This file consists of various source material used in the preparation of the formal page for Wallace Bruce, some formatted for HTML, some left as raw text, and organized in a haphazard manner. It is not really intended for wide scrutiny, but may help a rare scholar intent on finding out more about this man. The original page, produced about 2007, had only very sketchy information, some of which was conjecture contradicted by later findings. The finalized page for Bruce is here.
There is nothing particularly Masonic about this poem, but it is the only complete poem by this author that we've been able to locate. [this was as of c.2006]
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The following prologue is condensed from the guide-book Bruce wrote, The Hudson. The final bit of verse is no doubt only a portion of his full ode on this occasion.
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It was at this place, on the 22d day of May, 1782, that Col. Nicola, on behalf of himself and others, proposed that Washington should become King, for the "national advantage," a proposal that was received by Washington with "surprise and astonishment," "viewed with abhorrence," and "reprehended with severity." The temptation which was thus repelled by Washington, had its origin with that portion of the officers of the army who, while giving their aid heartily to secure an independent government, nevertheless believed that that government should be a monarchy. The rejection of the proposition by Washington was not the only significant result. The rank and file of the army rose up against it, and around their camp-fires chanted their purpose in Billings' song, "No King but God!" From that hour a Republic became the only possible form of government for the enfranchised Colonies.
The inattention of Congress to the payment of the army gave rise to another important episode in the history of the war. On the 10th of March, 1783, the first of the famous "Newburgh Letters" was issued, in which, by implication at least, the army was advised to revolt. The letter was followed by an anonymous manuscript notice for a public meeting of officers on the succeeding Tuesday. Washington was equal to the emergency. He expressed his disapprobation of the whole proceeding, and with great wisdom, requested the field officers, with one commissioned officer from each company, to meet on the Saturday preceding the time appointed by the anonymous notice. He attended this meeting and delivered before it one of the most touching and effective addresses on record. When he closed his remarks, the officers unanimously resolved "to reject with disdain" the infamous proposition contained in the anonymous address.
...when Congress sat inactive and careless of its needs until the camp rose in mutiny, happily checked, however, by Washington in a single sentence. It will be remembered that he began to read his manuscript without glasses, but was compelled to stop, and, as he adjusted them to his eyes, he said, "You see, gentlemen, that I have not only grown gray, but blind, in your service." It is needless to say that the "anonymously called" meeting was not held.
Wallace Bruce was Poet Laureate of Canongate Kilwinning Lodge #2 (Edinburgh, Scotland) in 1890. Bruce lived in Brooklyn, New York, and wrote a photographic travel guide, The Hudson, first published in 1881, and reissued by him in 1901. Wallace occasionally used the pen-name Thursty McQuill. The Hudson is his only book to have made it on to the Internet (as of 2008), with only a few isolated verses scattered through the travelogue. The one complete poem above was reprinted in An American Anthology, 1787-1900
Although living in New York, heart of the publishing industry, Bruce was a book reviewer for the Chicago Times from at least 1897, until at least 1900 when An American Anthology was published.
(From an online biography Charles H. Crandall, at Sonnet Central, which also features several of WB's poems:) "[Wallace Bruce] has a home in Poughkeepsie, a cottage in Florida, and is now (1890) consul at Leith, Scotland. He was chief editor of the Lit. at Yale, poet at the Newburg Centennial, poet at the unveiling of the Burns statue in Central Park, and on other occasions; being a favorite with Scotchmen and Grand Army veterans." (From Encyclopaedia of Universal Authorship, 1893, by Spofford and Gibbon) "Wallace Bruce was born in Hillsdale, Columbia county, N. Y., about 1844. He prepared for college at the Hudson River Institute, Claverack, N. Y., and graduated at Yale College In 1867, where be distinguished himself alike in scholarship and literature; was elected editor of the Yale Literary Magazine by the largest vote recorded in the fifty years history of that publication; studied law with the late William A. Beach; went to Europe In 1870; was in Paris during the stormy season of the Franco-Prussian war; returned bome, and adopted literature and lecturing as his life work. Whatever he does he does well. The first poem which gave him national prominence was "Parson Alten's Ride," delivered at the Bennington Centennial in 1876. In 1878 he published "The Land of Burns;" made a lecture trip to California in 1879; published his poem, "The Yosemite," in 1880; "The Hudson," in 1882; the Newburgh Centennial poem, "The Long Drama," in 1883 ; "From the Hudson to tbe Yosemite," in 1884. He has in hand two other works, which, with his regular lectures, at an average of five nights a week, fills full to overflowing a busy life. He has made his way to the very front of the lecture platform without sensation, and has won bis position by his qualifications as an orator and a genial man of letters. His poetry and oratory are both full of the sunshine and enthusiasm of his nature.
