Memoirs of Georgia; containing historical accounts of the state's civil, military, industrial and professional interests, and personal sketches of many of its people. Vol. II, Part 5

Author:
Publication date: 1859
Publisher: Atlanta, Ga., The Southern historicl association
Number of Pages: 1166

USA > Georgia > Memoirs of Georgia; containing historical accounts of the state's civil, military, industrial and professional interests, and personal sketches of many of its people. Vol. II > Part 5

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ABSALOM CHAPPELL.

Absalom Chappell, born in Hancock county in 1801, and died in 1878, was the author of several books of value in their time, but not found in circulation now. They contained papers on The Oconee War, The Yazoo Fraud, Middle Georgia and the Negro, Gen. James Jackson, and Gen. Anthony Wayne. Col. Chappell was educated at that well-known school at Mt. Zion taught by Dr. Beman. He graduated from the law school of the state university under the guidance of Judge Clayton. He first practiced in Sandersville, then in Forsyth, afterward in Macon, and finally settled in Columbus, Ga. He married Miss Loretta R. Lamar, the sister of the poet, Mirabeau Lamar.

AUGUSTA EVANS WILSON.

There is no southern novelist better known than this author, who was born in Columbus, Ga., May 8, 1835. There are few romance writers of this country whose books have reached a greater circulation than those of Augusta Evans (Mrs. Wilson). Her father was M. R. Evans, a man of wealth, intellect and refine- ment, and her mother was Sarah S. Howard, a descendant of the Howards, one of the most cultivated families of Georgia. She was a child when her father moved to Texas at the end of the Mexican war, and no educational opportunities

MEMOIRS OF GEORGIA.

being offered in the neighborhood of San Antonio, her home, her schooling devolved upon the mother. It was there she received that literary training which fitted her for the remarkable achievements which have followed the course of her career. The mother was not only a woman of refinement and intelligence, but of literary tastes and any amount of pure southern bravery, who allowed nothing to prevent her daughter from cultivating her natural talent. Her first story, Inez, a tale of the Alamo, was written when she was only fifteen years old, and was published by the Harpers in 1855. Its scenery represents the surrounding country of the author's home, and the exciting events accompanying the Mexican war furnished a bright part of the theme. Beulah next appeared, and is con- sidered by many her best book. The civil war interrupted her literary work, and it was a long time before her third novel, Macaria, was published. It passed the blockade by going to Cuba and thence to New York. It was written while the author sat in hospitals and nursed soldiers at Camp Beulah, near Mobile. A bookseller of Virginia first printed the book on coarse paper at an office in South Carolina. It was dedicated to the brave soldiers of the southern army, but the edition was all destroyed by a Federal officer in Kentucky. The issue was finally made by Lippencott & Derby, and the author partly protected as to her rights through the efforts of this firm. After the civil war ended Miss Evans took the manuscript of St. Elmo to New York in person. This was then the greatest of her works, and abounded with many historical references, showing great study and research. There have been few novels more abused or more commended than St. Elmo. Its success exceeded all expectations, and the author was the idol of the day. Towns, hotels, race horses and steamboats were named after the book, and the remuneration received by Miss Evans was a big figure. St. Elmo contains a description of that marvel of oriental architecture, the Taj Mahal at Agra in India-a marble tomb erected to perpetuate the name of Lalla Rookh. A traveler visiting Agra in 1891, writes that he was surprised to find a Parsee boy almost in the shadow of the Taj Mahal reading a copy of the London edition of Mrs. Wilson's Vashti. This book also met with unbounded favor. About this time Miss Evans married Mr. Wilson, a prominent citizen of Mobile, Ala. On account of her health he requested her to discontinue her novel writing, which she did, devoting herself to decorating her home and grounds. This home is located in a grove of magnificent oaks and fragrant magnolia trees on a beautiful road near Mobile. She has refused time and time again liberal offers, and not even a proposition to let her name her own price for a serial could tempt her. She has been offered $35,000 to allow her books to be published in cheap paper back form, not to interfere with her library bound editions, but refused to do so. She received $15,000 for Vashti before it ever went to press. Ten years elapsed between Infelice and her last work, At the Mercy of Tiberius. Mrs. Wilson loves Beryl the best of all characters, and considers At the Mercy of Tiberius her strongest book. Her whole life has been spent in the south, and she is a typical southerner. Sensitive and retiring, she is very appreciative of the good will of her fellow beings, and considers it a nobler privilege to possess the affections of "my country-women than to assist my country-men in making national laws." Miss Mildred Rutherford says of Mrs. Wilson: "Mrs. Wilson has frequently been pronounced the most brilliant and fascinating writer in the south. That she is a remarkable woman no one will deny. Entering the literary field without literary training at the age of sixteen, by her continued meritorious work she stands without question at the head of the novel writers of the south. She has woven into her novels all that is good and great in the human race, and she has given to her heroes and heroines the imperishable virtues of morality, Chris-

