Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1879-03-06

I 0o u1c W AIu q puOIlSueTs w zen ! re
quested to see the manuscript foun
to my establishment that he had n
manuscript prepared. He did not eve
possess copies of all his poems But h
drew from his pocket a worn an,
crumpled roll of newspaper-cutting
which contained perhaps half of them
Ihereupon produced copies of two O
three which I had been rereading Jus
before leaving home. He found on
years.
''This, Lizzie" said he to his wife, 81
one you have never heard" and i'm
mediately he began to read it IN Low
musical voice, while his face lighted u,
with a sudden glow, and it was eviden
that he was far away from the little
chamberlain away in Dreamland
whittier he had gone by way of the
campfire and picket-line where he haC
first scratched the verses"
Of many letters that he wrote, Mr.
Johnson prints but one, from which We
thus extract:
NEW YORK, May II, 1878-DEAr
FRIEND: Your good, kind letter, with
its Enclosure from the editor Of
reached me duly, but this is the first
moment in which have had heart OF
leisure to reply. l am weighted with
burdens that almost kill-that may kill
soon,-and you must pardon me that !
unburden myselfto you thus uninvited-
| ly.
IL told YOU that my wife and children
had gone into the country. They are
back here now,-wife and boy, that is
to say, : the triplets being in charge of
the Children's Hospital, New Brighton,
Staten Island. Two weeks ago last
Thursday wife and children went thith-
| er.
"Last Monday [ received written no
tice that they would keep the children
if desired, but that, inasmuch as my
wife did not come within the scope of
the institution, must remove her. On
Friday | brought my wife back. She is
utterly helpless. l have nursed her
and my boy and have cooked and swept
as best | could. [ have expended all
the money ofwhich [ am possessed in
the world, VITA the exception of some
S.. l have paid the rent of our little
room for the current month. We have
left the dear little triplets down there.
1t was case Of imperative necessity.
Il thank you very deeply for all your
goodness. But you can judge how i'm
possible it has been for me; In this cul-
minative stress, to do any worthy
work. Sometimes [ fear l am losing
my grip or myself Do you know of
anybody inthe city who would give me
hundred ora hundred and fifty dol
lars, cash Gown, for the sole right and
title to ALL nay have written?" If [
could get hundred and fifty dollars for
my verses, L would send Lizzie to a hos
pital and tke for myself a second-class
ticket to San Francisco at once. [
should take my boy with me, and Liz
zle would come as soon as I could
send for he and she was able TO travel.
/ will tdl you when see you the
| reasons why | am so DESTROYS to get
far away, fa1 away. They are not
base ones, hut shall never be able to
do that of Which [ am capable of in the
east,-at lest, not until certain per-
son dies; ad you know it is written
that the god die first Out in San
Francisco can find work and recover
my poise.
[ never thought to have
breathed tese privacies to a living
man, butt am in an agony of appre-
hension al dread concerning the i'm
mediate flure of my wife and child
unless l ca somehow manage to sell
nay poor wses fCr the sum I have
named. LIQUID sell them for ticket
to San Fraiisco and hundred dollars.
Ad pray, dear sir, do not
permit anpart of these imposing con-
tidences to ct into the newspapers,-t
at least WHEEL live"
"The net ime [ saw Realf." saws
Mr.. JohnsO, he was fiat on his back,
and his fac, overed with cloth. But
for the vote nat came from beneath it
and the rad extended to meet my
own, [ mig have thought he had
found that rt which now seemed the
only one forim. He had caught the
disease of theyes from his little boy,
and was suffing acutely."
He was diharged from the hospital
on June IL, I'd as soon as practicable
started for N Francisco, whittier
passes had ba procured.
There he W appointed to place in
the mint by IN. John F. Miller, COM
mander undo whom he had served |
during the W; Late in October he |
was getting rms ready for his children
and their moer, when, on a Sunday
afternoon, irWalked the evil thing |
from which hlad fled, and coolly an
nounced that e had come to stay. A |
terrific scene sued.
The next dhe attempted suicide by |
laudanum, bUlid not take enough. A
second atteml however, on Monday |
night was sucssful. Between the two
attempts he pte this poem, the last
agOnized cry tortured and harried
life, q life woly of fame and fortune
but marked 1.-The fates for overwheim-
ing disaster:
" De ne0rtuis niisi 6onun1." When
For me the epas come and am dead,
And little mountaineering DAVIS of men
Peck at me cpusly. let it then be said,
| By some one bra enough to speak the truth
Here lies a CIT soul Kill ed by cruel wrong
Down all the bay days of his fresh youth
To his bleai1esolate noon, with sword and |
| song
And speech tn rushed by holly from the heart.
! He wrOughtr liberty; till his own wound
| (He had been Srbed), concealed with painful art
| Through waSu years, mastered him. and he
! swooned.
And sank Their wre you see him lying now,
| With the work allure written ON his brow
| But say thathe cceeded. / he missed
| Worlds h)no and worlds plaudits and the
wage
! or the worlcs 1T lacuueys. still his lps were
| kissed
Daily by the high angels who assuage
The thlrstlnsf he for he was
Born unto aghg-and burden lay
Nightly on b. and he mourned because
he could nri,htly utter to this day
what God Tight in the night. Sometimes,
nathless
Power fell OF him, and bright tongues of
flame.
| And l /