Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1909-08-28

+. y a. I. q
" ONDON, Aug. 15-fselgium
which has prided itself upon its
reputation for business and I 8
contempt for the finer things IN
life il at last waking up to the
knowledge that IT has produced a rev
literary men who deserve q place ~
The first rank, and the first sign OF this
awakening is the announcement that
NJ G Darlington is about TO publish
a series of Biographies Of Belgian Ut
craly worthless,
First Of them all, Of course. Is Mae
tcrlinclS Nho is the subject ol an eN
celent essa by Gerard Harry WnleLl
reveals !, number of things not known
b. ffre about the great Flemish phil"S-
opher. .and which perhaps may serve
tn correct a number Of false impress
siopS about him which have gsune1
6uircncS
II seems almost absurd to THINK Az
this quiet mystic ana tIaNscetlaGliluilSs
was once lawyer but this = the 80
and What is more. he hcAuhtiE pfac-
Used He was the son of notary
and was trained for the bar. where X
earned his living for Il snort tnis'
Soon. however. he came 10 the col-
oluslon that the law was not bis niia-
tress ana turned 10 literature, ariit'hA
gradually into the calling %hieh ne nov
adorns.
In no sense q morbid man--sahie,
rather. and clear in intellect as he IS.
sound ana robust in hody-lic has al
ways shrunk from the gaze OF the
crowd: and in the earliest days OF ms
celebrity we find him writing 70
friend in comic horror Mt the visit o
two reporters who suddenly tumbled
into my soup.
All his life he has been q comnuner
with the mystirs and the transcendcii-.
talists. from Christ TO Novalis and
from NovaliS to the sweet-Souled New
England philosopher. Emerson His
mental attitude is one Of ceaselcss IN
tcrrogntion. "Quel mystere avons nous
5Iaiss,s derriere nous? Dams quel mSs-
tere cntIerons-no au bout de ce voy-
age dun iour?'' C"What mystery lies
behind us2 Upon what mystery shall
we enter when this journey of day Is
ended?'o
RELIGION CRITICISED.
Maeterlinck's religion has been much,
and even holly, debated by some.
among his critics, who seem to think
that II pleases him to play the con1u-
rer with his readers, 90 pose them now
with one and now with some other
riddle of the universe. 1seit not fair
. CT 10 ltSulu llIlil " SPtSlisit't st'''
questioning his way through the prob
lens which alone make the universe
of interest to us?
He works rapidly enough under In
spiration, but by the time his pen is in
hand the chief labor Of creation has
been accomplished Since in Maetcr-
tlinck's case fame has brought With it
the secondary reward or riches, he is
beyond the necessity of driving a tired
or irresponsible quill, and MI. Harry
says that the task Of writing is some
times intermitted for weeks together.
A PRoDIGIous READER. S
But, writing or not writing, he knows
no idle season. no idle hour He tends
his bees, his orchard, and his garden.
He is Il prodigious and laborious read
or. He delights in exercise-cycling,
skating, fishing, motoring. His winters
are spent for the most part In a para.
disc of the south near Grasse, and
summer finds him IN the marvellous old
Norman abbey OF st. Wandrille, itur-
chased by Maeterlinck after its ev1c-
uatEnn by a company of 400 Bened'c-
tines.
A NATIONS GRATITUDE.
Nothing has revived the feeling ia
favor of more equitable copyright Laws
more than the announcement a few
weeks ago that the government hid de-
cided to grant to the grand3uusIt ers OF
Charles Dickens pensions: OF 1873 a year.
Think of 1t. u pittaate of less than $3.50
a week for the heirs of lie man who
wrote ''Oliver Twist and the Pick
wick Papers!, III Is pointed out that
many men have grown rich by the ex
poitation of the property created by
the brain OF Chrales Dickens. while he
died worn out and poor because there Is
no law to protect literary property after