The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-09-13
Each day brings its petty dust
Our soon-chok'd souls to FILL"

to the true calm and elevation of real
literature?
No one of our time can help US to see
more clearly than Matthew Arnold the
apostle OF culture.-to know the best
that has been thought and said in all
ages,-the most learned poet since Mil
ton; the scholar and yet the man of the
world; a nineteenth century enbodi-
ment OF the old Greek and Hebrew
yearn1ng after wisdom and the best ex-
preston of wisdom: the critic who.
taught that criticism is serious, not a
matter of individual caprice or whfm.
but of the trained judgment to compare
the new with the norm existing be-
hind all literature. artistic excellence.
INITIATIVE, proportion. grace, truth most
of all-these combining to the idea.
Besides all this Arnold was the apos-
tie OF calm: poise: peace of mind: and
of lucidity of soul.
Calm Soul of all things. make it mine
To feel, amid the citv's lar
That there abides place Of thine
man old not make, and can not mar
And at another time he wrote:
And though we wear out life. alas.
Distracted as homeless wind
In beating where We must not rass
In seeking what we shall not find:
Yet, we shall one day gain. life past
Shall see ourselves, and learn at last
Our true affinities of SOUL
Like other men who have had consid-
cradle influence upon literature Arnold
In the details of concrete life had little
that is attractive for recounting In
deed, the oft quoted remark of Thucv-
dides of long ago about commonwealth his
and women NAV be said of men Of
letters of today,-that those having
least cause for public comment are the
happiest.
If Arnold had lived till next Christ
mas ne would have rounded eighty
years, that is. he was born in 1922 His
father was called to the Mastership of
Rugby when the son was Ave years
old. and in the veritable Rugby of
Tom Browns School Days" and kim
dred schools, Arnold grew till he went
TO oxford in 1841- The chief lesson ne
took from Oxford, says his present BIZ
ographer,wa the Platonic maxim: Life
without the spirit of inquiry is not
worth living" The teaching of classics,
secretaryship, and the publication of a
Voiume OF poems occupied his next i'm
mediate Years. But the poems. which
are now Incorporated with and form a
considerable part of Arnold's poetica1
works scarcely attracted notice on
their publication. and a few volumes
sold. they were withdrawn from circu-
iation Nowadays I have known of
novelfsts buying up the first edition of
their stories. Evidently the poet Ar
mold was not so good a trader
AS to the fact that the book fell fat
and has now become permanent DOS
session of literature-that has been by
no means uncommon. It is rather the
rule than the exception that the quail
ties that make for permanence in lit
erature are not commonly recognized in
book uoon its appearance.
When he was barely thirty Arnold be-
came Inspector of Schools, an office
which he retained tl1irty-five years The
values of the appointment of man of
o. n 1A1r !,
post can hardly be overestimated. His
writings on secondary schools have
never been approached, and they show
how fruitfully an inspectorship may be
conducted His academic tastes, that
dogmatic tendency of his to lay down
the law. his social instincts. his humor-
all especially served him here He was
an educator in the full meaning of