William Van Horne

“ George Olds, of the traffic department, sent Brown to the Orient. Anyway, I have had the privilege of seeing a sheaf of personal, intimate autograph letters from Van Horne to Brown, extending over many years and discussing in the most delightful and self-revealing way, such artistic subjects as Chinese vases, pottery, antiques and curios, in which both were interested. Mr. Van Horne did not throw money away by any means, but here and there in the letters he asks Brown to purchase some special rarity at what looks to most of us very generous figures. ”

“ The constitutional society, of which Horne was the leading spirit, sent Franklin £100 for, as Horne wrote in the Evening Post, "the widows and orphans of our beloved American fellow-subjects inhumanly murdered by the king's troops at or near Lexington and Concord". ”

“ TOOKE, John Horne (1736-1812) , an ardent politician and an erudite philologer, was the third son of John Home, a poulterer in Newport Market, whose business the son, when a pupil at Eton with other boys of a more aristocratic position, in early life happily veiled under the title of a " Turkey merchant." He was born in Newport Street, Long Acre, Westminster, on 25th June 1736. ”

“ One of the poems was a long piece in blank verse, ‘Ancient Idols, or the Fall of the Gods,’ which he regarded as his most considerable work. He appointed as his literary executor Mr. H. Buxton Forman, who in 1872 had reprinted from ‘Household Words’ (14 June 1851) his striking poem, ‘The Great Peace-maker; a Submarine Dialogue,’ on the laying of the submarine cable between Dover and Calais.
Horne was a talented, energetic, and versatile writer. His epic and his early tragedies have much force and fire, but they are not born for immortality. ”

“ Horne begged Burghley to relieve him of his prisoner, whom he described as a ‘devilish spirit’ and ‘this devill’ (Lansd. MSS. xvii. art. 57; Ellis, Orig. Letters, 3rd ser. iii. 367) . In 1565 he presented his old fellow-exile, Laurence Humphrey [q. v.] , to a living, which called forth a remonstrance from Jewel on account of Humphrey's nonconformity (Strype, Annals, i. ii. 133; Strype, Parker, i. 369) . Horne was incorporated D.D. of Oxford 9 July 1568. As visitor he forced Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, to admit his companion at Zurich, William Cole, D.D. [q. v.] ”

“ What do you know about 'modern mannerisms'. Didn't her own father let on that she had some? Even if she did smoke, I shouldn't be surprised or think anything of it; depend upon it they smoke in society, whether they do or they don't in your rotten Family Cherub. But she was only joking when she said that; and I never saw the like of you, Arabella, not to know a joke when you hear one.” And John William stamped away to his room; to reappear in a white shirt and his drab tweed suit, exactly as though he had been going into Melbourne for the day. ”

“ Horne was introduced to Father and Mother Smith; Father Smith was the Patriarch of the church, and under his hands she received a patriarchal blessing. In August, with a babe less than a month old, they removed to Far West, and were obliged to go into a log house without doors or windows. It was about this time that the excitement in Missouri raged, and persecution was at its height. Mrs. Horne was alone much night and day, her husband being on guard. In the spring of 1839, Mrs. Horne and family left Missouri as exiles, and sought an asylum in Quincy, Ill., where for awhile they had peace. ”

“ In 1847 he married Miss Foggo, but he was not fitted to lead a domestic life. ‘Judas Iscariot,’ a tragedy in two acts, was published in 1848, and republished in a collection of ‘Bible Tragedies,’ 1881. ‘The Poor Artist,’ 1850 (2nd ed. 1871) , is attractive; but ‘The Dreamer and the Worker,’ 2 vols., 1851, a story with a moral, is of slender interest. In 1852 Horne went with William Howitt to Australia, where he served as commander of the gold escort in Victoria, 1852, commissioner of crown lands for the gold fields, 1853–4, territorial magistrate, 1855, &c. ”

“ This is God's own truth. The remains of the dog we discovered last night have started to grow. It is growing as we look at it. It has covered the entire island as far as we can see, with fur. Stinking yellow and black fur. We've got to get word to Washington before they open up the satellite. The same thing could happen there. Do you understand? I must get in touch with Washington. Immediately!"
There was no mistaking the urgency and near-panic in Bill's voice. The Coast Guard returned with "We understand you Seven Seas. We will clear a line directly to Dr. Killian in Washington. Stand by." ”

