The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1886-02-12

oil doubt, The poet somehow hopes thai
good will come OF ill., and that nature
will not at last cast aside her browning
work. Ii people can get no further than
Cennyson has for logical prcot OF a future
life they Will have to rest in a vague un.
certainty" Next to Browning" / said
what poet do you most sell and rank
hlghestT 70! Longiellow, by all means.
the greatest, purest and heathiest OF ali
American poems are those from the poet
that children loved. Do you know thai
in Germany the children iancied Goethe
In France they crowned Hugo in America
they brought flowers 10 Longlellow. The
children are Inspired in such matters
all children are poets. See what editions
are there! What luxury what elegance
and they all sell, What il more, they sre
read. 1t IL taskto read Browning, a real
labor; just the other way with LongtellOw.
They make q fair complement OF each
other. One Is for o sunny hour in ham.
mock, or with sweet irlends, or in that
best Of all hours, sunrise In June; the
other is for the hour OF deepes. atudy, with
pure minds, well polished"
THE TASTE OF TODAY.
'But tell me-" said, what Ia meant
by this craze for Browning. Docs it mean
Il mere within or do people collectively
move, as We NOV" individually, into dilieI-
emit poetic zones2"
You mean" ne said, "that you have
outgrown poets; had your iavorltes, and
by and by, somehow, you hardly know
how, you Ito longer saw tho old bsauties
You half suspected they were not there.
They were, | suppose, really there, only
you had formed higher tastes; those very
beauties had Themselves lifted you beyond
themselves, Well, suppose 1t is some.
how so with The average Ieader-the great
public. Tho time was when Upper and
Pollok were carried about in mems
pockets and devoured before break fast.
Scott and Moore had their day. Scott is
deseryedly read yet, by those who seek
pictures. OF ChGstegt love aud dramatic
action. Twenty-Five years ago Tennyson
ruled. Next to him the stately school 0!
Bryant was admired. To-day Browning
alld Longlellow measure the public taste
and power.
"What Is that taste and power2"
"Well, Downing is complex power q
curious blending OF lawless innovation
with keen analytical power That suits
the temper Of an age Of rCience, which Is
analytic, and II suits the bold daring Of
our age. Browning ia not wOrBhiplul oil
the vas but is after all, not u destruc'
tive2'
"You are yourself, then, q worshlpper Of
this manW
II consider Saul the greatest poem in
the English language produced during the
last hundred yeara." Then forgetting him.
sell my bookseller began to repeat
Tho tent was ln'Ooped,
pulled up lliG spear That ObstruCtd; and under
Hand, aud Knees on the ilIppcY uass.patchiall
WlLheTcd aud sOAGi
That extend, 10 Inc Seojnd InClOsurc-I grouped
rn1 Ieil wbera the fold,EItI Ay opcn Then once
And opSnGi{GS ioiisklrs, aud entered, aud was
But spoIc, IiStS Is David thy servant And no
AT I'm! saw hailght but the blacknctSi but EoOtl
deserted
\ something more black than the blicluess, the
vast tic uptight
Main prop which supports the pavilion, and slow
Grew aGguTc against it, gigantic, and blacklist oil
Then sunbeam that burst through the tcntrOoI
showed me saul,
SECRET OF BRowSGNa's POWER.
It was plain what the Drowning craze
meant. For here my bookseller was trans
formed into q poet and had forgotten
trade In the midst Of this trsliiC.rldden
Chicago / asked him, "What 10 the se-
cret OF Browning's power%
faction, sir Nothing Is worth the
while that lacks life. Every ono Of Brown
ing's poems mas living soul In it. Mira
beau declared the power Of orRtory To be
action. II Is the samO with poetry. II Ia
the action Of a self that lives in the lines.
That Is the greatness of Shakespeare itia
also Of Browning.
"But, mark you, Browning Is not man
to set puppets before you; his actors are
not merely pretty creatures; they are all
people OF wit and sharp thinkers. You
have first to learn the individualltles be-
fore you get the key Of their purpose, and
and II Is no longer hard work to read
Browning. II you cannot acGustom your
self To the company Of philosophers, 10y
down the philosophers on the atage
acting llto'S truths"
A DROWNING CLUB.
1 left the bookstore Of my friend 10
hunt up a browning Club" some dozen
OF which was informed we're to be found,
In the first found about dozen ladies
and gentlemen 'oi divers uges, led by q
bright woman Of 40 or 40, II ono may Say
II. She was by no mgans blueBtoCking
but tidy, brightly unpietentious woman
and In the club | found fair proportion
OF men. The subject was "Instans Tyran'
nus" "Hero," said the leader, I'VE have
the drama Of lie on q gallop. II Is the
struggle for existence as II passes out o.
the mere brute struggle and becomes
struggle OF wits and tools The man o.
brain and money--.that lie, OF mind tool
and hand toolH-undsrtakes to crush the
man who has neither, lie naturally hatel
him. Brains always hates stupidity. Car
lyle despises Quashee and thinks the
world would be better0iT without him. So
here goes. Brains crowds stupidity to the
wall tries TO obllerate him. But he Il
too small 10 feel a Hllght, too minute 10 be
we'll try sledge.hammer on an animal
Guile; fght the cholera bacillus with box
ing gloves. Brains and Money sees hIE
victim is Of the eatth earthly, but fol
that very reason Is huggel Very close L
the bosom OF Mother Earth. no he tries
I'd a llnal plan, to mine under him 10 de-
stfoy his Creep.hole, hiB refuge In sig
nificanCe, and witness satiAiaOtlOn.
il one Knocked By au tliy
Il one bnliled by TOAD Dr Ny ntY
The RrAVRnipns In that
IiOw the lion, who COuehes ~ suit
iilIbaCk lO nay foot
Wntid Admire that | stand In debated
iInI jlIp small II the tteAt
i'm yexeS 70 that II the thlngl
Toad or rat vCx The King
Though was e.1ll my realm tOunentth
Toad or FRt, 'tlGMell WORTH
40 Iobetly laid my plan
IObGtibgulsh tho intn,
RDiind his trCcp.hOle, With never break,
ian my fires iOf hisiakei
overhead did my thnllden combine
with my UNDERGROUND milne,
nil looked from my labor content
10 enjoy the event.