The Dominion SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1910. A CENTENARY TO BE REMEMBERED

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 127, 22 February 1919, Page 6

The Dominion SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1910. A CENTENARY TO BE REMEMBERED

To-day is the centenary of_ the birth of a United States citizen | who commands recognition as one of' the world's distinguished ' men, whoso character and works make up, tho real wealth of the -world. We lxsfcr to James Kusseia Lowell. The young nation into which ho iiorii was very different from wfyat it is to-day. Its population 'i-hen was a little over' nine mil- ' lions, while to-day _it_ is approachI ing one hundred millions. In size it was not much nioro than 500 square miles, while to-day it is nearly 3,000,000. Then, all the European States, and even France and Turkey, exceeded it in population, whilo to-day its population exceeds that of any European' Power save Russia. Then the United States disclaimed _ taking any part ih European and the. statesman in its midst who.would support sharing in a European war would have been denounced as a madman. To-day the Uittlcfields of Europe arc stained with the blood of her dead, fallen from the ranks of her army, and she has poured out endless millions of treasure. Then Britain and the United States were separated by-estrange-ment and distrust; to-day they are united in a community' of sacrifice, are largely one in ideals, ancl seem almost members- of a great commonwealth. - The man whose birth we' commemorate has been in his grave nigh, thirty years, but in his life service ho did much to draw Britain arid tho United States together : ho toiled to remove every political misunderstanding, and wo are reaping" to-day the harvest ho shared in. sowing. He did so as man. of letters, teacher, poet, and diplomat. Washington was never represented at the Court of St, James by an abler diplomat norhy a more cultured man. England "becamo to him a second mother. Tennyson, he said, was. the' Laureate of the-tongue and not of the nation. When his term of appointment w r as up in 1884 he was loath to leave England, and his hosts of friends were unwilling. to part from him. Ho was assured of the •Professorship of English • Literature, at Oxford if he stayed, but a, sense of duty constrained him to return to the United States. He translated into deeds the fine words of Whittier: O Englishmen! in hope and creed, In blood'and tongue aro brothers! We, too, are heir.jo Runnymcde; And Shakespeare's fame and Cromwell's deed Are not alone, our mothers. Lowell owed much to liis ancestors and to - his surroundings. Ho came of a good stock. His father was a Unitarian minister of high ability and firio public spirit, while tho, forbears, of his gifted mother came from tho storm-beaten Orkney Islands.. Cambridge, >which was almost a suburb of Boston, was his birthplace, so he. was thus a native of Puritan: New England, which-from the beginning occupied tho premier position in the States as the centre of intellectual life and literary culture. It was there the first printing press was seen, tho first college founded, and from there books and teachers spread over the land. In his early career he was one of a gifted literary circle as America has not seen since. .Emerson, Hawthorne, Longfellow, and Whittier were friends who stimulated him, and he discovered Wendell Holhes and many others and got them to write, and thus greatly multiplied the' intellectual and moral forces of liis ago. He won no special distinction as a student, but ho read widely and laid the foundation of. his futurecareer as -a man of letters. He studied law and took an office, but his interest did not' lie that way. He had a passion for books and a passion for moral reform, and ho chose journalism to push reform and to further literature. The Pioneer, 'a literary journal, was his first venture, but though ho had the assistance of Hawthorne, Emerson, Whittier, and Poe, it only lived three months. In 1845 he engaged to write leaders for the Pennsylvania. . Frccmm, an anti-slavery journal. Then he found a scope for his powers as a moral crusader, and to other journals he sont poems and literary studies. In other journals, such as the New .York Standard and tho Boston Courier, he found a ready outlet for poems, literary ,and reform articles—and in his reform articles he used satire with tremendous effect. He soon became recognised as a man of letters, and when Longfellow resigned his Professorship of Modern Languages in Harvard College Lowell , was appointed to the chair. For, years he had as a stimulus to literary production his college clas's, his journalistic engagements, and the clamant social evils of his age. He first found fame in both continents by his Sir/low Papers, which originally ' appeared serially in the Courier. In 18-16 a war with Mcxico, which he -abhorred, was entered upon, and he began to lash tho promoters of the war in his special contributions. He looked upon it as "a war of false pretences, and that it would result in widening the boundaries and so prolonging the life of slavery"—to quote tho words of his biographer, Mr; Scudder; and ho places- the war criminals in the pilJory of his .verse and pours on them nis. hot indignation and scorn. Railsitters on great moral and political questions are held up to the contempt of all time in The Pious Editor's Creed of this book. When the ,' Birjlow Payers reached Loudon,

Thomas Hughes, the author of Tom Brown's School Days, was captured it, and Lowell to him become a new star on the literary horizon, Tho war of the Union later, with the great moral issue of slavery, stirred his soul to its depths, and in The Present Crisis and other pieces the poet becomes the fiery prophet of righteousness and of action. One of the best monuments of Lowell is The Atlantic-Monthly, the Blackwood of America. He was its first editor, and lie lifted it to the high position it has never fallen from; and made it a high-class literary journal and the moulder of sound, healthy public opinion. The second series of the Bif/low Payers appeared in this magazine, and did good service, and were powerful fighting pamphlets in tho cause of freedom and union. Books ol essays and volumes of poems flowed from tho press, and the eirc-ic of his influence was widely extended. His grasp of politics, national and international, became known by the American Government, and a- sphere of service abroad_ was offered him. He became American Minister to Spain and then to-Britain, and as a publicist did honour to himself ancl to his Government. His residence in Britain _was probably the great joy of his life. The platform and the Press gave him scope for his powers, and he valued the honorary degrees the Scottish and English universities gave him. In August, 1891, in his American home, his strenuous life ended and lie passed : to his rest. In the future lie will not rank among the great poets, but he will rank among the great ministers of moral appeal. In the eternal conflict between good and evil, individual, national, and international, the song of Lowell will ever bring its guiding message. The well-known journalist, ,W. -"T. Stead, extolled Lowell as his religious guide and his sustainer in moral warfare, ancl he urged that his Parable should be read once a month, in every church in ChristenThe secret of the power of his life is set forth in a poem on "Agassiz," which- has rightly been called the poet's own epitaph— ..'His magic was not far to seek-r He ,was so human! Whether strong or weak, Far from his kind ho neither sank nor soared, But sat an equal guest at every hoard. No besgar ever felt him condescend,. No prince presume: for still himself he fiore At nihilhood's simple 'level, and whei'er He met a. stranger, there, he left a friend.