Page:The Poets and Poetry of the West.djvu/200

 FREDEEICK W. THOMAS. Frederick William Thomas is a native of South Carolina. He was born at Charleston, in the year 1811. His father, E. S. Thomas — a nephew of Isaiah Thomas, author of "The History of Printing" — was then the proprietor of the Charleston City Gazette. In 1816, ]VIr. Thomas sold the Gazette and removed to Baltimore. Frederick William was there educated. In early life he met with an accident which so seriously injured his left leg that he has ever since been required to use a cane or crutch. In consequence of that misfortune he was never a regular student at school, but he was naturally inclined to reading and thinking, and was judiciously directed and encouraged by his relatives. At the age of seventeen he began the study of law, and when not more than eighteen years old, wrote a political satire in verse, which caused the office of the newspaper, in which it was published, to be demolished by a mob. In 1829 his father emigrated from Baltimore to Cincinnati, and established, in the latter city, the Daily Commercial Advertiser. The following year, Frederick William gave up the law practice which, among kind friends, he had just begun in Baltimore, determined to try his fortune in the far West. Soon after he arrived in Cincinnati, he published, in the Commercial Advertiser, a number of stanzas of a poem written Avhile he was descending the Ohio River. In 1832 the entire poem was delivered in the hall of the Young Men's Lyceum, and was spoken of as a very creditable perform- ance by Charles Hammond, in the Cincinnati Gazette. This, with other favorable notices, induced the author to offer it for publication, and it was issued in a neat pamphlet of forty-eight duodecimo pages, by Alexander Flash, in 1833. It was called " The Emigrant," and was dedicated to Charles Hammond. Extracts from it have found their way into many magazines and newspapers of large circulation, and into popular school books. ]yii Thomas assisted his father in the editorial management of the Advertiser, and wrote frequently for other local journals. His very popular song, "'Tis said that Absence conquers Love," was contributed to the Cincinnati American in July, 1831. In 1834, Mr. Thomas engaged with John B. Dillon and L. Sharp in the publication of The Democratic Intelligencer, a daily, tri-weekly and weekly journal, which advocated the claims of John McLean as a candidate for the office of President of the United States. The Intelligencer had a brief career, and Mr. Thomas, in 1835, assisted his father in the editorial conduct of the Daily Evening Post, a journal which succeeded the Daily Advertiser. The Post was distinguished for encouraging notices of artists and authors, and for earnest advocacy of enterprises calculated to enhance the business interests of the city, but its financial aftairs were poorly managed, and it was discontinued in 1839. ( 184 )