Various - The Bay State Monthly, Volume 3, No. 1

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Upon the movement of General Zolicoffer into Kentucky, Mr. Coffin
hastened to Louisville, Lexington, and Central Kentucky, but finding
affairs had settled down, hastened down the Ohio River on a steamboat,
reaching the mouth of the Tennessee just as the fleet under Commodore
Foot was entering the Ohio after capturing Fort Henry. Commodore Foot
narrated the events of the engagement, and Mr. Coffin, learning that no
correspondent had returned from Fort Henry, stimulated by the thought of
giving the Boston _Journal_ the first information, jumped on board
the cars, wrote his account on the train, and had the satisfaction of
knowing that it was the first one published.

Returning to Cairo by the next train, he proceeded to Fort Donelson and
was present in the cabin of the steamer "Uncle Sam" when General Buckner
turned over the Fort, the Artillery, and 15,000 prisoners to General
Grant. He hastened to Cairo, wrote his account on the cars, riding
eastward, till it was complete, then returning, and arriving in season
to jump on board the gunboat Boston for a reconnoissanceof Columbus.

Mr. Coffin continued with the fleet during the operation at Island No.
10. His knowledge of civil engineering enabled him to assist Captain
Maynadier of the engineers in directing the mortar firing. On one
occasion while mounted on a corn crib near a farm-house to note the
direction of the bombs, the Confederate artillerists sent a shell which
demolished a pig-pen but a few feet distant.

While at Island No. 10, the battle of Pittsburg Landing was fought.
Leaving the fleet he hastened thither, accompanied the army in its slow
advance upon Corinth, was present at the battle of Farmington and the
occupation of Corinth.

General Halleck, smarting under the criticism of the press, ordered all
correspondents to leave, and Mr. Coffin once more joined the fleet,
descending the Mississippi. During the engagement with the Confederate
fleet at Memphis, he stood upon the deck of the Admiral's despatch boat
with note-book and watch in hand--noting every movement. He was fully
exposed, aided in hauling down the flag of the Confederate ship, "Little
Rebel," and assisted in rescuing some of the wounded Confederates from
the sinking vessels.

He accepted an invitation from Captain Phelps of the Benton to accompany
him on shore when the city was surrendered, and saw the stars and strips
go up upon the flag-staff in the public square and over the Court House.

The Army of the Potamac was in front of Richmond, and he returned east
in season to chronicle the seven day's engagement on the Peninsular. The
constant exposure to malaria brought on sickness, which prevented his
being with the army in the engagement at the second Bull Run, but he was
on the field of Antietam throughout the entire contest, and wrote an
account which was published in the Baltimore _American_, of which
an enormous edition was disposed of in the army--and was commended for
its accuracy.

In October Mr. Coffin was once more in Kentucky, but did not reach the
army in season to see the battle of Perrysville. Comprehending the
situation of affairs there, that there could be no movement until the
entire army was re-organized under a new commander, he returned to
Virginia, accompanying the army in its march from the Potomac to
Fredericksburg, and witnessed that disastrous battle. A month later he
was with the fleet off Charleston and saw the attack on Sumter by the
Monitor, and the bombardment of Fort McAllister.

In April he was once more with the Army of the Potomac, arriving just as
the troops were getting back to their quarters after Chancellorsville to
hear the stories and collect an account of that battle.

When the Confederate army began the Gettysburg Campaign Mr. Coffin
watched every movement. He was with the cavalry during the first day's
struggle on that field, but was an eyewitness of the second and third
days' engagement. His account was re-published in nearly every one of
the large cities, was translated and re-published in France and Germany.
While the armies east and west were preparing for the campaign of 1864
Mr. Coffin made an extended tour through the border states--Maryland,
West Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio,
to ascertain what changes had taken place in public opinion. In May he
was once more with the Army of the Potomac under its great leader,
Lieutenant General Grant, and saw all the conflicts of the Wilderness,
Spottsylvania, North Anna, around Hanover, Cold Harbor, the struggles in
front of Petersburg through '64. Upon the occupation of Savannah by
General Sherman he hastened south, having an ardent desire to enter
Charleston, whenever it should be occupied by Union troops. He was
successful in carrying out his desires, and with James Redpath of the
New York _Tribune_ leaped on shore from the deck of General
Gilmore's steamer when he steamed up to take possession of the city.

