Henry J. Raymond and the New York press, for thirty years : progress of American journalism from 1840 to 1870 ; with portrait, illustrations, and appendix

Front matter

BERTRA

The Institute of Museum and Library Services through an Indiana State Library LSTA Grant

THE NEW YORK PRESS,

Chapter I. The Boy

PA»a

Western New York Fifty Years ago — Birthplace and Parentage of Henry J. Raymond

— The Raymond Family — The Old Homestead in Lima — Rev. Dr. Barnard's Church — Early Years of Henry J. Raymond — Thirst for Knowledge — His Teachers — The District School — Raymond a Reader at Three Years of Age — A Speaker at Five — How he Studied — A Picturesque Attitude — The Favorite Cat — Raymond's Academic Course — Opening of the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary in Lima — His Schoolmate, Alexander Mann — Raymond Looking for Employment— Brief Experience in a Country Store — He Forsake3 Trade — In Charge of a District School — " Boarding Round " — Raymond a Poet at Sixteen — Ode Written for the Fourth of July Celebration in Lima in 1836 — Raymond's Departure for College 13

Chapter II. In College

Raymond Prepared for College at Fifteen — His Father's Farm Mortgaged to Provide Means — Raymond as a Collegian — The University of Vermont — Incidents — Mr. E. A. Stansbury's Recollections — Henry Clay and Henry J, Raymond — Raymond's Graduation and Return to Lima 23

CHAPTER HI.

ADRIFT.

Out of College and in Politics — " Tippecanoe and Tyler too " — Raymond as a Whig Campaigner — Political Speeches in the Genesee Valley — An Indignant Democratic Schoolmaster — Raymond again in Search of Employment — Determines tc

V

VI CONTENTS.

try his Fortune in New York — Calls upon Horace Greeley — Repulsed — Does not Give Up — Studies Law — Advertises for a School — Gets a Foothold in Greeley's New-Yorker — Greeley finally Engages Him — Raymond Working for Eight Dollars a, Weok — Becomes a Writer of Pill Advertisements and a Nowspaper Correspondent — Establishment of the New York Tribune — Raymond Fast- Anohored in Journalism 23

Chapter IV. Anchored

The New York Tribune — Horace Greeley's Tribute to Henry J. Raymond — A Mistake Corrected — Raymond's Work on the Tribune — Signal Successes — Dr. Dionysius Lardner's Lectures — Severe Illness of Raymond — Greeley Calls upon Him — Raymond's Wretched Pay — What he Said to Greeley — Results of an Interview in a Sick-room — Raymond as a Reporter — Thomas MoElrath's Reminiscences — Raymond Secedes from the Tribune 32

Chapter V. Progress Of Journalism In New York — 1840 To 1850

Easy-Going Newspapers — The Old "Blanket-Sheets" — Editorial Duels and Horsewhippings — Mr. W. C. Bryant's Reminiscences — The Courier and Enquirer — The Journal of Commerce — The Evening Post — The Commercial Advertiser — The Herald — How Bennett Startled the City of New York —The Sun — The Tribune as a Cheap and Respectable Paper — Fierce Rivalries — Old Methods of Getting News — Sharp Practice — Pony Expresses — Stealing Locomotive Engines : — Carrier-Pigeons — Setting Type on Board of Steamboats — How Raymond Reported Webster's Speech — The Voyage of Monroe F. Gale across the Atlantic — The Pilot- Boat William J. Romer in the Ice — Personalities — James Watson Webb's Ridicule of Horace Greeley's Personal Appearance — Greeley's Reply — The Tribune's "Slievegammon" Hoax — Burning of the Tribune Office — The Tide Changing . 36

CHAPTER VI. PROGRESS OF JOURNALISM IN NEW YORK — (continued.)

Periods in Journalism — The' Expansion of the Press and the Progress of Civilization — The Pioneer followed by the Printer — Useless Papers Dead — Condition of the

CONTENTS. VII

New York Press Twenty Years Ago — How the Herald and the Tribune fell into Disrepute — Henry J. Raymond Creating a New Era in Journalism — The Germ of his Future Success , 4&

CHAPTER Vn.

