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THE CHILDREN and THE POETS The next morning after the death of Eugene Field the front page of the At lanta Constitution bore the picture of the silent singer and underneath it this tribifte from the pen of Frank L. Stan ton: Fades his calm face beyond our mortal ken, Lost in the light of lovlier realms above; He left sweet memories in the hearts of men. And climbed to heaven on little chil dren’s love. Harriet Hosmer, the artist, offered this beautiful suggestion when they were talking of a monument to the memory of Field, the children's poet: "1 think.” said she, "the finest thing would be a life-size figure of the poet sitting in a chair supported by winged muses. Have him sitting iii an attitude of deep thought, as if waiting for an inspiration, and a little child at his knee, touching his pen.” Is it not true that children have often touched the pens of our poets as they waited for an inspiration? Certain it is that some of the most beautiful poems in the English language were inspired by childhood. Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote some of her most beautiful lines to A Child Asleep: How he sleepeth, having drunken Weary childhood's mandragore. From his pretty eyes have shrunken Pleasures to make room for more; Sleeping near the withered nosegay Which he pulled the day before. One almost holds her breath when taking in the meaning of the next stanza: Speak not! he is consecrated; Breathe no breath across his eyes; Lifted up and separated. On the hand of God he lies in a sweetness beyond touching Held in cloistral sanctities. Charles Kingsley, the English clergy man, whose love for children was well known to his friends, wrote a tender little Farewell which runs onward through the minds of old and young. fairest child, I have no song to give you, I No bank could pipe to skies so dull and gray; Yet, ere we part, one lesson can I leave you For every day. Be good, sweet maid, and let who will be clever; Do noble things, not dream them all day long; And so make life, death and that vast forever One grand, sweet song. Then listen to his graceful verses on The Lost Doll, which strike a re sponsive chord in the heart of every ‘‘grown-up’' who remembers her doll days: I once had a sweet little doll, dears. The prettiest doll in the world: Her cheeks were so red and so w'hite, dears, And her hair was so charmingly curled. But I lost my poor little doll, dear3, As I played on the heath one day: And I cried for more than a week, dears, But 1 never could find where she lay. J found my poor little doll, dears, As I walked on the heath one day; Folks say he is terribly changed, dears, For her paint is all washed away. And her arms trodden off by the cow, dears And her hair's not the least bit curled, Yet for old times' sake she is still, dears, The prettiest doll in the world. How many of us have read the poet ical story toil by Julia A. Dana of the naughty little four-year-old who didn't “love to mind,” whose mamma told her the story of Casabianca. And the fearful burning ship. "Do you think,” said I, ‘ such a child as that Hie mother would have to whip Then her eyes grew brgiht as the morning. And they seemed to look me through. ‘‘All! Ah!” thought I , “you under stand The lesson >i have in view. “Now what do you think of this lad, my love? Tell me what is in your heart.” “I find," she said, 'he was drefful good— But he wasn't the least bit smart!” A foncness for children was a irurked characteristic of Whittier, and several of his best poems were w. itten for their amusement, suoh as How They Climbed Chocura. The Seeking of the Waterfall, and Mary Garvin. Light That Is Felt was suggested by a little three-year-old friend of the poet. Once, going ahead of her mother in a dark hail, she said: "Mamma, take boid of my hand so that H won’t be so dark.” The Barefoot Boy, written in memory of his own childhood days, touches a responsive chord in the heart of every country-bred boy and girl. To how many a busy professional or business man in the crowded city do these lines recall his boyhood: Blessings on thee, little man, Barefoot boy, with cheek of tan, With thy turned up pantaloons, And thy merry whistled tunes; With thy red lips redder still Kissed by strawberries on the hill; With the sunshine on th.v face Through thy torn brim's jaunty grace. From my heart I give thee joy Ere it passes, barefoot boy. Umgfeliow drew much poetic in spiration from child life. The Chil dren s Hour describes his own home in the evening, when his three little daughters came to romp with him. when Between the dark and the daylight, hen the night is beginning to lower, Comes a pause in the day’s occupations That is known as the children’s hour. Then follows a striking picture of childish happiness and fatherly affec tion. Then there is the beautiful, pathetic poem entitled Weariness, beginning thus: Oh, little feet, that such long years Must wander on through hopes and fears, Must ache and bleed beneath your load; I, nearer to the wayside inn, Where toil shall cease and rest b?gin, Am weary, thinking of your load. Oh, little hands, that, weak or strong, Have still to serve or rule so long, Have still so long to give or ask; I, who so much with book and pen Have toiled among my fellow men, Am weary, thinking of your task. From 'My Old Armchair, was the re sponse to the children of Cambridge, when they presented him with a chair made from the wood of the “spreading