The
result is before thee. Put it in type or the fire. I am content--like
Eugene Aram, 'prepared for either fortune.'"
He had intended also to accomplish some work in prose at this period,
but the painful condition of his health forbade it. "I am forbidden to
use my poor head," he said, "so I have to get along as I can without
it. The Catholic St. Leon, thee knows, walked alert as usual after his
head was cut off."
I am tempted to quote still further from a letter of this period: "I
inclose a poem of mine which has never seen the light, although it was
partly in print from my first draft to spare me the trouble of
copying. It presents my view of Christ as the special manifestation of
the love of God to humanity.... Let me thank the publisher of Milton's
prose for the compliment of the dedication. Milton's prose has long
been my favorite reading. My whole life has felt the influence of his
writings."
There is a delightful note on the subject of the popularity of the
"Tent on the Beach," which shows his natural pleasure in success.
"Think," he says, "of bagging in this tent of ours an unsuspecting
public at the rate of a thousand a day! This will never do. The
swindle is awful. Barnum is a saint to us. I am bowed with a sense of
guilt, ashamed to look an honest man in the face. But Nemesis is on
our track; somebody will puncture our tent yet, and it will collapse
like a torn balloon. I know I shall have to catch it; my back tingles
in anticipation.
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