The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-20
CEMUS AND MANNERS
By MISS zETELLA COOKIE.

Years ago, when our tutors and governeeses were striving to impress us with the, sound philosophy as well as the exquiite poetry of Tn Mernor.- sm"--when sliterary men and lovers of books. stood In doorways of publish CTS and booksellers, and repeated time and again the felicitous phrase, Ten nyson has done as much for friend ship. as Petrarch did for love-" when the IdylIs of the King and the rapient. Maxims, of Locksley Hall, came trip ningiy to the lips of sweet girl grad uates. when every steamer on the At lantic and Mediterranean was not crowded with American tourists. and the pensions of the Continent regis tered as many names European as American. an Incident occurred which sent a thrill through the hearts of the fair occupants of American drawing rooms and imported piquant flavor to the conversation of literary CO., ssries in Boston. Charleston and New York. Fsi ss , < sfsse
 It wac . very simple incident. if not a trifiing one--an incident so simple that $ child might easily have read 1t, and q wayfaring man, though fool, needed not to have erred there- in.
 One fine day in his home In the Is@ of Wight, Mr. Tennyson sat at his IF brary table writing calmly and quiet- iy. The windows of the library were quite low and opened upon a beauti- full green sward. Suddenly a party of American tourists. needless of paths, crossed the sward, and hatten% cd their noses against the window panes of the library, intently staring at the unconscious writer. Just how long these intrepid gazers. So laud- ably in quest of information, con-' 64.xstAA fa ataro ia mt an recOrd. hut suddenly khe unconscious writer at the library table became conscious of the curious eyes and numerous heads, which darkened his window-panes and rising from his chair, walked hastily to the windows and pulled down the bIindl Only this and nothing moreI E Yet the fair tourists exclaimed in one breath,
 sHow very ruder' and the brave tourists echoed "veryr'
 That these tourists took notes and printed them goes withou saying and various papers and Journals in the United States recorded the incident and criticized the conduct of Eng land. Laureate. and many very ready, if not very able pens. careered over paper in discussion of the incompat. ability of genius and good mannersI Now, would 1t be unfair to ask, if there could be a more commonplace, more natural or a more logical act, than the one which Mir. Tennyson per- formed. Is there clerk, a business man. a seamstress. who sits in her chamber, assiduously plying hcr nee de, who would not have done the same thing. Nay, is there secretary or ofIicial in Boston or any other city who would not have endeaV oredl to protect himself from such unwarrant- able intrusion? Is not privacy an tn- aItenable right. if men of genius. as well as of men who are destitute or talent or education1
 Persons who possess genius are not necessarily immune from temper or sensitivity, they are human beings and share the faults and weaknesses of the great brotherhood of man. Is it true that persons without genius are also without temper? To have plactd- Iy continued his werk, under the per- sistent gaze of this reconnoitering party would have argued that the poet laureate was more pachyderma- tous than all the pach yderins of the tropics. One of the most noticeable Of Tennyson's personal peculiartttes was his love of privacy and distaSte for personal notoriety.' The manners of these later years. which refuse to sire to exploit a living and a dead man'h koibles or seccentricities, he looked upon with inefEabls disdain. He resented the intrusions of the Vul- Rarly curious and defended himself from the forward and pushing, by as- suming a demeanor so hostile that the most brazen were repelled. This he did not hesitate to say he had right to do, and after having suffered much from tn c intrusion of strangers, guard ed himself so carefully. that one day Prince Albert was denied admission. yet upon days appointed for the recep- tion of visitors he was not only cour- teous, but kind and cordial. Surely the poet, like tho ploughman, has a right to privacy.