chestnut tree” celebrated in The Vil lage Blacksmith.” Adeline D. T. Whitney has voiced the heart cry of many a mother for her lit tle ones who have gone—not the dead only, but grown up and gone aw'ay. Read the opening 'stanzas of Their Angels. My heart is as lonely as heart can be, And the cry of Rachel goes up from me, For the tender faces, unforgot. Of the little children that are not: Atlhough I know They are all in the land where I shall go. Only one died. There is one small mound \ \ iolet heaped in the sweet grave ground; Twenty years they have bloomed and spread - Over the littk baby head; She is safe in the land where I shall go. My bright, brave boy is a grave-eyed man, Facing the world as a worker can; But I think of him now as I had him then, And 1 lay his cheek to my heart again; And so I know I shall have him there where we both shall go. The world is troublous and hard and cold, And men and women grow gray and old; But behind the world is an inner place Where yet their angels behold his face; And, lo! we know That only the children can see him so. Helen Hunt Jackson has sweetly sung to ua of the Little Kings and Queens. Monurchs whose kingdom no man bounds, Oh, blessed little kings and queens. The only sovereigns in the earth. Their sovereignty nor rests nor leans On pomp of riches or of birth. Of course nearly every one has read Charles Dickens’ beautiful poem, The Children, a picture of his love for his young pupils in the days when he was tutor in a boys’ school. The man who wrote of Little Nell could write only the tenderefet of verses to his departing child friends. What can be more fraught with touching sentiment, than the last stanza? I shall miss them at noon and at even ing, Their song in the school and the street; I shall miss the low hum of their voices, And the tramp of their delicate feet. When the lessons and tasks are nil ended And Death says. “The school is dis missed!” May the little one gather around me. To bid me. goodnight and be kissed.” I Frank L Stanton is another poet who > loves to sing of children and to them. and many of his tenderest verses are inspired by ‘ the clasp of the little hand.” and by these songs all hearts are sweetened and made glad. The happiness of The Thorn or Rose Will appeal to youth or age. The way is long for thee, dear one. But the same way 1 have trod; I cannot say "This evil shun,” Or, ‘ Take this way that leads To God.” Find thou the way. with thy frail feet, Even as I have found it, sweet. ■I cannot say "Beware the thorn!” Because above it climbs the rose; Nor whisper. "Light will follow morn,” For stars will shine at daylignt’s close.. Find thou the light and darkness fleet, Even as I have found them, sweet! And yet, for only thy dear sake. The tenderest prayer that tiirrills my breast It that the kind, good God shall make A world of roses for thy rest; But thou must find, with thy dear feet, The thorn or rose as 1 have, sweet! To Eugene Field there was nothing on earth so dear as a child. He loved little children with all the love of a warm and tender heart. His most pop ular poems are those delineations of the pretty and frequent incidents of childhood. One of the most popular of all is With Trumpet and Drum. With big tin trumpet and little red drum. Marching, like soldiers the children come; This way and that way they circle and file— My! but that music of theirs is fine! This way and that way, and after a while They march straight into this heart of mine. A sturdy old heart, but it has to suc cumb To the blare of that trumpet and beat of that drum. Field's lullaby songs of different na tions have never been excelled. Andrew Lang, the Scottish critic, pronounces Wynken. Blynken and Nod the best child’s poem in the English language.' Probably no song is held so dear by young and old as Little Boy Tflue, writ ten after the death of his baby boy. It is so lovely that I give it here entire: The little toy dbg is covered with dust, But sturdy and staunch he stands; And the little toy soldier is red with rust And his mimket moulds in his hands. Time was when the little toy dog was new, And the soldier was passing fair. And that was the time when our little Boy Blue Kissed mem and put them there. “Now don't you go till I come,' he said, “And don’t you make any noise;” So toddling off to his trundle bed He dreampt of his pretty toys; And as he was dreaming, an angel song Awakened our little Boy Blue; Oh, the years are many, the years ar“ long. But the little toy friends are true. Aye, faithful to little Boy Blue they Stand. Each in the same old place, Awaiting the touch of a little hand, The smile of a little face! And they wonder, as waiting these long years through, ■ln the dust of that little chair. What has become of that little Boy Blue Since he kissed them and put them there. And finally, the tenderest words of our Savior are : “Suffer little children to come unto me. and foibid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” And, “Again I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father.” —Florence M. Hough, Omro, Wis. AN OLD CHURCH. Of the many relics of the early Nor wegian Immigration to this country, the most interesting and Important is, no doubt, the old church at Muskego, Wis., erected in 1844. This is not only the oldest Norwegian church in Amer ica, but, without question, is the first Norwegian Lutheran church raised in the new world. This historic structure is to be removed to Minneapolis and preserved, not