The daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1904-1905, 1904-03-02
LITERARY NOTES
Of More Than Passing Interest.

trre If the people will read one half
that is porting fro mthe press. The
constant and increasing output of
Biographical literature is startling.
To adjust ones life to all the COM
pick interests and machinery of our
time is a ponderous task, and one
that multitude will not undertake.
When DIR. Griggs lecteured here he
said E'That the great secret of sue
cess in life is mental concentration. Z
1t Is not an easy task to concentrate
when there is so much to read and
do. There is the Literary History
of America by Professor Wendell.
. America in Literature by Profess
sor Woodberry "a History of
American Literature, by Professor
Trent, American Literature" by
Professor Lawton, Autobiography
of Seventy Years" by Senator Hoar,
Memories of Hundred Years." by
the venerable chaplain of the Senate,
:" A Readers History of American
Literature by Colonel Higginson,
Memories of Yale Life and Men,
by DR.. Timothy Dwight. Herbert
Spencer's autobiography, John
Morley's Life Of Gladstone must be
read. So many distinguished people
are reading it. just read the report
of it from London, that the demand
for it is unprecedented in the history
of political biography. Messrs. Mae
milan had their resources taxed. The
manager said, "a remarkable sight
was presented by the score of vans
driving away filed to their utmost
with Gladstone. Thousands of
copies weighing hundreds of tons
were dispatched to their destination
in few hours. Great is Gladstone
and great is Morley.
"The Russian Advance by Sena-
tor Beveridge must be read by intel
ligent Americans who wish to follow
the trend of his thoughts and outlook
in the able volume. Mans Place in
the Universe, by the venerable nat
uralist, Alfred Russell Wallace will
furnish food for thought The rea-
son given by Professor WoodbeIry
for his resignation Of the chair OF
comparative literature at Columbia
University is. that he may devote
himself to literary work He puts
Emerson foremost in American liter
ature, and Longfellow IS second in
the New England erouo lie pictures
Hawthorne as a profound pcsSimist,
and does scant Justice to Dr. Holmes
and talks about the immense cru
dity Of the age that is not calculated
to excite reverence. Then we turn
to Professor Trent and find him say
ing "That Longfellow cannot be
called great Neither In immagina-
ton nor In intellect was he strong.
He was not a fresh force' He has
the audacity to deny to Emerson the
j title to greatness, and one has but to
I turn to Hamilton W. Mabie, who
says: IF our civilization had done
nothing but produce Abraham Lin
coin and Ralph Waldo Emerson it
would have justified its right to be. !"
He paints Emerson as the great mind
commanding all the resources Of the
richest culture of the time. Profess
sor LawtOn says: "Longfellow S
work has left larger results of hap
piness than any other man in our
literature. and calls Lowell a man of
many sides making many mistakes
and having many regrets, but FESTIVE
as an individual
In the face Of all that is going on
in the world Tan Maclaren says
Except in the province of physical
science no progress is being, made,
no great men are rising, no poet, no
novelist, no painter, no statesman,
no preacher; it is the age of medic
Gritty and commonplaceness.'' Let
men of scholarship, and what is pro-
nounced sound literary quality differ
as they like, and find fault with those
who have shed halo of glory round
my way, l will still declare with the
poet of poets "That / am an heir of
all the ages" and very thankful for
it. The memory of the joy that filed
my soul as | stood with Longfellow
on the bridge at midnight, or went
with Sir Launfal over land and sea
in search of the Holy Grail, or raked
the meadow sweet with hay with
dear Maud Muller on summer day
or sat with Julian at the solemn Feast