The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-05-19
Written for The ArkGnsdw Traveller. A COMPARISON WITH AN
 ASSIMILATION.
Proctor-Tennyson,
BY CLARENCE N. oUsLEr.

In biographical sketch of Adelaide A. Proctor, Charles Dickens says: "In the spring of 1858, I observed, as con- ductor of the weekly journal, House hold Words, short poem among the preferred contributions, very different, l thought, from the shoal of verses perpetually setting through the office of such publication, and possessing much more merit. Its authoress was quite unknown to me. She was one Miss Mary Berwick, whom had never heard of; and she was to be ad- dressed, if addressed at all, at circu- lating library in the western part of London. Through this channel Miss Berwick was informed that her poem was accepted, and she was invited to send another. She complied, and be- came a regular contributor. Many letters passed between the journal and Miss Berwick, but Miss Berwick was never seen. This went on till December, 1854, when the Christmas number, entitled, "The Seven Poor Travellers" was sent to press. Happen ing to be going to dine that day with an old and dear friend, distinguished in literature as Barry Cornwall,' took with me an early proof of that number, and remarked, as laid it on the table, that it contained very pretty poem, written by a certain Miss Berwick. Next day brought me the disclosure that I had so spoken of the poem to the mother of it's writer, and in its writer's presence; and that the name had been assumed by Barry Cornwall's' eldest daughter, Miss Ade- laide A. Proctor"
 Some verses by Miss Proctor had been published in the s'Book of Beauty" ten years before she became Miss Berwick, or about 1843. In 1858 she published "Legends and Lyrics, a Book of Verse;" and in 1860, "A Sec ond Volume of Legends and Lyrics" Her complete works appeared in one volume in 1865. use the words from Dickens, because Miss Proctor is comparatively speaking-not well known now, nor was she during her short lifetime. To command respect. therefore, it is we'll to have her intro duced by one whose judgment and taste will not be questioned.
 A short time ago a friend handed me copy of Miss Proctor's poems, with the request that I should read "A Lost Chord" I read the verses, and was deeply impressed by their sig nificant simplicity. Only a genius can be simple. "A Lost Chord" seemed to me an expression of the holy impulses, which occasionally, without premonition and with no apparent relevancy to preceding thoughts, come to the mind of every man, however noble or however depraved ,-and then vanish before they can be obeyed or even examined.
 Turning the leaves in careless sort of way, came upon "Homeward Bound" short poem beginning thus: {:
 have seen a fiercer tempest, Known a louder whlrlwind blow;
 was wrecked off red Algiers, Slx-and thirty years ago. Young was, and yet old seamen Were not so strong or calm as 1;
 While life held such treasures for me felt sure could not die.
 
 Life struggled for-and saved it. Life and nothing more;
 Bruised, half dead and helpless
 was cast upon the shore.
 feared the pitiless rocks of ocean; So the great sea rose-and then
 Cast me from her friendly bosom
 On the pitiless hearts of men.
 "Ah," thought I, "the survivor of a shipwreck-perhaps another Enoch Arden here."
 Young was, and yet old seamen
 Were not so strong or calm as 1;
 While life held such treasures for me
 felt sure could not die.
 So felt young Arden when, having determined upon the long voyage, he prayed for blessing on his wife and babes, and said:
 Annie, this voyage, by the grace of God,
 Will bring fair weather yet to all of us.
 The same confident hope was in the bosom of each as he left home in search of riches to make the wife happy and give the children better bringing up than his had been. And though Miss Proctor does not picture the parting scene as it is portrayed in "Enoch Arden," it stands before the readers imagination just as wildly as the picture of Annte straining her eyes to catch the last dip of tho sail which carried her husband to that long and mournful "death in life" whose resurrection she knew not. The leading points in the two narra- tives will be found strikingly similar, as appears from the following com parisons:
 On the way home, laden with the 'treasure which he had risked so much to obtain, Miss Proctor's n-browned sailor, like many another, was just be- ginning to see the end of his long, weary journey, when misfortune fell upon him. He tells his own story of fha chi inwrock noncludinr.