The Portland daily press., 1882-02-28

him as man of affairs
Indeed not little of his time must have
been given to literary work His study, as
new, was on the lower floor under the north
east chamber which he occupied when he
first made his home in the Cragie mansion.
1t was the room in which Washington trans
acted the business of his Office as commanders
in-chief fact which the poet himself has
recorded in the lines,
Yes, within this very room
Sat he in those hours of gloom,
Weary both in heart and head
DIR. Lyman Abbott in a description of Mr..
Longfellow's study, published in the Chris
tian Union year ago, says: "The table is
piled with pamphlets and papers in orderly
confusion; high desk in one corner suggests
practice of standing while writing, and gives
a hint of one secret of the poets unusually
erect form at an age when the body generally
begins to stoop and the shoulders to grow
round; an orange tree stands in one window;
near it a bronze stork keeps watch; by the
side of the open fire is the children's chair; on
the table is Coleridge's inkstand; upon the
walls are crayen likenesses of Emerson, Haw
thorne, FELTON,, and Sumner; and on one of
the book shelves, which fill all the spare wall
space and occupy even one of the windows,
are, rarest treasure of all, the poets own
NOIks III lutI ulduuoOAlpl, CdlS1ullt
preserved in handsome and substantial bind
ings." Here, amid these pleasant surround
ings, have been written in successive years so
many of his poems,
Voices and melodies from beyond the gates,
that have fallen SO sweetly upon waiting
hearts in many lands.
Mr.. Longfellow retained his professorship
at Cambridge seventeen years, and then re-
signed in order to give himself wholly to lit
srsrY work. In 1859 he received from Har-
ward college the honorary degree of LII. d.;
and on reyisiting Europe in 1859 he received
the degree of d. c. l.. at both Cambridge and
Oxford. This was just recognition of his
extended fame, an expression of the high
honor in which he was held by men of letters
on both sides of the Atlantic.
Throughout his long career as poet Mr..
Longfelow has not been conspicuous upon
pnblic occasions. What he has written has
been by an impulse from within, not from
without. His AIorituri SaIutanaus, read at
Bowdoln college in 1875, was not an excep-
tion. 1t was the fiftieth anniversary Of his
college class, and though he was asked to
henor the day by his verse; these words that
breathe and thoughts that burn bear witness
to the pure source from which they came. Of
those who were present on that memorable day
none will ever forget the scene in the church
when the now venerable poet, surrounded by
his classmates, saluted the well known places of
his youth, beloved instructors, of whom all
save one had passed into the land of shadows,
the students who filed the seats he and his
companions had once occupied, and finally his
classmates,
Against whose familiar names not yet
The fatal asterisk Of death is set.
of al 4l,n
Shepley, D. D., referring to the poet, says
"How did we exult in his pure character
and his splendid reputation! with what
delight gaze upon his intelligent
and benignant countenancel with what
moistening eyes listen to his words
and what limit was there to the blessing we
desired for him from the Infinite Author of
mindp' And he adds "Just before leaving
for our respective homes, we gathered in re-
tired college room for the last time, talked
together half hour as of old, agreed to ex-
change photographs and prayed together;
then going forth and standing for a moment
once more under the branches of the old tree,
in silence we took each other by the hand and
separated, knowing well that Brunswick will
not again witness gathering of the class of
1922
But the poet had not INDUCED in any vain
regrets. Manifestly he revealed somewhat of
his own purpose when in closing his poem on
that occasion he said,
Something remains for us to do or dare;
Even the Oldest tree some fruit may bear.
For age is opportunity no less
Than youth itself, though in another dress,
And as the evening twilight fades away
The sky is filed with stars, Invisible by day.
That opportunity Mr.. Longfellow has faith
fully used, and long may it be ere we shall
receive the latest fruit of his noble powers.
The poet does not forget the place of his
birth. 1t is still to him,
the beautiful town
That is seated by the sea,
And hither he comes each season in order that
again he may
go up and down
The pleasant streets,
and bring back his lost youth He was here
during the past summer. Strange
forms doubtless, he met, but he himself
was not unknown. Indeed he never
walks these streets unrecognized. The re-
cent action ofthe City Council of Portland in
rendering him public reception on this day,
with the hospitalities of the city, was but the
expression of hearty desire on the part of
the citizens of Portland to do honor to one
who has conferred so much honor upon this
"dear old town. To use his own words in
the "Golden Legend
All, yes! we all
Love him, from the bottom Of our hearts;
and we send him birthday greeting, and add,
Be that sad year, o poet, very far
That proves thee mortal, by the little star.
Yet since thy thoughts live daily in our own,
And have no heart to weep or smile alone,
Since they are rooted in our souls, and so
VIII live forever. whittier thou shall go,
Though some late asterisk may mark thy name,
II never will be set against thy famel
For the worlds feryent love and praise of thee
Have starred it firm with immortality.
Gen. Peleg Wadsworth was the theme of
the next paper by Hon. William Goold OF
Windham. We would not do this admirable
paper the injustice to abstract it and shall
publish it in full in to-morrow's issue.
Mr. E. H. Elwells topic was the Portland
Of Longfellow's Youth"
Mr.. Elwell's Paper.
The year 1907, made illustrious in the his
tory of Portland by the birth of Henry W.