The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-01-04

For three brief years and there, Abbess,
To where beyond these voices there is peace.
Sir Galahad was one of the three knights,
the other two being Sir Bors and Sir Per-
civale. who found the Holy Grai-a vision
OF which was denied to the greatly re-
pentant Sir Lancelot. These all were pure,
meek and loyal. and. therefore. brave.
strong men. 1t was as true then as when,
a few years ago. Bayard Taylor sang:
The bravest are the tenderest.
The loving are the daring
In 1872 poet drew picture OF Sir
Galahad and st. Agnes that is the key to
that division of the Idyls called THE Holy
Grail" written a quarter of a century
afterwards. Here is the knight:
My good blade caryes the casques OF men,
My tough lance thrusteth sure.
My strength is the strength of ten.
Because my heart is pure.
Sometimes on lonely mountain meres
I find "a magic bark;
leap on board: no helmsman steers;
float till all is dark.
gentle sound. awful light,
Three angels bear the Holy Grail;
With folded feet. in stoles Of white.
On sleeping wings they sail.
All. blessed vision! Blood OF God!
My spirit beats her mortal bars.
AS down dark tides the glory slides,
And, starlike, mingles with the stars.
Dante Gabriel Rosetti, that weirdest OF
weird artists. has painted a picture of Sir
Galahad as he enters the secret shrine and
finds
The stalls are void, the doors are wide,
The tapcrs burning fair,
Fair CLEANS the snowy altar cloth,
The silver vessels sparkle clear.
The reproduction of this picture Is one
of the gems in an edition of Tennyson pub
lished by the Harpers almost twenty years
ago in a queer fiat volume bound In green
and containing his rejected poems.
like to think OF st. Agnes as Sir Gala
had's bride, although it may be, and prob
ably is, fancy Of my own.
In her religious ecstacy she cries:
He lifts me to the golden doors;
The flashes come and go:
All heaven burst her starry floors,
And strows her lights below,
And deepens on and up! The gates
For me the Heavenly Bridegroom waits,
To make me pure of SIM
The sabbaths of Eternity.
One sabbath deep and wide
light upon the shining sea-
The Bridegroom with his bride.
Did she afterwards become Sir Galahads
bride? If not. what mean these lines? This
holy nun is certainly the same she who
in THE Holy Grail Tennyson thus pictures:
And 'Oh. my brother Percivale" she said.
For. walked at dead of night. heard a sound
As of silver horn from Ger the hill
Blown, and thought.
Oh, never harp nor horn,
Nor aught We blow with breath or touch with
Was like that music as it came; and then
Streamed through my cell cold and silver
And down the long beam stole the Holy Grail.
Rose-red, with beatings in it, as if alive
Till all the whole walls of my cell were dyed
With rosy colors leaping or the WALL
And then follows the story of her be-
trothal to Sir Galahad:
But she. the wan. sweet maiden. shore away
Clean from her forehead all that wealth of hair.
And out of it she plated broad and long
strong sword belt
And saw the orish, boy knight. and bound it on
Saying. MY knight. my love. my knight of
Oh. thou. my love. whose love is one with mine.
l. maiden. round thee maiden bind my belt
Go forth. for thou shalt see what have SEEN"
And as he spake
She sent the deathless passion in her eyes
Through him and made him hers. and laid her
On him. and he believed in her belief
1t is not necessary to annex to this cpl
sode a wedding-in heaven they neither
marry nor are given in marriage. For those
who cannot conceive of love between youth
and maid not perfected in marriage / COM
mend Rossettfs BLESSED Damosel.' which,
under other names. is a picture of such as
St. Agnes and Sir Galahad when they meet
hereafter.
1t is quite impossible to dismiss these
ecstatic people without a word for those
Christians who do not dream dreams or
see visions. and of whom King Arthur was
a type. He was content with staying at
home and doing his duty and not following
after what he called wandering fires He
had his reward as will appear when we
come to "Morte D'Arthur. Tennyson.
from start to finish, has a good word for
dull, plain people. 1t was not the high
flying Mary who sat at the Masters feet
and let her sister do all the work who re-
ceived the prize. OF housekeeping Martha
our poet says:
Her faith through form liz pure thine,
Her hands quicker unto good:
Oh sacred be the flesh and blood
To which she links truth divine
Even the village monk Ambrosius-the
confidant of Sir Percivale-whose spiritual
horizon was bounded by the hamlet in
which he lived, labored and died. led re-
ligious life and received homely rewards.
which, in the long run, were quite as salts