The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1883-07-21
HOW They Talked.


AS sit in my library, says Mrs. Kate
Smith, and recall the friends of other
days, I think, though so many are lost
to me-dear, beautiful ones, who, weary
with the toll OF life, turned their face to
the wall, and left me to mourn for them
4 am less sad and lonely than most of
those who survive.
Ny memory is perpetual source of
enjoyment, for it unfailingly preserves
all that is wholesome to be remembered
and although it is tenacious OF all i'm
pressions, it has divine faculty of
the wheat from the chaif. /
scarcely ever forget anything. Lean
recall the very words and looks Of per-
sons, and even their dress, the hour and
place where Il conversation occurred, MS
resh]y and rs vivldly as though not
day had intervened,
Some of these friends were silent, OBJ
servant. others full of fine glow and ell
thusiasm. w. @. Bryant was one of the
most reserved Of men, but his fine eye
would kmdle under Il happy turn of
thought, and his ideas would then flow
into words as aptly chosen as the lam
guage of his written poetry. do not
think he affected the conversation of
women, and I have often had them
wonder how l could find anything by
which to sustain colloquy with him.
He never paid direct compliment to a
woman, but talked right OH, just as he
would talk with man Of ideas, He
thus paid her understanding the best
tribute. Mr.. Bryant was thoroughly
the gentleman in manner, listened we'll,
was very quiet; no twisting or wrigglnR,
which we SO often see in writers of some
pretension, and which is SO very otlen-
sive to 4 person of culture. He was re-
fined to fastidiousness; somewhat cold,
rather intolerant, exact III morals, con-
stant in friendship, and altogether man
to live long and be respectfully tall ed
about to the last. His poetry will live,
being artistic; and il not belonging to
the high impassioned range, IS alto
gether his own.
L. Hoffman conversed flueutly md
well. Though conservative in the high
est sense, he had a keen admiration for
progressive idea well expressed. He
reclted admirably, reproducing tho au.
thor's conception with tho impaired in
terest of n finely modulated voice. and
often with penetration TINT carried the
thought onward beyond what was ND
parent III tho authors experience. Ho
was animated, gay, courteous, with an
electric play Of fancy, pathos, tcnder-
ness and enthusiasm. His own mind
lent grace to tie thought of his COLO
qulst, who was apt to feel that nothing
was easier Than to converse with famous
people, till he tried it with somebody
II l,~
terence between tho electric spark of
the inspired man, IN the dog trot con-
monplace OF mere talent. l remember
Margaret Fuller would often look worn.
weary, and revolted at tho commonplace
twaddle OF society, and tho only time l
ever saw her look positively handsome
was III conversation with Mr., Hoffman.
Her pcdantry amused hlm, and he
knocked her theories right and left with
thorough apprcclatioD of her intellect
and at the same timc with q good.na.
turcd audacity, n gallant courtesy, and
fine discrimination, which made his
irony pleasing, and brought to tho sur
lace tl,at Illuminating loyo of admiration
which dlsnrmed the most ultra OF wo.
men, and made her rs placuble ma "o
sucking dove"
John Neal was M excellent conycrscr.
indeed he cared very little for tho opin,
ions or predictions of those about him,
but poured onward like an ayuInnche
indifferent to what might DO bruised or
uprooted III its pathway. He was ter
rlbly III earnest. The only pcrso;, who
reminds me OF Neal is George Francls
Train, both being overwhelmed with y
supcra5undance Of IDEAS, which they
poured out, whether apt, or otherwise
to the occasion. Both were poetic. but
Neal was poet, aud Train essentially
prosalc, he rhymcd, but that does not
constitute poetry. Both wcro favorites
with women, Tor tho reason that both
were like women, mtuitlyc; and though
Both imagined Themselves to be cssrn-
tally masculine. and both spCyc manly
yet they never came in contact with a
large-hcartcd woman, who did not feel
maternal instinct to protect them
while small women were afraid of them
indeed lull woman always becomes Il
protector to the full man us we'll as TO
tho weak of both sexes.
Knius ". Griswold, the compiler of
American Literature, wps pleasant,
gosslpy man III conversation. full of
whlm and absurdity, as tricky rs a
pretty woman; ncvel seeming in earnest
yet ut heart very much so, IND of fixed
anu tenacious opinions. If one wished
to know how earnest ne could be. bo
had only to name James Fenimoro
Cooper and Napoleon Bonaparte, when
ne would become really eloquent, Time
VIII prove that the first is rs well worth
talking about as the latter, and when
we shall have generation of largely or.
g"nized men and women, Cooper will
grow into higher favor.
N. +. Willis was conventional. fulI Of
fancy and compliment, but not in tho
largo sense suggestive. He belonged
essentially to the artificial and luxnri.
Gus. He lacked depth and compreLen.
siveness; took always the best ho found
hoallng on the surface of society, what
was most tasteful and most artistic.
used to think he might have made moro
OF his genius, but subsequently becomn
convinced that 1t was neither iargo nor
exacting, and that he achieved nil ho
was capable of doing, Mr.. Willis Ind
the foolish vanity OF man of the world
who was willing to be thought q mucl'
worse or more killing man than bo