The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1901-10-29
The aa1ieta nay gaeIe Tuesday ormmo e. 1901.

all and Jonathan to John in the mem
'ries of everybody.
The representative Engishman loves
4 hard hitter and one who viii tell the
ruth and in him they saw the one Amer
can who mad hit them the hardest and
who had told them the most truth, and
instead of being offensive he was re-
ceived with dignity and hospitable kind
ness. After his arrival he must be the
orator or master of ceremonies at every
gathering.
1T is perhaps as poet that the greatest
number of people are familiar with Low
ell, and in this work he was engaged
from his graduation until he left unfn-
shed his tribute to Grant a few days
before his death. But his work during
the first ten years of his life gave little
indication of Ills coming power.
THE great struggles OF the nineteenth
century had begun; the aggressions of
slavery were being discussed; the Next
can war was near, and the civil war was
becoming inevitable. Lowens nature
was stirred to its depths and with a brain
on fire and a soul burning with the
accumulated fuel of two centuries he
struck off his first poem that brought
him renown-'The Present Crisis'-whicn
has become largely part Of our common
thought and speech.
Once to every man and nation comes
the moment to decide.
In the strife of truth with falsehood, for
the good or evil side;
Careless seems the great avenger: his
tory's pages but record
One death grapple in the darkness, 'twixt
old systems and the word.
Truth forever on the scaffold, wrong
forever on the throne.
Yet that scaffold sways the future, and,
behind the dim unknown
Standeth God within the shadow, keeping
watch above his own
THE Mexican war as then understood
ana as now well known as waged for
war came the "Biglow Papers which all
taken together are the most original
creations in English literature since Bun
vans immortal aliegory.
When the civil war came on the sec
ond series Of the 'Biglow Papers ap-
peared. The fun may not be so rollicking
bu> the view is broader and the senti-
n.ent of a finer tone. the heat is more in
tense and the atmosphere deeper. Let no
one think that the "Bigiow Papers" are
mere political illusions growing out of
temporary conditions, for they are as
broad as humanity and as lasting as
human liberty.
in "A Fable for Critics." we have
review in verse, a satire without sting,
banter without contempt, laughter with
out derision, wit and humor without re-
preach. final judgment without unkind-
ness or Injustice; so that in the rich fields
Of literature it stands a composite monu-
ment without a model and withou.
copy. 1t is remarkable that after fifty
years the picture remains as fresh as
then drawn, and the judgments then en-
tered stand unreversed. How faithful
and accurate is the outline given in each
few scattered lines will show. Speak /
ing of Bronson Allcott, the Delphic /
oracle:
while he talks he is great, but goes out
like taper,
If you shut him UP closely with pen, ink /
and paper;
Yet his fingers itch for them from morn !
ing till night,
And he thinks he does wrong If he don't /
always write;
In this, as in all things, lamb among
men,
He goes to sure death when he goes to
his PEN
Lowell's life was singularly rounded !
and complete. Within his seventy-two I
years were gathered as many Of the good /
things of earth as often fall to the lot of +
one individual. He did not live apart /
from the world that surrounded him, but !
was a part Of his age. his country and /
his local community. He was a man of /
strong convictions who gathered his opin- /
ions from within rather than without; !
the voice that spoke was the voice of an /
conscience, not of tempo 4
rary expediency; he was one Of the most |
learned men of his time; he was useful /
~ active: he kept and exemplifed his |
New England faith: and he lived the !
life he helped to create In |
the prime of his manhood he had written: |
when could not sleep for the cold,
I had fire enough in my brain,
And builded, with roofs Of gold.
My beautiful castles Of Spain"
As a friend and companion. as editor, |
teacher and man of affairs, in verse and /
in prose. Lowell filed out the picture he |
had drawn Of life.