LITERATURE AND JOURNALISM.

tianity and beauty. She is not a professional writer; literature has rather been an embellishment of her life. Her style has been severely criticised as pedantic, but certainly this charge may with equal justice be brought against George Meredith, Bulwer and George Eliot, and it is well established that Mrs. Wilson's books have in many instances stimulated her young readers to study history, myth- ology and the sciences, from which she so frequently draws her illustrations."

HARRY STILLWELL EDWARDS.

Harry Stillwell Edwards, the author of Two Runaways and other stories, was born in Macon, Ga., April 23, 1854. He attended a private school until fifteen years of age, when he accepted a clerkship in Washington, D. C. He returned to Georgia and studied law, graduating from Mercer university, Macon, with the degree of B. L. Then followed a period passed through by many young lawyers. Cases were few and an income was slow in materializing. His first literary effort was Varoli Bayerdierre, and appeared in the "Waverly Magazine" of Boston. He received the sum of fifteen dollars for this production, and at once dropped law and adopted story-writing as a profession. He wrote stories for this magazine and was local editor of the "Macon Telegraph" for several years. Then in 1881 he became part owner and associate editor of the paper. The gifted Albert R. Lamar was then managing editor. He also wrote many interest- ing, humorous and pathetic poems and sketches, some of which were The Atlanta Horn, The Man on the Monument and The Dooly County Safe. In 1885 his first magazine story of any decided merit, Elder Brown's Backslide, was pub- lished in "Harper's Magazine." It was followed by the Two Runaways, Sister Todhunter's Heart, De Valley an' de Shadder, and Idyl of Sinkin' Mountain, Minc, A Plot, Tom's Strategy, A Born Inventor and How Sal Came Through, all of which appeared in the "Century." Old Miss an' Sweetheart was subse- quently published in "Harper's." He wrote many dialect verses, and has furnished many children's stories for "St. Nicholas" and "Youth's Companion." In 1890 the "Century" published the Two Runaways and other stories. Besides pos- sessing literary talents he is quite musical, having set to music Mammy's Li'l' Boy and Comin' from the Fields, two of his poems. In 1881 he married Miss Mary Roxie Lane, of Sparta, Ga. He is widely-known socially and enjoys the respect and friendship of all. Mrs. Augusta Lamar (Bacon) Curry writes of this well- known story-writer: "All of Harry Edwards' sketches are founded on fact. He is thoroughly familiar with the scenes and characters of which he writes, and selects his subjects from the every-day life around him. His plots are thoroughly original; there is nothing of the commonplace in them, and his stories are filled with quaint conceits and bright ideas. Minc, A Plot, is so thoroughly peculiar that it would be impossible to give an idea of it in a short sketch. He has the happy faculty of never repeating himself. Each story, no matter what the subject, while thoroughly true to life, is a new and distinct phase of human character, excellently drawn. His style, simple and unaffected, is a delightful combination of sentiment and pathos, with the sublimest humor."

MATT CRIM.

