{"1": {"fulltext": "American Ken of LEfiERs I\\nCharles Dudley \\\\^/A.RNERl", "height": "4351", "width": "2731", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0001.jp2"}, "2": {"fulltext": "1\\n-^o\\n.0\\n\\\\.V\\n^.4\\nV) 1?. F\\ni\\n^o^\\na I\\nX\\nOo\\n.-e^-^^\\n.0-", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0002.jp2"}, "3": {"fulltext": "0^\\n5\\nw\\nL^\\nV. -V\\n^v\\n,^v\\n\u00e2\u0096\u00a0iy^\\n\u00c2\u00ab5\\n;.r\\n-1 *6\\n^z^-\\nA-\\n\u00e2\u0096\u00a00-\\nV s^^ /.^iii:\\nO aG\\nN G P^,\\nV\\no\\nc ,rl\\\\\\nc.. V^ s^\\n.no\\n1?# )r*^ a\\\\ *^.?*^W c", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0003.jp2"}, "4": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0004.jp2"}, "5": {"fulltext": "amencan jHen of letterjs\\nEDITED BY\\nCHARLES DUDLEY WARNER", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0005.jp2"}, "6": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0006.jp2"}, "7": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0007.jp2"}, "8": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0008.jp2"}, "9": {"fulltext": "$lmmcan a^cn utHttttt^\\nGEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS\\nBY\\nEDWARD GARY\\nA\\n.o.\\nBOSTON AND NEW YOEK\\nHOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY\\n1894", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0011.jp2"}, "10": {"fulltext": "Copyright, 1894,\\nBy EDWARD GARY.\\nAll rights reserved.\\nThe Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., V. S. A.\\nElectrotyped and Printed by H. 0. Houghton Company.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0012.jp2"}, "11": {"fulltext": "TO\\nMRS. FRANCIS GEORGE SHAW\\nTHIS LIFE OF OUR DEAR FRIEND\\nIS, WITH RESPECT AND AFFECTION\\nDEDICATED\\nBY THE AUTHOR", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0013.jp2"}, "12": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0014.jp2"}, "13": {"fulltext": "CONTENTS.\\nPAGE\\nCHAPTER I.\\nFamily and Youth 1\\nCHAPTER II.\\nEmerson and Brook Farm ,15\\nCHAPTER in.\\nEuropean Travel 39\\nCHAPTER IV.\\nThe Literary Field 52\\nCHAPTER V.\\nThe Howadji Books 59\\nCHAPTER VI.\\nLecturer and Magazine Writer 74\\nCHAPTER Vn.\\nThe Potiphar Papers Prue and I 91\\nCHAPTER VIII.\\nBusiness Experiences 104\\nCHAPTER IX.\\nThe Campaign of 1856 109\\nCHAPTER X.\\nA Novel and a Lecture 118", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0015.jp2"}, "14": {"fulltext": "Vlll CONTENTS.\\nCHAPTER XL\\nThe Eve of the War o 130\\nCHAPTER XII.\\nIn the Midst of War 146\\nCHAPTER XIII.\\nEditor of Harper s Weekly 168\\nCHAPTER XIV.\\nThe End of the War 183\\nCHAPTER XV.\\nFour Years of Politics 194\\nCHAPTER XVI.\\nThe Reform Commission 216\\nCHAPTER XVII.\\nThe Greeley Canvass 2^7\\nCHAPTER XVIII.\\nThe Reaction 1874 to 1876 239\\nCHAPTER XIX.\\nThe Parting of the Ways 253\\nCHAPTER XX.\\nPolitical Independence 262\\nCHAPTER XXI.\\nThe Canvass of 1884 279\\nCHAPTER XXII.\\nThe Leader of Reform 294", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0016.jp2"}, "15": {"fulltext": "CONTENTS. IX\\nCHAPTER XXIII.\\nThe Typical Independent 308\\nCHAPTER XXIV.\\nChancellob of the University 317\\nCHAPTER XXV.\\nConclusion 322", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0017.jp2"}, "16": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0018.jp2"}, "17": {"fulltext": "GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nCHAPTER I.\\nFAMILY AND YOUTH.\\nThe Elizabeth and Ann sailed from the port\\nof London on the 6th of May, 1635, for New-\\nEngland. In Hotten s List of Emigrants to\\nAmerica the names and ages of her seven\\npassingers are given, and it is stated that they\\nbrought certificates from the Ministers where\\ntheir abodes were, and from the Justices of Peace,\\nof their conform itie to the orders and discipline\\nof the Church of England, and y* they are no sub-\\nsidy men. It is added that they had taken the\\noaths of allegiance and supremacy. Of these\\nnames the last is that of Henry Curtis, and his age\\n(Regi)ster of the names of all ye Passingers wcli Passed\\nfrom ye Port of London for on whole year Ending-e X mas 1635.\\n6 May 1635.\\nTheis under- written names are to be transported to New Eng-\\nland, imbarqued in the Elizabeth and Ann, Roger Coop (Cooper)\\nMr. the p-ties have brought Cert from the Ministers where their\\nabodes were and from the Justices of Peace of their conformitie\\nto the orders and discipline of the Church of England and yt they\\nare no subsidy men. They have taken the oaths of alleg and\\nSuprem", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0019.jp2"}, "18": {"fulltext": "2 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nis given as twenty-seven. This was the founder of\\nthe family of which George William Curtis was a\\ndescendant in the sixth generation. Henry Curtis\\nsettled at Watertown, in Massachusetts, having had\\nfive lots granted to him, and having bought two.\\nLater he removed to Sudbury, where his eldest\\nson, Ephraim, was born in 1642, he having mar-\\nried Mary Guy, the daughter of Nicholas Guy, a\\ncarpenter who had emigrated from Upton Gray,\\nnear Southampton, England. Ephraim appears\\nin the colonial history of his time as a man of en-\\nergy, courage, and a strong will. In 1675, when\\nhe was thirty-three years old, it is recorded of\\nhim that, because he was noted for his intimate\\n1 The genealogy of Mr. Curtis, as traced by his son, is as\\nfollows\\nCURTIS. BURRILL.\\nHenry-Mary Guy George\\n1608-1678 1630-1683\\nEphraim John-Lois Ivory\\n1642-1734 1651-1703\\nJohn-Rebekah Waites Ebenezer-Martha Farrington\\n1731-1768 1701-1778\\nDavid-Susanna Stone James-Elizabeth Rawson\\n1763-1813 1743-1825\\nGeorge-Mary Elizabeth Burril James-Sally Arnold\\n1796-1856 1772-1820\\nGeorge William Mary Elizabeth\\n1824-1892 1798-1826\\nJames Savage, in his Genealogical Dictionary of the First Set-\\ntlers of New England, showing Three Generations, notes (vol. i.\\np. 485) Curtis, Henry, Watertown 1636, an orig. propr. of\\nSudbury, m. Mary, d. of Nicholas Guy, had Ephraim, b. 31 Mai.,\\n1643; John, 1644 Joseph, 1747; nam. in their gr.mo s will\\n1666 d. 8 May 1678.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0020.jp2"}, "19": {"fulltext": "FAMILY AND YOUTH. 6\\nknowledge of the country, his quickness of compre-\\nhension and cool courage, and his large acquaint-\\nance with the Indians, whose language he spoke flu-\\nently, the court sent him as an interpreter with\\nan embassy which started from Cambridge, July\\n28, with an escort of twenty men under Captains\\nEdward Hutchinson and Thomas Wheeler. On\\nthe 2d of August they were attacked from am-\\nbush. Eight of the little force were killed and\\nfive were wounded. The remainder took refuge\\nin a house in Brookfield, and Ephraim Curtis,\\nwith a companion, was sent toward the nearest\\npost to report their plight and secure relief. He\\nreturned before leaving the town, having learned\\nthat the Indians were in force and intended a\\nnight attack. A second time he readily as-\\nsented to adventure forth again on that service\\nalone, his companion having been killed meanwhile.\\nAgain he was forced to return. But towards\\nmorning, says Captain Wheeler, said Ephraim\\nadventured forth for the third time, and was fain\\nto creep on his hands and knees for some space\\nof ground, that he might not be discerned by the\\nenemy. But by God s mercy, he escaped their\\nhands and got safely to Marlborough, tho very\\nmuch spent and ready to faint by reason of\\nwant of sleep before he left us, and his sore\\ntravel night and day in the hot season till he got\\nthither. For his gallant services in this year he\\nwas made a lieutenant, accredited as in the direct\\nservice of the council, paid the sum of 2X,", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0021.jp2"}, "20": {"fulltext": "4 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nand given the right to gather the corn of our\\nenemies, the Indians that are fled. Later in the\\nyear the English were withdrawn from Worcester,\\nthe place was burned, and Lieutenant Curtis re-\\nturned to Sudbury.\\nHe had been the first settler of Worcester.\\nIndeed, he was so emphatically the first, and was\\nso solidly settled, that when a committee of the\\nGeneral Court visited the place to lay out a town\\nthere, they found Ephraim Curtis established, and\\nso resolved to assert his rights that it took ex-\\ntended legal proceedings, all of which are recorded\\nin the quaint language of the time, to dislodge him.\\nNor was this finally accomplished until there had\\nbeen made over to him other lands, which seem, by\\nthe description of them, to have been compensation\\nin ample measure for those which his enterprise\\nhad laid hold upon. I have said this much of the\\nlife of Ephraim Curtis, because he is the only one\\nof the earliest members of the family of whom\\nthere is a clear record, and because it makes plain\\nthe nature of the stock from which George Wil-\\nliam Curtis was derived. It was not the usual\\nPuritan or Pilgrim type, but apparently that of\\nthe smaller gentry of England, whose conformitie\\nto the orders and discipline of the Church of Eng-\\nland was duly acknowledged, and who were no\\nsubsidy men. The men of this class had inde-\\npendence and self-reliance in plenty were full of\\nresource, quick of wit, eager to seize every oppor-\\ntunity resolute, even daring faithful to duty,", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0022.jp2"}, "21": {"fulltext": "FAMILY AND YOUTH. 5\\ngood as friends, formidable as foes. It was a good\\nstock. In the life of George William Curtis some\\nof these qualities will reappear and if they are not\\ngenerally associated with his name by his contem-\\nporaries, it is because in part they were rendered\\nless prominent by the radiance of gentler and rarer\\nqualities but, as will I hope be seen, the better of\\nthem were not absent, and in the phrase of the\\nphysiologist persisted, and were very strong.\\nOne other figure in the Curtis family attracts\\nattention, that of John Curtis, the eldest son of\\nEphraim. He was born (1707) in Worcester, and\\nup to the outbreak of the Revolution was an active\\nand noted citizen, selectman, surveyor of the\\nhighways, captain in the French and Indian War.\\nHe was also a tavern-keeper and a leading member\\nof the church, and his house was much frequented\\nby the clergymen of the day. But he was a sturdy\\nand open loyalist. In 1774 he signed a protest\\nagainst what he regarded as the revolutionary action\\nof the town, whereupon the town, premising that he\\nwas one of those on whom it had Conferred many\\nfavours and Consequently might expect their Kind-\\nest and best Services, resolved that he and his fel-\\nlow-signers be Deemed unworthy of holding any\\nTown office of Profit or Honour until they have\\nmade satisfaction for this offence to the acceptance\\nof the town which ought to be made as public as\\ntheir Protest was. He declined at this time to\\nmake any retraction, and in the next year he was\\ndeclared a public enemy, disarmed, and forbidden", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0023.jp2"}, "22": {"fulltext": "6 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nto leave the town. But in 1777 he seems to have\\nmade his peace, as it was voted to receive him and\\nothers into the Town s favour, and that further\\nprosecution against them as enemies of the United\\nStates of America shall cease, they paying the\\ncosts that has arisen already by means of their\\nbeing prosecuted as Enemies to the United States,\\nagreeable to their petition. Here was a strain of\\npractical independence in the Curtis blood not in-\\nconsistent with a disposition to make the best of\\nfacts that could not be changed.\\nThe great-grandson of this John Curtis was\\nGeorge Curtis, the father of George William. He\\nwas born in Worcester in 1796, but removed to\\nProvidence, R. I. There he married Mary Eliza-\\nbeth Burrill, daughter of James Burrill, Jr., who\\nwas Chief Justice of Rhode Island, and at one time\\na member of the United States Senate from that\\nState, an opponent of the Missouri Compromise,\\nand a man of marked ability and high character.\\nOf this marriage were born James Burrill Curtis,\\nin 1822, and George William Curtis, February 24,\\n1824. Mrs. Curtis died in 1826 when George was\\nbut two years old. In 1835 Mr. Curtis married, as\\nhis second wife, a daughter of Samuel W. Bridg-\\nham, of Providence. Of Mr. Curtis his eldest son\\n(now living in England) writes that he was of\\nhigh integrity, sound, practical judgment, and ex-\\ncellent business talents, together with political and\\nliterary taste. He was popular among his associ-\\nates leading business and professional men", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0024.jp2"}, "23": {"fulltext": "FAMILY AND YOUTH, 1\\nin Providence and New York. He was most affec-\\ntionate and beloved in his family, and extremely\\nkind and indulgent to his children, though sharp\\nand severe in his demands as to manners and\\nmorals. He valued truthfulness and honesty above\\nall other qualities, and his example and influence\\nin these respects early impressed both George and\\nme very deeply. In a letter of 1860 George, reply-\\ning to a question of mine about his religious views,\\nwrites thus (the italics are George s) I believe\\nin God, who is love that all men are brothers\\nand that the only essential duty of every man is\\nto be honesty by which I understand his absolute\\nfollowing of his conscience when duly enlightened.\\nI do not believe that God is anxious that men\\nshould believe this or that theory of the Godhead,\\nor of the Divine Government, but that they should\\nlive purely, justly, and lovingly. These, I take it,\\nwere the essential articles of his creed to the end\\nand, whatever may be thought of them, at least\\nthe paramount value, or his estimation, of honesty\\nand practical goodness, is conspicuous.\\nTo this instructive glimpse of the influence of\\nthe father I am happily able to add one equally in-\\nstructive, from the same source, as to the influence\\nof the second mother. Mr. J. B. Curtis writes\\nof her She was a woman of much good sense\\nand practical energy, of strong and generous sym-\\npathies, and of high public spirit and piety and\\nshe added to these things literary cultivation de-\\ncidedly above the average. She wrote with ease,", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0025.jp2"}, "24": {"fulltext": "8 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nwhether in letters or other compositions, a full,\\ngraceful, flowing, delightful English style. She\\nonce wrote to us in high girlish spirits that she be-\\nlieved she loved her ready-made children the best.\\nCertainly she made herself to a very unusual de-\\ngree our intimate friend and companion, becoming\\nmother and sister (we never had an actual sister)\\nin one and she was thus able to encourage in\\nGeorge and me, in the most genial and natural\\nway, everything that was good.\\nFrom the age of six to that of eleven, George,\\nwith his elder brother, attended the school of C. W.\\nGreene at Jamaica Plain, near Boston but on\\nhis father s second marriage he was brought again\\nto Providence and placed in school there, until he\\nwas fifteen, when (1839) his father removed to\\nNew York. Of the school days at Jamaica Plain\\nI know nothing save that they left pleasant and\\ntender memories, and furnished some of the detail\\nfor the earlier chapters of Trumps. There is\\nin Sea from Shore, one of the chapters of Prue\\nand I, a picture of the Providence wharves that\\nis worth citing for its delightful local color, and\\nits suggestion of the influence of the seaside town\\nand of the sensitiveness of the boyish mind\\nMy earliest remembrances are of a long range\\nof old, half -dilapidated stores red-brick stores with\\nsteep wooden roofs and stone window-frames and\\ndoor-frames, which stood upon docks built as if\\nfor immense trade with all quarters of the globe.\\nGenerally there were only a few sloops moored", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0026.jp2"}, "25": {"fulltext": "FAMILY AND YOUTH. 9\\nto the tremendous posts, which I fancied could\\neasily hold fast a Spanish Armada in a tropical\\nhurricane. But sometimes a great ship, an East\\nIndiaman, with rusty, seamed, blistered sides and\\ndingy sails, came slowly moving up the harbor,\\nwith an air of indolent self-importance and con-\\nsciousness of superiority, which inspired me with\\nprofound respect. If the ship had ever chanced to\\nrun down a row-boat, or a sloop, or any specimen\\nof smaller craft, I should only have wondered at\\nthe temerity of any floating thing in crossing the\\npath of such supreme majesty. The ship was leis-\\nurely chained and cabled to the old dock, and then\\ncame the disemboweling. Long after the confu-\\nsion of unloading was over, and the ship lay as\\nif all voyages were ended, I dared to creep timor-\\nously along the edge of the dock, and, at great risk\\nof falling in the black water of its huge shadow, I\\nplaced my hand upon the hot hulk, and so estab-\\nlished a mystic and exquisite connection with Pa-\\ncific Islands with palm groves and all the passion-\\nate beauties they embower with jungles, Bengal\\ntigers, pepper, and the crushed feet of Chinese fair-\\nies. I touched Asia, the Cape of Good Hope, and\\nthe Happy Islands, I would not believe that the\\nheat I felt was of our Northern sun to my finer\\nsympathy, it burned with equatorial fervor,\\nThe freight was piled in the old stores. I be-\\nlieve that many of them remain, but they have\\nlost their character. When I knew them, not only\\nwas I younger, but partial decay had overtaken", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0027.jp2"}, "26": {"fulltext": "10 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nthe town at least the bulk of its India trade had\\ndrifted to New York and Boston. But the appli-\\nances remained. There was no throng of busy\\ntraffickers and after school, in the afternoon, I\\nstrolled by and gazed into the solemn interiors.\\nSilence reigned within, silence, dimness, and\\npiles of foreign treasures. Vast coils of cable, like\\ntame boa-constrictors, served as seats for men with\\nlarge stomachs and heavy watch-seals, and nankeen\\ntrousers, who sat looking out of the door toward\\nthe ships, with little other sign of life than an\\noccasional low talking, as if in their sleep. Huge\\nhogsheads, perspiring brown sugar, and oozing slow\\nmolasses, as if nothing tropical could keep within\\nbounds, but must continuously expand and exude\\nand overflow, stood against the walls, and had an\\narchitectural significance, for they darkly reminded\\nme of Egyptian prints, and in the duskiness of\\nthe low-vaulted store seemed cyclopean columns\\nincomplete. Strange festoons and heaps of bags\\nsquare piles of boxes cased in mats, bales of airy\\nsummer stuffs which even in winter scoffed at\\ncold, and shamed it by audacious assumption of\\neternal sun little specimen boxes of precious dyes,\\nthat even now shine through my memory like old\\nVenetian schools unpainted, these were all there\\nin rich confusion.\\nThe stores had a twilight of dimness; the air\\nwas spicy with mingled odors. I liked to look\\nsuddenly in from the glare of sunlight outside, and\\nthen the cool sweet dimness was like the palpable", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0028.jp2"}, "27": {"fulltext": "FAMILY AND YOUTH, 11\\nbreath of the far-off island groves and if only-\\nsome parrot or macaw hung within would flaunt\\nwith glistening plumage in his cage, and, as the\\ngay hue flashed in a chance sunbeam, call in his\\nhard, shrill voice, as if thrusting sharp sounds upon\\na glistening wire from out that grateful gloom, then\\nthe enchantment was complete, and without mov-\\ning I was circumnavigating the globe.\\nFrom the old stores and the docks slowly\\ncrumbling, touched, I knew not why or how, by\\nthe pensive air of past prosperity, I rambled out of\\ntown on those well-remembered afternoons to the\\nfields that lay upon hillsides over the harbor, and\\nthere sat looking out to sea, fancying some distant\\nsail, proceeding to the glorious ends of the earth, to\\nbe my type and image, who would so sail, stately\\nand successful, to all the glorious ports of the Fu-\\nture.\\nThese are passages both of memory and imagi-\\nnation, and date fifteen years later than the life to\\nwhich they relate. But the memories of a man of\\nthirty are not dim, and the imagination owns the\\nspell of memory when it plays upon the time of\\nboyhood. I take the picture to be a true one.\\nIn these early days, and until Curtis was twenty-\\nfive years old, there was one person whose influence,\\nstrong and continuous and intimate, was always re-\\nmembered as a great debt, his brother Burrill.\\nDuring this quarter of a century, and for more than\\na third of Mr. Curtis s life, they were constantly to-\\ngether, occupying the same room at home, at school,", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0029.jp2"}, "28": {"fulltext": "12 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nat Brook Farm, at Concord, and during much of\\nthe journeying abroad. He is the model from\\nwhich was drawn the portrait of Our Cousin the\\nCurate in Prue and I. It does not concern me\\nor my readers to know how far the story embraced\\nin that sketch is based on the brothers experience,\\nbut it will throw light on the springtime of Mr.\\nCurtis s life, when the sap coursed free and strong\\nand the force and direction of aftergrowth were\\nbeing determined, to cite here a few passages from\\nthe sketch\\nThere is no subject which does not seem to lead\\nnaturally to our Cousin the Curate. As the soft\\nair steals in and envelops everything in the world,\\nso that the trees and the hills and the rivers, the\\ncities, the crops, and the sea, are made remote and\\ndelicate and beautiful by its pure baptism, so over\\nall the events of our little lives, comforting, refin-\\ning, and elevating, falls like a benediction the re-\\nmembrance of our cousin the curate.\\nHe was my only early companion. He had no\\nbrother, I had none, and we became brothers to\\neach other. He was alwavs beautiful. His face\\nwas symmetrical and delicate his figure was slight\\nand graceful. He looked as the sons of kings ought\\nto look, as I am sure Philip Sidney looked when\\nhe was a boy. His eyes were blue, and as you looked\\nat them they seemed to let you gaze out into a\\nJune heaven. The blood ran close to the skin, and\\nhis complexion had the rich transparency of light.\\nThere was nothing gross or heavy in his expression", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0030.jp2"}, "29": {"fulltext": "FAMILY AND YOUTH, 13\\nor texture his soul seemed to have mastered his\\nbody. But he had strong passions, for his delicacy-\\nwas positive, not negative; it was not weakness,\\nbut intensity.\\nOften, when I returned panting and restless\\nfrom some frolic which had wasted almost all the\\nnight, I was rebuked as I entered the room in\\nwhich he lay peacefully sleeping. There was some-\\nthing holy in the profound repose of his beauty\\nand as I stood looking at him, how many a time\\nthe tears have dropped from my hot eyes upon his\\nface, while I vowed to make myself worthy of such\\na companion for I felt my heart owning its alle-\\ngiance to that strong and imperial nature.\\nMy cousin was loved by the boys, but the girls\\nworshiped him. His mind, large in grasp and\\nsubtle in perception, naturally commanded his com-\\npanions, while the lustre of his character allured\\nthose who could not understand him. The asceti-\\ncism occasionally showed itself a vein of hardness,\\nor rather of severity, in his treatment of others.\\nHe did what he thought it his duty to do, but he\\nforgot that few could see the right so closely as he,\\nand very few of those few could so calmly obey the\\nleast command of conscience. I confess I was a\\nlittle afraid of him, for I think I never could be\\nsevere.\\nIn the long winter evenings I often read to\\nPrue the story of some old father of the church, or\\nsome quaint poem of George Herbert s and every\\nChristmas Eve I read to her Milton s Hymn on the", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0031.jp2"}, "30": {"fulltext": "14 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nNativity. Yet when the saint seems to us most\\nsaintly, or the poem most pathetic or sublime, we\\nfind ourselves talking of our cousin the curate. I\\nhave not seen him for many years but when we\\nparted, his head had the intellectual symmetry of\\nMilton s, without the Puritanic stoop, and with the\\nstately grace of a cavalier.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0032.jp2"}, "31": {"fulltext": "CHAPTEK II.\\nEMERSON AND BROOK FARM.\\nWith the evidence afforded in the passages\\nquoted in the last chapter, written some six years\\nafter parting with his brother in Europe, of the\\nplace that brother held in his heart and life, I ven-\\nture to give some notes by Mr. Burrill Curtis of\\ntheir life together from 1835, when they returned\\nfrom school to Providence, to 1846, when they\\nsailed for Europe\\nNot long after (1835), another powerful* in-\\nfluence reached us, which prevailed in our lives for\\nseven or eight years. This was the influence of\\nE. W. Emerson. It was then first beginning to\\nextend itself in New England, and not only the\\nUnited States, but Great Britain also, have since\\nbecome indebted to it. He was the sympathizing\\nleader and moderating patron, so to speak, of that\\nferment and stir after all kinds of reform which,\\naccording to his own account, had taken possession\\nof so many men and women around him from\\nabout the year 1820 onward. His large endow-\\nment of cheerful humor, of intellectual acuteness,\\nand of sober common-sense did not prevent his\\nholding persistently aloft, in an exceptional degree,\\nthe torch of the ideal in everything and though", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0033.jp2"}, "32": {"fulltext": "16 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nliis thought was usually characterized by profun-\\ndity, comprehensiveness, and severe balance, al-\\nbeit it was often too fine-spun and mystical, he\\nwas so sanguine, and so optimistically enamored of\\nhis ideals, as not unfrequently to overlook the ex-\\norbitancy and impracticability of some of them.\\nHe was an ardent apostle of liberty even to the\\napparent obeying of one s whims but he was\\nan equally ardent and strenuous apostle of law\\nin its highest or most stringent senses. Nature s\\nlaw (which includes the moral law) ordains lib-\\nerty, it is true, but it ordains the regulation of\\nliberty also; and while Emerson stands on the\\none hand stoutly for freedom, independence, self-\\nreliance, heroism, nay, even inconsistency and\\nnonconformity, he stands on the other hand as\\npiously and immovably, like a rapt saint, for obedi-\\nence to natural and moral law. Our coming into\\ncontact with this New England movement (called\\nin our time Transcendentalism and especially\\nwith its leader and moderator, proved to be the\\ncardinal event of our youth and I cannot but\\nthink that the seed then sown took such deep root\\nas to flower continuously in our later years, and\\nmake us both the confirmed Independents that\\nwe were and are, whilst fully conscious at the same\\ntime of the obligation of living in all possible har-\\nmony with our fellows,\\nI still recall the impressions produced by Em-\\nerson s delivery of his address on the Over-Soul\\nin Mr. Hartshorn s semicircular school -room in", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0034.jp2"}, "33": {"fulltext": "EMERSON AND BROOK FARM. 17\\nProvidence, our native town. He seemed to speak\\nas an inhabitant of heaven, and with the inspiration\\nand authority of a prophet. Although a large part\\nof the matter of that discourse, when reduced to its\\nlowest terms, does not greatly differ from the com-\\nmonplaces of piety and religion, yet its form and\\nits tone were so fresh and vivid that they made\\nthe matter also seem to be uttered for the first\\ntime, and to be a direct outcome from the inmost\\nsource of the highest truth. We heard Emerson\\nlecture frequently, and made his personal acquaint-\\nance. My enthusiastic admiration of him and his\\nwritings soon mounted to a high and intense hero-\\nworship, which, when it subsided, seems to have\\nleft me ever since incapable of attaching myseH as\\na follower to any other man. How far George\\nshared such feelings, if at all, I cannot precisely\\nsay but he so far shared my enthusiastic admira-\\ntion as to be led a willing captive to Emerson s\\nattractions, and to the incidental attractions of the\\nmovement of which he was the head and Emerson\\nalways continued to command from us both the\\nsincerest reverence and homage.\\nI do not remember that George ever commit-\\nted himself to any important extravagance of re-\\nform. I, for my part, was at first carried away\\ninto personal experiments of disusing money and\\nanimal food but I was soon convinced of my\\nerrors and abandoned them. Comparatively unim-\\nportant vagaries about dress we both partook of.\\nThe movement affected and modified our aims", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0035.jp2"}, "34": {"fulltext": "18 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nand ideas in various respects as individuals, but\\ndid not enlist us as permanent and well-drilled\\nsoldiers in social schemes and causes. It awakened\\nour interest in the reforming ideas of others around\\nus but neither the anti-slavery cause (which af ter-\\nw^ards aroused in George an heroic zeal and devo-\\ntion), nor the temperance cause, nor any other,\\nhowever apparently important, then secured from\\nus anything more than a reasonable speculative\\nconsideration. We were intent mainly, not on re-\\nforming others, or reforming society at large, but\\non the ordering of our own individual lives.\\nIn 1839, when George was fifteen, his father re-\\nmoved from Providence to New York, and became\\nconnected with the Bank of Commerce, first as\\ncashier and afterwards as president. His home\\nwas on the north side of Washington Place, then\\nthe centre of the most desirable residence quarter\\nof the city. It is a pleasure to note that the fine\\nold house has remained for more than half a cen-\\ntury in the Curtis family, and is one of the few in\\nwhich has been amassed a fund of those associa-\\ntions, glad or sad, but with the lapse of time always\\nand uniquely sweet, which make a house, in a far\\ndeeper than the technical sense, real estate.\\nMr. George Curtis, by his personal qualities, tastes,\\nand attainments, as by his business relations and\\nability, became naturally a member of what was in\\ntruth, if not by its own claim, the best society of\\nthe city of that time, and in this society both he\\nand his wife were fitted to get and to give the best.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0036.jp2"}, "35": {"fulltext": "EMERSON AND BROOK FARM. 19\\nThey were members, first, of Dr. Orville Dewey s\\nUnitarian congregation, and afterwards of that of\\nDr. Bellows. Young Curtis was surrounded by\\ninfluences that awakened and developed in him the\\nremarkable social gifts which afterwards distin-\\nguished him, and trained his active and adventur-\\nous mind in healthy ways. I do not learn much of\\nthe details of his life at this time, further than that\\nhe devoted a good deal of time to study at home,\\npartly under the guidance of tutors, partly under\\nthat of his father and mother, and that there was a\\nbrief experience in the counting-room of a German\\nimporting and shipping house, which was abandoned,\\nfor w^hat reason I cannot say, but with happy result.\\nMr. Burrill Curtis writes As I, while at col-\\nlege, had fallen so much under the influence of\\nthe New England Transcendental Movement as\\nto have been led by it into a practical vagary about\\nmoney and its use, it was probably something of a\\nrelief to our father that, a while after my having\\ncome to my senses, George and I proposed nothing\\nworse than to become boarders, and boarders only,\\nwith the Community at Brook Farm. This was in\\n1842, and about two years were passed by the bro-\\nthers at West Roxbury, for George, the years from\\neighteen to twenty. As he and his brother were\\nboarders, and boarders only, it is hardly worth\\nwhile to describe here the purposes of the founders\\nof this peculiar home. Mr. Emerson, in his His-\\ntoric Notes of Life and Letters in New England,\\nsums them up sufficiently", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0037.jp2"}, "36": {"fulltext": "20 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nThe founders of Brook Farm should have this\\npraise, that they made what all people try to make,\\nan agreeable place to live in. All comers, even the\\nmost fastidious, found it the pleasantest of resi-\\ndences. It is certain that freedom from household\\nroutine, variety of character and talent, variety of\\nwork, variety of means of thought and instruction,\\nart, music, poetry, reading, masquerade, did not per-\\nmit sluggishness or despondency, broke up routine.\\nThere is agreement in the testimony that it was, to\\nmost of the associates, education to many the most\\nimportant period of their life, the birth of valued\\nfriendships, their first acquaintance with the riches\\nof conversation, their training in behavior. The\\nart of letter-writing, it is said, was immensely cul-\\ntivated letters were always flying, not only from\\nhouse to house, but from room to room. It was a\\nperpetual picnic, a French Revolution in small, an\\nAge of Reason in a patty-pan.\\nUnfortunately, Mr. Emerson, like many smaller\\nmen, was not wholly free from the temptation of\\nphrase-making, and the last sentence is more amus-\\ning than clear. So far as I can trace the influence\\nof the life at Brook Farm on young Curtis, he es-\\ncaped pretty well the element of the French Revo-\\nlution and the Age of Reason, unquestionably\\nmade close and valuable friendships, and had (as\\nwell as contributed) his full share of the picnic.\\nI find that he studied, with apparently much appli-\\ncation, German, agricultural chemistry, and music,\\nthe last with great zest under the instruction of Mr.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0038.jp2"}, "37": {"fulltext": "EMERSON AND BROOK FARM. 21\\nJohn Dwight. In June, 1843, his second year, he\\nwrote to his father\\nMy life is summery enough. We breakfast at\\nsix and from seven to twelve I am at work. After\\ndinner, these fair days permit no homage but to\\ntheir beauty, and I am fain to woo their smiles in\\nthe shades and sunlights of the woods. A festal life\\nfor one before whom the great sea stretches which\\nmust be sailed; yet this summer air teaches life-\\nnavigation, and I listen to the flowing streams, and\\nto the cool rush of the winds among the trees, with\\nan increase of that hope which is the only pole-star\\nof life.\\nThis expresses, I should say, the spirit of the\\nyouth. It was essentially earnest in its main mo-\\ntive, and was not inconsistent with the utmost de-\\nlight in the pleasures that presented themselves, or\\nthat were to be had for the seeking. He had a\\nmost pleasing voice, and a face and form of exqui-\\nsite beauty, and I read of his singing lingering in\\nthe memory of his companions thirty years later,\\nand of equally vivid recollections of his personal\\ncharm. One chronicler recalls a masquerade pic-\\nnic in the woods, We were thrown into con-\\nvulsions of laughter at the sight of G. W. C.\\ndressed as Fanny Elssler, making courtesies and\\npirouetting down the path and another occasion\\nwhen he led the quadrille as Hamlet, and looked\\nthe Dane to the life.\\nA lady who was a resident at Brook Farm, and\\nwhose friendship then formed lasted through the", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0039.jp2"}, "38": {"fulltext": "22 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nlife of Curtis, furnislies some notes as to that\\ntime tliat confirm the impression I have indicated.\\nShe recalls one bright May morning when,\\ngoing from the Eyrie to the Hive for break-\\nfast, she approached the gate through which\\nGeorge Bradford and the fascinating Hawthorne\\nwere wont to drive the cows. The gate was held\\nwide open by our handsome young man, Charles A.\\nDana, who did himself proud at such honors, not\\nhaving the certain reserve and diffidence that many\\nof our Brook Farm men had. With C. A. D.\\nwere two young men who, as I remember them,\\nlooked like young Greek gods. These must be the\\nCurtises, I thought, two wonderfully charming\\nyoung men of whom Mr. Ripley had spoken.\\nBurrill, the elder, with a typical Greek face and\\nlong hair falling to his shoulders in irregular curls,\\nI remember as most unconscious of himself, inter-\\nested in all about him, talking of the Greek philoso-\\nphers as if he had just come from one of Socrates\\nwalks, carrying the high philosophy into his daily\\nlife helping the young people with hard arithmetic\\nlessons trimming the lamps daily at the Eyrie,\\nwhere the brothers came to live (my sister saw\\nGeorge assisting him one day, and occasionally, she\\nsays, he turned his face with a disgusted expression,\\ntrying to puff away the disagreeable odor) never\\nlosing control of himself, with the kindest man-\\nner to every person. He and George seemed very\\ncompanionable and fond of each other.\\nGeorge, though only eighteen, one year older", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0040.jp2"}, "39": {"fulltext": "EMERSON AND BROOK FARM, 23\\nthan I, seemed much older, like a man of twenty-\\nfive possibly, with a peculiar elegance, if I may\\nso express it; great and admirable attention, as I\\nrecollect, when listening to any one courteous rec-\\nognition of others convictions and even prejudices\\nand never a personal animosity of any kind,\\na certain remoteness of manner, however, that I\\nthink prevented persons from becoming acquainted\\nwith him as easily as with Burrill.\\nGeorge and Mr. Bradford, on cold, stormy wash-\\ning days in winter, used to wrap themselves as\\nwarmly as possible, and insisted on hanging out\\nthe clothes for the women, a chivalry equal to\\nthat of Walter Raleigh throwing down his cloak\\nbefore the Queen Elizabeth.\\nThis lady speaks also of the part taken by George\\nCurtis in the gayeties of the place, and the charm\\nhe lent them. I find in one of his own letters,\\nwritten a few years after leaving Roxbury, a remi-\\nniscence of Brook Farm that shows the impression\\nmade by some of the characters there. He speaks\\nof the solemn sphynx, Alcott, dispensing his\\ngreat discourse on one of his visitations with L\\nhis solemn shadow, to Brook Farm, when he held\\na talk in the dreary Morton House one glorious\\nJune evening. It was as stately and inhuman as\\nif there had been no stars shining, and Carrie S.\\nand I slipped out of one of the long windows and\\nwent to walk. It is a great pity that Mr. Alcott\\nis too old to learn that the condition of the King-\\ndom is, not the being a grave philosopher, but a", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0041.jp2"}, "40": {"fulltext": "24 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nlittle child. Yet he always has about him the\\ngrandeur you would predict of his brow and eye,\\nthe solitary old sphynx grandeur of the desert.\\nI add the following reference, in a letter to his\\nfather, to Webster and his oration at Bunker Hill\\nin June, 1843, partly because a good sign of what\\na boy of nineteen has in him is what he finds in\\nothers, and partly because these extracts show the\\nfine and fruitful sympathy between young Curtis\\nand his father\\nI was sorry not to see you on the day we\\nwatched eagerly the coming of the Sons of New\\nEngland from New York, when they were march-\\ning to the Common to form. The day was a fine\\none to me. Finest of all, that I saw and heard\\nDaniel Webster. We struggled through the\\ncrowd, and stood only a rod or two in front of\\nhim, saw him plainly, heard him distinctly. It\\nwas a noble spectacle. As far on one side as the\\neye could reach up the hill was a silent multitude,\\nout of whose midst, solemnly and lonely against\\nthe sky, rose the monument. On the other stood\\nthis man solemn and lonely also, the strength of\\nOlympian Jove in his figure and mein, yet a wild,\\nlonely spectacle. Too great for party, not yet\\ngreat enough for quiet independence. Not the\\ncalm dignity of a soul self-centred who rules the\\nworld, but the restless grandeur of a Titan storm-\\ning heaven. His mouth curled, his eye flashed, as\\nif among that mass he was king, but the higher\\ncrown could not be seen upon him. Though by", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0042.jp2"}, "41": {"fulltext": "EMERSON AND BROOK FARM. 25\\nno means satisfying my idea of a great man, he is\\ncertainly a strong man, Hercules, if not Apollo.\\nBrook Farm was notoriously the home of re-\\nformers. A lad as warm-hearted, eager, and imag-\\ninative as Curtis might easily have been unsettled\\nand warped by them. That he was not is shown\\nin the following passages from still another letter\\nto his father, in which that keen guardian of san-\\nity, a sense of humor, shines lightly\\nDear Father, Will you send me $20 to pay\\nfor a coat which I have had made in Boston You\\nwill smile at such a request after my unmitigated\\ncondemnation of coats and resolute tunic-wearing\\nin Providence last summer yet had you taken apart-\\nments in my mind since then, and closely observed\\nall changes and growths that occurred, you would\\nsee how natural it is. The stern protest, which dis-\\ntinguishes the birth of reform, against society, the\\nchurch, and all things but the sovereign gradually\\ngives way to that other better state of affirmation\\nand reception which, deserting the faith not a whit,\\nleads an outward life in beautiful harmony with all\\nmen and things What was done before, says\\nFenelon, to gratify the lusts and vanities of the\\nman is now done for the glory of God. No wise\\nman is long a reformer, for Wisdom sees plainly\\nthat growth is steady, sure, and neither condemns\\nnor rejects what is, or has been. Reform is organ-\\nized distrust. It says to the universe fresh from\\nGod s hand, You are a miserable business lo\\nI will make you fairer and so deputes some", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0043.jp2"}, "42": {"fulltext": "26 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nFourier or Robert Owen to improve the bungling\\nwork of the Creator. After a couple of pages of\\nthis elaborate badinage, the youngster concludes\\nFrom such brief hints, possibly some time to be\\nexpanded as more light flows in, you may get dim\\nglimpses at my position, and so perhaps not alto-\\ngether smiling, send me $20.\\nThe importance of the Brook Farm episode in\\nCurtis s life may very easily be exaggerated, and\\nI think has been so in the minds of some who\\nhave written of him. The fame, not to say the\\nnotoriety, of the place and the persons associated\\nwith it made a strong impression, though a vague\\none; and it is almost unavoidable that any one\\neven indirectly engaged in the movement should\\nhave borne a more or less distinct mark of it in\\nthe public mind, and not wholly to his advantage,\\nsince it suggests a strain of queerness. I very\\nwell recall the conviction of a man of strong na-\\nture, in general sympathy with Mr. Curtis in his\\nmature years, who accounted for the views of the\\nlatter on the rights of women by the theory that\\nthere must be a screw loose somewhere in a\\nman who graduated from that lunatic school at\\nBrook Farm. It is true that Mr. Ripley, the\\nvery father of the scheme, became one of the\\nbroadest, sanest, and most just of literary crit-\\nics that Mr. Dana, who was a very active coad-\\njutor of Mr. Ripley, became a famous journalist,\\nwhose acute and trained scholarship was coupled\\nwith qualities not at all suggestive of fanaticism.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0044.jp2"}, "43": {"fulltext": "EMERSON AND BROOK FARM. 27\\nand whose aims were the opposite of visionary or\\nUtopian. Unquestionably Curtis was influenced\\nstrongly by the experience of those two years he\\nmust have been a very dull boy had he not been\\nand what that influence was, in part, is described\\nin the lines of Uhland s Song, of which he was\\nfond\\nWhat mormng dreams reveal to me\\nThe evening makes forever true.\\nThere was much in the generous confidence, the\\ncourageous hope, the high aspiration, and the fine\\nassertion of the right and duty of individuality\\nof the leaders at Brook Farm with which Curtis\\nremained in intimate sympathy all his life and\\nhe had no less true appreciation of it, but one all\\nthe more true, because he saw the comical side of\\nthe experience and enjoyed it.\\nIn one of the Easy Chair essays, Mr. Curtis\\nwrote of Brook Farm a propos of a passage in\\nHawthorne s Note-Book: The society at Brook\\nFarm was composed of every kind of person.\\nThere were the ripest scholars, men and women\\nof the most aesthetic culture and accomplishment,\\nyoung farmers, seamstresses, mechanics, preachers,\\nthe industrious, the lazy, the conceited, the senti-\\nmental. But they associated in such a spirit, and\\nunder such conditions, that, with some extrava-\\ngance, the best of everybody appeared, and there\\nwas a kind of high esprit de corps^ at least in\\nthe earlier or golden age of the colony. There\\nwas plenty of steady, essential, hard work, for the", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0045.jp2"}, "44": {"fulltext": "28 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nfounding of an earthly paradise upon a New\\nEngland farm is no pastime. But with the best\\nintention, and much practical knowledge and in-\\ndustry and devotion, there was in the nature of the\\ncase an inevitable lack of method, and economi-\\ncal failure was almost a foregone conclusion. But\\nthere were never such witty potato patches, and\\nsuch sparkling corn-fields before or since. The\\nweeds were scratched out of the ground to the\\nmusic of Tennyson or Browning, and the nooning\\nwas an hour as gay and bright as any brilliant\\nmidnight at Ambrose s.\\nCompared with other efforts upon which time\\nand money and industry are lavished, measured\\nby Colorado and Nevada speculations, by Califor-\\nnia gold washing, by oil -boring and the stock\\nexchange, Brook Farm was certainly a very rea-\\nsonable and practical enterprise, worthy of the\\nhope and aid of generous men and women. The\\nfriendships that were formed there were enduring.\\nThe devotion to noble endeavor, the sympathy\\nwith what is most useful to men, the kind pa-\\ntience and constant charity that were fostered\\nthere, have been no more lost than grain dropped\\nupon the field. The spirit that was concen-\\ntrated at Brook Farm is diffused, but not lost.\\nAs an organized effort, after many downward\\nchanges, it failed; but those who remember the\\nHive, the Eyrie, the Cottage, when Margaret\\nFuller came and talked, radiant with bright\\nhumor, when Emerson and Parker and Hedge", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0046.jp2"}, "45": {"fulltext": "EMERSON AND BROOK FARM, 29\\njoined the circle for a night or day when those\\nwho may not be named publicly brought beauty\\nand wit and social sympathy to the feast when\\nthe practical possibilities of life seemed fairer, and\\nlife and character were touched ineffaceably with\\ngood influence, cherish a pleasant vision which\\nno fate can harm, and remember with ceaseless\\ngratitude the blithe days at Brook Farm.\\nAfter Brook Farm there was an interval at home\\nin New York which was crowded with work and\\npleasure. The latter came chiefly from music\\nand the social circle in which the family moved.\\nIn November, 1843, he writes from New York to a\\nvery dear friend, with whom the relations formed\\nat Brook Farm continued through life I have\\nheard fine music since I have been here, Ole\\nBull, Castillan, etc., etc. After describing some\\nof his social occupations, he adds My days I pass\\nin my room reading Goethe s Wilhelm Meister\\nand Novalis. With Burrill I read Agricultural\\nChemistry and Practical Agriculture. Next\\nweek, with mother, we shall begin the Epistles and\\nGospels. Apart from these, more strictly, studies,\\nI am reading Shakespeare, Beaumont and Fletcher,\\nMassinger, Ford, and smaller poets.\\nThus the winter passed in the old home. In the\\nspring of 1844 the brothers, George being then\\njust passed twenty, went to Concord, for the bet-\\nter furtherance, as the elder writes, of our main\\nand original end, the desire to unite in our own\\npersons the freedom of a country life with moderate", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0047.jp2"}, "46": {"fulltext": "30 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\noutdoor manual occupation, and with intellectual\\ncultivation and pursuits.\\nAt Concord we first took up our residence in\\nthe family of an elderly farmer, recommended by\\nMr. Emerson. We gave up half the day (except\\nin hay time, when we gave the whole day) to shar-\\ning the farm work indiscriminately with the farm\\nlaborers. The rest of the day we devoted to other\\npursuits, or to. social intercourse or correspondence\\nand we had a flat-bottomed rowing-boat built for\\nus, in which we spent very many afternoons on the\\npretty little river. For our second season we re-\\nmoved to another farm and farmer s house, nearer\\nMr. Emerson and Walden Pond, where we occu-\\npied only a single room, making our own beds and\\nliving in the very simplest and most primitive style.\\nA small piece of ground, which we hired of the\\nfarmer, we cultivated for ourselves, raising vege-\\ntables only and selling the superfluous produce,\\nand distributing our time much as before.\\nHere was a very different life from that of\\nBrook Farm. Both had in common healthy, out-\\ndoor occupation which built up Curtis s constitu-\\ntion, and helped make possible the arduous and in-\\ncessant labor of later years, and both had the charm\\nand advantage of dwelling with nature in a lovely\\nland. But the picnic and the masquerade\\nof Brook Farm had given place to afternoons in\\nthe woods or on the water and the social inter-\\ncourse was simpler, graver, less exciting, though\\nnot less stimulating, and more formative. Have", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0048.jp2"}, "47": {"fulltext": "EMERSON AND BROOK FARM. 31\\nI told you of our club, lie writes to his father,\\nMr. Alcott, Mr. Emerson, Mr. Hawthorne, El-\\nlery Channing, Henry Thoreau, George Bradford,\\nBurrill and I, some known to you We meet on\\nMonday eves in Mr. Emerson s library, and there\\ndiscuss\\nFate, freewill, foreknowledge absolute.\\nSome half dozen years later, in an article on\\nEmerson written for the Homes of American\\nAuthors, Mr. Curtis gives a reminiscence of this\\nclub I went, the first Monday evening, very\\nmuch as Ixion may have gone to his banquet.\\nThe philosophers sat dignified and erect. There\\nwas a constrained but very amiable silence, which\\nhad the impertinence of a tacit inquiry, seeming to\\nask, Who will now proceed to say the finest thing\\nthat has ever been said It was quite involuntary\\nand unavoidable, for the members lacked that\\nfluent social genius without which a club is im-\\npossible. I vaguely remember that the Orphic\\nAlcott invaded the Sahara of silence with a solemn\\nsaying, to which, after due pause, the honora-\\nble member for Blackberry Pastures^ responded\\nby some keen and graphic observation, while\\nthe Olympian host,^ anxious that so much good\\nmaterial should be spun into something, beamed\\nsmiling encouragement upon all parties. But the\\nconversation became more and more staccato.\\nMiles Coverdale,^ a statue of night and silence, sat,\\na little removed, under a portrait of Dante, gazing\\n1 Thoreau. Emerson. Hawthorne.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0049.jp2"}, "48": {"fulltext": "32 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nimperturbably upon the group and as he sat in\\nthe shadow, his dark eyes and hair and suit of\\nsables made him, in that society, the black thread\\nof mystery which he weaved into his stories, while\\nthe shifting presence of the Brook Farmer played\\nlike heat-lightning around the room.\\nMr. Curtis s writings contain many references\\nto these happy, fruitful years at Concord glimpses\\nof the temper and growth of his mind at the time\\nwill be had from the following extracts from let-\\nters to his father in the autumn of 1844\\nI have recently been reading J. Q. Adams s\\naddress to his constituents in 1842, and Dr. Chan-\\nning s tracts upon slavery. These and my own\\nobservation of the course of the South, especially\\nwithin a year, indicate very plainly that at last the\\ncountry will divide upon Slavery. This will not\\nbe the result of Northern agitation, but of the\\nperpetual attempt of the South to extend its limits\\nand thereby prolong the institution, and therefore\\nto continue the reserved power which now always\\nconfirms its attitude towards the North. This at-\\ntempt, which now is plainly seen, which now forms\\none of the two great topics upon which the parties\\nindeed, upon which the North and the South\\ndiffer will not be tolerated in its success by the\\nconscience of Northern men. They must then\\ntake the stand that will join the issue.\\nThen follows an ingenious argument as to the\\nclause in the Constitution giving representation to\\n1 Bradford.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0050.jp2"}, "49": {"fulltext": "EMERSON AND BROOK FARM. 33\\nthe South for its slaves as persons, though held\\nhy the masters as property, and as to the inev-\\nitable revolt of the North against the unfairness\\nof this agreement, and the arrogance and extrava-\\ngance of the Southern claims regarding it.\\nThe conduct of the South outrages the moral\\nsentiments and the letter of the laws, and, to the\\nremonstrance of the North, at one time challenges\\nit with intent to dissolve the Union, and at an-\\nother fiercely brandishes the threat against the\\nNorth. While the wise statesman calmly illus-\\ntrates its treachery and actual violation of the\\ncompact, let him firmly say that we can submit\\nno longer to be accomplices in this angel-abhorred\\nguilt. We do not deny that the articles of Union\\nbind that community upon us, and therefore must\\ninsist upon amendments. Quite willing not to in-\\nterfere politically in the matter within your bor-\\nders, we cannot, we will not, aid you in so mon-\\nstrous a sin.\\nHow nobly might Mr. Webster, a man too\\ngreat that we should ever despair, crown his fame\\nin hearts which would fain welcome him, but can-\\nnot yet, by assuming this position\\nBut if the strongest statesmen will not advance\\nin this matter, there must come men from different\\npursuits than politics to press the question on. It\\nis idle to think or to hope that it will not be asked.\\nMr. Choate and Mr. Bates and the courtly Mr.\\nWinthrop and colleagues will be reserved at home\\nfor graceful times of peace and public ease, while", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0051.jp2"}, "50": {"fulltext": "34 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nmen that cannot speak fluently at mass meetings\\nwill go and demand justice of the South. They\\nwill say We will unite with you as citizens, not\\nas robbers and unjust. Dear father, write me\\nhow these things are. I trust all nobility and gen-\\nerosity has not fled out of politics, and left them\\nbells and baubles for foolish men to wear.\\nThe father seems to have pointed out in reply\\nthe value of the Union, and the hope that slavery\\nwould yet be abolished without disunion. To\\nwhich the son responded\\nI read your last letter with pleasure, dear\\nfather, for I did not know if mine would touch\\nan interest that was very prominent in your mind.\\nIt is most true that slavery will be abolished\\nfinally by the force of public opinion. But the\\nNorth begins to groan already. While it recog-\\nnizes the comity of nations and the solemn bond,\\nit begins to speak of the separation with plain\\nwords. It may not be expedient just now, but\\nthen when will it be The old conviction that\\nno law, no arrangement, no gain, can permit such\\ndirect participation as is provided by the Constitu-\\ntion, will at last distinctly demand some change,\\nand, even if the demand be postponed an hundred\\nyears, the South will not be ready. What gains\\nthe South by separation? It will take Texas to\\nits bosom and possibly conquer Mexico, but no\\nState can endure the unalterable disapprobation of\\nthe world. It would yield to the heat of universal\\ncensure like wax. It becomes a very grave ques-", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0052.jp2"}, "51": {"fulltext": "EMERSON AND BROOK FARM, 35\\ntion to every man. In the event of a disunion,\\nthe North might enjoy less commerce and a thou-\\nsand decreased political advantages, but, as unto\\nan individual who sacrifices to Justice, there would\\nbe no real loss, but an eternal gain. Nor could it\\ntighten the bonds. Men complain that the anti-\\nslavery movement has had that effect upon the\\nslaves. But it is very transitory, if it be so. It\\nis the winking of eyes upon which light suddenly\\nflows, a moment and they will be strong and\\nclear in the sun. It is not credible that a stroke\\nfor freedom ever served to perpetuate slavery,\\nbecause it is an indication of that spirit, alive\\nand in action, to which alone slavery will yield. I\\nhave not now the inclination to pursue the theme\\nfurther, though it has wide and inviting relations.\\nThis is not a weak statement for a young man\\nof twenty. Disunion as a remedy became clearly\\nenough futile and unnecessary to his riper and\\nbetter informed judgment, but the conception of\\nthe evil demanding a remedy was sound and firmly\\ndefined, and remained through the gallant struggle\\nhe was afterwards to make.\\nIn another letter he discusses the question of\\nthe tariff, then a very urgent one. Kemembering\\nthat his father was a protectionist, and had pub-\\nlicly defended protection, the letter is a pleasing\\nproof at once of the son s independence and of\\nhis confidence in the fair-mindedness of his fa-\\nther, no slight element in the education of the\\nformer", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0053.jp2"}, "52": {"fulltext": "36 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nJust now I am sad, as I close Webster s\\nspeeches (the old), which have occupied me some\\ndays, to reflect how narrow are our sympathies.\\nBorn an American, I am by that fact heir to cer-\\ntain responsibilities. But also I am born an in-\\nhabitant of the world. I owe to my country the\\nduty of a citizen, but I cannot surrender to that\\nmy duty as a man. My obligations are impera-\\ntive towards Englishmen and Frenchmen. If I am\\nbound, so far as lies in me, to see that my land is\\nwell governed, I must not forget that no govern-\\nment is essentially good for that land which is\\nselfish and small. My country is well governed\\nwhen the world is. All my obligations as a man\\ninclude those of a citizen. I have no right to\\nprotect American labor at the expense of foreign.\\nWhat does it matter to me or. to God whether\\nLowell or Manchester be ruined? Extend this\\ninto politics and it places us upon a wide, universal\\nplatform. It does not suffer any American feeling\\nor British feeling. While I confess that the British\\nlaborers starve, I do not do very well to refuse to\\ntake what they make I must pull down my restric-\\ntive laws. I must say to the whole world, He who\\nmakes the best cloth shall have the best pay.\\nThen come English and all manner of foreign\\ngoods into the market and spoil our trade. But\\nthere is plainly but one way of paying for all im-\\nports, and that is by exports. Sugar and rice, pota-\\ntoes and grain, must pay for all this, and there will\\nbe no more goods than I give an equivalent for.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0054.jp2"}, "53": {"fulltext": "EMERSON AND BROOK FARM. 37\\nThen if there be not enough, let our own manu-\\nfacturers turn to. Besides, commerce rests upon\\nnatural laws and not upon human will. If Amer-\\nica is not a productive garden for some other land,\\nno tariff will make her so. But suppose that our\\nphilanthropic, not national, government, is estab-\\nlished, then the world becomes the subject of a won-\\nderful organized moral power. Or, again, Amer-\\nica cannot stand upon such a basis of humanity,\\nand sinks, what then The nation who conquers\\nus has pressed a sharp thorn in the side of its\\nselfish ambition. Into the heart of selfish Europe\\nRussia, England, France or whatever nation\\nis transferred a body of men who are obeying eter-\\nnal laws and not state laws, or state laws only\\nso far as they are eternal.\\nWe ask, in our political relations. Will it ben-\\nefit the state very seldom. Is it right But\\nthe state is not necessarily benefited because it has\\na full treasury, and armies and navies, and com-\\nmerce and trade, any more than a man is benefited\\nby fine houses and parks. Let us make a maxim\\nin politics, that what is good for America is good\\nfor the other nations, for all, because it is uni-\\nversal and unselfish. I have a right to wear fine\\nlinen, and use Paris handkerchiefs, if I choose to\\npay for them at their prices, and you have no\\nright to make me buy yours by making theirs\\ndearer. I see no necessity that American manu-\\nfacturers should flourish if they cannot do so\\nwithout thrusting our neighbor out of the market.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0055.jp2"}, "54": {"fulltext": "38 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS,\\nI will have no fear that God has given us a land\\nthat cannot support itself against the world in the\\nnoblest, freest manner, or, if I see it cannot, I shall\\nalso see that it is no proper home.\\nBe not forced from your integrity so says\\nthe wise statesman, who is then a student of the\\ndivine government by the dishonesty of others.\\nThe citizens of the republic, who are willing to be\\nmen of the world also, will be content to sleep on\\nhard beds and forego luxuries if such means be\\nnecessary to preserve the law they cherish. Now\\nwe are arrayed against each other. The great aim\\nis, which state shall be highest, strongest, wealth-\\niest, which shall thrust down the other and rise\\nbeyond it, not which shall lift the other and then\\nnobly rise beyond. The laws of nature are as sim-\\nple for the mass as for the man. The life of a\\nstate should be as sound and unincumbered as of\\nthe individual. If we are not ready for such a\\nstate, let us at least say nothing of the older gov-\\nernments in their disparagement. We are not the\\nexperimenters upon the free order of society that\\nthe world has flattered us into the belief that we\\nare.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0056.jp2"}, "55": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER III.\\nEUROPEAN TRAVEL.\\nIn the autumn of 1845 Mr. Curtis returned to\\nMs father s house in New York, and there passed\\nthe winter. His thoughts were turning toward\\nEurope, though he spoke of them only as bud-\\nding hopes. In a letter to one of his old friends\\nof the Brook Farm days, he describes his time as\\ngiven to reading Italian three hours and German\\nabout two, going to my room at nine, and coming\\ndown to dinner at four. The evenings were\\ndevoted to society, and very frequently to music,\\nat home and elsewhere. In the spring he returned\\nfor a while to Concord, the soft, sunny spring\\nin the silent Concord meadows, where I sat in the\\ngreat cool barn through the long, still golden after-\\nnoons and read the history of Rome. By sum-\\nmer his plans were completed, and in a note to his\\nfather in June, 1846, he submitted a proposition\\nthat the latter should provide a letter of credit for\\nten thousand francs, not that I shall expect to\\nspend that sum in two years, but because it is well\\nto have a generous background to our picture.\\nHe sailed from New York early in August on the\\npacket-ship Nebraska for Marseilles, the magic", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0057.jp2"}, "56": {"fulltext": "40 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nvoyage over the summer sea lasting forty-six days.\\nThe first winter was spent in Rome, the second\\nin Berlin, the third in Paris, the fourth on the Nile\\nand in Palestine. He kept a very full diary for\\nthe first two years, which I have been permitted to\\nconsult, and from which some extracts will serve to\\nshow the manner of the impressions made by this\\nwholly new experience, w^hich was in some ways\\nthe richest of his life.\\nDuring his journeying in Europe, he wrote pretty\\nregularly to the Courier and Enquirer, of which\\nMr. Henry J. Raymond was then the managing\\neditor, and to the Tribune. These letters were\\ndevoted mostly to public affairs and public men.\\nThey are good newspaper work, with no rhetoric\\nor nonsense about them, clear, straightforward,\\ncareful reporting of the higher sort. They show\\nkeenness of observation, sound, shrewd judgment\\nof men and things, and a breadth and penetration\\nwhich were remarkable in so young and entirely\\ninexperienced a writer. It will be recalled that\\nwhen he reached Italy Pius IX. was the idol of the\\nLiberals, and was stirring all Europe with hope or\\ndismay, as the case might be, by professions and\\nby proofs of confidence in the people. His sojourn\\nin Germany covered the troublous times of 1847\\nand 1848, and his stay in Paris some of the most\\ntrying experiences of the second French Republic,\\nso that there was much to excite the generous sym-\\npathy of a young American, which in his case was\\ncertainly not lacking, and much also to test the", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0058.jp2"}, "57": {"fulltext": "EUROPEAN TRAVEL. 41\\ncoolness of judgment and the practical sense of a\\njournalist, and these also were not wanting. Al-\\nthough these letters were necessarily ephemeral, I\\nthink the writing of them was a fortunate thing for\\nMr. Curtis. They imposed on him, with his stand-\\nard of duty, the discipline of regular and system-\\natic observation and statement, and gave him the\\nopportunity of practice in writing, with just enough\\nresponsibility to steady his energies, and without\\nthe temptations which the attempt at literature\\npresents to a youthful author. The letters, of course,\\nvanished promptly; he never even kept a collec-\\ntion of them, and they are not likely to be known\\neven to the few survivors among his friends of that\\nperiod. But it was with satisfaction that I hunted\\ndown a considerable number of them in the yellow\\nfiles of the old journals, so strangely meagre\\nand limited as they now seem, and found them\\ndistinctly better than most of the work of the same\\nsort, and showing evidence of the qualities that\\nwere to make of the writer one of the strongest\\njournalists of his time, and one whose influence was\\nto be great, and in important directions decisive.\\nThe first distinct impression of the strange life\\nabout him came from the observances of the Catho-\\nlic religion, so remote from anything with which he\\nhad been familiar at home.\\nLate in the evening, he wrote at Genoa, a\\nfuneral procession of priests glided swiftly, silently\\nby us, bearing flashing torches, but themselves\\nshrouded in their long, straight black robes, and a", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0059.jp2"}, "58": {"fulltext": "42 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\npointed black veil or bag hanging from their broad\\nsable hats to the breast, so that they seemed shapes\\nmoulded of the darkness. It was dreary and\\nmournful, their rapid motion and entire black-\\nness. How is the sweeping black of the Christian\\na more hopeful emblem than the inverted torch of\\nthe splendid old Grecian Pagans The faint echo\\nof their tread had scarcely died before a loud sing-\\ning arrested us in one of the narrow by-streets, and,\\nturning up, we found a group of people of every\\nage kneeling and standing and singing before a\\nshrine of the Virgin at the street corner, dimly\\nlighted by a lantern, and a few withered flowers\\nlying before it. The vesper song was of a few\\nlong-drawling notes sung in unison, and sounded so\\nforlorn and heartless and hopeless in the desolate\\nstreets, which looked like caverns fit for midnight\\nassassinations, that it made my heart ache. It\\nseemed as if all elasticity must be gone from lives\\nwhich could be fed by such means and men as this\\nevening has shown us, and yet the people seem less\\nserious and more contented than similar classes in\\nAmerica. As we returned to our hotel, the echo of\\nthe vesper hymns came floating out of the desolate,\\nnarrow streets on every side, wild and wailing\\nand foreign. To-night, more than ever, I felt how\\nfar away I was from home.