THE HESPERIAN.
colls they only became more inextricably entangled in them.
Then, high above the tumult, Lowell's voice rang out, want
ing them that capable, incorruptible lenders must be had; that
the slave power must first be attacked; that this serpent must
be vanquished before there was hope of peace or union. The
thrilling words of "The Present Crisis" quickened the pulses
of the nation in the midst of war's fiery ordeal:
"They have rights who dare mnintain them; we are traitors
to our sires,
Smothering in their holy ashes, freedoms new lit altar fircs."
"They enslave their children's children who make compro
mise with sin."
The north at length saw that he was right, and boldly
assaulted "the earth-born Cyclops, fell est of the giant brood."
Lowell, still singing, ever held up before his country the high
est ordeal of manhood and patriotism:
"'New occasions tench new duties; time makes ancient good
uncouth;
They must upward still, and onward, who would keep abreast
of truth."
4Tis as easy to be heroes as to sit the idle slnves
Of a legendary virturc, carved upon our fathers' graves."
When at length the war-cloud parted and the bright sun
of peace shone forth, how gladly he rejoices:
"15e proud! for she is saved, and all have helped to save heil
She that lifts up the manhood of the poor,
She of the open soul and open door,
With room about her hearth for all mankind."
After the war, -when the leaders of that nation which had
poured forth its blood so gcneiously for the protection of its
flag would have trailed its honor in th; mire of repudiation,
Lowell's voice rang out in indignant protest against such
infamy. When the nation turned from the path of dishonor
to that of justice and integrity, none rejoiced more than he.
As ambassadui to England, Lowell represented not only
the American government but the highest type of American
culture and scholarship. His fine conveisational ability, his
brilliancy, humor and eloquence as a public speaker, his kind
liness, gentleness, and wonderful tact, all won him the great
est esteem of the English people. Moie than any other man
he elevated America in the eyes of other nations, and strength
ened the ties which bind her to Great Uritain. He always
stood firm for American institutions and rigidly upheld his
country's dignity. For James Russell Lowell the man, he
asked nothing, but for James Russell Lowell the representative
of the United States, he exacted every particle of due respect
and deference.
No poet ever had a greater love for nature than Lowell,
nor a deeper insight into her mysteries, and to him she "spoke
a various language." He loved not meiely the grand and
bcautiftil in natuie, her simplest foims, each dew drop, tini
est flower and blade of grass shaied his affedion, and the
most timid bird half forgave his being human.
Instead of seeking his themes in imagination or in events
and limes forgotten, Lowell snatched them from the stream of
life which boiled and eddied aiound him. He did not write
poetry merely for the sake of drawing beautiful figures and
adjusting the cadences of well measured lines; he wrote for a
much moie definite and practical object, that lie might bring
into contempt things that were contemptible, and stamp with
the ineffaceable stigma of condemnation thing, against which
reason, truth and humanity had long cried ut in vain. With
consummate sldll he took advantage of the fact that ridicule
will often demoralize and put to flight the opposing forces of
sin and -wrong wlncli all the vehement eloquence and fiery
invective of the greatest orators cannot move. With scorching
satire he ridiculed things that bhould have been made ridicu
1 aus and would long ago have been suppressed, had the world
been governed more by truth and justice and less by falsehood
and crime.
Lowell outranks all other Americans as a critic. There
was nothing caustic or bitter about his criticisms. They were
charcterized by justice, clear understanding of meaning and
style, and an earnest desire to give full credit without fulsome
eulogy.
Uut great ns he was as a poet and critic he was still greater
as a patriot, and it is in that capacity he has the strongest
hold on our affections. He loved his country passionately
not for tnc fat offices she could give him, but for herself alone.
She was to him an ideal, not a great opportunity for self
aggrandizement. Where, in song or story, is a more beautiful
or touching love song to be found than that of Lowell's when
the stars and stripes once more wave over a united nation!
Out of the depths of a heart, stricken and well-nigh broken by
the loss of three loved nephews offered on the altar of their
country, he sings gloriously:
"O Beautiful! My country! Ours once more!
Smoothing thy gold of war dishevelled hair
O'er such sw cct brows as never other wore,
And letting thy set lips,
Freed from wrath's pale eclipse
The rosy edges of their smile lay bare,
What words divine of lover or of poet,
Could tell our love and make thee know it
Among the nations bright beyond compare?
What were our lives without thee?
What all our lives to save thee?
We reck not -what we gave thee,
We will not dare to doubt thee,
Uut ask whatever chc and we will dare!"
He rejoiced with her in her triumphs, he suffered with her in
her defeats, he was as jealous of her good name as of his ow n.
"My country, right or wrong" voiced not his motto, rather
his affection for his native land made him note more acutely
her faults. Recognizing so fully of what a splendid present
and future she was capable, he could not bear to sec her falter
or turn back in her glorious career. He could not have so
loved his country had he not loathed her shame. Whenever
he .saw her false to her highest ideals he poured forth an
indignant protest. He illustrated his own lines:
"He is a slave who dare not be in the right with two or three."
Lowell brought us nearer that ideal American for which
we all long. He was a typical American and as such will be
enthroned in our hearts by the side of Lincoln. Of good
Puritan stock, endowed with the New England traditions, with
its intellect, its culture, its humor, and its genius, he was as
truly American as he was original, and there has "been but one
Lowell. Who else could have taken that rugged, homely
Yankee dialect and by throwing into it his own personality
have created the "Uiglow Papers"? And what else could
have accomplished what they achieved?
Lowell was a poet, a scholar, a critic, a statesman, a patriot
and above all, a man, fresh from Nature's finest mould.
And now that the lyre is still and the sweet voice hushed in
death, with sorrowful hearts we lealize Avhat a void he has
left. We think of the sweet songster who sang because he
loved to sing, whose pure notes struck and answering chord in
every heart; we rjad his prose, bright, keen, imaginative,
showing a knowledge deep and wide; we pour over his verse,
gushing forth like a mountain torrent, dashing along over
rocks and boulders, spaikling with wit. scintillating with sat
ire, bubbling and foaming wth eloquence, or rippling along
over mossy stones with a sound like trickling tears; we think
of all he was to his country and to the world, and we sadly
ask ourselves: "Who is there to take his placr?"
He sought no praise, no popular applause; he served his
country; he benefited his race; above all he set before his
fellowmen a grand example of uncompromising fidelity to
