A FUGITIVE LIGHT.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 610, 13 September 1909, Page 4

A FUGITIVE LIGHT.

EARLY NEW .ZEALAND. AND A 'DISAPPOINTED IDEALIST. ; ; (By J.Q.X.) I If tho "Polar War" results in proof that tlio North Polo has been discovered; cither by Peary , or .by Cook, somo. of us will bo sorry. ' Life will bo the poorer for the'loss of that search which seemed to have in it just enough of hope to call out splendid endeavours, while it was'still open to all to believe, that'tho goal would never bo reached.' 'It is . tho quest, always the quest,j that is romantic, heroic, inspiring— most' if it never ends, loss if it is given up as failure,' least, if. it definitely and demonstrably succeeds. Who would wish to see the Holy Grail domesticated at; Camelot as a centrepiece for tho "Round Table? ' ' . ».Sb, in t-hfe intervals of discussing, the. ox-, changes of courtesy between rival explorers, thero may be mental refreshment, in . tracing tho stops of one of those errant-souls who seek an ideal" and can nover quito convince eyon : " themsclvfe'-that they have ' found it. And if the track skirts for a little Virile thehistovy of New Zealand and crosses familiar places, Wellington City may., seem, -to be touched with .the glamour of .the .unattained, halt .at Johnsonville. , All the "world,knows that'Xir. Thomas Ar-. nold, ... great . Rugby headmaster,had a moro famous soi?,:Matthew, the poet.; and all who 'love poetry, have read; "The Scholar,"-. "Gipsy," and "Thyrsis." ' ?Arthur.' .Hugh, fclough,! to'-' whoso memory ..A'tCHyrsis" : was--writtcii; and who' shared; Matthew. Arnold'sconception:of tho Oxford scholar who'- "forsook his -friends and went 1 to ( lcarh tho gipsyulor<>;"' was also' a poet. His principal' , worj:.carries. (as if... t-o - deter the. uricouragedtls"' reader) the title, of ''The Bothib of. T(4bef-ria T Vuolicli," but.has.a reassuring'sub-title, ".A Long-Vacation Pastoral.", The cintral.'ehar'acter ■' of. this • really- .simple and. .beautiful poem" is Matthew Arnold's brother. Thomas," thinly: disguised under 'the name: of: Philip Hewsoii—"tie' Chartist, tho poet, 'the eloquent speaker." In the end, Philip marries' 'a;Highland maiden, and they go out to New Zealand. There he . " hewed / and due; subdued "thfc k "earth 'ahd his spirit." I '" Apa'rt'(but not. "wlolly apart) from . . his youthful Radicalism;.--Thomas -Arnold tho Younger :is'. pictured -to my mind in those ; two "great poems written by his brother' and associated with tho memory . Of 'Cloiigli.'" The; [.'two Arnolds arid Clougli' were . intimate .friends, and, their ; Bhadowy comrade, the Scholar Gipsy, seeking, always "a, fugitive and gracious, light," is a type,"of each of them.; Thomas Arnold's volume of remiriisconces,' "Passages: in a "Wandering Life," is like a--translation of "The Scholar, : Gipsy," and_ "Thyrsis!",-from'. imagination,to;: fact., Discontented with ,"tho social .institutions of.) England, .finding tho political economy ; of thetime inadequate,' uuattracted. : by . the Socialism, of. Owen -.and the .Chartists, < "belacked culture;'? "ha steeped himself, in French revolutionary . literature, ■ anddreamed that "some kind of Pantisocracy, with beautiful .ideals Vand imaginary . local establishments, such, as Coleridge never troubled; himself .to-formulate," • might ,con'tain the sccret of tho futnro. , For years: .he." had been . reading-- about' New Zealand: ■ "The descriptionsof / virgin, forests, - snow-, clad - mountains, rivers not yet tracked to their 'sources,' and lakfes .imperfectly known, faicinated' me,";' ho .writes, "as. they, have fascinatcd; many since. ; And, joining,, tlio -two lines-.of -thought together, my; specula' tiyo fancy suggested that in a perfect locale, such as New-Zealand, it 'might-be destined that the true' confraternity of tho rfuture — .could {founders . and constitution-builders of "this genius and -virtue bo disebv-ered--might .bo stieuijely' b'uilt up.'"* :c' His; father, had 'been interested : -'|ia "N£iw ■Zealand, .Vftnd.' had' : ' bought, two seotidns,; of country land (IQO acre's each)', and..-Wo 'tioWii' "acres ill Wellington;; Ho. had. oTCn. tjiought,'.of -coming. out/ito;.; Now ; Zealand; "to and' ;dib <;thore,:vif, there;, were 'anyi-rprosneci jof' 'rearing -apy. hopeful .form ot-,so6iety-.