Morning appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1877-1906, 1882-05-24
AT THE METHOBIs CHURCH.
A Pleasant ntcrtafnment The Lecture
by Colonel Henry e. shaw.


lied and attended by the best people
of our city, the musical part by Mrs.
Hammond, Mrs. Gray, Misses Wilson,
Dow and Harris, being we'll received.
The lecture, the subject being Jenny
sons poem, "The Charge of the Heavy
| Brigade" by Colonel Henry 6. Shaw,
editor of the Virginia Enterprise, was
both instructive and entertaining, and
the greater portion embodied with con-
siderable pathos.
After a few pleasing introductory re-
marks, the Colonel launched into the
subject and spoke as fellows: "When
few weeks ago Mr.. Tennyson's poem,
The Charge Of the Heavy Brigade,
was first given to the public in this
country it met with cold reception.
In the criticisms which il encountered
in the public Journals there was an ex-
preston of Scorn, if not Of absolute rio
icule. Some of his censor' went so far
as to declare that these latest stirring
battle Verses from the Poet l.aureate's
pen were an evidence Of the decline Of
a genius that had reached To the Hottest
heights in the realm Of true poetry and
Scariett'a achievement were unworthy
of Tennyson's fame in the world Of let
t.re. After reading the lines and recog-
nizins their fidelity to the truth of
history, ! :.jus, confess that did not
share in these ii!-natUred comments.
could very we'll understand how those
whose acquaintance with the Crimean
campaign was based solely upon a long
familiarity with Tennyson's other poem
-"Thc Charge Of the Light Brigaie'--
were unable to <cover "nEthing very
striking, or which should appeal to
their emotions, in this later poems
..That it bears the semblance of an
imitation Of its pre- ecessor am not
prepared to deny. But il is the like
ness Of one sun:e1 TO another, and all
who have witnessed the varying aspects
under which the God OF Day Wi thdraws
his blazing front from the eye of man
will appreciate, the fact that no two
sunsets are exactly alike and that many
of them are strik:ngly and wonderfully
dissimilar.
" rennyssn has undertaken the not
easy task of describing two cavalry
charges, both of which will take COM
mandins place in history anc in the
very forefront of those chapters which
stories Of deeds of surprising valor and
with all that is subiimely heroic in the
field of war. Without detracting from
the popular estimation in which Ten
nyson's light cavalry poem is held | am
prepared to maintain that his heavy
cavalry poem as q war epic is not in
feror to it in any sense.
While lacking the headiong im-
pptuous action Of the light cavalry
poem it is, in my Judgment, the more
pjcturesGue and not less wildly and
intensely realistic in its descriptive
power. Perhaps while reading or listen
inc to its lines we are not conscious
of the heat of conflict nor Do We feel
the fiery breath Of battle upon our
brows a. though brought face TO face
! with the mouth of hell We are not
plunged into the battery's smoke nor
do we experience the horrors and al!
the perils they imply of accompanying
in our Imagination the valiant English
trooDers in their mad ride into the very
Jaws of Death The light cavalry
poem is !, great and deathless battle
HYMN. We will not deny that there is
inspiratiOn in it for unborn warriors.
it has crysta'ized the lesson OF instant
and unque$tiening subordination 10 au-
thorlty. Obedience, the soldiers first
duty, is c0nsecrated and sanctifed for
ever by the blood shed in the Valley
of Death by the soldiers thus offered
up as a splendid sacrifice to English
pride and English folly. The order to
! advance upon the Russian guns was