Daily British Whig (1850), 15 May 1909, p. 12

The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

SHAKESPEARE WAS AN IDEALIST IN RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY, ---- It Would Take Hours to Call Attention to the Inspiring Thoughts He Has Bestowed Upon the World--Story of His Life. April 23rd is held in high honor by our race, for on that day, kept in memory of England's patron, St. George, was born, 345 years ago, William Shakespeate, and on that day, fifty- two years later, died. A preacher of the whole- some righteousness which stamps our nation, he was one of those whom God has chosen to "send out His light and His truth to bripg His people to His holy hill and to His dwell- ing." _ Considering him thus as one of the means God has used to reveal His - gospel, Canon Starr took the poet and his work as tiie subject of a sermon in the Cathedral on St. Mark's day, saying in part: Mankind owes a debt of gratitude to God «for the illumined souls of its teachers and for those poets whose songs "have enriched the blood of the nation and the world." The poet is a maker, who by his imagination creates new worlds of thought and feeling, 'glancing "from earth to heaven, from heaven to earth." The true poets "with their garments and sing- ing robes about them" help us to climb by sunbeams of thought to the "Father of Lights" and to learn "what royalties in store lie just beyond the entrance door of life." But some poets not only open founts ot imagination but by the flashlight of their genius reveal to us life in its mightiness and in its meanness, in its trinmphs and in its falls, in all its wondrous scale of possibilities, and first among this splendid company of the inspired is Shakes- peare. Born of modest English parentage at Strat- ford-on-Avon, there séems nothing in the peace- ful landscape, the low hills, the cultivated fields, the murmuring stream, on which he looked, calculated to sow seeds of that subtle and sublime imagination he afterwards dis- played; nothing in his education, as far as we know, to account for what he did. His father seems to have beeh an ordinary man of his Lhion; time, in disposition, cheerful, in religion not a Puritan, but much opposed to Roman Catho- licism. He is said to have been an alderman, and an ex officio magistrate. Nothing seems known of his mother beyond her beautiful name, Mary Arden. In those days little at: tention was paid to women, they were born, were married, and had children, died --no matter how great the sons became the mothers were forgotten. The world is wiser now; knowing that all great gaen must have first had great mothers, it knows the debt of honor it owes to the mothers of our race. In his day Shakespeare was of no particular importance, He was neither a priest, a noble, nor a soldier, but as one whose work was to amuse and entertain, he was scheduled as a "servant." He went at twenty-two to London, bought some land, engaged in some law suits, We know his childrens' names, and that he was actor, dramatist and manager, that he was buried in St. Mary's, the parish church of his birthplace, and that on his tomb a rude epitaph is chiselled: "Good friend for Jesus' sake forbear To dig the dust enclosed here, Blest be 'ye man that spares thesg stones, And cursed be he that moves my bones." Perhaps knowing how the Puritans had pro- faned the tombs, and that they might be dis- posed to remove an actor from holy ground, he himself, when his brain was feeble, indited the lines, or they may have been inscribed, after his death, by his son-in-law. This man of surpassing genius lived during the great awakening, when Eufope emerged from the darkness of the Middle Ages, when the discovery of America had made England the centre of commerce--a period when some of the greatest writers, thinkers, soldiers and discoverers were produced--Cervantes, Bruno, Rubens, Drake, Galileo, Michael Angelo, Rem- prandt, Calvin, what an atmosphere, what a day of thought and action. London was the centre of & world whose imagination had been touched by discovery, the nation was in pros- perity and men were in love with life, and because Mout of prosperity the beautiful is born," art, literature, and the drama flourished. Shakespeare, one of the effects of the world's awakening, 'was an idealist in religion and philosophy. ~ He did not, like many writers then and now, take refuge in she real, by pre- tended love of truth. All realities are not nor even worth knowing, they often Shakespeare knew the real, but in the same relation to the ideal as the stone bears to the statue, or the paint bears to the picture--power is not outside the soul, but within. His whole conception was to pursue the highway of truth, and if in a vein of humor, he apparently deviates, it 1s Right that leads him on. No