The Washington herald., 1910-11-13

Deeu Wei SAID ttidt IL u lfftb poem
that has made them so. These who
remember It's frst appearance know
what wonderful freshness it had. Il
was copied far and wide.
Young men read The Psalm OF
Lifes with delight; their hearts were
stirred By It as by a bugle sum-
mons II reused them to high re-
solve. and Weakened them to a new
sense of the meaning and worth Of
life. They did not stop to ask crit
ieaIly whether or not il passed the
line which separates poetry from
preaching, or whether It's didactic
merit was a poetic defect Il was
enough that it inspired them and
enlarged their lives.
Thirty years after the poem was
published a man high in the com
munity for integrity and generosity.
came TO his old professor in chem
istry and reminded him of his hav-
ing one day read this poem TO his
class: He said: II feel that I can
never repay you for the good you
did me that day in reading US the
Psalm of Life. l grasped it's spirit
instantaneously and made 1t the in
spiration Of my life
Mr.. Summer tells Of a classman Of
his wins was saved from suicide by
reading the poem. And as late as the
period OF the Franco-German war.
Gen Meredith Read relates this in
cident:
In the midst of the siege Of Paris
a venerable man presented himself
TO me, bowed with grief He said:
I am Monsieur r., procureur gen
eral OF the Cour de Cessation.
have just learned that nay son has
been arrested by the German au~
thOrities al Versailles on an entirely
unfounded charge He is to. be sent
to a German fortress and may be
condemned TO death. ! am here alone
and helpless. / feel that my mind
will give away if ! cannot ind oc-
cupatiOn; can you tell me OF some
English book / can translate into
Frenchg
1 promised TO do so, and he left
me. Within an hour or two how
ever. ! received a line from him.
saying that he had found what he
required 4 few days afterward he
came again to see me; but now
erect, his face bright with hope. his
voice clear and strong. He said:
! have been translating Longfellow's
Psalm OF Life" and I am a new
man feel that my mind is
saved, and that faith and hope have
taken the place OF despair. l owe 1t
all to Longfellow.
In Mr. LOngfellOw's journal" in
which he chronicIed daily things
that came under his observation. he
notes on March 3. 1855: Il drove
over TO BrOokline TO see Mrs Fol-
len. whom We find, with her radiant
face and snowy hair. She read US a
passage from letter she had just
received from Lady Byron, IN which
she said that she heard dying sol
der on the field before SabastapOl
reciting the line:
Foot prints on the sands OF time
And again in the same Journal
Mr.. Longfellow notes that upon a
certain occasion he attended a
church where the minister took as
his subject Progress" He was
very much flattered when the latter
quoted about half Of the vPsalm of
Life" After repeating the verses.
the minister said: i could never
read that poem without feeling the
Inspiration with which il was writ
ten"
To this incident Longfellow adds:
But ] had the conceit taken out Of
me on the evening Of that day,
when ! happened to meet lady at
Preseotts. and in our conversation
she referred to the sermon in the
morning. and added. He quoted
some beautiful verses. but nobody
knew from whence came the quota
ton
Mr. Robert Ferguson. of Carlisle.
England. upon his visit 10 America.
had a letter of Introduction 10 Mr..
Longfeliow. and in his book writ
ten on America uUon his return
home, he notes that The table OF
Mr.. LOngfellow's library is strewn
with books and presentation copies
in various Ianguages-ay. even in
Chinese. But the ways OF the Chi
nese are not as apt as our ways; and
this presentation copy was in the
shape of a fan, on which a poet OF
the Fiowery Kingdom had written a
translation of The Psalm of Life
and If the translation was as good
as the writing, assuredly the work
was well done" This fan was sent
The question has sometimes been
asked, who is the 'Psalmist' to
whom the heart of the young man
responds? AS none of the Hebrew
Psalms is remembered as contain
ing the combated expression. Il
has been supposed that the word
should have been Preacher" Ia ref
erenca 10 Ecclesiastes. But we have
the authors own word. written in
after years, that the "Psalmist" was
neither David nor solomon, but
simply the writer of the Psalm"
II was the young mans better heart,
answering and refuting his own
mood of dependency.
he Press Company)