The Arkansaw traveler., 1883-03-17

DcTr( FAITHS. anQ nit1cIN1Iu nc now gladly turned his steps. He had been i'll and gradually failing for long time, but his companions, as th.y bade him good bye on that pleasan, summer morn ing, little thought that they were leaving him for the last time, or that he who was { so dear to them was going home to die. In the companienship ot those whom he loved above all others. and in the home rom which he had gone forth but few years before happy, buoyant boy. he passed downward and nearer to the dark waters. Though gradually and steadily i failing he continued to write for the press as industriously as ever. but the thought of death mutt have been of.en in his mind, for the last thing that ever come from his pen was the little poem entitled "In the Dark" How fall of sor- row, almost despair, are these lines:
 4 mayky darkness lies along the soul,
 Where bright the sunbeams Of the morning
 shons:
 And the eye vainly seeks. by sea and land. Some ligh, to rest upon.
 Strange, salty odors through the darkness steal,
 And through the tark the ocean-thunders
 roll:
 Thick darkness gathers, s,iiirg till feel
 Its weight upon my soul,
 I stretch my hands out in the empty air: 1 strain my eyes into the heavy night:
 Biackness and darkness Father, hear my prayer,
 Grant me 10 see the light.
 As the weeks passed on he gradually grew weaker. Alter he abandoned writ ing anything for the public eye he would 1. compose little songs, which he would set to music. and then pass hours in playing ard singing them softly to himself. A feeling infinitely solemn and touching comes over us as we thirk of him in those last hours of his. many of them passed alone. his noble face full of sad ness as it bent over his writ ing and music or looked out for the last time upon the landscapes he loved so we'll Perhaps in those sad days one verse of tender carol. :, ia ! Crneis. which he had composed long time before, was often or his lips: Who treads the path of love and loss. With humble steps and head bowed down. Must bear on earth the heaviest cross.
 but wears in Heaven the brightest crown.
 N last the end came. and on a No- vember day. al times sad and gloomy and again bfis sht and sunny, Tot unlike the life he had lived, the poe, passed qui- etly away. Three days later all that was mortal was borne oui of the home of his father and lain to rest Tn Arlington cem- etery. Around the open gr.ve wsre gathered Arnoid's friends and compan- ions who, with sad hearts. looked upon the body of him for the last time who so lately had been all life and freedom. The press were unanimous Tn their ex- prcsslons of sorrow at Arnold's uniimely death. But the finest tribute of all was the "Dirgc' of William Winter. which was full oi love and sadness.
 In considering what Arnold had done, the amount of II and the high grade of excellence that pervades nearly ali Of Il, we cannot help speculating on what he nigh, have done had he been given length of years and maturity of powers He was a young man, only thirty-one when he died, but he has left us poems which are valuable as specimens of the poetic art and doubly valuable as proofs of genius which needed only the development which comes with years of study and ex- perience in the pursuit of art to enable ii to enter upon the noblest and purest flights of song. With the death of Ar hold William Winter became his literary executor. The duties of preparing the widely scattered writings ef-an author like Arnold for the :.ablic was a by no means easy task; still the editor per formed his duties well. showing admira- ble discretion m winnowing out the good from the bad. His labors appeared in two dainty volumes, Drift and Other Poems" in IS6o and Poems Grave and Gay" in 1897; both being prefaced by sketches of Arnold, which are the two best pieces of prose writing from the pen Of Mir. Winter that We have ever seen. It Is with feeling of deep love that we approach these volumes, for the genius revealed in his poems makes him one of the most lovable and winning of all our modern singers. Any who wish to learn more of George Arnold and to knowswhat he thought and said. should spend many a pleasant, autumn afternoon with his books as their companions, for autumn was the season he loved above all others. and the one whose varying moods he delighted most to describe. In our study of the poets verse we shall make no attempt io eXanla- any of his stray efforts. These volume, undoubtedly contain all that he himself would nave cared 10 preserve and ~e shall Conhne ou-scii sirictly to them.
 The frs; volume. Drift and Other Poems" opens with Drift" the poets longest poem- It shows us that in his longer efforts, when he assumes retIo- spsctve tone and subjective mode of treatment. Arnold appears at his worst. Drift" IS sea shore idyl. in the style of Tennyson' Brook" The poem opens with d bs of description which, though delicate and dainty Tn touch shows the hand of a master and IS specimen oi wha, Arnold could do in blank verse: ! ueAricd once of inland fields and hills O. lo~ ly ing meadow and ot sluggish streams Cxeeping heneath the trees that summers
 heats
 Had paTched 10 dusty dryness and a dream Of fresh, cool breexes and of salty waves Of aKurc skies o CT arching azure seas