The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes (1907–21).
VOLUME XVI. Early National Literature, Part II; Later National Literature, Part I.
§ 20. Tiger Lilies
To the same inspiration may be traced his visit to New York in 1867 to find a publisher for Tiger Lilies. Possibly it was the reputation he gained from its publication which caused him to marry in the face of the precarious future. The setting up of the state governments under the Reconstruction Act of 1867 made the prospect for him, as for hundreds of others, even darker and more discouraging. Despairing of earning a living by his pen, and seeing that Southern colleges were so poor as “to hold out absolutely no inducement in the way of support to a professor,” he yielded in January, 1869, to his father’s solicitation and betook himself to the study of law.