The following obituary was found pasted inside the back covers of Leaves Of Gold, along with a couple very poor quality reproductions of photographs of Bruce.
In the death of Wallace Bruce recently at a winter resort in Florida, the Capitol district lost one of its most famous men of letters. Wallace Bruce was a distinguished poet and orator, and has been called the "Burns" of Hillsdale, in Columbia county, where he was born. In all the poems of Bruce there was music as well as thought which stirred men and women to better things, especially the brotherhood of man. Some of his works were of that homely charaeter which have made the stories of Eugene Field and other Ameriean poets mmortal.
Wallace Bruce had lived for some years in Brooklyn. In 1906 he suffered a stroke of paralysis and after that was always in frail health. Last fall he went to Florida in the hope that he might regain his etrength, but suffered another stroke which brought on his death.
Bruce was born in Hillsdale in 1844, the son of Alfred and Mary Ann McAlpine Bruce. He was trained in an atmosphere good and uplifting, and when old enough entered the common school of the village. From there he went to Claverack academy, where he became a leader among his fellow students, many of whom are still living and who like to talk of his career as a student. In his Greek fraternity he was an officer and an active worker. As a debater he was not excelled in the academy.
As a reader he gave such selections as "The Raven," by Poe, with great ability, and this won him distinction. As a student he was apt, and during study hours one might find him seated in one chair, with his feet on the back of another, buried in his text books. As a young man it is said the girls of the school found him their ideal.
After being graduated from Claverack academy he entered Yale and was graduated from that university in 1867. He made rapid progress while at Yale, especially along literary lines, and at his graduation was fitted to take up a literary career. Following his graduation, in 1871, he married Annie Becker, a country girl from the village of Schodack. To them were born two sons, Malcolm and Kenneth, and a daughter, Mrs. H. H. Abernathy of Brooklyn, all of whom are living.
Bruce was appointed United States consul at Edinburgh in 1889, and served until 1893. He delivered Burns anniversary addresses at Ayr, Edinburgh, Kilmarnock, Scotland; Boston, Hartford and Chicago, and deliveres lectures on Washington Irving at Shakespeare Grammar school at Stratford. He was president of the Shakespeare society at Edinburgh, and of the Florida Chautauqua at De Funaak Springs, the latter of which he was the founder.
Among his business enterprises he once held newspaper and magazine concessions from the Hudson River Day Line boats for many years, and his business ability paralleled his literary success.
John Burroughs, in a personal tribute once said of Bruce's poem "Wanderers": "A beautiful book into which I dip from time to time and always strike a moving eloquent strain."
William E. Gladstone spoke of the same book in the following words: "The outward form is beautiful, and my first acquaintance with the contents is in harmony therewith."
A personal tribute from Henry Ward Beecher concerning the volume "Clover and Heather," said: "I congratulate you on issuing such a charming volume. It will be thankfully received by every lover of Burns. I thank you as one. You have touched the strings with melodious results."
John Greenleaf Whittier spoke of a poem by Bruce in these words: "Hearty thanks for thy excellent poems, printed in style worthy of its fine and fitting verses,"
Some of Bruce's books which have been published are "Old Homestead Poems," "In Clover and Heather," "The Hudson," "Wayside Poems," "Here's a Hand," "Leaves of Gold," "Scottish Poems," and "Wanderers."
During recent years Bruce gave up much of his time to traveling and lecturing. In his poems he shows great love and feeling for his mother and her farm home, where he loved to go in summer and wander among the hills and dales. One of the best things he wrote was a poem entitled "The Rock Where My Mother Played." This went as I follows:
[Poem texts are skipped, but embedded in the source file for this page.] Bruce touched the tenderest sentiments in poems on love and courtship, and those dedicated to and written about his wife. Some of these follow:
[Poems skipped]
Several of Bruce's poems pertain to his life at Yale, where he always played a leading part in undergraduate life, especially in organizations and events connected with the university's literary activities. One of these, entitled "Old South Middle's Plea," reads:
[Poem skipped]
The first session of the Florida Chautauqua convened on Feb. 10, 1885, and lasted until March 9. ...One of the speakers at both the 1885 and 1886 sessions was Wallace Bruce, who would later assume a significant role with the Florida Chautauqua....
In one of her "Bits and Pieces of Walton County History" columns, Anna Reardon wrote: "Wallace Bruce was born in Hillsdale, N.Y. on January 10, 1844. He was well-educated, graduating with honors from Yale University about 1868....He married Anna Becker of Scodak Depot, N.Y. about 1870. She was born October 22, 1849 and also had a good education, having attended a private 'Young Ladies Academy' in northern New York....Wallace Bruce was a scholar, author, poet and lecturer. He was appointed by President Benjamin Harrison to serve as U.S. Consul to Edinborough {sic}, Scotland, where the family lived from 1889 to 1893....After Wallace Bruce returned to this country, he continued his career, lecturing throughout the country." ...
