The Anaconda standard., 1899-05-24
HIGH SCHOOL EXERCISES
Another Large Audience Listens
to Entertaining Essays.
ALL ARE WELL WRITTEN
Rebecca Graney. Cora Featherly, Florence
Hicks, Guy Davidson, Gertrude Ro-
senstein and Agnes Hanley
Were the Speakers.

The young graduates who spoke yes-
terday in the high school auditorium
acquitted themselves in master fashion,
ana the large audience was delighted
with the essays. The following are the
essays in brief FORM
The Genial Holmes-Rebecca Graney.
/ Oliver Wendell Holmes asserted that
the biographies of men of letters were
usually exceedingly dull reading, that
what is best of them fails to be noted
lie said: Il should like to see a mans
biography with corrections and emend-
ations by his ghost There are really
but two who can truly tell the story Of
ones lfe-the person himself or the
| recording angel-the former cannot be
trusted to tell the whole truth, and the
recording angel never let's his book go
out Of his hands,
Holmes was more ambitious to be
| thought poet than anything else, and
| it depends entirely on the reader
| whether he should consider Holmes a
| genius or not, because some may hes-
| tate to think that he was an inspired
/ poet. In 1872, when "Old Ironsides'
| appeared, he became very popular for
the first time. The suggestion, in some
| papers of the day, was made that the
old vessel should be dismantled, as she
mad become useless His ringing de-
| nunc1ation of this plan first brought
MN into notice as a poet of the first
| class.
| Ihe KIND and sympathetic nature of
| Oliver Wendell Holmes, mis- broad HUI
manltarlanlsm is manifested in one of
his greatest works, The Autocrat Of
the Breakfast Table; the autocrat
shines brilliantly in his provincial
splendor and vast imperialism, the
apotheosis of urban pedantry-with the
| wisdom of Solomon-while the other
characters and "dramatis personae'
and the scenes which they enliven are
| blended into a study of provincial New
England life with humor as subtle
| as it is kindly
| Among the many poems Dr. Holmes
has written none is more popular than
the Last Leaf" which is SO pleasing
| for his rhythmic beauty and its blend
ing of humor and pathos, so sympa-
thetically entwined, that we feel the
| solitary sadness of the old man, even
| while we are smiling at his quaintness
SO delicately portrayed.
The Poet Artist of the Nineteenth Cen
tury-Cora Featherly.
| We cannot separate poets work
from his life under any circumstances
| for instance, if Tennyson had had to
fight life's battles he would have been
| a more powerful poet and a. greater
dramatist. Lord Alfred Tennyson Gre
ated a new kind of poetry, which was
| appreciated at the. outset; the leading
| poets 2of the day admired it, but with
| reserve, for they are overpowered by
| hri1 1onn nd thn
metre; they had never heard such music
| before
The poet owed a great deal to envi-
| ronment, for, although at a very early
age he took a fancy for writing poetry,
| it took many years in communion with
| nature for him to give voice to that
| feeling which his poetry contains He
| stands in a closer and more intimate
| relation ito inanimate nature than did
any of his predecessors.
He is an ideal of physical and moral
| strength, perceived but restrained; his
| hero is man, who, being strong, is
| merciful; who walks in the middle path
of fse--a law unto himself.
But nature did not entirely influence
| his poetry: sorrow had a great influ-
| ence over it, as we may know, since 1t
| was years after Arthur Hallam's death
| before Tennyson wrote again for the
| public. But we find him softened by
resignation and hallowed by purity of
| faith in his lines:
| Forgive me these wild and wandering
cries,
Confusion of a wasted youth
Forgive them where they fail in truth,
And in thy wisdom make me WISE
AS we turn the pages of his works,
the loveliest of English landscapes, the
| more secret beauties of the insect, leaf
and flower, the countless glories among
which we tread with hurrying fetal
these he paints.
Tennyson was a ceaseless influence to
his age. He showed the toilers what,
in their excitement of the burden and
heat Of the day. they could not see for
themselves-the end for which they
were toiling, and the cause of their mo-
mentary failure. And in the future
when the poetry of Tennyson ceases to
represent inspiration of the moment,
when new hopes and new ambitions are
firing new poets with ardor, his voice
will not be without regard.
The War of the Roses-Florence Hicks.
Gods most dreaded instrument in
working out pure intent is man ar
rayed for mutual slaughter
OF all the terrible wars connected
with history, there is not one that we
turn from with so much disgust as
the name given to a long, shameful
and selfish contest between the adher-
ents of the houses of York and Ian
caster rival branches of the royal
family of England.
The saying THAT they should take
who have the power, and they should
keep who cam applies to the real OBJ
ject of this war.
The first battle was fought at st.
Albans, in which the Yorksts were
superior Many persons of distinction
were slain and the king fell into the
the hands of the duke, who treated
him with great respect and kindness,
but he was obliged to commit the
whole authority into the hands of his
rival. This was the first blood split
in that fatal quarrel known as the
wars of the roses," which was not
finished in less than a course of 80
years. This was signalized by IA pitch
ed battles th11S pnpnnp a pf py-