1 CENTURY READINGS

FOR A COURSE IN

AMERICAN LITERATURE

EDITED AND ANNOTATED BY

FRED LEWIS PATTEE, Liar, PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE IN

THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE COLLEGE

NEW YORK THE CENTURY CO.

1919

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

The recent manifestation of American patriotism, the new discovery by Europe of the soul of America, and the new insistence upon the teaching of Americanism in our schools and colleges, especially in those that for a time were under government control, has brought the study of American literature into the foreground as never before. More and more clearly is it seen now that the American soul, the American conception of democracy,— Americanism, should be made prominent in our school curriculums, as a guard against the rising spirit of experimental lawlessness which has followed the great war, and as a guide to the generation now molding for the future. For courses in literature, as literature is now taught, handbooks are neces-sary. The insistence now is not upon facts about authors and masterpieces, but upon the masterpieces themselves. The pupil must read wisely and intensively from the best work of the authors included in the course, and with the equipment of the aver-age school or college library this is impossible. Each member of a large class cannot go to the library and draw the Poems of Longfellow when Longfellow is under con-sideration, or the writings of Poe or Lowell or Whitman or Burroughs when those authors are up for consideration, and the ordinary student is not able to buy for him-self separate editions of the various classics comprehended in the course. The only solution is a book of selections copious enough to illustrate the message and the style and the significance of each of the major authors and of each of the great phases of our literature.

The present handbook attempts to furnish such material for teachers and students of American literature. It has been thought best to begin with the first genuinely American authors like Franklin and Freneau, men of the new Republic, and to go quickly to the major figures of Irving, Cooper, and Bryant. The selections have been made from three standpoints: first, literary excellence and originality; second, style and individuality of the author ; and, third, light thrown upon the period of the author and upon the growth of the American spirit. The last of these has been kept con-stantly in mind, for it has been considered by no means the least important of the three. The book is not only a handbook illustrating American literary art and its gradual evolution during more than a century; it is, if the compiler has done what he considers his duty, a handbook in Americanism, an interpretation of the American spirit by those who have been our spiritual leaders and our Voices.

An attempt has been made, and it is hoped with reasonable success, to illustrate the evolution of the American short story by presenting representative examples of this literary form from each decade since Irving, and also the development of Amer-ican society verse as well as other poetic forms. The best of the American patriotic songs have been included with notes explaining their origin and their early use. Several distinctive American documents like Washington's Farewell Address and Lincoln's Inaugurals have been given since it is believed from their perennial worth that they should be a part of the education of every American youth. American criti-cism has been illustrated by examples from Poe, Lowell, Burroughs, Stedman, and Fiske; the chief American historians have been similarly represented; and the highest reach of American thought and American feeling and the American soul has been illustrated by many typical poems from the great leading voices during a century and more of American song.

For the use of two hitherto unpublished pieces by Henry Cuyler Bunner,— the lyric ' Written on Valentine's Day,' and the short . story Father Anastatius,'— the editor is indebted to Mrs. Bunner.

27 27 3o 30 34 35' 35 35 36 36 37 37 38 38 39 39 40

CONTENTS

I. PERIOD OF BEGINNINGS, 1787-183o PAGE

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN (1706-1790) • 3 A Selection from Franklin's Autobiography 3 The Way to Wealth 12

GEORGE WASHINGTON (1732-1799) 18 Washington's Farewell Address 18

PHILIP FRENEAU (1752-1832) The Rising Glory of America The Northern Soldier The House of Night ; or Six Hours' Lodging with Death To the Memory of the Brave Americans Arnold's Departure The Hurricane The Wild Honey Suckle The Indian Burying Ground To Cynthia Ode On the Anniversary of the Storming of the Bastille The Republican Genius of Europe On a Honey Bee