“ That poem, indeed, has much of the quality of fine poetry; it is earnest, vivid and alive with spirit. But Horne early drove his talent too hard, and continued to write when he had little left to say. In criticism he had insight and quickness. He was one of the first to appreciate Keats and Tennyson, and he gave valuable encouragement to Mrs Browning when she was still Miss Elizabeth Barrett. ”

“ The Society of our day has greatly degenerated: those of the old time would be pleased, no doubt, that the glories of their day [154] should be commemorated. In the early days of the Society, there was a similar difficulty about Graunt, the author of the celebrated work on mortality. But their royal patron, "who never said a foolish thing," sent them a sharp message, and charged them if they found any more such tradesmen, they should "elect them without more ado."
Horne's first pamphlet was published when he was but twenty-one years old. ”

“ Horne was a strange figure in Victorian poetry who gets an obscure corner in the anthologies, and is otherwise forgotten save as a friend of the Brownings. But he was a poet of great ambitions, and of a good deal more achievement than we remember. His epic poem Orion, which attained much fame in its time, and some permanent notoriety as the Farthing Epic, so called because Horne, angered by public neglect when it first appeared, contemptuously had it sold at a farthing, [144] is a very readable work for any one who cares to try it and is not afraid of poetry in long measure. ”

“ Horne made themselves a home in the Fourteenth Ward, which they still retain. "In speaking of her first knowledge of the order of celestial marriage, she says, she has had strong testimony for herself that it is of God. Mrs. Horne has borne herself nobly in all the different phases of plural domestic relations." Mrs. Horne was a member of the Relief Society in Nauvoo, and in the first organization of the Fourteenth Ward in this city, was a counselor to President Phoebe W. Woodruff. ”

“ His passion for women led him to commit the most disgusting excesses; and at length so far had he carried his crimes, that an incestuous connexion took place between him and his sister, the result of which was the birth of a boy in the month of February 1724; Horne told his brother Charles of the circumstance three days afterwards, and at ten o’clock at night said that he must take a ride with him. He then put the new-born infant in a bag; and, mounting their horses, they rode to Annesley, in Nottinghamshire, at the distance of five miles, carrying the child alternately. ”

“ Horne moved to Nauvoo by wagon, over the then wild prairies. They lived in a lumber shanty for eight months, and in November Mr. Horne moved his family into his own house, still unfinished. Here in 'Nauvoo the beautiful,' Mr. Horne through diligent labor at last succeeded in establishing a flourishing business and his family were looked upon by the Saints as quite well situated. On the 2nd of April, 1844, Mrs. Horne received a patriarchal blessing under the hands of Hyrum Smith, the patriarch of the Church." On the 27th of the June following, occurred the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum. Mrs. ”

“ He had nothing left to him—literally nothing, in that Antwerp world. There was no other wretched being wandering then in that Dutch town so utterly denuded of the goods of life. For what is a man fit,—for what can he be fit,—when left in such a position? There are some evils which seem utterly to crush a man; and if there be any misfortune to which a man may be allowed to succumb without imputation on his manliness, surely it is such as this. How was Mr. Horne to return to his hotel without incurring the displeasure of the municipality? ”

“ I was only wondering when John William would be back from Melbourne. But where's your watch?”
“Getting put to rights, my dear,” said old Tees-dale faintly, with his eyes upon the carpet.
“What, still?”
“Yes; they're keeping it a long time, aren't they?”
“They are so,” said Missy dryly. She watched the old man as he crossed the room twice, with his weak-kneed steps, his white hands joined behind him and his thin body bent forward. Then she went on reading his letter. ”

“ Horne succeeds better on a larger canvass, and with weightier material; with blank verse rather than lyrics. He cannot make a fine stroke. He wants subtlety and elasticity in the thought and expression. Remember, I admire him honestly and earnestly. No one has admired more than I the 'Death of Marlowe,' scenes in 'Cosmo,' and 'Orion' in much of it. But now tell me if you can accept with the same stretched out hand all these lyrical poems? ”

“ Henry Horne, one of Benjamin Worthy Horne’s nine brothers, became a partner with him in 1836, and was a member of this firm of Chaplin & Horne for many years. He survived his brother, and was at the head of affairs when the London and North-Western Railway took over the parcel business and the London receiving offices in 1874. Henry was the kindest-hearted of men, and old coaching-men down on their luck always found him a sure draw for a loan or a gift. ”

