The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1891-09-10
coming II

~V
JAMES RUSSELL. LOWELL.
The following is what the Times
says of the distinguished gentleman,
whose death has been SO recently an
nounced:
The death of Mr.. Lowell will prob
ably be more keenly and widely felt
in England than would be that of any
other American, or, indeed, Of any
other man who was not fellow-coun-
tryman of our own. To very many
in England it will be counted as a
grave personal loss; and thousands
more will miss in him one whom
through his writings they had admired,
felt with, laughed with, as with a
friend. For long time past, in fact
ever since he quilted the Legation, his
long annual visits to London have
been regarded by wide circle as one
of the events Of the year, and he him
self as one of the most valued guests.
We had hoped that this last June
would again have seen him in his old
London haunts, bright, genial, inter
esting as ever but cruel tate de-
cided that this was not to be, and
that neither the Old World nor the
New should know him more. Never
strong man, he has succumbed at
a ripe age, it is true, but prematurely,
as all will think who knew how fresh
his intelligence and his sympathies
were to the last. With him there
passes away one of the very few Amer
leans who were the equals of any son
of the Old World-of any Frenchman
or any Englishman-in that indefina-
BILE mixture of qualities which we sum
up, for want of a better word, under
the name of culture. How did he ar
rive at it? The answer is, by natural
gifts, by the constant play of mind
with mind in talk, and by reading.
On those who casually met Mr.. Lowell
in society, he certainly did not make
the impression of a bookworm, or of a
man to whom books were indispen-
sable but none the less is it true that
when official business was not too
heavy he invariably read for a min
hmm of four hours day. This did
not include the time that he gave to
ephemeral literature it was the time
that he spent in the serious reading of
books, generally old books. How
many of us, not professed students,
can show a record as good, or half as
good? He read quickly, too, in vari-
Gus languages, his favorities being the
English of the Elizabethans, Spanish,
old French, and modern French. His
excellent memory and his wonderful
assimilative power built up this read
ing into the mental endowments that
all the world admired.
When Mr.. Lowell came to England
as the representative of the United
States under the last Republican Ad-
ministration, London felt a sympa-
thetic curiosity as to the author of the
famous "Biglow Papers, and of SO
much excellent prose criticism. In a
very short time the feeling warmed
into admiration and friendship. The
official world spoke we'll of the way
in which the new Minister performed
the duties-generally not very heavy,
but always demanding tact and pru-
dence-of his position as Minister.
Menacing sounds, indeed, began to
be heard from across the ocean, when
the Irish Fenians, who control SO
much of the Press of the United States,
began to raise the cry that Mr.. Lowell
sacrificed the interests of their dyna-
mitard friends to a brutal British gov
eminent but as the Washington Off
Gals took no notice, nobody here paid
much attention to the matter. In So
cial life, the new Minister soon began
to be power. He went everywhere
to the houses Of the great, to the
houses of the men of letters, and to
places where such people most do con-
gregate His talk was excellent give
and take. He was neither a profess
sional anecdotist, like another famous
American talker, Mr.. Chauncey De
pew nor man on the watch for
something to disagree with, like Mr..
Blaine nor even, as was his admirable
successor, man oflong silences broken
by flashes OF humor. Mr.. Lowell
seemed to know everything and to
have his knowledge always ready to
hand he was quick at repartee he
mixed anecdote with reflection in the
happiest manner he laughed at 9TH
ers' jests, and they laughed at his.
Still, one had to be a little careful
with him, for there were points on
which he was extremely sensitive. No
body, for example, must talk in his
presence of "Americanisms," or hint
that the standard of language and lit
erature observed in America showed
any detection from the best standard
Of the race. 1t is hard to account for
this odd quality Of his, and one is
sometimes tempted to think that it
was kind of reaction against secret
consciousness that he was himself,
after all, more European than Amer
lean. As he himself says of Agassiz,
in the fine ode which he wrote on the
occasion of the death of that illustri-
Gus natural philosopher