HENBY WATTERSON 515 given over to deep-laid schemes against the common welfare. If to his genius you add a small tincture of inspiration, that element in some characters which occasionally raises them high enough above the disturbances of the present and the immediate vicinity to enable them to get a connected view over considerable time and space, you will have about the most difficult thing for analysis in the world. Such a man is Henry Watterson. The above difficulties are not the only ones. For in Mr. Watterson *s life is em- bodied in a small degree the tragedy of the Civil War. His parentage, his training, his sentiments, his local surroundings in Tennessee, Washington, and in Louisville, ajl emphasize this tragedy. His father, Harvey Magee Watterson, was a representative from Tennessee, 1839-1843, editor of the Nash- ville Uniofij 1847-1851, editor Washington Unions 1851. He was a lawyer by profession, practicing many years in Wash- ington. From 1840 to 1860 young Watterson grew up in the at- mosphere of the national capital, his social sympathies tend- ing toward the chivalric society of the old South while his in- tellectual sympathies were largely Northern. His fondness for the Union was a reflection of his inherited tendencies and of his observation and study at Washington. ELis father was the successor in the House of Representatives of James K. Polk. He was a friend and companion of Andrew Jackson, and held the same views regarding the Union as Old Hickory. It is doubtful if the inhabitants of any other section of the country equalled those of old Tennessee in disinterested love of the Union. That sentiment was shared by both Henry Wat- terson and his father. Henry Watterson was bom in Washington City, February 16, 1840. The twenty years following were full of meaning for the boy and young man. One is tempted to say that he was fortunately physically unable to attend school. Again, one is tempted to say that his father was fortunately too busy to give much attention to the educational training of the son. The latter was uncertain in his tastes. He early showed a tendency toward music. He pursued his musical
