RILEY, JAMES WHITCOMB. Born at Greenfield, Indiana, 1853; entered journalism at Indianapolis, 1873; wrote first verses, 1875; first book of verse, "The Old Swimmin'-Hole and 'Leven More Poems," published in 1883; numerous volumes since then. LANIER, SIDNEY. Born at Macon, Georgia, February 3, 1842; served in Confederate Army, and suffered exposure which resulted in consumption; studied and practised law till 1873; then decided to devote life to music and poetry; played first flute in the Peabody Symphony Orchestra at Baltimore; lecturer on English literature at Johns Hopkins University, 1879-81; complete poems published 1881; died at Lynn, North Carolina, September 7, 1881. TIMROD, HENRY. Born at Charleston, South Carolina, December 8, 1829; educated at the University of Georgia, studied law and supported himself as a private tutor until the Civil War; war correspondent and then assistant editor of _The South Carolinian_, at Columbia, until Sherman burned the town; died at Columbia, South Carolina, October 6, 1867; his poems, edited by Paul Hamilton Hayne, published 1873. HAYNE, PAUL HAMILTON. Born at Charleston, South Carolina, January 1, 1830; graduated at the University of South Carolina, edited _Russell's Magazine_ and the _Literary Gazette_, and served for a time in the Confederate Army; first poems published 1855; complete edition, 1882; died near Augusta, Georgia, July 6, 1886. SIMMS, WILLIAM GILMORE. Born at Charleston, South Carolina, April 17, 1806; admitted to bar, 1827, but abandoned law for literature and journalism; first poems published 1827; resided at Hingham, Massachusetts, 1832-33, where longest poem, "Atalantis," was written; first novel, "Martin Faber," published 1833, and followed by many others; returned to South Carolina, 1833, and died at Charleston, June 11, 1870. CHAPTER IV PAINTERS If background and tradition are needed for literature, they are even more needed for art, and it is curiously worth noting that the background and traditions of England did not serve for her child across the sea. In both literature and art, so far as vital and significant achievement is concerned, the young nation had to find itself, and, starting from a rude and rough beginning, work its way upward of its own strength. Perhaps in no other way may the youth of America be so completely realized as by the thought that all of real importance in both literature and art which she can boast has been produced within the past ninety years--little more than the three score years and ten which the Psalmist assigned as the span of a single life. We do not mean to say that European influence is not plainly to be traced in both our art and literature. There is a family resemblance, so to speak, as between a child and its parents, and yet the child has an individuality of its own. In literature, Cooper, Poe, Hawthorne, Longfellow, Whitman are distinctively American; and, as we shall find, so are our masters of painting and sculpture.