The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-08-01
GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.
An Ideal Gentleman and the Perfect
Blossom of American Manhood.
C,rraspond pnoe1

the public life of George William Cur
It's, now believed to be, unhappily, near
his end, every cultured American is
acquainted; but comparatively few OF
his countrymen have known OF him IN
his private capacity, for he has always
been extremely modest and reserved, as
men of his rare stamp proverbially are.
AS a man he is more remarkable, more
exceptional than as a Journalist, an
author or an orator.
Since he first drew attention in youth
by his brilliant and scholarly letters from
the east in The Tribune until his recent
illness he has been wholly devoted to
principle, to wholesome reforms, to the
diffusion of liberal ideas. He has been
on the right side of every question. and
vet has ever shown-with all his earnest
ness-moderation, tolerance and gen
crosby. This is so unusual that those
who did not understand him have some
times styled him rosewater advocate,
a dandifed defender of dainty convic-
lions, and the like.
A nature SO sensitive yet SO firm, so
generous vet so uncompromising, so
considerable yet SO courageous, is entire
ly beyond the comprehension OF the av-
erage mind-unwilling to accept what
it cannot explain. Above everything
else, Curtis is instinctively and COM
pletely a gentleman, in an ideal sense,
the facts of whose unpretend1ng life
would put reproach on the pompous
chronicles Of many trunpeted hero.
He is the elimination and perfect bios
som of the highest and truest American
man hood, unsurpassed If equaled by that
Of older and more resounding civiliza-
tions. +,
While public man and in the loftiest
sense politician, he has never filled any
public Office, which is a severe reflection
on the republic, since no American of
his time has been better qualified for the
most exalted positions.
/ What a national senator, whata gov
Gernor of the great state of New York,
what minister to any foreign court he
would have made! What honor he
would have reflected on his native land!
What laudable pride the best of us
WOulu nave LEU LII Hill. L1iio WAAOii WV
remember many of the men who have
occupied such places we must admit,
with a sense Of shame, that in the great
democracy of the world the best fitted
are the least likely to be chosen.
Nevertheless, his influence for good
must have been strong and felt in count
less quiet ways, less directly than in
directly, not by his writings and speeches
alone but by his uniform kindness and
courtesy and what may be called the
salubrity of his example. Such a life as
his can never be in vain; its mental and
moral beauty cannot fail OF wide pro-
ductivity.
It has been by no means eventful.
His brief connection with The Tribune,
his editorship, with others, of the first
Putnam's Magazine, in which he had a
pecuniary interest, and his long associa-
ton with the Harpers comprise its main
features, exclusive of his lectures and
literary and political addresses.
His most representative work, per-
haps, is s'Prue and IT, originally con-
tributed to Putnam's, which no appreci-
ative reader can readily forget. 1t is
one of the choicest, daintiest specimens
of our literature and must become an
American classic. The reveries and
reflections of the old bookkeeper con-
vey clear and eloquent impression Of
the mind and temperament of the au-
thor, who has in special degree the
uncommon and precious gift of sym
pathy.
The financial failure OF the publishers
of the magazine in which Curtis was d
silent partner, though not, it is said,
legally responsible, swallowed up his
private fortune, inherited from his
father, and left him wholly dependent
on his own exertions. He might easily
have avoided responsibility for the debts
of the house, but he preferred pow
gerty to the slightest blur on his es-
cutcheon. After the loss Of his fortune
he was still heavily in debt, and to dis
charge it he labored faithfully for some
twenty years.
When Henry j. Raymond died sud-
denly, the New York Times offered Cur
tbs three times the salary he was reputed
to be receiving from the Harpers. He
declined the generous offer, and made
no mention of it to his employers. But,
having heard of it through others, they
voluntarily advanced it to the figure
that had been named by the newspaper.
Although poor, in New York sense,
most of. his life, he has again and again
declined all compensation for elaborate
addresses for academic anniversaries,
for eulogies on distinguished men, ETC.
No amount Of persuasion would induce
him to change his mind. Generosity
has ever been one Of his shining virtues.
He has always been ready to lend any
body in need, whether actual or imag-
ined, a helping hand. The amount Of
service he has rendered gratuitously
every year to all manner of applicants,
to every worthy object proposed, is be-
yond calculation and the belief Of or
binary selfshness. Young authors and
aspirants for literary fame have taxed
his time and patience most unreasona-
bly,, without the slightest rebuff or symp-
tom Of irritation. The spirit of courtesy
and chivalry is incarnate in him. His
fine eulogy on Lowell-his last public
L.