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me against the undertow。 In this rite I had the company of a young New…
Yorker； whom I had met on the boat coming down； and who was of the light；
hopeful； adventurous business type which seems peculiar to the city； and
which has always attracted me。 He told me much about his life； and how
he lived； and what it cost him to live。 He had a large room at a
fashionable boardinghouse； and he paid fourteen dollars a week。
In Columbus I had such a room at such a house； and paid three and a half；
and I thought it a good deal。 But those were the days before the war；
when America was the cheapest country in the world； and the West was
incredibly inexpensive。
After a day of lonely splendor at this scene of fashion and gaiety；
I went back to New York； and took the boat for Albany on my way home。
I noted that I had no longer the vivid interest in nature and human
nature which I had felt in setting out upon my travels； and I said to
myself that this was from having a mind so crowded with experiences and
impressions that it could receive no more； and I really suppose that if
the happiest phrase had offered itself to me at some moments； I should
scarcely have looked about me for a landscape or a figure to fit it to。
I was very glad to get back to my dear little city in the West （I found
it seething in an August sun that was hot enough to have calcined the
limestone State House）； and to all the friends I was so fond of。
IV。
I did what I could to prove myself unworthy of them by refusing their
invitations； and giving myself wholly to literature； during the early
part of the winter that followed； and I did not realize my error till the
invitations ceased to come； and I found myself in an unbroken
intellectual solitude。 The worst of it was that an ungrateful Muse did
little in return for the sacrifices I made her； and the things I now
wrote were not liked by the editors I sent them to。 The editorial taste
is not always the test of merit； but it is the only one we have； and I am
not saying the editors were wrong in my case。 There were then such a
very few places where you could market your work： the Atlantic in Boston
and Harper's in New York were the magazines that paid； though the
Independent newspaper bought literary material； the Saturday Press
printed it without buying； and so did the old Knickerbocker Magazine；
though there was pecuniary good…will in both these cases。 I toiled much
that winter over a story I had long been writing； and at last sent it to
the Atlantic； which had published five poems for me the year before。
After some weeks； or it may have been months； I got it back with a note
saying that the editors had the less regret in returning it because they
saw that in the May number of the Knickerbocker the first chapter of the
story had appeared。 Then I remembered that； years before； I had sent
this chapter to that magazine； as a sketch to be printed by itself； and
afterwards had continued the story from it。 I had never heard of its
acceptance； and supposed of course that it was rejected； but on my second
visit to New York I called at the Knickerbocker office； and a new editor；
of those that the magazine was always having in the days of its failing
fortunes； told me that he had found my sketch in rummaging about in a
barrel of his predecessors manuscripts； and had liked it； and printed
it。 He said that there were fifteen dollars coming to me for that
sketch； and might he send the money to me？ I said that he might； though
I do not see； to this day； why he did not give it me on the spot； and he
made a very small minute in a very large sheet of paper （really like Dick
Swiveller）； and promised I should have it that night； but I sailed the
next day for Liverpool without it。 I sailed without the money for some
verses that Vanity Fair bought of me； but I hardly expected that； for the
editor； who was then Artemus Ward； had frankly told me in taking my
address that ducats were few at that moment with Vanity Fair。
I was then on my way to be consul at Venice； where I spent the next four
years in a vigilance for Confederate privateers which none of them ever
surprised。 I had asked for the consulate at Munich； where I hoped to
steep myself yet longer in German poetry； but when my appointment came；
I found it was for Rome。 I was very glad to get Rome even； but the
income of the office was in fees； and I thought I had better go on to
Washington and find out how much the fees amounted to。 People in
Columbus who had been abroad said that on five hundred dollars you could
live in Rome like a prince； but I doubted this； and when I learned at the
State Department that the fees of the Roman consulate came to only three
hundred； I perceived that I could not live better than a baron； probably；
and I despaired。 The kindly chief of the consular bureau said that the
President's secretaries； Mr。 John Nicolay and Mr。 John Hay； were
interested in my appointment； and he advised my going over to the White
House and seeing them。 I lost no time in doing that； and I learned that
as young Western men they were interested in me because I was a young
Western man who had done something in literature； and they were willing
to help me for that reason； and for no other that I ever knew。 They
proposed my going to Venice； the salary was then seven hundred and fifty；
but they thought they could get it put up to a thousand。 In the end they
got it put up to fifteen hundred； and so I went to Venice； where if I did
not live like a prince on that income； I lived a good deal more like a
prince than I could have done at Rome on a fifth of it。
If the appointment was not present fortune； it was the beginning of the
best luck I have had in the world； and I am glad to owe it all to those
friends of my verse； who could have been no otherwise friends of me。
They were then beginning very early careers of distinction which have not
been wholly divided。 Mr。 Nicolay could have been about twenty…five； and
Mr。 Hay nineteen or twenty。 No one dreamed as yet of the opportunity
opening to them in being so constantly near the man whose life they have
written； and with whose fame they have imperishably interwrought their
names。 I remember the sobered dignity of the one； and the humorous
gaiety of the other； and how we had some young men's joking and laughing
together； in the anteroom where they received me； with the great soul
entering upon its travail beyond the closed door。 They asked me if I had
ever seen the President； and I said that I had seen him at Columbus； the
year before； but I could not say how much I should like to see him again；
and thank him for the favor which I had no claim to at his hands； except
such as the slight campaign biography I had written could be thought to
have given me。 That day or another； as I left my friends； I met him in
the corridor without； and he looked at the space I was part of with his
ineffably melancholy eyes； without knowing that I was the
indistinguishable person in whose 〃integrity and abilities he had reposed
such special confidence〃 as to have appointed him consul for Venice and
the ports of the Lombardo…Venetian Kingdom