The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1899-03-21

let yourself down to talk poetry;
poetry's unnatural. Watts the
good o calm young 'oman a
Venus or angel, Sammy" At a
later period lie was even required
to compose heNamctcr verses il,
Latin, presumably because he had
himself reached the hcNamctrr
measure. They were not preserved.
lie afterwards read with svmpa-
thctic interest the following excel
lent iambics that were handed in by
another boy who had been required
to produ> original poetry:
o helpful Jovc, lend us thine aid
TO help us wrctchcd scholars:
We've hired fool to teach this school,
And paid him forty dollars
AT a still later stage Of develop
mcnt, or at al earlier, he was i'll
troduCcd to a Mr.. Milton, who, as
a writer Of parsing lessons about
"lnan's first disobrdicnce" is I'M
rivalcd. He did not like Milton;
and now, by inevitable association,
he places Milton in a group with
parsing and the ''firSt disobcdi-
cncc'; he was formerly inclined to
the opinion that parsing was one
OF the many ills brought uHon us
| by 'nlan'S first disobcdicncc. /"
And, though he now finds parts OF
Milton excellent to taste, he also
finds unmistakablc pleasure OF Good-
fellowship i'll the fact that the
maker of great dictionary read Mil
ton solely for the purpose OF get
ting the words that he had coined.
A mint Of words may bc anything
else than "mint Of pleasure.
Why should one be required to
like poetry when he is not Sc
minded? 1t is not easy to like poe
try that one dislikcs, and yet this
is precisely what many persons pro-
fcss to do. Not every one admircs
"JcwclS five words long
That on t:,c stretch'd Eorciingcr of all Time
Sparkle forever"
Many men prefer other jewels, or
other fingers. And yet one hcsi
tatcs to dissent from the general
voice, especially the standard crti.
cal voice. 1t is not easy to strike
off the shacklcs G literary pre-
tcncc. 1t requires courage to say
for instance, that you do not lik,
kipliu@, for he who fights a pre-
vailing fad or fashion may cxpcc,
to become
"A fixed figure for the hand Of Scorn
TO pniut his slow unmuving finger at. '
The world is much given to liter
AIRY hypocrisy and prctcncc. Many
man who Processes admiration iol
Milton has never read him; or, al
the most, has read an extract il
some DO, ;; of selections. a pre-
tcntious woman is asked how sh,
likes Shakespeare; shall she be
laughed at because she answers
that, while she has not read hi.
plays, she thinks very highly O
him as a man? After all, she is
fit companion for the girl who ha
read Romeo and "cxpccts to rcao
Juliet as soon as it is OUT; and o
the other who is enthusiastic in he
admiration of "BoatS that Go by il
the D"rk'; and Of the other who S,
ardcntly admircS "I>hc Nutocrat O
the Breakfast Table, Niat. takin,
it to be a cook book, she "kccps
copy on the Kitchen table all Tn
t:nc'.
But why should we laugh? Wh'
/: among us is not literary pretend
CT? Who, not to make a virtue O
being peculiar, but for the sake O
honesty and candor, has the cour
| age to stand against the fad tina
has run the gauntlet of the gentle
men who prescribe our litcrar
standards? 1t is refreshing occa
, sionally to find some one who doe
: not like Shakespeare. Honesty
| better than Il make -bclicvc litcrar
taste. And yet this common pre-
, tcncc is the very highest tribute
+ the excellence and value Of litcra
. turc and pcnlliur literary cllliurr