eas Fourteentn-st Every seat In the cheerful aud-
tOrum occupied. Among those present were farho
Goodwin yce-president of the club who presided o. b.
rockingham, Mr.. and Mrs. Edmund C. Stedman' Will
| lam Winter, the Rev. Dr. Samuel Osgood' Genefai
James Grant Wilson, Mr.. and Mrs. John ElderRln'
| tae Rev VIM I. Clarke, Mr.. and Mrs sandford
r. Clifford. Mrs. Wallace, Miss McCullocn Mr. ana Mrs'
Samuel p. Avery, MISS Augusta Larned, Mr' ana mrs
Francis b. Carpenter Mrs Sophie Mapes Toies Mf' anu
Mrs Richard H. StOddard Mrs Martha " Lamb MoriH
| Grossman, Mr.. and Mrs. Putnam. The walls were
tasefully Iraped and fine bust Of BayaId Taylor was
placed on q pedestal In front OF the platform.
Parke Goodwin I'm opening the meeting said " seeined
on brief time since tue club had assembled to con-
cratulaIe Its honorary member, Bdyard Taylor on an
appointment winch did honor alike to the Government
and the recipient and TO speed him on his way to one
OF the most brilliant courts Of Europe. "There
was present then he said, the foremost poet
pubcst citizen OF the country rendering trlDnte 10
II brother post Bryant /, more. His venerable form
has disappeared; 10 more can wisdom be drunK from
his Attic ps Taylor, too, is dead But the two poets
are not wholly with the dead that which remains time
will ,mnemoia,e and embalm; their noble fame has
become immortal 1t IL again my duty to speak
a lew months beOre this time not to Bayatd IaSIoi
but of HIM. They who have read his poetry will mourn
that so exuberant fountain should have failed; they
who have read his history Will mourn that 80 pure an
example is no mOre-Bayard Taylors friends VIII
mourn for that friendly grasp, that CHEEKY voice.
tnat ready sympathy. characteristic OF him.
vii he felt again. He was not man OF tbe
highest order OF not one OF the few ike Homer
Dante, Shakespeare Milton, Goethe; nor one
Of the other few OF exquisite and delicate
fncy Ike Burns. Tennyson. and Bryant. His
hiOn
excertional talent, cOnsecrated to noble aims His writ
mgs possess the stamp Of originality and high degree
excellence sincerity is their most obvious quality
He only what he thought and felt. He never af-
fected IA sentiment a style. He used hs powers for
the utmost good as he saw it,"
At the close OF his speech Mr.. Godwln
said letters of regret had been received from
p esdent Hayes. Secretary Evarts Dr. Oliver
Wendell Holmes. Whiteaw Reid, George William Curtis,
President Andrew d. White Of Cornell the Rev. Dr.
| Henry W. Bellows, John BIgeOw and Colonel Thomas
" Hggnson The latter suggested that the club should
present Bayard Taylors translation OF Faust 10 the
library in Wemar. Gnethe's home, as he had noilc'd
the translation absent from the library shelves
. T. e &c re- % .rPae % coinciepce mat tw clubs so M
| like in purposes as the Century cub and the Goethe
] Club, shOu Il have brought III The suace or
| few months tribntes o regret 70 TWO men
the most distinguished IN American letters
| william Cullen Bryant and Bayard Taylor Ot the
Goethe Club. Mr.. Taylor was never an active member,
because he q very busy mau al q had no time Tor
|
| pr, Gmnenty a Of Letters. His warnest friends
| through life were literary men Books were his
| not ambitious OF power wealth or fame except as
| these wefecentred IN letters His reputation is that
wneicVer he went tnat he was man of letters, anu
that what he to be rcproduc, with ACCURACY OF
observation. perfect svmDathy and sincerity; MANY
years ago, wren living aother city, Bayard Tt, lor
| came there TO eciurr on Moscow | sald TO him, You
the people like TO see the walked across the
| Continent but they don't for the lecture
aFmed fT iH0 by pe SIMPLICITY Of his delivery and
tne xcernce OF his discourse. said TO him, Your
art in lectuTing is just like that OF Frederick thurchs
| II panurg' tod him how, recently, IN ChurchS stu
o wre S@% ns Inc before t TOh m upon o work o M
had II ali IN the retina OF his eye ana was putting
IL TRSs TSi1 Sas not the method of genius: it
WAS piece OF copying. That's IT, said hr. Taylor
the way to do. IL TO put down everything you see
His writings product Of conscientious talent
aud indomable Persey' rance In the translation
this. HID he been aiming at money or iane @ be would @
critics lad not done justice Goethes crownine work
| He would not stop short of symmetrical whole
He loved his craft He made study or The literary
form IN ali us p.lsSes One Of the most touehihg
tributes to Bayfd Tay or was was lnado 6y & the
a orinter', boy while the Emperor and princes and
scholars off RUG their tributes In Berlin, t1e print
| the dearest and sweetest tribute OF all As writer
ward Taylor touched al sides o his art aud OF life.
cabie. He was one o, the meD least TO ,P pe
genus hut because on the highest plane OF letters he
displaV ed all tue determination OF man OF business
HIS death WAS uiemaIure, bitter disappointment,
| miserable NH fortune. He In the prhe OF life,
mt,c past iy, with consttu ion OF iron. and seemed
| built fOi Il man to last II century,"
Edmund {. SedmdD, O Mr.. TaylOTs poet friends,
s,,d /: Art never seems long nd time feenng
to author and poet appointed TO live during the
| our own IL is part OF their task to MAKE
! easy paths for their successors OF o more
favored time. This necessity brought them closer
gether. When Bayard Taylor died We said the lights
were gong OUi that It growing dark ana lonesome
alive and earnest among us that we fet ne
cud not be spared. Bsyard Taylor, least of all, had
| patience WI Ii 0espOndency. He believed that Ia
the n1Ditude OF lie there no waste.
1t is difficult to classify the genius OF such
nature. He had successes or q KIND
wnch often wais upon mere talent and these often
Eimpcded his progress. Few poets woud nave excelied
IN If he had restricted himself to song alone. Before
he could the work be lOngd to do he was forced to
row the straw 10 make h's bricks. 1t seemed ~
II the time was nearing when he could sit down
10 the cherished work OF his life. believe
that he had lived he would have produced WORKS es
tabsifng the gen claim for him. II he did not live
t. great master. he was nevertheless The great
est of pupils"
The Rev. Horace n. Powers, OF Bridgeport, sent
poem which was read by the R"v. Dr.. OsgOOd. Tue
latter said that Mr.. Powers believed thai Bayatd Tdv
Ior a of great genius and that ms last pOem
DeukahOn," had the promise of immortal fame. Cen
the poem,
Say not the poet dies,
Though IN the dust he lies"
The Rev. William I. Clarke made "a few remarks in
conclusions declaring that Bayard TAYLOR had impaired
! it.f1 tUpln "a