\\nIn Florence, where he spent a month, the notes\\nin his diary disclose a similar vein of reflection.\\nThe old buildings, and the sense of pictures all\\naround, and the fine statues which meet your eye", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0060.jp2"}, "59": {"fulltext": "EUROPEAN TRAVEL. 43\\nas you walk in any quarter, make this southern\\ncity and its inhabitants superficial motes upon the\\nantique grandeur. I have not met a man in the\\nstreet who did not look sharp and mean and stupido\\nThere is no fine air about them which could possi-\\nbly suggest that their ancestry were once the kings\\nof the world the women have nothing romantic or\\ninteresting in their faces or mien and one feels\\nvery soon that these are the purveyors, and persons\\nof convenience, in places to which all that is best\\nand noblest must be sympathetically drawn. In\\nAmerica there is the charm of universal harmony\\nthe people, in character and form and feature, cor-^\\nrespond with the state of every art the congre-\\ngation and the worship are as impressive as the\\ntemple the wise shrewdness of the merchants and\\nthe general aspect of action harmonize with the\\nuniversal absence and postponement of art. Here\\nthe churches seem withdrawn farther away into\\nthe cold depths of antiquity, because the worship is\\nso tawdry and trivial, not in itself, but because the\\nmen who lead it appear to feel it no more than\\ntheir gorgeous robes. One can imagine sometimes\\na yearning in the broad, lofty spaces of these build-\\nings, which are themselves the stately children of\\ngenius and religion, to feel their heights and depths\\nonce thrill with the shock of an equal worship.\\nAnd yet, if one would be harmoniously satisfied, he\\nmay well be so in one of them, where, with music and\\nincense and the dazzling splendor of robes of flow-\\nered gold, the Catholic service is performed. And", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0061.jp2"}, "60": {"fulltext": "44 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nthat is the way it should be contemplated. The\\nforms which are used are of a birth as religious and\\nsincere as the temples themselves, and there is no\\nneed of regarding the priests as men at all.\\nAs he journeyed towards Rome, the charms of\\nItaly took closer possession of him. Italy, he\\nwrites after a week in that city, is no fable, and\\nthe wonderful depth of purity in the air and blue\\nin the sky has hung upon my eyes all this glorious\\nday. Sometimes the sky is an intensely blue and\\ndistant arch, and sometimes it melts in the sunlight,\\nand lies pale and rare and delicate upon the eye,\\nso that one feels that he is breathing the sky and\\nmoving through it. I looked from a lofty balcony\\nat the Vatican upon broad gardens, intensely green\\nwith evergreen palms and orange-trees, in which\\ngleamed the golden fruit and the rich, rounding\\ntufts of Italian pines and the solemn shaft of cy-\\npress stood over fountains which sported rainbows\\ninto the air, which was silver-clear, transparent, and\\non which the outline of the hills and foliage was\\ndrawn like a flame against the sky at night. Into\\nthe air rose floating the dome of St. Peter s, which\\nis not a nucleus of the city, like the Duomo at\\nFlorence, but a crown more imposing as one is far-\\nther removed.\\nIn Rome again, it was the church that first im-\\npressed him strongly. Of the music at St. Peter s,\\nhe writes\\nThen from the high choir at the opposite side\\nof the church and far over our heads came swim-", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0062.jp2"}, "61": {"fulltext": "EUROPEAN TRAVEL. 45\\nming down the tremulous delicacy of the nuns\\nchant, like voices from heaven. The sound per-\\nvaded the dim air of the church like a radiance\\ntoo subtle to be seen, but warming and ennobling\\nthe soul with a sense of celestial splendor. It was\\nalso of the extremest melancholy a hymn so sad\\nthat all the bright days and hopes of life seemed\\nthen no more than the few keen stars at night and\\nas powerless as they upon the darkness. It was a\\nservice all incense and music, upon which daylight\\nseemed not bold enough to obtrude, and exhaling\\na worship like the delicatest fragrance of flowers.\\nHe mentions the Pope, whom he saw quite fre-\\nquently, always with sympathy, as in the follow-\\ning description of the festival of the Eve of St.\\nJohn s\\nLast night at the Pope s Palace upon the Pi-\\nazza Cavallo upon the Quirinal Hill, we saw a rare\\nand beautiful spectacle. It was the Eve of St.\\nJohn s festival, whose name the Pope bears. There-\\nfore at dusk crowds began to assemble upon the\\nhill, which in front of the palace is very spacious,\\nlooking toward the west over the city and its crown\\nof St. Peter s dome, and surrounded only with\\nstately palaces. In the centre of the hill is a sim-\\nple, ample fountain whose water rises from a broad\\nvase into which it falls again, dripping enough over\\nthe edge to girt the urn with a shining silver fringe.\\nOver this fountain an Egyptian obelisk points\\nsteadily upward in the blue air, at whose base two\\nnoble figures of Grecian youths restrain two rear-", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0063.jp2"}, "62": {"fulltext": "46 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\ning horses, the work, it is said, of Phidias and Prax-\\niteles. The spire, its centre, its sides and its pros-\\npect are all worthy, and here in the early evening\\nafter the Ave Maria the people assembled. Col-\\nored fires flashed upon the palaces from an altar of\\nLiberty, emblematic of the spirit which rules the\\ncountry and which the people hail and celebrate on\\nevery occasion. The clouds were heavy and a flash\\nof lightning swept at intervals a broad light over\\nall a slight shower passed, at which thousands of\\numbrellas made a smooth billowy surface for the\\nhuman sea. But when the procession approached\\nwith torches and music, the rain ceased, the um-\\nbrellas fell, the torches crowded into the crowd\\nfrom the people rang a long, heaven-piercing shout,\\nfrom the balconies and palaces streamed fires of\\nvarious splendor until a new day shone steadily\\nover the multitude, touching the statues into life,\\nand in the midst of it, the doors of an upper bal-\\ncony were thrown open and, preceded by the cross,\\nwhich always precedes him on public occasions,\\nand by four huge wax torches, the Pope came for-\\nward above the ringing shouts and in the steady\\nsplendor and bowed his head to the railing of the\\nbalcony. Then came a moment of stillness the\\ncrowd was hushed as a sleeping child, and the Pope\\nraised his hands, breathed a short prayer, and\\nturning to the crowd gave his blessing and retired.\\nThen came the shouts again and the music and\\nnew rockets and candles until in a few moments\\nall was still again, but it was a sight rare and im-", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0064.jp2"}, "63": {"fulltext": "EUROPEAN TRAVEL. 47\\npressive. The vast crowd drawn alone by rever-\\nence and respect to their chief and he responding\\nto their call with no appeal to passion or pride, but\\nwith a prayer and his blessing. In no other country\\ncould that be seen. In no other country could the\\nvast sentiment inspired by a mass of people obey-\\ning a noble instinct be so sublimely crowned. It\\nwas perfect. It was a scene for the Arcadia of a\\npoet or the paradise of a wise Christian.\\nHere is a trace of a different sentiment\\nSaturday, October 31, 1846. To-day I went\\nto the graves of Shelley and Keats, who lie in a\\ngreen, sequestered spot under the walls of old\\nHome, where the sunlight lingers long and where\\nin the sweet society of roses whose bloom does not\\nwither, they sleep always a summer sleep. Shake-\\nspeare sang long ago Shelley s epitaph\\nNothing of him that doth fade,\\nBut doth suffer a sea change\\nInto something rich and strange.\\nAnd Keats sighed his upon his death bed\\nHere lies one whose name was writ in water/\\nFate is no less delicate than stern, which brought\\nKeats from his cold north to lie in an Italian grave,\\nand which, sucking the sweet breath of Shelley in\\na stormy night at sea, laid his ashes and unburned\\nheart in the spot whose beauty, he said, might\\nmake one in love with death. Yet, by these graves\\ntoo, one feels the grimness of fate which strikes so\\nsuddenly into silence the lips which heaven seems", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0065.jp2"}, "64": {"fulltext": "48 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nto yearn to pass in music. The sun was setting\\nas we came away, after one of the aerially soft days\\nwith which our imaginations endow Italy. The\\nrich golden flood streamed through the arches of\\nthe Coliseum, but could not unbend the stern grav-\\nity of its decay. It looked cold and still, the image\\nof the destiny which consumes it.\\nAnd here is a note made on the eve of his de-\\nparture from Rome.\\nThus far I find that my European life has\\ntaught me a cosmopolitanism which I could never\\nhave learned at home. I have read very few books\\nthis winter and have been very little at home, but\\nI have been unsphered in the society of so many\\npersons and I have begun to realize how good\\nevery sphere is, although so different from my own.\\nWhen we are children we fancy the horizon is the\\nend of the world, but the man who lives just beyond\\nthe edge sees grand mountains and seas of which\\nwe do not dream, and if we are wedded to our\\nquiet groves and streams by long years of intimacy\\nand habit, when by chance we pass the boundary,\\nwe shall not enjoy the magnificence, and so lose the\\nvarious splendor of the world.\\nLeaving Rome in mid-April, Curtis passed a\\nmonth or more in Naples and its neighborhood, an-\\nother in Florence, a third in Venice, a few weeks\\nleisurely wandering in northern Italy, and crossing\\nthe Alps from Como, settled in Berlin for the win-\\nter. The next spring opened at the close of April\\nwith a week in Saxon Switzerland on foot, and", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0066.jp2"}, "65": {"fulltext": "EUROPEAN TRAVEL. 49\\nthe summer was given to journeyings through\\nAustria and Hungary, back to the Rhine, again\\ncrossing the Alps and recrossing to the Geneva\\ncountry then by a wide detour into Germany, Paris\\nwas reached, where the winter of 1848-49 was\\npassed. I have, perhaps, given enough from the\\ndiary to show the spirit of this experience. It was\\na varied one, with much intense enjoyment, numer-\\nous interesting acquaintances, some valuable friends\\nwon and to be kept, and a steady mental develop-\\nment of which the diary shows mostly the soberer\\nside. The record he made, and which, I think, he\\nhad some intention of publishing, is singularly void\\nof personal allusions either to himself or to his\\ncompanions. It gives nothing as to the comfort or\\ndiscomfort of the inns, and little as to the convey-\\nances. A larger part is given to the scenery than\\nto any other one thing, and it is plain how much he\\nwas gaining in that deep and rich knowledge of\\nnature that counted so greatly in his subsequent\\nwork. He saw many pictures, knew many artists\\nof various races, and had obviously a keen enjoy-\\nment of their works. But though, in a very im-\\nportant sense, he was by mental gift a true artist,\\nI do not think he ever got far, or ever cared to get\\nvery far, into the mysteries of the craft. The sub-\\nject, the sentiment and the general impression of\\nthe color and form remained with him, but of the\\nprocesses and their details, of the elements of the\\nwar that was then raging still between the Roman-\\nticists and the Classicists, or the one on which the", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0067.jp2"}, "66": {"fulltext": "50 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\npre-Raphaelites were entering, I find no hint. He\\nmust have encountered these things in the society\\nwith which he was intimate, but I imagine that\\nthey left him indifferent. Nor is there much sign\\nof the studies in which he really engaged with en-\\nergy and must have pursued with some system. He\\nseems to have been at this time, as he was in later\\nlife, the very reverse of what we usually understand\\nby a man of books, still more of a bookish man.\\nIn his diary he very rarely quotes poetry, and in\\nthe homes of Dante and Petrarch, of Goethe, of\\nVoltaire, their names come only incidentally to his\\npen. The places as they were, the landscape in\\nwhich they were set, the life he found in them are\\nwhat he describes. The people did interest him\\ngreatly as persons, as races, as political communi-\\nties. He was in Italy, in Germany, and in Austria\\nat the time when the ferments which reached their\\nheight in 1848 were general. He saw the Milanese\\nrise and saw them again when their hopes were\\ncrushed. He was in Hungary on the eve of the\\noutbreak that brought Kossuth, later, to the United\\nStates. All these events awakened interest of the\\nkeenest, and sympathy, but it was a very calm\\njudgment that he passed upon them. He was al-\\nways struck by the contrast between the moods and\\nmanners he saw and those to which he was used at\\nhome. The theatrical element, and the rhetorical,\\nwhile they amused him, made him distrustful. In\\nEurope, as at Brook Farm, he never lacked the sav-\\ning sense of humor, and the sobriety, the saneness", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0068.jp2"}, "67": {"fulltext": "EUROPEAN TRAVEL, 61\\nof his general view were remarkable. There was\\nno cynical affectation in it, not a trace of indiffer-\\nence, nor any pride, personal or national, but al-\\nways the quiet appreciation of the extent and com-\\nplexity of anything like a national movement, and\\nof the need of breadth and steadiness and common\\nsense.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0069.jp2"}, "68": {"fulltext": "CHAPTEK IV.\\nTHE LITERAKY FIELD.\\nMr. Curtis s literary career began in 1851, on\\nhis return from Europe and the East, with the\\npublication of the Howadji books. It was a period\\nof marked mental activity in the United States,\\nwhen reputations that were to become world-wide\\nwere still making, and when only two or three\\nof the now widely famed writers had yet achieved\\nan established name at home, and only one, the\\nveteran Washington Irving, could be said to be\\nmuch known abroad. The habitat of what there\\nwas of American literature was geographically\\nvery limited. Nearly all the writers of the day\\nwere New Englanders by residence, or, as was Mr.\\nCurtis, by descent. A smaller group of very\\nactive minds centred in New York, and there\\nwere scattered workers here and there along the\\nAtlantic Coast. But the intellectual life of the\\ncountry, so far as it was expressed in books, or\\neven in newspapers, was still east of the Allegha-\\nnies and on the eastern edge of the slope. The\\nmagazine as we know it, the roomy and hospitable,\\nstimulating and nourishing home of writing of\\nevery sort, inviting the writer who has anything", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0070.jp2"}, "69": {"fulltext": "THE LITERARY FIELD. 53\\nworth saying to address all the readers of the\\nland and of other lands worth having, did not\\nexist, though the North American Review in\\nBoston and the Knickerbocker and Harper s\\nin New York had made notable and valuable begin-\\nnings. Within what now seems the restricted soci-\\nety of the opening of the second half of the century\\nthere was, as I have said, marked mental activity\\nin a considerable variety of directions, much of it\\nwayward, eager, curious, some of it grotesque,\\nmuch of it shallow, affected, and of no importance,\\nbut much of it also serious, pure, lofty, and, as\\nthe event has proved, of lasting influence. Curi-\\nously enough in this confused and unformed so-\\nciety of writers the most conspicuous and eminent,\\nthough certainly not the most representative, was\\nWashington Irving, as completely a man of letters,\\nand yet distinctly of his own time, as Addison.\\nHe was the Dean of the American literary body,\\nbeing, in 1851, sixty-eight, with the Knicker-\\nbocker s History of New York, one of the most\\ncharacteristic of his works, more than forty years\\nin the past and the Sketch Book and Brace-\\nbridge Hall but ten years nearer. Substantially\\nall his work was done, and the Life of Wash-\\nington and Wolfert s Roost alone awaited\\npublication. It is a pleasant thing to note that\\nnearly forty years later Mr. Curtis s Monograph on\\nIrving became one of the most valued publications\\nof the Grolier Club of New York, and remains\\na graceful and affectionate tribute to qualities ol", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0071.jp2"}, "70": {"fulltext": "64 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nmind and character, some of which the writer richly\\nshared with the beloved subject of the Essay. It\\nmay be added that Mr. Curtis s correspondence\\ndiscloses a personal intercourse with Irving of a\\nsympathetic if not intimate nature which must\\nhave had its influence.\\nAt this time, Hawthorne was in the prime of\\nmanhood, forty-seven years of age, but was known\\nchiefly as a writer of sketches of singular and\\nsubtle charm. The two volumes of Twice-told\\nTales had been published in 1837 and 1845, and\\nthe Mosses from an Old Manse in 1846. The\\nScarlet Letter had appeared the year before,\\nbut the author was still a self-distrustful, almost\\ngloomy half-recluse, hardly comprehending the po-\\nsition which that most original of American books\\nhas assured to him. With Hawthorne, Mr. Curtis\\nhad had a certain degree of friendly relation at\\nBrook Farm and at Concord, and I like to think\\nthat his remote and slightly cynical attitude of\\nmind was felt as a counterpoise to the trans-\\ncendental tendencies of the other companions\\nof that period, and may have counted in main-\\ntaining the sanity of spirit with which the youth\\ncame from those stimulating but not entirely whole-\\nsome associations. The purely literary influence\\nof Hawthorne it is not easy to trace, especially in\\nMr. Curtis s earlier work. But I cannot doubt\\nthat the sobriety, lucidity and restraint of expres-\\nsion in a writer of such powerful and penetrating\\nimagination, united with the early personal inter-", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0072.jp2"}, "71": {"fulltext": "THE LITERARY FIELD, 65\\ncourse, aided in the development of that later\\nstyle which in the Easy Chair and in portions\\nof Prue and I was to become not less delight-\\nful than that of the tenant of the Old Manse.\\nOf other novelists and essayists Fenimore Cooper,\\nthe most prolific and widely known, was just pass-\\ning away Miss Sedgwick and Mrs. Sigourney,\\ngreatly read, though not destined to a lasting fame,\\nhad closed their literary labors Herman Melville,\\nE. H. Dana, Jr., Donald G. Mitchell, Bayard\\nTaylor, were of Mr. Curtis s own age, or nearly so,\\nand some of them of his own circle. Nathaniel P.\\nWillis, in literature, as in life, claiming the func-\\ntion of arbiter elegantiarum^ and so far recognized\\nas such that I find a correspondent naively flatter-\\ning Curtis with the opinion that he may attain to\\nWillis s level, was then at the height of his vogue.\\nMore brilliant, and with a larger number whose\\nfame was to be permanent among the writers of\\nthat day, were the poets. Bryant at the age of\\nfifty-seven was the oldest, and had already achieved\\nthe hold on the future which was sustained if not\\nstrengthened by his later work. In 1851, he was\\nmost prominent as a journalist of deep conviction\\nand of rare vigor and purity of style. Emerson s\\npoetry was accepted, with his prose, as an expres-\\nsion of lofty and often mystical thought, and was\\nas yet more the object of a limited cult than the\\ngeneral delight that it has since become. Whit-\\ntler s reputation also was high with a somewhat\\nlimited class, but had not gained general recogni-", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0073.jp2"}, "72": {"fulltext": "56 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\ntion. Longfellow was already the most read and\\nmost widely loved of American poets. Lowell, but\\nfive years tlie senior of Curtis, was at the height\\nof the peculiar popularity won by the Fable for\\nCritics and, in a different vein, The Biglow\\nPapers. He had fairly thrown down the gauntlet\\nin the long fight with slavery, and, incredible as it\\nnow seems, had perceptibly clouded his prospects\\nof advancement with those who were supposed to\\ndistribute the prizes of literary effort. Curtis,\\nwho was to become one of his closest friends, and\\nwho was later to join him in the memorable con-\\ntest with slavery, was as yet but an admirer of his\\nvaried but irregularly developed genius. Holmes,\\nwho at twenty-two, had given the country one of\\nthe most spirited of patriotic poems, Old Iron-\\nsides, was known chiefly as- a Harvard profes-\\nsor, with a rare gift for occasional verse. The\\nsisters, Alice and Phoebe Cary, published their\\nfirst volume of poems in the same year with the\\nNile Notes. Buchanan Read and Stoddard\\nhad each one volume of poems to his credit. John\\nG. Saxe s little volume, revealing one of the bright-\\nest and lightest of American humorists in verse,\\nwas published in 1850.\\nIt remains to mention that in history, Prescott\\nwas the only writer who had achieved very much.\\nHis Ferdinand and Isabella, Conquest of Mex-\\nico, and Conquest of Peru, were, at that time,\\nthe chief American histories. Bancroft had issued\\nbut three volumes of his great work. Hildreth s", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0074.jp2"}, "73": {"fulltext": "THE LITERARY FIELD. 67\\nwas in course of publication. Motley was hardly\\ndecided as to his own course and was known only\\nas the author of Morton s Hope, and Merry\\nMount, which one hardly thinks of now in connec-\\ntion with his name.\\nIt is not easy in these closing days of the cen-\\ntury, when Mr. Curtis s name is more or less\\nclosely associated with the group of New England\\nwriters whose names are so generally honored and\\nwhose work has become an integral part and a\\nlarge part of the intellectual inheritance of edu-\\ncated Americans, clearly to imagine how different\\nfrom that which we now recognize was the influ-\\nence they were able to exert upon him at the open-\\ning of his career. It is worth while to dwell with\\nsome emphasis upon the fact that he was himself\\none of the builders of American literature, and that\\nwhen he began to write, the conditions by which he\\nwas surrounded were such as necessarily to throw\\nhim upon his own resources. What he brought to\\nthe structure was his own material, fashioned by\\nhimself. It was not and could not be borrowed\\nfrom those who had gone before him, and if it was\\na worthy and a substantial contribution, as, with-\\nout exaggerating its importance, I believe that it\\nwas, it must be remembered that what there was of\\nit was original. I think that it was so in style as\\nwell as in matter, and it is in the hope of bringing\\nthat fact more definitely to the minds of my readers\\nthat I have given this brief, but I hope fairly accu-\\nrate, review of the literary field in 1851.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0075.jp2"}, "74": {"fulltext": "68 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS\\nOn the other hand, given a mind of native vigor\\nand of genuine sensitiveness, given healthy aspira-\\ntions toward mental achievement, given a point of\\nview of rational independence and a character of\\nsound substance and of firm as well as fine texture,\\nand it was a good thing to begin near the begin-\\nning, to be of the pioneers, to share in youth the\\ncommon and powerful impulse of a young literary\\nsociety, to be more conscious of the immensity of\\nthe future than of that of the past, and to feel that\\nwhat one shall succeed in accomplishing may have\\na steadily widening influence upon the maturing\\nnational mind. These were the advantages of one\\nwhose work was begun in the middle of the nine-\\nteenth century in our country. Mr. Curtis felt\\nthem, and I think he made the most of them.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0076.jp2"}, "75": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER V.\\nTHE HOWADJI BOOKS.\\nMr. Curtis returned from Europe in 1850 with\\na definite resolve to undertake the career of an\\nauthor. His first work, Nile Notes of a How-\\nadji, was published the following spring, when he\\nhad just entered his twenty-seventh year. To-\\nday, he wrote from Providence to a friend in\\nCambridge, will bring me the Nile Notes as a\\nbook, I suppose, but I cannot have the proper\\nemotions. It seems all very natural, very much as\\nit seems to a young papa, who beholds a redness\\nin a white blanket, and is told that it is his heir\\nor perhaps even more as a sensible tree feels when\\nit sees one of its fruits fallen separate upon the\\nground My hand trembles (as I speak of no\\nemotion) for this moment my book is placed in my\\nhand even as I wrote ground it arrived. You\\nwill surely have received it before you read this.\\nAh speak it fair my first born, my only child\\nThe book was very kindly received by the news-\\npapers, though the notices of it which I have come\\nupon do not make that fact very conclusive as to\\nits merit, for most of them are curiously flat and\\nperfunctory. More significant was the sale of an", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0077.jp2"}, "76": {"fulltext": "60 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS,\\nedition of twenty-five hundred copies within the\\nfirst half year. The author himseK said, in April,\\nin his straightforward way The Nile Notes I\\ncannot hesitate to call successful, but not a great\\nhit. John Dwight, in the Commonwealth of\\nBoston, spoke in a tone at once flattering and dis-\\ncriminating. E. P. Whipple, one of the oracles\\nof the day, declares of it that he had never be-\\nfore felt the East. In referring to some pleasant\\nopinions he had heard, Mr. Curtis wrote In his\\nletter Mons. Aubepine (Hawthorne) tells another\\ntwice-told tale. But how sweeter so How like\\nFame, when a famous man applauds and says, I\\nsee now that you are forever an author Bent-\\nley of London published the book under the title\\nof Nile Notes of a Traveler, apparently afraid\\nto trust the English reader with the Arabic equi-\\nvalent, Howadji. For this edition the publisher\\npaid the sum of five guineas, a curiously early\\nexample of the necessity for international copy-\\nright. It was explained that if the book took\\nit would immediately be printed for a shilling for\\nall the railway stations, while Bentley printed it\\nfor ten shillings and sixpence. The English press\\nwas extremely cordial. The London Daily News,\\nthe Weekly News (a wholly different paper)\\nthe Athenaeum, the Literary Gazette and the\\nSpectator all noticed the book, and nearly all\\nwith praise. Leigh Hunt, wrote Curtis, speaks\\nof it in his 22d March number. He likes it and\\npraises it, but in an amusing way. He says some-", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0078.jp2"}, "77": {"fulltext": "THE HO WAD J I BOOKS. 61\\nthing about the Author s meaning to outdo Long-\\nfellow s Hyperion and of traces of D Israeli, Em-\\nerson, Eothen, and I know not how many more.\\nBut he so evidently likes it that the most morbidly\\nvain author would be more amused than annoyed\\nat his notice.\\nThe book did not escape censure. May an\\nimmoral Howadji, wrote the author to a friend,\\ndine with you on Wednesday? This was the\\nsmile that would hide pain. Mr. Curtis was deeply\\nwounded by some of the comments on his work.\\nHis letters of this date, though full of expressions\\nof grateful surprise at the praise bestowed upon\\nhim, and of simple-hearted, modest joy at his suc-\\ncess, contain other expressions of hot and passion-\\nate indignation for those who had impugned the\\npurity of his purpose. The anger was natural;\\nwith regard to some, it was just but on the whole,\\nit was undue. That Mr. Curtis s mind in youth as\\nin his riper age was pure, no one who knew him\\ncould doubt. It did not necessarily follow that\\nthose who did not and could not see as he saw,\\nwere not pure. It was the forever-recurring dis-\\npute that art provokes from generation to genera-\\ntion. Mr. Curtis was, in a great part of his na-\\nture, in some of the most attractive and engaging\\nmanifestations of his nature, an artist. With-\\nout offense and with immaculate devotion, he made\\nsome of his studies from life. When his pictures\\ncame from his easel, he did not find it requisite to\\ndrape completely the beauty he had recognized and", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0079.jp2"}, "78": {"fulltext": "62 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nrejoiced in. One of his best loved artists in tlie\\nlong, happy days in the Venetian galleries, before\\nhe crossed the Mediterranean to Cairo, was Cor-\\nreggio. It never occurred to him, the boy fresh-\\nhearted from the cool walks of the Concord Aca-\\ndeme, that the women of Correggio were shocking\\nto look upon. If one cares to re-read, forty years\\nafter, the chapters through which dance Kusheek\\nArnem and the dove Xenobi, and remember that\\nthey flowed from the pen, almost untried, of a youth\\nof twenty-six, he will find readily what lay open to\\ncriticism on the score of taste and might honestly\\nbe disapproved as the too vivid presentation of a\\nsensuous scene. But if he do not also find a grave\\nand noble feeling under the rich play of color, a\\nsense of the pathos and the tragedy that make\\nthe sombre background of a scene at once so allur-\\ning and so disquieting, if there shall not remain\\nwith him the impression of singular elevation and\\nbreadth of view in this young writer, then, while\\nwe may not dismiss him with the contempt the\\nyoung writer showed for some of his critics, we\\nmay be permitted at least to differ from him.\\nOn this particular point, I shall let Mr. Curtis\\nspeak for himself, in the following manly letter to\\nhis father written a few days after the publication\\nof the book\\npROYiDEisrcE, March 15, 51.\\nMy dear Father, When I received s\\nfirst letter I was amused but not surprised. But", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0080.jp2"}, "79": {"fulltext": "THE HOWADJI BOOKS. 63\\nwhen he wrote that you were so shocked with my\\nbook, I was extremely grieved, and so must always\\nbe yet always with a conscience void of offense.\\nMy aim in the book was such that I was unwilling\\nyou should see the manuscript because I knew that\\nwe should differ so essentially that your displeas-\\nure might only be prolonged. But when I saw that\\nMr. Raymond, whom you regard so highly and who\\nhas no personal feeling for me, had selected the\\nexceptional chapter for the Magazine, I supposed\\nthat I had overrated the nervousness of the gen-\\neral mind, and that the edict which cannot but\\nseem to me contemptible of immorality, or what-\\never it is would not be passed.\\nI am sorry that I was not at home for two rea-\\nsons, and glad for a good many that I was away\\nI was sorry that I had not ordered a copy sent\\nto you immediately, which, however, I had not done\\nfor any one having only made a list of sundry\\npersons connected with journals and one or two\\nfriends in distant parts of the country. Then I\\nwas sorry that my absence seemed to indicate that\\nI had run away from a bad impression. However,\\nthat is nothing, I want to say precisely how the\\nthing is and am very sorry that should talk\\nabout obfuscated moral sense.\\nWhen I w^as in Egypt I felt that the picture\\nof impressions there had never been painted.\\nTravelers have been either theorists and philoso-\\nphers or young men with more money than brains,\\nor professional travelers. In no book of any of", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0081.jp2"}, "80": {"fulltext": "64 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nthem was the essentially sensuous^ luxurious, lan-\\nguid and sense-satisfied spirit of Eastern life as\\nit appears to the traveller represented. I aimed\\nto do that. Here and in every newspaper notice\\n(some dozen) that I have seen I find that I have\\nachieved that success, and I find the same thing\\nin all this outcry of immorality or indecency, or\\nwhatever it is, and which comes from New York\\nalone. Now, the moral condemnation of ladies\\nand gentlemen who would sell any daughter to any\\nman, for a sufficient fortune, I do not very highly\\nesteem and that is the character of some, who,\\nI hear, are most eloquent against my book. The\\nmoral sense of New York in general is so vitiated\\nthat I care for it in general no more than for such\\nparticular condemnations. My only sorrow is that\\nyou should necessarily condemn the book, and I\\nam sorry, because it ought not to be condemned\\nThe dancing girls occupy no more space in the\\nbook than they occupied in the voyage, and they\\nmust always occupy a large space because they are\\nthe life and the most characteristically Eastern\\nlife of the river. You of course will feel that the\\nwhole thing might be omitted, but it would not be\\nthe same book, it would not be my book, and it\\nwould not in that case give the true picture of\\nthe Egyptian life.\\nIt is only the affected and self-conscious exagger-\\nation of the moral sense that could be so alarmed\\nI am angrier than I am vexed. The very brilliance\\nof the coloring shows that it is not prurient, but\\npoetic.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0082.jp2"}, "81": {"fulltext": "THE HO WAD J I BOOKS. 65\\nHowever, there is no end of such talk. I have\\nwritten, dear father, that you may know that I de-\\nplore your disappointment, w^hile I feel that it was\\nunavoidable. Had I written a book to please you,\\nI would not have published it because it would not\\nhave pleased myself; and while I confess certain\\nexpressions are too broad and might well be al-\\ntered, the essential spirit of the book is precisely\\nwhat I wish it. I would not have it toned down,\\nfor I toned it up intentionally. My objections are\\nnot moral but literary.\\nThe feeling that you have is, I am sure, more\\npersonal to me than real to yourself. If the book\\nhad been anybody s else, I doubt if you could\\nhave been shocked. But with your natural inter-\\nest in me and equally natural desire that I should\\nfavorably impress every one, you were necessarily\\ngrieved by what was suspicious to them, not re-\\ngarding if it ought to be, but simply if it was so\\nto them.\\nI never could regret having written the book.\\nIf I should differ in my nature and character a\\nscore of years hence, I shall be no more sorry than\\nI am that I once wore frocks, and I can say so ab-\\nsolutely because, as I began, my conscience is void\\nof offense. This outcry seems simply ludicrous.\\nYour affectionate son,\\nGeorge William Curtis.\\nThe Nile Notes and the Howadji in Syria\\nwhich followed in the next year, were the first", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0083.jp2"}, "82": {"fulltext": "66 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS,\\nproduct of a mind of extraordinary sensitiveness,\\nof much strength, released rather suddenly from\\nassociations and habits of thought which, sustained\\nwith entire sincerity, had exercised a restraint of\\nwhich the writer may have become aware only\\nwhen freed from it. There may be detected a\\ntouch of half -humorous, half-deliberate defiance of\\nthe men and the manners Mr. Curtis had left in\\nthe little circle of New England transcendentalists.\\nWhen the Persian Poet Hafiz, says the Preface\\nto the Nile Notes, was asked by the Philoso-\\npher Zenda what he was good for, he replied Of\\nwhat use is a flower A flower is good to smell,\\nsaid the Philosopher. And I am good to smell\\nit, said the poet. The function of a poet, prom-\\nenading a sensitive and irresponsible soul through\\nthe lotus-fields of Egyptian experience and obser-\\nvation, finding in the enjoyment of languorous\\nodors not merely the excuse but the justification\\nof his occupation, was certainly as far removed as\\nwell could be from the lofty and severe ideals of\\nlife in which Mr. Curtis had been nurtured. It is\\nnot difficult to imagine the dismay it must have\\ncaused some of his older companions to be asked\\nto take him at his word, and it is not surprising\\nthat in the pages of the Howadji books they found\\nonly too much evidence that his word was at once\\nsincere, and accurate, and that he had really de-\\nscended from their cold heights to wander as long\\nas he could with Hafiz in the flower-carpeted vales.\\nAs the role he had announced was novel, the", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0084.jp2"}, "83": {"fulltext": "THE HOWADJI BOOKS. 67\\nstyle he assumed in it was novel also. It was\\nessentially artificial, the style of the stage he had\\nconstructed for himself and had boldly furnished\\nwith an elaborate set of conventions, which he sum-\\nmoned his readers to accept, if they cared to un-\\nderstand the piece. The offer, indeed, was, with\\ngay haughtiness, a laisser ou a prendre. The\\nwriter would abate no jot of his terms. From the\\nmoment that in a gold and purple December\\nsunset he walked down to the boat bound for the\\nNile to the moment when he reached Cairo again\\nwhile the sun was wreaking all his glory upon\\nthe West, the demand upon our imagination is\\nconstant. We must read as we would watch and\\nlisten to an opera, granting completely the as-\\nsumptions of the composer. This done, there are\\nmelody and harmony, passion and sensuous delight,\\nand to him who will take it aspiration toward\\nbeauty and deep and varied beauty. But the con-\\nditions must be observed.\\nThe note of invitation and of warning is sounded\\non the first page.\\nTo our new eyes everything was picture.\\nVainly the broad road was crowded with Muslim\\nartisans, home returning from their work. To the\\nmere Muslim observer they were carpenters, ma-\\nsons, laborers and tradesmen of all kinds. We\\npassed many a meditating Cairene, to whom there\\nwas nothing but the monotony of an old story in\\nthat evening and on that road. But we saw all\\nthe pageantry of oriental romance quietly donkey-", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0085.jp2"}, "84": {"fulltext": "68 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\ning into Cairo. Camels too, swaying and waving\\nlike huge phantoms of the twilight, horses with\\nstrange gay trappings, curbed by tawny, turbaned\\nequestrians, the peaked toe of the red slipper rest-\\ning in the shovel stirrup. It was a fair festal even-\\ning. The whole world was masquerading, and so\\nwell that it seemed reality.\\nI saw Fadladeen with a gorgeous turban and\\na gay sash. His chibouque, wound with colored\\nsilk and gold threads, was borne behind him by a\\nblack slave. Fat and funny was Fadladeen as of\\nold, and though Fermorz was not by, it was clear\\nto see in the languid droop of his eye, that choice\\nArabian verses were sung in the twilight of his\\nmind.\\nYet was Venus still the evening star for be-\\nhind him, closely veiled, came .Lalla Rookh. She\\nwas wrapped in a vast black silken bag, that\\nbulged like a balloon over her donkey. But a star-\\nsuffused evening cloud was that bulky blackness,\\nas her twin eyes shone forth liquid ly lustrous.\\nNo one, of course, will pretend that this is a\\nnatural tone in which to write or talk, and the\\nyoung writer himself must have been free from\\nany such pretension, but if it was an artificial\\nstyle, it was not an empty one. The scenes he\\nhad witnessed, the associations by which they were\\nsurrounded, the thought they had aroused, were\\nintensely interesting, animating, absorbing. The\\nstyle was a sincere and faithful attempt to clothe\\nfitly what he had to say, to adapt the costumes and", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0086.jp2"}, "85": {"fulltext": "TEE HOWADJI BOOKS. 69\\nthe stage setting to the curious subject matter of\\nthe piece. If what was to be said was of sufficient\\nsubstance, the plan of presentation was logical and\\nshould justify itself, as in fact it does. One who\\nwould seek a suggestive picture of travel on the\\nNile and in Syria a half century since, before the\\ncomforts of modern travel had opened the river\\nand the desert to those beneficiaries and victims\\nof Cook whose purpose is not strong enough to dis-\\npense with such comforts, can find none more truly\\ninforming than in Curtis s books, delightfully free\\nas, for the most part, they are, of information.\\nThe plan, it will be noted, was peculiarly elastic.\\nThe writer sets out to tell you that which he saw\\nor experienced, and his thoughts, in the way that\\nseemed to him most suitable. He reserves to him-\\nself the guidance of the way. He gives you no\\nclue. He promises no definite destination. He\\nlays out no task of which you shall have a right to\\nexact the completion you shall have what history\\nhe may choose to give you, and in such remote and\\nfanciful relations as may occur to him you may\\nsee the people as he saw them, with the eye of the\\npoet and the artist, with flashes of philosophic in-\\nsight and merry glances of humor, but you shall\\nnot complain of the picture as lacking in detail or\\nin breadth, as too sober or too light. It is the pic-\\nture as it lies in his memory, as his imagination\\nand sympathy have developed and colored it. It\\ndoes not satisfy the reader? Allans 1 Of what\\nuse is a flower?", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0087.jp2"}, "86": {"fulltext": "70 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS,\\nThe result naturally is that while you get from\\nthese books much, very much of Egypt and Syria, of\\nthe Nile and the desert, of Damascus and Jerusalem\\nand Esne, of the land of the mighty past and of\\nthe squalid and tragic present, of Cleopatra and of\\nKhadra and of the Ghazeeyah, you get still more\\nand constantly of the writer, and therein lies the\\ncharm which still holds many readers. For now,\\nafter the face of the land he visited is greatly\\nchanged, and no one may again see, traversing his\\nitinerary, what was then to be seen though the\\nquestions of that time, with which he occasionally\\ndeals vigorously and acutely, are not the questions\\nof our day and will henceforth engage only the\\nhistorians, there remains, in the soft rich light of\\nthese old volumes, a portrait of the young Curtis.\\nThose of us who knew him, if only by his work, in\\nhis ripe and beautiful maturity, in that splendid\\nafternoon of his life when the sun so near its sud-\\nden setting seemed still the sun of midday, will\\nalways find in this portrait a mournful but deep\\nenjoyment. It is that of a noble youth, delighting\\nin life, in its novelty, its richness, and its oppor-\\ntunities, not unmindful of its duties or of its trag-\\nedy, of its infinite incitements and its relentless\\nlimitations, but keenly sensitive to its beauty, and\\nmingling a genuinely earnest sense of its graver\\nside with the ready enjoyment of its lighter aspects\\nnatural to the buoyancy of healthy spirits.\\nIt is interesting also to trace in these volumes,\\nunique among Mr. Curtis s writings, as they are", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0088.jp2"}, "87": {"fulltext": "THE HOWADJI BOOKS, 71\\nin their subject matter, and written in a style that\\nwas never afterward, save in brief portions of\\nPrue and I in any great degree maintained,\\nthe qualities that proved lasting in his work. The\\ntwo that impress me most strongly were those that\\ncontributed most to his extreme charm as an ora-\\ntor, the picturesqueness of his impressions and the\\nrhythm of his expression. These are the more\\nnoticeable because they had not yet been subdued\\nby study and reflection and labor. By picturesque-\\nness of impression I would not suggest a view sen-\\nsitive to bits and readily catching the subject\\nof a sketch, but rather the sensitiveness to effects,\\na breadth of vision which took in what lay be-\\nfore it, not in detail or by a continuous analytic\\neffort, but as a whole. Curtis was an ardent\\nlover of nature none of all our writers with whom\\nthe love of nature is a characteristic trait was\\nmore devoted or happier. His delight in it, from\\nhis earliest to his latest years, was deep, unfailing,\\nas fresh and joyous in the latest as in the earliest.\\nBut I find little trace of a minute knowledge of\\nnature in his writing and recall little in his talk.\\nHe does not betray the intimate acquaintance with\\nfacts or the acute interest in them that Lowell dis-\\ncloses on every one of so many pages. He easily\\nmight have been, though I do not know that he\\nwas, ignorant of the names or relations of the flow-\\ners and unable to tell more than the very general\\ncharacteristics of the trees that gave him such ex-\\nquisite pleasure. There was little of the naturalist", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0089.jp2"}, "88": {"fulltext": "72 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS,\\nin him. It was, if I may venture to say so, the\\ngeneric beauty of nature that appealed to him\\nthe landscape, not its features, the glory of the day\\nor night, the sweep of the horizon, the mood of\\nthe sea, the sky, the valleys or hills or groves that\\nlay about him. The palm-grove, he writes, is\\nalways enchanted. If it stretch inland too allur-\\ningly, and you run ashore to stand under the bend-\\ning boughs, to share the peace of the doves swing-\\ning in the golden twilight, yet you will never reach\\nthe grove. You will gain the trees, but it is not\\nthe grove you fancied that golden gloom will\\nnever be gained it is an endless El Dorado\\ngleaming along the shores. The separate columnar\\ntrunks ray out in foliage above, but there is no\\nshade of a grove, no privacy of a wood, except, in-\\ndeed, at sunset, A privacy .of glorious light.\\nIt was the grove and not the trees that would sat-\\nisfy him, and throughout his later work as in these\\nfirst books, the reader feels the curious charm of\\nthe completeness and strength of his integral im-\\npressions. His vision disclosed pictures, not ob-\\njects, and with whatever care and skill and patient\\nworkmanship he wrought them, it was not objects\\nbut pictures that he presented.\\nThe second quality that I have noted, the\\nrhythm of his expression, is clearly allied to the\\nfirst. Curtis seems to me to have been, in an im-\\nportant sense, born an orator. Even the words of\\nthese first pages read as if they had been thought\\naloud, as if their cadence had been realized to the", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0090.jp2"}, "89": {"fulltext": "THE HOWADJI BOOKS. 73\\near in the sound of his own rare voice. Often\\nthey come to the mind like the singing of the soli-\\ntary and unconscious singer. His passionate and\\nconstant delight in music shaped his phrases and\\nmarshaled his sentences. There are plentiful in-\\nstances of excess in this indulgence in the oriental\\nbooks, before his taste had been trained and his\\njudgment enlightened, but the excess is incidental\\naccidental even and the sense remains to the\\nreader of a pure, sincere and constant joy in the\\nmusic of his own expression. I merely remark\\nhere these characteristics, which in more and more\\nhighly developed form, are found in all his work,\\nand lent to it, in his maturity, much of the charm\\nthat won his host of readers and hearers, and of\\nthe completeness and force that held them.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0091.jp2"}, "90": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER VI.\\nLECTURER AND MAGAZINE WRITER.\\nBefore he had completed Nile Notes Curtis\\nhad made his venture in the lecturing field. The\\nfirst lecture seems to have been given in his na-\\ntive city of Providence, whence I find him inquir-\\ning about the next Assembly not a Legisla-\\ntive gathering at Boston, and announcing that\\nthough he must repeat his lecture on the\\n26th February he firmly intends to come back\\nfor the Fancy Ball. In the spring, Horace Gree-\\nley having gone to Europe, he went on the Tri-\\nbune where, April 14th, he writes that he is al-\\nready in labor with the critiques upon the Academy\\nExhibition. His work was varied, what in news-\\npaper parlance is known as general utility, the\\nart notices, music, reading manuscript and foreign\\npapers, writing paragraphs and now and then a\\nleader, described by one of his companions in\\nthe office as clever, agreeable, bright, never vio-\\nlent or ugly. Some of the gentlemen on whose\\nwork he passed judgment were not so lenient.\\nThe artists, he writes, in June 51, are angry\\nwith me, some of them. R thinks I am mali-\\ncious Ye Gods and considers what I say of", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0092.jp2"}, "91": {"fulltext": "LECTURER AND MAGAZINE WRITER. 75\\nHicks Impolitic Well, I shall invite Dogberry to\\ncomprehend these vagrom men, I give it up.\\nThe companion quoted above thinks that Curtis was\\nnot a hard or very steady worker at that time.\\nHe took the world easy and amused himself a good\\ndeal. Curtis s own impression was quite differ-\\nent. When urged to buy a share in the Tribune\\nproperty and permanently unite himself with the\\nenterprise, he declined. I shrink, he wrote,\\nfrom the utter slavery of such a life. I have no\\nmoment of day or night properly my own. If I\\nhear a concert, or a lecture, if I go, as to-night, to\\nthe Cooper Commemoration, it is all to be written\\nout every bit of experience must be grist to this\\nimperious mill. I fear that every personal and\\nmore interesting ambition or intent must be sacri-\\nficed to this incessant employment. And again,\\nH is terribly lazy, which to me who await\\nforeign papers at the office until 2 A. M. and then\\nreel, drunk with sleep, homeward to correct Syrian\\nproofs, which startle me with the languid, sunny\\nrepose they recall is the unpardonable sin.\\nIn the summer of 1851 came a long respite.\\nSoon, he writes in July, I shall spread sheeny\\nvans for flight Niagara, Sharon, Berkshire, Na-\\nhant, Newport and general bliss ad infinitum.\\nThese journey in gs were the occasion of a series of\\nletters to the Tribune, afterward published under\\nthe title of Lotus Eating, linking them thus to\\nthe Howadji books. The little volume was illus-\\ntrated with pleasant woodcuts from sketches by his", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0093.jp2"}, "92": {"fulltext": "76 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS,\\nwarm friend Kensett, and was quite as successful\\nas anything of the kind could be. There is much\\nstill to enjoy in its notes of a life that has quite\\npassed away, and though the little volume was es-\\nsentially ephemeral, in form and purpose, it gives\\nclear signs of the two tendencies of the writer\\nwhich were to be embodied in The Potiphar\\nPapers published the next year, and in Prue\\nand I four vears later. It bears marks also of\\nthe weariness with which Curtis s mind necessarily\\nreacted from the rather feverish social life in which\\nhe had plunged, and which overtaxed his strength,\\non which large demands were made by his really\\nlaborious pursuit of his profession, and shows still\\nother marks of varied personal experiences, which\\ndeeply affected him at the time and contributed to\\nthe development of his character.\\nIn the autumn he went to Providence to com-\\nplete the preparation of the Howadji in Syria.\\nAmong his letters from there, I find one to his\\nfather, commenting on Judge Curtis s charge to\\nthe grand jury of the United States Court on the\\ncrime of treason the treason consisting in resisting\\nthe return of fugitive slaves. It is so clear-cut\\nand firm in its reasoning that I quote it as showing\\nin what direction his mind moved on the question.\\nReferring to the Judge s declaration of the uniform\\nand absolute authority of law, Curtis writes\\nHe forgot that the inherent human weakness\\nwhich makes laws necessary also affects the essen-\\ntial character of those laws, and that there may be", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0094.jp2"}, "93": {"fulltext": "LECTURER AND MAGAZINE WRITER. 11\\na legal organization of society worse than social\\nchaos. The very oath by which we bind ourselves,\\nas officers of the human law, is the direct recogni-\\ntion of a higher and more solemn obligation, and\\nthe point where the citizen merges in the man he\\ndid not consider, apparently, a point for his no-\\ntice yet that is the essential point of the difficulty.\\nNobody denies the obligations of the law, but laws\\nmay be irretrievably bad, as in the case of the\\nRoman Emperors, as now in Italy under the\\nAustrian rule and by no obligation is a man\\nbound to regard them. In fact this pro-fugitive\\nslave law movement and the doctrine of law at all\\nhazards, is, in politics, the same damnation that\\nthe infallibility of the Romish church is in re-\\nligion, and wherever, as with us, the tendency of\\nthe times is to individual and private judgment,\\nthe cause of the wrong is just as much lost in\\npolitics as it is in Religion.\\nAll these things, which good order and com-\\nmon sense and patriotism require to be discussed\\npublicly by our judges and legislators, they all\\nshirk, and, emphasizing the obvious, cry Victory\\nThus William Goddard said to me What a fine\\ncharge Yes, I said, but there is something\\nmore.\\nFor the next few years Mr. Curtis led a varied\\nlife. He formed a more or less close connection\\nwith the house of Harper and Brothers, who had\\npublished his books wrote sketches and social notes\\nfor the Magazine, of which Henry J. Raymond", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0095.jp2"}, "94": {"fulltext": "78 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nwas then the editor, and for the Weekly, in which\\nhe started the department of the Lounger became\\nan associate, but subordinate editor of Putnam s\\nMagazine, to which he was a regular contributor\\ngave a good many lectures, mostly on books, and\\nwent often and much into society, the gayeties as\\nwell as the richer fruits of which he enjoyed with\\ngreat zest. The work for the Harper periodicals\\nwas of many sorts. In part it was slight comment\\non the pictures, the plays, the players and singers\\nof the day, on the incidents of the life of New\\nYork, more interesting in some ways than now and\\nmuch more easily grasped. Some of it was, how-\\never, serious enough, and from time to time the\\nnotes on men and events in Europe showed a firm\\ntouch and a clear intelligent vision. In the social\\narticles, under the light and rather sentimental\\nsurface treatment, there was a strong tone of mo-\\nrality. In one of his longer paragraphs, he wrote\\nof Thackeray He seems to be the one of all\\nauthors who takes life precisely as he finds it. If\\nhe finds it sad, he makes it sad if gay, gay. You\\ndiscover in him the flexible adaptability of Horace,\\nbut with a deep and consuming sadness which the\\nRoman never knew, and which in the Englishman\\nseems to be almost sentimentality. This I im-\\nagine describes pretty nearly the Thackeray that\\nMr. Curtis deeply loved and admired, and to whom\\nhe yielded the tribute of more or less conscious\\nimitation. The sadness in the younger man was\\nnot so real, the seeming sentimentality was rather", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0096.jp2"}, "95": {"fulltext": "LECTURER AND MAGAZINE WRITER. 79\\nmore obvious, but was a passing indulgence for a\\nmind not yet sufficiently settled to be as earnest and\\ngenuine as it could and was to be, not yet having\\nfound the object that could be pursued resolutely\\nenough to prevent the influence of Thackeray s\\nmanner, rather than of Thackeray s purpose.\\nIn these days Mr. Curtis wrote verse and a con-\\nsiderable amount of it. He even contemplated a\\nvolume of poems with Ticknor, and he delivered\\na number of poems at college commencements.\\nThese are not, so far as I have been able to find\\nthem, of a high order. They were smooth enough,\\nand in passages they were what was then known as\\nelegant, fashioned on the model of the Queen\\nAnne poets, but they seem so foreign to the char-\\nacter of his mind as it afterward developed most\\nstrongly, that I should never recognize one of\\nthem as his from internal evidence. He had no\\nfondness for the work and no pride in it. I m\\nnot a poet, he wrote, and I wish they would n t\\nask. But as that is the worst excuse for not writ-\\ning verse, I consent. In this as in other directions,\\nhe was trying his wings. If they did not sustain\\nhim in long flights, he was distinctly successful in\\nshort ones, and there are several songs that are\\n1 Here are two selections\\nTHE REAPER.\\nI walked among the golden grain\\nThat bent and whispered to the plain,\\nHow gaily the sweet summer passes,\\nSo gently treading o er us grasses.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0097.jp2"}, "96": {"fulltext": "80 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nexquisite in form, and tender and touching in feel-\\ning. Had he devoted to this art the time and labor\\nnecessary to the full unfolding of his powers, he\\nmight easily have ranked high. I cannot regret\\nthat he did not. He would at best have been one\\nof no small number, and he could hardly have\\nachieved the work he afterward performed.\\nA sad-eyed Reaper came that way,\\nBut silent in the singing day,\\nLaying the graceful grain along\\nThat met the sickle with a song.\\nThe sad-eyed Reaper said to me,\\nFair are the summer fields you see\\nGolden to-day to-morrow gray\\nSo dies young love from life away.\\nT is reaped, but it is garnered well,\\nI ventured the sad man to tell\\nThough Love declines yet Heaven is kind,\\nGod knows his sheaves of life to bind.\\nMore sadly then he bowed his head,\\nAnd sadder were the words he said,\\nTho every summer green the plain,\\nThis harvest cannot bloom again.\\nEGYPTIAN SERENADE.\\nSing again the song you sung\\nWhen we were together young\\nWhen there were but you and I\\nUnderneath the summer sky.\\nSing the song, and o er and o er,\\nThough I know that nevermore\\nWill it seem the song you sung\\nWhen we were together young.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0098.jp2"}, "97": {"fulltext": "LECTURER AND MAGAZINE WRITER, 81\\nBefore he returned from Europe, he had formed\\nthe project of a life of Mehemet Ali, to whom one\\nof the last chapters of the Howadji in Syria is\\ngiven. He pursued it with much seriousness for\\nseveral years, but finally gave it up. Frankly,\\nhe said, the motive that held me loyal to it is not\\nthe best it was the desire to do something which, by\\nthe orthodox and received standard, should be con-\\nceded to be a graver work than anything I have\\ndone. But the reason is puerile, although the senti-\\nment is good. One thing which led him to drop\\nthe task undoubtedly was the conviction, as he\\nwrote, that Mehemet Ali was only a soldier of\\nfortune, a condottiere upon the splendid scale,\\nwhose success was purely personal and therefore\\ntransitory. Such a subject could not keep Mr.\\nCurtis up to his work. He was not a story-teller,\\nnot an artist in historical painting. The litterateur\\nwas already in bonds to the moralist.\\nHis connection with Putnam s Magazine was\\nin some ways extremely fortunate. It gave him\\nwork of a kind that he enjoyed and did well. It\\nextended his acquaintance with the men of letters\\n1 The following is a note from Mr. Godwin s address upon Mr.\\nCurtis delivered to the Century Club\\nIt may interest those who are curious as to our literary history\\nto add, that among our promised contributors the most of whom\\ncomplied with their promises were Irving, Bryant, Emerson,\\nLongfellow, Lowell, Hawthorne, Thoreau, George Ripley, Miss\\nSedgwick, Mrs. Kirkland, author of A New Home Who HI fol-\\nlow J. P. Kennedy, author of Swallow Barn Fred S. Coz-\\nzens, of the Sparrowgrass Papers Richard Grant White, Shake-\\nspeare s scholar; Edmund Quincy, author of Twice Married;", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0099.jp2"}, "98": {"fulltext": "82 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nof the day. His intimate association with Charles\\nr. Briggs, the chief in the office, and with Parke\\nGodwin, his associate, was a healthful and fruitful\\none, for both were men of fine fibre and strong pur-\\npose. Especially the connection gave him a fairly\\ndefined objective for his activity, and one requiring\\nsustained and concentrated attention.\\nParke Godwin, in his Commemorative Address\\nbefore the Century Association, gives some remi-\\nniscences of the Putnam s days. Referring to\\nThe Potiphar Papers and to Prue and I, he\\nsays\\nIt was evidence of the fecundity and versatility\\nof Mr. Curtis s gifts that while he was thus carry-\\ning forward two distinct lines of invention the one\\nfull of broad comic effects, and the other of exqui-\\nsite ideals he was contributing to the entertain-\\nWilliam Swinton, since the accomplished historian of The Army\\nof the Potomac Eiehard Kimball, Herman Melville, of Ty-\\npee and Omoo fame, Richard Henry Stoddard, E. C. Sted-\\nman, Ellsworth, Thomas Buchanan Read, Maria Lowell, Jer-\\nvis McEntee, and others. We had a strong hacking from the\\nclergy, the Rev. Drs. Hawks, Vinton, Hanson, Bethune, Baird\\nalso the occasional assistance of Arthur Hugh Clough, the friend\\nof Tom Hughes, Matthew Arnold, and other pupils of Dr. Arnold,\\nwho was then in the country William Henry Herbert, reputed\\ngrandson of the Earl of Pembroke, sportsman and naturalist,\\nknown as Frank Forrester William North, a frank and brilliant\\nyoung Englishman Fitz James O Brien, who died in our War for\\nthe Union and Thomas Francis Meagher, a gallant soldier in the\\nsame war, and afterwards governor of Montana. Miss Delia Bacon,\\nwhose unhappy history is told by Hawthorne in Our Old Home,\\nbegan her eccentric Shakespeare-Bacon controversy by a learned\\nand brilliant article in the Monthly.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0100.jp2"}, "99": {"fulltext": "LECTURER AND MAGAZINE WRITER. 83\\nmerit of our public in a half dozen other different\\nmodes, monthly criticisms of music and the drama\\nthat broadened the scope and raised the tone of\\nthat form of writing rippling Venetian songs that\\nhad the swing of the gondola in them crispy short\\nstories of humor or pathos reminiscences of the\\nAlps taken from his Swiss diaries elaborate re-\\nviews of books, like Dickens s Bleak House, the\\nBronte novels, Dr. Veron s Memoires, Hiawatha,\\nand recent English poetry, including that of Kings-\\nley, Matthew Arnold, Thackeray, the Brownings\\nand Tennyson, which, written forty years ago,\\nhave not been surpassed since by more appreciative,\\ndiscriminating, and sympathetic criticism, even in\\nthat masterly and more elaborate book of our fel-\\nlow-member, The Victorian Poets. In addition\\nto these he gave us, from time to time, solid and\\nthoughtful discussions of Men of Character, of\\nManners, of Fashion, of the Minuet and the\\nPolka as social tide marks, and of Rachel,\\nwhich may still be read with instruction and pleas-\\nure for their keen observation, their nice critical\\ndiscernment, their cheerful philosophy, and their\\nentrancing charms of style.\\nThen, ever and anon, Mr. Curtis would be off\\nfor a week or two, delivering lectures on Sir\\nPhilip Sidney, on The Genius of Dickens, on\\nThe Position of Women, and in one case a\\ncourse of lectures in Boston and in New York on\\nContemporary Fiction. In a galaxy of lectur-\\ners which included Emerson, Phillips, Beecher,", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0101.jp2"}, "100": {"fulltext": "84 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nChapin, Henry Giles, and others, lie was a bright\\nparticular star, and everywhere a favorite. A\\nharder-working literary man I never knew he was\\nincessantly busy, a constant, careful, and wide\\nreader, yet never missing a great meeting or a\\ngreat address, or a grand night at the theatre.\\nFrom our little conclaves at No. 10 Park Place,\\nwhere, I fear, we remorselessly slaughtered the\\nhopes of many a bright spirit (chiefly female) he\\nwas seldom absent, and when he came he took his\\nfull share of the routine, unless Irving, Bryant,\\nLowell, Thackeray, or Longfellow sauntered in, and\\nthat day we worked no more.\\nA few letters of this time from Curtis to Briggs\\ngive glimpses of the various life to which Mr. God-\\nwin refers. He writes, December of 1853, from\\nMilwaukee\\nMy dear deluded Eastern, Why do you\\nstay in that dried-up, old-f ogyish East A man is\\nnothing if not a squatter upon the prairies for, my\\ndearest B I have seen a prairie, I have darted\\nall day across a prairie, I have been near the Mis-\\nsissippi, I have been invited to Iowa, which lies\\nsomewhere over the western horizon. I feel as all\\nthe people feel in novels, I confess the West\\nGreat it is and greatly to be praised.\\nYesterday the almanac said December, but the\\nsun said May, as we rolled out of Chicago to-\\nwards the Mississippi. There was a boundless sky\\nand a boundless earth. It was the old feeling of", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0102.jp2"}, "101": {"fulltext": "LECTURER AND MAGAZINE WRITER. 85\\nthe desert minus the romance of association, minus\\nhistory and the Arabian Nights. But if you could\\nfancy the sun relenting, and blessing instead of\\nblasting the wide level of the earth, then, having\\nseen the desert, you would know the prairie.\\nI feel that I am on my travels once more. De-\\ntroit (where I delivered two lectures, had an ova-\\ntion, was requested to stay and deliver more, and\\nwas magnificently lionized, and roared in my most\\ndulcet tones) has drifted into the East.\\nIn the East the note is equally gay\\nBoston, January 20, 54.\\nA being who whirls in a round of routs, din-\\nners, and visits, who, as his friend Tom Appleton\\nsays, nightly vomits fire and ribbons for the satis-\\nfaction of gaping multitudes, who is taken to balls,\\nand rushes into small fishing towns to fascinate\\nthe alewives who betakes himself with his rush-\\nlight to illuminate small villages whereunto gas has\\nnever been previously brought, has little time\\nfor sublunary pursuits. Don t dream of a line\\nfrom me until I fly these syren east winds and\\nheavy rains, these beautiful women and hospitable\\nmen. To-morrow I go to the Longfellows, and I\\nwill write you a line soon again, that you may know\\nthat the rose-leaf has not been utterly fatah\\nMy lecture? Oh, yes, it was fine. The hall\\nwas crammed see the Transcript of last night.\\nI was immediately asked to deliver another, in the\\nMonday evening course, but was too wise to accept.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0103.jp2"}, "102": {"fulltext": "86 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nFrom Cambridge, whitlier he had gone to pre-\\npare one of his articles for the Homes of Ameri-\\ncan Authors, he writes\\nCraigie House, June 8, 54.\\nI am staying now with the poet and his wife.\\nWhat though it rains, or shines It is quite the\\nsame to me. I sit and look over the melancholy\\nmeadows at the winding Charles, and quote my host,\\nor, which is better, I contemplate my hostess, and\\nthank God for the gracious and beautiful woman\\nfor whom, clearly, the woods, flowers, the stars,\\nsuns, and men were created.