St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1879-02-08

1uo 1dSL WOIh VI DdydIu Aayloi, CoA"
tanning the above lines, has hardly made
its appearance before the telegraph an
nounces the sad tidings of the death Of its
writer. 1t is but few months ago that
the venerable William Cullen Bryant
presided at the banquet given to Mr..
Taylor upon the eve Of his departure to
Berlin to assume his duties as minister
of the United States to Germay, and
delivered parting address full of kindly
feeling, to which Mr.. Taylor feelingly
responded. Since his departure, Mr.
Bryant has passed away, and the January
number of the Alta. tic Monthly contains
a poetical tribute to his memory from
Mr.. Taylor's pen, and now the latter has
gone to join his friend, and great name
has dropped out of the list of our living
writers.
The story of his life is briefly told, for
it has been mainly spent in travel and
books, and the former has been largely
utilized in the service of the latter. He
was born in Chester county, Pennsylva,
MIA, January IL, 1926, and in 1912 COM
menced his life work as an apprentice in
printing Office in West Chester. Three
wears afterward he made tour through
Europe on foot, and upon his return in
1916 published "Views Afoot, or Europe
Seen with Knapsack and Staff" which
aroused very general ambition among
tourists to travel in the same pedestrian
style. During the next year he edited a
newspaper in Phenixville, Pennsylvania,
and then went to New York, where he
became identified with the Tribune, to
which journal he has contributed more
or less ever since, and in which many of
his smaller works have made their first
appearance. In 1849 he made the tour
of California, and returned by way of
Mexico. The year 1851 was spent in the
east, and during his tour he assembled the
Nile and also traversed large portion of
Asia Minor. In 1852 he set out from
England, crossing Asia to Calcutta,
thence going to China, where he Joined
Com. Perry's' Japan expedition. In
1923 he was secretary of legation at
st. Petersburg, Simon Cameron then
being minister.
After residing some time in Germany,
for which country he had special af.
lection, he returned to his native land
and made several lecture tours, which
were remarkably successful, as few lee
turers ever had so much to say to people
that was new and entertaining, In 1874
he revisited Egypt, and IL the same year
went to Iceland to attend the Millennial
celebration, where poem of his was read.
He was sufficiently cosmopolitan by ma
ture to accommodate himself to all coun-
tries, and proba bly, no traveller has been
more loved and respected by foreigners
than he. He had welcome access to
their homes, and, being man of close
powers Of observation, he has not only
acquainted us with the general aspects
of countries, but with pictures of home
life such as few men except Auerbach
have ever drawn-with this notable ex-
ception, that while Auerbach's observa-
lions have been limited to a narrow re-
gion of his own country, Bayard Taylor
was citizen of the world and broke
bread with the people of many strange
countries. His travels have enriched
| our literature with many works.
His literary work has mot been con-
fined to books of travel. His busy pen