print, shyly, as became one
who would afterward be known as the most modest literary man in
America. When Colonel Hunter found out the authorship of the bright
paragraphs that slipped into his paper now and then with increasing
frequency, he captured the elusive young genius and set it to work as
a regular contributor. In this periodical the young writer's first
poem appeared: a mournful lay of love and death, as a first poem
usually is, however cheerful a philosopher its author may ultimately
become.

This idyllic life soon ceased. When the tide of war rolled over
central Georgia, it swept many lives out of their accustomed paths and
destroyed many a support around which budding aspirations had wound
their tendrils. The "printer's boy" sat upon a fence on the old Turner
plantation, watching Slocum's Corps march by, and amiably receiving
the good-natured gibes and jests of the soldiers, who apparently found
something irresistibly mirth-provoking in the quaint little figure by
the wayside. Sherman was marching to the sea, and the Georgia boy was
taking his first view of the progress of war.

Among the many enterprises trampled to earth by those ruthless feet
was the _Countryman_, which survived the desolating raid but a short
time. It was years before the young journalist knew another home. For
some months he set type on the Macon _Daily Telegraph_, going from
there to New Orleans as private secretary of the editor of the
_Crescent Monthly_. When the _Crescent_ waned and disappeared from the
journalistic sky, he returned to Georgia and became editor,
compositor, pressman, mailing clerk, and entire force on the Forsyth
_Advertiser_.

A pungent editorial upon the abuses of the State government, which
appeared in the _Advertiser_, attracted the attention of Colonel W.T.
Thompson and led him to offer Mr. Harris a place on the staff of the
Savannah _Daily News_. Happily, there lived in Savannah the charming
young lady who was to be the loving centre of the pleasant home of
"Uncle Remus." The marriage took place in 1873, and Mr. Harris
remained with the _News_ until '76, when, to escape yellow fever, he
removed to Atlanta. He was soon after placed on the editorial staff of
the _Constitution_, and in its columns Uncle Remus was first
introduced to the world.

* * * * *

In his home in West End, "Snap-Bean Farm," he lived in calm content
with his harmonious family and his intimate friends,