Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-11-23

caught glimpses, now and then, Of an
aristocracy that lived in state Of
splendor that suggested rajahs Of In
dia. From the time that the first
Spanish adventures began to found
colonies in the West Indies, the south
ern half of North America and the ad-
jacent islands in the Caribbean were
covered with romance, as with q rain
bow. In South Carolina, the pet col
ony of the English crown, a landed
/, ,aristocracy had been provided for In
the Fundamental Constitutions Of
John Locke. and although the system
was imperfectly adjusted to the insti-
tutions Of the New World and was
never indeed firmly established, still 1t
created an atmosphere Of nobility, and
this condition Of things was heightened
by the presence for long periods of the
servants of the British crown with
their various trappings and titles.
1t was not hard to picture almost
anything of southern planter. who
could throw away in one season In
London the ordinary revenue of an
English duke. Then the presence of
the picturesque slave population. and
all along the borders the various tribes
Of Indians. Within thirty years Of the
birth of Simms the Cherokees domin-
ated the extreme western part Of the
state and even in his youth Indians
were frequently seen In the streets Of
Charleston. There were stirring MEM
ories left and Iecounted by living wit
nesses Of the British attacks on the
city.
The young American nation had
emerged triumphant from second
trial Of strength with the mother coun-
try and never in American history had
patriotism burned with a purer fame
or enthusiasm reached greater heights.
His First Novel.
The hour had struck; the man arose.
Simms published his first novel in 1888,
Martin Faber, the Story of Grim
inal." Two years afterward he launch
ed that wonderful series of historical
romances, with "The Partisan" as the
forerunner, which sent his fame across
the continent and has since made him
more familiar to the English reader
than he is even now in South Caro-
lima. HIS books still have wide sale in
England.
1t is not possible to enter into de-
scription of his works, IL the scant
space which necessity imposes on a
newspaper writer, but It is quite
enough to say that Simms was a story
writer of the first order. When you
think Of what that means, It will i'm
press you. A story-teller is the rarest
order Of man; there is no gift more
remarkable; none more intricate. Since
the beginning of book-making there
have been few, indeed, who possessed
the art Of narration. Probably from the
beginning whole company could not
be recruited out Of every race on the
globe. AE ~
Storytelling presupposes the broad
est knowledge of human nature. super
seded to the gifts Of insight, sympathy
and narrative The combination has
been rarely found In one individual
Poe ranked Simms as among the
very best of our story writer's and Poe
was no mean Judge. when prejudice
did not blind his Judgment The first
names In American literature were
proud to hail Simms as their peer. Re-
peated calls were made on him to leave
South Carolina and settle at the north,
and he would have bettered his for
tunes and sooner achieved fame by
doing so. Edward Everett Hale said
of him: II wait the advent OF some Co
lumbus upon the sea Of letters, who
shall give us back that lost Atlantis,
William Gilmore Simms--a man who
has written nearly one hundred vol
umes, poems, novels, histories, biog-
raphies, some of whose early works
may have been crude and gushing, but
the others show a splendid insight, q
broad and generous sympathy; and
with all, the great and tender heart
where: THE point I want to make is
that when Simms moved from Massa-
chusetts to the little state Of South
Carolina, he courted Oblivion and won
her."
william Cullen Bryant, his frequent
guest at Woodlands, admired, Simms's
poem, Atlantis" and the opinion Of
the author of "Thanatopsis," surely has
weight on such a theme. OF Simms
himself Bryant speaks In the kindliest
way, evincing everywhere genuine ap-
probation. He says: "His novels have
the widest circulation and are admired
for the rapidity and fervor of the mar
rative. the picturesque descriptions and
for the energy with which they express
the stronger emotions"
So much for what others have said,
and much more might be written.
Probably no thinking man has ever
travelled the low country OF South
Carolina and experienced even tithe
Of its charm, but that has wished that
some genius had portrayed It; had
made swamp, bay and gall, and desc
late reach Of savanna, together with
winding river and primeval forest live
again and unfold what they knew Of
romance Of the days when men fought
hard. loved hard and made the land
fit for the generations that came after.
All this Simms has done; all this and
more. His stories would be interesting
to an inhabitant Of any country, or Of
any age. They contain the enduring
elements Of romance. "They will in
terest the world so long as women
bring forth male children"
His Second Marriage.
When his little daughter was eight
years of age Simms married again, his
second wife being the daughter Of Mr..
Ash Roach, a native Of Bristol, Eng
land, who had settled in Orangeburg
county, some two miles from the Eds
to river. So one can understand that
there Is more than local color In the
story of Bertha Travis and Willie Sim
clair. 1t may be imagined that Willie
Sinclair was not the only one who stole