The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1906-06-09

spirit in matters that did not implnge
upon his dearest beliefs, John Henry.
Cardinal Newman once remarked 10 a
friend that 1t was not the words of his
hymn, Lead. Kindly Light" which had
achieved its popularity, but the tune.
THE tuns is by Dykes. ana DIR. Dykes
was Il great MASTER" says James G.
Huneker in the New York Herald.
This statement is amabe, but II il
hardly an exact one. Compared to the
music on Coward. Christian Sol
| diers." the effort of DIR. Dykes is lack
ing in originality. That II is IL great
favorte throughout the. world, fa-
v0rite one of Gladstone's and President
!! William McKinlcy-only proves that If
the words are potent enough, the nu-
sic, unless it be downright poverty rid
den in idea, of Il hymn may become !,
| household and churchly classic. New
man has written other beautiful poetry
besides this hymn. Dr. Dykes more
ambitious music but without the sue
| cess of Lead, Kindly Light"
Newman composed the hymn Sun
day. June 16. 1888. He was still in the
Church of England. an ordained clcr-
gyman, and in i'll health when he wrote
IL. But his own words should be read:
Il went down to Sicily without COM
panion at the end of April. struck
into the middle of the island and fell
III of Il fever ut Lconforte. My ser
want thought I was dying and begged
my last directions. | gave them as he
wished, but said, 81 shall not die l
repeated Il shall not die for have
sinned against the Light; have sinncd
against the Light ] have never been
able quite to- make out what | meant.
got to Castro-Giovanni and was laid
up there for nearly three weeks. To-
ward the end of May left for Palermo,
taking three days for the journey Be-
fore starting from my inn on the morn
ing of May 26 or II, sat down on my
bed ana began to sob violently. MY
servant who had acted as my nurse,
| asked what allied me. l could only an
| swer him. I have work to do in Eng
| land ] was aching to get home; yet,
| for want Of "a vessel, ! was kept at
| Palermo for three weeks. began to
visit the churches. and they calmed my
impaticncc, though I did not attend
| any of the services At last I got off
In an orange boat bound for Marscilles.
Then II was that ] wrote the lines,
| Lead. Kindly Light We were be-
cnlmed IL whole week in the Straits of
Bonifacin I was writing the whole of
my pnssage."
II was the period of young Ncwman's
greatest spiritual adversely. Tempest
tossed mentally and amid the lovelicst
and most soothing scenery in Europe,
he cOntrived to pen his immortal verse.
He has written much in mctrical form.
Memorials from the Past" as DR..
William Barry says. belong to the
stage known in spiritual writer's as the
dark night Of the SOUL" The sea
cycle, Mari Magno," comprises some of
the eighty five poems written from De-
cember 1882, until he left Marseillcs,
June, 1893. Lead Kindly Light"
among the rest. Barry suggests that
IT may be called the march of the
| tracturian 1nOvemont II is MIRA mol =
ody. austere, yet hopeful, strangely
not unlike the stanzas which Carlyle
has made familiar to the whole Eng
lish race. the Mason Song of Goethe
in it's sublime sadness and invincible
trust. Both are psalms of life, Hebrew
or Northern. chanted in clear obscure
where faith moves onward heroically
| to the day beyond" It Is worthy OF
mention that at Palermo, while visit
ing numerous churches, Newman wrote
20 that thy creed We're sound, thou
Church Of Romc!" an exclamation thai
saw strange modulations dozen year.
afterward.
Effect Of the Hymn.
The tractarian movement seems t
u.s. after q half century and more, like
/ Old unhappy far off things
| And battles long ago,
tut It stirred Great Britain to it's cen.
IT,, in the third decade Of the nine
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