The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-09-16
EDITORIAL NOTES

The first attempt of the English. to
esta blish dominion over South Africa
was made 11S years ago today, when
the British flag was raised on the Cape
of Good Hope, where Dutch colony
had existed since 1850 The English
occupation continued until 1902, when
the country was restored to the Dutch
by the peace of Amiens. The British
again assumed possession in 1906, and
in 1914 Cape Colony was definitely
ceded to England and became the nu-
cIeus Of the present great dominion,
the Union of South Africa. The sPor-
settled it, and the English developed
it. In 1889 a scheme of public schools,
drawn up by Sir John Herschel, came
into operation, and has since been
vastly improved. until now every
child, white and black, enjoys the bene
fit of the best educational facilities
The first newspaper, printed in Eng
fish and Dutch, appeared in 1924, and
was the forerunner of large. we'll
edited and influential press. The pio-
neer paper was suppressed by des-
potic governor, and the Indignation of
the colonists resulted in the dismissal
of the governor and the granting of a
free press to the colony. Cape Town,
founded by the Dutch in 1852. has, I'M
der century of English rule, become
beautiful and flourishing modern
metropolis.
Alfred Noyes, the distinguished Eng
lish poet who recently visited America
as a, peace emissary,'' will celebrate
his thirty-third birthday today. Mr..
Noyes enjoys an enviab1e distinction
among bards in that, from the very
beginning of his career, he has been
able to dine regularly from the pro-
I- aF 1,i~ of
who lives in an attic and subsists on
occasional repasts of bread and beer,
and cheese is a common enough figure,
but the bard who can translate the
muses. into three squares per diem,
and who lives in a luxurious hotel, is
unique in literature.
Mr.. Noyes was born in Staffordshire,
Sept. 16, 1880, and was educated at OK
ford He had just attained his ma
jority when he published his first
volume of verse, 'The Loom of Years
This was followed by numerous lyric
contributions to the leading magazines
and reviews of England and America,
most of which have been brought out
in book form and have enjoyed a large
sale on both sides of the Atlantic. The
intrinsic value of the efforts of the
youthful poet won high praise from
such competent critics as Edmund
Gosse, Swinburne, Kipling and Watts
Dunton.
The poet is famed as an apostle of
peace, but he doesn't look the part He
is husky of frame, over six feet In
height. and a thorough athlete, having
pulled an oar in the college eight at
Oxford for three years His wife is an
American woman, the daughter of a
United States army officer. As lee
turer the poet is polished in diction,
but his enunciation is vigorous, and he
talks straight from the shoulder. He
looks like one of those peace advo
Gates who are so determined to have
peace that they are willing to fight
for it. And, for all his wooing of the
muses. and his praise of the gentle
dove, Mr.. Noyes appears able to put
up lively scrimmage.
It see no reason to apologize because
the practice of my art enables me to
live in comfort and pay my bills de-
clares the prosperous poet. Painters
live by their art; SO do sculptors, conn
posers and novelists. Why not poete?''
Why not, indeed? There doesn't
isn't customary. All the more glory to
Mr.. Noyes for having overthrown the
custom.
James Jerome Hill, the great rail-
road builder of the Northwest will
pass his seventy-ffth milestone today.
He was born farm near Guelph,
Ont. Sept. 16, 1899. He emigrated at
an early age to Minnesota, and be-
gan his transportation career in a st.
Paul steamboat office. What Cecil
Rhodes accomplished for the British
Empire in South Africa, FISH aehiev-
ed for the United States, and his title
of 1.-THE Grand Old Man of the North
west has been fully merited. The
eminent Scotch-Canadian has done
more for the development of the re-
sources of his adopted country than
any other living man. The rich
Northwest, with its broad farms and
fertile fields and it's network of rail-
roads and its thriving cities, is a mon