JOHN CLIFFORD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18565, 24 November 1923, Page 1 (Supplement)

JOHN CLIFFORD.

I SCHOLAR, SEER, SOLDIER. k;X' ' % J - BY MATAXGA. ■ | So Dr. Clifford is dead. He seemed to have found the elixir of life, so stai wart and alert he remained Jomg past the limit set by tradition to human years. 'Hiere was a timein his early boyhood ■when the shadow of death hovered over him for a little; but it fled and was often forgotten in the zest of eager deeds. "Whenever it came again, it was never more than a shadow witness to the light, grey but not grim. And, although the elixir of life was not for fciim any more than for his fellow mortals, despite his grasp of science and philosophy; he found something far better, for he knew the secret of sustained youth. i j Nearly 50 years ago he published his popular little book "Is Life Worth giving ?" It had for sub-title "An I Eightfold Answer," but the reply was really ninefold, for there was implicit in .it the cheery testimony of his own life. i i*;lt is bad reasoning," he urged then, ; which builds up a theory of life on the Borrow ledge of a passing human mood, instead of on the broad bases of men's i chequer 3d and manifold experience. That is wisdom, penetrative, catholic; ; hut finer still is the record he wrote in his own dauntless, tireless career, and kept Qfi writing until the other day. Barrie's , Tommy made in his creator's view the .radical mistake of refusing to grow old; i John Clifford, "to his Creator's praise, 'made & like reiterated refusal, but with | a magnificent difference. I i He yielded himself without- reserve to | the; fascination of continual j earning. "Knowledge had over for him the invitation | of.unexplored remainders. The temple I of wisdom was riot less to liim because i there were gaps in its unfinished •walls — windows through which the i eternal dawn could look in. He grew into the possession of a marvellously broad scholarship, without losing the spirit of the scholar. The Undying Quest. That quest of learning, never relin«jnish«j, began early. His parents' ; iwveriy sent him to work in a Notting- | hamshire lace factory at eleven. Never i Jess than twelve hours a day, sometimes | twice round the clock and even longer in j times of unusual demand, he toiled with ! a will, becoming soon head of a responsible ; department. But even in those days he Sis up betimeslong before the: factory ill at sisto read such books as , D'Aufcigne's " History of the IRefonnaticm,' 1 . eagerness took him on, until after , his days at the Baptist College at i Leicester and his appointment to Praed t Street Chapel in Paddingtonth«; mother \ church of the West bourne Park that his services afterwards made famoushe' set ! oat to matriculate at London UniversityIHe took its Arts, Science and Law dei grees. with honours in logic, moral phil- | osophy, geology, palaeontology, and princij ples of legislation, and was placed .first lin the year of his M.A. Later he i studied in the School of Mines, .and was elected a Fellow .of the Geological Society. It was only to be expected that an honorarv doctorate should be given him : it could add little to* his distinction —rather it reflected lustre upon the conferring University. Unaffected Greatness. Not for such recognitions did lie bend himself to study through all his days, but for the furnishing and furbishing" of his full and militant life. The vanity that too often keeps company with academic attainment was utterly • foreign to him. It was radiant heat he sought, not the tinsel glitter of a mere decoration. There is a characteristic story of a Free Church Council meeting, • which incidentally bears also upon his wonderful ability to* snatch needed recuperation from brief intervals for sleep in the midst of strenuous days, The Council had received an invitation to attend a highly important public function. and some details of decorum were Being discussed in connection with the invitation's acceptance. Should academic costume, for example. be worn ? This question had weighty consideration for a while, when Clifford realised that its affirmative answer would embarrass the few of His fellowguests who were without academic standing. He rose to put a querywhat should be done by those wh» had several degrees ? Should they the costume they each preferred. Ml arts or divinity? Regard!*?." -• any lurking trap, several answered If' ">ev should wear the gowns they pix;..rred. " Then," said Clifford. " I shall eo in my nightgown!" The shaft went home, lie function- was attended without the trappings of scholarship. Ever a learner, he allured others to heights and led the way. When he first went to London he found that a number of young men m drapery establishments could not attend the classes he conducted* in the evenings; hours of business were later then than now. So he started a class for their especial benefit at six o'clock on Wednesday mornings. Butler's " Analogy " was "the sole "dish for these intellectual breakfasts. In later vftars logic, New Tfistauicnt Grfjpk. and other studies were enjoyed- That class continued for twelve years. Some of its members had to be at business by seven o'clock; others stayed until nearly eight. The closing of - the- particular business house from which the bulk of the attendant* came led to the abandonment of the class. Another, " studyine Ruskin. was afterwards started at Westbourne Park "The Crown of Wild Olive." '- Unto This Last," and " Munera Pulve.ris" were taken in succession. Such work was ever among his chief joys. A Lover of EEs Kind. \lor.g with this fascination of knowledge went a deep appreciation of human fellowship. He belonged to all who wanted him, and their name was legion. So he became the ckimpion of great causes, with a Liberalism that was never a pettv poliiical tag,, but si love of bis kind that longed to save, conserve and culture the best that was m them. He was once tasked why he had been so successful at Praed Street, that the building of West bourne Park had to be undertaken : " I knew."' be laughingly replied, in words that contained an allegory, "how to eat periwinkles with a pin. Yet' he was not so small as to despise the great He could discuss a five-course dinner with Lord Roseberv and an Education Bill with Lord Halifax. Men of ill creeds and none counted it an honour to be ft bis acquaintance. He was a fearless fighter for what he held to be right, but had a tolerance tralv Christian. " Breadth of sympathy and* depth of conviction are rarely- to be found in cue spirit," he once wrote- in an autograph album : vet he combined them t.j 1 country where Nonconformity has a 's 4 ion be" was prepared to endure hardship as a good soldier, but he never avowed these things to warp hus heart. He could net take " half-news of men and things." He was no obscurantist : in the harness of bis powers he had no place r <*r blinkers. In an age when £_ 0 { his associates were closing their „ves to the truth of evolution he espoused it whole-heartedly, and declared that " its supreme contribution ' was that it had -'ten religion a clearer Bib>e. In that fiit-h be remained unswervingly, and it helped to make him a mighty evangelical force. . Yet. he asked no one else to accept his point of view without full inouirv j>r Clifford's church could lie joined •without baptism, although he himself was quite clear as to why he was a. Baptist. After all, be is not dead. _ Great, souls are portions of eternity.