Mr. Coffin's despatch announcing the evacuation and occupation of
Sumter, owing to his indefatigable energy, was published in Boston,
telegraphed to Washington, and read in the House of Representatives
before any other account appeared, causing a great sensation.

Thus read the opening sentence:

"Off Charleston, February 18, 2 P.M. The old flag waves over Sumter and
Moultrie, and the city of Charleston. I can see its crimson stripes and
fadeless stars waving in the warm sunlight of this glorious day. Thanks
be to God who giveth us the victory."

In March the correspondent was again with the Army of the Potomac,
witnessing the last battles--Fort Steadman--Hatcher's Run--and the last
grand sweep at Five Forks. He entered Petersburg in the morning--rode
alone at a breakneck pace to Richmond, entering it while the city was a
sea of flame, entered the Spottsville hotel while the fire was raging on
three sides--wrote his name large on the register--the first to succeed
a long line of Confederate Generals and Colonels. When President Lincoln
arrived to enter the city, he had the good fortune to be down by the
river bank, and to him was accorded the honor of escorting the party to
General Weitzel's headquarters in the mansion from which Jefferson Davis
had fled without standing upon the order of departure.

With the fall of Richmond, and the surrender of Appomattox, Mr. Coffin's
occupation as an army correspondent ended. During these long years he
found time to write three volumes for juveniles--"Days and Nights on the
Battle Field," "Following the Flag," and "Winning his Way."

On July 25, 1866, Mr. Coffin sailed from New York for Europe,
accompanied by Mrs. Coffin, as correspondent of the Boston _Journal_.
War had broken out between Austria on the one side and Italy and
Germany on the other. It was of short duration; there was the battle
of Custozza in Italy and Konnigratz in Germany, followed by the
retirement of Austria from Italy, and the ascendency of Bismarck over
Baron Von Beust in the diplomacy of Europe. It was a favorable period
for a correspondent and Mr. Coffin's letters were regularly looked for
by the public. The agitation for the extension of the franchise was
beginning in England. Bearing personal letters from Senator Sumner,
Chief Justice Chase, General Grant, and other public men, the
correspondent had no difficulty in making the accquaintance of the men
prominent in the management of affairs on the other side of the water.
Through the courtesy of John Bright, who at once extended to Mr. Coffin
every hospitality, he occupied a chair in the speaker's gallery of the
House of Commons on the grand field night when Disraelli, then Prime
Minister, brought in the suffrage bill. While in Great Britain Mr.
Coffin made the acquaintance not only of men in public life, but many of
the scientists,--Huxley, Tyndal, Lyell, Sir William Thompson. At the
social Science Congress held in Belfast, Ireland, presided over by Lord
Dufferin, he gave an address upon American Common Schools which was
warmly commended by the London _Times_.

An introduction to the literary clubs of London gave him an opportunity
to make the acquaintance of the literary guild. He was present at the
dinner given to Charles Dickens before the departure of that author to
the United States, at which nearly every notable author was a guest.

Hastening to Italy, he had the good fortune to see the Austrians take
their departure from Verona and Venice and the Italians assume
possession of those cities. Upon the entrance of Victor Emanuel to
Venice he enjoyed exceptional facilities for witnessing the festivities.

He was present at the coronation of the Emperor and Empress of Austria,
as King and Queen of Hungary. Through the courtesy of Mr. Motley, then
Minister to Austria, he received from the Prime Minister of the empire
every facility for witnessing the ceremonies.

At Pesth he made the acquaintance of Francis Deak, the celebrated
statesman--the John Bright of Hungary; also, of Arminius Vambrey, the
celebrated Oriental traveller.

At Berlin he had the good fortune to see the Emperor William, the Crown
Prince, Bismarck, Van Moltke, the former and the present Czar of Russia,
and Gortschakoff, the great diplomatist of Russia, in one group. The
letters written from Europe were upon the great events of the hour,
together with graphic descriptions of the life of the common people.