only for its early Nor wegian associations, but equally so as a relic of the pioneer days in the west, for the sturdy Norwegian immigrants whose hands fashioned this old house of worship also turned the dark path less wilderness of Wisconsin into smiling farms. The church will stand on the campus of the United Norwe gian church’s theological seminary. The old church is simplicity itself, internally and externally. The prime val forests of southeastern Wisconsin supplied the trees and the Drawuy arms of the modern vikings did tne rest—felled the trees squared them into timbers, noticed the logs at the ends and heaped them one upon the other in orderly array until the rude building was completed. Though Its architec ture was of the crudest, it was still the church, and the most important build ing and most pretentious building in the settlement. Kach one in the com munity. aside from the natural venera tion for God's house, bad an effectiei for the church —for it was the handi work of all, and each log was remem bered and pointed out for years after ward. Even to this day, it is said, the initials of ti e brave men whose united efforts resulted in the raising of the church are to be found on the logs, where they were placed fifty-six years ago. Very few of those who lent a hand to the work are still alive. it may be possible that all are gone, but it is believed that some are still in the land of the living. This question will, however, be carefully investigated within a few days. It is not intended that the old build ing will remain simply as a show place. It will be restored, as far as possible, to its original condition and will be used as a chapel for the theological students of the United Norwegian church seminary, and within its his torical walls, which have resounded with the eloquence of the old Luther fathers, Clausen, Dletrlchson, Stub and Preus, many a budding preacher will deliver his first sermon. President Hoyme of the United Nor wegian church and Rev. Gerhard Ras mussen, pastor of the Bethlehem Nor wegian Lutheran church of Minne apolis. are responsible for the preserva tion of this interesting relic and the plan to remove it to the flour city. Some fifteen years ago. 'Mr. Rasmussen, at one time a Madison pastor, had charge of a congregation near Muske go, and occasionally served the latter congregation during the period it was without a pastor. He naturally heard of the old church, which had long since been relegated to the past. He visited it several times and became much at tached to the primitive building. No doubt it reminded him of a hero who had outlived his usefulness and had been neglected by an ungrateful pos terity. At any rate, those old logs ap pealed to Mr. Rasmussen, and he felt that they should be preserved as long as ‘hey would hold together. The building was in a most neglected state, and was used as a storage-house for all kinds of odds and ends on a farm, and was even used for stable purposes— rather lowly, to be sure, but such neg lect only endeared the building to 'Mr. Rasmussen, So one day he offered the owner SIOO for the building and the offer was glad ly accepted. The news that the church was about to be sold spread rapidly and parties representing the Norwe gian Lutheran synod of America sought to secure possession, offering the owner S2OO. He had given his word, however, and stood by the original deal. I>ast fall the old timbers were carefully taken apart and each one as carefully marked, so that when the old church takes form again each hand-hewn log i will be in identically the same position \ in which it has lain for the past fifty six years. [ It is understood that the removal and the re-erection will come to pass this year. Mr. Rasmussen goes to Mus kego in a few days on matters con nected with the work. FIVE QUEER PLACES. All of Them Have Some Strange Pe culiarity of Their Own. Doubtless the most, unique spot in Europe Is the little village of Alteu berg, where on its border four coun tries meet. It is ruled by no monarch, has no soldiers, no police and no taxes. Its inhabitants speak a curious Jargon of French and German com pined and spend their days in farming the land and working In the valuable calamine mine of which It boasts. The little town of Stanley, in the Falkland islands, possesses the mist unique school service ever known. Two traveling scholmasters are pro vided by the government, who visit the different families where there are chil dren and give instruction. The length of their visit depends on the astuteness of the children, and they may spend days or weeks as the case may be, at one house alone. A town boasting of a railway sialion which cost $20,000 to erect and a duly appointed station master, and yet hav ing no train service, is unique beyond dispute. Dundee, in New Jersey, Is in this predicament, the inhabitants hav ing actually no trains, although their fine station is available for any amount of traffic, and the reason given for this strange fact is that so long as the trains run through tbe inhabitants ought to be satisfied. There is a place in the middle of the Pacific ocean well known to mariners where there is never any Christmas day. This is owing to its being in the 180th degree of longitude and directly opposite to Greenwich, and, therefore, twelve hours ahead of Greenwich time. In a journey around the globe the other twelve hours would have to be mark'd out of the navigator s calendar, and if this point crossing the antipodes is touched Christmas eve there can be no Christmas day. In one of the West Indies group th re Is a colony of some 800 whites and blacks where there are neither towns nor villages, nor fresh water supplies. In fart, there is such a scarcity of ev erything that the government has to send food and employment to the in habitants to keep them from starving. Salt flsh and sweet potatoes are the staple foods of the AnguGlas, and the only water obtainable Is blackish hnd tainted by the sea.