The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1909-07-11
"Old Friends"

Published by MoTat, Yard & Co.. New York.
Winter knew very well, is filled with
anecdotes of other authors and poets,
bits of conversations he had with
Longfellow about his contemporaries,
sometimes enemies, sometimes friends,
and always showing Longfellow in the
most amiable light The author says
Longfellow never spoke of any one if
he could not speak well of him and it
is not out of place just here to say that
William Winter has learned that page
from Longfellow by heart. Apropos of
this, Mr.. Winter tells a little story:
" The poet aims to give pleasure,
Longfellow more than once said to me,
ally, to give pain Speaking of the
numerous papers that We're sent to
him containing notices of his poems.
he told me that it was his custom
never to read an article written in an
unpleasant spirit If, after reading
few lines, / ind that the intention is
to wound he said, drop the paper
into the fire and that is the end of it.
Poe was a most acrimonious critic of
Longfellow, and though Winter loved
Longfellow and did not know Poe and
considered his criticisms of Longfellow
bitterly unjust, he yet writes of the
afflicted genius with patience and
kindness. He says 50 allow
ance has to be made for the strain of
insanity that was in him and for the
r rdant bitterness that had been en-
gendered in his mind by perjury and
grief He was brilliant and
an extraordinary man. The treasures
of imaginative. creative, beautiful art
in prose as we'll as verse that he con-
tributed to American literature are
permanent and precious, and nothing
in literary biography is more con-
temptible than the disparage cement of
his memory that continually proceeds
through its pages, on the score of his
intemperance. Poe died in 1S49, aged
40 years, leaving works that fill 10
closely packed volumes. No man
achieves result like that whose brain
is ruined by stimulants."
And Mr.. Winter, speaking further
upon this and the many Versions which
are offered of his life and his habits,
says:
But what does it signify, and why
should a reader be perpetuaIly told of
1T whether he drank wine or not?
His writings remain and they are an
honor TO our literature. and that is all
we need to consider"
The chapter on Longfellow has heen
noticed at length, for the attitude of
Winter toward Long fellow shows SO
plainly his admiration and almost his
reverence for the remarkable man that
one can not but believe that Longfel-
lows character made a profound i'm
preston on the young Winter and his
influence has been felt throughout life
The second chapter in the book is
entitled Bohemian Days" The au-
thor tells of his boyhood days in
Boston and of his first step among the
writer folk. He wrote poetry and con-
tributed to magazines and newspapers
and became acquainted with peonle
whose names were known throughout
the land. Editors of various papers
and periodicals of protest and satire
like Charles g. Greene George Limit
Charles r. Congdon and others gave
the struggling young Winter his first
opportunities. Louise Chandler Cater
Moulton), William warland Clam
Adam Wallace Thaxter and BENJAMIN
P. Shillaber ("Mrs. Partingtono5 the
latter two his cherished friends to the
END or their days, all gave him en-
couragement.
The Atlantic Monthly, saws M
Winter, started in 1857, with Franz
Underwood as editor, speedily led tbe
field in literary authority The august
luminaries of gfeIIor,
Lowell, Holmes. Emerson, Whittier
Whipple, etc.--clustered around thai
magazine ana likewise around the old
book store at the corner of Washinee
ton and School streets, in which the
presiding genius was the handsome
James T. Fields, then in the zenith of
health, happiness and popularity Fines
Sargent. who wrote "A Life on the
Ocean Wave, was nrorn-
inent then was friendly
toward me and propitious toward nav
verse"
1t requires self-control to read Of
this richest period of literature with
out feeling OF envy, but every little
while when the atmosphere is becoming
oppressive with goodness and all the
complimentary superlatives the author
gives US little anecdote like the fol-
lowing, which restores ones balance:
benjamin Muzzy was one of the
leading publishers of that time, fine.
portly person, who brought forth sew
eral practical editions of 'Festus and
largely profited by them. Many wears
later Gin 1890, at Nottingham. Eng
] had the honor TO meet the author
OF that remarkable poem, Philin
James Bailey, at his home and found
1T notifying to hear him say that he
had never received even sixpence' from,
the sale of his book in America. al
though apprised that the sale there had
been very large"
The author made his home in New
York in 1S59-60 and soon joined the set
called the Bohemians. 1t was at this
time that he met Henry Clapp and was
engaged by him to be subeditor of his
paper, the Saturday Press This was
weekly publication, which existed for