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Volume 10 February 23, 1912. Number 8 
James Russell Lowell, Poet, Pro- 
fessor, Diplomat 
Washington’s birthday anniver- 
sary has an added dignity in being 
also the anniversary of the birth of 
James Russell Lowell. He was the 
son of Rey. Charles Lowell, minister 
of the West Chureh in Boston and 
was born at Elmwood, Cambridge, 
under the shadow of Harv ard Uni- 
versity. By inheritance and train- 
ing he was an American of English 
extraction on his father’s side and 
Seotch blood, on his mother’s. side. 
His early ancestors settled at New- 
bury in Massachusetts in 
This: early 
the mellowing influence of God’s 
open air and the stimulating intel- 
lectual atmosphere of a minister’s 
home and the academic influence of 
the neighboring university, The 
unconscious influence of the nature 
worship of his spirit later showed. 
itself in the poems from his pen: 
Violet, Sweet Violet, With a, Pressed 
Flower, The Oak, The Birch Tree, 
Beaver Brook, The Foot Path, Un- 
der the Willows, Al Fresco, 
Dandelion, 
vems. A volume of his works is 
redolent with the Harvard Spirit. 
As was to be expected he was a 
student of Harvard and graduated 
in 1838.- Tlis academic appetite 
never was satisfied. He hungered 
-honor ed him 
1639... 
home brought him under 
-ary side, 
To. the . 
and many. other of his 
and-thirsted for the water brooks of 
truth. Attracted by the opportuni- 
ties of the Barrister he studied 
law, but abandoned it as uneon- 
venial and found himself in liter- 
ary endeavors. His student habits 
never were abandoned and he lived 
to sueceed Henry Wadsworth Long- 
fellow as professor of belle lettres 
at Harvard. Years later Oxford 
with the degree of 
DCL and the following year, 1874, 
Cambridge honored America by 
conferring the degree of LD upon 
him. 
He was .a. great American poet 
and his soul gave expression to it- 
self in language’s best form. Like 
Whittier, Longfellow and Holmes, 
his -spirit rebelled against the 
miquitous slave traffic as ean be 
-seen'so clearly in his poems and so 
purposefully and effectively in the 
famous Bigelow Papers, of which he 
writes, ‘‘the suecess of my experi- 
ment soon began not only to. as- 
tonish me, but to make me feel the 
responsibility of knowing that I 
held in my hand a weapon, instead 
of the mere fencing stick I had sup- 
posed. If I put on the cap and 
bells, and made myself one of the 
court fools of King Demos, it was 
less to make his majesty laugh than 
to win a passage to his royal ears 
for certain serious things which I 
had deeply at heart.’’ The style 
and. effectiveness of his work in the 
Bigelow Papers is well illustrated 
by the famous Jonathan to, John 
poem closing: 
‘“God means to make this land, John 
‘Clear thru from sea to sea 
Believe and understand, John, 
~The wuth of being free. 
Ole Unele S, sez he, ‘‘ I guess, 
God’s price is high,’’ séz he: 
‘*But nothing else than wut He sells 
Wears long, and thet J. B. . 
May -larn, like you an’ me!’’ 
"Tle found in the Atlantic Monthly — 
and .in. the North American Review 
a new. opportunity. As an editor 
these two magazines received his 
painstaking attentions on the liter- 
Tlis public speeches on 
democracy and polities are just, il- 
luminating and permanent. 
_ The address on, ‘‘The plan of the 
independent in Polities’’ is worth 
reading today. In 1874, he received 
his first diplomatic call, to Russia, 
whieh he declined. But in 1877, he 
accepted the appointment to Spain 
and later in 1880, he was _ trans- 
ferred to Great Britain. Such ver- 
satility 1s unusual and notable. To 
be successful as a poet or a pro- 
fessor or as an editor or as a diplo- 
mat, is a distinetion—but one man 
to be successful as poet, professor, 
editor and diplomat entitles him to 
honor as a great American genius. 
Lowell had a great heart and his — 
intuitive spirit revealed the, tender 
and ethical qualities of human life. 
Every school child knows ‘‘The 
First Snowfall’’: 
The snow had begun in the gloam- 
ing 
And busily all the night 
Ilad been heaping fields and high- 
way 
With a silence deep and white. 
but only an aching heart ean un- 
derstand the depth of human feel- 
ing which is written between the 
lines. His ethical instinct is repre- 
sentative and is marked in the fa- 
vorite lines from the Vision of Sir 
Launfal ; 
‘The Holy Supper is kept, indeed, — 
In what so we share with another’s | 
need: 
Not what we give, but what we 
share, 
For the oift without the giver is 
eas 
Who gives himself with his alms 
feeds three, 
Himself, his hungering neighbor 
and me.’’ 
Town Politics 
The affairs of a town are of in- 
terest to every citizen. In a demo- 
cratic government. the duties and 
responsibilities of government rests 
upon the eitizens of governmental 
unit. In the larger units of govern- 
ment, even in a republic, govern- 
ment problems must be solved by 
representatives as in city, state and 
national government. Such govern- 
ment is of necessity indirect and its 
affairs are beyond the influence of 
the individual citizen in many ways. 
But in a town every citizen stands. 
on his own merits and is able to give 
direct expression to his will. Ev- 
ery voter has the opportunity to ex- 
press his opinion in debate and by 
his vote. Consequently, town gov- 
ernment is the purest form of gov- 
ernment known to the world of 
men. With this marked advantage 
Manchester has an opportunity to 
G. E. WILLMONTON 
ATTORNEY AND 
COUNSELOR AT LAW 
WILLMONTON’S AGENCY 
REAL ESTATE AND INSURANCE OF ALL KINDS 
SCHOOL AND UNION ST’S, MANCHESTER 
SUMMER HOUSES FOR 
RENT 
MORTGACES -- LOANS 
OLD SOUTH B’LD’G, BOSTON 