man has sound- ed life's unnumbered strings as he. There was nothing within: the range of human thought, within the scope of mental effort, unfamiliar to him.. He seems to have known the brain and heart of man so thoroughly, that no mctter in what local colors it is painted, we recognize the character. He was a man of human limi- tations, and human sins and frailties, but, at least, a man of vision, which, striving to make real, he rose to heights beyond his frailties In his delineations he creates no but makes life true to itself, and n from a gutter or a throne, each poetic, weaken and degrade. and sins. monsters, whether take can teach a lesson. What a procession of men, statesmen, war- riors, kings and clowns he has sent forth! What women! Isabella, in whose spotless life love and reason blend in perfect truth. Juliet, within whose heart passion and purity met in wondrous union. Cordelia, who chose to suffer loss rather than show affection im unworthy ways, Hermione, who bore with hope and faith the cross of shame, and finally forgave with all her heart. Ferdita, Rosa- lind, Helena, Imogen, who ¢ries "what is it to be false? and in the midst of tragedies of love, SURPSSING GENUS ture showed its beauty. Ages gone revived at his bidding, and those to be were pictured in his brain. He taught the great religious truth, the brotherhood of man, and if in a sentence he could sum up his philosophy he would say: "Live out truly, nobly, wisely, happily, your human life,--as human life, not as a supernatural life, for, you arc a man, and not an angel; not a sensuous life, for you are a man and not .a brute; not a frivolous life, for you are a man and not a butterfly; live each day a man's true life--not yesterdays lest you become a murmurer; not tomorrows, best you become a visionary, but a life of happy yesterdays in confident tomorrows." Life, is indeed a mystery. It was God who gave it to us for His sake and for the sake of others, a life, upon which, if we are true to it, will fall rays of the life eternal given us in Jesus Christ. : Listle To Complain Of. It is said that 78,000 settlers from the United States will have entered the Canadian West this spring, that they bring hundreds of car- loads of effects. Most of them, having sold out their farms back home, have capital with which to begin grain-growing under favorable conditions. They know the work and have the means to embark in it in a large way. These people are described as highly efficient and desirable settlers. Some of the Western news- papers assure nervous persoms in Ontario that "Americanization" of the West is not taking place, except that grain fields ar springing up where the wild roses used to blSom. In other ords, the movement across the boundary is wholly an agricultural and not in any way a political. movement. However, a curious point was raised by a delegate to the recent convention, in Toronto of the Laymen's Missionary movement. He was sent from the West as a delegate, and was a religious man who had becn an Episcopalian over in the States, and had joined the Church of England on moving to Canada. But he de- clared that, great as was the future of the churches in the West, he felt Sure that the Church of England could not gain a rapid hold upon the settlers from across the line. He referred to the service of the Holy Cemmu- settlers were startled to find references to our earthly King appecring in the gmost sacred of all ceremonies. They were now liv- ing in a monarchy and they loyally accepted its institutions, but they would affiliate with denominations that did not introduce the sub- ject into their communion service. No doubt there will be some such feeling, rooted in both religion and tradition. That this feeling should declare itself is 'curious and interesting, but not of serious portent. The U. S. settlers have come from a land whare president-wor- ship is more than a pride; it is a ridiculous absurdity. The simple prayers for our good king are modest and humble as the dust com- pared with absolute worship by the U. 8S. po- litical parson. Between Thinking And Doing. Dr. Wilfrid Grenfell, of the Medical Mission, Labrador, has something to say of the motive behind his work among the Labrador fisher- men, which, in self-sacrifice, zeal and oneness of aim and purpose, has made him the most outstanding figure since the days of St. Paul: "In 1883, while I was studying medicine at the London Hospital in Whitechapel, 1 was attracted by a huge crowd going into a large tent in the siums of Stepney, There was singing going on inside, and curiosity led mein. As I left with the crowd I came to the conclusion that my religious life was a humbug. _I vowed in future that: I would either give it up or make it real." This is the ringing keynote of a life of use- fulness, that