The farmer and mechanic., 1913-12-02


riduons OF great writings and xr~>t
, iaHies. II VIII hasten the movement
oaSh 10 the farms more certainly than |
al possible text books written in
terms OF agriculture The English
i''Ah love of the country has been
Influenced more than We can .stl-
mate oy English literature
Literature is an expression IN words
oh meaning OF life, and IL records in
pei hiahent form every step Of the
progress man has made. II does
more than any other kind of record tn
Keep the worlds memory alive and Ia
transmit to us our great hert,age
from the past And We shall have 20
continue 10 look TO il 10 supply those
permanent and universal standards 10
wnlch our civilization must conform
II Il Is ever 10 reach the highest leve.S
OF excellence
But this formative. consclng and
sustaining power can only be 90,
through reading the very creates,
BOOKS We ought especially TO study
more OF our very best poetry Aside
from the supreme value,-the forma-
i've consoiing, and sustaining power
OF the very greatest poetry that has
stood the testing of time, IL is an ad-
vantage IN our reading TO get back
into the past, away from the local
the personal, and the present into
the high, calm, serene atmosphere Of
the classics, into the silence tina,
precedes all creation" We thus es-
cape from the fret and the fever of
our busting, hurrying life into the
exalted and idealized regions of the
creative imagination, where our
spirits may be quiet and unperturbid
and our minds may be fed in wise
paSSiveness."
This devotion to the old dead mas
ters will not interfere with our recog
milton of the new. AS a people We
have been and. l fear still are, singu-
larry indifferent to our own writer's
For man sincerely devoted TO d
great art the hardest thing TO bear is
| just neglect. He does not seek noto
riety. II he is man Of first rate
| quality he deSpiSeS it. But he doe:
| crave to be understood by those wht
| have understanding hearts Between
! the neglect Of the many and the plain
bias Of a coterie Of partisans our ma
tive writer's have had little externa
| incitement to do their best. For un
! due praise is as futile as neglect.
| Literature is something too grea
F.! and too universal to be affected b.
any kind Of boosting. 1t can onl
| finally stand on its intrinsic merit
| The only honest, useful thing an
critic can do for any author-or 70
anybody else so far as that is con
| cerned-is to speak of him as he is
| nothing extenuate nor aught So
down in malice. For us of the Sout
to do this is the case Of poets liz
Timrod and Lanier. for example, an
a IOmancer like Simms is exceedingl
difficult. They were all SO 'lovei
and pleasant in their lives, mad
such heroic efforts against tremen
dous odds to lead the higher life, bu
were so cramped Cabbined and con
fined in their surroundings and SO pit
liable in their lot, that We can wit
great difficulty look upon them in an
| other light than as martyrs to a los
cause. And yet they can all agord I
stand on their merits. Each on
holds perhaps not a high but St
| cure place in American literary ar
nails. We may not place TimFod an
Lanier among the few great EngliS
| poets. We must not thus confuse an
lower our ideals. A high ideal of e,
ceHence is the most sacred and valt
able thing to race. We in den1t
cratic America constantly need to /
reminded by the Greek poet that e.
cellence dwens high among the roci
and that now to attain it we must wea
out our very souls. The man who
any of the higher fields Of effort. /
honest endeavor wins some meaSul
Of success, should receive the simpl
| sincere praise of all wise and GOO
men. 1t is not proper that tn
praise should be given with loud e,
: travagance but it should simply be
just and sincere tribute. To- succee
in a humble way, to hold but a sma
7 niche in the everlasting temple
t fame, is worth all that even Lani'
, or Timrod ever suffered.
The welfare of any native literatul
demands at once this sympathetic b.
/ critical attitude. 1t must have bat
: of it a vigorous life. The lack of tn
e critical public explains the dearth
: ideas in all our older literary me
: They are as a rule noble men. fine
: constituted, we'll endowed, but the
] is a lack Of vigor and maturity
: their productions. They promi
more than they fulfill. They a
greater for what they are than +
e what they do. Over them all mig
be placed a broken shaft, as Simr
requested should be placed over +
t grave, and on the broken shaft mig