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diff --git a/42147-0.txt b/42147-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..984650c --- /dev/null +++ b/42147-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7301 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42147 *** + +LOUISE CHANDLER MOULTON + +Poet and Friend + + +BY + +LILIAN WHITING + + + BOSTON + LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY + 1910 + + _Copyright, 1910_, + BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. + + _All rights reserved_ + + Published, September, 1910 + + _Printers_ + S.J. PARKHILL & CO., BOSTON, U.S.A. + + +[Illustration: LOUISE CHANDLER MOULTON, ÆT. 20 + +_Frontispiece_] + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I. 1835-1853 1 + + II. 1853-1860 26 + + III. 1860-1876 51 + + IV. 1876-1880 79 + + V. 1880-1890 106 + + VI. 1890-1895 169 + + VII. 1895-1900 205 + + VIII. 1900-1906 229 + + IX. 1907-1908 263 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + Louise Chandler Moulton, æt. 20 _Frontispiece_ + From a daguerreotype. + + FACING PAGE + + Elmwood Cottage, Pomfret, Conn., the girlhood home + of Louise Chandler Moulton 5 + Engraved on a watch belonging to her mother. + + Louise Chandler Moulton, æt. 18 34 + From a daguerreotype containing a slip of paper upon which + Mrs. Moulton had written, "Taken in Boston the day I + first saw my husband,--Spring of 1853." + + Facsimile of a letter from Robert Browning 96 + + Lucius Lemuel Chandler, Mrs. Moulton's father 104 + From an old daguerreotype. + + The library in Mrs. Moulton's Boston home, 28 Rutland + Square 109 + From a photograph. + + Louise Chandler Moulton 122 + From a photograph by W. Kurtz. + + Facsimile of the original draft of "Laus Veneris," in + Mrs. Moulton's handwriting 143 + + Facsimile of a letter from Oliver Wendell Holmes 164 + + Louisa Rebecca Chandler, Mrs. Moulton's mother 199 + From an old daguerreotype. + + William U. Moulton 215 + From a photograph. + + Louise Chandler Moulton 227 + From a photograph by Mendelssohn, London, taken about + 1896. + + Louise Chandler Moulton's grave in Mount Auburn, + Cambridge, Mass. 275 + + Facsimile of book plate from the Memorial Collection + of the Books of Louise Chandler Moulton, + Boston Public Library 282 + + + + +LOUISE CHANDLER MOULTON + +_POET AND FRIEND_ + + + + +CHAPTER I + +1835-1853 + + The poet in a golden clime was born + With golden stars above.--TENNYSON. + + The lingering charm of a dream that is fled.--L.C.M. + + +Genius, love, and friendship make up a triple dower which holds within +itself the possibilities of high destiny. Their changing combinations +comprise all intensities of human joy and human sorrow: the richness +of sympathetic companionship; the enchantments of romance; the glow +and passion of artistic achievement; and that power of initiating +noble service which invests life with the + + loveliness of perfect deeds + More strong than all poetic thought. + +In few lives have these possibilities been more fully realized than in +that of Louise Chandler Moulton, poet and friend, and lover of the +beautiful. Poet born and poet made, she developed her natural lyric +gift into a rare mastery of poetic art. She wore her singing-robes +with an unconscious grace, and found in her power of song the +determining influence which colored and shaped her life. Her lyrics +were the spontaneous expression, the natural out-pouring, of a lofty +and beautiful spirit. Her poetic instinct radiated in her ardent and +generous sympathies, her exquisite interpretations of sentiment and +feeling; it informed all her creative work with a subtle charm +pervasive as the fragrance of a rose. Her artistic impulse was, +indeed, the very mainspring of her life; it expressed itself not only +in the specific forms of lyrics and of prose romance, but in her +varied range of friendships and in her intense and discriminating love +of literature. Mrs. Moulton was not of the order of the poet who + + puts what he hath of poetry in his verse + And leaves none for his life. + +Her life as well as her art expressed her gift of song. She was a poet +not only in singing, but no less in living. Her friendships were +singularly wide and eclectic, determined always from the inner vision. +They were the friendships of mutual recognition and of sympathetic +ministry. Her tenderness of feeling responded to every human need. +Others might turn away from the unattractive; to her the simple fact +that kindness was needed was a claim which she could not deny. + +This was the more striking from the fact that from her early girlhood +her gifts, her culture, and her personal charm won recognition in the +most brilliant circles. To be as unconsciously gracious to peasant as +to prince was in her very nature. Thomas Wentworth Higginson, alluding +to Mrs. Moulton's social prestige in London, wrote: + + "... It is pleasant to feel that she owes this result quite + as much to her qualities of character as to her gifts of + intellect. There never lived, perhaps, a more thoroughly + open-hearted and generous woman; and the poorest and least + gifted applicant might always seek her as successfully as + the most famous and influential." + +This symmetry of character, a certain fine balance of the gifts of +mind and heart, was the natural outcome, it may be, of a worthy +ancestry. So far as is known, the Chandlers lived originally in +Hampshire, England, where, in the sixteenth century, arms were granted +to them. Many of these Chandlers were men distinguished in their day. +In 1887 was commemorated at Philadelphia the two hundredth anniversary +of the arrival in this country of one of the first Chandlers known to +have immigrated. This was a follower of Fox, who fled from +persecution, and settled in Pennsylvania. A group of ten English +Puritans settled long before the Revolution in what was afterward the +township of Pomfret, Connecticut: and from one of these was descended +Lucius Chandler, the father of Louise. The Chandler family throughout +gave evidence of decided intellectual ability, and this was +strengthened by marriages with other sound Puritan stock. Through her +paternal grandmother Mrs. Moulton was descended from the Rev. Aaron +Cleveland, of literary reputation in the late eighteenth century, and +of account in his day as a wit. This relationship linked her in remote +cousinship with Edmund Clarence Stedman, a tie which both cherished. +The two poets congratulated themselves on a common great-grandmother +who was a classical scholar, famed for her familiarity with Greek. + +[Illustration: ELMWOOD COTTAGE, POMFRET, CONN., THE GIRLHOOD HOME OF +LOUISE CHANDLER MOULTON + +_Page 5_] + +Lucius L. Chandler married Louisa Rebecca Clark, also of good English +ancestry. Mrs. Chandler has been described by Harriet Prescott +Spofford as "a gentle, gracious woman, a noted beauty in her youth, +but singularly free from the vanity and selfishness of most noted +beauties." The only surviving child of this marriage was born at +Pomfret on April 10, 1835, and was christened Ellen Louise. Mr. +Chandler's farm lay on the edge of the quiet Connecticut town, the +landscape pleasantly diversified by adjacent hills and forests, and +the modest, comfortable home was surrounded by flowers and trees. In +later years, recalling her childhood, Mrs. Moulton wrote: + + My thoughts go home to that old brown house + With its low roof sloping down to the east, + And its garden fragrant with roses and thyme + That blossom no longer except in rhyme, + Where the honey-bees used to feast. + + Afar in the west the great hills rose, + Silent and steadfast, and gloomy and gray. + I thought they were giants, and doomed to keep + Their watch while the world should wake or sleep, + Till the trumpet should sound on the judgment-day. + + And I was as young as the hills were old, + And the world was warm with the breath of spring; + And the roses red and the lilies white + Budded and bloomed for my heart's delight, + And the birds in my heart began to sing. + +A winsome little sprite seems Ellen Louise to have been, revealing, +even in her earliest years, a quaint touch of her father's courtly +dignity combined with her mother's refinement and unerring sense of +the amenities of life. Mrs. Chandler's fastidious taste and a certain +innate instinct for the fitness of things, invested her always with a +personal elegance that surrounded her like an atmosphere. A picture +lived in her daughter's memory of her arriving one day, in a bonnet +with pink roses, to visit the school; and of her own childish thought +that no other little girl had so pretty a mother as her own. In after +years she pictured, in one of her sonnets, this beloved mother: + + How shall I here her placid picture paint + With touch that shall be delicate, yet sure? + Soft hair above a brow so high and pure + Years have not soiled it with an earthly taint, + Needing no aureole to prove her saint; + Firm mind that no temptation could allure; + Soul strong to do, heart stronger to endure; + And calm, sweet lips that utter no complaint. + So have I seen her, in my darkest days, + And when her own most sacred ties were riven, + Walk tranquilly in self-denying ways, + Asking for strength, and sure it would be given; + Filling her life with lowly prayer, high praise,-- + So shall I see her, if we meet in heaven. + +The little maid's schooldays seem to have begun before she was out of +the nursery, for a tiny relic has drifted down the years, in the form +of a very brilliant rose painted on a slip of paper,--the paper faded +and yellow with age, the rose as fresh as if colored yesterday,--bearing +the legend: "Miss Ellen L. Chandler deserves my approbation for good +behavior in school. Charlotte Taintor." And this documentary evidence +of the good behavior of "Miss Ellen" is dated August, 1839, when she +was but little past her fourth birthday. It is pleasant to know that +the future poet began her earthly career in a fashion so exemplary; +and a further testimonial exists in a page which has survived for +nearly seventy years, on which a relative, a friendly old gentleman, +had written, in 1840, lines "To Little Ellen," which run in part: + + Ah, lovely child! the thought of thee + Still fills my heart with gladness; + Whene'er thy cherub face I see + Its smiles dispel my sadness. + +This artless ditty continues through many stanzas, and contains one +line at which the reader to-day can but smile sympathetically: + + Thy seraph voice with music breathing; + +for this rhapsodical phrase connects itself with the many tributes +paid in later life to her "golden voice." Whittier, expressing his +desire to meet "the benediction of thy face," alludes also to the +music of her tones. That the voice is an index of the soul is a +theory which may easily be accepted by those who have in memory the +clear, soft speech of Mrs. Moulton. Often was she playfully entreated +to + + lend to the rhyme of the poet + The music of thy voice; + +the lines seeming almost to have been written to describe her recital +of poetry. + +The fairies who came to the christening of this golden-haired and +golden-voiced child seemed, indeed, to have given her all good gifts +in full measure. She was endowed with beauty and with genius; she was +born into surroundings of liberal comfort and of refinement; into +prosperity which made possible the gratification of all reasonable +desires and aspirations of a gifted girl. It was her fortune through +life to be sheltered from material anxieties. To a nature less +sensitively perceptive of the needs and sorrows of others, to one less +generous and tender, the indulgence which fell to her as an only and +idolized child, might have fostered that indifference to the condition +of those less favored which deprives its possessor of the richest +experiences of life. With her to see need or misfortune was to feel +the instant impulse to relieve or at least to alleviate the suffering. +Colonel Higginson, in recalling her life in England said: + + "I shall never forget, in particular, with what tears in his + eyes the living representative of Philip Bourke Marston + spoke to me in London of her generous self-devotion to his + son, the blind poet, of whom she became the editor and + biographer." + +Emerson has declared that comforts and advantages are good if one does +not use them as a cushion on which to go to sleep. With Mrs. Moulton +her native gifts seemed to generate aspiration and effort for noble +achievement. + +Among the schoolmates of her childish years was the boy who was +afterward the artist Whistler, who was one year her senior. As +children they often walked home from school together, and one night +the little girl was bewailing that she could not draw a map like the +beautiful one he had displayed to an admiring group that day. It was a +gorgeous creation in colored crayons, an "arrangement" that captivated +the village school with much the same ardor that the future artist was +destined to inspire from the art connoisseurs of two continents. A sad +object, indeed, was the discordant affair that Ellen Louise held up in +self-abasement and hopelessness while she poured out her enthusiasm on +his achievement. The lad received this praise with lofty scorn. +"That's nothing," he exclaimed; "you think this is anything? Take it; +I don't want it; you just see what I can do to-morrow! I'll bring you +then something worth talking about." And with the precious trophy in +her possession, the little girl made her way home. True to his word, +the next morning "Jimmy" brought her a package whose very wrapping +revealed the importance of its contents; and when she had breathlessly +opened it, there was disclosed an exquisite little painting. Under a +Gothic arch that breathed--no one knew what enchanted hints of "the +glory that was Greece and the grandeur that was Rome," or some +far-away dreams of Venice, or other dimly prefigured marvel in the +child's fancy, was an old monk; through the picture were silver +gleams, and a vague glint of purple, and altogether, it held some far +prophecy of the brilliant future yet undisclosed. All her life Mrs. +Moulton kept the gift. It had an unobtrusive place in her +drawing-room, and even figured modestly at the great Whistler +exhibition which was held in Boston by the Copley Society after the +death of the artist. + +In some ways Ellen Louise had a rather lonely childhood save that an +imaginative and poetic nature peoples a world of its own. The little +girl had, as it chanced, no playmates near at hand to supply the place +of brothers and sisters; and her companions were those that fancy +created. In later years she wrote of this period: + + "I never felt alone. Dream children companioned me, and were + as real to my thoughts as if other eyes than my own could + have seen them. Their sorrows saddened me, their mirth + amused me, they shared my visions, my hopes; and the strange + dread with which I--brought up in a Puritan household where + election and predestination were familiar words--looked + forward to the inevitable end. + + "Yet haunted as I was by the phantom future, I was happy in + the present. I am afraid I was what is called a spoiled + child. I loved horses and I loved verses, and on my eighth + birthday two presents were made me--a well-equipped saddle + horse, and a book of poems. The horse ran away with me that + same afternoon while my too sociable father, who was riding + with me, stopped to talk town politics with a neighbor; but + my steed raced homeward, and I reached my own door in + safety. The book of verse I have yet. It was by Mrs. + Hemans--now so cruelly forgotten." + +Her imaginative nature showed itself in many ways. She says: + + "I was not allowed to read fiction or to play any but the + most serious games.... Hence I was thrown upon my own + resources for amusement. I remember when I was only eight + years old carrying in my head all the summer a sort of + Spanish drama, as I called it, though I knew little of Spain + except some high-sounding Spanish names which I gave to my + characters. Each day, as soon as I could get away by myself, + I summoned these characters as if my will had been a sort of + invisible call-boy, and then watched them performing. It did + not seem to me that I created them, but rather that I + summoned them, and their behavior often astonished me. For + one of them, a young girl, who obstinately persisted in + dying of consumption, I sincerely grieved." + +She had written from the age of seven verses which would hardly have +discredited her maturer years. A stanza written when she was nine +runs: + + Autumn is a pleasant time + Breathing beauty in our clime; + Even its flowerets breathe of love + Which is sent us from above. + +The lines seem to have written themselves, but as Autumn had been +assigned as a theme-subject at school she dealt with it also in prose. +She began with the assertion: "Autumn to the contemplative mind is the +loveliest season of the year"; and closed with the rather startling +line: "All these are beautiful, but let us leave the contemplation of +them until another winter dawns on the languid sea of human life." One +almost wonders that under a training which permitted English so florid +Mrs. Moulton was able to develop her admirable style. At ten she was +writing "An Address to the Ocean" and a meditation on "Hope." Another +effort was "The Bell of My Native City," and this she explained in a +footnote as an imaginative composition, composed to express the +feelings of an exile who had been "unjustly banished from his +country." She was taken a few months later on a little trip to "Tribes +Hill" on the Mohawk, and in a "History of My Journey Home from Tribes +Hill" records gravely: + + "It was a beautiful September morning that ushered in the + day of my departure. I rose with the first dawning of light + to gaze once more upon those scenes whose loveliness I had + so loved to trace. I rejoiced to pay a tribute of gratitude + to some of the many friends whose society had contributed so + much to my happiness when away from the home of my + childhood.... At noon I started.... For many a mile, as we + were drawn with dazzling rapidity by our wild steam horse + (whose voice resounded like the rolling of distant thunder), + I could catch glimpses of the dark blue waters of the + Mohawk, which I had so loved to gaze upon, and to whose + music I had so often listened in the hush of evening, from + my open window, or when walking on its green banks with a + friend, dearly loved and highly prized, but whom I shall, + perhaps, meet no more forever.... As I rode along my + thoughts reverted to her. The river gleaming in quiet beauty + from beneath the green foliage of its fringing trees + reminded me of the hours we had spent together in + contemplating it. The excitement of travelling and the loved + home to which I was hastening were alike forgotten in these + reveries of the past." + +A sentence of more than a hundred and fifty words that follows quite +graphically depicts a walk taken with this friend, and the child +continued: + + "From such reveries of the past was I awakened by the + stopping of the cars at Albany. That night we embarked on + board a steamboat, and as we glided o'er the Hudson river, + my heart bounded with delight. I stood alone before an open + window, and my soul drank in the richness of the scene." + +One can but smile at this rhapsody of the child of eleven, but it is +after all suggestive of literary powers genuine if undeveloped. It +shows, too, a nature sensitive to beauty and a heart full of quick +responsiveness to friendship. The gifts of the woman are foreshadowed +even in the extravagances of the girl. + +The blank books in which Louise recorded her impressions and thoughts +and copied out her verses in the years between eight and eighteen +afford material for a curious study of unfolding tendencies. A +religious meeting to which she is taken suggests a long dissertation +on "The Missionary;" and this sketch assumes an imaginative form. The +missionary and his bride are described as voyaging over the ocean to +the field of his labors in these terms: + + "... But when they had entirely lost sight of land Charles + clasped his loved one to his heart and whispered, 'Be + comforted, dearest; we go not alone, for is not He with us + who said, "Lo, I am with thee always, even unto the end of + the world!"'... The young bride burst into an agony of + tears.... Her husband led her on deck, and showed her the + sun's last, golden rays that lay upon the waves, sparkling + like a thousand brilliants.... It seemed a sea of burning + gold.... A high and holy resolve rose in the hearts of the + young missionaries.... They had left a circle of brilliant + acquaintances for the untutored heathen.... They left the + deck to sit down in a quiet nook and read the word of Him + for whom they forsook all earthly pleasures." + +Not only do the note-books give such hints of the future story-teller, +but they abound in verse. It is noticeable that although much of this +is crude and inevitably childish, it is yet remarkably free from false +measures. The child had been gifted by heaven with an ear wonderfully +true. The books contain also many quotations copied from the volumes +she was from time to time reading. Moore, Mrs. Hemans, Tupper, Willis, +Longfellow, Whittier, Campbell, are among the names found here most +frequently. Curiously enough the record shows no trace of Scott, of +Byron, of Wordsworth, or of Coleridge. + +One of the felicitous orderings of her schooldays was that which +placed her as a pupil of the Rev. Roswell Park, the Episcopal rector +in Pomfret, and Principal of a school called Christ Church Hall. Here +she easily carried off the honors when "compositions" were required. + +"Will Miss Ellen Louise Chandler please remain a moment after the +school is dismissed," was the disconcerting request of the teacher one +day. + +The purpose of the interview was a private inquiry where the girl had +"found" the poem which she had read in the literary exercises of the +afternoon. + +"Why, I can't tell," she answered; "it all wrote itself from my own +mind." + +The instructor looked at her earnestly for a moment,--this dainty +young girl with the rose-flush deepening in her sweet face,--and +replied: "Then I sincerely congratulate you." And she went on her way. + +The commonplace books of her thirteenth year, kept while she was still +a pupil at this school, show more clearly than ever the dawning power +of the young poet. Her reading was not indiscriminate, but selective, +inclining almost equally to poetry and to serious prose. Of the usual +schoolgirl love of novels is little evidence; and this is the more +curious as her fancy was active, and she was writing many stories. +Literary form, also, was beginning to appeal to her, and she copies "A +Remarkable Specimen of Alliteration." + +She took life seriously in the fashion of her generation. It was a +time when every girl loved a diminutive; she wrote her name "Nellie" +and signed her verses "Nellie C." Those were the days of the annuals, +"Friendship's Wreath," "The Literary Garland" and the like, and to +these after once she began to see herself in print, "Nellie C." became +quickly a favorite contributor. + +She tasted the rapture of a poet born who first sees his verses in +print, when she was fourteen. This is her account: + + "I used to rhyme as long ago as I can remember anything, and + I sent my first contribution to a newspaper when I was + fourteen years old.... I remember how secretly, and almost + as if it were a crime, I sent it in; and when I found the + paper one evening, upon calling at the post-office on my way + home from school, and saw my lines--my very own lines--it + seemed to me a much more wonderful and glorious event than + has anything since that time.... Perhaps it was unfortunate + for me that it was accepted at once, since it encouraged me + in the habit of verse,--making a habit which future + occupations confirmed. But one gain, at least, came to + me,--the friendship and encouragement of authors whose work + I loved. I was scarcely eighteen when my first book was + published. I called it 'This, That, and the Other,' because + it was made up of short stories, sketches (too brief and + immature to call essays), and the rhymes into which, from + the first, I put more of myself than into any other form of + expression. Strangely enough, the book sold largely." + +This early poem was printed in a daily of Norwich, Connecticut, and no +recognition of after years could ever give quite the same thrill as +this first sight of her name and her own verse in print. + +Among her girl-friends was Virginia F. Townsend, later to be known +also as a writer of stories and of verse, and the pair exchanged +numerous rhymes, rather facile than poetic, but doubtless useful in +the way of 'prentice work. A poem which Miss Chandler wrote in her +sixteenth year and called "Lenore"--in those days every youthful +rhymester rhymed to Lenore,--and designated as "for music," was much +praised by the newspapers of the day. It is as admirably typical of +the fashion of the day as the bonnets of the forties which one finds +in a dusty attic. + + Hush thy footfall, lightly tread; + Passing by a loved one's bed. + Dust hath gathered on her brow, + Silently she resteth now. + + Sank she into dreamless rest + Clasping rosebuds to her breast; + With her forehead pale and fair + 'Neath the midnight of her hair.... + + There we laid her down to sleep + Where the wild flowers o'er her weep. + Earth below and blue sky o'er, + Sweetly sleeps our own Lenore. + +Another lyric, written about this time to Governor Cleveland on the +death of his only daughter, contained these lines: + + What time she braided up her hair + With summer buds and sprays of flowers, + It was as if some saint had shed + Heaven's light on this dim world of ours; + And kneeling where her feet have trod, + We watched to see the glory break + When angel fingers at the dawn + Heaven's portals opened for her sake. + +Of these lines Edmund Clarence Stedman wrote with youthful +enthusiasm: + + "This is almost equal to the picture of Madeline in 'The Eve + of St. Agnes,' as she kneels before the oriel window of the + casement, high and triple-arched, in all the holiness of + prayer." + +The stories which the young writer contributed to the gift-books bore +the most startling titles: "Inez Caisco; or, The Flower of Catalonia"; +"Beatrice; or, The Beautiful Tambourine Girl"; "Evilia; or, The +Enchantress." Of Isabel Sydenham, the heroine of one of these tales, +it is told that she "threw open her casement,"--no self-respecting +story-teller of the mid-century called a window anything but a +casement,--and sighed: "If he were only here, how we might enjoy the +surpassing loveliness!" Of this sensitive creature, who naturally +"yearns" for all sorts of impossible things, her creator remarks that +"ideality was the predominating characteristic of her mind." According +to gift-book standards no heroine could be more eminently +satisfactory. + +Not content with being a contributor to the annuals of others, Miss +Chandler compiled a gift-book of her own: "The Book of the Boudoir; a +Gift for All Seasons, Edited by Ellen Louise." By her publisher's +insistence her own portrait formed the frontispiece, and the book +contained also an engraving of Elmwood Cottage. The letter-press +opened with an "Invocation to the Spirit of Poetry" by the youthful +editor, and besides sketches and verses of her own the volume offered +contributions by Mrs. Sigourney, Virginia F. Townsend, George S. +Burleigh, Amanda M. Douglas, and others. + +With this publication Miss Chandler may be said to have come fully and +formally into full-fledged authorship. She was deeply tinged with the +sentimental fashions which reigned universally in America in the +middle of the nineteenth century, and which had, indeed, by no means +disappeared in England; but she had genuine feeling, a natural +instinct for literary form, an ear unusually sensitive to metrical +effect, and her real power had already shown itself unmistakably. From +this time on her progress in her art was sure and constant. + +One influence of her youthful environment may be mentioned here since +it has been often commented upon. The strain of melancholy habitual in +Mrs. Moulton's poetry has been ascribed to the shadow which was cast +upon her childhood by the sternness of the Calvinistic faith. An +English critic has written: + + "She was brought up in abysmal Puritan Calvinism, and her + slumber at night was disturbed by terrific visions of a + future of endless torment. The doctrine of election pressed + heavily on her youthful soul.... The whole upbringing of + children in Puritan circles in those days was strict and + stern to a degree impossible to be realized in a day when + vulgar sentimentalism rules supreme, and when it is + considered cruel and harsh to flog a rebellious boy. The way + in which children were brought up by the Puritans of New + England in Mrs. Moulton's day may have had its faults, but + it turned out a class of person whom it is hopeless to + expect the present day methods of education will ever be + able to produce." + +In this are both truth and exaggeration. The parents of Mrs. Moulton +were, it is true, Calvinists, but they were neither bigots nor +fanatics. The question was quite as much that of the sensitive, +delicately responsive temperament of the child as of the doctrine in +which she was reared. Being what she was, she realized to the full the +possible horrors involved in the theology of the time, and +imaginatively suffered intensely. She once said to a London +interviewer: + + "I remember that the Calvinistic doctrines I was taught + filled my imagination with an awful foreboding of doom and + despair. I can recall waking in the depth of the night, cold + with horror, and saying to myself, 'Why, if I'm not among + the elect, I _can't_ be saved, no matter how hard I try,' + and stealing along on my little bare feet to my mother's + bed, praying to be taken in, with a vague sense that if I + must be lost in the far future, at least now I must go where + love could comfort me, and human arms shelter me from the + shapeless terrors that mocked my solitude." + +While, however, the lack of a more encouraging interpretation of +Divine Goodness undoubtedly was to a degree responsible for the minor +chords which became habitual in her verse, the natural longing which +is part of the poetic nature, was in Mrs. Moulton unusually strong and +was exaggerated by the literary modes of her day. On the whole the +influences of her childhood were sweet and sound and wholesome. Her +natural love of beauty was fed and developed, her inherent literary +taste was nourished by sympathy and by success, and her wonderful +sensitiveness to literary form trained by early and constant practice. +It is even possible that the very harshness of Calvinism, which was +almost the only shadow, was a healthful influence which deepened and +strengthened her art, that might without this have suffered from +sunshine too uninterrupted. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +1853-1860 + + A beautiful and happy girl + With step as light as summer air.--WHITTIER. + + Her glorious fancies come from far + Beneath the silver evening-star, + And yet her heart is ever near.--LOWELL. + + At dawn of Love, at dawn of Life.--L.C.M. + + +In a lyric written by Mrs. Moulton in after years, occurs the lovely +line quoted above, which seems vividly to describe her as she stood, a +girl of eighteen, on the threshold of a new phase of life. + +Young as she was Miss Chandler had already, by her newspaper and +magazine work, made for herself a reputation, and she now collected +the papers which made up the volume spoken of in the previous chapter, +"This, That, and the Other," with the encouraging result of a sale of +twenty thousand copies. The _North American Review_ was then almost +the only magazine in the country exclusively devoted to criticism and +the intellectual life. Much of the best literary work of the time, in +the way of fiction and poetry, appeared in such periodicals as +_Godey's Lady's Book_, _Peterson's Magazine_, and the like; and to +these Miss Chandler was a constant contributor. The weekly newspapers +were rich in poems by Longfellow, Emerson, Whittier, the Cary sisters, +N.P. Willis, Poe, and many others of permanent fame. Besides these, a +host of the transient singers of the day, literary meteors, flitted +across the firmament, not unfrequently with some song or story which +individually was quite as worthy of recognition as were those of their +contemporaries whose power to sustain themselves in longer flights and +to make good the early promise has earned their title to permanent +recognition. Mrs. Moulton's scrapbooks indicate how rich were the +literary columns of the newspapers in those days. There being then no +international copyright law, the American editor enriched his page +with the latest poem of Browning, Tennyson, Swinburne, or Mrs. +Browning. Longfellow, Whittier, Holmes, Dr. Parsons, Nora Perry, +William Winter, the Stoddards (Richard Henry and Elizabeth), N.P. +Willis, Saxe, Mrs. Stowe, Jean Ingelow, Miss Mulock, Aldrich, and Mary +Clemmer, are largely represented in these old scrapbooks. Many +fugitive poems, too, appear, as the "Bertha" of Anne Whitney, a poem +well entitled to literary immortality; the "Three Kisses of Farewell," +by Saxe Holm; the "Unseen Spirits," by Willis, a poem too little +known; and Mr. Aldrich's "The Unforgiven," excluded from his later +editions, but which contains those beautiful lines: + + In the East the rose of morning biddeth fair to blossom soon, + But it never, never blossoms in this picture; and the moon + Never ceases to be crescent, and the June is always June. + +Miss Chandler's book was one of over four hundred pages, illustrated +by the famous Rouse (whose portrait of Emerson has always been so +highly considered), and its fine engravings and its binding of crimson +cloth combined to give it a sumptuous appearance. The _Springfield +Republican_ gave it pleasant recognition in these words: + + "The writings of a young girl still on the threshold of life + and still to be regarded as a bright, incarnate + promise,--her writings are very graceful, very tender, and + very beautiful, just what the flowers of life's spring + should be." + +The young author dedicated her book to her mother in tender phrase, +and her artless "Preface" was one to disarm any adverse view. + +In after years Mrs. Moulton smilingly replied to some questions +regarding her initiation into authorship: + + "I remember the huge posters with which they placarded the + walls, headed, 'Read this book and see what a girl of + eighteen can do.' I think I had the grace to be a little + shocked at these posters, but the reviews were so kind, and + said such lovely things that--Ah! shall I ever be so happy + again as when I read them!" + +Edmund Clarence Stedman, who had just left Yale College and who, at +the beginning of his literary career, was editing a country paper in +Connecticut, greeted Miss Chandler's book with the ardent praise of +youth and friendship; but these warm phrases of approval were also the +almost unanimous expression of all the reviewers of the day. The +twentieth century reader may smile at Mr. Stedman's youthful distrust +of the "strong-minded woman," but his remarks are interesting. Of +"This, That, and the Other," he wrote: + + "'This, That, and the Other,' is a collection of prose + sketches and verse from the pen of a young lady fast rising + into a literary reputation; a reputation which, though it + is achieved in no 'Uncle Tom' or 'Fanny Fern' mode, is no + less sure than that of Mrs. Stowe, or Sara Payson Willis, + and will be more substantial, in that the works on which it + is founded are more classic and in better taste.... Miss + Chandler is a native of Pomfret in this state, and every + denizen of Connecticut should be proud of her talents. She + is beautiful and interesting; her manners are in marked + distinction from the forwardness of the strong-minded woman + of the day...." + +Epes Sargent, in the _Boston Transcript_, said: + + "... The ladies have invaded the field of fiction and + carried off its most substantial triumphs. Mrs. Stowe, Fanny + Fern, and now another name, if the portents do not deceive + us, is about to be added--that of Miss Chandler, who + although the youngest of the band (she is not yet nineteen), + is overflowing with genius and promise. Such tales as those + of 'Silence Adams,' 'A Husking Party at Ryefield,' 'Agnes + Lee,' and 'Only an Old Maid,' reveal the pathos, the beauty, + the power, the depth and earnestness of emotion that Ellen + Louise has the art of transfusing into the humblest and + most commonplace details.... But Ellen Louise must not be + deceived by injudicious admiration. Her style, purified, + chastened and subdued, would lose none of its + attractiveness. She gives evidence of too noble a habit of + thought to desire the success which comes of the hasty + plaudits of the hour." + +The book reviewing of 1853 was apparently not unlike the spelling of +George Eliot's poor Mr. Tulliver,--"a matter of private judgment." For +although the stories of Ellen Louise were singularly sweet and winsome +in their tone, with an unusual grasp of sentiment and glow of fancy +for so youthful and inexperienced a writer, they could yet hardly +claim to rank with the work of Mrs. Stowe. The leading papers of that +day united, however, in an absolute chorus of praise for the young +author, who is pronounced "charming," and "overflowing with talent"; +the "refinement and delicacy" of her work, her "rare maturity of +thought and style," and a myriad other literary virtues were discerned +and celebrated to the extent that the resources of the language of the +country would allow. A sonnet was written to her, signed "B.P.S.," +which signature is easily translated to us in these days as that of +B.P. Shillaber, the author of "Mrs. Partington." The sonnet is +entitled: + + TO ELLEN LOUISE + + Take this, and that, and t'other all together, + We like you better every day we're breathing; + And round our hearts this pleasant summer weather + Your fairy fingers deathless flowers are weaving: + We read delightedly your charming pages + Fraught in each line with truth and magic beauty; + Here starts a tear that some hid woe assuages, + And there is heard a voice that calls to duty. + And proudly may Connecticut, sweet Ellen, + Point to the genius bright that crowns her daughter, + And the rare graces that she doth excel in, + Confessed in floods of praise from every quarter. + The world forgives the wooden nutmeg suction + Because of you, the best Connecticut production. + +The succeeding year Miss Chandler passed at Mrs. Willard's Seminary in +Troy, N.Y., and a classmate, who in after years became the wife of +General Gillespie, thus describes her: + + "My acquaintance with Louise Chandler began when she entered + Mrs. Willard's Seminary in Troy, where we were both pupils. + She was at once very much admired and beloved. Her first + book, called 'This, That, and the Other,' had been published + just before she came, and we were all very proud of her + authorship. She had a lovely face, very fair, with + beautiful, wavy, sunny hair, falling on either side the deep + blue-gray eyes, with their dark, long lashes. Her voice was + clear and sweet, with the most cultivated intonation." + +For the school Commencement Miss Chandler was chosen class poet, and +produced the regulation poem, neither better nor worse than is usual +on such occasions. Six weeks later, August 27, 1855, she married +William Upham Moulton, editor and publisher of _The True Flag_, a +Boston literary journal to which his bride had been a frequent +contributor. + +The journalists of the day made many friendly comments upon the +marriage of their brother editor. Some of them ran thus: + + "The possession of a noble and true heart in the one, and of + a gentle and winning nature in the other, are presages of + future bliss." + + "Mr. Moulton is a writer of much originality of style and + great power; an independent thinker, shrewd in conclusions + and fearless in expression. Miss Chandler overflows with + kindness, geniality, appreciation of the lovely, and the + power of description to a remarkable degree." + + "... Of his choice the world can speak. Her literary + attainments have made their public mark, and her kindness of + heart has won for her an eminent place in the affections of + thousands. Our associate may well be congratulated on his + acquisition of a new contributor to his happiness, and + pardoned, in view of the richness of his prize, for leaving + the fair of our own locality for more distant Connecticut." + +[Illustration: LOUISE CHANDLER MOULTON, ÆT. 18 + +_Page 34_] + +One of the girlish pictures of Miss Chandler bears the inscription, in +her own writing, "Taken the day I first saw my husband," but +unfortunately, the date is not given. In a little sketch Harriet +Prescott Spofford remarks that "Louise must have combined studying, +writing, and love-making to a rather remarkable degree during her last +year at school"; and adds in regard to her marriage: + + "She was barely twenty when she married William Upham + Moulton, a man of culture and of much personal attraction. + Lingering a moment on the church porch in the sunset light, + she has been described by one who saw her as a radiant + being, in her bridal veil, blooming, blushing, full of life + and joy and love. An exquisite skin, the 'rose crushed on + ivory,' hazel eyes, with dark lashes and brows, and a + confiding, fearless glance, small white teeth, a delightful + smile, cheek and chin having the antique line, all united to + make a loveliness which no portrait has successfully + rendered, and which tender consideration and grace of manner + accented to wonderful charm." + +Among her girlish treasures preserved for more than fifty years was a +small blank book, on the fly-leaf of which she had written: "Ellen +Louise Chandler Moulton, from my husband, Aug. 27, 1855, Elmwood +Cottage, Pomfret, Conn."; and underneath in quotation, the lines: + + "Who shall decide? The bridal day, oh, make it + A day of sacrament and present prayer; + Though every circumstance conspire to take it + Out of the common prophecy of care! + Let not vain merriment and giddy laughter + Be the last sound in the departing ear, + For God alone can tell what cometh after-- + What store of sorrow, or what cause to fear." + +Mr. Moulton brought his bride to Boston, where she was at once +introduced into those literary circles made up of the chief men and +women of letters. "Here," said one who remembers her entrance into +Boston life, "the bright, quick, impassioned girl speedily blossomed +into the brilliant woman." In some reminiscences of her own in +recalling this delightful period she said: + + "Every one was very good to me--Dr. Holmes, Longfellow, + Whittier--all those on whose work I had been brought up. And + then the broader religious thought of Boston began to + conquer the Puritanism in which I had been educated. + Whittier was a Quaker, but he believed most of all in the + loving Fatherhood of God,--the Divine care which would + somehow, somewhere, make creation a blessing to all on whom + had been bestowed the unsought gift of life. He told me once + how this conviction first came to him. It was a touching + anecdote of his childhood when his mother's tenderness to + the erring aroused in him the perception of the goodness of + God. Whittier was a singularly modest man; if one praised + his work he would say, 'Yes, but there should be a + perfection of form, and what I do is full of faults.' Once, + at an evening party, he was vainly entreated to recite one + of his poems. 