AN OLD TAINT.

The Socialists Twenty-two Years Ago — Horace Greeley and Albert Brisbane — The Tribune, the Future, and the Harbinger — Zealous Iconoclasts — The False Pretences of Fourierism — Socialistic Failures — The Tribune in Disrepute — Raymond's Attacks upon Socialism — The Celebrated Discussion between Greeley and Raymond — The Merits and Demerits of Socialism 54

CHAPTER Vin.

RAYMOND AT TWENTY-EIGHT.

His Filial Devotion — Burning of tho Homestead in Lima — Mr. Raymond's Letters to his Parents and his Brother Samuel — His Visit to Lima — Bis Solicitude for his Father and Mother — A Touching Tribute 77

CHAPTER IX.

RAYMOND'S ENTRANCE INTO POLITICAL LIFE.

Election to the New York Legislature in 1849 — A Good Beginning — Return to the Courier and Enquirer — Re-election to the Legislature in 1850 — Remarks on assuming the Speakership of the Assembly — Sudden End of the Session — An Incident in Raymond's Life — Quarrel between Webb and Raymond — Departure of Raymond for Europe — His First Impressions of the Old World — Letter from London .............. SI

CHAPTER X.

. FOUNDATION OF THE NEW YORK TIMES.

Origin of the Times — Thurlow Weed's offer of the Albany Evening Journal to Raymond and Jones — Failure of a Negotiation — Project of a New Whig Paper in New

VIU CONTEXTS.

York — The Winter of 1850-51 — A Walk upon the Ice on the Hudson River — A Banking Law which Produced a Newspaper — George Jones, E. B. Wesley, and Henry J. Raymond — The Times Copartnership — Eight Stockholders — Raymond's Shares Presented to Him — The Times Announced — Commotion among New York Newspapers — Raymond's Visit to Europe — His Return to New York — The Prospectus of the Times — A Building Selected — How the First Number of the Paper was Made Up — Mr. Raymond's Salutatory Address — "Only Sixpence a Week " — The Money Sunk in the First Year — Mr. Raymond's Statement of Results 88

CHAPTER XI.

THE FIRST WORKERS ON THE TIMES — A RETROSPECT.

The Journalists who Joined Raymond — Alexander C. Wilson — James W. Simonton — The Times and its Charges of Corruption in Congress — A Page of History — The Times Triumphant — Nehemiah C. Palmer — Caleb C. Norvell — Michael Hennessey 103

CHAPTER XII.

KOSSUTH — RAYMOND — WEBB.

Arrival of Louis Kossuth in New York in 1851 — Enthusiastic Reception — Municipal Banquet in the Irving House — Raymond and James Watson Webb — A Lively Altercation — Webb Defiant — Police Restoring Order — Webb's Suppressed Speech Subsequently Printed — The Press Banquet to Kossuth in the Astor House — Admirable-Speech by Mr. Raymond — His Advocaoy of the Causo of Hungary . 109

CHAPTER XIII.

THE BALTIMORE CONVENTION.

Mr. Raymond the Central Figure of an Exciting Scene — A Remarkable Episode in his Life — :How he Became a Member of the Convention — Northern Subserviency and Southern Arrogance — Attempt to Expel Mr. Raymond from the Convention — A Despatch to James Watson Webb, and what came of it — Mr. Raymond's Defence — His Final Triumph 120

CONTENTS. IX

CHAPTER XIV.

THE TIMES IMPROVED, AND RAYMOND ELECTED LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR.

Raymond's Resolution to Devote his Life to Journalism — New Writers Engaged for the Times — Charles C. B. Seymour — Fitz James O'Brien — Dr. Tuthill — Charles Welden — Charles F.Briggs, Hurlburt, Godkin, Sewall, and DeCordova — Raymond again in Politics — Elected Lieutenant-Governor — Address as President of the Senate — Declines the Nomination for Governor 142

CHAPTER XV.

