Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1886-06-18
Dome Department.
JEAN INGELOW.

and works of Jean lngelow.-ED. REGIS
TER.
Talking with a friend the other day. he
said he had seen Boston, the ancient
namesake of our New England city, the
home also of Jean lngelow. His account
of the gray old seaport was a very inter
esting one. The city is in the eastern
part of Lincolnshire, England. one hum
drcd miles north of London, surrounded
by a low fiat country, Astounding in Dogs
and fens. The river Wrtham winds its
smooth way into the Wash. making the
fields and meadows unusually green.
Lincolnshire may justly be called the Ar
cadia of England, since it is the birth
place and home of two such worldwide
poets as Mr.. TennysOn and Jean Ingelow.
The city of Boston in which our poet was
born is SMALL old city, with narrow
and crooked streets. 1t is at present
chiefly given to manufacturing. Long
years ago it actually rivalled London in
size. 1t contains the celebrated st. Boz
tolph's church. which. being the most
important object within its boundaries,
i'll G49 \. ID. gave to the place the name
| BOtolph' stown, the corruption of which
| j. Boston,
Here in this city. then, was born, in
| 1880, the woman who has attained certain
marks of public favor. which no other
English woman has achieved by verse
writing. She is a poet in whose verse
we find the unmistakable touch and
! breath of freshness. She has the power
to fill common earthly facts with heaven
ly fire. No candid critic would place her
above Mrs. Browning the breadth and
scope of whose poems no woman has ever
eXcelled; but many do rank her next to
Mrs. Browning.
Jean Ingelow's father was banker in
Boston. Her mother was of Scotch de
scent. Their family numbered eleven
children. All we actually know of her
early years is that she was not preco-
cious child and was remarkable only for
Il good memory. She was extremely
timid and easily overawed and would
creep away into corners to think her own
fancies.
In the large bay window. which was a
part of the nursery on the second floor of
her fathers house, she would sit looking
upon the verdant English landscape.
which has inspired many hearts who
have not the power to tell their thoughts.
Il,
amounted to we can tell by her works.
that are wrought all through and through
with exquisite touches of nature.
She lived a quiet. retired life in her ma
tive place until 1853. when her first vol
ume of poems was published. She was
so little known that even her name was
considered a fanciful one.
From the first her poems were widely
read and very generally appreciated.
Thirty thousand copies were sold in Eng
land. In 1866 came The Story of Doom.
10000 copies of which were sold at once.
With English and American publishers
together 100000 copies were sold in five
years, an almost unprecedented sale. and II
proof of her popularity. Her "SongS of
Seven" High Tide ON the Coast of Lin
colnshire." "The Letter L. "BrotherS
and a sermon and "Supper at the Mill"
took their places at once aS household
poems. The Long White seam was
found recently by the writer in Il colec-
ton of five masterpieces illustrated for
holiday editions.
In 1863 she was living with her mother
in London, leading a quiet. unostenta-
tious life, doing deeds of kindness with
the money which came from her writ
ings, glad that the gifts which she pos
sessed could enable her to indulge her
love of benetiting the sad and downcast.
After she had attained an assured name
as writer of verse. she became sudden
ly struck with the idea Chat has possess
ed many of us at some time or another)
that if she could, or dared, tell all she
knew there We're many things occurring
about her every day that were better
than fiction in fact We're the foundation
for fiction. With this idea she deiber-
ately set about to become Il novelist. and
the result is this writer has given to the
world four deservedly successful novels.
entitled Ion the Skelligs" 1873. "Fated
to be Free" (lS7G). SARAH de Berauger,
and ''Dou John" Some of her minor
prose works are full of touching Sympa-
thy and delicate tenderness. rs Poor
Matt" and "Stories Told to II Child" She
has written "MopSa the Fairy" and
"StudieS for Stories, which latter show,
her method of work. But the world.
ever chary of alloting too many laurcs
to one person. seems unwilling to take
much note of her prose works, and lets
her fame rest chiefly on her poetry.
\. b.
\ North Carolina guinea hen had a