The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1910-11-12
POET AS WELL ASPLAYVRIGHI
LESS kNOWN SIDE OF TINE LATE
WILLIAM ,ttGHN MOODY.
v ratings On which iiis Friends Believe His
Fame WIN titimatri, Rest-tntimeb
ENDING Of MS I.ahar~ Found hnsplra-
Hon NJ Home His Personal Traits.

yanyhp NIocdy'S TN. Great Divide. has
its nsn.l,iss Where a thousand persons
Gee popular play perhaps on" person
reads poetry 81 when the news came
the other day OF NJ Mondy's sudden
deaf h AZ Colorado Springs. people every
where fell to talking all over again about
The Great Divide and The fath
Healer but there wasn't much I" he
heard in the mSk.t places about The
Fir. Rring.r and The Mas1ue 81 Judg-
men,- which are the two earlier dramas
in verse form.
Yet poetrv was tho chief cunCern "f Mr..
Moosiv's lif. His friends AZ" in"lIh"d
to plac" him n the heat II th" poets ot
his day Popular r-alDarInn Of the real
nature 10 his eminrnce will com" later on
and for a good reason.
MIR Moodys poetry was no more AL
dressed to superior intellectual lew tnAh
hi. prose was lie WAS educatei AT
Harvard and for some years held pro-
censorship IN the University OF Chicago.
He also wrote a text book ON English lit
esature and edited the Cambridge Aiiron.
hut with all this he was just as free from
the academic as he was from the purely
literary faint. as can be seen plainly
enough by reading page OF his poetry
The great simplicity Of the famous
Ode in Time Of Hesitation. first pub
lished in the Atlantic Monthiy. il just a.
pcpularly underst andable a. the theme
Of The Great Divide and a great deal
more stirring Ii has been declared that
there ism anything more humanity NOV
ing. more universal in quality. in Amer'-
can literature than that portrait OF ms
mother that the poet has called The
D@gIIerreotype.
Young. incredibly younger than
spring.- be describes the portrait
But STARTLING the close gaIer With the sense
OF passions forest shy and forest wild
And I-h"aIs dshTIous merrlments
And all IL veil. for have seen them plain,
The unfor G-ttable. the unfor gotten eyes
Across the binding gush o: these good tear,
They shin. n IN the sweet and heavy Years
when bv her he'd and hair
We children gathered .ralously - share
The sIinlIi aura breath.u- rIvrrh and thyme.
whore the sore stricken o, ,'iy made cline
Iisut.cr than May anu r.easante than
rhyme.
Heller and more mystical than prayer
Moody himself was very much what
q discerning reader of his hooks ight
ina ne him tn be. a man of strong. quiet.
elemental simplicity. People who met
him for IN. first time used To- remark
with s,irpris. that he didn't look like
poet.
He was IA -turhily built man Of medium
height with n fin" head. rather full face
and clos. cut SANDY beard. There may
have been suggestion OF tn" scholar
In his appearance. thor" was nothing
OF the romantic or IN" mystic And
he was N innocent nf all eccsntr.c'ties
and attitudes that mer. anecdotes about
him have never found their way into
print and probably never will
For the last ten wears Of his life he spent
part of each year IN New York. For a
long time he had bachelor apartments
In Waverley place. where he found IN.
sscl,ision and the freedom that h. needed
But he never became "A familiar figure
in the city. New York entertained him
for the most part unaware-
The Players Club knew him in-rrmIt-
tenrly He was a member of the American
Institute Of Ar-s ard Letters which -
the nearest approach ~ THIS country
to being an Immortal. But he sedu
lotisly avoided public dinners. for he had
no lasts for dorid occasions and vas not
a speechmaker Tn" theatrical world
never knew him. although from the
beginning of their acquaintance H"Erv
Miller who produced both Tn" Great
Divide and The Faith Healer playing
the Leading part in each. WAS his warm
friend and devoted admlre- And h."
never became a prey fer IN" army Of
Interviewer
Naturally this does nor imply thar no
was a hermit He was "A man NJ too greet
a heart Of too profoundly human sym
pathies ever to sat himself apart from the
currents 81 life He loved life and its
adventurings. His friends picture him
an the hest Of companions under all cir
ciimstances. sympathetic. humorous alert
Strangers may sometimes have thought
him silent, but he was far from being
either inar'iculat" or shy. II" probably
did not talk freely except when he was
with his clos. friends who could under
stand him. and then he talked richly
wisely. wonderfully, as poets must Per
hans this too ~ a part of that gift for
friend ship upon which any one who knew
him will lay stress
Few men hav. been 80 da.plv loved
have inspired such enduring friendships
His friends wer. hrs prophets And he
did rot of course win devotion by any
superficial tricks IT personality. hu,
merely by being n his friends all hel"v.
Q man Of natural greatness
One Of Moody main distractions was
wholly unsuspec'ed "" VA extremely
fond Of painting. an art that he followed
purely unprofe~-Ionally. but with how
grea, or how littl" -"riou-ness p@rhags
no one altogether knows n. had AZ AL
events, studied little and IN. thing vas
probably to a larg. extent an expression
Of that love. ~ color which was on. OF
his well known characteristics His apart
ment IN New York used TO contain vari-
Gus Interesting specimens Of hl- own
work. studies both in portraIture and N
landscape. But the arts are NOT strangers
10 each other and hay" often been com
bined before
II may be thar his chief deli ght always
lay in travel He. knew England and
Spain and Italy and Greco. and knew