, 1897-04-17

All Greece was modelled on the laid
and it was the Homeric spirit in tn
hearts of the Greek soldiery tina mad,
possible the victories of Marathon AM
Salamis. In like n the Niebelun
eenlied has held before the German.
the valorous deeds of their heroic ances
try.
Patriotism is but one of the ennobline
sentiments that poetry has reused and
sustained. 1t has been equally potent
in developing all the elevating emotions
that take men out of the narrowness
and degradation OF s~elfishness. He who
loves poetry takes joy in the beautiful,
and his mind and heart are saturated
with images Of beauty. A man so cul-
tivated is gentle toward his fellows.
without degenerating into weakness.
His mental fiber is strengthened rather,
and the strongest minds are ever the
gentlest. Who dOes not rise with bet
ter views OF life and gentler manners
from the perusal of Tennyson's I'm Me-
moriam'? The lines beginning, Ring
out, wild bells, to the wild sky" would
have been immortal simply for their
beauty.
Poetry, is said to lie between music
and prose, but neither OF the latter have
the immortality that attends poetry;
music, perhaps, because it is lacking in
detiniteness, but prose is equally tran
STORY. The Homeric poems have sur
vived all changes of time, although we
have but little conception of the pro-
there are where prose has escaped de-
struction and has been handed down
from a comparatively remote age, but
even that survival is due to the beauty
of the style. Some keen observer has
said, "A great thought once expressed
by a great poet is spoken forever" The
true poet has always spoken divine
truths. lofty morality, tender feeling,
passionate but worthy emotions, emo
bling sentiments, and profound philoso-
ply, and has taught them to us.
Directly and indirectly too, oratory
bas always been indebted to poetry for
refinement and strength. The vivid
Imagination, the intensity Of feeling,
and enthusiasm and spontaneous flow
of words in oratory all suggest the
poets inspiration, il only like u subdued
echo Of it. In the choice OF words the
orator is most successful when he draws
largely on the diction Of the poet.
That poet who is without sincerity
and an eXacting conscience is false to
his mission. In America we have been
peculiarly fortunate in the character of
our great poets: Longfellow. Whittier,
Lowell, Bryant and Emerson. All who
nave been in the presence OF any OF
these great ~personages must have felt
the transcendent purity as much as the
unpretending simplicity of the men
Never has the role of poet been more
appropriately filled. To some Of OuI
later poets, such as Eugene Field and
James Whitcomb Riley, also belong the
qualities which mark the highest grade
of the noble guild OF poets.
When the orchestra begins to tune up
and the viOlinists are testing their
strings, we know that the music is about
to break forth. 1t awaits a rap and the
wave OF the leaders, baton. In like
manner our poets are now tuning their
violins. BY that l mean that they are
trying all forms OF verse and metre and
insisting on more perfect and careful
technique. There is only needed an at
mosphere of poetry n an appreciative
public to generate the great poet who
will speedily come to the English speak
ing race. May | venture a farther pre-
diction? 1t is that he will be born in
America, and that he will be either u
Jew or an Irishman by descent, for
believe that the greatest amount Of
genius in this country OF multitudinous
nationalities is in the Irish and Jewish
races. Let us be patriotic enough to ap
preciate our genius when he is sent II
US by him who gives the people theiI
poets when they deserve them. We cal
get that atmosphere and that apprecia
tive public only by being hospitable t
poetry and rendering it popular.