Page:History of Oregon Literature.djvu/491

 Reverend Herbert Beaver's righteous attitude towards Dr. McLoughlin and the whole unblessed but orderly Fort Vancouver colony in 1836. At the time of this meeting the poet was 67 years old. His second mar- riage, with sanctity and permanence and in accord- ance with truths that he held, was with Sara Bard Field, also a gifted poet, who wrote two of the sonnets in Maia, and who is author of five books of poems— Barabbas, The Vintage Festival, To a Poet Born on the Edge of Spring, The Pale Woman and Vineyard Voices. No attitude of the city has ever graced it more than its refusal to withdraw the respect, admiration and affection in which it had held him so long. The people themselves, for having had him among them, had become less capable of a narrow view. The buoyancy of his personality, the vitality of his presence, his welcome face thickly swathed in ruddy beard, these are undimmed in Portland recollection. Those who knew him personally recall him with reminiscent gladness. He was the merriest of men, they say, and the kindest and the most loyal to his friends.

Those who have studied genius or who have read his writings can understand him.

His hair and beard, still thick, are now white, giving him a patriarchial look or, as one man has said, the look of Zeus. He is 83 years old and still writing. In addition to all his other gifts, he was granted one of sustained power, which is an ultimate accomplishment of the rest and which we are told is a characteristic of genius. As Emerson said: "No ray is dimmed no atom worn, my oldest force is good as new."