Los Angeles herald., 1905-12-17

We cannot see, though everywhere
It's glory CLEANS, Its soft airs DloW,
Till earth seems heaven here below.
Life stirs anew beneath the soil
Birds wing their flight through shining
seas
OF golden sunbeams, while the breeze
Breathes sweeter than Hesperides.
Mountain and desert, canyon and
gorge, inspired her to some of her best
efforts, and of the mountains she was
especially enamored; she called them
rightly 1.-The elder brothers of the mis-
sions," and many of her verses are to
them. Many poems are about Ycse-
mite, which she especially adored, and
a long series of them, year by year, is
preserved.
Also, she found much to inspire in
that arctic region where, twenty-five
years ago, she spent winter. Even
its forbiddins coldness did not chill this
singers heart, and beauty she found
amid it's most desolate grimness. The
contrast between the east and the west
drew forth he. comment, and the
patriotism which made her husband
noted found echo in her own soul, and
voice in her writings frequently:
What
Is our country's glory? oh, not alone
The continent of space which sleeps be-
The seas, but the immortal names and
deeds
Sublime with which it has crowned Free
dom.
So, too. in her poems on God and Ma
ture, life and duty, hope and joy, one
finds the same high IDEALS. Much of
longing is there in her thoughts of God;
a longing TO know more and to feel
closer to the infinite
And o my soul, how doth it long to
know
More of this Father, and to truly feel
Within my heart his great loves over
flow.
Her religion was strongly hopeful
one, and it's frequent expression by her
pen was a necessity. 1t was always
cheerful, never despairing, and always
pointing to the higher side. So "That
Undiscovered Country" is another
chapter and her feelings toward it are
well depicted therein.
Love for children had a strong place
in her heart, and its outswelling into
words was notable in extent. Dainty,
delicate, ethereal, were her flights of
fancy, fairylike and fascinating, regard
ing children, and her verses for and
about them rank with the best of their
kind. Then there are those stray bits,
unclassified here, which are perhaps
the greatest treasure of all. Not writ
ten around any especial purpose Or
along any definite line, they portray,
perhaps, the deepest feelings and we'll
irgs-up of her heart, expressed freely
and without restraint as they were
felt. These are treasure indeed
Technically considered, Mrs. Otis
verse is of high quality. Its rhythm is
smooth and flowing, its rhymes are ex-
cellent. 1t is high in tone, the vocabu-
larry is large yet strong, remarkable
for it's simplicity, yet never showing
lack of the delicacy of meaning in
tended. There is lifting quality in
her songs, dignity in her blank verse
and a winsomeness in her lighter eff
forts that are exceedingly attractive.
Your expert in literary matters will
have small fault to find with this
volume, and he will not be inclined to-
expend his energies ON it, If he belong
to that ilk which imagines that Critic
ISM means a "knock" There is little
meat for his sort herein. But he who
rises above such pettiness will soon
see that IL Is a book apart; volume
such as is seldom-too seldom, be II
said-given to the world-a book OF the
songs of a heart full of love and good
ness and high thought, taken straight
from that heart and published that the
world may share in the upllft i'm which
the singer lived and delighted. That
is the true intent and purpose of this
volume, and as such Ghough not less
however, as volume OF excellent verse,
critically considered) 1t will hold its
place.
OF Mrs. Otis prose works, few are
given-just enough to acquaint one with
her individual style and TO embody
some OF her most distinctive ideas.
What is offered is so good that one
wishes there We're more. Most of the
articles quoted We're written editorially
for the Times, OF whose STAFF she was
member, and they bear evidence oil