'No,' he said, 'but I wish she would,' + pointing to me. I then read 'The Swan Song of Parson Avery,' + and when I had finished he came across the room and said, + 'Why, thee has really made me think I've written a + beautiful poem.' + + "No words could overpraise the sweet graciousness of + Longfellow and Dr. Holmes to me, a new-comer into their + world. I knew Ralph Waldo Emerson, also. The very last time + I saw him he had just returned from California, and he + crossed the Athenæum Library, where we chanced to be, to ask + me if I had ever been there myself and had seen the big + trees. 'Why,' he said, 'it took thirteen horses to go round + one tree, the head of one touching the tail of another--what + do you think of that?' + + "I remember once, when I was a guest in his house in + Concord, his telling me that he had long wanted to make an + anthology of the one-poem men. And he went on to speak of + the poets who were remembered by only one poem. He never + carried out his idea, but I wish some one else might." + +It was a rich and stimulating atmosphere into which Mrs. Moulton +entered in Boston. The first winter after her marriage Thackeray +visited this country and gave in Boston, in January of that year +(1856), his lectures on "The Four Georges." In recalling these, Mrs. +Moulton afterward said: + + "I sat close to the platform, thoroughly entranced, and + longing to speak to him--this great man! longing with all a + romantic schoolgirl's ardor and capacity for hero-worship. I + never missed a lecture. The last day and the last lecture + came, and as Mr. Thackeray came from the platform he bent + toward me and said: 'I shall miss the kind, encouraging face + that has sat beneath me for so many hours'; and I was too + surprised to be able to answer him a word. But it is a + memory that has never left me." + +Boston in the fifties had little to boast of in the artistic line. +Henry James, writing of Hawthorne's time, noted with amusement the +devotion to the "attenuated outlines" of Flaxman's drawings. The +classic old Athenæum contained practically all that the city could +offer in the way of art. Here were some casts from antique marbles, +specimens of the work of Greenough and Thorwaldsen, a certain number +of dull busts of interesting men, a supply of engravings, and a small +collection of paintings. The paintings were largely copies, but +included originals by Allston, Copley, and a few others. + +In music the taste was pure, if the opportunities were but provincial. +Grisi and Mario in brief visits delighted the town in opera; the +Handel and Haydn Society provided oratorio; the Harvard Orchestra gave +instrumental concerts. In the spring of 1856 was held a Beethoven +Festival, and the bronze statue, so long familiar in the old Boston +Music Hall, was inaugurated with a poem by the sculptor, William +Wetmore Story. + +In intellectual life Boston had long been distinguished among American +cities. In these early years of Mrs. Moulton's life here Lowell gave +his course of lectures on "Poetry" before the Lowell Institute, and +Curtis his course on "Bulwer and Disraeli." Longfellow at this time +was writing "Hiawatha"; Richard Grant White was often coming over from +New York to confer with the Cambridge group on nice points in his +edition of Shakespeare. The interest in literature is illustrated by +the fact that when "Maud" appeared in the summer of 1855 Longfellow +and George William Curtis made a pilgrimage to Newport to read and +discuss it with Mrs. Julia Ward Howe. The aristocratic ideal in the +world into which Mrs. Moulton had come was distinctly intellectual +rather than plutocratic. + +The year of her marriage was also the year of the publication of her +second book, a novel entitled "Juno Clifford," which was brought out +anonymously by the Appletons. Again the praise of the reviewers was +practically unanimous. A Boston critic wrote: "The authorship is a +mystery which perhaps time will unravel, for rumor is ascribing it to +lofty names in the world of literature"; and George D. Prentice, in +the _Louisville Journal_, in less journalistic phrase, characterized +the story as having "numerous points of strange beauty and a strange +pathos." + +Among the sympathetic friends who at this time enriched Mrs. Moulton's +life none was of personality more striking than Mrs. Sarah Helen +Whitman, whose connection with Poe was at once so touching and so +tragic. "No person ever made on me so purely spiritual an impression," +wrote Mrs. Moulton in _The Athenæum_ in after years, "as did Mrs. +Whitman. One of her friends said of her: 'She is nothing but a soul +with a sweet voice.'" Some of the poems signed "Ellen Louise" had +attracted the attention of Mrs. Whitman, and a correspondence +followed. In a postscript to the first letter written to Mrs. Moulton +after her marriage, Mrs. Whitman says: + + "You ask my plans. I have none nor ever had. All my life I + have been one of those who walk by faith and not by sight. I + never can plan ahead. The first words I ever learned to + speak were caught from hearing the watchman call out in the + middle of the night, 'All's well.' This has always been my + great article of faith. An angel seems ever to turn for me + at the right time the mystic pages of the book of life, + while I stand wondering and waiting,--that is all." + +On the appearance of "Juno Clifford," Mrs. Whitman wrote: + + _Mrs. Whitman to Mrs. Moulton_ + + NOVEMBER 15 [1855]. + + MY DEAR LOUISE: I have read "Juno Clifford," and my "honest + opinion" is that it is a very fascinating story, eloquently + related. I was surprised at its finished excellence; yet I + expected much from you. + + I have written a notice for the _Journal_ which will appear + in a few days. I will send you a copy of the paper. I wish I + had leisure to tell you all I think of the book. You have + all the qualities requisite for a successful novelist, and + some very rare ones, as I think. The grief of the poor Irish + girl brought tears to my eyes,--eyes long accustomed to look + serenely on human sorrows. The character of Juno is + admirably portrayed and you have managed the "heavy tragedy" + with admirable skill. I do not, however, like to have Juno + tear out her beautiful hair by "handfuls," and I think there + is a lavish expenditure of love scenes in the latter part of + the book; but all young lovers will freely pardon you for + this last offence, and I am not disposed to be hypercritical + about the hair. + + I can find nothing else to condemn, though I would fain show + myself an impartial judge. I wish "Juno" all success, and am + ever, with sincere regard, + + Your friend, + + S. HELEN WHITMAN. + + P.S.--I saw the death of Miss Locke in _The Times_! could it + have been our Miss Locke? Do you know? I am very busy just + now. I have no good pen, and my pencil turns round and round + like an inspired Dervish, but utters no sound; so look on my + chirography with Christian charity, and love me, + nevertheless. + + S.H.W. + +In other letters from Mrs. Whitman, undated, but evidently written +about this time, are these passages: + + "I have to-day found time to thank you for your letter and + beautiful poem. It is very fine, picturesque, and dramatic. + These are, I think, your strong points, but you have touches + of pathos.... You must not leave off writing stories, nor do + I see any necessity of making any selection between the muse + of poetry and the muse of romance. I should say, give + attendance to both, as the inspiration comes.... Dr. Holmes, + whom I met at the lectures of Lola Montez, is charmed by + her...." + + "Mrs. Davis read me Mrs. [R.H.] Stoddard's book ['Two Men'], + because you spoke of it so highly. It has, indeed, a strange + power,--not one that fascinates me, but which impresses me + profoundly and piques my curiosity to know more of the + author. I marked some paragraphs which indicated a + half-conscious power of imaginative description, which I + wish she would exercise more freely. Tell me about her in + her personal traits of character.... I hope you will not + impugn my taste, dear Louise, when I tell you I like your + 'two men' better than Mrs. Stoddard's. 'Margaret Holt' is a + charming story. Why is it that Mrs. Stoddard so entirely + ignores all sweet and noble emotions?" + +Mrs. Moulton's next volume was a collection of the stories which she +had contributed to various magazines. It was entitled "My Third Book," +and was brought out by the Harpers in 1859. It was greeted as a work +which "bears the seal of feminine grace," and which "reveals the +beauty of Mrs. Moulton's genius." Of two of the tales a reviewer said, +in terms which give with amusing fidelity the tone of the favorable +book-notice of the mid-century: + + "'No. 101' reminds us of some wondrous statue, her pen has + so sculptured the whole story. 'Four Letters from Helen + Hamilton' are enough to stir all hearts with their [_sic_] + high purpose and the beautiful ideal of womanhood which + consecrate [_sic_] them." + +Continuing her old habit at school, Mrs. Moulton for many years kept +notes of her abundant reading, and the comments and extracts set down +in her exquisite handwriting throw a most interesting light on the +growth of her thought. She mentions Miss Austen's "Sense and +Sensibility" as "interesting, but deficient in earnestness." "Guy +Livingston," that old-fashioned apotheosis of brute force, she, like +most of the novel-readers of the time, found "fascinating." "The +Scarlet Letter" impresses her profoundly, and she copies many +passages; the first volume of "Modern Painters" she reads with the +most serious earnestness, and comments at length upon Ruskin's view +that public opinion has no claim to be taken as a standard in the +judgment of works of art. Although the bride of a few months, and not +yet twenty-one, she enters with the enthusiasm of a schoolgirl into +the larger opportunities of life opened to her by her marriage. To +English literature she gives herself in serious study. She writes +copious analyses of the history of different periods, and critical +studies of various writers. It was perhaps at this period that she +began to respond to the work of the Elizabethan lyricists with a +sympathy which marked the kinship which English critics found so +evident in her poetic maturity. + +The list of books noted in these records during the next ten years is +large and varied. Mrs. Gaskell, Bishop Butler, Dr. Martineau, Miss +Mulock (Mrs. Craik), Anthony Trollope, and later George Eliot and +George Meredith, are among the writers whom she mentions; and from the +"Self-Help" of Samuel Smiles in 1860 she makes copious extracts. Her +taste was catholic, and her attitude toward literature always one of +genuine seriousness. + +Mrs. Moulton's memoranda for her own stories are both interesting and +suggestive. To see as it were the mind of the creative writer at work +is always fascinating, and here, as in the "American Notebooks" of +Hawthorne, the reader seems to be assisting in the very laboratory of +the imagination. Some of these notes are as follows: + + "Have the story written by a man. Have him go all his life + worshipping one woman, even from boyhood. He wins her,--she + is cold but he is satisfied and believes she will grow to + love him. After three years she leaves him. He gives his + life to seeking her. At last finds her just as she is + attempting to drown herself, and takes her home." + +And again: + + "Have a wealthy family travelling in Egypt, and a child born + to them there who shall bear the name of the country. This + child, Egypt Sunderland, seems to be strangely influenced by + her name, and develops all the peculiar characteristics of + the Egyptian women." + +She conceives the outline plots for numerous stories,--among the +titles for which are "The Sculptor's Model," "The Unforgiven Sin," +"The River Running Fast," "The Embroidered Handkerchief," "A Wife's +Confession," "The Widow's Candle and How It Went Out." For one +projected story her outline runs: + + "Show that there is punishment for our sins lying in the + consequence of them, which no repentance can avert, or + forgiveness condone,--which must be suffered to the + uttermost. Make it clear that passive goodness is not + enough. We must do something for humanity. That a man who + has no moral fibre or practical wisdom has a claim on us for + help. For energy and good judgment are as much a gift as are + eyes to see and ears to hear. The very lack of practical + wisdom gives the one so lacking a special claim on our + sympathies." + +Perhaps no one ever lived more in accord with this little gospel of +human duty than did Mrs. Moulton, and this fact invests the note with +a peculiar interest. + +The fiction of the day was little concerned with character-drawing or +mental analysis, but was largely occupied with a certain didactic +embodiment of ideals of conduct. In such fiction a writer of Mrs. +Moulton's genuine sincerity of temperament could not but show clearly +her true attitude toward the deeper problems of life. The opening of +one of her stories, "Margaret Grant," will illustrate this fact. + + "The love of life, the love of children, the love of + kin--these constrain all of us; but it was another kind of + love that constrained Margaret Grant. Curiously enough the + first awakening came to her soul from a book written by an + unbeliever, a book meant to bring Christianity to the final + test of final obedience, and to prove its absurdity, thereby + prove that to be a Christian as Christ taught, would + overthrow the uses of the world, and uproot the whole system + of things. 'Let the uses of the world go, and the system of + things take care of itself,' Margaret Grant said when she + laid the book down. 'This same religion of Christ is the + best thing I know, and I will go where it leads me.' And + then she waited for the true Guide, that Holy Spirit which + shall be given to every honest soul that seeks--waited for + her special work, but not idly, since every day and all the + days were the little offices of love that make life sweeter + for whatever fellow-pilgrim comes in our way. + + "Margaret read to her half-blind grandmother--taught the + small boy that ran the family errands to read--helped her + mother with the housekeeping, all on the lines of 'godly + George Herbert,' who wrote: + + Who sweeps a room as for God's laws, + Makes that and the action fine. + + But all the time she felt that these were not the real work + of her life, that work which was on its way." + +With the earnestness of spirit which is shown in this and which so +continually sounded in her poems, Mrs. Moulton lived her rich life in +the congenial atmosphere which surrounded her. Mrs. Spofford, writing +of Mrs. Moulton from personal memory, says of her in 1860: + + "She was now in her twenty-fifth year, fully launched upon + the literary high-seas, contributing to _Harper's_, the + _Galaxy_, and _Scribner's_ as they came into existence, and + to the _Young Folks_, the _Youth's Companion_, and other + periodicals for children. Her life seemed a fortunate one. + She had a charming home in Boston where she met and + entertained the most pleasant people; her housekeeping + duties were fulfilled to a nicety, and no domestic detail + neglected for all her industrious literary undertakings. A + daughter had been born to her, Florence, to whom 'Bed-time + Stories' were dedicated in some most tender and touching + verses, and, somewhat later, a son whose little life was + only numbered by days." + +Life was deepening and offering ever wider horizons. With Emily +Dickinson she might have said of the complex interweaving of event, +influence, and inspiration: + + Ah! the bewildering thread! + The tapestries of Paradise + So notelessly are made. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +1860-1876 + + + But poets should + Exert a double vision; should have eyes + To see near things as comprehensively + As if afar they took their point of sight; + And distant things as intimately deep + As if they touched them.... + I do distrust the poet who discerns + No character or glory in his time. + MRS. BROWNING.--_Aurora Leigh._ + + ... there are divine things, well envelop'd; + I swear to you, there are divine things more beautiful than + words can tell.--WALT WHITMAN, _Song of the Open Road_. + + The morning skies were all aflame.--L.C.M. + + +Poetry with Mrs. Moulton was a serious art and an object of earnest +pursuit. It was not for mere pastime that she had steeped herself, so +to speak, in + + ... The old melodious lays + Which softly melt the ages through; + The songs of Spenser's golden days, + Arcadian Sidney's silver phrase; + +for in her poetic work she recorded her deepest convictions and her +most intimate perceptions of the facts of life. To her life was love; +its essence was made up of the charm of noble and sincere friendships, +of happy social intercourse, of sympathetic devotion. To this joy of +love and friendship, there was in her mind opposed one sorrow--death, +and not all the assurances of faith or philosophy could eliminate this +dread, this all-pervading fear, that haunted her thoughts. In some way +the sadness of death, as a parting, had been stamped on her +impressionable nature, and it inevitably colored her outlook and made +itself a controlling factor in her character. It took the form, +however, of deepening her tenderness for every human relation and +widening her charity for all human imperfection. The vision of + + Cold hands folded over a still heart, + +touched her as it did Whittier, with the pity of humanity's common +sorrow, and with him she could have said that such vision + + Swept all my pride away, and trembling I forgave. + +Writing in later years of Stephen Phillips she said: + + "Is it not, after all, the comprehension of love that above + all else makes a poet immortal? Who thinks of Petrarch + without remembering Laura, of Dante without the vision of + Beatrice?" + + "I have said that Phillips is the poet of love and of pity. + Many poets have uttered the passionate cries of love; but + few, indeed, are those who have seen and expressed the + piteous tragedy of life as he has done. He says in + 'Marpessa,' + + "The half of music, I have heard men say, + Is to have grieved. + + And not only has Phillips grieved, but he has felt the grief + of other men--listened to the wild, far wail which, one + sometimes feels, must turn the very joy of heaven to + sorrow." + +These words reveal much of her own nature. One critic said aptly: + + "She is penetrated with that terrible consciousness of the + futility of the life which ends in the grave--that + consciousness of personal transitoriness which has haunted + and oppressed so many passionate and despairing hearts. She + knows that 'there is no name, with whatever emphasis of + passionate love repeated, of which the echo is not faint at + last.' And against this inevitable doom of humanity she + rebels with all the energy of her nature." + +In her verse-loving girlhood she had delighted in the facile music and +the obvious sentiment of Owen Meredith; his "Aux Italiens," "Madame +la Marquise," and "Astarte" had delighted her fancy. As she developed, +Browning's "Men and Women" held her captive; and she responded with +eagerness to the new melodies of Swinburne. She was indeed wonderfully +sensitive to the charm of any master who might arise; yet her own work +seemed little influenced by others. She remained always strikingly +individual. + +In the decades between 1860 and 1880 Boston was singularly rich in +rare individualities, and among them Mrs. Moulton easily and naturally +made her own place. She found the city not so greatly altered from the +Boston of the forties of which Dr. Hale remarked that "the town was so +small that practically everybody knew everybody. Lowell could discuss +with a partner in a dance the significance of the Fifth Symphony of +Beethoven in comparison with the lessons of the Second or the Seventh, +and another partner in the next quadrille would reconcile for him the +conflict of freewill and foreknowledge." At this period James Freeman +Clarke had founded his Church of the Disciples, of which he remained +pastor until 1888; and in 1869 Phillips Brooks became rector of +Trinity. Lowell, in these years, was living at Elmwood, and it was in +1869 that he recited at Harvard Commencement his great Commemoration +Ode. The prayer on that occasion was made by Mr. Brooks, and of it +President Eliot said that "the spontaneous and intimate expression of +Brooks' noble spirit convinced all Harvard men that a young prophet +had risen up in Israel." + +Lydia Maria Child, the intimate friend of Whittier, Sumner, Theodore +Parker, and Governor Andrew, was then living, and in her book, +"Looking Toward Sunset," quoting a poem of Mrs. Moulton's from some +newspaper copy which had omitted the name of the author, Mrs. Child +had altered one line better to suit her own cheerful fancy. On Mrs. +Moulton's remonstrance Mrs. Child wrote her a characteristically +lovely note, but ended by saying: "I hope you will let me keep the +sunshine in it; the plates are now stereotyped, and an alteration +would be very expensive." Mrs. Moulton cordially assented to the added +"sunshine," and an affectionate intercourse continued between them +until Mrs. Child's death in 1880. + +These years of the third quarter of the Nineteenth Century were the +great period of Webster, Choate, Everett, Channing, Sumner, and +Winthrop. With the close of the Civil War national issues shaped +themselves anew. It was a period of wonderful literary activity. +Thomas Starr King, who came to Boston in 1845, was a lecturer as well +as a preacher of power and genius. Henry James, the elder, was +publishing from time to time his philosophic essays, and to Mrs. +Moulton, who was much attracted by his gentle leadings, he gave in +generous measure his interest and encouragement. The _Atlantic +Monthly_ was founded in 1857 by Phillips and Sampson, the enterprising +young publishers who, according to Dr. Hale, inaugurated the +publishing business in Boston, and who were the publishers of Mrs. +Moulton's first book. With Lowell, the first editor of the _Atlantic_, +Mrs. Moulton came in contact in the easy intimacy of the literary +atmosphere. She heard with eager attention the well known lecture of +George William Curtis on "Modern Infidelity" in 1860; and in the same +year read with enthusiastic appreciation Hawthorne's "Marble Faun," +from which she made copious extracts in her note-books with +sympathetic comments. The artistic and intellectual life of Boston in +those days held much to call out her keenest interest. Mrs. Kemble +gave her brilliant Shakespearian readings; Patti, a youthful prima +donna, delighted lovers of opera; Charles Eliot Norton invited +friends to see his new art treasure, a picture by Rossetti; Agassiz +was marking an epoch in scientific progress by his lectures. +Interested by Professor Agassiz's efforts to found a museum, Mrs. +Moulton wrote for the _New York Tribune_ a special article on the +subject; and this was acknowledged by Mrs. Agassiz. + + _Mrs. Agassiz to Mrs. Moulton_ + + Thanks for the pleasant and appreciative article about the + Agassiz Museum in the _Tribune_. It is a good word spoken in + season. It is very charming, and so valuable just now, when + the institution is in peril of its life. No doubt it will be + of real service in our present difficulties by awakening + sympathy and affection in many people. Mr. Agassiz desires + his best regards to you. + + Yours sincerely, + + ELIZABETH CAREY AGASSIZ. + +The intellectual and the social were closely blended in the Boston of +the sixties and the seventies, and Mrs. Moulton was in the very midst +of the most characteristically Bostonian circles. Her journals record +how she went to a "great party" given by Mrs. William Claflin, whose +husband was afterward governor; to Cambridge to a function given by +the Agassizs; to a reception at Dr. Alger's "to meet Rose Terry," +later known as Rose Terry Cooke; to a dinner given in honor of Miss +Emily Faithful; to one intellectual gayety after another. She was one +of the attractive figures at the delightful Sunday evening reunions +given by Mr. and Mrs. Edwin P. Whipple. She notes in the journal that +at a brilliant reception given by Mrs. John T. Sargent, so well known +as the hostess of the famous Chestnut Street Radical Club, she had "a +few golden moments" with Emerson, and a talk with the elder Henry +James, with whom she was a favorite. + +In 1870 Mrs. Moulton became the Boston literary correspondent of the +_New York Tribune_. This work developed under her care into one of +much importance. Boston publishers sent to her all books of especial +interest, and her comments upon them were of solid value. She recorded +the brilliant meetings of the Chestnut Street Radical Club, and the +intellectual news in general. These letters made a distinct success. +Extracts from them were copied all over the United States, and they +came to be looked upon as a sort of authorized report of what was +doing in the intellectual capital of the country. They were given up +only when the desire for foreign travel drew Mrs. Moulton so much +abroad that she could no longer keep as closely in touch with current +events as is necessary for a press correspondent. + +The Radical Club at that time was famed throughout the entire country, +and it was regarded as the very inner temple wherein the gods forged +their thunderbolts. Only those who bore the sacramental sign were +supposed to pass its portals. Mrs. Moulton's accounts of these +meetings were vivid and significant. As, for instance, the following: + + "The brightest sun of the season shone, and the balmiest + airs prevailed, on the 21st of December, in honor of the + meeting of the Radical Club under the hospitable roof of Mr. + and Mrs. John T. Sargent in Chestnut street. Mrs. Howe was + the essayist, and there was a brilliant gathering to hear + her. David Wasson was there, and John Weiss, and Colonel + Higginson, and Alcott, hoary embodiment of cool, clear + thought. Mr. Linton, the celebrated engraver, John Dwight of + the _Musical Journal_, Mrs. Severance, the beloved president + of the New England Woman's Club, bonny Kate Field of the + honest eyes and the piquant pen, Mrs. Cheney, Miss Peabody, + and many others, distinguished in letters or art. + + "To this goodly company Mrs. Howe read a brilliant essay on + the subject of Polarity. She commenced by speaking of + polarity as applied to matter, in a manner not too abstruse + for the _savants_ who surrounded her, though it was too + philosophical and scholarly to receive the injustice of + being reported. The progress of polarity she found to give + us the division of sex; and Sex was the subject on which she + intended to write when she commenced the essay; but she + found it, like all fundamental facts in nature, to be an + idea with a history. In the pursuit of this history she + encountered the master agency of Polarity, and found herself + obliged to make that the primary idea, and consider sex as + derived from it." + +Another letter, describing a meeting a few weeks later, gives a +glimpse at some of the women who frequented the club: + + "There was Mrs. Severance, reminding one so much of an + Indian summer day, so calm and peaceful is the sweet face + that looks out at you from its framing of fair waving hair. + Not far away was Julia Ward Howe, who some way or other + makes you think of the old fairy story of the girl who never + opened her mouth but there fell down before her pearls and + diamonds. That story isn't a fairy story, not a bit of it. + It is real, genuine truth, and Mrs. Howe is the girl grown + up, and pearls of poetic fancy and diamonds of sparkling wit + are the precious stones which fall from her lips. Lucy Stone + was there, an attentive listener, looking the very picture + of retiring womanliness in her Quaker-like simplicity of + dress, and her pleasant face lighted with interest and + animation. Sitting by a table, busy with note-book and + pencil, was Miss Peabody, the Secretary of the Club. She has + a sparkling, animated face, brimming over with kindness and + good-will; she wins one strangely--you can't help being + drawn to her. There's a world of fun in the black eyes, and + you feel sure she would appreciate the ridiculous sides of + living as keenly as any one ever could." + +In still another letter are these thumb-nail sketches of persons +well-known: + + "As we drew near Chestnut street we saw a goodly number of + pilgrims.... Nora Perry, with the golden hair, had journeyed + up from Providence with a gull's feather in her hat and a + glint of mischief in her glance; Celia Thaxter, whom the + Atlantic naturally delights to honor, since from Atlantic + surges she caught the rhythm of her life, sat intent; Mr. + Alcott beamed approval; Professor Goodwin had come from + Harvard; David A. Wasson had left his bonded ware-house a + prey to smugglers; Rev. Dr. Bartol, who seems always to + dwell on the Mount of Vision; and Mr. Sanborn, who had + sheathed his glittering lance, sat near; Mrs. Howe, taking a + little vacation from her labors for women, listened + serenely; Miss Peabody had a good word to say for Aspasia; + and Mrs. Cheney quoted Walter Savage Landor's opinion of + her." + +A racy letter tells of the meeting when the Club discovered Darwin; +another deals with the day when Mrs. Howe discoursed of "Moral +Trigonometry"; and yet another of an occasion when the Rev. Samuel +Longfellow was essayist, and all the pretty women had new bonnets. +This allusion reminds one of a bit of witty verse when "Sherwood +Bonner" (Mrs. McDowell) served up the Radical Club in a parody of +Poe's "Raven," and described Mrs. Moulton as, + + "A matron made for kisses, in the loveliest of dresses." + +The "Twelve Apostles of Heresy," as the transcendental thinkers were +irreverently termed by the wits of the press, were about this time +contributing to the enlightenment of the public by a series of Sunday +afternoon lectures. These lectures were held to represent the most +advanced thought of the day, and were delivered by such speakers as +the Rev. O.B. Frothingham, Mary Grew (Whittier's friend and a woman of +equally cultivated mind and lovely character), the Rev. John Weiss, +Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, T.W. Higginson, and Mrs. Ednah D. Cheney. In one +letter Mrs. Moulton writes thus: + + "As the coffin of Mahomet was suspended between heaven and + earth, so is Mr. Wasson, who spoke last Sunday at + Horticultural Hall, popularly supposed to be suspended + between the heaven of Mr. Channing's serene faith and the + depths of Mr. Abbot's audacious heresy. But if any one + should infer from this statement that Mr. Wasson is a gentle + medium, a man without boldness of speculation, or + originality of thought, he would find he had never in his + life made so signal a mistake. Few men in America think so + deeply as David A. Wasson, and fewer still have so many of + the materials for thought at their command. He has a + presence of power, and is a handsome man, though prematurely + gray, with an expansive forehead, where strong thoughts and + calm judgment sit enthroned, and with eyes beneath it which + see very far indeed. His features are clearly cut, and he + looks as if he felt, and felt passionately, every word he + utters, as he stands before an audience, his subject well in + hand, and with always twice as much to say as his hour will + give space for, forced, therefore, against his will, to + choose and condense from his thronging thoughts. He spoke, + in the Sunday afternoon course, on 'Jesus, Christianity, and + Modern Radicalism.'" + +John Weiss, the biographer of Theodore Parker, discoursed on one +occasion on "The Heaven of Homer," and Mrs. Moulton commented: + + "Not the author of 'Gates Ajar,' listening in her pleasant + dreams to heavenly pianos, ever drew half so near to the + celestial regions, or looked into them with half so + disillusionized gaze as the Grecian thought of the time of + Homer." + +Of Mary Grew Mrs. Moulton gave this pen-picture: + + "We saw a woman not young, save with the youth of the + immortals; not beautiful, save with the beauty of the + spirit; but sweet and gentle, with a placid, earnest face. + Her own faith is so assured that she appeals fearlessly to + the faith of others; her nature so religious that her + religion seems a fact and not a question." + +Another Boston institution of which Mrs. Moulton wrote in her +_Tribune_ letters was the New England Woman's Club. "Here," she +declared, "Mrs. Howe reads essays and poems in advance of their +publication; Abby May's wit flashes keen; Mrs. Cheney gives lovely +talks on art; and Kate Field, with the voice which is music, reads her +first lecture." She records how Emerson sends to the club-tea a poem; +how Whittier is sometimes a guest; how Miss Alcott tells an inimitable +story; and how on May 23, 1870, was celebrated the birthday of +Margaret Fuller, who for a quarter of a century had been beyond the +count of space and time. On this occasion the Rev. James Freeman +Clarke presided, and among the papers was a poem by Mrs. Howe of which +Mrs. Moulton quotes the closing stanza: + + Fate dropt our Margaret + Within the bitter sea, + A pearl in golden splendor set + For spirit majesty. + +It was in connection with a meeting of the Woman's Club that a guest +invited from New York wrote for a journal of that city an account of +the gathering in which is this description: + + "There too was Mrs. Louise Chandler Moulton, looking for all + the world like one of her own stories, tender and yet + strong, the child-like curving of the mouth and chin in such + contrast with the tender, almost sad eyes and well-developed + brow covered with its masses of waving light hair." + +Bret Harte, then in the height of his fame, wrote to Mrs. Moulton in +regard to her _Tribune_ letters, and told her that "it is woman's +privilege to assert her capacity as a critic without sacrificing her +charm as a woman." Many of her criticisms were richly worth +preservation, did space allow. Of Walt Whitman she said: + + "With his theories I do not always agree; they seem to me + fitter for a larger, more sincere, less complex time than + ours; but there is no sham and no affectation, either in the + man or in his verse. I could not tell how strong was the + impression of sincerity and large-heartedness which he made + on me." + +A new volume of poems by Lowell appeared, and in her comment she +wrote: + + "Wordsworth was notably great in only a few poems, and + Coleridge, and Keats, and Shelley come under the same + limitations. Mr. Lowell is thus not alone in being at times + forsaken by his good genius.... If he does not furnish us + with a great amount of poetry of the highest order, it is + the simple truth to say that in his best he has no rival, + excepting Emerson, among American poets. When he is + inspired, the key to nature and to man is in his hand, and + he becomes the interpreter of both, commanding the secrets + of one as truly as he interprets the interior life of the + other." + +All this newspaper work did not interfere with the steady production +of work less ephemeral. Poems and stories succeeded one another in +almost unbroken succession. The fecundity of Mrs. Moulton's mind was +by no means the least surprising of the good gifts with which nature +had endowed her. In all the leading American magazines her name held a +place recognized and familiar. What was apparently her first +contribution to the _Atlantic Monthly_, a poem called "May-Flowers," +caught the popular fancy and became a general favorite. The exquisite +closing stanza was especially praised by those whose approbation was +best worth winning: + + Tinted by mystical moonlight, + Freshened by frosty dew, + Till the fair, transparent blossoms + To their pure perfection grew. + +Longfellow commended her perfection of form and the lyric spontaneity +of her verse and Whittier urged her to collect and publish her poems +in a volume. + +Various letters of interest during these years from and to Mrs. +Moulton are as follows: + + _Mr. Whittier to Mrs. Moulton_ + + AMESBURY, 3d, 8th month, 1870. + + DEAR MRS. MOULTON: I am greatly disappointed in not meeting + the benediction of thy face when I called last month; but I + shall seek it again sometime. It just occurs to me that I + may yet have the pleasure of seeing thee under my roof at + Amesbury. We have so many friends in common that I feel as + if I knew thee through them. + + How much I thank thee for thy kind note. It reaches me at a + time when its generous appreciation is very welcome and + grateful. + + Believe me very truly thy friend, + + JOHN G. WHITTIER. + + + _William Winter to Mrs. Moulton_ + + STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. + November 8, 1875. + + DEAR MRS. MOULTON: I accept with pleasure and gratitude your + very kind and sympathetic letter,--seeing beneath its + delicate and cordial words the sincere heart of a comrade + in literature, and the regard of a nature kindred with my + own. I wish I could think that your praise is deserved. It + has often seemed to me of late that there is no cheer in my + newspaper work.... I am aware, however, that the sympathy of + a bright mind and a tender heart and the approval of a + delicate taste are not won without some sort of merit, and + so I venture to find in your most genial and spontaneous + letter a ray of encouragement. You will scarcely know how + grateful this is to me at this time. I thank you and I shall + not forget that you were thoughtful and delicately kind. + + To-day I have received a copy of Stedman's poems, which I + want to read again with great care. A man who has missed + poetic fame himself may find great satisfaction in the + success of his friend, and I do feel exceedingly glad in the + recognition that has come to Stedman. Your article on the + book in the _Tribune_ was excellent. + + Faithfully yours, + + WILLIAM WINTER. + + + _Mrs. Moulton to Mr. Stedman_ + + "When you say it depends on me whether I will be looked upon + as a real judicial authority by people of culture throughout + the land, you fire me with ambition, but my springing flame + is quenched by the realization that I am not cultured enough + to rely on my judgment as a certainty, a finality, and that + while I may feel that my intuitions are keen, they are apt + to be warped by my strong emotions. I'll try. A very few + persons are really my public, and I think how my letters + will strike them, rather than how the world will receive + them. I wonder how you will like my review of...? Much of + the book is 'splendidly null,'--perfect enough in execution, + but without that subtle something that sets the heart-chords + quivering, and fills the eyes with tender dew; that subtle + minor chord of being, to which we are all kin, by virtue of + our own pain...." + + + _Mrs. Moulton to Mr. Stedman_ + + "... I am impatient to see your article on Browning. I am so + struck by your calling him the greatest of love poets. I, + too, have often thought something like that of him. If 'The + Statue and the Bust' means anything, it means that Browning + thought the Duke and the Lady were fools to let 'I dare not' + wait upon 'I would.' But, _au contraire_, I think 'Pippa + Passes' gives one the impression that he considers illegal + love a great sin and the natural temptation to still greater + sins. Don't you think so? I wish I could have a talk on + social questions with you, for I think your ideas are more + fixed, more developed in thought and less chaotic than + mine...." + + + _Mr. Whittier to Mrs. Moulton_ + + AMESBURY, 11th month, 9th, 1874. + + MY DEAR FRIEND LOUISE CHANDLER MOULTON: I thank thee from my + heart for thy letter. I think some good angel must have + prompted it, for it reached me when I needed it; needed to + know that my words had not been quite in vain. And to know + that they have been comfort or strength to thee is a cause + for deep thankfulness. I do not put a very high estimate + upon my writings, in a merely literary point of view, but it + has been my earnest wish that they might at least help the + world a little. I read thy notice of my book in the + _Tribune_, in connection with Dr. Holmes' last volume, and + while very grateful for thy praise, I was saddened by a + feeling that I did not fully deserve it. In fact, I fear the + world has treated me far better than I had any reason to + expect; and I have been blessed with dear friends, whose + love is about me like an atmosphere. + + I have read the little poem enclosed in thy letter with a + feeling of tenderest sympathy. God help us! The loneliness + of life, under even the best circumstances, becomes at times + appalling to contemplate. We are all fearfully alone; no one + human soul can fully know another, and an infinite sigh for + sympathy is perpetually going up from the heart of humanity. + But doubtless this very longing is the pledge and prophecy + and guarantee of an immortal destination. Perfect content is + stagnation and ultimate death. + + Why does thee not publish thy poems? Everywhere I meet + people who have been deeply moved by them. + + Thy letter dates from Pomfret, and I direct there to thee. I + was in that place once so long ago that thee must have been + a mere child. I rode over its rocky hills, bare in the chill + December, with the late William H. Burleigh. I think it must + be charming in summer and autumn. But something in thy poems + and in thy letter leads me to infer that thy sojourn there + has not been a happy one. Of course I do not speak of + unalloyed happiness, for that can only come of entire + exemption from sin and weakness. A passage which I have been + reading this morning from Thomas à Kempis has so spoken to + my heart that I venture to transcribe it: + + "What thou canst not amend in thyself or others, bear with + patience until God ordaineth otherwise. When comfort is + taken away do not presently despair. Stand with an even + mind, resigned to the will of God, whatever may befall; for + after winter cometh the summer, after the dark night the day + shineth; and after the storm cometh a great calm." + + Believe me always gratefully thy friend, + + JOHN G. WHITTIER. + +Religious questions, with which Mrs. Moulton was always deeply +concerned, come often into her letters. To Mr. Stedman she writes: + + "I have been curiously interested of late about a band of + 'Sanctificationists,' who believe Christ meant it when He + said, He can save from all sin. So they reason that, + trusting in His own words, they can be saved from sin now + and here. There is about them a peace and serenity, a + sweetness and light, a joy in believing, that is + unmistakable. They do live happier lives than others. I + cannot believe, somehow, in this 'cleansing blood,' yet, + seeing these people, I feel that I lose a great deal by not + believing in it. Oh, if one only knew the truth! Reason + rejects, it seems to me, the orthodox dogmas, but what is + one to do with the argument of holier lives?" + +Unconsciously Mrs. Moulton was echoing Emerson's lines, + + Nor knowest thou what argument + Thy life to thy neighbor's creed has lent. + +To the late sixties belongs a little incident which illustrates well +Mrs. Moulton's attitude toward society. She was fond of social life, +but it was in her interest always secondary to the intellectual. +During a visit to New York, she was one evening just dressed for a +festivity which she was to attend with her hostess, when the card of +Horace Greeley was brought to her. She went down at once, and Mr. +Greeley, who probably would not have noted any difference between a +ball-gown and a negligé did not in the least appreciate that she was +evidently dressed for a social function. When her hostess came to call +her, Mrs. Moulton signalled that she was to be left, and passed the +evening in conversation so interesting and so animated that Mr. +Greeley remained until an unusually late hour. Just as he was leaving +he seemed to become dimly conscious that her costume was especially +elaborate, and he inquired innocently: + +"But were you not going somewhere to-night?" + +"One does not go 'somewhere,'" she returned, "at the expense of +missing a conversation with Mr. Greeley." + +In 1873 Mrs. Moulton published a volume for young folk entitled +"Bed-Time Stories." It was issued by Roberts Brothers, who from this +time until the dissolution of the firm in 1898, after the death of Mr. +Niles, remained her publishers. The success of the book was immediate, +and so great that the title was repeated in "More Bed-Time Stories," +brought out in the year following. The first volume was dedicated to +her daughter in these graceful lines: + + It is you that I see, my darling, + On every page of this book, + With your flowing golden tresses, + And your wistful, wondering look, + + As you used to linger and listen + To the "Bed-time Stories" I told, + Till the sunset glory faded, + And your hair was the only gold. + + Will another as kindly critic + So patiently hear them through? + Will the many children care for + The tales that I told to you? + + You smile, sweetheart, at my question; + For answer your blue eyes shine: + "We will please the rest if it may be, + But the tales are--yours and mine." + +Of the second series of "Bed-Time Stories" George H. Ripley wrote in +the _Tribune_: + + "The entire absence of all the visible signs of art in the + composition of these delightful stories betrays a rare + degree of artistic culture which knows how to conceal + itself, or a singular natural bent to graceful and + picturesque expression. Perhaps both of these conditions + best explain the secret of their felicitous construction, + and their fidelity to nature. The best fruits of sweet + womanly wisdom she deems not too good for the entertainment + of the young souls with whom she cherishes such a cordial + sympathy, and whom she so graciously attracts by the silvery + music of her song, which lacks no quality of poetry but the + external form.... They inculcate no high-flown moral, but + inspire the noblest sentiments. There is no preaching in + their appeals, but they offer a perpetual incentive to all + that is lovely and good in character." + +An equal success attended the collection of stories for older readers +which Mrs. Moulton brought out a year later under the title, "Some +Women's Hearts." This contained all the stories written since the +appearance of "My Third Book" which she thought worthy of +preservation, and may be said to represent her best in this order of +fiction. Professor Moses Coit Tyler said of them: "Mrs. Moulton has +the incommunicable tact of the story-teller"; commented on their +freedom from all padding, and commended their complete unity. The +instinct for literary form which was so strikingly conspicuous in her +verse showed itself in these stories by the excellence of arrangement +and proportion, the sincerity and earnestness which made the tales +vital. She had by this time outgrown the rather sentimental fashions +of the gift-book period of American letters, and her conscientious and +careful criticism of the work of others had resulted in a power of +self-criticism which was admirable in its results. "My best reward," +she said in after years, "has been the friendships that my slight work +has won for me"; but by the time she was forty she had won a place in +American letters such as had been held by only two or three other +women, and before her was the reputation which she was to win abroad, +such as no woman of her country had ever attained before. