The New York herald., 1871-09-09

sin and ribaldry and profanity OF the whole col
lection. The lines we have chosen for this pur-
pose are from Q sketch called Little Breeches,"
the Little Brecches aforesaid being dirty, tobacco
chewing. prec0ciously sinful little wretch, whose
father had taken Dr. Greeley's advice and gone
vest. This little rascal was lost In snowstorm
and found In sheepfold. The question, then, was,
In the fne ana phrenzied language Of our poet.
~How did he GIT thar ?" And the poetic answer
was "AngeIs as the child could never have walked
in that storm But this Is the moral which poet
draws from his fearfully illogical deductions:-
a And tidpk that saving little child, Ict rC,-
nsasni :sis s% ossr 70 is Sssnss. S%s
tl Than oaing around the Throne
II anything could be more lnexcusably impious
than this we know not wherc to find 1t. Byron's
'Don Juan" was bad enough, but 1t had some re-
deeming qualities-it was often brilliant and often
witty and sentenuous. shely's "Queen Nab"
was suflcienty atheistic, but 1t at least was
poetry. But this Is dOggerel. and criminal dogGerel
at that. 1t Is 'pOem' fitted only for the columns
OF the Days Dos0s, ana suited only to the iterary
centres'' OF the West. 1t is the expression OF no
artistic conception, and, II It is picture Of any
thing, 1t Is illustrative only OF blotch upon hu-
manity. Nothing can be truer than that the poet
should sing only OF truth and beauty The mission
OF art s 10 deal only with artistic perecti0ns The
great sculptor chooses not for his chlsel the two
headed girl The great painter wastes not his time
depicting soda barrels ana double crown boxes.
The great poet never falls low as to become the
author OF 'Jim Bludson and Little Breeches'' or
'The Heathen Chnee." We might laugh at this
doggerel II 1t was printed as dOggerel anu was not
profane But 1t Is wicked without being witty, and
rs vulgar and disgusting as the conversation Of q
six,h ward rough. These "pocts" or the stable the
barroom and the mlners' camp are completely given
nv n W. ve hat n Ia rk a liza
and the crowd which laughs at their coarseness,
their vulgarlty and their implety their victims
rather Than their admirers.
This man Hay seems In some way to have been q
soldier during the late war. and at the recent re-
unien Of the Army OF the James he was designated
TO read poem. His stanzas OF the usual staple
OF such verses-qulte good enough for dinner
where the wine was none Of the best, but too com.
monplace IN every way to be printed IN the news
papers. Yet the Associated Press was 80 manpu-
lated that the trash teiegraphed the whole
country and printed by rural editors who DO not
know the difference between poetry and pigs feet.
TIE whole crowd OF these fellows understand this
thing OF self-pufiery by the aid OF undlscrmnat-
ing PRESS and none OF them understand 1t better
than Bret Harte. Every few days we receive an
envelope containing pun OF the last named person.
1t couies without signature, ana Is usually iraught
with such important burdens as these;-"Bret Harte
Is visiting In the Jerseys' Bret Harte's cottage at
Newport Is deserted for the present., '.Bret
Harse is going to Podunkn But the everlasting
song Is Bret Harte, and many silly newspapers arc
full OF these silly paragraphs And what has this
man done to deserve such extended notices lie
wroLe ''The Heathen Cninee" and few other
heatnenish and indelicate verses. Nobody ever
pretended his nonsense was poetry, and yet yne
faculty at Harvard listened to the fellow reclte his
because he had noming better to give them. Gould
they expect grapes from tnistes or apples from
thornss Could they expect poetry and patnos from
the poet OF ndecency and vulgarIty' 1t 10 almost
an insult to their intelligence and morality to
answer these questions in the only way their invita-
ton making him their chosen poet permits them 80
be answered. 'The Heather Cnlneen p0rtrays only
the glory OF cheating at cards. Another "poem'
which Mr.. Harte calls Cicely,n rs q psychological
HISTORY Of an -accouchernent. The Harvard profess
sors might have known these things they were
capable OF learning anything: but, like many other
people, We fear they sometimes take poets on trust.
tits remarkable IN how far in1ecency Is the most
important element In the Of this new school
OF pOetizcrs1 Even Joaquin Miller who comes COM
mended to US by English critics as the great Ame-
rican poet" can not avoid this vulgarty IN rhyme
In his iit Carsun's Rlde'' he tells OF his brown
brlde,p whose -s ,s,,. ., IA, ...s,., ,,..,,. 4. ..
-Hair wine
In lie wealth and It's food, pouring and ali over
Her bosom wine red, ana pressed never BY one
u This or course, IL not poetry is only ungram-
matical nonsense-but in 1t Is the element which
made Swinburne 80 famous and 30 Infamous for In.
fuslng 1t into his verses Bret Harte is full OF like
nlthiness, and John Hay goes even further and is
brutal enough to print lines Like these:- 8 ~,
800 You may rezooot Till the cows com. home
But II one OF You tetches boy, 'A -,
At s;ss; SsST VI e: ssii Nn5 NRsEsi yoy A'l
The third line this stanzA is simply horrible but
the nrst is even worse, because those to whom it
would have any meaning know that 1t Is the worst
possible phrase which can be put into print. t Il
Other poets besides those we have mentioned ara
ambitious to travel over the same road. Among
these Is Mr.. r. n. Newell, better known az Orpheu,
@. Kerr, whose volume of .versatilites, has ,ust
been published by Lee Shepard, Of Boston. Does
Mr.. Newell imagine that refined ana cultivated peo
pie care to read odes to Aspasla or of "Leonorev ~
OF whom he sngs:-
! saw her again that nipbt
..ai When one was called 10 sing
balai OF the oiden time.
VI wooing and ring, e,.aaf
r Ana oil . bride unsuliied turn'd
..n'oa guilty thing.
And all my love wa, banshed then,
- But pity took It's place;
foi 10 the silent agony
Reflected In thy lace
Il saw beneath the badge OF shame,
io1 An old, familiar grace. gUaf
Can we not have verses that have some or the
elements OF poetry In them, and wit that at least Is
purer Is our poetry TO be like
"A bride unsulisd turned
into guilty thingf Il
Are our publishers TO be constantly sending out