The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-02-29
"A POETS AFFINITY.

whiEh appeared occasionally in the period
icals. He did not wear Byron collar or
flowing neokscarf, nor were his looks left
to flow in luxurious profusion about his
shoulders. In point of fact, he had no
luxurious profusion of hair to flow, being
considerably bald, in consequence of q bad
habit he had contracted of wearing his hat
in his counting room.
Being country bred man, he sang
mostly of rural scenes of songs of birds,
the changing seasons, the wild flowers
beauty and kindred subjects, and coming
direct from the heart, as his verses did,
with their charming wild flavor and the
breeziness of hill and field breathing
through every line, no wonder they. APP
pealed to the heart and touched it as more
studied and artificial poetry, be it ever SO
fine, can never do.
At the age of IS, having amassed q
comfortable fortune in the banking bust
ness, he retired and gave himself up to the
true enjoyment of life with his wife and
family, the latter consisting of two young
sons and a daughter of 10. About this
time he began a small volume, which he
called Rural Treasures, which he fin
ishsd in six months time, working only,
as has bean said, when the muse inspired.
The little volume attained an instant pop
ularity, which surprised its publishers,
who could not understand how it had
caught the public's favor.
bQ6 many a Guy L1eln VINO naO D00n
born and raised in the country knew and
understood the charm of the book and
wiped away the tears which started unbid-
den at the memories awakened by such
simple verses as ''Wading In the Stream
''The Old Schoolhouse'' and 1.-THE Early
Violet
After its publication Mr.. Elliot Browns
mail became so heavy, between autograph
letters, fattering friends and begging
epistles, he laughingly declared he must
hire an annanuensis. To earn money for
pet charity his daughter Emily eagerly
begged for the position and spent the early
morning hours attending to his CORE
spondence in her fathers handsome Ii
brary.
During a temporary absence of his
young amanuensis Mr. Brown again at
tended to his mail and ono day found
letter which particularly pleased him. He
was above plain, unadulterated fiattery,
but this letter, while hattering, praised his
book in a SUBTLE delicately yelled manner
in language as choice and elegant as if
borrowed-fs perchance it was-from the
pages of an old manual of polite corfe-
! spondence.
As the writer, Miss Annabel Leigh,
gave her address in Boston and begged for
an autograph letter from him the poet
wrote short note thanking her for her
kind praise. In a few days he received
| another letter from her, in which she con-
tossed that she, too, had been scorched by
! the flames of the divine fire of poetry and
| begged him to pass Judgment upon some
! lines inclosed. The lines were, to say the
least, excellent, and while they had a IA
1niliar ring in Mr.. Browns mental ear, as
| if he had read something like them in
some long forgotten volume, he could not
| believe the gentle writer guilty of plagia-
rism and wrote commenting her verses.
| This called forth SO immediate an an
swer, with more poems to be criticised,
that Mr.. Brown was startled, and yet, hav
ing fallen into the correspondence, scarcely
! knew how to extricate himself, SO at the
end of the month, the limit set for his
! daughters visit, he had quite pocket OF
! letters from Miss Annabel.
| Singularly enough, he had neglected
| telling his wife of the affair." but deter
mined to take Emily into his confidence,
| especially as he knew she would discover
| the matter for herself. This determination
I was strengthened by the receipt of a
| lengthy missive from Miss .Annabel in
! which, after declaring that her heart told
her that he was not only young and hand
some, butsunmarried and waiting yearn-
ingIy for his affinity, she boldly declared
| herself that affinity and bade him fly to
| her arms.
Mr. Brown had not expected any such
! complication to arise and was truly alarm
| ed. Ii was therefore with a strong feeling
| of relief that he shifted his burden on to
| Miss EmiIy's shapely shoulders. She, be-
| ing blessed with a keen sense of humor,
! saw only the ludicrous side of the affair,
! blamed her father just as little, as he de-
| served for falling into the net spread for
| his unwary feet, and promised to help him
| out.
! s'Deal gently with her, dear, )" he begged.
sShe is evidently young and romantic and
/ has given too free reins to her fancy"
| 'sTrust mo not to be rude, my dear IA
! ther;'' replied Emily and betook herself to
| her pleasant task, while Mr.. Brown, with
| a lightened heart, went down to Tiffany's
! to buy appropriate reward for her kind
| services.
This is what she wrote:
! My DEAR Miss LEIGH-My father has asked
me to answer your last letter, as he is on the
| point OF departing, against medical advice, for
| the country to witness the marriage of his ia
| vorite grandchild. Being quite feeble and suf-
/ fering with distressing form of govt, he will
| therefore be unable now or at any future time
| to accept your kind invitation to fly to your
| arms. Trusting you will succeed in finding
| a more available affinity in the near future,
| am sincerely, EMILY L. BROWN.
| A few weeks later Mr.. and Mrs. Brown
| made visit to Boston, and at a reception
! tho poet was introduced to Miss Annabel
| Leigh, in whom he discovered "a maiden
| who while not yet in the scar and yellow
| leaf, had passed the age when marriage as
| the statisticians tell us, may be regarded
: as an acute possibility. They were mu-
| tually shocked, but Miss Annabel, recov-
| ering first, was about to address some cut
| ting remarks to the poet when Mrs. Brown
appeared on the scene, and she, fearing
from his expression that her husband was
about to have an attack of faintness, to
which he was subject, hurried him into
the open air.
Miss Leigh was left to gaze with soorn
| at the retreating form of him whom she
fondly hoped might be her affinity.
Whether she ever found the right one
Mr.. Brown never learned. But one thing
he did learn, and that was that Miss An