After spending a year and a half in Europe, Mr. Coffin visited Greece,
Turkey, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, sailing thence down the Red sea to
Bombay, travelled across India to the valley of the Ganges, before the
completion of the railroad, visiting Allahabad, Benares, Calcutta,
sailing thence to Singapore, Hong Kong, Canton, Shanghai. Ascending the
Yang-tse six hundred miles to Wuchang; the governor of the province
invited him to a dinner. From Shanghai he sailed to Japan, experiencing
a fearful typhoon upon the passage. Civil war in Japan prevented his
travelling in that country, and he sailed for San Francisco, visiting
points of interest in California, and in November made his way across
the country seven hundred miles--riding five consecutive days and nights
between the terminus of the Central Pacific road at Wadsworth and Salt
Lake, arriving in Boston, January, 1869, after an absence of two and a
half years. During that period the Boston _Journal_ contained every
week a letter from his pen.

For one who had seen so much there was an opening in the lecture field
and for several years he was one of the popular lecturers before
lyceums. In 1869 he published _Our New Way Round the World_, followed by
the _Seat of Empire_, _Caleb Crinkle_ (a story) _Boys of 76_, _Story of
Liberty_, _Old Times in the Colonies_, _Building the Nation_, _Life of
Garfield_, besides a history of his native town. His volumes have been
received with marked favor. No less than fifty copies of the _Boys of
'76_ are in the Boston Public Library and all in constant use.

Mr. Coffin has given many addresses before teacher's associations, and a
course of lectures before the Lowell Institute. During the winter of
1878-9 a movement was made by the Western grangers to bring about a
radical change in the patent laws. Mr. Coffin appeared before the
Committee of Congress and presented an address so convincing, that the
Committee ordered its publication. It has been frequently quoted upon
the floor of Congress and highly commended by the present Secretary of
the Interior, Mr. Lamar. Mr. Coffin also appeared before the Committee
on Labor, and made an argument on the "Forces of Nature as Affecting
Society," which won high encomiums from the committee, and which was
ordered to be printed. The honorary degree of A. M. was conferred upon
Mr. Coffin in 1870, by Amherst College. He is a member of the New
England Historical and Genealogical Society, and he gave the address
upon the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the settlement of his
native town. He is a resident of Boston, and was a member of the
Legislature for 1884, member of the Committee on Education, and reported
the bill for free textbooks. He was also member of the Committee on
Civil Service, and was active in his efforts to secure the passage of
the bill. He is a member of the present Legislature, Chairman of the
Committee on the Liquor Law, and of the special committee for a
Metropolitan Police for the city of Boston. Mr. Coffin's pen is never
idle. He is giving his present time to a study of the late war, and is
preparing a history of that mighty struggle for the preservation of the
government of the people.

* * * * *

[Illustration: John B. Clarke]

COLONEL JOHN B. CLARKE.

Editor and Proprietor of the Manchester [N.H.] Mirror.

Among the business enterprises in which the men of to-day seek fortune
and reputation, there is scarcely another which, when firmly established
upon a sound basis, sends its roots so deep and wide, and is so certain
to endure and prosper, bearing testimony to the ability of its creators,
as the family newspaper. Indeed, a daily or weekly paper which has
gained by legitimate methods an immense circulation and a profitable
advertising patronage is immortal. It may change owners and names, and
character even, but it never dies, and if, as is usually the case, it
owes its early reputation and success to one man, it not only reflects
him while he is associated with it, but pays a constant tribute to his
memory after he has passed away.

But, while the rewards of eminent success in the newspaper profession
are great and substantial, the road to them is one which only the
strong, sagacious, and active can travel, and this is especially true
when he who strives for them assumes the duties of both publisher and
editor. It requires great ability to make a great paper every day, and
even greater to sell it extensively and profitably, and to do both is
not a possible task for the weak. To do both in an inland city, where
the competition of metropolitan journals must be met and discounted,
without any of their advantages, requires a man of grip, grit and
genius.

In 1852 the Manchester MIRROR was one of the smallest and weakest papers
in the country. Its weekly edition had a circulation of about six
hundred, that of its daily was less than five hundred, and its
advertising receipts were extremely small. Altogether, it was a load
which its owner could not carry, and the whole establishment, including
subscription lists, good will, press, type and material, was sold at
auction for less than a thousand dollars.