—Answers. INHARMONIOUS HARMONY. "She had a lovely disposition.” "True,*, had; but that was before she becafls a professional singer.” WOMAN AND THE CENTURY. How the Past Hundted Years Have Advanced Her Sex. What the nineteenth c nturv has done for women has recently' been demonstrated by four well-known American women. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who remarked their upward progress; Jennie June Croly, who de scribed the effect upon club life; Helen Varick Boswell, who voiced the atti tude of the sex in politics, and Mrs. G. H. Gilbert, who wrote of her fellow worker on the stage. Mrs. Stanton says: “To the student of history a law of progress is apparent, steadily running from century to century, gradually de veloping the higher possibilities of the race. The emancipation of woman from the bondage of the past has cul minated during the las! century in the assertion of her right to an equal place on this planet, claiming the si multaneous creation of man and wo man, with an equal title deed .to this green earth and equal dominion over every creeping thing thereon, accord ing to the book of Genesis, claimed by some to be the earliest record of the race. “Fifty years ago, like the daughters of Belophehad in the scriptures. Num bers xxviii, woman brought her case into court, with her own judges, advo cates and witnesses, and made a pop ular appeal for her right to an equal inheritance. The goddess of justice, weighing the clairtis of man and wo man, said: “The women are right: so let it be.’ ‘Open sesame!’ And gave them the key to the schools, colleges, trades and professions. In the face of leaders of church and state they pushed back bolts and bars, walked the wards of the hospltnl. entered the courts of justice, expounded the com mands of God in the pulpit, and ques tions of government in legislative halls. In vain did the men protest, as they saw the power slipping from th'dr hands: vain were their thunderbolts of denunciation. Women began to fill an equal place, gradually taking posses sion of all the vantage points in the world of thought and action, crowding into the colleges by the thousand, pushing their way in the trades and professions, becoming the most popu lar orators, authors and actors, and rapidly coming into competition with the most distinguished musicians, sci entists and philosophers, proving them selves the equal of man in every do- ] partment where they have had equal opportunities for development. “Men and that class or women dubbed 'parasites' by Olive Schreiner are helpless to roll back this incoming tide of intelligence as was Dame Part ington in beating hack the Atlantic ocean. “It is now too late for bishops, sen ators, college presidents, professors and fashlonuble women to set limits to the achievements and aggressions of “Eve’s daughters.’ The wheels of prog ress never move backward: until full equality is accorded her everywhere; until the canon and civil laws, blbles and constitutions shall alike bow with love and reverence to the ‘mother of the race.’ ” Mrs. Croly says: “To women who wore In the b >gin ning, and who have watched the growth and diversified development of the modern club life among women of all clauses and degrees of intelligence, nothing Is more curious than the eagerness with which old societies of a semi-scientific, semi-religious qj* semi-eductional character. whose members formed ‘boards’ that met an nually, semi-annually or quarterly to render up accounts and report decline or progress under the leadership of some more than commonly liberal minded pastor, and who In the begin ning disavowed Severely any sanction of the club Idea, now claim the privi leges of age and the later adoption of more social and progressive features as their claim to precedence and the honor of being among the first, to in itiate the curiously rapid social phe nomena which now constitute the ‘club life’ of women. “As late as 1800 there were no soci eties, secular or religious, former, oeered and sustained wholly by wo men. There were here and there little auxiliaries to blble and foreign mis sions, formed under the influence of the pastor of a church, and whes" ob ject was the gathering of small contri butions to be turned over to the fund of the parent society. The word ‘club’ In Its social sense means cooperation on free and equal terms, for any purpose approved by the general body. It'involves the power of independent action on the part of in dividuals composing It. Such bodies voluntarily submit to be governed by laws which are self-made, because, though restrictive, they are protective to the best interests of the whole. The first woman s club In this country formed entirely by women organized completely, with constitution and by laws, and chartered by the state, was Sorosls of New York. "The existence of thousands of wo man’s clubs throughout the length am' breadth of the land, all the growth of the lajt 30 years, has changed the so cial atmosphere and created anew and intelligently useful social life l n thou sands of small communities. It has stimulated the growth of free libraries and has been the most Important factor in the movement for higher ed ucation.” Heler Varlck Boswell says: "Dickens put a great deal of wisdom in the mouth of his quaint character of Chops the dwarf, and Mr. Chops re marked on one occasion, ‘lt isn't so much that a person goes into society as that society goes Into a person.’ 