The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-02-15

any of the New England choir. There is
a prevailing gravity, almost solemnity, in
most of his verse, and he INDUCED the
prophetic gift, with which he was endow-
ed, to some extent He had distinguish
ing freshness and pathos and his strictly
Southern poems appeal with peculiar eff
fectiveness and interest to the genuine
Southern heart l have written many
times in warm appreciation of his richly
endowed mental qualities. The fact is
that in the moderate volume of his
productiveness there are lines of eX-
qslisite inspiration and expression, and
stanzas of superb charm and power. He
is a most quotable poet, and has upon
him, | trust, the light of immortality
a >nong the mighty dead who sang to the
world and then passed into the silence
beyond. This poet-true and noble and
lqveable-was born in this neglected
Southland He is as much poet-born as
LDngfellow or Lowell, as Whittier or
Holmes He is a genuine singer, and not
an echo. He sang noble, sweet, inspiring
strains. and in the very prime of young
manhood he left harp and song and, fold
ing his hands gave himself and all he
| Redeemer. He is a poet to me of more
enrapturing delight than any other born
in the South, and with the exception of
Poe accidentally born in Boston, as
Thackeray was in India), he was perhaps
the most highly endowed. He has left
imperishable lines. l would fain believe
| Reading again some of his charming pro-
auctions 1 have wondered why it is that
| nd in
who has pretence to culture and any
taste for delightful verse is not familiar
with poems so exquisite in their beauty
and the perfection of their form. l hope
to fulfill a promise l made to write with
some care and elaboration of Poe not very
long hence. l notice with pleasure that
Harper's Monthly for February has
really fine Sonnet from our best living
North Carolina poet, II. j. Stockard.
1t is generally believed among English
and American critics of reputc and force
that Nathaniel Hawthorne is Americas
greatest novelist, and the Norths fore
most genius. His masterpiece is The
Scarlet Letter." a very unique, original,
rather gruesome production. The London
Times not long since said of it, that 1.-The
work of art gives it significance in the
history of literature which it would be
hard to ovcrrate." His other novels are
decidedly superior, and his short stories
are original shuddering and fascinat-
ing.
l note that DR.. Woodrow Wilson's five
volume, History of the American Peo-
pie, is forging ahead in popularity, and
critical Northerners are saying very kind
and appreciative things of it. 1t is, no
doubt an historical work of real merit,
and one that lovers of good literature will
he glad to read. Mr.. Augustus c. Buell.,
d Northern critic of ability, pronounces
it "a great work" 1t is unlike the other
American histories. Prof. G.. NJ. Harper,
of Princeton University, writes in The
Book Buyer as follows: 80 thorough,
indeed. is the blending of sympathies, so
harmonious is the union of deep-rooted
local pride with strong National senti-
ment, that the book may fairly be term
ed unique in the centrality of its point of
view" On the question of slavery. the
reviewer thinks the author has been un-
equivocally fair minded.
Prof. Woodbury. continues to laud
LongfellOw In a recent article in Har-
per's he writes of his "Hiawatha,"
! Evangeline" and miles Standish,"
and insists that 1.-The fact cannot be gain
| said that each of these remains the only
successful poem of its kind one of In
dian life, one of colonial pastoral, one
of the Puritan idyl. while the trials made
by others have been numerous" He is
| certainly one of the very best of the
Yankee poets, and is hardly out-ranked
| They have all to take seats lower
rungs of the ladder of fame than Poe oc-
cupies.
L Prof. Huxley was gifted and very
lsceptical. He never found Christ and
knew but little of immortality. On his
tomb is inscribed line written by his
wife, as follows:
And if there be no meeting past the grave.
II all is darkness, silence, still tbs rest
Be not afraid we waiting hearts that
weep,
For God still giveth His beloved sleep,
And if an endless sleep He wills so best"
And that reminds us that the famous
ancient and admirable Greek author,
Plutarch, was a fixed believer in God
Prof. Oaksmth, in a recent essay on
THE Religion of Plutarch," writes the
following: He asserts that even those
who deny the benevolence of God, as the
Jews and the Syrians, do not imagine
Him as other than eternally and immuta-
bly, existent, and quotes with approval
. sentence from Antpater of Tarsus. TO
! the effect that God is universally re-
garded as uncreate and eternal A little
later adopts the Stole position
that the idea of God includes the
Ideas OF happiness, blessedness, sells uf-
ficiency, which qualities are elsewhere
shown to exist absolutely and independ-
emily of all conceivable causes of oppo-
sition."
Another novel is to appear treating of
the reconstruction time in the Southland.
1t is by George C. Eggleston and is en-
titled THE Master of Warlock" 1t is
from Southern point of view / note
that DiXon's THE Leopards Spots" con-
tlnues to sell we'll in the great North and
in some of tho larpaSt cities