New-York tribune., 1903-05-02

Immediately after his marriage 10 Nc
White in December. 1914. Lowell went 10 u'i1
delphia took third story back room u. -
house Of some Quaker friends ano p,99 -,
HONEYMOON writing leaders for me Feii,i's
vania Freeman" at s. each. in 1910 he
into an arrangement with The Na'ioi"' -
slavery Standard" under the editorshp OF SID
= 1y,.s c..x IN write prose and verse for
skat journal though not until eighteen n'o"' =.
,a+er did he become a regular contributor 10 H.
AZ a salary of $500 year. His worh was os
no means confined TO articles bearing ui'O'
or slavery. He was employed IN Pai'
Of his growing reputation as poet ana ci'''O'
and in the hope of extending the constituents
OF the paper beyond the narrow crcie oI '"e
convinced Abolitionists In its coiunlhS ap
reared the last four of the "Biglow Papers
80 oe I.ox-eIIs most famous shorter political
mems and the editorial articles which. togeth-
er with those written for The pennsylvania
Freeman" fill these two volumes
IoweIl's influence In the anti-slaVery suussie
has lately been subject OF some olscuSsiOi-'
and Mr Boutwell, has taken occasion 10 oeiiy
that be had any considerable share IN popuiai
tzing abolition sentiments. Whatever may Oe
said for the influence of the POEMS we Cd"
readily accept Mr.. Boutwell's word so far as
these editorials are concerned. They were "rlt-
fen with the fiery zeal of the young convert
.nder the inspiration OF his ardent Abohtionlst
wife In them he is merely the deVotee OF
negro emancipation, but OF every moral reform
which comes to his notice. though slavery taxes
precedence Of all else, and every road OF argu-
rnent particularly with persons who are iuhe-
warm about the great evil Of American soclety
while anxious to free Ireland OF send mission
aries TO the Hottentots, comes back to abolition
with e Carthage deenda est. Yet for all MS
earnestness and perfect readiness to brave oo-
Iouuy Lowell was too much the literary man
ar that time above all too much the young lit
erary man-to be an extremely effective propa-
sandist His own ideals were too arge, ne mao
too great play of fancy. he was too much the
hurnanist TO do the work of a Garrison con-
cernfng whom he has said There never has
been a leader Of reform who was not also a
blackguard" These articles essays rather
than editorials concerned more with general
ities than with the use of current incidents 10
reach particular ends. Their manner is often
academic though nobody could come to a point
with more directness and moral earnestness
than Lowell when IL suited his mood: but he
was easily tempted to play with subject, to
wander into bypaths of allusion, and he had not
yet the seIf-restraint to resist the injection Of
puns into the midst Of passages Of exalted seri-
business.
AT other times his qups and puns are delight
ful. and his powers Of sarcasm and invective are
almost al their best. He quotes his own Big
low Papers" ard his prose phrases often con-
tain intimations Of the poetry in which the same
ideas were finally TO reach their perfect setting
His friend Briggs a good adviser when
about this time he wrote: Put all your Abo-
itionisrn into rhyme; everybody will read ii in
that shape. and II viii do good. Don't forget
that you are poet and go writing newspaper
articles" Lowell, with all his devotion to free
dom. had not the grim earnestness which en-
Of AbOlitiOOiStS
who stood behind Gay in the control of THE
National Anti-Slavery Standard" So after
year he ceased TO write every week, and at the
end of the second year his engagement termi-
mated entirely. leaving him to follow his true
vocation
These papers Will not add anything to Loweli's
literary fame. Nevertheless they are extremely
interesting as a revelation Of one side of his
genius and Of one phase of his opinions They
were written at the tine of his most extreme
radicaIisr. He was more less a disciple of
Fourier THE system of labor and its reward
at the North he thought TO be but little better
than that the South" Into the mouth Of Cal
houn he put the sentiment which he evidently
himself believed: Hitherto capital has had no
duties except TO itself. and it hardly seems more
unnatural that II should the laborer out
right than that il should buy the of him at
the cheapest rate" His passion for equality led
him to expressions which look much like a de-
sire for race amalgamation. He always pro-
tested that he did not sympa thize with the dis
union sentiments of the advanced Abolitionists,
and In an Abolition meeting. when the question
was PUT to vote. he stood with the minority
against disunion. Nevertheless the enthusiasm
Of argument frequently led him TO speak lightly
OF the bond of the Constitution. and to denounce
those who respected the compromises which
were the basis of union. 'Whigs and Demo-
Gratis" ne said must exhaust all their strength
in arguing the constitutional question. and thus
81 will always be- till the utter worthlessness of
that piece Of parchment has been thoroughly
illustrated by the rejection of its authority by
all good men that politicians instead of asking,
Is ii constitutionalY shall be compelled to ask,
is il right" And one of his most delightful
essays is a skit THE Sacred ParasoL"
stout machine of parchment which. under the
respectable name Of a Constitution. inter
posed whenever there seered to be danger from
the hostile incursiOrs Of light
Lowell had no patience with the churches
which would not make themselves anti-slavery
ropagandists and denounced them as traitors
10 the religion they professed to teach AS firm
an anti-slavery leader Greeley was too luke
warm for him. though he did not question his
honesty of purpose. For like Clay and
Cass and humane" anti-slavery Shareholders
like General Taylor he had unsparing ridicue.
Calhoun he could treat with more respect an
oren enemy One OF the most interesting OF his
papers is an ina ginary conversation between
Cass Calhoun and Senator Foote. in which The
Bourbon slaveholding philosophy and the truck
ling of Northern politicians are portrayed with
a sarcastic power and an insight into the mental
and moral nature Of his characters which sug-
gest Iando-'s conversations of Don Ferdinand