The history of Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, Part 79

Author:
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 1082

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" At Cervia and Ravenna, Italy, she made her grandest success in the part of Gilda, in ' Rigoletto,' which gave an opportunity to show her great dramatic powers, and her success can best be imagined from the fact that at the conclusion of her engagement there she was escorted from the Opera House with a military band, mid cheers and shouts of 'Bravo ! bravo ! Long live Iole Barbo, the American nightingale!'

" At the time of writing this sketch, Mrs. Carrington is singing in Ravenna, in the operas of 'Faust,' ' Traviata,' ' Lucia,' ' Puritana' " Rigoletto,' and the ' Bohemian Girl.' Her voice is a high dramatie soprano, ranging from G below to E flat in alt, sustaining the high E flat with perfect ease. All the tones are pure and even throughout the entire compass of her voice. She is twenty-two years of age, tall, with a fine figure, and large physical powers."

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

MARK R. HARRISON.

No man in Fond du Lac County has done so much to make the name of Wisconsin familiar in all the great wealth-centers of America and Europe, as Mark R. Harrison, of Fond du Lac. His paintings are hung and admired in all the leading art galleries of the world, and rare descriptions of their beauties grace the journals of Canada, the United States, England, Ger- many and France. He has done much to establish the reputation of the West as the home of genius and art; done much for his profession, but more for posterity. He rescued from oblivion the forms and hues of a hundred varieties of wild flowers, which are seen no more in Wiscon- sin-which have been trampled under foot, and crushed out forever by the destructive march of civilization. The prairies no longer blossom as when the Indians-who turned no furrows- were their only occupants, and no pen could picture the bewildering beauty of a whole county blossoming like the rarest garden in paradise. Mr. Harrison sought out the hiding place of every bud and blossom, transferring their varied hues to canvas, as the magic power of dew and sunlight gave them birth. In after years, when wheat and corn and cities cover the land, its inhabitants can find on his canvas, everything but the delicious fragrance of a prairie in full bloom.

When Mr. Harrison began to paint in Fond du Lac, in 1852, he was too poor to take his pictures to market or even send them. Permission was asked to hang them in offices and stores, where they remained until some traveling stranger recognized their merits, and secured them at his own figures, for Mr. Harrison was at work for money, as he says now, "to keep from starving." That he was a cultivated artist then, and even before, while a resident of Canada, is apparent from the Toronto, Canada, Mail, of September 5, 1879, which described his " Cain and Abel," painted in 1835, and now owned by the Canadian Government.

Perhaps more valuable even than his rescue of the flora of the primitive West for the gen- erations of the future, are Mr. Harrison's historical paintings, representing the habits, customs and rites of the uncivilized Indians, in love, marriage and at the grave. From a thorough search of aboriginal history ; from persons well acquainted with the tribal traits and character- istics of the Indians, as well as from Longfellow's legendary poems, Mr. Harrison obtained cor- rect ideas for his pictures, and those who live after the last vestige of the red man has disap- peared, can turn to these paintings, and observe the features, dress and ceremonies of the origi- nal lords of the American soil.

The "Burial of Hiawatha," painted for William Lucas, of St. Louis, Mo., is the represen- tation of a scene which no beholder can easily forget or describe. In the fringe of a grand old hemlock forest, through whose gloomy aisles and snow-bent boughs the shadows of evening are silently advancing, stands a group of Indian men and women. It is the time of famine, so graphically deseribed by Longfellow, and in the midst of the group of mourners, lies one of its victims. The stern, strong faces are pinched by hunger and clouded by woe. The dead alone is without sorrow-without the expression of suffering. A hollow has been scooped in the vir- gin snow and neatly lined with evergreens; and around the grave, in front of those whose unfathomable but stoical sadness seems to impregnate the very air and every surrounding object, are scattered sprigs of the fragrant hemlock, in accordance with the Indian custom. The pall- bearers, dressed in their most gaudy attire, as they always are at the burial of a distinguished member of the tribe, have lowered the chieftain's dead wife, "Minnehaha, Laughing Water, loveliest of Dacotah women," into her snow-made tomb. She is richly dressed in pure white garments, in accordance with the usages of her people.

"Clothed her in her richest garments, Wrapped her in robes of ermine, Covered her with snow-like ermine, Thus they buried Minnehaha."

