Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-07-07

vason Of England during the Napoleonic
wars. lie said
From east to west
groan Of accusation pierces Heaven!
The wretched plead against us: multitudes
Countless and vehement, the sons OF God,
our brethren! Like cloud that travels
on
Even so, my countrymen! have we gone
forth
And borne to distant tribes slavery and
pangs,
And deadier Gar. our vices
"Coleridge knew that his country was
not guiltless In hfty or a hundred years
the historians will be saying that this
great war is but the harvest of the seeds
that have been sown by all the nations
of Europe. Prussia has carried to their
logical conclusion the practices OF some
Of the other nations, and we see how ter
rible they are, so terrible that we turn
from them in revolt and fight to prevent
their consummation The world is being
purified by fire. At least I hope 1t is"
But what about Watson?" Ames asked
Has he any Of the vision Of Coeridge?"
81 do not see any evidences of 1t. Ho
has written some splendid tributes to the
French and to the Belgians as we'll as to
the British soldiers and sailors But he
has also written some poems of hate
against Germans. His Kaiser's Dirge' cx.
presses the feelings of many of us, when
| il says
Carnage, whose hrows
Beetle DER He'll
Here Is thy spouse
Cherish him we'll
| Lust-in-Hatc
with thy fanFs all foam
| q hail thy mate,
O welcome him home.
But we know that this is merely the mood
of passion that cannot last. or at any
rate that ought not to last. II is the
mood of the first Locksley Hail. which
! Tennyson transformed and refined in
Locksey Hall, Sixty Years After Sc
that the old man could say that love
after ALL was the only permanent thing
II think I shall have to reread that
second Locksley Hail." Ames said
while a gentle smile played over his
lips.
You'd better read it, too, Dorothy
said Mrs. McFabre.
"Watsons tributes TO the Belgians are
fine" said l. quickly, to save the young
people from embarrassment "He calls
King Albert worthy of his people anC
says,
Loftier praise than this did never yet
on mortal ears from lips Of mortals sound
He celebrates the glory of Liege and pays
his tribute to heroism and lofty courage
This sort of thing is worthy of the finest
poetry, because It lifts men higher by
holding before them the beacon OF a fin,
example. We besmirch ourselves wher
we wallow in iSnoble passions, even Il
we try to make ourselves believe tina
they are due to righteous indignation"
Il am glad I came in tonight" SAID
Doctor McFabre, you have given me my
sermon for next Sunday"
you will find a text in Watsoni
poems" said l, IF you take those which
celebrate the fine things that have beer
done. Watson knows how to do II, bu
there is a petty side to him which h,
displayed years ago when he wrote "Th'
Woman With the Serpent's Tongue Al
though he il one of the greatest British
poets Of his generation, that poem KEEP
him from official recognition for years. I
was not until Asquth ceased to be Pre-
mier and Lloyd George came in that H.
was knighted an honor that under othe
circumstances would have come to hin
long ago" GEORGE w. DOUGLAS.
The MAN WHO SAW. Ard other poems arlsn
out OF the war. by William Watson, Nev
York: Harper & Bros 81