The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1894-03-17

q: a; !; i !; !:
delicate traU u sensitive leaf
that ouiverel % The wal and golden
sunlight a. hds Of years ago.
However, it is not the impression
ableness, but the earDestness Of geu-
ius, that appeals TO all hearts. For
instance, we overlook the artistic de-
fects Of Mrs. Browning's works, aud
acknowledge her our greatest woman-
poet-not because she knows more
Than any of her sister writers-but, be-
cause she is more intense. To her,
literature was not passime, or g duty.
il was a necessity. For many years
writing was the great, all-absorblng
love Of her life. III aurora Leisha1
che says, not boastfully. but sincerely,
IF heads that hold rhythmic Thought
must ache, perforce..
For nv part. choose headachesj
and 80. for the sake of art, she sacrl-
feed her health. As The result OF this
conservation, her poems breathe 9
mellow warmth and glory, that rest
upon the lives of many with deep
aud holy splendor, akin TO that OF the
morning sunlight when il flows
Through richly stained cathedral wind
ows.
But. 10 return to earuestness. W.
would say, once more, that If an au
thor lacks this quality, he never win
our sympathy For then, we gaze upo'
his writings with the same indifferen
curiosity with which we regard IN
| we'll fitted parts of an ingenlou
mosaic. They never arouse in us tina
living JOY and admiration that Away
follows the contemplation of mag
nificently wrought statne.
Now, as rule, earnstness ID iite'
AZURE, lnciuues neaIt as "ch q"
Ilect however, this is not always III
| case.
Addison's essays lack emotion, an
I, vet, they are products of genius. d
possessed only the intensity Of thongh
!. On the other hand, Robert Burr
! excelled in earnestness OF feeling. IL
: songs throb with The great, full note
r of .Earth's warm beating, JOY an
; DOLE"
They but express the common low
. and sorrows of plough-bo,'s III
. nevertheless, they strike rcsponsi'
i chord in the souls of all that re'
r. them.
% In their naturalness, they are
n much more beautiful as any works
! talent as the wild, sweet violets
is the wood, are moro beautiful than a
. wax flowers, be they ever so "
il modelled.
a Again. ii is the earnestness &
Shakespeare, that made the French
3ol coeuize in him wonderful draml
70 .rhe barbarous genius" they dub
20 this breaker of the Greek unities; I
still they called him genius. u col
not be otherwise.
tie The vaulting ambition OF N
N beth; the pathetic vanity of King lie
with its disproportionate rctrlbutie
ey Hamlet,s mad thirst for revenge,
complained by the dark question:
Of his conscience aud noble natur
ne child-!ike Othello's consuming bl'
ne ing jealousy are all so intense, 7
Gu these four dramas stand, alone, as
e's highest outcome of English thou
'n aud literature.
sn- In truth, this earnestness is the go
lu' own fire. If it be strong and glow
We II refihes and chastens all mater
ms that pass through it, causing them
we be entirely free from dross,and 10 So
ng with pure and pristine brightn
hg Or, if it be the soft, white fame
'as feeds upon poets fancy, i sheds Q
OF ali life, the beautiful, ethereal j
IN of ideality, .sthe light that never
'nu on sea or land"