Miss Matt Crim was born in Atlanta, and has spent her life chiefly in Georgia. She was educated almost entirely in her native city. She now lives in New York. She wrote for the Sunny South and the Savannah papers, but her first sketch to attract general attention was An Unfortunit Creetur, which ap-

MEMOIRS OF GEORGIA.

peared in the "Century." "Harper's" and the "Independent" have since pub- lished many of her stories. Her books are The Adventures of a Fair Rebel, and In Beaver Cove and Elsewhere.

ELIZA FRANCIS ANDREWS.

Miss Eliza Francis Andrews was born in 1847, and her first work was A Family Secret, descriptive of southern life. A Mere Adventurer appeared in 1879, and in this Miss Andrews makes a plea for a wider field of usefulness for woman. The Letters of Elzey Hay were written mostly from Florida to the "Augusta Chronicle." Miss Andrews' home is Washington, Wilkes Co., Ga., and she was educated at the La Grange Female college. She is now a teacher at Wesleyan Female college at Macon-the "mother of all female colleges." She is never idle, and is a popular contributor to current literature in Georgia.

WILLIAM H. HAYNE.

William H. Hayne was born in Charleston, S. C., in 1856, and is the son of Paul Hayne, the "King Arthur" of the pen. He was delicate in his youth, and outside of a short time spent at Dr. Porter's school in Charleston, was educated at home by his parents. His literary career began about 1879, and he has written enough poems to fill two volumes. His poems for children have ap- peared in "St. Nicholas," "Wide Awake," "Harper's Young People" and the "Independent." In 1873 he visited the north with his father, and in 1877 went once more, and was well-received. His poems are accepted by the best periodi- cals, and are much praised. His home after the war was Copse Hill, in the cottage already described in the sketch of his father's life. "The place became a sort of southern Mecca, to which loving folk made pilgrimages, and its name, 'Copse Hill,' grew familiar to all the world." There the father died in 1886. Many of William Hayne's choice morsels are in the quatrain form:

"It seems impossible to understand How joy and sorrow may be hand in hand; Yet God created when the earth was born The changeless paradox of night and morn."

Then again:

"Hopes grimly banished from the heart Are the sad exiles that depart To melancholy's rayless goal- A bleak Siberia of the soul."

This beautiful tribute to his father is from his pen:

"The guardian pines upon the hill Were strangely motionless and chill, As if they drew his last loved breath From the uplifted wings of Death. And now their mingled voices say, The passing of a soul away- The tenderest of the souls of men- Our dead King Arthur of the pen! Oh, kindred of the sea and shore, Our grief is yours forevermore! His body lieth cold and still, For death has triumphed on the hill!"

LITERATURE AND JOURNALISM.

At the unveiling of Sidney Lanier's bust in Macon, Ga., 1870, William Hayne delivered the poem of the occasion, and it was a grand tribute to the man it was intended to honor. Mr. Hayne has published one volume of his poems, Sylvan Lyrics.

CHARLES W. HUBNER.

Charles W. Hubner, of Atlanta, is of German lineage, and a native of Baltimore, Md. His boyhood was passed in Germany, studying music and the classics. He served in the Confederate army, and has been editorially connected with a number of papers in Atlanta, Ga .- the "Constitution," the "Evening Jour- nal," the "Christian Index"-and was the literary editor of the "American," established by Dr. Armstrong. Some of Mr. Hubner's poems are of great beauty and a faultless rythm, and are the product of half hours of leisure in the midst of the exacting duties of professional journalism. His touching and tender song, Spirit Eyes, is dedicated to a daughter who died. In speaking of her he says: "The Spirit Eyes I sing are her eyes, smiling down upon me wherever I turn my own tear-dimmed eyes to the starry splendors that blaze in the infinite blue. She was my darling, and just blooming into young maidenhood, when 'God's finger touched her' and she fell asleep in my arms to waken into life eternal. The sudden blow almost broke my heart, and the words were written with a pen dipped in the blood of a father's heart."

