Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1891-08-13
NATIONAL MOURNING
For The lIlustrious Men Who
Passed AVsy
Ii Tho Dasth Of James Russell Lowell
Poet and Diplomat,
And Editor George Jonss, Henry j.
Rsymond's Successor.

aio AditSh SVoAHV -
Rsymonds Successor.
Bosros, Aug. l2 Hon. James Russell
Lo~ell died at his home in Cambridge At
2 10 o'clock this moraipg
Exactly shst caused Mr.. Loweifs death
is DO. At present known. 1t 10 understood
thA, goui brought on liver trouble and led
TO other com 9iications too great to be re-
sisted oy man of Mr.. Lowelfs age And
feebenes.. Last Sunday bowel trouble
developed, making the case Aosolutel y
hopeless.
IL seems that he WAS taken sick shout
fige weeks ago, Two professional nurses
were pu, on duty. Some two weeks ago
or more, he became dellricus, and up 10
Monday he recovered c1nscIousness only
At bris intervals when he gave memotrs
Of hi. family sighs Of recognition, Though
uoqaes,iorsbly tue pain WAS very great, he
made @ complaint
Las, Sunday he seemed better and the
deluium ieft him, hut Monday afternoon
he suffered intensely Sben moved BY the
nu,ser, and fl isliy said: "oh, why dont
you let M diei" These words were bi.
last. He seemed from that time 10 lose
heart and grsduslls his life isded away.
lie continued in comAtose condition until
Is o'clock this morning, when the last
spark OF life vent out. HIS family together
it'll the servants of his household were with
him in his last moments.
James Russell l. well, known throughout
the world as an eminent poet and diplomat,
came of di.iios uished family 10 Mssss-
chu-eus. lie descended from Percivsl
Lowell 4 prominent merchant Who emf
grated from KoglAnd IN 1889. His father,
Charles Lowtil. was himself man Of emf
men, literary talents.
James Russeil, the youngest Of his
fathers children, was born at Elmwood'
Cambridge, Masa., on Feb %, 1919 He was
nsmed after his fathers maternal grand
father, james Russell of CharlestowD, an
eminent judge under the colonial govern
ment of Massachusetts. The house of
Elmwood, in which he always lived, stands
On Eimxood avenue, about a mile west by
south from the college buildings of Harvard
University. Mr.. Lowell's boyhood WAS
passed IN this pleasant abode, amid circle
Of congenisl companions, smong whom
may be mentioned the poet and sculptor
Story, who WAS noted among the village
boys Of Cambridge fer courage and the
other gallant qualities which he has dis
played ihrougout his life.
Loweli gradustei at Harvard in 1885.
and for the two following years studied law
enough in the Cambridge Law School to
get admitted to the bar In Boston in 1870,
In college and IN the law school be was
noted rather for wit and bumor and for
great eoiloquisI powers, than for hard study
ftatt anti la Hu tha4 m
of his class, and in his last college
year recited "clsss poem" which was
printed in 1850, and contains many strokes
of vigorous satire and much sharp wit. After
bis admission TO the bar he opened law
Office III Boston, more 10 please his father
than for any love for the profession, which.
indeed, be soon abandoned. and devoted
himself entirely to literature. He wio,e
very much for the Boston Miscellany, a
monthly magsz.ne Of high character, edited
by his clsssmate, the late Nathan Hale,
brother of Ed~ard Everett Hale and Of
Hon. Charles Hale, assistant secretary Of
state. His only prose story my First
Client" " appeared IN its pages
In IStl MIR. Lowell published his fret
volume VI poem., entitled "A Years Life.
In January, let3, he commenced. IN con
junction with Robert Carter, the pub
nca,lon, at Boston, of The Pioneer, liter
sry and critical magazine, which the Cycle
rejs of American Literature says was OF
too fac cast TO be successful Three
monthly numbers were issued, containing
articles from Poe. NrnI Hawthorne, Par
sons, Story, and Others. besides the editors
when the publishers, who had neither the
capital nor the capacity to carry on such
work. failed, and the magazine was dis
Cont,nued.
Mr. Loweli's next literary ,enture wss
volume Of poems, Published in Cambridge,
in 1874, by John Owen, the university
bookseller, ut that time the publisher of
Lonsfellow also. The volume comprised
"A Legend Of Brittany, "Prome,heus.
"Rt II Gus" and numerous sm.ller pieces.
1t met with considerable success, aud was
reprinted in London. In the following
year he issued, also at Cambridge, volume
OF prose, entitled Conversations on Some
of the Old Poets
In l-iS Mr.. Lowell published new col
lection of his poems, and, in a separate
small volume, "The Vision Of Sir Lsun-
fal." one Of the best and most popular OF
his productions. During the Mexican war
of lS41, he commenced, in the Boston
Courier, q series of satirlcal poems in
Yankee dialect, purporting to have been
written by Hosea Bigelow. Their vigor,
wit and humor gave them great success,
and with second series. written chiefly
during The Civil War, they form, under the
title of THE Biselow Papers" perhaps the
most interesting and certainly the most
popular OF The authors works. In lSts
appeared, anonymously, "A Fable for
Critics, rhymed satire, sbounding in
wit and in acute, clever and good humOred
estimates of the principal American writer's
of the day.
Mr.. Lowell soon after visited Europe and
on his return delivered an Interesting series
Of lectures. In 1855, upon the resignation
of Mr.. Longfellow. he was appointed pro-
fessor Of modern lar gusges snd bellies let
tres in Harvard college, and went agsin to
.rope 30 perfect himself in Ii. studies
which were prosecuted chiefly IN Dresden.
He returned home and assumed his
duties in August. 1856 Ia 1857,
when the Atlantic Monthly WAS estsb-
li.hed, Mr.. Lorell was selected as editor
in-chief, a position which he held for some
years The degree of Ii. ID. Was CON
fefted on him in 1874, by the English Uni
versitg Of Cambridge. Toward the close
Of the same year he was offered the post Of
minister TO Russis, bu. he declined. In
1917, however, he was sppoiated minister
to Spain by President Hayes, ard
accepted In January, 1880 he was
transferred to the court of St James and
there distinguished himself As 4 diplomat.
During the Cleveland administration he was
succeeded by Hon. Edward Phelps. Mr..
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