Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1909-08-07

the soul, the 1ineSl aDSlFatlloHS VI
thought. and again OF the heart throbs
Of the people, the homcly joys and
sorrows of common life. He was
equally at home in the castle and
the hut. AS he imaged the mountain
and the sea, the forest. brook and
meadow In nature, so he touched
the heights and the levels of human
life. He talked as he wrote and lived
as he talked. He had in him the ele-
mcnts OF the actor. the painter and the
musician and was the artist in them
all. He was little given to the crowd,
but with those of kindred thought he
was boon companion and stcadfast
friend. His home life was that OF
simple Christian gentleman without
cant and without prctcnse. He was
loved by his queen and loved as much
by the servant about his estate. He
was loved most by those who were
nearest to him, who saw the inner
most recesses of his thought or rs
much of them as everyday mortalS
may see of the soul Of one who talks
with the infinite.
Some one has said that Tennyson
was the wisest man Of his time. Bay
ard Taylor remarked his Intimate ac-
quaintance with science his knowledge
of the geologic formation OF the re
gion in which he lived. He was the
friend OF scientists and statesmen as
well as of men of letters. That there
was nothing little in his nature was
shown by his appreciation OF all con-
temporary poets worthy of the name.
He was Il boon companion Of the Brown
ings and was in touch by letters and
personal contact with men like Glad
stone, Carlyle, Emerson. Longfellow,
Fitzgerald. Tyndall and most of those
who ruled the destinics and nodded
the thought of his time. Gladstone and
Fitzgerald he knew from his youth.
His freedom from pettiness Is charm
ingly shown In little poem to
brother bard who had sent him spite
full letter.
Greater than I? Is that your cry7
And men shall live to see It?
Well, II it be So so it is, you know.
And II 1t be so, so be IT.
When | first read Tennyson's poems
| was struck by wonder and admira-
tlon. When | read his letters | was
drawn to him as to big brother, but
when ] read his life | saw him as
bluff and manly man, touched with
infinite tendcrnesses and living as near
to the Christ ideal as we earth folk
may we'll attain. His 'In Memoriam"
shows the love of an immortal for an
idealized brother, filled with all the
nobility OF sorrow, with all the purity
Of love, with all the highest of faith
and hope. In The Princess" he shad-
ows forth nobler manhood and wo-
manhood, higher marriage, sweeter
and diviner civilization and breathes
through 1t all such music, such an air
from the eternal hills, such an at
mosphere of the things of the soul and
such sense Of the morning of the
humanity that 1t must charm the
world and win 1t to the fulfillment OF
his dream.
To me "The Princess" is his great
est poem. Others think his highest
notes are struck in "The 1dylls of the
King" THE Princess" looks forward,
The IdyllS" backward. One pictures
the golden age ahead; the other pic
lures 1t in the past. Perhaps it Is nei-
ther onward nor behind, but in the
present, If at all. Tennyson himself
said as much in The Golden Year"
Yet if we must place the goal at a
distance l prefer it in the days that
are to come rather than in those that
are no more" 1t Is one thing to sigh
for glory that has gone; it is quite
another to reach out for a glory that
is to be. We have had our eyes too
much on the past. Why not face to the
sunrise? TennysOn believed in the cry
of Forward" in his younger days and
only hushed 1t when an old man
thinking gray thoughts" Well, the
rest of us are not all old and hope
never to be old in spirit, so we may be
permitted to keep the cry of For
ward" now and always. We prefer to
follow TennysOn at his best, not his
worst. "LOcksley Hall Sixty Years
After" is very we'll in its way except
that 1t is too conscious Of those sixty
years. What are years to an immOr-
tai? What are n few revolutions Of
the sun to a race that is going onward
to the heights? If Homer occasionally
nodded, Tennyson may be forgiven a
slight lapse into pessimism that hardly