BIRTH OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY — THE PITTSBURG CONVENTION.

The Free-Soil Struggle — Causes of the Convention in Pittsburg in 1856 — Preliminary Action — The New Party — An Address to the People of the United States Submitted by Mr. Raymond — Its Adoption — The Presidental Contest — Fremont Defeated — Raymond's Discussion with Lucien B. Chase 147

CHAPTER XVI.

THE TIMES ENLARGING ITS BOUNDARIES.

The Old Brick Church Property in New York — Old Knickerbockers' Reminiscenoea and Regrets — A Large Purchase for the Times in the Panic Year — The Wonder of the Day in New York — Unheard-of Extravagance — How the Old Newspapers had been Housed — Dinginess and Decay — The New Order of Things — Visitors Thronging the Times Office — Full Description of the Building .... 154

CHAPTER XVII.

SLAVERY, DISUNION, AND THE WAR.

Raymond's Return from Europe and his Encounter with Secession in 1860 — His Unwavering Loyalty — Clear Foresight — Prophetic Utterances — Speech in Albany in 1860 — His Letters to William L. Yancey — War — Raymond's Patriotism — The Riot Week of 1863 and the Times— Raymond's Attitude . . . .160

X. CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XVIII.

RAYMOND IN CONGRESS, AND THE PHILADELPHIA CONVENTION.

Raymond in 1862-64 — Speech in Wilmington, Delaware — Election to Congress in November, 18G4 — The Vote in his District — Opening of the Thirty-Ninth Congress— Andrew Johnson's Conflict with the Republican Party — Raymond in the Philadelphia Convention in 1866 — The Philadelphia Address — Raymond's Explanatory Speech at the Cooper Institute — A Nomination to the Fortieth Congress Declined — Letter from Mr. Raymond — His Opponents — Injustice . . 168

CHAPTER XIX.

OUT OF POLITICS, AND BACK TO JOURNALISM.

Mr Raymond's Withdrawal from Public Life and his Return to Editorial Duty — Departure for Europe in 1867 — A Farewell Dinner — Letter from Rev. Henry Ward Beecher — Speeches by Mr. Dana and Mr. Roosevelt — A Jingle of Rhyme — Speech by Mr. Raymond — The Press Dinner to Charles Dickens — Mr. Raymond's Speech — Increased Value of the Times ' . . 193

CHAPTER XX.

Sudden Death of Mr. Raymond — Tributes to hi3 Memory — His Enemies Confessing

their Error ... 205

CHAPTER XXI.

AT REST.

Funeral Ceremonies — Eloquent Address by Rev. Henry Ward Beecher . . . 215

CHAPTER XXII.

THE MAN.

Mr. Raymond's Career — His Early Ambition — His Application — Newspaper Requirements — The Times — Raymond's Treatment of Subordinates — His Hospi-

CONTENTS. XI

tahty — Incidents — Raymond's Tact — His Habit of Discipline — His Idea of Journalism — His Errors — His Methods of Literary Labor — The Biography of Daniel "Webster — A College Address — Religious Faith — "Gates Ajar" — Domestic Life 219

CHAPTER XXIII.

ANECDOTES AND INCIDENTS.

How Bennett was Beaten at his own Game — The Loss of the Collins Steamer "Arctic " in 1854 — Mr. Burns's Narrative of the Disaster, and How the Times Secured it — A- Ride in a Horse-Car — Adventures of a Night — The Italian Campaign of 1859

— Mr Raymond's " Brilliant Run " — The Times and the " Elbows of the Mincio "

— A Bohemian Trick — How the Times Caricatured Bennett — Incidents of the Cable Excitement in 1858 — The War Correspondents — Newspaper Reporters — " Jenkins" — George William Curtis on "Jenkins" — Precision in Journalism — The Evening Post's "Index Expurgatorius" 230

CHAPTER XXIV.

A DIGRESSION CONCERNING NEWSPAPER BORES. .

