Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1915-10-26
WEBSTER CITY, IOWA, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 49, 1915.

beautiful as is his present manhood
He had dark brown hair of a silke
texture, deep penetrating eyes fu
lof dusk and mystery. Of his earl
childhood, he himself has writer
1.-THE whole world seemed to be ful
of mysteries. In the morning of all
ftumn I would run into the garde
the moment I got up from sleep. Ma
: ture shut her hands and laughingl
asked every day, What have 1 go
inside?' and nothing seemed impos
|sible."
| At six years Of age he was sen
to a private school. But the schoo
Teacher was not so laughing as ma
|ture; he was so gruff and rough thai
the soul of the child shut up like a
delicate flower.
But the poetic soul of the lad ex"
pressed itself after school hours in
the writing Of little essays, poems
and sketches, which his father
found, and was astonished by the
genius which he recognized in his
son. The elder Tagore then did what
very few men-fathers of genius
children have done. He gave over
the management of his large busi-
ness to hired help and taking his
son went up into the Himalayas un-
der the shadow Of Thibet and there
devoted himself to the education Of
Rabindranath.
Here amidst this, some of the
most sublime scenery Of the world,
the young lad Tagore learned of the
mountains, the trees, and the stars;
here he learned Sanscrit, learned al
so English which has enabled him to
translate into our tongue his own
poems by which methods we lose lit
tie. At twelve came his first shock
of grief. His mother died and ever
left behind her in his mind
a secret chamber of melancholy.
He tells how during his first
poignant grief, he would Of
ten lie the whole night through on
the fiat topped roof of the house ov-
erlooking the Ganges and bathe him
self in the mystery of night, letting
|his soul wander timidly among the
stars. listening to the whisper of the
night voices.
At seventeen years Of age, he made
a trip to England and perfected his
mastery Of English. At this period
he was versatility itself. During this
adolescent period, he produced songs,
dramas, short stories, music, and his
torical research. Tagore married at
twenty-three, but before this con-
summation of romantic love had
been reached, he had poured out his
feelings in flood of romantic song
which caused the grave moralists OF
Bengal some uneasiness lest they be
in for a. period of Byronism.
All souls have had the conflict OF
the flesh and the spirit. The soul
must conquer the flesh; until a man
has mastered his appetites he is not
a man. Tagore mastered his. and
then entered upon his conversion
which is a. factor in all religions
whether heather or Christian. Ev-
en- Indians may be converted. Ia
gore, traversing the path of love, ad-
vanced until his soul melted into the
heaven of the love Of God, as cloud
melts into the blue. Hence he was
to become the ages supreme poet OF
the Divine Passion.
His experience which he himself
ra1ates. where he saw the light,
was the beginning Of the wave which
carried him into mysticism. Some
noets are mystical as Wordsworth
was. others are mystics expressing
the wonder of God in poetry-of
such is Tagore He has but one mis-
sion-to inspire men to seek the SIDE
of the Beloved. All these things are
embodied in his book called The Gil
taniali, which means Song Offer
ings." Tagore is singer of the Love
of God. Here are few lines:
"When I listen to the tales of the
primitive past
The love papgs of the far distant
times,
The meetings and partings of the fal
distant sages,
see thy form gathering light
Through the dark dimness of Eter'
nifty
And appearing as star ever hxee
in the memory of the All
Miss Anna o. Peterson and Mr.
Hans P. Hanson, both Of Kimballton
Iowa, were united in the holy bonds
of matrimony this morning at thu
Methodist parsonage, Rev. c. H
Iy,pnboefner officiating The groom