In 1885 the WEEKLY MIRROR AND FARMER has a circulation of more than
twenty-three thousand and every subscriber on its books has paid for it
in advance. The DAILY MIRROR AND AMERICAN has a correspondingly large
and reliable constituency, and neither paper lacks advertising
patronage. The office in which they are printed is one of the most
extensive and best equipped in the Eastern States out of Boston. In
every sense of the word the MIRROR is successful, strong and solid.

The building up of this great and substantial enterprise from so small a
beginning has been the work of John B. Clarke, who bought the papers, as
stated above, in 1852, has ever since been their owner, manager, and
controlling spirit, and, in spite of sharp rivalry at home and from
abroad and the lack of opportunieies which such an undertaking must
contend with in a small city, has kept the MIRROR, in hard times as in
good times, steadily growing, enlarging its scope and influence, and
gaining strength with which to make and maintain new advances; and at
the same time has made it yield every year a handsome income. Only a man
of pluck, push and perseverance, of courage, sagacity and industry,
could have done this; and he who has accomplished it need point to no
other achievement to establish his title to a place among the strong men
of his time.

Mr. Clarke is a native of Atkinson, where he was born January 30, 1820.
His parents were intelligent and successful farmers, and from them he
inherited the robust constitution, the genial disposition, and the
capacity for brain-work, which have carried him to the head of his
profession in New Hampshire. They also furnished him with the small
amount of money necessary to give a boy an education in those days, and
in due course he graduated with high honors at Dartmouth College in the
class of 1843. Then he became principal of the Meredith Bridge Academy,
which position he held three years, reading law meanwhile in an office
near by. In 1848 he was admitted to the Hillsborough county bar from the
office of his brother, at Manchester, the late Honorable William C.
Clarke, Attorney General of New Hampshire, and the next year went to
California. From 1849 until 1851 he was practicing his profession,
roughing it in the mines, and prospecting for a permanent business and
location in California, Central America, and Mexico.

In 1851 he returned to Manchester and established himself as a lawyer,
gaining in a few months a practice which gave him a living; but in
October of the next year the sale of the MIRROR afforded an opening more
suited to his talents and ambition, and having bought the property he
thenceforth devoted himself to its development.

He had no experience, no capital, but he had confidence in himself,
energy, good judgment, and a willingness to work for the success he was
determined to gain. For months and years he was editor, reporter,
business manager, accountant, and collector. In these capacities he did
an amount of work that would have killed an ordinary man, and did it in
a way that told; for everymonth added to the number of his patrons; and
slowly but steadily his business increased in volume and his papers in
influence.

He early made it a rule to condense everything that appeared in the
columns of the MIRROR into the smallest possible space, to make what he
printed readable as well as reliable, to make the paper better every
year than it was the preceding year, and to furnish the weekly edition
at a price which would give it an immense circulation without the help
of travelling agents or the credit system: and to this policy he has
adhered. Besides this, he spared no expense which he judged would add to
the value of his publications, and his judgment has always set the
bounds far off on the very verge of extravagance. Whatever machine
promised to keep his office abreast of the times, and increase the
capacity for good work, he has dared buy. Whatever man he has thought
would brighten and strengthen his staff of assistants, he has gone for,
and if possible got, and whatever new departure has seemed to him likely
to win new friends for the MIRROR he has made.

In this way he has gone from the bottom of the ladder to the top. From
time to time rival sheets have sprung up beside him, but only to
maintain an existence for a brief period, or to be consolidated with the
MIRROR. All the time there has been sharp competition from publishers
elsewhere, but this has only stimulated him to make a better paper and
push it succesfully in fields which they have regarded as their own.

In connection with the MIRROR a great job printing establishment has
grown up, which turns out a large amount of work in all departments, and
where the state printing has been done six years. Mr. Clarke has also
published several books, including "Sanborn's History of New Hampshire,"
"Clarke's History of Manchester," "Successful New Hampshire Men,"
"Manchester Directory," and other works. Within a few years a book
bindery has been added to the establishment.

Mr. Clarke still devotes himself closely to his business six hours each
day, but limits himself to this period, having been warned by an
enforced rest and voyage to Europe in 1872 to recover from the strain of
overwork, that even his magnificent physique could not sustain too great
a burden, and he now maintains robust and vigorous health by a
systematic and regular mode of life, by long rides of fifteen to
twenty-five miles daily, and an annual summer vacation.

