The Washington herald., 1907-03-10

IS memorial service 10 keep green
the memory OF some one Of our great
authors or poets who has passed from
this life / attended the meeting held
last Sunday evening 81 All Souls under
the direction OF the Unitarian Club. in
c0mmemOratioH OF the centenary OF the
birth OF LonsfeIlov
Hon. William T. Chandler. president
OF the club. delivered an Introductory ad-
dress. u was especially interesting on
account OF its personal references. lie
told Of mis- loyalty to Cnltarianism-a life
long loyalty. Beginning his membership
when a boy Of ten. the glowing words of
Rev. William Ellery Claiming and Rev
William Tildeu brough; % his mind the
things worthy of LIES best effort He
said Claiming and Tilden were his two
ministers. LOngfellOw and Whittier his
TWO poets.
Public Librarian George IS. Bowerman
said that while only time will tell the
place L0nEfeIlow is 10 hold among the
poets as the ages pass judging from
the present he seems 20 be one of the
immoTtals. as there IS always a great de-
mand for his poems
Or. Hannis Taylor contributed charm
ing talk. In which wit ana interesting
personal views were mingled delightfully."-.
To him Poe's Raven is the greatest
poem ever written typifying as il does.
the mystery that brO0ds over life. After
that comes Longfellow's Psalm of Life"
and pre-eminently the lines
nd mr. hn1vsr sr,o.,-y, .t4.t 49,
Still like mueled drums are bCatirc
Funeral marches 20 the grave
which have In them the throb that min
giles everywhere with our humauity-Iines
that DR.. Taylor thinks, will live as long
as our language endures.
Rev. Dr. Edward Everett Hale. i'm
his matchless way. told Of the
long friendship between himself and
the gentle poet-a friendship that
began with Longfellow as teacher
and DR.. Hale as pupil. It seemed fresh
as If never told before, coming from Dr.
Hale-the beautiful story Of L0ngfell0w's
gracious manner and ever-ready helpful
ness 70 all who came to him for assist
ance. from the poor man who wanted a
pair Of brogans TO keep his feet from the
wet 10 the writer who needed help with
his newly Hedsed literary efforts Dr.
Hale spoke Of the beauties Of Evan
geline" and Of the perfect way in which
the poet had caught the very atmosphere
Of ACadie-sO perfectly, indeed. that It
has been said that he visited the spot
before writing the poem. The house
where ne lived while there is even pointed
out. In spite Of which," said Dr. Hale
''Longfellow told me he was never there
IN his life" In touching and eloquent
words the great preacher closed by saying
Longfellow had the wisdom that Paul
tells about. that in q rare degree he pos
sessed the wisdom that is from above
which is first pure, then peaceable, gen
tie. and easy to be entreated. full Of
mercy and good fruits, without partiality
and without hypocrisy"
The Unitarians have been from the be
ginning pioneers in all kinds of philan-
thropic work, and it is interesting to re-
call. in view Of the fact that President
Roosevelt has so recently had the Nobel
prize conferred upon him. that under
Unitarian auspices the subject of uni
VCTsal peace was first given special at
teution in America. Noah Worcester, a
member of the Unitarian Church IN Bos-
ton, who was called the apostle Of
peace" organized the first peace society
in the world. and for several years edited
the first periodical advocating the cause
Rev. Joseph Tuckerman, also a member
Of the Unitarian denomination, began in
1876 noble work among the poor of BOs-
ton. All the modern ideas on the subject
of assisting the poor. whatever has been
accepted under the name of associated
charities, was put into practice by him
in Boston before 1880. and advocated in
his reports and in his books.
ELIZABETH FRENCH.