The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1909-03-04

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were not made by one poet only, but
are the versified thoughts, longings,
struggles, dreams, emotions, sentiments
and ideals of na,lon, or of related
tribes, and cover epochs on epochs,
evoiutions OH evolutions, in their his
toric lives, the languages they are writ
), ten in can never die as long as there
are minds that respond and human
hearts an souls that long for them as
the only Interpreters of the innermost
soul-life Of Intellectual beings. When
I make the stasemt mt II at it is the
poets that crt ate the language of
given people do not mean to say, no
poets no people. l mean to say that
the vocabulary of language may exist
and will exist, whether there are poets
or not But it. is consumptive corpse
until TN inspired poet is born TO infuse
his God-given mental life 1nto it and
give it a soul. When make the state
ment that language once immortal
lied by an inspired poet can never die,
1 do not mean to say that such a lam
guage will continue to live Oh the pratt
ling tongues Of nation as a medium
of speech, but that there always will be
some inspired species Of the human
race that will know it and be inspired
by it's treasures.
The grandest and most perfect poem
l ever read is the Song of Moses, which
you can read for yourself i'll your Bib.e.
You will find it in the fifteenth chapter
of Exodus. lis, by many historical
students, CT tnsidered to be the oldest
poem in the world. 1t is great; it is
beautiful it is grand! And take the
poems of David, the royal hard of
Israel, or the song q songe of Salomo,
, and the b Jok of Job. Ifthele are any
. feelings, any emotions, any sentiments
or any ideals in your soul that you do
not find an expression for OF an ex-
, plan ition of in thete biblical poems,
you are either more or less than CON-
mon mortal.
Poesy is indt ei the opened book of
, the soul, of the soul of nature and of
the soul of God himself. In this con-
ne :tion we can call the inspired
| poets prophets aud S, ers as the nation
of Israel did, or OWNERS and foletellers
! as the Romans did. Because they see
and divine and fol- etell the mysterious
and hidden things of the human soul
r the soul of nature aud the soul of God
! as it reveals itself in its relations to the
!. individual 6, the natl, rs and the uni.
II vert as whole.
h The Cracks called poet "poieten,'
! which is derived from the Greek velt
9 }"poiein"-to make A poet is indeed 9
! maker, creator indel endent of every
q thing IT, at all the other arts must bullG
l. ON or use as basis for their respective
works. The poets know Nd limit tt
h their creative Imagination. They soal
n and tn. sink independent of time o.
+ space or mental laws. They create
Y ideals, emoti, MS and sentiments in tn,
Y divine depths of their imaginativ,
e souls. and then create the language il
o which to clothe item. They are tn
j. be aven-chosen lighlbearers and illumi
ID nators of their race and their age, ant
ID for ages to come. They enlighten tn
f. minds of their people, SO they becon
" able to choose the right way on whic
i'd to 90 forward; and when the way
or found they illuminate 1t and keep
nr constantly in view before the very eye
of their people. And when ill luc
lg falls like mantle of sorrow and deaf
in upon their nation or upon any part {
u the human race as such in any part {
te the world, they are at hand with the
it songs and divine sayings, tiat sootht
ly and consoles and heals, like the etern'
m balsam of the elysian hills, all tt
NJ bruises and wounds, and point to IL
ty never fading sun Of renewed hope an
ot renewed action.
IN Give me the Bible; give me Vire
ed and Homer; give me Dante, Milton al
nd Shakespeare; give me Goethe, Schill
he and Ibsen; give me the Vedas, Kalav
[b- Ia, Nibelungenlied and the Eddie
lie. ard you can take away every 9th
as book in the world. l do not need the
sm and shall not long for them, as loI
nd as you allow me to keep and enjoy t
les literary diamonds Of my choice.
ed Gentlemen, ask you to 60 to I