How Editors are Bored — The Different Classes of Bores — The Poets, and what Mr. Bryant said of Them — Political, Inquisitive, and Clerical Bores — The " Strong- Minded " Women — The Persons Afflicted by Bores 266

CHAPTER XXV.

A HISTORY OF NEWSPAPER HOAXES.

Famous Deceptions — The " Moon Hoax " of 1835 — The Polk Campaign and the

"Roorback" — The Lincoln Proclamation Hoax ....... 273

CHAPTER XXVI.

THE PRESS OF TO-DAY.

Papers Published in New York at the Close of 1869 — A Classified List — Peculiarities of Different Journals — Upwards of One Hundred and Fifty Dailies and Weeklies in Existence — What Was, Is, and Is to Be . .323

THE NEW YORK PRESS

Chapter I. The Boy

WESTERN NEW TOEK FIFTY TEARS AGO — BIRTHPLACE AND PARENTAGE 05 HENRY J. RAYMOND — THE RAYMOND FAMILY — THE OLD HOMESTEAD IN LIMA — REV. DR. BARNARD'S CHURCH — EARLY YEARS OF HENRY J. RAY- MOND— THIRST FOR KNOWLEDGE — HIS TEACHERS — RAYMOND A READER AT THREE YEARS OF AGE — A SPEAKER AT FIVE — HOW HE STUDIED — A PICTURESQUE ATTITUDE — THE FAVORITE CAT — RAYMOND'S ACADEMIC COURSE — OPENING OF THE GENESEE WESLEYAN SEMINARY IN LIMA — HIS SCHOOLMATE ALEXANDER MANN — RAYMOND LOOKING FOR EMPLOYMENT — BRIEF EXPERIENCE IN A COUNTRY STORE — HE FORSAKES TRADE — IN CHARGE OF A DISTRICT SCHOOL — "BOARDING ROUND" — RAYMOND A POET AT SIXTEEN — ODE WRITTEN FOR THE FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRA- TION IN LIMA IN 1836 — DEPARTURE FOR COLLEGE.

Fifty years ago, that part of Western New York which became the birthplace of Henry Jarvis Raymond was remote and almost unknown. The great lines of land and water communication which now give it ready access to the centres of population, and to profitable markets, had not yet been opened. No telegraph existed ; cables under the ocean had not been conceived, even in dreams. The Erie Canal was still in process of construction, and De Witt Clinton, who watched its progress with keen attention, was Governor of the State.

In the year 1820, the whole population of New York was but one million, three hundred and seventy-two thousand eight hundred and twelve, — or in the proportion of thirty inhabitants to the square mile, — and ten thousand and eightyeight slaves remained in captivity within its borders. James Monroe was President of the United States ; Maine had just been admitted into the Union ; the people of the Territory of Missouri had been formally authorized to form a State constitution ; the country had lately emerged from the war with England, and the ravaged frontier of New York was relapsing into quiet after the long and violent shock of arms.

Thirty miles from the frontier, sequestered even from the small business centres of that day, lay the little hamlet of Lima, now a part of Livingston County, — a county which had no existence fifty years ago, nor until it was born of the adjacent counties of Ontario and Genesee in the early part of the year 1821. Lima is an old village, begun in 1789, and although its growth has been slow,* it has steadily held its own, and its people can boast that it has suffered no material retrogression, — a boast which does not apply to many places in New York more celebrated and pretentious. Nature has been generous to this region. A fertile soil, rippling watercourses, crystal lakes, leafy woods, and distantviews of charming landscapes, appeal alike to the artist's sense of the beautiful, and the farmer's love of the useful. The village of Lima, distant seven miles from the railroad station of Avon, on the Buffalo Division of the Erie route, now forms the north-eastern corner of the County of Livingston ; and as the traveller jogs slowly towards it, committed to the most uncomfortable of old-fashioned stage-coaches, he is agreeably impressed by the sigus of thrift and industry which meet the eye at every step of the well-kept country road. If not Arcadia, the place is pastoral, and undeniably attractive.