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +1876-1880 + + For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could see, + Saw the Vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be. + TENNYSON. + + The winds to music strange were set; + The sunsets glowed with sudden flame.--L.C.M. + + +Mrs. Moulton made her first visit to Europe in January, 1876. She +remained abroad for nearly two years. From that date until the summer +of 1907, inclusive, she passed every summer but two on the other side +of the Atlantic. London became her second home. Her circle of friends, +not only in England but on the Continent, became very wide. Her poems +were published in England, and she was accorded in London society a +place of distinction such as had not before been given to any American +woman of letters. She enjoyed her social opportunities; but she prized +most the number of sincere and interesting friendships which resulted +from them. It is not difficult to understand how her charm and +kindliness won those she met, or how her friendliness and sympathy +endeared her to all who came to know her well. + +Mrs. Moulton's first glimpse of London was simply what could be had in +a brief pause on her way to Paris. She was, however, present in the +House of Lords when the Queen opened Parliament in person for the +first time after the death of the Prince Consort. She stayed but a few +days in Paris, and then hastened on to Rome. Mrs. Harriet Prescott +Spofford thus describes this first visit to the Immortal City: + + "Paris over, came Rome, and twelve weeks of raptures and + ruins, of churches and galleries, old palaces and + almond-trees in flower, the light upon the Alban Hills, the + kindly, gracious Roman society, all like a dream from which + might come awaking. Certainly no one was ever made to feel + the ancient spell, or to enjoy its beauty more than this + sensitive, sympathetic, and impressible spirit. Stiff + Protestant as she is, she was touched to tears by the + benignant old pope's blessing; and she abandoned herself to + the carnival, as much a child as 'the noblest Roman of them + all.'" + +Mrs. Moulton entered into the artistic life of Rome with +characteristic ardor. She knew many artists, and became an especial +friend of Story's, a visitor at his studio, and an admirer of his +sculpture. + + "I had greatly liked many of his poems," she said later, + "and I was curious to see if his poems in marble equalled + them. I was more than charmed with his work; and I suppose I + said something which revealed my enthusiasm, for I remember + the smile--half of pleasure, half of amusement--with which + he looked at me. He said: 'You don't seem to feel quite as + an old friend of mine from Boston felt, when he went through + my studio, and, at least, I showed him the best I had. We + are all vain, you know; and I suppose I expected a little + praise, but my legal friend shook his head. "Ah, William," + he said, "you might have been a great lawyer like your + father; you had it in you; but you chose to stay on here and + pinch mud!"' Another American sculptor whom Rome delighted + to honor is Mr. Richard S. Greenough, whose 'Circe' has more + fascination for me than almost anything else in modern art; + but my acquaintance with him came later. I had a letter of + introduction to William and Mary Howitt from Whittier; they + made me feel myself a welcome guest." + +She was interested also in the work of a young sculptor who had then +lately arrived in Rome, Franklin Simmons; and of him she told this +incident: + + "Mr. Simmons had almost completed a statue, for which he had + received an order from one of the States, had spent a great + deal of time and money, when a conception came to him higher + than his original idea. Without hesitation he sacrificed his + time, his labor, and his marble--no small loss this--and + began again. It was an act of simple heroism, of which not + every one would have been capable; and there is little doubt + that a man who unites to his talent a criticism so + unsparing, and a spirit so conscientious, will do work well + worthy the attention of the world." + +Mrs. Moulton's real introduction to London did not come this year, but +in the summer of 1877, when a breakfast was given in her honor by Lord +Houghton (Richard Monckton Milnes), at which the guests included +Browning, Swinburne, George Eliot, Jean Ingelow, Gustave Doré, and +others of only less distinction. The breakfast was followed by a +reception at which, in the society phrase, the guest of honor met +everybody. + +Of this breakfast an amusing reminiscence has been given by Mrs. +Moulton herself: + + "Shortly after I came into the room, Lord Houghton, whose + voice was very low, brought a gentleman up to me whose name + I failed to hear. My fellow-guest had a pleasant face, and + was dressed in gray; he sat down beside me, and talked in a + lively way on everyday topics until Lord Houghton came to + take me in to table. Opposite to us sat Miss Milnes, now + Lady Fitzgerald, between two gentlemen, one of whom was the + man in gray. Presently Lord Houghton asked me if I thought + Browning looked like his pictures. 'Browning?' I asked. + 'Where is he?' 'Why, there, sitting beside my daughter,' he + replied. But, as there were two gentlemen sitting beside + Miss Milnes, I sat during the remainder of the breakfast + with a divided mind, wondering which of these two men was + Browning. After going back to the drawing-room my friend in + gray again came and sat beside me, so I plucked up courage + and said, 'I understand Mr. Browning is here; will you + kindly tell me which he is?' He looked half puzzled, half + amused, for a moment; then he called out to some one + standing near, 'Look here, Mrs. Moulton wants to know which + one of us is Browning. _C'est moi!_' he added with a gay + gesture; and this is how my friendship with the author of + 'Pippa Passes' began." + +This introduction may be said to have "placed" Mrs. Moulton in English +literary society, and there was hardly a person of intellectual +distinction in London whom she did not meet. She came to know the +Rossettis, William Sharp, Theodore Watts (later known as +Watts-Dunton), Herbert E. Clarke, Mrs. W.K. Clifford, A. Mary F. +Robinson (afterward Mme. Darmesteter), Olive Schreiner, Lewis Morris, +William Bell Scott, the Hon. Roden Noel, Iza Duffus Hardy, Aubrey de +Vere, the Marstons, father and son, and in short almost every writer +worth knowing. She came, indeed, to belong almost as completely to the +London literary world as to that of America. + +Philip Bourke Marston, the blind poet, whose friend and biographer she +in time became, she first met on the first day of July of this year. +She has recorded the meeting: + + "It was just six weeks before his twenty-sixth birthday. He + was tall, slight, and, in spite of his blindness, graceful. + He seemed to me young-looking even for his twenty-six years. + He had a noble and beautiful forehead. His brown eyes were + perfect in shape, and even in color, save for a dimness like + a white mist that obscured the pupil, but which you + perceived only when you were quite near to him. His hair and + beard were dark brown, with warm glints of chestnut; and the + color came and went in his cheeks as in those of a sensitive + girl. His face was singularly refined, but his lips were + full and pleasure-loving, and suggested dumbly how cruel + must be the limitations of blindness to a nature hungry for + love and for beauty. I had been greatly interested, before + seeing him, in his poems, and to meet him was a memorable + delight. + + "He and the sister, who was his inseparable companion, soon + became my close friends, and with them both this friendship + lasted till the end." + +The poetry of Swinburne had for her a fascination from the first, and +she was attracted also by the personality of the poet. Writing an +article upon a new volume of his, she submitted the copy to him before +publishing it in the _Athenæum_. His acknowledgment was as follows: + + _Mr. Swinburne to Mrs. Moulton_ + + DECEMBER 19, 1877. + + DEAR MADAME: I am sincerely obliged for the kindness and + courtesy to which I am indebted for the sight of the MS. + herewith returned. Of course my only feeling of hesitation + as to the terms in which I ought to acknowledge and answer + the application which accompanied it arises merely from a + sense of delicacy in seeming to accept, if not thereby to + endorse, an estimate altogether too flattering to the + self-esteem of its object. + + But even at the risk of vanity or self-complacency, I will + simply express my gratitude for your too favourable opinion, + and my grateful sense of the delicacy and thoughtfulness + which has permitted me a sight of the yet unprinted pages + which convey it. + + Yours sincerely, + + ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE. + +Leaving London in August, 1876, Mrs. Moulton went with Kate Field to +visit Lawrence Hutton and his mother, who had a house for the summer +in Scotland. In September, in company with Dr. Westland Marston, his +son and daughter, and Miss Hardy, she made a visit to Étretat. The +place and the company made a combination altogether delightful. An +entry in her diary for this time, of which the date is merely +"Midnight of September 1," records her enthusiasm. + + "I want to remember this evening which has been so + beautiful. I had worked all day to six o'clock dinner, after + which I sat and talked awhile with Cecily and Iza, and then + took a long moonlight walk with them and Dr. Marston. I + think I never saw such a wonderful sky. The blue of it was + so intensely blue and great masses of white clouds, hurried + and driven on by the wind, met each other and retreated and + put on all sorts of fantastic shapes, while among them the + moon walked, visible sometimes, and at others hiding her + pale face behind some veiled prophet of a cloud, who was + mocking the fair night with the gloom of his presence. I + never saw such grand effects. + + "We climbed a long hill, and from thence we looked down on + little Étretat lying below us, with the lights in its many + windows, and the sea tossing beyond it white with spray and + with moonlight. The trees were quivering at the whispers of + a low wind, and still above all the clouds held strange + conclave, keeping up their swift march and counter-march. + All this time Dr. Marston talked as we sauntered on, and + talked superbly. I think the electricity in the air inspired + him. He talked of the soul's destiny, of immortality, and + expressed, with matchless eloquence, that strong-winged + faith which bears him on toward that end that will be, he + feels sure, the new life's beginning. From time to time he + interrupted himself to point out something that we might not + else have seen,--some wonderful phantom of moonlight, some + cottage-lamp shining at the end of a long lane, some + Rembrandt contrast of light and shade. + + "We walked far, but I knew no weariness. I could have walked + on forever watching that strange and fitful sky, and + listening to such talk as I have seldom heard. Here is an + affluent poet, who affords to scatter his riches broadcast, + and does not save them all for his printed pages. We went + home at last and sat for a while in Dr. Marston's house, and + then Philip and Cecily and I went down to the long terrace + overlooking the sea, and sat for an hour or more to watch + the moonlight on the breaking waves. How happy we were, that + little while! We talked of the fitful clouds, the wild, + hurrying sea, the white, sweet moon. Then something brought + back to me visions of the white statues at Rome, and I + tried to show them how fair these old gods stood in my + memory. Ah! shall I ever forget this so lovely night? The + strange, changeful, wind-swept sky, the waves swollen with + the passion of yesterday's storm, marching in like a strong + army upon the shore and overwhelming it. Behind us the + casino, with its many lights, and down there between the + moonlight and the sea, we three who did not know each other + three months ago but hold each other so closely now. + + "Nothing can ever take from me the fitful splendor, the wild + rhythm, the divine mystery of this happy night. I can always + close my eyes and see again sea and sky and dear faces; hear + again the waves break on this wild coast of Normandy, with + the passion of their immortal pain and longing." + +This stay in Étretat was further commemorated in her poem of that +title. Dr. Marston, too, felt the spell of the place and company, and +addressed to her this sonnet: + + THE EMBALMING OF A DAY. + + TUESDAY: SEPTEMBER 11: 1877. TO LOUISE. + + A Day hath Lived! So let him fall asleep. + A Day is Dead--Days are not born again. + Only his Spirit shall for Us remain + Who found Him dear: His Hours in Balm to steep + Of all sweet Thoughts that may in Freshness keep + The beauty of a Day forever slain-- + Of Wishes, for the bitter Herbs of Pain: + Of Looks that meet and smile, though Hearts may weep. + So shall our Night to come not wholly prove + An Egypt's Feast, where bids the Silent Guest + "In Joy remember Death."--"Remember Love + In Death," thy dead Day breathes from Breast to Breast. + Embalm Him thus, Heart's Love, that he may lie + Untombed and unforgotten, though he die. + +The succeeding winter Mrs. Moulton passed in Paris. Here as in London +she met many of the most interesting people of the day. With Stéphane +Mallarmé especially she formed a close friendship, and through him she +came to know the chief men of the group called at that time the +"_Décadents_" of which he was the leader. Mallarmé was at this time +professor of English in a French college, and his use of that language +afforded Mrs. Moulton some amusement. "He always addressed me in the +third person," she related, "and he made three syllables of +'themselves.' He spoke of useless things as 'unuseful.' He was, +however, a great comfort and pleasure to me, and I saw a great deal of +him and of his wife that winter. I used to dine with them at their +famous Tuesdays, and meet the adoring throng that came in after +dinner. Often he and Madame Mallarmé would saunter with me about the +streets of Paris. It was then that I first made acquaintance with the +French dolls,--those wonderful creations which can bow and courtesy +and speak, and are so much better than humans that they always do the +thing they should. Whenever we came to a window where one of these +lovely creatures awaited us, I used to insist upon stopping to make +her dollship's acquaintance, until I fear the Mallarmés really +believed that these dolls were the most alluring things in life to me. +But the winter,--crowded for me with the deepest interests and +delights in meeting the noted men of letters and many of the greatest +artists, and of studying that new movement in art, Impressionism, +which was destined to be so revolutionary in its influence,--at last +this wonderful winter came to an end, and I was about to cross the +Channel once more. Full of kindly regrets came Monsieur and Madame +Mallarmé to pay me a parting call. 'We have wishéd,' began the poet, +mustering his best English in compliment to the occasion, 'Madame and +I have wishéd to make to Madame Moulton a souvenir for the good-bye, +and we have thought much, we have consideréd the preference beautiful +of Madame, so refinéd; and we do reflect that as Madame is pleaséd to +so graciously the dolls of Paris like, we have wishéd to a doll +present her. Will Madame do us the pleasure great to come out and +choose with us a doll, _très jolie_, that may have the pleasure to +please her?'" + +It would be a pleasure to record that Mrs. Moulton accepted the gift. +The doll presented by the leader of the Symbolists would have been not +only historic, but it might have been regarded as signifying in the +language of symbolism things unutterable; but she could only say: "Oh, +no; please. I should be laughed at. Please let it be something else." +And the guests retired pensive, to return next day with a handsome +Japanese cabinet as their offering. "And I have pined ever since," +Mrs. Moulton added smilingly, when she told the story, "for the +Mallarmé doll that might have been mine." + +In 1877 the Macmillans brought out Mrs. Moulton's first volume of +poems under the title "Swallow Flights," the name being taken from +Tennyson's well known lines: + + Short swallow-flights of song, that dip + Their wings in tears, and skim away. + +The American edition, which followed soon after from the house of +Roberts Brothers, was entitled simply "Poems." The success of the +book was a surprise to the author. Professor William Minto wrote in +the _Examiner_: + + "We do not, indeed, know where to find, among the works of + English poetesses, the same self-controlled fulness of + expression with the same depth and tenderness of simple + feeling.... 'One Dread' might have been penned by Sir Philip + Sidney." + +The _Athenæum_, always chary of overpraise, declared: + + "It is not too much to say of these poems that they exhibit + delicate and rare beauty, marked originality, and perfection + of style. What is still better, they impress us with a sense + of subtle and vivid imagination, and that spontaneous + feeling which is the essence of lyrical poetry.... A poem + called 'The House of Death' is a fine example of the + writer's best style. It paints briefly, but with ghostly + fidelity, the doomed house, which stands blind and voiceless + amid the light and laughter of summer. The lines which we + print in italics show a depth of suggestion and a power of + epithet which it would be difficult to surpass. + + "THE HOUSE OF DEATH + + "Not a hand has lifted the latchet, + Since she went out of the door,-- + No footsteps shall cross the threshold, + Since she can come in no more. + + "There is rust upon locks and hinges, + And mould and blight on the walls, + _And silence faints in the chambers_, + _And darkness waits in the halls_,-- + + "Waits, as all things have waited, + Since she went, that day of spring, + Borne in her pallid splendour, + To dwell in the Court of the King; + + "With lilies on brow and bosom, + With robes of silken sheen, + _And her wonderful frozen beauty_ + _The lilies and silk between_.... + + "_The birds make insolent music_ + _Where the sunshine riots outside_; + And the winds are merry and wanton, + With the summer's pomp and pride. + + "But into this desolate mansion, + Where Love has closed the door, + Nor sunshine nor summer shall enter, + Since she can come in no more." + +Philip Bourke Marston wrote a long review of the volume in _The +Academy_, London, in the course of which he admirably summarized the +merits of the work when he said: + + "The distinguishing qualities of these poems are extreme + directness and concentration of utterance, unvarying harmony + between thought and expression, and a happy freedom from + that costly elaboration of style so much in vogue.... Yet, + while thus free from elaboration, Mrs. Moulton's style + displays rare felicity of epithet.... The poetical faculty + of the writer is in no way more strongly evinced than by the + subtlety and suggestiveness of her ideas." + +The reviewers of note on both sides of the Atlantic were unanimous in +their praise. In a time of æsthetic imitation she came as an +absolutely natural singer. She gave the effect of the sudden note of a +thrush heard through a chorus of mocking-birds and piping bullfinches. +She was able to put herself into her work and yet to keep her poetry +free from self-consciousness; and to be at once spontaneous and +impassioned is given to few writers of verse. When such a power +belongs to an author the verse becomes poetry. + +Mrs. Moulton had already come to regard Robert Browning as, in her own +phrase, "king of contemporary poets." She sent to him a copy of +"Swallow Flights," with a timid, graceful note asking for his +generosity. In his acknowledgment he said: + + _Mr. Browning to Mrs. Moulton_ + + 19 WARWICK CRESCENT, W. + February 24, '78. + + MY DEAR MRS. MOULTON: Thank you for the copy of the poems. + They need no generosity.... I close it only when needs I + must at page the last, with music in my ears and flowers + before my eyes, and not without thoughts across the brain. + Pray continue your "flights," and be assured of the + sympathetic observation of + + Yours truly, + + ROBERT BROWNING. + +[Illustration: FACSIMILE OF A LETTER FROM ROBERT BROWNING] + +In acknowledgment of a copy of "In the Garden of Dreams" William +Winter wrote: + + _Mr. Winter to Mrs. Moulton_ + + "It is a beautiful book, Louise, and the spirit of it is + tender, dreamlike and sorrowful.... The pathos of it affects + me strongly. Life appeals more strongly to you than the + pageantry. There is more fancy in your poems and more + alacrity and variety of thought, but the quality that + impresses me is feeling. I am not a critic, but somehow I + must feel that I know a good thing when I see it, and I am + sure that no one but a true artist in poetry could have + written those stanzas called 'Now and Then.' The music has + been running in my mind for days and days, + + "And had you loved me then, my dear. + + I think you are very kind to remember me and to send such a + lovely offering to me at Christmas. God bless you! and may + this new year be happy for you, and the harbinger of many + happier years to follow." + +Some years later the Scotch critic, Professor Meiklejohn, sent to Mrs. +Moulton a series of comments which he had made while reading "Swallow +Flights," "in the intervals of that fearful kind of business called +Examination;" and some of these may be quoted before the book is +passed for other matters. + + "The word 'waiting' in the line + + 'White moons made beautiful the waiting night,' + + is full of emotional and imaginative memory. + + "In 'A Painted Fan' the line + + 'The soft, south wind of memory blows,' + + is another instance of a perfect poetical thought, perfectly + expressed. + + "Two lines of an unforgettable beauty are + + 'The flowers and love stole sweetness from the sun; + The short, sweet lives of summer things are done.' + + "And a line Shelley himself might have been proud to own is + + 'No bird-note quivers on the frosty air.' + + "The lines + + 'He must, who would give life, + Be lord of death:' + + and + + 'Shall a life which found no sun + In death find God?' + + express musically a mystic thought. + + "The sonnet 'In Time to Come' is one of astonishing + crescendo. The lines + + 'And you sit silent in the silent place, ... + You will be weary then for the dead days, + And mindful of their sweet and bitter ways, + Though passion into memory shall have grown.' + + "This is very poetry of very poetry. You must look for your + poetic brethren among the noble lyrists of the sixteenth and + seventeenth centuries. Your insight, your subtlety, your + delicacy, your music, are hardly matched, and certainly not + surpassed, by Herrick or Campion or Carew or Herbert or + Vaughan." + +The success of this first volume of poems naturally contributed not a +little toward establishing Mrs. Moulton firmly in the place she had +won already in the literary society of London. Among other celebrities +she met at this time Lady Wilde, who, as the poet "Speranza" in the +_Dublin Nation_ in 1848 had been a figure really heroic, and who was +by no means disinclined to magnify her own virtues. Taking Mrs. +Moulton to task as a poet of mere emotion, Lady Wilde said to her +reprovingly: "You're full of your own feelin's, me dear; but when I +was young and your age, too, only the Woes of Nations got utterance in +me pomes." + +Mrs. Moulton heard Cardinal Newman and Mr. Spurgeon. Of them she +wrote: + + "You see straight into his [Newman's] mind and heart. You + feel the glow of his thought, the action of his conscience; + you feel the inherent excellence of the man you are dealing + with. + + "Mr. Spurgeon's style is admirable--strong, vigorous Saxon, + short sentences, simple in structure, and full of + earnestness. His first prayer was brief and earnest, and + extremely simple in phraseology. It gave one a sense of + intimacy with God, in which was no irreverence. The sermon + commenced at 12 M., and lasted three-quarters of an hour. I + thought John Bunyan might have preached just such a + discourse." + +To her great regret she missed meeting Tennyson. Long afterward she +wrote: + + "I never met Tennyson, but I just lost him by an accident. I + shall never get over the regret of it. I had been invited to + various places where he was expected as a guest; but you + know how elusive he was, even his best friends could get at + him but rarely. One day I had gone out for some idiotic + shopping--shopping is always idiotic to me--and when I came + back at late dinner time Lord Houghton met me with the + question, 'Where have you been? I've been sending messengers + all over the city for you. I got hold of Tennyson, and he + waited for half an hour to see you.' The fates were never + kind enough to bring me within the poet's range again." + +On the death of Mrs. Sarah Helen Whitman in 1878, Mrs. Moulton wrote +of her in the London _Athenæum_. The admiration of Poe which exists in +England, the romance of his relations with the "Helen" of his most +beautiful poem, made the article especially timely; and from her +acquaintance and her warm friendship for Mrs. Whitman, Mrs. Moulton +was able to speak with authority. Her description of the personality +of Mrs. Whitman is noteworthy: + + "There was a singular attraction in the personal presence of + this woman. The rooms where she lived habitually were full + of her. They were dim, shadowy rooms, rich in tone, crowded + with objects of interest, packed with the memorials of a + lifetime of friendships; but she herself was always more + interesting than her surroundings. When she died, her soft + brown hair was scarcely touched with gray. Her voice + retained to the last its music, vibrating at seventy-five + with the sympathetic cadences of her youth. She was + singularly shy. I remember that when I persuaded her to + repeat to me one of her poems, she always insisted on going + behind me. She could not bring herself to confront eye and + ear at the same time." + +The letters of Mrs. Whitman to Mrs. Moulton have been published in the +biography of the former, but the following is so unusual--"the lady's +gentle vexation at having been made out younger than she was," +commented the recipient of the letter; "is so exceptional among women +as to be amusing"--that it may be quoted. + + _Mrs. Whitman to Mrs. Moulton_ + + "I will speak of one or two points suggested by the + expression, 'true to her early love for Edgar Poe.' Now I + was first _seen_ by Edgar Poe in the summer of 1845, when I + was forty-two years old, and my earliest introduction to him + was in 1848, when I was forty-five. You will see, therefore, + that it was rather a _late_ than an _early_ love. I was born + on the 19th of January, 1803--Edgar Poe was born on the 19th + of January, 1809, being six years, to a day, my junior. Soon + after the last edition of Griswold's 'Female Poets' was + issued, I happened to be turning over some of the new + Christmas books at a bookseller's, when I unwittingly opened + a copy of that work, at the very page where an alert, + enterprising woman sits perched on a marble pedestal. + Glancing at the foot of the page, I read, in blank + amazement, my own name. Turning to the preceding page, I + found that the lady in question was born in 1813! I began + seriously to doubt my own identity. I had never, to the best + of my recollection, been modelled in plaster; I had never + been 'interviewed' on the delicate point of age. Everybody + knows that a lady's age after forty is proverbially + uncertain; still it is as well to draw a line somewhere, and + so, dear, if you should be called upon to write my obituary, + and should consent to do so, here is a faithful transcript + from the family Bible:-- + + "'Sarah Helen Power, born Jan. 19--10 o'clock P.M., 1803.' + + "That was the same year that gave birth to Emerson." + +Mr. Longfellow wrote to thank Mrs. Moulton for her paper on Mrs. +Whitman, and at no great interval he wrote again in acknowledgment of +an article upon his own poetry also in the _Athenæum_. + + _Mr. Longfellow to Mrs. Moulton_ + + CAMBRIDGE, May 17, 1879. + + DEAR MRS. MOULTON: For your kind words in the _Athenæum_, + how shall I thank you? Much, certainly, and often,--but more + and more for your kind remembrance, and the pleasant hours + we passed together before your departure. + + ... A charming country place in England is the + thatched-roofed Inn at Rowsley in Derbyshire, one mile from + Haddon Hall. Go there. And do not forget to write to me. + + Truly yours, + + HENRY W. LONGFELLOW. + +In October, 1879, Mr. Chandler died, and Mrs. Moulton's grief was +sincere and deep. It was the beginning of the breaking of the +relations which had been closest in her life. Her love for her father +had been always tender and fine, and both her journal and her letters +show how much she felt the loss. + +[Illustration: LUCIUS LEMUEL CHANDLER, MRS. MOULTON'S FATHER + +_Page 104_] + +She was in America at the time of her father's death, and in +correspondence with many of the friends she had made abroad. Among her +Christmas gifts this year came a sonnet from Dr. Westland Marston. + + _To L.C.M._ + + Take thou, as symbol of thyself, this rose + Which blooms in our world's winter. + Dank and prone + Lie rose-stems now, by sleety gales o'erthrown, + But still thy flower in hall and chamber glows, + Fed, like thee, not by airs the garden knows, + But by a subtler climate. Thus the zone + Of Summer binds the seasons, one to one, + And links the beam which dawns with that which goes. + + Hail, Human Rose!--With heavenly fires enshrined, + Still cheat worn hearts anew in fond surprise + To faith in Youth's dear, dissipated skies; + Soul-flower, still shed thine influence! + Sun nor wind + Control not thee; thy life thy charm supplies + And makes the beauty which it does not find. + + W.M. + + _Christmas Eve._ + + + + +CHAPTER V + +1880-1890 + + The busy shuttle comes and goes + Across the rhymes, and deftly weaves + A tissue out of autumn leaves, + With here a thistle, there a rose. + + With art and patience thus is made + The poet's perfect Cloth of Gold; + When woven so, nor earth nor mould + Nor time can make its colors fade.--T.B. ALDRICH. + + And others came,--Desires and Adorations; + Winged Persuasions and veiled Destinies; + Splendors and Glooms and glimmering Incantations + Of hopes and fears and twilight fantasies.--SHELLEY. + + I see the Gleaming Gates and toward them press.--L.C.M. + + +Mr. and Mrs. Moulton when they first set up their household gods +established themselves on Beacon Hill. A few years later, however, a +new part of the city was developed at the South End, and popular favor +turned in that direction. The broad streets and squares with trees and +turf were quiet and English-looking, and although fickle fashion has +in later years forsaken the region, it remains singularly attractive. +Here Mr. Moulton became the owner of a house, and for the remainder of +their lives he and his wife made this their home. + +The dwelling was a four-story brick house, the front windows looking +out upon the greenery of a little park in the centre of the square. At +one end of the place was a stone church, defined against the sky and +especially lovely with the red of sunset behind it; and an old-world +atmosphere of retirement and leisure always pervaded the region. In +Rutland Square, No. 28 came to be well known to every Bostonian and to +whomever among visitors was interested in things literary. It was the +most cosmopolitan centre of social life in the city; and to it famous +visitors to this country were almost sure to find their way. For +thirty years Mrs. Moulton's weekly receptions through the winter were +notable. + +The drawing-room and library where groups of charming and famous +people assembled were such as to remain pictured in the memory of the +visitor. They were fairly furnished, so to speak, with the tributes of +friends. There were water-colors from Rollin Tilton of Rome; a +vigorous sketch of a famous group of trees at Bordighera by Charles +Caryl Coleman; a number of signed photographs from Vedder; sketches in +clay from Greenough, Ezekiel, and Robert Barrett Browning; a group of +water-colors, illustrating Mrs. Moulton's poem, "Come Back, Dear +Days," by Winthrop Pierce,--one of these showing a brilliant sunrise, +while underneath was the line, + + "The morning skies were all aflame;" + +and another, revealing a group of shadow-faces, illustrated the line, + + "I see your gentle ghosts arise." + +There were signed photographs of Robert Barrett Browning's "Dryope," a +gift from the artist; a painting of singular beauty from the artist, +Signor Vertunni, of Rome; and from William Ordway Partridge three +sculptures,--the figure of a child in Carrara marble, a head tinted +like old ivory, and a portrait bust of Edward Everett Hale, a speaking +likeness. There was that wonderful drawing by Vedder, "The Cup of +Death" (from the Rubaiyat), which the artist had given to Mrs. Moulton +in memory of her sonnet on the theme, the opening lines of which +are: + + She bends her lovely head to taste thy draught, + O thou stern "Angel of the Darker Cup," + With thee to-night in the dim shades to sup, + Where all they be who from that cup have quaffed. + +And among the rare books was a copy of Stéphane Mallarmé's translation +of Poe's "Raven," with illustrations by Manet, the work being the +combined gift to Mrs. Moulton of the poet-translator and the artist. + +[Illustration: THE LIBRARY IN MRS. MOULTON'S BOSTON HOME, 28 RUTLAND +SQUARE + +_Page 109_] + +Many were the rare books in autograph copies given to Mrs. Moulton by +her friends abroad--copies presented by Lord Houghton, George Eliot, +Tennyson, Jean Ingelow, Christina Rossetti, Oswald Crawfurd, George +Meredith, Robert Louis Stevenson, Arthur O'Shaughnessy, and several, +too, which were dedicated to her,--the "Wind Voices" of Philip Bourke +Marston, inscribed: "To Louise Chandler Moulton, true poet and true +friend," and another by Herbert L. Clarke of London. The rooms were +magnetic with charming associations. + +A correspondent from a leading New York daily, commissioned to write +of Mrs. Moulton's home, described her drawing-room as + + "Long, high, and altogether spacious and dignified. A + library opening from the rear increases the apparent length + of the apartment, so that it is a veritable salon; the + furnishings are of simple elegance in color and design, and + the whole scheme of decoration quiet and not ultra-modern. + + "But in this attractive room are more treasures than one + would dream of at first glance. The fine paintings that are + scattered here, there, and everywhere, are all of them + veritable works of art, presented to Mrs. Moulton by their + painters; the etchings are autograph copies from some of the + best masters of Europe. Almost every article of decoration, + it would seem, has a history. The books that have overflowed + from the dim recesses of the library are mostly presentation + copies in beautiful bindings, with many a well-turned phrase + on their fly leaves written by authors we all know and love. + + "There could be no better guide through all this + treasure-house of suggestive material than Mrs. Moulton + herself. Without question she knows more English people of + note than does any other living American. As she spreads out + before the delighted caller her remarkable collection of + presentation photographs, she intersperses the exhibit with + brilliant off-hand descriptions of their originals--the sort + of word-painting that bookmen are eager to hear in + connection with their literary idols. It is the real + Swinburne she brings to the mind's eye, with his + extraordinary personal appearance and his weird manners; the + real William Watson, profoundly in earnest and varying in + moods; the real George Egerton, with her intensity and + devotion to the higher rights of womankind; the real Thomas + Hardy and George Meredith and Anthony Hope, and the whole + band of British authors, big and little, whom she marshals + in review and dissects with unerring perception and the + keenest of wit. Anecdotes of all these personages flow from + her tongue with a prodigality that makes one long for the + art of shorthand to preserve them." + +From this home in the early eighties the daughter of the house was +married to Mr. William Henry Schaefer, of Charleston, South Carolina. +In her daughter's removal to that Southern city, Mrs. Moulton's life +found an extension of interests. She made frequent visits to +Charleston before what now came to be her annual spring sailings to +Europe. In her later years Mrs. Moulton and her daughter and +son-in-law often travelled together, though Mrs. Moulton's enjoyment +centred itself more and more, as the years went by, in her extensive +and sympathetic social life. Always was she pre-eminently the poet +and the friend; and travel became to her the means by which she +arrived at her desired haven, rather than was indulged in for its own +sake. Yet the lovely bits of description which abound in her writings +show that she journeyed with the poet's eye; as, for instance, this on +leaving Rome: + + "The deep blue Italian sky seemed warm with love and life, + the fountains tossed high their white spray and flashed in + the sunshine. Peasants were milking their goats at the foot + of the Spanish Steps. Flower-girls had their arms full of + fresh flowers, with the dew still on them, loading the air + with fragrance." + +Or this of Florence: + + "I never cross the Ponte Vecchio, or Jewellers' Bridge, in + Florence, without thinking of Longfellow's noble sonnet, and + quoting to myself: + + 'Taddeo Gaddi built me,--I am old.' + + Nor could I ever approach the superb equestrian statue of + the Grand Duke Ferdinand without thinking of Browning's 'The + Statue and the Bust.' 