The sea coast echo. [volume] (Bay Saint Louis, Miss.) 1892-current, 1898-04-30
Spanish Atrocity.

If Spain is guiltless of compli
city in the Maine disaster we hat
thought to forgive her mos
anything, rather than see tn,
country precipitated INTO sangu
mary and distressing war. But
she has at last committed the un-
pardonable SIM. She stands con
victed before the world of rec k less
atrocity, in carelessly arousing the
latent poetic fires of an Arkansa
genius, who thus astonishes the
gaping crowd in a recent issue OF
I the Commercial-Appeal.
TWO HUNDRED ODD.
/ Down to the ooze and slime and limo OF the
| ocean s reekng bed,
Went bodies of men and arms of men and legs oi
| men In red
Down to the slime and quicknine lime went bodies
OF men In red.
But the red was blood incarcerate--in slime OF
! oceans bed.
Two hundred and odd went down to rot-two
! hundred and odd and more
! Food for the fishes and crawling things that
prowl the under shore.
Two hundred odd went down TO rest--to rest on
the under shore.
Some there were that come to the top--some there
are that rose no more.
Their souls few up as they went downtown to
= Gne crawling things.
Soulsin man for little while--their bodies should
wear the wings
Speak not of gold for blood and bones.-ner of
sweeping, golden wings,
BY heaven, well war for the rottlng Tar-to
hell with other things.
RICHARD E. STEVENSON.
The brilliant effect of this poetic
gem as a whole is obvious to every
intelligent reader, but a thorough
appreciation of all its many beau
ties can only be obtain by careful
and discriminating analysis.
Note if you please, the startling
and graphic picture presented by
the opening stanza, which in
stantly fixes the attention of the
reader to be held throughout with
intense and unabating the rest.
until the very last word is read,
with the dim consciousness that
at last America has produced
poet of the Shakesperian or Mil
tonic mould.
Listen with bated breath, and
hair, on end, while the weird poet
wildly sings.
Down to the ooze, and slime and lime of the
oceans reeking bed
Went bodies of men and arms of men and legs of
men In red"
"Shoot" the tautology if you
will, but mark the excruciating
particularly of this inventory
'long drawn OUT" of bodies and
legs and arms, going all in a giffy,
down to the slime and quickning
lme,"
Whatever that may happen TO
be. Perhaps our geological poet
means protoxide of calcium, com
monty called quick lime, ming
being mere added by way of poe
tic license, for the sake of euphony
anil rhythm.
"DowIn to the slime, and .qnIckning lime, went
bodies of men In red"
How extremely kind of this
new fedged poetic nicely explain
in his own considerate way, that
by "legs of men in red,' 1t was
not intended to convey the erro-
neous impression that the Names
crew were all clothed in red pa
jamas. The red you must under
stand was not flannel of the
regulation color. but was genuine
blood, imprisoned in some mys-
terious and peculiar Arkansas
way in "slime of oceans bed"
"Two hundred and odd went
down to rot, we are then bluntly
informed; but immediaty after
ward it seems that our poet OBJ
tanned later information about the
interesting object of their mission
and he assures us almost in the
same breath that.
1.-TWO hundred odd went down to rest"
Right here we might well pause
to ask whether the intelligent au-
thor intends to convey the i'm
preston that there we're some
four hundred in all, or does he
make use of "rot" and "rest, I"
merely as synonymous teams?
Further information on this
important subject is awaited with
some degree of interest and anx-
iety, but can scarcely be obtained
perhaps, unless from the bodies
and arms and legs "that came to
the top he quantity tells us,
although, alas! "some there are
that rose no more" From this we
may safely infer, perhaps, that
these latter unfortunates went
with due celerity to the bottom
of the sea. However this may be
it is at least consoling, in this
"free and unlimited" country, to
know that our rare and radiant
genius is in close touch with the
masses of the people on the all
important subject of sixteen to
one, and so being distinctly de-
clares he wants no"golden wings :"
Indeed he boldly repudiates them,
whether sweeping" or other
wise; while with true poetic ardor
he suddenly presents the heroic
climax to this extraordinary epic,
properly and artistically reserved
| until tho tha uarxy laat T. fo~4