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

JOURNAL referred to Mr.. Fairchild's
"Pugeut Sound Sunset" as having
been
pronounced by one of Frostburgs i'm
petuous divines as zone of the finest examples
of word painting have ever seen."
Three weeks elapsed, when an article,
signed "Fair Play" said by the editor
Of the Forum to be entitled "a Critic
Criticized" appeared in that paper.
The JOURNAL at once wrote re-
joinder assuming the ''impetuous
divine" to be the author. Communi-
cation with that gentleman, however,
developed the equivocation that the
JOURNAL must apply to the editor of
the Forum for the authors name.
But as there is nothing in the letter
which would justify Mr.. Fairchild in
giving the name, the JOURNAL did not
feel at liberty to avail itself of the
minister's sine qua non.
1t had, therefore, to proceed upon
the presumption that Fair Play is
not a minister, an Office for which it
cherishes the loftiest regard.
After brief preface Fair Play"
observes
he (the JouRxll) might have seen what
| have seen that the word, "heaven,' at
which he pokeS such fun, over which he
grows hilarious, and with which he begins
his clubbing, is capit%jzcd. Now, it is an
accepted canon of literary criticism that
Heaven, capitalized, is Il synonym for God.
Not necessarily. All depends upon
the use of the word. There is as much
danger of sacrilege in capitalization as
not, probably more. The JOURNAL
much prefers TO regard heaven, per-
sonified, as an Infinite Intelligence and
the puny accomplishment of "throw-
ing up frowning breastworks' Of vapor
in which there is no suggestion of
either gracious or propltious Almlght-
mess. TO magnify it, therefore. in
letters by any insignia Of heavenly Sow
ereignty seems to violate the spirit of
the very first commandments thou
shalt have no other gods before Me y
Be that as it may, the statement that
the JOURNAL "pokes fun and grows
hilarious'' over the word, is utterly
untrue in line, word, syllable and let
ter. There is not an irreverent vowel
nor an impious consonant in the en-
tire article, as the three brief para
graphs which embody the sacred word
will proce:
The employment Of the term, "heaven," as
having Thrown up" any sort Of "breast-
works. is hardly in accord with the finest
usage, even in ''word-paintng." In any
other sort of picture the idea would be in
conceivable.
In a secondary sense, the use of the plural
-"heavens," would be allowable, but barely
so, inasmuch as there are better terms.
Y =
To these, young and Old it would insist
never have "heaven," the abode of the blest
the place of the eternal year, where flames
refined in breasts seraphic glow have
"heaven' make a "brcastwo of the
changeful cloud-the cloud whose "mystery
of vaporous evanesence," Ruskin says, sis
like the mutable Phenomena of human life"
Student. on your life never do that!
Assuming that the reader who is
fair has found not even the shadow Of
irreverence in these quotations, what
now becomes of this critic, tested by
hic Drnnr,ct,nr s. f1I.Jv in
uno, .talsus IN omniJus 20 How looks the
integrity of his performance when
tried by a falsehood to begin with ? Is
not a Wroren ms-statement an iuaus-
picious premise for criticism of
critic?
Bad as is his situation at this stage,
it will grow worse-but the JOURNAL
will not anticipate.
To return.
This critic has evidently never had
a chance to grasp the idea that spell
ing in secular newspapers is not deter
mined by the religious dictn which
dominate church papers. He does not
know that there is no more reason why
"christian' should be capitalized than
minister" or "preacher,r and that
these are never so honored. In this
connection the JOURNAL has consulted
81 authors and finds
|, That Tennyson, Shakespeare and
Milton capitalize ''heaven" sometimes
and at others do not.
,, That Pope capltalizes both heaven
and hell Wordsworth both heaven
and home, and Lowell, strangely
enough, capitalizes earth but not
heaven!
3, That the following authors cap
italize the word:
Stoddard, Gay, Thomson,
Burns, Byron, Meredith,
Bunyan, Neal, Fanshawe.
/, That the following do not
Longfelow, Willis, Young,
Keats, Glider, Percival,
Fuller, Massey, Iindley,
Addison, Dryden, Scott,
Pollok, Schiller, Moore,
Spurgeon, Hill, Davy,
Montgomery. (JameD
Will our critic affirm now that the
spelling Of heaven by these men is,
like themselves, done on small