'The passionate pale lady's face' + wrought by Lucca della Robbia no longer 'watches it from the + square.'" + +Just before her sailing in 1880 came this note from Mr. Longfellow: + + _Mr. Longfellow to Mrs. Moulton_ + + CRAIGIE HOUSE, CAMBRIDGE, March 2, 1880. + + DEAR MRS. MOULTON: ... Yes, surely I will give you a letter + to Lowell. I will bring it to you as soon as I am able to + leave the house.... It was a great pleasure to meet you at + Mrs. Ole Bull's, but I want to hear more about your visits + to England, and whom you saw, and what you did. What is it? + Is it the greater freedom one feels in a foreign country + where no _Evening Transcript_ takes note of one's outgoings + and incomings? I can't attempt to explain it. Please don't + get expatriated. + + Ah, no, life is not all cathedrals and ruined castles, and + other theatrical properties of the Old World. It is not all + scenery, and within the four walls of home life is much the + same everywhere. + + Truly yours, + + HENRY W. LONGFELLOW. + +Of cathedrals and ruins she saw much, but people always interested her +more than any inanimate things. She records her talks with one and +another of the intellectual friends whom she met now in one city and +now in another. She records, for instance, a talk with Miss Anne +Hampton Brewster, so long the Roman correspondent of the _Boston +Advertiser_, the topic being the poetry of Swinburne. "She regarded +his 'Laus Veneris' as the most fearful testimony against evil she ever +read," Mrs. Moulton wrote; "and in 'Hesperia,' that glorious, +beautiful, poetic cry, she declared could be found the way to the +poet's meaning." + +She visited the Roman studios, and in that of Mr. Story saw the busts +of Robert and Elizabeth Browning, and others, and the statue of +"Medea," just then completed. She wrote later that the concluding ten +lines of Swinburne's "Anactoria" "express the character of Story's +'Sappho.' It is as if the poem had been written for the statue, or the +statue was modelled to interpret the poem." + +One result of her travels was the publication in 1881 of a charming +little collection of papers called "Random Rambles." The book +contained short chapters about Rome and Paris and Genoa and Florence +and Venice and Edinburgh and the London parks. A reviewer +characterized the volume aptly when he said: + + "Mrs. Moulton seems to have gathered up the poetic threads + of European life which were too fine for other visitors to + see or get, to have caught and given expression to the + impalpable aromas of the various places she visited, so that + the reader feels a certain atmospheric charm it is + impossible to describe." + +The little book was deservedly successful. Mrs. Moulton's writings +seemed always to conform to the standard set by Mr. Aldrich, who once +said to her: "Literature ought to warm the heart; not chill it." Her +readers were conscious without fail of a current of sympathetic +humanity. + +It was this quality no less than her real critical power, or perhaps +even more than that, which made authors so grateful for her reviews of +their work. In reference to a newspaper letter in which she had spoken +of Wilkie Collins, the novelist wrote to her: + + _Mr. Collins to Mrs. Moulton_ + + "90 GLOUCESTER PLACE, PORTMAN SQUARE, W. + March 30, 1880. + + "I have read your kind letter with much pleasure. I know the + 'general reader' by experience as my best friend and + ally.... When I return to the charge I shall write with + redoubled resolution if I feel that I have the great public + with me, as I had then (for example) in the case of 'The New + Magdalen.' 'Her Married Life,' in the second part, will be + essentially happy. But the husband and wife--the world whose + unchristian prejudices and law they set at defiance will + slowly undermine their happiness, and will, I fear, make the + close of the story a sad one." + +The letter referred to was one of a long series which Mrs. Moulton +contributed to the _New York Independent_. Many of these papers were +of marked literary value. A typical one was upon Mme. Desbordes-Valmore, +founded upon Sainte Beuve's memoir of that interesting and unhappy +French poet. Mrs. Moulton characterizes Mme. Desbordes-Valmore as "the +sad, sweet nightingale among the singers of France, and as a tender, +elegiac poet" without equal. She closes with these words: + + "Mme. Valmore passed away in July of 1859. 'We shall not + die,' she had said. In that hour a gate was opened to some + strange land of light, some new dawning of glory, and the + holy saints, to whose fellowship she belonged, received her + into the very peace of God." + +Mrs. Moulton's witty essay on "The Gospel of Good Gowns" was one of +this series in _The Independent_, and a fine paper of hers on Thoreau +was widely quoted. + +In a department which for some months she conducted under the title, +"Our Society," in a periodical called _Our Continent_, Mrs. Moulton +discoursed on manners, morals, and other problems connected with the +conduct of life. The incalculable influence of the gentle, refined +ideals that she persuasively imaged was a signal factor in the +progress of life among the younger readers. Mrs. Moulton's ideal of +the importance of manner was that of Tennyson's as expressed in his +lines,-- + + For manners are not idle, but the fruit + Of loyal nature and of noble mind. + +Many of these papers are included in Mrs. Moulton's book called +"Ourselves and Our Neighbors," published in 1887. In one of these on +"The Gospel of Charm" she says: + + "So many new gospels are being preached, and that so + strenuously, to the girls and women of the twentieth + century, that I have wondered if there might not be a danger + lest the Gospel of Charm should be neglected. And yet to my + mind there are few teachings more important. I would + advocate no charm that was insincere, none that would + lessen the happiness of any other woman; but the fact + remains that the slightest act may be done with a + graciousness that warms the day, or with a hard indifference + that almost repels us from goodness itself. It is possible + to buy a newspaper or pay a car-fare in such wise as to make + newsboy or car-conductor feel for the moment that he is in a + friendly world." + +Certainly the "gospel of charm" never had a more signal illustration +than in her own attitude toward those with whom she came in contact. + +In one of the chapters, "The Wish to Rise," she writes: + + "The moment a strong desire for social advancement seizes on + a man or woman it commences to undermine the very + foundations of character, and great shall be the fall + thereof. 'To keep up appearances,' 'to make a show'--one of + these sentences is only more vulgar than the other. The + important thing is not to appear, but to be. It is true, and + pity 'tis, 'tis true, that many people are shut out by + limited and narrow fortunes from the society to which by + right of taste and culture they should belong. But nothing + proves more surely that they do not belong there than any + attempt to force their way there by means of shams.... If + our steady purpose is, each one, to raise himself, his own + mind and spirit, to the highest standard possible for him, + he will not only be too busy to pursue shams and shadows, + but he will be secure of perpetual good society, since he + will be always with himself.... Nothing more surely + indicates the parvenu than boastfulness. The man who brings + in the name of some fine acquaintance at every turn of the + conversation is almost certain to be one whose acquaintance + with any one who is fine is of yesterday. Really well-placed + people do not need to advertise their connections in this + manner.... It is essentially vulgar to push--to run after + great people, or to affect a style of living beyond one's + means--it is not only vulgar but contemptible to change + one's friends with one's bettering fortunes." + +The book had a merited success, and even yet is in demand. + +In the early eighties an enterprising publisher conceived the idea of +a book on "Famous Women," in which those exceptional beings should +write of each other. To Mrs. Moulton's pen fell Louisa M. Alcott, and +a request on her part for information brought to her the following +characteristic note, dated January, 1883: + + _Miss Alcott to Mrs. Moulton_ + + "I have not the least objection to your writing a sketch of + L.M.A. I shall feel quite comfortable in your hands. I have + little material to give you; but in 'Little Women' you will + find the various stages of my career and experience. Don't + forget to mention that I don't like lion hunters, that I + don't serve autophotos and biographies to the hundreds of + boys and girls who ask, and that I heartily endorse Dr. + Holmes' views on this subject." + +To this volume the sketch of Mrs. Moulton herself was written by the +graceful pen of Mrs. Harriet Prescott Spofford, who wrote with the +sympathetic appreciation of the poet and close friend. + +While on a visit to Spain in 1883,--and "Spain," she wrote, "is a word +to conjure with,"--Mrs. Moulton made the acquaintance of Oswald +Crawfurd the novelist, when he was in the diplomatic service. From his +letters then and afterward might be taken many interesting passages, +of which the following may serve as examples: + + "There is another writer whose acquaintance I have made, + through his books, I mean, for such interesting creatures as + authors seldom come to Portugal. We have to put up with + royalties, rich tourists, and wine merchants. For me, the + writers, the manipulators of ideas, the shapers of them into + human utterance, are the important people of the age, as + well as the most agreeable to meet, in their books or in + life. This particularly pleasant one I have just met is + Frank Stockton. You will laugh at the idea of my discovering + what other people knew long ago, but it happens that I have + only just read his books. The three notes that strike me in + him are his perfect originality, his literary dexterity, and + his new and delicate humor. I cannot say how he delighted + me." + + "We are going to give you Andrew Lang to take you in [at the + dinner] on Friday, and on the other side you will have + either James Bryce or Mr. Chapman, the 'enterprising young + publisher' mentioned by Dickens. Regarding Lang, I know no + man who does so many things so very well,--journalist, + philologist, mythological researcher,--and to the front in + all these characters. To almost any one but yourself I + should call him a poet also. His face is very refined and + beautiful." + + "I have been reading your poems again. You are as true a + lyric artist as Landor or Herrick. I admire your + sonnets,--they have a particular charm for me, and I am glad + that you do not despise the old English form with the two + last lines in rhyme. Shakespeare's, indeed, are so. I am + almost inclined to think that for our rhymeless language, + for an ear not attuned to the Italian perception for + delicate rhyme of sounds, the strong emphasis on the ending + couplet is right and good." + + "I honestly like and admire the genius of Howells. I like + his novels immensely, but his theories not at all." + +[Illustration: LOUISE CHANDLER MOULTON + +_Page 122_] + +The brief records in Mrs. Moulton's journal in these days suggest her +crowded life of social enjoyment and literary work. On New Year's day +of 1885 she notes having been the night before at a party at Mrs. Ole +Bull's; and on that day she goes to a reception at the Howard +Ticknors'; friends come to her in the evening. January second falls on +a Friday, and as she is about to visit her daughter and son-in-law in +Charleston, this is her last reception for the season. Naturally, it +is a very full one, and while she does not chronicle the list of her +guests, it is constructively easy to fancy that among them may have +been Dr. Holmes, Professor Horsford, the poet Aldrich and his lovely +wife; Dean Hodges, always one of her most dearly esteemed friends; +Mrs. Ole Bull, the Whipples, Oscar Fay Adams, Professor Lane of +Harvard, Arlo Bates, in whose work, even then, she was taking great +delight; Mrs. Kate Gannett Wells, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, or her +daughter, Mrs. Maud Howe Elliott; Mrs. Harriet Prescott Spofford; Mrs. +Julius Eichberg and her brilliant daughter, Mrs. Anna Eichberg King +(now Mrs. John Lane of London),--these and many others of her Boston +circle who were habitués of her "Fridays," and seldom, indeed, was one +of these receptions without some guests of special distinction who +were visiting Boston. On one occasion it was Mr. and Mrs. Edmund Gosse +of London; or again, Matthew Arnold; W.D. Howells was to be met there +when in Boston; and not infrequently Colonel T.W. Higginson; Helen +Hunt, whom Mrs. Moulton had long known; Mary Wilkins (now Mrs. +Freeman), always cordially welcomed; Mrs. Clement Waters, the art +writer; President Alice Freeman of Wellesley College (later Mrs. +George Herbert Palmer); and Governor and Mrs. Claflin, at whose home +Whittier was usually a guest during his sojourns in Boston, were among +the familiar guests. Mr. Whittier could seldom be induced to appear +at any large reception; but from Mrs. Moulton's early youth he had +been one of her nearer friends, and his calls were usually for her +alone. + +Bliss Carman and Edgar Fawcett from New York were sometimes to be met +in Mrs. Moulton's drawing-room; and there were also a group of Boston +artists,--Arthur Foote who had set to music several of Mrs. Moultons' +lyrics; B.J. Lang and his daughter, who had also set some of Mrs. +Moulton's songs; the painters, I.M. Gaugengigl, Winthrop Pierce, John +Enneking; Miss Porter and Miss Clarke, the editors of _Poet-Lore_; +Caroline Ticknor, the young author whose work continued the literary +traditions of her famous name; and often some of the clergy of +Boston,--the Rev. Dr. Charles Gordon Ames, with Mrs. Ames, both of +whom were among Mrs. Moulton's most dearly-prized friends; +occasionally Rev. Dr. Edward Everett Hale, and Bishop Phillips Brooks; +in a later decade, Rev. Dr. E. Winchester Donald, who succeeded +Phillips Brooks as rector of Trinity; Rev. Bernard Carpenter, a +brother of the Lord Bishop of Ripon; and beside the throngs of +representative people who, at one time or another through some thirty +years, were to be met at Mrs. Moulton's, the socially unknown guest +received from the hostess the same cordial welcome. Her sympathies had +little relation to social standing. No praise of the critics ever gave +her more happiness than did a letter from a stranger in the West, +written by a young girl who had for years been unable to move from her +bed, telling of the blessed ministry of a poem by Mrs. Moulton, of +which the first stanza runs: + + We lay us down to sleep, + And leave to God the rest, + Whether to wake and weep + Or wake no more be best. + +A book of Mr. Stedman's of which he sent to Mrs. Moulton a copy bore +on its fly-leaf the inscription: + + My life-long, loyalist friend, + My sister in life and song. + +In the winter of 1885 the journal notes a visit to Mrs. Schaefer in +Charleston, where amid all the festivities she finds time to send +"four short stories and a poem" to various editors. On her way North +she visited Washington, where dinners and receptions were given to her +in private and in diplomatic circles. Then she went on to New York, +and before sailing for Europe met Monsignor Capel at dinner, lunched +with the Lawrence Barretts, attended Mr. Barrett's performance of "The +Blot in the 'Scutcheon," which she found a "wonderful piece of +acting," and at last sailed, as usual lavishly remembered with flowers +and graceful tokens. + +In Venice this year Mrs. Moulton wrote the charming pseudo-triolet, + + IN VENICE ONCE. + + In Venice once they lived and loved-- + Fair women with their red gold hair-- + Their twinkling feet to music moved, + In Venice where they lived and loved, + And all Philosophy disproved, + While hope was young and life was fair, + In Venice where they lived and loved. + +It is interesting to feel in this a far suggestion of Browning's "A +Toccata of Galuppi's," because so seldom does any echo of her +contemporaries strike through Mrs. Moulton's verse. + +With friends Mrs. Moulton visited Capri, Sorrento, Amalfi, +Castellamare, Pompeii, and then went on to Rome. Here she passed the +morning of her fiftieth birthday in the galleries of the Vatican. +Friends made a _festa_ of her birthday, with a birthday-cake and +gifts; and she dined with the Storys, to go on later to one of Sir +Moses Ezekiel's notable _musicales_ at his study in the Baths of +Diocletian. "The most picturesque of studios," she wrote, "and a most +cosmopolitan company,--at least fifty ladies and gentlemen, +representing every civilized race.... All languages were spoken. +Pascarella, the Italian poet, recited.... Professor Lunardi, of the +Vatican library, who has his Dante and Ariosto by heart, was talking +Latin to an American Catholic clergyman." Of this studio she gives a +picturesque description: + + "Suspended from the lofty ceiling was a hanging basket of + flowers encircled by a score of lights; while around the + walls hundreds of candles in antique sconces were burning, + throwing fitful gleams over marble busts and groups of + statuary. The frescoes on the walls are fragments of the + walls of Diocletian, and the floor is covered with rich + antique tiles fifteen hundred years old. Eight elephants' + heads hold the candles that light the studio on ordinary + occasions. Two colossal forms claim the attention of the + visitor; one, the picture of a herald, drawn by Sir Moses, + holds in his right hand the shield of art; the other is the + figure of Welcome, holding in one hand a glass of wine, + while the other rests upon a shield. The most striking and + interesting work in the studio is the group of Homer. The + figure of the poet is of heroic size, and he is represented + sitting on the seashore, reciting the Iliad, and beating + time with his hands; even in his blindness, his face wears + an expression that seems to be looking into the future and + down through the ages of time. At his feet is seated his + guide, a youth with Egyptian features, who accompanies Homer + with strokes on the lyre." + +In the studio was also a bronze bust of Liszt, the only one for which +he ever sat, and which Sir Moses modelled at the Villa d'Este. + +After Rome came Florence, where Mrs. Moulton was the guest of Mrs. +Clara Erskine Clement Waters, who had taken a villa in that city. +Among other people whom Mrs. Moulton met at this time was "Ouida," who +unbent from her accustomed stiffness to Americans, and, yielding to +the charm of her guest, displayed her house and pets in a manner which +for her was almost without precedent. Mrs. Waters gave a brilliant +reception in her honor; she was the guest of the Princess Koltzoff +Massalsky (Dora d'Istria), and she visited Professor Fiske at the +Villa Landor, where she was "charmed by his wonderful library" with +its collections of the most notable editions of Dante and Petrarca; +and she was entertained by Professor and Madame Villari. + +From Florence she went to Aix-les-Bains. Then she passed to England. + +In London she saw constantly almost everybody of note in literary +circles. Her diary records visits to or from or meetings with the Lord +Bishop of Winchester, Mrs. Bloomfield Moore, Lord Morley, Thomas +Hardy, the Bishop of Ripon, Mr. Verschoyle of the _Fortnightly +Review_, William Sharp, Frederick Wedmore, Sir Frederic and Lady +Pollock, Dr. Furnival, and others, for a list too long to give entire. +Her journal shows how full were her days. + + "Mrs. Campbell-Praed came to lunch; a lot of callers in the + afternoon, among them the Verschoyles, the Francillons, Mrs. + Cashel-Hoey, Mrs. Fred Chapman, and Mrs. Anna Lea Merritt. + + "Went to the Chapmans' to luncheon; met George Meredith.... + Meredith is a very brilliant and agreeable man. + + "Francillon to luncheon. A lovely letter from Oswald + Crawfurd, praising Andrew Lang.... Went with Mrs. Marable to + see Mrs. Sutherland Orr; a very charming person." + +Herbert E. Clarke, whom in a letter to Professor Bates she described +as "a wonderfully charming and fine fellow," accompanied a volume of +his poems which he sent to her with these graceful dedicatory verses: + + TO LOUISE CHANDLER MOULTON. + + (WITH "VERSES ON THE HILLSIDE.") + + Go forth, O little flower of song, + To her who found you fair; + After a winter black as night, + I plucked you when spring's smile brought light, + And April's winds were blithe and strong, + And Hope was in the air. + + Poor stray of Autumn left to Spring, + I send you forth to be + 'Twixt us a pledge of happier hours; + Yea, though she hath far fairer flowers + Always at hand for gathering, + Go forth undoubtingly. + + For thou hast gained a happy meed, + And wert thou weed or worse, + With her praise for a light above, + Many should find thee fair, and love + Though not for thine own sake indeed,-- + But her sake, O my verse. + + Be weed or flower, and live or die, + To me thou art more dear + Than all thy sister flowerets are, + O herald of the single star + That rose above the lowering sky + Of my most hopeless year. + +One particularly delightful day was that on which Mrs. Moulton +attended a garden-party at Lambeth Palace as the guest of the +Archbishop of Canterbury and Mrs. Benson. Another of the red-letter +days was an afternoon with the Holman Hunts, in their rambling, +fascinating house, filled with artistic treasures, when on the lawn a +Hungarian orchestra played their national airs. Among the guests were +Lewis Morris, Edwin Arnold, Hall Caine, Theodore Watts-Dunton, and +many others who bore names well known. The diary records, too, a +studio-reception given by Felix Moscheles, a coaching trip to Virginia +Water; and so on for a round of gay doings which make it amazing that +all this time Mrs. Moulton continued her literary work. + +In the autumn Mrs. Moulton journeyed to Carlsbad, and there "made Lady +Ashburton's acquaintance in the morning and sat up in the wood with +her for a couple of hours." The acquaintance ripened into a warm +friendship between the two, and Mrs. Moulton was often a guest at Lady +Ashburton's place, Kent House, Knightsbridge. The sonnet "One +Afternoon" is the memory of this first meeting written at Carlsbad a +year after. + +On her return to America in the autumn, Mrs. Moulton went to Pomfret +to visit her mother. While there she heard from Miss Guiney of the +death of a young poet, James Berry Bensel, of whom she wrote to Oscar +Fay Adams as follows: + + _Mrs. Moulton to Mr. Adams_ + + 28 RUTLAND SQUARE, Sunday. + + MY DEAR FRIEND: Your letter just received draws my very + heart out in sympathy. I wish you were here, that I could + tell you all the feelings that it brought, for I know what + it is to lose my dearest friend. Louise Guiney said to me + when she came Friday afternoon: "I have something to tell + you. Bensel is dead. His brother has written me." And I was + not myself all the afternoon. I could not put aside the + thought that pleaded for my tears. And I grieved that I had + not yet written to him about his book. I find such fine + things in it. Come back and let us grieve for him + together,--not that I grieve as you do who loved him so, but + I do understand all you feel, and I felt his death very + unusually, myself. I wish, oh, how I wish, we could call him + back to life, and give him health, and the strength to work, + and more favorable conditions. But we do not know but that + he may now be rejoicing somewhere in a great gain, beyond + our vision. He has gone where our vision cannot find or our + fancy follow him; but he must either be better off in a new + birth or else so deeply at rest that no pain can pierce him + where he is. Good-bye and God bless you. + + Yours most truly, + + LOUISE CHANDLER MOULTON. + +The Boston winters were full always with social and literary +interests. The relations of Mrs. Moulton to the writers of her circle +were indicated when on her sailing in the spring of one of the late +eighties a post-bag was arranged which was delivered to her in +mid-ocean. The idea originated with Miss Marian Boyd Allen, and among +the contents were a manuscript book of poems for every day by Bliss +Carman; poems by Clinton Scollard, Arlo Bates, Willis Boyd Allen, +Minot J. Savage, Celia Thaxter, the Rev. Bernard Carpenter, Gertrude +Hall, Mary Elizabeth Blake, and Hezekiah Butterworth; a silver +vinaigrette from Professor James Mills Pierce; a book from Mrs. Clara +Erskine Clement Waters; two charming drawings from Winthrop Pierce; +with notes from Nora Perry, Colonel T.W. Higginson, and others. Miss +Guiney addressed as her "Chief Emigrant and Trans-Atlantic Gadder, +Most Ingenious Poet, and Queen of Hearts." Colonel Higginson wrote: + + _T.W. Higginson to Mrs. Moulton_ + + CAMBRIDGE, May 3, 1887. + + DEAR FRIEND: I gladly join with others in this mid-ocean + post-bag. I hope you will take your instalments of + friendship in as many successive days. Few American + women,--perhaps none,--have succeeded in establishing such a + pleasant intermedian position before English and American + literature as have you, and as the ocean does not limit your + circle of friends, it seems very proper that we on this side + should stretch our hands to you across it. As one of your + oldest and best friends, I wish you not only "many happy + returns," but one, at least, in the autumn. + + Ever cordially, + + T.W. HIGGINSON. + +On the other side of the Atlantic Philip Bourke Marston and his friend +William Sharp greeted her return to London in three sonnets. + + _Philip Bourke Marston to Mrs. Moulton_ + + UNDESCRIED.--TO L.C.M. + + When from her world, new world, she sailed away, + Right out into the sea-winds and the sea, + Did no foreshadowing of good to be + Surprise my heart? That memorable day + Did I as usual rise, think, do, and say + As on a day of no import to me? + Did hope awake no least low melody? + Send forth no spell my wandering steps to stay? + Oh, could our souls catch music of the things + From some lone height of being undescried, + Then had I heard the song the sea-wind sings + The waves; and through the strain of storm and tide,-- + As soft as sleep and pure as lovely springs,-- + Her voice wherein all sweetnesses abide. + + + _William Sharp to Mrs. Moulton_ + + ANTICIPATED FRIENDSHIP + + Friend of my friend! as yet to me unknown, + Shall we twain meeting meet and care no more? + Already thou hast left thy native shore, + And to thine ears the laughter and the moan + Of the strange sea by night and day unknown, + Its thunder and its music and its roar; + A few days hence the journey will be o'er, + And I shall know if hopes have likewise flown. + As one hears by the fire a father tell + His eager child some tales of fairy land, + Where no grief is and no funereal bell, + But thronging joys and many a happy band; + So do I hope fulfillment will be well, + And not scant grace, with cold, indifferent hand. + + + AFTER MEETING + + Friend of my friend, the looked-for day has come, + And we have met: to me, at least, a day + Memorable: no hopes have flown away. + Bad fears lie broken, stricken henceforth dumb: + In the thronged room, and in the ceaseless hum + Of many voices, I heard one voice say + A few brief words,--but words that did convey + A subtle breath of friendship, as in some + Few scattered leaves the rose still gives her scent. + Thy hand has been in mine, and I this night + Have seen thine eyes reach answer eloquent + To unseen questions winged for eager flight. + And when, at last, our Philip and I went, + I knew that I had won a fresh delight. + +The following letter from Mr. Sharp explains itself in this cluster of +greetings: + + _William Sharp to Philip Bourke Marston_ + + 19 ALBERT STREET, REGENT'S PARK. + + DEAR PHILIP: I couldn't be bothered going out anywhere, as + you suggested, and an hour or two ago I was able to complete + a second sonnet for the two on "Anticipated Friendship" + addressed to Mrs. Moulton. I told you how much I liked her, + and what a relief it was to find my hopes not disappointed. + In reading these sonnets (at least, the second one) remember + the dolorous condition I am in, and have mercy on all + short-comings that therein abound; and, please, if you think + the spirit of thankfulness in them not sufficient to + overbalance all deficiencies, throw them in the fire without + showing them to their unconscious inspirer, and thus earn + the future gratitude of + + Your loving friend, + + WILLIAM SHARP. + +In February of 1887 Philip Bourke Marston died. He bequeathed to Mrs. +Moulton his books and manuscripts, and many autographs of great +interest and value. Among them was the first page of the original +manuscript of the first great chorus in "Atalanta in Calydon" +corrected in Swinburne's own hand. Marston requested that she should +be his literary executor. Speaking of this work some years later, Mrs. +Moulton said: + + "When I first knew the Marstons they were a group of + five,--dear old Dr. Marston, his son, Philip Bourke Marston, + his unmarried daughter Cecily, his married daughter Mrs. + Arthur O'Shaughnessy, and her husband. I edited a volume of + selections by O'Shaughnessy; and I was named by Mr. Marston, + in his will, as his literary executor. I brought out after + his death a volume whose contents had not been hitherto + included in any book, and which I called 'A Last Harvest.' + Then I put all his flower-poems together (as he had long + wished to do) in a volume by themselves, which was entitled + 'Garden Secrets.' Finally I have brought out a collected + edition of his poems, including the three volumes published + before his death, and the ones I had compiled after he + died. + + "Ah, you may well call his life tragic. He was only three + years old when he lost his sight. He was educated orally, + but his knowledge of literature was a marvel. The poets of + the past were his familiar friends, and he could repeat + Swinburne's poems by the hour. To recite Rossetti's 'House + of Life' was one of the amusements of his solitary days. But + he longed, beyond all things, to be constantly in touch with + the world--to know what every year, every month, was + producing. 'Can you fancy what it is,' he would say to me + sometimes, 'to be just walled in with books that you are + dying to read, and to have them as much beyond your reach as + if they were the other side of the world?' Yet he had, + despite his sad fate, the gayest humor--the most naturally + cheerful temperament; he could be so merry with his + friends--so happy 'when there was anything to be happy + about.' Of his work 'Garden Secrets' is uniquely charming. + Rossetti once wrote him, in a letter of which I am the + fortunate possessor, that he had been reading these 'Garden + Secrets,' the evening before, to William Bell Scott, the + poet-artist, and adds, 'Scott fully agreed with me that they + were worthy of Shakespeare, in his subtlest lyrical moods.' + Some of the best critics in London declared that the author + of 'Song-Tide' (Marston's first volume) should, by virtue + of this one book, take equal rank with Swinburne, Morris, + and Rossetti. Certainly his subsequent volumes fully + sustained the promise of this first one, and I feel that + when Philip Bourke Marston died, at the age of thirty-seven, + on the fourteenth of February, 1887, England lost one of her + noblest and subtlest poets--one whose future promise it were + hard to overrate. Sometimes I think I care most for some of + his sonnets; then the subtle beauty of his lyrics upbraids + me,--and I hardly know which to choose. Take him all in all, + he seems to me a poet whom future generations will recognize + and remember." + +Regarding the death of Mr. Marston, Mr. Whittier wrote to the friend +who had brought so much brightness into the life of the blind poet: + + _Mr. Whittier to Mrs. Moulton_ + + CENTRE HARBOR, N.H., 7th month, 1887. + + MY DEAR FRIEND, LOUISE CHANDLER MOULTON: It was very kind in + thee to send thy admirable little book and most welcome + letter. We have read thy wise and charming essay up here + among the hills, and under the shadow of the pines, with + hearty approval. It was needed, and will do a great deal of + good to young people, in the matter of manners and morals. + + It seems a very long time since I had the great pleasure of + seeing thee, or of hearing directly from thee. I meant to + have been in Boston in the early spring, and looked forward + to the satisfaction of meeting thee, but I was too ill to + leave home, and I felt a real pang of regret when I learned + of thy departure. I am now much better, but although I + cannot say with the Scotch poet that + + "the years hang o'er my back + And bend me like a muckle pack," + + I must still confess that they are getting uncomfortably + heavy. But I have no complaint to make. My heart is as warm + as ever, and love and friendship as dear. + + I was pained by the death of thy friend, Philip Marston. It + must be a comfort to thee to know that thy love and sympathy + made his sad lot easier to be borne. He was one who needed + love, and I think he was one to inspire it also. + + My old and comfortable hotel at Centre Harbor, where I have + been a guest for forty years, was burned to ashes a few days + ago, after we came away. But we are now in good, neat + quarters at a neat farm house, with large cool rooms on the + border of the lovely lake. + + Good-bye, dear friend! While enjoying thy many friends in + London, do not forget thy friends here. + + Ever affectionately thy old friend, + + JOHN G. WHITTIER. + +Herbert E. Clarke, the warm and intimate friend of Marston, touchingly +alludes to his death in this sonnet. + + TO LOUISE CHANDLER MOULTON. + + Ah, friend, the die is cast,--life turns to prose. + My way lies onward--dusty, hot, and bare, + Through the wide plain under the noonday glare,-- + A sordid path whereby no singer goes; + For yon the cloudy crags--the stars and snows-- + Limitless freedom of ethereal air + And pinnacles near heaven. On foot I fare, + Halting foredoomed, and toward what goal who knows? + But though the singer who may sing no more + Bears ever in his heart a smothered fire, + I give Fate thanks: nor these my pangs deplore, + Seeing song gave first rewards beyond desire-- + Your love, O Friend, and his who went before, + The sightless singer with his silver lyre. + + LONDON, 1st August, 1888. + +To Arlo Bates, Mrs. Moulton, reading this, repeated the closing line +with a touching tenderness, and then without further word laid the +manuscript aside. + +In the middle years of the eighties Mrs. Moulton began to send to the +_Boston Herald_ a series of literary letters from London, and these +she continued for a number of years. She was especially well fitted +for the undertaking by her wide acquaintance with English writers, her +unusual power of appreciating work not yet endorsed by public +approval, and her sympathetic instinct for literary quality. The work, +while arduous, gave her pleasure, chiefly because it provided +opportunity for her to give encouragement and aid to others, and to +help to make better known writers and work not yet appreciated in +America. "I am sending a literary letter each week to the _Boston +Herald_," she writes Mr. Stedman. "It is hard work, but it gives me +the pleasure of expressing myself about the current literature. I +believe the letters are accounted a success." + +Many were the letters of gratitude which came to her from those of +whom she had written. The sympathetic quality of her approval, so +rarely found in combination with critical judgment, made her praise +especially grateful. Not only did she interest and enlighten her +reading public, but she encouraged and inspired those of whom she +wrote. + +Other letters of grateful recognition came now and then from +artists of whose work she had written in verse. After a visit to the +studio of Burne-Jones in London she was inspired to write the +admirable and subtle lyric "Laus Veneris," upon his picture of that +name. + + Pallid with too much longing, + White with passion and prayer, + Goddess of love and beauty, + She sits in the picture there,-- + + Sits with her dark eyes seeking + Something more subtle still + Than the old delights of loving + Her measureless days to fill. + + She has loved and been loved so often, + In the long, immortal years, + That she tires of the worn-out rapture, + Sickens of hopes and fears. + + No joys or sorrows move her, + Done with her ancient pride; + For her head she found too heavy + The crown she has cast aside. + + Clothed in her scarlet splendor, + Bright with her glory of hair, + Sad that she is not mortal,-- + Eternally sad and fair,-- + + Longing for joys she knows not, + Athirst with a vain desire, + There she sits in the picture, + Daughter of foam and fire. + +[Illustration: FACSIMILE OF THE ORIGINAL DRAFT OF "LAUS VENERIS," IN +MRS. MOULTON'S HANDWRITING + +_Page 143_] + +It is not to be wondered that the artist wrote in warm acknowledgment: + + _Mr. Burne-Jones to Mrs. Moulton_ + + "I think you must know how glad all workers are of such + sympathy as you have shown me, and I don't know of any other + reward that one ever sets before one's self that can be + compared for a moment with the gratified sense of being + understood. It's like hearing one's tongue in a foreign + land. I do assure you I worked all the more confidently the + day your letter came. Confidence and courage do often fail, + and when all the senses are thoroughly tired with work, and + the heart discouraged, a tribute like the one you sent me is + a real refreshment." + +During all these years Mrs. Moulton's mastery of technical form, and +especially her efficiency in the difficult art of the sonnet, had +steadily increased. George H. Boker wrote to her: "In your ability to +make the sonnet all it should be you surpass all your living, tuneful +sisterhood." Certainly after the death of Mrs. Browning no woman +writing English verse could be named as Mrs. Moulton's possible rival +in the sonnet save Christina Rossetti, and no woman in America, if +indeed any man, could rank with her in this. + +In many of Mrs. Moulton's sonnets is found a subtle, elusive +suggestion of spiritual things, as if the poet were living between the +two worlds of the seen and the unseen, with half-unconscious +perceptions, strange and swift, of the unknown. With this spiritual +outlook are mingled human love and longing. The existence of any +genuine poet must be dual. He holds two kinds of experience, one that +has been lived in outward life; the other, not less real, that has +been lived intuitively and through the power of entering, by sympathy, +into other lives and varied qualities of experience. + +Mrs. Moulton's imaginative work, both in her stories and her poems, +suggests this truth in a remarkable degree. Her nature presents a +sensitive surface to impressions. She has the artist's power of +selection from these, and the executive gift to combine, arrange, and +present. Thus her spiritual receptivity gives to her work that deep +vitality, that sense of soul in it that holds the reader, while her +artistic touch moulds her rare and exquisite beauty of finished +design. + +In 1889 Mrs. Moulton published another volume of collected tales, the +last that she made. It was entitled "Miss Eyre from Boston, and Other +Stories." Her natural power and grace in fiction made these charming, +but it is by her poetry rather than by her prose that she will be +remembered. To her verse she gave her whole heart. To her short +stories only, so to say, her passing fancy. + +On her way north from a visit to her daughter in Charleston, Mrs. +Moulton saw Walt Whitman. Little as she could be in sympathy with his +chaotic art-notions, she was much impressed by his personality. Her +diary records: + + "Went with Talcott Williams to see Walt Whitman, a grand, + splendid old man. He sat in the most disorderly room I ever + saw, but he made it a temple for his greatness. He expounded + his theories of verse; he spoke of his work, of his boyhood; + of his infirmities merely by way of excuse for his + difficulty in moving, and he gave me a book. He was + altogether delightful." + +From the diary one gets a curiously vivid impression that Mrs. +Moulton's work was done in the very midst of interruptions and almost +in an atmosphere so markedly social that it might seem to be utterly +incompatible with imaginative production. Of course, a large number of +those whom she saw most intimately were concerned chiefly with the +artistic side of life, and this in a measure explains the anomaly; but +the fact remains that she had an extraordinary power of doing really +fine work in scraps and intervals of time which would to most writers +have seemed completely inadequate. + + "Full of interruptions, but managed to get written an + editorial entitled 'A Post Too Late.'" + + "Went to Lady Seton's breakfast-party and sat beside Oswald + Crawfurd. In the morning before I went out at all I wrote a + sonnet commencing, + + "Have pity on my loneliness, my own!" + + "Finished _Herald_ letter. Mr. F.W.H. Myers called. Lunched + at Walter Pater's and met M. Gabriel Sarrazin, the French + critic, who told me that Guy de Maupassant thought the three + disgraces for a French author were to be _décoré_, to belong + to the Academy, and to write for the _Revue des Deux + Mondes_." + + "Jan. 1, 1889. Wrote poem, 'At Dawn,' or whatever better + title I can think of. Spent the time from 8 to 2 in + correcting my 13,000 words story." + + "Louise Guiney came in to help me look over my poems. We + worked till night, then went to the Cecilia concert to hear + Maida Lang's quartet." + + "Such a busy morning! Polished off a rondel to send to the + _Independent_. Read _Herald_ proof; wrote letters. This + afternoon pleasant guests,--Mrs. Ole Bull, Mr. Clifford, + Percival Lowell, and others." + + [In New York.] "Went over to Brooklyn and gave a Browning + reading.... Met the Russian Princess Engalitcheff. Lunched + at Mrs. Field's with the Princess and Mr. and Mrs. Locke + Richardson. Went in the evening to the Gilders'." + + "Wrote a little.... Mrs. [John T.] Sargent and sweet Nellie + Hutchinson called in the forenoon; and in the afternoon ten + people, including Stedman." + + [In London.] "Worked on poems in forenoon. Had a lovely + basket of flowers from dear old Mr. Greenough. Gave a little + dinner at night at the Grand Hotel, to the Oswald Crawfurds, + Sir Bruce Seton, Mrs. Trubner, and Mr. Greenough." + +Extracts of this sort might be multiplied, and they explain why it was +that amid so much apparent preoccupation with social affairs Mrs. +Moulton kept steadily her place as a literary worker. Her genuine and +abiding love for letters was the secret of her ability thus to enter +with zest into the pleasures of life without losing her power of +artistic production. + +Among the records of the year 1889 is this touching entry, with the +date April 27, at the close of a visit to her mother: + + "Poor mother's last words to me were: 'I love you better + than anything in this world. You are my first and last + thought. Believe it, for it is the _truth_.'" + +In London this summer Mrs. Moulton was considering a title for a new +volume of poems, and had asked advice of William Winter. He chanced to +be in England at the time, and wrote at once: + + _Mr. Winter to Mrs. Moulton_ + + No. 13 UPPER PHILLIMORE PLACE, + HIGH STREET, KENSINGTON, + August 14, 1889. + + DEAR LOUISE: Your letter has just come. Business affairs + brought me suddenly to town. I will seek to see you as soon + as they can be disposed of, Saturday or Sunday, perhaps. + But I deeply regret your not coming to the "Red Horse." He + might have led us a glorious fairy race. The only one of + your titles that hits my fancy is "Vagrant Moods," and that + is not good enough. Fancy titles are dangerous things. They + generally have been used before. I once made use of the word + "Thistledown," as a title for a collection of my poems, and + too late found it had been used by an American lady, Miss + Boyle, for a similar purpose. And Miss Boyle, or her + attorneys, threatened me with the terrors of the law for + infringement of copyright. I was also told that Miss Boyle's + book had recently passed through my hands; and this was + true, though I had not the least recollection of the book or + its title. In fact, I had never read a line of it, but only + at the request of a friend of hers turned it over to Bayard + Taylor for review. He wrote a notice of it in _The Tribune_. + And here, only lately, I learn from an Australian paper that + my title of "Shakespeare's England," used by me to indicate + the England of poetry, was used twenty-five years ago by a + writer about the active England of Shakespeare's time. + "Poems, by L.C.M." would be safer than any fancy title. + "Awfully hackneyed," I hear. Well, if you have a fancy + title, why not cull out a Shakespearian phrase? "The + Primrose Path," say? Think a little about this. I will think + further. Only look up clear, and so God bless you and good + night.