KEELEY 



3218 



KEENE 



This poet, whose writings reveal so marvel- 

 ous an appreciation of beauty, was born in 

 lowly surroundings and of humble parentage. 

 His father, a London stable-keeper, sent him to 

 a private school at.Enfield for his early school- 

 ing. Both parents died while he was still a 

 boy, and when he was fifteen he was sent by 

 his guardians to a surgeon of Edmonton, where 

 he served an apprenticeship of five years. Two 

 more years he spent as a hospital assistant 

 before his rich poetic gifts found expression. 

 The great change in his life came through his 

 reading of Spenser's Faerie Queene, the music 

 of which enchanted him. Abandoning his pro- 

 fession, he published his first volume of poems 

 in 1817, and a year later a second volume, en- 

 titled Endymion. 



These early ventures were savagely criticized, 

 but no criticism could crush his spirit, and his 

 faith in himself was more than justified when, 

 in 1820, his last volume appeared. During 

 these three years of writing his health had be- 

 come so seriously undermined that he sought 

 its restoration in sunny Italy. The struggle 

 was in vain, for in February, 1821, he died of 

 consumption at Rome, and in the. Protestant 

 cemetery of that city his grave may be seen 

 near the resting place of Shelley. 



The first two volumes of verse that Keats 

 produced revealed his splendid promise, but 

 his early poems have not the finish that came 

 with the ripening of his powers. Endymion, 

 the story of a young shepherd who is loved 

 by a moon goddess, is on the whole over- 

 adorned and, therefore, inferior to the poems 

 of his last volume, to which he gave the title 

 Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of Saint Agnes, and 

 Other Poems. The reader who delights in word 

 painting that is akin to the sweetest music will 

 find no lovelier verse in English literature than 

 the last writings from the pen of Keats. 



Consult Hancock's John Keats; Keats' Keats 

 Letters, Papers and Other Relics, reproduced in 

 facsimile, and edited by Williamson. 



KEELEY, kee'li, LESLIE (1836-1900), an 

 American physician who gained fame as the 

 promoter of a cure for the alcohol, opium and 

 morphine habits. His remedy was chloride of 

 gold and sodium, known as the "gold cure." 

 Dr. Keeley originally engaged in the practice 

 of medicine in Dwight, 111., but gave it up 

 to devote his entire time to the cure of drunk- 

 enness. He was the son and the grandson of 

 physicians who had studied alcoholism and its 

 effects, and he became interested in the subject 

 very early in life. He began his experiments 



in search of a cure for intemperance while he 

 was a surgeon in the Federal army in 1862. 

 In 1880 he established a sanitarium at Dwight, 

 and later opened sanitariums in other cities. 

 Although his treatment has cured many cases 

 of inebriety, it is not always as effective as 

 Dr. Keeley had expected it would be. See 

 ALCOHOLIC DRINKS. 



KEENE, keen, LAURA (about 1820-1873), an 

 actress and theatrical manager, whose real 

 name was MARY Moss. She became famous in 

 London, England, in 1851 as Pauline in The 

 Lady of Lyons. The following year she moved 

 to the United States, where she spent the re- 

 mainder of her life. The most noted play 

 under her management was Our American 

 Cousin, which was brought out in 1858 with 

 Jefferson and Sothern among the supporting 

 actors. It was while witnessing this play at 

 Ford's Theater in Washington in 1865, in which 

 Miss Keene was the star, that President Lin- 

 coln was assassinated. 



KEENE, N. H., a city in the extreme south- 

 western part of the state, noted for its wooden- 

 ware manufactures. It is the county seat oi 

 Cheshire County, situated on the Ashueloi 

 River forty-three miles southwest of Man- 

 chester, and ninety-two miles northwest oi 

 Boston by rail; the Connecticut River is fif- 

 teen miles west. Four branches of the Boston 

 & Maine Railway serve the city, and electric 

 lines connect with adjacent towns east, south 

 and west. The population in 1916 was 10,633 

 by Federal estimate; in 1910 it was 10,068 

 Under the authority of Massachusetts, the first 

 settlement was made as Upper Ashuelot. It 

 was incorporated as Keene, in honor of Sii 

 Benjamin Keene, English diplomatist, in 1753 

 and was chartered as a city in 1874. 



The city lies in the heart of the Cheshire 

 Hills, in the shadow of Mount Monadnock, 

 which rises to a height of 3,166 feet. The sur- 

 rounding natural beauty extends into the city 

 through its 220 acres of parks. The city is 

 actively engaged in many lines of industry, 

 principally the manufacture of furniture, build- 

 ing material, tubs and pails. There are also 

 manufactures of shoes, toys, woolens, loose-leaf 

 ledgers, manifold books and mica products, the 

 annual output of the combined industries 

 amounting to nearly $3,500,000. A large num- 

 ber of people are employed in the repair shops 

 of the Boston & Maine Railroad, located here. 

 There is an extensive trade in lumber and 

 maple sugar. Granite and mica are found in 

 the vicinity, the former having been used in 



