Californian Pictures in Prose and Verse (Classic Reprint)
(Excerpt from Californian Pictures in Prose and Verse
It ...)
Excerpt from Californian Pictures in Prose and Verse
It Should be stated that descriptions of some of the most remarkable scenery in California - such as Yosemite, the Big Tree groves, and those regions of the high sierra lying in the southern part of the State - are purposely withheld, for the reason that they have been already better described by Prof. J. D. Whitney, Clarence King, and John Muir, have been illustrated and written about by scores of artists and authors, and have so become in a measure hackneyed. It was, besides, the wish of the present writer to de scribe what was most familiar and recent in his own.
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Benjamin Parke Avery was a notable American journalist and diplomat.
Background
Benjamin Parke Avery was born on November 11, 1828 in Manhattan, New York, United States. He was the son of Samuel Putnam and Hannah (Parke) Avery, and brother of Samuel Putnam Avery. His father, a hotel keeper, died during the cholera epidemic of 1832, leaving a widow and six children in poverty. Mrs. Avery is credited with unusual capabilities of mind and character. Benjamin often spoke of her in after years as his "polar star" and as a mother who taught her family the highest principles of honor.
Education
From the early age Benjamin was passionate about literature and plastic arts, but unfortunately he didn't have any chances for formal education. He learned the trade of bank-note engraving, and was so employed when news of the gold discovery at Sutter's Mill fired him with a determination to go to California.
Career
On the sailing ship Orpheus, which rounded the Horn, he arrived at San Francisco July 8, 1849. For several years he vainly followed prospecting, and was often destitute and ill.
In 1856, with savings earned as a druggist and general storekeeper, he started a weekly newspaper, the Hydraulic Press, at North San Juan, Nevada County. It was a Republican and anti-slavery organ, and the community was hostile.
In 1860 he moved to Marysville and with Noah Brooks established the Appeal, the first daily newspaper in the state outside of San Francisco. In September of the same year he was elected state printer, and at the end of his two-years term moved to San Francisco. He became editor of the Bulletin, a post which he retained for ten years. During this period he organized the San Francisco Art Association and spent much time in writing and speaking in its behalf.
His one separately published work, Californian Pictures in Prose and Verse, which appeared posthumously in 1878, hardly justifies the praise that has been given to him as a writer. The verse is mediocre, and the prose, though indicative of a feeling for the beauty and grandeur of the physical world, has few qualities of distinction. Among his literary remains was an unfinished work on "Art and Its Uses. "
Failing health caused him to retire from daily journalism, and in January 1874 he accepted the editorship of the Overland Monthly. A few months later he was appointed by President Grant minister to China, and in August sailed for Peking.
He died in Beijing. The body was embalmed by the surgeon of the Russian embassy and after impressive ceremonies was carried by the U. S. S. Monocacy from Tientsin to Yokohama. It was transferred to the City of Tokio and was then brought to San Francisco, where on January 26, 1876, after a largely attended memorial meeting, it was interred.
Achievements
Among several diplomatic achievements he is credited with an important share in composing the differences between China and Japan, then at the verge of war.
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Personality
The portrait of Avery shows a refined and sensitive face. He had the quality of inspiring the warm regard and admiration of those with whom he was most closely associated.
Quotes from others about the person
John S. Hittell: "The best man I ever knew, without exception. "
Samuel Williams: "Perhaps no one person did so much to educate the people of the state in the right direction — to lift the thoughts of men above the sordid interests of the hour and the mean ambition of personal gain. "