\\nLowell, the neighboring poet (the P s prevail\\nin Cambridge, Poets, Philosophers, and Profes-\\nsors of religion and other things), is busy with a\\nsketch of Keats, which must be done to-morrow.\\nIt is for Professor of Boston, editor of the\\nEnglish Poets. Professor is one of the\\ncleverest and best of the Cambridge men. He has\\njust been to Holyoke, and brought home a worm\\nmore brilliant than Herrick s glow-worm or the\\nCuban curculio.\\nI write you in Washington s chamber. The tiles\\nadorn my fireplace. But I am lazy and thick-\\nheaded.\\nHe spent three months of 1854 at Newport, which\\nhe calls my country, where my airiest castles are\\nbuilt and my fairest estates lie. I give, as they\\nrun, a half dozen of letters to Mr. Briggs from\\nthere", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0104.jp2"}, "103": {"fulltext": "LECTURER AND MAGAZINE WRITER. 87\\nNewport, June 29, 54.\\nI have left the poets behind, and awake amidst\\ngreat historians and by the Poluphloisboio Tha-\\nlasses. Lowell sends as much love as one man can\\nsend to another. Longfellow and his wife accom-\\npanied me even to the cars, and I came slipping\\nalong in the most gorgeous of summer sunsets, and\\nfound myself in the most perfect of climates, with\\na lofty compassion for those who celebrate the\\nsavage shores of Staten Island. Lowell is coming\\nhere in July to visit the Nortons, who arrive to-day.\\nYour particular friends Evert and George D. were\\ngoing out of the historian s house as I came in. I\\nsee their figures fluttering upon the edge of the\\ncliff over the sea. They will be restored to your\\nlonging heart to-morrow, for they leave to-night.\\nNewport, July 7, 54.\\nMy young friend Curtis is here, immensely tick-\\nled to see his sentimental phiz in Putnam, and\\nstruggling with a poem! All the fools are not\\ndead yet, it seems. But I, who have lived a lie for\\nthirty years, I, whose life was a riper romance\\nthan the most imaginative of these idiots can invent,\\nmust laugh at that simple ass, Curtis, who is actu-\\nally screwing out a poem in the regular old heroic\\nstyle. It is a great pity that young men should\\nwaste themselves on literature and what not, in-\\nstead of building steamers and laying up riches,\\nlike my best of friends, or speculating on the great\\nscale, like my worst enemy. Curtis tells me he has", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0105.jp2"}, "104": {"fulltext": "88 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS,\\nwritten to Keiisett to come here and stop, and give\\nup that silly Saguenay business for the present.\\nIf he does I will let you know, for your friend\\nand chaplain, Dr. Choules, tells me that you are the\\nfriend of all loafers and give them passages, and I\\nknow not what else.\\nAquidneck, July 12, 54.\\nFor newspapers and editorial discrimination I\\nhave acquired the prof oundest reverence, from hav-\\ning been half a year upon the Tribune and by\\nhaving dined semi-occasionally with the Press Club.\\nThat editors are wise as well as witty, sagacious as\\nwell as sonorous, and as full of feeling as of fancy,\\nare three alliterative facts of which I consider my-\\nself amply assured. And yet, spite of their witty\\nwisdom, I love the loafers, the scapegraces, the sin-\\nners. I, too, am a Bohemian.\\nNewport, July 23, 54.\\nThat a man who did n t like Ijawrence s head of\\nLowell and of Longfellow should admire the print\\nof a beatified barber and irreproachable steam-\\nboat captain, which Hueston meant to publish as\\nmy likeness, was perfectly natural, only in future I\\nam sure you will permit me to laugh out loud at\\nyour artistic admirations and censures. It is also\\nentirely rational and to be naturally expected that\\nyou should be supported in your commendation of\\na melancholy libel by such eminent connoisseurs as\\nwere quoted to me by name in connection with your", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0106.jp2"}, "105": {"fulltext": "LECTURER AND MAGAZINE WRITER. 89\\nown, I am sorry that you will be deprived of the\\npleasure of having me in my favorite character of\\nreformed George Barnwell, set in gold, with a cir-\\nclet of Clark s hair worn in your cherishing bosom\\nfor I have written Mr. Knickerbocker Hueston\\nthat, rather than make my bow to the world in such\\nan unexceptionable coiffure, etc., I would snatch up\\nmy story and decamp from the gallery.\\nYou are a high old humbug.\\nAquidneck (Isle of Peace and Plenty),\\nAugust 10, 54.\\nMy dear fkiend Zaccheus, Please climb\\na tree and consider the denizens of Newport, how\\nthey loaf they write not, neither do they read and\\nyet I say unto you that Solomon with all his\\nconcubines had not a better time. Time goes I\\nknow not where, I care not how. Upon cool morn-\\ning piazzas I sit talking with the Muses, in warm\\nevening parlors I rush dancing with the Graces.\\nTwo hundred carriages with the dust of eight hun-\\ndred wheels throng to Bateman s in the afternoon,\\nor, dustless and delicious, prance along the hard\\nbottom of the sea, or far out upon the island, driv-\\ning the genial Kensett. We look back across woods,\\nand meadows white to the harvest, and see the pic-\\nture of peace and plenty framed in the soft sapphire\\nof the sea. There are no end of pretty women.\\nAt the Bellevue dance on Monday I saw more really\\nlovely girls than often fall to the lot of anybody s\\nless than a sultan s eyes. Baltimore is especially", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0107.jp2"}, "106": {"fulltext": "90 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nbrilliant. There are Southern women also, all\\nwrong upon the great Question wronger and\\nmore unreasonable, but more courteous, than the\\nmen. Bob J is here dancing with all the\\ngirls, and sometimes so drunk that he cannot move\\nacross the floor. dance and people say, I\\nthought you hated it. I love it, madam Yes,\\nlike other men, you say one thing and do another.\\nPardon, most lovely of women, I write and say\\nwhat I think. I have never been treacherous to\\nmy love of the dance.\\nAquidneck (Isle of Peace), October 9, 54.\\nWhere are you this bland Sunday morning?\\nThese great, gorgeous days chase each other through\\nthese spacious skies and die in unspeakable splen-\\ndor along the sea. I am going- to church, because\\nI shall hear a man of earnest and solemn feeling\\nchant a kind of religious reverie which his congre-\\ngation love, but I am sure do not understand.\\nThe people, also, look calm and pious. There is\\nnot too strong a sense of millinery. Now that the\\nflood-tide has fallen away from these shores of\\nfashion, the pearls glisten in the sunshine.\\nI shall come home about the 23d of October,\\nwrite a lecture, be away at the West in December,\\nhome in January, away at the East in February,\\nand home in March. I mean to lecture during two\\nmonths and make two thousand dollars. I have\\nput my price up to fifty dollars.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0108.jp2"}, "107": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER Vn.\\nTHE POTIPHAR PAPERS PRUE AND I.\\nyy\\nTrom Mr. Curtis s work for Putnam s Maga-\\nzine came two volumes by which he is, perhaps,\\neven better known in American letters than by the\\nHowadji books, The Potiphar Papers and Prue\\nand I. It was while providing entertainment for\\nour readers in a second number, says Mr. Parke\\nGodwin, that the vivacious Harry Franco (Charles\\nr. Briggs, the editor-in-chief) exclaimed, I have\\nit Let us each write an article on the state of\\nparties. You, Howadji, who hang a little candle\\nin the naughty world of fashion, will show it up\\nin that light. Mr. Curtis at once wrote a\\npaper on the state of parties, which he called Our\\nBest Society. It was a severe criticism of the fol-\\nlies, foibles, and affectations of those circles which\\ngot their guests, as they did their edibles and car-\\nriages, from Brown, Sexton and Caterer, and which\\nthought unlimited supplies of terrapin and cham-\\npagne the test and summit of hospitality. Tren-\\nchant as it was, it was yet received with applause.\\nSome thought the name of the leading lady more\\nsuggestive than facts warranted, and that in such\\nphrases as rampant vulgarity in Brussels lace,", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0109.jp2"}, "108": {"fulltext": "92 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nthe orgies of rotten Corinth, and the frenzied\\nfestival of Rome in her decadence, the brush was\\noverloaded. None the less, the satire delighted the\\npublic, and was soon followed by other papers in\\nthe same vein, since collected as The Potiphar\\nPapers. The older folks acknowledged them to\\nbe the best things of the kind since Irving and his\\nfriends had taken the town with the whim-whams\\nand conceits of Evergreen Wizard and the Cock-\\nloft family. They were to some extent exaggera-\\ntions, in which occasional incidents were given as\\npermanent features but their high and earnest\\npurpose, their genuine humor, their amusing de-\\ntails, their hits at characters, and their sarcasms\\ndeodorized of offensive personality by constant\\ndrippings from the springs of fancy, won them\\ngreat favor. If we behind the screen sometimes\\nfelt that we shook hands with Kurz Pacha and the\\nReverend Cream Cheese, they were, like sweet bully\\nBottom, marvelously translated.\\nI suppose that this summary of the impressions\\nof a contemporary and a companion gives a fair\\nview of the way in which The Potiphar Papers,\\nat the time of their appearance, affected intelligent\\nminds familiar with the society of the day. There\\nis plenty of evidence of the interest they excited.\\nThey had great vogue, and greatly helped the\\nyoung magazine, while they brought to their writer\\nmuch notoriety and some fame. As was natural,\\nthey made hard feelings among those who were,\\nor thought they were, satirized in these pages but", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0110.jp2"}, "109": {"fulltext": "THE POTIPHAR PAPERS; PRUE AND I. 93\\non the whole they were greatly enjoyed, and their\\nhealthy purpose was recognized. Taken up now\\nafter forty years, a reader must be well through\\nmiddle age to recognize their substantial basis of\\nfact, and, so far as they survive, it is as satire on\\nthe one hand and a picture of the author s mind\\non the other, rather than as a description of society.\\nYet a description of society they really were, with\\na sadly substantial basis of fact. Mr. Curtis s own\\nletters and those of his contemporaries, and the re-\\ncollections of men who moved in the same circles,\\nare not lacking in evidence that the brush was not\\nvery heavily overloaded. It was a period of swift\\nmoney-making, when a great and increasing crowd\\nof men and women were rapidly gaining the means\\nfor a life without work, and for the luxuries and in-\\ndulgences that had previously been within the reach\\nonly of inherited wealth. To get money was rela-\\ntively easy. It was a matter of energy and shrewd-\\nness amid abounding opportunities. To spend\\nmoney rationally or with refinement was something\\nfar different, for which neither nature nor training\\nhad fitted the possessors, and for which the con-\\nditions of success in getting it had particularly un-\\nfitted them. The spending, like the getting, became\\nan affair of competition, and in both it was quan-\\ntity that told. But the latter competition was largely\\nintrusted to the women, and they were, far less than\\ntheir husbands, subjected to strong conventions,\\nand wrought their wayward purpose with irrespon-\\nsible, unenlightened, feverish energy. In such con-", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0111.jp2"}, "110": {"fulltext": "94 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nditions Mesdames Potiphar and Croesus and Gnu,\\nMr. Gauche Boosey and Miss Caroline Petitoes be-\\ncame not only possible or probable, but actual, so\\nfar as their conception of life goes, or their mode\\nof acting. While, therefore, The Potiphar Pa-\\npers are not pleasant reading for the children and\\ngrandchildren of the class represented in their\\npages, I should advise no one to put the book aside\\nwith the notion that it is a greatly exaggerated\\nor even a particularly strongly colored account of\\nwhat went on under the eyes of the writer.\\nIf the book is to be considered independently of\\nits accuracy, it must appear very uneven. The best\\nparts of it by far are the serious parts, the com-\\nment of the artist rather than the figures he draws.\\nThe spirit of the author is of one intense indignation,\\nof anger and revolt and sorrow, at the unworthiness\\nof what he depicts. Nurtured himself in the pure\\nidealism of intellectual and moral New England,\\nyet with a keen and warm delight in the joys\\nthe sensuous as well as the spiritual and emotional\\njoys of life, bringing from wide travel and varied\\nsociety an eager zest for the happiest and the best,\\na patriot moreover in every fibre of his being, with\\na sensitive pride in his native land and high hopes\\nof what it might be, a high standard of what it\\nshould be, all doors flung wide open to his budding\\nfame and his charming personality, Curtis was\\ndeeply moved by what he saw of greed and vulgar-\\nity and coarse display, and the unseemly strife in\\nmoney-spending. The opening chapter, Our Best", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0112.jp2"}, "111": {"fulltext": "THE POTIPHAR PAPERS; PRUE AND L 95\\nSociety, expresses this feeling, and on some ac-\\ncounts it might have been better had he stopped\\nwith that. On some accounts, but not on the whole\\nfor there is so much of good sense, so much fair-\\nness, humor, wit, philosophy in the other papers that\\nit would have been a pity to lose them. As satire,\\nhowever, they cannot be called highly successful.\\nThey fall distinctly below that of Thackeray, on\\nwhich they are more or less consciously fashioned.\\nTheir bitterness is not caustic enough the under-\\ntone of gravity is not deep enough; the fancy,\\nthough subtle and delicate, is not sustained or con-\\nsistent, and the light dramatic machinery adopted\\ndoes not work smoothly. Particularly the charac-\\nters are not alive with any sense of reality. The\\nreader is now and then puzzled and even annoyed\\nby their variation from the types for which they are\\nintended to stand. They frequently excite pity,\\nbut not sympathy. All of which means only that\\nCurtis was not a creative writer, and, considering\\nhow small a part of his writing was in this direc-\\ntion, that is not a very important criticism. It\\nwould be, indeed, hardly worth making, were it\\nnot that in this instance the choice of a form not\\ngiving free scope to his strongest qualities, but\\ncramping and slightly distorting their effect, ob-\\nscures somewhat the real value of the work, which\\nis substantial. That value comes from the force\\nand elevation of the writer s purpose. It was\\nno small thing in those days that a man of his\\nknowledge and insight, wielding a pen of such sin-", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0113.jp2"}, "112": {"fulltext": "96 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\ngular charm, reaching so wide a class of intelligent\\nreaders, should have worked out that purpose in\\nthe way in which he worked it out, should have\\nset in the pillory by the wayside the vices of a soci-\\nety unquestionably fascinating to many, and, with\\nevery word of scorn or ridicule or irony that he\\ncast at them, should have made plainer and more\\nrespected the high ideals which they violated. As\\nthe satirist is not always the moralist, but is some-\\ntimes the hopeless cynic, wearying and discourag-\\ning and depressing the manhood and womanhood\\nof his readers, I do not take it to be a serious qual-\\nification of Mr. Curtis s position in literature that\\nhe was not eminently a satirist. And as the sound\\nmoralist, however he may elect or be impelled to do\\nhis work, does work that lasts and blesses while it\\nlasts, I find in this volume a service for which we\\nmay well be thankful, for which I feel deeply thank-\\nful, knowing that its influence was not only whole-\\nsome but strong and wide. Many a young man,\\nreading the papers from month to month, found\\nerected between him and the temptation of a frivo-\\nlous and essentially low life the light but not easily\\ndisregarded barrier of the scorn of a guide who was\\nat once a moralist, a philosopher, and an accom-\\nplished gentleman.\\nThe second of the books issuing from the pages\\nof Putnam s was Prue and I. I am glad again\\nto cite the words of Mr. Godwin, who says that\\nMr. Franco and his colleague of the triumvirate\\nused to look forward to these delightful papers as", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0114.jp2"}, "113": {"fulltext": "THE POTIPHAR PAPERS; PRUE AND I. 97\\none does to a romance to be continued and when\\nwe received one of them, we chirruped over it, as if\\nby some strange merit of our own we had entrapped\\na sunbeam, Sunbeams unfading they are, and I\\nbelieve will be for long years yet to come, ten-\\nder, gay, rich, sweet, life-giving, touching the clouds\\nthat gather at evening with hues as lovely as those\\nthat ushered in the dawn. It is well-nigh forty years\\nsince Prue and I came to me, one of the innum-\\nerous books of my boyhood, and was my frequent\\ncompanion in long strolls over the autumn hills or\\namong the woods of spring. No year of the two-\\nscore has passed, I think, that the book has not been\\nread again, and every year its subtle charm has\\ngrown more charming and more subtle. Had Curtis\\nwritten only this, had this alone represented to\\nthe world the character and gifts, the aspirations and\\nthe attainments, of the man, his fame in one sense\\nwould rather have gained than suffered, because he\\nwould always have been associated with this singu-\\nlarly perfect production. I can imagine how we\\nmight then have mourned the fate that deprived us\\nof further fruit of so rare a sort, and might have\\nset ourselves to fancy how he would have developed,\\nwhat sound wisdom, what serene dignity, what beau-\\ntiful loyalty to the best and purest, what fine and\\ndelicate range of a warm and chaste imagination\\nwould have unfolded in the riper and wider work of\\nthe author of Prue and I. It is one of the curious\\neffects of the limits nature sets to even our mental\\nappetites, that when what would have been but the", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0115.jp2"}, "114": {"fulltext": "98 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nimagined achievements of this author have become\\nrealities, and have multiplied through a long and\\nfertile life, the fame that these have won for him is\\nless distinct than the one book would have given\\nhim. Not less firm, certainly, nor less admirable,\\nbut less distinct so that I find the book, with very\\nmany, an incidental association with Curtis s mem-\\nory, and not, as it has grown to be with me, largely\\nthe embodiment, the type of all associations. I\\nlike to think that it was with this book in his mind\\nthat Lowell wrote Had letters kept you, every\\nwreath were yours. For it seems to me that in\\nthis book there is more of the man, of the thinker,\\ndreamer, artist, and moralist, than anywhere else\\nin the great mass of his writings. And indeed, it\\ncould not but be very genuine. Here is no elab-\\noration of years, no polished and repolished gem,\\nslowly and carefully wrought with critical reflec-\\ntion and matured art. Here are a scant half dozen\\nmagazine articles, filling a couple of hundred of\\nsmall pages, written with rushing pen, amid varied\\nand pressing occupations, at times in the stolen mo-\\nments of hurried journeys, and never in the calm of\\ndeliberate industry. What was put on paper was\\nwhat sprang from the unforced mind. From the\\nconditions of their writing the papers were a species\\nof improvisation, and I think that in great part to\\nthat is due their unity and strength amid such rich\\nvariety, such bold and unreined fancy. What we\\nget is the man, everywhere and always, nothing less\\nor other.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0116.jp2"}, "115": {"fulltext": "THE POTIPHAR PAPERS; PRUE AND L 99\\nIn Prue and I the dramatic machinery, un-\\nlike that of The Potiphar Papers, runs with en-\\ntire ease. It is very slight and the persons are few\\nthe old book-keeper and his immortal wife, Tit-\\nbottom, and Bourne the millionaire. The motive\\nis by no means very novel. The reflections of a\\nphilosopher of moderate or scant means upon the\\nfortunes, successes, failures, realities, and shams\\nof his fellow-beings have been written for ages in\\nmanjT- tongues. The compensations for the deficien-\\ncies of life to be got from a lively imagination, the\\nadvantages of fancied adventure over the uncertain\\nand trying reality, the riches of the world of books\\nto him whose only possession save a contented\\nmind they are, have been sung and painted ever\\nsince the favors of fortune began to vary the\\nconditions of men. So far from being novel, the\\ngeneral theme of the book may be called danger-\\nously hackneyed, and has spread pitfalls of com-\\nmonplace in the way of numberless writers old\\nand young. The world of readers yawns at the\\nmemory of the weary platitudes with which it has\\nstrewn the pages of books since before the inven-\\ntion of printing. But if the theme be not novel it\\nis because the contrasts of life are as old as the\\nrace, and men who think at all are forced in one\\nvein or another to think of them. It is the dis-\\ntinction of Curtis that his thought of them is so\\nsweet, so sound, so subtle in its insight, broadly\\nwise, gracious and luminous in its expression, es-\\nsentially noble in spirit. It is not merely or chiefly", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0117.jp2"}, "116": {"fulltext": "100 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nthe delight of the artist in the harmony brought\\nout of variety that the author feels as he works in\\nwith rich fancy the different characters and scenes.\\nIt is deep and tranquil joy in the substance of pur-\\nity, kindness, justice, and love which these vari-\\nations illustrate. The modest and faithful and\\nunimaginative Prue is the real inspiration of the\\npiece. One feels that her love of poetry, her pleas-\\nure in the fine things of the finest books which her\\nhusband reads to her with glowing or tear-dimmed\\neyes, her enjoyment of the sunsets so magical,\\nso infinitely suggestive to him, are almost purely\\nsympathetic, are born of her love for him, and in\\nthe quaint humor, with which her husband admits\\nthis to himself and to his readers, one feels also that\\nthe love of this pure and gentle woman is the real\\nthing before whose gracious radiance the splendors\\nof nature and literature and imagination pale their\\nineffectual fire.\\nIf the writer peoples the world of wealth and\\nfashion, which he assumes to watch from afar off,\\nwith beautiful women whose beauty is heaven s\\nstamp upon virtue if he makes of his own fancy\\nthe ideal cavalier w^hose perfect reverence and grace\\nand manly purity match the qualities of the woman,\\nhe never permits the suspicion that the reality is\\nnot possible he only insists that, unless the reality\\nis there, luxury is no better than poverty, and that\\ntrue manliness and womanliness are common to all\\nconditions. There is no suggestion of a sneer in\\nthe smile with which he greets the carriage of Au-", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0118.jp2"}, "117": {"fulltext": "THE POTIPHAR PAPERS; PRUE AND I, 101\\nrelia, and describes his own misadventure with the\\nwrinkled Eve whose apple-stand tempted him to\\nhis fall. The smile suggests, indeed, the ephemeral\\nnature of Aurelia s social advantages, and. even of\\nher youthful beauty, and implies that the accidents\\nof poverty are not of any more permanent serious-\\nness than those of riches but that is not because\\nthe old book-keeper holds with the preacher that all\\nis vanity, but because he holds that the only really\\nimportant thing is virtue, and that virtue bears\\nimperial sway wherever its throne may be set up.\\nThis it is that gives to the book its perennial charm.\\nIts charm as literature I think very great, it\\ngrows with every reading. There is a wide range\\nof delightful literary suggestion in the little volume.\\nIt teems with rich and varied allusion. One feels\\nin reading it that he is in intimate intercourse with\\nthe best minds, and every literary association it\\nawakens is touched with a new light. The fantas-\\ntic characters that swarm unresting on the deck\\nof the Flying Dutchman, beneath the spectral\\nshrouds, and in the mystery of smoke and haze,\\nhave been called from pages known to all the world\\nbut whenever the reader again sees them they will\\nbe different, and more than they had been, for the\\nillumination bestowed by the pen of Curtis. Nor\\nhas Curtis anywhere else, I think, sounded such\\nsolemn depths. There are suggestions of them in\\nthe Howadji books, but hardly more. The under-\\ntone of Titbottom s Spectacles is of pure tragedy,\\nand that of A Cruise in the Flying Dutchman", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0119.jp2"}, "118": {"fulltext": "102 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS,\\nis only less so. But nowhere is it more tlian an\\nundertone, and the last page leaves us again under\\nthe glance of Prue s pure eyes, safe from the ques-\\ntions that vex us with thoughts beyond the reaches\\nof our souls.\\nIn Prue and I Curtis s style, though not yet\\nfully developed, was determined, and nearly every\\nquality to be found in The Easy Chair, in the\\ngreat orations, and even in the editorial writings\\nof after years, is here. The style of the Howadji\\nis far in the past. There is no more opera, no\\nmore array of conventions splendid but artificial,\\nno longer the gay and haughty demand on the assent\\nof the reader. There is instead the most engaging\\ncandor, and, amid a wealth of fancy and imagery\\nand glowing sentiment, there is the essential sim-\\nplicity of sincerity. The book from first to last\\nbreathes integrity. It amuses, it delights, it stirs\\nthe imagination, it thrills delicately the most sensi-\\ntive chords, but above all it inspires affection and\\nrespect. The writer, though he should be forever\\nunknown, is henceforth forever a friend, to be loved\\nand alwavs to be trusted.\\nIn December, 1856, at the close of the year in\\nwhich Prue and I was begun, Mr. Curtis became\\nengaged to Miss Anna Shaw, daughter of Francis\\nG. Shaw, of Staten Island. On Thanksgiving Day,\\n1856, they were married. It was in every way a\\nmost happy union, and the marriage marked, if not\\na turning point, a distinct and important stage in\\nthe career of Mr. Curtis. Among the guests at", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0120.jp2"}, "119": {"fulltext": "THE POTJPHAR PAPERS; PRUE AND I. 103\\nthe quiet wedding was Major John C. Fremont.\\nI shall have occasion later to refer to the part Mr.\\nCurtis took in the great campaign in which the\\nPathfinder led the first gallant and splendid\\ncharge of the Republican party against slavery,\\nand to the influence of Mr. Curtis s connection\\nwith the Shaw family in stimulating and sustain-\\ning, if not in arousing, his zeal in the cause of\\nfreedom. That influence pure, strong, inspir-\\ning, and in the highest sense moral was to con-\\ntinue through life. I am sure that I violate no\\nessential reserve in stating that, in the long and ar-\\nduous years of Mr. Curtis s varied work, his home\\nwas always a haven where he constantly sought\\nrefuge and repose, and from which, refitted, re-\\ninforced, inspired with renewed confidence and cour-\\nage, he set out to the good wars that invited\\nhim, and that to the gracious and noble lady who\\nmade that home is due no small share in his many\\nand rich achievements.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0121.jp2"}, "120": {"fulltext": "CHAPTEE VIII.\\nBUSINESS EXPERIENCES.\\nThe seven years following Mr. Curtis s return\\nfrom Europe in 1860 were very busy, and generally\\nvery laborious, particularly after the establishment\\nof Putnam s Magazine. While still engaged on\\nthat, he had begun the series of weekly contribu-\\ntions to Harper s Weekly by The Lounger, to\\nwhich I have already referred had written a num-\\nber of social essays for Harper s Monthly and\\nj nally, in 1854, had undertaken the sole charge of\\nthe Easy-Chair. Meanwhile he kept up his lec-\\nturing, with what energy the extracts from his let-\\nters already given show. For the most part he\\ntook his task lightly enough, and found no end\\nof amusement, a^ well as much satisfaction, in his\\ntreatment by the local press of the cities he visited.\\nHe wrote January 15, 1853, to his father\\nA Utica paper makes a rather amusing notice\\nof the lecture. It is to the effect that whoever has\\nread Mr. C. s books must have known what kind of\\na lecture to expect, that it was full of gorgeous\\nimagery, and that, although it had humor, beauty\\nwas its characteristic, but was full of sudden and\\nquaint contrasts that presented an endless series of", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0122.jp2"}, "121": {"fulltext": "BUSINESS EXPERIENCES, 105\\ngrave and gay imagery. Yet an almost feminine\\nperception of beauty, an unlimited command of\\nlanguage, an imagination chastened but rich, and\\nevidently moulded by the most soothing influences\\nof the Orient, resulted in a work which the hearer\\ncould not forget, a series of pictures that would\\nlinger long in the memory of every one present.\\nThat is about the pith of it, which has the invalu-\\nable merit of praising the lecture for just what it\\nwas not So, what with commendation for what\\nit is and for what it is not, it will go hard with it\\nif it does not secure all suffrages.\\nThe few letters to his father that have come into\\nmy hands are extremely interesting, and some of\\nthem very touching. There was a very sound and\\nwholesome relation between father and son. The\\nearly essential independence of mind shown by the\\nlatter, always accompanied by and indeed resting\\non a strong affection and sincere respect, together\\nwith the gayety of many of the letters, show the\\nintimacy that existed. Mr. Curtis was not yet\\nthirty-two when his father died. Shortly after\\nthat loss he wrote to his mother (January 21,\\n1856):\\nYou may imagine how sad and strange it is not\\nto feel father s interest and anxiety in my success.\\nI used to read everything that was said about me\\nwith his eyes, and so gladly sent him all the praise.\\nBut I do not feel at all removed from his real sym-\\npathy and interest even now. He is lost to the eye,\\nbut not at all, even as a father, to the heart. I", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0123.jp2"}, "122": {"fulltext": "106 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS,\\nshall always live as if in his eye. In every act I\\nshall always feel his judgment. To children,\\nparents are matters of course, like trees and stones.\\nBut when we become men and women, we reverence\\ntheir individual excellence, and when we lose them\\nwe know that we have lost friends. How just and\\ncalm and generous a friend my father was to me\\nHe was so candid and simple in his love that I\\nnever ceased to feel myself a boy when I was\\nwith him.\\nHe was soon to gather some of that harvest of\\nexperience which tells us beyond all question that\\nthe springtime of life has passed forever. In the\\nspring of 1856 he had put some money into the\\npublishing firm of Dix, Edwards Co., to whom\\nhad passed the ownership of Putnam s Monthly.\\nThey failed the next year in April, and in August\\nCurtis, in a letter to Mr. Charles Eliot Norton, de-\\nscribes his experience in business I was respon-\\nsible as a general partner. To save the creditors\\n(for I would willingly have called quits myself), I\\nthrew in more money, which was already forfeited,\\nand undertook the business with Mr. Miller, the\\nprinter, who wanted to save himself. Presently\\nMr. Shaw put in some money as special partner.\\nBut what was confessed to be difficult, when we re-\\nlied upon the statements given us, became impossi-\\nble when those statements turned against us, and\\nlast week we suspended. In the very moment of ar-\\nrangement, it appeared that by an informality Mr.\\nShaw was held as a general partner the creditors", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0124.jp2"}, "123": {"fulltext": "BUSINESS EXPERIENCES. 107\\nswarmed in to avail themselves of the slip, and we\\nare now wallowing in the law. Of course I lose\\neverything and expected to, but there is now, in\\naddition, this ugly chance of Mr. S. s losing sixty\\nor seventy thousand dollars, and all by an accident\\nwhich the creditors fully comprehend.\\nWithout going into the details of the arrange-\\nment by which this trouble was finally settled, it is\\nsufficient to say that Mr. Curtis assumed a large\\nindebtedness for which he was not legally bound,\\nand for nearly a score of years labored incessantly\\nto pay it, devoting to that purpose the money\\nearned by lecturing. It was an arduous task, in-\\nvolving not merely the work of preparation and\\nthe time spent in traveling, but much hardship\\nand exposure, much sacrifice of the joys of a home\\npeculiarly dear, and the almost complete abandon-\\nment of sustained scholarly pursuits to which he\\nhad looked with longing. It was not, however,\\nwithout compensations, and some of high value.\\nOf these, necessarily, the greatest was the one he\\nrarely if ever mentioned, the satisfaction of his\\nconscience. Besides this, however, there was the\\nclose acquaintance he formed in every part of the\\nUnion with the many of those who were to march\\nwith him in the field of the better politics. When\\nhe took up the work of an editor a few years later,\\nthis acquaintance was continued and extended, and\\nwas of inestimable value to him and to the country.\\nIt gave him the sureness of aim which made his writ-\\ning more effective, perhaps, than that of any other", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0125.jp2"}, "124": {"fulltext": "108 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nman in his generation and it helped to give him\\nalso the sense of confidence in the final triumph of\\nthe causes in which he successively engaged, which\\nwas at once a source of strength to himself and an\\ninspiration to others. This experience, moreover,\\nwas a constant training in the art of public speak-\\ning, of which he became easily, I think, the greatest\\nmaster of his country in his time. But of these\\ncompensations there was, of course, no thought\\nwhen Mr. Curtis calmly took up the heavy burden\\nwhich he knew would not be discharged for many\\nyears, if ever. That was done in the quiet and un-\\nquestioning obedience to the law of simple, manly\\nfidelity that was a law of his nature, and as inte-\\ngral a part of it as his kindness of heart and gen-\\ntleness of manners. So modestly was it done that\\nI have almost a sense of offending his proud and\\ndelicate self-respect in thus speaking of it, as if it\\nwere a thing he could have helped doing. But we\\nall know that it was a thing of a sort rarely done\\nany account of Mr. Curtis s life would be deficient\\nwere it omitted.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0126.jp2"}, "125": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER IX.\\nTHE CAMPAIGN OF 1856.\\nIn 1846, ten years before the first candidate of\\nthe Republican party had been named, James Rus-\\nsell Lowell had written, apropos of the movement\\nfor the annexation of Texas\\nSlavery, the Earth-born Cyclops,\\nFellest of the giant brood,\\nSons of brutish Force and Darkness\\nThat have drenched the Earth with blood,\\nFamished in his self-made desert,\\nBlinded by our purer day,\\nSeeks in yet unblasted regions\\nFor his miserable prey.\\nShall we guide his gory fingers\\nWhere our helpless children play\\nFor ten years devoted men and women, with\\nthe utmost energy and courage and persistence, if\\nnot always with discretion, had been pressing this\\nquestion upon the American people. The people\\nwould hardly listen when only the almost unknown\\nterritory involved in the annexation of Texas and\\nin the Mexican War was concerned, but when the\\nslave power forced the same question upon their\\nreluctant ears with reference to Kansas and Ne-\\nbraska, the land toward which the restless children", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0127.jp2"}, "126": {"fulltext": "110 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nof the free States had begun to push forward, there\\nwas no stilling it. And then it was that Mr.\\nCurtis seems first earnestly to have considered it.\\nHe could not long have resisted it, we may be\\nsure, but it is to be remarked that the connection\\nhe had formed with the Shaw family undoubtedly\\nquickened his sympathies, and aroused him to a\\nsense of what it was possible, and therefore impera-\\ntive, for him to do. The father and mother of the\\nwoman who was to be his wife were of the early\\nschool of intensely earnest, unflinching, uncompro-\\nmising, unwearying foes of slavery. It was a part\\nof their religion to fight the evil at all times and in\\nall ways that offered or could be found, and it is\\ncertain that, if the flame of his zeal was not kin-\\ndled, it was nursed and fanned by theirs.\\nAs the extracts given from his letters to his\\nfather from Brook Farm and from Concord, and\\nlater after his return from Europe, clearly show,\\nMr. Curtis s mind was never closed to the essen-\\ntial nature of slavery, never misled as to the spe-\\ncious claims made for it founded on the Consti-\\ntution, and especially never dull to the moral\\nquestion involved. It was the latter that most\\ndeeply moved him, and aroused him to a series of\\nappeals to young men of the Union which had\\na deep and lasting effect. In the spring of 1856\\nhad occurred the assault upon Charles Sumner in\\nthe Senate Chamber by Preston Brooks, of South\\nCarolina. In that year also culminated the strug-\\ngle in Kansas between the free-state immigrants", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0128.jp2"}, "127": {"fulltext": "THE CAMPAIGN OF 1856. Ill\\nand settlers, largely from New England, and the\\npro-slavery men from the South, chiefly from Mis-\\nsouri, the latter aided by the force and author-\\nity of the Federal government under President\\nPierce. This is not the place to trace even in\\noutline the features of the tremendous conflict of\\nwhich these were incidents. It was in these that\\nthe tendencies of the slave power, which gave to\\nthe presidential canvass of that year its distinctive\\ncharacter, were most strikingly exposed.\\nThe first speech of importance by Mr. Curtis\\nwas delivered August 6, ISSG^ before the Liter-\\nary Societies of Wesleyan University, at Middle-\\ntown, Conn. Its title was, The Duty of the\\nAmerican Scholar to Politics and the Times.\\nHe was twenty-eight years old. Too young, he\\ntold the college boys, to be your guide and phi-\\nlosopher, I am yet old enough to be your friend.\\nToo little in advance of you in the great battle of\\nlife to teach you from experience, I am yet old\\nenough to share with you the experience of other\\nmen and of history. I would gladly speak to\\nyou, he went on, of the charms of pure scholar-\\nship of the dignity and worth of the scholar of\\nthe abstract relation of the scholar to the state.\\nThe sweet air we breathe and the repose of mid-\\nsummer invite a calm ethical or intellectual dis-\\ncourse. But would you have counted him a friend\\nof Greece, who quietly discussed the abstract\\nnature of patriotism on that Greek summer day\\nthrough whose hopeless and immortal hours Leon-", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0129.jp2"}, "128": {"fulltext": "112 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nidas and his three hundred stood at Thermopylae\\nfor liberty And to-day, as the scholar meditates\\nthat deed, the air that steals in at his window\\ndarkens his study and suffocates him as he reads.\\nDrifting across a continent, and blighting the har-\\nvests that gild it with plenty from the Atlantic to\\nthe Mississippi, a black cloud obscures the page\\nthat records an old crime, and compels him to\\nknow that freedom always has its Thermopylae,\\nand that his Thermopylae is called Kansas.\\nOf Sumner he said In a republic of freemen\\nthis scholar speaks for freedom, and his blood\\nstains the Senate floor. There it will blush\\nthrough all our history. That damned spot will\\nnever out from memory, from tradition, or from\\nnoble hearts.\\nOf the function of the scholar class\\nThe very material success for which nations,\\nlike individuals, strive, is full of the gravest dan-\\nger to the best life of the state as of the individ-\\nual. But as in human nature itself are found the\\nqualities which best resist the proclivities of an in-\\ndividual to meanness and moral cowardice, as\\neach man has a conscience, a moral mentor which\\nassures him what is truly best for him to do, so\\nhas every state a class which by its very charac-\\nter is dedicated to eternal and not to temporary\\ninterests whose members are priests of the mind,\\nnot of the body and who are necessarily the con-\\nservative body of intellectual and moral freedom.\\nThis is the class of scholars. The elevation and", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0130.jp2"}, "129": {"fulltext": "THE CAMPAIGN OF 1856. 113\\ncorrection of public sentiment is the scholar s\\noffice in the state.\\nIf, then, such be the scholar and the scholar s\\noffice, if he be truly the conscience of the state,\\nthe fundamental law of his life is liberty. At\\nevery cost, the true scholar asserts, defends, lib-\\nerty of thought and liberty of speech. Of what\\nuse to a man is a thought that will help the world,\\nif he cannot tell it to the world Such a thought\\ncomes to him as Jupiter came to Semele. He is\\nconsumed by the splendor that secretly possesses\\nhim. The Inquisition condemns Galileo s creed:\\nPur muove still it moves replies Galileo\\nin his dungeon. Tyranny poisons the cup of Soc-\\nrates: he smilingly drains it to the health of the\\nworld. The church, towering vast in the midst\\nof universal superstition, lays its withering finger\\nupon the freedom of the human mind, and its own\\nchild, leaping from its bosom, denounces to the\\nworld his mother s madness.\\nAfter tracing the character of Milton as most\\nnearly fulfilling the conditions of the ideal scholar,\\nMr. Curtis made a concise but careful and strong\\nstatement of the advance of the slave power, from\\nthe framing of the Constitution to the passage of\\nthe Kansas-Nebraska Bill. He drew a pathetic\\nand impressive picture of the men of Connecticut\\nwho answered the call to Lexington and Boston.\\nThrough these very streets they marched who\\nnever returned. They fell and were buried, but\\nthey can never die. Not sweeter are the flowers", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0131.jp2"}, "130": {"fulltext": "114 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nthat make your valley fair, not greener are the\\npines that give your valley its name, than the\\nmemory of the brave men who died for freedom.\\nAnd yet no victim of those days, sleeping under\\nthe green sod of Connecticut, is more truly a\\nmartyr of Liberty than every murdered man\\nwhose bones lie bleaching in this summer sun\\nupon the silent plains of Kansas. And so long\\nas Liberty has one martyr, so long as one drop\\nof blood is poured out for her, so long from tliat\\nsingle drop of bloody sweat of the agony of hu-\\nmanity shall spring hosts as countless as the forest\\nleaves and mighty as the sea.\\nBrothers the call has come to us, he con-\\ncluded I bring it to you in these calm retreats.\\nI summon you to the great fight of Freedom. I\\ncall upon you to say with your voices whenever the\\noccasion offers, and with your votes when the day\\ncomes, that upon the fertile fields of Kansas, in\\nthe very heart of the continent, the Upas-tree of\\nslavery, dripping death-dews upon national pros-\\nperity and upon free labor, shall never be planted.\\nI call upon you to plant there the palm of peace,\\nthe vine and olive of a Christian civilization. I\\ncall upon you to determine whether this great\\nexperiment of human freedom, which has been the\\nscorn of despotism, shall by its failure be also our\\nsin and shame. I call upon you to defend the\\nhope of the world. The voice of our brothers who\\nare bleeding, no less than of our fathers who bled,\\nsummons us to this battle. Shall the children of", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0132.jp2"}, "131": {"fulltext": "THE CAMPAIGN OF 1856. 115\\nunborn generations clustering over that vast West-\\nern Empire rise up and call us blessed or cursed\\nHere are our Marathon and Lexington. Here are\\nour heroic fields. The hearts of good men beat\\nwith us. The fight is fierce the issue is with\\nGod, but God is good.\\nIn this, the first serious address on public affairs\\nthat Curtis made, there are indications of some of\\nthe most distinctive and the finest traits of his ora-\\ntory at its best. The happy expression of the in-\\nfluence of the season and the place with which he\\nfrequently began, the vivid and inspiring use of\\nhistoric associations fitted with aptness to the pur-\\npose of the discourse, very jewels upon its thread,\\nbut beaming a steady light upon its object; the\\nstately march of broad recital the solemn and\\nsimple, tender and stirring appeal and through\\nall the sense of the high level of principle and con-\\nviction from which the speaker surveyed the field\\nof fact and argument, all these are here. There\\nare points in the discourse where the fine restraint\\nof the rhetoric which was the characteristic of his\\nriper years was not attained, and there are signs\\nthat his subject had not been so severely studied,\\nits details not so closely subordinated and mar-\\nshaled, as was his later habit. The logic does not\\nfail, but it is not so sustained, and the view of the\\nhostile critic had not been so clearly imagined as\\nbecame his wont. Experience and observation had\\nnot done their whole work at twenty-eight, but\\nthey had begun it, and were well advanced. With", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0133.jp2"}, "132": {"fulltext": "116 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nthis speech the party of resistance to the extension\\nof slavery, the party of freedom, knew that a cham-\\npion had taken up its cause, who brought to it not\\nonly the dashing courage of the cavalier, but the\\nunyielding firmness of the Puritan a bright and\\ntempered sword flashed upon the combat in the\\nhand of one who could not turn back if he would,\\nso high he felt to be the behest that summoned\\nhim. The fight is fierce, he cried; the issue is\\nwith God, but God is good.\\nIn the autumn Curtis was fairly enlisted in\\nthe campaign. He made an extended tour of\\nPennsylvania for the state election, which was then\\nheld in October, and which made the State one of\\nthe most hotly contested in every presidential year.\\nReturning, he spoke frequently in Connecticut and\\nNew York. Mr. Rhodes, in his recently published\\nhistory, says N. P. Willis, one of the best known\\nlitterateurs of his day, relates how he drove five\\nmiles one night to hear Curtis deliver a stump\\nspeech. He at first thought the author of the\\nHowadji too handsome and well dressed for a\\npolitical orator, but as he listened his mistake was\\napparent. He heard a logical and rational address,\\nand now and then the speaker burst into the full\\ntide of eloquence unrestrained. Willis declared\\nthat, though fifty-four years old, he should this\\nyear cast his virgin vote, and it would be for\\nFremont.\\nWriting October 31, on the eve of the election,\\nCurtis said to a near friend I shall not tell you", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0134.jp2"}, "133": {"fulltext": "THE CAMPAIGN OF 1856, 117\\nof the great struggle which is advancing. The\\nelection is but an event. God is still God, how-\\never the election goes and whoever is elected.\\nThe movement which is now fairly begun will not\\nrelapse into apathy or death.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0135.jp2"}, "134": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER X.\\nA NOVEL AND A LECTURE.\\nMr. Curtis, as I have said, was married in No-\\nvember, 1856, and went to live on Staten Island,\\nwhere his wife s father had a spacious home with\\nlarge grounds. His first child, a son, was born\\nthere in December, 1857. His home life, though\\nconstantly broken in upon by his lecturing tours\\nand by his journeyings for the delivery of political\\nspeeches, was always happy, peaceful, the source of\\nincalculable comfort and delight. The following\\nextracts from letters to his intimate friend, Charles\\nEliot Norton, of Cambridge, will give the reader a\\nglance at his life during the few years preceding\\nthe great campaign of 1860 and the Civil War\\nNew York, June 17, 58.\\nYour kind note floats into my hand just as I\\nam stepping westward, for a fortnight. I go to\\nthe University of Michigan and Antioch College\\nwith an oration upon The Democratic Principle,\\nand its Prospects in our Country, with every word\\nof which I think you would agree, and not find a\\nsingle thing which you would be sorry to have a\\nfriend of yours say. When I come to you I will", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0136.jp2"}, "135": {"fulltext": "A NOVEL AND A LECTURE, 119\\nbring it, and take the taste of some other things of\\nmine out of your mouth.\\nNorth Shore, September 25, 58.\\nI have promised to deliver my Democracy and\\nEducation before a teachers institute in Newport\\non the 8th October, and I shall put ojff coming to\\nyou till then.\\nFor tho on pleasure he was bent,\\nHe had a frugal mind.\\nWhat else could you expect of a seditious Sepoy,\\na Chairman of the Republican County Committee,\\nan agricultural orator, and your most affectionate\\nG. W. C.\\nOn his return from this trip he describes his\\nhome-coming\\n10th October, 58.\\nI saw the receding tower of Trinity, and pres-\\nently beheld the camp of the army of occupation\\nupon the wharf who but she and along the\\nKills we drove, while I talked of Newport friends\\nand fields, and watched the autumn waiting for me\\nin the woods and on the flowery hills. All were\\nwell. The boy of boys the man-child shouted\\nand jumped into my arms, and in an hour he was\\nriding behind his goat with his mamma and papa\\nin waiting.\\n8th November, 58.\\nWe have finished our fight and elected our\\ngovernor. He is a merchant, an average merchant.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0137.jp2"}, "136": {"fulltext": "120 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nbut our congressional majority, which shows by dis-\\ntricts the complexion of the State, is nearly seventy\\nthousand. That shows a change of heart.\\nAnd yet, while we have won, the one thing clear\\nseems to be that Douglas is the next President,\\nunless the Slave party offers us some new issue.\\nWe cannot beat them upon that of Popular Sover-\\neignty, upon which D. will make his stand and his\\nbattle.\\nNext week I begin my lecturing, and have al-\\nready engaged sixty evenings.\\nJanuary 30, 59.\\nAt the Burns festival in Troy I led off Auld\\nLang Syne at four in the morning and hoarsened\\nmy voice.\\nMarcli 2, 59.\\nI am glad you succeeded in amusing your little\\nsister. I have often wished she were here to join\\nMaster Frank s class in Little Bo-Peep. Don t\\nstimulate her mind with too much House-that-Jack-\\nBuilt at once, but lead her gradually on from Cock\\nEobin to Mother Hubbard.\\nIn September, 1859, he writes\\nThe Weekly now circulates 93,000, and is very\\nthoroughly read. I make my Lounger a sort of lay\\npulpit, and the readers have a chance of hearing\\nthings suggested that otherwise there would be no\\nhint of in the paper. And, after all, an author has\\nsomething besides his own fame to look after.\\nIt was in this year that Mr. Curtis, tempted, I", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0138.jp2"}, "137": {"fulltext": "A NOVEL AND A LECTURE, 121\\nimagine, by what the publishers could offer not\\nonly in money, but in the security of a very wide\\ncircle of readers, began the novel of Trumps as\\na serial in Harper s Weekly. It was not an un-\\nnatural venture. He was a lover of good fiction,\\nand an intelligent critic of it. He was in the very\\nprime of his manhood. He had won notable suc-\\ncess in varied directions. He had seen much of\\nthe world, not only of society, but of affairs and\\nof politics. He had traveled widely abroad and\\nin his own land. He was a welcome intimate in\\nthe houses of gifted men and women. He was\\nconscious of the possession of the literary faculty.\\nExpression fitting the thought was not difficult to\\nhim. He had quick and sensitive sympathies, a\\nsound and trustworthy judgment, and his fellow-\\nbeings, of all sorts and on all levels, interested him\\nmuch. He could not but know that when he talked\\nof them, of their character, their doings, their oddi-\\nties, adventures, aims, humors, his talk charmed\\nhis hearers. Why should he not write a novel?\\nWhy should he not group in a well-connected story\\nthe acts and words that should reveal men and\\nwomen as he saw and knew them, not forgetting\\nthe lesson of the supreme value of goodness which\\nevery life, good or evil, disclosed to him, and of\\nwhich his own was a half -unconscious reading?\\nWhy cannot the eagle swim\\nI think it is not to be denied that Trumps is\\ndepressing reading, despite its many excellences.\\nIt is the fruit of an author s mistake as to his", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0139.jp2"}, "138": {"fulltext": "122 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\npowers. It is Thackeray s pictures, George Eliot s\\npoetry, Dickens s portrayal of aristocracy. It shows\\nhow many and how great gifts the author had, and\\nhow little he had of the rare art of sustained story-\\ntelling. Five years before, Lowell had written\\nto Briggs (he had just said of the Chateaux in\\nSpain, I think it one of the best essays I ever\\nread, I don t care by what author The fault\\nof The Potiphar Papers seems to me that in them\\nthere are dialogizing and monologizing thoughts,\\nbut not flesh and blood enough. And it is with\\ndialogizing and monologizing thoughts that the\\npages of Trumps fairly swarm. The title, the\\nintention of which is emphasized in the last sen-\\ntence, shows that the real purpose of the writer\\nwas not to write a novel, but to point a moral.\\nPatient and gentle reader, he says, as he closes\\nhis work, it is for you to say who, among all the\\nplayers we have been watching, held Trumps, and\\nthe reader is expected to answer that Trumps were\\nheld by the benevolent and beneficent Lawrence\\nNewt, and by that heaven-born vision of earthly\\nbeauty and unspotted soul, Hope Wayne, and, as\\nthe proportions of the pack allow, by the lesser\\nembodiments of kindness and purity and rectitude,\\nand that all the low cards fell to those who were\\nplaying for self. It is a gracious view of life, and\\none that cheers the good in adverse conditions,\\neven if it escapes the attention and leaves uncor-\\nrected the wayward will of the mean and wicked.\\nBut this naive indiscretion as to the title of the", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0140.jp2"}, "139": {"fulltext": "A NOVEL AND A LECTURE. 123\\nbook seems to me to show the peculiar failure of\\nthe writer to grasp the cardinal principle of his\\nart, that the moral, if moral there must be, should\\npoint itself. And, worse than this, the title does\\nnot fit the avowed purpose. Trumps are the gift\\nof the gods. It is the duty of a skillful player not\\nto waste them on his partner s trick, and to make\\nand take all the chances of the game in order to get\\nthe most good of them, and it is the duty of an\\nhonest player not to supply them when wanting\\nfrom up his sleeve. But to find them in his hand\\nwhen the deal is made is no merit of his, and to\\nmiss them is not his fault. Now the lesson of\\nCurtis s novel is clearly that the reward of virtue\\nis in great part earned, and not a matter of chance.\\nThe joy of honorable self-denial, the peace that\\ncomes from generous sympathy with the good for-\\ntune of others, through one s own loss, these are\\nurged, and with winning earnestness. They are\\nnot the fruit of chance. Indeed, the life that Cur-\\ntis tries to depict and does very clearly suggest,\\nand of which he gives us most engaging chapters,\\nis not in reality a game at all, neither a game of\\nhazard nor of sport. Nor, on the other hand,\\nthat is the shortcoming of the writer, is it a\\ndrama. It is a modern version of the mediaeval\\nmorality, a long and elaborate lesson, without,\\nindeed, the tediousness of its ancient prototype,\\nand also without the picturesqueness gained by\\nthat from the very concrete notions of the Devil and\\nhis conqueror then prevailing. I may say, I hope", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0141.jp2"}, "140": {"fulltext": "124 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nwithout offense, that it is in its general effect a\\nSunday school story, written by a man of rare\\ngifts, some of which betray the elusive charm of\\ngenius, but still essentially of that class, producing,\\nand apparently intended to produce, the impression\\nthat in the end virtue triumphs and vice comes to a\\nmiserable end.\\nYet there are the materials, the raw materials, of\\na strong story in Trumps, and the writer s con-\\nception of their significance is vigorous. The bril-\\nliant viciousness of Abel Newt, started at school\\nand developed in society, in dissipation, in politics,\\nin the corruption of the capital, in the desperation\\nof the culminating crime the wasted and misdi-\\nrected loves of the two sisters whose lives are shad-\\nowed and nearly wrecked by one man the un-\\ndisclosed experiences by which the character of\\nLawrence Newt is moulded contrasted with these,\\nthe simple and sunny life of Amy Waring, the more\\ndelicate and remote nature of Hope Wayne, the\\nhopeless final kindling of real affection in the heart\\nof Abel s mistress, here is the stuff of which ro-\\nmance and tragedy are woven, and with it are plen-\\ntiful minor threads of comedy and sentiment. Nor\\ncan I resist the impression that, had Curtis taken\\nup the study and practice of the story-telling art\\nearlier, or with a firmer purpose, the product would\\nhave been, if not perfect, not only far more satis-\\nfactory than this single fruit, but of a marked dis-\\ntinction and value. There are few more real fig-\\nures than Prue and her husband, and Titbottom", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0142.jp2"}, "141": {"fulltext": "A NOVEL AND A LECTURE. 125\\nis only slightly less real. But I cannot regret that\\nhis energies, great and efficient as they were his\\nmind works so easily, wrote Lowell), were not\\nturned in this direction. He might possibly have\\nwon a more lasting fame, and perhaps a wider one.\\nI cannot think he would have done wider or more\\nlasting service. He could not seriously have\\nchanged his aim. He might have attained the art\\nthat makes the moral point itself he could never\\nhave really forgotten or wished to forget the moral.\\nThe highest achievement, I take it, in fiction, cer-\\ntainly in the more modern fiction, is the impressive\\nunfolding of the complexity, the contradiction, the\\npathetic or amusing or baffling conflict, in human\\nnature. Perhaps Curtis saw these. I doubt if he\\nfelt them with the intensity and depth that are req-\\nuisite to embody them. Life does not seem to me\\nto have been to him a supremely complex problem,\\nbut rather, simple with the simplicity of his own\\nrare and beautiful nature. It is delicate ground to\\ntraverse, but I think that, as his own conscience\\nwas in no wise a Delphic oracle, but spoke to him\\nwith the directness of Sinai, thou shalt or\\nthou shalt not he may easily not have under-\\nstood the infinite difficulties that men less morally\\ngifted meet and so seldom conquer, not always be-\\ncause they will not do what is right, but because\\nthey cannot decide. And again, as conscience hav-\\ning once answered his questioning, his obedience,\\nif not easy, was singularly certain and prompt and\\nsteadfast, he may not quite have been able to see", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0143.jp2"}, "142": {"fulltext": "126 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nor to portray those impulses of evil before which a\\nfine nature becomes the helpless victim of passion,\\nthe clearest aspiration toward the best vanishes,\\nand the soul lies weak, weary, defeated in the tan-\\ngled meshes of a life it loathes. He might have\\ntrained himseK to imagine, but I believe it would\\nnot have been easy for him, the multiform effects\\nof circumstance, of heredity, of all that sways the\\nwill, which are so important and so fascinating a\\npart of the creations of such writers as George\\nEliot, and, with less betrayal of conscious philoso-\\nphy, of such a writer as Thackeray. And since, if\\nhe had worked through fiction, his aim must still\\nhave been what it practically was in everything he\\nwrote after the Howadji books, it is surely best\\nthat he pursued it in his own way. This, I be-\\nlieve, he felt strongly himself. He did not regard\\nTrumps with any great satisfaction, and he\\nnever renewed an attempt which, relatively at least\\nto others of his own, was a failure.\\nMr. Curtis s lectures were generally received with\\ngreat admiration, and his welcome was almost always\\ncordial, even though he went, as he did frequently\\nafter 1856, with an incendiary address in his bag.\\nBut there were experiences of a different sort.\\nIn the summer of 1859 Mr. Curtis accepted a\\nproposition to deliver a lecture in Philadelphia on\\nthe 15th of December. It came from two young\\nmen who had planned the course purely as a busi-\\nness enterprise and though Mr. Curtis chose as his\\nsubject The Present Aspect of the Slavery Ques-", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0144.jp2"}, "143": {"fulltext": "A NOVEL AND A LECTURE. 127\\ntion, it was a mere coincidence that the Anti-Sla-\\nvery Society of Pennsylvania was to hold a fair at\\nthe same time. In October came the raid of John\\nBrown upon Harper s Ferry, and on the 20th of\\nDecember Brown was hanged. The excitement\\nroused by these events over all the country ran very\\nhigh in Philadelphia, much of the richest trade of\\nthat city being with the South. On the day before\\nthe lecture was to be given, handbills summoned a\\nmass meeting at National Hall, where Curtis was\\nto speak, with the avowed purpose of preventing\\nhim from speaking. This hall was in the upper\\npart of a building the lower part of which was used\\nas a warehouse, into w^hich railroad cars were run\\nto be unloaded. Mayor Henry, though not in fa-\\nvor of the views Mr. Curtis was known to hold, did\\nnot oppose the delivery of the lecture and Mr.\\nEuggles, the chief of police, though a firm Demo-\\ncrat in politics, declared that free speech must be\\ndefended at any cost. Mr. Curtis went to the hall\\naccompanied by Dr. Furness and Mrs. Furness, by\\nLucretia Mott, and the Hon. William D. Kelley,\\nwho introduced him. Approach to the stage was\\nhad from the floor by a narrow, winding stairway on\\neither side, which also descended to the warehouse\\nbelow. These were blocked, so soon as Mr. Curtis\\nand his party reached the stage, by benches thrown\\none on another, and by a couple of members of\\nthe junior Anti-Slavery Society armed with heavy\\nsticks. In the hall a policeman was stationed at\\nthe end of each seat, and several hundred below", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0145.jp2"}, "144": {"fulltext": "128 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nguarded the entrances and the warehouse. Mr.\\nKelley was allowed to introduce the lecturer, but\\nthe latter had hardly risen when rioting began.\\nRepeated attempts were made to storm the stage,\\nbut were repulsed. Stones were thrown through\\nthe windows, and bottles of vitriol, and one of the\\nauditors was terribly burned. Meanwhile there\\nwas in the warehouse below a series of determined\\nand furious attempts by the mob to get to the hall\\nfrom that point. The police repelled them, making\\nmany arrests. At first Chief Buggies sent the\\nprisoners to the police station but soon seeing that\\nthis weakened his force too much, he had offenders\\nlocked in empty cars standing on the tracks in the\\nwarehouse. Two attempts were made to set fire to\\nthe building. Then Chief Euggles mounted a car\\nand announced that if this were again tried every\\neffort would be made to save the persons in the\\nhall, but that the prison-cars and their human freight\\nwould be left to the flames. The attempt was not\\nrenewed.\\nMr. Henry C. Davis, of New York, then a resi-\\ndent of Philadelphia, a grandson of Lucretia Mott\\nand one of the young guards on the stage, from\\nwhom the above recounted facts are obtained, says\\nthat there were only brief intervals in which Mr.\\nCurtis could be heard, but that he delivered his ad-\\ndress in full. When I could hear him, says Mr.\\nDavis, his voice was firm and clear and resonant,\\nand his delivery sustained and self-possessed. It\\nwas, says Mr. Isaac H. Clothier, who was Mr.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0146.jp2"}, "145": {"fulltext": "A NOVEL AND A LECTURE. 129\\nDavis s companion, an eventful and dangerous\\nevening, but the meeting did not break up until the\\nlecture was fully delivered, and until free speech\\nhad been triumphantly vindicated in Philadelphia.\\nMr. Curtis, with all his well-known gentleness and\\nsweetness of spirit, proved himself on that occasion\\nto be a man of mettle and undaunted courage.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0147.jp2"}, "146": {"fulltext": "CHAPTEE XI.\\nTHE EVE OF THE WAR.\\nOnce entered on politics, Mr. Curtis gave to it\\nmost careful study as well as much hard and de-\\ntailed work. He was very active in the Republican\\nparty organization in the county of Richmond,\\nN. Y., formed by Staten Island, and was early\\nchosen chairman of the County Republican Com-\\nmittee, a post he held, with the greatest assiduity\\nin its duties, almost uninterruptedly for many\\nyears. Evidence of the clear fashion in which he\\nreasoned on the practical as well as the theoretic\\nside of politics is found in a letter to Mr. John J.\\nPinkerton, of West Chester, Pennsylvania, then a\\nyoung man, who had made Mr. Curtis s acquain-\\ntance at Union College, on the delivery of the ad-\\ndress on Patriotism in 1867. This acquaintance\\nripened into a warm friendship which lasted un-\\nshaken to the time of Mr. Curtis s death. The\\nletter followed an answer to Mr. Curtis s inquiry\\nas to the state of opinion in Pennsylvania with ref-\\nerence to the approaching presidential contest.\\nNorth Shore, 13th April, 1860.\\nMy dear Pinkeeton, Thanks for your kind\\nresponse. I have had the same suspicion of Penn-", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0148.jp2"}, "147": {"fulltext": "THE EVE OF THE WAR. 131\\nsylvanla, but my general feeling is this that the\\nnomination of Mr. Bates would so chill and para-\\nlyze the youth and ardor which are the strength\\nof the Republican party would so cheer the Demo-\\ncrats as a merely available move, showing distrust\\nof our own position and power would so alienate\\nthe German Northwest, and so endanger a bolt\\nfrom the straight Republicans of New England,\\nthat the possible gain of Pennsylvania and New Jer-\\nsey, and even Indiana, might be balanced. Add to\\nthis that defeat with Bates is the utter destruction\\nof our party organization, and that success with\\nhim is very doubtful victory, and I cannot but feel\\nthat upon the whole his nomination is an act of\\nvery uncertain wisdom.\\nIt is very true that there is no old Republican,\\nbecause the party is young, and it will not do to\\nask too sharply when a man became a Republican.