 In 1843 Griswold founded The Opal , an annual gift book that collected essays , stories , and poetry . Nathaniel Parker Willis edited its first edition , which was released in the fall of 1844 . For a time , Griswold was editor of the Saturday Evening Post and also published a collection of poetry , The Cypress Wreath ( 1844 ) . His poems , with titles such as " The Happy Hour of Death " , " On the Death of a Young Girl " , and " The Slumber of Death " , emphasized mortality and mourning . Another collection of his poetry , Christian Ballads and Other Poems , was published in 1844 , and his nonfiction book , The Republican Court or , American Society in the Days of Washington , was published in 1854 . The book is meant to cover events during the presidency of George Washington , though it mixes historical fact with apocryphal legend until one is indistinguishable from the other . During this period , Griswold occasionally offered his services at the pulpit delivering sermons and he may have received an honorary doctorate from Shurtleff College , a Baptist institution in Illinois , leading to his nickname the " Reverend Dr. Griswold " . 
