New-York tribune., 1902-03-17


for since poetry ceased TO be a song and dance,
| and became a department Of literature, scarce
! ~ anything has been the occasion Of more in
sincerity. But adjure readers to be
honest they can. and viii say. for the en-
: couraEement Of those who hate verse, that We
! DO not believe there ever was time safer for
/ them to own il than this" We shall look with
interest 10 the outcome of this inquiry, and We
will meanwhile express a conviction that the
liking for beautiful verse Is in allegiance in this
practical period.
IN the pleasant pages Of "Lppincotts' we
find a genial sketch of GIadstone's married life.
10 public man could have been happier than he
in all that meant domestic content His wife
. constantly shielded him from annoyance. and
was tact itself in her relations with outsiders.
+ II is said that she was accustomed to profess
an absolute ignorance Of her husbands policy,
and would nnocently answer direct questions,
. Well l wonder too what he VIII do" When
/ they We're first married. are told, Gladstone
/ put two alternatives to his wife, either 70 know
nothing and thus be free Of all responsibility,
or to know everything and be bound to secrecy.
His own remark fifty years later. My wife has
. known every political secret l ever had points
t. the choice she made and also illustrates her
discretion" All that she was TO him can hardly
be estimated IF anything should happen to
( Catherine" he said once. Il should close the
volume and close it forever"
N1r Alfred Olvants Danny" begins his
. career in 'Everyhody's Magazine" as "a sea
. gray babe long and low and battle jaWed'
halting with uplifted head and the shy, de-
Mghtful dignity Of gentleman doubtful OF
his welcome at the hands Of another" Danny
Of course is "A dog. and has his own fascina-
tious. but they not as great, thus iar aS
those IF that valiant Bob. son of Battle" the
warrior whose famous fight Is one Of the very
. fine things of dog literature
The dislike which many lovers Of literary clas-
sizes have expressed to the process of anuotating
their fayorit,s for school children was shared by
Tennvsor-s, says Nj ". q. McCabe in his
pleasant paper on the Laureate printed in The
Century" lie adds on his own account the
. statement that he had never really enjoyed
Paradise Lost" since he became man, be
. cause he had been obliged TO parse il when
schooIboy. This is a statement which we are
sure will appeal to many an American man and
woman for whom. in this way, ii was once the
fashion u duh, darken and spoil Milton's mas
terpece.
Mr. NcCabe remembers Tennyson's ready
kindness in explaining perplexns allusions in
/ his poems He asked the poet for example,
. what he meant by the lines in In Memoram'
touching Arthur Hallam:
And over those ethereal eyes
The bar of Michael Angelo.
"Oh." replied he, those are almost Hallams
own words You must have noticed in all por-
. traits Of Michael Angelo the bulEinE, bony ridge
+ over the eyes. technically called by artists the
bar Hauam had this bony ridge very promi-
nent. and one day, when were at Cambridge,
he came into my room. and while talking passed
his fingers across his brow and said Alfred,
I've got the real bar Of Michael Angelo "
Most people we think, VIII agree with Mr.. Nc
Cabe in his estimate Of the splendid ballad
The Revenge" and in CarlyIe's comment, "Eh
Alfred. but we've got the grip Of it,
Tennyson. by the way, told his visitor that he
didn't believe all that stuff about Mrs. Carlyle's
being so unhappy and Carlyle's being such a
selfish tyrant. q was constantly there" he
added during those years that Froude writes
Of and never saw anything but the greatest
affection between them"
Nr J. G. Whiteley's plea IN The Forum" for
. the establishment Of Civil Service rules and
. permanency Of tenure in the case Of those am
lassadors Of trade" known as consuIs is natu-
rally supported by many excellent arguments.
That there are other things, however. to y" con-
sidered besides the candidates knowledge of
certain facts and ability 20 answer certain ques-
tions is illustrated by q story quoted from a
speech once made by Mr LaboucheTe. II con
Germs "a brilliant member Of The British diplo-
matte corps. who in his youth presented him
self in a lighthearted way for examination for
the service, and, after failing TO answer the
various questions propouuded 10 him. was much
surprised 10 find that he had not only been
passed. but placed at the head of-the list. Upon
meeting one Of his examiners ne inquired how
such thing had happened, seeing that he was
utterly ignorant Of the subjects on which he
had been examined. That's just IT, my dear
fellow said the great man. We saw You
knew nothing, but your manner was so free
from restraint under what TO some people would
have been peculiarly embarrassing circum-
stances that we said TO each other, That's the
very man to make a diplomatist."