The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-02-01
FREDERICK. BEEcHER PERKINS
His Death at Morristown, N. j., Last
Week.

gering paralysis which for some time
was we'll known in literary and social
life of Hartford He was born in Hart
ford in 1928, and was the son of Thomas
c. Perkins; his mother, who survives
him, is sister of Henry Ward Beecher.
| His brother, Charles e. Perkins, has
| taken the place of his distinguished
| father at the Hartford bar. One of his
sisters is Mrs Edward Everett Hale.
He leaves two children, son, Thomas,
and a daughter, Mrs Charlotte Perkins
Stetson, writer of ability, whose
poems have won the admiration of the
English as we'll as of the American
critics.
Mr.. Perkins passed the last few years
of his active life in San Francisco, but
| the earlier portion Of it was lived in
| his native city and in New York, in va
rious literary pursuits. He had talents
| of a very high order-a touch of that
which is called genius, and it is safe
to say that If he had confined his eff
forts to any one pursuit he would have
attained great distinction. But begin
| ming as a lawyer, he was then a teach
| err a compiler, librarian; with an
erudition that made his services of
great value, he spent good part of his
| life in work that was acknowledged
and gave himself little leisure for the
creative work which was his business
| in life Some of his short stories are
among the most brilliant that we have
had, and one of them, 1.-The Devil Puz-
zler," is considered a classic for it's
cleverness. His knowledge Of books of
literature generally, his extraordinary
memory, his quickness of apprehension
and lightening-like wit made him
marked man in any company. He was
one of the most accomplished librarians
in the country, as remarkable for his
knowledge of books as for his admins
trative ability. He was historical stu
dent and an antiquarian; with keen
insight and great diligence in pursu-
ing any subject he took up, no one of
his generation was a more accomplish
ed literary craftsman. His few publish
ed stories and single novel, called
"Scrope," were sufficient evidence of his
genius as a writer, but he was besides
that one of the keenest and most APP
preciative critics in the periodical
press. If he had possessed a certain
stability Of temperament and given his
genius full play in a congenial direc-
tion, and not been so much at the de-
mand of other people for profunctory
literary work, he might have had, as
we say, a high position in American
letters.
Mr.. Perkins deserves to have his |
Ia1 4.
ford wits. Those who survive him and !
were his comrades in the early days of !
literary ambition in Hartford remem-
Der not only his great promise but the |
qualities which made him one of the !
most interesting characters in the city. /
His mind was not only exceedingly well i
stored with erudition of all sorts, but |
was full of nimble spirit, full of in |
vention, and with a true sense of hui |
NOR that makes the other qualities 50 |
valuable. His sayings used to be great |
ly quoted, and there were innumerable |
anecdotes always current illustrating |
his quickness of repartee and some |
times his eccentricity. He used to say |
that he had great sympathy with au-
tograph collectors and did not like to |
disappoint them, so when he was left |
in charge of the correspondence of |
Henry Ward Beecher, in the latter's |
absence in Europe, he faithfully took
his place and answered all the applica-
tions for autographs with the sigma
ture, Henry Ward Beecher per f. B.
P" AS we recall the memory of this !
scholar, this bright spirit, this man
whose genius was distracted by work
that a mere plodder might have ac-
compished as well, we cannot but re-
greet that circumstances did not COM
pei him to confine his effort to one pur-
suit among the many in which he might
have excelled. What little he left in lit
erature is of so good quality that we
regret he did not leave more, but for
that and for certain personal and in
tellectual charm his friends hold him
in effectionate remembrance.
For the leading facts of his life we
quote the notice of him in "Appletons
Cyclopedia of American Biography:
Frederick Beecher Perkins, author,
was born in Hartford on September 81,
1928. He was grandson of DR.. Lyman
Beecher He was q member of the class
of 1850 at Yale, but left college in 1S4S
and began the study of law. In 1851
he was admitted to the bar at Hart
ford, and a year later he entered the
Connecticut normal school, where he
was graduated the same year. He held
various posts in Hartford until 1854,
in which year he went to New York,
until 1857 Then, returning to
he became assistant editor
Of "Barnards American Journal of
and was also appointed IL
brarian of the Connecticut Historical
society Later he became secretary of
the Boston public library, and in 1907
he was librarian of the San Francisco
free public library. While there he pub
lished his Rational Classification of
Literature for Shelving and Catalogu-
ing Books in Library (San Francis
20 1881; revised, 1882. He has been edi-
Lorially connected with various papers
and magazines. Among his writings are
'Scrope, or the Lost Library" (Boston, {
87D; my Three Conversations With {
Miss Chester" New York, 1870; "Dev- l
i Puzzler, and Other Studies" (1S77);
and Charles Dickens: His Life and i
Works. QS77.) He also edited or COM
piled photographed works, notably a
Checklist of American Local His $
DRY" Boston, 1870 and the fourth edi- t
ion of BEST Reading" (New York, {
S7O.-Hartford Courant. u