Page:The Poets and Poetry of the West.djvu/52

 THOMAS PEIECE. Thomas Peirce, author of " The Muse of Hesperia," the prize poem of the Cin- cinnati Philomathic Society, was bom in Chester county, Pennsylvania, on the fourth day of August, 1786. His father died in 1791, when Thomas was five years old. Soon afterward he was obhged to support himself. He worked on a farm in summer, and attended school in winter, till he was sixteen years of age, when he engaged him- self to a saddle and harness maker for five years. In that time he became a skillful workman, but was not contented with his occupation, and having been an attentive student of books, as well as an industrious apprentice, he found no difficulty in secur- ing an opportunity to teach a district school. When he was twenty-four years of age he attended a Quaker Boarding School at New Garden, in his native county, for the purpose of pursuing mathematical studies, in which he took great pleasure. After- ward he taught a common school in Philadelphia. The tide of emigration then set steadily for Ohio, and in 1813 IMr. Peirce was car- ried with it to Cincinnati. He immediately engaged in mercantile business and was prosperous. In 1815 he married Elizabeth Neave. Forming a partnership with his father-in-law, Jeremiah Neave, he was an energetic merchant until 1822 ; then, meet- ing reverses, he retired from active business and studied medicine. He obtained a diploma, and was about to begin practice, when, in 1827, he was induced to resume the duties and responsibilities of a merchajit. He was an influential and useful citi- zen of Cincinnati till 1850, when he died. Very soon after he became a citizen of Cincinnati, Mr. Peirce manifested decided literary taste. He was one of the earliest as well as most active promoters of art and literature in the young city. In 1821 he contributed a series of satirical odes to the Western Spy and Literary Cadet, which were entitled " Horace in Cincinnati." They contained provoking caricatures, and many witty exposures of local folly, and were so much sought for that, the following year, they were collected and published in a small volume by George W. Hai'rison, forming the first book of what might, in all respects, be termed Western Poetry. The following stanzas, from the thirty-first ode (the last of the series), expressing thanks to the Ohio Legislature, faii'ly represent the spirit of Horace : For having long discussed a law. In which, 'twas said, had crept a flaw That render'd it not worth a straw, And spent some thousand dollars ; A just decision to produce— Whether a gander be a goose. Consistent with the rules in use 'Mong scientific scholars. (36)