Page:The Poets and Poetry of the West.djvu/109

 183U-40.] OTWAY CURRY. 93 the witchery of murmuring winds and waters, and other accompaniments of a moon- light ramble, prolonged into tlie morning hours, the fascination was irresistible. On one of these occasions, as we sat overlooking the expanse of the beautiful Ohio, the midnight moon and an autumnal haze enveloping the whole scene in robes of softened radiance, and peculiar dreaminess, the whole of some provincial romance was recited with a power whose weird influence rests upon my memory yet." Mr. Curry's name is without a spot. In early life he labored with his hands, in later years with his mind ; ^Iways rendering either moral or material benefit for all that he received. When called to office, it was by unsolicited suff"rages, and when placed in power, he was no tool of party. No speeches for sinister ends, no motion for factious purposes, no empty declamations, or busy demonstz-ations, or crafty schemes disgraced his political career. Guided by a sense of duty to his country, he walked heedless alike of private threats and popular clamor. At the bar he was the shield of innocence, the terror of guilt, and the moderator of justice. Though liable, like other men, to be deceived by his client and influenced by his passions, he would not enforce what he deemed an unjust claim or prosecute a just one in an unjust mode. As an editor, he manifested the same integrity, though sorely tried. Once determined on his course, he stopped at no obstacles, heeded no persecution, and declined no con- flict. He was, however, too modest, unambitious, and averse to public life for a leader. He was a man of great social and domestic virtue. As a neighbor, he was consid- erate, peaceful, obliging, and hospitable ; looking with patience upon the weakness, and with silence upon the wrongs of others, he cherished no malignity, fomented no disputes, flattered no patron, and pierced no victim. Though not insensible to ingrat- itude, meanness, and injury, he was too respectful of himself and too charitable toward others to indulge in any utterances that would give pain, unless they were necessary to a prudent maintenance of right. He was as far from being a cynic as a parasite. Pie was not polite, in the ordinary sense of the word. He looked austere, and was generally regarded by the stranger as proud, distant, and affected. A great mistake. General society, indeed, he shrank from ; the thoughtless multitude he studiously avoided ; the busy marts of commerce, with their deafening din and overreaching plots, he eyed with coldness and disdain ; the cabals and intrigues of politics he shun- ned with mingled pity and indignation ; the whole sinful world he was wont to regai'd as unjust, harsh, and hollow-hearted ; to the prattler, he was shy ; to the sensualist, studiously repellant ; to the skeptic, painfully reserved. There was something, at times, even terrible in his distance ; but to those whom he admitted to his acquaint- ance he was gentle as the south Avind — his heart glowed with love and yearned for friendship. So subtile was his imagination, so profound his philosophy, so mystical his expressions, so strong, so pure, so unwasting his affections that few could appre- ciate him. He knew this, and hence before the gazers in the outer court of his spirit he lifted not the vail ; but with an intelligent, conflding, imaginative friend, whose spirit was in harmony with his own, he was communicative, fervent, at times even vehement, occasionally witty, sometimes humorous, but always genial, always reverent.