Norwich bulletin., 1915-03-02
STEVENSON'S SPIRIT OF
 ROMANCE AND COURAGE
Was His Big Gift to the World, Dr.. Sykes Tells Audience at Slater Hall.

There was a good attendance at Slater Hall on Monday evening at the illustrated lecture on Robert Louis Stevenson given by Dr. Frederick H. Sykes of New London, president of Connecticut College for Women. The lecture was under the auspices of the Norwich College club
 Principal H. A. Tirreu introduced the speaker, who gave an excellent ad- dress upon Stevenson's life and works, followed by pictures illustrating these.
 Fortunate in Birthplace.
 Stevenson had the good fortune to be born in Scotland, said pr. Sykes. Every child's birthplace is a fairyland, and his was Edinburgh, where he was born in 1850. His grandfather's manse at Colinton, three miles away, and his fathers summer home at SWanston gave him advantage of the ideal union Of city and country. Not far away was the seaport of Leith with it's many ships. His father was a builder of lighthouses and came of an engineer ing family. His son inherited his gift in conversation and his touch of Cal vinism. From his mother Stevenson got his gayety of heart. Romance his nurse gave full play to his imag- ination. He has given picture of this life in the Child's Garden of Verses. which others have lived as we'll, but le1t TOT hlIn to paint.
 Spirit of Romance.
 The spirit of romance shows most in the poem of The Lamplighter. This world for him did not die out, but rather increased as he grew older. Places seemed to be calling out to him to tell their story-like Hawes Inn. The climate of Edinburgh, however, was very bad for him, and because of ill., health the university did not do much for him. He had a talent for friend ship. Though an idler in college. in engineering and in law, he was no idler in his pursuit of language and of nature. Like Rip Van Wrinkle, he could work hard for something there was no money in. He had an ideal of longing for the thrill of things and for expression and was always busy at this private end. In this way he learned to write.
 Perfect Command of Language.
 He gained a perfect command of lan- guage which could put thrills into a prosy landscape. catch the rythm of action, or give flavor and aroma to his words. His style is graceful. strenu- ous, supple, alert, musical. He has his breaches in his books. He believed in life and his doctrine is one of happi- ness, of gentleness and cheerfulness. Someone defined him as a combination or PUCK, Arlel ana the SlOrIer CaCe- chism- His love for thrills in his nov els brought back romance into English fiction. Treasure Island is the most perfect example. Romance consists in thrilling scenes and in elementary con- ditions. Even the advanced present is of cur ancestors. Every boy lives over the life of the race. and Treasure lsl- and, like Robinson CruSoe, is a boys book-but not without interest to groWnup boys.
 In Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde, a psy- chological problem which George Eliot might well have worked up, is treated instead from the romantic viewpoint, which gives only the external side, and necessitates two characters. His work shows great structural skill.
 Just Enough History to Give Color.
 He is not an historical writer. He gives enough history to give color and setting only. He is not a great novel, ist, but he is skilful and artistic and has mastery of incident. Not a great character painter, like Dickens, he can at times make the character determine the plot as in the Master of Ballan- tree. In this he has given perhaps the best portrait of highlander to be found in fiction. As for women in his stories, though absent in Treasure Island and treated as superfuous girls in a boys game in earlier novels, he grows later as shown in Katrina and the poem to his wife. But for him Barrie would never have given us Peter Pan. He has set many others going. His masterpiece was not achieved. His death in 1894 left it un- finished. His big gift to the world re- mains his spirit of romance and cour- age.
 Fine Pictures Shown.
 Fine pictures were shown of Edin- burgh and the surrounding country and of Scottish scenery from two of his books going across Scotland from Null and Iona Islands on the west coast, through the Rob Roy country and that of the Lady of the Lake to Douglas Castle on the east shore. Others showed where he wrote Treas ure Island, where he lived at Saranac and in California, and then his home at Samoa, where he died.
 Allen Latham assisted with the lan- tern and young ladies of the Academy acted as ushers.
 The proceeds of the lecture are to go towards the $3,000 scholarship fund which the Norwich College club is raising.