The Savannah morning news., 1904-01-24

a.st Table, How do you feel after last
acbts dissipation"
pretty bobbish, thank you," replied
.he Idiot. 1--WE ben having fearful
sresms all night, but in other respects
lam in fairly good shape"
81 should think you were old enough
~, this time, my dear Idiot" said Mr..
Prief ito learn better than to dissi-
nate yourself into such a condition
that your mind becomes a, stable for
the hideous nightmare. What was it,
oil night session at Poker, or the us
nal giddy whrl of cigars and high
balls?'
Neither" returned the idiot. Il
gave I'D those pomps and vanities
wears ago. The Poet and 1 went off
m a literary bat last night. We
heard a lecture by an Irish poet nam
ed Yeats-Wm. Butler Yeats-who has
come over here to rouse an interest in
the Bogie-Man of ancient days. l
don't known when 1 have passed a
more interesting evening. 1t was the
finest game of literary blind-mans-
buff L ever pldyeu'
You are as Ineligible as ever"
said the Bibliomaniac. What do you
mean by literary blind-man's- buff"
Chasing thoughts in intellectual
darkness" replied the idiot. Il found
it very stimulating"
What did Mr.. Yeats say?" asked
Mr.. Whitechoker.
Il don't KNOW" said the Idiot, but
he was delightful just the same. He
got up on the platform and talked
for an hour most gracefully, but what
the dickens it was all about stun1ps
me. His choice of language was
beautiful, and his periods rolled from
his tongue with a musical quality that
reminded one of some sweet grooming
lullaby, but what it all meant is be-
yond your little Willie here! Once in
a while 1 seemed to be getting on the
track of something in the nature of
an idea and then Mr.. Yeats would run
off into a cadence of words that left
me stranded upon the bar of perplex-
ity. He wants something, and he
wants it bad-almost ready to cry for
1t at times-but he'll never get it from
me even if I've got it, for can't for
the life of me guess what it is. I'm
sorry, too, for personally he impressed
me as a sincere, high minded, able
chap, and I'd like to help him, but
until he gets his English translated
into pure American I'm afraid I'll
have to stay out of the game alto
gether.'
How about that, Mr.. Poet?" asked
the LAWYER. Did you find the gem
tleman's discourse elusive?"
''Well-you see he is one of those
mystic singers, Yeats isl said the Poet.
You don't comprehend what he says
so much as you scent his meaning"
Its his job to be elusive" said the
idiot. IF he came out and expressed
himself in plain, vigorous Anglo-Saxon
that everybody could understand he'd
be false to his principles. He's one OF
the leading puzzle poets of the age.
You can read one of his books through
without understanding word of it. :"
Il thought he made one very good
point" said the Poet. "And that was
the inadequacy of the English language
TO express fifty certain great thoughts
of the spirit world which the old Irish
= troubadours, using their own language
gave ready utterance to-"
Il remember that" said the Idiot
land it occurred to me that that was
what was the matter with the lecture
His ideas and the language he was
compelled to express them in didn't
gee. If he'd been able to speak gar
lie"
Gaelic, I guess you mean," suggest
ed the Bibliomaniac.
'Well-something stronger than Eng
lish anyhOw-garlic or Gaelic. or Gel
tic or whatever it is, his ideas would
have had a better chance TO escape.
said the Idiot. Unfortunately the lin
guistic limitations of the audience pre-
vented that. for there were probably
not ten persons in the hall who could
speak any language other than English
or George AIDE The point he made in
favor of the revival of the Troubadour
was that thing that hit me in the soft
spot-that is if 1 got it right, which
maybe I didn't. 1t seemed to me in one
of the lucid intervals he gave the
printed poetry book a pretty vicious
jab and evinced decided bullish tenden-
cies on behalf of the Troubadour, and
that he was as sound as a. dollar. I've
read a great deal of poetry in my day,
and think the most of it would have
been much improved if published
through a troubadour instead of with
vulgar types. There's no Typographical
error about a troubadour to take
glowing and lofty period and turn it
into chaos, and if in the course OF the
poem you encounter some obscurity OF
through, all you have to do is to grap
the troubadour by the button-hole and
make him explain what he's talking
about before proceeding further. just
think how many magazine poems there
are that might thus have been mace
Ineligible, but which now have passed
into oblivion hugging their significance
forever deep hidden power in the mi
penetrable depths of their midst.
The Poet laughed. There's gooq
deal in that" he saidg "but after all 1
don't see where the troubadour propo-.
sltion comes ip in these times. ~
course he would be a delightful adul-
uon to the diverting things of the lay
nut he wouldn't be practicable. your
magazine poem, obscure as IT Is, az
least reaches large numbers or peopie'
whereas with your trobadDur tie
poems of the age would be brought 10
me attention of a very limited clrcle,
Not necessarily" rejoined the ~
loI In fact with the troubadour iuea
carried out to the limit OF its posslDln-
ues ! am inclined to think more people
would be reached than are ROUNDED up
ny the magazines. In the first place.
take poet like Alfred Austin. III you
once get the hang of him he's not nan
so bad as he seems. The CHIEF thlng Is
IN getting the hang. Now suppose that
whenever Mr.. Austin has new poem
70 thrust upon a thirsty world he cans
IN his well-trained troubadours TO MN
ana drills them night and day like
comic opera chorus until they've got
ms poem down precisely as he wants IL.
MOI a line, not a word, an information OF
an infection lost, and then out they
20 INTO the world to sing this last song
vi the laureate. Do you suppose there
Is theatrical manager in creation VINO