\\nMoreover, a man like Mr. Bates may very properly\\nhave been a Fillmore man in 56, because he might\\nnot have believed that the Slavery party was as\\nresolved and desperate as it immediately showed\\nitself in the Dred Scott business this is all true,\\nbut human nature cries out against the friends of\\nFremont in 56 working for a Fillmore man in 60,\\nand there is a good deal of human nature in the\\npublic. The nomination of Mr. Bates will plunge\\nthe really Republican States into a syncope. If\\nthey are strong enough to remain Republican while\\nthey are apathetic, then in the border States you\\nmay decide the battle.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0149.jp2"}, "148": {"fulltext": "132 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS,\\nI think New York is very sure for the Chicago\\nman, whoever he is but if Bates is the man, we\\nshall have to travel upon our muscle\\nIndividually believing, as I do, in the necessary\\ntriumph of our cause by causes superior to the\\nmerely political, I should prefer a fair fight upon\\nthe merits of the case between Douglas and Seward,\\nor Hunter or Guthrie and Seward, I think Doug-\\nlas will be the Charleston man.\\nThank you once more.\\nYours faithfully,\\nGeorge William Curtis.\\nMr. Curtis went as a delegate to the Republican\\nNational Convention at Chicago in May, 1860. It\\nwas his first experience in those vast representative\\nassemblies so peculiar to American political life,\\nand yet so firmly established in it that it is not\\neasy for an American to realize that they are\\nwithout a counterpart in any other nation. It\\nwas a field calculated to bring out the political\\ncapacity of any man of ability entering it with a\\ndefinite purpose and willing to face its difficulties.\\nIn theory the convention is absolutely free. It is a\\ngathering of delegates chosen in congressional dis-\\ntricts to discuss and announce the policy and name\\nthe candidates of their party. In practice very im-\\nportant limitations have grown up. Some of these\\nare almost purely physical, and spring from the\\nnature of the organization necessary to the perform-\\nance of complex functions by a body of numerous", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0150.jp2"}, "149": {"fulltext": "THE EVE OF THE WAR. 133\\nmembers. Others, however, have their source In\\nthe inevitable desire of men intrusted with repre-\\nsentative power to use it to advance their own views\\nor their own interests. Though the Republican\\nparty was then young and its spirit was more free,\\nunselfish, and more nearly purely moral than that\\nof any other great party that had preceded it in\\nour history, it was not without leaders actuated by\\nambition, by appetite, and by jealousy. Mr. Sew-\\nard, then United States Senator from New York,\\nwas the logical candidate of the party for the\\nPresidency. His eminent ability, his long and\\nhonorable service in the Senate, his breadth of view,\\nhis courageous and enlightened advocacy of the es-\\nsential principles of his party, his political sagacity,\\nwere claims that could not be ignored. Mr. Wil-\\nliam M. Evarts was the chairman of the New\\nYork delegation, and presented Mr. Seward s name\\nto the convention in a speech of great force and\\nnoble enthusiasm. Mr. Curtis, as the letter just\\ncited shows, believed the nomination of Mr. Seward\\nto be both just and wise. But he was to distin-\\nguish himself in the convention by a most bril-\\nliant and unexpected assault on the lines of Mr.\\nSeward s supporters. These were led by Mr.\\nThurlow Weed, of New York, a politician whose\\nrare qualities as a manager rested largely on his\\ninstinctive and acquired knowledge of the weak-\\nnesses of his fellow-men, of their prejudices and\\npersonal desires, and who was not fond of leaving\\nmuch to the unguided impulses of a convention.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0151.jp2"}, "150": {"fulltext": "134 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nIt had been determined tliat tlie declaration\\nof principles the platform of the convention\\nshould be so shaped that the more timid and less\\nconvinced of the opponents of the rival party\\nshould not be scared from its acceptance by too\\nradical utterances. Among the more advanced of\\nthe Republican leaders at Chicago was Mr. Joshua\\nE. Giddings, of Ohio, who hoped to make of the\\nparty an instrument not only for checking the ex-\\ntension of slavery, but for its ultimate extinction.\\nTo serve this purpose, he proposed to add to the\\nplatform the words of the preamble of the Declar-\\nation of Independence That the maintenance of\\nthe principle promulgated in the Declaration of\\nIndependence and embodied in the Federal Con-\\nstitution, that all men are created equal that they\\nare endowed by their Creator with certain inalien-\\nable rights that among these are life, liberty, and\\nthe pursuit of happiness that, to secure these\\nrights, governments are instituted among men, de-\\nriving their just powers from the consent of the\\ngoverned, is essential to the preservation of our\\nrepublican institutions. The amendment was re-\\njected, and Mr. Giddings in despair turned to\\nleave the hall. It seemed to me, Mr. Curtis\\nafterwards said, that the spirits of all the mar-\\ntyrs to freedom were marching out of the conven-\\ntion behind the venerable form of that indignant\\nand outraged old man. He rose to renew the mo-\\ntion of Mr. Giddings. A writer in the Boston\\nHerald of January 10, 1880, gives the best ac-", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0152.jp2"}, "151": {"fulltext": "THE EVE OF THE WAR. 135\\ncount of the scene that followed that I have been\\nable to find. Mr. Curtis s voice was at first drowned\\nin the clamor of the followers of the managers\\nFolding his arms, he calmly faced the uproari-\\nous mass and waited. The spectacle of a man who\\nwould n t be put down at length so far amused the\\ndelegates that they stopped to look at him. Gen-\\ntlemen, rang out that musical voice in tones of\\ncalm intensitv, this is the convention of free\\nspeech, and I have been given the floor. I have\\nonly a few words to say to you, but I shall say\\nthem if I stand here until to-morrow morning.\\nAgain the tumult threatened the roof of the Wig-\\nwam, and again the speaker waited. His pluck\\nand the chairman s gavel soon gave him another\\nchance. Skillfully changing the amendment to\\nthe second resolution, to make it in order, he spoke\\nas with a tongue of fire in its support, daring the\\nrepresentatives of the party of freedom, meeting on\\nthe borders of the free prairies in a hall dedicated\\nto the advancement of liberty, to reject the doc-\\ntrine of the Declaration of Independence affirming\\nthe equality and defining the rights of man. The\\nspeech fell like a spark upon tinder, and the amend-\\nment was adopted with a shout of enthusiasm more\\nunanimous and deafening than the yell with which\\nit had been previously rejected.\\nThe following extracts from letters to his friend,\\nMr. Norton, indicate Curtis s occupation and the\\ntenor of his thoughts during the remainder of the\\nyear 1860, marked by the triumph of the contest", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0153.jp2"}, "152": {"fulltext": "136 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nagainst slavery In the political field. In response\\nto a request to address a meeting in behaK of the\\nItalian cause he wrote\\nJune 12, 1860.\\nYour note reached me at sunset this evening as\\nI stood upon the lawn, in the midst of green trees,\\nblooming flowers, and the fairest fair. It was the\\nmoment to be asked to speak for Italy, but I\\nmust stay at home. I have made several engage-\\nments, near at hand, to say something for Abra-\\nham. I have also promised to deliver a Fourth of\\nJuly oration upon the Island. I am putting my\\nhand of Trumps into order for the printer. I\\nhave my little jobs at Franklin Square, and I have\\nbeen away so much, and my home, my wife, and my\\nboy are so dear and lovely You will not think\\nthat I love Italy and you less if I cannot say yes\\nto you just now. How grandly Garibaldi stalks\\nthrough that magnificent, moribund Italy, each\\nstep giving her life and hope When I speak of\\nliberty on the Fourth, I shall not forget the soap-\\nboiler of Staten Island\\nUnder the elms and the sassafras, and among the\\nthick flowering shrubs, I think of you girdled with\\nyour sapphire sea Then Nanny and I jump on\\nthe horses, and gallop through the woods until we\\ncan see it, too, I wish you could come and see us\\nhere. If you want to run off and be entirely alone,\\nwon t you let me know Have you seen how uni-\\nversally your book is commended I have.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0154.jp2"}, "153": {"fulltext": "THE EVE OF THE WAR. 137\\n3d August, 1860.\\nHave you read Olmsted s new book It is the\\nthird of the series, and completes his view of the\\nslave States. It is a curious confirmation of Sum-\\nner s Barbarism, and seems to me about the\\nheaviest blow (being true and moderate) that has\\nyet been dealt at the system. It shows conclusively\\nwhat a blight it is, but at the same time how diffi-\\ncult and distant the remedy seems to be. It is the\\nmost timely of books, for no man who believes\\nthat the picture is faithful would be in any manner\\naccessory to planting such a curse in the territo-\\nries.\\nHow bravely the battle goes on I am speak-\\ning a good deal here upon the Island and in our\\n[first] district, and, although I shall never again\\nhave the sanguine hope of my first campaign, yet\\nI can see how every sign promises.\\nI find myself looking over the sea sometimes\\nand thinking of Italy, but I know that it is not\\nItaly I look at, but the old days in Italy.\\nNorth Shore, 14th October, 1860.\\nMy dear Charles, I have been scribbling\\nand scrabbling at such a rate that I have recently\\ncut all my friends for my country. We are having\\na glorious fight. This State, I think, will astonish\\nitself and the country by its majority. The signifi-\\ncance of the result in Pennsylvania is, that the\\nconscience and common sense of the country are\\nfully aroused. The apostle of disunion spoke here", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0155.jp2"}, "154": {"fulltext": "138 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nlast week, and, if there had been any doubt of New\\nYork before, there could have been none after he\\nspake. Even Fletcher Harper, after hearing it,\\nsaid to me, I shall have hard work not to vote\\nfor Lincoln.\\nI have been at work in my own county and dis-\\ntrict, and the other day I went to the convention to\\nmake sure that I was not nominated for Congress\\nI have been writing a new lecture, The Policy\\nof Honesty, and am going as far as Milwaukee in\\nNovember. Here s a lot about myself, but we\\ncountry philosophers grow dreadfully egotistical.\\nI did cherish a sweet hope (it was like trying to\\nraise figs in our open January that I should slip\\nover and see you, and displace my photograph for\\na day or two, but I can only send the same old love\\nas new as ever. The ball for little Renfrew was\\na failure, though I was one of the 400, and his\\nreception was the most imposing pageant, from the\\nmass of human beings, that I ever saw.\\n19th December, 60.\\nNo, I did not speak in Philadelphia, because the\\nmayor thought he could not keep [the peace] and\\nfeared a desperate personal attack upon me. The\\ninvitation has been renewed, but I have declined\\nit, and have recalled another acceptance to speak\\nthere. It would be foolhardy just now. I am very\\nsorry for the Mayor.\\nThere must be necessarily trouble of some kind\\nThe Prince of Wales.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0156.jp2"}, "155": {"fulltext": "THE EVE OF THE WAR. 139\\nfrom tills Southern movement. But I think the\\nNorth will stand firmly and kindly to its position.\\nIf the point shall be persistently made by the\\nSouth, as it has been made so far, the nationaliza-\\ntion of slavery or disunion, the North will say, and\\nI think calmly. Disunion, and God for the right.\\nThe Southerners are lunatics, but what can we do\\nWe cannot let them do as they will, for then we\\nshould all perish together.\\nThe political fight was over. The party of\\nslavery limitation it would not be exact to call it\\neven the anti-slavery party had elected its Pres-\\nident, and held a safe majority in the House of\\nEepresentatives. The men who had brought the\\nfight thus far were called to face a wholly new sit-\\nuation, one that they had not clearly foreseen, and\\nhad not consciously produced, and yet one which\\nwas inevitable. It is true that both Mr. Lincoln\\nand his chief rival for the Republican nomina-\\ntion, Mr. Seward, had declared in general terms\\nthe irrepressible, irreconcilable conflict between sla-\\nvery and freedom but there is little probability\\nand less evidence that they had formed a distinct\\nidea of what the direction or force of such a con-\\nflict would be, or how they should meet it if the\\npeople gave them the power and imposed the duty\\nof meeting it. Moreover, the victory they had won\\nwas not so complete as to force the problem upon\\nthem, or even to enable them to take up its solu-\\ntion in the ordinary progress of public affairs.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0157.jp2"}, "156": {"fulltext": "140 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nThe Democratic party still held the Senate and\\nthe Supreme Court. No affirmative legislation was\\npossible. The Republicans had elected their Presi-\\ndent through the division of their opponents, and\\nhad cast less than two fifths of the popular vote.\\nTheir leaders, therefore, were not to be blamed\\nthat they had no plan, nor any very clear principle\\non which to frame one, for the complete conduct of\\nthe government. The threats of secession, which\\nhad multiplied and become constantly fiercer dur-\\ning the presidential canvass, were not taken to be\\nso serious as they proved to be, and were perhaps\\nnot intended to be carried so far as afterwards they\\nwere carried. The few words last quoted from\\nMr. Curtis expressed a feeling very general at the\\ntime they were uttered and for some months later.\\nWhen South Carolina passed its ordinance of se-\\ncession, and one after another of the Southern\\nStates followed her example, the Federal govern-\\nment was still under the guidance of Mr. Buchanan,\\nwho, whatever his motives, and they are not now\\njudged with such severity or such certainty as they\\nonce were, took no decisive step. The public\\nmind was startled, puzzled, and could not know its\\nown real purpose. The first impulse and it was\\na sound one was toward the avoidance of civil\\nwar. Rather than tJiat^ Disunion, and God for\\nthe right.\\nEarly in January came Mr. Seward s famous\\nspeech in the Senate, a speech intended to bring\\nthe minds of men together, but which appealed", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0158.jp2"}, "157": {"fulltext": "THE EVE OF THE WAR. 141\\nonly to the calm judgment when calm judgment\\nhad already become almost impossible. Mr. Cur-\\ntis received it with eagerness. I hope, he wrote\\nto Mr. Norton on the 16th of January from Rox-\\nbury, Mass., I hope you like Seward s speech\\nas I do. I see by the New York papers that\\npeople are beginning to see how great a speech\\nit is. Webster had his 7th of March and went\\nwrong; Seward his, and went right. If you don t\\nagree, load your guns, for mine are charged to the\\nmuzzle. Nearly a month later he wrote to his\\nfriend Mr. Pinkerton more fully\\nNorth Shore, 11th February, 1861.\\nMy dear Pinkerton, Your letter of the\\n18th of January reached me in Boston while I was\\nupon the wing, where I have been ever since, I\\nwanted to reply at once, but I was to come to\\nPhiladelphia this evening, and I hoped to see you\\nand say what was too long to write. But it seems\\nthat I am so dangerous a fellow that no hall-owner\\nin Philadelphia will risk the result of my explosive\\nwords, and not a place can be had for my fanat-\\nical and incendiary criticism of Thackeray so I\\nshall not see you. Four words in Seward s speech\\nexplain it, and especially justify it, as you use\\nthe word, Concession short of principle. Do\\nyou ask what and why we should concede Mr.\\nAdams answers he has learned from history and\\ncommon sense that no government does wisely\\nwhich, however lawful, moderate, honest, and con-", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0159.jp2"}, "158": {"fulltext": "142 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nstitutional, treats any popular complaint, however\\nfoolish, unnecessary, and unjustifiable, with haughty\\ndisdain.\\nThose sentences of Seward and Adams furnish\\nthe key to our position, and the wise triumphant\\npolicy of the new administration. You have no\\nfear of Lincoln, of course. Well, do you suppose\\nthat his secretary of state makes such a speech\\nat such a time without the fullest understanding\\nwith his chief Does any man think that the plan\\nof the new government could wisely be exposed\\nin advance while the traitors had yet nearly two\\nmonths of legal power Seward s speech indicates\\nthe spirit of the new government, a kindly spirit.\\nSpecial measures he does not mention, saying only\\nno measure will compromise the principle of the\\nlate victory. In his cg^reer of thirty-seven years\\nyou will find that under every party name he has\\nhad but one central principle, that all our diffi-\\nculties, including the greatest, are solvable under\\nour Constitution and within the Union. And the\\nUnion is not what slavery chooses to decree. It is\\na word which has hitherto been the cry of a party\\nwhich sought to rule or ruin the government, with-\\nout the slightest regard to its fundamental idea.\\nNow the people have pronounced for that idea, and\\nnow therefore, when a Republican says Union, he\\nmeans just what the fathers meant, not union\\nfor union, but union for the purpose of the union.\\nBut you say he subordinates his party to the union.\\nYes, again, but why Because (as he said two", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0160.jp2"}, "159": {"fulltext": "THE EVE OF THE WAR. 143\\nyears ago, when, thanks to Hickman and the rest,\\nthe Leeompton crime was prevented), because\\nthe victory is won, the peculiar purpose of the\\nparty has been achieved, the territories are free.\\nEven South Carolina concedes that. The South\\nallows that we have beaten them in the territories,\\nand they secede because they think we must go on\\nand emancipate in the District and navy yards, and\\nthen, from the same necessity of progress to retain\\npower, emancipate in the States. Remember that\\nby the bargain of 1850 New Mexico has a right to\\ncome in slave or free. Mr. Adams proposes that\\nshe shall come now, if she wants to that is all.\\nAnd he and Seward, and I suppose you and I,\\nknow perfectly well that she will come free. Yet\\neven Seward says that, while he would have no ob-\\njection to voting for such an enabling act, he is not\\nquite sure that it could be constitutionally done.\\nI shall not tire your soul out by going on, but if\\nwe could sit for an evening in MacVeagh s office\\nand smoke the calumet of explanation and consid-\\neration, I am perfectly sure that I could make you\\nfeel that Seward is greater at this moment than\\never before. At least wait^ wait until something\\nis done, before you believe that a man who is a\\nDemocrat in the only decent sense, who believes\\nfully and faithfully in a popular government, who\\nfor nearly forty years, under the stinging stress of\\nobloquy and slander and the doubt of timid friends,\\nhas stood cheerfully loyal to the great idea of lib-\\nerty, and has seen his country gradually light up", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0161.jp2"}, "160": {"fulltext": "144 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nand break into the day of the same conviction, with\\nthe tragedies of Clay and Webster before him per-\\nfectly comprehended by him, with a calmness and\\nclearness of insight and a radical political faith\\nwhich they never had, wait, I say, and do not\\nthink that such a man has forsworn himself, his\\ncareer, and his eternal fame in history, until you\\nhave some other reason for believing it than that,\\nwhen his country is threatened with civil war, he\\nsays he will do all that he can to avoid it except\\nbetray his principles.\\nAll things are possible. Great men have often\\nfallen in the very hour of triumph. But my faith\\nin great men survives every wreck, and I will not\\nbelieve that our great man is going until I see that\\nhe is gone. Indeed, as I feel now, I should as soon\\ndistrust my own loyalty as Seward s, and what can\\nany individual say more\\nBelieve me, full of faith, your friend,\\nGeorge William Curtis.\\nIn one of the crowded days of that eventful\\nApril, Curtis wrote to Mr. Norton\\nHome, 17th April, 1861.\\nMy dear Charley, Night before last, at\\neleven o clock, the loveliest of girls. By midnight\\nI was wondering to think how glad and thankful a\\nman may be even in the midst of civil war. Frank\\nis perfectly fascinated, and laughs with shy delight\\nas he calls me to look at the baby s nose, and puts", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0162.jp2"}, "161": {"fulltext": "THE EVE OF THE WAR. 145\\nhis finger carefully upon the little soft red cheek.\\nIf it were not for the bitter days before us, I should\\nfeel that I was having more than my share of hap-\\npiness.\\nThree days later to the same friend\\n20th April, 1861.\\nAnna and the baby are perfectly well. Her\\nbrother Bob and my brother Sam marched yester-\\nday with their regiment, the 7th, both the Win-\\nthrops, Philip Schuyler, and the flower of the youth\\nof the city.\\nThis day in New York has been beyond descrip-\\ntion, and remember, if we lose Washington to-night\\nor to-morrow, as we probably shall, we have taken\\nNew York. The grand hope of this rebellion has\\nbeen the armed and moneyed support of New York,\\nand New York is wild for the flag and the coun-\\ntry, and our bitterest foes of yesterday are in good\\nfaith our nearest friends. The meeting to-day was\\na city in council. The statue of Washington held\\nin its right hand the flagstaff and flag of Sumter.\\nThe only cry is, Give us arms and this .before\\na drop of New York blood has been shed. What\\nwill it be after\\nI think of the Massachusetts boys dead. Send\\nthem home tenderly, says your governor. Yes,\\ntenderly, tenderly but for every hair of their\\nbright young heads brought low, God, by our right\\narms, shall enter into judgment with traitors", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0163.jp2"}, "162": {"fulltext": "CHAPTEE XII.\\nIN THE MIDST OF WAR.\\nThe next two or three years of Curtis s life may,\\nI think, be told, so far as falls within the scope of\\nthis work, in the extracts from his letters that fol-\\nlow. There was no marked change in his occupa-\\ntions, except such as the war and its interests and\\nduties brought. He continued The Lounger in\\nHarper s Weekly and the Easy-Chair in the\\nmagazine, and his lecturing, with the object that\\nwe know, and the further one which the times im-\\nposed,\\nTO CHARLES ELIOT NORTON.\\nJuly 30, 6L\\nWhat a summer it is and has been That no-\\nthing shall be wanting, we have a comet, too a\\ncomet seen last when Charles Fifth was abdicating\\nand Calais was falling, and Elizabeth was coming\\nto the throne, and Ben Jonson and Spenser and\\nthe Dutch William were alive, and Philip Sidney\\nwas a gray-eyed boy of two. Can you see all that\\nin the bushy swash of the comet s tail\\nWinthrop s death makes a great void in our\\nlittle neighborhood. We all knew him so well and\\nloved him so warmly, and he was so much and inti-", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0164.jp2"}, "163": {"fulltext": "IN TEE MIDST OF WAR. 147\\nmately with us, that he seems to have fallen out of\\nour arms dead.\\nThank Jane for her most welcome letter. Give\\nour dear loves to your dear mother, to Jane and\\nGrace and may God have us all and our country\\nin his holy keeping.\\nTO JOHN J. PINKERTO]^.\\nNorth Shore, Richmond Co., N. Y.,\\nJuly 9, 61.\\nMy dear Pinkerton, I have been long\\nmeaning to say how d ye do, and now your note is\\nmost welcome. No, I stayed at home, resisting\\nseveral very tempting calls, nor shall I be lured to\\nany college halls this year.\\nI have two brothers at the war, and my wife\\nhas one. My neighbor and friend, Theodore Win-\\nthrop, died, at Great Bethel, as he had lived. Many\\nother warm friends are in arms, and I hold myself\\nready when the call comes. I envy no other age.\\nI believe with all my heart in the cause, and in Abe\\nLincoln. His message is the most truly American\\nmessage ever delivered. Think upon what a millen-\\nnial year we have fallen when the President of\\nthe United States declares officially that this gov-\\nernment is founded upon the rights of man Won-\\nderfully acute, simple, sagacious, and of antique\\nhonesty I can forgive the jokes and the big hands,\\nand the inability to make bows. Some of us who\\ndoubted were wrong. This people is not rotten.\\nWhat the young men dream, the old men shall see.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0165.jp2"}, "164": {"fulltext": "148 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nWell, I will not discuss Seward just now. I do\\nnot believe him to be a coward or traitor. Chase\\nsaid to a friend s friend of mine last week, Mr.\\nSeward stands by my strongest measures.\\nI should like greatly to sit with you and the\\nP. M. and the D. A., and talk the night away, even\\nif the newspaper did find us out and tattle I But\\nI can only shake your hand and theirs, which I do\\nwith all my heart.\\nMy wife sends her kind remembrance. We\\nhave a little girl, born on the day of the Proclama-\\ntion. Yours always,\\nGeorge William Curtis.\\nTO CHARLES ELIOT NORTON.\\nJuly 29, 1861.\\nMy dear Charles, I have your notes and\\nthe good news of Longfellow. A week ago Tom\\nAppleton wrote me about himself and L It\\nwas a very manly, touching letter. How glad\\nI am that L is not crushed by the heavy\\nblow\\nNo, nor am I nor the country by our blow. It\\nis very bitter, but we had made a false start, and\\nwe should have suffered more dreadfully in the end\\nhad we succeeded now.\\nThe Tribune, as you see, has changed. There\\nwas a terrible time there. Its course was quite ex-\\nclusively controlled by my friend, Charles Dana.\\nThe stockholders and Greeley himself at last re-\\nbelled and Dana was overthrown. It may lead to", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0166.jp2"}, "165": {"fulltext": "IN THE MIDST OF WAR. 149\\nhis leaving the Tribune but for his sake I hope\\nnot.\\nAs for blame and causes (for the defeat at Bull\\nRun), they are in our condition and character. We\\nhave undertaken to make war without in the least\\nknowing how. It is as if I should be put to run\\na locomotive. I am a decent citizen, and (let us\\nsuppose) a respectable man, but if the train were\\ndestroyed, who would be responsible? We have\\nmade a false start and we have discovered it. It\\nremains only to start afresh.\\nThe only difficulty now will be just that of\\nwhich Mr. Cox s resolutions are an evidence, the\\ndisposition to ask, Will it pay And the duty is\\nto destroy that difficulty by showing that peace is\\nimpossible without an emphatic conquest upon one\\nside or the other. If we could suppose peace made\\nas we stand now, we could not reduce our army by\\na single soldier. The sword must decide this radi-\\ncal quarrel. Why not within as well as without\\nthe Union Then, if we win, we save all. If we\\nlose, we lose no more.\\nAu^st 19, 61.\\nI say these things looking squarely at what is\\npossible, looking at what we shall be willing to do,\\nnot what we ought to do. There is very little moral\\nmixture in the anti-slavery feeling of this coun-\\ntry. A great deal is abstract philanthropy; part\\nis hatred of slave-holders a great part is jealousy\\nfor white labor very little is a consciousness of\\nwrong done, and the wish to right it. How we", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0167.jp2"}, "166": {"fulltext": "150 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nhate those whom we have injured. I, too, trem-\\nble when I reflect that God is just.\\nIf the people think the government worth sav-\\ning they will save it. If they do not, it is not worth\\nsaving. And when it is gone, he will be a foolish\\nfellow who sees in its fall the end of the popular\\nexperiment. All that can truly be seen in it will\\nbe the fact that principles will wrestle for the abso-\\nlute control of the system. That is my consolation\\nin any fatal disaster. Meanwhile I hope that the\\nspirit of liberty is strong enough in our system to\\nconquer.\\nI am elected a delegate to our State Convention\\non the 11th September. There was a strong effort\\nto defeat me, but it was vain. In the reorganiza-\\ntion of the County Committee, the opposition tri-\\numphed, though I and my friends were unques-\\ntionably strongest. But none of us moved a finger,\\nand the enemy had been busy for a fortnight. We\\nwere displaced in the Committee by a conspiracy\\nbased upon personal jealousy of me as the one-\\nman ^power in the distribution of political patron-\\nage in the county. I am not sorry at the result,\\nfor the post of chairman was very irksome, but I\\nam sorry for the method, for it is an illustration of\\nthe way in which we are governed.\\nDon t think I am lugubrious about the country,\\nfor I am really very cheerful. The old cause is\\nsafe, however in our day it may be checked and\\ngrieved. The heart of New England is true. So\\nI believe, is the heart of its child, the West. We", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0168.jp2"}, "167": {"fulltext": "IN THE MTDST OF WAR. 151\\ngo out alone to fight Old England s battle, and\\nshe scoffs and sneers. The Lord is very tedious,\\nsaid the old nurse, but he is very sure.\\n23d August, 61.\\nI am very firm in the faith that there can be\\nbut the government and anti-government parties,\\nand then that the Republican party, though strictly\\nloyal, does not by any means include all loyal men,\\nand that recent political opponents have a right to\\ndemand, as a condition of concerted action, that\\nsome of the candidates shall be taken from among\\nthem. Is n t this exactly right\\n7th October, 61.\\nWell, and how goes the day in your heart?\\nMrs. Shaw had a few lines from Mrs. Fremont the\\nother day. It is fine to see her faith in her hus-\\nband. Can there be any who do not wish him well\\nand hope for his success\\nI am putting down some of my thoughts about\\nthe war in a lecture upon National Honor. It is\\nreally a speech upon the times. The Fraternity\\nwanted me to open their course upon the 15th, but\\nI cannot be ready before the 29th October. Then\\nI shall come and I shall see you, I hope, though I\\ndo not know that I can do more than front, fire,\\nand fall back.\\n2d December, 1861.\\nAt the Astor we saw General and Mrs. Fre-\\nmont. She seems bitter, I think, but he is the", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0169.jp2"}, "168": {"fulltext": "152 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nsame old simple, winning soul that lie always was.\\nHe is perfectly calm and sweet. He evidently\\nthinks the administration do not yet understand\\nthat there is a war.\\nHoiviE, 28tli December, 1861.\\nThe New London business was utterly dreary.\\nThe audience was fair, the best they had had, as\\nthey kindly say to every lecturer, but the course is\\na failure. I came away at twelve, midnight, and\\nslept and waked, cold, back to New York. The\\nwind had blown the water out of the Connecticut\\n(high old Yankee river so that we lay for three\\nhours upon the shore. I was not very sorry, for it\\nprevented our arriving before dawn, and I came in\\nupon mother and E. and N. at nine o clock to\\nbreakfast.\\nI have just read the correspondence of Seward.\\nIt seems to me admirable and honorable. He\\nputs it upon a true ground, that we, in like cir-\\ncumstances, should demand reparation and apology.\\nIt is calmly and well argued, and the conclusion is\\ningenious and masterly. We have nothing to be\\nashamed of. Our pride may be wounded, but our\\nhonor is untouched. The third and last trump\\ncard of the rebellion has failed.\\n24th February, 1862.\\nMy dearest Charles, The heart of thirty-\\neight, although of course frosted with extreme age,\\nis yet sensible of the glow of friendly emotion.\\nWhen Nannie gave me the book this morning, I", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0170.jp2"}, "169": {"fulltext": "IN THE MIDST OF WAR. 153\\nfelt, with Coleridge, And dearer was the mother\\nfor the child, the wife for the friend. Or, as Emer-\\nson has it in his poem of Etienne\\nThe traveler and the road seem one\\nWith the errand to be done.\\nSo it seemed this morning. You are always\\nthoughtful, always generous. How have I deserved\\nsuch a friend\\nMarch 6, 62.\\nI think I am a little more cheerful in the\\n[Washington] matter than you, because I have\\nrather more faith in the President s common sense\\nand practical wisdom. His policy has been to hold\\nthe border States. He has held them now he\\nmakes his next step and invites emancipation. I\\nthink he has the instinct of the statesman, the\\nknowledge of how much is practicable without\\nrecoil. From the first he has steadily advanced,\\nand there has been no protest against anything he\\nhas said or done. It is easy to say he has done\\nnothing until you compare March 6, 61 and 62.\\nAs other signs of the current, I observe these\\nthings in the papers of to-day: 1st, Mr. Adams\\nspeech distinctly saying that Slavery is the root of\\nall evil 2d, Cyrus Field, a stiff old Democrat, re-\\npeating it. 3d, Prosper Wetmore introducing into\\nour Chamber of Commerce, he an old Commercial\\nDemocrat, a resolution of thanks to John Bright,\\nthe eloquent defender, etc., of freedom^ a word\\nthat your true-blue pro-slavery modern Democrat\\nshies as a bat shies the sun.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0171.jp2"}, "170": {"fulltext": "154 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nAll the omens are happy, it seems to me.\\nFor what is it but a question of our national com-\\nmon sense and if that, as the year has proved, was\\nstrong enough to smother so furious a party spirit\\nas ours in this country, why should we suppose it\\nwill fail us suddenly\\n25th March.\\nFletcher Harper has asked me to take into con-\\nsideration the writing of a history, a chronicle of\\nthe war, to be illustrated by the war pictures of the\\nWeekly, a huge (in size) book for popular read-\\ning, and to be especially a Northern book, to show\\nwhat the Rebellion came from, and what its end\\nwould probably be That is not bad for Mr. Har-\\nper. I told him that if I wrote about the Rebellion\\nI should want to write a proper history that his\\nwork, though admirable in intention, could be but a\\njob for me that the study would be useful to any\\nsubsequent work upon the subject, but that the\\npublic never could believe that the later was more\\nthan a hash of the earlier. He said that I could\\neasily do it in three months, and he would pay me\\nwell, and begged me to think it over.^\\nTO Miss norto:n^.\\nJune 11, 62.\\nEverything is so soft and ample and rich in\\nform and color during this month Yet I regret\\nthe rain that makes the freshness, on account of\\nMac and his boys before Richmond. What a pity\\nThe book was not undertaken.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0172.jp2"}, "171": {"fulltext": "IN THE MIDST OF WAR. 155\\nthat we have not a hundred thousand more men,\\nso that everything might be as sure as speedy!\\nAnd what a tremendous contest! I go back to\\nPersia and Greece and Carthage and Rome to find\\nits parallels. The Rebels are as united and sullen\\nand desperate as I always knew they must be.\\nThey hate us with ferocity. The task before us is\\ngreater than any people ever was called upon to\\naccomplish. Great nations have conquered and\\nsubjugated others, but we have to conquer and as-\\nsimilate half of ourselves.\\nTO CHARLES ELIOT NORTON.\\n18th June, 62.\\nWhat a resplendent summer! How densely\\nrich and blooming I am out all I can be. This\\nmoment A. darts in and out again, asking, What s\\nyour hat on for? I ve just been pruning and\\nquiddling, and feeling of the ground with the roots\\nof the Virginia creeper (no allusion to McClellan),\\nand of the air with the white blossom sprays of the\\ndeutzia. I am grand in my square foot principal-\\nity My patch to me a kingdom is, and that elm-\\ntree (do you remember it my prime minister.\\nColonel Raasloff waits to see what Congress will\\ndo about his St. Croix proposition. I have written\\nto him that it seems to me we want our Southern\\nlaborers where they are, but we want them free, and,\\nuntil they are so, I should cry godspeed to any\\nman who wanted to escape as a free man to another\\ncountry. Consequently I shall work all the harder", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0173.jp2"}, "172": {"fulltext": "156 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nupon public opinion to hasten the day of their\\nfreedom. It is better they should be a free rural\\npopulation in their native land, which wants their\\nlabor, than in another country, is n t it\\nColonel Raasloff says, and this is entre nous^\\nthat he saw Sumner the day before and when the\\ncolonel said that the war would be long, the Sen-\\nator was evidently delighted, which R. says he\\nwas sorry to observe. He says that Speaker Grow\\ntold him that Congress would not adjourn before\\nthe middle of July, or certainly until Richmond\\nwas taken, adding, The army is encamped before\\nRichmond, and we are encamped behind the army.\\nFortunately for us all, Mr. Lincoln is wiser than\\nMr. Summer. He is very wise.\\n26th June, 62.\\nWhat an extraordinary paper by Hawthorne in\\nthe Atlantic It is pure intellect, without emo-\\ntion, without sympathy, without principle. I was\\nfascinated, laughed and wondered. It is as un-\\nhuman and passionless as a disembodied intelli-\\ngence.\\nNorth Shore, Sunday, 3d August, 62.\\nIt is not easy to say who is responsible for this\\nextremity. I do not blame any one man the diffi-\\nculty is ultimately in the nation, but a good deal\\nmust be shouldered by those who so attacked Mc-\\nClellan that he became the centre of party combi-\\nnations. I think that he must soon retire from his\\ncommand, for the faith of his own army is leaving", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0174.jp2"}, "173": {"fulltext": "IN THE MIDST OF WAR. 157\\nhim. Yet I think that history will record that he\\nwas a faithful and devoted citizen and soldier, and\\nthat, if he was unequal to his task and did not\\nknow it, it was an ignorance he shared with the\\nmost accomplished of our military men, and with\\nthe mass of the people.\\nThe country seems to me to be making up its\\nmind whether it will own itself beaten. But I do\\nnot lose heart, although in events there is little to\\nencourage. I cannot believe that a people which\\nhas shown itself so singularly ready to learn what\\nto do and how to think will fail in this crisis. If\\nthe government continues to move as fast as the na-\\ntion, all is saved. I don t know whether I think it\\nwill or not.\\nNaushon Island,! 11th August, 1862.\\nMy dear Charles, Here we have been for a\\nweek to-morrow, and in the salt sea air we all seem\\nto be perfectly well. It is only about thirty miles\\nfrom the southern point of Rhode Island, so I\\nbreathe my native Narragansett air and am electri-\\nfied. The island is about eight miles long and one\\nor two broad. It is beautifully broken, with superb\\nbeech woods rising and opening into bare uplands,\\nfrom which you see the ocean or Vineyard Sound,\\nand again opening into sunny, grassy nooks and\\nspaces with clusters of shrubs in which the deer lie\\nor feed. Day before yesterday we started a pair\\nof magnificent bucks. The paths and dells are end-\\nless. From the house you have a sea horizon and\\nThe summer residence of Mr. John M. Forbes.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0175.jp2"}, "174": {"fulltext": "158 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nthe entire sky, with woods almost to the horizon,\\nand holding azure crescents of sea (as in Mand\\nin their tops. The house is immense, the life sim-\\nple, the hospitality unbounded. To-day the gover-\\nnor and three of his suite are here, beside ourselves\\nand three or four other visitors. There are riding,\\ndriving, rowing, sailing, shooting, fishing, billiards,\\ndancing, what you will. You join the doers, or\\nyou go apart and do nothing or mind your own\\nbusiness. Mrs. Forbes is incessantly working on\\npreserves and comforts for the soldiers, and we all\\npull lint at intervals. I have been reading here\\nTocqueville s Ancien Regime. It is very calm\\nand wise.\\nNorth Shore, 25tli September, 62.\\nMy dear Charles, I hoped to hear from\\nyou, for I knew you would say what I felt.\\nComing at this moment, when .we were in the\\ngravest peril from Northern treachery, the proclam-\\nation clears the air like a northwest wind. We\\nknow now exactly where we are. There are now\\nnone but slavery and anti-slavery men in the coun-\\ntry. The fence is knocked over, and straddling is\\nimpossible.\\nNow^ if my friends nominate me for Congress,\\nI shall accept. Success I should like, but I don t\\ncount upon it. I should stump the district and\\nsow the seed.\\nWhen I think of Wilder Dwight and the brave\\nvictims, my joy is very sober. How the country\\nwill be filled with mourning as our victory goes on", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0176.jp2"}, "175": {"fulltext": "IN THE MIDST OF WAR, 159\\nFor victory it must be now. We heard of Bob\\nthrough Dr. Stone. They were both in the thick\\nof the fight and escaped unhurt. You saw the ac-\\ncount of our brave Joe. Think of the service these\\nsoldiers of less than two years have seen I saw a\\nbanner of Sickles s brigade. It has been in ten\\nbattles\\nNorth Shore, 6th October, 1862.\\nAs for me and my chances, and the peace of the\\nestimable Jane, which is the only peace I care\\nfor just now, they are in great peril The\\nouts in the county here have worked like bea-\\nvers against me, who represent the ins. The\\nfree and native citizens of the island (especially\\nthose born trans mare) are resolved that a foreigner\\nshall no longer carry the county in his fob. They\\nbeat me in going to Syracuse, and they have elected\\nan anti-Curtis delegation to the Congressional Con-\\nvention. There will be an unofficial delegation\\nfrom this county which will urge me upon the Con-\\nvention, and will say that I have n t the delegation\\nbecause I refused to work for it. They will also\\nsay that I shall accept if nominated, although I do\\nnot think that the nominee will be elected. If they\\nsay what I have said to them that for the right\\nkind of a man I shall do exactly as I should for\\nmyself, they will probably secure another nomina-\\ntion, because the convention will say Let us,\\nthen, have a candidate who will unite Richmond.\\nI should be very glad to be nominated, and gladder\\n1 Robert Gould Shaw.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0177.jp2"}, "176": {"fulltext": "160 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nto be elected, but I have not taken the necessary\\nsteps.^\\nI am going up to town this evening to dine with\\nColonel Raasloff and Count Pij)er and two or three\\nmore. The colonel goes to China immediately. I\\nshall have to espouse the proclamation and make\\nthem like it, which they do not yet.\\nLowell, December 10, 62.\\nI had a very large audience this evening, and\\nthe lecture was admirably received. One man\\nsaid, in the Cambridge vein, He is a very dan-\\ngerous man, he j)uts it so plausibly An Ameri-\\ncan says so of the doctrine of the Declaration\\nYou see there is work before us.\\nNew Yokk, December 15, 62.\\nI am at my mother s, a house of mourning.\\nOn Saturday afternoon my brother Joe fell dead\\nat the head of his regiment, ending at twenty-six\\nyears a stainless life in the holiest cause and in\\nthe most heroic manner. God rest his noble soul,\\nand grant us all the same fidelity My mother,\\nwho has felt the extreme probability of the event\\nfrom the beginning, is as brave as she can be but\\nit is a fearful blow. She does not regret his going,\\nand she knew the risk, but who can know the pang\\nuntil it comes\\nHe was not nominated.\\nJoseph Bridgham Curtis was born in Providence, R. I., Oc-\\ntober 25, 1836. Educated as a civil engineer at the Lawrence", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0178.jp2"}, "177": {"fulltext": "IN THE MIDST OF WAR. 161\\nDecember 28, 62.\\nThis Will be a crucial week. The counter pro-\\nclamation, the edict of emancipation, the opposi-\\ntion of Seymour Co., and the mad desperation\\nof the reaction, all will not avail. The war must\\nproceed, and to its natural result. Even Joseph\\nHarper, the most Southern of the firm, said to\\nme yesterday, The negroes must be armed, and if\\nSeymour does not support the war he will have no\\nsupport. Perhaps, if any possible way of settle-\\nment could be devised, there might be a strong\\nparty for it, but in deep water we must swim or\\ndrown. All our reverses, our despondence, our\\ndespairs, bring us to the inevitable issue: shall\\nnot the blacks strike for their freedom\\nFebruary 6, 1863.\\nWhy should Dr. Holmes trouble himself about\\nthe base of McClellan s brain? McClellan has\\nScientific School, Cambridge, Mass., he entered the Union ser-\\nvice at the outbreak of the war in 1861 as engineer on the staff\\nof the Ninth Regiment of the New York State National Guard.\\nOn the organization of the Fourth Rhode Island Regiment, he was\\nappointed Adjutant. He served with Burnside at Roanoke and\\nin the Army of the Potomac. The regiment was cut to pieces\\nat Antietam, and fell back in disorder. Lieutenant Curtis seized\\nthe colors, shouting, I go back no further What is left of\\nthe Fourth Rhode Island, form here But there was not enough\\nleft to form, and Curtis, for the rest of the day, fought as a pri-\\nvate in an adjoining command. He was made Lieutenant-Colonel\\non the reorganization of the regiment, and was in command at\\nFredericksburg. He was instantly killed at the head of his men\\non the evening of the battle of December 13, 1862.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0179.jp2"}, "178": {"fulltext": "162 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nnothing to do with, all this McClellanization of the\\npublic mind. The reaction requires a small Demo-\\ncrat with great military j)restige for its presiden-\\ntial candidate. The new programme, you know, is\\na new conservative party of Republicans and Dem-\\nocrats, and all mankind except Abolitionists. It\\nwill work, I think, for as a party we have broken\\ndown. I blame nobody. It was inevitable. The\\nTribune, through the well-meaning mistakes of\\nGreeley, has been forced to take (in the public\\nmind, which is the point) the position of W. Phil-\\nlips, the Union if possible, emancipation anyhow.\\nAs a practical political position that is not ten-\\nable. If, by any hocus-pocus, the war order of\\nemancipation should be withdrawn, we should be\\nlost forever, beyond McClellan s power, assisted\\nby John Van Buren, the Boston Courier and\\nPost and the New York Herald, to save us.\\nThere s nothing for us but to go forward and save\\nall we can.\\nFebruary 14, 63.\\nGeneral Burn side came to see mother a day or\\ntwo since. He spoke with utmost respect and love\\nof Joe. He said that he was one of the few officers\\nthat rose in the fight that his coolness, valor,\\nand sagacity kept pace and that he would have\\nbeen necessarily a distinguished officer. Dear\\nhoy I see his calm, sweet, dead face, and I think\\nof his lovely life, wrapped sweet in his shroud,\\nthe hope of humanity not yet extinguished in\\nhim.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0180.jp2"}, "179": {"fulltext": "IN THE MIDST OF WAR. 163\\nTO JOHN J. PINKERTON\\nFebruary 17, 1863.\\nThe fate of the country is being settled in this\\nlull. If it awakes divided, we have a long, sharp\\nfight before us all. The instinct of union, if not\\nstronger than that of liberty, in this people, as\\nMr. Seward once said, is yet too strong to be\\nsquelched like a tallow dip. There was never\\nbut one government that merely tumbled down\\nand died, and that was Louis Philippe s We\\nare too young, and the government has been too\\nlong consciously a general benefit, to allow such\\na result here. Even Vallandigham, braying to\\nCopperheads in New Jersey, is obliged to say that\\nhe is for union. John Van Crow has jumped to\\nthe dominant tune, and the wayward sisters are\\nrebels to be put down. The Herald is afraid\\nof the Express and World for rushing reac-\\ntion into absurdity, and plants itself square upon\\nwar. Bennett told Mahoney, when he asked him\\nto print his letter, that he was a damned fool.\\nWhen the question is fairly put, Shall we\\nwhittle this great sovereign power down to a Vene-\\nzuela or Guatemala? if the soul of the people\\ndoes not snort scorn and defiance, then good-night\\nto Marmion.\\nI feel steadily cheerful, and yet, as you know,\\nI am a traveler, not a recluse.\\nDo you mean that you have evacuated West\\nChester finally What says MacVeagh My\\nfriendly regards to him if ever you write.\\nFaithfully yours, George William Curtis.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0181.jp2"}, "180": {"fulltext": "164 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nTO CHARLES ELIOT NORTON.\\n11th March, 1863.\\nNot only has the reaction consumed itself, but\\nit is of the greatest significance that the result is\\nnot due to a victory, but is a purely intellectual and\\nmoral recuperation. I have been very sure that,\\nwhen the Democratic party found that they could\\nnot operate on the base of peace, they would hurry\\nover to war, as McClellan from the Pamunkey to\\nthe James. But the movement shows that the\\nstrongest and most sagacious men of the party are\\nits old Southern leaders. Jeff and his friends have\\nknown from the beginning that it was a war of\\nideas, which had exhausted compromise and had to\\nfight. The Northern Democrats refuse to acknow-\\nledge the truth, but they are forced to act upon it,\\nwhich comes practically to the same thing.\\nThe following letter refers to incidents following\\nthe draft riots in New York in July, 1863, by far\\nthe most exciting experience of any Northern com-\\nmunity during the war. The disturbance was started\\nby an attack upon a building in which the provost-\\nmarshal was conducting the draft. Most of the\\nmilitia were absent in Pennsylvania there was but\\na small number of Federal troops available the\\npolice, taken by surprise, were for two days able to\\ndo but little in restraining, and nothing in repressing\\nthe mob, which, with the usual rage for plunder\\nand destruction, showed especial fury against the ne-\\ngroes, on whom atrocious outrages were committed.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0182.jp2"}, "181": {"fulltext": "IN THE MIDST OF WAR. 165\\nNew York, July 19th, 63.\\nOn Tuesday evening, upon an intimation from\\na man who had heard the plot arranged in the city\\nto come down and visit me that night, and find\\nHorace Greeley and Wendell Phillips, who were\\nconcealed in my house, I took the babies out of\\nbed and departed to an unsuspected neighbor s.\\nOn Wednesday a dozen persons informed me and\\nMr. Shaw that our houses were to be burned and\\nas there was no police or military force upon the\\nisland, and my only defensive weapon was a large\\nfamily umbrella, I carried Anna and the two babies\\nto James Sturgis s in Roxbury. Frank was with\\nMrs. Shaw at Susie Minturn s up the river. To-\\nday I am going with him to Eoxbury, but shall re-\\nturn immediately, so that I cannot see you. We\\nhave now organized ourselves in the neighborhood\\nfor mutual defense, and I do not fear any serious\\ntrouble.\\nThe good cause gains greatly by all this trouble.\\nThe government is strong enough to hold New\\nYork, if necessary, as it holds New Orleans, Balti-\\nmore, and St. Louis. There must be a great deal\\nmore excitement, and if Seymour can bring the\\nState, under a form of law, against the national\\ngovernment, he will do it. It will be done by a\\nstate decision of the unconstitutionality of the con-\\nscription act. But as a riot it has been suppressed,\\nas an insurrection it has failed. No Northern con-\\nspiracy for the rebellion can ever have so fair a\\nchance again as it had in this city last week, with-", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0183.jp2"}, "182": {"fulltext": "166 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nout soldiers, with a governor friendly to the mob,\\nand with only a splendid police which did its duty\\nas well as Grant s army.\\nTO JOHN J. PINKERTON.\\nNorth Shore, Staten Island,\\n2d October, 1863.\\nMy dear Pinkerton, I wish you joy with\\nall my heart, and the voice of a married man of\\nseven years ought to have some weight in felicita-\\ntion. It has always seemed that my fancy was fleet\\nenough to outrun the fact, and yet I have been\\nalways distanced. As a lover you think marriage\\nis a very Paradise, but as a husband you will feel\\nthat it was the beginning of life. But I leave the\\nsermon to the good clergyman who will breathe\\nupon you the heavenly benediction for your voyage.\\nI only stand on the shore and fling after you my\\nwell-worn marriage slipper, and believe all that you\\nknow of your companion, and whistle for the soft-\\nest and most favorable gales. God bless you and\\nyours always.\\nYour friend,\\nGeorge William Curtis.\\nTO CHARLES ELIOT NORTON.\\n15th October, 1863.\\nWhatever is happening to Meade, let us rejoice\\nover Pennsylvannia and Ohio. It is the great vin-\\ndication of the President, and the popular verdict\\nupon the policy of the war. It gives one greater", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0184.jp2"}, "183": {"fulltext": "I^r TEE MIDST OF WAR. 167\\njoy than any event which has lately happened. Is\\nit not the sign of the final disintegration of that\\nrotten mass known as the Democratic party In\\nthis State we have sloughed off the name Republi-\\ncan and are known as the Union party. How glad\\nI am that we can gladly bear that name, and that\\nthe Union at last means what it was intended by\\nthe wisest and the best of our fathers to mean\\n24tli October, 1863.\\nWhat a splendid succession to the editorship of\\nthe ancient quarterly The great literary question\\nof this epoch in my mind has always been, who pays\\nfor the North American (I do not mean the\\nwriters, dear Mr. Editor, but the running expenses\\nof the institution). I am sincerely glad that you\\nand Lowell have taken it in hand, but mv own\\nare so full that I cannot promise you anything, now\\nat least. I am at another lecture, and rewriting\\nmy oration of September 1, and am speaking here-\\nabouts in the canvass, and go to a Loyal League on\\nMonday evening in Bridgeport and keep the mill\\ngoing pretty steadily. I have a busy winter of\\nlecturing before me.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0185.jp2"}, "184": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER XIIL\\nEDITOR OF harper s WEEKLY.\\nIn 1863 I have not been able to fix the exact\\ndate Mr. Curtis became the political editor of\\nHarper s Weekly. His relations with Harper\\nBrothers had always been intimate and cordial.\\nThey had published his books he had for nearly\\nten years been a regular writer for the Monthly,\\nand later for the Weekly. Fletcher Harper, in\\nwhose charge were the periodicals, had long been a\\ntrusted and beloved friend and adviser. The Weekly\\nwas then, as it is still, the most important illustrated\\npaper of the country, and had a very large num-\\nber of readers. Before the outbreak of the war, its\\ntone in politics had been conservative and mild, so\\nthat it was the habit of the Tribune in its more\\nradical moods the moods of that journal were by\\nno means consistently radical to speak of Har-\\nper s as a Journal of Weakly Civilization, a mot\\nwhich in those hot times had much vogue. When,\\nhowever, slavery led to secession, and secession to\\nrebellion, the Weekly gave to the government of\\nMr. Lincoln and to the Union Republican party\\nhearty support. Mr. Curtis took control as editor\\nwith a perfectly clear understanding, equally hon-", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0186.jp2"}, "185": {"fulltext": "EDITOR OF HARPER S WEEKLY, 169\\norable to him and to the publishers, that he was to\\nhave entire independence. He could not otherwise\\nhave taken it at all, nor could he have made of the\\njournal the power that it became. At first and for\\nsome time he did only a part of the writing for the\\neditorial page, but gradually did more and more\\nuntil, for some years before his death, except in\\nrare instances (chiefly when he was ill), the entire\\npage was from his pen. He retained his home on\\nStaten Island, and could never be persuaded, though\\noften urged, to remove to the city. Doubtless it was\\nthe better plan. He lost something in absence from\\nthe daily intercourse with men, and the daily parti-\\ncipation in affairs, but he gained more in the dispo-\\nsition of his time, which was always urgently occu-\\npied, leaving him but very little that could be called\\nleisure. His semi-rural life also gave him two\\nprivileges of the greatest value to him, a certain\\namount of seclusion with his family, safe from the\\nincessant and consuming interruptions almost inevi-\\ntable in the city, and a certain amount of unforced\\nintercourse with nature, and these counted for much\\nin that fine serenity of character, that calmness\\nwedded to vigor in his spirit, which marked him\\nas a man apart in the strenuous times in which his\\npart was so large, so important, and so exacting.\\nIn one sense, the taking of the editorship of the\\nWeekly was a decisive step in the life of Mr. Cur-\\ntis. He did not and could not cease to be a man\\nof letters, a student, and in certain broad fields a\\nscholar. His writing in the Easy-Chair, which", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0187.jp2"}, "186": {"fulltext": "170 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nof itself sufficed to fill a volume each year, contin-\\nued and was purely literary. Some of his editorial\\nwriting was almost equally so, and all of it was ex-\\necuted with sustained fidelity to his literary stand-\\nard, so far as conditions permitted and his stand-\\nard was high. He was still to produce that series of\\norations, some of which that on Bryant, that on\\nLowell, that on the unveiling of the statue of Wash-\\nington, that at Gettysburg have a very high\\nvalue, and must always have, wholly apart from the\\ncharm or impressiveness of their delivery. But\\nfrom this time on, his chief interest and occupation\\nwere to be with the public affairs of the time, and,\\nindeed, of the day he was in the movement of his\\ncountry, shared it, was swayed by it, and in no small\\ndegree contributed to its direction.\\nThe readers he addressed were far more numer-\\nous than books could reach, but what he said to\\nthem was necessarily briefly said, generally for a\\nspecific purpose, often a temporary one, on matters\\nof supreme moment at the time, often also of endur-\\ning interest, but demanding instant action which\\nhe sought to influence. The editor of even a weekly\\njournal is rather a talker than a writer. He keeps\\nup a continual one-sided conversation on whatever\\nhe deems of greatest immediate concern, and his\\nsubjects may be of infinite variety, but none of\\nthem can at any one time be treated completely, or\\nwith any detailed preparation.\\nMr. Curtis, moreover, was active in the affairs\\nhe discussed, and his action and his writing, with", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0188.jp2"}, "187": {"fulltext": "EDITOR OF HARPER S WEEKLY. 171\\na common object of the most absorbing nature,\\nleft him scant time for purely scholarly pursuits.\\nFrom time to time, as after the death of Mr. Lin-\\ncoln, there came to him pressing suggestions and\\nsolicitations for historical and biographical work\\nthat would have given scope for the more sustained\\nexercise of his literary powers but he put them\\naside, not without reluctance, and even something\\nof the despairing pang that the strong man must\\nfeel in the presence of the relentless limitations of\\ntime, but with firmness. He had chosen his path-\\nway with the conscientious care and deliberation\\nthat in him were both native and cultivated, and\\nno considerations less strong or worthy than those\\nthat had determined his choice could swerve him\\nfrom it.\\nMr. Curtis entered on the editorship of the\\nWeekly at the crisis of the War for the Union.\\nGettysburg had been fought and won, Vicksburg\\nhad fallen, Sherman in the West and Grant in the\\nEast were about to enter on that tremendous series\\nof movements and battles between the slowly con-\\nverging forces of which the rebellion was to be\\ncrushed. The proclamation of emancipation had\\ndetermined the purpose of the final struggle on\\nboth sides, and what the issue must be if the gov-\\nernment should succeed. Mr. Curtis, and those\\nwho with him had felt that the war was in reality\\nresistance to the aggressions of slavery, felt now\\nthat the enemy was unmasked, and pursued their\\ncourse with a deeper determination and more ex-", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0189.jp2"}, "188": {"fulltext": "172 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nalted courage. On the other hand, the opposition\\nto the government, though on the whole much weak-\\nened, was intensified and embittered. The senti-\\nment of distrust and dislike of radicalism, bred\\nof long party association with the South when it\\ndominated the government and controlled the hon-\\nors and profits of politics, became more sullen and\\nimplacable. The burdens of the war were heavy.\\nThe conscription for the army, harsh enough where\\nit was honestly made, and rendered often odious by\\nthe corruption to which the provision for filling\\nstate quotas by counties gave rise, spread an angry\\nsuspicion throughout the country, especially in the\\nlarger cities of the East, of which the politicians of\\nthe opposition were quick to avail themselves. The\\npossibility of foreign complications, and the almost\\nhopeless difficulty of contending with them if they\\nshould occur, were plain enough to the most san-\\nguine. The confusion in the national councils, and\\nparticularly in Congress, inseparable from the vast-\\nness, the stress, and the novelty of the situation, was\\nobvious. Mr. Lincoln s term was drawing to a\\nclose, and the occurrence of a presidential election\\nin the midst of civil war, with all its tremendous\\npossible consequences, was an ordeal which patriot-\\nism and faith could face, but as to which wisdom\\nand experience could give no ray of hope or guid-\\nance.\\nIn this situation the work undertaken by Mr.\\nCurtis was of the highest importance. He proved\\nfrom the outset well fitted for it, and, though he", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0190.jp2"}, "189": {"fulltext": "EDITOR OF HARPER S WEEKLY. 173\\nfelt profoundly the responsibility imposed by it, this\\nrather steadied and impelled than dismayed him.\\nThe work was to be done the need of it was instant\\nand incessant. His general ideas of the purpose of\\nthe war, the policy of the government, the duty of\\nthe citizen, were well defined. In their application\\nto the questions of the hour, as they presented them-\\nselves, he developed a soundness of judgment, and\\na capacity for persuasive and convincing argument,\\nthat nothing in his previous career had indicated.\\nHis editorial style, though with time and practice\\nit was developed, was from the first peculiarly indi-\\nvidual, and so entirely unlike any other that at any\\ntime for thirty years a stray quotation from Har-\\nper s Weekly could easily be recognized by an ha-\\nbitual reader. And yet it was curiously unlike Mr.\\nCurtis s style in any other line. It rarely betrayed\\nthe eloquence of the orator, the charm of the essay-\\nist, or the wit and grace and fancy of the humorist.\\nIt was extremely simple, direct, clear, and some-\\ntimes even homely. I have spoken of the editor as\\na talker. Mr. Curtis s editorials are an admirable\\nexample of the excellence to which talking of this\\nkind can attain. He seemed to have his reader as\\nclearly in his mind as if he were sitting before him,\\nand he reasoned with him, appealed to him, sug-\\ngested to him, as he would have done had their eyes\\nmet. And the editor did not make the mistake\\nof either overrating or underrating the person to\\nwhom he addressed himself. I have sometimes\\nthought that this imaginary companion was con-", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0191.jp2"}, "190": {"fulltext": "174 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nceived by him witli a very serious reference to the\\ncharacter of the Weekly as it was when he took\\ncharge of it, and that his typical reader was one\\nwho primarily liked to look at pictures, and whose\\ninterest, thus attracted, was to be directed by the\\nwriter. Then Mr. Curtis, with all his unusual gifts,\\nhad at heart a deep and wholesome sympathy with\\nmen. Separated from the great body of them as\\nhe was, and, so far as these gifts were concerned,\\nraised above them, he never betrayed a sign that\\nhe felt either separate or superior. The reason\\nand conscience, the patriotism, self-respect, fair-\\nness, common sense, to which he appealed, were\\nthe qualities of which he was conscious in himself,\\nand which he with perfect sincerity attributed to\\nothers.\\nA familiar form of Mr. Curtis s way of putting\\nthings in his editorials was by questions. These he\\nused with good effect. They were not artful, and\\nwere not often sarcastic. They seemed to be the\\nnatural development of the reasoning that had con-\\nvinced him, and they served the double purpose of\\nawakening the reader s interest and guiding his\\nmental processes. Fromentin, the keenest and\\nclearest of analysts in his own domain, says of the\\nart of painting that it is but the art of expressing\\nthe invisible by the visible. This subtle defini-\\ntion appears to me to apply to Mr. Curtis s edito-\\nrial writing. The principles he sought to apply\\nwere thought out by him with the utmost care.\\nThe particular cases of their application were", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0192.jp2"}, "191": {"fulltext": "EDITOR OF HARPER S WEEKLY. 175\\nsearchingly studied and maturely considered. He\\nhad a sort of personal fondness for the opposite\\nside to his own, and was constantly making a\\nbetter statement of it than that of his opponents.\\nHe brought to the discussion of the public affairs\\nof the hour a wealth of knowledge, historical, con-\\ntemporary, practical, and a thoroughness of reflec-\\ntion, which are unusual even with writers of the\\nmost deliberate and elaborate kind. One has but\\nto read his orations to find the evidence of these\\nqualities, and of the skill with which he could mar-\\nshal a long array of facts in support of a logical\\nconclusion. In Harper s Weekly he gave us\\nthe fruit of these capacities, but rarely any sign\\nof them in exercise. The simplest-minded reader\\ncould feel the force of his reasoning; only the\\nmore highly trained could understand from what\\ndeep and widely-fed sources that force was supplied.\\nIt is a natural question whether the journal af-\\nforded the best field for the use of such powers,\\nand whether they might not better have been di-\\nrected where their possessor would have been more\\nconspicuously recognized and his achievements more\\nsplendid. I shall not undertake to answer the\\nquestion. I am restrained, at the outset, by my\\nknowledge of the conscientiousness with which Mr.