One mile and a half from the centre of the little post-village of Lima, is the old homestead upon which Henry J. Eaymond was born — January 24th, 1820. The dwelling was destro}Ted

*Tho present population (January, 1870) is about fifteen hundred. The town was formed in January, 1789, under the name of Charleston. In 1808, the name was changed to Lima.

by fire twenty-eight years later, but the boundaries of the farm remain unaltered, and the fine grove of spreading locust-trees which shaded the old house remains to adorn the new. The farm passed into other hands upwards of twenty years ago, but ancient memories still cluster there.

The progenitors of the Raymond family, as the name implies, were of French extraction. The pedigree has not been preserved, for pride of ancestry is not a characteristic of the Raymond blood ; and if some future Dryasdust should exhume the mouldy record of lines of crusading lords, it is certain he would get no aid from any researches undertaken by existing members of the family. Jarvis Raymond, father of Henry Jarvis, was a farmer in Lima fifty years ago, — that is all the record his descendants want ; they see a perpetual halo about the father's head, and ask for no older, stronger, or purer ancestral line.

Jarvis Raymond was married in the year 1819 to Lavinia, daughter of Clark Brockway, of Lima. The first child born to them was Henry Jarvis Raymond, and five others followed. Of these but two survive, and the father himself is numbered with the departed. In the order of birth, the children were : —

1. Henry Jarvis Raymond.

2. Eliza Raymond.

3. Samuel Brockway Raymond.

4. James Fitch Raymond.

5 and 6. Two who died very young, and were never named.

Samuel is now a prominent and prosperous citizen of Rochester, New York, — the senior member of the firm of Raymond & Huntington, bankers and insurance agents. James is a photographer in Detroit, Michigan, having removed to that city from Ypsilanti, to which latter place he emigrated on leaving Lima fifteen years ago. The mother's home is now with her son James, but she occasionally revisits Lima, her birthplace ; and when the writer had the pleasure of an interview with her in that village, a few months since, the venerable and excellent lady dwelt with keen zest upon the memories of her youth. Heaven send all such good mothers length of days and full measure of prosperity !

The home life on the eighty-acre farm in Lima, half a century ago, was simple, honest, and kindly. The father and mother were both professing Christians, and moreover consistent in their Christian character : — all professing Christians are not entitled to this high praise. Mr. Raymond, who is described by old mhabitants of the place, still surviving, as a man of sterling integrity, possessed of a remarkably clear mind and a happy faculty of imparting ideas, long occupied positions of trust in the little rural community in which he dwelt. He was for many years a Justice of the Peace in Lima, and a Ruling Elder in the First Presbyterian Church, of which the Reverend John Barnard, D. D., was pastor,* and was also for a considerable time the Superintendent of Dr. Barnard's Sabbath school. A plain, unlettered man, his sound sense, honesty of purpose, and decision of character gave him command, and to this day his name is never mentioned save with honor. He died in Detroit in 1868, in the house purchased for him bjr his son Henry, after the removal of the family from the old homestead in Lima.

The first-born, Henry Jarvis Raymond — the subject of this volume — inherited much of his parents' solid sense, quick apprehension, and strong purpose. True, he was born to an inheritance of poverty ; but he was not the worse for that. Very few men possessed of strong will are sufferers from the troubles of a cloudy youth ; they make their own sunshine later on in life, and the difficulties of their early days are to their maturer fame what shadows are to art, — points of contrast and backgrounds for brilliant color.

Henry J. Raymond, as an infant, differed in no material respect from thousands of other children ; and when he began to run about in pinafores he was chiefly noteworthy for great natural quickness and indomitable nervous energy. The induction into his first pair of trowsers, however,

* Dr. Barnard is still living in Lima, at an advanced age. He retired from the pastorate of the Presbyterian Church in that village, in 1857, after an active and useful service of fifty years. To his courteous kindness and the vividness of his recollection's, the writer is indebted for valuable assistance in the pren. aration of these pages.

marked a period in his young life. A thirst for the acquisition of knowledge came early to him, and grew in intensity until the day of his death. He never wearied of studying, examining, analyzing. His active mind — too active at times — began to take form at the age of three, when he read simple lessons fluently, to the boundless delight of doting parents and admiring friends. He was not, perhaps, so precocious as Horace Greeley, who has uttered a moving lament over the stupidity of certain New Hampshire folk, who caused him to read print upside-down at the tender age of four; but Raymond's early skill in letters is to-day traditional in the place of his birth.

