The herald., 1894-12-25


Home is the sailor, home from the sea,
And the hunter. home from the HILL"
These lines must have REQUIRED to
the minds OF all who knew them with
redoubled force and tragic meaning,
when the knowledge of the death OF
that genial man and loyal friend. that
accomplished scholar and veraatile
writer. Robert Louis Stevenson, was
given to the new world last Monday
morning.
Few men have achieved the distinc.
tion in the realm of letters which he ac-
complished, few writers could count 60
many friends among their readers as he;
for while his brilliant literary style is
incompatible, his diction pure, clean
forceinl and honest; and hie genius
many eided and in each Gaze vividly
distinct, in all snd through all that he
wrote, his personality was 80 apparent,
his leniency toward and belief in man
kind was made go strongly apparent
that the heart as well as the mind OF
hin readers, young or old, simple or
wise. were touched and made friends
for ell time, and his loes will be de-
plored alike by savant and layman.
Born in Edinburgh, November 18th,
1850, OF Scotch parents, his early years,
like those OF his later life, were an eter-
nal struggle against ill-health, and it is
not the least remarkable OF the many
remarkable things in his career that
such powerful attainment should have
been accomplished in the face of such
odds on the contrary his nature was
full OF sunshine, his temperament never
lost its optimistic trend, and the last
stirring writings from his pen were di-
rected toward enlightening the world ia
regard to the strange race among whom
he WAS thrown.
After course at the Edinburgh uni
versity, where he was more OF a truant
than scholar, his fathers profession OF
!. engineering was essayed by him with
results thai were not marked by success.
The law was then tried, but was found
equally uncongenial; and finally he
made the acquaintance OF Sidney CAL
win. himself successful writer. who
took up young Stevenson and induced
him to write.
He was then 20 years old. and his first
paper, called Roads, appeared 10 the
portfolio; his second was written that
same winter at Mentone. whereshe had
been ordered for his health, was entitled
Ordered South, and is one of the de-
lightful group Of essays on different sub.
jects, that were efterward published in
book form and called Virginibus
Puerisqne. In the same volumn ap.
peared his Apology for Idleness, than
which nothing more delicious or salts
flying to q dreamer's heart has ever 80
convincingly appeared. Will O. the
Mill was his first published story; the
next. A Lodging for the Night. was
written about the same time, with the
delightful study on Villou, sfterward
published in the volume entitled Fa-
miliar Studies OF Books and Men.
The New Arabian Nights was brought
the same year 40 An Inland Voyage,
two more directly conflicting
ss, together with their treatment.
co not be found to show his marvel
Gus versatility the former series of
bood-curdling and grewsome stories
concerning the feats and methods OF
the Suicide club; the latter dainty
little idyl that tells of peaceful rustic
scenes, and placid wanderings in q
canal down the River Disc. The fame
of The Suicide Club has spread around
the world, while The Inland Voyage
written with equal though quieter
power, and inimitable play Of fancy and
grace of diction is known only to the
literary dilletantte; yet what in liters-
10 g can excel this bit? "Oanoeing was
essy work; to dip the paddle now right,
now left; to keep the head down
etream-there was not much art in that,
certainly silly muscles managed it be-
tween waking and sleeping; and mean
while the brain had whole holiday and
went to sleep; in the intensity Of my
abstraction there was less me and more
not me than | was accustomed to ex-
pect; my own body seemed to have no
more intimate relation to me than the
canoe, or the river banks. Not this
alone. something inside my mind,
q part of my brain, had thrown off
allegiance and set up for itself. | had
dwindled into quite little thing in q
corner of myseli. was isolated in me
own SKULL take it, in short, that
was about as near Nirvana as would be
convenient in practical life and, if this
be so, make the Buddhists my sincere
compliments; tits an agreeable state,
not being consistent with mental
brilliancy, but very calm, golden
and incurions, and one that sets O man
superior to alarms. have an idea that
open air laborers must spend @ portion
of their days in thia estate atupor, W hich
explains their high cumposure and en-
durance-s pity to 60 to the expense of
laudanum when here ia a better para
disc for nothing. This frame of mind
was the great exploit of our voyage, take
it all in all. Indeed. it lies 80 far from
beaten paths Of language that despair
OF getting the reader into sympathy with
the smiling, eomplacent idiocy of my
condition; when ideas came and went
like notes ON sunbeam; when trees
and church spires surged up from time
to time into my notice like solid objects
through rolling cloud land; when
beheld with half an eye the aroused
hshers and fisherwomen on the bank
when the rhythmical swish OF boat and
paddle In the water became cradlesong,
to lull my thoughts asleep, and all the
time, with the river running and the
shores changing upon either hand, /
KEEPS counting my strokes, and forgetting
the hundreds, the happiest animal in
France. L tiatter myself the beasts that
perish could not underbid it as a low
form OF consciousness! Yet, what
pleasure it was, what hearty, tolerant
temper did it bring about There ia
nothing captious about q man who has
attained to this, the one possible apoth-
costs in life, the apotheosis Of stupidity.n
Again. in direct contrast are Stevens
sons Prince Otto, Kidnapped. and
Treasure Island, all vivid tales of ro.