\\nCurtis decided his own course, and of the gen-\\neral soundness of his judgment. I can only say\\nthat the influence he exerted in the direction of his\\naims and we know how high these were must\\nhave been very great. When from time to time", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0193.jp2"}, "192": {"fulltext": "176 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\non rare occasions his name came before the coun-\\ntry in a way to call out public sentiment, he was\\noverwhelmed with grateful surprise at the depth\\nand extent of the respect, the confidence and the\\naffection he had, all unconsciously, inspired. These\\nwould have been a rich capital for him in public\\nlife, and I have no doubt that that capital would\\nhave increased and multiplied in any place of\\npower and responsibility that could have come to\\nhim. But the public feeling toward him was but\\na faint indication of the influence he really exerted\\nin Harper s Weekly, for only a very small num-\\nber of the tens of thousands, often the hundreds\\nof thousands, to whom he spoke week by week\\nfor almost thirty years, associated his name with\\nhis writing, or had the dimmest knowledge of his\\npersonality. The sentiment that at intervals,\\nsadly few they seem to one who cares to consider\\nfame as a reward for merit found expression was\\ninstilled most largely in the minds of those who\\nknew the writer by the qualities his writing exhib-\\nited. But the qualities were the same for those\\nwho did not know him. When I recall the his-\\ntory of his country from the issue of the Emancipa-\\ntion Proclamation to the close of Mr. Curtis s life,\\nwith the long line of vital questions, which by the\\ngrowth and evolution of the American nation were\\nsubmitted to the arbitrament of public opinion, and\\nreflect with what wisdom and fidelity, what cour-\\nage and unselfishness, he labored for what he be-\\nlieved the right, and what experience has already", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0194.jp2"}, "193": {"fulltext": "EDITOR OF HARPER S WEEKLY. Ill\\nshown was in the main the right, I cannot but\\nfeel that the great share of the labor that was\\ngiven to the editor s work was richly rewarded,\\nas he would have rated reward.\\nIn 1864 came the presidential election. There\\nwas early shown a very pronounced and apparently\\nstrong opposition to Mr. Lincoln s renomination.\\nIt was manifested most distinctly by what was\\nknown as the radical element of the Republican\\nparty, whose leaders felt that the President had\\nadvanced much too slowly toward the destruction\\nof slavery. With these men Mr. Curtis had sym-\\npathy so far as their hatred of slavery was involved,\\nand their feeling that it was the source of the re-\\nbellion. With their distrust or disapproval of the\\nPresident he had no sympathy. He felt that Lin-\\ncoln was perfectly sound in purpose, that his judg-\\nment was on the whole safe, that he was entitled\\nto decide since his responsibility was so great, and\\nthat he was in a position to know best what, for\\nthe whole country, was best. Still more keenly\\nhe felt that whatever were the President s possible\\nerrors, the risk of any change was appalling. And\\nhe had, moreover, a very just perception of the\\nactual condition and tendency of public opinion,\\nand it agreed with the President s estimate of it.\\nHe wrote to Mr. Norton (April 7, 1864)\\nMy dear Charles, How grandly the coun-\\ntry is speaking for the war and the policy Night\\nbefore last I dined with Colonel Raasloff^ and\\n1 The Danish Minister.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0195.jp2"}, "194": {"fulltext": "178 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nCount Piper and Habricht, and I claimed that thus\\nfar we had proved that in a republic patriotism\\nwas not necessarily subordinated to party spirit.\\nIt seems just now as if our true victory were to be\\ngreater than even we had supposed.\\nI have seen Lincoln tete-a-tete since I saw you,\\nand my personal impression of him confirmed my\\nprevious feeling. I am sorry that Fremont seems\\nto be placed in a position which can please no real\\nfriend of his. Only to-day I have an invitation\\nfrom the office of The New Nation to meet\\nsome friends of all the radical candidates to take\\nsteps to form a radical national committee, and to\\nsecure a radical platform, and a reliable radical\\nman for the presidential campaign about to open.*\\nLast week I went to Baltimore, and supped at the\\nUnion Club with a dozen of the most strenuous\\nmen there. Every one, when the war beg an, was a\\npro-slavery man now they will have nothing but\\nimmediate, uncompensated emancipation. Charles,\\nyou and I are superannuated fogies.\\nMr. Curtis was chosen as a delegate to the Re-\\npublican National Convention of 1864 held in Bal-\\ntimore. He was an ardent and eifective supporter\\nof Mr. Lincoln s nomination. A glimpse of his\\nwork there is afforded in a letter (June 16, 64), to\\nMr. Norton\\nMy dear Charles, I hope you like our Bal-\\ntimore work. The unanimity and enthusiasm were\\nmost imposing. I voted against the admission of\\nTennessee, because I did not want the convention", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0196.jp2"}, "195": {"fulltext": "EDITOR OF HARPERS WEEKLY, 179\\nto meddle with the question; and, since she only-\\nwanted to come in to help do what we were sure to\\ndo without her, I thought that, as the cause was ex-\\nactly the same for both of us, she should give us\\nforbearance while we gave her sympathy. But it\\nwas impossible to resist the torrent, and they all\\ncame in. There is no harm done. I cannot but\\nthink Sumner wrong. If all New York rebels, I\\nam still a citizen of the United States. That is the\\nsimple, obvious, necessary ground.\\nThe committee of one from each State appointed\\nme to write the official letter to the President, and\\nrefused to instruct me. I sent it yesterday, having\\nread it to Mr. Bryant and to Raymond. They\\nwere both entirely pleased with everything in it.\\nIn the canvass that followed on the nomination\\nof Mr. Lincoln, and that of General George B. Mc-\\nClellan by the Democrats, Mr. Curtis worked with\\nthe utmost vigor, spirit, and patience. His part in\\nthe Baltimore Convention had won for him a posi-\\ntion of influence in the party, which for him car-\\nried with it a full corresponding responsibility. In\\nthe columns of Harper s Weekly, in his constant\\nand wide correspondence and in his speeches, he\\ndid all that he could to guide and arouse public\\nopinion. His labors were incessant, and often amid\\nharassing events which, though they could not fail\\nto give him the utmost anxiety, he met with cheer-\\nful courage and often with humor. He wrote to\\nMr. Norton, July 12, 1864, when General Grant s\\nmovement toward Petersburg had left the capital", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0197.jp2"}, "196": {"fulltext": "180 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nand the Pennsylvania border exposed to possible\\nraids by Confederate cavalry\\nAnd how is Ashfield I should have written\\nyou there before if I had supposed there was a\\npost-office at such a height. Do you have to eat\\noil more than three times a day to keep warm in\\nthis weather We don t. But then we live upon\\nan island in the temperate zone. Or are you warmed\\nby the news of the isolation of Washington There\\nis something comical about it which I cannot escape,\\nwith all the annoyance. The great Dutch Penn-\\nsylvania annually sprawling on its back, and bel-\\nlowing to mankind to come and help it out of the\\nscrape, is perfectly ludicrous. I hope that this year\\nall the States will learn that, while they have no\\nefficient and organized militia, they will be con-\\nstantly harassed by raids to the end of the war.\\nWe have all kinds of rumors here at every moment,\\nfrom which you are free. But the sense of absurd-\\nity and humiliation is very universal. These things\\nweaken the hold of the administration upon the\\npeople and the only serious peril that I foresee is\\nthe setting in of a reaction which may culminate\\nin November and defeat Lincoln, as it did Wads-\\nworth in this State. I wish we had a loyal governor,\\nand that New York city was virtuous.\\nIn the stress of the deadly struggle for the life\\nof the nation Mr. Curtis s mind turned frequently\\nto the study of the hardly less difficult struggles\\nthat attended the foundation of the government.\\nHave you thought, he wrote to Mr. Norton,", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0198.jp2"}, "197": {"fulltext": "EDITOR OF HARPER S WEEKLY, 181\\nwhat a vindication this war is of Alexander Ham-\\nilton? I wish somebody would write his life as it\\nought to be written, for surely he was one of the\\ngreatest of our great men, as Jefferson was the\\nleast of the truly great or am I wrong Hamil-\\nton was generous and sincere. Was Jefferson\\neither In Franklin s life how the value of tem-\\nperament shows itself! It was as fortunate for\\nhim and for us as his genius.\\nAnother letter to the same friend (August 28th)\\nreports his first degree of LL. D., a title, by the\\nway, which he never used, or allowed, if he could\\nhelp it, to be attached to his name, even after he\\nhad received the right to it from Harvard, and\\nalso shows the tone of public opinion at that\\ndate\\nNorth Shore, 28tli August, 64.\\nFrank wrote me, or printed rather, in large and\\nremarkable capitals, a letter the other day. I en-\\nlivened the tranquil circle here by calling it a Cap-\\nital letter, a little work of mine which I dedicate\\nto Jane. Probably you are not aware that I am\\nmyself the latest little work of Madison University.\\nBlushes forbid me to write that that discriminating\\ninstitution has done for the least of your friends\\nwhat Harvard did for that other celebrated scholar,\\nAndrew Jackson. Yesterday I received a letter\\nwith a very large green seal, addressed G. W. C,\\nLL. D. Oh my prophetic soul I have long\\ncalled Frank and Zib Doctor.\\nI say not a word about the war, but did people", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0199.jp2"}, "198": {"fulltext": "182 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\never deserve success at the polls less than the Union\\nparty? Two years ago I was the only Lincoln\\nman I knew hereabouts, and I have come round to\\nthe same position. Yet he will be elected, or we\\nare dreary humbugs.\\no\\nGood-by, dear boy. I am more cheerful than\\never, for within two months we shall see the whole\\nforce of treason North and South, and if we sink\\nt is to see what we shall see I shall not be able\\nto write on Peace luckily for you. It will be a\\ngood text for J. K. L. Give him my love, if he is\\nwith you, and to all the dear ones.\\nYour friend the doctor sends his benediction.\\nA week later is an allusion to General Burnside,\\nfor whom he had the utmost affection and re-\\nspect\\nEast Greenwich, Monday, 5th September, 1864.\\nMy dear Charles, Burnside is staying with\\nme here at the house of my cousin, Mr. Goddard.\\nYesterday we sat upon the rocks, and he told me\\nthe whole story of the mine and of the Army of the\\nPotomac. It is intensely interesting and perfectly\\nclear. He is the noblest, most magnanimous man\\nI ever saw, and I shall tell you the tale with im-\\nmense satisfaction some day. On Saturday morn-\\ning, when the news of Sherman s success came, he\\nwas the most unaffectedly delighted man I ever saw.\\nHis exultation wound up by his seizing his wife\\nand kissing her.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0200.jp2"}, "199": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER XIV.\\nTHE END OF THE WAR.\\nIn October Mr. Curtis was nominated for Con-\\ngress in his home district. Two years before, his\\nfriends had pressed his nomination, but, curiously\\nenough, it had been defeated by a prejudice against\\nhim as enjoying too much of the confidence of the\\nadministration in the matter of appointments, and\\nby the independence and impartiality of his recom-\\nmendations. The enthusiasm this time was such,\\nhe wrote, that I quite lost my voice when I came\\nto thank the convention. I shall not be elected,\\nhe added, but the manner of the nomination was\\nbetter than the matter of the election. Though\\nconvinced of the hopelessness of the canvass, Mr.\\nCurtis saw in it an opportunity for the advance-\\nment of the general cause, and he entered upon it\\nwith the greatest energy. For the next six weeks\\nhe spoke almost daily, and sometimes twice a day,\\nand always, as described by a friend, more for\\nLincoln than for himself.\\nThe crowded days of those eventful months wore\\nslowly on. While Grant was painfully fighting\\nand forcing his way to cut off Lee s army from\\nthe South, and Sheridan laid waste the valley of", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0201.jp2"}, "200": {"fulltext": "184 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nthe Shenandoah from which Lee s supplies had\\nso largely come, Sherman, after the long series of\\nbloody and difficult battles that ended with the\\ncapture of Atlanta, had begun the great March to\\nthe Sea, and Mobile had fallen before the fleet of\\nFarragut. The reaction was first checked, then\\ndissipated by victory, and on the morrow of the\\nelection Mr. Curtis wrote to Mr. Norton\\nHakper s Weekxt, New York,\\n9tli November, 1864.\\nMy dear Charles, Let us thank God and\\nthe people for this crowning mercy. I did not\\nknow how my mind and heart were strained until\\nI felt myself sinking in the great waters of this\\ntriumph. We knew it ought to be we knew that,\\nbad as we have been, we did not deserve to be\\nput out like a mean candle in its own refuse but\\nit is never day until the dawn. I do not yet know\\nwhether Seymour is elected. I hope not, for while\\nhe is in power this grand State is a base for rebel\\noperations; and he is put in power, if at all, by\\nthose who would make any honorable government\\nimpossible. My heart sank as I stood among\\ndrunkards and the worst men, yesterday morning,\\nto vote; but it sank deeper when I saw Aaron L.,\\nand others like him, voting to give those drunkards\\nthe power of the government. I have prepared\\na very small sermon upon Political Infidelity, for\\nwhat infidels such men are to themselves and to\\nmankind\\nI am defeated, of course, and by a very heavy", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0202.jp2"}, "201": {"fulltext": "THE END OF THE WAR. 185\\nmajority. In my own county my vote would have\\nbeen largest of all the Union candidates if my\\nname could have been sent to the soldiers, as the\\ngovernor s was. As it is, he is some twenty before\\nme. But Fernando Wood and James Brooks are\\ndefeated God be praised I have never been\\ndeceived about myself, but I am forever glad that\\nmy name was associated with this most memorable\\nday. Yours most affectionately,\\nG. W. C.\\nDuring the winter that followed, feeling that\\nthe triumph of the national cause was now only\\na question of time, and of brief time, Mr. Curtis\\ndevoted the opportunities of the lyceum platform,\\nwhich no one commanded more completely than\\nhe, to the education of the public mind in what he\\nbelieved to be the lesson of the war. The lecture\\non Political Infidelity, alluded to in the last\\nletter, was delivered some fifty times in the season\\nof 1864 and 1865. One has but to remember the\\ninterest the addresses of a man like Mr. Curtis\\naroused in every town, large or small, where he was\\nheard, the intense feeling of the people throughout\\nthe North as to all questions related to the war,\\nthe eager discussion that followed a lecture of this\\nsort in each community, to understand the scope\\nand the depth of the influence he exerted. The\\nlecture was in effect a fervent plea for perfect\\nfreedom of discussion. Slavery had brought the\\ncountry to civil war, because slavery was the sole", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0203.jp2"}, "202": {"fulltext": "186 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS,\\nquestion in our political history as to which discus-\\nsion had been entirely suppressed in one part of\\nthe land, and avoided, discouraged, and by every\\ndevice political, social, commercial repressed in\\nthe other. In the darkness that was thus brought\\nabout, the South, on the one hand, had formed a\\nmistaken notion both of its strength and of the\\nposition assigned to its policy by the intelligent\\nopinion of the world, while on the other hand the\\nNorth mistook the spirit and purpose of the South\\nand its own rights and duties. The following\\npassage will indicate Mr. Curtis s treatment of\\nthe first mentioned phase of his subject. Having\\nquoted Mr. Seward s description of the domination\\nof the slave power, he referred to Alexander H.\\nStephens s retirement from public life in 1859 and\\nhis farewell speech: Listen to Mr. Stephens in\\nthe summer sunshine six years ago As matters\\nnow stand, so far as the sectional questions are\\nconcerned, I see no cause of danger either to the\\nUnion or to Southern security in it. The former\\nhas been to me, and ought to be to you, subordi-\\nnate to the latter. There is not now a spot of the\\npublic territory of the United States over which\\nthe national flag floats where slavery is excluded\\nby the law of Congress, and the highest tribunal of\\nthe land has decided that Congress has no power\\nto make such a law. At this time there is not a\\nripple upon the surface. The country was never\\nin a profounder quiet. Do you comprehend the\\nterrible significance of those words He stops", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0204.jp2"}, "203": {"fulltext": "THE END OF THE WAR. 187\\nhe sits down. The summer sun sets over the fields\\nof Georgia. Good-night, Mr. Stephens a long\\ngood-night. Look out from your window how\\ncalm it is Upon Missionary Ridge, upon Look-\\nout Mountain, upon the heights of Dalton, upon\\nthe spires of Atlanta, silence and solitude the\\npeace of the Southern Policy of Slavery and Death.\\nBut look! Hark! Through the great five years\\nbefore you a light is shining a sound is ringing.\\nIt is the gleam of Sherman s bayonets, it is the\\nroar of Grant s guns, it is the red daybreak and\\nwild morning music of peace indeed, the peace of\\nNational Life and Liberty. The application of\\nthe lesson was plain Reconstruct, then, as you\\nwill. But we are mad if the blood of the war has\\nnot anointed our eyes to see that all reconstruct\\ntion is vain that leaves any question too brittle to\\nhandle. Whatever in this country, in its normal\\ncondition of peace, is too delicate to discuss is too\\ndangerous to tolerate. Any system, any policy,\\nany institution which may not be debated will\\noverthrow us, if we do not overthrow it.\\nWith the opening days of April came the end of\\nLee s obstinate resistance. On the 3d the news of\\nthe occupation of Richmond by the advance guard\\nof the Army of the Potomac reached New York.\\nMr. Curtis wrote to Mr. Norton\\nHome, 4th April, 1865.\\nMy dear Charles, I thought of you all the\\nday yesterday as the news of the crowning mercy\\ncame rolling in. The merchants and brokers in", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0205.jp2"}, "204": {"fulltext": "188 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nWall Street came out of their dens and sang Old\\nHundred and John Brown. From the high win-\\ndows at the Harpers where I sat the sky was bril-\\nliant and festal with innumerable flags. Fletcher\\nHarper came to me, and said, How glad I am we\\ndid not beat at Bull Run, for then Slavery would\\nnot have been abolished, and we should have been\\nworse off than before. My dear boy, who is equal\\nto these things We hear that the Major Mills\\nwho has fallen is your young cousin. Ah me\\nwhat heart-breaks salute our triumphs. You will\\nbe very sober in your joy.\\nAlmost on the morrow the whole nation was\\nmade sober in its joy, by the loss of Mr. Lin-\\ncoln. Mr. Curtis resisted, so far as I am aware,\\nall solicitations to address the public, save through\\nhis paper, on this signal event. In the Weekly\\nhis expressions were marked by deep feeling, but\\nwholly devoid of any tinge of that impulse toward\\nvengeance that was at the time so general. To-\\nnight, he wrote to a friend, in the misty spring\\nmoonlight, as I think of the man we all loved and\\nhonored, laid quietly to rest upon the prairie, I\\nfeel that I cannot honor too much, or praise too\\nhighly, the people that he so truly represented, and\\nwhich, like him, has been faithful to the end. So\\nspotless he was, so patient, so tender, it is a\\nselfish, sad delight to me now, as when I looked\\nupon his coffin, that his patience had made me\\npatient, and that I never doubted his heart, or", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0206.jp2"}, "205": {"fulltext": "THE END OF THE WAR. 189\\nhead, or hand. At the only interview I ever had\\nwith him, he shook my hand paternally at parting,\\nand said, Don t be troubled. I guess we shall\\nget through. We have got through, at least the\\nfighting, and still I cannot believe it. Here upon\\nthe mantel are the portraits of the three boys\\nwho went out of this room, my brother, Theo-\\ndore Winthrop, and Robbie Shaw. They are all\\ndead the brave darlings and now I put the\\nhead of the dear Chief among them, I feel that\\nevery drop of my blood and thought of my mind\\nand affection of my heart is consecrated to secur-\\ning the work made holy and forever imperative\\nby so untold a sacrifice. May God keep us all as\\ntrue as they were\\nAh well to how many of us came this impulse\\nof consecration in that solemn hour. High, in-\\ndeed, is the fortune of any of us who have re-\\nmained as steadfast to it as did Mr. Curtis.\\nIn the spring of 1865 Mr. Curtis received,\\nthrough Mr. Norton, a proposition to take control\\nof a new paper, the purpose of which is sufficiently\\nindicated in the following letter, which I give as\\ndisclosing Mr. Curtis s judgment in matters of this\\nsort, and, also, quite explicitly, the peculiar situa-\\ntion he himself held in journalism\\nNorth Shore, April 26, 1865.\\nMy dear Chakles, Yours of the 24th reaches\\nme this evening. I cannot at once decide upon", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0207.jp2"}, "206": {"fulltext": "190 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nthe proposition which you make, for I should\\nwish to ask several questions.\\nI doubt if 150,000 is capital enough to start\\nsuch a paper as you contemplate, and I am far\\nfrom sure that it is really needed. It seems to me\\nalways best to use existing machinery if possible,\\nand I fear that the influence which would control\\nthe new paper would constantly tend to make it\\noutrun the popular sympathy upon whose support\\nit must rely, so far as to defeat its purpose, by\\nlimiting its circulation to those who need no con-\\nversion. Do not the Atlantic, the North\\nAmerican, the Evening Post, and Harper s\\nWeekly to go no further address the vari-\\nous parts of the audience that are counted upon\\nfor a new paper, and are there not great advan-\\ntages in having the questions presented in these\\ndifferent forms The change in public sentiment\\nupon the true democratic idea is so wide and deep,\\nthat an organ for special reform in the matter\\ndoes not seem to be required. It the reform\\nhas now become the actual point of the political\\nmovement of the country and the same reasoning\\nwhich justifies the abandonment of the abolition\\nsocieties and organs pleads against your project.\\nIf I lay more stress upon the special object\\nof the paper than its projectors intend, then it\\nbecomes merely a liberal Weekly of the most ad-\\nvanced kind, and I can see no particular reason\\nfor its success.\\nAs for myself, I am perfectly free to say what", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0208.jp2"}, "207": {"fulltext": "THE END OF THE WAR. 191\\nI think upon all public questions in Harper s\\nWeekly without the least trouble or responsibil-\\nity for the details of the paper, and with no ne-\\ncessity of even being at the office. The audience\\nis immense. The regular circulation is about one\\nhundred thousand, and on remarkable occasions,\\nas now, more than two hundred thousand. This\\ncirculation is among that class which needs exactly\\nthe enlightenment you propose, and access is se-\\ncured to it by the character of the paper as an\\nillustrated sheet. I should want some very per-\\nsuasive inducement to relinquish the hold I al-\\nready have upon this audience, for I could not\\nhope to regain it in a paper of a different kind.\\nOf course, Harper s Weekly is not altogether\\nsuch a paper as I should prefer for my own taste\\nbut it does seem to me as if I could do with it the\\nvery work you propose, and upon a much greater\\nscale than in the form you suggest; nor is the\\npecuniary advantage of your offer such as to shake\\nthis conviction.\\nNow from what I say you will see how I feel.\\nThe offer you make is so handsome and honorable\\nthat I do not decline it, unless you must have an\\nimmediate answer. If the affair can still remain\\nopen, will you tell me if the capital is secured\\nif the paper is to be started anyhow^ if there\\nis any person selected for the business editor\\nwhether it is to be a joint-stock association and\\nwhat the size, etc., of the paper is intended to be.\\nIf you have the time to inform me upon these", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0209.jp2"}, "208": {"fulltext": "192 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nand such points, I will not delay long in giving\\nyou a final answer.\\nAlways your affectionate,\\nG. W. CUETIS.\\nNothing came of the project.\\nThe following note to Mr. James Russell Low-\\nell relates to the Commemoration Ode\\nAsHFiELD, Mass., 12th September, 1865.\\nMy dear Lowell, I thank you with all my\\nheart for the noble ode which with all my heart I\\nhave read and enjoyed. Certainly you have done\\nnothing in a loftier strain, nor has anything more\\ntruly worthy of the great theme been written. If\\nit be very serious and very sad it is for the same\\nreason that the sky is blue and the corn yellow.\\nI have read it aloud to Anna, and read it and\\nre-read it to myself and I am sure it says what\\nthe truest American heart feels and believes. And\\nif that is not a work worth doing, if a man can\\ndo it, what is\\nThe note is signed Affectionately yours, and\\nmore and more.\\nMr. Curtis continued to take an active part,\\nas well as a strong interest, in politics, and in the\\nelections of 1866, he was chosen as a delegate-at-\\nlarge to the Convention for revising the Constitu-\\ntion of the State of New York. The Legislature\\nof 1867 elected a Senator of the United States\\nfrom New York, and Mr. Curtis s name was pre-", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0210.jp2"}, "209": {"fulltext": "THE END OF THE WAR. 193\\nsented in many of the papers of the Republican\\nparty. How fitted he was to secure preferment by\\nordinary political methods is shown in a letter to\\nMr. Norton, who had written him on the subject.\\nThe only chance, he writes, is a bitter dead-\\nlock between the three, or two, chiefs. At present\\n(it is a profound secret) the friends of Harris, or\\nhis chief managers, expect 42 votes in a caucus of\\n109, to begin with. The friends of Conkling count\\nupon 60 those of Davis upon 20. The friends of\\nthe latter proposed to me to make a combination\\nagainst Conkling, the terms being the election of\\nwhichever was stronger now, Davis or me,\\nand the pledges of the successful man to support\\nthe other two years hence. I declined absolutely.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0211.jp2"}, "210": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER XV.\\nFOUR YEARS OF POLITICS.\\nAs the time approached for him to take up the\\nnew duties of the Constitutional Convention he\\nwrote to Mr. Norton May 6, 1867\\nYou cannot imagine how I grieve over my lost\\nsummer lost before the frosts are gone. But\\nwhen I was urged to let my name be used, I thought\\nit all over carefully, and concluded that I ought not\\nto decline. It will be a very long and very arduous\\nwork, but I shall be deeply interested in much of\\nit, and in all the novelty of a deliberative assem-\\nbly. I have been reading the debates of the con-\\nvention of 46. They are endless and mortally\\ndull. All this in dog-days too.\\nNor did actual experience cure him of his origi-\\nnal distaste. He wrote in July\\nAh, if I could run out of this business I think\\nI should feel as if I had had enough of it. I do\\nnot perceive an attraction toward public life strong\\nenough to make the tremendous domestic sacrifice\\nwhich is necessary, and I think that I shall stay\\nat home next winter that I may become acquainted\\nwith my family.\\nYet Mr. Curtis worked faithfully and intelli-", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0212.jp2"}, "211": {"fulltext": "FOUR YEARS OF POLITICS, 195\\ngently In the convention, and held a prominent\\nplace In a body which Included many eminent men,\\namong them Mr. William M. Evarts, afterwards\\nSecretary of State and Senator, and at the time\\nthe most brilliant and scholarly lawyer of the\\nState Mr. Charles J. Folger, afterwards Chief\\nJustice of the Court of Appeals and Secretary of\\nthe Treasury; Mr. William A. Wheeler, subse-\\nquently Vice-President Mr. Greeley and Mr. S. J.\\nTUden. He was made Chairman of the Committee\\non Education and Funds relating thereto, and\\nmember of several other committees. His own\\ncommittee recommended the abolition of the Board\\nof Regents, of which he was a member, and which\\nwas at the time almost a perfunctory body, and the\\ncreation of the Board of Education, with a single\\nexecutive officer. This plan was not adopted. He\\nadvocated the appointment of the attorney-general\\nand of other state officers, then and still elected^\\nand he maintained that in this way the authority\\nof the people was more rationally and effectu-\\nally maintained than by the numerous elections in\\nwhich the voters exercised no real choice. He op-\\nposed the prohibition of the sale of liquor and took\\na very earnest part in the debate on the government\\nof municipalities, supporting the authority of the\\nState over the general police system and condemn-\\ning the theory of local control. In general his\\nideas were those that might have been expected\\nfrom a convinced Democrat with an Intellectual\\nsympathy with Hamilton rather than with Jef-\\nferson.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0213.jp2"}, "212": {"fulltext": "196 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nOn one subject, however, he was very radically\\ndemocratic. He was the most conspicuous and by\\nfar the most competent of the advocates of the suf-\\nfrage for women, and on his own proposition for\\nan amendment in that sense, he made a speech\\nmore elaborate and brilliant than any other of his\\nin the convention. His advocacy was wholly un-\\navailing in affecting the action of the convention,\\nbut one can hardly read the debates without feeling\\nthat none of his opponents met him on his own\\nground and that none were able to defend their\\nown ground against his logic, which was never\\nmore penetrating and alert. In fact not since his\\nfirst assault on slavery and its consequences in\\nAmerican politics had Mr. Curtis entered a fight\\nwith more complete conviction, with greater ardor,\\nwith more careful equipment or a bearing, always\\nwithin the limit of courtesy, more defiant.\\nThe basis of his argument was the American\\nprinciple of equality of rights, the principle which\\nhe had so ardently adopted in the anti-slavery con-\\nflict, and his challenge was to those who with ref-\\nerence to the rights of men held that principle as\\nopenly and firmly as he held it, to show with what\\njustice women could be excluded from its advan-\\ntages. The vote he believed to be the natural and\\nnecessary weapon by which the possessors of equal\\nrights could defend them, and the inevitable con-\\ndition not only to their defense, but to their intelli-\\ngent and wholesome and safe exercise. But while\\nhe maintained this fundamental principle as the", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0214.jp2"}, "213": {"fulltext": "FOUR YEARS OF POLITICS. 197\\nground on which the representatives of all the\\npeople of the State must stand in framing the Con-\\nstitution, he did not shrink from the argument of\\nexpediency. And in meeting this argument he\\nsustained a running debate with his opponents, the\\nrecord of which enlivens the reports of the conven-\\ntion, otherwise endless and mortally dull as he\\nfound those of 1846 to be. It was not difficult for\\nhim to match every objection of mere expediency\\npresented by the other side with instances of classes\\nof males to whom the objection was equally telling\\nif not more so.\\nThe argument that when the great body of wo-\\nmen want to vote, as they have gradually come to\\nwant the right to their own inherited or acquired\\nproperty, to an equal authority over their children,\\nand similar rights, they would get that right as they\\nhad got these, inspired Mr. Curtis with indignation\\nand scorn, and he hotly resented delay on such a\\npretext as a stupid wrong to the women who al-\\nready desired that right. But that argument, or the\\ndisposition for which it gave a convenient excuse,\\nprevailed in the convention, as doubtless he ex-\\npected that it would. He had, however, the conso-\\nlation of believing that his course in the convention\\nmay have served to hasten the day when this to\\nhim, absurdly unfair, illogical condition precedent\\nshould be complied with. Certainly that consider-\\nable body of educated and intelligent women who\\nfeel, and who are acknowledged to be, entirely\\nfitted for a share in the political action of the com-", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0215.jp2"}, "214": {"fulltext": "198 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nmunity of which they are honored and useful mem-\\nbers must have recognized that no more gallant or\\naccomplished champion ever bore their colors.\\nThe Constitutional Convention came to an end\\nearly in 1868, and Mr. Curtis returned to his ordi-\\nnary pursuits with a sense of profound relief as\\nto the past and with a new vigor, but not without\\nanxiety as to the immediate future. The Repub-\\nlican party was going through its troubles with\\nPresident Johnson, whose impeachment trial closed\\nin that year. Mr. Curtis fully appreciated the\\ndangers and evils of the stubborn Tennesseean s\\ncourse, and warmly supported the authority of\\nCongress to determine the policy of the government\\nin the difficult matter of reconstruction, but he was\\nindignant at the wanton abuse visited on the Sena-\\ntors who voted not guilty, and firmly upheld their\\nfidelity to their oath as they understood it. Of\\ncourse, he wrote to his friend Mr. Pinkerton, if\\na man thinks that an oath to decide in a specific\\ncase according to the evidence is an oath to be\\nbound by party dictation, very well. I differ, but\\nI do not quarrel. So if a man thinks a Senator\\nbought, let him say so, provided he can bring his\\nproof. But to say that a Senator who thinks his\\noath means what it states and who acts accordingly\\nis infamous, is not criticism it is an effort to de-\\nstroy liberty of thought and speech by terrorism.\\nI think, he added, as it happens, although I\\nshould have voted to convict, that the party is in-\\nfinitely stronger and surer of success since the fail-", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0216.jp2"}, "215": {"fulltext": "FOUR YEARS OF POLITICS. 199\\nure of impeachment. I feared a few weets ago\\nthat we were to be saved by the folly of our foes.\\nBut I see now that we have the conscience as well\\nas the ardor of youth.\\nThe general action of the strong Republican ma-\\njority in the Senate during Johnson s term, even\\nthe impeachment plan, had met with Mr. Curtis s\\napproval but he watched with the keenest solici-\\ntude one phase of the contest, that relating to ap-\\npointments. The power of the Senate to give or\\nto refuse its advice and consent to nominations\\nwas now used as a weapon against the President,\\nand in the heat and stress of the struggle, it was\\ninevitable that serious abuses of that power should\\nbe overlooked, or excused, or even justified. As\\na matter of fact the abuses were numerous and\\nflagrant, and it was during Johnson s term that the\\nmischievous rule known as the courtesy of the\\nSenate took a definite form, and by a series of pre-\\ncedents gained an authority that it did not before\\nhave. This ride in substance was that the action\\nof the Senate should practically be decided by the\\nSenators (of the majority party) from the State in\\nwhich the office to be filled was, or from which the\\nnominee was selected. At this time the majority\\nin the Senate gradually resolved themselves into a\\ncompact and powerful party machine, the avowed\\npurpose of which was to protect the party from\\ndisintegration through the appointment to Federal\\noffices of the friends or tools of a hostile President.\\nSince patronage was the chief weapon of the Presi-", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0217.jp2"}, "216": {"fulltext": "200 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS,\\ndent, it was natural that his opponents in the Sen-\\nate should seek to turn it aside, and so far as prac-\\nticable to wrest it from his hands. This they\\nsought to do by the exercise of the power of con-\\nfirmation. And since the majority had a common\\nparty object, since they felt themselves to be, and\\nactually were, a sort of party executive committee,\\nit was logical for them to apply the methods of\\nsuch an organization, and give to the members\\nfrom each State the disposition of matters relating\\nto that State, and to hold them responsible. The\\nsituation was novel. Party feeling ran very high.\\nThe sentiment of the North as to questions grow-\\ning out of the war was intense and general, and\\nit was on the side of the Senators. The people\\nbelieved and most of the Senators themselves be-\\nlieved, that they were fighting for the priceless\\nfruits of the victory won in war at so untold a\\nsacrifice. For the first time in the history of the\\nparty then in power, and for the first time in many\\nyears, the Senate and the President were pursuing\\nopposite aims, and the contest necessarily was most\\nbitter, and raged most hotly about the offices, as to\\nwhich the contestants had joint rights. The tac-\\ntics and strategy of the Senate were effective, and\\nthe courtesy of the Senate helped greatly to\\nmake them so. But the rule did not lapse with the\\nnecessity for it. The power of the Senators of each\\nState under the rule was exercised at first, with a\\ncertain sense of responsibility, because the attention\\nof the whole majority in the Senate and of the", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0218.jp2"}, "217": {"fulltext": "FOUR YEARS OF POLITICS. 201\\nparty was fixed upon them. But when the contest\\nended with the retirement of Johnson and the\\naccession of General Grant, the Senators did not\\nlay aside their powers nor abandon the particular\\nrule by which these had been distributed. They\\nretained them, and the public attention being re-\\nlaxed they used them with less and less responsi-\\nbility and therefore selfishly and to an increasing\\ndegree corruptly.\\nThis was an extensive and acute manifestation of\\nthat malady of the body politic of the American\\ndemocracy which has since received the significant\\nand repulsive designation of the spoils system.\\nMr. Curtis, as I have said, regarded it with the\\nkeenest solicitude, and found in his study of it the\\nfirst strong impulse toward that long struggle for\\nthe purification of politics which was gradually to\\nbecome the absorbing interest and occupation of\\nhis life. Unlike many reformers he was thoroughly\\nacquainted not only with the evil he contended\\nagainst, but with the system of which it formed a\\npart, and with the good as well as the bad in that\\nsystem. He was not a closet politician. He had\\nfor years steadily and punctually performed the de-\\ntailed duties of a party man in his own home had\\nattended all primary meetings, done duty on party\\ncommittees and in conventions, and had taken his\\nshare of trouble and responsibility in the distribu-\\ntion of offices. Of the party workers who in-\\nsisted that a party organization could not be kept\\nup, or the labor of party contests be secured, were", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0219.jp2"}, "218": {"fulltext": "202 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nnot the offices used as rewards and incentives, there\\nwere very few who had given to their party the\\ntime and effort given by him, and certainly there\\nwas not one of them who had given more with no\\nreward whatever, and no desire for any, beyond the\\nsense of duty done. Nor was he in the least blind\\nto the need of parties or to their value, nor igno-\\nrant that they were not composed of saints and could\\nnot be. He was not even without strong party\\nspirit, that is to say, that intent sympathy with those\\nwho are working to a common end, pride in achieve-\\nment, and the delight of battle. If there was\\never a loyal Republican, as the phrase goes, he\\nwas one. He was as far from being a mere theo-\\nrist or fanatic in politics as he was from being\\na self-seeker. He was in fact a party leader of\\nshrewdness and tact and knowledge of men, their\\nprejudices and weaknesses as well as their virtues.\\nHe saw in the system that based party power on\\npatronage not only its vileness and its corrupting\\ntendency,, but its stupidity. His faith in human\\nnature and his observation and experience proved\\nto him that this system was an unsound basis that\\nmust crumble from the rottenness of its material.\\nIn 1868 Mr. Curtis was an elector on the Repub-\\nlican ticket, and cast his vote for General Grant, in\\nwhom he had much confidence. During the next\\nspring and summer he delivered lectures at Cornell\\nUniversity, in which he felt a keen interest. Of\\none of these lectures he writes\\nI have written a lecture upon American Litera-", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0220.jp2"}, "219": {"fulltext": "FOUR YEARS OF POLITICS, 203\\nture to the effect that what we have belongs to\\nthe great English stock, as Ovid was a Roman,\\nthough upon the Euxine, and Theocritus a Greek,\\nthough a Sicilian. The undertone is friendliness\\nfor England.\\nIn 1869, on the death of Henry J. Raymond, the\\nfounder of the New York Times, Mr. Curtis re-\\nceived a proposition to take Mr. Raymond s place.\\nHe felt that the offer was flattering, which it\\nwas not exactly, since Mr. Curtis s reputation was\\non a level, at least, as high as that of the paper,\\nand he felt also that it was an opportunity for a\\nmore direct if not more extended influence on pub-\\nlic opinion. But he declined, and wisely. The con-\\nditions of his work on Harper s Weekly were,\\nas I have said, peculiarly happy. It would have\\nbeen difficult, if not impracticable, to establish the\\nsame in a paper like the Times.\\nAbout this time, certain articles by Mr. Samuel\\nBowles, in the Springfield Republican, having ex-\\ncited the sharp disapproval of the party press, Mr.\\nCurtis wrote, in the Weekly The more deeply\\nan independent journal sympathizes with the prin-\\nciples and purposes of a party, the more strenuously\\nwill it censure its follies and errors, the more\\nbravely will it criticise its candidates and leaders\\nfor the purpose of keeping the principle pure and\\nof making the success of the party a real blessing.\\nThis was a doctrine which he had already had to\\napply, and which he maintained to the end.\\nIn September, 1869, Mr. Curtis was nominated", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0221.jp2"}, "220": {"fulltext": "204 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nfor the office of Secretary of State by the Con-\\nvention of the Republican party. He declined the\\nnomination. It does not come within the plan of\\nthis Life to follow in detail the political course of\\nMr. Curtis, but the following letter to Mr. Norton\\nseems to me to be of peculiar interest, and I give\\nit nearly entire\\nI have been nominated by acclamation for\\nSecretary of State of New York, by the Republi-\\ncan Convention, to which I did not know that my\\nname was to be presented. I opened the paper,\\nand I confess the tears were very near my eyes at\\nsuch a spontaneous summons from one of the best\\nconventions we have had, and whose platform was\\nwithout evasion, and noble. But upon every account\\nit was impossible for me to think of accepting. I\\ncould not add the official duties to my present\\nwithout breaking down, and I could not reduce my\\npresent duties without injustice to my family and to\\nmyself and really I have no doubt I am of more\\nservice as I am than I should be in that office.\\nSo we hurried down to South Deerfield and I tele-\\ngraphed the inclosed note to the Tribune and the\\nTimes, and Sun, in which for candidly read\\ncordially^ a mistake of the telegraph. I was\\nfor many reasons very sorry to decline. There is a\\ndoubt of our success and I knew that I should be\\nsaid to fear a defeat. Then I knew that for any\\ncandidate, and especially the head of the ticket to de-\\ncline, would cloud the prospects of the party. And\\nI found that some of the others say Hillhouse,", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0222.jp2"}, "221": {"fulltext": "four YEARS OF POLITICS. 205\\nthe best of the ticket had accepted upon condi-\\ntion of my running. My position was very difficult,\\nbut my duty was perfectly clear. It happened as\\nI apprehended. The reception of my name, even\\nas far as Illinois, was really enthusiastic I was\\namazed; I think no man ever had so much favor\\nfor so small desert. The consequences of my\\ndeclining were in proportion. I have had most\\npowerful private and public remonstrances. The\\nWashington Star said that it is the most remark-\\nable case of inconsistency that I have always in-\\nsisted that every man should do his share, etc. The\\nAlbany Evening Journal insisted that there were\\nimperative public reasons that demanded my recon-\\nsidering my decision. The Boston Advertiser\\nsaid that I had not hitherto shown myself afraid of\\nleading a forlorn hope. The Democratic papers\\nsaid that I naturally did not wish to be slaughtered.\\nDorsheimer of Buffalo, who had most warmly sup-\\nported me in the Convention, wrote me a truly pa-\\nthetic appeal. But to all my correspondents I re-\\nplied that I had not changed, that I had done and\\nwas still doing my share of political duty, that while\\na man ought to make many sacrifices, in the pres-\\nent condition of our politics, to accept so authori-\\ntative and honorable a call, yet there were some\\nthat he had no right to make, and that the con-\\nfidence in his judgment which led his friends to\\nnominate him ought to justify to them his decision\\nthat it is a mistake for an editor to take executive\\noffice but as for the forlorn hope, if I had only", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0223.jp2"}, "222": {"fulltext": "206 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nbeen sure of being beaten I would gladly have ac-\\ncepted. In the midst Hillhouse declined as I had\\nfeared, and then General Robinson, the next in im-\\nportance. The Democrats laughed at the rats run-\\nning from the sinking ship, and at length the new\\nnominations were made. General Sigel was put in\\nmy place and Horace Greeley in that of Hill-\\nhouse. Horace wrote a long letter in accepting,\\nand rapped me on the knuckles, in saying that\\nhe hoped that it would be said of him that he\\nnever asked his party for an office and never de-\\nclined any honorable service to which it called him.\\nI should rather have it said of me that I never de-\\nclined any such service that I could honorably per-\\nform. Of course the party, as a party, must be\\nvexed with me in increasing the perils of the can-\\nvass and unfortunately no future convention will\\nlike to nominate the best of men without consulting\\nthem previously. But still, much as I regret the\\nevent, it was inevitable, and my conduct was right.\\nIt spoils, probably, my political career in the ordi-\\nnary sense. It seems to me not impossible from\\nthe reception of my nomination that whether suc-\\ncessful or not, I might have been nominated for\\ngovernor next year. But at the bottom of my\\nheart I don t want to be. I could n t enter upon\\npublic official life, and devote myself to a political\\ncareer of that kind, with so much pleasure to myself\\nor profit to the country or to the cause, as in other\\nways. So what seems the loss of a great oppor-\\ntunity to many of my friends, and to all politicians,\\nis not a loss to me but a gain,", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0224.jp2"}, "223": {"fulltext": "FOUR YEARS OF POLITICS, 207\\nMr. Curtis was to have his experience with con-\\nventions as to the governorship the next year,\\nwhich he also describes in a letter to Mr. Norton.\\nThe reaction which he expected followed the deci-\\nsive Republican successes of 1868, and the party\\nwas defeated in New York in 1869. Meanwhile\\nthere had grown up in the State and particularly\\nin the city of New York two powerful machines\\none, the Republican, with the Federal offices as its\\nbase of operations, and a hitherto unbroken hold\\nof the Legislature; the other, the Democratic,\\nof which Tammany was in control, with its base\\nin the city offices. There was a certain ill-con-\\ncealed connection between the two, growing out of\\nthese common methods. It was not avowed, nor\\ndid it extend to all the Republican leaders, but\\nthere was already in existence the class of politi-\\ncians known as Tammany-Republicans, and they\\nlargely controlled the organization of the party in\\nthe city.\\nMr. Curtis wrote to Mr. Norton from Ashfield,\\nSeptember 17, 1870, a very full account of the con-\\nvention of that year. He had declined to go to\\nthe convention as a delegate, having special family\\ncares at that time which engrossed his attention.\\nWhile at Ashfield, he was urged by the adminis-\\ntration leaders to attend and act as chairman.\\nFeeling that possibly the result in the presidential\\nelection of 1872 might depend on the course of the\\nconvention, and knowing that the party was torn\\nby the factional disputes of Senators Fenton and", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0225.jp2"}, "224": {"fulltext": "208 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nConkling, and that he was personally wholly inde-\\npendent of both, in the hope that he might help to\\nunite and concentrate the party, he reluctantly\\naccepted. He was chosen chairman by a very\\nheavy majority, and his speech was received with\\ngreat enthusiasm. Thereupon one of the Conkling\\nmanagers came to him and asked him to accept\\nthe nomination for governor. He replied that he\\nwould not decline it, if the convention offered it,\\nthough he did not wish it, and he insisted that his\\nname should be fairly and honorably presented, if\\nat all. His name was presented, but by a local\\npolitician of New York city, a Tammany Republican\\nof very disagreeable associations. The Conkling\\nvote was not given him and General Woodford\\nwas nominated, Mr. Greeley being the third can-\\ndidate. Apparently, the manager referred to had\\nsimply used Mr. Curtis to defeat Mr. Greeley.\\nThat gentleman believed that this purpose was\\nknown to Mr. Curtis and was indignant accordingly.\\nMr. Curtis was bitterly hurt, for he had consented\\nto the use of his name in good faith, not, certainly,\\nwithout legitimate ambition, but with the sincere\\nbelief that his nomination would be the strongest\\nthat could be made, and, therefore, the best for the\\nparty and the cause to which he was devoted. It\\nwas the first and last time that he trusted his name\\nto politicians for use in a convention. I doubt if\\nhe ever quite understood the exact trick that had\\nhad been played upon him. It was not easy for\\nhim to believe others capable of what was morally", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0226.jp2"}, "225": {"fulltext": "FOUR YEARS OF POLITICS. 209\\nimpossible for him. But the trick was not so hurt-\\nful to him as it was unworthy in its authors. It\\nleft him more firmly established in his editorial\\nchair and free for the work of reform that was just\\nopening before him. Had he been nominated and\\nelected governor of New York, he would have\\ngiven up his editor s chair both the Easy,\\nand the other and the current of his life\\nwould have been turned, not, I think, more fortu-\\nnately.\\nI turn back a little in my narrative to pick up a\\nfew letters to James Eussell Lowell. Here is one\\napropos of an invitation to a dinner in his honor\\nconveyed by Lowell and Mr. Emerson and Dr.\\nHolmes as a committee and in a severely formal\\nmanner\\nNorth Shore, Staten Isiand, 15th April, 1869.\\nMy dear Lowell, As I had received and an-\\nswered Emerson s letter I treated yours as a strictly\\nprivate one, viewing you in the light of a friend\\nand not of a committee-man. In that view I confide\\nto you that the possibility of a speech, or remarks,\\nor a few observations, or a brief and pertinent\\nrejoinder, or a felicitous off-hand, etc. etc., fills\\nme with dismay, and already affects my appetite.\\nBut you are too civilized for all that, I know.\\nWhat if I bring two or three old lectures to pre-\\npare for any contingency\\nYours always in speechless sympathy,\\nG. W. C.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0227.jp2"}, "226": {"fulltext": "210 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nThe following refers to a few days spent with\\nLowell at Cornell University\\nNorth Shobe, Staten Islaio), N. Y.,\\n10th June, 1869.\\nMy deak Jamie, Your note and book and that\\nmasterly account current with its balance, came\\nsafely yesterday and I have the photos of Ithaca\\nwhich I knew you would leave behind, and which\\nI will send to you by E. or by somebody going\\nyour way.\\nAfter you left came also Mr. Spencer with a\\ndozen of those grim cards for you to autograph,\\nand with a view in the Enfield ravine for you.\\nI have been homesick for you ever since we parted,\\nfor you were Ithaca to me and I am amused by\\nhearing people say, O my I had no idea it was\\nsuch a pleasant place. Already I look back upon\\nit with the feeling that I have for the dearest old\\nItalian days. I was an unhappy wanderer after\\nyou left, that Friday morning and when the cook\\ncame to the surface to say God bless you, and\\nthe little Mary stood half crying, and the Reverend\\nPhoenix presented arms, as it were, at the door,\\nand they all said, How good you and Mr. Lowell\\nare, I was so glad to have my name mingled\\naffectionately with yours, that I waved my lily\\nhand to them like a conqueror.\\nGood-by, my dearest Jamie, and with the sin-\\ncerest regards to your wife, I am\\nAffectionately yours,\\nG. W. C.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0228.jp2"}, "227": {"fulltext": "FOUR YEARS OF POLITICS. 211\\nAnd here is one acknowledging a Christmas gift\\nof The Cathedral from its author. The big\\nhouse referred to was the residence of the Shaws\\nnext to his own home on Staten Island\\nNorth Shore, Staten Island,\\n29th December, 1869.\\nMy dear James, It is a fortunate man who\\ncan give to his friends as a Christmas box a\\nCathedral of his own building, I had already\\nbegun to know it. On the last night at the big\\nhouse we all passed through it, I leading, and it\\nleft us all in the best and noblest of Christmas\\ntempers, as it will for many and for many, when\\nyou and I hear Christmas bells no more. I had\\njust read Tennyson s Holy Grail, and I said it\\nis afternoon with him. But with you, my dear\\nJames, it is a richer morning hour than ever.\\nThey have left the big house. They have\\nlaughingly cut the throat of one of the most beauti-\\nful homes, consecrated and endeared by all that\\nmakes home precious, where the girls were all\\nmarried and their first children all born, from\\nwhich Rob and Charlie went to be killed in\\nwhich we have all been so happy and so sad, and\\nall this to have a little smaller house and to look\\nupon the water Of course it is wholly a matter of\\ntemperament, of sentiment. But that is only to\\nsay that it concerns what most enriches life. I look\\nover and pity the great, silent, gloomy, deserted\\nhouse. Why should it be treated so", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0229.jp2"}, "228": {"fulltext": "212 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS,\\nWe are all well and send you our truest love,\\nand I am always\\nYour most affectionate,\\nG. W. C.\\nIn a note to Mr. Norton, he refers to the winter\\nof 1869 and 1870, the first one devoted to the ad-\\nvocacy of civil service reform in the Lyceum\\nNorth Shore, May 3, 70.\\nMy winter was very busy indeed, but very pleas-\\nant. James Sturgis is in Mt. Vernon Street in\\nBoston and I began with a month with him. I had\\nonly Saturday evening and Sunday for friendship.\\nI dined at the Club, at Sebastian Schlesinger s\\n(with Music), at Judge Gray s and Tom Apple-\\nton gave me one of the most perfect conceivable\\ndinners, Agassiz, Longfellow, Lowell, and Richard\\nDana, Jr., the guests. How I wanted you I\\nheard some of the good concerts, every day wagged\\nthe pen and every night the tongue, going as far as\\nPortland. My lecture was the Civil Service paper\\nthat I wrote for the Social Science meeting, and al-\\nthough a grave and earnest plea, was, I think, very\\nacceptable, although as half of the Lyceum audi-\\nence are women there could not be the universal\\ninterest which is, after all, essential to a lecture.\\nI delivered it in Baltimore a city that I detest\\never since the slaughter of 1861, and to an immense\\naudience in the Philadelphia Academy of Music.\\nAnd here is a glimpse of his reception at Vassar\\nCollege, whither he went with some misgivings", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0230.jp2"}, "229": {"fulltext": "FOUR YEARS OF POLITICS. 213\\nSince my lectures ended, I have written an\\naddress for the young women of Vassar College,\\nwhere I went on Friday last, and to one of the\\nmost unique occasions of my whole life. The build-\\ning is like the Tuileries. There are about four\\nhundred students and an aspect of healthfulness,\\nintelligence and refinement, with the elegance and\\ncomfort of the college appointments and accommo-\\ndations, leaves the most delightful and cheerful im-\\npression. As you know, the spirit of the College\\nis far from that of the Woman s Eights move-\\nment, at least among the trustees and many of the\\nprofessors, but I pleaded for perfect equality of\\nopportunity and liberty of choice, and I was never\\nso cordially thanked, even by those, like the Presi-\\ndent, who I thought might regret my coming.\\nMaria Mitchell, the astronomer, was most ardent\\nin her expressions. Several noble looking girls,\\nwho would not tell their names, came up to me\\nat the reception afterwards, and asked to take my\\nhand. I felt more than ever how deeply the best\\nwomen are becoming interested. Next week I am\\nto speak at the Anniversary of the Woman s Suf-\\nfrage Association, and that, I believe, is my last\\npublic appearance for the present.\\nThe following notes from letters to Mr. Norton\\ngive some of Mr. Curtis s personal impressions of\\nthe current phases of politics\\nJune 26, 1870.\\nI think the warmest friends of Grant feel that\\nhe has failed terribly as president not from", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0231.jp2"}, "230": {"fulltext": "214 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nwant of honesty or desire, but from want oi tact and\\ngreat ignorance. It is a political position, and he\\nknew nothing of politics and rather despised them.\\nThen the crisis was most compound. The special\\nends of the party were achieved. The reaction was\\ninevitable and should have been expected and en-\\ncountered. But we have drifted into it without\\ncare. Upon no single subject have we been agreed.\\nWe have had no policy, have raised no issues.\\nGrant has been headstrong about San Domingo, and\\nthe Cuban matter has been un skillfully managed,\\nalthough the position was correct. In losing Hoar\\nwe lose by far the ablest man in the administration.\\nNobody that I see knows why he went. The Senate\\nwould not make him Judge of the Supreme Court,\\nas if such men were to be had for the asking, and\\nhis place in the Cabinet is taken by an unknown\\nex-rebel from Georgia. Is it vindictive not to\\nask Mr. Toombs to be Secretary of War Why\\nis it that the good men haven t the courage of\\ntheir convictions. Perfunctory statesmanship is\\nmy abhorrence.\\nJuly 20, 1870.\\nAt the last moment Congress refused to allow\\nthe American registry of foreign ships for carrying\\nduring the (Franco-German) war as the President\\nrequested. This is to me very significant, for it\\nshows that there is something stronger than party\\ncohesion, even under such circumstances as the war\\nand the pressing request of the party president.\\nProtection must now be considered a vital issue\\n4", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0232.jp2"}, "231": {"fulltext": "FOUR YEARS OF POLITICS. 215\\nand immediate, not merely possible and postpon-\\nable.\\nThere is a curious presentiment here of a force\\nthat was ultimately to divide the Republican party,\\nand to produce a rearrangement of politics, in\\nwhich, though not upon that issue, Mr. Curtis was\\nto find himself acting with the Democrats.\\nNew York, March 4, 71.\\nIt is the very ebb tide upon our side, but Grant\\nwill be renominated, if he makes no signal blunder\\nthis year, and it is best that he should be. He in-\\ntended for some time (as I knew) to send me to\\nEngland, but relinquished it because he did not\\npersonally know me and I had been hostile to\\nSan Domingo. I was greatly relieved, for I should\\nhave been sorely perplexed. Oh for an hour of\\nhot sherry sangaree and you How our tongues\\nwould rattle I", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0233.jp2"}, "232": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER XVI.\\nTHE REFORM COMMISSION.\\nThe day that tlie last-cited letter was written,\\nMr. Curtis received from President Grant a nomi-\\nnation as to whicli lie was in no wise perplexed,\\nand from the acceptance of which he had no desire\\nto be relieved. It was the nomination to the\\ncommission which, under a clause of the Sundry\\nCivil Appropriation Act of March 3, 1871, the\\nPresident was authorized to appoint, to inquire\\nwhat rules and regulations for admission to the\\npublic service, which the President could enforce\\nunder existing laws, would best promote its effi-\\nciency. The commission, of which Mr. Curtis was\\nat once made chairman, consisted of seven mem-\\nbers, of whom the others were Messrs. Alexander\\nG. Cattell, Joseph Medill, Dawson A. Walker, E.\\nB. Elliott, Joseph H. Blackfan, and David C. Cox.\\nMr. Medill and Mr. Curtis were the only members\\nwithout experience in the service, the others being\\nactually or formerly connected with the various ex-\\necutive departments. They were entirely agreed\\nas to the evils to be remedied, and substantially so\\nas to the remedy to be adopted but the heaviest\\nlabor of the commission fell upon Mr. Curtis, who,", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0234.jp2"}, "233": {"fulltext": "THE REFORM COMMISSION, 217\\nhowever, received valuable assistance from the other\\nmembers.\\nThe first report of the commission was submit-\\nted to the President December 18, 1871, after ten\\nmonths of most careful and systematic investiga-\\ntion and study. The commissioners were greatly\\nindebted to the committee of which Hon. Thomas\\nA. Jenckes, of Rhode Island, had been chairman,\\nand which had made two very extended and well-\\nelaborated reports, the first January 31, 1867, and\\nthe second May 14, 1868. Mr. Jenckes s com-\\nmittee had embodied in these reports not only the\\nopinions and testimony of a large number of offi-\\ncials in the service of the United States, but de-\\ntailed descriptions and discussion of the systems\\nof Great Britain, Germany, Prussia, France, and\\nChina. One of the reports of the English com-\\nmission was included complete, with an historical\\nsketch, instructions to candidates, and specimen ex-\\namination papers. Edouard Laboulaye s exhaust-\\nive essay on Education and the Administrative\\nSystem of Probation in Germany was translated\\nfor Mr. Jenckes s first report, and our accom-\\nplished consul at Paris, Mr. John Bigelow, sup-\\nplied an account of the French service. In the\\ntwo reports, therefore, covering some three hun-\\ndred closely printed pages, the new commission\\nhad ready at their hands a rich supply of material\\nfor the comparative study of our own methods in\\nthe civil service and those of other countries, vary-\\ning in their resemblance or contrast to our own.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0235.jp2"}, "234": {"fulltext": "218 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nMr. Jenckes had, moreover, made a considerable\\nstudy of both the views and the practice of the\\nearly Presidents and their chief executive officers,\\nwhich was of great use as showing how widely\\nthese had been departed from.\\nBut the aim of Mr. Jenckes had been legislation,\\nand legislation of a very radical character. Two\\nfeatures of the bill offered with his report were,\\nfirst, that the candidate standing highest in a com-\\npetitive examination and probation must be selected,\\nand, second, that the Civil Service Conmiissioners\\nprovided for in the bill should make rules for\\nsuspension and dismissal from the service after\\ntrial by themselves on charges. No such sweeping\\nlegislation could be obtained, even had it been de-\\nsirable, and the Curtis commission was limited to\\nsuch a system as could be enforced by the Presi-\\ndent under existing laws. But while the work of\\nthe commission was thus limited, and was osten-\\nsibly only the promotion of the efficiency of the\\ncivil administration, it is safe to say that Mr. Cur-\\ntis would not have been called to undertake it,\\nand would not have undertaken it, had the need of\\nit not been much more urgent and its object much\\nwider than was indicated by the terms of the ap-\\npropriation bill under which the commission acted.\\nThe real purpose which enlisted him was the re-\\nstriction and ultimate abolition of the spoils sys-\\ntem, that is to say, the system by which offices\\nwere given as the rewards or incentives for service\\nrendered to a party or to its leaders or managers.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0236.jp2"}, "235": {"fulltext": "THE REFORM COMMISSION. 219\\nIn obedience to this system, he declared in\\nhis report, the whole machinery of the govern-\\nment is pulled to pieces every four years. Political\\ncaucuses, primary meetings, and conventions are\\ncontrolled by the promise and expectation of pat-\\nronage. Political candidates for the lowest or\\nhighest positions are directly or indirectly pledged.\\nThe pledge is the price of the nomination, and,\\nwhen the election is determined, the pledges must\\nbe redeemed. The business of the nation, the\\nlegislation of Congress, the duties of the depart-\\nments, are all subordinated to the distribution of\\nwhat is well called the spoils. No one escapes.\\nPresident, secretaries, senators, representatives,\\nare pertinaciously dogged and besought on the one\\nhand to appoint and on the other to retain subordi-\\nnates. The great officers of the government are\\nconstrained to become mere office-brokers. Mean-\\ntime they may have their own hopes, ambitions,\\nand designs. They may strive to make their pat-\\nronage secure their private aims. The spectacle is\\nas familiar as it is painful and humiliating. We\\naccuse no individual. We appeal only to universal\\nand deplorable experience.