Near by, seated upon a fallen hemlock, his partially shaded face resting upon his hand, is Hiawatha, her husband, the mourning chieftain. He is overwhelmed with grief. Across his

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

knee is thrown the last garment made by Minnehaha, it being the custom for the husband to bear to her final resting-place the last garment made by his deceased consort. Still nearer to the grave of snow, is old Nokomis, wrapped in sorrow-prostrate with her last earthly grief. She rocks feebly to and fro, and wails :

"Wahonowin ! Wahonowin ! Would that I had perished for you. Would that I were dead as you are. Wahonowin ! Wahonowin !"

This is one of Mr. Harrison's best pictures, and one of the finest productions of Western art. It is not superior, however, in historical valne or artistic merit, to others of the same class, three of which are conceived from Longfellow's same poem. Mr. Harrison had beautiful photographs of large size, taken of these paintings, and sent them to Mr. Longfellow as a Christ- mas gift and art souvenir, for 1879. Another painting of considerable power in this series, is the gathering of the warriors before the battle of the Rose Bud, at which Gen. Custer fell. The scene is a rich and beautiful valley, at the base of a high and barren mountain, around whose brow a mighty storm is gathering, and the picture was taken just as Crazy Horse addressed- while standing in his saddle-the assembled chiefs and warriors:

" The pale-face hath driven us from the graves of our fathers-from the rising to the setting sun. They have driven us to these barren hills [with a gesture toward the beetling crag], and here they will not let us have a home."

The faces of Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, Black Dog and other leading chiefs, were taken from life, gleaming with that fierce anger and malignity scen only in the countenance of an Indian.

Mr. Harrison's paintings, which have attracted most local attention and advertised abroad the unsurpassed beauties of Wisconsin scenery, are such pictures as "Elkhart Lake," a rare sheet of water in Sheboygan County ; " Sandstone Bluff," a bold, rocky cliff on Green Lake, and several other scenes from Green Lake, the gem of all Wisconsin waters, situated in the county of the same name.

What has been pronounced in England Mr. Harrison's most powerful painting, is his " Cromwell's Charge at Marston Moor," which has been owned in that country during many years.

But one of his modern master-pieces on canvas, is a picture finished in 1879-" Cleopatra's Triumph." It is of large size, and represents more labor than almost any other painting pro- duced in America. It contains 300 figures, all richly but differently dressed ; scores of columns with sculptured bases and ornamented capitals, boats, buildings, the sea, flowers and every detail pertaining to the Egyptian court at the time it represents. At the left rises the stupendous pile called Cleopatra's Palace (begun by Alexander the Great, and finished after his death, B. C., 323, by Ptolemy Soter, the first Greek ruler of Egypt). Its length was more than four thousand feet, and its elevation a wilderness of columns, statuary, pillars, emblems, deities and ornamental sculpture piled tier upon tier in solid, shining marble, to a dizzy height, and reaching down to the sea. At the base of the gigantic columns which guard the entrance to the palace, are slaves feeding serpents, Egyptian gods, and to the left the Sphynx, while at the right swarm the royal guards, harpists and banner-bcarers, dressed in purple and white, ready to welcome their beloved and beautiful Queen. On the steps of the palace stands a beautiful figure, like that of an angel, called the Goddess of Peace, holding in one hand the white dove of welcome, and in the other the scepter-symbol of power-to be delivered to the Queen. Beyond the Goddess lie the terrible Egyptian deities, with wings and claws, and still farther on the magnificent malachite obelisk, whose polished surface of blue and green carbonate of copper shimmers in the sunlight, and which is sur- mounted by the god Apis. In the centre of the picture, and under a gorgeous canopy of feathers borne by a slave, is the Queen Cleopatra, with a rich crown sparkling and flashing on her brow.

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

By her side walks that great Roman warrior and statesman, Mark Antony, humble and subdued in the presence of her genius and beauty. He goes to her palace a willing captive-'tis " Cleo- patra's Triumph." Behind follows Antony's helmet-bearer; near by is a richly attired Egyptian priestess, presiding at an altar of burning incense; farther on, a swarthy slave is guarding the golden vessels landed from the galley, and far out to sea is the Pharos, 500 feet in height, one of the Seven Wonders, whose light guided ships across the Mediterranean Sea. The golden galley, impelled by silver oars in the hands of Nubian slaves, and alive with harpists, naiads and cupids, lies near in all the magnificence which the wealth and skill of Egypt could bestow. " Castle Canyon," painted by Mr. Harrison in 1862, is now in Paris, and held at $25,000.

