Sidney Lanier | Page 9

sister, Mrs.

Watt, who from much travel and by association with leading men and
women of the South brought into Lanier's life the atmosphere of a
larger social world than that in which he was born.
Nor did Lanier live apart from the life in Macon. Although in later
years he felt strongly the contrast between himself and his environment,
he always spoke of his native place with the greatest affection, and it
was among Macon people that he found some of his best friends in his
adopted city. Its natural beauty appealed to him from the beginning --
the river Ocmulgee, the large forests of oak-trees stretching in every
direction, the hills above the city, for which he often yearned, from the
plains of Texas, or the flats of Florida, or the crowded streets of
Baltimore. The climate was agreeable. Describing this section, Lanier
said: "Surely, along that ample stretch of generous soil, where the
Appalachian ruggednesses calm themselves into pleasant hills before
dying quite away in the seaboard levels, a man can find such
temperances of heaven and earth -- enough of struggle with nature to
draw out manhood, with enough of bounty to sanction the struggle --
that a more exquisite co-adaptation of all blessed circumstances for
man's life need not be sought."*
-- * `Music and Poetry', p. 134. --
Macon was the capital of Middle Georgia, the centre of trade for sixty
miles around. There was among the citizens an aggressive public spirit,
which made it the rival in commercial life of the older cities, Savannah
and Augusta; before the War it was a more important city than Atlanta.
It was one of the first towns to push the building of railroads; it became
"the keystone of the roads grappling with the ocean at the east and with
the waters beyond the mountains at the west." The richer planters and
merchants lived on the hills above the city -- in their costly mansions
with luxuriant flower gardens -- while the professional men and the
middle classes lived in the lower part of the city. Social lines were not,
however, so sharply drawn here as in cities like Richmond or
Charleston. Middle Georgia was perhaps the most democratic section
of the South. It was a democracy, it is true, working within the
limitations of slavery,* and greatly tempered with the feudal ideas of

the older States, but it was a life which gave room for the development
of well-marked individual types. There were many Georgia "Crackers"
in the surrounding country; they were even recognized more than in
other States as part of the social structure. While still a young boy
Lanier was delivery clerk in the Macon post-office, and entertained the
family at nights by "mimicry of their funny speech." In later life he
wrote dialect poems, setting forth the humor of these people, and drew
upon their speech for illustrations of philological changes in language.
-- * In Macon a great many citizens had no slaves at all, and even those
who had them had only a few. In 1850 the white population was 3323,
while there were only 2352 slaves. In 1859, when the population had
grown to 8000, the proportion was maintained. [Despite this statement
by Mr. Mims, if these numbers are correct, it would appear that Macon
had a significantly higher percentage of slaves than most areas of the
South. -- A. L., 1998.] --
In Macon hospitality was regarded as an indispensable, even sacred
duty. Cordiality and kindness in all the ordinary relations of men and
women made up for whatever deficiencies there were in art and
literature. Professor Le Conte, who lived in Macon during the boyhood
of Lanier, speaking of some weeks he spent there during a college
vacation, says, "Oh, the boundless hospitality of those times -- a
continual round of entertainments, musicales, and evening parties, . . .
horseback rides and boat rides during the day and piano-playing,
singing, fluting, and impromptu cotillions and Virginia reels in the
evening!"* The Lanier House, a hotel owned by Sterling Lanier from
1844 to 1854, was the centre of this social life. Here many
distinguished men were entertained and many receptions were held.
The proprietor was a typical "mine host", endeavoring to throw around
his guests some of the atmosphere of the finer Southern homes. In 1851
President Fillmore and his Secretary of the Navy, John P. Kennedy,
visited Macon and were entertained at this hotel. Macon was not
without its cultivated people. Young ladies studied music in New York
and brought into the private life of the city an atmosphere of musical
culture. Now and then students were sent to the universities of the East.
A group of professional and business men -- E. A. Nisbet, Washington

Poe, Charles Day, Colonel Whittle,