THE HESPERIAN.
Miss Rose Elizabeth Cleveland is in Egypt hunting mater
ial for her new hook.
Emily Dorothy Eliza Ncrette Southworth says that her
family were too poor to give her anything but a name.
Robert J. Burdcttc, the humorist, has gone into the edit
orial harness ngnin. With the opening of this year he became
a salarled editor on the staff of the Ladies Home fount,
and will conduct a regular department in each issue of that
periodical.
The grandson of 1'atrick Henry has described and compiled
in two volumes, the life, correspondence, and speeches of
that distinguished figure in our earliest national annals. The
biography is written in a clear, sympathetic, and graphic style;
and as the writer had access to the private manuscripts of his
grandfather, it will be conceded a place among standard works
of its class.
The congressional library ranks as the sixtli greatest library
in the world. It contains about 700,000 bound volumes and
200,000 pamphlets. This library was started in 1800, when con
gress made an appropriation of $3,000 with which to purchase
books of reference for the members. At present it contains
copies of every book that has becif copyrighted and published
in the United States. The student is allowed the use of the
books in the rooms, but under no condition does the librarian
permit them to be taken away.
The Chicago Times says that good fortune and hard work
arc doing wonders for the new university, and if President
Harper continues as he has begun, by next fall the university
of Chicago will have a faculty which will equal, in every
department, that of any other institution in the country. Prob
ably their greatest success has been in securing Dr. H. E. Von
Hoist of the university of Fricdburg, Germany. Students of
history will generally concede that the doctor is at present the
best authority on American constitutional history.
Tennyson has written his last poem in the capacity of poet
laureate of England. He has held that position for nearly
forty-two years, which has probably brought him more dis
tinction than any of his predecessors received from it. His
average performances on royal births, deaths, and marriages
are generally better than the most successful writings of his
poetical ancestors, while his ode on the death of the Duke of
Wellington ranks among the few great poems of the language
and is certainly the best of this century.
We give below his last laureate cde:
THK DEATH OK THK DUKK OK CLARENCE AND AVODA1.K.
The bridal garland falls upon the bier.
The shadow of a crown, that o'er him hung,
Has vanished in the shadow cast by death.
So princely, tender, truthful, reverent, pure
Mourn! That a world-wide empire mourns with you,
That all the thrones are clouded by your loss,
Were slender solace. Yet be comforted;
For if this earth be ruled by perfect love,
Then, after his brief range 01 blameless days,
The toll of funeral in an angel car
Sounds happier than l he merriest marriage-bell.
The face of death is toward the sun of life,
His shadow darkens earth: his truer name
Is "Onward," no discordance in the roll
And march of that eternal harmony
When to the world's beat time, though faintly heard
Until the great hereafter. Mourn in hope!
ALUMNI AND FORAfEK STUDENTS,
occupying my time very fully; but as I do not like to disre
gard a request made by an editor of the college-paper of my
alma mater, I vill send you a few descriptions transcribed
from the note book I carried on my trip to my recently
adopted state, and will send you something concerning my
experiences in sunny California later.
We reached the Grand canon of the Arkansas about 4
p. m., Oct. 30. "Grand canon! A good view of it on the
platform! Buy a pair ol glasses to protect your eyes. Cind
ers will fly at the rate of forty knots an hour!"
These are the cries of the thoughtful, disinterested news
agent. We crowd upon the platform, and soon see ahead the
narrow opening of the Grand canon of the Arkansas river
one of the creator's masterpieces, the wonder of the tourist.
Here the Arkansas after winding and tumbling for 175 miles .
from its source high up in the Rockies, seeking a place of
exit, comes bounding forth into the open plains, seeming to
heave a sigh of relief as it escapes from the mountain gorges.
We stand upon the platform fifteen minutes beholding the
grandeur of the scenery about us. Hardly a word is spoken.
An occasional nod of the head or movement of the hand
expresses our emotion as some especially striking point is
passed. The sight is truly sumblimc. For, if a tortuous
passage between precipitous cliffs of sombre-hucd granite,
nearly one-half mile in height part of the distance, some
overhanging the way, some seeming nearly to meet above;
with the roar of the madly rushing Arkansas heard above the
rattle and thunder of the Hying train; -if this is not a sub
lime sight, then what could lit? At places huge boulders
seem to threaten to come crashing down and shatter our train
into fragments. At the narrowest part, called the "Royal
George," a bridge is suspended between the perpendicular
walls. We look ahead frequently, and wonder where the
train will find a passage. It darts now to the right, now to
left, seeming every moment to be about to crash into the side
of the gorge. We almost hold our breath, feeling that we
arc in the presence of the Divine Architect, and our lives
beyond our own control. We are where the rays of the
sun seldom penetrate; no birds ever sing; few plants care to
struggle for an existence. All is gloomy and chilly, but
grand and sublime. After winding about foi seven miles,
suddenly we came out into the sunlight, and again the snow
capped peaks greet our vision, and the ordinary wild moun
tain scenery returns. We take a deep-drawn breath of relief,
and our hearts begin to beat normally again. We feel glad
that we have had such an experience, grateful that our pas
sage has been a safe one.
At 9:30 of the same evening I wrote: Have been riding
lor two hours upon the platform (my only companions being
a young Englishman, who kept exclaiming, "Why! why! we
have nothing like this in n"r country)" and am chilled quite
through. The moon is shining with remarkable brightness,
lighting up the surrounding scenery beautifully. We have
just made the ascent and descent of Marshall pass, and the
sight was a grand one, which the beholder can never forget.
In the Grand canons the cliffs were above us; here we were
above the cliffs, part of the time skirting their very edges.
From an elevation of 7,000 feet at the entrance of the pass,
the road winds up to anelevation of nearly 11,000, and then
winds down to about its former lcel, going eighty miles to
get thirty in a direct line. At the entrance our train was
divided into two parts, two engines pulling one part and one
the other. Two freight trains were just ahead of us, and
whether we looked before or behind we could see a train
moving in the opposite direction, one above us and the other
below. Up, up, we go, among mountain pines and cedars;
Editor Alumni Department, Hesperian.
Your kind request to send something for this department
o" the Hesperian comes at a time when my school work is then past the timber limit, up among and above the snow