THE HESPERIAN STUDENT.
ID
American colleges uro running this matter of public
speaking ntn the ground. It is nil well enough to spend
fioino time upon this when it docs not interfere with
the niHin purposo of u siudcnl's life. A certain amount
or work in tlie literary societies is n buncflt. Hut when
the mania for 'spouting" arrives at such a pitch that its
victim becomes absorbed, body and soul, in its allure
ment?, we say that it lias ceased to be a benefit, and is an
injury. The advisable course for students would
bo to do more thinking and less talking The world is
in need of the former and has a surplus of the latter.
One dilllcully seems to beset students of the fine arts
which require uxticme technical training; thai is, they
become so devoted to this ns to destroy the very effect
it is intended to produce. In music this is especially
noticeable. Often do we lieur compositions so rendered
that the attention is entirely divei ted from the theme to
the mere execution of the performer, admiring the rapi
dity with which his lingers move, just as one would the
feats of a rope-dancer. Now it is hnidly possible that the
province of music is limited to this physical prowess
view, far from it; all that the finest artistic (mining is
worth, is 10 acquire the power to bring out more deli
cately and aecurately the meaning, the soul of music.
The ideal of a performer would be one who should so
merge his pei tonality into the spirit of It is subject, that
he wt uld lorget the execu'iou, llio place, all else, and
feet only the beauty and harmony of the musical idea.
For this great ait is not a meaningless jumble of discor
dant and concordant, sounds, but it is interpretative.
True, it appeals to a side of the mind, where erbiil ex
pression is impossible, yet there is a language. The
composition of a true artist conforms as rigidly to the
law of this sense of beauty, or whatever it may be, as
the most precise demonstration in Geometry, to the
mathematical law. That is, music Is subject to method)
ex pi esses a thought according to fixed principles, nnd
works out its idea intelligently, not. blindly. So subtle
are its piiuciplcs thnt even oi.e false note mars Jhe whole
work. But 8.mo one may inquire, "is it possible that
those seemingly dissonant, stormy Sonatas of Beethoven
have any artistic plan, any meaning, save to make n
deafening roar?'' Yes, t) ey have. You mid I may not
understand them, as well as many other products o1
ait; it is quite probable we do not entirely comprehend
Michael Angelo'e Last Judgement, or Raphael's Transfig
uration. These great transcendental su bjects which be
long to the higher attributes of the soul, aro not so easily
grasped, lie who would interpret them must bring
something more than dextrous fingers. IIighct
lies the domain of music; it is not to afford a show to ita
BCivunl, art, but oxisls for itself, as an ond not n means.
College students seem to make writing a herculancau
task. They genera! lyjchoose the most cumbersome subject
and handle them in like manner. The first suggestion wjj
would make is' Unit they select a subject which belong,,
to their experience, something that has been domesticated
in their minds and hearts. Do not attempt to grasp acluss
of Ideas yon hare not come up with, between you nnd
which there are many stops yet m be taken. It is as awk
watd for a writer to think in an nlmosphcro of thought
unnatural and unknown to him as for a fish to swim on
land. The efforts of both aro equally effectual. Choose
the clement that Is natural to you. Do not bn afraid oflho
old simple, familiar ideas in which you live, these nro tho
only ones to which you can impart fo.-co and vigor.
When you afllrm you are sufficiently at homo with tho
c!as9 of thoughts as to make an intelligent criticism of
Neo-Plalonism, or the abstruse questions of civilization
we do not believe you, wi question your knowk-ai of
them, it seems incredible that In your short exporienco
you have met with and solved such profound problems
Your essay generally proves our suspicions were correct.
It is evident that you are out of your medium, that you.
arc at templing to describe a region never yet seen by you.
Again do not be afraid to write upon so. called old
subjects, men have lived upon this globe many thousand
years, during this timo Ufa has not essentially changed,
i is joys, its woes, its trials, its sorrows, its hopes aie ex
perienced by each and all from primitive man to the pros,
cut time, its thoughts and ideas have suffered endless rep
etition. And yet men never tiro of the old story, eagerly
as ever do they Jislcn to it. Whoever expresses it with
foice and beauty, is heard as readily today as if it were:
for the first time told. And as the theme has worn so
long, there 's little danger of exhausting it now. Far
from it, such a difficulty will never interpose until lite it
self is efiaced
And now to lecur to tho consideration of treating old
thoughts, theie are iwo kinds of rehashes, that only is
censurable which looks upon tho dead coals loft among
the ashes of the past, and leaves thorn still dead. Tho
other lehash breathes fire into these coals, sots them
glowing, giving out heat and light. In other words, a
truth, however old, Is used creditably by us whon wo
impart such force and life to it as to make it
again speak to men with its original might and pow
er. Emerson says "a thought belongs to him who last
gives it the best turn."
Finally, do not try to tell what is beyond your ken,
but what is within. In this way only, can you write
what will be read with interest.
Edgar Allen Poo has long seemed an anomaly among
men of letters. Much as lias been written by him und
abrnit him he bus always remained an enigma. Each
author who has made Poo his theme, being biased cither
by friendship with, or enmity to his subject, has rather
deepened the mystery surrounding him by contradicting
what others had said. We think however, that tills
rule has been broken in tho lifts just published from tho
pen of Geo. a.. Woodberry.
Some of tho older students of the University will road
this work Willi special interest as being from tho hand or
tho professor who once goaded them along the thorny
paths of Logic and Literature, nnd turned their cssnys in
to war maps, with red ink. To any, however, tho story
of Poo's life, in such completeness must bo welcome-.
Those who arc familiar with Mr. Woodberry 's writings
in the Atlantic do not need to be told that tho book Is
well written as to language and clear as to style. As one
of our professors has said, ho belongs to tho Harvard
coterlo who aro lo a certain dogroo, literary perfectionist
and sometimes sacriflco strength to ologanccj but this
smooth, impartial style is well adapted to biography and
tho real dramatic naturs of Poe'a lih makes up for lack
of sympathy on tho part of his biographer. We bare
