The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-08-16
MINOR MENTION.
Helen Hunt jackson.

Helen hunt jackson.
Mrs. Helen Hunt Jackson, the III. H." of lit
erature, who died in San Francisco last week,
wrote many charming things, both in prose and
verse. To read her vivid descriptions of Colorado
mountains was more satisfactory, in some re-
spects, than an actual visit to the scenes them
selves, since, without the enthusiasm and love
for nature which she possessed, no observer
could cover the rock ribbed peaks with a glamour
such as she threw over them. Her novels and
prose sketches all contained something of this
outofdoor charm, and it was not absent from her
verse. Curiousy enough, she recently referred
to all the earlier work on which her
reputation was made as not worth consideration,
and expressed belief that only that part of her
literary labors which related to the Indian cause
would prove lasting or of benefit to the world.
late review of her work in leading journal
comedies with this opinion to the extent of say
ing that "Romona," the novel based on events
among the half breeds in Southern California,
was her only permanent contribution to litera
ture. Possibly these estimates are correct from
a purely literary stand point, but in making
them it seems probable that neither the author
herself nor the critic realized that III. H." is
known to great number of readers solely as a
writer of religious verses. OF her many contri
buttons to the magazines and other periodicals,
those which were of devotional character
obtained far the widest circulation. Some of her
verses on other themes were exquisite Some
one has said that that is no poetry which has
not love for it's theme; but though some of her
efforts in this line tender and sweet enough
to please the most exacting, the hymns which
hraa EbaH IF foif IN I'D
humanity were the ones most widely copied.
How often the column of selected verse in the
weekly newspaper has contributed clipping of
''H. III. s. songs of faith to private and cherished
scrap books say, but the disclosure,
could it be made would doubtless surprise the
critics, and could but have pleased the woman so
lately claimed by death, whom she thus apostro-
phized:
och Death, the fairest lands beyond thy sea
Lie waiting and thy barqueS are swift and staunch
And ready. Why do we reluctant launch'
And when friends thei heritac e have claimed
Of thee, and entered on it rich and free.
Oh, why OF sorrow are We not ashamed
1t was perhaps her trust in the goodness and
fatherhood of God, as expressed in these poems,
which appealed so strongly to many souls either
like minded with herself or conscious of feebler
faith.
AS SAKE Holm she said:
81 cannot think but God must know
Aboutthe thing long for So
stretch my hand-it lies 80 near:
It looks sweet, it looks so clear
Dear Lord, pray oh let me know
If it is wrong 20 want it So
Again she wrote:
Blndfolded and alone stand
With unknown thresholds each hand;
The darkness deepens as grope,
Afraid to fear, afraid to hope;
Yet this thing learn to know
Each day clearly as go,
That doors opened. ways are made
Burdens are lifted laid
By great law unseen and still,
unfathomed purpose .Ip%se to fulfinll'y
And again:
"Some time when all lfe's lessons have been learned
And suns and stars forevermore have set,
The things which our weak judgments here have
5purned
The things DER which we grieved with lashes wet
Will flash before us amid life's dark night.
AS stars shine most in deeper tints Of blue;
And we shall see how all Gods plans were right
And what seemed most reproof was love most true.
In the same vain she wrote
ooh, peaceful days and peaceful nights where peace
Cannot be uttered! Oh, green shores of life
Beyond the body! Shall ever cease
To smile that through such hot and silly strife
We cameo That doubt and fear could grow so rifes
That we could fail to see how Gods great hand
Our anchorages and our driftings plannedl
For III. H." the suns and stars forever more
have SET" and on the 'creen shores of life be-
yond the body" she 'sees the calyxes of God
unfold" 1t may be that she sees. too, how her
words of faith and hope shall live after her and
comfort weary souls
A LITTLE paragraph is running about in the
papers to the effect that when General Grant
was asked elf he felt fear the battlefield"
said he never had time Of all the men of his.
tory, in any age land, Grant has
as little need of the wit or wisdom
of another as any that can be named
and this little ''laconism" belongs to Lord Nelson
Of whom many an old reader of the Journal saw
it told when Grant was boy at West Point 1t
appears first, we believe, in Southey's Life of
Nelson" At all events it was a familiar old mot
before Grant was born. Not only so, but his
own memoirs tel. US that in his first anticipated
encounter with jeff Thompsons rebel band in
south Missouri, ''his heart kept getting up into
his mouth and he wished he was safe at
home" but in spite of his feelings he kept On,
as many, and most. men noted for courage have
done. not by insensibility to danger, but by