\\nThe evil results of the practice may be seen,\\nfirst, in its perversion of the nature of the election\\nitself. In a free country an election is intended to\\nbe, and of right should be, the choice of differing\\npolicies of administration by the people at the\\npolls. It is properly the judgment of the popular\\nintelligence upon the case which has been sub-", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0237.jp2"}, "236": {"fulltext": "220 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nmitted to it during the canvass by tlie ablest and\\nmost eloquent advocates. But the evil system un-\\nder which the country suffers tends to change the\\nelection from a choice of policies into a contest for\\npersonal advantage. It is becoming a desperate\\nconflict to obtain all the offices, with all their law-\\nful salaries and all their unlawful chances. The\\nconsequences are unavoidable. The moral tone of\\nthe country is debased, the national character de-\\nteriorates. No country or government can safely\\ntolerate such a surely increasing demoralization.\\nHere, then, was the real aim of Mr. Curtis s\\nwork, to drive politics out of the civil service and\\nto drive patronage out of politics. It was a fight\\nfor a new emancipation that he had taken up.\\nAs has been said, the immediate scope of the com-\\nmission s work was limited to what could be done\\nby the President under existing laws. The first\\nrestriction imposed by these laws was defined by\\nthe opinion of the then attorney-general, that,\\nwhile a class might be determined from whom an\\nappointee should be selected, appointment could\\nnot be confined to the single person standing high-\\nest in a competitive examination. This was in ef-\\nfect exactly the ground taken by Mr. Curtis from\\nthe start. The rules were framed to require the\\nappointment from the three persons standing high-\\nest on the eligible list. The second point of im-\\nportance presented was that of removals. Here\\nthe difficulty was not so much what the law al-\\nlowed, though there was some difference of opin-", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0238.jp2"}, "237": {"fulltext": "THE REFORM COMMISSION. 221\\nion as to that, but tlie best mode of exercising\\nthe power of removal. Many advocates of reform\\nthought that tenure for good conduct should be\\nthe rule and, to secure this, that removals should\\nbe made only for cause ascertained by a trial and\\ndeclared by an independent tribunal. Mr. Cur-\\ntis s report recognized the evil for which this rem-\\nedy was proposed, but, it declared, such fixity of\\ntenure tends to great perplexity and inconvenience\\nin administration, and the responsible head of a\\nbranch of the public service may justly complain\\nif he has no immediate control of his subordinates.\\nThe details of official conduct which most perplex\\na smooth and satisfactory administration are al-\\nways obvious to the competent and responsible\\nchief, but are not always, or indeed often, of a\\nkind to be proved in a court. A discretion of re-\\nmoval in such cases, if so guarded in its exercise\\nthat it is not liable to be abused, is most desirable\\nin every office. The cause of the trouble was\\npolitical pressure, under which changes were con-\\nstantly made simply to give a new band of political\\nworkers their turn.\\nNothing could be more fatal to a sound service.\\nYet it is not unreasonable that, under a system\\nfounded upon party patronage, such practices\\nshould prevail. After Mr. Marcy had said that\\nto the victors belong the spoils of the enemy, he\\nremarked, but I never said that the victor should\\nplunder his own camp. Yet that was the logic of\\nhis principle. The hardest fighter should have the", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0239.jp2"}, "238": {"fulltext": "222 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nmost spoils. There is no logic in equal division\\nbetween him who merely wishes well to the cause\\nand him who fights the battle. If influence is to\\nappoint, the lesser influence must yield to the\\ngreater and when a man has not been appointed\\nby reason of his fitness, he must not ask that he be\\nretained on account of his merit. The doctrine of\\nrotation in office implies that merit should not be\\nconsidered. It treats the public service as a huge\\nsoup-house, in which needy citizens are to take\\nturns at the tables, and they must not grumble\\nwhen they are told to move on. Plainly, if this\\npolitical pressure for the appointment of a particu-\\nlar person could be baffled, the present uncertainty\\nof tenure would be corrected. The head of a de-\\npartment who should fill the various offices under\\nhim not with the favorites of certain men, but with\\nthose who are found qualified, would then have\\nnone but legitimate reasons for the removal of a\\nfaithful and efficient officer. Conspiracy and slan-\\nder against any individual would then have no\\nespecial inducement or opportunity, and capacity\\ncharacter, and efficiency would secure the same\\ntenure as in all other spheres of duty.\\nIt seems to us, therefore, more desirable to\\nafford this reasonable security of permanence in\\noffice, by depriving the head of illegitimate motives\\nfor removal, rather than by providing a fixed ten-\\nure to be disturbed only upon conviction after for-\\nmal accusation and trial. There is, indeed, no\\nreason for such a tenure, unless it can be shown", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0240.jp2"}, "239": {"fulltext": "THE REFORM COMMISSION. 223\\nfrom the nature of the system that the power of\\nremoval is likely to be abused.\\nThese two points being determined, the rules as\\nproposed to the President provided for the com-\\npetitive examination of all applicants, for the ap-\\npointment of those found to be best qualified, for\\nentrance at the lowest grade of offices in which\\ngrading is practicable, for probation, and for pro-\\nmotion. Great importance was attached by Mr.\\nCurtis to the required probation of six months\\nand, as the most general objection to the reform\\nsystem came from those who said that capacity\\ncould not be found out by questioning, it is worth\\nwhile to quote the report on this point A com-\\npetitive examination in general and special know-\\nledge, although it would show certain attainments\\nwhich are indispensable to the proper discharge\\nof certain duties, would not necessarily prove the\\nfaculty of skillfully adapting that knowledge to\\nthe public service. It is a common remark, that\\na man could answer all the book questions, as they\\nare called, and yet prove to be an inefficient officer,\\nwhile one who knew nothing of books might be\\nvery serviceable. This may sometimes be true;\\nbut there are intelligent persons enough who have\\nalso swift, accurate, and thorough business aptitude.\\nIn a general examination this can be little more\\nthan inferred nothing but practice tests this kind\\nof efficiency and we therefore provide that, when\\nan applicant has satisfied all other examinations,\\nhis skill in applying his knowledge to the duties of", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0241.jp2"}, "240": {"fulltext": "224 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nthe office shall be proved by a practice of six\\nmonths, and that he shall finally be appointed only\\nwhen he has satisfied this test. Probation, indeed,\\nis nothing but the test of those essential qualities\\nof an officer which it is often asserted cannot be\\nascertained by examination.\\nThe rules thus framed were to be applied, it\\nmay be said in a general way, to all subordinates\\nin the service above the grade of laborers, and\\nbelow those appointed with the advice and consent\\nof the Senate, excepting postmasters and certain\\npersons holding places of trust for whom the ap-\\npointing officer was especially responsible. In\\nsubmitting these suggestions with the rules which\\nwe have framed, said the report, we feel that it\\nis not so much we who do it as the intelligent pub-\\nlic opinion of the country. There has long been a\\nprofound conviction that the system of appoint-\\nments to the civil service, upon political consider-\\nation only, is one which reason and experience\\nequally show to be fatal to economy of administra-\\ntion and to republican institutions. All I claim\\nupon the subject of your resources, said Edmund\\nBurke a century ago, pleading for reform in\\nEngland, is this, that they are not likely to be\\nincreased by wasting them. But our system of\\nthe civil service courts waste. It violates the fun-\\ndamental principles of thrift and economy it fos-\\nters personal and political corruption it paralyzes\\nlegislative honor and vigilance it weakens and\\ndegrades official conduct it tempts dangerous am-", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0242.jp2"}, "241": {"fulltext": "TEE REFORM COMMISSION. 225\\nbition; and, by poisoning the springs of moral\\naction, it vitiates the character of the people, and\\nendangers the national prosperity and permanence.\\nWe would not exaggerate the importance of\\nthe peril, but the constant exposure of official dis-\\nhonesty, the vast system of political corruption the\\ndisclosure of which has produced a peaceful revo-\\nlution in the city of New York, should suggest to\\nevery good citizen the possibility of a similar revo-\\nlution which might not be peaceful. If by that\\ngreat and organized corruption it had been possi-\\nble and such a contingency is not improbable\\nto decide a presidential election, and in a manner\\nuniversally believed to be fraudulent, the conse-\\nquences would probably have been civil war. If\\nsuch corruption be not stayed, the result is only\\npostponed and nothing so surely fosters it as a\\nsystem which makes the civil service a party prize,\\nand convulses the country every four years with a\\ndesperate strife for office.\\nThe President approved the rules submitted in\\nDecember, 1871, and the commission, now known\\nas the Advisory Board, took up the work of\\npreparing the detailed regulations, and the group-\\ning of places in the departments at Washington\\nand the federal offices at New York. This work\\nwas completed, and the rules and regulations were\\nformally promulgated April 16, 1872. There was\\nsome friction at first, but from that time until\\nMarch, 1876, the working of the system was con-\\nstantly more satisfactory, and the official reports", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0243.jp2"}, "242": {"fulltext": "226 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nof all the departments successively recognized that\\nfact. For a long time under the old system the\\nwork of the service had practically and necessarily\\nbeen done by a relatively small proportion of the\\nemployees who had escaped the mischievous influ-\\nence of political pressure because their experience,\\nability, knowledge, and fidelity were absolutely\\nindispensable. No responsible appointing officer\\ndared to include them in a clean sweep, for out-\\nraged public sentiment would have deprived his\\nparty of the power to confer or continue political\\npatronage. This class took kindly to the new sys-\\ntem so soon as it was well understood and it is a\\nproof both of the soundness of the merit system,\\nand of a certain curious virtue in the average\\nAmerican, that, during the three years that the\\nCurtis rules were in force, a very large amount of\\ncareful and arduous work in enforcing them was\\ndone by men in the service who received no pay\\nand little credit therefor. I shall take up later\\nthe fate of this first attempt at reform, and return\\nnow to the current of Mr. Curtis s life apart from\\nthis task.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0244.jp2"}, "243": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER XVII.\\nTHE GREELEY CANVASS.\\nAs President Grant s first term drew to a close,\\nthe country began to show definite signs of the\\nbreaking up of that strong and fervent party spirit\\nwhich had sustained the Republican candidate in\\nthe election of 1868. The party issues of the\\nlast few years, Mr. Curtis had said in closing\\nthe Civil Service Commission s report to President\\nGrant, are gradually disappearing. The perilous\\nquestions of fundamental policy have been deter-\\nmined, and the paramount interests of the coun-\\ntry are now those of administration. Honesty\\nand efficiency of administration of the settled na-\\ntional policy will now be the chief demand of every\\nparty. This was true of public sentiment, but\\nfar from true not only of every party, but of\\nany. It cannot be said that the Republican party,\\nwhich had the power and therefore the responsi-\\nbility, had met the demands of public opinion.\\nAfter the firm hand of the President had repressed\\nthe violent reaction in the South manifested in\\nwhat were known as the Ku-Klux disorders,\\nthe various state governments in that region had\\nfallen into the hands of Republicans, supported by", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0245.jp2"}, "244": {"fulltext": "228 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nthe negro vote, and had, almost without exception,\\nbeen badly and corruptly conducted. It was plain\\nthat the chief effort of the leaders of the majority\\nin Congress was, not to secure peace, order, and\\nprosperity in the South, but to strengthen the hold\\nof the party on the national government. With\\nthis purpose General Grant had little sympathy,\\nand with the means employed to carry it out he\\nhad none. But he was without experience, and\\nwithout trained capacity in civil affairs. His hands\\nwere tied by the insidious and half-secret bonds\\nwhich the Senate had woven about the executive\\nduring the term of Mr. Johnson. Within the\\nfield where he possessed or asserted independence,\\nhe was sadly at a loss. His judgment of men, so\\nswift and unerring in the choice of his subordi-\\nnates in the army, was curiously defective in the\\nselection of civil appointees. Hi\u00c2\u00ab Cabinet, after he\\nhad got rid of Judge Hoar, the attorney-general,\\nand General Cox, of the Interior Department,\\nwas, with the exception of Mr. Hamilton Fish, the\\nsecretary of state, singularly feeble. Then he had\\ngiven office to many of his military associates, who\\nhad won his confidence and affection by courage,\\nenergy, and soldierly loyalty, but who were not to\\nbe trusted in civil life, and who almost openly held\\nthat they had a right in peace to get as they could\\na rich reward for service rendered in war. His\\nadministration had given occasion for many small\\nand some serious scandals, and there was a well-\\nfounded though not very definitely formulated", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0246.jp2"}, "245": {"fulltext": "THE GREELEY CANVASS. 229\\nopinion that the political tone of the Federal gov-\\nernment was being steadily lowered. Besides all\\nthis, the President s scheme for the annexation of\\nSan Domingo, and his treatment of Mr. Motley\\nand of Senator Sumner, had produced a feeling\\nof deep resentment among some of the most able\\nleaders of the Republican party.\\nIn this situation what was known as the Liberal\\nRepublican movement was started. Mr. Curtis\\nwas keenly sensitive to the unfortunate tendencies\\nagainst which this movement was ostensibly, and\\nfor the most part sincerely, an organized protest\\nbut he had a deep distrust of some who were en-\\ngaged in it, and great doubt of the practical meas-\\nures to which it would or could lead. He had,\\nalso, much confidence in the personal purity and\\ngood faith of the President, and in the essential\\nhonesty and soundness of the great body of vot-\\ners who made up the Republican party. He used\\nthe agencies at his command and they were ex-\\ntremely effective to expose what he was sure was\\nwrong in the conduct of public affairs, and to arouse\\nthe conscience and intelligence of the country to\\ncorrect it. But he knew the power for good as well\\nas for ill of party organization and party sentiment\\nhe despised and dreaded the most pronounced and\\napparently the controlling tendencies of the Demo-\\ncratic party of the day, which was still the party of\\nsympathy with secession, of hatred of the negro, of\\nfinancial repudiation, and, in his own State, the\\nparty of Tammany and of Tweed and, though anx-", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0247.jp2"}, "246": {"fulltext": "230 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nious and even disheartened at times, lie could not\\nbring himself to cut adrift from the Republican\\nparty. When the Liberal Republican Convention\\nin Cincinnati failed to name, as had been hoped, Mr.\\nCharles Francis Adams, who at the last moment\\nhad scornfully repudiated a policy of truck and\\ndicker, and had bid his friends draw him out of\\nthat crowd, and had nominated Horace Greeley\\nfor the Presidency, he wrote to Mr. Norton, June\\n30, 1872\\nThe political situation is described by saying\\nthat the Democratic Convention will probably nom-\\ninate Horace Greeley by acclamation The con-\\ntest will be Grant against the field Grant with all\\nhis faults, and they are not great, against\\nevery kind of Democratic, rebellious, Ku-Klux, dis-\\ncontented, hopeful, and unreasonable feeling. The\\nbest sentiment of the opposition is, that both parties\\nmust be destroyed, and Greeley s election is the\\nway to destroy them. This is Schurz s ground, who\\nlikes Greeley as little as any of us. The argument\\nseems to be, first chaos, then cosmos. The Na-\\ntion and the Evening Post in this dilemma\\ntake Grant as the least of evils. He has been\\nfoully slandered, and Sumner s speech was unpar-\\ndonable. He was bitterly indignant with me,\\nsaid that my course was inexplicable and inconsis-\\ntent, and that I was bringing unspeakable woe\\nupon my country. I could only reply, Sumner,\\nyou must learn that other men are as honest as you.\\nThis election is the last hope of the Democratic", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0248.jp2"}, "247": {"fulltext": "THE GREELEY CANVASS. 231\\nparty to recover power. The South is wild for\\nGreeley, but only because his name now means a\\npossible Democratic triumph. He excused seces-\\nsion, he tried to negotiate at Niagara, he tried to\\nbully Mr. Lincoln into buying a peace, he bailed\\nJeff Davis, and the worst Northern Copperheads\\nsupport him. That is enough for the South it\\nought to be enough for the country.\\nEarly in September he wrote again from Ash-\\nfield (where he had now bought a house and land\\nseparated by one field only from the house of Mr.\\nNorton)\\nThe reaction against Greeley is already evident.\\nPoor Sumner has been forced to fly. I am not\\nsurprised. I thought and said that the struggle\\nof joining the enemies of all that he has ever pur-\\nsued or done might be overwhelming, and in Wash-\\nington he was old and sad and weary. It is to me\\na very melancholy campaign but, like all others, it\\nis very important. I have for myself less and less\\ninclination to position. We shall reelect Grant,\\nand with the dissolution of the Democratic party\\nnew combinations will arise.\\nThe campaign practically culminated with the\\ndecisive successes of the Republicans in the States\\n(Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana) which then had\\nelections in October, and closed with the overwhelm-\\ning defeat of the Democratic candidate in Novem-\\nber. In the last days of November Mr. Greeley\\ndied. Mr. Curtis wrote to Mr. Norton Decem-\\nber 2d", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0249.jp2"}, "248": {"fulltext": "232 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nNow comes Greeley s death, one of tlie most\\nmournfully tragic of events, heart-break and in-\\nsanity; and a great gush of sentimental twaddle\\nfrom all the newspapers and, that nothing may be\\nwanting to the grotesque pathos, the Tribune pro-\\nposes that the Greeley electors shall vote for Grant\\nYou will have seen how nobly the President\\nstood fast against Cameron in the Philadelphia\\npost-office matter. I suppose that there must be\\nsome fight upon the subject in Congress, and I\\nknow nobody there, unless it be George Hoar, who\\nwill conduct our side as it should be managed.\\nGarfield is timid, Willard is not strong, and no\\none that I know upon the floor is master of the sub-\\nject. The Cabinet is not friendly, but fortunately\\nGrant is tenacious and resolved upon the spirit\\nwhich should govern appointments. I suppose,\\nhowever, that he may not see why good party men\\nshould not be taken.\\nHowever tenacious and resolved upon the spirit\\nwhich should govern appointments the President\\nwas in December, early in the next year a case\\narose in the New York custom-house in which\\nMr. Curtis thought that that spirit was so far vio-\\nlated that he felt that he could not retain the part\\nof chairman of the commission. It was in no sense\\na question of personal or official dignity. It was a\\nquestion of departing so seriously from the standard\\nwhich he had publicly adopted as to compromise the\\ncause of reform and impair if not destroy his abil-\\nity to promote it. He resigned from the commission", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0250.jp2"}, "249": {"fulltext": "THE GREELEY CANVASS, 233\\nMarch 27, 1874. After he had reached this deci-\\nsion, but before he had acted upon it, he was stricken\\nwith a serious illness. Within the five previous\\nyears he had added to his ordinary work, which\\nwas by no means light, and to the very trying and\\nexposing lecturing tours, first the labors of the\\nConstitutional Convention, and then those of the\\nCivil Service Commission. He wrote to Mr. Nor-\\nton, then in Europe\\nMarch 12, 1873.\\nMy dear Charles, Anna holds the pen for\\nme to thank you for your thoughtful and affection-\\nate letter. It comes from your sick-bed to mine,\\nfor I have put the last feather on my patient cam-\\nel s back, and he is broken down. About four\\nweeks ago I came home from a short, hard trip to\\nthe West, worn out and ill. For a week I fought\\na fever which threatened several bad things, but all\\nthe bad symptoms have left me except a pudding-\\nhead and general prostration. I lie on the couch\\nmost all day, and am ordered to rest absolutely for\\nsix months. So you will find me when you return\\nwhat you first knew me, a gentleman of elegant\\nand boundless leisure. It is a sorry story, and I\\nknow you will be pained to hear it. I shall have\\nto work much more moderately hereafter, and am\\nprofoundly mortified to have brought myself to\\nthis pause. When I am able to move I shall per-\\nhaps go for a month to John Field s, at Newport,\\nwho most affectionately urges me.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0251.jp2"}, "250": {"fulltext": "234 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS,\\nIt makes me better to think of your all coming\\nhome again and with most unchanging love to all\\nof you, I am your always affectionate,\\nG. W. C.\\nThe half year of rest, if not of absolute rest,\\nwas taken, and restored him to nearly his usual\\nvigor and elasticity. The following winter he gave\\nup his lectures. He wrote\\n28 December, 1873.\\nIt is my first winter at home for nearly twenty\\nyears, and, as I am not very busy, except with\\nreading, it is in every way delightful. It is pleas-\\nant to have my say upon public affairs with per-\\nfect independence, and to feel, as I have occasion\\nto know, that it is not without result. I am often\\nvery sorry for the P [resident,] seldom angry with\\nhim, and must smile when I reflect that Reid,\\nJennings, Marble, and young Bennett are the great\\nand awful morning press of New York!\\nThe situation in public affairs was extremely\\nconfused. In 21, he remarked, the next step\\ncould be seen, but now it is wholly hidden. He\\nsaw, however, what it might ultimately require,\\nand he wrote to a correspondent: The right\\nand duty, upon proper occasion, to bolt, are the\\nright and duty of being honesk The way to secure\\nthe nomination of honest men is to refuse to vote\\nfor those who are not honest.\\nCommenting on the financial legislation in the", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0252.jp2"}, "251": {"fulltext": "THE GREELEY CANVASS. 235\\ndirection of inflation of the currency, he re-\\nmarked The Republican party, in unquestioned\\npossession of the government, has no policy upon\\nany of the most pressing questions before the coun-\\ntry.\\nHe received the veto by President Grant of the\\nInflation Bill as an act of the highest civic cour-\\nage, and one which saved the country from the\\nutter demoralization with which the dominant\\nparty threatened it, but he condemned with plain-\\nness the failure of the President to follow, in his\\nadministration of the civil service outside of the\\nrules of the commission, the principle declared and\\nembodied in the rules. The election of a Demo-\\ncratic majority in the House of Representatives\\nwas not unexpected by him. He wrote to Mr.\\nNorton on the morrow of the election\\nNovember 9, 74.\\nWell, my dearest Charles, I am no more sur-\\nprised than you. For two years the storm has\\nbeen in the air. How I wish it could have been\\naverted The result is another of the constant\\nproofs of the impracticability of political men,\\nand of the wisdom of babes and sucklings. It\\nwas meant, and will be interpreted by many, as an\\nadmonition. It is that, and will be of great service.\\nBut I do not feel sure of the end. I am disposed\\nto think that a party which has been adjudged un-\\nequal to the situation will hardly be called to deal\\nwith it again until the other party has been tried.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0253.jp2"}, "252": {"fulltext": "236 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nAnd as the other party has so great a proportion of\\nthe dangerous elements of the country in it, I feel,\\nnot surprised nor disappointed nor regretful, for\\nit was inevitable, but I do feel very sober.\\nEarly in 1874 Charles Sumner died. It is evi-\\ndence of the esteem in which Mr. Curtis was held\\nthat, though a firm and convinced opponent of the\\npolitical movement of which Mr. Siunner was in\\nhis last years one of the most prominent leaders,\\nhe was invited by the Legislature of Massachusetts\\nto deliver a eulogy upon the Senator, which he did\\n(June 9, 1874). It was a very noble address, and\\nmay be said to mark the opening of a new phase\\nof the career of Mr. Curtis as an orator. He had\\nnow practically abandoned the lectures which he\\nhad taken up nearly twenty years previous, and\\npursued with a steadfast and self-denying energy,\\nupon an object that suggests the labors of Walter\\nScott in his old age. By these, and by his politi-\\ncal speeches, he was known and greatly esteemed.\\nHe was now to undertake a much higher and more\\ndifficult class of oratory, by which in the next\\ntwenty years his reputation was greatly to be ex-\\ntended, and, as I think, established on a lasting\\nfoundation. I select from this address a few brief\\npassages fairly indicative of the tone of the whole,\\nbut having an added interest from the light they\\nthrow on Mr. Curtis s own character and his sub-\\nsequent course\\nMr. Sumner knew, as every intelligent man", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0254.jp2"}, "253": {"fulltext": "THE GREELEY CANVASS, 237\\nknows, that from the day when Themistocles led\\nthe educated Athenians at Salamis to that when\\nVon Moltke marshaled the educated Germans\\nagainst France, the sure foundations of states are\\nlaid in knowledge, not in ignorance, and that every\\nsneer at education, at culture, at book-learning,\\nwhich is the recorded wisdom of the experience of\\nmankind, is the demagogue s sneer at intelligent\\nliberty, inviting national degeneration and ruin.\\nWhile great political results are to be gained\\nby means of great parties, he knew that a party\\nwhich is too blind to see, or too cowardly to ac-\\nknowledge, the real issue, which pursues its ends,\\nhowever noble, by ignoble means, which tolerates\\ncorruption, which trusts unworthy men, which suf-\\nfers the public service to be prostituted to personal\\nends, defies reason and conscience, and summons\\nall honest men to oppose it.\\nDuring all that tremendous time, on the one\\nhand enthusiastically trusted, on the other con-\\ntemptuously scorned and hated, his heart was that\\nof a little child. He said no unworthy word, he\\ndid no unmanly deed dishonor fled his face and\\nto-day those who so long and so naturally, but so\\nwrongfully, believed him their enemy, strew rose-\\nmary for remembrance upon his grave.\\nThis is the great victory, the great lesson, the\\ngreat legacy of his life, that the fidelity of a public\\nman to conscience, not to party, is rewarded with\\nthe sincerest popular love and confidence. What\\nan inspiration to every youth, longing with generous", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0255.jp2"}, "254": {"fulltext": "238 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nambition to enter the great arena of the state, that\\nhe must heed first and always the divine voice in\\nhis own soul, if he would be sure of the liv-\\ning voices of good fame Living, how Sumner\\nserved us and, dying at this moment, how he\\nserves us still In a time when politics seem\\npeculiarly mean and selfish and corrupt, when there\\nis a general vague apprehension that the very\\nmoral foundations of the national character are\\nloosened, when good men are painfully anxious to\\nknow whether the heart of the people is hardened,\\nCharles Sumner dies and the universality and\\nsincerity of sorrow, such as the death of no man\\nleft living among us could awaken, show how true,\\nhow sound, how generous, is still the heart of the\\nAmerican people. This is the dying service of\\nCharles Sumner, a revelation which inspires every\\nAmerican to bind his shining example as a frontlet\\nbetween the eyes, and never again to despair of\\nthe highest and more glorious destiny of his coun-\\ntry.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0256.jp2"}, "255": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER XVIIL\\nTHE EEACTION 1874 TO 1876.\\nIn the autumn of 1874 Mr. Curtis wrote to Mr.\\nNorton I am invited to deliver the Centennial\\nOration at Concord on the 19th, and I shall ac-\\ncept. The Concord celebration was the first of\\nthe long series commemorating the events of the\\nRevolution, and it was Mr. Curtis s peculiar for-\\ntune not only to open the series at Concord, but\\nto close it with the address at the unveiling of the\\nWashington Statue at New York in 1883. The\\nConcord oration is noteworthy for the spirited\\nreview of the story of the day, for its masterly\\ntribute to Samuel Adams, and for the succinct and\\nimpressive statement of the conditions surrounding\\nthe birth of the Revolution. It was inevitable that\\nMr. Curtis should close by applying the lesson of\\nthe earlier day to the problems of the later. But\\nin doing this he could not conceal the grave anx-\\niety by which he was possessed. His spirit was\\nhopeful and courageous, but in the presence of the\\nPresident, whose iron determination and honest\\npurpose, sustained by a hold on the affections of\\nthe people only surpassed by that of Lincoln and\\nWashington, had palpably failed to turn back or", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0257.jp2"}, "256": {"fulltext": "240 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nseriously to stem the tide of political demoraliza-\\ntion with which Mr. Curtis was himself struggling,\\nthe orator s native hope and courage could point to\\nno assurance of near progress. The closing words\\nof the address were of high and impassioned ex-\\nhortation, but they were distinctly sad.\\nFor in the spring of 1875 it had become plain\\nthat General Grant had surrendered, and was not\\nprepared for the fight whicli must be made if the\\nreform of the civil service was even to be main-\\ntained within the scope of tbe rules. He sub-\\nmitted to Congress, at the opening of the short\\nsession in December, a recommendation for tbe\\ncontinuance of the appropriation, but in a tone\\nthat clearly implied that lie would abandon the\\nplan if the appropriation were withheld. It was\\nrefused, and on March 27th the rules were sus-\\npended, and the work of the commissioners came\\nto an end. It was, of course, a severe blow to the\\nhopes of Mr. Curtis, but it did not shake his in-\\ndomitable devotion. Very much had been gained.\\nThe principle of appointment for proved merit had\\nbeen embodied in a definite, working system and\\nthe system had stood admirably the test, not\\nmerely of experience, but of experience with the\\nmost bitter and unscrupulous opposition from men\\nof influence in public life, with inefficient and ill-\\ntrained subordinate officers, and with all the diffi-\\nculties growing from the looseness and low morals\\nof the service. No one could deny that it had\\nworked well in exact proportion to the fidelity", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0258.jp2"}, "257": {"fulltext": "THE REACTION, 24:1\\nwith which it had been applied. It had been\\nproved beyond all cavil that it would secure for\\nthe government competent persons of a high aver-\\nage character. The provision for probation had\\nbeen an entire protection against the possible\\ndefects of competitive examinations, and these\\ndefects had been found to be insignificant. In\\npractice the appointees standing highest in the\\nexaminations had, with very few and slight excep-\\ntions, passed with equal success the test of proba-\\ntion, and had steadily improved in efficiency after\\nentering the service. The testimony of the officers\\nin authority in the various departments was en-\\ntirely favorable, and for the most part heartily\\nfavorable, as to the effect of the system on the\\nservice. On the other hand the immense advan-\\ntage to them of the relief from worry and waste of\\ntime in dealing with the office-seekers was gener-\\nally recognized. It was shown beyond all doubt\\nthat the honest enforcement of the system ex-\\ncluded party politics from the service to the great\\ngain of both. In short, the three years from 1872\\nto 1875 had established the entire soundness of\\nthe reform, and its complete certainty, when honor-\\nably applied, to do all that its authors had pre-\\ndicted, promised, or even hoped.\\nIt is a natural question, why it was not persisted\\nin. The answer may be given in the words of\\nMr. Curtis twelve years later: It was once my\\nduty to say to President Grant that the adverse\\npressure of the Republican party would overpower", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0259.jp2"}, "258": {"fulltext": "242 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nhis purpose of reform. He replied with a smile\\nthat he was used to pressure. He smiled incredu-\\nlously, but he presently abandoned the reform.\\nThe adverse pressure of the Republican party\\nwas of a kind to which General Grant was in no\\nwise used. The pressure of a hostile force upon\\nthe lines he could meet, for he could have no pos-\\nsible desire to yield to it or escape from it. The\\npressure of civilians, when he was in military\\ncommand, he could also resist, for his authority\\nwas complete, his responsibility was definite and\\nexacting, and he knew perfectly what must be the\\nconsequences if he gave way. He knew, too, that\\nif he did not give way the civilians must. But\\nthe pressure of political friends high in the party\\nleadership was a wholly different force. It was at\\nonce powerful, subtle, unceasing, and indirect. It\\nenveloped him like an atmosphere, and was often\\nmost potent when he was not conscious of it. The\\nmen who brought this pressure to bear were far\\ntoo shrewd to let him understand their real object,\\nor to arouse in him anything like antagonism.\\nThey came to him as to the titular head of the\\nparty they made him feel that the success of the\\nparty depended on strong and prudent organiza-\\ntion, that this could be effected only by a proper\\ndistribution of the offices, and that distribution of\\noffices by schoolmasters examinations would\\ntend to weaken and demoralize the party. They\\npresented the party to him in the light of analogy\\nto an army, of which he was the chief, they were", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0260.jp2"}, "259": {"fulltext": "THE REACTION. 243\\nthe generals, and the place-holders were the subor-\\ndinate officers. At every step they showed him\\nease, popularity, success, honor, on the one hand,\\nand on the other the barren results of a futile\\neffort to carry out a visionary scheme, the only\\npractical outcome of which would be to give aid\\nand comfort to the enemy. And I do not at all\\ndeny that many of those through whom this pres-\\nsure was exerted were entirely sincere in their\\nviews, while some of them were unselfish and pa-\\ntriotic in their motives. They were veterans of\\nhard-won victories for the Republican cause in a\\nstruggle where offices had been freely used to\\nbuild up and maintain the organization, and they\\nwere convinced that to give up the offices was so\\nplainly injurious as to be party treason. The\\nquestions of the war were settled. The people\\nwere no longer sharply divided by distinct issues.\\nThe opponents of the Republican party were stead-\\nily gaining strength. These men felt, and to some\\nextent they made President Grant feel, that in such\\na strait, with a doubtful or at least a very diffi-\\ncult national campaign coming on, it would be folly\\nto reject any resources within reach of the party.\\nThey could not see, nor could he, that the use of\\nthe Federal offices as patronage or spoils, as\\nthe reward and incentive of political effort, was in\\nreality throwing away that supreme resource, the\\nconfidence of intelligent men in the honesty and\\nunselfishness of the purposes of a party. Mr.\\nCurtis s view was opposed to theirs, and a few", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0261.jp2"}, "260": {"fulltext": "244 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nbrief months was to verify it. History teaches,\\nhe said, no lesson more distinctly than that no-\\nthing is so practical as principle, nothing so little\\nvisionary as honesty. Political movements, like\\nall other good causes, are constantly betrayed by\\nthe ignorance which thinks itself smartness, and\\nthe contempt of ideas which is practical common\\nsense.\\nThe next year was one of relative quiet for\\nMr. Curtis. He turned to his work on Harper s\\nWeekly with a sense of relief, on the one hand,\\nfrom the pressure of official responsibility, and on\\nthe other with renewed determination to educate,\\narouse, and direct public opinion toward the reform\\nwhich had become the chief object of his life in\\npublic affairs. He enjoyed his tranquil home and\\nthe fairly settled round of professional duties with\\na deep content. A glimpse of the family life is\\nafforded in the following note to Mr. Lowell, re-\\nferring to the ode read by the author at Concord\\nat the Centennial Celebration\\nWest New Bkighton, Staten Island, N. Y,,\\n17th May, 1875.\\nMy dear James, I read and then re-read\\nyour ode last evening to the assembled family, and\\nI cannot tell you how fine, how superb, it seems to\\nall of us. It is full of the noblest thought, of\\nthe loftiest melody. The dance of a thousand rills\\nis in it, and the murmur of old woods. If you\\nhave ever done anything more satisfactory I don t\\nknow it.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0262.jp2"}, "261": {"fulltext": "THE REACTION. 245\\nThis line is only to say that I can t say any-\\nthing but to tell you that all who love liberty will\\nlove it and you the more for this glorious strain.\\nWe are all well, and all send you our love.\\nYour most affectionate\\nG. W. C.\\nIn a letter to Mr. Norton, alluding to a week in\\nWashington, there is a note of the really moment-\\nous election that was approaching\\n28th February, 1876.\\nI returned Friday from Washington, where I\\nhad passed a week with the Bancrofts. Nothing\\ncould surpass their kindness. From the moment I\\ncame until that which saw me off, I was passed\\nalong from one interest and pleasure to another,\\nseeing and hearing all that is most desirable in\\nWashington. I think the most extraordinary\\nthing I learned was that, a little while ago, Sam\\nWard (California and lobby Sam) had the whole\\nSupreme Court of the United States Chief Jus-\\ntice and all to dine with him at Welcker s on a\\nSunday afternoon\\ndined at the secretary of state s with Fer-\\nnando Wood, handing out Mrs. Fish to dinner.\\nAll that I saw and heard of Bristow, whom I\\nknew four years ago in Washington, was good and\\nsatisfactory. I asked Jewell, at the attorney-gen-\\neral s table, whom the party not the managers\\nwould make the candidate, and he answered in-\\nstantly, Bristow.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0263.jp2"}, "262": {"fulltext": "246 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS,\\nMr. Benjamin H. Bristow, as secretary of the\\ntreasury, had won the esteem and confidence of the\\nbest men of the Republican party by the energy\\nand simple fidelity with which he had undertaken\\nto prosecute extensive frauds on the internal rev-\\nenue, known as the whiskey frauds. He was a\\nnative of Kentucky, had served honorably in the\\nUnion army, and had taken an earnest interest in\\nthe reform of the civil service. In the followino:\\nsummer Mr. Curtis was elected a delegate to the\\nRepublican National Convention, and supported\\nthe nomination of Mr. Bristow, though he finally\\nvoted for that of Mr. Rutherford B. Hayes, lead-\\ning the opposition to Senator Conkling, who then\\nrepresented the administration element in the\\nparty in the State of New York. It is not neces-\\nsary here to recite the situation in which the elec-\\ntion left the country. It is sufficient to say that\\nthe electoral votes of South Carolina, Florida, and\\nLouisiana, and a part of those of Oregon, were in\\ndispute that a single one of these votes given to\\nMr. Tilden, the Democratic candidate, would have\\nbeen sufficient to elect him that there were two\\nsets of electoral votes from these States sent to\\nWashington; that the House of Representatives\\nhad a Democratic majority, the Senate a Repub-\\nlican majority that the votes were to be opened\\nby the President of the Senate and counted in the\\npresence of both houses. The Republican claim\\nwas, that the President of the Senate could decide\\nwhich votes should be opened and submitted the", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0264.jp2"}, "263": {"fulltext": "THE REACTION. 247\\nDemocratic claim was, that all votes must be\\nopened and submitted, and the choice made as to\\ndisputed votes by each house, the assent of both\\nbeing necessary to an election. The former course\\nwould have given the election to Mr. Hayes, the\\nlatter to Mr. Tilden. The country was in a state\\nof the deepest confusion. Party feeling ran very\\nhigh. The passions of the war were reawakened,\\nand the dread possibility of civil strife was oppress-\\ning or exciting the minds of all.\\nAt the very height of the struggle, and before\\nany peaceful solution of it had been even plausibly\\nargued, Mr. Curtis was called upon to speak at the\\ndinner of the New England Society of New York\\non the 22d of December. He had chosen as his\\ntoast The Puritan Principle Liberty under the\\nLaw. His speech was a brief one, and it was\\nso complete an example of the spirit in which he\\nmet every occasion, and plucked from its heart\\nthe deepest meaning, that I shall quote (from the\\nsociety s report) the latter half of it\\nDo you ask me, then, what is this Puritan\\nprinciple Do you ask me whether it is as good\\nfor to-day as for yesterday; whether it is good\\nfor every national emergency whether it is good\\nfor the situation of this hour? I think we need\\nneither doubt nor fear. The Puritan principle in\\nits essence is simply individual freedom. From\\nthat spring religious liberty and political equality.\\nThe free state, the free church, the free school,\\nthese are the triple armor of American nationality,", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0265.jp2"}, "264": {"fulltext": "248 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS,\\nof American security. But the Pilgrims, while\\nthey have stood above all men for this idea of lib-\\nerty, have always asserted liberty under law^ and\\nnever separated it from law. John Kobinson, in\\nthe letter that he wrote the Pilgrims when they\\nsailed, said these words, that well, sir, might be\\nwritten in gold around the cornice of that future\\nbanqueting hall to which you have alluded You\\nknow that the image of the Lord s dignity and\\nauthority which the magistry beareth is honor-\\nable in how mean person soever. (Applause.)\\nThis is the Puritan principle. Those men stood\\nfor liberty under the law. They had tossed long\\nupon a wintry sea their minds were full of images\\nderived from their voyage they knew that the will\\nof the people alone is but a gale smiting a rudder-\\nless and sailless ship, and hurling it, a mass of\\nwreck, upon the rocks. But the will of the people\\nsubject to law is the same gale filling the trim\\ncanvas of a ship that minds the helm, bearing it\\nover yawning and awful abysses of ocean safely to\\nport. (Loud applause.)\\nNow, gentlemen, in this country the Puritan\\nprinciple has advanced to this point, that it pro-\\nvides a lawful remedy for every emergency that\\nmay arise. I stand here as a son of New Eng-\\nland. In every fibre of my being, I am a child\\nof the Pilgrim. The most knightly of all the\\ngentlemen at Elizabeth s court said to the young\\npoet, when he would write an immortal song,\\nLook into thy heart and write. And I, sirs and", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0266.jp2"}, "265": {"fulltext": "THE REACTION, 249\\nbrothers, if, looking into my own heart at this\\nmoment, I might dare to think that what I find\\nwritten there is written also upon the heart of\\nmy mother, clad in her snows at home, her voice\\nin this hour would be a message spoken from the\\nland of the Pilgrims to the capital of this na-\\ntion, a message like that which Patrick Henry\\nsent from Virginia to Massachusetts when he heard\\nof Concord and Lexington I am not a Virgin-\\nian, I am an American. (Great applause.) And\\nso, gentlemen, at this hour we are not Republicans,\\nwe are not Democrats, we are Americans. (Tre-\\nmendous applause.)\\nThe voice of New England, I believe, going to\\nthe capital, would be this, that neither is the Re-\\npublican Senate to insist upon its exclusive parti-\\nsan way, nor is the Democratic House to insist\\nupon its exclusive partisan way; but Senate and\\nHouse, representing the American people and the\\nAmerican people only, in the light of the Constitu-\\ntion and by the authority of the law, are to provide\\na way over which a President, be he Republican\\nor be he Democrat, shall pass unchallenged to his\\nchair. (Vociferous applause, the company rising\\nto their feet.) Ah, gentlemen (renewed applause),\\nthink not, Mr. President, that I am forgetting\\nthe occasion or its amenities. (Cries of No, no,\\nand Go on. I am remembering the Puritans I\\nam remembering Plymouth Rock and the virtues\\nthat made it illustrious. (A voice Justice.\\nBut we, gentlemen, are to imitate those virtues, as", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0267.jp2"}, "266": {"fulltext": "250 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nour toast says, only by being greater than the men\\nwho stood upon that rock. As this gay and lux-\\nurious banquet to their scant and severe fare,\\nso must our virtues, to be worthy of them, be\\ngreater and richer than theirs. And as we are\\nthree centuries older, so we should be three cen-\\nturies wiser than they. Sons of the Pilgrims, you\\nare not to level forests, you are not to war with\\nsavage men and savage beasts, you are not to tame\\na continent nor even found a state. Our task is\\nnobler, is diviner. Our task, sir, is to reconcile\\na nation. It is to curb the fury of party spirit.\\nIt is to introduce a loftier and manlier spirit\\neverywhere into our political life. It is to edu-\\ncate every boy and every girl, and then to leave\\nthem perfectly free to go from any school to any\\nchurch. Above all, sir, it is to protect absolutely\\nthe equal rights of the poorest and the richest, of\\nthe most ignorant and most intelligent citizen and\\nit is to stand forth, brethren, as a triple wall of\\nbrass around our native land against the mad\\nblows of violence or the fatal dry-rot of fraud.\\n(Loud applause.) And at this moment, sir, the\\ngrave and austere shades of the forefathers whom\\nwe invoke bend above us in benediction as they\\ncall us to this sublime task. This, brothers and\\nfriends, this is to imitate the virtues of our fore-\\nfathers this is to make our day as glorious as\\ntheirs. (Great applause, followed by three\\ncheers for the speaker.)\\nI have quoted this speech from the New Eng-", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0268.jp2"}, "267": {"fulltext": "THE REACTION. 251\\nland Society s report, and I have included notes of\\nthe applause, because they give the reader an im-\\npression of the effect of the speech upon an audi-\\nence, which, even after dinner, as those familiar\\nwith it will concede, is more easily amused than\\nstirred. There can be no doubt that the influ-\\nence of the speech was considerable in determining\\nthe acceptance of the plan of a commission, and of\\nthe decision of the commission, when reached on the\\neve of the inauguration. It is not easy at this dis-\\ntance to conceive the real peril of the situation.\\nAs I have said, it was the passions of the war that\\nwere reawakened and intensified. Many Repub-\\nlicans believed that Mr. Tilden s accession to the\\nPresidency meant the loss of all that had been\\ngained by the war. Many Democrats, especially\\nin the South, believed that Mr. Hayes s accession\\nmeant the extension to the national government of\\nthe corruption and greed of the carpet-bag re-\\ngime in the South. In the absence of an arbitra-\\ntion agreed to by both sides, either party would\\nhave been furious at facing such dangers and\\nwrongs as they believed involved, and no President\\nwith a title depending on a disputed and technical\\ninterpretation of an obscure statute could have\\nfaced such fury without grave risks. To have\\ncontributed in an appreciable degree to the dissi-\\npation of the storm thus threatened is no slight\\nclaim to the grateful admiration of the country.\\nThis Mr. Curtis did in a speech of but a few minutes.\\nThe speech is interesting also because, though it was", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0269.jp2"}, "268": {"fulltext": "252 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nnot unpremeditated, it bears marks of being wholly\\nunprepared. In the quiet of his study Mr. Curtis\\nwould not have written out the slightly confused\\nmetaphors which, in the fervor of the occasion,\\nrushed one upon another, for he was singularly\\ncareful in the construction of his periods when he\\ntook time to construct them in advance. These\\ntraits of the speech, however, only deepen the im-\\npression of the power of the speaker whose un-\\nmarshaled utterances so deeply moved his hearers,\\nand, twenty years later, must still move the reader.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0270.jp2"}, "269": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER XIX.\\nTHE PARTING OF THE WAYS.\\nAt the outset of Mr. Hayes s administration,\\nhe sought diligently to connect with it men whose\\nnames would give it the prestige which his own\\nmodest career did not supply, and which the cir-\\ncumstances of his election tended to make difficult.\\nAmong others he turned to Mr. Curtis, who wrote\\nas follows to Mr. Norton\\n19th May, 1877.\\nWhen the President was here during the last\\nweek, Mr. Evarts offered me my choice of the\\nchief missions, evidently expecting that I would\\nchoose the English.\\nPutting myself out of the question, would it not\\nbe equally serviceable to the good cause and the\\nadministration if it were openly offered to me, and\\ndeclined by me in a way to give the administration\\nthe credit, and upon the ground, not of shirking\\nthe public service, but of my preference for my\\npresent public duty? That is, could not all the\\npublic advantage be gained by the offer, and would\\nnot the advantage be greater than the injury to the\\nadministration of turning to a second choice If\\nthe administration are not willing to have the offer\\nknown unless I accept, ought I to insist", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0271.jp2"}, "270": {"fulltext": "254 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS,\\nTell me briefly wliat you think, and whether you\\nthink, in any case, that a man absolutely without\\nlegal training of any kind could be a proper min-\\nister. I know that you love me, but I confide in\\nyour perfect candor. Please say nothing of it to\\nany one.\\nIt will be seen that Mr. Curtis was not insensi-\\nble to the attractions of this offer, nor, at first,\\ndecided to put it aside. But finally he did so, and\\nunquestionably chiefly from the motive ascribed in\\nLowell s lines\\nAt courts, in senates, who so fit to serve\\nAnd both invited, but you would not swerve,\\nAn meaner prizes waiving that you might\\nIn civic duty spend your heat and light,\\nUnpaid, untrammeled, with a sweet disdain\\nRefusing posts men grovel to attain.\\nThis is the poet s way of putting it. I do not\\nthink that there was in Mr. Curtis s mind a trace\\nof disdain, even of sweet disdain, for the\\npost of representative of his country at a foreign\\ncourt, and particularly at the court of St. James.\\nOn the contrary, however he might regard the mo-\\ntives of some who sought such places, he under-\\nstood clearly enough the honor they brought to\\nthose who honorably filled them. His doubt, as\\nhis note to Mr. Norton shows, was as to his own\\nfitness. He might have dismissed that, had his\\nmodesty permitted him to remember Irving in\\nSpain, Bancroft in Germany, Motley in England,\\nMarsh in Italy. And, since it is Lowell s view I", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0272.jp2"}, "271": {"fulltext": "THE PARTING OF THE WA YS. 255\\nam talking of, I cannot but picture to myself the\\nimpression our English friends would have had\\nof the American representative, and particularly\\nof the American occasional speaker, had they\\nbeen permitted to hear and know first Curtis and\\nthen Lowell. It is a pleasing fancy, but it is not\\nnecessary to develop it. Mr. Curtis saw his civic\\nduty at home, and felt that here better than else-\\nwhere he could do what was worth trying to do.\\nHe wrote to Mr. Norton (May 28, 1877), who\\nhad sought to change his decision\\nI am truly obliged to you for your letter. I\\nknew it would be hard to satisfy (fortify myself\\nagainst it, but I have done so, and I shall show you\\nthat I do wisely and therefore right in declining.\\nAnd in July he wrote to Mr. Lowell, just ap-\\npointed minister to Spain\\nASHFIELD, July 9, 1877.\\nMy dear James, I must not let you go with-\\nout a word of love and farewell, although I have\\nmeant to write you a letter. I told Charles that\\non every ground, except that you go away, I am\\ndelighted that you are going. With me the case\\nis very different. I happen to be just in the posi-\\ntion where I can be of infinitely greater service to\\nthe good old cause, and to the administration that\\nis meaning and trying to advance it, than I could\\npossibly be abroad. Evarts wrote me that he felt\\njust as I did about it. But, unless there was some\\noverpowering private reason, you could not escape\\ngoing, and nothing has done this administration", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0273.jp2"}, "272": {"fulltext": "256 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nmore good, nor rejoiced so many hearts, as your ap-\\npointment. You will be blown on to your castles\\nin Spain by a whirlwind of benedictions.\\nAnna sends ber love, and I beg my most friendly\\nremembrance to your wife, and I am always most\\nAffectionately yours,\\nG. W. C.\\nMr. Curtis recognized the sincere purpose of the\\nPresident to do all that he could to raise the level\\nof the civil service, and with it the level of Ameri-\\ncan politics. A new Civil Service Commission\\nwas appointed, with Mr. Dorman B. Eaton at its\\nhead and the rules formulated under Mr. Curtis\\nwere applied with a measure of thoroughness at\\nWashington, especially in the Department of the\\nInterior under the Hon. Carl Schurz, in the cus-\\ntom-house in New York, and in the post-office,\\nthen placed in charge of Hon. Thomas L. James.\\nMr. Curtis rejoiced at these evidences of progress\\nin the reform, and warmly supported Mr. Hayes.\\nThe President needed support. He had deeply\\noffended the Republican leaders, who had been\\nin practically unrestrained power under President\\nGrant, by the very policy which won for him the\\nconfidence and respect of Mr. Curtis. He had\\nmade a definite stand, which, if it was not abso-\\nlutely unyielding, was, in all the circumstances, a\\nvery firm and honorable one, against the spoils\\nsystem, and necessarily against the claims of the\\nSenators, whose political influence was almost", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0274.jp2"}, "273": {"fulltext": "THE PARTING OF THE WAYS. 257\\nwholly due to their control of the distribution of\\nthe spoils. Chief among these was Senator Roscoe\\nConkling, of New York, with whom, as the politi-\\ncal leader in his own State, Mr. Curtis had been\\nintimately, though by no means always amicably,\\nrelated. At the approach of the fall election,\\nMr. Curtis was a delegate to the Republican State\\nConvention, which was in the control of the Conk-\\nling faction. He supported in the convention a\\nresolution approving the course of the administra-\\ntion, and particularly its course with reference to\\nthe civil service. From the point of view of the\\nmost ordinary political sagacity, the resolution was\\nnot only just but proper. To refuse to adopt it\\nwas to discredit the party in the approaching con-\\ntest, and to commit the most unpardonable sin in\\nthe partisan decalogue, that of placing a weapon\\nin the hands of the enemy. Had the resolution\\nbeen untruthful, had it approved efforts at reform\\nthat had never been made, and recognized a\\nvirtue in the national administration that did not\\nexist, it would have encountered no opposition from\\nthe Conkling side. As it was, Mr. Conkling not\\nonly opposed it, but he indulged in a curiously\\nbitter and vulgar attack on Mr. Curtis personally.\\nReplying to a note from Mr. Norton, regarding\\nthis incident, Mr. Curtis wrote\\nAsHFiELD, 30th September, 77.\\nMy dearest Charles, Your note is here,\\nand it is lucky that you are not, for I should do no", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0275.jp2"}, "274": {"fulltext": "258 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nwork. It was the saddest sight I ever knew, that\\nman glaring at me in a fury of hate, and storming\\nout his foolish blackguardism. I was all pity. I\\nhad not thought him great, but I had not suspected\\nhow small he was. His friends, the best, were con-\\nfounded. One of them said to me next day, It\\nwas not amazement that I felt, but consternation.\\nI spoke offhand, and the report is horrible. The\\nagent of the Associated Press came to me and\\napologized. Conkling s speech was carefully writ-\\nten out, and therefore you do not get all the venom,\\nand no one can imagine the Mephistophelean leer\\nand spite. I have many letters. Oh dear! how\\nmuch I prefer these quiet hills, and how I am\\ndriven out on the stormy seas\\nMr. Curtis was indeed constantly driven out on\\nthe stormy seas, but the force that drove him was\\nfrom within, not from without. He went where\\nthere was danger to the cause of good government,\\nfollowing Sidney s exhortation to a younger bro-\\nther Whenever you hear of a good war, go to\\nit. I quote here some passages from his address\\nin this same year to the students of Union College\\non The Public Duty of Educated Men. They\\nwill show by what principles he believed himself\\nto be guided, and will throw light on his subsequent\\ncourse\\nBy the words public duty I do not necessarily\\nmean official duty, though it may include that. I\\nmean simply that constant and active practical par-", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0276.jp2"}, "275": {"fulltext": "THE PARTING OF THE WAYS. 259\\nticipation In the details of politics without which,\\nupon the part of the most intelligent citizens, the\\nconduct of public affairs falls under the control of\\nselfish and ignorant or crafty and venal men. I\\nmean that personal attention which, as it must be\\nincessant, is often wearisome and even repulsive, to\\nthe details of politics attendance upon meetings,\\nservice upon committees, care and trouble and ex-\\npense of many kinds, patient endurance of rebuffs,\\nchagrins, ridicules, disappointment, defeats in a\\nword, all those duties and services which, when self-\\nishly and meanly performed, stigmatize a man as a\\nmere politician, but whose constant, honorable, in-\\ntelligent, and vigilant performance is the gradual\\nbuilding, stone by stone and layer by layer, of that\\ngreat temple of self-restrained liberty which all\\ngenerous souls mean that our government shall\\nbe.\\nUndoubtedly a practical and active interest in\\npolitics will lead you to party association and coop-\\neration. Great public results the repeal of the\\ncorn laws in England, the abolition of slavery in\\nAmerica are due to that organization of effort,\\nthat concentration of aim, which arouse, instruct,\\nand inspire the popular heart and will. This is\\nthe spring of party, and those who seek practical\\nresults instinctively turn to this agency of united\\naction. But in this tendency, useful in the state\\nas the fire upon the household hearth, lurks, as in\\nthat fire, the deadliest peril. Here is our re-\\npublic it is a ship, with towering canvas spread,", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0277.jp2"}, "276": {"fulltext": "260 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nsweeping before a prosperous gale over a foaming\\nand sparkling sea it is a lightning train darting\\nwith awful speed along the edges of dizzy abysses\\nand across bridges that quiver over unsounded\\ngulfs. Because we are Americans we have no\\npeculiar charm, no magic spell, to stay the eternal\\nlaws. Our safety lies alone in cool self-possession,\\ndirecting the forces of wind and wave and fire. If\\nonce the madness to which the excitement tends\\nescapes control, the catastrophe is inevitable. And\\nso deep is the conviction that sooner or later this\\nmadness must seize every republic, that the most\\nplausible suspicion of the permanence of the Amer-\\nican government is founded in the belief that party\\nspirit cannot be restrained. It is, indeed, a master\\npassion, but its control is the true conservatism of\\nthe republic, and of happy human progress and\\nit is men made familiar by education with the\\nhistory of its ghastly catastrophes, men with the\\nproud courage of independence, who are to temper,\\nby lofty action born of that knowledge, the fero-\\ncity of party spirit.\\nThis spirit adds moral coercion to sophistry.\\nIt denounces as a traitor him who protests against\\nparty tyranny, and it makes unflinching adherence\\nto what is called regular party action the condition\\nof the gratification of honorable political ambition.\\nBecause a man who sympathizes with the party\\naims refuses to vote for a thief, this spirit scorns\\nhim as a rat and a renegade. Because he holds\\nto principle and law against party expediency and", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0278.jp2"}, "277": {"fulltext": "THE PARTING OF THE WAYS, 261\\ndictation, he is proclaimed as the betrayer of his\\ncountry, justice, and humanity. Because he tran-\\nquilly insists upon deciding for himself when he\\nmust dissent from his party, he is reviled as a pop-\\ninjay and a visionary fool. Seeking with honest\\npurpose only the welfare of his country, the hot air\\naround him teems with the cry of the grand old\\nparty, the traditions of the party, loyalty to the\\nparty, future of the party, servant of the party\\nand he sees and hears the gorged and portly money-\\nchangers in the temple usurping the very divinity\\nof the God. Young hearts be not dismayed. If\\never one of you shall be the man so denounced, do\\nnot forget that your own individual convictions are\\nthe whip of small cords which God has put into\\nyour hands to expel the blasphemers.\\nMr. Curtis was approaching the parting of the\\nways. There was no doubt, when the time came, as\\nto what guide he would follow.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0279.jp2"}, "278": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER XX.\\nPOLITICAL INDEPENDENCE.\\nOn the 17th of October, 1877, Mr. Curtis\\ndelivered the oration at Schuylerville, Saratoga\\nCounty, New York, on the hundredth anniversary\\nof the surrender of Burgoyne. As he said The\\ndrama of the Revolution opened in New England,\\nculminated in New York, and closed in Virginia.\\nIt was the culmination that was celebrated on the\\nbattle-field where, for the first time in the long and\\nfluctuating struggle, the American forces met and\\ndefeated in the open field the disciplined army of a\\nbrave and capable English commander. The story\\nof the battle, and of the events that led up to it, is\\nadmirably told in Mr. Curtis s oration. I cite the\\nclosing passages, as giving the spirit in which Mr.\\nCurtis was wont to apply to the present the les-\\nsons of the past\\nIt is the story of a hundred years ago. It\\nhas been ceaselessly told by sire to son along this\\nvalley and through this land. The later attempt\\nof the same foe, and the bright day of victory at\\nPlattsburg, renewed and confirmed the old hostil-\\nity. Alienation of feeling between the parent\\ncountry and the child became traditional, and on", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0280.jp2"}, "279": {"fulltext": "POLITICAL INDEPENDENCE. 263\\nboth sides of the sea a narrow prejudice survives,\\nand still sometimes seeks to kindle the embers of\\nthat wasted fire. But here and now we stand\\nupon the grave of old enmities. Hostile breast-\\nwork and redoubt are softly hidden under grass\\nand grain shot and shell and every deadly missile\\nare long since buried beneath our feet and from\\nthe mouldering dust of mingled f oemen springs all\\nthe verdure that makes this scene so fair. While\\nnature tenderly and swiftly repairs the ravages of\\nwar, we suffer no hostility to linger in our hearts.\\nTwo months ago the British Governor-General of\\nCanada was invited to meet the President of the\\nUnited States at Bennington, in happy commem-\\noration, not of a British defeat, but of a triumph of\\nEnglish liberty. So, upon this famous and deci-\\nsive field, let every unworthy feeling perish Here\\nto the England that we fought let us now, grown\\ngreat and strong with a hundred years, hold out\\nthe hand of fellowship and peace. Here, where\\nthe English Burgoyne, in the very moment of his\\nbitter humiliation, generously pledged George\\nWashington, let us, in our high hour of triumph,\\nof power, of hope, pledge the Queen Here in the\\ngrave of brave and unknown foemen may mutual\\njealousies and doubts and animosities lie buried\\nforever Henceforth, revering their common glo-\\nrious traditions, may England and America press\\nalways forward side by side in noble and aspiring\\nrivalry to promote the welfare of man\\nFellow-citizens, with the glory of Burgoyne s", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0281.jp2"}, "280": {"fulltext": "264 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nsurrender, the Revolutionary glory of tlie State of\\nNew York still fresh in our memories, amid these\\nthousands of her sons and daughters whose hearts\\nglow with lofty pride, I am glad that the hallowed\\nspot on which we stand compels us to remember\\nnot only the imperial State, but the national com-\\nmonwealth whose young hands here together struck\\nthe blow, and on whose older head descends the\\nample benediction of the victory. On yonder\\nheight, a hundred years ago, Virginia lay encamped.