The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1882-1884, 1883-02-08

shows skill rather than genius. He
gives US Dante by turning the Italian
into the English word with which it
corresponds. He does not get far
enough to enter into and reproduce
the conceptions of that great sounder
of human and divine things. His
g.nius isnot creative andconstructlve.
Whence then his power and intiu-
ence To answer this question we
must look at him in that phase of his
character and his work by which he
has endeared himself to us more than
lies in the power Of mere genius to
do. 1t is by saying for us what we
could rot saw for ourselves, confirm
ing our secret thoughts, b,y singing
20 US those songs that in some way
seem familiar to us, that he has made
us feel as if we belong to the same
brotherhood of which he is q member.
We love him because he inspires this
kindred feeling and we admire him
because this is sustained by the puri-
ty of the man and his writings. For
whatever charges may be brought
him, no one can claim that he has
ever given ntterance to an impure
sentiment or thought that would soil
the language in which he wrote. Aud
behind his words is something better
than anything he has ever said.
One who knew him we'll has added
this testimony Beautiful and
ample as the expression of himself
was, it fell short of the truth. The
man was more and better than the
poet And we venture the belief
that, if the poet is to live in the
memories of men, IN this will his I'M
| Longfellow is q sentimeptai;st. but
his is that sentiment which is healthy
and refreshing. 1t is such as all human
hearts feel, or ought to feel, and such
as sweetens the nature of man and
helps him to an atmosphere of the
ideal while he bravely fights with
actual foes. His sentiment is uni.
versal element of common humani
ty. 1t is by reason of this that his
sympathies are broad and he thus
finds wav to all hearts. He strikes a
cord that is set to music in the in
strument of every human soul; but
it is not the music that overpowers
us with awe from a mighty hand or
leads us to forget the player in the
sublime strains of an original per-
former. 1t is rather the sweet, mel
low notes Of the nightingale that
come to us when the air and our hearts
are still. There qualities blending
into harmony constitute first the per-
sonality of the poet before they are
transmitted into his poetry. Indeed
his verse is a medium through which
the poet himself b"eathes and speaks.
1t is, l repeat, on his ability to ex-
press what all have felt and could
not utter that his popularity rests.
This is not original conception so
much as the fruits of sympa:h etic
nature. endowed with the faculty of
Futterance. With what intuitive ap-
probation does he seize on those uni
versal longings that are attributes of
every human soul 20 glorious
thought that lifts me above the pow
er OF time and chance and tells me
that ! cannot pass away, and leave
no mark of my existence. l may not
know the purpose of my being,-the
end for which On all-wise Providence
created me as am and placed me
where l am but l do know-for in
such things faith is knowledge-that
my being mas purpose in the omnis.
cleuce of my Creator, and that all my
actions tend is the completion, to the
full accomplishment of that purpose.
Is this fatality No. feel that l
am free, though an infinite and an
invisible power overrules me.
''To go through life unloving and unlov.
To feel that thirst and hunger of the soul
We cannot still +; that longing, that wild
| impulse,
And struggle after something we have no,
And cannot have -
these are the chords on which he loves
to play and to whose strains he finds
sympathetic listeners.
We love his poetry because he has
put into 1t SO much of the goodness
of his nature. 1t is this quiet, mora
tone Of his writing by which he is tt
be remembered-not for his genius
On returning from his funeral. where
Emerson was one of the most deepl,
affected mourners, the latter remark
ed that. ''the gentleman whose funer
al we have just attended was swee
and beautiful soul-bpt ! have for
gotten his name." The memory O
the philosopher was impaired by ag'
and he himself was soon to follow t,
the quiet shades where slept his poe
companion, but a consciousness q
the ''sweet and beautiful soup wa
J still present with him. So it mus
! be with all. When the time sha
, come that we are unable to assig
, any reason for our faith in him, W
shall still believe in the moral fore
: Of such ''sweet and beautiful soul.
; When his name shall be erased fro,
5 memary's tablet, there will remain
consciousness that Longfellow lived
] and of the words spoken or write
!. about him these will be the last
5 die, both because they were uttere