TO 
LANU & WATER 
.Dec- mbcr 2q, 1917 
Youth at: F^mr Score Y^afs 
By Fraoci s Stopford 
E^ EN ui ilii-- liuur it is liard id liit the miuil ul llio 
illusion that man fjains a largef measure of lif^' 
ihrontih tlio practice of words, spoken or written, 
tliau through action. Not seKlom is he believed to 
ha\e done a greater deed if he shall have spoken a speech or 
written a book whicii has gained him the praise of his genera- 
tion tlian'if his lid' has been spi-nt in quiet service tu his neigh- 
bour. It-h^aii illusion easy to understand, and it is one that 
will dii- lutrff^for it is nursed and fostered by most of those - 
not all-r-who have the command of the public ear. This 
biograpliy* will Jielp to correct the false illusion, for here we 
have tl(e life-story of a man. eloquent with tongue and pen 
beyond, his fellows, a personality of commanding presence 
and singular eliarm, many of whose days were spent in 
the company of famous writers and artists, yet as we read 
his letters and the .salient incidents of his progress from the 
\ uuth of boyhood to the youth, of old age, these gifts and privi- 
, leges sink into insignificance, and there comes to meet us the 
man;of action. " ot radiant \itality," who lived life to the 
list hour, and at fourscore y^'ars and four, still \-igon>us in 
^mind and soul, entered into immortalit}' witli serencviaitli an(t 
Confidence ... . , "^ 
The one iiKidont whioji during the ktter years of his life 
vas always .popularly as.sGciated with th'^ name of Stopford 
Brooke, was his secession from the Church of England. Me 
mver attached htniself to anv.dthcr n^ligious body, but inus- 
nnicli as afterwards he usually preached from Unitarian 
pulpits, fT\e main cause for his action was generally luider- 
stood. There is no intention to pursue this episode : 
it is treated simply and straightforwardh" in these pages : 
and- we are told that, after having taken the step, in all liis 
l)ulpit utterances, he " dwelt coiitinuallv oji the I'atherhood 
of (iod, the leadersliip of Christ, and the Immortalitv (;f .the 
Soul." Tliis-is home out by many passages in his letters, 
. (Specially those written during the" war. Speaking to Jiim a 
few years ago about certain articles on the Higher Criticism 
tiial were then attracting attention, the i^resejit writer asked 
him whether he Jiad read them. '"So." he. replied quietly. 
" 1 never read such articles nowadavs ; I have conie out on 
the other side." One needs to ha\e"seen the look on his face 
to understand the words at their true value. He spoke as 
an Agonistes : ■ he had had his struggles ; he had wrestled 
lionestly : liis b()ut was, over ; he awaited th.e award. 
Lord Bryce, in the brief appreciation contained in this 
■ volume mentions that" vivacious and suggestive and full ot 
good things as Stopford Brooke's Jetters were, the\- do not 
convey an imj)reesion of the cJiarm his conversation had." 
, It was, indeed " a charm " in the fullest^ meaning of the 
word, as one realised who had listened to him holdin;,' entJiralled 
by !iis conversation representatives of two and tliree different 
•. .generations. A law^c part of,the secret was that his words 
always reflected life ; they were as sparkling as the running 
waters tliat entranced him, and were as lull of brightness and 
cl-.anging colour as the bow that glistens in the spray above 
• the waterfall. To quote liis biographer : 
As lie entered upon old age tliere came to him a renewal 
of youth in the inward man. In the old age of Brooke 
liope was more active than niemor\- : it was one tif 
those sunsets wiiich resemble the dawn. . . . He 
spent ths last years of his life in reaping the harvest 
ui hi.s .soul, in the enjoyment of the spiritual \iBion which 
was his reward for a livelong quest of ideal heautv and lor 
lialf a century of self-forgetful work. I fe had come to the 
goal of his desires, which was to love and to bs bckn ed- and 
there like a traveller unexhausted bv his journey, he sat down 
by the waters of life and lingered, looking to a' beyond it i« 
true, but to a bevond which is not of this world " He 
was intensely ali^e. very near to those bv whom he was 
l)eloved and \ery near, as it seemed, to God. His form was 
iinshrunken and unbent ; his voice full arid clear his fac- 
still radiant and liis eye undimmed. The majestv of old 
age xvhich comes from tlie dose contact with eternal things 
was his, butyoiuh lingered iu his heart. His coincrsatiou 
retained its eagerness and versatilitv, and his plavfulnoss was 
ready to break forth at a touch, 'fhe last time" 1 saw him 
which was two months before his death, he was little clianeed' 
Jle talked much of his garden and said with a smile"! 
wonder il I sliall live to see the roses bloom again." He was 
full ol what I can only describe as a solemn gaiet«-. and spoke 
of Death as the .Great Koniance.. ■ '. 
Who i> there who would not desire 'such an old age if Icngtii of 
Ine be granted---not. to "bring our years.to an cnd,'jts it were a 
tale that IS told,, but as the close of the preface to'the Great 
Komancc. 
^ ..it«:i- :- . , . 
