The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1878-10-15
DAILY,
E BOBs.

Robert Ingersoll ON Robert nurns-Ingcr
soils Notion OF q Poet-Some Unique
Views gH
From tho New York Times. nl'
Chickering hall was crowed last evening
with an audience of well.dressed people
who had assembled to hear Col, Robert
Ingersoll lecture upon "Robert Burns
P~unctually at s o'clock Col. 1ngcrsoll
hustled through the little door at the real
of the platform and up to the foot.lights
and with u familiar sort of nod to the
audience began his discourse. Hc bcgar
with a definition Of poetry in the abstract,
remarking that 1t was much like religion
in one way, which was that few people
cared to express distinct opinions witt
regard to it. In his opinion poetry must
Of all things, be natural-nothing unnatu
raj could DO poetic. Then he gave his
opinion Of the poets. Dante" he said
twas a wonderful poet. l was told SO. ]
read his works. He was exceedingly
sublime; but ! could find nothing In
them but those vicious twins, solemnity
and stupidity, born Of superstition, strug
Cling for the mastery. So / also heard q
good deal of the sonnets Of Pctrarch
They are polished and grammatical, but ]
found they we're written about another
mans wife who had twelve or thirteen
healthy children; that he was all n pre-
tense, in fact, and that not n line wa torn
bleeding from his heart. Milton isa sub
lime writer, q magnificent writer! I was
told so; / always believed it. Ihave read
paradise LOST once. "Flying with in
deiatigable wings over-the vast abrupt" i
much too sublime fortmo. i abruptly admit
that do not understandit. Milton organic
cd the military of!heayen; put epaulets on
the shoulders Of God. That maybe
poetry, but it does not strike mt as such"
Mr.. Ingersoll dwelt for some time in the
poetry q Milton, and was very felicitous
on his description OF the first courtship,
where Adam is made to talk in q philos-
optical styleabout the laws ofthe universe.
Pollok, too, he had read. Hewas another
OF tho same sort. He described damned
souls imprrisonedEin the coils Of worms and
snakes. f"As a matter, of fact" said the
lecturer. pausing in his rapid walk ronnd
the platform, "no Caivinist ever wrote n
noen1. and never will. Calvinism Is o
world with the poetry left out and he'll
left in" He had. read these sublime gen.
tlemcn, and must admit they were not
Els conception Of apoct was somebody
who told exactly whathe thought and felt
who gave q real transcript OF his heart:
The Old writer's went to the cemeteries tof
literature and read the past, and then
fancied they were equipped write about
ltheioys and griek Of actual life. They
were literary mechanics, word carpenters,
not poets. Shakespeare" he said was
|tbe &rst 10 break down the classic 4nHddle
and write something natural" No poem
was n pocm without depression, without
episode. There could not possibly DO a
long poem "You might as well talk OF a
kiss in three volumes as O pome in three
yolumes.p Upon the countless poems Of
to-day. and,the writers who arc "always
hearing the rustling OF the damp leaves oil
despair as they walk through the eemeter-
ies al tho pas" the lecturer was very sar-
easfic: ana UPON the critics Of today, also.
The latter, he said, would complain that
the nightingale did not sing by note,
and would haSe.the clouds square;
"What We want is the natural" he re-
pcated, and 7 am going TO talk TO you
about one natural poet, and in my iudg'
ment. the second poet the world has thus
far produced" Ile then spoke OF Robert
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. and early education,
and askcd1wRat-wkS the secret by which
this man had touched those chords and
memories inthe hearts Of tho world which
had kent his name aliyeto the present. II
was because he had q, great and splendid
heart and sang OF what he knew II ielt-
Burns hated a nobility that fed upon the
nenple, and a church that said n%inety.nine
6ut al ayeryl hundred would be damned,
anil seemed to like the prospect. 1t was
almost impossible to conceive q worse
doctrine than that OF the Scotch kirk OF
that time. Robert Burns did not believe
their damnation doctrines; he could not,
he said: 1.-THE honest man has nothing
~ fear. eithcrinthis world or the world't to
c6,Scssb NOW said Mr.. Ingersoll, very
emnhatically, Aif there is any gentleman
who will. damn honesty, the quicker tnat
gentleman leaves this world TO ltseli w
better; II there isa God that will condemn
honesty, the quicker He resigns 3 peter
for the universe" He then recited "ii0iy
whites Prayer as an illustration o. uie
PRESBYTERIAN, doctrine OF Burns time, and
Y the present, and with regard 70 IL
said: 'Ido not like any gentleman TINT
viii either give me u heaven that donit
deserve or send me to perditIon FORT crime
that j. could not ayoid.9 Burns poetry
wasl natural and honest and .true--he
tonched the chrysalis OF common lie, and
filled the aitywith colorel wings He did
many thinrs that would have been better
ieftIundone: but he was no sneak; he DID
nothinp behind the door. He was not q
candidate on the prohibition ticket and
drunk on the day OF election. That he
did get drunk once in a waylthere WINS NO
don't, and he (Ir. IngersolU liked MN
III better for it; men we're natural whcn
thev were drunk. But that Burns was
hesotted lie denied. A drunkard could
mover have written "a Mans n Man Tor a
Tint That song was the finest declare
tiono OF Independence ever made;it was tlie
foundation OF our goyernmcnt, me source
OF every star thut SliItctcu ul'On ~
nerT and Robert Burns was the pestl deln'
ocrat Scotland ever produced: Ills statue
should be in our park instead oil tina Of
Sir Walter Scott. Concluding q lons re-
view Of the, poets life and worEsr-the
lecturer said that until the English ,Iafe'l,
ars faded from tho lips OF men, Burns,
songs would be remembered and loved ana
sung; his songs would never be forgotten
so long Us man could smile and women
weep. 5,e
VALUABLE PAsrE.-"I dissolve a piece
Of alum the size of a walnut ina pint OF
boiling water; to this ] add a couple Of
tablespoonfuls of flour, made smooth in a
little cold water, aud a iow drops of oil Of
cloves, letting the whole come to a boil
This paste will keep months. l put 1t in