Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1901-02-02

the date Of publication there have been
printed seven editions amounting In
all to over thirty thousand copies.
II thief were TO steal your purse,
and leave q valuable diamond ring in
your pocket, what would you do with
the ringY This Is the situation that
confronts the heroine Of "A Comedy Of
Conscience "A long story by DR.. Weir
Mitchell, which will be printed COM
plete In the January Century. The au-
thor's new novel. Or. North and His
Friends, Is IN It's thirteenth thousand,
and the new one-yolume edition Of
Hugh Wynne" Is in its twentieth
both We're issued IN October.
Halle Erminie Rives whose widely
discussed novel, "a Furnace Of Earth
has brought her into brilliant promn-
ence, was child of immense original
ity Her csoapades kept her relatives
in a constant state OF ferment and ap-
prehehsiUn. II was a fayorite trick Of
hers to pull to pieces her city hats, re-
trim them with wild flowers and wear
them 10 church. whore they wilted, 70
the modification of her aunts, She
once scandali2ed the town 10y riding to
a school entertainment perched upon a
load Of wooden collins, Her companion
In mischief was boy cousin Of her
own age One Summer Sunday when
they Were six years old, they were sent
off together to church. En- route these
irrepressible youngsters slipped away
and changed costumes, later appearing
at the service. he in her white pinafOre,
sash and be-ribboned hat, and she In
velvet knickerbuckers and Norfolk
jacket. The spectacle Of this pair as
they walked hand in hand up the aisle,
in huge enjoyment Of the dramatic SIT
uation, is said to have CONFUSED the
entire congregation,
Oscar Lowell Teiggs has been writing
in the Forum on the length Of life en-
joyed by the greater American poets,
and the result Of his researches Is in
teresting, in so far as 1t illustrates the
rewards, or compensations. of life Sc
cured by persons Of poetic tempera'
ment Thus we find that Longfell0w,
Lowell Whitman, Story and Halleck
reached the seventies Emerson the
cghtieth mark; while Treneau, Whit
tier, Holmes and Bryant passed be"
yond It, Dana lived on into the nine
tles-though for that matter there Will
be found those ready to deny that Mr.,
Dana merits classification with the po-
cts. Offsetting these examples Of lon
geyity we find Poe dying in disgust with
himself at forty. and SIDNEY Lanler--
that gentle soul swathed in the worship
Of music as well as of verse-at thirty
nine. Joseph Rodman Drake at TWEEN
fN-UMn IgD1AC IlnprN IlgnQpl AZ thirty
and Francis Brooks at thirty-one, had
hardly begun a career, OF the more
recent losses 10 American literature, the
death Of Stephen Crane at twenty-nine,
and that of Richard Hovey at thirty
six, stand out prominently as calami-
ties. Both had given superb promise.
Their possible achievements, had they
lived longer, can only be surmised
Ii Is sweet TO know that our poets
mostly live long, because. as rule,
says the knowing Chicago Journal, the
Joy of life itself is all, or nearly ALL
the practical blessing that is vouch-
safed TO them. 1t il not so mean a
blessing either; because poet, man or
woman, possessed OF the true sense of
all that Is beautiful and blest in life,
who eXults In the glories Of nature and
extends perpetual idolatry TO the
sacred things and the pure, finds a
rapture in existence as Is denied to
coarser minds-yea, though II be exist
ence on a crust in a garnet, 1t is very
foolish as the world views such things,
but naked and impoverished souls have
found II sweet and so they Will 10 the
end Of the melancholy chapter. A
melancholy chapter II IL, surely; for the
world has a well-established code OF
ethics to apply to the poet. Its chief
and abiding principle Is the one that
sternly and CURLY denies him recogni-
ton until after he is dead,
The latter-day, humber poet-he OF
Insignificant account who sings because
Ii is in his soul to sing. and because
he can not endure the Imprisonment of
the precious thoughts that God gave
him--has, in truth, a rather sorry time
Of IT, He knows that his efforts are not
judged by their worth, but by a very
just and equitable standard of value in
advertisement. II his name by any
chance should become saleable, he will
be encouraged by praise and patronage.
Unfortunately,a poet must have enough
TO eat, and a clearly place in which TO
sleep in order TO be able TO write. If
he can make himself extraordinary in
some other direction he may be sup
piled with both. A yellow newspaper
may engage him 10 furnish tripllcate
copies Of his poems for three cities in
which case. Of course, his troubles are
over, Meanwhile the value of his eff
forts is guaged by good judges" of
poetry, A good judge of poetry, In
the modern sense. is an editor who re-
jects the original verse as unavailable
and eagerly steals 1t when II is print
ed somewhere else and can be copied
without cost. In the interim the poet
s-somehow.
The five hundredth anniversary OF the
death Of Chaucer was recently com
by dedlcating a memorial
window in a church adjoining the old
Tabard Inn, whence the Canterbury
Pilgrims set forth. The window, which
was unveiled by the poet laureate Of
has already been visited by
hundreds OF travelling Americans.
A glimpse Of three famous English
men. at another literary shrine. is made
timely by the recent two hundredth
Of the death Of Dryden.
On very wet day early in the nine
ty century a cab stopped before Dry
den old house In London, and n gem
tleman stepped out and motioned to
two others TO follow him.
'Ah," exclaimed a jolly voice. as Sid
ney Smith leaned out the window and
glanced from the wet pavement TO his
own thin shoes, you see why Rogers
does not mind He has on galoshes.
Dear Samuel, lend Tom Moore and me
zach one galosh, and We will then stand |
IN one leg apiece and admire Drydea's
windows as long as you please"
Surely neither Canterbury Pilgrim nor
American tourist could have conjured |
lp a "drier understanding" than the
lne the famous wit proposed to his |
fellow sightseers.
William Henry Hudson, professor OF |
English at the Leland Stanford, Jr..
since 1892 has Just issued |
through his publishers, Messrs. Elder |
& Shepard OF San Francisco, some |
charming verse under the title, "The |
Sphinx and Other Poems" His poems |
possess the touch of sympathetic sim |
certify to a degree and HIS lines have |
an artistically finished effect scarcely |
aQuale1 In The prpspnt pollactiop ofrha /