New-York tribune., 1907-11-22
LONGFELLOW.
fecollectlons Of Him by William
Winter.

0'''' ''e""o ~ f1tm on ~ AIlGm
Winter.
IN Ihe Saturday Evening Post" Mr. William
winter mas recently published series of papers
| giving his recollections of famous actors who
were his friends. He is now contributing 70
me same periodical a series on famous writer's
beginning with Longfelov with whom, be was
Tor years on terms CT intimacy He was often
d guest Mt the poets house in Cambridge in
the az $ ana afterward when he came to live
IN New York he visited his friend as frequently
P''sl"ie ana kept up correspondence with
MN. The portrait he draws presents a noble
Hgure Mr.. Winter recalls the proud ohserva
uoh OF Sir Walter Scott, toward the close of his
me- 'hdI ne hdd written nothing which on his
deathbed he should wish blotted and he de-
Scflbes Lonsfellow as author Of the same
IueaI type To those who find LongfelIow not
sufficiently passionate he has this to say:
i'm an anccaote that is amusing and at the sanoe
yar ytls ,sSiShincanJ was told TO by the cIeVer
good once prominent as pUbIsbnrr JaireS is r. E oS-
ana London Mr.. Osgood, who began his na reeT on
school and Washington streets Rosfon W. oo oI
Who , IN tat shop $50 he related) by stranger
a. f5 a Cnrstmas % present for girl. Il don't want
that kind; want something like LonsTeiloR 5s tqa Gl
fi5 suns the girls and he suits Hes good safe
- IN one point of view that remark might seem to
atV end ~ ~sSLilen an implication of convention
II II is a tribute All thoughtful men are aware of
the mind OF youth. -rhe things that We read when
never wIoIys Slh Qeep INTO the memory and are
ana they more or less affect the conduct of our
lives Byron's Don Juan'-considered with refer
ence 10 its scope its variety OF subjects its feeling
ts no9or n4 @ ns VII its worldly wisdom its satire,
suages one of the colossal fabrics of literary
Kehama." Notwithstanding it's supreme felicity of
fancy and its exquisite finish of style is rather a
would not prefer that his child Should read The
curse Of Kehama" rather than Don Juan"
Mr. Winter refers. of course to the savage
criticism passed upon Longfellow by Poe. criti-
clsm which he deplores. but which does not
cause him to underestimate Poes genius. on
the contrary, he pays him most sympathetic
tribute. Apropos of the old attack upon his
friend he has this anecdote:
I once had a conversation with I.ongfelow con-
sittng WITH him a VAS as on an evening when was
70 observe little volume of Poe's poems on his
library table. ! inquired whether he had ever met
fellow opened the book and read aloud few stan
OF them, containing the line And the fever called
pag6h 4lng IS fo 2Vg g at Sq would be apProPEae
Of res TTgsenment 11f . in either his manner or voice.
much trouble: but am alive and still writing"
LongfelIow had a keen sense Of humor. and
as Mr.. Winter says. nothing comical escaped
him" The "reminiscences contain these droII
stories:
Among the relics that he especially treasured was
an lhKstand, once the property of Coleridge One
called on him. he said Perhaps .The Ancient iea
visitor and The Old oaken Bucketwho fSd done nls
bei6g told AF4theE & yst0r on asking his age and
men mnI Of your age who looked much younger than
Why, you look more like a sea captain than
poet An admirer. of the epistolary order. wrote
your 6a4dwriting" He has recorded iaPR Char
garments, ga me who accosted him one summer morning
rs this the house where LongfeIIow was born?"
HHeo; he was was not born here"
mo. he is not dead"
ARE you Longfellow?"
y thought you died two years ago"
What That sags geGas the ntegsnt ELL remark made to
compliment him on his ''Perices and Aspasia.' Mr..
your 'Periwinkles and Asparagus but l hear it is
very good"
Many years Y ago he tod me with ndescFi6
about peder Who @ intTuded no ths e hous
6- one morning orr With request for some verses in
jnnatlye for Infants offering bottle Of it, price
At another time he mentioned an amusing in
stance of the awkward compliment with which
he sad to me at
r4 who zpF TS my ba band de9Tsd @9s5 qys % bo & ex
Sir an one, one Of The fe'o men who have read your
lover Of humor is INDEBTED for record of the in
genuous remark made to him by an Englishwoman
who with party OF fellow travellers, called on
the American poet: AS there are no ruins in this
country" said that fecitous speaker, I'VE thought
that would come and see you!
These papers Of Mr.. Winters are devoted in
each case to some salient figure. but he has
known unnumbered authors since the publica-
tion Of his first book. In 1854. and to many Of
them he is bound to make brief allusion by the
way. In this study of Longfellow for example
having occasion to reflect upon the fortunes Of
American literature abroad, he pauses upon that
quaint mystery, English alteration OF Walt
Whitman. It is always refreshing to hear
words Of common sense on the Camden poets
Enthusiastically inflated reputation. Mr.. Winter
speaks of it follows:
Thus, for example literary authorities in Eng
land some of them conspicuous for station and
extoed beyond the verge of extravaganza, one
American writer, the eccentric Walt Whitman. for
better than because ne discarded all laws
literary composition, and, instead Of writing |
miscellaneous objects and images, generally com
sometimes coarse and sometimes foul.
That auctioneers list of topics and appetites inter-
twisted with a. formeSS proclamation or carnal
nropensties and universal democracy, has been
hailed as grandly original and distinctively Amer
can only because il is crude. shapelesS ana vulgar
The writings of Walt Whitman, in so far as they |
are anything, philosophy. Ihey certainly arc
Of an original style; for Macpherson, with his Os
sian forgeries; Martin Farquhar upper, with ms
I1roverhiaI Philosophy, and Samuel warren, with |
his tumid Ode were eXtant long before the advent
of Whitman.
~ noorrErTTTp CENT REGRETS