Four Famous American Writers: Washington Irving, Edgar Allan Poe, James Russell Lowell, Bayard Tayl

Four Famous American Writers:
Washington Irving, Edgar Allan
Poe, James Russell Lowell,
Bayard Taylor

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Four Famous American Writers:
Washington
Irving, Edgar Allan Poe, James Russell Lowell, Bayard Taylor, by
Sherwin Cody This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost
and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it
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Title: Four Famous American Writers: Washington Irving, Edgar Allan
Poe, James Russell Lowell, Bayard Taylor A Book for Young
Americans
Author: Sherwin Cody
Release Date: February 24, 2004 [EBook #11249]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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FAMOUS AMERICAN WRITERS ***

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FOUR FAMOUS AMERICAN WRITERS
Washington Irving Edgar Allan Poe James Russell Lowell Bayard
Taylor
A Book For Young Americans
By Sherwin Cody

1899

CONTENTS
THE STORY OF WASHINGTON IRVING

CHAPTER I.
HIS CHILDHOOD II. IRVING'S FIRST VOYAGE UP THE
HUDSON RIVER III. A TRIP TO MONTREAL IV. IRVING GOES
TO EUROPE V. "SALMAGUNDI" VI. "DIEDRICH
KNICKERBOCKER" VII. A COMIC HISTORY OF NEW YORK
VIII. FIVE UNEVENTFUL YEARS IX. FRIENDSHIP WITH SIR
WALTER SCOTT X. "RIP VAN WINKLE" XI. LITERARY
SUCCESS IN ENGLAND XII. IRVING GOES TO SPAIN XIII. "THE
ALHAMBRA" XIV. THE LAST YEARS OF IRVING'S LIFE

THE STORY OF EDGAR ALLAN POE

CHAPTER I.
THE ARTIST IN WORDS II. POE'S FATHER AND MOTHER III.
YOUNG EDGAR ALLAN IV. COLLEGE LIFE V. FORTUNE
CHANGES VI. LIVING BY LITERATURE VII. POE'S EARLY
POETRY VIII. POE'S CHILD WIFE IX. POE'S LITERARY
HISTORY X. POE AS A STORY-WRITER XI. HOW "THE RAVEN"
WAS WRITTEN XII. MUSIC AND POETRY XIII. POE'S LATER
YEARS

THE STORY OF JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL

CHAPTER I.
ELMWOOD II. AN IMPETUOUS YOUNG MAN III. COLLEGE
AND THE MUSES IV. HOW LOWELL STUDIED LAW V. LOVE
AND LETTERS VI. THE UNCERTAIN SEAS OF LITERATURE VII.
HOSEA BIGLOW, YANKEE HUMORIST VIII. PARSON WILBUR
IX. A FABLE FOR CRITICS X. THE TRUEST POETRY XI.
PROFESSOR, EDITOR, AND DIPLOMAT

THE STORY OF BAYARD TAYLOR

CHAPTER I.
HIS BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD II. SCHOOL LIFE III. HIS FIRST
POEM IV. SELF-EDUCATION AND AMBITION V. A TRAVELER
AT NINETEEN VI. TWO YEARS IN EUROPE FOR FIVE
HUNDRED DOLLARS VII. THE HARDSHIPS OF TRAMP
TRAVEL VIII. HIS FIRST LOVE AND GREATEST SORROW IX.
"THE GREAT AMERICAN TRAVELER" X. HIS POETRY XI.
"POEMS OF THE ORIENT" XII. BAYARD TAYLOR'S
FRIENDSHIPS XIII. LAST YEARS

THE STORY OF WASHINGTON IRVING
[Illustration: _WASHINGTON IRVING._]
WASHINGTON IRVING

CHAPTER I
HIS CHILDHOOD
The Revolutionary War was over. The British soldiers were preparing
to embark on their ships and sail back over the ocean, and General
Washington would soon enter New York city at the head of the
American army. While all true patriots were rejoicing at this happy turn
of affairs, a little boy was born who was destined to be the first great

American author.
William Irving, the father of this little boy, had been a merchant in
New York city. He had been very prosperous until the war broke out.
After the battle of Long Island, the British then occupying the city, he
had taken his family to New Jersey. But later, although he was a loyal
American, he went back to the city to attend to his business. There he
helped the American cause by doing everything he could for the
American prisoners whom the British held. His wife, especially, had a
happy way of persuading Sir Henry Clinton, and when the British
general saw her coming, he prepared himself to grant any request about
the prisoners which she might make. Often she sent them food from her
own table, and cared for them when they were sick.
When their last son, the eleventh child, was born, on April 3, 1783, the
parents showed their loyalty by naming him Washington, after the
beloved Father of his Country.
Six years after this, George Washington was elected president, and
went to New York to live. The Scotch maid who took care of little
Washington Irving made up her mind to introduce the boy to his great
namesake. So one day she followed the general into a shop, and,
pointing to the lad, said, "Please, your honor, here's a bairn was named
after you." Washington turned around, smiled, and placing his hand on
the boy's head, gave him his blessing. Little did General Washington
suspect that in later years this boy, grown to manhood and become
famous, would write his biography.
In those days New York was only a small town at the south end of
Manhattan Island. It extended barely as far north as the place where