The Arkansaw traveler., 1884-10-11

of the Covenant
 4 Slgh of Sosrow for the Sinners oi L.on. hreathed out of hole in an earthen vessel, known among men by the name of Samuel Fish"
 Bo. 10 GOOSE
 Ben onson-" rare old Ben his friends called him-an English drAmatist, eo,emporary with Shakespeare, used to dress shabbily. Being informed that Lord Craven would be pleased to see him, Ben ven; to his lordship mansio !. The porter, not liking his looks or dress, re- fused to admit him. Rough language and much noise attracted the nvbleman to the door.
 understood" said Ben " that your lordship wished 10 see me"
 You. friend. Why, ~ho may yeu be.r
 l am Ben onson."
 N ,. no. you cannot be ,he great au- thor who wrote The Silent Woman. You look as If you could no, say Do to goose
 The dramatis,. looking straight into the nobleman's face, with a comical air. cried. Bo.'
 l am now convinced said his lord ship. - You are Ben Johnson
 WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT.
 A correspondent, ~ritlng from Cum mington. gives us the following inter esting account of the early life of Bry an,
 The principal source of education. Tn the poets boyhood was the disule, school, but he was more favored than his contemporary school-ieiiows, in tha, he received additional insu uuction in the family cisole. The intellectual atmos phere of his home had great 1T fiaer e ID the development of his poeiicai powers of mind He thus indirectly al luded 10 the result of his home trair ing in poem:
 :" For he is dead, sho taught me in my youth The AT, of verse. and a the bud Of life Offered me 10 the nsscs."
 The district school house that he at tended in Cummington. Mass, stood a, the corner of forest where three roads met, and about q mile distant from hIs home. While attending this school his hrst poem was written. He was thirteen years Of age ai the time. The poem was the valedictory address at the close of d winter term.
 Another poem, written also about this time, was entitled The Embargo" the subject of which was the exciting political events of Thomas Iefferson's admins traticn. IL was aiter~ard published in lhe county paper.
 His physical constitution, when bov. gave no promise of the long and visor- our lIfe he enl yed. He graduA,td from Williams college. 4ad while there, at the age of sixteen, wrote the immorga. Than atopsls The secluded spot where this poem was composed has since beeA known as bryan,s Glen.
 Ills beau,iu. poem, Inc O.d Man Counsel. was d conversation between himself, when q boy and his aged grand genuine type. In the later years of his life his heart turned sgain 10 the scenes ot childhood. He repirchased iaeA9id homestead. tha; had passed into os6er hands. and remodt led Il into beautiful country residence.
 ElklH oF A feI T
 Doubtless, many of our readers have read General W 5. Ly,.e inc poem - Cleopatra, written the nigh; before the batt'c m which he ~zs killed. The Pittsburgh Le.dey relates the romantic circumstances under which II was written They were told by ,he late Colonel Reali to gentleman.
 2 He spoke of the nigh. before the battle at which General w. s Lyle fell. The two kealf and Lytle) lay together in the generals tent.
 They were both given to writing poetry at such mes, and each had an unfinished poem on hand, and they read and criti- cised each others efforts humorously for some time, when, sad Lytle:
 Realf, shall never live 10 finish tha, poem"
 Nonsense" said l, "you will live to write volumes of such stuff.
 A feeling has suddenly come over me- continued the general solemnl,. " which IS more startling than prophecy, that shall be killed in lo-morow's fight.
 As 1 spoke to you l saw the green hills of the Ohio as If l stood among them. They began to reoede from me ID weird way, and as they disappeared the conviction flashed through me like the ligh,ning's shock that would never see them again.r
 rallied him for his superstition, bu, the belief had become strangely lm- pressed upon his mind, and he succeeded in so far thrilling me wiih his own un- natural fear that begged him to finish his poem before he slept, that such me work might not be iost to the world.
 h the small hours the general awak- ened me from slumber into which had fallen, to read 10 me hat beautiful poem, which must live as long as our literature survives, beginning:
 - I am dying, Egyp'. dying
 Ebbs the crimson life blood fast-'
 My eyes filled with ,ears as he read He sad not word as he concluded, but placed the manuscript ID his pocket and lay down to sleep.
 Before dawn came the call to arms When 1 next saw poor Lytle he vas cold in death amorr heans of slain th0ught