The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1881-10-07

Inc Boston AdUertjSer says: Many
years ago young man, barely twenty
one, living in a Western State, had sent
poem to MIR. Willis, then in the height
of his fame. To this day he remembers
the thrill with which he broke the dainty
waxen seal--it was before the DAVIS Of
envelopes rushed into the yard,
under the shade Of great beech tree,
to read the letter. 1t was upon one of
the ample sheets of the olden times,
and had been written with a dashing
quill pen that would have been bettered
by sharpening. But Abou Ben Adhem,
when he saw his name in characters of
gold, could not have felt more delighted.
The letter has more than a personal
interest. 1t gives view of the labors
and hardships of literary men forty years
ago, which will be contemplated with
something like wonder by the present
generation. But the elders know the
wretched picture is not in the least exag-
gerated. There was little appreciation
of literature, and no adequate reward
for the author. 1t was the era of mil
liners magazines, and writer's got only
the cline words " that ''butter no paTs-
nips." It was the time when Haw-
thorne could describe himself as the
"obscurest man of letters in America.
The bulk of literary achievement and
nearly all literary renown were yet to
come. The charm of the letter is in its
genial and hearty sympathy, and its
wise and gracefully turned council. Few
authors find time to reply, as Willis did,
to such epistles, and few have had the
taste and feeling both to inspire such a
one as this. If there is any satisfaction
in the grateful recollection of lifetime,
Willis might have deemed himself re
compensed for his kind words to an I'M
known youth. <s.a
81. WASHINGTON, April %, 1916.
My DEAR SIR-Your letter forwarded to ne
here, is just received, and 1 hasten TO comply
with your request though young poets ask adj
vice very much as lovers do. after they arc
irrevocably engaged. In the first place, how
ever. I should always advise against adopting
the literary profession for at best, it is like
making wagon-traces of your hair, wholly in
sufficient for wants which increase as the power
gives way. Your poetry [We, no matter
about that j! The poem was jGdiciously con-
demned by the writer thereof many years ago,
and duly suffered an auto dd fe. And as he
was never BuitJ Oh any subsequent lnUlScfe-
ton of that nature, it is not necessary now to
quote (and controversy Mr. Willis ilattering
Representation =. but there are many men OF
the same calibre who would go on and starye,
up to the empty honor of being remembered
first when dead, were it not that they could
turn their more common powers to account,
and live by meaner Industry. Poetry is an
angel IN y0au' breast, and yOW had better not
turn her osd to be yootr maid Of all agOrb AS
m that IL VERY
done with, as matter of profit The COM
petition for notoriety alone gives the editors
more than they can use. You could not sell
piece of poetry now in America. The literary
avenues are all oVer-crowded, and YOU can not
live by the pen, except as a drudge to a news
paper. Notwithstanding all this, you will
probably try it and all can say is, you shall
have my sympathy and what aid L can give
you. If you should come to New York, and
will call on me, [ shall be happy to say more
than have time to write. Yours, very truly,
Esss=E- n p Mills.