--What a lonely place this with no one to speak to and + no one to hear. + + Always, + + Your old friend, + + WILLIAM WINTER. + +The solution of Mrs. Moulton's difficulty was found in the attractive +title, "In the Garden of Dreams." The volume appeared in the following +year. + +Among the special friendships of Mrs. Moulton's life of both literary +and personal interest, one of the most important and enjoyable to her +was that with Professor Arlo Bates, the poet and romancist, whose work +she appreciated highly and whose sympathetic companionship gave her +great pleasure. With him she felt a peculiar sympathy, and to him she +wrote a series of letters, extending over many years, beginning in the +decade of the eighties. The extracts presented from these are here +grouped, as, while they thus lose a strict chronological thread, they +gain in a more complete representation, and their nature is such that +the precise date (rarely given, indeed, as they were mostly dated by +a month only) is, in any case, negligible in importance. + +The extracts chosen deal almost exclusively with literary matters. The +only son of Professor Bates, in his twentieth year, afterward the +author of "A Madcap Cruise," whom Mrs. Moulton playfully called +"Prince Oric," and to whom in his sixth year she wrote a delicious +sonnet under that title, is alluded to, as well as is his mother, who +wrote over the pen-name Eleanor Putnam. + + _Mrs. Moulton to Arlo Bates_ + + "... Thanks for the charming book. My love to the sweetest + wife I know. Thank her for her letter...." + + "... Your letter about Marston's songs came to me when he + and William Sharp happened to be passing the evening with + me. I read it aloud, to Mr. Marston's great delight. It + quite went to his heart.... I am so sorry I shall not find + you and Mrs. Bates where you were last year. That desperate + flirtation with Master Oric is off entirely...." + + "... I have just been reading 'Childe Roland,' and it + baffles me, as it has so often done before. I feel less sure + that I understand it than any other of Browning's poems. Is + the Black Tower Death, do you think? But what a wonderful + poem it is! I suppose spiritual judgments concern themselves + with spiritual states...." + + "... I am delighted with what you say of Mr. Marston's poem + in _Harper's_, because I think the poem too subtle and + delicate to be appreciated, save by the very elect; and I am + also delighted because what you said gave him so much + pleasure. Marston said of you, 'What a wonderful + psychological vein, almost as powerful as that of Browning, + runs through many of the poems of Mr. Bates.'..." + + "... I am so eager to see your novel of artistic Boston. + 'The Pagans,'--a capital title. I am glad you have had the + courage to tell the truth in it as you see it. I don't see + it quite as you do, I fancy, but I am thankful when any one + has the courage of his opinions, for it seems to me that the + English and American writers are just now very much like + cats standing on the edge of a stream, and afraid to put in + their feet. They say what they think is expected of them to + say, and they reserve the truth for the seasons when they + enter their closets and shut the door on all the world. I + think there is more hypocrisy in novels than in religion." + + "... I am ashamed that two weeks have gone by since I + received your noble book, 'Told in the Gate.' I have not + been so neglectful of it as it seems. I have not only taken + my own pleasure in it, but I have shown it to other poets + who are interested in knowing what is being done in America. + It is a beautiful book externally--how beautiful it is + internally I am sure the world of readers will eagerly + perceive; but never one of them can love it more than I do. + Even in print it is hard for me to say which poem I prefer. + There is not one among them that is not well done from the + point of art, and thrillingly interesting as a story. The + lyrics star the book like gems. They sing themselves over + and over to my listening mind.... I feel a glow of exultant + pride that the author is my friend. I am proud and glad to + have my name inscribed in a volume I so admire and love. I + am enjoying London as I always do.... I go toward the end of + August to pay some visits in Scotland, and then to visit + Lady Ashburton in Hampshire and after that to Paris. I + enclose some foreign stamps for the young Prince.... Your + poems are among the pleasures of my life." + +Of the sonnets of Mr. Bates Mrs. Moulton wrote: + + "... Dante breathed through the sonnet the high aspirations + of that love which shaped and determined his soul's life. By + sonnets it was that Petrarch wedded immortally his name to + that of his ever-wooed, never-won Laura of Avignon. Strong + Michael Angelo wrote sonnets for that noble lady, Vittoria + Colonna, whose hand he kissed only after Death had kissed + the soul from her pure lips. + + "The one personal intimacy with Shakespeare to which any of + his worshippers have been admitted is such as comes from + loving study of his sonnets, in 'sessions of sweet, silent + thought.' The sonnets of Elizabeth Barrett Browning burned + with the pure flame of her perfect love. In the sonnets of + 'The House of Life' Rossetti commemorated that love and loss + so passionate and so abiding that it seemed to him the whole + of life. In the sonnets of 'Song-Tide' Marston sang the + praises of his early love, as in those of 'All In All' he + bewailed her loss; and his sonnets of later years throb like + a tell-tale heart with the profoundest melancholy out of + whose depths a human soul ever cried for pity. + + "Such and thus intimate have been the revelations made + through this form of verse--so rigid, yet so plastic and so + human. + + "To the list of these sonneteers who have thus sounded the + deepest depths of love and sorrow, the name of Arlo Bates + has now been added, by the publication of his noble and + sincere 'Sonnets in Shadow.' Born of one man's undying pain, + these sonnets at once become, through the subtlety of their + research into the innermost depths of human emotion, the + property and the true expression of all souls who have loved + and suffered. + + "A few of us know, personally, the rare charm, the exquisite + loveliness, of her thus royally honored and passionately + lamented; and all of us who read can feel that thus and thus + our own hearts might be wrung by such a loss--that in us, + also, if we have souls at all, such sorrow might bear fruit + in kindred emotion, even though for want of words our lips + be dumb. It seems to me that it is the dumb souls--who feel + all that the poet has sung, and yet cannot break the silence + with a cry--who owe the deepest debt to this, their + interpreter." + + + _Mrs. Moulton to Mr. Bates_ + + "OCTOBER 27, 1889. + + "I have been passing this rainy afternoon with your sonnets. + I had read some of them more than once before, but this + afternoon I have been quite alone save for their good + company. I have read the strong, noble sequence through, + from first to last, enjoying them more than ever. I like + every one of them, but I had a pencil and paper by me and + put down the numbers that most moved me. I see that my list + is not short; do you care to see what it includes? It begins + with the beautiful sonnet of dedication; then the first, + with its wonderful procession of the gray days passing the + torpid soul, and laying their 'curious fingers, chill and + numb,' upon its wounds. Then the sixth, with the + + "... drowned sailors, lying lank and chill + Under the sirupy green wave. + + And the fifteenth with its visions of love. + + "Never can joy surmise how long are sorrow's hours, + + ought to be, like certain lines of Wordsworth, among the + immortal quotations. I think your sonnets noble alike in + thought and in execution. They can have no more faithful + lover than I am; and I do believe that if there is anything + in which my opinion has any value, it is on the form of + poetry. I love it so sincerely and I have studied it so + devotedly.... + + "... Mrs. Spofford has been to stay over Sunday with me and + I read through to her your new volume of poems, with the + exception of 'The Lilies of Mummel See,' which she read to + me. I think you would be pleased; could you know how much we + both enjoyed and admired the book. To my mind, 'Under the + Beech Tree' is the finest romantic drama of the time. I like + it far better than I do 'Colombe's Birthday,' much as I like + that. Mrs. Spofford is quite wild with enthusiasm about 'The + Gift.' She said the last line, + + "His heart is still mine, beating warm in my grave, + + is not only the finest line in your book, but the finest + line that has been written by any one in a score of years." + + "... Your suggestion as to national characteristics of women + struck me as a curious coincidence with the fact that the + editor of the _Fortnightly_ has just asked me to write an + article on American and English women, contrasting and + comparing them, and discussing their differences. But the + differences; seem to me individual, not national. + + "Thanks for your suggestion about the sonnet. + + "Break through the shining, splendid ranks + + seems to me simpler and more forcible, but then this + involves the 'I pray,' to which you greatly object. + + "Break through their splendid militant array: + + "I'll copy both, and see what you think. On the whole, I + like yours better. + + "I have been arranging books all the afternoon, and I am so + tired that I wish I had the young prince here, or such + another,--only there is no other." + + + _The same to the same_ + + "DEAR PAGAN: I am on page 238 of 'The Puritans,' and I pause + to say how piteously cruel is your portrait of ----. + Sargent, at his best, was never so relentlessly realistic. I + pity Fenton so desperately I can hardly bear it. Why do I + sympathize so with him when he is so little worthy? Is it + your fault, or mine? I believe I am not pitiless enough to + write novels, even if I had every other qualification. + + "Your character of Fenton is admirably studied. It is worthy + of the author of 'The Pagans' and 'A Wheel of Fire.'" + + "... I have finished reading 'The Puritans,'--all the duties + of life neglected till I came to the end. I have not been so + interested in a book for ages. I am especially interested in + the conflict of the souls between degrees of agnosticism. It + is the keenest longing of my life to know what is truth." + + "I have reason to be grateful for your birthday, since I + find you one of the most interesting persons I have ever had + the happiness to know." + + "I have just finished reading 'The Diary of a Saint,' and I + cannot wait an hour to tell you how very greatly I admire + it. It has been said that all the stories were told. You + prove how untrue is this statement,--for your story, or + anything like it, has never been told before. It is + absolutely unique and original.... I am so interested in + every page of the book that I have an impatient desire to + know all the spiritual experiences that lead to it." + + "Just now at Les Voirons (Haute Savoie) I have found a sort + of hilltop paradise. Four thousand and more feet above the + sea level, the air is like balm, and the views indescribably + lovely. I have never seen Mont Blanc half so well. It is far + more wonderful than the view from Chamounix. And just now at + night the white ghost of a young moon hangs above it, in a + pale, clear sky, and the lesser peaks all around shimmer in + the moonlight. This hotel is ten climbing miles from any + railroad station. You can buy nothing here but postage + stamps." + +In a characteristic letter from Rome, Richard Greenough, the sculptor, +says: + + _Mr. Greenough to Mrs. Moulton_ + + "The sidereal certainty of your movements impresses me. It + reminds me of the man who ordered his dinner in England a + year in advance, and when the time came he was there to eat + it.... Do I feel sure of a life after this? Was ever a note + charged with such heavy ballast? To attempt an answer would + take a volume,--to give an answer would require a + conscience.... While reading Cicero's Tusculan Disputations + 'On Grief,' I found a quotation from Sophocles that reminds + me of your loss in Philip's death. + + "No comforter is so endowed with wisdom + That while he soothes another's heavy grief, + If altered fortune turns on him her blow, + He will not bend beneath the sudden shock + And spurn the consolation he had given. + + "I wonder if you know how poetic you are? Do what you + may,--read, write, or talk, you make real life seem ideal, + and ideal life seem real. Your sweet 'After Death' is above + all praise." + +On the appearance of "Robert Elsmere" Mrs. Moulton read it with the +greater interest in that, as has already been noted, her own mind +constantly reverted to religious problems. Writing to Mrs. Humphry +Ward to congratulate her on the achievement, she received the +following reply: + + _Mrs. Ward to Mrs. Moulton_ + + LONDON, June 20, 1888. + + DEAR MRS. MOULTON: Thanks for your interesting letter _in + re_ Robert Elsmere. There is no answer merely to the + problems of evil and suffering except that of an almost + blind trust. I see dimly that evil is a condition of good. + Heredity and environment are awful problems. They are also + the lessons of God. + + Sincerely yours, + + MARY A. WARD. + +The publication in 1889 of the collection of poems entitled "In the +Garden of Dreams" added greatly to Mrs. Moulton's standing as a poet. +On the title-page were the lines of Tennyson: + + Not wholly in the busy world, nor quite + Beyond it, blooms the garden that I love. + +The book contained a group of lyrics "To French Tunes," which showed +that Mrs. Moulton had responded to the fashion for the old French +forms of rondel, rondeau, triolet, and so on which in the eighties +prevailed among London singers. They showed her facility in +manipulating words in metre and were all graceful and delicate; but +she was a poet of emotion too genuine and feeling too strong to be at +her best in these artificial and constrained measures. She wrote a few +in later years, which were included in the volume called "At the +Wind's Will," but although they were praised she never cared for them +greatly or regarded them as counting for much in her serious work. The +book as a whole showed how the natural lyric singer had developed into +the fine and subtle artist. The noblest portion of the collection, as +in her whole poetic work, was perhaps in the sonnets; but throughout +the volume the music of the lines was fuller and freer, the thought +deeper, the emotion more compelling than in her earlier work. With +this volume Mrs. Moulton took her place at the head of living American +poets, or, as an English critic phrased it, "among the true poets of +the day." + +The voice of the press was one of unanimous praise on both sides of +the Atlantic. The privately expressed criticisms of the members of the +guild of letters were no less in accord. Mrs. Spofford said of +"Waiting Night": + + "It is a perfect thing. The wings of flying are all through + it. It is fine, and free, and beautiful as the 'Statue and + the Bust.' It is high, and sweet, and touching." + + + _Dr. Holmes to Mrs. Moulton_ + + 296 BEACON ST., + December 29, 1889. + + MY DEAR MRS. MOULTON: I thank you most cordially for sending + me your beautiful volume of poems. They tell me that they + are breathed from a woman's heart as plainly as the + fragrance of a rose reveals its birthplace. I have read + nearly all of them--a statement I would not venture to make + of most of the volumes I receive, the number of which is + legion, and I cannot help feeling flattered that the author + of such impassioned poems should have thought well enough of + my own productions to honor me with the kind words I find on + the blank leaf of a little book that seems to me to hold + leaves torn out of the heart's record. + + Believe me, dear Mrs. Moulton, + + Faithfully yours, + + O.W. HOLMES. + +[Illustration: FACSIMILE OF A LETTER FROM OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES + +_Page 164_] + + _Dr. Rolfe to Mrs. Moulton_ + + CAMBRIDGE, Christmas, 1889. + + DEAR MRS. MOULTON: How can I thank you enough for giving me + a free pass to your "Garden of Dreams" with its delightful + wealth of violets, fresh and sweet; lilies and roses, + rosemary, and Elysian asphodel, and every flower that sad + embroidery weaves? Put your ear down close and let me + whisper very confidentially,--tell it not at our meetings at + the Brunswick, publish it not in the streets of Boston! that + I like your delicate and fragrant blossoms better than some + of the hard nuts that the dear, dead Browning has given us + in his "Asolando." Sour critics may tell us that the latter + will last longer,--they are tough enough to endure,--but I + doubt not that old Father Time,--who is not destitute of + taste, withal,--will press some of your charming flowers + between his ponderous chronicles, where their lingering + beauty and sweetness will delight the appreciation of + generations far distant. So may it be! + + Luckily, one may wander at will with impunity in your lovely + garden, even if he has as bad a cold as at present afflicts + and stupefies your friend, though he may enjoy these all the + more when he recovers his wonted good health. If this poor + expression of his gratitude seems more than usually weak and + stupid, ascribe it to that same villainous cold, and believe + him, in spite of it, to be always gratefully and cordially + yours. + + With the best wishes of the holiday time, + + W.J. ROLFE. + + + _Mr. Greenough to Mrs. Moulton_ + + "DECEMBER, 1889. + + "I took a long walk in 'The Garden of Dreams.' What a + perfect title! Dr. Charles Waldstein is staying with me on + his way to Athens, and I read him some of these poems which + most pleased me, finding instant response. + + "You will feel Browning's death very much. Story was with + him only a few weeks ago. They were making excursions, and, + despite remonstrances, Browning insisted on scaling heights, + though often obliged to stop. It was a great disappointment + to his son that he could not be buried by E.B.B., as he + desired to be.... Yes, positively and inexorably, the past + exists forever. We do not apprehend it, owing to the + limitations of our faculties, but once granting the removal + of these limitations by organic change (as by death), then + the past becomes awakened, and we are again alive in the + entity of our being. Then the latent causes of our actions, + for good or evil, are as patent to us as to the Author of + our being. The friends we long to see are present. This is a + practical glance at the thing...." + +Such extracts might be extended almost indefinitely, for with Mrs. +Moulton's very large circle of friends the number of letters which +naturally came to her after the appearance of a new volume was +inevitably large, and "In the Garden of Dreams" was so notable an +achievement as to make this especially true. The closing decade found +her rich in fame and in friends with an acknowledged and indeed +undisputed place in the literary world, not only on this side of the +water but the other, and the consciousness that it had been won not +alone by her great natural gifts and marked personal charm, but by +sincere and conscientious devotion, untiring and unselfish, to her +art. + +A pleasant closing note was a Christmas card adorned with violets, on +the back of which William Sharp had written the graceful lines: + + TO L.C.M. + + From over-sea + Violets (for memories) + I send to thee. + + Let them bear thought of me, + With pleasant memories + To touch the heart of thee, + From over-sea. + + A little way it is for love to flee. + Love winged with memories, + Hither to thither over-sea. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +1890-1895 + + And this is the reward. That the ideal shall be real to + thee, and the impressions of the actual world shall fall + like summer rain, copious, but not troublesome.... Doubt + not, O Poet, but persist.--EMERSON. + + Onward the chariot of the Untarrying moves; + Nor day divulges him nor night conceals. + WILLIAM WATSON. + + They are winged, like the viewless wind, + These days that come and go.--L.C.M. + + +Mrs. Moulton's morning-room was on the second floor, its windows +looking into the green trees of Rutland Square. In one corner was her +desk, in the centre a table always piled with new books, many of which +were autographed copies from their authors, and around the walls were +low bookcases filled with her favorite volumes. Above these hung +pictures, and on their tops were photographs and mementos. The mantel +was attractive with pretty bric-a-brac, largely gifts. Between the two +front windows was her special table filled with the immediate letters +of the day, and by it her own chair in which, on mornings, she was +quite sure to be found by the little group of friends privileged to +familiar intimacy. + +No allusion to these delightful talks with Mrs. Moulton in her +morning-room could be complete without mention of her faithful and +confidential maid, Katy, whom all the frequenters of the house +regarded with cordial friendliness as an important figure in the +household life. It was Katy who knew to a shade the exact degree of +greeting for the unending procession of callers, from the friends +dearest and nearest, to the wandering minstrels who should have been +denied, though they seldom were. It was Katy who surrounded the +gracious mistress of the establishment with as much protection as was +possible; but as Mrs. Moulton's sympathies were unbounded, while her +time and strength had their definite limits, it will be seen that +Katy's task was often difficult. + +The informal lingerings in Mrs. Moulton's morning-room were so a part +of the "dear days" that "have gone back to Paradise" that without some +picture of them no record of her Boston life could be complete. The +first mail was an event, and to it Mrs. Moulton gave her immediate +attention after glancing through the morning paper with her coffee +and roll. Her correspondence increased with every season, and while it +was a valued part of her social life, it yet became a very serious tax +on her time and energy. There were letters from friends and from +strangers; letters from the great and distinguished, and from the +obscure; and each and all received from her the same impartial +consideration. Every conceivable human problem, it would seem, would +be laid before her. Her name was sought for all those things for which +the patroness is invented; there were not wanting those who desired +her advice, her encouragement, her practical aid in finding, perhaps, +a publisher for their hitherto rejected MSS. with an income insured; +and they wanted her photograph, her autograph, her biography in +general; a written "sentiment" which they might, indeed, incorporate +into their own concoctions by way of adornment; or they frankly wanted +her autograph with the provision that it should be appended to a +check, presumably of imposing dimensions,--all these, and a thousand +other requests were represented in her letters, quite aside from the +legitimate correspondence of business and friendship. With all these +she dealt with a generous consideration whose only defect was perhaps +a too ready sympathy. Her familiar friends might sometimes try to +restrain her response. "It is an imposition!" one might unfeelingly +exclaim. "God made them," she would reply. And to the insinuation that +the Divine Power had perhaps little to do in the creation of +professional bores and beggars, she would smile indulgently, but she +usually insisted that it "wasn't right" to turn away from any appeal, +although, of course, all appeals were not to be granted literally. In +vain did one beseech her to remember Sir Hugo's advice to Daniel +Deronda: "Be courteous, be obliging, Dan, but don't give yourself to +be melted down for the tallow trade." She always insisted that even to +be unwisely imposed upon was better than to refuse one in real need; +and her charities--done with such delicacy of tender helpfulness that +for them charity is too cold a name--were most generous. Her countless +liberal benefactions, moreover, were of the order less easy than the +mere signing of checks, for into them went her personal sympathy. She +helped people to help themselves in the most thoughtful and lovely +ways. + +Now it was a typewriter given with such graceful sweetness to a +literary worker whose sight was failing; now checks that saved the +day for one or another; again the numerous subscriptions to worthy +objects; or the countless gifts and helps to friends. A woman lecturer +had been ill and unfortunate, but had several modest engagements +waiting in a neighboring city if only she had ten dollars to get +there. Mrs. Moulton sent her fifty that she might have a margin for +comforts that she needed. To a friend in want of aid to bridge over a +short time was sent a check, totally unsolicited and undreamed of, and +accepted as a loan; but when the recipient had, soon afterward, a +birthday, a delicate note from Mrs. Moulton made the supposed loan a +birthday gift. Never did any one make such a fine art of giving as did +she. Pages could be filled with these instances--the complete list, +indeed, is known to the Recording Angel only. + +All the world of letters was talked over in those morning hours in her +room. Sometimes her friends "gently wrangled," and bantered her with +laughter and love. At one time she had made in a lyric a familiar +allusion to larks and nightingales, and Louise Guiney, who, because +she bore Mrs. Moulton's name, usually addressed her as "Godmam," took +her to task for some ornithological inadvertence in the terrestrial +location of her nightingale. Colonel Higginson, in a review of her +poems, had quoted the stanza: + + Shall I lie down to sleep, and see no more + The splendid affluence of earth and sky? + The morning lark to the far heavens soar, + The nightingale with the soft dusk draw nigh? + +and had ungallantly commented: + + "But Mrs. Moulton has lain down to sleep all her life in + America, and never looked forward to seeing the morning lark + on awakening. She never saw or sought the nightingale at + dusk in the green lanes of her native Connecticut. Why + should she revert to the habits of her colonial ancestors, + and meditate on these pleasing foreign fowl as necessary + stage-properties for a vision of death and immortality?" + +Another writer had come to the defence of the poet in this fashion: + + "Considering that Mrs. Moulton goes to Europe the last of + every April, not returning till late in October, it would + seem natural for her to sing of 'larks and nightingales,' + since she must hear them both sing in the English May. Do, + dear Colonel Higginson, permit her to sing of them, though + they are not native birds, since in the magic of her art she + almost makes us hear them too." + +Miss Guiney, laughing over these comments, turned to Mrs. Moulton. + +"Godmam," she asked, "did you ever see a nightingale?" + +"Why, yes, Louise; plenty of them." + +"Where?" + +"Why, anywhere. Out here, I suppose," replied the elder poet, dreamily +glancing from the windows of her morning-room into the tree-tops of +Rutland Square. "In London, too, I believe," she added, rather +vaguely. + +"Singing in Trafalgar Square, godmam," rejoined the younger poet +mischievously. + +The informal loiterers in the morning-room were never weary of asking +Mrs. Moulton's impressions of London writers. + +"You knew Thomas Hardy well?" someone would ask. + +"I knew him. I even venture to think of him as a friend--at least as a +very friendly acquaintance. I cared deeply for many of his books +before I had the pleasure of meeting him; and I quite adored 'The +Return of the Native.'" + +"And you liked the author as well as the books?" + +"I think no one could know Thomas Hardy and not like him. He is +sympathetic, genial, unaffected, altogether delightful; somewhat +pessimistic, to be sure, and with a vein of sadness--a minor chord in +his psalm of life: but all the same with a keen sense of fun. I +remember I was telling him once about an American admirer of his. It +was at a party at Hardy's own house, and a few people were listening +to our talk. The American of whose praise I spoke was Charles T. +Copeland, of Harvard, who had just reviewed 'Tess,' in the _Atlantic +Monthly_. Mr. Hardy listened kindly, and then he said, 'What you say +is a consolation, just now.' I knew some good fun lurked behind the +quaint humor of his smile. 'Why just now?' I asked. 'Oh, I dined, two +nights ago, at the house of a Member of Parliament. It was by way of +being a political dinner; but, as "Tess" was just out, one and another +spoke of it--kindly enough. Finally one lady, two or three seats away +from me, leaned forward. Her clear voice commanded every one's +attention. "Well, Mr. Hardy," she said, "these people are complaining +that you had Tess hanged in the last chapter of your book. _That_ is +not what I complain of. I complain because you did not have all your +characters hanged, for they all deserved it!" Don't you think, Mrs. +Moulton, that after that I need consolation from somewhere?'" + +Many of her reminiscences which entered into the talk have been told +in her newspaper letters, and need not be repeated here, but they took +on a fresh vitality from the living voice and the gracious, unaffected +manner. + +By some untraced or unanalyzed impulse Mrs. Moulton was apt to be +moved on each New Year's day to write a poem. Usually this was a +sonnet, but now and then a lyric instead; and for many years the first +entry in the fresh volume of her diary records the fact. On the first +of January, 1890, she writes: + + "Began the New Year by writing a sonnet, to be called 'How + Shall We Know,' unless I can find a better title." + +"The Last Good-bye" was the title upon which she afterward fixed. + +On the fifth day of January of this year died Dr. Westland Marston. +Mrs. Moulton wrote in her _Herald_ letters a review of his life and +work, in the course of which she said with touching earnestness: + + "I scarcely know a life which has been so tragic as his in + the way of successive bereavements; and when I think of him + as I saw him last, on the first day of last November--in his + solitary library, with the pictures of those he had loved + and lost on its walls, and with only their ghosts for his + daily company--I almost feel that, for his own sake, I ought + to be glad that he has gone to join the beloved ones whom + one can easily fancy making festival of welcome for him." + +Her intimacy had been close with all the family, and while Edmund +Gosse was right when he wrote to her that she seemed to him always to +have been "Philip's true guardian-ray, or better genius," her +friendship for Cecily Marston, for Mrs. O'Shaughnessy, and with Dr. +Marston himself was hardly less close. The tragic ending of the family +could not but cast a bleak shade over the opening year. + +Her relations with English writers and the good offices by which she +helped to make their work better known on this side of the Atlantic +might be illustrated by numerous letters. + + _Richard Garnett to Mrs. Moulton_ + + BRITISH MUSEUM, LONDON, + August 4, 1890. + + DEAR MRS. MOULTON: I hope I need not say how your letter has + gratified me. The progress of "The Twilight of the Gods" has + been slow, and I was especially disappointed that the + endeavor to introduce it to the American public through an + American publisher fell through. But there seems token of + its gradually making way, and I value your approbation among + the most signal. I shall be delighted to receive the copy of + your poems, which I know I can safely promise to admire. + + Believe me, + + Most sincerely yours, + + R. GARNETT. + +Both Edmund Clarence Stedman and George Meredith had, each unknown to +the other, suggested to Mrs. Moulton that she write a novel in verse. +"Lucile" and "Aurora Leigh" had each in its time and way made a wide +popular success, and they felt that Mrs. Moulton might succeed +equally. To this suggestion Mr. Meredith alludes in a letter in which +he thanks Mrs. Moulton for a copy of "In the Garden of Dreams." + + _George Meredith to Mrs. Moulton_ + + MARCH 9, 1890. + + "DEAR MRS MOULTON: Your beautiful little volume charms us + all. It is worth a bower of song, and I am rightly sensible + of the gift. You are getting to a mastery of the sonnet that + is rare, and the lyrics are exquisite. I hope you will now + be taking some substantial theme, a narrative, for ampler + exercise of your powers. I am hard at work and nearing the + end of a work that has held me for some time. I have not + been in London since the day of Browning's funeral,--a sad + one, but having its glory. I had a tinge of apprehension the + other day in hearing of Russell Lowell's illness. We have + been reassured about him. Boston, I suppose, will soon be + losing you...." + +In the years directly following its publication, "In the Garden of +Dreams" went rapidly through several editions. One sonnet which +elicited much praise was that called + + HELP THOU MINE UNBELIEF. + + Because I seek Thee not, oh seek Thou me! + Because my lips are dumb, oh hear the cry + I do not utter as Thou passest by + And from my life-long bondage set me free! + Because, content, I perish far from Thee, + Oh, seize me, snatch me from my fate, and try + My soul in Thy consuming fire! Draw nigh + And let me, blinded, Thy salvation see. + If I were pouring at Thy feet my tears, + If I were clamoring to see Thy face, + I should not need Thee, Lord, as now I need, + Whose dumb, dead soul knows neither hopes nor fears, + Nor dreads the outer darkness of this place-- + _Because_ I seek not, pray not, give Thou heed! + +The deeply religious feeling, the profound sincerity, and what might +perhaps not inaptly be called the completely modern mood of this, a +mood which in its essence is permanent but which in its outward form +varies with each generation, gave it a power of wide appeal. A church +paper in England said of it: + + "Profound faith in the infinite goodness of God is the + spirit which animates most of Mrs. Moulton's work. The + sonnet ... deserves a place among the best devotional verse + in the language. It is a question if, outside of the volume + of Miss Rossetti, any devotional verse to equal this can be + found in the work of a living woman-writer." + +The critic need hardly have limited himself to the poetry of women. +Mrs. Moulton was all her life vitally interested in the religious side +of life, and many more of her letters might have been quoted to show +how constantly her mind returned to the question of immortality and +human responsibility. The sonnet had become for her a natural mode of +utterance, as it was for Mrs. Browning when she wrote the magnificent +sequence which recorded her love; and in this especial poem is the +essence of Mrs. Moulton's spiritual life. + +Mrs. Moulton's mastery of the sonnet has been alluded to before, but +as each new volume brought fresh proof of it, and as she went on +producing work equally important, it is impossible not to refer to +this form of her art again and again. Whittier wrote to her after the +appearance of "In the Garden of Dreams": "It seems to me the sonnet +was never set to such music before, nor ever weighted with more deep +and tender thought;" and Miss Guiney, in a review, declared that "we +rest with a steadfast pleasure on the sonnets, and in their masterly +handling of high thoughts." Phrases of equal significance might be +multiplied, and to them no dissenting voice could be raised. + +In 1890 Mrs. Moulton brought out a volume of juvenile stories under +the title "Stories Told at Twilight," and in 1896 this was followed by +another with the name "In Childhood's Country." Always wholesome, +kindly, attractive, these volumes had a marked success with the +audience for which they were designed; and of few books written for +children can or need more be said. + +Among the letters of this period are a number from a correspondent +signing "Pascal Germain." The writer had published a novel called +"Rhea: a Suggestion," but his identity has not yet been made public. +Mrs. Moulton never knew who he was, but apparently opened the +correspondence in regard to something which struck her in the book. +Some clews exist which might be followed up were one inclined to +endeavor to solve the riddle. After the death of Carl Gutherz, the +artist who painted the admirable decoration "Light" for the ceiling of +the Reading-room in the Congressional Library in Washington, his +daughter found among the papers of her father a post-card signed +Pascal Germain, and written from Paris in the manner of a familiar +friend. Evidently Mr. Gutherz had known the mysterious writer well, +but the daughter had no clew by which to identify him. + +A letter from Edward Stanton Huntington, author of "Dreams of the +Dead," rather deepens than clears the mystery. The writer was a nephew +of Bishop Huntington, and is not now living. + + _Mr. Huntington to Mrs. Moulton_ + + "WOLLASTON, MASS. + December 8, 1892. + + "MY DEAR MRS. MOULTON: I find myself unable to send the + complete letters of my friend, Duynsters, but take pleasure + in sending you the extracts referring to Pascal Germain. + After the receipt of his letter (enclosed) dated June 1st, I + wrote him of the conversation you and I had in regard to + 'Rhea' and the merits of the book. I also mentioned the + photograph. He replies: + + "'What you tell me of the photograph and Mrs. Moulton amuses + me very much. Let me assure you that the photograph is no + more the picture of Pascal Germain than it is of Pericles, + or Gaboriau, or Zoroaster. I am the only human being who + knows the identity of Germain, beside himself, and no one + can possess his photograph.' + + "Duynsters then goes on to discuss the symbolism and sound + psychology of the work. My own conclusion, after reading the + words of my friend Duynsters, and hastily perusing 'Rhea,' + (I confess I was not much interested in the book)--my + conclusions are that Germain is the pen name of some man or + woman of peculiar genius and eccentric taste. + + "Mr. Duynsters