The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-12-13

Behind the publication of the "Ouat- rains of Abul-Ala," the forerunner or Oufar Khayyam, is the romantic ana sometvhat strenuous nfe's story of AmeGn Rihani, their Syrian poet-patriot transla- tor Born near the cedars or Leoanon' he came to America boy immigrant. In New York he lived for a time in cellar, enduring the drudgery and prtvauons or poverty, at the same time teaching nim- zeIfa English and reading English classics He became a clerk. but his poetic na- ture rebelled against the trammels or trade. He was successtvely actor ana lawyer. On a visit to his native land he redIecovered Abu'l-Ala, performing TOT the Arabian poet-philosopher, so far as the English reading world Is concerned the service rendered Omar the FeFsian' by Edward FitzGerald.
 RIhani was born twenty-six years ago at Freikeh, in the mountains of Lebanon, in Syria. As a child he played amid mcenes sacred to the whole religious world His father was silk merchant' vvhosa business had declined, and who sent him to New York with an uncle, who was to try his fortunes in America hl- hani was 12 years old when he landed in New York. His uncle started a jewelryy store in a cellar on Washington Street The boy had a few months schooling at a convent school at Newburgh. N. Y. Then his unlce Reeded him in the store and he became a clerk. He slept unoer a counter in the cellar. He taught him. self English. and as the work of the great English poets burst upon him, he nad desire to write verse himself. He bought secondhand English books with hoarded pennies. While selling Syrian bauoles his mind was soaring with Shakespeare Keats, Shelley and Byron
 Rihanis favorite book was Shake epeare'a "Richard H." He became stage struck. and against the wishes of his father. who had joined him in this coun- try. he went on the stage. He became a member of a stock company that In cluded such well known actors as Henry Jewett, Rose Eytinge and William Owen Their principal play was Benedict Ar nold." and it was a failure. At Kansas City the company was stranded. They were compelled to give two performances of Shakespeare to raise funds to go home. Rihani had enough of the stage. On his return to New York he attended the New York Law School His health broke down, however, and he went back to Sy- ria.
 Amid the scenes of his boyhood Rihani remained nearly two years. He had left his native land a child. He returned a man. with none of his Orientalism dlm- med by contact with strenuous Western civilization. He taught English to the priests in the old monasteries on the hills of Lebanon. and he enriched his mind with legend and literature of his coun- try.
 All the while in the dust covered parch- ments, on which were recorded the work of Abu'I2Ala. there fingered a music that the Western world had never heard. It was the song of the Voltaire of the East, one of the foremost thinkers of his time, who had fearlessly fought fallacies and hypocrisies, and who had proclaimed the supremacy of the soul and the mind. Abu'l-Ala was born in STA A. D. and lived to a ripe old age. Early in life small pox destroyed one of his eyes, and, like Milton, he spent his last years in dark ness. Like a prophet of old, he was sur rounded by his disciples, who inscribed his teachings and his verses. For a thousand years his writings were sur passed by the Mohammedans, on account of their liberal religious views. An Ara bic edition did not appear until 1891.
 To Rihani's poetic soul the Quatrains of Abu-'l-Ala were a thrilling message. He saw in a Cairo newspaper that French man had written an essay on the Arabian philosopher. Why can't transla ,e them into English?' he asked himself