Wallace Bruce had a grand vision for Chautauqua. A pamphlet was created to raise funds for the Hall of Brotherhood. It listed those who had already pledged to give Wallace Bruce $100 towards the construction of the building,including Rev. William A. Allen and John Jett McCaskill of DeFuniak Springs and two U.S. senators, George Peabody Wetmore of Rhode Island and Chauncey M. Depew of New York. The pamphlet stated, "The western wing of the Hall of Brotherhood will be known as 'Yale University Hall,' and will be dedicated to the Yale Boys of the South. It will be used as a Lecture Hall for American History and Literature, and as a reception room and rallying place for graduates and representatives of Colleges and Universities everywhere." It listed some distinguished alumni who had already subscribed, including Cornelius Vanderbilt and Wallace Bruce.
Wallace Bruce was president of the Chautauqua until his death in 1914. He had two sons and one daughter, all of whom played a part in the continuation of the assemblies. Kenneth, who assisted Wallace in the final years of his life, took over until he died two years later. Malcolm then served as president until the early 1920s, but the glory days of the Chautauqua had passed. Malcolm moved away, and his brother-in-law, Dr. George H. Abernethy. who had married Wallace's daughter Clara in 1906, became president of the association until it ceased in the late 1920s.
(Uncredited review from The Literary World, June 19, 1896.)
Lovers of simple and delicate poetry will not go astray if they decide to find room for Mr. Wallace Brace's In Clover and Heather upon their shelves. We are from time to time so pestered by the sheerly ineffective, or by indecency presented with care and ability, that it is a genuine pleasure to find ourselves occupied with a writer whose outlook is clean, whose work has valuable qualities, and whose heart is overflowing in thankfulness for the lovelinesses of Nature. In this selection from his two volumes, 'Old Homestead Poems' and 'Wayside Poems,' Mr. Wallace Bruce displays very openly, as a poet should, his reverential attitude before the Maker and Giver of all good things, voicing that large creed which is bounded by hope on one side and by gratitude on the other. Nothing is more marked in Clover and Heather than its note of sincerity. There is no posing about Mr. Wallace Bruce; we feel sure of our man, and read his poems with an added sense of enjoyment, because their candour is so transparent. We might quote from pieces more ambitions as regards diction and form than 'Environment,' but as we particularly wish to lay stress upon the cheeriness and simplicity which are so often manifest in this book, we intend to quote these two unassuming verses:
Evidences are not wanting that Mr. Wallace Bruce was handsomely remembered when humour was distributed among the people of this earth. ( from 10,000 Famous Freemasons by William R. Denslow) Wallace Bruce (1844-1914) Poet, author and orator. b. Nov. 10, 1844 at Hillsdale, N.Y. Engaged in leterary work from 1868 on. Was U.S. consul at Edinburgh, Scotland 1889-93. Was poet and orator at numerous centenial and memorial occasions in U.S., Scotland and England, delivered the Burns anniversary addresses at Ayr, Edinburgh and Kilmarnock. Amoung his writings were The Land of Burns (1878), The Yosemite (1879), The Hudson (1882), Old Homestead Poems(1887), Leaves of Gold (1907), and Wanderers(1907). Member of Hudson Lodge No.7, Hudson, N.Y. d.Jan., 1914.
The following is from Modern Scottish poets: with biographical and critical notices- pp.344-, by Edwards & Macbeath.
