Telegram-herald. ([Grand Rapids, Mich.) 18??-1892, 1891-05-18

The Deafness or Literary Reoeo
tons

Gsasr~i uatisps Autobiography - Aa
Aasedsss 81 = carrsas AtiAatie'' story
Ar. r. T. JshAson's Work IN He
hall OF international CoSs r1shs.
feopralosr. 1881. sT sAcakLLEs . yonssos-l
Il has besa noticed OF late--so much as
70 occasion some eomtnent-thal tas old
time literary reception in New York has
sadly faded out the past season But 10
one seems 70 thiak its absence othsr
than the effect OF a change in tasss ant
fashion While agreeing to the decline
OF this species Of reception, il is not diffi.
cult, think. to fnd far more efficient
cause for It's deeadenes than tho one
named tbs true reason Is, not that it
has not been delightful, or Is no longer
liked, but tina. those who gave il its ak
isssnce and celebrity are NO longer with
US. Mrs Botta, who was one Of the
pioneers In giving literary receptions
here has recently died, and Of how many
others az whose houses so many Of us
met may not ths same sad sentence be
written' There was-to 80 back . little
wsy-the reception given by the poet
sisters, Alice and Phoebe Carey. Both
these charming hostesses are long since
gone; but men as busy as Horace Greeley
and p. 7. Barnum attended at their call.
Mrs. E Greeley Cleveland, whose recep-
tons were most unique. and whose guests
were every noted person, died little over
year ago. Mrs. 0. b. Bruce's pleasant
evenings came to an end by the death of
her gifted husband and Miss Booth, who
gave such fine ones, Is also not living.
II may be easily predicted that the half
photographs life Of Murray, the pub
Usher, called Byron's Murray, will go along
with Walter Scott's Journal as among the
most interesting books we have imported
Of late.
Robert Peel's early letters arc soon to
be published by Murray, and we have an
nounced for the autumn hero General
Buffers autobiography. There can be no
doubt that this work Of the Lowell politi-
clan and lawyer will be marked by no
end of bright and graphic comment
have from the lips Of literary man .
little incident concerning the brilliant
story of the late w. D. OConnor, now
commenced in the Atlantic" It seems
he sent it himself to that magazine many
years ago, only to have 1t returned with
request that he prune it and modify it
according to certain rules that the editor
suggested, For any one who knew Mr..
Conover well it will not DO hard to i'm
agine that the advice was not received
in a meek and humble spirit. He would
evidently do no such thing, and therefore
never offered 1t again for publication. /
have no doubt it will now bs printed
somewhat as the author wished, and will
fulfil the brilliancy we have q right to
expect Of 1t. Mr.. O'Connor was q
special friend Of Walt Whitman and John
Burrouchs His two best remembered
exploits for dash and chivalry were his
book on "The Good Gray Poet" and his
defense Of Mrs.. Elizabeth Akers Aliens
right to her poem Of Rock Ne to Sleep"
Speaking of Mrs. Elizabeth Akers
Allen, reminds me to say that she not
very long ago removed from her home in
New Jersey to New York city She does
not write as often as she did, though her
are always welcome to the
editors, and are embodied in q chirogra-
ply that Is uniquely formed and of un-
blcinished beauty. It Is double" of
Mrs. or Miss e. A. Allen,
Of New Jersey-who wrote the book OF
Pegs to Hang Golden Memories Upon.
With the exception Of Walt Whitman,
"a ~o~S,c> U;l1lo~x, N,,1Ior Rrvc~<
have never had in this country a more
picturesque and patriarchal looking poet
than tho octogenarian Arkansan, Albert
Pike, who recently died in Washington.
His muse had been silent for q generation,
but few Southern writer's have done bet
ter in verse than no did in his singing
days. Not long ago a volume Of his
poetry brought a high price from book
collectors when IL could be found, which
was very rarely, indeed.
A literary production which deserves
though not at present to be
printed, is DR.. William Emerson's lee
turs on Thorean, which he has few
times delivered; aud once, very lately in
this city, where it only reached a private
and got no printed report what
ever. 1t is interesting to note that he
afirms for Thorean true originality,
and not an affected one caught from the
lecturers father.
There arc many here who suggest that
Columbia College ought TO ask Mr. f.
c. Stcdmaa TO repeat his Johns Hopkins
lectures on poetry, Of which only mcagre
skeleton reports have been given, and
those only by two or three Of our papers.
These reports, though, are sufficient to
show Mr.. Stedman's thoroughness In
studying and calculating his theme, and
indicate passages having q marked poetic
beauty of treatment.
Mr.. Howell's plea for signed criticism
instead of the anonymous sort which
believe Oscar Wilde has lately discussed
seems to have an alarming following in
where q large part Of the leg
islature came near securing a personal
signature to every original paragraph
and newspaper article in the Stats.
MIRA Mabel Loomis Todd. joint editor
with r. w. Higginson Of the remarkable
book Of poems Of the late Emily Dickin-
son. leetured few days ago at Amherst,