The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1894-02-16
BEST USES OF POETRY.
A Great English Lawyer Tells Us,
Waving All Fees, What
They Are
Memoir ing Poetry In Youth 70 a
Most Useful. Benef iolal
Exercise.
Commsnts on some Of the EasIIsh Posts-
Good Books Are the Very Hest
Companions.

CompAnions.
Speaking as an old lawyer, I may say
chat few things compare In usefulness with
retcntiye. accurate memory. IT, II in
youth that this faculty Is formed and
trained, aud one OF tho best methods Of
strengthening Il Il the habit Of learning
by heart passages we admire from authors.
beth IN verse and prose. What we learn
In youth we are apt 20 remember we'll
Mental Impressions az that period Of life
do not easily fade, and although they are
easily received they are indelibly retained,
aud II they arc impressions Of noble
thoughts clothed in noble language we are
laying up "A store Of intellectual pleasure
at one end Of life for enjoyment at the 9th
er. Many Of us live TO grow old. II we
do our minds, II not ourselves, grow lone
~. The interests Of the world fade away,
ana the fashion Of the beauty of 10 vanish
eth, and time comes when we feel that
'Tis meet that We should pause awhile
Err We put on this mortal coil.
And IN the stiffness Of old age
Muse on our earthly pilgrimage.
At such time the recollection Of great
thoughts, of lovely images, of musical
words, comes 20 us with comfort, with
an innocent pleasure which IL Is difficult
to exnggerate. And what should you
learn Speaking generally, the safest rule
10 follow Is TO learn that which pleases you
best. ! assume that II Is not bad But as
10 what Is best taste il very varied, and
that which commends itself to one man
perhaps repels another My own taste you
must take Just for what It is worth. But
leaving out for obvious reasons all Greek
and Latin writer's, before and above every
one, including them, / should myself place
Shakespeare, an inexhaustible storehouse
Of wisdom, instruction and exquisite die
ton, indispensable to any one who has
anything TO do with speaking or writing.
Next Shakespeare I for one should put
Milton. Have any Of you not heard the
magnificent eloquence Of John Bright He
told me himself that he was built on Mil
ton, and IL you heard him-nay, even If you
read him-you can see that he Is stepped
IN the spirit Of this great poet, and that,
though he does not initiate Milton, he
speaks after Milton. And next for use
yes, for daily use-read Wordsworth. Much
of Wordsworth has passed into the Ian
guaRe, the poet of nature and Of lofty spir-
itual thought, whose verse makes bright
things brighter and happy men happier,
the man Of whose song Matthew Arnold
says that when be spoke
Our foreheads felt the wind and rain.
Our youth returned. for there was shed
On spirits that had long been dead,
Spirits dried up and closely furled.
The freshness Of the early world.
There Is one man in English literature
perhaps there are two-who wrote too
little. Gray Is one. Every word he wrote
Is precious. IIo has the perfection Of die
ton and Of melody. Every line contains a
thought or a picture complete in itself,
and You cannot change "A word without
marring fits perfection. The other perhaps
IL Wolfe Every one knows his lines on
the Burial Of Sir John Moore, A" Of which,
In my judgment, no higher praise Is posi-
bic than 10 say they are worthy Of their
subject. But he wrote also go, Forget
Me, and "If Had known Thou Couldst
Have Died." two poems now but little
known, but Of which, if il Is too much 20
say they are as fine as the one on Sir John
Moore, II Is not too much TO say that they
are worthy OF the poet who wrote il. The
time would fail NE II l were to speak
at length Of Shelley, of Keats, Of Scott, OF
Ben Jonson, of Ford, Of Massnger, of
Dryden, Pope and Young, not to mention
course. Tennyson omit, because know
that any estimate which places him, as
should place him, in an order of men far
below Shakespeare is at present the mark
Of Philistno.
Browning ] omit, because, though l
have admired him since / was a boy at
school, | have not been so fortunate as al
ways TO understand him. He once rebuked
me in a way which relate for the comfort
of those small striving souls who watch
his flights and try TO follow his course in
vain, till he disappears from them in
clouds. He was 80 kind az TO give me
many Of his volumes, and he knew l hon
estly read them. Soon after one mad thus
been given me he asked me how ! liked It,
! replied that what l could understand /
heartily admired, and that parts of Il, 1
thought, ought 20 be immortal. but that
as TO much Of il I really could not tell
whether / admired il or no. as | could not
understand Il. "Ah. well, " he ,aid. "if
reader Of your caliber understands 10 per
cent Of what | write, think lac ought TO
be content"
Whether for present or future comfort
cannot too earnestly recommend your &c
Quaiuting yourselves with good books.
They are the best Of companions. In
sickness. in misfortune, in sorrow, in sleep
less nights and days Of pain, you viii find
your recollection OF great aud wholesome
literature constant solace aud refresh
hent. And as n man Is known by the
company he keeps, still more truly is
he known by the books he reads and
the authors he loves. Read only the
best books and never read bad ones Good
books will nerve you for the work-the Sc
rious and earnest work. which ia tho lot Of
all true and good men. For, TO quote
great writer. DIR. Young, the author of the
might Thoughts" not from that book,
however, but from bis "Satires. book
much less known:
This h the scene Of combat, not 81 rest
Mans IL laboTilus happiness nt Test.
On this side death his lahors never cease.
His Joys are Joys of conquest, not Of peace.
Lord Coleridge IN Contemporary Review.
How's This:
We offer one hundred dollars reward 70
any case OF cAtsrrh tina, cannot be cured by
Halls CstsrTh Cure.