Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-01-11

America" Mr.. Collins acknowledges
frankly that the English people have
not done justice to the poetry of
America. English critics have always
regarded American poetry with the
sort of contcmptuous Indifference with
which the Greek critics looked upon
the poetry of the Romans. But he
contends that the Americans them
selves are partly responsible for the
English attitude toward their poetry,
inasmuch as they have been prone to
give prominence to what is essentially
mediocre and inferior, sometimes by
indisrrect and absurd eu!ogy, and
sometimes by associatnE it in an
thologies and critiques with what is
excellent. In this first article, Mr.
Collins deals eloquently and sympathe-
tically with the influences that retard-
ed the growth of literature in colonial
days. He reviews cursorily the early
makers of American verse. and he con-
siders at some length. with discrim-
Mating admiration, the genius and work
of William Cullen Bryant. whom he
| characterizeS as Americas first poet
of classical rank" OF the New Eng
land Puritans. the dcsconuent of the
Pilgrims. Mr.. Collins says:
Thus was produced, partly from
what was inherited from their fore
fathers and partly from what was the
result of the long probation and dis
| cipline of those iron times :; race Of
| men the like of which this world has
never seen. Indelible is the impress
| sion which they have made on all VIII.
have contributed. and on all which has
| been contributed, either in politics o.
in literature. to the glory of America
| We trace their lineamentS in every
great statesman and in every great
isoldier who has succeeded them in thu
| Western World whether from thu
South or from the North. Thei
| purity. their earnestness. thei-
| simplicity, the noble ardor of thei
love of liberty, their God-fearing spirit
/ and profound sense of mans religious
| and moral responsibilities, permeate
| or if they do not permeate. at leas'
color, almost every characteristic con-
! tribUtiOn either in verse or prose tC
American literature. Even where
their theology had ceased to appeal
| and the light had faded out of Puritan
| orthodoxy. Puritan ethics and the
| Puritan temper still prevailed. Frank
| lin, Emerson and Hawthorne were as
essentially the offspring of these mel
as William Bradford and ThOma
Hooker Were their representatives
| When poetry awoke. and it was long
| before it woke. it was their soul which
suffused it. Their soul has suffused il
ever since"
Henry Seton Merriman. the author
! of "Barlasch of the Guard" or to Civ
him his proper name, Hugh Scott. who
died recently at his house in Suffolk
England was probably the leas'
known in personal sense. of any
English writer. He was almost
recluse. and one might go for many
, years to literary gatherings in Londor
| and not meet him. Thsc was not be-
| cause Mr.. Merriman was opposed to
| social life. but rather because he was
| Indifferent to it. To his last days
| moreover, he could not get over being
| amused at the homage he received
from his admirers, and at being calico |
famous and great" Most of Scott:
childhood was passed in England. A:
| Il boy he WIS very delicate physically
| and could not undergo the routine o.
| the public schools. He took many Sc;
| voyages for his health. during whicl |
| he accumulated much material that i, |
| later years he wOve into charming
romanccs. He was for time il
| Loyd's shipping agency, but soon had |
! TO leave his desk for further Sc; |
/ voyages to regain health. His father /
| was a director of the Graphic and |
rather frowncd, strangely enough |
! upon the sons literary aspiration. |
! Hugh. therefore, wrote his first books |
! anonymously. later assuming the
! pscudonym by which he has ever sine,
been known Henry Seton Merriman.
| He did not acknowledge the author
: ship of any of his books until after his |
| fathers dc;th. Among his friends |
f! Hugh Scott WAS considered to resembI,
! i'm Il remarkable degree Robert Louis |
| Stevenson. lie WAS tall long limbo,
y careless about his clothes. lazy in hi
movements. and had, like Stevenson
! the same sharpness of feature and |
/ brillianCe of the eye, the humorous
! curve Of the mouth, and the same
strang" tragedy of expression. 1t was
! only recently that Scott married and
| built himself a house in Suffolk where
| he intended to settle down to n res
! pcctabie old age He had, however, Il |
! vagabond spirit and he WAS often
| away Oh sea trims or long tramps on
| the Continent. He and Stanley Wey-
! man We're great friends and often took |
! these journeys together.