The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1903-03-07

earning Il good income writing adyer-
tisements i'll prose and rhyme, and
poems and paragraphs for the press.
He was Il little above the medium
stature, with torid complexion, SUI
pelabundaHt animal spirits and n
maturity of mind and manner aston
ishingly beyond his years, then barely
twenty-one
Gle quickly got the run of our poll
tics and became Democrat (as be-
lieve lrish-Americans mostly do, there
being in the name something alluring
to hatcrs of monarchy, and gained Il
local reputation as wit and satirist
i'll the columns of the Post, then in
it's golden prime, under the direction
of it's founder Charles Gordon Greene.
Like Charles Lamb, llalpnc some
times made his stammrr tributary
to his wit, as when, upon Mrs.
Stoves going abroad in 1888. upon a
supposed mission to collect funds for
the anti-slavery cause. he nicknamed
her, first among his friends and after
ward in print, Harriet Beseecher Be
Stowe
lie conceived an ardent attach
ment for Shillaber, With whom he as
ISOLATED himself in the mama gemcnt
of the Carpet Bag. He and l had our
individual literary enthusiasms. which
struck out sparks of mutual interest
at our first interview; with us ac-
quaintance and intimacy might almost
be said to have been twin-borl. We
both had good memories for the things
we liked, and wildly recall the hap
Ply evening hours we spent, walking
UP and down the slopes of the Com
mon, or seated Oh Il bench by the
fountain, reciting to each other pas
sagcs from our favorite poets. 1t was
he who thus introduced me to Macau-
lays Lays of Ancient Rome deliv-
ering parts or the whole of more than
one Il remember especially 'lIoratius')
in the measured, solemn chant that
Tapped me in the elysium of Il new
sensation. l in turn repeated. among
other things, poc's Sleeper. the
most strikingly beautiful of all the
productions of that aberr;,nt genius
and stanZas from Mrs. Browning $
Of 7
prOdigiously admired. but find almost
unreadably ditlusc and faulty of form
to-day. Over all the intervening years
| hear again his sharp exclamation of
rapturous establishment ut the lines:
and visionary Colcridyc who
Did sweep his thoughts, as angels do
Their wings, with Cadence up the
blue
"IIalpinc had published in 1851 his
Lyrics of the Letter H. Il little vol,
ume so bright with promise that the
writer seemed firmly destined to
poetic cminrncr. Unhappily his rest
less energy and eXuberlnt fancy were.
unaccompanicd hy those other gifts of
genius, patient persistence and the ca
plcity for taking pains. What Byron
said to himself WAS more literally true
of lIalpinc,-lc must capture his prey
at Il po,lnce or miss it altogether; but
he lacked Byron's power of holding Oh
after Il fortunate seizure. He rarely
returned to a poem after the first i'll
SEPARATION had cooled and it generally
went into the wastc-mslict il left un-
finished on meeting much revision.
But he had amazing speed in short
heats"
Mr.. Trowbridge relates with re-
serve the story of Il projected duel of
l1alpine and Il young Southcrncr
whom he had gricvously offended
through his paper. Whatever bcfclI.
Halpine's career in Boston was finish
ed, but he began soon after new and
successful course in journalism and
politics in New York.
1t should be said that Halpinc,
though an lrislman, was not Catho-
lie. Continues Mr.. Trowbridge.
Upon the breaking out of the Re-
bellion, lie became IL war Democrat,
entered the SiXty-ninth regiment as
lieutenant, and quickly rose to the
rank of adjutamt- general on the staff
of General Hunter. lie served with
that officer in South Carolina; trans
fcrred to the staff of Gcncral-in-C Chief
Hancock, he had charge of that Off
GERS military correspondence, and af-
tcrward assisted Hancock and Candy
in revising the army regulations.
Meanwhile, he wrote war songs that
became popular with soldiers in the
field cSambo's Right to be kilt be-
ing one of the most cifcctivc) and at
forwards contributed to the press the
humorous Private Miles ORcilly' pa
pcrs, which, together with the songs,
were afterward collected in book
FORM Retiring from the army with
brevet rank of acknowledgements, he
returned to New York, became Il con-
spicuous figure in metropolitan poll
tics, edited the Citizen, and held the
lucrative office of register"
His death in his tllirty-ninth year,
was the result of AN accident. Mr.
tErQWlridke thug sIlmma rizns flo ma Ii