should strike responsive chords in every human heart, not only in relation to religious matters, but in all vocations. It in- dictates that profession is vain, unless trans- lated into the reality of action. We may be unimpeachable in orthodoxy, big in great re- solve, full of devotion to the forms of religion, but all is vain unless we order our lives on the one and only perfect Model, whose preaching was the life He lived. In the worldly affairs of human activity, the only true relation to our dutié® to our employers, to our employees, to all with whom we come into contact, is to make- our life, our ideals of duty, real. Para- doxical, as it may seem, the only true spiritual or moral or social life is the real life, in which aspirations become: acts, moral theories actual things, and sense of dufy, doing. Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels and have not charity, it profiteth nothing. --St. Paul. The Dearest, Best Of All There is but one holiday that does peculiar | honor to woman, and that honor paid in only a limited number of places in the United States. But the idea is noble, that the second Sunday in May shall be devoted to remembrances of our mothers. In this strenuous age we put the old folk on the shelf, to make room for younger ones, and there we too often forget them. The "heathen Chinese," with virtue of holding his parents in honor-all their days. Mother's Day is a graceful tribute to the goodness, faithfulness, and affection of the one who first loved us and gave us care that could not be measured by any scale of human ap- preciatiop. Few can remember the time when they were too kind, too thoughtful, too af- fectioniate to a good mother. Rather will the day recall selfish neglects. On Mothers' Day a white flower is worn, typical of purity--a carnation preferred, be- cause it figures the motherhood virtues. It is occasion for words of affection; a simple gift, a little outing. - Every true-mother, rich or poor, longs for endearments of her children, and especially do those sitting in the shadow of life, in loneliness or depression. Mothers' Day should spread. The churches should devote the afternoon, at least, to its fulfilment. New Joan Of Arc. Saturday Post. The burglar or mob leader that tries fierce and untamable proposition. tregsure. is three hundred tons. ship. First comes five inch grille of steel bars. the vault. connected with the steam-pipe. stalled anywhere. house. At every corner of the stilts the safe day and night. of glass. just as inside a house. checks a day. bank has a sort of hotel attachment, too. tinguished guests. for athletic clerks, More Provident Citizenship. attention to the Declaration of ruary. bind them to any partigular action. act. streams. tion, carefully guarded. Drainage and works are to be instituted. of the rainfall and promote regularity secure the highest uses of the land, work here outlined.' Hague in September. Paternal English Act. able. tered. there is an open grate unguarded. unprotected fireplaces. police may search him and packet. or bar for su¢h hearings, special times. Rest Day General Boon. to break the safe of the new National City Bank, | Wall Street, New York, will go up against a Since the resources of this bank aggregate four hundred million dollars, it is natural that special pre- caution should be taken to safeguard its vast The safe itself, very simple and bare of | adornment, stands in the centre of the great counting-roomr. It is fifteen feet high, twenty- five feet wide and thisty feet long. The weight The walls are strong enough to resist the bombardiscit of a battle- es of armor-plate. Next is a foot thickness of concrete; then an inch of solid steel; then half an inch of elec- tric wires connected with a dozen stations. On the outside of this is another inch of solid steel. - Just outside the walls of the vault is a But the novel protective feature is a four- inch steam-pipe which encircles the bottom of At regular intervals are nozzles. This pipe is constantly loaded with steam. In various parts of the big building are valves Should a watchman discover some one tampering with the vault, he can rush to one of these valves, turn a cock, and a moment later the safe is surrounded by a flaod of hissing, boiling steam. There are othet safeguards. never before in- The great vault is on stilts, and the watchman can walk under the treasure- are mirrors, sb that in one glance he can see all around. Scores of electrig lights blaze under This is perhaps the only two-story vault in the world. The floor which divides the structure into two stories is There is an iron stairway inside, Another interesting innovation in the new bank, a great time-saver, is a trolley railway to carry checks, the flow being fifty thousand A clerk at one desk dumps a bundle