TIMOTHY DWIGHT (1752-18I7) Columbia Psalm CXXX VII

ROYALL TYLER (1757-1826) 4 1 The Contrast, a Comedy — Prologue 41

Act Second 42 Act Third 44 Act Fifth 48

ALEXANDER WILSON (1766-1813) The Bluebird The Fish-Hawk

50 52

CHARLES BROCKDEN BROWN (1771-1810) 54 A DeEncountersterious Combustion 54

The Pestilence of 1798 57 An EncOunter with a Panther 58

WILLIAM WIRT (1772-1834) The Blind Preacher

61 61

JOHN JAMES AUDUBON (1780-1851) - 64 The Common Mocking-Bird 64

The Passenger Pigeon 65 Squatter Life on the American Rivers – 67

DANIEL WEBSTER (1782-1852) 69 The Bunker Hill Monument 69

WASHINGTON IRVING (1783-1859) 8o

A History of New York — Book III, Chapter I 81 The Author's Account of Himself 84 The Stout Gentleman 85

The Bold (1766-I813

)o The Devil and Tom Walker 94

vii

Viii CONTENTS

PAGE The Discovery of Land 10o The Hall of Ambassadors Spanish Romance 104

JAMES FENIMORE COOPER (1789-1851) 106 The Pilot—Chapter XVIII 106 The Pioneers — Chapter XXXIII I II

• Chapter XLI II2 The Prairie—Chapter XXVIII 116

FITZ-GREENE HALLECK (I790-I867) 123

Cutting 123

On the Death of Joseph Rodman Drake 124 Marco Bozzaris 124

JOSEPH RODMAN DRAKE (1795-1820) 126

The Culprit Fay 126 To a Friend 133 The American Flag 135

WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT (1794-1878) 136 Thanatopsis 136 Inscription for the Entrance to a Wood 137 To a Waterfowl 138 The Yellow Violet 138 Green River 139

A Winter Piece 140

A Walk at Sunset 14 1 November

A Forest Hymn 142

The Death of the Flowers 144 I Cannot Forget with what Fervid Devotion 144

The Prairies 145 To the Fringed Gentian 146

WILLIAM HICKLING PRESCOTT (I796-1859) 148 Return of Columbus 148 Queen Isabella 149 The Character and Fate of Montezuma 150

The Battle of Otumba 151

Early American Lyrists 155 JOSEPH HOPKINSON (I770-I842)

Hail Columbia 155

FRANCIS SCOTT KEY (1779-1843) 155 The Star-Spangled Banner

JOHN PIERPONT (1785-1866) Warren's Address to the American Soldiers 156

SAMUEL WOODWORTH (1785-1842) The Old Oaken Bucket 157

RICHARD HENRY DANA (I787-1879)

The Little Beach-Bird 157 Proem to the Buccaneer 158

RICHARD HENRY WILDE (I789-I847) Stanzas 158

JOHN HOWARD PAYNE (1792-1852) Home, Sweet Home! 159

MARIA GOWEN BROOKS (1795-I845) From Zophiel 159 Song from Zophiel 16o The Bard Has Sung The Moon of Flowers 16I A Fragment 161

CONTENTS ix

JOHN G. C. BRAINARD (1796-1828) PAGE

The Fall of Niagara 16I

The Sea-Bird's Song • 16I'

EDWARD COATE PINKNEY (18o2–I828) A Health 162

A Serenade 162

GEORGE POPE MORRIS (1802-1864) Woodman, Spare that Tree' 163 Near the Lake 163 Where Hudson's Wave 163 When Other Friends are Round Thee I63 The West I64

SAMUEL FRANCIS SMITH (1808-1895)

America 164

II. THE NEW ENGLAND PERIOD, 1830-1860

RALPH WALDO EMERSON (I803-I882) 167

Each and All 167

The Rhodora 168 The Humble-Bee 168 Concord Hymn 169

The American Scholar 169 The Problem 179 The Snow-Storm 1 79

Politics 18o

Self-Reliance I80 Forbearance 192 Brahma 192 Abraham Lincoln 192

Terminus 1 95

NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE (1804-I864) 196 Sights from a Steeple 197 David Swan 200

The Birthmark 203

The Great Stone Face 211

Preface to the House of the Seven Gables 221

NATHANIEL PARKER WILLIS (1806-I867) 223 Absalom 223 Letters from Under a Bridge 225 The White Chip Hat 227

To Helen in a Huff 227

Unseen Spirits 228

WILLIAM GILMORE SIMMS (1806-1870) 229 The Partisan 229

HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW (1807-1882) 24I A Psalm of Life 242 Hymn to the Night 242