EDWARD G. MASCRAFT.

Mr. Mascraft, who has been Mark R. Harrison's student a number of years-and the only student Mr. Harrison ever had-although a young man, has a reputation abroad as an artist of rare genius and promise. Ile is not a copyist, as so many are who claim to be artists, but sketches from nature. He is an enthusiastic and patient worker, a lover of his profession and has painted many pictures of great merit. Those which sold for the highest figure and gave him the best reputation among artists abroad were, " The Morning Mist," "Cattle in a Storm," " Lost in the Snow," and "Around the Camp Fire." The last one has received especial praise, being a strong and vivid picture of camp life as Mr. Mascraft recalled it from his own experi- ence as a soldier in the rebellion. Ilis pictures have nearly all sold in the East, where they are in demand, and where he is well known as an artist of genius, truth and skill. He makes fre- quent trips for the purpose of making new sketches from nature, and always with rare success. He is modest, and never mentions his profession or work, preferring to let his paintings win their own way on their merits.

" LISLE LESTER."

A prominent Eastern journalist known as " Waldemere," in a series of able papers upon " Our Coming Men and Women," devoted a lengthy critique to " Lisle Lester's" writings, and her promise as an author, from which the following is extracted :

" The writings of this lady have been almost exclusively confined to magazine and news- paper literature. Now that she has paused in this work, and will soon publish in more solid shape, the result of her researches. it is quite proper to review what she has done, and examine the quality and power that will guide the future labor.

"As a writer she may be called versatile, yet there are classes of literary work she never touches, and has a strongly developed taste for certain specialties ; prominent of all, the his- torieal and descriptive. Under this classification, she has given to print extensive papers on California, Oregon, Nevada and the Pacific Coast Territories, Peru, Mexico and the West Indian Islands. These papers embrace history, biography, description, adventure and relic lore.

" Her descriptive faculties are the best ; her language is rhetorically able and fluent. Some of the mnost admirable specimens of her authorship in this class of writing are a series of papers entitled 'Pencilings of the Pacific,' 'Two Years in Jamaica,' and 'Lisle Thread.'

" The second prominent feature of her writings, after the historical, is dramatic journalism. She has published and editorially conducted two dramatic papers, dramatized considerably, and contributed largely to dramatic publications. As a theatrical essayist and correspondent, her opinions command a high estimate from the profession. The 'Life of Charlotte Cushman,' written and compiled during the years 1877 and 1878, will soon be sent to press. It is apparent that some of her most eminent efforts will be found in the dramatic literature of the future.

"The next most sparsely indulged feature of her literary work is satirical humor ; com- bined with it, a defense of principles and people, that has conspired to bring out from her pen some very strong, caustie, independent articles from time to time.

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

"The most important of these papers already current, was a series of articles published in the Washington Chronicle in 1877, entitled, 'Only-a-Woman Series.'"

The pearl of all "Lisle Lester's" writings is the limited poetical thought that has found expression in print. These poems remind one of the stifling sobs of a child, struggling in sup- pressed weeping.

The saddest of these are gems, and every line seems drenched with tears-no doubt they conceal the key to the heart-side of her life, that the world is not admitted to. Illustrative of the emotional-friendship verse, written under what may be denominated the "indulgence of affections," the following is given :

"HER FACE.

" Sometimes I look into a glorious face- Into a soul-lit, gentle eye- That mirrors Nature's loveliest grace Clear as a summer's morning sky.

" Through wistful eyes traversing worlds afar, That gem the radiant night, I catch the glory of a single star Shining supremely bright.

" These eyes, like ocean fast asleep, Are fathomless in soul ; Like quiet streams all pure and deep, Sweet thoughts within them roll.

" There may be faces twice as fair, O sweet-faced lady mine ; But if there were, I should not care So friendship spare me thine."

" Lisle Lester " never dabbled in political writing, nor lent her pen to any of the " hobbies " and "isms " with which the world is well supplied at the present time. She never wrote a novel nor a romance of any kind. At the present time, she is putting into shape for the press, some important works that will decide her position in literature. She has not hurried into print, nor sought premature fame, and in this she has exhibited good judgment, and, doubt- less, laid a solid foundation for the future.

"NELLIE WILDWOOD."

