Southern Literature From 1579-1895 Part 26

In that moment, brief as it was, he endured the great agony; but it was over now. . . . He had resolved to go down with his s.h.i.+p. Calm and collected, he rose up from that mighty struggle with renewed vigour, and went with encouraging looks about the duties of the s.h.i.+p as before. . . .

After the boat which bore Mr. Payne--to whom Herndon had entrusted his watch--had shoved off, the Captain went to his state-room and put on his uniform; . . . . . then walking out, he took his stand on the wheel-house, holding on to the iron railing with his left hand. A rocket was sent off, the s.h.i.+p fetched her last lurch, and as she went down he uncovered. . . .

Just before the steamer went down, a row-boat was heard approaching.

Herndon hailed her; it was the boatswain's boat, rowed by "hard hands and gentle hearts," returning from on board the brig to report her disabled condition. If she came alongside she would be engulfed with the sinking s.h.i.+p. Herndon ordered her to keep off. She did so, and was saved. This, as far as I have been able to learn, was his last order.

Forgetful of self, mindful of others, his life was beautiful to the last, and in his death he has added a new glory to the annals of the sea.

[A handsome monument to his memory stands in the Parade-ground of the Naval School at Annapolis.]

FOOTNOTES:

[14] By permission of Mrs. Corbin.

[15] By permission of Mrs. Corbin.

WILLIAM GILMORE SIMMS.

~1806=1870.~

WILLIAM GILMORE SIMMS was born and reared in Charleston, South Carolina. His early education was limited; he was for a while clerk in a drug-store and then he studied law. But his decided taste for letters soon induced him to devote his entire time and attention to their cultivation. He wrote rapidly and voluminously, and produced poems, novels, dramas, histories, biographies, book-reviews, editorials,--in short, all kinds of writing. He was editor of various journals at different times, and did all he could to inspire and foster a literary taste in his generation. His style shows the effect of haste and overwork.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ~Woodlands, S. C., Home of W. Gilmore Simms.~]

His novels dealing with Colonial and Revolutionary subjects are his best work. They give us graphic pictures of the struggles that our forefathers in the South had with the wild beasts, swamps, forests, and Indians in Colonial times, and with these and the British in the Revolutionary period. They should be read in connection with our early history, especially the following: _Yema.s.see_, (_1714, Colonial times_); _Partisan_, _Mellichampe_, and _Katharine Walton_, (_forming the Revolutionary Trilogy_); _Eutaw_; _Scout_; _Forayers_; _Woodcraft_, (_1775-1783_); _Wigwam and Cabin_ (_a collection of short stories_).

Some of his poems are well worth reading, especially the legends of Indian and Colonial life; and the Spirits' songs in "Atalantis" are very dainty and musical.

He was the friend and helper of his younger fellow-workers in literature, among whom were notably Paul Hamilton Hayne and Henry Timrod. At his country home "Woodlands" and in Charleston, he dispensed a generous and delightful hospitality and made welcome his many friends from North, South, and West. The last few years of his life were darkened by distress and poverty, in common with his brethren all over the South; and his heroic struggle against them reminds us of that of Sir Walter Scott, though far more dire and pathetic.

A fine bust of him by Ward adorns the Battery in his native and much-loved city. See Life, by William P. Trent.

WORKS.

NOVELS.

Martin Faber.

Book of My Lady.

Guy Rivers.

Yema.s.see.

Partisan.

Mellichampe.

Richard Hurdis.

Palayo.

Carl Werner and other Tales.

Border Beagles.

Confession, or the Blind Heart.

Beauchampe, [sequel to Charlemont].

Helen Halsey.

Castle Dismal.

Count Julian.

Wigwam and Cabin.

Katharine Walton.

Golden Christmas.

Forayers.

Maroon, and other Tales.

Utah.

Woodcraft.

Marie de Berniere.

Father Abbott.

Scout, [first called Kinsmen.]

Charlemont.

Ca.s.sique of Kiawah.

Vasconselos, [tale of De Soto.]

POEMS, [2 volumes.]

Atalantis.

Grouped Thoughts and Scattered Fancies.

Lays of the Palmetto.

Southern Pa.s.sages and Pictures.

Areytos: Songs and Ballads of the South.

DRAMAS.

Norman Maurice.

Michael Bonham, or Fall of the Alamo.

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY, &C.

Life of General Francis Marion.

Life of Captain John Smith.

Life of Chevalier Bayard.

Geography of South Carolina.

Reviews in Periodicals [2 vols.].

Life of General Nathanael Greene.

History of South Carolina.

South Carolina in the Revolution.

War Poetry of the South.

Seven Dramas of Shakspere.

SONNET.--THE POET'S VISION.