is a very cultivated man, one who has + travelled extensively, and who has a keen judgment of men + and affairs; so it puzzles me exceedingly to decide who this + author of 'Rhea' really is. Time will tell...." + +A copy of "Rhea" was among Mrs. Moulton's books, but the novel seems +never to have made a marked impression on either side of the Atlantic. +What is apparently the earliest letter remaining of the series seems +to throw light on a passage in the note of Mr. Huntington, and to give +the impression that Pascal Germain had played a mischievous trick on +Mrs. Moulton by sending her a photograph which was not genuine. + + _M. Germain to Mrs. Moulton_ + + MONASTERY OF STE. BARBE, + SEINE INFÉRIEURE, FRANCE. + + MADAME: It is in sincere gratitude that I tender you my + thanks for your kind words about the photograph which I had + many misgivings in venturing to lay before you, fearing it + might be _de trop_. Whether you really forgive me for + sending it, or were so gentle as to conceal your + displeasure, it leaves me your debtor always. Although I + write from Paris now, the above is my address, and I beg you + will remember it if at any time I can serve you on this side + of the ocean. I beg you to command me freely. + + Believe me to remain, + + Yours very faithfully, + + PASCAL GERMAIN. + + + _From the same_ + + PARIS. Tuesday Morn. + + DEAR FRIEND: I am inexpressibly touched by your letter, and + I reply at once. I drop all other work to write to you, + solely that I may lose no time. Yours of the 1st has been + here only a few minutes. Believe me, your idea of death is + purely a fancy, born of an atmosphere of doubt, out of which + you must get as soon as possible. I am glad you wrote, for + in this I may serve you as I have served others. + + When I tell you I feel sure your phantom of approaching + death is unreal, I am telling you a truth deduced from hard + study, and than which no other conclusion could arrive. Of + this I give you my most sacred assurance. Put this thought + out of your mind as you would recoil from any adverse + suggestion. The fact is, very few deaths are natural: they + are the result of fear. The natural death is at the age of + from a hundred to a hundred and twenty or thirty years. The + deaths about us are from fright, ignorance, and concession + to the opinions of uneducated friends, and half-educated + doctors. This I know. I could cite you case after case of + those who have really died because the physician asserted + they could not live. + + If your delusion is mental, swing to the other side of the + circle, and read or study the most agreeable things that are + widely apart from what you have been dwelling upon. Exercise + strengthens the mind. It is the folly of fools to speak of + the brain being over-worked. It may be stupidly exercised, + but if used in a catholic development, the use makes it more + vigorous. Look at the blue sky; not the ground. God is the + Creator, but man is also a creator. His health depends + largely on his will,--that is to say, in the sense of that + will being plastic to the Divine will. + + If your illness is physical stop thinking about + yourself,--do as Saint Teresa did, take up some other + subject, and suddenly you will find yourself well. Nature + requires only a few months, not years, to make the body all + over again. + + Death is natural. Few physicians know anything about it. + They have shut down every window in their souls to the + light. For your comfort let me tell you that what I am + saying is the subject of a long talk with one of the first + physicians on the Continent. + + Many things, accepted by the common people to be the result + of miracle, are really the result of thought. That is, of + mental force, used or misused. Don't misuse your forces. + Read Plato if you have been reading too much modern fiction, + or have been dipping too deep into Wittemberg's philosophy. + It seems to me there can be no doubt of the survival of the + individual soul. Why not plant your feet on the facts we + possess, and on faith, and philosophy? Read your "Imitatione + Christi." It fits every mind by transposing the symbolism. I + tell you frankly that even if no such man as Jesus ever + lived, I can be serene with Plato's guidance and light. + + Stop critical reading. Really a critic is an interpreter, + but what modern critic knows this? The only modern critic I + honor is Herbert Spencer. + + Believe me, + + Yours with great respect, + + PASCAL GERMAIN. + + + _From the same_ + + 17, AVENUE GOURGARD (MONCEAU), PARIS, + September 13, 1890. + + MY DEAR MRS. MOULTON: I hope you have believed that all this + while I have been away my letters were not forwarded and + only now can I thank you for the beautiful volume you have + sent me. + + I have wandered through it reading over and over special + poems that fascinate me. I have not really read them all + yet, though I ought to know this volume very well, for I + bought it some years ago. I am particularly pleased with the + poems, "A Painted Fan," and "The House of Death." The poem + called "Annie's Daughter" is picturesque to a great degree. + By the way I have a letter from an American magazine asking + me to write for them "anything." The letter is in French. + Now why should I not write for them an article on your + poems? They tell me they will faithfully translate all I + send. Your informant was right. I am French only on one side + of the house. Lest I may forget, I want to say here and now + how much I like your "At Étretat." I should have known it + meant that place, even without the title. The picture is so + vivid. Do you know the Riviera? There is material for you in + grays and browns, and the sound of the sea. But I think the + poetry of the "fan" expresses you best, and there you have + the advantage of being alone in your beautiful thought. What + lonely things beauty, truth, and the soul are! The atoms + never touch. + + Forgive the length of this if you can, and believe me, + + Your faithful servant, + + PASCAL GERMAIN. + + + _From the same_ + + 17, AVENUE GOURGARD (MONCEAU), PARIS, + December 24, 1891. + + MADAME: I trust it will not displease you to hear from me + again, though my fate is perilously uncertain, since not + from you, nor from any mutual friend, can I be sure that my + "Rhea" has not fallen under your displeasure. But I offer + something more welcome to your poet's hands than any work of + mine. The laurel which I enclose is from the casket of dear + Owen Meredith. You may have seen in the newspapers an + account of the brilliantly solemn funeral, when honors were + paid him which only before have been paid to the Chief + Marshals of France; and how through all that pomp and + pageantry, but one laurel wreath rested on his casket,--the + crown laid upon his beloved clay by his wife. + + There was a good deal of talk about this wreath, though no + one but Lady Lytton and the sender knew from whence it came. + It was I--yet not altogether myself,--for it was a late (too + late) atonement for an undelivered message of love and + thanks to the author of "Lucile" sent to him by a dear + friend of mine, a Sister of Charity. + + Lord Lytton's death was, as you know, sudden, and my message + was unwritten because I had only returned to Paris after + years of travelling, and I was simply waiting for better + news of him in order to go to the Embassy with the story of + her life, and what the ideal woman in the poem had done for + the heroine in the flesh, when the startling news of his + death came. I did what I thought the dear Sister would like + done, since words were useless. One might quote his own + words, + + Soul to soul, + + since from my hands to the poet's wife the laurel was laid + upon him; and I send it because it has a touch of the + supernatural; of the mystical love and sweetness of your own + domain,--and is no common occurrence, that, out of all the + wreaths and tokens, sent by kings and queens and nobles, + from all over the world, the one alone from a Sister of + Charity, was laid upon his casket from the first, in the + death-chamber, in the church, and in the sad procession, and + finally buried with him at Knebworth. For I must explain + that not till a fortnight afterward did Lady Lytton know + that the laurel crown was not my gift alone. It was purely + as my gift that she generously favored it above all others. + + She was profoundly touched when I told her the story, and + only last Sunday she wrote and asked me if she might some + day give it to the public, to which, of course, I assented. + I am therefore breaking no confidence in sending these few + leaves which I plucked from the wreath after it was woven. + As they had faded I regilded them, as you see. (Laurels and + gold for poets.) Nor is this boldness all mine. It is my + artist friend, Monsieur Carl Gutherz, who bids me send them + to you, "because," he says, "they will weave into her + fancies in some sweet and satisfying dream." + + Madame, believe me, + + Your faithful servant, + + PASCAL GERMAIN. + +Among the Moulton books now in the collection in the Boston Public +Library is a 16mo copy of Bernardin de Saint-Pierre's "Paul et +Virginie," bound in an old brocade of a lovely hue of old-rose. On its +cover obliquely is to be seen the faintest shadow of a cross, and in +it is preserved the following letter: + + _M. Germain to Mrs. Moulton_ + + PARIS, Wednesday. + + MY DEAR MRS. MOULTON: The little book is not _quite_ what I + was looking for. The binding I was searching for I did not + find, but if I delay too long, I shall be away to Madrid; + _not_ the place most likely to reward my search. + + I wonder if you will like the odd cover? It was ordered by + me in an impulse without stopping to reflect that its + associations to me mean nothing to you. The bit of tapestry + is the relic of one of the oldest and most picturesque + chambers in Normandy, and was given me by a nun who nursed + me through an illness there--in fact I begged her for it + because it is interwoven with a story which I think my best + (not yet finished). If you hold the book so that the light + plays horizontally, you will see the trace of time-wear in + the shape of a [cross symbol]. The fabric was the vestment + more than a hundred years in the service of the church + there, and was worn by the hero of my story--a priest whose + life was a long agony--for a fault nobly atoned. But I must + not assume your interest in the tragedy. Perhaps the + color--which an artist friend borrowed to robe one of his + angels in--may please you. If not, kindly burn the packet, + as it has been consecrated--the fabric, not the book;--for I + owe the giver the courtesy of conforming to the old Catholic + (nay, Egyptian, for the matter of that) rule to burn all + sacred things when their day is done. + + No doubt the cover does not look professional. I got it done + at short notice by one not used to my sometimes eccentric + requests and wishes. Will you kindly give it value by + accepting it with the best wishes of + + Your very faithful, + + PASCAL GERMAIN. + +So these letters remain, with their curious suggestiveness. + +Mrs. Moulton's memorial volume on Arthur O'Shaughnessy was published +in 1894,--a volume containing selections from his poems preceded by a +biographical and critical introduction. Mrs. Spofford pronounced the +book "an exquisite piece of work, full of interest and done with such +delight in touch." Mrs. Moulton had written with her accustomed skill, +and through every line spoke her intimate sympathy with the poet and +with his work. + +Her summers, after the visit to her daughter in Charleston, were still +passed in Europe. Rome, Florence, and other southern cities were often +visited before she went to England for her annual London season. +Often, too, she made a stay in Paris either before or after her +sojourn on the other side of the Channel. Among her friends in Paris +were Marie Bashkirtseff and her mother, and not infrequently she took +tea at the studio. After the death of the artist, a number of letters +passed between Mrs. Moulton and the heart-broken mother. + +Her friends in London were so many, and the diary records so many +pleasant social diversions that it is no wonder that Thomas Hardy +should write to her: "Why don't you live in London altogether? You +might thus please us, your friends, and send to America letters of a +higher character than are usually penned. You would raise the standard +of that branch of journalism." Season after season she notes dinners, +luncheons, drives, functions of all sorts, and one does not wonder +that with this and her really arduous literary work her health began +to suffer. A German "cure" came to be a regular part of the summer +programme, and yet with her eager temperament and keen interest in the +human, she could not bring herself to forego the excitement and +enjoyment which probably did much to make this necessary. + +Not a little did her voluminous correspondence add to the strain +under which she lived. Continually in her diary are entries which show +how heavy was the task of keeping up with the flood of correspondence +which constantly flowed in at her doors. "Letters, letters, letters to +answer. Oh, dear, it seems to me that the whole of my life goes in +writing letters. I wrote what seemed necessary letters till one P.M. +Oh, what shall I do? These letters are ruining my life!" "Letters +_all_ the morning." "Letters till luncheon." Her acquaintance was +wide, and her relations with the literary world of her day made it +inevitable that she should be called upon for large epistolary labors; +but added to this was the burden, already alluded to, of the letters +which came to her from strangers. She was too kindly to ignore or +neglect these, and she expended much of her strength in answer to +calls upon her which were unwarrantably made. Against the greater +amount of literary work which she might have accomplished with the +force thus generously expended, or the possible days which might have +been added to her life, must in the great account be set the pleasure +she gave to many, and the balance is not for man to reckon. + +It is now well known that the poems published over the name "Michael +Field" were written by Miss Bradley and Miss Edith Cooper in +conjunction. To Miss Cooper, Mrs. Moulton, in the intimacy of a warm +friendship which established itself between them, gave in loving +familiarity the name "Amber Eyes." Many letters were exchanged, and +from the correspondence of Miss Cooper may be quoted these fragments. + + _Miss Cooper to Mrs. Moulton_ + + "We have just returned from Fiesole and Orvieto, and such + names are poems. I had hoped to send you verses in _The + Academy_, welded by Michael, on some Greek goddess in the + British Museum. We very much care for the sympathy and + interest of Americans." + + "I don't know any poet who is so spontaneously true to + himself as you are. I actually stand by you as I read, and + see the harmonious movement of your lips, and the + half-deprecating, half-shadowed look in your eyes.... Your + verses are like music. What is this? You are not able to + sing? Is this the effect of Boston on its winter guest? I + can sympathize, for I have not written a line since our play + was brought out last October." + + "The placid hills [in the Lake Country] make one love them + as only Tuscan hills besides can do. Some of the greatest + ballads belong here. Wordsworth, Scott, and Burns, and many + song-writers have given their passion to this country-side, + where one has such joy as the best dreams are made of." + + "In a cover somewhat like this paper in tone 'Stéphanie' + presents herself to you.... We have the audacity to think it + is nearly as well woven as one of the William Morris + carpets. We have taken ten years over the ten pages." + +On one of her visits to the cure at Wiesbaden Mrs. Moulton made the +acquaintance of Friedrich von Bodenstedt and visited at his house. She +characterized the lyrics of the author of the "Lieder des +Mirza-Schaffy" as "warm with the love of life and the life of love, +and perfumed with the roses of the East." Her description of his +personal appearance is not without interest. + + "A tall, handsome, active man of seventy-two, with gray + hair, with eyes full, still, of the keen fire of youth; with + the grand manner which belongs to the high-bred gentlemen of + his generation, and the gift to please and to charm which is + not always the dower even of a poet." + +Her return voyage from Europe in 1891 was a sorrowful one. Just before +sailing she notes in her diary: "A sad day,--a telegram in the +morning to say that mother was failing." On the day before the steamer +made land she writes: "A lovely day, but I am so anxious as to what +news of my poor mother awaits me to-morrow"; and the first entry on +shore is: "Landed to learn that my dear mother died last Monday, +October 26, and was buried Tuesday. Oh, what it is to know that I +shall never see her again!" + +[Illustration: LOUISA REBECCA CHANDLER, MRS. MOULTON'S MOTHER + +_Page 199_] + +The letters of Mrs. Moulton show through these years a growing feeling +in regard to the mystery of death. So many of her friends had gone +that the brevity of life was more and more deeply impressed upon her. +In the correspondence of many of her friends are traces that her +letters to them, not now available, had touched upon the questions to +her so vital. Mrs. Maxwell (Miss M.E. Braddon) for instance, wrote: + + _Mrs. Maxwell to Mrs. Moulton_ + + "I have never believed in the gloomy and pitiless creed of + the Calvinists. I believe every one is master of his destiny + so far as perfect freedom of choice for good or evil. When + we take the wrong road we do it perhaps in the blindness of + passion, with eyes blind to consequences, minds darkened by + selfish desires, by vanity, false ambitions, and by weakly + yielding to bad influences." + + + _Canon Bell to Mrs. Moulton_ + + "I hope you are seeing your way clearly to faith in God and + His dear Son. A sure trust in our Heavenly Father is the + only true consolation in this world of change and sorrow. + That brings peace." + + + _Lady Henry Somerset to Mrs. Moulton_ + + "I well understand what you say about looking onward. I + think our eyes are turned that way when the steps of life + lead us nearer to the journey's end with each setting sun. + It is absorbingly interesting. Yes, I believe the love of + God will be closest; and, in the last, victorious." + +What the words were to which these were replies may in part be +gathered from the following: + + _Mrs. Moulton to William Winter_ + + DURNHAM HOUSE, CHELSEA, LONDON, + October 3, 1894. + + DEAR WILLIE: I hope your lecture last night was a success, + but it seems to me that all you do is. Yes,--how well I + remember that seventieth-birthday breakfast to Dr. Holmes. + We sat very near each other, you and I, and I know how your + words moved me, as well as how they moved Dr. Holmes. I felt + his death very keenly, but I knew him far less than you did. + To know him at all was to love him. How strange that you + should have written of so many great pilgrims into the + unknown. Thank God for your immortal hope. To me the outlook + darkens as I draw nearer and nearer to the end. I am + appalled by the immensity of the universe, and the + nothingness of our little human atom among the infinite + worlds. But God knows what is to come. You are happier than + most in the love that surrounds you. + + Thank you a thousand times for your dear letter. If I go to + New York or you come to Boston, do not let us fail to meet, + for the time in which earthly meetings are possible is + short. Oh, how I hope there may be a life to come in which + we shall find lost loves and hopes, and above all, lost + possibilities. I think it is hardest of all to me to think + what I might have been, might have done, and to be so + utterly discontented with myself as I am. If you pray, say a + prayer sometimes for one of the truest and fondest of your + many friends,--this wanderer, + + L.C.M. + +Without doubt the state of Mrs. Moulton's health had much to do with +her apprehensions in regard to a future life, and no one who was +intimately associated with her could fail to know that these +expressions of gloom and foreboding, while entirely genuine at the +moment of their utterance, convey an impression of her usual state of +mind far more dark than was warranted by the truth. She was too +sincerely interested in life and friendship, too much of her time and +thought went to earnest work, however, for her to be in general either +brooding or fearsome. The extracts given rather indicate her attitude +of mind toward certain grave questions than toward life in general. + +The frankness of the following letter from a woman who possessed +remarkable powers which the public never fully appreciated is striking +and refreshing: + + _Mrs. Richard Henry Stoddard to Mrs. Moulton_ + + MATTAPOISETT, January 20. + + DEAR MRS. MOULTON: Will you accept Mr. Stoddard's thanks for + your pleasant notice through me? I write nearly all his + personal letters, I may say, nearly all except business + letters. He was always averse to letter writing, and since + his blindness this aversion is increased; he hurts and + angers many without meaning to do so. + + I think your first quotation a very poor one. The value of + reviews or notices seems to me to be in quotations rather + than in the ordinary criticism. In reading them I have often + taken the poems in a new and striking light; the + medium--that is, the writer--has instructed and cleared my + understanding. The happiest in regard to "The Lion's Cub" is + the extract in _The Critic_. There has been no review of the + book; the nearest, so far, is the _Springfield Republican's_ + and that is suggestive of a review. Mr. Stoddard considers + the book a failure; I doubt if he ever collects again. Boyle + O'Reilly once said that he saw Stoddard in Broadway and that + no one noticed him; "had he been in Boston," he continued, + "on Washington Street, every man's hat would have been off + to his white head." + + We are most delightfully set aside from the afternoon teas + of the city, though the invitations chase us up here; the + gray tranquil waters of our little bay, the solitary street, + a dog occasionally going by, sometimes a man, is a pleasing + contrast to 15th Street and Broadway. We shall remain a few + days longer and then go into our incongruous life again. If + Lorimer were acting in Boston as he did for the past three + winters, we should go home that way, but as he has not been + there this season we shall not appear. + + Have you come across my friend, young Edward McDowell, the + composer, who has made such a success? He and his wife are + charming. + + And Miss ----, will you give her my regards when you see + her? She has been not only attentive to me, but to my young + sister, who followeth not in her aged sister's steps. + + Mr. Stoddard also wished to be remembered kindly to you. + + Yours truly, + + ELIZABETH STODDARD. + + P.S. I meant to say while on "The Lion's Cub" that I never + was so impressed with the gravity and dignity of S.'s verse, + nor so clearly saw the profound melancholy of his mind. He + really cares little for life. Ah, me! + + E.S. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +1895-1900 + + ... The laurel and the praise + But unto them, true helpers of their kind, + Who, daily walking by imagined streams + Rear fanes empyreal in Verse of Gold,-- + Rare architects of figments and of dreams.--LLOYD MIFFLIN. + + That jar of violet wine set in the air, + That palest rose sweet in the night of life. + --STEPHEN PHILLIPS. + + I give you a day of my life; + My uttermost gift and my best.--L.C.M. + + +The last decade of the century, to half of which the preceding chapter +was given, stands out pre-eminently in Mrs. Moulton's life. Her fame, +which had come to her so untainted by any self-seeking, and the +abounding richness of friendship which so filled her life, friendship +as sympathetic and cordial as it was widespread, made these years +wonderful. Death and sorrow did bring into them a profound sadness, +but even these brought her into closer touch with humanity and ripened +her experiences. The recognition which her art won gave her something +much more satisfying than merely + + ... to hear the nations praising her far off. + +And if to deal with literature is only to know about the Eternal +Beauty, while living and loving are in it and of it, she was indeed +fortunate. In the life of no poet could be less of the abstraction of +literary fame and more of the vitality of real existence. Her social +life, both at home and abroad, was full of companionship sweet and +genuine. For the mere ceremonial of life she cared little. Life was to +her a thing too real, too precious, to make of it a spectacle. If her +association was so largely with persons of distinction, it was because +they interested her personally, and not because of the social +position. That was incidental. Mrs. Kate Gannett Wells, speaking after +the death of Mrs. Moulton, remarked: "I honored her for her literary +power; I loved her for herself. But especially I felt her refinement." +Such refinement is incompatible with ostentation, and it was +significant of her feeling on social matters that she copied in her +note-book, with the remark, "I agree with this entirely," this +paragraph from Henry James' "Siege of London": + + "I hate that phrase 'getting into society.' I don't think + one ought to attribute to one's self that sort of ambition. + One ought to assume that one is in society--that one is + society--and to hold that if one has good manners, one has + from the social point of view achieved the great thing. The + rest regards others." + +While she was a woman of the world, she was not a worldly woman. She +might easily have been presented at court during her many seasons in +London, but she never cared to be. She not infrequently met the +Princess Louise and other members of the Royal Family, and her own +comings and goings were chronicled in the London press. She was the +guest and the intimate friend of titled persons in England and of +those first in American society; but all this never altered her simple +and utterly unaffected cordiality toward those who were of no social +prominence whatever. "The reason for her popularity," wrote Miss +Josephine Jenkins very justly, "is summed up in the sympathy of her +nature, which expands with loving and often helpful solicitude to +those seeking encouragement, precisely as it expands toward those +having attained some noble distinction. Not every human being is +endowed with this genius for appreciation." + +Mrs. Moulton wrote to Coulson Kernahan on one occasion: "I do wonder +who spoke of me as 'a woman, above all things, of society.' Nothing +could be more remote from truth. I simply will not go to balls; I +don't care for large receptions, though I do go to them sometimes; I +enjoy dinners, if I am by the right person. But I refuse ten +invitations to every one I accept, and the thing I most and really +care for in all the world is the love of congenial friends and quiet, +intimate tête-à-tête with them. The superficial, external side of life +is nothing to me. I long for honest and true love as a child set down +in a desert might long for the mother's sheltering arms." + +On New Year's day, 1895, she wrote, with that curious periodicity +which characterized the opening of so many years for her, a sonnet +entitled "Oh, Traveller by Unaccustomed Ways," fine and strong, and +with haunting lines such as: + + Searcher among new worlds for pleasures new.--.... + Some wild, sweet fragrance of remembered days. + +The sestet is as follows: + + I send my message to thee by the stars-- + Since other messenger I may not find + Till I go forth beyond these prisoning bars, + Leaving this memory-haunted world behind, + To seek thee, claim thee, wheresoe'er thou be, + Since Heaven itself were empty, lacking thee. + +The letters of this time are as usual full of allusions to Mrs. +Moulton's work, and are as usual from a very wide circle of literary +friends. Sir Frederick Pollock expresses his appreciation of her book +upon Marston, and the pleasure he and Lady Pollock anticipate in +seeing her in London next season. J.T. Trowbridge writes to her that +the technique of her songs and sonnets "is well-nigh faultless, and +their melody never fails to respond to the tender feeling by which +they are inspired." Lord de Tabley thanks her for a notice of his +work, "and particularly," he adds, "for putting me in such good +company as that of William Watson, whom I greatly admire." Sir Lewis +Morris writes cordially, and reminds her of their "pleasant lunches at +Lord Haylston's." Marie Corelli expresses her gratitude for pleasant +things which Mrs. Moulton has said of her in a letter to Mrs. Coulson +Kernahan. Other letters were from Miss Bayley (Edna Lyall), Andrew +Lang, Rose Kingsley, Lady Temple, Stephen Phillips, the Hon. Florence +Henniker. If, as Emerson says, "a letter is a spiritual gift," these +gifts were showered upon Mrs. Moulton. + + _William Watson to Mrs. Moulton_ + + DEAR MRS. MOULTON: One of the most generous recognitions of + my early poems came from your pen. I wished then to express + my gratitude. I look forward to the pleasure of making your + acquaintance. I am touched by your kind sympathy, and I know + that you gladden all our group of friends. It is no ordinary + thanks I owe you for your generous and delightful criticism. + I have to thank you, already, for my best appreciation in + America. You do not know how grateful I am to the first + woman in America (and almost the first human being) who gave + me hearty and inspiring praise. Your poems add to my store + of beautiful things, and I do not prize them the less + because some of their qualities are my own despair. When + your letter came, that article which I call my conscience, + and which I wear less for use than for ornament, gave me no + peace. Yet the outward parts of life were to blame rather + than I, their victim. I had been moving, and giving the Post + Office the trouble of one who inherits a wandering tendency. + I hope you will permit me to call upon you when next you are + in London, and I am, dear Mrs. Moulton, + + Sincerely yours, + + WILLIAM WATSON. + +To a friend Mr. Watson wrote of Mrs. Moulton: "Her letters show her +absolute goodness of heart, which is worth all other human qualities +put together." + +Mrs. Frances Hodgson Burnett writes characteristically of that inner +inspirer which she calls her "Fairy." + + _Mrs. Burnett to Mrs. Moulton_ + + "... I am so glad you like my story.... It was not I who + said 'Human beings can do anything if they set their minds + to it'; it was that beloved thing which has said things for + me all my life. Sometimes I call it 'The Fairy,' but I think + it must be a kind of splendid spirit. It is so strong, it is + so good to me, and I do so love it. When I said that thing + it seemed to make something waken within me. I began to say + it to myself, and to believe it. Only thus could I have + finished the story, and this makes me know it is true.... I + have sometimes thought the thing I had to give is nearly + always part of a story, some note of love, or message that + rings clear. I don't ask it should be a loud note, only that + some one shall hear it and remember. The fact that you have + heard, makes the story a success, so far as I am concerned. + As for giving, you give always. I have seen that. You give + of gentleness and kindness and all things that help. Your + hands are full of things to give." + +Just before Mrs. Moulton's sailing in the spring of 1895 a breakfast +was given to her by a group of her friends, at which the decoration +was very prettily all of mountain laurel. In the centre of the table +was a basket of green osiers filled with the faintly pink kalmia, and +this color-scheme was carried out in the menu-cards, the embroidered +centre-piece, the candle-shades, and in the Venetian glass with which +the table was furnished. It is to this breakfast that Mrs. Blake +alludes in the little note which follows: + + _Mrs. John G. Blake to Mrs. Moulton_ + + DEAR MRS. MOULTON: Among all the laurels which are being + laid before your conquering feet, will you take my little + flower of good-will and congratulations? The sonnets are + exquisite, so are you always to + + Your affectionate + + M.E.B. + +In 1896 was published "Lazy Tours," Mrs. Moulton's most important book +in prose. This volume records her impressions in her wanderings in +Spain, in Southern Italy, in France, and in Switzerland. It is a +delightful mosaic of bits about people and places, of glimpses of +Rome, of Florence, of Paris, of the German "cures," and of pleasant +experiences of all sorts. The book is dedicated to Sir Bruce and Lady +Seton, "The well-beloved friends and frequent hosts of this lazy +tourist." The dedication is as appropriate as it is pleasantly +phrased, for the Setons were not only among the closest of Mrs. +Moulton's English friends, but with them she had done a great deal of +journeying. The book is charmingly vivid, and is a pleasant companion +for the traveller in the places with which it deals. Mrs. Moulton +neither was nor claimed to be an expert critic of painting and +sculpture, but her artistic taste responded sensitively to what was +best, and she recorded her feelings with a frank enthusiasm and a +wonderful freshness. + +Arlo Bates, in acknowledging a gift copy of "Lazy Tours" wrote: "I +thank you for 'Lazy Tours.' It is done with a touch not only light and +delicate, but strangely gentle. It is written with the experience of a +woman and the enthusiasm of a girl." In another note of Mr. Bates', +belonging to this time, are the remarks: + + "Friendship is about the only real thing in humanity." + + "The few of us who, in this muse-forgotten age, still care + for real poetry, are to be congratulated no less." + +The sculptor Greenough wrote: "Verily, your 'Lazy Tours' are a rebuke +to industry, for it has woven a magic carpet, as that of the 'Arabian +Nights,' only you transport the reader, in every sense of the word.... +What excellent prose you poets write when you try." The critics were +all agreed, and the verdict of the public endorsed that of Mrs. +Moulton's friends and of the reviewers. The book had precisely that +lightness of touch which is perennially charming, and which perhaps is +due equally to literary expertness and to innate good taste. + +The usual summer abroad, full of social experiences, followed; and +then the winter in Boston with the crowded Friday receptions. A letter +which belongs to this winter is full of a lightness and kindliness +characteristic of the writer. + + _James Whitcomb Riley to Mrs. Moulton_ + + "... You, after months and months of barbarous silence, are + asking me why I have not written! Well, I'll answer in my + artlessness and most truthfully tell you that my last letter + (and a really appealing one) meeting with no response + whatever, I just had concluded that I'd win highest favor in + your estimate by not writing. So I quit writing, and went + to pouting,--this latter so persistently indulged in that my + previously benignant features now look as though they were + being cast back on my very teeth, so to speak, by a tawdry, + wavery, crinkly looking-glass in the last gasp of a + boarding-house. But since your voice of yesterday, the eyes + of me are lit again, and the whole face beams like radiant + summer time. No wonder you continue in indifferent health. + It's a judgment on you for your neglect of me. Now you'll + begin to improve. And you can get into perfect health by + strictly maintaining this rigorous course of writing to me. + Heroic treatment, of a truth!..." + +One of the entries in the diary of the winter reads: + + "Could hardly get to the Browning Society, where I read 'A + Toccata of Galuppi's.' Mr. Moulton seemed interested about + the reading, and I read him the 'Toccata' after dinner, and + other poems. A beautiful evening." + +[Illustration: WILLIAM U. MOULTON + +_Page 215_] + +Strangely enough this was Mr. Moulton's last evening of being in +health. The next day he was taken ill, and on February 19, 1898, he +passed into "the life more abundant." The funeral service was read by +the Rev. E. Winchester Donald, rector of Trinity, and Mrs. Moulton +more than once spoke of the kindness and sympathy which he showed to +her at this time. She wrote in her diary: "Dr. Donald called; he is, +it seems to me, a nobly good man." Her daughter was with her, and her +many friends were about her. Numerous were the letters of condolence, +and they were full of the genuine feeling which could be called out +only by one who was herself so ready and quick to respond to the +sorrows of others. + +In the summer following Mr. Moulton's death Mrs. Moulton remained in +America. Her life was saddened and cumbered with the cares needful in +business matters, and on the last day of the year she wrote in her +diary: "This sad year which is now ending--how strange a year it has +been for me. Mr. Moulton died in February and changed all. I have done +nothing, enjoyed nothing. With 1899 I must turn over a new leaf, or +give up life and all its uses, altogether." In this mood it was +natural that her predisposition to brood upon the problem of death +should reassert itself. She writes to William Winter: "No,--my dread +of death does not seem to me to be physical, for it is not the pain of +death that I ever think of. I hate the idea of extinction, but I could +reconcile myself to that; ... but what I dread most is the to-morrow +of death,--the loneliness of the unclothed soul." And again: "For +myself, I have an unutterable and haunting horror of going out into +the dark.... I always wish I might die at the same moment with some +well beloved friend, so that hand and hand we might go into the +mystery." + +Her literary work, however, continues. She said from time to time that +she could not write, and that she should never write a line again; but +the poetic instinct was strong, and asserted itself in its own time +and way. In a letter to a friend she remarks in passing: "The +_Century_ has just come with my poem, 'A Rose Pressed in a Book,' and +it seems to me to read pretty well." The lyric to which she modestly +alludes as reading "pretty well" is beautifully characteristic of some +of her choicest poetic qualities: easy and seemingly unconscious +mastery of form, delicacy of touch, charming melody, and sincerity of +emotion. + +Always her correspondence goes on. + + _T.B. Aldrich to Mrs. Moulton_ + + "Some day I must get you to tell me about Andrew Lang. One + night last winter as I sat reading one of his books a kind + of ghost, distinct, elusive, rose before me. Out of this + impression grew my 'Broken Music.'" + +In allusion to his much discussed "Modern Love," George Meredith +writes: + + _George Meredith to Mrs. Moulton_ + + "You are like the northern tribes of the Arabs, in that what + you love you love wholly and without ceasing. This poem has + been more roundly abused than any other of my + much-castigated troop. You help me to think that they are + not born offenders, antipathetic to the human mind. + Americans who first gave me a reputation for the writing of + novels will perhaps ultimately take part in the admission + that I can write verse. They may thus carry a reluctant + consent in England, when I no longer send out my rhyming + note for revision. I have been taught, at least, to set no + store upon English opinion in such matters. I would thank + you, but gratitude is out of place. There is a feeling hard + to verbalize." + + + _Mrs. Moulton to Lloyd Mifflin_ + + "It is five days since I received your 'Slopes of Helicon,' + enriched by your kind inscription. I have been too ill to + write; but I will no longer postpone the pleasure of telling + you how delighted I am to have your charming book. I have + already read enough to know that the book will be an abiding + pleasure. You are as delightful a lyrist as you are a + sonneteer, and I could not give you higher praise. Both the + sonnets and lyrics in this volume charm me." + + "... This morning, looking over a shelf of books that have + accumulated during my absence,--as books are never forwarded + to me,--I find your 'Fields of Dawn,' and also 'Lyrics,' by + J.H. Mifflin, for both of which I want to thank you at once. + I have a real pleasure to look forward to, for I love your + sonnets. Am I right in supposing 'J.H.M.' to be your father, + and that you are a poet by inheritance?..." + + "I am sending a hurried note to tell you how entirely I + agree with you about the demand for 'cheerful poetry.'" + + "It is worth writing a book to have written the line, + + "Made eminent by death, + + in that noble poem, 'Peace to the Brave.' The poem entitled + 'Herbert Spencer' makes me wonder whether you feel that + assurance of the future which he certainly did not feel...." + + + _Lloyd Mifflin to Mrs. Moulton_ + + "... It is very uplifting, as you say in New England, to + have such a genuine letter as yours. You read a book as I + do, through at once. No one has said that my mind inclines + to visions like Blake's, but I see visions. I used to sit + and hold the pen and feel it hovering about, becoming nearer + and nearer, till suddenly it came, the complete sonnet. I + merely recorded it then. This was always wonderful to me. + Where do they come from? Not death itself, to say nothing of + our earth, can keep a born poet from writing. I can write a + better poem about sunset by not seeing it...." + + + _James Whitcomb Riley to Mrs. Moulton_ + + "... Very slightly changing R.L.S.'s line, + + "This be the verse which ye grave for me, + Home he is where he longed to be; + + and very thankful I am to be at home again. True, the mother + is away, the old father, too, and a sister, and a brother; + but they all seem to be here still, with the happy rest of + us,--for we all believe, thank God. And you must take this + for answer to your very last question, for I do feel that I + know. I know likewise why fuller assurance has been + withheld from us, lest knowing that, not one of all God's + children but would be hurrying to Him ere His own good + time.... Always your books are near at hand. May I tell you + that I think the sonnet is your true voice? Yours is the + deep, strong utterance which belongs, with the soul-cry in + it, as individual to yourself as Mrs. Browning's to herself. + Somewhere we are to talk poetry together sometime!... Of my + book, 'A