* rj/c a,,,l Lcllers of Slo'phn/ B,-oo/.r. By Lawrence IVarsail la.k^ 
Pnneipdl ol Manchester ColK-.^.. o.xford. -> \ols. ( loliu .Murrvv 
■■Ijs.-nct).- . -^ ■ • 
s 
'*'\Ve glan(re_ eagerly tluougli these pages to try and iliscoxcp 
the secret of perennial youth, and \vc sceru to catch 
more than a glimpse of it in the active, sympathetic, and 
virile mind that informs these letters. ' Stoj)ford Brooke was 
ne\-er a weakling : he could hit hai'd. and he did hit hard oij 
occasion. His eiitiuisiusnis were intense and his impulses 
strong. In early years he declared that " our Liturgy needs 
a new clause : f fnun all manner of fools, ge)od Lord deli\-er 
us." A det'jj itnppession was made on him in his first London 
curacy bya xisit .t(> a poor woman dying of cancer. " She 
describes the pani'as if someone with claws were scraping 
all her bones against the grain, and yet she is as peaceful and 
as calm as a summer sen. only reproaching herself a little for 
want of patience. It is these things that make a clergyman 
feel that there is reality in Christiawity." ' A year later he 
wTites in his diarv : . " I am more and more impressed with 
the thought thatChfistian'ty is th'' ultimate and oitly religion 
for man. ... It accepts the facts of Humanity." This 
biography gains immensely by the new outburst of faith 
which the w^ar has evoked, and which has revealed hidden 
springs behind the flinty face of our national character, 
hardly suspected by many. There are constant passages in 
the letters which will be riad gratefully by many to whom 
Stoi)ford Bmoke was only a name. One of his favourite 
doctrines was that " the supremo duty in life is to mak(' 
other peopk' happy," and he succeeds in this duty though 
his mortal life be ended. 
"All children, were his natural' kinsfolk and his fondness 
for them incrcast-d with years." Of his cwvn family life we 
are told, " his cliildren depended on his love, but equallv 
he depended :on ijheirs. He craved for the .support of loyal 
hearts, for svinpjtthetic understanding, for the answering look, 
word and deed..; And thiduglunit his life lie was- .singularlv 
fortunate in having tl-.ose about him who gave his nature all 
that it needed of tiiese tilings." And being fortunate in this 
respect, he was generous and he gave sympathv and love as 
freely as he had received. "The sanctity of the home" 
has degenerated into a phrase which is ofteneither a mockery 
<n- ()f little meaning, but one sees it here rest6recl to its 
pristine fustre, to a sanctity of which the very essence are jov, 
freedom and beauty. When children are young the parent' 
labours under frequent misunderstanding which may lead and 
does lead witli certain temperaments to rifts that cmly widen 
with years. But if there is jjatience as well as love, then 
all is well, and the rest is happiness. 
Stopford Brooke won a liigh reputation as a critic of letters, 
and there is one passage of criticism whicli calls for citation ' 
.not to illustrate the critic but tlie man. It was written at 
the time when the .decadent craze was at its height : 
O. how tiresome these poets, wliose Goddess is Dscav arc to 
ine. rhey ^turn- the world into a Lazaretto, and' "it isn't 
, anything of tne kind. They are to.) lifeless ta celebrate 
lite, too weak to writ^ of anvthing but weakness, and their 
weakness makes their crueltv. Feeding on disease ' thev 
deepen their own disease. And the more it tlcepcns, the more 
active, like a heap of writhing worms, b?conK^s tiieir self- 
eontsmplation. So they arc whollv lost souls in this world 
I hey will Unci themselves again hereafter, and will be spanked 
iWto ife by the lour Winds of the Spirit— a painful busines s 
or them, but the Gods won't liave p^cay and Dsath in the 
t niverse of; the -Spirit. 
" Of all experiences which quickened the imagination of 
Brooke or enabled him to apprehend directlv the life that is 
ehi,"f""Ti -''^'l* T '"""'^ "^ '""""i"S ^™^^'^« ^vas alwa^•s 
■t en^ 1 ?'•' '""■'^'' '"■^""t'"" '-^PP^'ars to have I,een streng- 
ZZt r'.l- "^"',-^"'""'i»i^'. and we are told that he almost 
believed at times he .njoyed the peculiar compaiiionsliip of 
an elemental water-sprite or Xaiad. "The' fact ' is nn- 
qucstionable that from boyh.ood to extreme old age the 
Others lave the same feeling, though not so acutely marked 
It inay be argued tliat it is a survival of man's piSoric 
■emir voni Tf '' 't ^'^■'''^- ^° '' ^' ^^'d, traceable in the . 
( mbn one state. But it may be that in running waters the 
nn|ig.nat.ve miiul unconsciously recoghises the U,^' re.m! 
. sentation of the human mystery. To speak of runnin- w ater ' 
as weak and unstable is foolishness • it is the stZi^es nnd 
most dui;able force in Nature, Stain^l wS^ ^^^^i^ ^ : 
■the .soil, in ,ts progress.it frees itself from these "Us of 
e ilea civ-^'b :•■;'' 1 7''' J^"'"'^^' *«^ '^ '« caiitht V ^ ] 
It Z river H^^'' ^'",'"^" """'= -^'t'^^ ^'"k into decay. 
Sae. ntw teri r.l""' ^""^""^ ''''^^''' '^'" "«r decay ' 
^afenantwatcii^ death ; nuining waters are thetruest synibol ' 
'il^Z^ i Old T' '';^ ^'^"^■^ imniortalily. It is smaU wSX '. 
comes oli eve 'i^^t^'*'" ^ '"''"^ '^agination until theman 
S"'^>== ..'," .':'^^\c\ c he js a yoiy part of them. ; 
