The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-03-05

Sf'ui4'A% tiuEii'fltUS one. Is
glorious thing. But w. J. Locke =
something more: he IS a poet. No
one has made this observation before.
so far as | know. hut | repeat the
statement: Mr.. Locke belongs 10 the
company Of hardS. True. he does not
express himself through the Medium
OF verse; hut neither did Carlyle and
IhoTcau. who were, IS we all rerog
nize now. among the most genuine
poets Of the nineteenth century. FER
haps the most precious Of the poets
gifts is imagination. and few writer's
are blessed with more OF that gift
than IS Mr.. Locke. The GlorN and
freshness Of the Tainno~ -hled dream
have never. for him. faded into the
ligh, Of common day and therein
lies the secret Of that trA~nscrndentai
something which makes some uf his
descriptions much more than nero
/! pretty pictures. Take. for instance,
the following word pastel. quiet.
nIo~dest-colores. Totally free from the
fiainboyant or grandilnquent. but
none-the-leSs -XQuisiIely Doeti,al.
1T was a soft NoNember q fun
Of blue mist. and invested with i
dying grace by a pale sunshine strue-
Cling through thin, grey rain-cloud.
II was a faded lady of a day-a lady
Of Waxen checks. attired in pearl
grey and old lace. her dim eyes IL
lurnined by q last smile. II gave an
air OF UnreafitV to the perspective or
tall buildings, and treated with in
dulgent irony The Passing show Of
humans. on foot, on omnibus.s, in
cabs and understanding them into
shadow shapes tending no whittier
l laughed 70 myself. They All fancied
themselves SO real. They al had
schemes in their heads, as If they
were going to ike a Thousand years
/ t1nfiyriCt raalicf nbilnCnnhor NJ
Inorist. poet. These, then. are the
epithets by which l should character
lee William J. Locke. OF his plots
| nave said nothing; for there is really
little to say OF them. except that
they bear about the same relation to
his novels as clotheS-haDgers Dear to
d gentleman's wardrobe. They are.
in short, good enough as far az they
go; but like the plots of Thackeray
they have little use, except TO hrlng
out and develop character.
Locke's Present and Future.
/ have already Indicated that
Locke's career OF triumphs is about
sever years Old. il having had lis in
ceptiun with the success OF The
Morals Of Marcus 0rdeNnt' Ia05l.
Whether or not his art has crown
; greatly during that period is = mat
: ter open to dispute. C.rtainl, how
ever, he has not refrigerated. Gle
, mentina' has all the charm OF
+ "Marcus," besides some fresh charms
all her own and stella MeriS.' tho
. first installfnent of which anpeartd i'll
! the January number Of the Cen
, tnry," starts out IS rromiSingly -
: anything which Mr.. Locke has given
, US. OF course it cannot be said that
Iocke's sailing has been absolutely
smooth during every ONE Of
! the seven years since the appearance
of Marcus More han Il little
lxouhlc, It viii b remembered. wa.
, experienced by "Septimus'' IN trying
to win his way into h good .races
Of the critics. The trouble was, the
big puhlic-the vulgar, philistire.
unarademic, grounding public, II YOU
. please insisted on dragging Sept
mus into the best seller column and
. then the inevitable occurred. Lofty
broWs were wrjnkled with displeas-
ure, the iudicious went into mourn
ing. and the Saturday supplements
. and ladies' rcading-cirCleS decided
that "Septimus' must be rated as a
rather cheap attennt 70 gain the ~
plause Of the upper balconies Bn,
2 despite critical ludglnents-and de-
r spite also The fact that in "Septlmus
. appears Glenn Svpher, MIR. Locke
one absolutely preposterous, abso-
lutely imnossible character-"Septi-
mus has weathered the critical
storms, and nov. after three years
:, shows no signs whatsoever Of an early
!, demise. Indeed, ! suspect that IT
i the final analysis "Stptinus' viii 20
voted one Of the uittiest things 10 ke
+, ever did. But be that as 1t may
there can be no doubt that for The
= present his Very vogue has cost hin
>, some OF the sArions recognition dut
him. SeptiInuS vas temOOrarfly
), damned by over-popularity, and
= similar fate has befaIlen at least on.
) Of Mr.. Locke's later productions, IN,
ie novel in question having had the MS
l. fortune to make its first
:, in q widely circulated penodica
r which in general shows a much
greater preference for the Robert W
"a Chambers sort Of stuff than for rea
literature. But It will take more Tia
the applause Of the uncultivateN