\\nBeyond, and further to the north, watched New\\nHampshire and Vermont. Here in the wooded\\nuplands of the south stood New Jersey and New\\nYork while across the river to the east, Connecti-\\ncut and Massachusetts closed the triumphal line.\\nHere was the symbol of the Revolution, a common\\ncause, a common strife, a common triumph the\\ncause, not of a class, but of human nature the\\ntriumph, not of a colony, but of United America.\\nAnd we who stand here proudly remembering, we\\nwho have seen Virginia and New York the\\nNorth and the South more bitterly hostile than\\nthe armies whose battles shook this ground, we\\nwho have mutually proved in deadlier conflict the\\nconstancy and the courage of all the States, which,\\nproud to be peers, yet own no master but their\\nunited selves, we renew our hearts in imperish-\\nable devotion to the common American faith, the\\ncommon American pride, the common American\\nglory Here Americans stood and triumphed.\\nHere Americans stand and bless their memory.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0282.jp2"}, "281": {"fulltext": "POLITICAL INDEPENDENCE. 265\\nAnd here, for a thousand years, may grateful gen-\\nerations of Americans come to rehearse the glo-\\nrious story, and to rejoice in a supreme and benig-\\nnant American nationality\\nWhen, in the winter of 1878, at the age of four-\\nscore years and four, William CuUen Byrant died,\\nMr. Curtis was invited by the New York Histori-\\ncal Society to deliver a commemorative address,\\nwhich he did on December 30 before an assem-\\nbly of very unusual distinction, including the\\nPresident, Mr. Hayes, and members of his Cabi-\\nnet. The address is in curious harmony with the\\nsubject and the author, and, with the exception of\\nthat on Lowell, is perhaps the most notable of the\\nseries delivered by Mr. Curtis. Its spirit is pecu-\\nliarly calm, and its style quiet, sustained, and of\\nrare purity and simplicity. I think that it re-\\nmains the most satisfactory tribute to the noble\\nand gifted and yet not popular character of Mr.\\nBryant. It gives, moreover, very interesting in-\\ndications of the scholar s nature in Mr. Curtis.\\nUndoubtedly, he says, the grandeur and so-\\nlemnity of Wordsworth, as Bryant told Dana, had\\nstirred his soul with sympathy. But not the false\\nsimplicity that sometimes betrays Wordsworth,\\nnor the lurid melodrama of Byron, nor the aerial\\nfervor of Shelley, nor the luxuriant beauty of\\nKeats, in whose line the Greek marble is some-\\ntimes suffused with a splendor of Venetian color,\\nnor in his later years the felicity and richness\\nof Tennyson, who has revealed the flexibility and", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0283.jp2"}, "282": {"fulltext": "286 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\npicturesqueness of the English language in lines\\nwhich a line of Keats describes,\\nLike lucent sirups tinct with cinnamon,\\nnot all these varying and entrancing strains, which\\ncaptivated the public of the hour, touched in the\\nleast the verse of Bryant. His last considerable\\npoem, The Flood of Years, but echoes in its med-\\nitative flow the solemn cadences of Thanatopsis.\\nThe child was father of the man. The genius\\nof Bryant, not profuse and imperial, neither in-\\ntense with dramatic passion nor throbbing with lyr-\\nical fervor, but calm, meditative, pure, has its true\\nsymbol among his native hills, a mountain spring\\nuntainted by mineral or slime of earth or reptile\\nvenom, cool, limpid, and serene. His verse is the\\nvirile expression of the healthy communion of a\\nstrong, sound man with the familiar aspects of\\nnature, and its broad, clear, open-air quality has a\\ncertain Homeric suggestiveness.\\nIt was, however, Bryant the editor, the stead-\\nfast and faithful worker in the field where right\\nopinion is cultivated, that elicited from Mr. Curtis\\nthe most eloquent tribute. It is the lesson of\\nthis editorial life that public service the most re-\\nsplendent and the most justly renowned on sea or\\nshore, in Cabinet or Congress, however great,\\nhowever beneficent, is not a truer service than that\\nof the private citizen like Bryant, who for half\\na century, with conscience and knowledge, with\\npower and unquailing courage, did his part in\\nholding the hand and heart of his country true to", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0284.jp2"}, "283": {"fulltext": "POLITICAL INDEPENDENCE. 267\\nher now glorious ideal. And again, in still more\\nemphatic strain\\nIt is by no official title, by no mere literary\\nfame, by no signal or single service or work, no\\nmarvelous Lear or Transfiguration, no stroke of\\nstatecraft calling to political life a new world to\\nredress the balance of the old, no resounding Aus-\\nterlitz or triumphant Trafalgar, that Bryant is\\ncommemorated. There may have been, in his long\\nlifetime, genius more affluent and creative, greater\\nrenown, abilities more commanding, careers more\\ndazzling and romantic, but no man, no American,\\nliving or dead, has more truly or amply illustrated\\nthe scope and the fidelity of republican citizen-\\nship.\\nIf in these brief quotations I seem to have\\ntraced in Mr. Curtis s portrait of Bryant some of\\nthe features of Mr. Curtis s character, it is because\\nof the sympathy of aim that inspired both. It is\\nnot seldom that the literary artist, like the artist\\nin portraiture, reveals himself in what he sees in\\nhis subject.\\nShortly after the delivery of this address, Mr.\\nCurtis wrote to Mr. Norton (January 11, 1879):\\nI think my view of Bryant is not unjust, per-\\nhaps a generous one, but true to the chief aspects\\nof the man. The occasion was magnificent, for it\\nwas unquestionably the most distinguished audi-\\nence ever assembled in New York. The Presi-\\ndent accepted, he said, solely to honor me, and\\nEvarts impressed the same truth upon me. After", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0285.jp2"}, "284": {"fulltext": "268 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nhis return the President wrote me a warm little\\nnote, offering me the German mission. I was\\ntouched, for I saw his wish but I told him that I\\nhad carefully considered the whole subject on a\\nformer occasion, and, not without some surrender\\nof hopes and ambitions, I had decided that it was\\nnot wise for me to change the order of my life.\\nI had had no misgivings and had none now.\\nIt does not seem to me at fifty-five probable\\nthat I shall greatly vary the order of that life here-\\nafter.\\nThe order of his life was, indeed, not to be\\nchanged, but the principle that directed it was to\\nlead him into new and constantly more trying\\ncontests. In the following year, the Republican\\nparty in the State of New York nominated for\\ngovernor Mr. Alonzo B. Cornell, a former promi-\\nnent office-holder in the Federal service, an ac-\\ntive manager of the party machinery based on the\\ndistribution of the patronage, and a conspicuous\\nrepresentative of the group of politicians who had\\nset themselves again to nominate General Grant\\nfor the Presidency in 1880, and to renew that\\ndomination of the spoils system which had fol-\\nlowed the breakdown of the first attempt at civil\\nservice reform. The nomination was accomplished\\nby the extreme methods of party manipulation that\\ngo with the spoils idea, and aroused an intense and\\nindignant opposition in the Republican party, which\\ntook the form of refusal to vote for the candidate\\nfor governor while voting for other candidates,", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0286.jp2"}, "285": {"fulltext": "POLITICAL INDEPENDENCE. 269\\nin the technical language of politics, scratching\\nthe name of Mr. Cornell. An organization was\\nformed under the title of Independent Republi-\\ncans, commonly referred to, however, as Scratch-\\ners, to promote this plan of protest. It was so\\nfar successful that twenty thousand adherents were\\nenrolled throughout the State. Mr. Cornell was\\nelected by the opposition of Tammany Hall, in\\nNew York city, to the Democratic candidate, but\\nthe influence of the independent movement was\\nvery great and lasting.\\nAmong the mortally wounded, wrote Mr.\\nCurtis, November 6, is Conkling. Everybody\\nhere feels that it is he who has engineered the\\nridiculous result of a Republican governor elected\\nby Tammany Hall in pursuance of a plan to show\\nthat New York will be a Republican State next\\nyear. Tilden goes with him, and, it seems to me,\\nSherman likewise. Evarts was, like Disraeli, un-\\nspeakable.\\nThe organization of Independent Republicans,\\nwith this distinct moral advantage to their credit,\\nwas continued for the presidential year 1880. It\\nwas plain that they held the balance of power\\nin the State of New York, and might easily de-\\ncide not merely the Republican candidacy, but the\\nPresidency. On May 20, 1880, Mr. Curtis, who\\nhad warmly supported the movement, addressed\\nthe organization at a crowded meeting in Chicker-\\ning Hall.\\nI accepted your invitation, he said, with", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0287.jp2"}, "286": {"fulltext": "270 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\ngreat pleasure, as that of Republicans who know\\nthat the Republican party was founded in freedom\\nand for freedom, and who are resolved to keep\\nyourselves free. Your action last autumn, as citi-\\nzens interested in politics, but without personal or\\nmercenary ends, determined not to sacrifice party\\nprinciples to party organization, and quietly hold-\\ning your ground against every form of ridicule and\\nhostility, was a public service deserving the public\\ngratitude, and full of good augury for the future.\\nYou were told that you were voting in the air, but\\nyou knew that such air-guns as yours had done\\ngreat execution and if your twenty thousand airy\\nshots were noiseless, they hit the mark at which\\nthey were aimed. The man who is proud never to\\nhave voted anything but the whole regular party\\nticket shows the servility of soul that makes despo-\\ntism possible.\\nIt is true that party action becomes impossi-\\nble if every member insists upon having his own\\nway. There must be, undoubtedly, general con-\\ncession and sacrifice of mere personal preference,\\nbut every member must decide for himself how far\\nthis may go and where it must end. No Republi-\\ncan has a right to appeal to me as a Republican to\\nstand by the party who does not do what he can\\nto make the party worth standing by. A party is\\nmade efficient only through men. It is necessarily\\njudged by its candidates and if its members sup-\\nport unworthy candidates to-day for the sake of\\nthe party, they make it all the easier to support", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0288.jp2"}, "287": {"fulltext": "POLITICAL INDEPENDENCE. 271\\nunworthier candidates to-morrow. If I agree to\\nvote for Jeremy Diddler to-day because he is the\\nregularly selected standard-bearer of the grand old\\nparty of honesty and reform, I cannot refuse to\\nvote for Benedict Arnold to-morrow because he is\\nthe standard-bearer of the grand old party of inde-\\npendence and political glory. If the reply be that\\nno one pretends that we ought to vote for can-\\ndidates of bad character, I answer that a candi-\\ndate who for any reason discredits the party, and\\nthereby imperils its success and consequently its\\nobject, is, from the party point of view, a bad\\nman, and fidelity to the party demands the rejec-\\ntion of the candidate.\\nThe address had for its subject Machine Poli-\\ntics and the Remedy. Mr. Curtis s conception of\\nmachine politics was party management based on\\nthe spoils of office. His remedy was for the in-\\ndividual voter s scratching machine candidates\\nbut the general and thorough and lasting remedy\\nwas the reform of the civil service, and the aboli-\\ntion of the use of the offices as spoils. More and\\nmore this idea was forced upon him as the one of\\nchiefest and most urgent importance in the public\\naffairs of the nation.\\nThe movement to nominate General Grant for a\\nthird term was led by Senator Conkling, the gen-\\neral having become a resident of New York. It\\nwas strongly resisted in that State and finally\\nfailed. General James A. Garfield, of Ohio, receiv-\\ning the Republican nomination, and General W. S.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0289.jp2"}, "288": {"fulltext": "272 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nHancock that of the Democrats. Garfield was\\nelected, and the civil service reformers, as well as\\nthe advocates of a more liberal tariff, took heart of\\nhope.\\nThe President was undoubtedly in sympathy with\\nthe idea of both classes. In his long congressional\\nexperience he had learned the evils of the spoils\\nsystem, and had denounced them often in a manner\\nat once emphatic and intelligent. He had, how-\\never, shown neither the firmness nor the courage\\nessential to carry out an effectual reform by the\\nuse of the executive authority, adequate as that\\nwould have been in the hands of a determined and\\nindependent President. The reformers, however,\\nfound an unexpected ally in Senator George H.\\nPendleton, of Ohio, who introduced a radical\\nthough ill-digested bill in Congress. Mr. Pendle-\\nton was a Democrat, of very pronounced party\\nfeeling, and had immediately after the war been\\nassociated with the extreme wing of his party, espe-\\ncially on financial questions. But he was a man of\\nculture, of personal probity, of considerable ability,\\nand his accession to the cause of the reform was\\nvaluable. In 1880 the New York Civil Service\\nReform Association was formed, taking the place\\nof one that had dissolved early in the administra-\\ntion of Mr. Haves, and Mr. Curtis was elected its\\npresident, a post which he held until his death.\\nThe first work of the new association was directed\\ntoward legislation, and the bill of Mr. Pendleton\\nwas taken as the basis. Little progress was made,", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0290.jp2"}, "289": {"fulltext": "POLITICAL INDEPENDENCE. 273\\nhowever, at Washington, though kindred associa-\\ntions were formed in various parts of the country,\\nuntil, in the summer of 1881, the murderous assault\\nupon President Garfield by a half-insane office-\\nseeker startled the country to an alarmed sense of\\nwhat the envenomed struggle for place might at any\\ntime involve. In August the National Civil Ser-\\nvice Reform League was formed at Newport, R. I.\\nOf the league, says Mr. William Potts, who be-\\ncame its secretary, and whose intelligent and untir-\\ning labors in that office were of the greatest value,\\nMr. Curtis was the inevitable president by com-\\nmon consent, and none who heard his words at the\\nclose of the meeting then doubted more than he\\nthe end of the work thus entered upon We have\\nlaid our hands on the barbaric palace of patronage,\\nand begun to write on its walls Mene^ mene\\nNor, I believe, will the work end till they are laid\\nin the dust.\\nThe assassination of President Garfield in 1881\\naroused a powerful public sentiment against the\\nspoils system, for the assassin was recognized as\\nan abnormal and yet logical product of that sys-\\ntem. Craving for spoils, and hatred of the man\\nwho failed to satisfy it, were the immediate motives\\nof his disordered mind. Mr. Chester A. Arthur,\\nwho as Vice-President succeeded to the duties of\\nthe President s office, brought the subject of reform\\nto the attention of Congress, and urgently recom-\\nmended an appropriation of $25,000 to renew the\\nwork of the United States Civil Service Commis-", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0291.jp2"}, "290": {"fulltext": "274 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nsion which had been dropped in 1873. Congress\\nwas, however, as yet deaf to the voice of public\\nopinion, and only $16,000 was granted, and that\\non the motion of an opposition member.\\nThe refusal of President Garfield to recognize\\nthe senators from New York, in the distribution of\\nFederal patronage in that State, had resulted in a\\nviolent and open quarrel in the Republican party\\nin New York. The resignation of Mr. Blaine as\\nsecretary of state had greatly embittered the fac-\\ntion led by the senators. When, in the fall of\\n1882, Mr. Charles J. Folger, then secretary of the\\ntreasury, had been nominated for governor by the\\nRepublican party, he encountered determined oppo-\\nsition. For the most part this was probably fac-\\ntional. The leaders in the State who took part in\\nit, and who were in close relations with Mr. Blaine,\\nwere politicians of much the same character and\\nmethods as those who secured the nomination of\\nMr. Folger. But, on the other hand, there was\\na profound sentiment of disapproval and disgust\\namong those who saw in the nomination an instance\\nof the control of party action by the federal admin-\\nistration through the abuse of the offices. This\\nsentiment was strong among the Independent Re-\\npublicans, or Scratchers, whose movement three\\nyears previously had elicited the hearty support of\\nMr. Curtis, and he was in complete sympathy with\\nthem still. When the nomination was made, he\\nwas at his country home in Ashfield. By one of\\nthose curious blunders to which editorial offices", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0292.jp2"}, "291": {"fulltext": "POLITICAL INDEPENDENCE. 275\\nare liable in the absence of tbe responsible head,\\nan article by Mr. Curtis was modified to commit\\nthe paper to the support of the candidate. On the\\n27th of September he wrote to Mr. Norton\\nMy dearest Charles, I have resigned\\nthe editorship of Harper s Weekly. My article\\nupon Folger s nomination, despite my request, was\\nperverted and made to misrepresent my views,\\nand to make me absolutely ridiculous. The blow\\nto me and to the good cause is very great and\\nnot exactly retrievable. To-day I am thought by\\nevery reader of the paper to be a futile fool. The\\nthing is so atrocious as to be comical.\\nIt is unnecessary here to trace the source of the\\nunfortunate mistake. It was promptly and in the\\nmost manly manner disavowed by the house of\\nHarper Bros. Mr. Curtis published a letter\\nsetting himself right with those who had been as-\\ntonished at the appearance of the article, and with*\\ndrew his resignation. The accidental interruption\\nof the relations of publishers and editor, which had\\nbeen maintained so honorably on both sides for\\nnearly twenty years, had no effect but to strengthen\\nmutual confidence and respect.\\nIn the election of 1882 the Democratic candi-\\ndate, Grover Cleveland, was elected by a majority\\nof nearly two hundred thousand votes, and this\\nwas accompanied by severe checks and reverses for\\nthe Republicans in other St^rtes. The first effect\\nof these checks and reverses was to awaken in the\\nrepresentatives of the Republican party at Wash-", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0293.jp2"}, "292": {"fulltext": "276 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nington an entirely new conception of what civil\\nservice reform was, and of popular opinion regard-\\ning it and themselves. The Pendleton bill was\\nreferred to a committee of which Senator Hawley,\\nof Connecticut, was chairman, and under his zealous\\nand intelligent guidance, assisted by representa-\\ntives of the National League, the bill was steadily\\npressed. It received the signature of President\\nArthur on the 16th of January, 1883, and went\\ninto final operation on the 16th of July, after which\\ndate no appointment to the civil service was legal\\nunless made in accordance with the provisions of the\\nlaw that is, in compliance with the rules promul-\\ngated by the authority of the law, unless expressly\\nexempted from them. The system adopted was in\\nsubstance the same as that framed by the commis-\\nsion of which Mr. Curtis was chairman in 1871.\\nIt aimed gradually to apply the principle of ap-\\npointments for fitness attested by competition and\\nprobation. The essential control of the President\\nas the chief appointing officer of the government\\nwas recognized. A commission was to frame the\\nrules which, when he approved them, he was to\\npromulgate, and which the commission was then to\\nadminister. The law expressly forbade contribu-\\ntions for political purposes by any person in the\\nservice to be paid to any person in the service, and\\nprohibited all solicitation of such contributions\\nwithin the government offices. The rules were to\\napply to the departmental service at Washington\\nabove the grade of laborers, and below appoint-", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0294.jp2"}, "293": {"fulltext": "POLITICAL INDEPENDENCE. 211\\nments made with the advice and consent of the\\nSenate, with certain exceptions, and they were to\\napply also to any federal officer outside of Wash-\\nington having fifty or more employees. The heads\\nof departments were required to classify the em-\\nployees under them within six months, and thus\\nthe part of the service to which the rules apply\\ncame to be generally designated as the classified\\nservice. Examinations were to be held under the\\ndirection of the commission, and those attaining\\nin these examinations a certain minimum standard\\nwere placed on an eligible list in the order of their\\nstanding for each department or office. When a\\nvacancy occurred, the three names highest on the\\nlist were to be certified to the appointing officer,\\nwho chose the appointee from these. There was\\nalso provision for promotion by competition.\\nIt will be seen that the rules, honestly and intel-\\nligently administered, practically excluded politics\\nfrom the service w^herever they applied. The power\\nof removal from office was left untouched, and dis-\\nmissals for party reasons were not prohibited. It\\nwas expected, however, by the friends and authors\\nof the law, that such dismissals would gradually\\ncease as the temptation to make them was destroyed.\\nThe history of the service shows that removals from\\noffice are almost uniformly made for one of two pur-\\nposes, either to punish refusal of political as-\\nsessments, or to make room for party appointments.\\nThe law and the rules forbade the former, and\\nmade the latter extremely difficult. The system", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0295.jp2"}, "294": {"fulltext": "278 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nas a whole was sound in principle, and capable of\\ngreat good, but it was far from radical. It was\\nset in operation by President Arthur in good faith,\\nunder a commission of which Mr. Dorman B. Eaton\\nwas the most active member, bringing to it a\\nthorough study of the work and marked ability\\nwith untiring zeal. The provisions made by law\\nfor the operation of the reform were, however,\\nludicrously and shamefully inadequate, and repre-\\nsented the half -concealed hostility of the legislators\\ntoward it. The appropriation barely covered the\\nsmall salaries of the commission, traveling expenses,\\nand office expenses. The examinations had to be\\nmade by clerks detailed from the service, who re-\\nceived no pay for their work, which was added to\\ntheir regular duties. But it was the happy quality\\nof the reform to excite the most generous devotion in\\nall honest persons who had to do with it, and it im-\\nmediately entered upon a career of practical success\\nthat has steadily gained with every passing year.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0296.jp2"}, "295": {"fulltext": "CHAPTEE XXI.\\nTHE CANVASS OF 1884.\\nThe party issues of the last few years are grad-\\nually disappearing. The perilous questions of fun-\\ndamental policy have been determined, and the\\nparamount interests of the country are now those\\nof administration. Honesty and efficiency of ad-\\nministration of the settled national policy will now\\nbe the chief demand of every party. These were\\nthe words which, in the closing months of 1871,\\nMr. Curtis had addressed to President Grant in\\nsubmitting his report on the reform of the civil ser-\\nvice. Their general prediction was sound. It had\\nnot come about that every party had demanded\\nhonesty and efficiency of administration, for the\\ndemands of parties are often framed by men curi-\\nously ignorant either of the general requirements\\nof public opinion, or of the requirements of that\\nbody of voters who are bound by no party, and who\\nfrom time to time dismiss one and call another to\\nthe control of the government. But, during the\\nthirteen years that had passed since Mr. Curtis had\\ndefined the situation in the words above quoted,\\nthere had beyond any doubt grown up in the coun-\\ntry a sentiment steadily stronger and more definite", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0297.jp2"}, "296": {"fulltext": "280 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\n99\\nthat honesty and efficiency of administration\\nwas the imperative and dominant need of the time.\\nThe year 1884 was to see the Republican party,\\nafter nearly a quarter of a century of unbroken\\npossession of the presidential office, displaced in\\nobedience to this sentiment.\\nThe presidential contest of 1876 may be said to\\nbe the last in which the Republican party had\\nmade its stand almost exclusively on the issues\\ngrowing out of the war. Mr. Hayes, on taking\\noffice, had made, if not a formal, an unmistakable\\nproclamation that these questions could never again\\nbe controlling. He had withdrawn the Federal\\nhand from the States of Louisiana and South\\nCarolina, and he had invited a Southern man to a\\nprominent place in his Cabinet. During his term\\nof office he made every effort, with the approval of\\na large number of his party leaders, to expel the\\nSouthern question from politics, and his efforts\\nwon general sympathy among the people. In the\\ncanvass of 1880, Mr. Garfield, though he was a\\nveteran of the War for the Union, was opposed by\\nGeneral Hancock, a much more conspicuous Union\\nveteran; and the chief issue of the contest, so\\nfar as national policy was involved, was the tariff.\\nMr. Arthur, to whom by the death of the Presi-\\ndent it fell to send the first message to the Con-\\ngress elected in 1880, for the first time since the\\nclose of the Civil War transmitted one in which\\nno question arising out of the war received any\\nserious comment. The gradual disappearance", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0298.jp2"}, "297": {"fulltext": "THE CANVASS OF I884. 281\\nof the party questions to which Mr. Curtis had\\nalluded in 1871 was now completed.\\nBy the ordinary course of political development,\\nthe issue of 1884 should have been the tariff, on\\nwhich parties had been most clearly divided four\\nyears before, and on which the policy of the oppo-\\nsition had been most definitely shaped. And\\nthough, by the tariff act of 1883, a certain measure\\nof reduction in protective duties had been made, in\\npursuance of recommendations far more advanced\\nby the commission of 1882, a majority of whom\\nwere of the Protectionist party, it is probable that\\nthe tariff would have been the controlling question\\nhad the party in power nominated almost any of\\nits prominent leaders other than Mr. James G.\\nBlaine. That nomination made the decisive fact\\nin the canvass the opinion of the country as to the\\npersonal character of the candidate, and this opin-\\nion on the whole was adverse. The decisive fact\\nwas not, of course, the only one, nor, in a sense,\\nwas it the chief one. The great body of each party\\nwas doubtless guided by that powerful and complex\\nand not clearly defined force which we know as\\nparty feeling, and was not seriously affected by the\\nknown or inferred character of either candidate.\\nAnd there was a certain influence exerted indepen-\\ndent of party association by other causes, such as\\nthe race sentiment elicited among voters of Irish\\nbirth or descent in behalf of Mr. Blaine, and the\\ncounteracting influence of the religious sentiment\\naroused by the fact that the Catholic priesthood", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0299.jp2"}, "298": {"fulltext": "282 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS,\\nwas reported on no specific evidence to be en-\\nlisted in his behalf. Again, there was the effect\\nof the association of a considerable number of men\\nformerly active in the Democratic party with the\\nhighly protected interests dependent on the tariff.\\nBut the outcome of the forces on either side was\\nso nearly equal to that of those on the other side,\\nthat it remains probable that, had the question\\nof Mr. Blaine s character been eliminated from\\nthe canvass, the decision would have been in his\\nfavor.\\nBut this decisive element was not a simple one.\\nIf Mr. Blaine failed in the election because of the\\nadverse opinion of a considerable body of voters\\nas to his character, it was because the defects at-\\ntributed to him were of public interest and not of\\na private nature, and he was regarded as a repre-\\nsentative of a class whose power it was right and\\nnecessary to curb. The particular fault that his\\nopponents dwelt most upon was the use of public\\noffice for private advantage, and there was a deep-\\nseated conviction that that was the most serious,\\ngeneral, and threatening evil of the times. Mr.\\nCurtis, in an address on Staten Island on the Cen-\\ntennial Anniversary of Independence, eight years\\npreviously, had invited his fellow-citizens to this\\npledge That we will try public and private men\\nby precisely the same moral standard, and that\\nno man who directly or indirectly connives at cor-\\nruption or coercion to acquire office or retain it,\\nor who prostitutes any opportunity or position of", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0300.jp2"}, "299": {"fulltext": "THE CANVASS OF I884,. 283\\npublic service to his own or another s advantage,\\nshall have our countenance or our vote. There\\nwas evidence, which many of Mr. Blaine s fellow\\nRepublicans found conclusive, that in one distinct\\ninstance he had been willing to prostitute an op-\\nportunity and position of public service to his own\\nadvantage, and there was nothing in his public\\ncareer to contradict the inference. There was\\nmuch to confirm it. He had been in public life\\nfor a quarter of a century, and had attained a po-\\nsition of great influence and power in his party.\\nHis ability as a political leader was eminent, while\\nhis popularity was probably more extended than\\nthat of any man since Clay. But his rare gifts\\nand great power had certainly not been devoted to\\npromoting the purity or raising the general level\\nof public life or of party action. He was inti-\\nmately identified, on the contrary, with the ten-\\ndency, so obvious since the close of the Civil War,\\nin the opposite direction. Republicans who had\\nfaithfully, unselfishly, and from the sincerest con-\\nviction, labored to construct and maintain their\\nparty because it was to them the best instrument for\\npromoting the best interests of the country, sought\\nin vain in Mr. Blaine s record the evidence that\\nhis real aims were theirs, and reluctantly came to\\nregard him as the typical opponent of those aims.\\nHe had shown no efficient sympathy with the re-\\nform movement which sought to exclude party\\npolitics from the public service. On the contrary\\nhe owed very much of his power in his own party", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0301.jp2"}, "300": {"fulltext": "284 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nto the unscrupulous use of offices, and the violent\\ndisruption of his party in the State of New York\\nin 1882 had been promoted by his friends largely\\nbecause of resentment at their failure to receive\\nthe share they wished in patronage.\\nThere was another phase of Mr. Blaine s career\\nwhich bore upon his willingness to prostitute the\\nopportunities of public service to his own advan-\\ntage, and which furnished evidence not so clear\\nand conclusive, but indicating even more danger-\\nous proclivities. He had long been recognized as\\nthe leader of the sentiment in favor of a vigor-\\nous foreign policy, and that recognition was a\\npotent element in the gratification of his ambition.\\nDuring the brief time that he had been in the\\nCabinet of President Garfield, he had shown what\\nwas his conception of a vigorous foreign policy.\\nHe had in two cases undertaken to impose the\\ninfluence of the United States government upon\\na friendly foreign government once upon Chili\\nand once upon Mexico in a manner unwarranted\\nby international law, and opposed to the tradi-\\ntional impartiality of our policy in dealing with\\nother nations. In both instances his failure had\\nbeen complete and humiliating. In one he had in^\\ncurred serious peril of a quarrel in the other he\\nhad been subjected to contemptuous neglect. His\\ncourse had produced a profound feeling of distrust\\namong intelligent and conservative observers, who\\nsaw in it a reckless attempt to cultivate a dan-\\ngerous popularity at the cost of the interests and\\nhonor of his country.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0302.jp2"}, "301": {"fulltext": "THE CANVASS OF 1884. 285\\nOn the anniversary of Washington s birthday\\nin 1884, a dinner was given by the Young Men s\\nRepublican Club of Brooklyn, a very powerful\\nand intelligent organization with a large number\\nof very independent members, at which a num-\\nber of leading men spoke, all of them urging\\nstrongly the need of the Republican party for a\\ncandidate of sound character. Mr. Curtis did not\\nattend the dinner, but wrote a letter in full sym-\\npathy with the speakers. On the 24th of Febru-\\nary a conference of Republicans was held in the\\ncity of New York, at which Mr. Curtis was pres-\\nent, with Republicans from many parts of the\\ncountry, and particularly from New England, at\\nwhich a resolution was adopted declaring the im-\\nperative necessity of Republican candidates who\\nwould warrant confidence in their readiness to\\ndefend the advance already made toward divor-\\ncing the public service from party politics, and to\\ncontinue these advances till the separation has\\nbeen made final and complete. An organization\\nwas formed to promote the purpose of the confer-\\nence and an Independent Republican Commit-\\ntee named, of which General Francis C. Barlow\\nwas president, and Mr. Joseph W. Harper treas-\\nurer.\\nThe Republican National Convention was held\\nearly in June in the city of Chicago, where,\\ntwenty-four years before, Mr. Lincoln, the first suc-\\ncessful candidate of the Republican party, had been\\nnominated. Mr. Curtis was chosen as a delegate", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0303.jp2"}, "302": {"fulltext": "286 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nfrom the county of Eiclimond (Staten Island),\\nwhere he resided. His first choice, like that of\\nmost of the Republicans who were in sympathy\\nwith him, for the nomination, was Senator George\\nF, Edmunds, of Vermont, a man of high character\\nand great ability, who had up to that time given\\nmany evidences of his independence of party dic-\\ntation. When the convention met, it was apparent\\nthat it was unevenly divided between the support-\\ners of Blaine, Arthur, and Edmunds, the first-\\nnamed having the greatest number, but not a\\nmajority of the convention. The very unusual sit-\\nuation and the condition of party sentiment were\\nrecognized when, on the 4th of June, before the\\nconvention had decided to proceed to vote for\\nnominees, a resolution was introduced declaring\\nthat every delegate who took part in the conven-\\ntion was bound in honor to support the nominee.\\nMr. Curtis promptly protested against its adoption.\\nA Republican and a free man, he declared, I\\ncame to this convention, and by the grace of God\\na Republican and a free man will I go out of it.\\nThe resolution was finally withdrawn.\\nWhen the balloting was begun, it was evident\\nthat Mr. Blaine was to secure the nomination un-\\nless the supporters of Arthur and Edmunds could\\ncombine upon one or the other of these two. Such\\na combination was impossible. The two men rep-\\nresented in the convention totally different and\\nopposite ideas of the question which had divided\\nthe party. That question had been clearly de-", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0304.jp2"}, "303": {"fulltext": "THE CANVASS OF I884. 287\\nfined by the Independent Republican conference\\nin February. It was the divorce of the public ser-\\nvice from party politics. Mr. Arthur, though he\\nhad enforced the civil service law within the nar-\\nrow limits of the rules, was not only a believer in\\nthe spoils doctrine, but one of the most conspicu-\\nous and experienced and least scrupulous of the\\nleaders who had put it in practice and profited by\\ndoing so. He owed very much of the strength he\\nwas able to show in the convention to the use of\\nFederal patronage. He had won a certain degree\\nof confidence in the country by his dignified and\\nconservative management of foreign affairs, by his\\nliberal views as to the tariff, and his entire sound-\\nness on questions of finance but while, as to these\\nmatters, he compared favorably with Mr. Blaine,\\nnone of them was of controlling importance. The\\nsupporters ot Mr. Edmunds could not give their\\nvotes to him without openly defeating their chief\\npurpose. His supporters could not give their\\nvotes to Mr. Edmunds without abandoning the\\nhopes that animated most of them. The combina-\\ntion could not be made, and Mr. Blaine was nomi-\\nnated. The usual motion was offered to make\\nthe nomination unanimous, and was carried. Mr.\\nCurtis did not vote upon it, and refused the urgent\\nappeals to second it. He remained in the conven-\\ntion, taking part in the subsequent proceedings,\\nuntil its close, this being what he understood to be\\nhis duty as a representative.\\nHarper s Weekly promptly condemned the", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0305.jp2"}, "304": {"fulltext": "288 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\naction of the Republican Convention. When the\\nDemocratic National Convention placed in nomina-\\ntion Mr. Cleveland, then governor of the State of\\nNew York, Mr. Curtis, after careful deliberation,\\ndecided to advocate his election. He was immedi-\\nately recognized as the representative of the Re-\\npublican defection. With Mr. Carl Schurz, he\\ntook the leadership of that movement his own\\nposition differing from that of Mr. Schurz in this,\\nthat, while their view of the duty of the hour was\\nthe same, Mr. Schurz, by his support of Horace\\nGreeley in 1872, had broken that association with\\nhis party which with Mr. Curtis had been uninter-\\nrupted.\\nMr. Curtis s decision, though painful, was inev-\\nitable. The Republican party had, in his sober\\njudgment, ceased to pursue the aims which he\\nhad so long sought through it. It had nominated\\na candidate whose election he believed would de-\\nfeat those aims. The course of the party had been\\ntaken in opposition to every possible effort on his\\npart to prevent it. He had labored with all his\\nenergy and influence to convince his party of the\\nerror and danger toward which it was tending.\\nNor had he failed, repeatedly, definitely, and em-\\nphatically, to declare the principles of party alle-\\ngiance by which he had consistently been guided.\\nHe had openly advocated Republican effort to de-\\nfeat bad Republican candidates in his own State,\\nin Massachusetts, in Pennsylvania. He had done\\nso avowedly for the purpose of saving the party", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0306.jp2"}, "305": {"fulltext": "THE CANVASS OF 1884. 289\\nfrom the control of those who made bad candidates\\npossible and he had never concealed his convic-\\ntion that, if this purpose failed in the national or-\\nganization, the same principle would demand the\\nsame action.\\nHe wrote, immediately after the convention, to a\\nvery old friend\\nJune 10, 1884.\\nMy dear S., I am very sorry indeed that our\\nsense of duty differs so widely. I cannot urge any-\\nbody to support for the presidency a man who has\\ntrafficked in his official place for his private gain,\\nand still less upon the ground that the party that\\nnominated him is a better party than the other.\\nThere would never be any better party, or indeed\\nany party but that to which we belong, if every-\\nthing that it did and everybody that it nominated\\nshould be sustained because it was not so bad as\\nanother party. I did not support Cornell in 1879,\\nbecause of his ring associations and methods. I did\\nnot support Folger in 1882, because of the forgery\\nand fraud which secured his nomination. But I\\nhad no personal objection to the men. It is not\\nBlaine s brilliancy, it is the low and venal sys-\\ntem of his politics, of which we had the latest and\\nmonstrous evidence at Chicago, that shall not mas-\\nter the Kepublican party if I can help it. When\\nthe only argument is that we are not so bad as\\nthe other fellows, it is time to call a halt.\\nMy dear boy, I should be recreant to my con-\\nscience, and I should bitterly disappoint all those", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0307.jp2"}, "306": {"fulltext": "290 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nwho are accustomed to look to me, if, after all that\\nI have said about political morality, I should now\\nsupport for the presidency the one man who is\\nmost repugnant to the political conscience of young\\nRepublicans. I am in hearty agreement with the\\nHarpers, who are unanimous upon the point that\\nsuch a course would be disastrous, and you can\\nhardly imagine how deep and strong the feeling of\\noutrage is.\\nI wish with all my heart that we agreed about\\nthe matter, and with all the old affection I am al-\\nways yours.\\nMr. Curtis felt keenly the accusation brought\\nagainst him of personal bad faith in taking part in\\na convention and then refusing to accept its can-\\ndidate. His conscience was entirely clear, but he\\nknew that many who had long respected and trusted\\nhim and followed his leadership, many whom he be-\\nlieved to be as sincere as he was himself, and even\\nsome old and cherished friends, thought his course\\ndishonorable, and the knowledge was exceedingly\\nhard to bear. Yet it is clear that no other course\\nwas open to him. No honorable man, he wrote\\nin an open letter to a critic of his action, June 25,\\n1884, in a convention or out of it, would allow a\\nmajority to bind him to a course which he morally\\ndisapproved. In the autumn of 1885 he wrote\\nto a correspondent who had raised this question a\\nletter which I find so explicit and compact that I\\ngive it as the best statement of his view", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0308.jp2"}, "307": {"fulltext": "THE CANVASS OF I884. 291\\nI have received your note, and have time only\\nfor a brief reply. The action of a convention\\nis merely a recommendation, and its authority is\\nmerely that of a majority. Now, a majority can-\\nnot morally or honorably bind a participant in any\\nconsultation to support its action if he morally\\ndisapproves of it. The fact that he is there to pre-\\nvent such action is certainly not a reason for him\\nto support it if taken, because that conclusion\\nwould make the man who actively endeavors to\\nprevent it more bound by it than one who stays at\\nhome and takes no part. As a delegate, the mem-\\nber of a convention votes and does his delegated\\nduty to the best of his ability. Having discharged\\nthat special duty, his general duty as a citizen re-\\ncurs, and he is to weigh the action of the conven-\\ntion like every other citizen, and vote only as his\\nconscience directs.\\nThere are perhaps five millions of party voters\\non each side a convention is composed of about\\n800 members of the party. The majority would\\nbe 401 and to say that the remaining 399 who\\nhave opposed the decision are honorably bound by\\nit if they conscientiously disapprove, while all the\\nother millions and thousands of members are not\\nbound, is simply folly.\\nI have given this statement of Mr. Curtis s views\\non this matter because, at the time and long after,\\nthough it did not disturb, it saddened him. For\\nmy own part, it seems to me to have given occa-\\nsion for much political casuistry, as to which preju-", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0309.jp2"}, "308": {"fulltext": "292 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\ndice and interest and unreflecting sentiment have\\nwrought confusion, but as to which the verdict of\\njustice and common sense is beyond all mistake.\\nIf the doctrine of Mr. Curtis s critics were to pre-\\nvail, self-respecting men would not act as delegates\\nto political conventions, and party rule would\\nrapidly and inevitably become corrupt. The in-\\ndependence he asserted is the indispensable con-\\ndition precedent to rational and decent politics.\\nUnfortunately human nature does not always de-\\nvelop reason or decency under the influence of\\nstrenuous party passion. Though the criticism to\\nwhich I have referred was that which affected Mr.\\nCurtis most, it was by no means all he had to bear.\\nIt is simply impossible to give any idea of the\\nabuse, the insult, the scurrility, that were heaped\\nupon him in the public press, and in letters, usually\\nanonymous, addressed to him. It was a startling\\nrevelation to him of the vulgarity and brutality of\\na large number of the men with whom and for\\nwhom he had so faithfully and unselfishly labored.\\nNecessarily it only confirmed him in the course he\\nhad taken. It was conclusive proof, if any were\\nneeded, of the extent to which the evil against\\nwhich he had revolted had spread in the Republi-\\ncan party. The vile spirit shown, because an hon-\\norable and conscientious leader had found himself\\nforced into opposition, was a spirit that would have\\nbeen no less vile, and infinitely more dangerous,\\nhad he submitted to the party dictation and the\\nparty had won. Mr. Curtis s service to his coun-", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0310.jp2"}, "309": {"fulltext": "THE CANVASS OF I884. 293\\ntry while he acted with the Republican party was\\nin my judgment very great. It was completed and\\nexceeded by the service he rendered when he left\\nthe party, and pursued through another party the\\nsame high purpose.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0311.jp2"}, "310": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER XXII.\\nTHE LEADER OF REFORM.\\nDuring the remaining years of his life, Mr. Cur-\\ntis s relation to public affairs was strictly that of\\nan independent critic, and his chief object was the\\npromotion of civil service reform, of which he was\\nnow the acknowledged leader and representative.\\nIn Harper s Weekly, of course, his criticism\\nembraced a wide field, and several important and\\ninteresting questions the tariff, the currency,\\nforeign matters, the relation of the President to\\nCongress, which came up within this period re-\\nceived a fair share of attention, and were discussed\\ncandidly, and in the main intelligently. But none\\nof them interested him as did the reform. To the\\nlatter, also, he devoted a great deal of personal\\nlabor and study. His offices as president of the\\nNational Civil Service Reform League and of the\\nNew York Civil Service Reform Association gave\\nhim an opportunity for effective work which he\\nembraced with the utmost ardor, and pursued with\\nunwearied energy. No important step was taken\\nanywhere without his approval, and very much\\nthat was done was due to his initiative. His cor-\\nrespondence was, on this subject alone, enough to", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0312.jp2"}, "311": {"fulltext": "THE LEADER OF REFORM. 295\\ntax the patience and strength of any man, but It\\nwas never neglected and rarely deferred. His\\nattendance at all committees was faithful, and his\\npart in their work a marvel of patience, vigilance,\\nsound judgment, and inspiring zeal. It was my\\nfortune to be associated with him in a considerable\\npart of these labors, mostly in those of a relatively\\nroutine nature, conducted quietly and with none of\\nthe excitement of public efforts. He early made\\nupon me the impression of extraordinary practical\\nforce. He was devoid of the vanity, the f ussiness,\\nthe obstinacy and narrowness, that are so unpleas-\\nantly obvious in many able and sincere men de-\\nvoted to reform movements. With great single-\\nness of purpose, he was peculiarly open-minded, as\\neager to learn as to teach, as ready to follow as to\\nlead. His tact was unfailing, because it was the\\nnatural expression of his sympathetic and consider-\\nate nature. No one who came into active relations\\nwith him in this peculiar work but was uncon-\\nsciously encouraged to do his best. Even the\\nbores and Heaven knows that they were not\\nwanting forgot to betray their full tediousness\\nunder the influence of his gentle and firm guid-\\nance. He seemed so unaffectedly to expect from\\nevery one the fullest measure of unselfish and\\nmodest service that it was impossible to refuse it.\\nThe reform enlisted many able men from differ-\\nent parts of the Union. The lawyers naturally\\nwere the most numerous, but there were represent-\\natives of all professions and occupations, many", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0313.jp2"}, "312": {"fulltext": "296 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nof them of national repute. I think it is not an\\nexaggeration to say that the leadership of Mr. Cur-\\ntis, never asserted and equally never concealed,\\nwas universally conceded. This, of course, was in\\nsome degree due to the fact that no one else gave\\nto the work the same amount of time and study.\\nIn his own mind, I should say that it was the op-\\nportunity presented, and the responsibility imposed,\\nby this leadership that chiefly impressed him, and\\nthese were met with a courage, assiduity, and mi-\\nnute and constant care, such as few men give save\\nunder the spur of interest or ambition.\\nThe feature of greatest public interest in Mr.\\nCurtis s reform work was his annual address at the\\nmeeting of the National League. This was deliv-\\nered each year on the first evening of the two-day\\nmeeting, and consisted primarily of a review of the\\ncourse of the reform for the year just closed, a state-\\nment of what remained to be done, indications of\\nthe next steps feasible, and always included an argu-\\nment and an appeal for the general cause. These\\naddresses, with some earlier ones and Mr. Curtis s\\nreport as chairman of the Civil Service Commission\\nmade to President Grant in 1871, form the second\\nvolume of the Orations and Addresses pub-\\nlished after his death. This volume is in some re-\\nspects the most valuable of the published writings\\nof Mr. Curtis. In it will be found the substance\\nof what he had to say on the phase of public affairs\\nthat engrossed the most of his thought, energy,\\nand time during the last twenty years of his life.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0314.jp2"}, "313": {"fulltext": "THE LEADER OF REFORM. 297\\nHere is his explanation of what it was in our poli-\\ntics that needed reform of what the consequences\\nwould be if the reform were not brought about of\\nwhat would be the immediate and the progressive\\nbenefits, should the reform succeed, of the general\\nprinciples and the specific aims and methods of re-\\nform. It was by no means a simple or narrow\\ncause in which he had enlisted. Its most apparent\\nscope the improvement of the civil service, mak-\\ning it efficient, clean, reasonably economical, and\\nan honorable career for honorable men was cer-\\ntainly not unimportant, and it was never ignored\\nor underestimated by Mr. Curtis, who in this as\\nin other matters was sensible and practical. But\\nin comparison with the wider and ultimate effect\\nsought upon the politics of the country, upon its\\npublic life, the character of the government, and\\nthe public conscience, this primary effect of the\\nreform was, in his mind, subordinate and inciden-\\ntal. Had the reform been confined to its attain-\\nment, we may be sure that he would have given\\nto it, as he did to numberless movements of minor\\nand relatively passing interest, a cordial advocacy\\nproportioned to its real merit, but nothing more.\\nHe never would have surrendered to it the days\\nand nights of steady labor, the deep and anxious\\nstudy, the patient attention to detail, that he gave\\ngladly to civil service reform. Nor could it have\\ninspired him to any of the more important of these\\naddresses, which are, in their kind, among the\\nbest that remain from Mr. Curtis, and among the", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0315.jp2"}, "314": {"fulltext": "298 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nbest that the history of political life in the United\\nStates affords.\\nThe struggle for reform was in fact to Mr. Cur-\\ntis, as I have already suggested, another struggle\\nfor popular freedom, for the assertion of the na-\\ntional conscience, for the gradual repression and\\nthe final abolition of a tyranny not differing in es-\\nsence from that of the slave power. He found this\\ntyranny and he had no difficulty in demonstrating\\nthe fact as unjust and as debasing within its limits\\nas the one that fell with the triumph of the Union\\narmies. And in some regards it was more danger-\\nous, because less obvious, more insidious and ob-\\nscure, and less easily arousing the indignant revolt\\nof the moral sense of the people. It was the con-\\nsciousness of this truth that awakened and kept\\nalive in him for so many years that fervent and\\nunflagging zeal, that generous and firm devotion, of\\nwhich these addresses are the witness.\\nAny one who will read the volume will not fail\\nto be impressed by the development of Mr. Curtis s\\nconception of the range of the reform, and of his\\nmanner of discussing it. The substance of all the\\nchief arguments is, indeed, to be found in the earli-\\nest addresses, and in the report to President Grant\\nin 1871. But with the progress of the reform,\\nwith the unfolding of the way in which it impressed\\nboth its friends and its foes, with the changed con-\\nditions of politics and the varying policy of succes-\\nsive administrations, there conies a very striking\\nextension of Mr. Curtis s treatment of the subject.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0316.jp2"}, "315": {"fulltext": "THE LEADER OF REFORM. 299\\nProbably the address at the eleventh annual meet-\\ning of the National League in Baltimore in 1892, in\\nthe spring of the year in which he died, may be ac-\\ncepted as the fullest and most impressive statement\\nof the whole matter. I am not aware that Mr. Cur-\\ntis had at that time any serious concern as to his\\nhealth but he was in his sixty-ninth year, he had\\nhad some of the warnings which age brings of the\\nlimit of human energy and endurance. Looking\\nover the large circle of his associates, many of them\\naffectionate friends, all of them admiring and trust-\\ning followers, he must have missed some who\\ntwenty years before had stood by his side. He saw\\nvery few who had reached his age, and, I think,\\nnone that had given to the cause the long years of\\nwearing labor that he had given. Possibly there\\nwas a half-recognized sense that he was nearing\\nthe end. Assuredly the address was such as he\\nmight have made had he known that it was the\\nfinal legacy to the beloved cause, the farewell\\nwords of instruction and guidance and inspiration.\\nIn this address he made the clearest and most\\ncomplete statement of the underlying principle of\\nthe reform. When he came to publish it, he gave\\nit the title, Party and Patronage. Its subject\\nwas the need of curbing the encroachment of ex-\\necutive power lodged in party and maintained by\\npatronage. He traced the resistance of the Eng-\\nlish Parliament to the pretensions of the royal pre-\\nrogative, and the resistance of the colonies to the\\npretensions of the English Parliament, and he de-", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0317.jp2"}, "316": {"fulltext": "300 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nscribed the action of the framers of the Constitu-\\ntion with the purpose of limiting the use of the ap-\\npointing power\\nThe people had assumed their own government,\\nbut, as they could not administer it directly, it was\\nadministered by agents selected by party, or the\\norganized majority, but under such restrictions as\\nthe whole body of the voters, or the people, might\\nimpose. The crown had vanished. There was no\\nking or permanent executive. There were a Presi-\\ndent and legislature elected by the people for lim-\\nited terms. But the practical agency of the gov-\\nernment was party, and, whoever might be elected\\nPresident, party remained in the administration\\npermanent as a king, and with the same control\\nof the executive power. But the executive power,\\nwhether in the hands of a king or party, does not\\nchange its nature. It seeks its own aggrandize-\\nment and cannot safely be trusted. Buckle says\\nthat no man is wise enough and strong enough to be\\nvested with absolute authority. It fires his brain\\nand maddens him. But this, which is true of an\\nindividual, is not less true of an aggregate of indi-\\nviduals or of a party. A party or a majority needs\\nwatching as much as a king. Indeed, that such\\ndistrust is the safeguard of democracy against des-\\npotism is a truth as old as Demosthenes. Like a\\nsleuth-hound, distrust must follow executive power,\\nhowever it may double and whatever form it may\\nassume. It is as much the safeguard of popular\\nright against the will of a party as against the pre-", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0318.jp2"}, "317": {"fulltext": "THE LEADER OF REFORM. 301\\nrogative of a king. Distrust is in fact the instinct\\nof enlightened political sagacity, which sees that\\nthe peril of popular institutions lies in the abuse of\\nthe forms of popular government. The great com-\\nmonplace of our political speech, Eternal vigilance\\nis the price of liberty, is fundamentally true. It\\nis a scripture essential to political salvation. The\\ndemand for civil service reform is the cry of that\\neternal vigilance for still further restriction by the\\npeople of the delegated executive power.\\nCivil service reform, therefore, is but another\\nsuccessive step in the development of liberty un-\\nder law. It is not eccentric or revolutionary. It\\nis a logical measure of political progress. In the\\nlight of a larger experience, and adjusted to the\\nexigencies of a republic in the nineteenth cen-\\ntury instead of a monarchy in the thirteenth and\\nseventeenth centuries, in the spirit of the wise jeal-\\nousy of the Constitution, in the interest of free\\ninstitutions and of honest government, it proposes\\nstill further to restrict the executive power as exer-\\ncised by party. It is a measure based upon the\\nobservation of a century, during which government\\nby party has developed conditions and tendencies\\nand perils which could not have been foreseen in\\ndetail, although, at the beginning of party govern-\\nment under the Constitution, Washington said of\\nparty spirit It exists under different shapes in\\nall governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or\\nrepressed but in those of popular form it is seen in\\nits greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0319.jp2"}, "318": {"fulltext": "302 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nWhat our fathers could not guess, we can see.\\nParty, which is properly simply the organization of\\ncitizens who agree in their views of public policy\\nto secure the enactment of their views in law, has\\nbecome what is well called a machine, which con-\\ntrols the political action of millions of citizens who\\nvote for candidates that the machine selects, and\\nfor measures that the machine dictates or approves.\\nServility to party takes the place of individual in-\\ndependence of action. So completely does it con-\\nsume political manhood, that, like men suddenly\\nhurried from their warm beds into the night air,\\nshivering and chattering in the cold, even intelli-\\ngent citizens who have protested against their\\nparty machine as fraudulent and false, and an or-\\nganized misrepresentation of the party conviction\\nand will, declare that if their protest against the\\npower of fraud and corruption does not avail, and\\nthe party commands them to yield, they will bow\\nthe head and bend the knee in loyalty to fraud and\\ncorruption. The despotism of the machine is so\\nabsolute, and the triumph of the party so supersedes\\nthe reason and purpose of the party, that we have\\nnow reached a point in our political development\\nwhen, upon the most vital and pressing public\\nquestions, parties do not even know their own\\nopinions, and factions of the same party wrangle\\nfiercely to determine by a majority what the party\\nthinks and proposes. Meanwhile, so completely\\nhas the conception of a party as merely a conven-\\nient but clumsy agency to promote certain public ob-", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0320.jp2"}, "319": {"fulltext": "THE LEADER OF REFORM. 303\\njects disappeared tliat one of the chief journals of\\nthe country recently remarked with entire gravity\\nthat it found no fault with conscientious independ-\\nence in politics, which was like announcing with\\nlofty forbearance that, as a philosophic moralist, it\\nfound no fault with truth-telling or honest dealing.\\nBut it is by party action, nevertheless, that\\nreform must be secured. Why, then, do we an-\\nticipate success? Because party itself is finally\\nsubject to public opinion, and, whatever the ma-\\nchine may wish, it is at last obliged to conform\\nto public opinion, as a sailing-ship to the wind.\\nParty machines, truculent and defiant, resist, but\\nlike kings they yield at last to, the people. The\\nking, whose arbitrary excesses produce the per-\\nemptory popular demand for relief, ordains, how-\\never reluctantly, a restriction that limits his power.\\nSo the French Bourbon, Louis XVIII., signed the\\nCharter of 1814, and the Prussian HohenzoUern,\\nFrederic William IV., summoned the Constituent\\nAssembly of 1848. They call this surrender motu\\nproprio^ an act of their sovereign will. But they\\nknew, and the world knows, that it is the will of a\\ngreater sovereign than they, the will of the people.\\nOur appeal is now, as it has always been, not to\\nparty, but to the people, who are masters of party.\\nAs the English barons, in the phrase of an old\\nEnglish writer, cut the claws of John as the\\nEnglish Parliament taught terribly the English\\nking that not he, but the English people, was the\\nsovereign as the American colonies taught the", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0321.jp2"}, "320": {"fulltext": "304 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS,\\nEnglish Parliament in turn that the American\\npeople would rule America, so, by every law and\\ncustom demanded by public opinion which re-\\nstrains the arbitrary abuse of executive power by\\nparty, the American people are constantly teaching\\nAmerican parties that not the parties but the peo-\\nple rule. We cannot expect the king nor the\\nParliament nor the party to solicit the lesson or\\nto enjoy the discipline. We cannot expect their\\nsupple courtiers, either in the palace or in the\\nsaloon, to demand that the king or the party shall\\nbe bound. But bound nevertheless they are, bound\\nby the people they have been, and bound by the\\nsame power they will be. The record of this year,\\nas of the last year and of every year since the\\nLeague was formed even the reiterated pledges\\nof platforms, although reiterated only to be largely\\nbroken the most sweet voices of the stump, that\\nsink into barren silence the bills introduced that\\ngasp and die in committee on the one hand, and\\non the other the constantly enlarged scope of the\\nreformed system in the public service, all reveal\\nthe ever-stronger public purpose, and the con-\\nstantly greater achievement of that purpose, to\\nadd in civil service reform another golden link to\\nthe shining chain of historical precedents which,\\nby wisely restraining executive power, promote the\\npublic welfare.\\nIt is plain, from the extracts that I have given\\nnot only from his later speeches but from others,\\nthat the standard of reform with Mr. Curtis was", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0322.jp2"}, "321": {"fulltext": "THE LEADER OF REFORM. 305\\nvery high, that he regarded it as of national\\nimportance, and had gradually, after his service\\non the commission, come to place it above any ob-\\nject professed or pursued by either of the great\\nparties. During the eleven years that he presided\\nover the National Reform League, it was his duty\\nto judge the party in power by this standard.\\nThis was not an easy task. In 1884 he spoke\\nin the very height of the bitter and heated contest\\nfor the presidency between the party he had re-\\npudiated and the one to which he had brought\\nhis support, qualified, indeed, and guarding his\\nperfect independence, but requiring the imme-\\ndiate and absolute choice between the candidate of\\none and the candidate of the other. From 1885\\nto 1888 he spoke with Mr. Cleveland in the Presi-\\ndent s office, and was obliged, applying to the\\nknown acts of the administration the standard he\\nhad defined, to describe wherein the administration\\nfell short, and how far the President for whom he\\nhad voted was responsible for the shortcomings.\\nFrom 1889 to 1892 he was again forced to survey\\nthe course of his old party, to apply to it with\\nequal sincerity and equal fairness the same search-\\ning tests. It will be seen that his peculiar and\\ntrying function was exercised during each of two\\nnational elections, in which, as an editor and a\\nleader of public opinion, he took an active and in\\none of them a decisive part, and each of which was\\nfollowed by a change in the party in possession of\\nthe presidency. It was practically impossible that", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0323.jp2"}, "322": {"fulltext": "306 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS,\\nwhat he said should not influence party action,\\nnor did he seek to avoid such an effect. It was\\nequally impossible that he should escape the accu-\\nsation of partisan prejudice and exaggeration, how-\\never anxious he was not to give either justification\\nor excuse for such accusation. I think it is a rea-\\nsonable judgment on his work that he was singu-\\nlarly fair, not only in intention, but in the labor,\\nstudy, reflection, and consultation that he devoted\\nto ascertaining the facts, and to determining their\\nreal significance and value. I thought so at the\\ntime, weighing the addresses as they were delivered\\nfrom year to year, and I am strongly confirmed in\\nthe opinion by a careful review of them. A very\\nsignificant piece of evidence upon this point is the\\nfact that, among the active workers for civil service\\nreform who were intimately associated with him in\\nthe league, and who may be said to have felt a\\npretty definite though indirect responsibility for\\nhis utterances while their association with him\\nlasted, were a number of ardent and convinced\\nRepublicans and equally convinced and ardent\\nDemocrats, and, so far as I am aware, none of\\nthem felt called upon in any degree to free them-\\nselves from that responsibility. Friends and advo-\\ncates of the reform who were supporters of Mr.\\nBlaine, and who condemned unqualifiedly Mr. Cur-\\ntis s choice in 1884, found his speech of that year\\nwithout any fault that they felt themselves re-\\nquired to point out. The most resolute Democratic\\nreformers conceded his fairness to Mr. Cleveland.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0324.jp2"}, "323": {"fulltext": "THE LEADER OF REFORM. 307\\nThe most I cannot say enthusiastic, for I do\\nnot recall any but the most friendly, supporters\\nof Mr. Harrison were ready to make a correspond-\\ning concession. Abuse there was, of course, from\\nboth sides, and much honest and sincere but igno-\\nrant misconception. But the men who followed\\nMr. Curtis s course most closely, knew it most\\ncompletely, and could best pass upon its motives,\\nwere entirely satisfied of his candor and loyalty.