His works are: Historical Souvenirs of Luther, Wild Flowers, Cinderella Lyrical Drama, Modern Communism, The Wonder Stone, Poems and Essays.

JAMES R. RANDALL.

James R. Randall, the author of Maryland, My Maryland, the war lyric which Oliver Wendell Holmes said was the best poem produced during the civil war, was born in Baltimore in 1843, and for twenty years was editor and writer on the "Augusta Chronicle." He is of English and French ancestry, "with a dash of Irish." He was educated at the Catholic college in Georgetown, D. C. In 1860 he was in New Orleans engaged in journalistic work. One night, while a professor at Poydras college, Point Coupee, La., he arose from a feverish dream and wrote the words of Maryland, My Maryland. He was immediately made famous. The story of how it was put to music is interesting. Frederic Berat chose the tune Ma Normandie, but later the lovely German lyric, Tannebaum, O Tannebaum, was selected. After the battle of Manassas some Maryland ladies visiting Gen. Beauregard were serenaded by the Washington artillery of New Orleans. After the serenade the soldiers asked for a song, and Miss Jennie Cary sang Maryland, My Maryland. The soldiers caught the refrain, and the whole camp rang with the beautiful melody. From that time Maryland became a national war song of the south. At the close of the war Mr. Randall married Miss Kate Hammond, the daughter of Col. Marcus Hammond, of South Caro- lina. Mr. Randall's journalistic work has received practical recognition from Hon. Patrick Walsh, the editor of the "Augusta Chronicle," who is the general manager of the Southern Associated Press, and warm friendship exists between them. In 1886 Mr. Randall left the "Chronicle" to associate himself with the "Anniston Hot Blast," and a year later he returned to his old home in Baltimore and became an editorial writer on the "Baltimore Press." His second war song, There's Life in the Old Land Yet, was written after the battle of Manassas, when the Maryland legislature took a step toward secession. In Memoriam was written when Pelham was killed, and Arlington soon followed, completing

MEMOIRS OF GEORGIA.

the quartet of war songs. Why the Robin's Breast Is Red, Young Marcellus and Eidolon are others of his poems. Mr. Randall has been called by his friends the "Tyrtaeus" of the late war.

HENRY LYNDEN FLASH.

Henry Lynden Flash was a Buckeye boy by birth, and his parents were natives of Jamaica. He grew to manhood in New Orleans, and was educated in the Western Military institute of Kentucky. After graduation he went into business in Mobile, Ala. After a visit to Italy he returned to this country and settled in Mobile, then in Galveston, Tex. He served in the Confed- erate army until the last year of the war, when he bought and edited the "Macon Daily Telegraph and Confederate." It was in the columns of this paper that his poems were first read. He married Miss Clara Dolsen, of New Orleans. In 1886 he moved to Los Angeles, Cal., where he has since resided. He has only written poetry, as he so inclined, being steadily engaged in business. His poems have been collected and published. The poem, Shadows in the Valley, is consid- ered one of his best. The first and last verses are:

"There's a mossy, shady valley, Where the waters wind and flow, And the daisies sleep in winter 'Neath a coverlet of snow; And violets, blue-eyed violets, Bloom in beauty in the spring, And the sun-beams kiss the wavelets Till they seem to laugh and sing;

"And no slab of pallid marble Rears its white and ghostly head,

Telling wanderers in the valley Of the virtues of the dead; But a lily is her tombstone, And a dew-drop, pure and white, Is an epitaph an angel wrote In the stillness of the night."

ORELIA KEY BELL.

