Daily inter mountain., 1900-12-22

tne way Whlch he mad already indicated
in his literary letters, towards the true
drama.
Lessing next points out how entirely
Noltaire fails in his attempts to rival
Shakespeare in depicting passion, or in
introducing supernatural elements into
the drama. Voltaire was no friend of
Lessing and it was at Voltaire his hard
est blows We're leveled, for in him he was
attacking a living man, personal enc
my who had done him grave injury.
We next find him librarian in the Wolf
buttel library where he makes many a
happy find and whenever he lighted on a
valuable or unknown work. he always
furnished the learned public with a full
report of his discoveries.
But the impressions wrought on him
by the Hamburg stage We're still active
in his mind. He wished to put his
theory to a practical PROOF, and did SO in
his Emilia Galotti, which appeared in
1112. Then followed his Nathan der
Weise. 1179 But it was not until late in
life that peace and happiness began to
dawn for him.
Alone and often in struggle with want
and debts, he had lived on till his 4Sth
year. At length fortune seemed to smile
upon him, for his outward circumstances
had improved and a clear headed and
energetic woman became his wife, in
October, 1716. She had the best influence
upon him and made him quieter stead
Ter and less hasty.
But on Christmas eve 1777, she gave
birth to a son, who died in twenty four
hours. and on January 10th, ITS, his wife
died also.
Lessing was much overcome and wrote
heart-rending letters letters such as no
one had ever written before, except
Frederick the Great.
MY wife is dead he writes, $50 this
experience too, l have now made. l am
thankful there cannot be still reserved
for me many such experiences and am
quite easy"
But he lives on, plodding away until
next we find him in the "Story of the
Three Rings" but time does not permit
me to describe this, and three years
after or in 1881, he dies.
Lessing was a true and resolute man
in an effeminate age. He was capable
Of tender feelings himself, and of love
and sympathy for others, but he had
no desire to let the world look into his
heart. Not sentiment nor subtle reason-
ing, but action, seemed to him to be
the true end of man. Virtuous action
religion, and the mature man, who does
his duty without regard of reward or
distinction. was his moral ideal.
He considered action to be the highest
theme of poetry and the drama. which
represents action most graphically, the
highest form of poetry. When we reflect
on his impetuous activity, his restless
ness, his delight in animated conversa-
| ton, his readiness to engage in contro-
| Veriess his protestant zeal for truth, and
| then remember that he was also class
ical scholar, a patriot, an enemy OF
tyrants, who refused patronage and
/! worked on in the present, careless of the
| future, it seems to us as though Ulrich
Won Hutten had appeared again in him.
! only under a more gentle and agreeable
| aspect.
| Owing to the determination to pass
| over discussion of papers and current
| events Mrs. Whites paper passed undis-
| cussed.
Mrs. Cora Berry read a short outline
| of the "Story of the Three Rings" al
| luded to by Mrs. White in her paper.
| Sultan Saladin is in need of money
He sends for rich Jew, and in order
to entrap him. puts the question to him
as to which of the three religions he
| holds to be the true one-the Jewish, the
| Mohammedan or the Christian?
The Jew, who is prudent as we'll as
| rich, asks leave to relate a story, and
| tells of a ring, which was in the posses
sion of noble family, and was handed
| down from father to son, always eXalt-
| ing the son who had it above the other
| sons. This ring came at last into the
| hands Of a father who had three sons
all of whom he loved equally we'll, Sc
that he did not wish one to be better
| off than the other two. He therefore
had two other rings made, which he
! himself could hardly distinguish from
| the original one, and gave a ring to each
of his sons After his death they all
raised the same claims, which no one
could settle, since no one could find out
the true ring.
The Jew applies the story to the case
of the three religions.
Saladin recognizes the truth of the
parable, acknowledges his need, receives
what he wants. and treats the Jew
henceforth as his friend.
The next paper was on 'Kiopsiock
Wieland and Herder," by Mrs. Elizabeth
Flood. 1t was a brief paper yet thor
oughly covered the subjects. After Civ
ing the circumstances of birth and en-
| 1OunueFS OF their cHdSSlcal literature.
"Of the many German writer's. few
| have exercised a more decided influence
upon the national mind than klopstocK
| Wieand and Herder the three men
| whom Germans justly regard as the
founders of their classical literature.
"Klopstock's first great work was 1.-The
| Messiah" and the one on which his fame
principally rests. Klopstocks genius
| was chiefly lyrical. He lacked the
plastic force of Imagination neces-
sary for great epic. The Messiah" is
now seldom read. and contains many
garing faults. He eXhausts much Ian
! guage in telling about the sufferings OF
/ the Messiah" but does not tell what
qualities of soul these suffelings aroused
/ Withstanding its many defects. the
EMecsiahn "a q alinnirl Ill nalifi inS