In making the MIRROR its owner has made a great deal of money. If he had
saved it as some others have done, he would have more to-day than any
other in Manchester who has done business the same length of time on the
same capital. But if he has gathered like a man born to be a
millionaire, he has scattered like one who would spend a millionaire's
fortune. He has been a good liver and a free giver. All his tastes
incline him to large expenditures. His home abounds in all the comforts
that money will buy. His farm is a place where costly experiments are
tried. He is passionately fond of fine horses, and his stables are
always full of those that are highly bred, fleet, and valuable. He loves
an intelligent dog, and a good gun, and is known far and near as an
enthusiastic sportsman.

He believes in being good to himself and generous to others; values
money only for what it will buy, and every day illustrates the fact that
it is easier for him to earn ten dollars than to save one by being
"close."

A business that will enable a man of such tastes and impulses to gratify
all his wants and still accumulate a competency for his children is a
good one, and that is what the business of the MIRROR counting-room has
done.

Nor is this all, nor the most, for the MIRROR has made the name of John
B. Clarke a household word in nearly every school district in Northern
New England and in thousands of families in other sections. It has given
him a great influence in the politics, the agriculture, and the social
life of his time, has made him a power in shaping the policy of his city
and state, and one of the forces that have kept the wheels of progress
moving in both for more than thirty years.

In a word, what one man can do for and with a newspaper in New Hampshire
John B. Clarke has done for and with the MIRROR, and what a great
newspaper can do for a man the MIRROR has done for John B. Clarke.

* * * * *

DENMAN THOMPSON.

Throughout the United States where-ever the name of New England is held
in respect there is the name of Denman Thompson a household word. His
genius has embodied in a drama the finer yet homlier characteristics of
New England life, its simplicity, its rugged honesty, its simple piety,
its benevolence, partially hid beneath a rough and uncouth exterior. His
drama is an epic--a prose poem--arousing a loyal and patriotic love for
the land of the Pilgrims in the hearts of her sons, whether at home, on
the rolling prairies of the West, in the sunny South, amid the grand
scenes of the Sierras, or on the Pacific slope.

That Denman Thompson was not a native of New Hampshire was rather the
result of chance. His parents were natives of Swanzey, where they are
still living at a ripe old age, and where they have always lived, save
for a few years preceeding and following the birth of their children. In
1831 the parents moved to Girard, Erie County, Pennsylvania, when,
October 15, 1833, was born their gifted son. The boy was blessed with
one brother and two sisters, and death has yet to strike its first blow
in the family.

At the age of thirteen years Denman accompanied his family to the old
home in Swanzey, where for several years he received the advantages of
the education afforded by the district school. For his higher education
he was indebted to the excellent scholastic opportunities afforded by
the Mount Caesar Seminary in Swanzey.

At the age of nineteen he entered the employ of his uncle in Lowell,
Massachusetts, serving as book-keeper in a wholesale store, and in that
city he made his _debut_ as Orasman in the military drama of the FRENCH
SPY.

In 1854, at the age of twenty-one years, he was engaged by John
Nickerson, the veteran actor and manager, as a member of the stock
company of the Royal Lyceum, Toronto. From the first his success was
assured, for aside from his natural adaptation to his profession he
possesses indomitable perseverance, a quality as necessary to the rise
of an artist as genius. On the provincial boards of Toronto he studied
and acted for the next few years, perfecting himself in his calling and
preparing for wider fields. Then he acted the rollicking Irishman to
perfection; the real live Yankee, with his genuine mannerisms and
dialect, with proper spirit and without ridiculous exaggeration, and the
Negro, so open to burlesque. The special charm of his acting in those
characters was his artistic execution. He never stooped to vulgarities,
his humor was quaint and spontaneous, and the entire absence of apparent
effort in his performance gave his audience a most favorable impression
of power in reserve. His favorite characters were Salem Scudder in THE
OCTOROON, and Myles Na Coppaleen in COLLEEN BAWN.

In April, 1862, Mr. Thompson started for the mother country, and there
his reception was worthy a returning son who had achieved a well-earned
reputation. His opening night in London was a perfect ovation, and
during his engagement the theatre was crowded in every part. He met with
flattering success during his brief tour, performing at Edinburg and
Glasgow before his return to Toronto the following fall.

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