Daily Kennebec journal., 1901-11-12
STORIES OF BRYANT
RecoIIections Of the Great
Poet in His Native Town.
The Rural Scenes in Which Than
atopsis Was Written.


On the Srd day of November. just
,os wears ago today. in a little old house
Standing on steeply slopng hillside
in a mountain town, there came INTO
Tho world a man-child who was des-
lined TO be the first distinctive Ameri-
can poet. William Cullen Bryant;
man whose early life is less familiar to
us than the biographies of some less
famous men who were born and died
many years before this man was born.
vir-inian. Thomas Naylor by
name in an essay on BRYANT tells
,rcurpfllIy of his birthplace. a bleak
maintain town. where the sheep found
cant feeding between the rocks and
oulr here and there foothold on the
.teop hillsidcs Poor starving sheep.
onn would suppose from this narrative
,nat the town of Cummincton in the
HAMPSHIRE hills. a place about which
thi, inspiring author knew little and
cared less. was much like the high
lands of northern Scotland. Another
vritor even more startlinsly pre-
sumptuous SAYS. perhaps not just in
these words: berkshire has given to
the world the first American poet. the
first distinctive American novelist and
Tho first great American metaphySician
: Brvant. Hawthorne and Jonat than
Edwards" We will leave Salem To
so,,la the matter Of Hawthorne's origin.
Northampton. the shire town Of
HAMPSHIRE. may guard the laurels of
Edwards. She only gave him to Berk-
shire late in life But Bryant was Ger
taiulv not given to the world by Berk-
shir.. He was only connected with
that county and Great harrington for
4 short time il early manhood. ana his
finest poems were not written in that
charming town. nor yet in Williams
town. under the shadow of Greylock.
Yet on the anniversary Of the poets
birth. when the thoughts of many turn
in this Indian summer weather to the
lofty leaticss hills. 50 soon to become
bleak and forbiddng. where the poet
was born-the region that really in
spired his greatest poems-it is per-
hapS paTdonabe for one who remcm-
hers the poet in his last visits there
in sire; haired age To describe as
l,e.. she can the region that gave him
birth.
The tUNn of Cummin2ton is in th,
ccEtre Of a circle Of hills on the bor-
ders Of three counties HAMPSHIRE.
Berkshire and Franklin. and this cen
tral till. most remote of the chain.
peeps above the rest and is visible to
these who know the landmarks where
the fr cone is seen. rising above its
lofty recklct OF surrounding hills. The
Wcsttield river ;lowS through it from
corner 70 corner in deep valley. on
ho.h sides OF which the hills rise
Steepy At first, then with Gentler
grade. ON the brink of this cleft on
tn western side of the river. Was the
it'll" house where Bryant was born.
Before i is the road to the river:
branching mere. it also takes a sleeper
Latin 10 the same shallow stream. To
III" west are cultivated fields. farther
up the hill there was "A church where
Parson Briggs taught, the parsonage.
the Daw homestead and others. and
directly In front en- the other sid of
he road. cemetery.
The hills curve in wide Scmi-circlc.
the northwest where Deer Hill. we'll
rounded aud covered with trees. that
arc 50 nearly Of the same height and
kind that th" hill seems much like u
great olue-G1een pincushi"n, to the
southeast. where tho river escapes from
their clutch through an indistinGuish-
able gateway
In those dayI tarre were many
farms and rnuftrr,S on the slopes III
Bennington. whore are now but a few
heaps rt stones around cellar holes
ana wow and then an apple-trec
-" d and crowded by trees Of a for
81 growth There were then. as nov,
groves pf maulc. of beech and Of pine,
di'n. dark ANA silent. the Gods first
temples OF the poem. in whose depths
me ~ rmit thrush Swectly sings. the
ny screams and the crows nest in un-
disturbed tranquility, then as now.
Ahd There We're then. as now. riVuiets
toat hccamc roaring torrents when
rNl1f fell or SHOWS melted. and pas
lures. criscrossed by chains of glacier
tJrE"d rocks. whose sides were patched
WIN cliSpy club moss, with checker
berries and SWcct-smelling pasture
tIns- TIT play places for country chill
nr"h Thcs" are the pastures of the
l"Pancinc Nircinian. where the sheep
'"'fN N"d devious paths among the
h''iN2f and CrcVireS Of rocks. but
'"''l are gfaSsCrOWn Wales between
'""!" larger animals then sheep lind
god ptstura.e
hiran. was born on "a November day.
and IN tba, day it was stormy. the
I'hd Y as northeast In the morning
N'>. Bryant cnurned and in the eve
mug OF seven Of the clock a son was
.''''. =" runs the diary of Mrs.
il!dn'. til" mother of the poet. Tw"
nays later It IS recorded that the
Weather was clear, wind y. w. Mad"
NVSiln coat. sat up all day. Went
.n@" Of these daysl Mr.. Dawes died.
N"'h'n- done" The last entry re-
'o'ed to the death of Samuel Dawes.
W grandfather Of Senator Dawes.
40 died of Sma llpox. and WAS buried
' Inc night, nothing therefore being
4 rr.''
'Nst few months after the poets
'''h MS parents moved a mile and Il
uditer away. still farther UP tn"
VI to what is now known As the
NrFant homestead There hi, child
"ood and youth We're passed. There is
" course. no on" living now in the
,'"h who has the slightest remem-