SOMETHING ABOUT LONGFELLOW.

Otago Witness, Issue 2454, 27 March 1901, Page 63

SOMETHING ABOUT LONGFELLOW.

[ C'GRKrcHiiN." in ibe Scottish" Farmer.) Longfellow is-, par excellence, the poet to . learn off by heart. He has. so many i pieces temptingly short, periect in forni, that go singing through" the brain as onl l reads them, that you % will not be able to forgel them if yon read then> over a few . times. He is, too. in a very s-pecial &eE.«e, the- woman's — fhat is, he understands the nature of women a? we like best to . be understood. He is the poet of the fire- . side; of cliildren, and of domestic affecti«.i. There is only one type of woman, or one side of a woman's nature that he can appre- . ciate ; but most people and every unu will ■ consider it the best side and the best type. The world of the affections is thy world. > Noi. that of man's ambition. In that stillnes: . Which most becomes a woman, calm and holy . Thou sitteSt by the fireside of the bean, Feeding its flame. What will Marie Corelh and Sarah Grand say to that? A very little experience and , observation of life teaches us that, however '. largely our minds may be dominated b* t,he , affections, we must hive some tur.d of [ strength outside earthly We, which in a thousand ways foils v-> in our hour of need. It is ? staff upon whkli, it you

lean too heavily, it will pierce your hand. Therefore, Longfellow's feminine ideal, however lovely, is defective in this imperfect .world where "the crooked cannot be made straight, ■ and that which is wanting cannot be numbered." A little of the world of business or the world of intellect added jfco the "world of the affections" supplies not only a useful reserve of interest to women, Jbut is absolutely essential in most cases if they are to live a worthy life. To descend to a prosaic instance, how many of you would feel your life a blank, though surrounded by an adoring husband and prattling children, if at one fell swoop you ■were deprived of your cackling hens a.nd waddling ducks, your kye, your cheese, and yonr butter, and shut up within four ■walls to the world of the affections? Higher ir the social scale this is no uncommon history : She lived for fashion, as he for power. Well, she must live for something, and it is not unlikely that the love of her lord failed her. / However, we must not quarrel with Longfellow for putting us to suck sweet, poetic, and domestic uses. We are going to begin — if we have not done so already — to con over to ourselves some of his short pieces.' The two that are best known through the medium of school books ("Psalm, of Life" and "Excelsior") are really < among -the most worthless. Begin with |his little gem — The day is done, and the darkness Palls from the wings of night. . . • "The Quadroon Girl," "The Rainy Day," "Stay at Home and Rest," "Daylight and Moonlight." I never see the moon by «Uylight but I recall this verse : In broad daylight, and at noon, Yesterday I saw the moon Sailing high, but faint and white As a schoolboy's paper kite. Then there follows the contrast of the moon by night. Of pieces about children there are "The Children's Hour," "Come to Me, 0 ye Children," and "Weariness 1 " — " O little feet, that such long years . . ."' 1 can only name a few that are favourites of mj own, and it is impossible to multiply quotations. In the longer poems there are many passages that invite to learn by heart. For example, the openings lines of "Evangeline" — "This is the forest primeval" ■ — is like a piece of organ music. The long poem that tempts me most in this way is " _^c Song of Hiawatha." I shall close ♦bese fragmentary hints by two quotations from these poems : — "Wed a maiden of you. people, "' Warning said the old Kokomi6 ; "Go not eastward, go not westward. For a stranger -whom ..we-know not! Like a fire upon the hearthstone Is a neighbour's homely daughter. Like the starlight or the moonlight Is the handsomest of strangers." The following is. where Hiawatha takes komfr his bride Jlinnehaha through the primeval forest : — From the sky the sun benignant Looked upon them through the branches, Saying to' them, "O, my children, Love is sunshine, hate is shadow, Life is chequered shade and sunshine; • Rule by love, O Hiawatha ! " From the sky the moon looked at them, Filled the lodge with mystic splendours, "Whispered to them, "0, my children, Day is restless, night is quiet, Man imperious, woman feeble ; Half is mine, although 1 follow — Rule by patience, Laughing "Water!"