Page 122 - Four Famous American Writers: Washington Irving, Edgar Allan Poe, James Russell Lowell, Bayard Taylor

Upon his home a dawning lustre beams, But through the world he walks to
open day, Gathering from every land the prismal gleams, Which, when

united, form the perfect ray.

CHAPTER XII

BAYARD TAYLOR'S FRIENDSHIPS

A biography of Bayard Taylor would not be complete without some

account of his friendships. He was always on the best of terms with all
living beings, and this subtle attraction of his nature was an important part

of his greatness.

In "Views Afoot" he tells of a charming little incident which is enough in

itself to make us love the man. It occurred in Florence, Italy, where he was
a stranger, a foreigner; and this makes the incident in itself seem the more

wonderful. "I know of nothing," he writes, "that has given me a more sweet
and tender delight than the greeting of a little child, who, leaving his noisy
playmates, ran across the street to me, and taking my hand, which he could

barely clasp in both his soft little ones, looked up in my face with an
expression so winning and affectionate that I loved him at once."

We recall the girl with the tea-cakes whom he met on his first journey
while tramping across New Jersey. There was also something of human

love and fellowship in his familiarity with wild animals in Egypt. In a free,
joyous letter to his betrothed, Mary Agnew, he tells a curious incident of a

similar kind, which occurred while he was editing the paper at
Phoenixville. "On Sunday," says he, "I took [Schiller's] 'Don Carlos' with
me in our boat, and rowed myself out of sight of the village into the

solitude of the autumn woods. The sky was blue and bright as that of Eden,
and the bright trees waved over me like gorgeous banners from the hilltops.

I sat on a sunny slope and read for hours; it was a rare enjoyment! As I
moved to rise I found a snake, which had crept up to me for warmth, and
was coiled up quietly under my arm. I was somewhat startled, but the

reptile slid noiselessly away, and I could not harm it."