Southern Authors In Poetry And Prose (1908)

SOUTHERN AUTHORS IN POETRY AND PROSE BY KATE ALMA ORGAIN NEW YORK AND WASHINGTON THE NEALE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1908 SOUTHERN AUTHORS IN POETRY AND PROSE COWRIGHT, 1908, BY THE NEALE PUBLISHING COMPANY CONTENTS CHArTER I. SXEY LANIER . . . . . . . 11. AUGUSTA J. EVANS . . . . . . III. THEODORE OHARA . . . . . . V. MRS. ROSA VERTNBR JOHNSON GRIF- PITH . . . . . . . . . V. JOHN PENDLETON KENNEDY . . . VI, MADAME OCTAVIA WALTON LE VERT . VII. PAUL HAMII.TON HAYNE . . . . VIII. VLLIAM GILMORE SIMMS . . . . r IX. JAMES BARROP. HOPE . . . . . 71 - X. JOHN ESTEN COOKB . . . . . . 3 XI. MRS. MARY S. B. DANA-SHINDLBR . C - . XII. JOELCHANDLER 33 HARRIS. . . . . I XIII. MRS. VIRGNIA L. FRENCH . . . . - d XIV. GRACE ELIZARBTH 7 XV. FRAKCIS ORRERY TICKNOR . . - - KIKG . . . . xvr. ELISARETH WHIT FIE RELLAMY . . THOLPSON . . . . XVII. JOHN REUREN PAGE 24 9 CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE . . . XVIII. CATHERINE ANNA WARFIELD 153 XIX. IRWIK RUSSBLL . . . . . . . 160 XX. GEORCE WASHINGTON CABLE . 168 - D- XXI. HENRY TIJIROD . . . . . . . I75 XXII. MRS. MARY VIRGINIA TERHUNE MA- RION HARLAND . . . . . . 186 ALLEN POE . . . . . . -- I94 - NOAILBSMURFRBE- . . . 214 J. RICINMSH . . 224 XXII. EDGAR XXIV. MARY XXV. MARIA XXVI. THOMAS NELSON PACE . 228 SOUTHERN AUTHORS IN POETRY AND PROSE SIDNEY LANIER THIS poet was born in Macon, Georgia, on the third of February, 1842, and came from a long line of fine ancestors. His father, Robert S. Lanier, was a prominent lawyer, and his mother was Miss Mary Anderson, a woman of remarkable gift in music and poetry. A friend once remarked, No wonder Lanier is a poet and a genius. The blood that flows through his veins has coursed in those of artists, poets, musicians, and royalpersonages. Very early in life Sidney Lanier showed s pas- sion for reading, a talent and fondness for music, and when a mere lad he delighted in forming amateur orchestras of children. Having a keen sense of humor, he often kept the family amused by his mimicry, and later he utilized this faculty of observation in his poems. At Elfteen he was admitted into Oglethorpe Col- lege, - near Milledgcville, Georgia, and was gradu- ated at the age of eighteen, and then was given a position as tutor in that institution. At the break- ing out of the Civil War, Sidney and his brother, Cliflord, joined the volunteers at Macon, Georgia, and, although several times offered promotion, the brothers declined, because they did not wish to be separated. They were in theSeroEd Georgia Bat- talion of Infantry and wire stationed at first amongst the marshes of Sewells Point, opposite Fortress Monroe. There the men all had much sickness and they were ordered to Wilmington, and in Wilmington, as Lanier says, they had the drv shakes of the Sand Hills. Their battalion participated in the famous Seven Days Battlc around Richmond, and later they were sent up to Petersburg. Here Sidney and Clifford obtained a transfer to Major Milligans Signal Corps, and finally they were attached to the staff of Major- General French. In X 864 the brothers separated, as Sidney was assigned, to duty of signal officer on a blockade runner. He was cautured bv the Federals, and imprisoned for five rnbnths at point Lookout. During this imprisonment the seeds of disease were sown which caused his death while yet a young man. When he was exchanged he came near dying on the voyage to City Point, and when at last he reached home, footsoreand ex- hausted, he was prostrated by sickness for many weeks. After the war, although his brain was teeming with beautiful thoughts, Lanier was compelled to bear the monotony and wear of teaching and such uncongenial work as clerk in a hotel in Mont- gomery. He found some time, however, in the hard struggle for a living, to write his first book, a volume of fiction called Tiger Lilies, pub- lished in 1867. The book is now out of print. It contains many fine passages like the following, ...