The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1882-02-27
ELECTION, MONDAY, MAR. 6.
FOR MAYOR,
CHARLES f. LIBBY
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

uous, without lapse or hindrance, as STU
dent, traveller, instructor and poet, and
most of all as one whose kindly and gracious
life is good for him to live and helpful and
refining to all around him. And now we
pleton Of three quarters of century of this
full life. We hail him conqueror of years,
we praise him for his great achievements
and wish for him many more days of peace
and honor, with such work only as may
make life most pleasant to him, for he has
already improved the talents given him to a
degree which must satisfy the most austere
steward.
The gods are chary of their gifts to men.
To one they give strength, to another wit, to
another beauty, to another virtue and to an
other long life. So it happens that when
we come to the praising Of most men there
must be pauses, omissions and hesitations.
1t is not so now. Here the contemplation of
one gift suggests another. The strength of
| purpose and aspiration is made availing by
| wit and poetic fire, and these are made pure
/ by virtue; to beauty of mind is added rare
1
with his spiritual development, from the
beautiful youthful face which his contempo-
rares remember to the grand Homeric head,
| wreathed about with its masses of snowy
hair, which we of the later time know and
reverence. In his very aspect the poet stands
confessed.
1t is not needful to tell what Henry Waas-
worth Longfellow has said and done to
| make himself ilustrious and the city of his
| birth proud. 1t is known of all men and his
verses are household words. He has put
the glamour Of poesy upon this new conti-
nent destitute of legendary lore, without the
vista of knights and ladies, of robber barons
and paladins, of enchanted castles and wick
ed magicians, of varied mythologies and
gods mixing with the affairs of men, of bat
ties and sieges, of foul deeds and fair deeds,
which have furnished so abundant material
for poets in all the past time. The rude and
rocky shores of Nova Scotia are visited, as
i Summers come and go, by pilgrims whose
| hearts are softened and made sad by thought
of the cruel wrong done to the simple Acadi-
ans; and the lakes, rivers and plains of the
West are peopled forever by Hiawatha and
his dusky followers.
To most men it is not given to know in
life time, the place they hold in the hearts
and minds of their fellow men. Expression
of feeling is withheld or is tinged with sus-
| picion of fattery or prejudice 1t is hard to
judge accurately of contemporary. The
| perspective Of years is needed to fifty esti-
mate the worth of man and to fix his rela-
| ton to other men. So that the men of high
achievement may never know whether the
| laurel wreath is for them or whether oblivi-
| on will sweep them into the undistinguished
mass when once they have ceased from life's
activities. They may not even see the prom
| ised land and may only hope that it lies be-
| yond the horizon which bound their vision.
But our poet stands even now on Pisgah's
| nights and the beautiful hills and wales
| of the land Of immortal fame lie fresh and
| fair before him, and he may enter and make
| good cheer. The words of praise and greet
| ing which come to him this day not only
| from his native city but from every place
| where letters have due honor are earnest
| and assurance of the things which will be
| thought and said of him when the time
| shall come-may it be far hence-for assign
| ing his place in the temple of fame among
the great and good who have gone before.
May he not feel to-day that it is not Ultima
Thule which he has reached, but that his
sails are lowered in the fair harbor of Allan
tis where he will find the lost dreams of his
youth made real to the satisfaction of
heart and soul?
1t is well for him to have lived so long as
to feel the laurel wreath securely placed on
his brows. It is well also for us to have him
SO long with US. The visits which he pays to
his native town are valued and notable
events. The very sight of the poet incar-
nate upon our streetsis good for old and
| young. 1t lifts the minds of all above the
er and higher thought and feeling.
| None who had the rare privilege
of witnessing the wonderful scene in the
| old Chapel at Brunswick, when he recited
| his noble Morit,tri Salutdmus to the class
mates who had graduated with him fifty
tial throng which filed the place, will ever
| lose the profound impression of those words
of resignation lightened by high aspiration
| unconquered by time, given with the mien
and aspect of an ancient prophet or seer. So
| with gratitude for his benefcent influence
upon us, as we'll as love for his virtues and
admiration for his achievements, We give
him birthday greetings and universal heart
| felt wishes for many more good years of life.
| THERE is in London a regular cold
| Clothes Exchange 1t is found in a court
| which leads off the well-known street
Hounsditch; the locality is named "PhiPs
| Buildings The cold clo'' men and women
| gather there daily between and p. M, to
make exchanges which they conceive to be
| for their mutual advantage. They number
several hundreds, of all classes and condi-
tions in their low life The beggars and
| BUYERS start out on their rounds of the city
early in the morning, and most of them
come up to the exchange with large stocks
on hand. The market place is hardly over
100 feet square. There are stalls and bench
es and shelves for the display of goods,
while at one end is an eating-house with
supplies such as are in demand among the
mongrel throng. Clothing of every kind,
from boots and shoes to hats, appears at the
daily hours of trade. Some of the habitues
are quarrelsome-the women more so than
| the men-but loud disturbances are rare.
A CASE was recently brought before the
Lord Mayor of London in which one Harry
Clench Stanley, bank director, was charged
with having issued a prospectus of the Gov
eminent Security Fire-Insurance Company
which he knew to be false in certain materi-
al particulars, with the intent to induce per-
sons to become shareholders. Several wit
nesses were called who proved the truth of
the charge, and the Director was heavily
fined If such a law could be enforced in
this country it would make a revolution in
the character of prospectuses or it would
add materially to the revenues of justice.