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diff --git a/42147-8.txt b/42147-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 59bec5c..0000000 --- a/42147-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,7691 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Louise Chandler Moulton, by Lilian Whiting - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: Louise Chandler Moulton - Poet and Friend - -Author: Lilian Whiting - -Release Date: February 21, 2013 [EBook #42147] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOUISE CHANDLER MOULTON *** - - - - -Produced by Peter Vachuska, Chris Curnow, Linda Cantoni, -and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - -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 THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOUISE CHANDLER MOULTON *** - -***** This file should be named 42147-8.txt or 42147-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/4/42147/ - -Produced by Peter Vachuska, Chris Curnow, Linda Cantoni, -and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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