Evening star., 1925-02-27

especially poetry, so that our youth
can read that there are some great
and good things in America and be-
fore which the critics of Europe bow
their heads?"
Literary Square might advanta-
geously be situated in the midst of
the new Glover Parkway. a some-
| what formal area in the greater park
in which 1t Is to be hoped the beauty
of nature will be kept, as far as con-
sistent, with proper parkway treat
| ment.
The statues which might be in
cluded in It? There is a question for
a literary commission, composed of
men who have spent their entire lives
| with literature and are In a COM
manding position, a coign of van
tage, as 1t were, where they might sur
vey the whole field and determine the
| entrants to this outdoor hall of fame.
Certainly such a literary commits
sion would have to consider such men
as William Cullen Bryant, Edgar
| Allan Poe. Walt Whitman, James
Russell Lowell. Henry Wadsworth
| Longfellow, oliver Wendell Holmes,
| Ralph Waldo Emerson. Sidney Lanter
and John Greenleaf Whittier.
Curtis Hidden Page, in his "The
tions from the above authors. The
| frontispiece shows their portraits,
| with Longfellow occupying the hopor
| position in the center of the page.
whatever ones ideas may be about
the elder poets, he will have to stop
and think long time before he dares
rule one of them out. Personally, ]
would not be so keen on keeping Sid
ney Lanier. Perhaps some one else
| might not care for Whittier. Then
some one might come to me and say,
Read the Marshes of Glynn' again.
and to the other, Read Snow
bound"
Among the writer's OF prose who
| ought to go into Literary Square
would be Nathaniel Hawthorne, james
| Fenimore Cooper, Herman Melville,
Stowe, Stephen Crane, o. Henry, Mark
Twain and Benjamin Franklin.
r y X x
am not sure but that Longfellow
should occupy the honor position in
the center of the square. Emerson
might dispute the honor with him.
II we would put the author Of the
Psalm of Life" in the center, at the
four corners we might place Poe,
Whitman, Emerson and Hawthorne.
On Longfellow's statue we might
place simply his name and the verses:
Let us. then. be up and doing,
With heart for any fate;
Still achieving. stin pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait
Despite all the clamor that Long
fellow is "sugary," there Is no author
who has expressed the genius of this.
our land. better than did Longfellow
In the above lines.
Cooper, the author Of pioneer and
sea stories, ought to find a place, as
Dick" "Typee" and "Omoo" are COM
many years of being regarded as
literary curiosities.
Stephen Crane, who wrote The
Red Badge OF Courage" ought not to
have a statue in the square, perhaps,
but certainly he should be honored
with a tablet or something of that
sort.
AS for Sidney Porter 20. Henry
and Samuel Clements, by all means
they should be honored in Literary
Square, the former being the legiti-
mate successor to Hawthorne, master
of the short story, and the latter be-
ing the unparalleled chronicler Of
American boyhood.
Benjamin Franklin, who wrote one
of the greatest autobiographies in
the world, ought to go IN. His liter
ary style had a charm all its own,
one which deserves to be known by
his countrymen more than It is.y
Space should be left in Literary
Square for additions to be made in
the years to come. I nominate Booth
Harrington and Sinclair Lewis.