The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-08-29

the most remarkable OF American lit
erary mystlicatiOns. High Tide at
Gettysburg" as 1t IL always quoted
now. is n Of the few examples of
anonymous tinkering or amendmen;
Of the poems Of others in which the
amendment Ii better than the origi.
nal and the tlnkering superior TO the
authors actual workmanship. The
three best stanzas in High Tile at
Gettysburg" are the following:
They fell, who lifted up a hand
And babe the sun Of heaven to stand
They smote and fell, who set the bars
Against the progress Of the stars,
And stayed the march Of motherland
They stood, who saw the future come
on throush the fights delirium!
They smote and stood, who held the
hope
OF nations on that slippery slope.
Amid the cheers Of Christendom
"GsD lives He forged the iron will
That clutched and held that trembling
hill.
Con lives and reigns. lie built and
lent
The heights FOR freedoms bat,lemen;
Where floats her flag In triumph still
THE SuN has long ago, and more
than once, shown that these stanzas
were not the work Of Mr.. WILL IL.
THOMPSON, who wrote the resi- Of the
poem. They were repldiatei by Mr..
THOMPSON in a letter To CHARLES \.
DANA, who in II lecture had expressed
his admiration NJ the poem, NJ the
authorship of which Mr.. DANA was
al that time ignorant. Mr.. THOMPSON
claimed. aud proved. his authorship
Of the poem. with the exception Of
the stanzns above quoted. which, he
said, had been added hy some II
known p~ersnn."
The person who wrote these added
stanzas remains unknown to this day.
He was certainly a true poet, of n
quality that Il decidedly uncommon.
TUT luNldiItt, TIE lines
Who held the hone
OF nations on tina; slippery slope
The iron will
That c.utched and held that trembling
hill"
These lines as well as one or two
others were not written by any dab.
stcr in the management of words.
They ought tn identify the real per.
petrator of the Interpolation. just as
brush marks or other idiosyncrasieS
Of manner belray the touches which
REMBRANDT or WHISTLE put on II
pupils canvas. About the only poet
whose work Is strongly suggested by
these AtanzaS is HENRY Howard
BRowNElI, author VI The Ray Fight"
But BRowNELL died in 1872. which
was before the High Tide appeared.
and could not have done this tinker.
ing, Eve II his severe New Eng.
land conscience had permitted him 10
attempt il.
One thing nus I've borne in mind
in connection with such an amend
ment as this. The added lines in the
High Tide were prompted moi by
literary wanlonness bur by strong
patriotic feeling, which in the DAYS
after the civil war often Overmas-
tered all other sentiments in men's
breasts. We may imagine WHITTIER,
or even DIR. HOLMES, reading Mr..
T~HOMPsON'S poem. which is in its
original form wholly favorable to the
point OF view Of the C~Onfederacy. and
being 80 tremendously moved by matri-
Otic feeling as 10 sit down and add
these stanzas. thereby causing the
poem to 'cOme out" on the Union side.
Under such circumstances the added
verses would have betrayed deep feel
ing, as they certainly do. Without
any intention OF lacking the stanZas
upon Mr.. THoMPsoN's poem, the great
man might have shown them to some
literary friend. who could not resist
the temptation 10 come ont with them
in some newspaper. just giving the
whole thing as an instance Of what
seemed 10 him n great literary i'm.
provcment. And then the mischief
would have been done. The poem was
reprinted In that form. taken up and
passed from hand Ia hand. and thus
cryslallizei into It's present shape.
II Is certain that the poem is now
printed in the anthologies with these
slanzas, and IaIblicly 81 repeated. even
in the South. As n matter If fact
Mr.. THOMPSON soon gave up the at
tempt To maintain the Integrity of the
High Tide" and let 1t go MS il was.
As he spent all the years of his life
after the war in the North 1t is pos
slble that he became glnd that the
addition was made. II il now quite
insepmrablc from the poem.
The truly good man who appended
III extra sIanza to JOHN BuRRouGHs's
waiting has not had such good luck.
This poem begins with the lines:
serene, fold my hands aud wait,
Nor care for wind, or tide. or sea
! rave no more 'gainst time or fate.
For To- my own shall come to me-
TMp DOem liz "A DlIlOSophtcnI oxprau