It was soon followed by a kind note from Colonel Thomas
Wentworth Higginson. Both these distinguished men said the pleasant
thing which goes so far towards keeping the courage of young writers
above sinking point, and which, to a self-distrustful nature, may be
little less than a life-preserver. Both have done similar kindness to
many other beginners in our calling; but none of these can have been
more grateful for it, or more glad to say so, across this long width
of time, than the writer of "The Tenth of January."
It was a defective enough little story, crude and young; I never
glance at it without longing to write it over; but I cannot read it,
to this day, without that tingling and numbness down one's spine and
through the top of one's head, which exceptional tragedy must produce
in any sensitive organization; nor can I ever trust myself to hear
it read by professional elocutionists. I attribute the success of
the story entirely to the historic and unusual character of the
catastrophe on whose movement it was built.
Of journalism, strictly speaking, I did nothing. But I often wrote for
weekly denominational papers, to which I contributed those strictly
secular articles so popular with the religious public. My main
impression of them now, is a pleasant sense of sitting out in the
apple-trees in the wonderful Andover Junes, and "noticing" new
books-with which Boston publishers kept me supplied.
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