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Lanier, Sidney, 1842-1881

"Select Poems of Sidney Lanier"


Those who heard him listened in a sort of fascinated terror, as in doubt
whether the hoarded breath would suffice to the end of the hour."*3*
After this a trip was made to New York to arrange for issuing some books
for boys, and four were issued, two posthumously: `Boy's Froissart' (1878),
`Boy's King Arthur' (1880), `Boy's Mabinogion' (1881),
and `Boy's Percy' (1882). Another work, an account of North Carolina
similar to that of Florida, was contracted for and was definitely planned,
but, owing to aggravating infirmities, could not be completed.
--
*1* Ward's `Memorial', p. xx. f.
*2* They are named in the `Bibliography'.
*3* Ward's `Memorial', p. xxviii.
--
For the end was near at hand. Desperate illness had made it necessary
to seek relief near Asheville, N.C., where he was joined
by Mrs. Lanier and by his father and step-mother. Growing no better,
he was moved to Lynn, Polk County, N.C. Of the rest we shall hear
in the words of his wife: "We are left alone (it is August 29, 1881)
with one another. On the last night of the summer comes a change.


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