Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-01-26

1 w l'lN N'f -NhlNl. SlboN WIFI MS .
~ back to the open fire lie was
rubbing his hands and looking aim.
lessly about the room. Suddenly his
face lighted up. lie had caught sight
of a. large green book on the table. .
so you have Colvin's Keats he .
exclaimed. "a have wanted to look
at that book ever since I heard that
it was in preparation"
you don't like the poetry of that
little red.hcadcd surgeons apprentice
I remarked.
Not like Keats" And he turned
( on mo with the light Of battle in his
/ eyes. 81 thought you knew me better
/ than that. When I want to get my
mind off the perpleXities Of my work
| read the ode on GreCian Jru,'
or The Eve Of st. Agnes and there
are times when nothing fits into my
mood so we'll as The Pot Of Basil
/ Keats writes the kind Of poetry that
satisfies my ycarnng for beauty and
rhythm and music"
81 congratulate you, doctor" said
I. You are human after all
"Of course / am. You don't think
that because man is a clergyman he
ceases TO be Il man.
81 have known some clergymeu who
pretended that they we're no longer
men like the rest Of us" l admitted,
While we had been talking Owen
had picked up the book and was turn.
ing It's ragcs.
"Humph," came from him, and lie
looked the disgust that there was In
his tone. This is fun of silly tom
myrot. Here is the, story Of a fight
between Keats and a butcher boy.
Colvin says that Cowdcn Clarke wrote
in letter that Keats fought the boy
because he was abusing puppy or a
kitten and then in a footuotc he tells
d us that when Clarke printed the story
he said il was kitten and makes no
alluslon to a puppy Now what Is
, the use Of wasting good white paper
. to tell such trivial things as this
, Who cares whether it was a kitten
or puppy or n canary bird or a
4. monkey? / don't sec why intelligent
e men will spend their time digging out
r such silly things ana then putting
them into print. Tho book is prob
a ably full of such stun, not OF
the slightest consequence and in
tercs,ing to nobody. II does not
hclp us to understand Keats or lead
us to a better appreciation Of his
poetry. II is the kind Of footless in.
Q formation that candidates for Tie de
y gree OF doctor Of philosophy dig ou
y and put in their theses. 1t makes M
. agree with my university classmatt
II who abandoned his study for the de
i gree. and when asked by the head o
, the department in which he was work
!, ing what his objections TO the degree
e were, replied Most Of the PHI. DIS !
e real man can spend his time better.
J. Doctor McFabre smiled tolerantly.
: you don't have TO cross those bar
Il rem Saharas unless you enjoy that sor
of an excursion" said he.
II see you have lurking sympath!
with owen" said l. Most men VIII
. have anything to do feel the sam
way. The number OF old maids O
both sexes who like It is few. But
owen. you must not judge Colvin'
book from a single passage Their
are more like the one about the kittel
between it's covers, but they are in
significant in comparison with tn
vast mass of information worth Will,
that It contains. The book will prob
ably remain for years the authorita
tive biography of the poet whose frs
book was published just century ago
=. The significance of il Is worth consid
ering. The pages OF the book, yol
= sec. are large and there are abou
$50 of them. The man about whom
= they were written lived a little mor'
than twenty-five years. lie was th'
- son of the chief hostler in LondoI
livery stable, who married his en-
: pIoyer's daughter. No one knows wilt
"a his fathers father was and no on'
knows, either, who his mother
grandfather was. The boy was borI
/, in the living quarters Of the liver!
stable. Yet It is admitted everywhert
! today that his fame justifies the pull
lication Of so large book about him
n And why? Professor Candy, Of Yale
= in an article I'm the February Cen
tury, cites u contemporary poet whit
= confessed that he would rather hav
written a certain sonnet than hav'
= built the Brooklyn bridge. The just
fication Of Colvln's book and all othe
: books that have been written abou
y" Keats is contained in that preference
Keats has written poems that will llv
4 long after the Brooklyn bridge is bu
a memory. We do not question tn
proprlety Of long biographies Of Joh
/ Marshall who interpreted the const
tuition and we want them to show tn
source OF Marshalls ideas about tn
- nature and powers of the Feder1
Government. But the Had Of Homer
= which men still read and admire, ha
J. survived constitutions and dynastie
= and empires. The John Marshalls {
) Greece and Rome are forgotten an
- no one cares to hunt for them in whs
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