Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1900-06-21

like page from history.
But few men outside of his friends
and neighbors-even those who keep
close track of his personal history
were aware that man distinguished
in early American literature and art
was residing in Detroit, at an advanced
age, surrounded by the comforts of
wealth and by the members of
numerous family. Richard Storrs
Willis was over 81 years old at the
time of his death.
1t is said of him by the press that
his public spirit and labors were Of the
highest benefit to Detorit. The mag
nificent free library of that city was
almost entirely his creation. He was
a patron of education and art The
hospitality of his luxurious home was
noted among citizens and travellers of
distinction.
Richard Storrs Willis was born in
1919. He was prolific writer on sub
jects of art and society. He was one
of the foremost musical critics of the
country and the times. He was the
author of considerable sacred and
secular music, including the words and
notes
Nathaniel Parker Willis, conspicu-
Gus for the generation among Ameri-
can writer's of this century, was an
elder brother Of the late Detroiter.
From his college days until his death
in 1867 his writing in prose and poetry
were always before the public.
He was the most popular American
poet OF his time. His contemporaries
were William Cullen Bryant and Ralph
Waldo Emerson, the two great Ameri-
can philosophical poets Longfellow,
the greatest of American romantic
poets; Poe the poet of Imagination,
and Whittier, the poet of progress and
freedom.
All were his superiors in genius and
in wealth of poetic thought But he
outrivaled them all in popularity as
Shelley, now almost unread and half
forgotten, outrivaled in popularity
Wordsworth, whose fame grows with
the growing years and broadens as the
century elapses
n P. Willis poetry entranccd the
young minds and young hearts Of
sixty years ago. His metrical para
phrases of bible rOmances were read
with ecstatic interest by schoolgirls,
were acclaimed in bOyish voices from
the forums of all the academies and
were copied in the school readers for
advanced classes. Grand-mothers of
our young generation met them with
tears. They are now obsolete. They
are strained and affected--mere false
and feeble echoes of the genuine pathos
which inspires the original scripture
narratives.
While Willis was at the height or his
fame, or his popularity, in 1871, he
wrote a poem on the death of William
Henry Harrison, the first president
who died in office. 1t concludes with
catch or qutp which would have ex-
cited the envy of all the euphuists and
which is saved from being ridiculous
only by the solemnity of the subject
He said that all the people should
weep-Neep for themselves, but not for
him
Who assembled fame's ladder so high
That from the round at the top he
stepped off to the sky!
When a brilliant young man Willis
Travelled in Europe and there was moth
ing too good for him. He chummed
with Count D'Orsay, lirted with Lady
Blessngton, exchanged rhymed com
pliments with Thoman Moore, fought
a bloodless duel with Captain Marryatt
and hobnobbed with royalty. His
prose is delightful, consisting of
sketches of travel. of society, descrip-
tons of scenery and distinguished
persons and matters of similar interest.
Another noted member of the family
Yves Sara Payson Willis, known in the
light literature Of forty years ago as
Fanny Fern, her pen name. She was
the first American woman to seize uni
versal popularity by short newspaper
sketches of crisp and stingy charac-
ter, sometimes almost risque and
rather broad for Bonner's Ledger. in
which they were published She mar
ried James Parton, the biographer and
lecturer. and died in 1872.
There is no more delightful study-if
the occupation is serious enough to be
called study-than to review with
charity the pages of American ltera-
ture published in the first half of the
century. OF course, the works of many
of the best American writer's adorn
that period.
But in those days a man or women
who wrote little very ordinary verse
was famous. The collections of prose
and poetry published by George B.
Cheever and Rufus Wilmot Griswold
illustrate the best and average
thought of the country for the first
half of the century. Much was of the