Footsteps of Angels 242 The Beleaguered City 243 The Wreck of the Hesperus 243 The Village Blacksmith 244 Serenade 245 The Rainy Day 245 Beware 1 245 The Belfry of Bruges 246 The Day is Done 246 Resignation 247 An American Literature 248 My Lost Youth 249

x CONTENTS •

PAGE The Song of Hiawatha — Introduction 250

III Hiawatha's Childhood 252 VII Hiawatha's Sailing 254

X Hiawatha's Wooing 255 XX The Famine 257

XXII Hiawatha's Departure 259 The Courtship of Miles Standish —V — The Sailing of the Mayflower . . . 261 The Paul Revere's Ride 264 Divina Commedia 265

JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER (1807-I892) 267 The Moral Warfare 267 Proem 268 The Huskers 268 The Corn-Song 269 Ichabod 270 The Kansas Emigrants 270

Maud Muller 271 The Barefoot Boy .J 272 Skipper Ireson's Ride 273

Telling the Bees 2 74 Mountain Pictures 275 The Battle Autumn of I862 276 Laus Deo! 277 The Eternal Goodness 277 Snow-Bound: A Winter Idyl 278

OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES (1809-1894) 282

Old Ironsides 282 My Aunt 283 The Last Leaf 283 The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table 284 Album Verses 289 Latter-Day Warnings 292 This is It 299

The Chambered Nautilus 300

The Living Temple 30I The Deacon's Masterpiece 302

The Voiceless 303 'The Boys' 303 A Hymn of Trust 304 The Brahmin Caste of New England 304

EDGAR ALLAN POE (1809-1849) 307

Lenore 308 Isra fel 3o8 To Helen 309 To One in Paradise 309 The Fall of the House of Usher 309 The Haunted Palace 314 The Murders in the Rue Morgue 318 Eleonora 324

Hawthorne's Twice-Told Tales 32 7 The Raven 33o Ulalume 332 The Bells 333 Annabel Lee 334

HARRIET BEECHER STOWE (I8II-1896) 335 Topsy 335 When Winds are Raging 343 Still, Still with Thee 343 Views of Divine Government 344

JOHN LOTHROP MOTLEY ( 18I 4-I877) 348 The Relief of Leyden 348

CONTENTS xi

• PAGE The Fire Ships of Antwerp 352

RICHARD HENRY DANA, JR. (1815- 1882) 358 A Flogging 358

HENRY DAVID THOREAU (I8I7-I862) 366 Sympathy 366 Sic Vita 367 A Prayer 367 Orphics 368

Independence 368 Walden : or, Life in the Woods 368 Higher Laws 368

Brute Neighbors 373

Conclusion 379

JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL (18I9-I89I) 386 To the Dandelion 386 What Mr. Robinson Thinks 187 The Courtin' 389 Leaves from My Journal in Italy and Elsewhere 390 Review of Whittier's Home Ballads and Poems 394 Mason and Slidell: a Yankee Idyll 397 Jonathan to John 40I Sunthin' in the Pastoral Line 403 Ode Recited at the Harvard Commemoration, July 2I, 1865 404

HERMAN MELVILLE (1819-I891) '407 The Social Condition and General Character of the Typees 407 The First Lowering 409

DONALD GRANT MITCHELL (I822-I908) 4I4 Reveries of a Bachelor 4 I 4

FRANCIS PARKMAN (I823-1893) 424 The Conspiracy of Pontiac — Chapter VIII — Indian Preparation 424

Chapter IX—The Council at the River Ecorces 427 Chapter X — Detroit 431 Chapter XI —Treachery of Pontiac 434

GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS (1824-1892) 436 Dickens Reading 436 Rip Van Winkle 439

Ralph Waldo Emerson 440 The Lecture Lyceum f 444

Some Lesser Poets of the Mid-Century 446

JOHN GODFREY SAXE (1816-1887) The Mourner a la Mode 447 A Charming Woman 448

THOMAS WILLIAM PARSONS (I8I9-I892) On a Bust of Dante 448 Dirge 449 Paradisi Gloria 449

THOMAS DUNN ENGLISH (18I9-1902) Ben Bolt 449 PHOEBE CARY (I824-I87I) Nearer Home 450