Orelia Key Bell was born in Atlanta in 1864, and is the daughter of Marcus A. Bell. She is related to Francis Scott Key. She was educated in the Atlanta public schools and early developed a taste for literature. Her poetical genius was first encouraged by Henry W. Grady, of the "Atlanta Con- stitution," and she was spurred to further efforts by Mr. Page Baker, editor of the "New Orleans Times-Democrat," who accepted many of her poems. The "Century" used her productions, as did the "New York Sun," and it was in the latter paper that Gathering Roses first appeared. She is employed by the "De- troit Free Press" to furnish "flower songs" and "love songs" for its columns. Several of her poems have been set to music by disinguished composers, and elocutionists all over the land recite many of them. Miss Bell is at her best in her poems of nature. Her poems number in the hundreds. Those which attract the most attention are Po' Jo, Gathering Roses, To Youth, My Dream, Under the Laurel, To-day's Gethsemane, The Jamestown Weed and The Dead Worker.

LITERATURE AND JOURNALISM.

Her poems will soon appear in book form. Mariposa, said to be the best she has written, has not yet been published.

FRANK LEBBY STANTON.

Frank Lebby Stanton, the poet of the "Atlanta Constitution," was born in Charleston, S. C., in 1858. He lived while growing to manhood, as he expresses it, "from one end of Georgia to the other." His father moved from Charleston, S. C., to Savannah, Ga., where he died in 1865, and the boy at nine years of age began work on the farm. He studied hard and for six years was in a printing office. He then went to Smithville, where he founded the "Smithville News." Next he located at Rome and was employed on the "Tribune," a paper made so prominent by the writings of John Temple Graves, its editor. He began writing poetry at fifteen. He moved from Rome to Atlanta and edited the column, "Just from Georgia." His volume, Songs of a Day, was well received and passed rapidly through several editions. He is of a sensitive, tender nature, and the secret of his success is that his poems come from his heart, and go to the heart. They have a touch of nature in every line. The wife of Mr. Stanton has inspired many of his best efforts. His Dreamin' O' Home was written after talking with her of the old home at Smithville. A Little Hand was written from seeing her train a vine over the porch, and again he wrote of her hands:

"No jewels adoin them-no glittering bands- They are just as God made them-those sweet, sweet hands! And not for the world, with its splendor and gold Nor for the pearls from the depths of the sea, Nor the queens of the lands, with their beautiful hands, Should these dear hands be taken from me. What exquisite blisses await their commands! They were made for my kisses-these dear, sweet hands."

MARIA LOUISE EVE.

Maria Louise Eve is a native of Augusta, Ga., and was born in 1848. She is the daughter of Dr. Edward Armstrong Eve, who was an eminent physician. The family of Eve when it first came to America settled in Philadelphia, after- ward in Charleston, S. C., and finally came to Augusta, Ga. In 1866 she secured a prize of $100 for a prose essay, and in 1879 a prize of the same amount for the best poem expressing the gratitude of the south to the north for aid in the yellow fever epidemic.

This poem, Conquered at Last, begins:

"You came to us once, O brothers in wrath, And rue desolation followed your path. You conquered us then, but only in part, For a stubborn thing is the human heart."

And it ends:

"You conquered us once, our swords we gave; We yield now our hearts-they are all we have; Our last trench was there, and it held out long; It is yours, O friends, and you'll find it strong. Your love had a magic diviner than art, And 'conquered by kindness' we'll write on our heart."

MEMOIRS OF GEORGIA.

Her Brier Rose won the prize for the best poem offered by the "Augusta Chronicle" in 1889, and her poem, The Lion and Eagle, a welcome to the Eng- land peace deputation, attracted much attention. Her writings are limited in number, but are of excellent quality.

LOLLIE BELLE WYLIE.

Lollie Belle Wylie was born in Bayou Coden, Ala., and her father dying when she was a babe, she was reared by her maternal grandfather, William D. Ellis, of Georgia. She was married to Hart Wylie when nineteen years of age, and after nine years of wedded life the husband died, leaving the widow with two little girls to support. Her first volume of poems, fresh from the press, was placed on her desk just as her husband died. Two years later she accepted Mr. Hoke Smith's offer to become society editor on the "Atlanta Jour- nal," a position she held until she established a paper of her own-"Society." She is vice-president of the Woman's Press club of Georgia.

MONTGOMERY M. FOLSOM.

