Birmingham age-herald., 1894-08-26
MUSINGS WITHOUT METHOD.

An article from the pen of Judge Warren Truitt of Sitka, Alaska. in the Overland Monthly tJuly), entitled ''The Permanent in Poetry,o is worth reading. We thought in correspondence his taste and tact shown best, but his ability to handle a well worn theme in masterly manner shines forth in this effort. Tennyson's verse seems to the writer most likely to live in literature, and he quotes that exquisite sentence, "Jewels five words long, that on the stretched forefinger of time sparkle for ever, ,' to express his admiration for the illustrious author of "Lock lesy Hall.''
 Poe he calls meteor, not star; Burns he says "has been dead almost 100 years time only proves his merritt Cowper and Browning are permanent failures; the one because he paid more attention to his thoughts than his verse-the other be- cause his vehicles for expressing his senti- ments are never normal. One goes to his- tory for profound study, and poetry best performs its mission when it appeals by it's very clearness to the heart, the ear and the senses than to the intellect. There is much that is good throughout the essay.
 Adverse criticism is a terrifying and in evitable incident in the life of even the most successful author. Early in their ca- reers they feel the contact of steel against their warm, shrinking flesh. The consid- eration of this fact has prevented many an ambitious, capable soul from seeking to
 learn it's intellectual limitations. From
 the clash of opinions truth is oftenest elic- iceland we throw ourselves unhesitat- ingy into the very heart of the question which, abbreviated, is: "Does the quality of criticism materially affect the ultimate success of the aspirant2'' As well ask if irrigation will produce vegetation in all
 soils at corresponding seasons.
 It depends entirely on the state of the soil-no less than on the temperament of the writer. The fortunate few, whose exu- berance of spirit is proof against the scur rilous attacks of venemous pen execution. tioners; whose calm, unruffied natures sit on high, self-conscious, self-important throne, oblivious of the earth below, and whose purses encourage them to plunge into a hopeless effort without gnawing uneasiness as to it's sresult-these, of course, are but little disturbed. But this Is not all; there are other nervous, impatient, sensitive people, who writhe under the pub lie lash and cannot survive injustice. An other class, equally as intolerant of the human respect suffer infinitely more than they are willing to confess, do not wither under any frost. With the tears of disap- pointment in their hurt, shame sodden eyes, they cast quivering, mutilatsd hopes behind them, and, snatching up the author of their ruin, bend to the oars again, hap pier, more determined and more sanguine than before. These are the heroes of liter ature-the msrtyrs of our day, who feel the divine impetus within them, inoiting them to action in the face of the storm.
 They are toiling all around us, many with no aspirations for themselves except (grand exception) to be good. They are not deceived by the stirring of the new life within their souls; circumstances perhaps