Child's World,' I venture to send you Mr. Howells' + printed blessing, ... so delightfully characteristic (I + think) of his very happiest way of saying things. And, oh! + but I am gloating over a supernal letter from the Archangel + Aldrich! Truly with hurtling praise and God-speed the + heavenly battlements have loosened on me...." + + + _From the same_ + + "Has it been, and is it being, a beautiful Christmas season + to you? for I have been so praying, though vexing you with + no line of it in ink. And I've seen two new poems of yours, + and they testify to your loyal love of this world of ours; + so I know at least you can't be happier till you get to + Heaven with no good word or gift forgotten, and such + profusion! Since my return home I've been mostly working on + pyramids of matter accumulated since my taking to the road. + But last night I was struck with a real thought, while I was + off guard, so to speak. So I've gone to work on that, and + I'll send you the result, if I ever overtake it.... Lor! but + don't praise unexpected hit the very crazybone of vanity!" + + + _From the same_ + + "How beautiful your new poems are! Oh, yes! Even to vaguely + question your Divine Inspirer's ultimate intent!... + Sometimes I even smilingly think that He has given you that + haunting doubt here that your delight may be all the more + ineffable a glory when you find His throne more real a fact + than this first world of ours." + +Among the pleasant friendships which came into a life whose entire +texture seemed woven of friendship and song, was that with Coulson +Kernahan, who, though one of the younger men of letters in England, +had already made a recognized place. His warmly responsive nature made +the two especially sympathetic, and they were alike in their devotion +to literature. After the vanishing of the "Marston group," Mrs. +Moulton's most intimate London circle came to comprise Sir Bruce and +Lady Seton, with whom she stayed frequently at Durham House, Mr. +Kernahan, Mrs. Campbell-Praed, and Herbert E. Clarke. Mr. Kernahan's +acquaintance with Mrs. Moulton began from a critique on "Swallow +Flights" which he had written for the _Fortnightly_. In it he had +said: + + "No one who looks upon life with earnest eyes can fail to be + touched by the passionate human cry which rings from Mrs. + Moulton's poems. No one whose ear is attuned to catch the + wail that is to be heard in the maddest, merriest music of + the violin, to whom the sound of wind and sea at midnight is + like that of innumerable lamentations; no one who, in the + movement of a multitude of human beings--be they marching to + the bounding music of fife and drum, or hurrying to witness + a meeting of the starving unemployed--no one who in all + these hears something of 'the still, sad music of humanity,' + can read her verses unstirred." + +Mr. Kernahan had also emphasized--Mrs. Moulton herself thought +somewhat unduly--the strain of sadness in her poems; and had he known +her personally at the time he wrote, he would surely not have called +her "world-weary and melancholy." The point was one often made by +critics, and has been alluded to in an earlier chapter. Partly the +melancholy note was due to environment, but more to temperament. Mrs. +Moulton almost at the beginning had edited a "gift-book" and the fact +is significant of the literary fashions of her youth. The "annuals" +and "gift-books" of the second quarter of the nineteenth century were +redolent of a sort of pressed-rose sadness, a sort of faded-out +reminiscence of belated Byronism; a richly passionate gloom of spirit +was held to be necessary to lyric inspiration. By this convention Mrs. +Moulton was undoubtedly affected, although by no means to such an +extent as was Edgar Allan Poe. With her the cause of the minor cadence +was chiefly a temperament which gave a sad quality to her singing as +nature has put a plaintive timbre into the notes of certain birds. In +writing to Mr. Kernahan about his article, she said: "I always hear +the minor chords in nature's music; after the summer, the autumn; +after youth, age; after life, death. I happened yesterday to close a +poem: + + "O June, dear month of sunshine and of flowers, + The affluent year will hold you not again; + Once, only once, can youth and love be ours, + And after that the autumn and the rain. + +Is it not true?" Yet she assured him that she was "often gay." + +The numerous letters of Mrs. Moulton to Mr. Kernahan were intimate and +full of details of business in regard to publication, with personal +matters relating to friends and the like, but through them all runs a +thread of comment on literature and life. + + "I am simply enchanted with the new book William Morris has + printed for Wilfrid Blunt, 'The Love Lyrics and Songs of + Proteus.'" + + "Yes, I did like that one line in Christina Rossetti's poem: + + "... half carol and half cry; + + but the rest of it is not good enough for her." + + "I have had many violets sent me this year, but far the most + fragrant were a bunch left for me to-day with a card on + which was written: + + "Since one too strange to risk intrusion + Would dare rebuke, nor meet confusion, + Yet fain would--failing long to meet you-- + With gentle words and memories greet you, + Sweet Mistress of the Triolet, + Admit, I pray, a violet." + + "I am reading, or rather rereading Rossetti's sonnet + sequence, 'The House of Life.' How unequal are the + sonnets,--some of them so beautiful they fairly thrill one's + soul with their charm, but others seem whimsical and far + fetched. On the other hand, how glorious, how like a full + chord of music is, for instance, 'The Heart's Compass,' and + the sestet of 'Last Fire,' and that magnificent sonnet, 'The + Dark Glass.'" + + "I had a letter this morning from a far-off stranger who + tells me that her heart keeps time to my poems.... I am + expecting my beloved Mrs. Spofford to-day.... No sweeter + soul than she lives on this earth." + + "Recently I sent a rhyme called 'A Whisper to the Moon,' to + _The Independent_, and in accepting it Bliss Carman writes: + 'I like it, and that line + + "'She is thy kindred, and fickle art thou, + + is immense. Lines with the lyric quality of that are + imperishable. Quite apart from its meaning--its cold + meaning--it is poetry. It floods the heart. It carries all + before it. There is no stopping it. It is like the opening + of the gates of the sea. You often write such lines.' The + line does not seem to me at all worth such praise, but all + the same the praise pleased me. How lovely it is to have + people single out some special phrase to care for!" + + "Louise Guiney and I are looking over my poems together. Oh, + I wish there were more variety in them. They are good (I + hope and think) in form, but they are, almost all, the cry + of my heart for the love that I long for, or its protest + against the death that I fear. Ah, well, I can only be + myself." + +[Illustration: LOUISE CHANDLER MOULTON + +_Page 227_] + +In this year appeared Mrs. Moulton's third volume of poems, "At the +Wind's Will," the title being taken from Rossetti's "Wood-spurge": + + I had walked on at the wind's will,-- + I sat now, for the wind was still. + +Of it Mrs. Spofford said: + + "Mrs. Moulton's last volume of poems, 'At the Wind's Will,' + fitly crowns the literary achievement of the century. It is + poetry at high-water mark. Her work exhibited in previous + volumes has given her a rank among the foremost poets of the + world, and much of the work in 'At the Wind's Will' exceeds + in grasp and in surrender, in strength and in beauty, + anything she has hitherto published." + +So the year wore to a close. Her last record for December in her diary +reads: "Now this year of 1899 goes out,--a year in which I have +accomplished nothing,--gone back, I fear, in every way. God grant 1900 +may be better." In part this was the expression of the melancholy +natural to ill health, but it was a characteristic cry from one always +too likely to underrate herself. Surely the prayer was granted, for +the year 1900 gave her again a spring in Rome and Florence, and was +filled with rich and significant experiences. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +1900-1906 + + ... One in whom + The spring-tide of her childish years + Hath never lost its sweet perfume, + Though knowing well that life hath room + For many blights and many tears.--LOWELL. + + In my dreams you are beside me,-- + Still I hear your tender tone; + And your dear eyes light my darkness + Till I am no more alone: + For with memories I am haunted, + And the silence seems to beat + With the music of your talking, + And the coming of your feet.--L.C.M. + + +The diary during the early months of the year which opened the new +century records as often before many kindnesses in the form of reading +for various objects: + + "Went in evening to read for the Rev. Mr. Shields, of South + Boston." + + "In the evening read for the College Club. Mrs. Howe + presided. The other readers were Dr. Hale, Dr. Ames, Colonel + Higginson, J.T. Trowbridge, Judge Grant, and Nathan Haskell + Dole." + + "Read for the Young Men's Christian Association. I read 'In + Arcady,' 'The Name on a Door,' and 'A June Song,' of my own + verses; then my paper on the Marstons, entitled 'Five + Friends.' People seemed pleased." + +Among her numerous generous acts were to be reckoned the many times +when, without regard to herself, she assisted at readings or gave a +reading entirely by herself. + +On February 19, the entry is: + + "Two years ago this day Mr. Moulton passed out of life. It + was my first thought this morning, and the sadness of it has + been with me all day." + +Mr. Moulton had always been to her a tower of strength. Few men were +more highly esteemed by those who knew him, or were more deserving of +esteem. He was a man of flawless integrity and the highest sense of +honor; a man of vigorous intellect, of clear and definite intellectual +grasp, and of a generous and kindly nature. He was not himself fond of +society, but he was proud of his wife's success, and ministered to her +tastes for travel and social life. His sympathy with the literary +life was genuine and strong, and his service to clean and wholesome +journalism in his editorial work gave him a lasting claim upon public +gratitude, had he chosen to assert it. Upon his sterling worth and +fine character Mrs. Moulton had always been able to depend, and life +without the consciousness of his presence in the home was a thing +different and sadder. + +In a letter written about this time Mrs. Moulton again touches upon +the old question of social struggle: + + "I agree with you as to the inanity of struggle for social + prominence. How fine is the passage you quote from Emerson: + 'My friends come to me unsought. The great God Himself gave + them to me.' That is the way I feel. Any social struggle + seems to me so little worth while. It is worth while to know + the people who really interest one,--but the others! It is + always climbing ladders, and there are always other ladders + to climb, and one never gets to the top. And then, what will + it be if there is an 'after death'? I wonder? Will there be + social ambitions,--the desire to get ahead there? It almost + seems as if there must be, if there is the continuity of + individual existences, for what could change people's + desires and tendencies all at once?" + +From various letters to the friend to whom this is written, to whom +she wrote often, may be put together here a few extracts. The letters +were seldom dated, and it is hardly possible to tell exactly when each +was written, but the exact sequence is not of importance. + + "And what do you think (_entre nous_) I have been asked to + do? To go to Cambridge, England, with a party of friends who + have included Mme. Blavatsky, and they are to have some + brilliant receptions given them there by the occult folk, or + those interested. But I declined." + + "Mr. ---- goes about asking every one if he has read 'The + Story of My Heart,' by Jeffries, which is his latest + enthusiasm. After being asked till I was ashamed of saying + no, I got the book and read it, finding it the most haunting + outcry of pessimism imaginable. When one has read it one + feels in the midst of a Godless, hopeless world, where + nature is hostile, and the animal kingdom alien, and man + alone with his destiny,--a destiny that menaces and appalls + him. It is a too powerful book. Jeffries makes one feel, + for the moment, that all the happy people are happy only + because insensate, and are madly dancing on volcanoes." + + "Austin Dobson says: 'I have always admired your sonnets,--a + thing I can never manage; but how you do take all Gallometry + to be your province!! What are we, poor slaves to canzonets + and serenades, to do next?' Very pleasant of him." + + "Last Saturday the Boyle O'Reilly monument was unveiled, and + I was chosen to crown it with a laurel wreath. It was a + wonderful occasion; and President Capen, of Tufts College, + gave the most eloquent eulogy to which I ever listened." + + "My life is not the beautiful life you think, but it is my + soul's steadfast purpose to make it all that you believe it + already is. Nothing is of any real consequence save to live + up to your very highest ideal. In criticism I made up my + mind, long ago, that one should be like Swedenborg's angels, + who sought to find the good in everything. Of course, really + poor things must be condemned--or what _I_ think is + better--boycotted; but I do not like what is harsh, + prejudiced, one-sided. I would see my possible soul's + brother in every man--which all means that I am an + optimist." + + "Can you tell me what Henry James means by his story, 'The + Private Life'? Is it an allegory or what? I never saw + anything so impossible to understand." + + "You speak of the 'close and near friendships' you have made + in your few weeks in Florence,--'friendships for a + lifetime.' That is delightful, only I can't make friendships + with new people easily; so if I went I should not have that + pleasure." + + "... Before I rose this morning, a special messenger came + from the Secretary of the Women Writers' Club (which is + giving a magnificent dinner to-night at which Mrs. Humphry + Ward presides). Miss Blackburne, the 'Hon. Secretary,' had + only heard of my being in London this morning, so she at + once sent a messenger to invite me. She entreated me to + come; said she wanted me to sit at the head of one of the + tables, and preside over that table, etc., etc. She sent a + most distinguished list of guests, and oh, I _did_ want to + go--but I felt so ill I dared not try to go, and I sent an + immediate refusal. Many of the authors whom I would like to + meet will be among the guests...." + + "Here is the little screed ... about Mrs. Browning. The + description was given me by an English lady who saw Mrs. + Browning very often during Mrs. B.'s last visit to Rome. To + her such rumors as (falsely, I am persuaded) have connected + Mr. Browning's name with that of another marriage would have + seemed an impossible impertinence. Indeed, when one + knows--as I happen to know--that Mr. Browning was asked to + furnish some letters and some data about Mrs. Browning's + life for Miss Zimmern (who had been requested to write about + her for the Famous Women Series of Biographies) and refused + because he could not bring himself to speak in detail of the + past which had been so dear, or to share the sacred letters + of his wife with the public, it hardly seems that he can be + contemplating the offer of the place she, his 'moon of + poets,' held in his life, to another." + +In the "little screed" alluded to was this description of Mrs. +Browning, given in the words of the friend: + + "No, she was _not_ what people call beautiful; but she was + more and better. I can see her now, as she lay there on her + sofa. I never saw her sitting up. She was always in white. + She wore white dresses, trimmed with white lace, with white, + fleecy shawls wrapped round her, and her dark brown hair + used to be let down and fall all about her like a veil. Her + face used to seem to me something already not of the + earth--it was so pale, so pure, and with great dark eyes + that gleamed like stars. Then her voice was so sweet you + never wanted her to stop speaking, but it was also so low + you could only hear it by listening carefully." + + "'Was Mr. Browning there?' + + "Oh, yes, and he used to watch her as one watches who has + the most precious object in the whole world to keep guard + over. He looked out for her comfort as tenderly as a woman. + + "I think there never was another marriage like that; a + marriage that made two poet souls one forever. Don't you + notice how Browning always speaks of finding again the 'soul + of his soul'? It was easy enough to see that that was just + what she was. And the boy was there, too, a little fellow, + with long golden hair, and I remember how quietly he used to + play, how careful he was not to disturb his mother. + Sometimes he used to stand for a long time beside her, with + her 'spirit-small hand,' as her husband called it, just + playing with his curls. I wonder if he can have known that + she was going away from him so soon." + +From various letters of this time of and to Mrs. Moulton may be taken +such bits as these: + + _Mrs. Moulton to Elihu Vedder_ + + "It was such a pleasure to me in my present loneliness to + have a good talk with you last night, and I have been + thinking of what you said. You would like a big fortune that + you might have leisure to fulfil your dreams, but what if + you had the fortune and not the dreams? I would a million + times rather be you than any capitalist alive. It seems to + me that to do work as the few great men in the world have, + that must live, is the supreme joy. When you are dust the + world will adore the wonder and majesty and beauty of your + pictures. It seems to me that I would starve willingly in an + attic, like Chatterton, to leave to the wide future one such + legacy." + + + _Walter Pater to Mrs. Moulton_ + + "I read very little contemporary poetry, finding a good deal + of it a little falsetto. I found, however, in your elegant + and musical volume a sincerity, a simplicity, which stand + you as constituting a _cachet_, a distinct note." + + + _Mrs. Moulton to Lady Lindsay_ + + "I am reading, with very unusual interest, 'Blake of Oriel,' + by Adeline Sargent. It is a story of fate and of heredity, + which sets one thinking and questioning.... Is fate also to + be complicated by the curse of evil inheritance? Oh, is it + fair to give life to one with such an inheritance of evil, + and then condemn the sinner for what he does? Is it?... Is + it a loving God who creates men foreknowing that they will + commit spiritual suicide?... Are people sinners who are + doomed by heredity to sin?" + + + _Arthur Christopher Benson to Mrs. Moulton_ + + "Thank you for what you say of my 'Arthur Hamilton.' It is + deeply gratifying to me that the book has ever so slightly + interested you. As for the difficulties of the hero, I + suppose they are the eternal difficulties. It was like my + impudent youth to think that to no one else had the same + problem been so unjustly presented before, and to rush + wildly into a tourney." + +The summer of 1900 Mrs. Moulton passed abroad, going before her London +visit for the spring in Italy. She revisited familiar haunts in Rome +and Florence, and again was steeped in the enchantment of Italy. In +Rome she loved especially the gardens of the Villa Ludovisi; and +indeed, something in the solemn spell she felt in the Eternal City +appealed especially to her nature. The roses and the ruins, the +antique and the modern; churches and altars and temples, and modern +studios and society,--each, in turn, attracted her. She passed hours +in the Vatican galleries; she was fond of driving on the Pincian in +the late afternoon; she took a child's joy in the _festas_; she found +delight in the works growing under the hand of artists. Of a visit to +the studio of Mr. Story she related: "I was looking at a noble statue +of Saul, and this, recalling to me the 'Saul' of Browning, led me to +speak of the dead poet. Mr. Story then told me of his own last meeting +with Browning, which was at Asolo. It was but a short time before +Browning's death, and the two old friends were talking over all sorts +of intimate things, and finally Mr. Story entered his carriage to +drive away. Browning, who had bade him good-bye and turned away, +suddenly came back, and reached his hand into the carriage, grasping +that of Story, and looking into the sculptor's eyes exclaimed, +'Friends for forty years! Forty years without a break.' Then with a +last good-bye he turned away, and the two friends never met again." + + * * * * * + +After the London visit, Mrs. Moulton went for the cure at +Aix-les-Bains, perhaps as much for the delightful excursions of the +neighborhood as in any hope of help for her almost constant +ill-health. Thence she went in September to Paris, still in the full +glory of its Exposition year. While in Paris she received from +Professor Meiklejohn the comments upon her latest volume, "At the +Wind's Will." He had fallen into the custom of going over her poems +carefully, and of sending her his notes of admiration. "I still +maintain," he wrote her on this occasion, "that your brothers are the +Elizabethan lyrists, Shakespeare, Fletcher, Vaughan." Some of the +comments were these: + + "In 'When Love is Young,' the line + + "Time has his will of every man, + + is in the strong style of the sixteenth century. + + "I think the 'Dead Men's Holiday' martial and glorious. + + "And the keen air stung all their lips like wine, + + is the kind of line when Nature has taken the pen into her + own hand. + + "What an exquisite stanza is this in 'The Summer's Queen': + + "You sow the fields with lilies--wake the choir + Of summer birds to chorus of delight; + Yours is the year's deep rapture--yours the fire + That burns the West, and ushers in the night. + + "The line + + "Yet done with striving, and foreclosed of care, + + in the sonnet entitled 'At Rest' is as good as anything of + Drayton's. You know his sonnet, + + "Since there's no help, come, let us kiss and part! + + "Mocked by a day that shines no more on thee, + + in the sonnet called 'The New Year Dawns,' is the very truth + in the strong simplicity of the Elizabethan age. + + "What a wonderful line is the last one of the sonnet, 'The + Song of the Stars': + + "The waking rapture, and the fair, far place." + +The serenity and sweetness of Longfellow's verse are the natural +expression of a life sweet and serene; and in the work of Mrs. Moulton +the beauty of her work was in no less a measure the inevitable outcome +of her character. She wrote so spontaneously that her poems seemed, as +she used to say, "to come to her," and although she never spared the +most careful polishing, yet her song seemed to spring without effort +and almost without conscious prevision. + +The literary life was to her in its outward aspect chiefly a matter of +fit and harmonious companionship. She declared that she thought "the +great charm of a literary life was that it made one acquainted with so +many delightful people." Her warm sense of the personality and +characteristics of the writers whom she met in London has been alluded +to already, and some of her words about them have been quoted in a +former chapter. Those who enjoyed the privilege of chatting with her +in her morning-room were never tired of hearing her give her +impressions of distinguished authors. + +"George Meredith's talk," she said on one occasion, "is like his +books, it is so scintillating, so epigrammatic. In talking with him +you have to be swiftly attentive or you will miss some allusion or +witticism, and seem disreputably inattentive." + +"Thomas Hardy," she said again, "has the face, I think, which one +would expect from his books. His forehead is so large and so fine that +it seems to be half his face. His blue eyes are kindly, but they are +extremely shrewd. You feel that he sees everything, and that because +he would always understand he would always forgive. I have heard him +called the shyest man in London, but he never impressed me so." + +"I did not find George Eliot so plain a person as she is ordinarily +represented," she replied to a question about that author. "To me she +seemed to have a singularly interesting face and a lovely smile; and +one distinctive trait, one peculiarly her own, was a very gentle and +sweet deference of manner. In any difference of opinion, she always +began by agreeing with the person with whom she was conversing, as 'I +quite see that, but don't you think--' and then there would follow a +statement so supremely convincing, so comprehensive, so true, so +sweetly suggestive, that one could not help being convinced. It was +like a fair mist over a background of the greatest strength." + + * * * * * + +Christmas was always a season of much activity at No. 28 Rutland +Square. The tokens which Mrs. Moulton sent to friends kept her and +Katy busy long in arranging and sending; and in turn came gifts from +far and near. With her generous and friendly spirit she was fully in +sympathy with the spirit of the time. Among her Christmas gifts on +this year, was one from Louise Imogen Guiney, with these charming and +delicately humorous verses: + + TO LOUISE CHANDLER MOULTON + + WITH A THERMOMETER AT CHRISTMAS. + + Behold, good Hermes! (once a god + With errand-winglets crowned and shod), + Your silvern, sensitive, slim rod, + Still potent, still surviving; + Chill mimic of the chilly sky, + Crouched, chin on knee, morose and sly, + Where, in my luthern window's eye, + The Christmas snows are driving. + But if beside her heart you were, + And over you the smile of her, + Oh, never might the north-wind stir, + Or gleaming frost benumb her! + For you, of old, love warmth and light, + And in the calendar's despite, + This moment leaping to your height, + I know you'd swear 'tis summer! + +On January 1, 1901, Mrs. Moulton records in her diary: + + "Wrote a sonnet, the first in nearly or quite two years, + beginning, 'Once more the New Year mocks me with its + scorn.'" + +When the poem was published, "New Year" had been changed to "morning." + +The summer of this year found her again in London. Her health was +seriously affected, and at times she was a great sufferer; but when +she was able to go about among her friends she was as full of spirit +as ever. Indeed, the diary gives a surprising list of festivities +which she attended. + + "Went to Lady Wynford's charming luncheon." + + "Went to Edward Clifford's to see pictures, and had the + loveliest evening." + + "Went to Archdeacon Wilberforce's, Mrs. Meynell's, and Mrs. + Clifford's, and dined at Annie Lane's." + + "Lunch at Sir Richard Burton's at Hampstead Heath. Lady + Burton, who can never sit up, because of spinal trouble, was + charming." + + "Some one--a lady who left no name--brought me charming + roses. A good many guests--Lady Wynford, Mrs. Sutherland + Orr, Canon Bell, and George Moore among them." + + "Went to Lord Iddesleigh's. He gave me his first book, + 'Belinda Fitzwarren.'" + +To this summer belongs the following letter, which is interesting not +only in itself, but also as illustrating how the old questions of +religion followed Mrs. Moulton through life: + + _Dr. E. Winchester Donald to Mrs. Moulton_ + + "JULY 9, 1901. + + "... This place is a paradise. The Thames, from Windsor to + Henley, is a beautiful dream, sailing up and down--no + churches, no responsibilities. Consequently we New + Englanders need not urge that it is dangerous to linger long + upon its bosom. If there be no physical miasma rising from + these waters, I fear there is an ethical one.... You are + very kind and very generous. Your gift is very acceptable to + us, and in my own name and that of those whom the Church is + trying to help, I thank you with all my heart. What you have + told me of the perplexities that beset you is more than + simply interesting,--it is also revelatory of what, I fancy, + is not uncommon among the thoughtful folk. But why not fall + back deliberately on worship as distinguished from + satisfactory precision of opinion or belief? I should not be + surprised to learn that prayer has tided many people over + the bar of intellectual perplexity into the harbor of a + reasonable faith. Indeed, I know it has. The instinct of + humanity is to worship and fall down before the Lord, our + Maker. Why should we insist on having a precisely formulated + proposition as respects the nature of that Lord before we + worship? Prayer and praise form the sole common + meeting-ground of humanity. Why not come back to the Church, + not as a thoroughly satisfied holder of accurately stated + formulas, but as a soul eager to gain whatever of help, + hope, or comfort the Church has to give? You would never + repent this, I am confident. My strong wish, never stronger + than to-day, is that all of us may be receiving from God + what God is only ready to give. For our reasoned opinions we + must be intellectually intrepid and industrious. For our + possession of the peace that passeth understanding we must + be spiritually receptive and responsive." + +After Mrs. Moulton's return to Boston in the autumn, the diary shows +the old round of engagements, of visits from friends, of interest in +the new books, and the writing and receiving of innumerable letters. +Mrs. Alice Meynell came to Boston in the winter as the guest of Mrs. +James T. Fields, and to her Mrs. Moulton gave a luncheon. The +Emerson-Browning club gave a pleasant reception in Mrs. Moulton's +honor, at which by request she read "The Secret of Arcady"; at one of +Mrs. Mosher's "Travel-talks" she read by invitation "The Roses of La +Garraye"; and with occasions of this sort the winter was dotted. + +In a note written that spring to Mrs. John Lane is this pleasant +passage: + + "Frances Willard's mother was in her eighties,--she was on + her death-bed--it was, I think, the day before she died, and + her daughter said to her, 'Well, mother, if you had your + life to live over again, I don't think you would want to do + anything differently from what you have done.' The dear old + lady turned her gray head on the pillow, and smiled, and + said, 'Oh, yes; if I had my life to live over again, I would + praise a great deal more and blame a great deal less.' I + always thought it lovely to have felt and said." + +In London in this summer of 1902 she notes in her diary that she went +to the dinner of the Women Writers. Later, she was given a luncheon by +the Society of American Women in London. She sat, of course, on the +right of the president, Mrs. Griffin, and next to her was placed Lady +Annesley, "who seemed to me," she said afterward, "the most beautiful +woman I had ever seen." She gave a little dinner to which she invited +Whistler, who accepted in the following terms: + + _J. McNeill Whistler to Mrs. Moulton_ + + 96 CHEYNE ROAD. + + DEAR LOUISE: I accept your invitation with great pleasure, + and how kind and considerate of you to make it eight-thirty. + I really believe I shall reach you, not only in good time, + but in the unruffled state of mind and body that is utterly + done away with in the usual scramble across country, racing + hopelessly for the "quarter to."... + + Yours sincerely, + + J. McN. W. + +When in her Boston home Mrs. Moulton was seldom, in later years, +allured far afield. She thought little of a journey to Europe, but +avoided even an hour's journey "out of town." She had in London, +however, come to be fond of the lady who became Mrs. Truman J. Martin, +of Buffalo, N.Y., and to her had written the lyric, "A Song for +Rosalys"; and she made an exception to her usual custom to visit her +friend in her American home. A Buffalo journal remarks on the +occurrence with the true floridness of society journalism: + + "The event of the week _par excellence_ has been the arrival + in Buffalo of that gifted writer and eminent woman--Mrs. + Louise Chandler Moulton of Boston. Mrs. Moulton arrived on + Monday evening, and is the guest of her friend, Mrs. Truman + J. Martin of North Street, where she is resting after a + season of excessive literary work and many social + obligations.... Mrs. Moulton has a striking personality. The + years have touched lightly her heart and features, her + strongest characteristic being a heartiness and sincerity + and warmth that come to a great soul who has enjoyed and + suffered much and who has dipped into the deepest of life's + grand experiences. She dresses handsomely and somewhat + picturesquely, elegant laces and rich velvet and silks + forming themselves into her expressive attire." + +The reporter goes on to describe a reception given to Mrs. Moulton by +her hostess at which a local club known as the Scribblers was +represented: + + "Flowers were everywhere in the house, bowls and vases of + white carnations. 'The Scribblers' flowers, and roses and + lilies for 'Rosalys,' Mrs. Martin's middle name, and which + she still retains--'Charlotte Rosalys Jones,' as her pen + name.... Mrs. Moulton was dressed in black satin, with + elegant rose-point lace and diamonds.... The real delight + of the afternoon came when Mrs. Moulton took up a little + bundle of her poems, special selections of Mrs. Martin's, + and read with great expression some of the sublime, + pathetic, and passionate thoughts that have endeared this + writer to the English reading world and placed her among the + foremost of American writers. Mrs. Moulton's voice is of + peculiar timbre, and reveals to the intelligent listener a + character of the finest mould, suffering intensely through + the inevitable decrees of a fate not too kind to the most + favored, and a wealth of love and devotion that is + immeasurable." + +The hostess might be English, but the description of the entertainment +could hardly be more American. + +Mrs. Moulton mentioned that during this visit she met Mrs. Charles +Rohlfs (Anna Katherine Green), and had an opportunity of saying that +she had enjoyed that writer's novels. Like Mrs. Browning, who declared +that she "slept with her pillows stuffed with novels," Mrs. Moulton +was a confirmed reader of fiction. She read them at seventy with the +zest of seventeen, and took "cruel endings" quite to heart. + +Among the letters of the winter is an amusing note from Secretary +John Hay, accompanying a copy of the "Battle of the Books," and +saying: "Don't ask how I obtained it! I am proud to say in a strictly +dishonest manner!" An invitation from Miss Anne Whitney, too, asking +her to dine, and assuring her that she "will meet some friends without +strikingly bad traits"; and many epistles from which pleasant bits +might be taken. An interesting letter from Alice Brown refers to the +subject of death, and in allusion to her friend, Louise Imogen Guiney, +Miss Brown says: "So if you go before Louise and me, it will only be +to begin another spring somewhere else,--gay as the daffodils. I hope +you'll keep your habit of singing there, and we shall all love to love +and love to serve." A letter of Bliss Carman's thus refers to Miss +Guiney: + + _Bliss Carman to Mrs. Moulton_ + + "... Have you seen that perfect thing of Louise Imogen + Guiney's with the lines,-- + + "And children without laughter lead + The war-horse to the watering. + + "Isn't that the gold of poetry? She ought to have a triumph + on the Common, and a window in Memorial Hall.... Do you see + that faun of Auburndale?" + +On New Year's Day, 1903, the diary records: "First of all I wrote a +sonnet--'Why Do I never See You in My Dreams?'" + + * * * * * + +The summer was passed in London as usual, but with, if possible, more +festivities than ever. The diary records: + + "Went to Lady Seton's luncheon party--of I think twenty--a + very pleasant affair in honor of Mr. Howells and his + daughter. I sat next to Mr. Howells and had a good talk with + him." + + "Went to the luncheon at the Cecil, given by the Society of + American Women in London in honor of Ambassador and Mrs. + Reid and Mr. and Mrs. Longworth." + + "Went in the evening to the Women Writers' dinner. I sat at + Mrs. Craigie's table." + + "Went to the Lyceum Club Saturday dinner. Lady Frances + Balfour presided." + + "Went to the Baroness Burdett-Coutts' garden-party. Oh, + Holly Lodge is such a beautiful place!" + + "Went to Irving's dinner at the New Gallery. Sir Edward + Russell, editor of the _Daily Post_, Liverpool, took me out; + and a delightful companion he was." + + "Many guests: Mrs. Wilberforce, Lady Henry Somerset, Mrs. + Henniker, the Pearsall Smiths, William Watson, Oswald + Crawfurd, 'Michael Field' (that is to say Miss Bradley and + Miss Cooper), Violet Hunt, Mr. and Mrs. Clement Shorter, + Archdeacon and Mrs. Wilberforce, and many more." + +As the years went on, bringing her to the verge of seventy, Mrs. +Moulton's literary activity naturally grew greatly less. The record of +her life for the following years was largely a record of friendships, +with the enjoyments and honors which belonged to her place among +American writers. She was asked often to write her reminiscences of +the many distinguished people she had known, but always declined. "I +have, alas! kept no records," she wrote to one editor. She was +naturally asked to be present at any literary function of importance. +She was a guest at the dinner given by the New England Women's Club in +1905, in honor of Mrs. Howe's eighty-fifth birthday, and notes that it +was "a brilliant meeting," and adding: "Mrs. Howe had written a gay +little poem in response, wonderful woman that she is." The dinner +given in honor of Mark Twain's seventieth birthday was the last great +occasion of the kind which she attended. In the following year she +returned from Europe just too late to join in the dinner given by the +Harpers on the seventieth birthday of Dr. Alden. Not only for her +literary standing and as an old friend of Dr. Alden would it have been +appropriate for her to be present on this occasion; but she might also +have appeared as his first contributor, as some thirty years earlier, +Dr. Alden's first official act upon assuming the chair as editor of +_Harper's Magazine_ had been to accept a contribution from Mrs. +Moulton. + +In the letters of this period are to be found the truest records of +what most interested Mrs. Moulton and best expressed her personality. +Unfortunately she often asked that her letters should be destroyed, so +that no selection which may now be brought together does her complete +justice. The letters she received, however, reflect in many ways those +to which they replied; and extracts from them may be left to speak for +themselves. + + _Louise Imogen Guiney to Mrs. Moulton_ + + "... On an awfully wild and windy day of last week I struck + off for Highgate over Hampstead Heath, and got so drenched + additionally in the memories of the men who reign over me, + Lamb, Coleridge, Keats, Shelley, and Hunt, that I declare + now I must live there a while. Coleridge's tomb I knew to be + under the crypt of the Grammar School, and I found the + Gilmans' house where he died, thanks to the only knowledge + that I seem to have had from everlasting. The tomb is a + queer piece of masonry, so placed that you may put your hand + within an inch of his coffin. After some exploring and + inquiring, George Eliot's grave turned up in the new grounds + of Highgate Cemetery, where I suppose poor Philip Marston's + must be. Her grave is an entirely unconventional affair, to + the memory of Mary Ann Cross. I caught myself wondering + whether there were any special reason for laying that great + soul (here is some theological inaccuracy!) in so narrow and + crowded a space, when suddenly I shifted my position, and + saw that she was lying directly at the feet of George Henry + Lewes, born August 4, 1817, died December 30, 1878. It gave + me a queer sensation, I tell you, for Lewes' marble is half + hidden and not visible from the path. If it were George + Eliot's wish, honor to Mr. Cross for carrying it out!" + + "Some agreeable witchery, sure to be transient, is about me + to-day, for I've made a 'pome,' the first since winter, and + patched up a trivial old one,--both of which I send you as + a slight token that I may get out of Bedlam yet. The sonnet + I want you to cherish, it is so abominably pessimistic...." + + "I have been luxuriating in 'Atalanta.'