The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-12-04
WHAT WILL HISTORY SAY
OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT?
Can He Perform His Duty to Hmsslf His Country
His God? Henry Jerome Stockards
Exquisite Verse.

poetry, real and excellent. then my
right hand has forgot it's cunning"
Nocturne.
Night closing in on reaches gray
Of marsh and dune and shingle lone,
Whose hush brings out the far-away
Eternal moan.
Darkness unbeaconed, unconfined:
A mist along the void that sleeps:
A lost, forlorn, and crying wind
From central deeps.
. ship that sailed with canvas black
Into the dolorous waste of sea,
From it's uncharted zones bring back
My love to mel
/ have long known that preachers
boys were not really worse than other
fathers boys. L have had, too, some
glimpse of the remarkable successes,
and high endowments of many of the
sons of the ministry of God. But
did not know that | had exhausted the
lctual compress of productiveness in
rare gifts ana distinction, but when
[ saw a partial list | felt
that the promise was greater
lhan / apprehended. The list of emil
aent sons of the preachers of the gos-
pei is imposing, and astonishing, if
Ill named were really the sons of the
ambassadors of the Cross. Here is d
list that appeared in Northern pub
ication:
AgassiZ, Hallam, Jonathan Edwards,
Whateley, Bancroft, the Wesleys.
Beechers and Spurgeons, Cowper, Col
eridge, Lord Tennyson, Lowell
Holmes, Emerson. Charles Kingsley
Matthew Arnold. Dean Stanley. Lord
Macaulay, Thackeray, Sir Christopher
Wren, Sir Joshua Reynolds. Swift,
Sterne, Hazlitt, Presidents Cleveland
and Arthur. Peter Stuyvesant, Adoni
ram. Judson, Timothy Dwight, Henry
Clay, Fritz Green Halleck, Morse, the
inventor. The list of course does not
exhaust all. A search in a large Cy
clopedia of Biography would no doubt
reveal other famous names. In the
South some able examples could be
found. l name but one. Bishop George
E. Pierce, of Georgia. So far as |
recall in North Carolina. there has
oeen no very able and eminent son of
father in the ministry, although
here may have been some. Lord
Macaulays father. the celebrated
Zachary Macaulay. was not a preach
ar. / think, but most pious. devoted
Christian Macaulay's grandfather
and great-grandfathe were ministers
and able ones. Rev. DR.. and Professor
1HllIIDS, VI the otIlN VI
North Carolina, was son of Rev. DR..
and Professor James Phillips, of the
same institution of learning. Gov. and
Z. S. Senator T. j. Jarvis was the son
of a Methodist minister. AS | write
no others occur to me. The late Rev.
DR.. Smith, of Greensboro. | recall, left
five sons. all gifted and able. and four
of them ministers.
of Itn Loot n of
Lafcadio Hearn in Japan and his very
gifts. He was indeed an
writer. His hast book
he called-"Japan: An Attempt at
interpretation. Mr.. Hearn resided
fourteen years in Japan, and was hon.
orary member of the Japan Society,
and formerly Lecturer to the
Imperial University at Toxic. His.
new. book will be widely read, and
value, because it is the last offering
of a rich. fertile and ingenious mind
l have not seen the book. but have
been interested in it because of the
author, as he was doubtless the best.
Informed foreigner of the people
with whom he became identified by
and marriage. He is re-
regarded by critics, who know Japan,
as a sympathetic and kind critic, and
"a thorough master on which he
writes A critic discusses the book in
the New York Saturday Review, and
says of -:
I'm the present volume, for exam
pie, he discusses the ethical qualities
of the Japanese with neither explana-
ton nor acknowledgment of their un-
satisfactory reputation in commercial
circles, reputation that very well
may be based upon exceptional in
stances, and also may logically be ac-
counted for. but that strongly in
fuences Western opinion concerning
them. For another example, Mr.. Hearn
refers to the sacrifice on the part of
the loyal Samurai in ancient times not
only of their own lives, but of their
wives and children for the sake of
their i:ege lords, and he mentions the
use of such affecting themes in the
popular tragedies Of the stage,
explaining the en-
loyment of the people in the
incidents by their delight in
the exposition of the duty of sacrifice
and courage
He writes of all that enters into the
Japanese character, but as an idealist,
and studies the sociological and poiit-
zeal history Of that country. As 2
matter of instruction l copy a few par
agraphs from the reviewer concerning
the old Japanese peaple--thoSe who
lived far back of present conditions.
Is is said:
Like the old Greeks the inhabitants
of Old Japan believed that to die was
to enter into the possession Of super
human power; but also that the dea Il
We're dependent upon the living Tor
their happiness.
Each occupation had its gods to
preside oovr it; there was a god of
The Cooking Fange. a god of the Rice
Pot, there were gods OF Fire, Wood,
Metal, Gardens, and there was i'm
posed a standard of respect on The
part of the Workmen toward his tools
that produced charming results. ::
The breach of etiquette might be
punished ny death. and the most
trifiing act performed-to use the Jap
anese phrase-"in an unexpected man
ner" brought upon the offender at
least a whipping. 81 It com
PEELED the practice IF frugality from
generation to generation, it cultivated
sohriety, simplicity, cleanliness, cour~
tesy, hardihood. And strange as it
may SEEM Mr.. Hearn comments. 1T
did not make the people miserable. y
1t IS stated by Hearn that the young
laps who have gone abroad for study
were not affected by what they saw
md experienced. and returning home
took no interest in the studies they had
partially pursued. The reviewer says:
tssr bpy have been sent abroad to ner-