“ Had that wit been all of the arrogant, upstanding Van Horn, and had it gone out as the flickering flame of a splinter of wood goes out when it is quite burnt to a powder-fluff of ash? Had all that made Van Horn passed like the flame of the splinter? Had he passed into the darkness for ever into which the beast passed, into which passed the speared crocodile, the hooked bonita, the netted mullet, the slain pig that was fat to eat? ”

“ Old Horney.”
“What is your real name?”
“Mark Horning,” the man answered reluctantly.
“I’m curious to learn how you’ve been getting in and out of the building.”
“With a key.” Old Horney devoured the last bite of sandwich, and poured himself a second cup of coffee.
“A skeleton key, you mean?” Penny asked in surprise.
“No, Miss. I have my own key. In the old days I used to work here.”
“You’re a former Press employee?”
“Sure, I know it’s hard to believe,” Old Horney replied, “but when a fellow’s out of a job and money, it doesn’t take long to go to seed. I lost my place when Judson closed down.” ”

“ And here, amidst the fat success and insolence of the sea-people, Van Horn swaggered his way, taking his chance, incapable of believing that he might swiftly die, knowing that he was building good future business in the matter of recruiting labour for the plantations of other adventuring white men on far islands who dared only less greatly than he. ”

“ Ludwig van Beethoven was one of the great German composers. In fact, many people consider him the greatest composer that the world has ever known. Whether this be true or not, certain it is that his music is loved in every land. Nearly a century and a half has passed since Ludwig van Beethoven was born in his humble home in Bonn. Ludwig's father was a singer. He was a good-for-nothing sort of fellow. He never earned enough money to support his family well.
He was paid about one hundred and twenty-five dollars a year for singing in a church. Besides this he made money by giving music lessons. ”

“ It isn't the easiest thing in the world to take it in all at once. Do you mind saying some of it over again?”
“Once is enough. You've got your warning; it's no good your coming after 'Bella Teesdale no more. If you do, you look out for her brother, that's all!”
“John William, eh?” The man laughed again.
“Yes.”
“I know all about the family, you see. I know all about you too—in a way. I never knew you were 'Bella's keeper, I must admit. She merely told me you were a young English lady, of the name of Miss Miriam Oliver, who landed the other week in the Parramatta.” ”

“ When Mrs. Horne was sixty years of age, upon the demise of her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Lydia Weiler Horne, she took the babe six weeks old to raise. This after rearing a family, and seeing each take honored places in the world.
Mrs. Horne has been an officer and worker in the silk industry from the beginning. At the organization of the board of officers for the Deseret Hospital, May 1882, Mrs. Horne was elected Chairman of the Executive Committee.
November 20th, 1882, was the forty-sixth anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. Horne's wedding day. ”

“ Fact is, with my machine in the shape that it was after its peppering, any ‘lapse’ on my part would have started it somersaulting at once. No. Rotten as I felt, I’m sure I kept ‘connected up’ mentally all the way down.”
Horne shook his head dubiously. “You may be able to stick it,” he said; “but before you try any more big-game shooting among the high places, best have a few practice flights in the upper empyrean. The sooner a man learns his altitude limit the better. ”

“ Horne, “the poem was forwarded to Bulwer, and duly appeared. The next one sent,” continues Mr. Horne, “started the poetess at once on her bright and noble career.” This “next one” appears to have been “The Poet’s Vow,” and a confirmation of this supposition is seen in a letter of hers at this date to Mr. Boyd, in which she explains her not having at hand a copy of the Athenæum that he had wished to see, and adds:
“I can give you, from memory, the Athenæum’s review in that number. ”

“ And ashore, a white man alone, attended by an Irish terrier puppy with a heart flooded with love and by a black king resentfully respectful of the dynamite of the white man, Van Horn went, swashbuckling barelegged through a stronghold of three thousand souls, while his white mate, addicted to schnapps, held the deck of the tiny craft at anchor off shore, and while his black boat's crew, oars in hands, held the whaleboat stern-on to the beach to receive the expected flying leap of the man they served but did not love, and whose head they would eagerly take any time were it not for fear of him. ”