The Life, Travels, and Literary Career of Bayard TaylorConwell, Russell H.
General
The Life, Travels, and Literary Career of Bayard Taylor
Conwell, Russell H.
Taylor, Bayard, 1825-1878
The months rolled heavily away, and his fingers wearied with the type,
and his heart became sad because of the long delay. He began to be
ashamed of his boasts, but patiently waited. For two years he studied,
planned, prophesied, yearned for a trip to Europe; having in the meantime
made a short and hazardous tramp to the Catskills, with money saved from
his clothing allowance as an apprentice. He ventured to write to some
ship-owners in Philadelphia, to ascertain if he could work his passage.
He often mentioned his proposed trip to his employer, and asked to be
released from his engagement and agreement as an apprentice. Mr. Evans
only smiled and said that Bayard need not trouble himself about that at
present; it would be all right when the time came for him to go. Thus,
with a conviction that he should certainly go, and yet heart-sick at the
delay, Bayard reached his nineteenth birthday.
CHAPTER V.
Visited by his Cousin.—Decides to go to Europe with his
Cousin.—Correspondence with Travellers.—Lack of Money.—Unshaken
Confidence.—Publication of Ximena.
Bayard had a cousin Frank, or Franklin, whom he held in great respect,
and whose subsequent life, as will be seen hereafter, justified the high
esteem in which Bayard held him. This young man, a few years older than
Bayard, had, by much patience and perseverance, succeeded in obtaining
sufficient money to support himself in an economical manner in Germany,
and had made up his mind to attend the lectures at the university in
Heidelberg.
“Are you really going, Frank?”
“Yes, Bayard, I am going sure.”
“Then I am going with you.”
“But, Bayard, how are you going to get the money to pay your expenses?”
“I do not know where it is coming from, not even for my outfit, but I am
going with you.”
Bayard had written to a great many people, of whom he had heard, asking
them about the expense and outfit for a tour in Europe. Some of them had
made the journey, and some had completed their preparations; but they
all placed the amount so high as to appear like a fabulous sum to the
poor apprentice. None placed the fare at less than five hundred dollars,
while some of the estimates were as high as eighteen hundred dollars. Of
course this poor boy could not earn nor borrow either of these amounts.
Yet he was confident that in some way he would be able to overcome the
difficulty.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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