STEPHEN COLLINS FOSTER (1826-I864) The Old Folks at Home 450 My Old Kentucky Home, Good Night 45I

LUCY LARCOM (I826-I893) Hannah Binding Shoes 45I A Loyal Woman's No 452

xii CONTENTS

PAGE GUY HUMPHRIES MC MASTER (1829-1887)

Carmen Bellicosum 453 THOMAS A BECKET

Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean 453

III. PERIOD OF TRANSITION, 1860-1870 ABRAHAM LINCOLN (1809-1865) 457

Farewell Address at Springfield, Illinois 457 First Inaugural Address 457 Address at Gettysburg 458 Second Inaugural Address 458 Response to a Serenade, November so, I864 459 Letter to .Mrs. Bixby 46o

ULYSSES SIMPSON GRANT (1822-1885) 461 The Mexican War 461

Songs and Ballads of the Civil War 466 The Bivouac of the Dead 466 My Maryland 467 The Picket-Guard 468 The Battle Cry of Freedom 468 Mid,. 469 John Brown 469

Battle-Hymn of the Republic 470 Three Hundred Thousand More 470 Stonewall Jackson's Way 470 Tenting on the Old Camp Ground 47 I Just Before the Battle, Mother 47 1 Little Giffen 472 Marching Through Georgia 472 Tramp, Tramp, Tramp 473

Sheridan's Ride 473 When Johnny Comes Marching Home 474 The Conquered Banner 474 The Blue and the Gray 475

WALT WHITMAN (18I9-I892) 476

Europe 476 France 477 Mannahatta 478 Beat! Beat! Drums! 479 Come Up from the Fields, Father 479 0 Captain! My Captain! 480 When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd 481

Pioneers! 0 Pioneers! 485 When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer 488 0 Star of France 488 A Noiseless Patient Spider 489 Darest Thou Now, 0 Soul 489 Thou Mother with Thy Equal Brood 489 Democratic Vistas 492 To the Man-of-War-Bird 500 Prayer of Columbus 5o1

Patroling Barnegat 502

Good-By My Fancy 502

EDWARD EVERETT HALE (1822-1909) 504 My Double, and How He Undid Me 504

THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON (1823-1911) 513 My Out-Door Study 5I3

BAYARD TAYLOR (1825-1878) 521 L'Envoi 521 The National Ode 522

CONTENTS xiii

PAGE • ROSE TERRY COOKE (1827-1892) 526 Too Late 526

FITZ JAMES O'BRIEN (1828-1862) 537 On the Passaic .537 The Diamond Lens 537 HENRY TIMROD (1829-1867) 55o

Serenade 55o Spring 550 A Cry to Arms 551 The Cottor Boll 552

Ode 553 PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE (183o-1886) 554 Forgotten 554 Under the Pine 555

Midsummer in the South 556 Sweetheart, Good-Bye! 556 The Mocking-Bird 557 Laocoon 557 A Little While I Fain Would Linger Yet 557

HELEN HUNT JACKSON (1831-.1885) 559 The Senora Moreno 559 EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN (1833-I908) 566 Wanted — A Man 566 'The Undiscovered Country' 567 Edgar Allan Poe 567 THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH (1836-1907) 579

Sleep Nocturne 579 On Lynn Terrace 579

80 Pere Antoine's Date-Palm 58O r CELIA LEIGHTON THAXTER (I836-1894) 584 Land-Locked 584 The Spaniards' Graves at the Isles of Shoals 584

The Sandpiper 585

EMILY DICKINSON (1830-1886) 586 1: Verses 586 •

Called Back 5 86 The Martyrs . . 587

t Time's Healing 587 Verses 587 • Spring's Orchestra 587

Other Transition Poets

1- THOMAS BUCHANAN READ (1822-1872) The Closing Scene 589

GEORGE HENRY BOKER (I823-1890) To England 590 To America 592 Dirge for a Soldier 592

RICHARD HENRY STODDARD (1825-1903) The Flight of Youth 592 Birds 593 Persia 593 'Poems of the Orient'

593 To George H. Boker 593

IV. THE NATIONAL PERIOD, 187o-1914 The Humorists

597 GEORGE HORATIO DERBY, " John Phoenix" (1823-1861)

A Musical Review 597

xiv CONTENTS PAGE

CHARLES FARRAR BROWNE, "Artemus Ward" (1834-1867) Interview with President Lincoln . ........ 599