His first teacher — Charlotte Leech, now dead — was proud of her little pupil, and he profited so well by her careful tute- . lage that at the age of three years and a half he was considered eligible for admission to the privileges of the district school. Those privileges were in no sense remark-able, for the district school of that day was an exceedingly inferior institution : — reading, writing and arithmetic were the principal studies ; books of instruction were dear and poor ; and neither teachers nor pupils were noted for wisdom. But the lad throve upon such meat as was given him, and the loving eyes of kindred and friends still linger upon the site of the little old house, a stone's-throw across the turnpike from the homestead, in which the future editor took his first degree in learning. No relic is now left of the rusty, old-fashioned school ;• in its place stands a trim white building, populous and noisy with the , school-boy life of the latter half of the nineteenth century. Who knows but the editor of the future great newspaper of America, or he who was born to rule the destiny of this nation, is to-day a pupil in roundabout jacket in that unpretentious school-house ?

Eaymond was a reader at three. At the age of five he was a speaker, — a speaker in a very small way, but yet a speaker. For, in the winter of 1824-5, while under the teaching of Mr. Fosdick, he appeared in the public exhibition of the scholars as the reciter of two pieces ; one of which was a satire upon lawyers, couched in terms severe but simple, as befitted a youth of such tender 3'ears. 2

18 HENEY J. RAYMOND AND THE NEW YOEK PEESS.

At the age of eight, the lad began to attend Mr. Hutton's classical school in the village of Lima, studying the elementary lessons during the summer, and remaining at home in the winter months. After the winter of 1829, he was in school constantly, living at home and learning rapidly. He mingled but little in the sports of his fellows, preferring his books rather than the company of the roystering country boj^s. Chestnutting had no charms for him ; bird's-nesting was a joy of which he never tasted ; even the exhilarating pastime of coasting was but seldom indulged in. He was eminently studious and sober. An omnivorous reader, he remembered and was able to use all he read. His remarkable power of memory and faculty of assimilation, which contributed in no small degree to his success later in life, thus had an early development, and he was unwearied in application.

His method of study at that early age was peculiar. Always choosing the evening for committing his lessons, he assumed a position so picturesque that our artist has been directed to make the accompanying sketch from the minute and vivid descriptions furnished by surviving members of the family. Picture the plain, old-fashioned room of a country-house, — a wood-stove roaring • merrily while stornry blasts swept by unheeded, — father and mother and brothers gathered around the table, at one corner of which Henry was engaged in study, — ■ his knees upon a hard chair, his elbows upon the table, hia hands supporting his head, his eyes fixed intently upon his book, and a favorite cat mounted upon his friendly back. This cat, according to the family tradition, was very fond of the studious lad, and as regularly as he assumed his favorite position, so regularly did the feline companion arrive to complete the winter evening's tableau.

Meanwhile, projects had been in preparation to enlarge the educational facilities of Lima. In the year 1829, the Genesee Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal denomination of the State of New York, at its annual session, appointed a committee to take steps for establishing a seminary of learning within the territorial limits of the Conference ; and subscriptions of funds for that purpose were solicited in the towns of Perry,

Brockport, Henrietta, Le Roy, and Lima, which places were competitors for the location of the seminary. The conditions of subscription were that the seminary should be erected in the place where the greatest amount of money should be subscribed. The sum of twelve thousand dollars was subscribed and paid by the citizens of Lima and its neighborhood. The subscribers were Samuel Spencer and about one hundred and fifteen other citizens, and in pursuance of the terms and conditions of subcription the seminary was in the year 1830 located at Lima. As a further inducement to build the institution in Lima, the citizens of the town procured to be sold and conveyed to the seminary, for its site, about seventy-four acres of land, situated within the limits of the village, at the nominal price of two thousand four hundred and twenty-six dollars and thirty cents, — much less than the actual value, — upon which the seminary erected its buildings, and went into operation in the year 1832. By an act of the Legislature of the State of New York, passed May 1, 1834, it was duly incorporated by the name of the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary.