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0325.jp2"}, "324": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER XXIII.\\nTHE TYPICAL INDEPENDENT.\\nThe year 1888 presented to those who had re-\\nfused to support the Republican candidate four\\nyears before, and had given their votes to Mr.\\nCleveland, the not wholly simple question of\\nwhether they would return to their former asso-\\nciation. The message of President Cleveland in\\nDecember, 1887, devoted chiefly to the question of\\ntaxation forced upon the country by the enormous\\nsurplus and accumulation of revenue, made the\\ntariff the chief issue of the presidential campaign.\\nThe failure to nominate Mr. Blaine eliminated his\\npersonal character as an obvious and unquestioned\\nelement in the decision. The manifest tendency\\nof a very large part of the Democratic party to-\\nwards unsound and dangerous financial legislation,\\nwhich appeared to command the assent of a ma-\\njority of that party and to be opposed by a majority\\nof the Republicans, was a matter not lightly to be\\ndismissed. The policy of Mr. Cleveland as to ad-\\nministrative reform had not been consistent, and\\nhad been fairly though roughly described as for\\nreform or against it, according as the reform senti-\\nment did or did not control the decisive vote in any", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0326.jp2"}, "325": {"fulltext": "THE TYPICAL INDEPENDENT 309\\ngiven State. In these circumstances a considerable\\nnumber of the Republicans, who with Mr. Curtis\\nhad supported Mr. Cleveland in 1884, now gave\\ntheir support to the Republican candidate, Gen.\\nBenjamin Harrison. Mr. Curtis decided that his\\nduty was otherwise. His view of the question was\\nexplained in some detail in a letter addressed to a\\ncorrespondent who had written him a letter of\\nfriendly disapproval and criticism. I give it, in\\npreference to any public utterance, as being pecu-\\nliarly characteristic\\nTO A. C. TILDEN, SAN FRANCISCO.\\nNew York, 12th September, 1888.\\nMy DEAR Sir, I am very much obliged to you\\nfor your frank and friendly letter of the 4th, and I\\nam very glad to answer it in the same spirit.\\nMy strong anti-slavery feeling made me a Repub-\\nlican, and the original purpose and character and\\nmembership of the party seem to me to have been\\nmore humane, progressive, and truly American than\\nthat of any other party. But as a Republican, after\\nthe primary purpose of the party had been attained\\nby the result of the war, I was constantly engaged in\\nwithstanding the party tendency to political abuse\\nand corruption. This culminated in 1884 by the\\nnomination to the presidency of a man who, in my\\njudgment,- had trafficked in his official place for his\\npersonal profit. The election of such a man would\\nhave been disgraceful to the party and dishonorable\\nto the country, and this consideration was para-\\nmount to all others.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0327.jp2"}, "326": {"fulltext": "810 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nI therefore supported Mr. Cleveland, not because\\nI had renounced my Republican principles, but be-\\ncause I held to them, and as the surest way of\\nsecuring the defeat of Mr. Blaine, and because I\\nbelieved Mr. Cleveland to be an honest and cour-\\nageous man who would resist any mischievous ten-\\ndency of his party. During his term it has been\\nevident that the spirit of Mr. Blaine is that of the\\nRepublican party, and that he is at present its true\\nrepresentative. Mr. Cleveland has resisted much\\nin his party, but not as much as I had hoped.\\nBut I still regard him as honest and courageous.\\nNow, as the chief issue of the campaign is the\\nmethod of reducing the revenue, and as I agree\\nwith Mr. Cleveland s policy and look upon the Re-\\npublican policy as very injurious, and as I see that\\nMr. Blaine is the controlling genius of his party,\\nand that a vote for Mr. Harrison is really a vote\\nfor Mr. Blaine, the same principles that made me\\nvote for the Republican candidate formerly induce\\nme to vote for Mr. Cleveland now.\\nBut I am not a Democrat. I shall vote against\\nMr. Hill, the Democratic candidate for governor\\nin New York, and I think Mr. Cleveland much\\nbetter than his party. I am an Independent, and\\nI am so for the same reasons that made me a Re-\\npublican formerly. The purposes that I would\\npromote were then uniformly to be served by\\nsupporting that party. But all the circumstances\\nare changed, and now I can serve them best by\\nvoting independently of party names.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0328.jp2"}, "327": {"fulltext": "THE TYPICAL INDEPENDENT. 311\\nIf my principles had been changed for any un-\\nworthy purpose, there would be truly a shade upon\\nmy name. But they are the same now that they\\nwere when I stumped for Fremont in 66, and sup-\\nported Lincoln, the greatest of modern Americans,\\nin 1860 and 64. In the sense in which you use\\nthe words, I am not an adherent of Mr. Cleveland.\\nI have been disappointed in much that he has done,\\nand have said so plainly and publicly. I think\\nhim honest, although often sophisticated, and in the\\npresent situation support him as the better alter-\\nnative. Should Mr. Harrison be elected, I should\\nhope to be equally just in my estimate of his con-\\nduct.\\nI write this long statement because I should be\\nvery sorry that a young man, who from what he\\nhas heard of me is inclined to wonder regretfully\\nat my course, should lack any explanation which I\\ncan give him.\\nWith all good wishes, I am\\nVery truly yours,\\nGeorge William Curtis.\\nThe last literary work of Mr. Curtis, outside of\\nhis regular tasks, was the editing of The Corre-\\nspondence of John Lothrop Motley. It was a\\nwork of much labor and some delicacy, owing to\\nthe strong feeling aroused in Mr. Motley and his\\nfriends by the circumstances of his resignation of\\nthe mission to Austria, and of his retirement from\\n1 New York Harper Bros. 2 vols. 1889.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0329.jp2"}, "328": {"fulltext": "312 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nthe English mission. The brief statement made\\nby Mr. Curtis in the preface may well be pondered\\nby editors generally In preparing (the letters)\\nfor publication, the editor has withheld whatever\\nhe believed that the writer s good judgment and\\nthoughtful consideration for others would have\\nomitted. This rule excludes comments upon per-\\nsons and affairs which, however innocent or play-\\nful, might cause needless pain or misapprehension.\\nIt excludes, also, much of the repetition which natu-\\nrally occurs in such letters, and a large part of the\\ndomestic and friendly messages and allusions which,\\nalthough illustrating the writer s generous sympa-\\nthy and affectionate disposition, are essentially\\nprivate. If much of such matter is still left, it is\\nbecause, with all his interest in literary pursuits\\nand in public affairs, Mr. Motley was essentially\\na domestic man, and a more rigid exclusion could\\nnot have been made without injustice to his char-\\nacter. Otherwise the letters are printed as they\\nwere written.\\nThe last public address of Mr. Curtis was that\\non James Russell Lowell, first delivered in Brook-\\nlyn, February 22, 1892, and repeated in New York\\nin May. In it he said\\nLike all citizens of high public ideals, Lowell\\nwas inevitably a public critic and censor, but he\\nwas much too good a Yankee not to comprehend\\nthe practical conditions of political life in this\\ncountry. No man understood better than he such\\ntruth as lies in John Morley s remark Parties", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0330.jp2"}, "329": {"fulltext": "THE TYPICAL INDEPENDENT. 313\\nare a field where action is a long second best, and\\nwhere the choice constantly lies between two blun-\\nders. He did not therefore conclude that there is no\\nalternative, that nought is everything and every-\\nthing is nought. But he did see closely that, while\\nthe government of a republic must be a government\\nby party, yet independence of party is much more\\nvitally essential in a republic than fidelity to party.\\nParty is a servant of the people, but a servant who\\nis foolishly permitted by his master to assume sov-\\nereign airs, like Christopher Sly, the tinker, whom\\nthe lord s attendants obsequiously salute as mas-\\nter:\\nLook how thy servants do attend on thee, i\\nEach in his office ready at thy beck.\\nTo a man of the highest public spirit like Lowell,\\nand of the supreme self-respect which always keeps\\nfaith with itself, no spectacle is sadder than that\\nof intelligent, superior, honest public men prostrat-\\ning themselves before a party, professing what they\\ndo not believe, affecting what they do not feel,\\nfrom abject fear of an invisible fetich, a chimera, a\\nname, to which they alone give reality and force,\\nas the terrified peasant himself made the spectre\\nof the Brocken before which he quailed.\\nWith his lofty patriotism and his extraordinary\\npublic conscience, Lowell was distinctively the In-\\ndependent in politics. He was an American and a\\nrepublican citizen. He acted with parties, as every\\ncitizen must act if he acts at all. But the notion\\nthat a voter is a traitor to one party when he votes", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0331.jp2"}, "330": {"fulltext": "814 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nwith another was as ludicrous to him as the asser-\\ntion that it is treason to the White Star Steamers\\nto take passage on a Cunarder. When he would\\nknow his duty, Lowell turned within, not without.\\nHe listened, not for the roar of the majority in the\\nstreet, but for the still small voice in his own\\nbreast. For, while the method of republican gov-\\nernment is party, its basis is individual conscience\\nand common sense. This entire political independ-\\nence Lowell always illustrated.\\nWhatever his party associations and political\\nsympathies, Lowell was at heart and by tempera-\\nment conservative, and his patriotic independence\\nin our politics is the quality which is always un-\\nconsciously recognized as the true conservative\\nelement in the country. In the tumultuous excite-\\nment of our popular elections, the real appeal on\\nboth sides is, not to the party, which is already\\ncommitted, but to those citizens who are still open\\nto reason, and may yet be persuaded. Li the most\\nrecent serious party appeal the orator said Above\\nall things, political fitness should lead us not to for-\\nget that at the end of our plans we must meet face\\nto face at the polls the voters of the land, with bal-\\nlots in their hands, demanding as a condition of the\\nsupport of our party, fidelity and undivided devotion\\nto the cause in which we have enlisted them. This\\nrecognizes an independent tribunal which judges\\nparty. It implies that, besides the host who march\\nunder the party color and vote at the party com-\\nmand, there are citizens who may or may not wear", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0332.jp2"}, "331": {"fulltext": "THE TYPICAL INDEPENDENT. 315\\nthe party uniform, but who vote only at their own\\nindividual command, and who give the victory.\\nThey may be angrily classified as political Laodi-\\nceans but it is to them that parties appeal, and\\nrightly, because, except for this body of citizens, the\\ndespotism of party would be absolute, and the re-\\npublic would degenerate into a mere oligarchy of\\nbosses.\\nWhen, in the letter to the San Francisco corre-\\nspondent above cited, Mr. Curtis wrote, I am an\\nIndependent, it was the standard of independence\\ndescribed in his characterization of Lowell that\\nhe had in mind. He was very faithful to that\\nstandard, and the trials of his fidelity were more\\nsevere, intimate, and lasting than those of Lowell.\\nLiterature, he said of the latter, was his pur-\\nsuit, but patriotism was his passion. Of Curtis\\nit may be said that patriotism was both his passion\\nand his pursuit, to which literature was constantly\\nand with no small sacrifice, nor witliout pangs of\\nreluctance, but constantly, subordinated. He was\\nnot only for thirty years a political journalist, but\\nhe was a political speaker, and an active partici-\\npant in party effort. While his devotion to the\\npurposes of the Republican party was the main-\\nspring of his work in and for that party, his long\\nyears of unremitting and systematic activity in it\\nwove about him numberless strong ties of sym-\\npathy, association, and memory. These were not\\neasily severed nor severed without pain. He was\\nthe most conspicuous instance of his time of the", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0333.jp2"}, "332": {"fulltext": "316 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nIndependent who, without hope of reward or gain\\nand at such a cost, followed the orders of his con-\\nscience. This, as I have said, I regard as his\\ngreatest service to his country, and as a service of\\ninestimable value. For the independence of Mr.\\nCurtis was not narrow, or obstinate, or ignorant, or\\nconceited. Of that kind there is no lack. It is,\\nto a certain order of mind, not merely easy but at-\\ntractive. The conscience which Mr. Curtis obeyed\\nwas enlightened and open. He was as careful, pains-\\ntaking, and critical in seeking to know the right as\\nhe was firm and determined in support of what he\\nfinally decided was for him the right. And he\\nwas, so far as I have been able to see, singularly\\nrespectful of the same sort of independence iu\\nothers. His indignation at hypocrisy and self-\\nseeking in public life was a flame as steady as it\\nwas hot but toward honest difference of judgment\\nhonest in the formation as in the expression\\nhe was not merely tolerant, he was frankly and\\nsincerely respectful. His great gifts, for which he\\nhad or made great opportunity, made his career\\nan example of far-reaching and lasting influence\\nand I think it may with reason and justice be said\\nthat the influence was, without qualification, pure\\nand good.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0334.jp2"}, "333": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER XXIV.\\nCHANCELLOR OF THE UNIVERSITY.\\nThe work of the Board of Regents of the Uni-\\nversitv of the State of New York, to which Mr.\\nCurtis had been elected in 1864, and of which he\\nhad thought so little when he was a member of the\\nConstitutional Convention that he had tried to\\nhave the Board abolished, was greatly changed\\nwhen in 1888 Mr. Melville Dewey, of New York,\\nbecame its secretary and executive officer with a\\nresidence at the state capital. The many and vari-\\nous and sometimes conflicting laws regulating the\\nauthority and functions of the regents were codi-\\nfied, rendered consistent, and in some degree modi-\\nfied. The powers, which for the greater part had\\nbeen either misunderstood or neglected, were now\\nfound to be considerable, and with the energetic\\nmanagement of Mr. Dewey, the board became a\\nliving organization, with possibilities of great\\nachievement, and with steady and rapid progress\\nin actual accomplishment. The original purpose\\nof the board, when created, was the establishment\\nand conduct of a university that should be the\\ncrown of the system of education in the State, to-\\nwards which all other institutions should be guided,", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0335.jp2"}, "334": {"fulltext": "318 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nand the standard of which should be at all stages\\nkept in mind. To serve this end the regents\\nwere given the right of inspection of all incorpo-\\nrated institutions of learning, with power to issue\\ncertificates based on their own examination. By\\nthe firm and skillful use of these powers, by estab-\\nlishing a carefully devised standard for the grant-\\ning of certificates, by an admirable plan of graded\\nand uniform examinations, by thorough, intelligent,\\nand systematic inspection and records, the regents\\ncertificates were given so high a value as to be in-\\ndispensable. Thus on the one hand all the edu-\\ncators in the State were made to desire the ap-\\nproval of the regents, and on the other hand\\ntheir active and beneficial cooperation was secured.\\nAfter a very great amount of labor, performed in\\nan exceedingly short time, the original purpose of\\nthe board was in the direct way of being accom-\\nplished, and its standard was recognized and con-\\ntrolling. In addition to this work of the regents,\\nits influence upon the professional schools of law\\nand medicine was steadily strengthened the State\\nLibrary, which had previously been little more\\nthan a constantly growing heterogeneous mass of\\nbooks, was reduced to order, and so classified and\\narranged as to admit of indefinite expansion and\\nof corresponding usefulness while, by various\\nmeans, its treasures were made available over the\\nwhole State, and local school libraries were multi-\\nplied. The scientific collections of the State were\\nreorganized, brought under one general control,", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0336.jp2"}, "335": {"fulltext": "THE TYPICAL INDEPENDENT, 319\\nmade mntually more useful, and their development\\nprovided for. In all this work Mr. Curtis, who\\nbecame Chancellor of the University in 1890, took\\nnot only the greatest interest, but a large part.\\nRecognizing the special knowledge and gifts of\\nMr. Dewey, he gave to him the heartiest and most\\nappreciative support; but, while he felt the im-\\npulsion of such a steam engine (as, in one of\\nhis letters, he called the secretary), he was not in\\nthe habit of shifting responsibility, and sanctioned\\nonly what he carefully understood in principle and\\nin all essential practical features. The tax of this\\nunpaid and inconspicuous though honorable work\\nupon his time and strength was considerable but\\nhe was fortunate to see its results so far achieved,\\nand its methods so firmly established and so effec-\\ntive, as to constitute a satisfying reward. The fol-\\nlowing notes from Mr. Dewey explain the relation\\nof Mr. Curtis to their work, and to those associated\\nwith it\\nMy admiration for Chancellor Curtis grew\\nwith every occasion of personal contact. Of his\\npublic and private life I can only say that I share\\nin the universal admiration. As chancellor of the\\nUniversity, however, he was known to me as to no\\none else. From the time he took office, January\\n30, 1890, his interest in our work, and his faith in\\nthe splendid future before it, grew constantly. At\\nour last interview he emphasized this more strongly\\nthan ever before, and was looking forward to our\\nimmediate future with a confidence which, with all", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0337.jp2"}, "336": {"fulltext": "320 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nmy enthusiasm, came to me as a new inspiration\\nfor I felt, when one so careful and conservative as\\nMr. Curtis had, after twenty-eight years of service\\nas a regent, looked through our plans and our re-\\ncent development and felt so fully satisfied as did\\nhe as to our future, that we, who were too much at\\nthe heart of the work to see it with the perspec-\\ntive of one at a little distance, ought to be well sat-\\nisfied with the verdict.\\nMr. Curtis was exceedingly conscientious in re-\\ngard to all his official duties, but was entirely free\\nfrom that spirit which often, in conscientious men\\noccupying supervisory positions, becomes so embar-\\nrassing to administrative officers. He watched all\\nour work with great care, and criticised or made\\nsuggestions with absolute freedom but he held\\nthat those who were giving their lives to this office,\\nand night and day were in its atmosphere and\\nstudying its interests, should be trusted as far as\\npracticable with all details of administration. His\\ncourse was a golden mean between that of those\\nperfunctory officials who sign their name to any\\nkind of a document placed before them by assist-\\nants or subordinates, and who take the honor with-\\nout assuming the responsibility, and that of the\\nsimilar officials at the other extreme who so often\\ncripple the best work by insisting on projecting\\ntheir own personal equation into the work of sub-\\nordinate officers of a totally different type of mind.\\nHe seemed always to deal with us as he would\\nlike to be dealt with under like circumstances and", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0338.jp2"}, "337": {"fulltext": "THE TYPICAL INDEPENDENT. 321\\nI can recall no case, In these happy years of official\\nassociation with him, in which he has not recog-\\nnized to our entire satisfaction our right to shape\\nminor details as we found best in our daily work,\\nthough he always faithfully and intelligently in-\\nsisted on knowing that the general principles and\\npolicy of the department were observed. Nothing\\nin my life has been so satisfactory to me as Mr.\\nCurtis s statement last January that he was per-\\nfectly satisfied to have his name stand at the head\\nof our publications and stationery, as responsible to\\nthe public for the character of the work that we\\nwere doing in the University offices. He always\\nseemed to read between the lines, and to under-\\nstand clearly the spirit in which our work was done,\\nwithout making it necessary to call his attention to\\nour devotion to duty, or to the unselfish interest in\\nthe University work which is so marked a feature\\nof nearly every prominent member of our staff. I\\nneed hardly say that in the office each one felt that\\nhe had lost a personal friend and each one real-\\nized how great was the public loss when he was\\ngone who in so unusual a degree at once fully dis-\\ncharged his responsible supervisory duties, and yet\\nleft to the working officers that sense of freedom\\nfrom every unnecessary interference without which\\nthe highest and best work is never done.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0339.jp2"}, "338": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER XXV.\\nCONCLUSION.\\nIn writing the life of Mr. Curtis as an Ameri-\\ncan Man of Letters, I have not forgotten his\\nclaim to such a designation, though I have tried to\\ngive, as nearly as possible within the limits of the\\nbook, the materials for an estimate of his course as\\na man of public affairs. As has been suggested,\\nhad he devoted himself to letters only, or were he\\nknown only by his literary work, his reputation in\\nthat kind would have been more distinct and might\\nbe more lasting. The extent of his writing was\\ngreat. The Easy Chair alone, were the monthly\\npapers continued for nearly forty years collected,\\nwould form some thirty volumes of the size of the\\npresent one. His addresses, from which three\\nlarge volumes have been selected, could easily have\\nsupplied at least twice that number. All his work\\nwas carefully and conscientiously done, most of it\\nwith more trained critical discrimination than was\\ngiven to the half dozen volumes of essays and travel,\\nand the novels that are commonly accepted as his\\nworks. Of the Easy Chair especially it must be\\nremembered that it was the chief product of Mr.\\nCurtis s pen, was wrought in the pure literary spirit,", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0340.jp2"}, "339": {"fulltext": "CONCL USION. 323\\nand was, as much as the work of any prose-writer of\\nhis time, literature. It suffers now from the ephem-\\neral form of its publication. Even the collected\\nessays in their dainty form, and with the light\\ndevice from The Tatler with which the author\\nintroduces them, I shall from time to time Ke-\\nport and Consider all Matters of what Kind soever\\nthat shall occur to me, still suggest the fleeting\\ninterest of a monthly appearance and disappearance.\\nNor can it be denied that Mr. Curtis himself had\\nlittle confidence in their permanent interest, and\\nwas with difficulty persuaded by his publishers to\\nselect those that were put into a volume before\\nhis death. I doubt, indeed, whether he would have\\ndone so, had he not had access to the collection of\\nhis friend, Mr. Pinkerton, who had faithfully gath-\\nered and bound them all. But an author is not\\nthe most trustworthy critic of his own work, and\\nit is not to be inferred that Mr. Curtis was not\\nfrom first to last scrupulously attentive, in these\\nessays, to a very high standard. The form in\\nwhich they were originally given to the public, so\\nfar from relaxing his sense of responsibility, rather\\nkept it active. He had a constant and strong im-\\npression of the very great number of readers whom\\nhe reached, and of the peculiar function performed\\nby the magazine in the American family. He knew\\nthat to thousands of these families, with eager, in-\\nterested, curious minds, with active intellectual im-\\npulses, but with scant opportunity or time for what\\nis generally known as culture, the magazine was", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0341.jp2"}, "340": {"fulltext": "324 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nwhat its name implied, their store of literature.\\nHis wide and long-continued experience in lectur-\\ning, covering as it did all the free States and ex-\\ntending over more than a quarter of a century,\\nbrought him intimate knowledge of the classes\\nwho composed the readers of the magazine. He\\nknew their needs, their mental appetites, their as-\\npirations he knew very well also their limitations,\\nand he regarded them as entitled in every way to\\nhis best work. His best he certainly gave them.\\nThere is something slightly pathetic and wholly\\nbeautiful in the spirit of the Easy Chair toward\\nthis curious clientele. It is absolutely free from\\nany taint or suspicion of condescension. Through\\nthe hundreds of essays there is manifest a simple,\\nloyal, unaffected respect for the readers. There is\\nnot even any invidious elimination of subjects that\\nmight easily be supposed to be caviare to the\\ngeneral. Poetry, art, music, letters, the higher\\npolitics, take their place freely and naturally be-\\nside social satire and reminiscence and anecdote.\\nI have spoken of the writings of Mr. Curtis in\\nHarper s Weekly as a kind of talking in which\\nthe editor had the air of speaking face to face with\\nhis readers. From the Easy Chair there was\\ntalking also, and the candor, the high courtesy, the\\nunfailing self-respect that expresses itself in re-\\nspect for others, which are qualities of the best\\ntalking, are manifest. Indeed, no other style could\\nso easily have borne so varied a burden. The\\nwriter who sets out to produce a volume on philo-", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0342.jp2"}, "341": {"fulltext": "CONCLUSION. 825\\nsophy, literature, morals, history, society, or any\\ndefined phase of them, finds his hand subdued to\\nthat he works in, and his writing, though satisfy-\\ning or delighting those interested in his particular\\ntopic, may easily repel those who are not, or may\\nweary them, or leave them indifferent. But when\\na man of rich and highly-trained mind, a wide\\nreader, a vigorous and alert thinker, with a vivid\\nand sustained interest in a great range of differ-\\nently interesting subjects, permits you to listen as\\nhe talks, ripely but with leisure, sometimes pro-\\nfoundly but always genially, you get from him\\nsomething of his best in whatever direction his\\nthought may turn. This is what one gets of Mr.\\nCurtis in the Easy Chair, and what has made that\\nseries of essays, during the long years of their reg-\\nular production, a unique and charming and very\\nimportant contribution not only to American liter-\\nature, but to the development and formation of\\nnational opinion and sentiment.\\nIn Mr. Curtis the man of letters and the orator\\nwere blended. The more important of the orations\\nwere written out and read, though they did not\\nseem to the hearer to be read. Some of them\\nwere committed to memory, but the memorizing\\nwas complete and the delivery without hesitation,\\nso that in each case the personal impression of\\nthe orator was the same, and the impression\\nwas very strong. The matter was prepared\\nwith the audience constantly in mind, and no-\\nthing was neglected which could arouse or hold", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0343.jp2"}, "342": {"fulltext": "826 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nthem but the essential thing with the orator was\\nthe substance, the thought, which the form must\\nserve. Mr. Curtis s conception of the function of\\nthe orator can be gathered from the range of his\\nsubjects as described in previous pages, and from\\nthe extracts given. It is pleasantly illustrated by\\nthe following notes of a conversation with him fur-\\nnished me by one of his associates in Harper s\\nWeekly\\nWhen I was in Washington, said Mr. Curtis,\\nI used to see much of Senator Conkling, and we\\nspent many evenings together. Upon the whole I\\nliked him, in spite of the defects which no one who\\ncame into communication with him could overlook.\\nI remember one talk with him about eloquence, in\\nwhich he naturally considered himself a connois-\\nseur. After we had discussed it abstractly for a\\nwhile, he asked me for an example of what I called\\ntrue and high eloquence. I repeated to him the\\nperoration of Emerson s Dartmouth address^ which\\nyou of course remember, Gentlemen, I have\\nventured to offer you these considerations upon the\\nscholar s place and hope, because I thought that,\\nstanding, as many of you now do, on the threshold\\nof this college, girt and ready to go and assume\\ntasks public and private in your country, you\\nwould not be sorry to be admonished of those pri-\\nmary duties of the intellect whereof you will seldom\\nhear from the lips of your new companions. You\\nwill hear every day the maxims of a low prudence.\\nYou will hear that the first duty is to get land and", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0344.jp2"}, "343": {"fulltext": "CONCLUSION. 327\\nmoney, place and name What is this Truth you\\nseek? What is this Beauty? men will ask with\\nderision. If nevertheless God have called any of\\nyou to explore truth and beauty, be bold, be firm,\\nbe true. When you shall say, As others do, so\\nwill I I renounce, I am sorry for it, my early vis-\\nions; I must eat the good of the land, and let\\nlearning and romantic expectations go until a more\\nconvenient season then dies the man in you\\nthen once more perish the buds of art and poetry\\nand science, as they have died already in a thou-\\nsand, thousand men. The hour of that choice is the\\ncrisis of your history, and see that you hold your-\\nself fast by the intellect. It did not impress the\\nsenator much. He found it too tame and creeping\\na style, and I naturally challenged him in his turn\\nfor an example. He took an attitude, and in his\\nmost oratorical manner gave me an exordium that\\nis in the school readers by an orator named\\nSprague, I think. It begins Not many years ago\\nwhere we now sit the rank thistle nodded in the\\nwind, and the wild fox dug his hole unscared.\\nThe senator s manner, the evident fervency of his\\nbelief in his masterpiece, and the contrast of it\\nwith Emerson s, all together were too much for\\nme, and I broke out in a peal of laughter which I\\ncould not restrain. I fear Senator Conkling never\\nquite forgave me that laughter.\\nIt is not without significance that in 1870, a\\nquarter of a century after Mr. Curtis s life at\\nConcord and the club evenings in Mr. Emerson s", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0345.jp2"}, "344": {"fulltext": "328 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nlibrary, the former should have quoted from the lat-\\nter an example of what he regarded as true and\\nhigh eloquence. We can have him once in three\\nor four seasons is Mr. Curtis s report of the lec-\\nturing committee s view of Emerson. But really,\\nhe adds, they had him all the time without know-\\ning it. He was the philosopher Proteus, and he\\nspoke through all the more popular mouths. If\\nMr. Emerson did not speak directly through the\\nmouth of Mr. Curtis, who had too much of his own\\nto say to permit of this, his influence was consider-\\nable. Both were optimists, both idealists. That\\nis to say, they believed in the best, that it was pos-\\nsible ultimately to attain it, and imperative always\\nto pursue it. Mr. Curtis brought this belief into\\nfields of work very different from those of Mr.\\nEmerson, who began his speaking in a pulpit, and\\nnever quite lost the sense of remoteness that the\\npulpit impressed upon his intense nature. But\\nMr. Curtis, when he had fairly found his work, and\\nbegan to speak, not merely for what he had to say,\\nbut for the effect of what he should say, kept an\\nidealism as lofty and an optimism as unflagging as\\nthose of Mr. Emerson, and in circumstances that\\ntried them far more severely. From the time of\\nthe delivery of the address at the Wesleyan Uni-\\nversity in 1856 to that of the Lowell address in\\nNew York in May, 1892, there was hardly a lec-\\nture or oration of Mr. Curtis that was not meant\\nto set forth a high ideal, to apply it to some duty\\nactually pressing, and to stir and strengthen the", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0346.jp2"}, "345": {"fulltext": "CONCLUSION, 329\\nhearts of his hearers for the task the duty imposed.\\nWith this dominant tendency it would have been\\neasy for a man with his unusual gifts as a speaker\\nto become an agitator, with the narrowness and mo-\\nnotony that incessant agitation often brings. From\\nthis he was wholly exempt, not only through the\\nvariety of his intellectual sympathies and the\\nthoroughness of his training, but by the constancy\\nof his moral impulse. It was the near duty that\\nenlisted him, and with the years ever new duties\\napproached and claimed and received his zealous\\nservice. As to each of them the essential recti-\\ntude of his nature imposed upon him not merely\\nzealous service, nor yet merely careful preparation\\nfor such service, but deliberate judgment as to the\\nduty itself. Zealous he was in the noblest and\\ncompletest fashion, but never a zealot, not blind nor\\nrash, nor obstinate nor conceited. He was as anx-\\nious to be right as he was determined in what, with\\nan open mind, he had decided to be the right. The\\nprevailing characteristic of his oratory became\\ntherefore not advocacy, though powerful and bril-\\nliant advocacy there was throughout, but persuasion\\nwith that foundation of reason and fairness and\\ncandor which is essential to real and lasting per-\\nsuasion.\\nIn the immediate impression made by the oratory\\nof Mr. Curtis his personality coimted for much.\\nNot the intellectual and haughty grace of Wendell\\nPhillips presence, nor the massive features and com-\\nmanding figure of Charles Sumner, weighted with", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0347.jp2"}, "346": {"fulltext": "330 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nconscious dignity, corresponded more completely\\nto the style of their utterance than did Mr. Curtis s\\npeculiar beauty to his. His charm was felt the\\nmoment he rose. His form was manly, powerfully\\nbuilt, and exquisitely graceful. His head was of\\nnoble cast and bearing; his features were well\\nmarked, and in his later years almost rugged finely\\ncut, but of the type that is not blurred or effaced\\nwithin the range of an audience. His forehead\\nwas square, broad, and of vigorous lines his eyes\\nof blue-gray, large, deep-set under strong and\\nslightly shaggy brows, lighted the shadow as with\\na flame, now gentle and glancing, now profound\\nand burning. His voice was a most fortunate\\norgan, deep, musical, yielding without effort the\\nhappy inflections suited to the thought, clear and\\nbright in the lighter passages, alternately tender\\nand flute-like, ringing like a bugle or vibrating in\\nsolemn organ tones that hushed the intense emotion\\nit had aroused. His gestures were very few and\\nsimple. There was nothing of the action that\\nthe trained orator of the old school studied so care-\\nfully; no effort to sustain the attention of the\\naudience, as Everett did, with a skill that an actor\\nmight envy none of the restless and irrepressible\\nmovement, which in Beecher responded to the rush\\nand torrent of his eloquence. The speaker seemed\\nabsorbed by the expression of his thought, unheed-\\ning the eyes, seeking the judgment and the heart,\\nof his auditors.\\nI see now, wrote Hawthorne in 1851 to Mr.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0348.jp2"}, "347": {"fulltext": "CONCL US ION. 331\\nCurtis on the appearance of the Nile Notes,\\nthat you are forever an author. And an au-\\nthor Mr. Curtis was to the last. If he did not\\ncling to the usual forms of authorship, he was con-\\ntinually under the spell of the literary spirit and\\nhe gave to all his productions unstintingly and\\nalmost unconsciously that which makes books lit-\\nerature, absolute and loving fidelity to the best\\nthought. His addresses are full of his love of\\nscholarship and of the fruits of that love, and his\\nideal of the citizen was the citizen who regarded\\nand performed his duties as a scholar should. He\\nwas not insensible on the contrary, he was\\nkeenly sensitive to the charm of form, studied\\nit, delighted in analyzing it, and strove for it with\\nunfailing zest. He was a most delicate and acute\\ncritic of literary style, and, though he wrote rela-\\ntively little on this subject, there was nothing more\\nenjoyable than his discussion of it in conversation,\\nwhen his talk illustrated, in its rhythmical flow, its\\nvivid and luminous play, some of the rarest attri-\\nbutes of style. But the style he admired, and which\\nhe early formed and steadily developed, was that\\nwhich, according to the Buffon tradition, is the\\nman. Literature was to him the record of the\\nbest, and it was the best that he sought in it it was\\nthe best also that he tried, modestly but with affec-\\ntionate constancy, to contribute to it. Literature\\nas a source of enjoyment he did not underestimate,\\nbut his deepest enjoyment was in its substance and\\nin the inspiration itjbreathed into his life. For the", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0349.jp2"}, "348": {"fulltext": "332 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nmere daintinesses of letters he had little taste and\\nthe over-refinement which is, as it always has been,\\nthe ambition of small minds or the weakness of\\nlarger minds, aroused in him only an amused pity.\\nHis mind, even in its earliest and most fanciful\\nproduction, was essentially vigorous and sane, of a\\nfibre as firm as it was fine. And this quality was\\ndeveloped by his education, as in a sense it de-\\ntermined it. He was not a college-bred man, but\\nhe was severely trained in most that gives college\\nbreeding its advantage. He was a careful student\\nin many directions, though an independent one.\\nHis knowledge of German, of French, of Italian,\\nwhich he rarely betrayed in his writing, was not\\nonly sound but delicate, and on his lips these lan-\\nguages had the graceful ease and certainty of inti-\\nmate acquaintance. The fact is significant of his\\nintellectual methods, of their thoroughness and sys-\\ntem, of which there is no severer test than mastery\\nof tongues not habitually used. His reading was\\nwide, as any reader of his works can see, but he\\nwas habitually chary of quotations. He had a\\nsound memory, though not a particularly ready one.\\nHis mind was assimilative, and seemed more and\\nmore so as time passed. It would not be difficult\\nto trace in literature the wide and varied springs of\\nhis thought and style, but they would appear as\\nelements blended and incorporated and made his\\nown.\\nHis place in American scholarship was formally\\nand amply recognized by th^ degrees conferred", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0350.jp2"}, "349": {"fulltext": "CONCLUSION. 333\\nupon him, which, seeing that he was not a college\\ngraduate, and was enrolled in none of the well-\\ndefined professions, and had no specialty in letters,\\nwere remarkable in number and character. They\\nwere as follows Hon. A. M., Brown, 1864, Madi-\\nson, 1861, Rochester, 1862 LL. D., Madison, 1864,\\nHarvard, 1881, Brown, 1882; L. H. D., Colum-\\nbia, 1887. But with this quadruple right to the\\nhighest official literary rank, he remained always,\\nsave in the publications of the University of the\\nState of New York after he became its chancellor,\\nthe plain editor and citizen.\\nMr. Curtis was intimately connected with the\\nstudy and development of art in New York. He\\nbegan his newspaper work by reviews of the exhi-\\nbitions, and, though these do not now rank high as\\ncriticism, they were sound and helpful in their day,\\nand based on what was then a very unusual degree\\nof observation and knowledge. He always counted\\nmany artists among his friends, and of the truest\\nas artists and as friends. He was one of the earli-\\nest members of the Century Association, and used\\nplayfully to say that the only office he really as-\\npired to was that of president of the Century. In\\nall gatherings of artists and lovers of art he was\\nwelcome and honored. He was for many years a\\ntrustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and a\\ntrustee in fact as well as name. His taste in art\\nwas refined and catholic, not coldly critical and if\\nhe was not, and did not care to be, in the strict\\nsense, a connoisseur, he was in the best sense, as", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0351.jp2"}, "350": {"fulltext": "334 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nused in the charter of his beloved Century, an ama-\\nteur.\\nMr. Curtis was in his religious sentiments what,\\nfor lack of a more definite term, is called a Unita-\\nrian. For many years it was his habit, when the\\nUnitarian church on Staten Island was without a\\npastor, to read of a Sunday, from the pulpit, a ser-\\nmon to the congregation. He was the vice-presi-\\ndent of the National Unitarian Association and he\\nnot infrequently spoke, on questions involving the\\nto him religious duty of the citizen, in the church\\nof his friend, the Rev. John W. Chadwick, of Brook-\\nlyn. It is needless to say that he was not a secta-\\nrian, and that there was no taint in his mind of that\\nnarrowness and bigotry which are the peril of a\\nbelief rejecting much of what is most generally\\naccepted. His creed remained that expressed in\\nthe simple statement written to his brother in early\\nmanhood, and quoted in the first chapter I be-\\nlieve in God, who is love, that all men are brothers,\\nand that the only essential duty of every man is\\nto be honesty by which I understand his absolute\\nfollowing of his conscience when duly enlightened.\\nI do not believe that God is anxious that men\\nshould believe this or that theory of the Godhead,\\nor of the divine government, but that they should\\nlive purely, justly, and lovingly.\\nA biography of Mr. Curtis, though it may con-\\nvey to its readers some impression of what he did,\\nand of the influence of his work and of his life,\\nmust necessarily fail to give any adequate impres-", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0352.jp2"}, "351": {"fulltext": "CONCL USION. 335\\nsion of his personality as it was known to those\\nwho had the privilege of his intimacy, those to\\nwhom love or friendship unlocked the treasures of\\nhis delightful nature. The picture which, to use\\na phrase frequently on his pen, will be forever in\\nthe memory of his friends, was not that of the\\norator, or of the leader in great causes, but that\\nof the companion and friend.\\nHis tranquil and lovely home on Staten Island\\nand the home in Ashfield among the remote hills\\nof northern Massachusetts, bore to the busy and\\nstruggling city something of the relation that their\\nmaster in his home bore to the man as he was\\nknown in the world of affairs in which he took so\\nbrave and strong a part. He was of a singularly\\nsimple and consistent nature. He had not, as\\nsome have, a different character at home and\\nabroad, but rather a different manifestation of it.\\nHis talk was, on the whole, the best I have ever\\nknown. It was at once free and measured. He had\\ngreat skill as a narrator, a natural skill, the fruit\\nof keen and sympathetic observation and of hearty\\nenjoyment of re-presentation. He had wit at times\\ncaustic, but never cruel or unfair or conceited, and\\nalways bright in itself and illuminating. He had\\nhumor of a generous and suave sort and he was\\ncapable, even in his latest years, of much of that\\nplay with the topic or the feeling of the moment\\nwhich we recognize as fun, though we cannot de-\\nfine it, and which was almost riotous in his early\\nletters. His love of music was constant, and, as a", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0353.jp2"}, "352": {"fulltext": "336 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nclose friend writes, his touch on the piano, his\\nvoice in singing, had a peculiar quality of sweet-\\nness. He smilingly adopted as to Wagner the\\nremark he often quoted as to Emerson, of the\\nBostonian who did not understand, but whose\\ndaughter did and he took a half -sportive delight\\nin dwelling on the memory of the great singers of\\nthe past, of whom Jenny Lind was to him the su-\\npreme type but his tribute to Theodore Thomas,\\nat the farewell banquet to that apostle of Wagner,\\nwas a very noble tribute to the master as well. He\\nhad a gift in the nature of genius for hospitality\\nand for friendship and it was a curious evidence\\nof the richness and capacity of his nature that,\\namid strenuous duties and labors that were crowd-\\ning, exacting, and must have been often exhausting,\\nhe was able, not to find, but to make time for such\\ngenerous social intercourse. He had the precious\\nadvantage of demanding and of giving in such in-\\ntercourse only the substance and reality he did\\nnot despise, he simply ignored, the artificial require-\\nments. He was at home in all circles, because in\\nall he was unaffectedly true to a nature constantly\\nsincere and kind and simple, but a nature also\\nopulent and varied, sensitive, sympathetic. His en-\\njoyment of society, as of the outdoor world of art,\\nof music, and of books, was a sort of talent which\\ndeveloped to the end, and did not wither or fail,\\nand which he delighted to cultivate. I think one\\nessential condition of it was his extraordinary un-\\nselfishness. The irritation that is bred of vanity,", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0354.jp2"}, "353": {"fulltext": "CONCLUSION. 337\\njealousy, envy, the weariness and distrust that are\\nthe revulsion from the f everishness of unworthy de-\\nsires, seemed impossible to him. He invited and\\nwon the best, because naturally and without con-\\nstraint he offered the best. It was due to this\\nquality of his nature that it was possible to say of\\nhim, with reason and without exaggeration, that\\nhe was the man of all Americans, perhaps the\\nman in all the world, who was most widely held in\\naffectionate regard, the most lovable and the most\\nloved of all. The expressions of this sentiment\\nafter his death, from all parts of the land, from\\nmen of all parties and all classes, overbore even\\nthe expressions of sorrow. Our tears must fall,\\nsaid his friend, Mr. Norton, to those gathered in\\nthe little church at Ashfield, that we are to see\\nhim no more but our hearts must be glad that his\\nmemory belongs to us forever, is part of ourselves,\\nand will be to us a perpetual help and joy. And\\nin the sorrowful first meeting of the executive com-\\nmittee of the New York Civil Service Reform\\nAssociation, Archdeacon Mackay-Smith closed a\\nsimple review of the character and service of the\\ndead chief We must believe that he who did this\\nwork and lived this life was very near to God.\\nHis last public utterance was in May, 1892, when\\nhe repeated in New York the Brooklyn address on\\nLowell. Early in the next month he was taken\\nseriously ill, and after long and acute suffering, on\\nthe last day of the summer, in the quiet home on\\nStaten Island, he died. A few days before the", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0355.jp2"}, "354": {"fulltext": "338 GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\\nend, a younger brother on parting asked if there\\nwas anything he could do for him. Nothing,\\nwas the answer, but to continue to love me.\\nThe words seem his last message to those who knew\\nhim, and to the multitude of those who knew only\\nhis work. It has been constantly in my mind.\\nWhat is to be written, said a life-long friend\\nof his when his death brought under discussion\\nthe preparation of a biography, is the story of a\\ncharacter. It is the sense of his character that\\nfinally remains most distinctly, most firmly, with\\nthe most vital influence, from the contemplation of\\nhis life. Charm of many sorts he had, but the\\nsupreme and pervading one was the completeness\\nwith which he could render the charm of virtue,\\nand the spontaneous and constant proof he gave\\nthat he was himself possessed by it. I have al-\\nluded many times to this in the course of this vol-\\nume, because it was manifested in so many phases.\\nIn public questions, from the early days when in\\nhis boyish letters he anticipated Charles Sumner s\\nchallenge to Webster to assume that leadership of\\nthe cause of the right which alone could give his\\ngenius its full scope, to the last noble and mournful\\ntribute to Lowell as a leader of the conscience as\\nwell as the intellect of the nation in his brief but\\nsplendid campaign against slavery in the trying\\nperiod of the Civil War in his long and patient\\nefforts first to keep his party true to its best and\\nthen to reclaim it in the years of advocacy of re-\\nform in the civil service as the cause of honest", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0356.jp2"}, "355": {"fulltext": "CONCLUSION. 339\\nand pure public life in the unselfish and fruitful\\nchampionship of political independence to which so\\nmuch of his closing years was given, in all these\\nshone the high moral purpose of the man. In his\\nliterary work after the books of travel which\\nwere his sole venture in a realm where imagina-\\ntion was sovereign under a thousand lights, in\\ngreatly varying forms, and associated with peculiar\\nbeauty of fancy, of construction and style, there\\nwas the same moral purpose. His rare gifts he\\nbrought, a rich and constant tribute, and laid them\\nat the feet of the conscience which was to him the\\ndivinely appointed saviour of the world.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0357.jp2"}, "356": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0358.jp2"}, "357": {"fulltext": "INDEX.\\nAddresses, Wesleyan University,\\n1856, 111 Philadelphia, Present\\nAspect of the Slavery Question,\\n126 Chicago Convention, 1860, 134\\non Civil Service Reform, 212 on\\nSumner, 236 at Concord, 239\\nChamber of Commerce banquet,\\n1876, 247; at Saratoga, 262; on\\nBryant, 265 as president of the\\nNational Civil Service Reform\\nLeague, 294-307 on Lowell, 309.\\nAlcott, at Brook Farm, 23 at Concord,\\n31.\\nBriggs, Charles F., editor of Putnam s\\nMagazine, 82.\\nBrook Farm, R. W. Emerson on, 19\\nC. A. Dana, 22 influence on Curtis,\\n26 sketch by Curtis, 27.\\nBryant, W. C, work before 1851, 55;\\noration on, 265.\\nBurrill, Elizabeth (mother of G. W.\\nCurtis, b. 1798, d. 1826), 6.\\nBurrill genealogy, 2.\\nBurrill, James, Jr., Chief Justice\\nof Rhode Island, United States\\nSenator, 6.\\nCivil Service Reform, spoils system in\\nSenate, 199 first commission, 216\\nabandonment by President Grant,\\n239-244 National League formed,\\n273 law of 1883, 275-278.\\nCurtis, Ephraim, b. 1642, 2 Indian ex-\\npedition, 2 first settler of Worces-\\nter, 4.\\nCurtis genealogy, 2, note.\\nCurtis, George (father of G. W., b.\\n1796, d. 1856), 6 married Elizabeth\\nBurrill, 6 second marriage, 6\\ncharacter, 6 president Bank of\\nCommerce, 18; death (1856), 105.\\nCurtis, George William, b. Feb. 24,\\n1824, 6 religious creed, 7 school-\\ning, 8 life in Providence, 8 re-\\nmoval to New York, 18 work in\\ncounting room, 19 boarder at Brook\\nFarm, 19; studies there, 20; life\\nthere, 20 described by a resident,\\n21 Alcott s address, 23 Webster\\nat Bunker Hill, 24 letter to father,\\n24, 25 sketch of Brook Farm, 27\\nreturns to New York, 29 studies, 29\\nlife at Concord, 30 club, 31 letter\\non slavery, 1844, 32 sails for Europe,\\n1846, 39 newspaper letters, 40\\ndiary, 40-50 Genoa, 41 Florence,\\n42 Rome, 44 the Pope, 45 return\\nfrom Europe, 1850, 58 Nile Notes,\\n58 letter on, 62 estimate of, 65-73\\nlectures, 74 on Tribune, 74; Lotus- v\\nEating, 75; Fugitive Slave Law,\\nletter on, 76 connection with Har-\\nper Bros., 77; The Lounger,\\n78 editor Putnam s Magazine, 78\\nverses, 79 Life of Mehemet Ali,\\n81 reminiscences by Parke Godwin,\\n82 letters to Briggs, 84-91 at\\nCambridge, 86 at Newport, 87\\nPotiphar Papers, Godwin on, 91\\nPrue and I, Godwin on, 96; be-\\ntrothal, 102 marriage with Anna\\nShaw, 102 Easy Chair, 1854, 104\\ndeath of his father, letter on, 105\\nbusiness losses, 106 debts assumed,\\n107 campaign of 1856, 109 address\\nat Wesleyan University, Middle-\\ntown, Conn., Ill canvass of Penn-\\nsylvania, 116 N. P. Willis first vote,\\n116; the home on Staten Island,\\nbirth of his son, 118 work on Har-\\nper s Weekly, 120 Trumps, 1859,\\n121 mobbed in Philadelphia, 126\\nchairman of Republican County\\nCommittee, 130 discussion of can-\\ndidates for I860, 130 delegate to\\nRepublican National Convention,\\n1860, 132; effective speech, 134;\\nDisunion, and God for the Right\\n(1860), 139; defense of Seward\\n(1861), 140; birth of a daughter\\n(1861), 144; New York taken,\\n145 events of 1861 and 1862, in let-\\nters to Norton, 148-160 Congres-\\nsional Convention, 159 death of his\\nbrother. Col. Joseph B. Curtis, 1862,\\n160 draft riots, 1863, 164 editor\\nof Harper s Weekly, 169 estimate\\nof work and methods, 170-177 visit\\nto Lincoln, 178 Republican National\\nConvention of 1864, 178 degree of\\nLL. D., Madison University, 1864,\\n181 Burnside, 182 nominated to\\nCongress, 1864, 183 defeated, 184", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0359.jp2"}, "358": {"fulltext": "342\\nINDEX.\\nreelection of Lincoln, 184 war lec-\\ntures, 185 death of Lincoln, 188\\na new paper proposed, his views,\\n189 Lowell s Commemoration Ode,\\n192 delegate to Constitutional Con-\\nvention, 192 Senatorship, 193\\ncourse in convention, 195 women,\\nsuffrage for, 196 impeachment of\\nAndrew Johnson, 198 spoils system\\nin Senate, 199 presidential elector,\\n1868, 202 offered editorship of New\\nYork Times, 203 independent jour-\\nnalism, 203; nominated for secre-\\ntary of state and declined, 1869, 204\\nthe nomination for governor, 207\\nlectures on Civil Service Reform 212\\nappointment to Civil Service Com-\\nmission, 1871, 216 report, 217-227\\nLiberal Republican movement, 1872,\\n229; resignation from commission,\\n232 sickness, 233 bolting, 234\\nthe reaction, 235 oration on Sum-\\nner, 236 oration at Concord, 239\\nLowell s ode, 244 campaign of 1876,\\n245; the disputed election, speech\\nat Chamber of Commerce banquet,\\n247 offered choice of chief mis-\\nsions, 253 Lowell, minister to\\nSpain, 255 attack by Roscoe Conk-\\nling, 257 conception of political in-\\ndependence, 258 oration at Sara-\\ntoga, 262 oration on Bryant, 265\\noffer of German mission, 268 Inde-\\npendentRepublicanmovement, 1879,\\n268 election of Garfield, 271 assas-\\nsination, 273 Civil Service Reform\\nLeague, 273 the Folger campaign,\\n1882, 275 resignation from Harper s\\nWeekly and its withdrawal, 274\\nCivil Service Reform law, 276 The\\nBlaine Campaign, the situation,\\n279 action of Independent Repub-\\nlicans, 285; delegate to National\\nConvention, 285 Blaine s nomina-\\ntion, 287 support of Cleveland,\\n288 letter on, 289 good faith, let-\\nter on, 290 abuse received, 292 ad-\\ndresses and labors as president of the\\nReform League, 294-307 canvass of\\n1888, 308; letter on, 309; letters\\nof Motley, 311 address on Lowell,\\n312 Chancellor of the University\\nof New York, 317-321 ideal of elo-\\nquence, 326 Curtis as orator, 329\\nas writer, 330 honorary degrees,\\n333; the Century Club, 333; reli-\\ngion, 334 death, 337.\\nCurtis, Henry, sailed from London,\\n1635, 1 settled at Watertown,\\nMass., 1636, 2, note; children, 2,\\nnote.\\nCurtis, James Burrill, b. 1822, 6\\nOur Cousin the Curate, 12 de-\\nscribed, 22.\\nCurtis, John (b. 1707), 5 loyalist, 5\\nreconciliation, 6.\\nCurtis, Joseph B., Col., 160, aote.\\nDegrees: Hon. A. M., Brown, 1854,\\nMadison, 1864, Rochester, 1862;\\nLL. B., Madison University, 1864,\\nHarvard, 1881, Brown, 1882\\nL. H. D., Columbia, 1887, 333.\\nEgyptian Serenade (poem), 80.\\nEmerson, R. W., 15 on Brook Farm,\\n19.\\nFugitive Slave Law, letter on, 76.\\nGodwin, Parke, Putnam s Magazine,\\n82 reminiscences of Curtis, 82 on\\nPotiphar Papers, 91.\\nHarper Bros., Curtis s connection\\nwith, 77.\\nHarper s Weekly, Curtis s contribu-\\ntions to, 78 The Lounger, 78\\ncirculation, 120 resignation from\\nand its withdrawal, 274.\\nHawthorne, at Concord Club, 31 work\\nbefore 1851, 54.\\nHowadji in Syria, 1852, 65.\\nHowadji, Nile Notes of, 1851, 59 no-\\ntices of, 60 censured, 61 letter on,\\n62.\\nIrving, Washington, 53.\\nLectures,, first, 74 War, 185 Civil\\nService Reform, 212 The Public\\nDuty of Educated Men, 1877, 258.\\nLiterary field in 1851, 52.\\nLotus-Eating, 1852, 75.\\nLounger, The, 78.\\nLowell, J. R., in 1851, 56 on Prue\\nand I and Potiphar Papers, 122\\nletters to, 192, 209-211, 244, 255;\\naddress on, 312.\\nNile Notes of a Howadji, 1851,\\n59.\\nNorton, Charles Eliot, letters to, 59,\\n106, 116, 118-120, 136-138, 144, 145,\\n146, 148, 162, 164-167, 177-182, 184,\\n187, 189, 193, 194, 204, 207, 230, 231,\\n233, 235, 245, 253, 257, 267, 275.\\nPotiphar Papers, Parke Godwin on,\\n91 estimate of, 92-96.\\nPrue and I, Parke Godwin on,\\n96.\\nPutnam s Magazine, Curtis editor of,\\n78 contributors to, 81, note Charles\\nF. Briggs, editor of, 82 Parke God-\\nwin, editor of, 82.\\nReaper, The (poem), 79.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0360.jp2"}, "359": {"fulltext": "INDEX.\\n343\\nSlavery, letter on, 1844, 32 letter on\\nFugitive Slave Law, 76 campaign of\\n1856, 109 first address, Wesley an\\nUniversity, Middletown, Conn., Ill;\\ncanvass of Pennsylvania, 116 the\\nPhiladelphia mob, 126; emancipa-\\ntion proclamation, 158.\\nSpoils system in United States Senate,\\n199.\\nSuffrage for women, 196.\\nTariff, letter on, 1844, 35.\\nThackeray, estimate of, 78.\\nThoreau at Concord, 31.\\nTribune, The New York, Curtis s work\\non, 74 course changed, 148.\\nTrumps, 1859, 121.\\nWebster, Daniel, at Bunker Hill, 24.\\nWinthrop, Theodore, marches with\\nthe 7th regiment, 145 death, 146.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0361.jp2"}, "360": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0362.jp2"}, "361": {"fulltext": "amencan ^en of JLetterjs,\\nEdited by Charles Dudley Warner.\\nWASHINGTON IRVING. By Charles Dudley\\nWarner, author of In the Levant, etc.\\nNOAH WEBSTER. By Horace E. Scudder, author\\nof Stories and Romances, A History of the United States of\\nAmerica, etc.\\nHENRY D. THOREAU. By Frank B. Sanborn.\\nGEORGE RIPLEY. By Octavius Brooks Frothing-\\nham, author of Transcendentalism in New England.\\nJAMES FENIMORE COOPER. By Thomas R.\\nLounsbury, Professor of English in the Scientific School of Yale Col-\\nlege.\\nMARGARET FULLER OSSOLI. By Thomas\\nWentworth Higginson. author of Malbone, Oldport Days, etc.\\nRALPH WALDO EMERSON. By Oliver Wendell\\nHolmes, author of The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table, etc.\\nEDGAR ALLAN POE. By George E. Woodberry,\\nauthor of Studies in Life and Letters, etc.\\nNATHANIEL PARKER WILLIS. By Henry A.\\nBeers, Professor of English Literature in Yale College.\\nBENJAMIN FRANKLIN. By John Bach McMas-\\nter/author of History of the People of the United States.\\nWILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT. By John Bigelow,\\nauthor of Molinos the Quietist, etc.\\nWILLIAM GILMORE SIMMS. By WiUiam P.\\nTrent, Professor of English Literature in the University of the\\nSouth, Sewanee, Tenn.\\nGEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS. By Edward Gary.\\nOther volumes to be mmounced hereafter. Each volume^ with\\nPortrait^ 167710, gilt top, $1.2 j half 77iorocco, $2.jo.\\nHOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY,\\n4 Park St., Boston; u East 17TH Sr., New York.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0363.jp2"}, "362": {"fulltext": "WASHINGTON IRVING.\\nMr. Warner has not only written with sympathy, mi-\\nnute knowledge of his subject, fine literary taste, and that\\neasy, fascinating style which always puts him on such\\ngood terms with his readers, but he has shown a tact,\\ncritical sagacity, and sense of proportion full of promise\\nfor the rest of the series which is to pass under his\\nsupervision. New York Tribune.\\nIt is a very charming piece of literary work, and pre=\\nbents the reader with an excellent picture of Irving as a\\nman and of his methods as an author, together with ar\\naccurate and discriminating characterization of his works\\nBoston JournaL\\nIt would hardly be possible to produce a fairer or more\\ncandid book of its kind. Literary World (London).\\nNOAH WEBSTER.\\nMr. Scudder s biography of Webster is aljke honorable\\nto himself and its subject. Finely discriminating in ali\\nthat relates to personal and intellectual character, schol-\\narly and just in its literary criticisms, analyses, and\\nestimates, it is besides so kindly and manly in its tone, its\\nnarrative is so spirited and enthralling, its descriptions\\nare so quaintly graphic, so varied and cheerful in their\\ncoloring, and its pictures so teem with the bustle, the\\nmovement, and the activities of the real life of a by-gone\\nbut most interesting age, that the attention of the reader\\nis never tempted to wander, and he lays down the book\\nwith a sigh of regret for its brevity. Harper s Monthly\\nMagazine.\\nIt fills completely its place in the purpose of this se-\\nries of volumes. The Critic Q^^v^ York).\\nHENRY D. THOREAU.\\nMr. Sanborn s book is thoroughly American and trul)\\nfascinating. Its literary skill is exceptionally good, and\\nthere is a racy flavor in its pages and an amount of exact\\nknowledge of interesting people that one seldom meets\\nwith in current Hterature. Mr. Sanborn has done Tho-\\nreau s genius an imperishable service. A?nerican Church\\nReview (New York).\\nMr. Sanborn has written a careful book about a curious\\nman, whom he has studied as impartially as possible\\nwhom he admires warmly but with discretion and the\\nstory of whose life he has told with commendable frank\\nness and simplicity. New York Mail and Express.\\nIt is undoubtedly the best life of Thoreau extant.\\nChristian Advocate (New York).", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0364.jp2"}, "363": {"fulltext": "GEORGE RIPLEY.\\nHe has fulfilled his responsible task with admirable\\nfidelity, frank earnestness, justice, fine feeling, balanced\\nmoderation, delicate taste, and finished literary skill. It\\nis a beautiful tribute to the high-bred scholar and gener-\\nous-hearted man, whose friend he has so worthily por-\\ntrayed. Rev. William H. C han7ting (hondiOn).\\nJAMES FENIMORE COOPER.\\nWe have here a model biography. The book is charm\\ningly written, with a felicity and vigor of diction that are\\nnotable, and with a humor sparkling, racy, and never\\nobtrusive. The story of the hfe will have something of\\nthe fascination of one of the author s own romances.\\nNew York Tribmie.\\nProf. Lounsbury s book is an admirable specimen of\\nliterary biography. We can recall no recent addition\\nto American biography in any department which is supe\\nrior to it. It gives the reader not merely a full account\\nof Cooper s literary career, but there is mingled with this\\na sufficient account of the man himself apart from his\\nbooks, and of the period in which he lived, to keep\\nalive the interest from the first word to the last. New\\nYork Evening Post.\\nMARGARET FULLER OSSOLI.\\nHere at last we have a biography of one of the noblest\\nand the most intellectual of American women, which does\\nfull justice to its subject. The author has had ample\\nmaterial for his work, all the material now available\\nperhaps, and has shown the skill of a master in his\\nuse of it. It is a fresh view of the subject, and adds\\nimportant information to that already given to the public\\nRev. Dr. F. H. Hedge, in Boston Advertiser.\\nRALPH WALDO EMERSON.^\\nDr. Holmes has written one of the most delightful\\nbiographies that has ever appeared. Every page sparkles\\nwith genius. His criticisms are trenchant, his analysis\\nclear, his sense of proportion delicate, and his sympa-\\nthies broad and deep. Philadelphia Press.\\nEDGAR ALLAN POE.\u00c2\u00bb\\nMr. Woodberry has contrived with vast labor to con\\nstruct what must hereafter be called the authoritative\\nbiography of Poe, a biography which corrects all others,\\nsupplements all others, and supersedes all others. The\\nCritic (New York).", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0365.jp2"}, "364": {"fulltext": "NATHANIEL PARKER WILLIS.*\\nProf. Beers has done his work sympathetically yet can-\\ndidly and fairly and in a philosophic manner, indicating\\nthe status occupied by Willis in the republic of letters,\\nand sketching graphically his literary environment and\\nthe main springs of his success. It is one of the best\\nbooks of an excellent series. Buffalo Ti7nes.\\nBENJAMIN FRANKLIN.\\nOne of the most interesting and instructive volumes\\nof the series. The pictures which are given of the\\nmomentous period in which he lived are full of vigor,\\nand betray an astonishing amount of research in many\\ndirections. --^j5 ^j 9;/ Gazette,\\nWe have had many lives of Franklin, but none so ab-\\nsolutely impartial as this, and although it is short it omits\\nno important fact that can help to reveal the man.\\nMr. McMaster tells his story with extreme charm of\\nnarration. Hartford Courant,\\nWILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT.\\nThere were many aspects in which Mr. Bryant pre-\\nsented himself as a subject for biography. He was a chief\\nin the department of American journalism. He was a\\ncontrolling power in American politics. He was also a\\nman of letters in the pure and simple sense of the term.\\nOne might have known him well in either of these rela-\\ntions and yet had no thought of the others. Mr. Bige-\\nlow has, it seems to us, done justice to all. The Church-\\nman (New York).\\nWILLIAM GILMORE SIMMS.\\nAs a biography it will rank with the best in the series.\\nIt is clear in style, full in statement of fact, impartial,\\ndiscriminating and critical, and at the same time gener-\\nous and sympathetic. Professor Trent has performed a\\ndifficult task with rare discretion and good taste. Chris-\\ntian Union (New York).\\nFor sale by all Booksellers. Sent, post-paid, on receipt\\nof price by the Publishers,\\nHOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY,\\nBOSTON AND NEW YORK.", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0366.jp2"}, "365": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0367.jp2"}, "366": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0368.jp2"}, "367": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0369.jp2"}, "368": {"fulltext": "0 c i\\nA\\n0^.\\nx^^^.\\nlf%\\\\ -^/ff\\nr\\nA\\n,0 o\\n.N\\ncP\\n^H\\n\u00e2\u0080\u00a2^OO^\\nA", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0370.jp2"}, "369": {"fulltext": ";sv ATr F-/\\no\\n^oo^\\n?5 -n^.\\nA^\\nV\\nv^\\nV ,0\\n(A\\ni.\\n^JU\\n\u00e2\u0096\u00a0j O\\n6^ _\\nc^\\nO.\\ni-\\nO ij \u00c2\u00bbv\\n.^^0\\n\\\\0 ^w V O^\\n#S^.^:\\n1 c^\\nV\\nOo\\nt\\n^\\\\o^\\nX^^x.\\n^0\u00e2\u0080\u00a2\\nt-\\nv^\\n\u00e2\u0096\u00a0*bo\\n^,xx o^\\n.4\\nV\\nN\\n,0 rj", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0371.jp2"}, "370": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4201", "width": "2570", "jp2-path": "georgewilliamcur01cary_0372.jp2"}}