-^r< Thomas ; Arnold the.: .Younger:,sailed,"from";,,Lohdoti:Miutho JohWiWlcklifte 'in"*NovolnboW': ;l'B47;'and/soon after;',landing at! Wellington','; he sought-;dut :liis vfather' sections 'of' 'country land. ■''"-Theyy.-waro-\iri- tlibi'jMakara-' Y,alloy; eight -miles' : 'from;:'Wellingt'6ii;i'Gloomy red-jtm«r bu&h covered , the'-wholo' valley, "iio't; "an, acre had beetf cleared,"arid thbreiwas.'rio road. Arnold- consulted Colonel Wiakefieldj who was hero as agent of the New Zealand Company, and who ...thereupon: placed at his disposal, in eichango'for one 'Makara Sections, a -.holding.-: ofsimilar ' area-' oil" the 'West- Coast Road* between Johnsonvjlle. and ,'Porirua. ; Arnold then went to live* with''a 'family named' Barrow,'' iif like Chaucer's'"Bob-up-and-down,' occupied by, small,'settlers."; This', was /John'son'rille;. ;33arrpw-and-,his ( two..s6ns;took a contract "to. fell'and burn.hyp'acres of.Jho section,'and -put .up a two-roomed., slab' whare. ..'" ; "I.confess," wrote. Arnold ,'in histoid age, 1 ; looking baick:on, this,time,; '-that', my,/ulterior objects:.wero.but/mistily; conceived:;..,,but ! to: thb-best of my fr'e.mombjarice,-1' thought that -I might-.raiso -somev tons. of;,pptfitoes aiid -a, littlo wheat, besides • garden vegetables,' .on the land cleared,'.'ahd gradually'become- ihe possessor of a,cb'w,,a"h'orse or tiVo*,''and a'few sheep." . .:' vll'O--- " One day ,tlie : young: idealist; ,r in';Vbush, at.tiro and: blue .walking, into AVellington, when, h'e'; : ,& pve'rtakon by three horsemen. One oiiitheso was .Governor Grey. His i Excellelicy. gave - his horse to the,'orderly; and' walked with- Arnold. "After a little conversation, ho made me_ :th'o offer of his private secretaryship, which'l respectfully asked. for : time ,to consider, but eventually declined." The young Radical thought '"that, men. of,-independent :charabtPr ought not to have anything to do with, tho_ Colonial .Government, so long, as ,it Svas carried on.by means of.nominee, not re--presentative,- assemblies." v After a whilo . came a letter from his father's-trustees.'' They could' not legally ■give their conscnt :to.:tho exchange of t-ho-•Jand;V So Arnold's" whare- and'ole'afing "were .'for somebody else.He"''wcnt to;' Nelson.and .kept, a school thpre, ..but- in December, 1 -.lSl!), two years after his departure" o Eng7, ■land, he, sailed for .jto'.'fepme'. an, inspector of ;Schools,v'"f i ,' "I left' New lie" says, "without , seeing-any pf;tho v.ague r hopes of:,tho.riso/0f a'regonerated::society -wit-hb'-iks'borderS'..'ful-'--' fllled.''. : -I)amett,-?''tho'- ■' Frederic, Weld/, Dillon Bell," Duppa,' and a -fowV others .of.finer'mould/than tno.generality of man--' kind , had each- turned to: his 'special. lihpj'bf'• work,'and - 'no' association" on poetic, or line's was. dreamed of. Thd"pur-" suers of tho ideal sought' those--shores no more." : - ■' In Tasmania Arnold, lived ;.saVeral .years.',: He married the grand-daughter of a former Governor of the colony, and their daughter, now Mrs. . Humphry. Ward, was; born there., Ho joined tie; Roman Catholic; Chiirchy: au'd • was, obliged,, fbV' that,"reason, to' giv^'up bis position;;;-He : th^n,returned to'.-Eng]and, a y - .began , <i now", .career; as(. teaphe'ri'university; professor, and . .writer "on . 'English . literature." He left the Roman Church in 1860, but joined. it again in''lß76);sacrificing oitbach occasion ; an important, educational. position; I.Six - or.-, .soven. times in-his 77 years, Tliom'as: Arnold turned ' his back oh proferment- Tor?lthß sake' '.of an'idea. ..His; latest Wa'nderihgs'j ;he''re- 1 -marks,: "have : a certain flavour, age." He-.psited, in 1898, the home and grave of . St. Brigit of Sweden, and in 1899 hp made his first sojourn in Rome., He died in 1900. For him, as for tho friend of both, Iris brother might have written: . . "A fugitiro and gracious light he.seeks, " ; Shy to illumiho; and I seek it too. ' This does not como with houses or with - : ■ gold, ■, , ' '" With placo, with honour, and a. flattering / crew; 'Tis not in the world's market brought , and sold. - But the smooth-slipping weeks Drop by, and Icavo ita seeker still untired." It is certain that,-if lie found that light, ho did not claim to Jio tho sole discoverer. -