... That is my + springtime. There is no such music and motion and solemn + gladness anywhere in modern verse. In a year or two more I + shall know it by heart from cover to cover.... And here is + England knee-deep in green and daisies; England piled with + ruined Abbey walls." + + "I have two refreshments to chronicle,--one is Irving's + 'Becket,' and not the stock-still, curiously inefficient + play, but just Irving's 'Becket,' otherwise 'St. Thomas of + Canterbury,' a flash and a breath from Heaven. Where does + that actor get his gift of everything spiritual and + supernatural? His charm to me is that he has great moral + power,--either inherent from the noble mind ... or else + acquired by art so subtle that I never got hold of the + like.... Surely, not everybody can see so into a character + ... and measure its astonishing depth in humanity and + divinity." + + + _Archdeacon Wilberforce to Mrs. Moulton_ + + "DEAR MRS. CHANDLER-MOULTON: Thank you for your letter. On + page 237, of the book I send you, I have answered your + question 'Why cannot God make people good in the first + instance.' Because even God can only make things by means of + the process by which they become what they are. God could + not make a hundred-year-old tree in your garden in one + minute. He cannot make a moral being except through the + processes by means of which a moral being becomes what he + is. What does Walt Whitman say? + + "Our life is closed, our life begins. + + And again: + + "In the divine ship, the World hasting Time and Space, + All People of the globe together sail, sail the same voyage, + are bound for the same destination...." + + + _Miss Robbins to Mrs. Moulton_ + + 96 MT. VERNON ST., + January 23, 1906. + + MY DEAR MRS. MOULTON: This little note from Dean Hodges + belongs to you rather than to me. If you had never written + anything else all your life but this beautiful "Help Thou + Mine Unbelief," you have done something worth living for, + something truly great. + + And now to explain a little. I was glad to meet Dean Hodges + at your house, and I asked him if among your poems he knew + this one that I so prized. I told him that I had shown it to + Dr. Momerie, who murmured, after reading it: "It is finer, + it is, than 'Lead, Kindly Light.'" Dr. Momerie then went on + to say there were only half a dozen good hymns, and that + this was one of them. As Dean Hodges did not know the poem, + I offered to copy it for him, as I have done for several + people before, and now this is his reply. Such praise from + such a man is praise indeed! + + I had such an interesting time at your house, meeting such + interesting people, but what I wanted most was a + _tête-à-tête_ with my interesting hostess. I always want to + know you better. + + Believe me, dear Mrs. Moulton, + + Always yours, + + JULIA ROBBINS. + + + _Dean Hodges to Miss Robbins_ + + [_Enclosed_] + + THE DEANERY, CAMBRIDGE, + January 22, 1906. + + DEAR MISS ROBBINS: I cannot thank you enough for these + devout and helpful verses of Mrs. Moulton's. I have read and + re-read them,--every time with new appreciation. They belong + to the great hymns. + + It was a pleasure to meet you, and one I hope to have again. + + Faithfully yours, + + GEORGE HODGES. + + + _Dr. Hale to Mrs. Moulton_ + + APRIL 5, 1906. + + DEAR MRS. MOULTON: I thank you indeed for the kind + expression of memories and hopes which calls up so much from + the past and looks forward so cheerfully into the future.... + No, as life goes on with us, we do not rest as often as I + should like. But that is the special good of a milestone + like this,--it gives us a chance to look backward and + forward. + + This note has carried me back to an old friend, Phillips, + the publisher, who died too early for the rest of us. You + will not remember it, but he introduced me to you. I wonder + if you can know how highly he prized your literary work? + + With thanks for your kind note, dear Mrs. Moulton, + + I am always yours, + + EDWARD EVERETT HALE. + +Mrs. Moulton's visit to London in the summer of 1906 was her last. +While her health forced her to decline most invitations, she still saw +her numerous friends in quiet, intimate ways, and was made to feel +their abiding affection. + +On her birthday of this year she received, with a single red rose, +this poem from the late Arthur Upson: + + Does a rose at the bud-time falter + To think of the Junes gone by? + Shall our love of the red rose alter + Because it so soon must die? + + Nay, for the beauty lingers + Though the symbols pass away-- + The rose that fades in my fingers, + The June that will not stay. + + I used to mourn their fleetness, + But years have taught me this: + A memory wakes their sweetness, + The hope of them, their bliss. + + They are not themselves the treasure, + But they signal and they suggest + Imperishable pleasure, + Inviolable rest! + +Among the Christmas gifts which she made this year was a copy of "At +the Wind's Will," which she sent to Miss Sarah Holland Adams, the +accomplished essayist and translator from the German. It was thus +acknowledged: + + _Miss Adams to Mrs. Moulton_ + + "DEAR MRS. MOULTON: Your beautiful little book is a dear + thing. I thank you for sympathy in the loss of my only + brother. I am writing to the publisher for your 'Garden of + Dreams.' I've never read it and now I need to live in + dreams. Do you know Swinburne's lines on the death of Barry + Cornwall? No poem ever haunted me like this. The tone of it, + even in my brightest moods, seemed to color my words. Of + course this must be imagination, but the last lines are so + dear,-- + + "For with us shall the music and perfume that die not dwell, + Tho' the dead to our dead bid welcome--and we, farewell." + + "Later. + + "How kind, how generous you are, to send me this precious + volume! I find many fine poems in it and only wish I could + hear you read them." + +And so, as always before, on all the New Years of all her lovely life, +the old year went out and the New Year came in to the music of +gracious words. Her life, marking the calendar with kindly deeds and +beautiful thought, leaves as its legacy + + ... the assurance strong + That love, which fails of perfect utterance here, + Lives on to fill the heavenly atmosphere + With its immortal song. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +1907-1908 + + ... May she meet + With long-lost faces through the endless days; + Find youth again, and life with love replete, + In amethystine meadows where she strays; + And hear celestial music, strangely sweet, + By the still waters of the lilied ways.--LONGFELLOW. + + ... A Hand like this hand + Shall throw open the gates of new life to thee! See Christ stand! + --BROWNING. + + Break, ties that bind me to this world of sense, + Break, now, and loose me on the upper air; + Those skies are blue; and that far dome more fair + With prophecy of some divine, intense, + Undreamed-of rapture. Ah, from thence + I catch a music that my soul would snare + With its strange sweetness; and I seem aware. + Of Life that waits to crown this life's suspense.--L.C.M. + + +In any thought of Mrs. Moulton's life, through which gleamed always +the double thread of friendship and song, certain words of the Rev. +Dr. Ames associate themselves,--that all our time here is God's time, +"which we measure off by days and years, that we are, even now, +continually with Him in the great Forever, embosomed in the infinite +power and purity." In Mrs. Moulton's own words, it is only + + From life to Life + +that we pass. + +In retrospective glance, how beautiful are these closing months of her +sojourn on earth! They were filled to the last with love and +friendship, and sweet thought, Mrs. Moulton's health was constantly +failing from this winter of 1907 until she passed through the +"Gleaming Gates" in August of 1908, but so gently imperceptible was +the decline that even through this winter she half planned to go to +London again in the spring. In a little meditation on the nature of +life which T.P. O'Connor induced her to write for his journal about +this time, under the caption of "My Faith and My Works," she said: + + "There must be always 'the still, sad music of + humanity'--the expression of the mind that foresees, of the + heart that aches with foreknowledge. One would not ignore + the gladness of the dawn, the strong splendor of the mid-day + sun; but, all the same, the shadows lengthen, and the day + wears late. + + "And yet the dawn comes again after the night; and one has + faith--or is it hope rather than faith?--that the new world + which swims into the ken of the spirit to whom Death gives + wings, may be fairer even than the dear familiar + earth--that, somewhere, somehow, we may find again the + long-lost; or meet the long-desired, the un-found, who + forever evaded our reach in this mocking sphere, where we + have never been quite at home, because, after all, we are + but travellers, and this is but our hostelry, and not our + permanent abode." + +"My best reward has been the friendships that my slight work has won +for me," she had said; and the assurance of these did not fail her to +the end. + +In the article just quoted she said of her work: + + "I have written many times more prose than verse, but it is + my verse which is most absolutely _me_, and for which I + would rather that you should care. Some critics assert that + the sonnet is an artificial form of expression. Is it? I + only know that no other seems to me so intimate--in no other + can I so sincerely utter the heart's cry of despair or of + longing--the soul's aspiration toward that which is + eternal. + + "Am I a realist? I think I am; but who was it who said that + the sky is not less real than the mud?" + +The death of her old friend, Mr. Aldrich, greatly moved her, and in +her diary for March 20, 1907, she records: + + "Indoors all day; an awful wind storm, and the day was made + sad by the news in the morning's paper of T.B. Aldrich's + death yesterday, in the late afternoon. Oh, how sad death + seems. Aldrich was seventy last November. How soon we, his + contemporaries, shall all be gone. His death seems to darken + everything." + +Two days later she writes: + + "Went to the funeral services of T.B. Aldrich, at Arlington + Street Church. The services, the music, and Mr. + Frothingham's reading, were most impressive and + beautiful.... In the evening came Mr. Stedman to see me. His + visit was a real pleasure, I had not seen him for so long." + +This must have been the last meeting between Mrs. Moulton and Mr. +Stedman after their almost life-long friendship. + +To Mrs. Aldrich she wrote: + + _Mrs. Moulton to Mrs. Aldrich_ + + 28 RUTLAND SQUARE, + March 30, 1907. + + DEAR MRS. ALDRICH: I cannot tell you how my talk with you a + few days ago brought the long past back to me. How I wish I + could put into words a picture of your poet as I saw him + first. I was in New York for a visit, and was invited for an + afternoon to an out-of-town place, where a poet-friend and + his wife were staying. Other interesting people were there, + but _the_ one I remember was T.B.A. His poems had charmed + me, and to me he was not only their author, but their + embodiment. Had it been otherwise, I should have felt bereft + of an ideal; but he was all I had imagined and more. I saw + him alive with the splendor of youth, rich, even then, in + achievement, and richer still in hope and dreams,--a + combination of knight and poet. He escorted me back to New + York, I remember, and the charm of his presence and his + conversation still lingers in my memory. Ever since then I + have kept in touch with his work and loved it. His + personality attracted every one who met him, and his + generous kindness and appreciation were a joy to those who + sought his sympathy. + + I remember the pleasure with which my poet-friend, Frederic + Lawrence Knowles, told me of a kind invitation to call on + Mr. Aldrich, and the yet more enthusiastic delight with + which he afterward described the interview. He found his + gracious and graceful host to be so wise, sympathetic, + hopeful, and suggestive, all that he had hoped for and more. + I think every young poet who had the happiness of meeting + him could bear similar testimony. + + I saw him last on the twelfth of January, 1907, so short a + time before his death, and yet he seemed so alert and alive, + so interesting, so entirely what he was when I knew him + first that one could not have dreamed that the end was near. + The only consolation for a loss that will be so widely felt + is in the legacy he has left to the world of immortal charm + and beauty,--the work that will not die. + + Yours most sincerely, + + LOUISE CHANDLER MOULTON. + +The last sonnet which Mrs. Moulton wrote was for the birthday of Mrs. +Howe. + + TO JULIA WARD HOWE + + ON HER EIGHTY-SEVENTH BIRTHDAY, MAY 27, 1907 + + Youth is thy gift--the youth that baffles Time, + And smiles derisively at vanished years. + Since the long past the present more endears, + And life but ripens in its golden prime, + Who knows to what proud heights thou still may'st climb-- + What summoning call thy listening spirit hears-- + What triumphs wait, ere conquering death appears-- + What magic beauty thou may'st lend to rhyme? + + Sovereign of Love and May, we kiss the hand + Such noble work has wrought, and add our bays + To those with which the world has crowned thy brow: + Thy subjects we, in this the happy land, + Thy presence gladdens, and thy gracious ways + Enchant--Queen of the Long-Ago and Now. + +During the summer Mrs. Moulton was for the most part in her +morning-room, surrounded by her favorite books, her papers, her +letters, attended by the faithful Katy, and remembered constantly with +flowers and tokens from friends. She cherished until quite midsummer +the hope of joining the Schaefers, who were in Europe; but in reply to +their urgent wish to return and be with her, she begged that they +would not cut short their trip, as it would distress her to feel that +they were in Boston during the hot weather. To a friend who remained +in town and who saw her every day, she said: "It would make me really +ill to have Florence and Will come into this hot town. I should only +feel how uncomfortable they must be, dear as they are to wish to come +for my sake. With letters and the cable, we are in touch all the +time." + +It was, on the whole, a pleasant season, although she was often +uncomfortable if not actually in pain. Friends urged her to come into +the country, but to this she did not feel equal. Mrs. Spofford had met +with an accident, but before the summer was over was able to resume +her visits; and more than anything else her companionship brightened +the days. + +The autumn brought back the accustomed circle, and in October came the +following letter from Dr. Ames: + + _Dr. Ames to Mrs. Moulton_ + + 12 CHESTNUT ST., BOSTON, + October 24, 1907. + + MY DEAR FRIEND: I am somewhat foot-fast; but very far from + indifferent, and you will never know how often your name is + called as I tell my rosary beads. + + I wonder if you find comfort, as I often do, in the thought + that all true and honorable human friendship is + representative of its inspiring source, and that we should + not thus care for each other, and wish each other's highest + welfare, if our hearts were not in receptive touch with a + Heart still greater, purer, and more loving? Can you rest in + the imperfect good will of your friends and yet distrust its + Origin and Fountain? + + I appreciate and share your perplexity over the world's + "Vast glooms of woe and sin." But, when most weary and + heavy-laden with all our common burden of sorrow and shame, + I find some measure of strength and peace in the example and + spirit of One who knew and felt it all, One who could gather + into a heart of boundless compassion all the blind and + struggling multitudes, and could yet trust all the more + fully to the Father's love for all, because He felt that + love in His own. + + The problem of evil--my evil, yours, everybody's--was not + solved by Him with any reasoning; it was simply met and + overmatched by faith which saw all finite things held in the + Infinite, as all the stars are held in space. + + Did sin abound? Grace did much more abound. To that + superabounding grace I commit all our needy souls. I know no + other resource. I need no other. + + Not all the sins that we have wrought + So much His tender mercies grieve + As that unkind, injurious thought + That He's not willing to forgive. + + As for unanswered questions,--let them rest. They rest while + you sleep; let them rest while you wake. In opening a window + to look out, we shall let in the blessed light of heaven. + How many hearts have found this true! Did any ever find it + untrue? To escape from self-attention is the sure cure of + morbid, self-consuming thoughts and moods.... + + While you and I are waiting for the sunset gun, what use can + we make of our afternoon except to welcome the sacred + horizontal light, which shows us how our resources and + energies can best be applied to the welfare of others? If in + considering our remaining opportunities and duties, we may + partly forget our own private troubles, that will be + salvation, will it not? We may be sure that all the + happiness we try to secure for others will return to + ourselves redoubled. You would say this to another, why not + say it insistently to yourself. + + Faithfully yours, + + CHARLES GORDON AMES. + +In November her daughter and son-in-law arrived, and from that time +did not leave her. There were happy days in which Mrs. Moulton was +able to drive, although these were rare, and as the winter wore on she +was less and less able to see friends. The last letter she ever wrote, +save for some brief words to Mrs. Spofford, written when she could +with difficulty hold a pen, was one to Archdeacon Wilberforce, and +even this was left unfinished. It was entirely concerned with +religious questionings. + +The entries in her diary became few and irregular. There is a pathetic +beauty in the fact that the latest complete record, in the early +summer of 1908, is a mention of a visit from "dear Hal," Mrs. +Spofford. The very last was simply the words "Florence and Will," +which fitly closed the record which had extended over more than a +quarter of a century. + +Hardly a month before her death Colonel Higginson wrote to her that he +felt that in her execution she excelled all other American +women-poets. She had questioned him of death, and he replied: "Your +question touches depths. I never in my life felt any fear of death, as +such. I never think of my friends as buried." + +The transition came on Monday, August 10, 1908. On the Friday before +she had seemed better, and Mrs. Spofford, who was with her on that +day, remarked afterward that "It was delightful to hear her repeat her +lyric, 'Roses.'" + + Roses that briefly live, + Joy is your dower; + Blest be the fates that give + One perfect hour; + For, though too soon you die, + In your dust glows + Something the passer-by + Knows was a rose. + +"Velvet-soft in this," Mrs. Spofford continued, "her voice had a +ringing gayety whose strange undertone was sorrow when reciting, 'Bend +Low, O Dusky Night.'" + +On Saturday she seemed still her old self, but on Sunday afternoon she +became unconscious, and on the morning following came release. So +peaceful was the transition that to the watchers it was as if she only +passed from sleep into a deeper peace. The lines of the late Father +Tabb might almost seem to have been written to describe that fitting +end: + + Death seemed afraid to wake her, + For traversing the deep + When hence he came to take her, + He kept her fast asleep. + And happy in her dreaming + Of many a risk to run, + She woke with rapture beaming, + To find the voyage done. + +The funeral service was held three days later. Friends had sent masses +of flowers, and among them she rested, never more beautiful, with only +peace on the still face. An incident slight, but at such a moment +touching, marked the removal of the casket from the house. As it was +borne down the steps a superb golden butterfly flew on just before it, +as if it were a visible symbol of the rich spirit now "loosed upon the +air." The committal was at Mount Auburn, where her grave is beside +that of Mr. Moulton. A beautiful Celtic cross marks the spot where +rests all that was mortal of one of the sweetest and most genuine +singers of all her century. + +[Illustration: LOUISE CHANDLER MOULTON'S GRAVE IN MOUNT AUBURN, +CAMBRIDGE, MASS. + +_Page 275_] + +The letters of sympathy sent to Mrs. Schaefer were many and +spontaneous, full of individual feeling and of a sense of personal +loss on the part of the writers. "I shall always feel grateful for the +privilege of Mrs. Moulton's friendship," wrote the Rev. Albert B. +Shields, then rector of the Church of the Redeemer. "One of the +kindest friends I ever had," wrote Professor Evans, of Tufts College; +"no one that I have known had a greater capacity than she for making +close friends." "No one loved your mother as I did," was the word from +Coulson Kernahan, "and her passing leaves me lonelier and sadder than +I can say." Mrs. Margaret Deland spoke of her "nature so generous, so +full of the appreciation of beauty, and of such unfailing human +kindness." Mrs. Spofford, so long and so closely her friend, said +simply: "I miss her more and more as the days go by. I miss her +sympathy, her comradeship.... She was inspiringly good and dear to me; +and her love will go with me to the last." + + * * * * * + +Such extracts might be multiplied, but they are not needed. The +affection she felt and inspired must live in the hearts of her +friends, and such letters are almost too tender and intimate to be put +into cold print. + +Mrs. John Lane, now of London, but in former years known in Boston as +Miss Eichberg, one of the intimates of 28 Rutland Square, has written +the following reminiscences of Mrs. Moulton, between whom and herself +long existed a warm friendship: + + "An anecdote told by Mrs. Moulton about Thomas Carlyle and + his wife has been going the rounds of the press since her + death, coming thus to my notice. I only partially recognize + it as one she had often told me. The true version of it is + as follows: Mrs. Moulton had it from her friend, Lady + Ashburton, who was also a friend of Carlyle and his wife. It + seems that Lady Ashburton had invited the Carlyles to visit + her. There was a large house-party of people congenial to + the great man, and one day after dinner Lady Ashburton + prevailed on Carlyle to read aloud some passages from the + 'French Revolution.' From reading, Carlyle, carried away by + his subject, continued a discourse independent of his own + work, which was so brilliant and eloquent that his hearers + were profoundly impressed. After he had ceased and it was + time for all to separate for the night, they went, in turn, + to express to him their appreciation. The only person who + did not do this was his wife, and as Carlyle stood as if + expectant, Lady Ashburton said rather impulsively to Mrs. + Carlyle: 'Why don't you speak to him? Your praise means more + to him than that of all the rest, and only see how he has + moved them!' 'Ah, yes,' replied Mrs. Carlyle, 'but they + don't have to live with him.'" + + "I first met Mrs. Moulton in London in the early eighties. I + had a letter of introduction to her from a common Boston + friend. She was then in the beginning of her London success, + knowing everybody in the literary world worth knowing, and + extending her simple and charming hospitality to very great + people indeed. To go to her Fridays was always to meet men + and women whose names are famous on two continents. To a + young girl as I was, brought up with a deep veneration for + all things literary in England, it was a wonderful + opportunity to come face to face, through her kindness, + with the curious phases of art and literature of that + period. + + "These movements were the outcome of the pre-Raphaelite, the + outward aspects of that erratic and distinguished society, + and its artificial simplicity. It was enough to impress any + one coming from so conventional a city as Boston. Perhaps + the deepest impression made on me was by Philip Bourke + Marston, for I remember how Mrs. Moulton brought him to see + us, and my father, Julius Eichberg, played for him on the + violin. Never shall I forget the picture as he sat there + listening, his head supported by his hand, and the various + expressions evoked by the music passing over his face. + + "It was undoubtedly through Mrs. Moulton that the younger + English poets of those earlier days won American + recognition. Many of these who have now an assured place in + literature were first known in America through her + introduction. As I remember now, it was she who first + unfolded to me the splendid, stately perfection and the + profound thought of William Watson, and I can still hear her + lovely voice as she recited to me that wonderful poem of + his, 'World-Strangeness.' It was she who first read to me + 'The Ballad of a Nun,' by John Davidson, and that moving + and tragic poem by Rosamond Marriott, '_Le Mauvais Larron_.' + + "I remember going with Mrs. Moulton to Miss Ingelow's. Once + I remember, when James Russell Lowell was first accredited + Minister to the Court of St. James, and had just arrived in + London, we met him at Miss Ingelow's. He was evidently a + stranger to the hostess and to all her guests, and I recall + his talking to her, holding in his hand a cup of tea which + he evidently did not want. Miss Ingelow, in a bonnet and + shawl, with a lace veil over her face (it was a garden + party), seemed to be stricken with a kind of English shyness + which made her rather unresponsive, so that he went away + without having been introduced to any one, while every one + looked on and wanted to know him. + + "I remember an enthusiastic American girl who was introduced + to Thomas Hardy by Mrs. Moulton, at one of her Fridays, who + exclaimed, 'O Mr. Hardy, to meet you makes this a red letter + day for me'; whereupon the quiet, reserved, great man looked + at her in speechless alarm and fled. It was at Mrs. + Moulton's that I first became acquainted with the editor of + the famous 'Yellow Book.' He was Henry Harland, and its + publisher was John Lane. I recall Mrs. Moulton saying 'Now + that I have introduced the editor to you I must also + introduce the publisher.' + + "It was in the 'Yellow Book' that the most distinguished of + the younger English writers first won their spurs, and that + erratic genius, Aubrey Beardsley, made his undying mark on + the black and white art, not only of England, but of the + world. It was all these younger men whose talent Mrs. + Moulton made known to the American public. + + "In the first years of my friendship with Mrs. Moulton, when + she still wrote fiction, she once told me of the plot of a + story which had been told to her by Philip Marston. It was a + wonderful plot and Mr. Marston wished her to use it. As she + told me the details in her vivid way, I was profoundly + impressed as if it had been a story of De Maupassant. She + seemed to have no great desire to use it, although she was, + for the moment, fired by my young enthusiasm for it. If ever + I envied, as only a young literary aspirant can, it was Mrs. + Moulton then as the ownership of that plot, and I told her + so. 'If I do not use it,' she said, 'I will give it to you.' + So years passed, and in my mind still lingered the + remembrance of that wonderful plot which, so far, Mrs. + Moulton had not used. One evening we were at the theatre + together, and as we sat talking, between the acts, she + suddenly reverted to the plot. 'I have decided,' she said, + 'that I shall never use it, and I will give it to you.' I do + not think that any gift ever made me so happy; it was a + happiness that only a writer of stories can appreciate. It + seemed to me as if I could not find words to express my + gratitude for her great generosity. I know my delight made + her happy. It was so a part of her to be happy in another's + happiness. For days and weeks afterward I only lived in that + wonderful plot--but to this day the wonderful plot has not + been used." + +The numbers of autograph copies of books presented to Mrs. Moulton by +their authors she left, by memorandum, to the Boston Public Library, +with the request that Professor Arlo Bates make the selection. These +now form a memorial collection, each volume marked by a book-plate +bearing an engraved portrait of Mrs. Moulton. Professor Bates has +written an account of this collection, which, as it has not before +been published, may be included here as not only interesting from the +inscriptions which it contains, but as indicating the range and +variety of Mrs. Moulton's literary friendships. + +[Illustration: FACSIMILE OF BOOK PLATE FROM THE MEMORIAL COLLECTION OF +THE BOOKS OF LOUISE CHANDLER MOULTON + +BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY + +_Page 282_] + + +THE MOULTON COLLECTION + +"From the library of Mrs. Louise Chandler Moulton it has been my +task--sombre yet grateful--to select a collection of autographed books +and first editions to be given to the Public Library of Boston as a +Memorial. Between eight and nine hundred volumes were found worthy, +and of these no small number are of rarity and much interest. Mrs. +Moulton had not only the books presented to her personally by the +writers, but from the library of Philip Bourke Marston she inherited +many others enriched by the autographs of famous men and women. The +list is too long to be given in anything like entirety, but it +included Thomas Bailey Aldrich, Mathilde Blind, Frederick von +Bodenstedt, Charles Bradlaugh, Alice Brown, Madison Cawein, F.B. +Money-Coutts, John Davidson, Austin Dobson, W.H. Drummond, Eugene +Field, Richard Garnett, Richard Watson Gilder, Robert Grant, Edmund +Gosse, Louise Imogen Guiney, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, H. Rider +Haggard, John Hay, William Ernest Henley, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Lord +Houghton, Henry James, Amy Levy, Lady Lindsay, Frederick Locker, James +Russell Lowell, Stéphane Mallarmé, Joaquin Miller, George Moore, +Felix Moscheles, the Hon. Roden Noel, Thomas Nelson Page, John Payne, +Nora Perry, Mr. and Mrs. James B. Piatt, James Whitcomb Riley, Amélie +Rives, C.G.D. Roberts, Christina Rossetti, William Sharp, Harriet +Prescott Spofford, Edmund Clarence Stedman, Algernon Charles +Swinburne, Bayard Taylor, John T. Trowbridge, Mrs. Humphry Ward, +William Watson, Theodore Watts-Dunton, John Greenleaf Whittier, and +Mary Wilkins. + +"The exact number of authors represented has not been counted, but +probably the autographed volumes, of which there are about six +hundred, do not contain more than a fifth of that number of well-known +names. Some signatures are by unknown authors who sent their books to +Mrs. Moulton because of her prominence; and in a limited number of +cases such have been thrown out as obviously not worthy of a place in +the collection. The variety of the personal acquaintances among +distinguished writers, however, illustrates very strikingly the +breadth of Mrs. Moulton's sympathies and the remarkable extent to +which she kept in touch with current literature. In not a few cases, +moreover, the inscriptions show how often her encouragement or wise +counsel had been helpful to the writer. In 'The White Sail,' Miss +Guiney writes: 'To Louise Chandler Moulton from her lover and debtor'; +Charles Bradlaugh, in 'The Impeachment of the House of Brunswick': +'From the author to his critic'; F.B. Money-Coutts, in 'King Arthur': +'A poor return for her kind interest'; John Davidson, in 'New +Ballads': 'From her obliged friend.' Others of this sort might be +quoted, and while dedicatory inscriptions are not always to be taken +too seriously, no one could know Mrs. Moulton and her helpful +kindliness without realizing to how many writers her sympathetic +criticism and judicious advice had been of marked value. C.W. Dalmon, +in a copy of the limited edition of 'Song-Favors' writes: 'To Mrs. +Louise Chandler Moulton for her kindness' sake, and for the sake of +"Philip, our King"; and the remembrance of that kindness in so many +hearts is to Mrs. Moulton a lasting monument.' + +"From the many and varied inscriptions in these books I have selected +a handful which seem to me interesting, and which Mrs. Moulton's +friends will, I hope, find so. In going over the library I was struck +with the range in time which these autographs cover. It gave a feeling +of being in touch with a past almost that of our grandmothers' to +come upon Le Tellier's '_L'Histoire Ancienne_' with the inscription: +'Louise Chandler Moulton from Madame Emma Willard, Troy Female +Seminary, May 30th, 1856'; or upon 'Lucy Howard's Journal,' bearing +upon the fly-leaf: 'Mrs. Ellen Louise Moulton, with the love of her +friend, L.H. Sigourney, Hartford, Conn't. Christmas, 1857.' The latter +volume is dated by the publishers 1858, so that the trick of making +the title-page state its age with feminine inexactness is less recent +than is generally supposed. Who to-day knows anything about Madame +Willard, or has other remembrance of Mrs. Sigourney than that of +seeing her name attached to moralizing selections in the reading-books +of our remote youth? + +"Older still than these, although the fact that Mr. Trowbridge has +happily been with us to the present time makes him seem less a figure +of the past, are the inscriptions in the first and second series of +Emerson's 'Essays': 'Ella Louise from Paul Creyton, April 10th, 1854'; +'To Ellen Louise from J.T.T., April 10th, 1854.' To the same year +belongs a copy of 'Mrs. Partington,' in which is written: 'To my +granddaughter, Ellen Louise, Ruth Partington by B.P. Shillaber.' I +confess to something of a wistful feeling at these reminders of a +time in the midyears of a century already dead, when I was in the +nursery and 'Ellen Louise,' 'Paul Creyton,' and 'Mrs. Partington' were +the literary stars glimmering out with yet ungauged power in the sky +where Emerson and Whittier and Longfellow were the fixed and shining +lights. + +"The autographed books, for the most part, however, belong to the +years since Mrs. Moulton had won her place as the leading woman-poet +of America. Her intimate connection with the literary world in England +has brought it about that almost as many English as American names are +found written on the fly-leaves of presentation copies. Largely, of +course, the sentiments are simple expressions of regard or admiration, +and it has not seemed worth while to include these here. Of those +which are more full or less conventional the following are examples: +Oswald Crawfurd has written in his 'Portugal': 'My friends consider +this my best work, and if they are right it is the fittest present I +can give to Mrs. Chandler Moulton, the best friend this year, 1887, +has brought me.' In the 1896 edition of 'Dawn' the author says: 'To +Mrs. Chandler Moulton with the kind regards of H. Rider Haggard. P.S. +Her appreciation of this old "three-decker," which he remembers +working very hard over, has pleased its antiquated author very much +indeed, as he imagined that nowadays it only possessed a prehistoric +interest.' In Lloyd Mifflin's 'The Fields of Dawn' is written: 'You +who know so well--by having so often encountered them yourself--the +almost insuperable difficulties of the sonnet form, will be among the +first to pardon the many short-comings of this little volume'; and in +'The Slopes of Parnassus' are quoted with graceful modesty the lines +of Tennyson: + + "For though its faults were thick as dust + In vacant chambers, I could trust + Your kindness. + +Nothing could be more graceful than the inscription of Arthur +Sherburne Hardy: 'If the _salut_ Passe Rose sang to Queen Hildegarde +(p. 354) had not already been verified for you, I should repeat it +here. Faithfully yours, etc.' The _salut_, as those will remember who +are as fond of 'Passe Rose' as I am, was: + + "God give thee joy, + And great honor. + +In her 'Brownies and Boggles' Miss Guiney has written: + + "'Of Brownyes and of Boggles fulle is this Beuk. + GAWAIN DOUGLAS, 1474-1522. + +For the "Fairy" Godmother, from her chronicler of elves. L.I.G.' And +in 'Goose-Quill Papers': 'To your most gracious hands these weeds and +tares.' Clyde Fitch, in a copy of 'The Knighting of the Twins,' +mounted from newspaper slips and bound by the author: 'Sweet +singer--friendship is a blue, blue sky,--fair, ethereal, interminable, +with an horizon made goldy with the sun of love. And your +friendship--is a sky still more precious, a heavenly one.' Harriet +Prescott Spofford inscribes 'An Inheritance,' 'My dear Louise, with +the love of her Hal,' and in turn Mrs. Moulton herself writes in a +volume of Mrs. Spofford's 'Poems': 'To Philip Bourke Marston I give +these poems of a woman whom I love.' Mrs. Clara Erskine Clement in +'Angels in Art': 'Alas! My pen was not "dropped from an angel's wing," +but such things as it writ I send thee with my love.' In a copy of +'Berries of the Briar' I found with amused surprise, as I had not seen +it for twenty years or so: 'Louise Chandler Moulton with Christmas +greeting from The Briar, 1886. + + "'Small worth claims my book + Save the greeting it brings you. + I pray you o'erlook + Small worth. Claims my book + But that you deign to brook + Its intrusion, in view + That no worth claims my book + Save the greeting it brings you.' + +Anybody could easily place this sort of verse without a date, for at +that time, in the eighties, experiments in French forms were +notoriously in fashion. In 'Love Lyrics,' in clear, incisive text one +reads: 'For Mrs. Louise Chandler Moulton these humble lines--herein +gathered by another than the author's hand--so doubly poor an exchange +for her volume of real poetry entitled "At the Wind's Will." With all +hale greetings of your ever grateful friend, James Whitcomb Riley. +Christmas of 1899. + + "'_At the Wind's Will!_--So sail these songs of thine + Into the haven of hearts--the world's and mine-- + While anchoring-chant of crew and pilot saith: + The Wind's will--yea, the will of God's own breath.' + +"In 'The World Beautiful' was inscribed: 'To Mrs. Louise Chandler +Moulton, whose graciousness and charm create a World Beautiful +wherever she goes, this little book is offered, with grateful love.' +Dr. Holmes' inscription is a copy of his well-known stanza: 'And if I +should live to be.' Edmund Clarence Stedman inscribes his 'Poems': 'To +my loyal, lifelong friend, Louise Chandler Moulton, Poet, with love +and homage. E.C. Stedman, Thanksgiving, 1897. + + "'The Power that arches heaven's orbway round + Gave to this planet's brood its soul of fire; + Its heart of passion,--and for life unbound + By chain or creed the measureless desire.--p. 126.' + +"The 'American Anthology' three years later has: 'To my life-long, +loyalest woman friend--my sister in life and song--Louise Chandler +Moulton. Meet whom we may, no others comprehend save those who +breathed the same air and drank the same waters when we trod the +sunrise fields of Youth.' In 'The Poet's Chronicle,' privately printed +in an edition of forty-four copies on Van Gelder paper, is written: +'My old friend, Louise Chandler Moulton, this piece not aimed at the +public. Frederick Wedmore, 3rd July, 1902.' 'Heartsease and Rue' Mr. +Lowell presents 'to Mrs. Louise Chandler Moulton with the kind regards +of the author, who wishes her all heartsease and no rue.' In this +volume, as in a number of others, a signed letter is inserted, either +one which accompanied the gift in the first place or which replied to +the acknowledgment of the recipient. 'Astrophel and Other Poems' is +sent 'To Mrs. Moulton from A.C. Swinburne in memoriam Philip Bourke +Marston.' + +"Among the Marston books are many of interest, but of them I have +space to mention only two. One is a copy of 'Ecce Homo,' to 'Philip +Bourke Marston from his godmother, D.M.C., Aug. 13, 1866.' Dinah +Mulock Craik's poem to her godson, 'Philip, my King,' is well known, +and is alluded to in one of the inscriptions which I have already +quoted. Mr. Marston's godfather, Philip James Bailey, bestowed upon +him a copy of 'Festus,' with the inscription: '_Ce livre donné +affectueusement par l'auteur à son cher filleul Philippe Bourke +Marston, qui a déjà par son propre genie étendue la renommée +patronymique, est accompagné des voeux les plus sincères pour la santé +et pour son bonheur._' Just why French should be used in this +connection is not evident, and perhaps I am not justified in feeling +that 'Festus' Bailey was perhaps not without a secret pride in being +able to achieve an inscription in that language. Be that as it may, +however, the sentiment expressed is a graceful one, not ungracefully +put. The third volume is a copy of Swinburne's 'A Song of Italy.' In +it is this note: 'This copy was read by Mr. Swinburne, on March 30th, +1867, to Mr. Mazzini, and has been in the hand of the great Italian to +whom it is dedicated. Presented to Philip Bourke Marston by Thomas +Purnell, 12 April, 1867.' + +"I have already much exceeded the limits within which in beginning +this paper I meant to end. I have therefore no space in which to speak +of the first and limited editions or of the privately printed books +which add to the value of the collection. It is to me a source of much +satisfaction that this fine and dignified memorial to Mrs. Moulton +should be in the Public Library of Boston. The book-plate by Sidney L. +Smith contains her portrait, and a catalogue of the books has been +printed. Mrs. Moulton's work is her monument, but this will be an +appropriate and fitting recognition of her place in American letters +and in the gracious company of New England's poets." + + * * * * * + +The autograph letters left by Mrs. Moulton, the greater number written +to her personally but some which were well-nigh priceless (like the +original of the famous letter in which Mrs. Browning stated her view +of spiritualism) from the bequest of Mr. Marston, were carefully +assorted, and by her daughter given to the Congressional Library at +Washington. To them was added the large number of autographed +photographs which Mrs. Moulton had received as gifts from famous or +distinguished persons. + + * * * * * + +The place of Louise Chandler Moulton as a writer is assured. The words +of the _London Athenæum_ in its memorial notice may be said to sum up +the matter with entire justice when it said that her work "entitles +her to her recognized position as the first poet, among women," in +America, from the fact that her verse possesses "delicate and rare +beauty, marked originality, and, what was better still, ... a sense of +vivid and subtle imagination, and that spontaneous feeling which is +the essence of lyrical poetry." Her mastery of the sonnet-form has +been commented upon in the words of critics of authority a number of +times already in this volume, and neither this nor her wonderful +instinct for metrical effect need be dwelt upon here. That she has +left her place in American letters unfilled, and that no successor is +in evidence will hardly be disputed. Few writers of equal eminence +have so completely escaped from all trace of mannerism, for unless a +tendency to melancholy might be so classed her poetry is unusually +free from this fault. The imaginative spontaneity of her verse made +it impossible for artificiality to intrude; and even the sadness never +seems forced or affected. The beauty of feeling and the exquisite +melody of her verse have in them the savor of immortality. + +To her friends the remembrance of her genius for friendship,--for it +amounted to that,--her wonderful and unworldly kindness which +overflowed in all her acts, the sympathy which no demands could +exhaust, must seem hardly less a title to continued remembrance than +her poetic powers. Her life was singularly complete, singularly +fortunate, in its conditions. It was a life enriched with genius, +friendship, and love, and above all it was the life of one whose +nature was golden throughout with the appreciation of beauty and the +instinctive generosity which gave as freely as it had received. + +She had entered into the larger life where + + No work begun shall ever pause for death, + +and where all the nobler energies of the spirit shall enter into +eternal beauty. + + +[Transcriber's Note: Obvious printer errors have been corrected +without note, and illustrations have been moved to the nearest +paragraph break.] + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Louise Chandler Moulton, by Lilian Whiting + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42147 *** |