The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1882-04-12
MISCELLANY.
AMERICAS LAUREATE.

4
1.-THE following address by the Rev. E
X. Smith, was read before the Lambert.
| vile Lyceum, at late meeting, and by a
vote of the Society, the copy was re-
quested for publication.
When, on last Thursday evening,
replied to the invitation of the Executive
Committee by proposing to address you
tonight upon America's Laureate, none
of us supposed that such an address
would partake of the character of an
obituary notice. I, at least, did not know
that the poet was seriously unwell. And
yet, IS hours later, Longfcllows chair
was vacant. We must not say, he was
dead, for his own words forbid the phrase.
EhrigTarit is the inscription on the tombstone
where he lies;
Dead he is not, but departed-for the artist never
dies"
On Sunday, his mortal part was sealed
in the tomb. His spirit returned to God.
His songs, and his memory, as we be-
leve, have achieved an earthly immor-
tality. And the title which | have ven
tured to bestow, of Americas Laureate,
trust to be able to vindcate for Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow, before closing
this address.
The event of last Friday seems to make
special demand for some biographical
sketch but the abundance of such
sketches in the daily and weekly news.
papers renders it unnecessary to give
more than the merest outline Of the Poets
life.
Longfellow was born in Portland, Me-.
on the 9th of February, 1907. He en-.
tered Bowdoin College at ID, and gradu-
ated at IS, thus earning the same dis.
tinction as Cardinal Wolsey, whether he
was ever so designated, or not, of being
Il "boy bachelor. But he was a poet,
before he was graduate and some OF
his school productions are still general
favorites-among them, Hymn Of tie No
raCtan Mans Of Bethlehem, Tie Spirit OF
Poetry, autumn, Sunrise on the Hills.
At 10, lie was elected Professor of Mod
ern Languages in his own College, with
the privilege of making ample prepare
ton, by living awhile abroad, before as
Stunning PROFESSIONAL duty and he accord
ingly resided in Europe for three years,
studying successfully in France, Spain,
Italy and Germany. After five moro
years in Bowdoin, he was elected to a
similar professorship at Harvard, and
again visited Europe. Returning in 1886,
he assumed the chair, and occupied it for
II years, that were most fruitful in official
and literary labors. Resigning in 1854 he
devoted himself altogether to literary
pursuits. Cambridge continued to be his
home, and the old Craigie Mansion
Washington's Headquarters---his resi-
dence, and Harvard his familiar resort, to
the last. Twice more he revisited
Europe, and on the last occasion, 1862
the world of letters lavished their highest
honors upon him. And the reading world
at home has been made the richer, by his
travels. We share in his garnered
treasures, alike TRANSACTIONS from Europe
an literatures, and original works prompt
ed by European scenes and associations,
and illustrating the history, art and fable
of the old world.
We could i'll spare those matcbless rem
deripgs from the Spanish and the Swedish,
Coptas de Manrique, and The Children of
tile Lords Sapper. Even the merry
Warning against the sly coquette, Be
ware, she's fooling thee, we would miss,
if it had been left--veiled to most of us
in its native tongue.
While his fine library Drama of "The
Spanish Student" and the perpatetc
drama, as one might call The Golden
Legend, and that very perfect idyll of a
tourist, Hyperion, poetry in prose form
would have been, all, unwritten, we may
be sure, but for those years ON the CONT
nent. To say nothing of the pretty
pictures and the pleasant songs, that
bring SO freshly to us the quaintness and
the beauty Of the gabled houses, the
walled towns, the vine clad hills, the cas-
tellated rivers of Fatherland-Nurem
burg, Bruges, the Valley of the Wire.
And there is something else that belongs
to the second visit to Europe, which is
not SO generally known. Bryant had
highly commended the undergraduate
poems, when they came out in Boston
literary paper, while stating We do not
know who II. W. L. is" The two did
not meet till some time in 1885, when
they came together at Heidelberg" and
there = !" we may suppose they took many
walk in the solemn shades of the pine
forests, or had many a laugh over the
trout breakfasts Of the Wolf-brunnen. A
great deal of what they talked about no
doubt got into Hyperion, which Mr..
Longfellow published shortly after his re-
turn, and which Mr.. Bryant hailed as
work of great merit. Indeed, as each
pide Century Magazine March, 1882, to which
am indebted for several sentences following.