Under this romantic name, Miss Elizabeth Farnsworth, now Mrs. Mears, of Oshkosh, wrote more voluminously than any other Fond du Lac County lady author. She began carly to write rhymes, ditties and acrostics for the press, some of which were sweet and musical. In addition to poetry, "Nellie Wildwood " dipped into romance and the drama-one play, entitled " Black Hawk," drawing good houses at Madison and other places in the State. Her most elaborate work was a sixty-page book, entitled, " Voyage of Pere Marquette, and Romance of Charles de Langlade ; or, the Indian Queen. An Historical Poem of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries." It was written for Harrison & Stevenson's " Art Union," in 1860. From this book, as descriptive of the approach on the shores of Lake Winnebago, before the coming of white men, of such a glorious morning as could only be seen in the uusettled West, is taken the following :

" 'Tis early morn-the heavens are softest blue, And the broad lake has caught the same fair hue ; While from the dreamy West the cooling breeze Waves the green drapery of the lofty trees, Amid whose cool and leafy shade is heard The matin-song of many a bright-winged bird. The robin's note from hedge of willing rose- The mourning dove pours forth her loving woes- The thrush, with joyous gratitude elate- The speckled partridge, whistling to its mate-

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

And all the feathered choristers of song, Rouse the clear echoes, vales and groves among. The fragrant zephyrs, 'mid the flowers that sleep With morning freshness on the senses sweep. The rising sun gilds tree and headland tall- The crimson beams soft ling'ring where they fall, Till earth and arching skies in splendor bright Mingle in one, thus bathed in golden light."

MRS. CHARLOTTE E. FISHER.

Mrs. Fisher has never published anything in book form, although she has written much worthy of such preservation. She writes for the Phrenological Journal and various other pub- lications. From the Fond du Lac Reporter of February, 1877, is taken the following :

"AWAKING, AWAKE, ASLEEP. "Triumphant choir of blackbirds, 'Mong the willow trees, Singing, 'Spring is come again, We have felt its breeze.' Oh ! the sky is softest blue, And the earth is fair- The sunlight falls in golden showers Softly everywhere. Wild bees sipping honey From the lily's cup- How beautiful the year looks When it's waking up !

" Across the pleasant meadows Shade and sunshine run ; The broad grain-fields are golden- Harvest has begun. The air is faint with fragrance That drops from Summer's wing- The birds are lost in wonder- They quite forget to sing. Earth has spread her banquet, And bids us to partake- llow glorious the year looks When it's wide awake !

" Bright leaves of golden amber Rustling in the breeze ; Leaves all sere and withered, Falling from the trees ; Blue mists on the mountain ; Shadows in the wood- Oh! Autumn's sighing softly In her solitude. Somethings akin to sorrow O'er our spirits creep, For Oh ! how sad the year looks When sinking to its sleep !

" Beauteons gleam of frost-work On each window-pane- Here a wreath of flowrets. There a mountain chain. From misty clouds above us Comes the plumy snow- Of what is Winter dreaming ? Why does he shiver so ? Wildly sings the storm-king 'Round my snug retreat- Oh ! how cold the year looks When its gone to sleep !"

533

HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

MAURICE MCKENNA.

In 1868, Maurice McKenna, who had written for the press and various periodicals, pub- lished a small volume of poems entitled, " Elva Lee." The principal feature of the work was a romance after the style and meter of Walter Scott's " Lady of the Lake," which was presented with this :

TO THE READER.

Kind reader, if thy leisure yet These pages may devour ; And if the humble board I set Partake no savor sour ; Or, if this simple epanlet Disguise no hostile gaiour, Then bask them in the minaret Of Favor's sunny tower. And while I leave this amulet Of words thy paltry dower,

Thy heart will kindly not forget The clouds that sometimes lower,

Nor slight, if thy chaste eyes have met Some solitary flower. But ah ! if this poor task should sweat Thy soul beyond her power,

Forgive the blast that dared to fret Her blossom-mantled bower, With song's mirth-shading silhouette, Or joy-entailing shower- And pardon him who holds in debt Thy recreative hour.

Since publishing " Elva Lee," Mr. McKenna has written much that is well worth preserving.

ALICE ARNOLD CRAWFORD.

