The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1892-10-21

LORD rEsNYsoN.
the eldest, wrote very imaginative
volume of poems; and the sonnets
Of Charles Tennyson-better known
as Charles Turner are highly APP
preciated. 1t was a Thoroughly heal
thy, happy life which was lived at
the old white rectory on the slope of
a hill "They were noble little
clan of poets and of knight, coming
Of knightly race, with castles to
defend, with mimic tournaments to
fight" When evening came, they
beguiled the hours by the recital of
long imaginative stories. The mother
of the family, sweet, kind hearted,
fervently religious woman, continued
to live on at Somersby after her hus
bands death While quite little
boy, his brother Charles one Sunday
handed Alfred a slate, and bade him
write some verses on the flowers in
the garden. After while the future
Laureate brought back the slate GOV
cred with blank verse, modelled on
Thomson's Seasons" the only poet
ry he had ever read. Yes, you can
write" said Charles Charles was a
better prophet than his grandfather,
who babe Alfred write an elegy on |
his grandmother, then lately dead. |
When the task was done he gave the
boy ten shillings, saying, There.
that is the first money you have ever
earned by your poetry, and, take my
E. a ha ho
Perhaps this incident occurred just |
after Alfred, in conjunction with his
brother Charles, had actually pub |
llshed a small volume of poems,
while still a scholar at the Louth
Grammar School.
The publication of volumes of
verse by schoolboys is an enterprise
which does not usually commend
itself to prudent relatives. Many a
man has written university prize
poems, and yet failed to win the
worlds ear. While at Trinity Col
lege, Cambridge, In 1929, Alfred
Tennyson gained the Chancellor's
medal by a poem in blank verse,
entitled Timbuctoo." But unlike
most university lads he went on writ
ing, publishing small volumes (now
sought after by bibliophiles as most
precious rarities) in 1880, 1882 and
1888. A band of appreciators, small
at first, but steadily increasing,
eagerly devoured these works; but it
was not till 1912, when he brought
out an augmented edition of his
poems, in two volumes, that he be-
came famous. Even in 1850, after
the publication of In Memoriam,"
when it was proposed that Ten
nyson should succeed Wordsworth
as Poet Laureate, Sir Robert Peel
was obliged to confess that he had
read none of his poetry. By this
time the happy home at Somersby
had been broken up by marriages
and other domestic events, and the
poet came to London. He lived IN
the Temple, then at So, Lincoln's-inn-
Fields (where "The Princess first
saw the light, and then at Twicken-
ham, having meanwhile married the
eldest daughter of MIR. Henry Sell
wood. He first made her acquaintance
at Somersby. Alfred Tennyson, as
the most unobservant reader of his
noetry cannot fail to discover, is q
thorough man of the country. He
is not really at home on the pave
ment and under the glare OF the gas
Stress of circumstances had driver
him to London, but as soon as fame
had brought money, he returned t.
his old love. settling with his wifi
at Farripeford, Freshwater, in tn
Isle of Wight. "The house a
Farringford seemed like a charme'
palace, with green walls without AM
speaking walls within. Books hlle'
the shelves; and the great ora
drawing-room window was full Q
Green and golden leaves, of tn
sound of birds, and of the dlstan
sea- The country round Earring
ford is lovely, and here were sper
some of the happiest years OF th
noet's middle life. But fame has II
drawbacks: the world is anxious
set eyes on those who have done e:
ceptional things; sightseers lay. /
wait for the bard, and he, beng OF
shy, sensitive temperament, began
feel that he could not venture out II
q walk without annoyance. SO, at
events during the summer month
when tourists abound, he fled fro
Farringford. and dwelt in hou
designed for him by his staunt
friend, Mr.. James Knowles, who
an architect as we'll as an able editc
This house, at Aldworth, Sure
stands on the summit OF a hlg
lonely hill. sit is of white stone, WI
many broad windows facing gre
view. There is long terrace VIII
low parapet of stone' where ives al