HENRY WHEELER SHAW, " Josh Billings" (1818-1885)

Affurisms 6o I CHARLES HENRY SMITH, " Bill Arp, So-Called" (1826-1903)

Bill Arp Addresses Artemus Ward 604

DAVID ROSS LOCKE, " Petroleum V. Nasby" (I833-1888) Preaches—Subject: 'The Prodigal Son' 6o6

SAMUEL LANGHORNE CLEMENS (I835-1910) 6o8 The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County 6o8

FRANCIS BRET HARTE (1839-I902) 612 The Mission Dolores 612 The Society Upon the Stanislaus 614 Dow's Flat 614 The Luck of Roaring Camp 615 Her Letter 62!

CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER (1829-1900) 622

Washington Irving 622

JOHN BURROUGHS (1837 —) 627 Leaves of Grass 627 Fuss and Feathers 633 Nature Lore 637

EDWARD EGGLESTON (I837-1902) 646

Light in a Dark Place 646 . JOHN HAY 0838-1905)

653 653

Jim Bludso 6 Lincoln's Fame 654

WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS (I837—) 66o A Modern Distance — Chapter XL 66o The Mouse-Trap 666

JOAQUIN MILLER (1841-1913) 677 Kit Carson's Ride 677 By the Sun-Down Seas 679 The Missouri 682 Westward Ho!

683 Columbus 683 Prelude to 'Dawn at San Diego' 684 Prelude to Even So 684

LEW WALLACE (I827-1905) 685 The Sea Fight 685

JOHN FISKE (I842-1901) 692 Francis Parkman 692

HENRY JAMES, JR. (I843-1916) 698 Alphonse Daudet 698 Greville Fane 705

CONSTANCE FENIMORE WOOLSON (I84c•1894) 7I4 The Old Agency 71 4 The Grenadiers 721

SIDNEY LANIER (1842-1881) 725 Cain Smallin 725 Night and Day 729 The Centennial Meditation of Columbia 729 Song of the Chattahoochee 730 A Sunrise Song .0," 731

To J. L. 73I

CONTENTS xv

PAGE • SARAH ORNE JEWETT ( I 849-1909) 732 A Native of Winby 732

EMMA LAZARUS (1849-1887) 743 How Longs 743 The Banner of the Jew 743 In Exile 744 The New Ezekiel 745

IRWIN RUSSELL (I853-1879) 746 Nebuchadnezzar 746 Precepts at Parting 746 Business in Mississippi 747 Mahsr John 748 Rev. Henry's War-Song 749

MARY NOAILLES MURFREE (1850—) 750 Over on the T'other Mounting 750

GEORGE WASHINGTON CABLE (I844—) 761

' No! ' 761

FRANK RICHARD STOCKTON (I834-1902) 764 The Pie Ghost 764

JOHN MUIR (1838-19I4) 771 The Water-Ouzel 771 A Wind-Storm in the Forest 778 Shadow Lake 782

HENRY W. GRADY (I851-1889) 786 The New South 786

JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS (I848-1908) 79I How a Witch Was Caught 791 The Creature with No Claws 793 Uncle Remus's Wonder Story 794

LAFCADIO HEARN (1850-1904) 798 Chita 798 The Shadow of the Tide 803

JAMES. WHITCOMB RILEY (1849-1916) 811 The Old Swimmin'-Hole 811 When the Frost is on the Pumpkin 812 A Life-Lesson 812 Little Orphan Annie 813 When She Comes Home 814 The Old Man and Jim 814 Bereaved 815

FRANCIS MARION CRAWFORD ( I854-1909) 816 Mr. Isaacs 816 The Novel 825

EDITH MATILDA THOMAS (1854—) 831 Syrinx 831 Flown Birds 831 Exorcism 832 The Leaders 832

HENRY CUYLER RUNNER (1855-1896) 833, Old French Metrical Forms 833 A Pitcher of Mignonette 833 O Honey of Hymettus Hill 834 On Newport Beach 834 Ready for the Ride — I795 834 'She Was a Beauty' 834 Written on Valentine's Day 834 Father Anastatius 835