William T. Hale. This gentleman is a merchant, Lawyer and literature of Liberty; was born in 1857 at Liberty, Dekalb Co., Tenn., and is one of three boys of C. W. L. and Malissa (Overall) Hale.
He received his education at the Masonic Academy, at Liberty, and has been a close student at home. At the age of seventeen he began business life as a partner with his father in the mercantile firm of Hale & son, and has continued in the same business, in connection with his profession, which he entered in 1884, having at the same time found leisure enough to indulge his literary tastes.
In 1876 he married Lula Lewis, who was born in 1860, and who was the daughter of G. W. and Sophie (Allen) Lewis, of Lebanon, Tenn. He has two children: Charles and Herbert. Since finishing his studies under James A. Nesmith he has built up a flattering practice in Dekalb and adjoining counties. He is best known as an author, being the author of “Vernon Wild,” a novelette, which had a considerable local reputation, and of the two poetical volumes, “Violets,” and “Swallow Flights”; while his ephemeral pennings for the press would fill volumes. His poems are dainty, finished and full of feeling, and have been praised by Joaquin Miller and Gerald Massey. Below are given a few quotations, taken at random from his poems:
“I think this thing as proper quite
As anything e’er writ or spoken–
No golden calf should loom unbroken,
When overshadowing prostrate Right!
“And I think the prettiest thought God had
When he made all of earth but the human,
Was that which led him to brighten the world
With woman, beautiful woman.”
“Am I not one who knows Love’s worth?
Lo! My hands are empty, although my days
Were spent in search of the joys that seemed
Far in the front and hidden from gaze.
“While smiles of Luna from realms aloft–
Gleams they seemed from the land of bliss–
Settled down over the scene as soft
As mouth over mouth in a kiss.”
In 1886 Wm. Hale was a candidate to represent his county in the General Assembly, but was defeated on account of his prohibition principles. He is a Democrat politically, and cast his first vote for W. S. Hancock for President.