Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1897-10-16

''A''' -
in the use of capital letters. Hence,
in this "second part instance he de-
cides that 1.-The transformation of "a
silver nugget IN one sentence to "a
white sword in the next" is "a bit of
literary legerdemain that deserves
more than a passing glance. "That is
to confound the evening star, the silver
nugget" of your Mr.. Farchild) sketch, with
the lambent light of the moon, reflected
across the waters of Pugent Sound so as to
give it the appearance OF the white sword
Of that same sketch, is a feat the like OF which
the world of letters has rarely, if ever seen.
Much as we hesitate, we will have
to place Mr.. Fairchild on the stand.
What does he saye
Iturp,ed to the rest
The JOURNAL now requests the read
er to observe that in Mr.. Fairchild's
testimony, further given, there is not Il
syllable to show that he ever turned
from the west to look eastward. He
"turned to the west,' because at no
other point of the compass does the sun
set, and, taking his own version, there
is, primarily, no other point whence
the evening star shines. Now read:
turned to the west. At my feet the erst-
while blue and snow fringed sea was break
ing on the shore in pillows of fire. And
there on a white pinnacle Of the Olymplcs
shone Times glowing Wheel, its long spoAes
of flame imprinting the heavens as with the
rosied fingers of an Omnipotent Hand open
ed to strew the incoming night with stars.
In few moments the sun was gone and there
IN sky of gold a silver nugget CLEANED.
fingered there i'll wonder bound till | saw
drawn across the dark waste of crashing
waves the white sword of the rising moon.
When 1.-The silver nugget" had
''gleamed' he did not turn to the east,
did he, to see the ''white sword ~ If
he did, he does not say so. He does
not say even that he saw 1.-The rising
moon.' He saw only ''the white
sword" which cur critic calls 1.-THE
lambent light of the moon, reflected
across the waters of Pugent Sound"
etc. Now, how does this critic huom
that Mr.. Fairchid saw all this spec
tacular lunar performance when there
is no evidence whatever showing that
he ever quit Teasing his poetic vision
on that "silver nugget ?"
Mr.. Fairchild and his contributor
must ''get together Their testi-
mony so far confirms all the JOURNAL
claims, and more-that if the sunset
picture be good rhetoric it needs no
Qualification whatever.
How should he paint this part Of the
picture in future lectures!
That is easy:
fingered there in wonder bound till, iooh
ing back, (suiting the stage action TO the
Words | saw drawn across, etc.
The JOURNAL would like to stop
here, but it has another instance of
unfair play to deal with.
The critic inquiries
Does not the JOURNAL see that the moon is
here peiS0niHed.
No-not according to Fair Plays"
version, for if we must take Mr. Fair
child's testimony he could not have
seen the moon at all He was not
'wonder-b bound in that direction.
What right, therefore, we insist, has
his expounder in It's matter to con-
struct and maintain for him an i'm
possible situation
AS to the sex of the moon-it is not
a little curious to observe that this
critic, apparently professed German
scholar, wants to "personify'' the
moon as a feminine warrior in Eng
fish, and, presto-change ''trans-
mogrify' her into a masculine what
not in German! But, like the marks
man vino ''shot to kill if it was deer
and to miss if it was a calf" this
critics clumsy sleight-of hand lingo
will not get him out of the tangle in
which his latest office of commentator
upon Falrchlld's Apocalypse has in
volved him. In his desperation, there
fore, he resorts again, we repeat, to
unfair, not to say untruthful statement.
Quoting from the JOURNAL
The moon is an emblem of peace
The following comment is made:
In the sentence quoted he (the JoURNAL)
speaks of the moon as a thing-"an emblem
of peace" then straightway in the next sen
tence adds-''it stands to her credit" etc.
Had this critic, we insist, been
fair, not to say honest, he would not
have published that. The JOURNAL
had already personitied the moon as of
the feminine gender, and its readers
knew this before they reached the point
where the critic begins. In proof
whereof read again:
This is the first time, too, in all its reading
the JOURNAL has seen the moon symbolized
as a weapon of war. True, she might be so
reckoned in the crescent era, but she is then
in the wrong part of the armament to be
caught "rising."
The moon is an emblem of peace 1t
stands to her credit that even in the inexact
scheme of astrology her office is nearly always
that of Il moderating force in the fiery houses
and tempering influence in contentious con-
functions. She is the peace, maker of the
planetary household.
There is no surer way of personifv-
ing inanimate objects than by fgu-
rative application of gender. Hence,
as intimated, the critic kne,c from the