Henry J. Raymond was among the first students who entered the new institution in 1832. His age was twelve, and he had profited so well by the instruction previously received in smaller schools that he was perfectly qualified to undertake a broader course of study. His most intimate schoolmate in the seminary was Alexander Mann, through whose urgent solicitation Raymond subsequently went to college. They remained fast friends ; and it is an interesting fact, that, many years later, Mr. Mann was employed by Mr. Raymond as an editorial writer upon the New York Times. Mr. Mann was in no sense brilliant, but he possessed a well-informed mind, and his uniform integrity and agreeable social qualities endeared him to all who knew him. Those who were associated with him in the service of the Times cherish pleasant memories of the relation.

Emerging from the seminary, Raymond began to cast about for employment. His common-sense way of looking at the affairs of life suggested the reflection that it was his duty to

20 HENRY J. RAYMOND AND THE NEW YORK PRES8.

contribute towards the expense of his own support ; and accordingly he obtained a place in a country store. The pay was at the rate of seventy-five dollars a year, — not an extravagant reward for the intelligent service performed, — but the lad did not like the business, and not long afterwards he and trade parted company forever. In his sixteenth year he began to teach, procuring the charge of a district school, for three months, in Wheatland, Genesee County, fifteen miles north-west of Lima. In country phrase, he "boarded round" — taking such accommodations of food and. lodging as the universal custom of the day afforded to impecunious young teachers, but thriving under circumstances which were not altogether agreeable. The pay was small, and he was very young to hold the place of pedagogue ; many of his scholars excelled him in size and weight as well as in age ; and his path was not strewed with roses. But he had a strong will, and his experience in teaching was not a failure.

In the following summer, his school contract having expired, he returned to the homestead in Lima ; and on the Fourth of July made his first appearance as a poet. The celebration of the National Anniversary in Lima, that year, was exceptionally grand. The patriotic citizens, determining that " the Fourth " should be honored with all due observance, devoted much thought and time to the celebration ; and in response to a pressing invitation, young Raymond wrote the subjoined ode, which was sung by the village choir with immense spirit, to the accompaniment of a swelling chorus : —

ODE.

Air — " Hail Columbia."

Hail ! holy Truth : Hail ! Sacred Right, Whom heav'n gave birth ere dawn'd the light !

That art with heav'n coeval — firm : That art with heav'n coeval — firm.

Thus thundered forth Truth's Sov'reign God As high 'mid sky and earth he trod.

In heaven thou hast a during home, On earth thy name is scarcely known; Her sons too base, too blindly low, Thy spirit's boldest, proudest foe.

Hail Truth, Justice, Liberty !

Heaveu's sons are greatly free.

Saints — 'tis not beneath your praise,

Strike your harps to noble lays.

Columbia heard his thundering voice, The despot's dread, the freeman's choice.

Hail ! holy Truth : Hail ! sacred Eight !

Hail ! holy Truth : Hail ! sacred Right !

Through earth's domain the echo ran, And upward coursed the heaven's broad span.

In this fair land doth Freedom live; In this fair land her champions thrive : Overwhelmed be Kings' united powers, That vainly strive to conquer ours.

Hail ! Truth, Justice, etc.

Hail ! heavenly Science — glorious Ray

Of brigh t effulgence — mental Day : Great pledge of lasting Liberty!

Great pledge of lasting Liberty!

The freeman's firm unshaken rock, Heaven's mighty orbs in ceaseless rounds Thy fiat wheels — their limit bounds : Gloom shrouds the earth : thy brightest ray Pierces the shade — her night is day.