The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1900-06-22

n disCOrd. Dragons uf the prime
THAT tear each other in their slime,
We're mellow music match ii with him."
What Il magnificent outburst Of
robukc that is to alt the low, mate.
rial conceptions of life that prevailed
. in our time, and havo prevailed rs
result Of ono sided study of
Nature.
We must choose between evolu-
ton, with God and faith remaining
! to us, or evolution that is Goddess,
whose logical outcome is gross luate-
rln!isn, affirming that death ends all.
Surely we cannot ask any longer
tn" use Of poetry. Yon, young men,
! will not ask snch Il question--though
Dr. Dry rs dust docs ask it. He is
: the preacher whom Tcnnvson him
! self describes rs Il
: "Sabbath-drawlcr of old saws
! Distili'd from some wor,n-caukcr'd hom.
| ily."
You have bocn discussing the
great poets. We have followed your
course Of study, and know how your
minds have been inspiritcd and
broadened under the transforming
spell which genius always wcavcs,
for there is literary contagion.
Not only the Greek and Latin poets
have been your daily companions,
| but as we learn from your college
jonrnaD you have discussed Milton,
and Browning, Shakespeare and Ten
nyson, and SO on through tho whole
range Of literature What subject
can you propose for discussion @. e.
on which the myriad, minded bard of
Avon has not been before you to say
his word in mastcrly fashion? Shall
we make test?
Here is the modern fad Of mind
cure or Christian Science with it's RI
diculous pretcnsions. Can it be pos
slblo that our poet has forecasted
rebullo to such a foolish philosophy
unknown to his day? I was sur.
prised t" find, tho other day, an ex.
act account Of this foolishness, which
is lit g Christian and less scientific.
In Richard II, Act |, Scene III, he
says, as if ho were asking Mrs, Ed
dy, or some disciple Of her school:
"Who can hold fire in his hand,
l5y thinking on the frosty Caucasus?
Or cloy the hungry edge of appetite,
BY bare imagination Of a feast?
Or wallOw naked in December snow,
BY thinking on fantastic summers hca,?"
The great poet always repays It's
Shakespeare or Tennyson. Aud the
master poem of the century may be
read many times-must be read
again and again, in order to get all
tho wealth Of beauty, strength, faith,
suggestion aud hope which is com
pacted into it's always beautiful lines
The time fails me to analyze to
the end this great piece Of writing.
If you will allow Il personal allusion,
| may say that I have boen reading
and carefully studying these verses
for many years, and am indebted to
them more than to any other single
English production for outside revo-
lation.
| have brought you this word as
impulse and incentive to thought.
Your student days are not altogether
completed. 1t is but tho commenco
ment--hence the namo. | shall be
repaid for my visit hero if turn one
mind into moro intimate acquaint
ance with this master-poem Of the
century. Read it for tho beauty Of
its sentiments ! Read it for it's deep
philosophy Read it for the pure
and noble truths which arc in it
Road it for the rich figures scattered
throughout its verses Read it for
it's matchless Saxon English. Read it
for the high faith 1t must beget Read
it as a cure for the doubt and pes
simism of our timo Read it as an
antidote to the miserable misan
thropy that must infest tho soul of
the materialist! Read it for the
hope it inspires, as, looking beyond
all material things and all time linn
its, it closes by bidding us believe in
"That God which ever lives and loves,
One God, one law, one clement,
And one far-Otf divine event,
To which the whole creation moves"
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