Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1893-02-09
MAGAZINE NOTES.

MAGAZINE SoTEs.
In reading the title Of this sonnet. b.
Mrs. louie Chandler NouIton, ".hsIl
Complaint" the magazine reader f-e's
fippanily inclined to respond You a.
suredly will" Judging from her yerss..
the norfuary possibilities Of Mrs. Mos:I-
toms friends and family are unlimited ;
her collected POEMS irresistibIy recall
those ancient lands in which ancestor
worship still prevails, where all the
sunny uplands are given over % well
vateIed graves. But after reading the
lines just quJ,ed, one hopes that this il
move in new direction, the first fruits,
perhaps, Of a New Years resolution, and
the reader il bIitbe TO hope that this
writer's fluent and musical verse will set
Itself, during the coming year, to cheerier
tunes.
To the prose laity the poetic habit Of
unreserved lamentaiion has ever been a
stumbling block, something which he
can neither understand nor with which
he can bring himself into sympathy The
old animal instinct OF creeping off into
the nnderbrush to hide and, If possible.
cure the hurt, is still strong in the man
who ia not poet, and he shnnks from
the poets published heait-break az from
sort Of indecency. In his dull practical
way he wonders what the roet does with
the checks which flow with the poets
tears. Do they buy coal and potatoes, or
is there a lachrymosal fund get apart for
some philanthropic object? Deep in bic
increduious heart, he doubts the sincerity
Of grief that matches rhymes. This. of
course. springs from bis own inaptitude;
he remembers the anguish that certain
rhymed couplets have cost him, and for
gets that what is so foreign to his tongue
may be the poets vernacular. Then, as
he turns the troublesome problem, he
remembers the nobility and greatness Of
the men who have cast their hearts deep
est sorrows into cold type metal. There
is Wordworth's Lucy" who
Lived unknown, and few could know
Wnen Lucy ceased 70 De:
But she is In her grave, aud o.
The difference to mel"
I'm Memonain," then comes to his
mind, and, following it, Lowell's "After
the Burial" Burns ITO Mary in
Heaven" then faster than he can count,
swarm after each poets name the record
Of his BOTTOMS. There is no denying the
sincerity Of feeling which has given the
permanent qualify to this verge, and yet
how reconcile it with his own conception
OF a sorrow too deep for words? 1t /.
with sigh Of relief that he recalls ih
aphorism from which George Eliot aay
che drew 80 much solace in ner chlldi-i
perplexities over the strange specimen
OIL humanity that she found in hei little
world; There must be some OF this kind
20 as to be some OF all kinda"
Octave Thanet's series Of stories ia con
tipued in the February scribner, and
keeps well up to the expectations the
previous stories ofihe series have aroused
Harry LOSING is perhaps trife wooder
in his Projections, dimly recalling tn,
strawberry blonde lay figure outside tLe
tailor's shop; but this may be becaus.
the writer is following George sand.
ideal OF drawing "a possible bette
world" rather that world quite a. it j..
The character Of Horatio Armorer, the
Chicago financicr. is very clever, and
would he perfect except for touch Of ex-
aggeration here and there. In one place
he asks his sister, in good faith, if che
thinks 1t would be worth while for him to
offer his pure young daughter, with whom
he 10 on terms Of closest intimacy, a bribe
OF one hundred thousand dollars to reject
her lover This is false touch. II h.
had said he would give her that amount
to have her reject the young fellow it
would lave illustrated his commercial
instinct without offending the verities.
Personal Recollections Of CharIes
Sumner" by the Marquis de Chambrun.
throws new light upon man who
probably made as bitter enemies az any
man who hasever lived in America.
The frontispiece Of the February Cali
fornian is pretty reproduction Of Multi
nomah Falls, Oregon, and the first article
is called "On the Columbia, illustrated
with pictures that s.rikingly recall the
scenery Of this part Of Washington.
John Vance Cheney, who frequently
contributes verse to the Century, has, in
this number. tribute TO Tennyson.
Efficiency Of Ballot Reform.
The complete SUCCESS OF the reform sys-
tenn in 80 large a proportion Of the states
makes certain lite speedy adoption in the
remaining states. At the beginning
OF the present year the only states still
without it were Kansas and Idaho In the
north, and Alabama, Florida, Georgia.