Greenbrier independent. [volume] (Lewisburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1980, 1895-05-16
ingersoll on Shakespeare.

knew It's kindred and its neighbors.
looking at coat of mail he in
S'antly imagined the society, tho
conditions that produced it, and
What II IN turn produced. He saw
tnc castle, the m0at, the drawbridgc,
inc lady in tho tower, and the
knlghtly lover squirting across the
pam. lie saw the bold baron and
the rudc retainer, the trampled serf,
ana all the glory and grief of fcudal
NE. lie was a man of imagina-
ton.
lie lived the life of all.
llc was citizen of Athens in the
days OF PcriCleS. He listened to the
eager cloqucnCc Of the great orators,
ana sat upon the cliffs, and with the
tragic poet heard "the multitude
nous laughter of the sea-" He saw
socrates thrust the spear Of question
through the heart of falsehOod. He
was present when the great man
drank hcnIlock, and met the night of
death, tranquil as star meets
morning. He listened to the peri
patctic philosophers, and was un-
puzzled by the sophistS. He
watched PhidiaS aS he chiScled
shapelcs5 stone to forms of love and
awe.
He lived by the mysterious Nile,
amid the vast and mOnstrous. lie
knew the very thought that wrought
inc form and features of the Sphinx
lie heard great Mcmnon's morning
song when marble lips were smitten
| L
by the sun. lie laid him down with
the embalmcd and waiting dead,
and felt within their dust the expec-
tation of another life, mingled with
cold and suffoCating doubts--the
children born of long delay.
lie walked the ways of mighty
Rome and saw great Caesar with his
Iegions in the field. He stood with
vast and motley throngs and watched
the triumphs given to victorious
men, followed by uncrowned kings,
the captured hosts, and all the spoils
of ruthless war. He heard the shout
that shook the C0liseum'S roofless
walls, when from the reeling gladia-
tors hand the short sword fell,
while from his bosom gushed the
stream Of wasted life.
He lived the life of savage men.
lie trOd the forests silent depths,
and in the desperate game of life or
death he matched his thought against
the instinct of the beast.
He knew all crimes and all regrets,
all virtues and their rewards. He
was victim and victor, pursucr and
pursued, outcast and king. He
heard the applause and curses of the
world, and on his heart had fallen all
the nights and Moons of failure and
success.
He knew the unspoken thoughts,
the dumb desires, the wants and
ways of beasts. He felt the crouch
ing tigers thrill, the terror of the
IambuShcd prey, and with the eagles
he had shared the ecstacy of flight
and poise and swoop, and had lain
with sluggish scrpents on the bar
rem rocks uncOiling slowly in the
heart of noon.
He sat beneath the bo trees con-
tcmplative shade, wrapped in Bud
has mighty thought, and dreamed
all dreams that light, the alchemist,
has wrought from dust and dew,
and stored within the slumbrous
pOppy'S subtle blood.
He knelt with awe and dread at
every shrine-he offered every sac
rifice and every prayer-felt the
consolation and the shuddering fear
Knocked and wOrshipped all the gods
enjoyed all heavens, and felt the
pangS of every hell.
He lived and lives and through his
| blood and brain there crept the
shadow and the chill of every death,
and his soul, like MaZeppa, was
lashed naked to the wild horse of
every fear and love and hate.
The Imagination had stage in
| Shakespeare'S brain, whereOn sat all
scenes that lie between the morn of
laughter and the night Of tears, and
where his players bodied forth the
false and true, the joys and griefs,
the careless shadows and the tragic
deeps of universal life.
From Shakespeare's brain there
poured a Niagara of gems spanned
by fancy's Seven-hued arch. lie
was as many-sided as clouds are
many-formed. TO him giving was
boarding sowing was harvest-an
waste itself the source of wealth
Within his marvellous mind were
the fruits Of all thought past, the
seeds Of all to be. AS a drop o
dew contains the image of the eartl
and sky so all there is of life was mir
rored forth in Shakespeare's brain.
Shakespeare was an intellectual
ocean, whose waves touched all tht
shores of thought; within Whicl
were all the tides and waves Of dcs
tiny and Will over which swept al
the storms Of fate, ambition and re
venge; upon which fell the gloon
and darkness Of despair and death
and all the sunlight of content ant
love, and within was the inverted
sky, lii with the eternal stars
Shakespeare was an intellectual
ocean, toward which all rivers ran
and from which now the isles ant
continents of thought receive thei
dew and rain.
DOESN'T GET AROUND IN TINE
Tommy-Do you say your prayer
every night?
Jimmy-Yep.
And does your NAV say hers p
Yes"
&" And does your paw?"
; "Naw. Paw don't need to. IT.
almost daylight when he gets t
bed"
ACHING VOID-- Pm awful hun
, pry. Can Won helm ma2