Evening star., 1909-05-07

capital of the nation a statue in memory
of Henry W. LongfeIow. the poet of the
! American freside. From the resolutions
passed by that meeting grew the move
ment which has resulted in the statue
which We meet here to dedicate this after
noon. 1t has been long and in some
ways a difficult task to bring the enort
to completion. and but for the enthusiasm
| awakened by the poets name. as we'll as
for the sense of obligation felt by those
who realize how deeply they were
themselves indebted to him for the high
est influences which have nodded their
own education. the task would be still
far from completion. But the work has
carried with it its own reward. and those
who have gathered the funds to build the
monument have been surprised and de-
lighted to find from what often appa-
rently strange and unsuspected sources
have come to them tributes both in con-
tributions and in grateful letters to the
hitherto unsuspected affections awakened
by the appeal made throughout the land.
Just as in a we'll known poem by
Bret Harte little band of miners in
a camp amid the rockies is strangely
moved by the story of the wanderings of
Little Nell In Dickens story as the rough
workmen threw down their tools around
the blazing fire beneath the lonely pines
In California. SO there has come to us
in the rough and rude handwriting of men
scenes of hardship the story of what
they owed the poet. whom they had never
seen, but whose strong and fragrant ma
ture they had learned to almost worship.
The Love of Human Kind.
''It is certainly interesting to notice
how America. the land which has hitherto
been too busy with doing the rough work
of our time to permit 1t to essay many
of the finer tasks of the intellectual world,
has. nevertheless. in the last few genera
tions produced here and there a work
man whose name is today among the very
first of those who in history have come
to the foremost places of human achieve
ment. When. If we are asked for an
Illustration of this, any human being
calls for his name whose fame is the
greatest among those who united char
acter with achievement in hundred gem
erations. the world answers unanimously
and without a moments hesitation.
Washington. Or, again, should the in
quiry be made. who has been the most
loved leader and the purest democrat
known to humanity the answer voices
the universal testimony of mankind,
Abraham Lincoln We cannot give other
names as illustrious as these, and, indeed.
it is well for our mOdesty that, having
mentioned the two foremost, we are
obliged to yield place. But it Is worth
our while to notice that when we touch
on men of lesser achievement we find
that among Americans pre-eminently a
part of their celebrity seems generally
to connect itself with the fact that. who
ever they were. they loved their human
kind and. while men of brains, possessed
also delicate and tender hearts.
''Such name do we present for your.
applause today. We do not claim for
Longfellow that his is the largest fame
among modern poets. but that. while his
name is indisputaby in the first ranks,
and while we have good authority for
stating that there has hardly been an
other poet so widely read among all
classes and all ages in modern times,
there has never been another one in this
country so dear to the American people.
1t was once said of great preacher by
a rough workingman: If he has done no
more than he did for my soul he would
shine as the stars forever Such. too.
was the verdict passed by the multitude
of our American people-aye. and Eng
lish. Scotch and Irish people as we'll
when we asked their contributions to-
ward the Longfellow statue.
Ranked Among the Best.
Let us not dispute his claims with
those of other poets, for we shall all
Rank him among the best. But his
statue stands here, and will stand, If for
no other reason than simply because we
can say that every one loved the poet.
Let us gather around this bronze the.
premely, and yet with a certain SIM
plicity. him who was known to all his
readers as the White Longfellow.'
White in his character, white in his
achievements, white in his sympathy
with all the sorrows and aspirations Of
the men and women about him. This
gave to his poetry says a keen OBJ
server. the human element which made
thousands feel as if this poem or that
verse was written for each Of them es-
pecially and made in thousands Of
hearts in many lands shrine Of rev.
erence and affection for his name.
Through this sympathy thousands of
grateful hearts had been touched, COM
forted and uplifted-made more gentle
more courageous, more full of holy
trust in God, of faith in Immortality
THE gratitude of many of England's
best and noblest has placed his image
among her own honored dead in the
shadowed seclusion of Westminsters
poets corner. Now, and we trust for
ever. here in the capital OF the coun-
try which he loved. and Of which he
wrote so magnificently in that picture
of Ship of State which shall never die,
the beautiful face and the kindly eye
shall live, let US hope. forever. but his
works are his lasting monument, and
his memory is in the keeping Of those
whom his song has charmed and