The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1882-05-25
A Poet Who Was i Hero.

In all the range Of literary biography
/ one comes across very few lives SO full
Of quiet, unvaunted self denial and hero.
ism Of that of Robert Southey, Poet
Laureate of England from ISL B 4atilhlais
death in 1843. He was an humble
Christian and self-sacrifice was the law
of his life. He married his wife when
he was SO poor that he could hardlyFbuy
the wedding ring, because her cfrcum.-4
stances were unhappy, and he.9who
loved her, wished to be allowed to send.
her al the money he could make during
an approaching absence of six months.i
From that time he lived for her and their
children, rather than himself. s'fah ssai
I But he did not live for them alone.
Coleridge had married Mrs. Southey,s
sister, and Coleridge was the typical
poet OF the old satirists.--toop peetieai for
the prose duties Of life. ID He went away.
and left his wife and children on
Southey's hands, and sSouthey worked
for them just as, cbeerfully. as fofshis
own. When he had but, little, he lived
upon that little; for he had d clear
conscience in the matter oil 4debt.sFjis T.,
In the year 1921 he had become the
I possessor of six hundred and twenty
five pounds {about. $3s s0O0}. Il He was.
| then forty years old. This sum
trof money was all that he had saved
through his hard working life Ibis sole,
dependence in case Of illness, or when
helpless old age should come. sirzsasl 10
| But no sooner had he congratulated
| himself on its possession than he heard
of the nlisfortunes Of his friend, j ohm
May to whom he had formerly been sin-.
| debted for much kindness. MAY had
suddenly lost his alL9 si5SAzs'ss ssts 2Eu
! Instantly Southey'.s mind WAS made
| up. He wrote to May thus:
/ 80 By this same post I am writing tos
Bedford, desiring him to transfer to yose
| SIX hundred and twenty-five pounds in
the 'Three-per-cents / wish 1t was more,
and that had more at my command ia.
my way. / shall have in the, spring,
when am paid for the first volume OF
my Z history .agyg
He goes on to urge May to visit him-.-
to ''come to Keswick, and lay ii pleas
| ant store of recollections. One can
hardly read this letter without. tears. in
| ones eyes. $500 l'sA' @A~ - 4aa4As9 =
1 What other man ever lived twho, af
forty-seyen, would have transferred to an.
| unfortunate friend all the accumulations.
| of his life and neither asked oil hepeda
/ for return, or considered 1hegdeed as one,
about which it was possible to hesitate?
| Yet Sotlthey made no parade of liisf
affections or his friendships. Heiwfote2
once to Coleridge:.
2 Your feelings go naked Il cover
ilmine with q bear skin;I will not say that,
| you harden yours by your treatment of
them, but j am sure that mine are
warmer for their clothing. Il ssaas asgA i
He lived for others up to the very end
of his life. In 1884 terrible niaIadv
which had long been assailing his beloved
wife reached its crisis. and he wrote to a
friend who was as nearto him rs his own
| household 4.,s*. fss..a "a. ss ss,r i
Z" | have been parted from my wife BY
something worse than death. Forty wears
| she has been the life. of my life, and Z
| have left her this day in aslunatic asy.
lum.' s3FSsgs Is ags5ss8H I'D Efssa
Thank God that after year of treat,
ment in the asylum he was able to bring
| her back again to wear out the rest idf
| her sad days in her own home. This
| lCoeoiCe1 W kOutuCJ SUult IucttSuTG Oh
hope and cheeifulness, for ssthrough the
weary dream which was now MRS.,
1 Southey's life, she always knew him,
! and took pleasure in his presence. The
strong arm on which she had leaned for
| forty-two years supported her down
sfairs each day, and bore her up again
at evening. sysast ID gsgss:7sYsg fsga oSis II
In 1885. she died; and though, when
1 she had been dead nearly four years,
/ Southey married Caroline Bowles, then
| a woman of .fifty-two, it was rather as a
Trefuge for the cold solitude Of old aee
than with hope Of anything like happis
ness. Happiness had been buried with
I her whom he had Called the life of his
life, and whons in l843. eight wears after
her death, he went gladly to rejoin. 4,
There were far greater poets among
Southey's contemporaries than he but
where, among all the, poets who have
ever lived, shall we look for truer or
nobler manpn 1 sH hi f5fl atia 1
+ He could truly say, 81. ;,.,, !; !
4 "a ss; My thoughts are with the dead. Anon
My place with them shall be. Ill E0 9s
Ii And with them shall travel on
| Through all eternity, 8aI9 f4EtA wsxSe
f. II Yet leaving name, trust,
That will not moulder in the dust III g mn Il
1F0eI - Yoatths Companion. :.
I Giye II to Him, Old Gimlet Bye. J.
This courtroom scene occurred in the
early days of the Stateof Vermont, when
cf.l,fsf1 hnr,ror vunr.a ,scad for or,,.f b~.,er.