Birmingham age-herald., 1894-07-29
SHALL the people or the Senate win2
 MUSINGS WITHOUT METHOD.

burning low, and 1 am traversing the chronicled pages of literature. These pom derous looking tonnes, filled with the his tory of the four great ages, cannot but en- chain the attention of the student in prefer ence to scrutiny of the lives of the lesser ordained of today.
 It is like gliding out from the small and shallow stream where birds trilled and COW bells tinkled faintly, out into the broad and mellow silence of the great deepl The ripe wisdom of the "Athenian Bee, '' who cast before him long trail of light which guided the researches of his successors, Xenophen, Herodetus and Sophocles, rather blinds our unsophisti- cated minds.
 We are a little more at home with the stars of Csesar's reign and sip with Roman fervor the cloying sweetness of the songs of Catullus, Sallust, Varro and Terence.
 After the restoration of learning in the thirteenth, fourteenth aud fifteenth cen- turies, we are lost in the subtleties of Ari- osto, Paul Jovius, Tasso aud Erasmus. fresh ocean breeze strikes us when Queen Annt's era, extending down to the present day, dawns upon our enchanted vision.
 The lofty Racine and the radiant Cor nellie are little bit too pompous ln ex- pression to come within mile of Ameri- can heads. A lady of their time said truly: "They have too many heroesl' We very much desire to see one commonplace indi- vidual after perusal of Polyeuctes-an out and out coward-a fellow that would run in newsboy parlance, "from a stuffed bear. o Paufina and Soceeus are ideal characters, and the tragedy drags the reader from the mire of tears and ashes into comic reac- tiou somewhat hard to bear, especially if one has been studying Racine's Athaliah, the closing lines of which begin:
 "God of the Jews, 'tis thou that doth prevail!" And end in a burst of eloquencs unsurpassed for splendor and symmetry.
 And then that matchleSs group, Moliere, Pascal and Bourdelonel But greater still the muniicently gifted statesman Lamar tineI Give us, oh genius, the universally endowed man poet, orator, historian and witt Where Voltaire had but one way of benefiting the world, the broad souled author of "Jocelyn" labored in thousand avenues, and found the public heart in many highways.
 Look at the glorious patriot as I sketched him from the fly leaf of my note book. What grander figure in all the temple of fame can you offer than Lamartine quelling the mob at Paris by simple stroke of genius and wit? First, when the Parisan fanatics determined to force the provis- ional government to adopt the red flag as it's ensign his voice rang out in patriotic fervor: 'sThe red flag you bring us has only gone round the Champ de Mars, trailed in the blood of the people in 1791 and in 1793, while the tri-color has gone round the world, with the name, the glory and the liberty of our country. '' The sav age beasts were silenced until an insurgent cried from the rear, 'tDown with Lamar tine!" And the mob took up the refrain, "Down with the time -server Off with his head, his headl Lamartine's headl" With fascinating smile the poet exclaimed: 'My head, citizens? You want my head? Indeed, but l wish you had it, every one of you. If Lamartine's head were now on each pair of shoulders among you, you would be wiser than you are and the revo- lution would go on more prosperousy. ' The mass was won by jest and dispersed. The exquisite song put into the mouth of "Laurence, '' in the bleakest winter, must bring back to us a breath of spring. Goethe and Schiller, "the twin sons of love" in German literature; Spenser and Shakespeare in English letters, Long, fellow and Hawthorne in America, with all their laurel crowned contemporaries, af- ford an inexhaustible field for study and review. But the light is almost out; the mosquito galaxy with malice intent sting the poetry from air and night; beyond the line of mist in the west there gleams g solitary star. It seems as full of sleep and rest as the quiet earth. Why should we labor when even nature takes her recrea- tion? There is no promise of-but am in darkness and can hardly tell if there is room for SYDNEY DARYL.