GEORGE TICKNOR 



197 



At the outbreak of the Civil War, Mr. Ticknor was regarded 

 as a Secessionist, and at the time when Seward was "ringing 

 his battle bell," there was talk of imprisoning him in Fort 

 Warren, where a number of men of distinction from the South- 

 ern states had been confined. When the sturdy Governor An- 

 drew, the truest of Union men, let Seward understand that 

 there were still men in Massachusetts and that his emissaries 

 would in case of need find why they were not wanted, I, with 

 some others, supposed that he referred perhaps to Ticknor and 

 a small group who were known to sympathize with him, includ- 

 ing Mr. George S. Hillard. In fact, Mr. Ticknor was not a Se- 

 cessionist, nor even a Confederate sympathizer. He was, indeed, 

 a Unionist, but he did not believe it right or wise to seek the 

 welfare of the Federal land at the cost of Civil War. This state 

 of mind was a judgment with no trace of passion in it. When 

 he learned that I purposed entering the Federal army, he en- 

 couraged me to do so, on the ground that a man ought in such 

 trials to trust to himself. 



Although I had known many Europeans and not a few per- 

 sons who had travelled in the old world, Mr. Ticknor was the 

 first American who had effectively appropriated its quality. 

 Although I did not think about it at the time, I believe that it 

 was the feeling that he was one of my own stock who had made 

 other lands contribute to his enlargement that most attracted 

 me. I delighted to hear him talk of the able men he had known 

 - he had the best of all talents, that of knowing men. He had 

 such a pleasure in this knowledge that many provincial folk 

 of Boston thought him a worshipper of famous people, and after 

 the fashion of the cheaper sort they called him a snob. In 

 truth, he was what the provincial always finds it difficult to 

 understand a man who was a real discerner of man. The fact 

 that he was willing to give much time to a rather raw lad, 

 because he saw that the lad found pleasure and profit in his 

 conversation, reveals the true-hearted gentleman he was. 



Mr. Ticknor had a perfectly natural pleasure in his wide 



