T^he Days of a Man 1:1892 



bored by their adulation, he would turn them down 

 hard in sudden wantonness. Very few people 

 ventured to cross swords with "the Prattler." But 

 John P. Irish, a prominent political leader, an elo- 

 quent and effective speaker, once relieved his feelings 

 in cutting words: ''Now comes Ambrose Bierce, 

 poor professional polecat!" 



Bierce had served in the army, and his best work 

 is found in a series of sketches entitled "Stories of 

 Soldiers and Civilians," of which the two most 

 powerful are "Killed at Resaca" and the "Horseman 

 in the Air." When the Mexican Revolution broke 

 out, he left to take part in it. No certain infor- 

 mation as to his fate was ever received; it is, how- 

 ever, fairly well proved by James H. Wilkins, a 

 journalistic authority on Mexico, that he was 

 captured by a rebel band and shot against a wall 

 not far from Monterey. To quote from one of his 

 own poems, he 



His awful Pursued his awful humor to the end; 



kumor When, Hke a stormy dawn, the crimson broke 



From his white lips, he smiled and mutely bled, 

 And having meanly lived, was grandly dead. 



Yet in spite of an embittered genius, Bierce was 

 capable of sweet and tender feeling, shown at rare 

 intervals in his verse. "Another Way," "Presenti- 

 ment," and "The Death of Grant" evidence this 

 fact, so that to me he always seemed a fine and 

 brave spirit whose life had been darkened by some 

 hidden tragedy. 



Contemporaneous with Bierce, and closely associ- 

 ated with him, was Arthur McEwen, also a free- 

 lance journalist, author of some admirable sketches 



C 462 ] 



