The advocate. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1901-1913, 1907-02-28
HENRY w. LONGFELLOW.

HENRY w. LONGFELLOW.
Yesterday was the centenary Of
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow; an
hundred years ago was born that
poet who gave certain new charac-
ter to American literature, and who
wrote himself into the hearts Of chill
dren. That is not to say that he did
not impress matuted folk; but rath-
er, that he did, and in addition to
that, wrote with such powerful SIM
plicity as indellibly to imprint his
inspirations upon even child, who
when full years he attained, remem-
turn celebrated them to his children.
Byrons do not come in armies; in
deed they are so rare as not, until
this day, to have produced but one
in the soil of the earth. To blend rO~
nance and philosophy, and season,
it with language strong enoN@h,
and daring enough, imme-
diately to excite men to read
and ponder, has been the fortune of
but few men, comparatively, Of
course, since the art Of poetry was
handed down to man from ParnasZ
Sus
All over the country yesterday the
life, character and work of Lonsfel-
low were celebrated in song and
story by men famous in their sever
al. divisions Of human endeavOr. The
magazines this month are perfectly
drowned with him, and the metro
.politan press in it's Sunday editions,
literally filled with this mans work.
Many writers have pushed aside the
Vell, and bade us see him as he was;
strangely, and then not each man
who has CSSayed to analyze his char
actcr, found something differing
completely from the elements, both
IN the matter of his makeup and
achievement, discovered by his con-
temporary, as widely noted for dis
corning shrewdness and acuuaint
ance with the fundamentals Of char
acter, and poetry, and the phiIoso-
ply OF events as they appear to poet
ic fervOr, as the other essayisf
lhese dlferCnccS in opinion, and
lack Of uniformity Of estimate OF
any man, is, however, the very es-
sencc Of geographic philosophy. and
"lthOut 1t the study Of man by men
VINO have come after, would afford
out lltClC pleasure, and still less DrO-
lit. SO, we pass over these differences
as 10 lOnSfellOW and remember him
only as good, strong man. who saw
III" from certain angle, and pleas
lnEly described it according to his
powers. That is individuality. The
cNcrciS" Of that kind Of individuality
IS the base Of all schools Of poetry
oven as it is the bases Of all school,
mat max" up the sum Of existence.
Some Of LOngfellow's poems arc
immortal. They will be first in the
mouth OF children for all time, be.
N"""I 'iI'y are real poems. LODgfS1
low may have been a church-goinr
poet, as some say, but the world Is
GIad that he did 50 attend, for with
out his docilc presence at the regular
worship, would we have had "Tnt
village Blacksmith Vino docs not
remember that poem, or has not re.
! cited it, or does not feel like start.
ing towards promised immortaljt,
Whcn the rCmCmbrances Of it rises
before him? Not one. "EvangeIinc'
Hawthorne, the first American lit
erateurs, implored to be read tc
MIN as he lay dying upon his couch
! ilaWatha," with it's powerful real
ism, could have been written only
by a poet, whose divine afT1atus
trembled never and was brave. We
nave no desire to pose as Longfel
lows defender, but merely grasp the
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