WALLACE BRUCE, whose name is suggestive of a strong union of Scottish patriotism and poetry, is the gifted and much-esteemed United States Consul at Edinburgh, He was born in 1844 at Hillside, New York — one of the most beautiful and romantic towns in the Hudson River Valley — and descended from true Scottish "forebears." In his proem to a volume —"In Clover and Heather "— a loving combination of Scottish and American poems, published in 1890 by Messrs Blackwood & Sons, he says— There are greetings the wide world over, And blossoms wherever we roam. But none like the heather and clover To welcome the wanderer home. Warm-hearted with kindred devotion, Twin sisters in sympathy true, They whisper across the wide ocean, Love-laden with memory's dew. In purple tints woven together The Hudson shakes hands with the Tweed, Commingling with Abbotsford's heather The clover of Sunnyside's mead. A token of friendship immortal With Washington Irving returns — Scott's ivy entwined o'er his portal By the Blue-eyed Lassie of Burns. Their names by heather-bells wedded With fondness Columbia retains; In freedom's foundation imbedded The lay of the minstrel remains. Ay, this their commission and glory, In redolent bloom to prolong Love, liberty, legend, and story, That blossom in ballad,and song. So here's to the clover and heather Of river-side, mountain, and glen, As I stand wi' doffed bonnet and feather At the yetts of my forebears again! Our poet's paternal ancestors—the Braces—went from Scotland to Massachusetts in 1640, while his maternal ancestors—the MacAlpines—left this country about the middle of the eighteenth century. His great-great-uncle was Wm. MacAlpine, the Greenock publisher, and his great-grandmother, Mary Adams, was descended from John Alden, of the "Mayflower." We are told that it was a Scotsman who laid the foundation of the American Constitution — namely, Alexander Hamilton; another Scotsman, Washington Irving, laid the foundation of American literature; and the ancestors of Wallace Bruce were men of weight in their day, and did not a little for the good of America. From a very early age our poet evinced a great love for Scottish history and poetry. He graduated at Yale University with high honours in literature and classics in 1867, and afterwards studied law, and was admitted to practice in New York in 1869. In the following year he made a trip on foot through Scotland and England, was in Paris during the stormy season of the Franco-Prussian war, and on his return to New York he entered the Lycenm and Lecture field, taking for his subjects Burns, Scott, and Shakespeare. His lectures were popular in every city, and resulted in helping forward the great Chautauqua literary movement in America. Both in Scotland and in America his lectures are spoken of in the highest terms. They are patriotic and poetic, and abound with gems of his own production—his subjects giving him full scope for his fine imaginative and descriptive powers. His classic diction, beautiful gems of thought and recitation, and splendid oratory, as has been said by a great authority, "fire the hearts of his hearers, as he speaks with the fervour of a minstrel chanting the deeds of gods and heroes." Another critic of standing says that he has made his way to the "very front of the lecture platform without sensation, and has earned his position by his qualifications as an orator and a genial man of letters," and, further, that his " poetry and oratory are both full of the sunshine and enthusiasm of his nature." Mr Wallace Bruce's works include "A Hand-Book of the Hudson," which has already reached a circulation of 150,000 copies. His "Old Homestead Poems," published by Harper & Brothers, New York, contain many patriotic and occasional poems characterised by that delicacy of fancy, sincerity of expression, and depth of feeling which give fitting utterance to the sanctity with which we hallow the past. As was said by "The Magazine of Poetry," "no American poet, not even Whittier, has set to sweeter music, the tender memories of home." His "Clover and Heather" we have already named as an affectionate combination of Scotch and American poems, possessing the same truthfulness of motive which is characteristic of all his verse, even when his abounding humour ripples into song. This nobility of purpose and excellence of execution are the qualities that make those familiar with his poetry warm admirers. While a student he was elected editor of the "Yale Literary Magazine." The first poem which gave him national prominence was "Parson Allen's Ride," delivered at the Bennington Centennial in 1875, and three years afterwards he published "The Land of Burns," which was followed by "The Yosemite," "The Long Drama," &c. In 1889 the subject of our sketch was appointed United States Consul in Edinburgh—an appointment that gave very marked satisfaction to a wide circle. It only remains to be further noted that the fervid patriotism which pulsates through his poems has caused his being selected as a poet to celebrate many distinguished occasions. Perhaps amongst the happiest of these efforts was his masterly productions in 1880 of "Scott's Greeting to Burns in Central Park, New York," at the dedication of the Burns Statue; and more recently—on 8th July, 1891—he had the well-merited honour of being selected to write the poem for the unveiling of the statue of Burns at Ayr, the charm of the verses exciting the admiration of all who heard them. Altogether Mr Bruce's productions evince the true poetical spirit, and the clear and cultured mind. His views of duty and of life are broad, liberal, and enlightened. His descriptive sketches of nature are beautiful, while those of individual character are racy, vigorous, and life-like— animated, and sparkling with quiet, pawky humour and touches of a tender pathos that reaches the heart. The following, from the Glasgow Herald, is high praise, but not too strong—"Mr Bruce's verse thrills with fine, free-flowing, vigorous spirit, which imparts to it that feeling of reality and freshness that gives to the poetry of Burns its permanent attraction.""The Centennial of the Disbanding of the Army was observed October 18th, 1883. ... 150,000 people, "ten acres" square, gathered in the historic grounds [of Washington's Headquarters on the Hudson at Newburgh, New York]. Senator Mayard, of Delaware, was chairman of the day. Hon. William M. Evarts was the orator, and modestly speaking in the third person, Wallace Bruce, author of this, was the poet."
wb., from The Hudson, which explains many of the details in this poem, which was written to commemorate the place, the occasion, and especially the man (and Mason), General George Washington.