Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-03-03
3-s-s ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I LITERATURE AND LIFE.
A. j. n.
I. a. q -.
Observation-Disclosures

ETC.
So writes the poet. And the birth
days of these great men are happy
invention of the gods to remind us OF
such lives.
1t is we'll to pause occasionally in the
fcverish rush of life and weigh our debt
Of gratitude to political heroes like Lin
coin and Washington. Nor 1T is less
profitable to contemplate on their nata
DAYS the founders of our national liter
allure.
The old god after whom the month
of February was named gave to us four
| great American birthdays-the 9th
concentrating that of Longfellow, the
eldest of our six poet fathers.
AS Lincoln was the peoples presi-
dent so Longfellow was the people
poet. Sympathy was the key that I'M
locked for both the popular heart, ana
made them idols of the peoples love. a
broad humanity characterized both
men. enabling them to see all round
question. and appreciate an opponent
point of view Thus we find an absence
OF all extravaganza and narrowness
both in their lives and In their speech.
Iongfellow was a poet of the nome,
the Preside, the common life of man.
He voiced the common hopes, the joys
and griefs and aspirations of the race.
and it was these corlmon themes, IN :
terests and emotions that appealed to
the universal heart, and thus maze MIN
not New Englands poet only, NOT
Americas bard alone, but the worlds
singer the poet of mankind.
His life was pure. sweet, gracious
peaceful, gentle. earnest and sincere,
and the same qualities mark his literary
style. In the purity and simplicity OF
the English tongue, both Longfellow
and Lincoln were masters of style. And
in spite of our modern wouldbe critics
to the contrary. we may we'll turn from
the prolix, trotuous, involved style OF
much of the present day literature to
find relief in the pure, chaste. clear
limpid, classic English of these two
masters.
1t is a good habit when great birth
days roll round, to read the best and
latest life you can find of the man.
What If you have read 1t? 1t won't
hurt you to read it again; and 1t is
amazing how much you will learn that
you don't remember Of ever having
read before. During the past week \
have renewed my acquaintance and
love for the poet in the life written by
his brother. Samuel Longfellow. three
handy volumes (Houghton. Mitt1in &
Co. This life is the best kind of biogra-
ply. /. e., an autobiography, being
mainly the journal and letters of the
poet, simply edited by the brother who
obtrudes himself or his comments so
little into the Life" or body of the book
that one could scarcely learn poet had
a brother.
And what delightful and entertaining
reading 1T affords! What tantalizing
glimpses into the life and very soul of
the poet, and the little group of illus
trious friends to whom he chats and
writes! Gossip? Yes, the lightest vein
personal, domestic. social and litera-
nv chitchat about himself and friends.
But how infinitely superior to the
mass of fictitious rubbish dumped on
the public today under the title of
Letters" such as "Elizabeth's Letters"
and Letters of Elizabeth's Mother,
etc, etc. And mores the pity that many
people read such stuff who find no time
and never will know the delight expe-
rienced in studying the genuine life and
letters of Lincoln or Longfellow.
To read the poets life is as tho your
own drawing room We're turned into
salon where are gathered together in
delightful soul o-soul talks that bright
company of men and women who rep
resent the outf1owing of our literary
genius in the period extending from
1880 to 1S60,-with yourself screened off
in some corner where, unobserved. you
hear all the sparkles of wit and flashes
of humor that illuminate the social in
tercourse of your brilliant guests.
~
Like Lincoln, Longfellow was lib
eral in both politics and religion. He
was man without party and without
a church,. e., in the partisan and
creed sense. His principles were those
of the republican party, and Charles
Sumner, whose literary executor he
afterwards became, was his lifelong
friend and ideal statesman. He was a
great adnnirer of Lincoln and the latter
was familiar with the others poem,
"The Building of the Ship" and loved
to quote from it in his speeches.
In religion, altho a member Of no
church. his sympathies We're with New
England Unitarianism. with which was
affiliated the literary group of men and
women with whom he was associated
turnout his life. His brother biographer
was an Unitarian clergyman and one
Of the most beautiful hymn writer's in
that denomination. 1t was the writer's
privilege to meet Samuel Longfellow in
the Meadville Theological School.
where she was then a student. Noble,
modest and retiring, he was himself u
poet of no mean ability, some of his
poems being worthy to rank alongside
of his brothers. One of his finest
hymns is the Church Universal" His
was case of poetic talent overshad-
owed by his brothers genius.
The poet Henry's creed may be best
summed up in his own verse:
"My work is finished; am strong
In faith and hope and charity.
For have written the things see,
The things that have been and shall be.
Conscious of right, nor fearing wrong,
Because am in love with Love,
And the sole thing / hate is Hate;
For Hate is death, and Love is life,
And peace, a splendor from above;
And Hate a never ending strife.
A smoke, a blackness from the abyss
Where unclean serpents coil and hiss!
Love is the Holy Ghost within;