1 his is about the way woman and pol ities stand at the close of the cantury. "During the earlier years of the cen tury woman's part in politics in the old world was great, but it came about almost entirely through social rela tions. and we learn from history of the women who seemed to hold the po litical fortunes of nun and countries in their grasp. Political power, wa* then used by woman to compass per sonal desires. Now, in this wonderful age of progress, woman seeks polit'cil knowledge through the study of social economics and all government and labor conditions that such knowledge will crystallize into action that will make for the upbuilding of a broad ad ministrative government which will K \e ever increasing opportunities and prougtion to man, woman and child. ne time is now ripe for concerted instead of Individual action. Woman loroughly acquainted with the val “* 01 or s ar ‘ ltß tlon in all lines, and mem of MIeVC ttat ■ the develop r/ nMrr— 1 wonM ® i,r * f qnal -1 '7 01 w,th m °n have not been n1 ,1 tOK * ,W th * 'heir work night become of practical value to the party in whose principles they be " That the century has brought wo man into politics and politics into wo man is good for her and good for poli tics. Politics needs the heart issues and home inspiration brought into It by woman. Woman needs, for the making of a higher civilization the many avenues of broad knowledge opened out to her by politics.” What progress has woman made on the stage?" queried Mrs. Gilbert, a look of deep thought creeping over her well known features “She has become more natural, more refined and there is more exacted of her today as an ed ucator than there was in the old days The old farces, comedies and trag edies. If they were put on the stage to day. would be coarse, vulgar and would not be tolerated by the public for an instant. What X mean by this state ment let me emphasize by referring to the governor (Mr. Daly). He received much adverse criticism because he trimmed and cleaned out the old com edies and Shakespearean plavs to meet the exactions of the public of today. So you see the woman on the stage at the present day has progressed in re finement from these very exactions. In natui-nlnesf. because of these old time comedies, tragedies and farces ran in a certain groove and the more artificial you were the better actress yon were thought to be. It Is the hard est tiling in the world to be natural on the stage and In this one thing I con sider that the actress has made great, progress. "If the net less of today bad the same training which was in vogue when I was young, with all the advantages of stage setting and gowning, she would be perfect. There Is no ‘winging it’ now; by winging' T mean getting a part to learn in twelve hours, and standing at the wings walling for your cue, with yorr part in your hands to throw it down upon signal or thrust it Into the scenery, go on the„ board, play your part and come back to find your part gone in that particular bit of scenery, no one knows just where. Talk of agony! Talk of acting under diffi culties. The actress today knows noth ing about It. She goes on In a groove for months, playing the same part, and has due time and preparation given her before she Is called upon to play a new one. “In the old days It was teally play acting Just what everybody called It. Now it Is acting, living the part, being tbe character Itself, b dng natural, and all this is the progress which woman has made on the stage." ltlf’K CULTURE. Madison Man Engaged in It In Texas. The Fort Arthur (Tex.) News tells of an interesting visit to a rice farm of 530 acres near that city which Is operated by Asa E. Groves of Madison and Ered. Hathaway of Berlin. This farm, and other similar farms near by are owned by It H. Woodworth. Rice growing In the neighborhood is In its infancy hut the Industry Is ful] 0 f promise and has already caused a rapid settlement thereabouts. Another farm adjoining, owned by the same man, contains 450 acres that will be planted to rice. Around It and through tt are shallow levies to the extent of 16 or 20 miles, to build winch costs from 140 to |SO a mile. At the end of the season this rice Is stored In sacks in a warehouse and held for a good market Water is purchased from an Irrigation company, the toll beine two -3!k of rice per acre per season. The Urns are to he watered by their own artesian wclJs another season. The Fort Arthur folk expect a great boom from rice cul ture. The .and used must have good drainage from which the waters will run rapidly as soon as the levies are cut, and where the ground will at once dry so hard that harvesting machines and h( rses may traverse it. mere should be a subsoil of water-tight clay, forbidding seepage when the water is turned on the field. In fact the fields are then little better than sheets of water. While the industry is growing rapidly but a reaiiy very small part'of the available land is yet In use. . i or Parl< ** position ex .ilbi;# to-be in place Is extended to April lil;