In 1832 he visited his brothers on the Illinois prairies,
and stopped one day to chat with a "tall awkward uncouth lad" of
racy conversational powers, who was leading his company of
volunteers into the Black Hawk War. The two men were destined to
meet again in 1860, when Bryant presided at that Cooper Union
address of Lincoln's which revealed to New York and to the
country that the former captain of volunteers was now a king of
men. Lincoln was embarrassed on that occasion, it is said, by
Bryant's fastidious, dignified presence. Not so Nathaniel
Hawthorne, who had seen the poet in Rome, two years before.
"There was a weary look in his face," wrote Hawthorne, "as if he
were tired of seeing things and doing things. . . .He uttered
neither passion nor poetry, but excellent good sense, and
accurate information, on whatever subject transpired; a very
pleasant man to associate with, but rather cold, I should
imagine, if one should seek to touch his heart with one's own."
Such was the impression Bryant made upon less gifted men than
Hawthorne, as he lived out his long and useful life in the
Knickerbocker city.
Pages:
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132