Arizona weekly citizen., 1882-03-05

Whatever may be said of the prefer
 ence of scholarly people, there eau be no question that LongfellOw is the most
 popular of the American poets. not only
 at home, but in the United Kingdom and
 the British Colonies as well. 4 man of
 books, MT. Longfs How has liyeG, never
 theless, outside of the rigid banner of exclusiVenaSs. within uliai rsse--- ls+=-
 ary folks inciOse themselves. His pO-
 etry makes him known to evervOody, not
 as member of a cultured class, but as
 a gentle sympathetic, rehIed, tender
 hearted and generOus-thinkIng man.
 The man and the poet are one in the pop
 ular estimation, and they love both him
 and his verses, these because they are
 a revelation of such sweet, gentle, wise
 and loving manhood as every body en-
 joys to find. NIT. LOngfellOw's life has
 been a widespread blessing lie has
 moved the great heart of nations tOsym-
 pathy with the wronged. to gentle and
 refined delight, and seldom to Indigna-
 tiOn at the OppressOr, indignation being
 more than Outweighed m feeling for the
 victim. The veteran writer k approach
 ing the seventy-sIxth year of we'll
 spent, an industrious, refined and gen
 tie life. He will be seventy five years
 of age on the Eth of thIs month. and
 the time Is OppOrtune for the publication
 of the main facts in hls life and of a re-
 cent portrait showing how the poet looks
 in his frosty but kindly old age.
 Henry WadswOrth LOngfellOw vas
 born at Portland, Me, on the 4lth of
 February, 1SO7. lis father was an st-
 tOrney-at-law. In 1891 he entered Bow
 dOin College and graduated therein four
 years later. He then read law few
 months in hIs fathers office, a pursuit
 which, happily, he did not continue.
 friends who knew his genius, by nrquaint-
 ance with his college life, providing him
 the opportunity of an occupation more cOngenial. They offered him the posi-
 tiOn of professor of modern languages at BOwdOin, one entirely proper tO hls bent. To qualify himself the better for it's du- ties, Mir. LOngfellOw spent the three years and q hal{ immediately succeeding his acceptance of the offer, iu Europe, visiting France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Holland and England for this purpose. He came home in lS29, and began his professOrship at BOwdoin, which cOntin- ned until 1855, when the death of Mr. George TicknOr who held the core spending position in the Harvard Uni versity, resulted in his acceptance of the vacant prOfessOrsilp m that eminent seat of learning. Before actually enter ing upon his duties, he again went Co Europe, this time visiting tine Scaudiua- vian countries, Germany and SwitZer- land, mainly with the view of promoting his acquaintance with the literature of Northern Europe. iu the autumn of lS36 he began Co teach in Harvard. and l continued there eighteen years, when he | was succeeded m his position by James Russell Lowell.
 NIT. LOngfellow's career as an author dates from his undergraduate days, dur : ing which he contributed poetry to the i columns of The United States Literary 1 Gazette. While at Bowdoin some able | pieces of literary criticism, the products ! of his fertile pen, were printed in the l North American Review. His first ] volume of poems saw the light in 1883. l since which, at not iufrequeut intervals, | a new volume has appeared, always well | cOmed with pleasure by a large con- stltuency of admlring, loving readers. There is no occasion whatever to detail l the numerous productions of his pen. Perhaps " "Evangeline and Miles ! Standish are the best known of his longer pieces. In the writers opinion, his most effective work Is seen in some of his lyrics, which are perfect in their construction and Peryaded with sweet ness, penslve tenderness and humanity. They are carried m the memory Of 1 thousands on bOth. sides of the Atlantic, and are gems which permanently en- rich the literature of nations. lily ! periOn," romance Is not SD well known as NIT. LOngfellOw's poetry. His | translation of Dante, published 1888, cannot be be said to have superseded 1 that of Cary. As vas before suggested [ NIT. LOngfellOw's poetry Is not charac- terlzed by strength or greatness, but by gentleness, sweetness and refinement, the product of vast labor, but free from pedantry and atfectatIOn. He has given eloquent and simple voice to the con vlctons and emotions of good, every day kind of people. The forthcoming l at Portland, commemorative of the day m which Lougfeli1w was born, will be regarded with a sympa- thetlc interest wherever their occur renee is known.
 Since 1885, Mr. Longfellow ha.. made two trips to Europe, one 1Si2, and the second in 1868 and lS6J. On tho last occasion, he was made a doctor of hays by the University of Cambridge. Eng ! land, and doctor of civil law by that af [ Oxford in the same country. In 1873, he was elected a member of the Rus sian Academy of Science, and in 1877 of the Spanish Academy. His works have been translated into the Continental languages of Europe. Mir. LongfellOv Is an American whose ilustriOus fame 1ignities his native land, and whose productions adOrn and invariably benefit human nature.