The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-03-05
With the Worlds Great
Masters of Literature @~
10y Or. THEODORE sRYAMT kINcsBuRY

BRYANT KINcSBURY
telligent and judieious appreciation of
writer of the qualities of Ibsen. !
am too belated. too much of an "old
fogy." / suppose, to admire or relish
me writer's mentioned by Prof. Hen
derson near the close of his discus
sion. I may be the poorer by it, for
much that is written by speculative
and cunning writer's fails sometimes
to impress me or to appeal to my
sylnpathies and convictions. / think
that neither my taste nor aspirations
nor convictions lean III that direction.
/ have nothing OF The metaphysical or
scientific in my mental and spiritual
makeup. l recognize the skill and
| thoughtfuhless and clever style of
Prof. Henderson's study of lbsen, but
not being familiar with his produc-
tons or nith his aims and purposes
am disqualified for a critical eXamina-
ton of them. Prof. Henderson writes
as follows of the very eminent dra-
matist:
'Ibsen is at once great reaIist and
| a great idealist, great optinist and
a great pessmist. He once said pub
licly: 1t should be the endoavor of
every dramatist to improve the pre-
vailing order of the world. His own
high aim i'll his social dramas is to
aid in the progress of civilization, to
assist in the perfecting of civil life
= Some day it will be universally
admitted that Ibsen and Tolstci,
] Bjornson Hauptmann and Sudermann
/ have not lived in vain. In that day,
the world will pay homage to Henrik
! Ibsen because, since he has lived, lit
erature has thrilled with a new joy
the passion for more just and beau
| tiful social order.
Through the considerate favor Of
7 Prof. c. Alphonso Smith, Professor
of English i'm the University of North
| Carolina, / have been enabled to read
| his address on Industrialism and
| Literature" delivered last April at
| Birmingham. Ala. before the Con
| ference for Education in the South.
1t is indeed a great pleasure to read
a literary paper by Prof. Smith. His
English is SO pure, SO fine and so re-
sponsive: his taste is SO excellent. SO
cultivated; his Judgment is ordinarily
so sound and catholics his prefer
ences arc SO marked by discretion
and insight: his loyalty is so true, so
inflexible to the South, and his schol-
arship and reading are so unmistak-
able aud accurate. that one can sur
render himself to his guidance and
instruction not unmixed with graft
tude. feeling assured at every step
that he will not be misled or mis-
taught-that he will walk in safety
under his guidance amid the beauties
and embellishments of literature.
without will-o-the-wisps to beguilc
him or phantasmal scenes to bewilder
him. His address is indeed delight
full production. marked with wise dis
elimination and right conceptions OF
the two subjects he presents. OF In
dustrialiSm he says judiciously:
"Industrialism is not materialism,
nor Is it utilitaranism. These are
theories of life. while industrialism is
q means Of living. Viewed as a whole
industrialism is the subsistence of the
race on the last expenditure of time
and labor. II is the matrix that holds
within itself the possibility OF all
other. activities. it is the substitute
ture of society, and conditions its
modes of self-eXpression.
THE peril of possible degeneration
into materialism or utilitarianism is
more than counterbalanced by the
immediate and permanent benefits
that industrialism confers. Indus
trialism brings in it's train sense OF
popular independence and solidarity
that are bulwarks in periods of ma
tional crisis
OF the true office and meaning of
literature he admirably says:
"But the conception of literature in
the supposed antithesis between it
and industrialism is no less perverted.
These guardians OF literature, pure
and undefiled, would not only ma
teriaiiZe notwithstanding would
unduly thcrealizc literature. They
would devitalizc it. They establish
their antithesis by aceentuating the
mechanical trend Of the one, the
iranscendental trend of the other.
But the literature that is too finicky
an anaemic TO live in an industrial
age does not permit TO live in any
age. The purpose of literature says
Morley. is to bring sunshine into our
hearts and TO drive moonshine out of
orr heads
Let inc make one more quotation
from q production that is rich in sug
gestiveness and inviting passages:
''The dramatists of EHzabeth's
reign did not create The vital energy
Of their time. They reflected it. They
Interpreted it, They were not the
fountains, they were the reservoirs.
New opportunities, new discoveries.
new occupations. had opened new
Vistas. and literary greatness went
hand i'm hand with material pros.
perity.
LET us never forget that literature
means life IN all It's yastncSs. in I'LL
IFS coniple1ity, in all it's grades"
] Hnd all through il opinions thai
are so much III consonance With my
own views. that ! find myself cchoinE
and adiniring. Referring to the great
industrial era in Great Britain from
1890 TO 1916. Prof. Smith says:
"Nalions came closer together The
two hcmisphercs became" and have
continued one vast arena OF industrial
Interchange. Even Tennyson catches
the industrial inspiration, and in 1872
celebrates in the same breath the
glories of invention and the triumphs
Of commerce:
.For / dipt into the future. far as hui
man eye could see.
Saw the vision of the world. and all
the wonder that would be;
Saw the heavens fill with commerce.
targosies OF magic sails,
Pilots of the purple twilight, drop
ping down with costly bales.