of checks into the carriage, presses a button and the load goe$ whizzing to another clerk. By means of special grooves it can be made to drop upon any desk desired. The For the benefit of clerks who have to work late at night or fall sick, a suite of living-rooms has been installed. These are provided with baths. A complete kitchen outfit is andther feature (the bank feeds: four hundred clerks at lun-. cheon), and there are special rooms for di- rector's luncheons and for luncheons for dis- A roof-garden is also part of the equipment, and there is a running-track The Canadian Commissioner of the North American Conservation Conference has drawn Principles adopted at the Conference of representatives from the United States, Canada, Mexico and Newfoundland, held in Washingtpn in Feb- The declaration is not, in any sense, a treaty between the countries, nor does it It lays down prinicples fundamental to the conserva- tion of national resources, on which authorities having control over national resources may As to the public health, immediate action is necessary, to prevent further pollution, by sewage or otherwise, of the lakes, rivers and Forests should be guarded from fire. Forest eonservation, afforestration (the plant- ing of tree areas where no trees have existed), and reforestration, where land fit only for forests, has been cleared by fire or by the hand of man are to be promoted. Water, for do- mestic purposes, is to be preserved from pollu Inland navigation is to be improved. The proprietorship of water powers is to be irrigation The prevention of land monopolies, improv- ed agriculture, the retention of the soil upon the watershed, so as to secure the conservation of waterflow--are some of the steps necessary to Economy in the mining and use of coal and her mineral fuels, is also to be promoted. Game is to be protected, especially such birds as are useful to agriculture. ~ No -greater project has yet been set on féot for this continent than the It is to be followed by an International Conservation Congress at The An excellent children's protective charter hal gone into operation in England. The chief features of this bill are sensible and practic- All foster children must be fully regis- It is now a crime to allow a child under seven years of age to be alone in a room where The home secretary has stated that in three years over a thousand deaths occurred as the result of A practical crusade is to be waged agafnst cigarette smoking by boys. If a boy strays down the street smoking the confiscate 'Tis A leading tobacconist has declared that any applicant for cigaretees who appears to be under age must carry in his pocket and produce his age certificate. . No child under 14 years of age is to be allowed to enter a salobn under any consideration whatever. Ontario's example is copied in the hearing of children's cases by the magistrates. sepasatyffom the court proper must be used 1 or, where such accommoda- tion does not exist, the cases gp! be tried at A room Just, what Sunday is to the laborer consid- ered solely from the economic point of view, is illustrated by scientific data recently pre- Women. 'Few women have retained a more affection- ate hold on the public mind than Grace Dar- ling. Far more than all, her heroism was ap- plauded because of her youth and humble coen- dition. Born at Bauorough, Northumber- land, in 1815, she was the seventh child of a family of nine. Her grandfather was a light- house keeper on the Farne Islands, 4 post to Which her' father succeeded. Her parents were severely religious, and brought up their children accordingly. Story books were not allowed in the house; games were not en- couraged; while cards were looked upon 4s the "devil's 'bock." Despite the humble position of the family, Grace seems to have enjoyed a fair education, which, considering that she spent her childhood days in the Farne Light- house, says much for her parents. She is des- cribed a contemporary writer as being very retiring and little given to conversation, "gen- tle in aspect and mild and benevolent in char- acter." She was decidedly good-looking and one of the most feniifiine of women. : It must have been a painfully dull life in the lighthouse, but Grace, in addition to as sisting to keep house, was of the greatest ser: vice to her father in his daily work. Her one exercise was rowing. Thus she became. thoroughly inured to the sea, the wildest storm having no terror #r her. It was on Septem- ber 6, in 1838, that Grace Darling performed thegheroic act which, one might almost say, has de her immortal. She was but twenty- two years of age. Towards sunset, in boist- erous weather and high sea, as Grace and her father kept watch in the. lighthouse, a ship was observed laboring in the gale. It was the steamer Forfarshire, bound