Of all the poets-or those who have dropped into verse for the amusement of friends or in response to that inspiration which no pen can describe but which occasionally bursts into a glow with all persons of genius, throwing their very souls into a dance of rhythm and transport of beautiful thoughts-none claimed by Fond du Lac County have become so widely known as Alice Arnold Crawford. Her beautiful life, attractive personal and mental attributes and premature death add a peculiar interest to her productions for even those who care nothing for the intrinsic merits of poetry. She furnished articles in prose and verse for the leading publica- tions of the day, and, in 1875, after her death, an unrevised collection of her writings, making a book of nearly two hundred pages, mostly in verse, was published in elegant style by Jansen, McClurg & Co., of Chicago. The two distinct and unlike moods or styles in which Alice Arnold Crawford wrote, are well illustrated by two poems here reproduced :

BLIND HANDEL.

He sat alone-his solemn service o'er ; No muffled footfalls sounded on the floor ; The distant clangor of the closing door From arch to arch leaped down the low octave Of dying echoes, and within the nave Dropped into silence.

Calm and sweetly grave, As one in whom some joy and sorrow blend, The blind old man, beside his timeworn friend, Still lingered lovingly. Across the keys Fe felt the warmth of sunshine, and the brecze

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

At play upon the silver of his hair. And, down the aisles, he knew the list'ning air In conseious emptiness hung dead and still, But waiting for the soul of melody to thrill 1ts silence into life.

As one who loved them much,

lle sought the keys. They yielded to his touch,

And by some strange intelligence they caught The tinilling impulse of their master's thought, And followed sofily, or in echoes rang Their sweet response, while he, trembling, sang His life-song unto them :

" We are alone

Oh, voices of my soul ! and joy unknown To those who know and love you less than I, Is borne to me upon the melody That wakens at my will. I fell no need of sight ; But, reaching forth, I draw my warmth and light

From out the world of sound. That fine and mystic sense Vouchsafed to me makes more than recompense For outer darkness; since the shadowy line That shuts me from the world wins the divine To blest communion until life grows sweet From hidden springs, and makes itself complete From sources of its own.

" Men pity me ;

And little eyes that mine shall never see Turn tenderly to watch the groping feet That, hesitating, tread the aisle and street.

They look on me as one whose night and day Are wearily the same, and sadly say My blindness is my prison, and no star That, key-like, hangs without the dungeon bar,

Shall ever turn or open unto me

The royal dawn, or noontide majesty.

" And yet I sorrow not. No life is dark Whose inner chambers hold the vital spark Of heavenly happiness. I only stand Within the shadow of my Father's hand, And list, through all the ling'ring eventide, For loving tones that, comforting, abide Forever in the air. Oh, perfect gift ! Oh, blessing marvellous ! By thee 1 lift The upper windows of my charmed soul, And let the harmonics of lleaven roll Full voiced into mine ear.

" And still 1 wait.

My groping fingers clasp the golden gate That bounds the sweet hereafter, while the hymn That trembles from the harps of seraphim Floats out to me ; the soft and mellow pipes Awaked by me are hut th' imperfect types Of what I hear-the faint interpreters Through which I speak to men- sweet messengers From me unto the world. I ask no more Since . my Redeemer liveth ' to restore In His own time the fullness of my sight. Then, for the loss of earth s imperfect light, The crystal day shall evermore be given, And Ilandel, ' blind and old,' shall see in Heaven."

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

THE FOREST EASTER.

[This poem was published at Easter-tide in Harper's Weekly, engravedI on a beautiful cross which covered an entire page of that publication, and attracted wide attention. The cross was entwined and trellised with the rich green vines and bright star-blossoms of the trailing arbutus, bursting through crusts of snow and creeping about pillars of ice, with the deep, gloomy solitude of a Northern forest for a background. ]

In the forests of the North Shines the Easter morning forth ! Shines and glimmers, flits and smiles Đown the winding woodland aisles.

See ! the vapor's rising breath Floats as life released from death, Pure above the stainless snow, Look ! how shadows in the glow,

Melted from their icy keeping, out of hidden cells are creeping ;

Out of twilight niches leaping at the beck'ning of the light.

Has the spring remembered Easter in the Northland still and white ?

Have the symbols of the morning deck'd the dim cathedral wood ?

Have they written, " He is risen," in the snowy solitude ?

Are the lilies incense breathing ? Are the fair camellias wreathing Carven birch and pillared pine ? Do the lustrous myrtles twine With the roses, waxen wbite ? Creeps the ivy's emerald vine O'er the sky-built casement height ?

Tell us, sleeping, sluggard Spring ! Show us, living, waking Spring ! Where is laid thine offering for the Easter-tide ?

" In the forests of the North, O'er the snow-hills peeping forth

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The history of Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, Part 79

Author: Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company Number of Pages: 1082

Author:
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 1082