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THE LIFE, TRAVELS, AND LITERARY CAREER OF BAYARD TAYLOR.
“Crown Love, crown Truth when first her brow appears, And crown the hero when his deeds are done: The Poet’s leaves are gathered one by one. In the slow process of the doubtful years. Who seeks too eagerly, he shall not find: Who seeking not pursues with single mind Art’s lofty aim, to him will she accord, At her appointed time, the sure reward.”
AUTHOR OF “LIFE OF PRESIDENT HAYES,” “WHY AND HOW THE CHINESE EMIGRATE,” “HISTORY OF THE GREAT FIRE IN BOSTON,” “HISTORY OF THE GREAT FIRE IN SAINT JOHN, N. B.,” “LESSONS OF TRAVEL,” ETC., ETC.
BOSTON: B. B. RUSSELL & CO., No. 57 CORNHILL. DETROIT: R. D. S. TYLER & CO. PORTLAND: JOHN RUSSELL. PHILADELPHIA: QUAKER CITY PUBLISHING HOUSE. NEW YORK: CHARLES DREW. CHICAGO: ANDREWS & DORMAN. INDIANAPOLIS, IND.: FRED L. HORTON & CO. 1879.
BOSTON: Printed by ALBERT J. WRIGHT, 79 Milk Street.
“My tears were on the pages as I read The touching close: I made the story mine, Within whose heart, long plighted to the dead, Love built his living shrine.”
“For she is lost; but she, the later bride, Who came my ruined fortune to restore; Back from the desert wanders at my side, And leads me home once more.”
It is a solemn yet pleasant duty to compile in comprehensive order the records of a life so eventful and influential as that of Bayard Taylor. It is solemn, because the sad tears which began to flow at his death, are coursing freely still. Pleasant, because there is no task more satisfactory than that of recounting the deeds of a virtuous, industrious, heroic life. No test-book of morals, or of general history, is so effective in educating the young as the annals of well-spent years, gathered for that purpose. There is more or less influence in fables and mythological tales; and there is considerable power in a well written, skilfully plotted work of fiction; but the direct and unavoidable appeal of a noble life, which has closed with honor and deserved renown, is far more potent and permanent in the culture and reformation of the world, than all other forms of intellectual and moral quickening. No apology is needed for writing such a biography. It would be inexcusable to leave the world in need of it. When the time comes for a book more complete in its arrangement and details, and more select in its diction, this will find its proper place in library and reading-room. Until that time it may be at work renewing the memories of a friend, refreshing the recollection of his sweet words, and calling the attention of the stranger to the American who has paid to Europe some of the literary debt we have owed so long.