Evening journal., 1888-07-28

the applicant feels warmly grateful and
under hallucination that it is perhaps
just as well after alln
A Senator who is an old and intimate
friend Of Villas, said to me the other
day
hate Vilas's pesl1y politics, but
barring that, he is one OF the most do
liehtful of companions. lie is a regular
fanatic on the tariff question, and is not
jot better than frcetrndcr, though
he denies the charge; but shut him up
On that question and open him on some
other side and he is one Of the booniest
fellows / ever talked with. No, / did
NOT Say brainy I said boony; but he
is hrainy too on every subject but our
duty on the duty ON imports. On that,
he's way of.
Lately I have been walking with
! Villas, and we have done up an the towns
roand Washington within five or six
miles. / swore him of on the tariff be-
fore we started-and he me too though
| II is hardly necessary to speak OF that.
! One Sunday we went not less than ten
miles, across Long Bridge up tho Poto-
mac TO Arlington, 10 the Aquedueb
! bridge and across to Georgetown. and
So home lie walks like an antelope
and il isn't easy to keep up with him.
One thing that makes him SO pleas
ant a companion is that with the vigor
and yirility Of manhood he retains the
| enthusiasm Of youth We got 10 dis
cussing poetry, for / knew, rs, indeed
his speeches show, that he had lots OF
poetry in him. and ran on with such
bits as ! could remembering two con-
sceutivc verses I think.
Do you know, he asked. that Eng
lish poem I always most enjoy? Not
| Byron's Childe Harold OF even the Essay
ON Man that Yon were quoting from, but
Gray's wonderful Elegy. The curfew
tolls the lnell OF parting day he began,
and went on with as he walked. his
deep rich voice ringing from verse TO
verse. Here and there, where fine
idea especially struck his fancy, he would
stop and stand still while he uttered il.
his sonorous tones thrilling with the
p0thoce OF itp
Is Gen. Villas a good reciter, Sena-
tor ? I inquired
Yes, very" he went on. lie is not
an elocutionarian, FOR he has the real
art Of expression, instead Of the artifice.
]
MS fingers. One or his eesural pauses
N the tramp, he made Just as we wcre
going into the gate Of Arlington, TO call
my attention 70 the majesty Of the fourth
and dfth verses:
Beneath those rugged elms. that yew.troe's
shade
Where heav.s the turf in many q mouder-
ing heap,
i-,ch g., tfs ,.r-r.. ali
Tho rude forefathers OF the hamlet sleep
The breezy call OF incense breathing morn.
THE swsllow twittering from the straw-built
she'd.
The cocks shrlll clarion or the echoing horn.
no moro shall rouse them from their lowly
bod.
Again we trudged on up the hill rs
ae won't on to recite the history OF the
humble villagers. and twice he reeited,
with emphasis, the verse that tells how
vain arc all human strivings:
rhs best OF heraiary, the pOmn OF power.
And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er
gave,
Alike await tie inevitable hour
Tho paths OF glory lead but to tho grave.
THAT is not only fact, but a melan.
aholy fact he said it can't be blinl1ed
]
ahuman conditions in the matter OF happi-
ness is far less than is generally con-
: sidered.' Another verse that he thought
exceedingly good was that which init
hates that some OF the dead and buried
, rustics died with all their music in
them;' ri
Fun many gem Of purest ray serene
Tho deep unfathomed caves OF ocean bear:
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.
Some VILLAGE Hampton. that. with dauntlesi
breast
The little tyrant Of the field wlhssood
Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest
{ Some Cromwell guilty Of his country's blood
aITc offered one criticism on the poem.
[ remember; he thought Gray ought to
TO have stopped wbcl he sOt through.
The last nine verses, he said, always
seemed to me rather forced and artih-
cial, though containing some good ideas.
He recited them as an evidence Of tho
falling off in power which he had spoken
81 and Thought the poem ought to have
been allowed to finish with the couplet-
/ On some fond breast the parting soul relies.
Some pious drops the closing eye requires
/ zen from the tomb the voice Of Nature cries
zen In our ashes lies their wonted frs ;
: I never saw Villas in quite such
: serious mood before and when we hae
walked through the ten thousand sol
diers graves and sat on fence overlook
Ing Georgetown / really felt as il has
been Ia church and heard a particularly
sood sermon. And il also occurred Z
d me that great bishop had been los
: 81 the world when Col Was went Tx