Montgomery M. Folsom, one of the editors of the "Rome Tribune," was born in Lowndes county, Ga., in 1857. His education was picked up in one of the old field schools and for three years he drove cattle. He was con- nected with the "Americus Daily Recorder" in 1884, and then went to the "Atlanta Constitution." He edited at different times the "Cedartown Standard," the "At- lanta Commonwealth" and the "Cedartown Guardian." He became associated with the "Atlanta Journal" in 1891. His published work is entitled Scraps of Song and Southern Scenes, and his sketches and poems appear in magazines all over the country.

J. L. M. CURRY, D. D., LL. D.

J. L. M. Curry, D. D., LL. D., was born in Georgia in 1825, and is of Scotch and English ancestry. He graduated from the university of Georgia in 1843, and studied law at Harvard. He has been a member of the Alabama legislature and has twice represented Georgia in congress. Under President Cleveland's first administration Mr. Curry was sent as minister to Spain. He has written much for newspapers and reviews and is the author of Constitutional Govern- ment in Spain, Gladstone, Establishment and Dis-establishment, or Progress of Soul Liberty in America. The last work has attracted much attention in England and America. He is a Baptist in his religious views, and is considered one of the most prominent divines of that denomination. Mercer university, appreciat- ing his abilities, conferred upon him the degree of LL. D., and he holds the same degree from his alma mater.

ATTICUS GREEN HAYGOOD.

Atticus Green Haygood, born in 1830, was graduated from Emory college, Ga., and was at once licensed to preach in the Methodist Episcopal church. In 1876 he was made president of Emory college. Dr. Haygood was offered the bishopric, but declined, feeling that he could do better service in the management of the Paine institute fund, but finally accepted the honor in 1890. His first book, Go or Send, published in 1873, was a prize essay on missions. Our Children, published in 1876, was well received, and 14,000 copies were sold. His other works are: Our Brother in Black, Sermons and Speeches, Pleas for

LITERATURE AND JOURNALISM.

Congress, The Man of Galilee, Jack-Knife and Brambles. Mr. Haygood is one of the ablest men in the southern Methodist conference. His sister is the well- known teacher, Miss Laura Haygood, who has been missionary to China for ten years.

"BILL ARP."

Charles H. Smith, or "Bill Arp," was born in Gwinnett county, Ga., in 1826. His father was from Massachusetts, and settled in Savannah, where he married a pupil in a school he was teaching. He "grew up as bad as other town boys, went to school some and worked some." He entered Franklin college at Athens, but did not graduate. He then studied law. He married Miss Mary Octavia Hutchins, and they have ten children. His famous letters first appeared when the war commenced, and were written in the Josh Billings style of spelling. They were rebellious letters in a humorous way, and attracted attention, not only for the humor but from the fact that what he good-naturedly said was so much to the point that it reached every true southerner. The "Courier-Journal" said of his letter to Artemus Ward in 1865, that: "It was the first chirp of any bird after the surrender, and gave relief and hope to thousands of drooping hearts." Another paper said: "His writings are delightful mixtures of humor and philosophy. There is no cynicism in his nature, and he always pictures the brightest side of domestic life, and encourages his readers to live up to it and enjoy it." He dropped the phonetic spelling after the war. In the weekly letters he has sent out for thirty years he has told much about himself and family. He bought a farm at Cartersville, Ga., after the war, and there he lives and writes. His home life is very happy. His cheerful philosophy cannot fail to brighten all around him. "Bill Arp" is at present writing letters to the "Constitution" and the "Sunny South," and has just published a History of Georgia.

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Memoirs of Georgia; containing historical accounts of the state's civil, military, industrial and professional interests, and personal sketches of many of its people. Vol. II, Part 5

Author: Publication date: 1859 Publisher: Atlanta, Ga., The Southern historicl association Number of Pages: 1166

Author:
Publication date: 1859
Publisher: Atlanta, Ga., The Southern historicl association
Number of Pages: 1166