The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-12-01


 club yesterday morning with Mrs. John
 N Cartwright was one of the most deiightful occasions that It's members
 ever enjoyed-not merely in its social
 features which, owing to Mrs. Cart
 wright's charm as hostess and to
 the presence of a number of guests-in addition to the club members. were de- liebtf,,l. but because of the exquisite programme.
 Mrs. Leonard T. Beecher addressed
 the club. In this fact lay much of the appreciation of Mrs. Cartwrights splen
 did hospitality. Her subject, "The Mis-
 sion of Poetry" was peculiarly ap- r,ropriate for no one is more capable of realizing the beauty in this most subtle and elusive of arts than this wonderful woman. The thoughts and ideals that she presented to her hear CTS were clothed in her own poetic terms and delivered in that exquisite .lv magnetic manner which has given her first place among the dramatic readers of this country. Her hearers were uplifted by the spiritual plea that underlay her utterances. Commenting upon the trend of modern literature
 the oleverness, the wit and, withai, the pictures of evil of which many or
 the plays are builded, she referred to
 the influence of the drama upon the
 youth of the country, mentioning the
 fact that the influence of the stage
 Is introduced to them at the most im-
 portant and the most susceptible pe-
 riod of their lives. Her plea that the beauty and freshness of youth be not sullied by the cynicism and pessimism which enter from contact with many of the modern plays was one that was echoed by every member Of the as- semblage. She spoke. too, of her own great love for the stage, and for the | beautiful and wholesome in literature as well, and of the wide field In It, erature and art from which one may choose.T A lovely comparison was made here.
 There are literary and dramatic hath ways." she said, which take us over soft green meadows, by murmur- | ing streams, through sweet baisam groves. There are lovers. lanes DOT dered with sweet brier and honey suckle: there are dramatic highways for the spirit as well as foul lanes Touching upon the value of the lm- agination, Mrs. Beecher said:
 | Tt Is the imagination that builds
 the cities; that dots the seas with ships; that plants the seeds for the harvest; that wins the great battle; that writes the great books, the his tories as well as the romances. It IS
 the wings by which we fly beyond the land that Is very far off, It Is not
 given to all to carve statues, to build ca tn edrals, to write poems, or to paint pictures, and yet all are engaged in 1 work of greater significance. The Sis tine Madonna, the Beethoven symph- onies, the Shakespearean plays are often all only. the visible emblems of
 the immortal life of the soul. Above all other arts ranks the fine art. Of living It is the origin of art, and 1t Is as much greater than all the arts as God Is greater than any of his works. It is in this daily living that | imagination fulflls its highest destiny | It is the quality that enables us to put | ourselves in another class; to look at him not as a mere creature of dust, but a brother, co-heir with us of all l the ages. It enables us to understand
 his temptations and estimate the value
 of his victories and the significance of his failures. It enables us to burnish
 the commonplace actualities of life Into
 the infinite possibilities of existence. Our longing for sympathy Is so great that some of us think of heaven as the place where we shall know as we are known" We say our lover Is another self because he enters into and understands lhe struggles and yearnings-the intan- gible yearnlngs-of the heart The trag- edies in life are played in the homes where this intimate and kindly sympathy is not; in the homes where the prosaic, cold, hard, conventional standards, the stupid prejudices, take the place of a lov- ing and sympathetic imagination. It is impossible to estimate how much of the
 misery and pain of the world are in- flicted by well-meaning, self-righteous, but unimaginative souls. With our very own we are. unjust, hard, cruel, unfor- giving. We sin against our dearest, not because we do not love them, but be- cause we Go not imagine"
 Mrs. Beecher brought out the following thoughts:
 'Arlo Bates, in one of his essays uses the term, experiencing literature in the same sense as the old-fashioned phrase, experiencing religion It seems happy phrase here-experiencing literature, talk ing 1t to heart and getting to it's heart.
 entering into the. creative thought which
 is its soul. The ideal is not acquisi-
 tion. but assimilation and expression. The
 life should testify to the broadening of
 the sympathies and sensibilities. Cardi-
 nal Newman warns us that the danger of
 an elegant and polite education is that
 It separates feeling and action; it teaches
 us to speak, think and be affected alright,