The colored patriot., 1882-04-20
LOnghllOW.

VI OAU StiOu55 the OdnkS OF III
e Slow-movlng Charles, but the hear
l. winch opened to its touch. the eve tina
: Traced each fragrant advance, the han,
that matched color with color and not,
with note in loving rivalry with natur
are gone. The beauty which curtain
the world with Overhanging heavens
clothes Its plans with vestures of ne
! rennlal freshness and garlands its noun
| talns with returning flowers to the edo,
OF the eternal winter among their peak.
has lost an interpreter who could trans
late Its most mysterious speech into
common phrase. Other eyes will look
no less deeply into its secrets of lowell
ness, other voices will catch no less
clearly Its inner cadence and melody.
but the world will wait long for another
who shall make the humblest see and
the poorest hear with the eve and the
ear OF the most gifted.
Longfellow was pre-eminentlv an in
terpreter. He had in rare DECREE that
pervaSive and all-embracinr sympathy
which catches the tones of other acres
ana races as quickly and as naturally as
the musician recalls the popular melo-
ules OF the day. His nature was so har-
monlOuS that he seemed to be able to
dismiss himself entirely from his thought
ana Keep open heart and mind for every
conner. And the harmony, repose and
sweetness of his character made him
almost without conscious art the sweet
est singer of his time. His verse flowed
out OF the depths of pure heart, and
It's transparent currents reflect at everv
turn the stainless heavens.
1t was no accident which directed the
steps of this poet to that older world of
history and song beyond the seas. He
was 10 be the interpreter of the history
preserved there to the new life unfold
ing here. 1t is only the blind fanatic
who rails against the past, and would
cut the race off from its heritage of
years The thinker knows that in those
vanishing ages the seeds of this present
found soil and root; the poet sees still
more clearly the invisible and indie
structible ties which bind to-day with
remotest antiquity. In his INSPIRING
outlook whatever was arbitrary and ac.
cidental fades out, and the continuous
lie OF the race becomes one wide stream.
rich with the colors of all the skies nm
der which it has flowed and crowded |
with fleets of imperishable memories.
DeIore our own mental life could find |
Its place and work it was necessary that !
some gifted man should give us the /
master tones of that distant and multi
tudinous life beyond the Atlantic that
we might complete the harmony with n
new and native note. How perfectly
Longfellow performed that office The
clear, strong tones of the Northern Sapa.
the rich, mystic melody of medieval
tlmes,the grand, passionate strain of
the Italy of the Renaissance, are all
heard in the ample verse of this master
OF song. The organ music of history no
less than the simple melody of home
life acknowledged his mastery. The
" Tales of Wayside Inn," the "Gold-
en- Legend and the divine Trape- I
dy, are all transcriptions such as only '
a poet of the most sympathetic gem J
lus could have produced. Lonofel.
low S heart was in the new world
while his imagination was in the old.
but there was no divorce between them.
1e faced the future even while he
paused to hear those mulIled melodies {
)f far-of time, and SO he became the I
Interpreter of Europe to America in the {
'ealm OF the imagination. He gave us !
historic consciousness, established our |
;lalm upon the past and made us feel I
hat we had part and lot in it, diffused y
he atmosphere of European culture. .
md bridged the chasm between the old
md the new. How much he aided in I
he work of bringing about that intel u
ectual equilibrium between ourselves ;
ND Europe, so necessary before we n
ould hope for great native work, no n
ne can tell; but that he is read by the p
ght OF English firesides as no English r
oct save TennysOn is read is evidence n
hat he has not failed of great and al II
quate recognition on both sides of the e
ca. |
Best OF all, Longfellow was an inter :,
reteT of life in the widest and most q
eautiful sense. There were some :
rains beyond his reach. but of melo- a.
les that sing themselves and rise ike g
slons of angels in the dark places of tI
Nperience. who has produced so manys u
OF for him the sounding line Of Homer. ="
le almost superhuman insight Of er
hakespeare, the awful journeyings Of NJ
ante; but all the dear. familiar paths iu
ong which men and women walk and 70
ii and suffer. the sunlit s0litudes where et
Immer lies sleeping in supernal still ex
.ss; for him. beyond I'll else. the homes 81
the world.
There are many who give to the soli- Tt
" mountain peaks of song few and he
reless glances, but who turn habituaI- ri
10 the words Of Longfellow. The dear N
eight of home lends them . GLORY
Itch the greatest poet might ezyY:
s-,o-ies have gathered thickly round
Ell. experience has translated them.
rse BY verse, from the outer 10 the in Is
: life This poet. who had loved col
lc1 and suffered much. touched life in the
great historic incidents and in its bio
- familiar scenes and found the same ons
menfs Of beauty and power IN the for
rhest and the lowest, 10 him the com NO
.nest flower that wastes itself along nes
, highway nourished It's roots in the bis
De soil and Uutolded is petals under "A !
same SKY "a fhe rarest exotic cho
nd5Bg IN the world of hosnelv, famfl- 80.
thing. he bal daily vision of the sln- mel
2 world Of beauty and truth which ed
rhanEs and encircles the meanest the
4ad Ee male himself Is inter the
tr c4rs
iHtEe j. higher work than this. ais
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