Captain C. K. M.
THE POET COWPER.
William Cowper was born November 26, 1731, in Hertfordshire. England. His mother died before he was six years old. He was sent to a school where he suffered a great deal from the teasing of the other boys. He had an affection of the eyes, and so he was placed at an oculist's house, where he had smallpox, and that cured his eyes. After that he became a clerk in a lawyer's office, and studied for admission to the bar. The strain on his mind was too great, and he sought relief by trying to commit suicide by hanging. In this he did not succeed. A friend placed him in the country, where, after skillful treatment, he recovered from the fits of mental depression that he was subject to. He was fickle and inconstant to friends, but loving and kind to his pets. He had three leverets, or hares, given to him, and in these he found much amusement, for he was sick, and wanted something to occupy his mind. The hares were males, and their names were Puss, Tiney, and Bess. He built them a house, and each had his own bedroom to sleep in. Puss lived to be eleven years old, Tiney to be nine, and Bess died soon after Cowper received him. The poetry about the chair is found in the "Task," and is called "The Sofa." Cowper died in the town of East Durham, on Friday, the 25th of April, 1800, and was buried in St. Edmund's Chapel, in the church of East Durham.
Edna L. Maynard.
This little description of the poet Cowper is very creditable to its writer, who is only eleven years old. But the Postmistress must disagree with her in the opinion that he was inconstant and fickle as a friend.
In this number we begin the publication of a series of articles calculated to be of especial interest to the members of the C. Y. P. R. U. They are from the pen of the popular English novelist Mr. James Payn, and, under the head of "Perils and Privations," deal with stories of fact relating to shipwreck more thrilling than any tales of fictitious adventure.