from Hull to Dun- dee with a rich cargo, a crew of 20, and 41 passengers. She had started with a patched up leak, which it was thought would carry her through her journey, The repairs: gave out, the water increased, and with the fires ex- tinguished the vessel drifted on the rocks. It does not appear that Grace and her father realized the helpless- condition of the vessel until next morning. At daybreak, looking across the sea, they espied a vessel a mile off beating against the rocks. By the helpof 2 glass the sufferers were distinctly seen clinging to the wreck. Darling was no coward, but the gale was so strong and the waves 80 high that he saw that to put out to the rescue in a smal! boat was not only useless, but also certain death. But Grace had no such' forebodings It was sufficient for her that there was a ship wrecked, and help was needed. And so she begged her father to allow her to launch the boat and row to their assistance. At first Dar ling treated her solicitations as arrant mad- ness. At last, however, he was induced to give way, and the boat was launched and together they rowed off to the' wrecked ship. The jour- ney was a perilous one; at any moment the little boat was in imminent danger of being swamped. At last the vessel was reached, and the nine remaining survivors of the ship's pas sengers and crew were taken off thie wreck and conveyed safely to the lighthouse. For twc days the gale held on its course, thus absolutely preventing #ny communication with the main- land. Once landed, the survivors were not slow in spreading the news of their rescue. In the space of a few days the whole country rang with admiration of Grace Darling. From all parts of the Kingdom tourists came to sec her; a public subscription was raised on her behalf, and £700 was collected; as in the mod: ern day managers of theatres and music: halls offered her large sums to appear on the stage. But 'she refused to consider any such suggest- jon. The lighthouse was her home, and no- thing would take it from her despite the fact that she had many offers of marriage, But 'her life, though she little knew it, was draw- ing a close. For some years she had suffered from ill-health, which eventually turned to consumption. , A little more than four years after the event which had brought her such fame she died. Many were the stories, poems and memoirs written in her honor, some of which she read during her lifetime. The Surveyor's Metropolis, Canadian Courier. Old. Fort Abittibi--it's a baldheaded burg. Surely of all cities and towns in Canada this is one of the places for the averagg man to stay away from. So it is; for the average man nevgr has a chance to behold this paradise of the winter. surveyor. gnd the huntéf in the northern wilds. In Abittibi there #s a church and a store and a factor's house; two or three other houses--not occupied always. The store never has a fire because if it had the Indians would live In it altogether. The factor's house is as huge as a castle and as ugly as a beaver- dam. But it's the baronial mansion, the pal- ace and ghe court, and the only place in that part of the Abittibi region where hilarity once in a while reigns supreme--unléss it is in the shifting camp of the survey parties. It has a few people; but not enough to constitute real population. The church has a flag-staff, a bell and a pine tree--and a service once in four months. $ ~ A Very Real Philanthropy. This is the fifth year of the existence of the Carnegie Hero Fund; 246 heroes and heroines have been rewarded.in Canada and the United States; 2,059 applicants have been refused; 914 cases are pending. The work of the. committee has been carefully done and only worthy per- sops have received the medal of gold, s'lver or bronze, or the pecuniary benefits. There has been no cheapening of the honor. Sums varying from a few hundred to $10,000 have been granted. In one case it was to lift a mortgage; in another to. educate. the family, and again to provide for the families of the men and women of courage who had risked the'r lives and lost them. In no way can the money be dissipated and squandered. Mr. Carnegie's deed of trust makes it necessary that the recipients remain respectable, well are extended pardon and given a fresh start. Life Notes Of One Of The Best Regarded| behaved members of the community. Heroes { --the Sweetheart of the Corn, retain- ed by Kellogg's 'Contains 'all necessary nut- ritives, and, when toasted under 300 j degrees heat, be- Secret. i { comes your Sweet- heart--a delicious- ly<risp, delight fully palatable, easily digested Cereal. thing of this maker will notdo, perature of sixty-five to seventy can be | from October to April. Once a is started there is no work attached to operation beyond 'placin, day, and drawing x watgr pan every other