Belles, beaux and brains of the 60's . congenialsurroundings were killing the tender poet. He did not dieprecisely as poor Henry Timrod did, but his ambition none 204 BELLES, BEAUX AND BBAINS OF THE SIXTIES the less starved him to death as literally as pride and povertystarved his Carolina brother. But now he sleeps in nativesoil. In his own words: Gently fall, ye Summer and bees, among the flowers,Make the gloom seem gay! John Esten Cooke, poet, romancer and the Walter Scott ofour Southern Tales of the Border, dropped in on the Mo-saics when the activity ofStuart, whose aide he
Belles, beaux and brains of the 60's . congenialsurroundings were killing the tender poet. He did not dieprecisely as poor Henry Timrod did, but his ambition none 204 BELLES, BEAUX AND BBAINS OF THE SIXTIES the less starved him to death as literally as pride and povertystarved his Carolina brother. But now he sleeps in nativesoil. In his own words: Gently fall, ye Summer and bees, among the flowers,Make the gloom seem gay! John Esten Cooke, poet, romancer and the Walter Scott ofour Southern Tales of the Border, dropped in on the Mo-saics when the activity ofStuart, whose aide he was,permitted flying visits toRichmond, even in was rarely reticent asto his literary ventures, im-parting portions of them toany chance listeners. Some-times he was accompaniedby his brilliant and boy-hearted chief, and thosewere indeed memorablenights when a Richmondsoiree heard his manlyvoice troll out—merrily, ifnone too correctly—thecamp ditty linked with hisname, as to Jining thecavalry and the warmestof abodes:. JOHN R. THOMPSON If you want to catch the Devil, just jine the cavalry. It was not unfrequently that one met lights of cabinet andcongress, or those of science and law, at these informalgatherings. The burly form of famous Professor A. T, Bled- BELLES, BEAUX AND BBAINS OF THE SIXTIES 205 soe rolled in more than once, and his sledge-hammer disputa-tion contrasted humorously with the quaint, easy argumentof Judge Raleigh Travers Daniel. Wide indeed was the rangeof subjects that came up spontaneously at the informal meetsof the Mosaics. Wild, too, sometimes, were the vagariesinto which its members lapsed under the stimulus of contactand unwonted rations. Some of these are tradition, yetprobably unfamiliar to most of my readers. At one time a hat was passed around containing the mostabsurd questions and another with unusual words. Themembers drawing both were to link them in a speech, poem,brief tale or song, in some sort of logical sequence. As ex-a
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