UK II F, SPKftl AN.
H
the light of a new freedom, showing him all that was empty
aid ignoble in the world that he tvcil in and blinding him
to all that is real?
As a poet Shelley needs no advocate. His va true
poetry. His very impetuosity, horn of early restraint, he
made poetic. He found inspiration in the air of Italy, in its
west winds, and in its rippling waters. His whole soul was
concentrated upon the message he felt himself constrained to
deliver. His poetry was no artificial product. Above fill it
bears the stamp of nature. The author of "Adonais," of
"The Revolt of Islam,1' and of "Prometheus Unbound" con
tributes a new quality to English poetry, a quality of ideal
ity, of freedom, and ol spiritual audacity. He strove ever to
attain the truest and most impassioned expression for the
thoughts that inflamed him. He employed less of that which
is purely intellectual than any of his predecessors. Though
his genius was gicater in lyric poetry, he is credited with
hiving written, in "The Ccnci," the greatest tragedy of his
time. He had a glimpse of something beyond moic profound
and more lofty than was dreamt of in his philosophy. This
was his truest title to greatness. With the gieat realistic
poet, he might have said, "A man's reach should exceed his
grasp."
Shelley is called a dreamer and in much lie was. His
ideas, his principles were often vague and half giaspcd. Yet,
as in his "Masque of Anarchy," when writing on political
subjects, with an almost oriental excess and allegoiy, he
showed an earnestness and a passion iar from a dreamer's.
At times, he has all the fire, the bitterness of Catullus. In
many of his caprices he reminds us of the poet of Verona.
Hut in these things Shelley is least himself.
Had he lived longc he might have given us more finished
works. He could not have left a nohlei memory. His death,
striking and almost pietuiesque, was a fitting close for a life,
extravagant and scarcely real. Kven in death he was an out
cast. His body, thrown upon the sand by the rude sea, was
buried in a foreign land. Only thirty years oT age, he died
before the world knew him great. Hut Shelley old would
have been Shelley no more. Pull of the c v iherance of
youth, he orcathed its spirit into every line of his voisc.
With the poet, we can but say, 'Whom the gods love, die
first."
Loving truth with a martyr's love, willing to die to do
the world a service, Shelley was no mere sentimentalist. In
all things he was sincere. Gentle, loving, fearless, he was
exposed to drngers that an ill regulated education and the
feverish temper of his age served only to aggravate. Yet
Shelley, the poet, will outlive Shelley, the dreamer and the
iconoclast. Those that turn from w hat is most divine to
shake their heads at the follies of a misguided youth injure
but themselves. The memory of the true Shelley is beyond
their reach. s
The IIiiiiihii Ky .
mined. lormerl all cases of blindness, ihr cause of which
was unknown, were termed amaurosis, a condition in which
the patient saw not, neithei bd the doctor see. Now, how
ever, amaurosis i. not known in medical nomenclature. The
disease can be determined and its proper name given. As
cfoihratmn adxanccs, eye difluuliies increase. Of 1S02 school
children in Springfield, Mas
: needed glasses. In Amherst
College, of the students examined at entrance into college,
and then at graduation, 125 were found at entrance with nor-
mal eyes. At graduation, 80 had remained so: to 'became
far-sighted, 29 short-sighted.
Although nearly a perfect optical instrument, the tyels
not always to bo trusted in the impression tonvayed to the
brain Tin n any printed page upside down, livory S vlll
appear smaller at the bottom than at the top. The letter s
really made smaller nt the top for ones eyes naturally rqpiih
scnt things largei at the top than they really are. The Grcckt -
understood these optical illusions, and in architecture made
allowances for them. The Greek column Aeas in reality, bulged
at the middle poifion and then to the eye looked perfectly
straight. Lines were curved slightly, so as to nppcnr parallel.
The Greeks were the most skilled of all architects. All efforts
of the most exalted genius, except the efforts of the musician,
appeal to 0111 sentiments through the eye. And in all produc
tions the mathematically correct must be subordinated to the
impression as ti will be conveyed by the eye to the brain.
XlKlH.
The sable pall of night slowly rolls dou n before the eyes
of men, and shuts out the glories of day. All is dark'. The
clouds will roll calmly by unseen. The stars peering down
from the bosom of heaven are the only wateher.s.
1 low mysterious is night? 1 low many of man's dark deeds
are covered by the frioiidlymnnfle of night? Vet, withall,
how grand is this provision of God! After the toilsome day,
all things are hidden from vie and the weary eye-lids are
pcrnritlcd to close in rest. The flower have folded their
petals and hung their bonds 011 their slundor stalks. The lit
tle birds have ceased their singing and are fast nsleep on the
boughs, each one with his hond licnonth his wing. There is
no sound of voices nor trampling of fcut. Alj is still! All is
diirk4 Or in the words of the pneti
"Who could have thought such darkness lay concealed
Within thy boains, Q Sunl orwlio could find,
Whilst fly and leaf and insect stood revealed,
pint to such countless orbs thou mnile us lilind?"
Again, how mysterious is night! Ititt the power -of the
Creator is supreme over all. The all-seeing, nil-powerful
God wraps in slumhei every form of life for ib, own good.
fJKANT rUI.MMOKK, M. I).
The human eye is an index to the soul. Hope, feai,
anger, shame, and remorse are pictured by ihc glitter and
position of the eye. To the skilled oculist, its physical con
dition is an open book. In 1851, Hehnholtz discovered the
principle which, executed in the opthnlmascqpe, enables
us to see the interior of the eye with the distinctness of a
printed page. This instrument, simple as a toy, has yet pro
duccd stupendous results in the science of opthalmics. It con
sists of a mirror perforated. With the mirror reflecting light
into the patient's eye, the observer sees through the perfora
tion, the delicate retina, and is enabled to determine if it is
diseased o'r healthy. The necessity for glasses can be deter-
l-'ranl; K. Stockton, the author, began life as an engraver.
"The Faith Doctor," b Kdwnrd Kggleston, Jias roadbed Its
third edition.
Gladstone is said to be such a fine Greek scholar that ho
would I .- famous for that alone.
Mi. Kenau is at present writing the fourth ohnne of his
"Ilistoi) of 1 he 1'eople of Israel."
The New York I'rrss asserts that the novel is a noce-anry
now, as it evei was in the history of the race.
15y the death of Frederick 0,rr, on December 16, the Get
innn-Swis hove Km tl. ir :uo.t pupulur religious poet.
It is undemtou; that Lo)d Tennjsun has declined the invi
tation to write an iwuigurntiii ode for the Chicago opposition.
J'ublic Op,aion of January 23, linn a very interesting
discussion concerning the condition and fate of Austria.
The condition of all the luiroponu countries is also given.
War 1 11 iumHi