The Chosen Poet in Gaol.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 181, 4 December 1886, Page 8

The Chosen Poet in Gaol.

Ten years ago I knew a young man of unusual brightness who had literary inclinations, with talent to uphold them. In common with all his friends I hailed him as a heio. He wrote poetry with glibness, and one string of verses that he dedicated to Whittier brought from the Quaker poet a letter that wns not of a formal type s*t all. He showed his appreciation of the young man's talent by asking that " other specimens of versification " be sent him. The result was a prolonged correspondence, and, if I mistake not, the younger poet went one summer up into New England as Mr Whittier's guest. My friend had one peculiarity. His themes were always religious. '' No t»-ue poet," he said to me once, ''can ever write what be does not feel ; and lam the chosen poet of the Church/ Yesterday I chanced upon a man who has known him since he has drifted out of my sight : and my faith in the general goodness of things was shattered. The young man to whom Whittier took the strong fancy, tho " chosen poet of the Church," ie in goal. A Philadelphia judge has sent him up for a year for beating his wife. — "N. Y "Timos."