day. Chains 'on a pulley fixed in cellar, answer the respective requirements for =--Buming Up, or Closing Off. 5 © No caretiker is necessary, no engineer and style of every * Ask your dealer for 'Duchess' Brand Goods. DUNLAP MANUFACTURING CO. let us tell you that : comfort and convenience which Is fully appreciated. For an average of seven tons of coal to an eight- roomed house, an even tem- | kept up. a a out ashes and filling | the hall, or room above the & to be called in. No 'precautions, beyond i following direcgions, are necessary, If you you can run a Sunshine Furnace. "Phone of call on the\furace man in your town, whose name appears below, and secure ] McClarys. LEMMON & CO., KINGSTON | #ellogss ; TOASTED CORN FLAKES can hun a stove (and who cannot)' 5 i ¥ full particulars. 1 It Doesn't Pay A Woman To Go To A Dressmaker for Shirt Waist Suits, Evening Waists and Shirt Waists, when she can buy "Duchess" Brand. It does not pay her to have a seamstress in to make Blouses, Skirts, Kimonos and White Wear, when she can buy every- kind in the "Duchess" line. It costs less to buy "Duchess" Brand--and we do what a dress. unconditionally guarantee the fabric, making, fit 'Duchess" garment. 2 MONTREAL. pared. by a leading official of a great railroad. He selected two groups of laborers from the working force of a #reight house and measured the working capacity of each group in tons handled daily for a week. On Sunday one group rested; the other worked as usual. On the following Monday the men who had been continuously at service showed a decrease of ten per cent. in efficiency as compared with the previous Monday, and each day after their comparative delinquency became greater. The men who had their Sunday respite, on the other hand, were as valuable to the company the second week as the first. The result has interest for employers and employees alike. It shows that not only is the command to rest one day in seven written in the Command- ments of God, but it is also inscribed on every muscle and trembling fibre of man's being. of laughter, and of crime we hear the voice of the good friar declaring that in every heart there are encamped the opposing hosts of good and evil--"which wilt thou follow?" It would take hours to call attention to the + inspiring thoughts he has bestowed upon the But through all his tragedies it is well to note that there is that healthy optim: ism, more suggested than defined, which leads the mind to God. It makes one feel that the man behind it sees life apart from its disturb- ing incidents, sees it steadily, and as a whole, and that he, like Browning, would never have asked the faithless, morbid question of this "1s life worth living?" flinging bask the Crowds of people on Saturday afternoon took a humorous interest in a procession of militant women suffragists from the Marble Arch to Aldwych Theatre, London. Several bands discoursed rag-time music and the Mar- seillaise. 'A large banner emblazoned with the figure of a pelican feeding its young had under- neath the motto, "Strong souls live, like fire- heated suns, to spend their strength." But the chief spectacular item was Miss Elsie Howey as Joan of Arc, mounted on a greyish-white charger, and wearing a coat of white armour, and greaves to match. A dozen horsewomen formed a Bodyguard to Mrs. Pethick Law- God has given almost with con | rence, who rode in an open carriage with a hakespeare life is always insplt- | banner bearing the words "To Victory," this As a man |being in celebration of her recent discharge to him the "from prison. . "Tie "Clicago Jewel" is The Key to Economy. The latest improvements on' the "Chicago Jewel" are the Flame Reflector and Valve- less Oven Burner-Lighter. Two features on the "Chicago Jewel" which are not on any other gas stove made. Examine them before purchasing. They are acknowledg- ed the best manufactured. ELLIOTT BROS., "i" Joy Over His Own Land. To land-hungry folk from the old lands, it seems almost too good to be true that, in Can- ada, broad stretches are theirs for the asking. The West-land tells of one Galician's pathetic joy, when at' last convinced. At first the man was disposed to doubt the government's liberal- ity im regard to a free homestead. "I took him with his wife, and pointed out the surveyors stakes which marked out his land and explained to him, that, as long as he stayed on it, no one in the world could take it from him or his chil- dren," says the priest who was acting as guide. "When he understood that this land was his, by the goodness of the government of Canada, he kneeled down onl the ground, took the soil up in his hands and kissed it," world. age: years which tempt. To S ing. even though full of mystery. of the highest pitch of imagination re

Powered by / Alimenté par VITA Toolkit
Privacy Policy