Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 02.djvu/32

 BRYANT.

BRYANT.

entitled, "Letters from the East."' Mr. Bryant was unexcelled in the art of pronouncing eulo- gies, and was often called upon to perform this office. In 1872 a volume was published embody- ing the chief of these orations, notably those doing honor to Gulian C. Verplanck, Thomas Cole, the painter; Fenimore Cooper, Washington Irving, Fitz-Greene Halleck, and those made at the unveiling of the Shakespeare, Scott and Morse statues in Central Park. In 1866, seeking relief from the deep grief that had befallen him in the death of his wife in 1865, he began liis translation of the Iliad, and the first twelve books were pub- lished in 1870. It was followed by a translation of the Odyssey, which was completed in 1871. The work had an immediate success, the sales of the Iliad up to 1888 reaching 17,000, the sales of the Odyssey 10,244 copies. Many American editions of Mr. Bryant's poems were issued. Of that known as the Red Line, 5,000 copies were sold in 1870, and the beautifully illustrated edi- tion of 1877 met with a very cordial welcome, as did the later one of his complete works in 1884. In 1858 Mr. Bryant was elected a regent of the University of the state of New York, but declined to serve. He was very chary of accepting public honors, and refused all such as he consistently might; some few, however, he could not escape. In 1873 he was made an honorary member of the Russian academy at St. Petersburg. He was one of the founders of the Century association in New York, and his seventieth birthday was made the occasion of a festival by the club, in which the notable artists and poets of America partici- pated with gifts of paintings and poems. The congratulatory address on this occasion was delivered by George Bancroft, the historian, and speeches were made by R. W. Emerson, R. H. Dana, Jr., and William M. Evarts. Many delightful poems were read, written for the occasion by those who revered the man and admired the poet. On his eightieth birthday, in 1876, Mr. Bryant was presented with a memorial vase of silver, the carving of which symbolized his life. This magnificent work of art was presented to the venerable poet in Chick- ering hall, New York, on June 20, 1876, its per- manent destination being the Metropolitan museum of art. In this his eighty-first year, Mr. Bryant wrote "The Flood of Years "; " Thana- topsis" at eighteen, "The Flood of Years" at eighty -one, a lapse of years indeed but no diminu- tion of force, no weakening of expression. Mr. Bryant's last poem, " The Twenty -second of Feb- ruary," was written, to commemorate the birth- day of Washington, in 1878. Mr. Bryant was essentially a domestic man; home was to him a sacred place, where business cares were never allowed to obtrude. His letters from abroad to the

persons in charge of his countrj- houses, " Cedar- mere," at Roslyn, L. I., and the old homestead at Cummington, Mass., sliow that he knew every tree and stone of both places. He divided the spring, summer and autumn months between Long Island and Cummington, and spent his winters in New York. May 29, 1878, Mr. Bryant delivered the address at the unveiling of the statue of Mazzini in Central Park, and after the ceremony, upon reaching the house of a friend, he fell, and his head coming in contact with the stone step he was rendered unconscious; a few days later apoplexy ensued, and his illness proved mortal. There are many portraits of Mr. Bry- ant extant, of which the ones he most preferred himself were those by Inman and Durand. See William Cidlen Bryant, by John Bigelow (1890); Godwiivs Life of Bryant (1883); Wilson's Bryant and His Friends (1886). He died in New York citj', June 12, 1878, and was buried at Roslyn. N. Y.

BRYANT, William Cullen, editor, was born in New York city, Aug. 1, 1849. He was educated in the public schools of Brooklyn, and at the Polytechnic institute of that city. He engaged in newspaper work and was married to Mary W. daughter of Bernard Peters, editor and pro- prietor of the Brooklyn Times. He succeeded Mr. Peters as publisher of the Brooklyn Times in 1875. He was a commissioner of the Brooklyn Fire Department before it consolidated with tiie New Yf)rk department; served as president of the New York Press Club, and as secretary and manager of the American Newspaper Publishers' Association from 1893. Ho was also treasurer of the Publishers' Press.

BRYANT, William McKendree, educator was born in Lake county, Ind., March 31, 1843, .son of Eliphalet Wayne Bryant, a pioneer settler of Indiana who emigrated from Ohio in 1835, and subsequently engaged in the manufacture of wagons. His grandfather James Bryant settled in Ohio in 1800. He was educated in the public •schools, and in 1861 joined the 3d Iowa infantry as a private. He became adjutant in the 34th Iowa volunteers in 1862, where he served until 1865, when he was made assistant adjutant general of a brigade. He was graduated at Ohio Wesleyan university A.B. 1868, A.M. 1871; was superintendent of public schools, at New Lisbon, Ohio, 1868-'69, superintendent of public schools at Burlington, Iowa, 1870-'73, and a teacher in the citj^ schools of St. Louis, Mo., from 1873. He was an instructor of psychology and ethics in the St. Louis Normal and high school; a lecturer at the St. Louis kindergarten and normal schools, and at the St. Louis Society of Pedagogy. He was married in 1867 to Sarah Augusta Shade of Columbus, Ohio, a landscape painter of some