The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-10-22
TO A RISING YOUNG ACTOR.
MIR. Fred d. Peers Reference to Mr.
j. r. Il. Beckwith.

MIR. Fred d. Peers Reference to Mr..
j. f. II. Beckwith.
Mr.. Fred D. Peer, inspector in the post
Office department, and who is well known
in Savannah, has written the following
lines to Mr.. ]. F. Brock Beckwith, Savan-
nah's rising actor, on his recitation of
Poe's Raven "Hamlet's Advice to the
Players and Reade's Drifting"
OF what avail were all the mighty bards
That ever wrote to charm the mind of
man
If nature had not given interpreters,
And art not clothed their instincts with
fresh grace?
To more than half the throng OF busy men
The subtlest, sweetest printed thoughts
are mute,
Or nearly meaningless, but little more
Than dream made images of a waking life,
But half perceived and in a moment gone,
Leaving no imprint on the sleeping brain.
But when a soul is found so full of power
That it can enter into all the thoughts
OF poets, prophets, sages and the men
Whose eloquence has ruled this world of
ours,
That soul cen now is more than half
divine
And scarcely needs a better paradise,
Is self-attuned to all the grandeur
OF all the music of the sweetest verse,
OF all the great sublimities of thought
And give them utterance, making the dead
Lords of the human mind appear again,
And speak as once they spoke to living
men;
Not merely as we see them in the page
OF print; that being surely has the charm
OF some majestic creature high in heaven,
And l remember one whose mind was such
That he could grasp such thoughts; his
voice was such
That as he read he seemed to glow with
all
The varied powers that had once inspired
The poets whom his voice interpreted;
The music of their verse the ebb and flow
OF lofty thought, or tender sympathy,
The sweet commune with nature and the
sense
Of beauty and the longing for the light,
Those brightly guiding stars of poesy
never heard or clearly saw tall then;
As when of old the Delphic oracle
Returned it's answers to its questioners,
Vague indefinite and indistinct.
So then 1t seemed to me that in the past
The poets themselves had been; never
grace,
A richer harmony. instinct with life,
As radiant as in the very hearts,
OF their first authors poured upon me then;
The world itself was brighter, for it SEEM
ed
AS if the spirits of the mighty dead
Were lowering near and speaking through
that voice;
The echo of its music rings again
Through all the halls of faithful memory;
And that delicious cadence of the past.
That blending into living voice the souls
OF poets that have gone from earth, yet
charms
The hottest moments of my inner life.
In connection with this Postmaster Doyle
day or two ago received a letter from
Mr.. Peer, in which he said: 'At the re-
cent literary gathering given by you I
was very much impressed with Mr.. j F.
Brock Beckwith's scholarly recitation. Be
lieving il a justly merited compliment. l
have been impelled TO dedicate the en-
closed poem entitled THE True Interpre-
tation of the Poets" to Mr.. Beckwith, Sa-
vannahs rising actor, who will surely make
his mark on the stage. Please hand It to
him with my best wishes for his future
success in the thea tric-l profession, for
which he is SO well ada led"