The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1897-07-15
VITA IUE EDITORIALS of the Arena are always interesting the
t0N0A, one given below is especially 50:
VITA
l0NeA.

VITA HE EDITORIALS of the Arena are always interesting the
l0h0A. i m given below is especially 50:
The question is not how long this bodily life may last, o. how long the
mind. 50 conditioned. can endure. 1t is not even no" long the mimi may
continue to produce; for the mind, like a poor, halfexhausted field, urged
with rain and fertilizers, may produce only potatoes mullen n cookie
The real question the deepdown essence Of It's !" He te nina, Or
souI. "a retain the enthusiasm and passionate power Of creation. That is
the only true test Of longevity and when that ceases there is nothing left.
The real duration Of man.lre is measured only by the persStency of creative
power.
Lonuenow. standing in the old pulpit, on the hftieth anniversary of
his class at Bowdon, and saying to those who would introduce him. Il wish
the desk were large enough to conceal me all, " makes a beautiful section of
this theme by citing some of the most inspiring instances of the long life Of
the soul:
Cato learned o'sN at eighty, S .%%%n~
V My, %,r ,S r " dn. nj yssS n m@s ns sg SG "ar,~r,y years:
M' S", ,*S" nj. , mrna n%S Ss s ,ts Ns""
AtAxty wrote the Canterbury Tales
Gnctfea at Wrimar tohng to the last
Completed aust when eighty year, were past:
These are indeed exceptions: but they show
How ia the Gulf st~am of NJ youth may flow
Where ntc r"t than liz, Itself survives
Measured by this test of creative power and it's pristcncy, how varia-
BILE is Inc duration of human life: Sometimes the creative power appearsi in
early youth; but when that happens there is generally an early snrceasc'
Sometimes it flashes forth in the early morning and remains in the after
twilight. Estimated by years this productive power (Which goes oy III
name of gcniu9 sometimes reaches only to few score moons. Sometimes it
reaches to a sco of years. Sometimes, though rarely, it extends to three
score years or more.
Thomas Chatterton went to- suicides grave in Iotters field when he
was only seventeen years, nine months and four days of age. know of no
other case of 50 great prccocity it is beyond belief. His mind had been pro-
ducuye for about three years. Byron's productive period covered about Ii
years no more. Pope began at y and ended at SO.
In our own age Tcnnyon has done well. Making al early effort to be-
gin, he, like Dryden, did not really reach the creative epoch until he was
fully 30. His creative period covers about 50 years. 1t extends from So
Dream Of Fair Women" in 1888, to Crossing the Bar, in 1892.
The best example, however, in the history of the human nina, Is that
of William Cullen Bryant; that is Bryant has real creations that lie further
apart in time than can be PARALLEL, so far as know, in the case OF any
other of the sons Of men. The date of "ThanatOpsiS' is not precisely
known. 1t belongs. however, othc years lSl2-l3. Bryant was then Is
in his 10th ear, Add to 1924 64 years and we have 1876, the date of the
publication of the "FNood of Years" Two poems in question lie apart in
production by the space of fully three-corc aud four years, 1t is a marvel!
And why not?
To him who In the love Of nature holds
Communion with cry visible forms.
why should not life, productive life, enthusiastic fruitful life be extended
until its last acts of creation, shot through with the sunshine OF experience
and wisdom, shall flash in great bars of haze and glory over the landscape OF
the twilight days?