A Violet in her Hair.. A Health.... O fairest of the Rural Maids... I love my Love..... Annabel Lee..... The Sunshine of thine Eyes... Ellen. (From "The Lady of the Lake.")..........SIR WALTER SCOTT........... 286 Gertrude. (From "Gertrude of Wyoming."). Nourmahal. (From "The Light of the Harem.").. THOMAS MOORE.... ..H. W. LONGFELLOW Acknowledgments are due Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Mr. Stedman, Mr. FAIR WORDS ABOUT FAIR WOMAN. PRELUDE. T was at a small social gathering, and some one quoted a jeering IT comment on women. "Come," said Mr. Bluff-commonly known as Bachelor Bluff"we'll have no unkind things said of women. At heart we all love and admire them; why, then, do we permit ourselves to repeat the satirical and unhandsome things that thoughtless or bad-tempered wits may utter?" "Does not the abundance of these unhandsome sayings," asked Sylvia, "show that you men really do not care for women?" "Emphatically not," replied Mr. Bluff. "Unkind things about women are commonly the product of momentary vexation or pure thoughtlessness. See how full literature is of man's admiration of women! "Is it so full?" asked Sylvia. "I remember many bitter things about women." "You will find, my dear young lady, that ill-natured comments in literature about women are merely as specks upon fruit. The picture of woman as painted by our poets, for instance, fairly transcends in splendor everything else in the world of letters." "I have read some love-poems," said the matter-of-fact Miranda, that seemed to me very foolish." "No doubt," said Mr. Bluff. Enthusiasm always seems a little foolish to cool lookers-on; but put yourself in the poetic mood: let your warm sympathies, and not cold criticism, sit in judgment, and you will find in many love-poems a glow and splendor that are very captivating." "That is all very well for young people." "Ah, madam, it is an excellent thing to keep young as long as possible. As old a file as I am, I can sometimes go back to the poetic fancies of youth; and I am convinced that the faculty of doing so is the very best art of life." "Let us read some love-poems," exclaimed Sylvia. "Let us make a search for poems generally about women," responded Herbert. "Why not have a sort of reading club?" said Mr. Bluff. "Let us meet weekly, and each of us bring the best he can find about woman-all that exalts her, that glorifies her, that sets forth her charms, her loveliness, her virtues-in brief, all her perfections." "That would be delightful," exclaimed Sylvia; "but you and Herbert, and others that you may induce to join you, must select the poems, and bring them to us, the women. You must lay at our feet a weekly garland, a poetic posy; and we shall watch to see how well you do it." "No knight," gallantly responded Herbert, "ever received a commission from his lady-love that he executed with more pleasure and faithfulness than we shall do what you command." "As Herbert," said Mr. Bluff, who, by virtue of his years, constituted himself at once president of the new club, "has taste and appreciation, as well as abundant energy, let it be his duty to make sure that each occasion is well provided with material, and to arrange it suitably. We shall aid him all we can, but there must be one main dependence; and as he has a pleasant voice, and knows how to read with good accent and good discretion, he must be the Reader." "Your plan," said Herbert, "puts nearly all the labor on my shoulders; but I am honored by the commission, nevertheless." "If I were a younger man, I should compete with you for it. It shall be your privilege, when you think proper, to accompany the selections with explanations, and we will listen submissively. If you venture upon criticism, we will be patient; and, if you consent to read without comment, we shall be grateful." "Be assured," replied Herbert, "that I shall let the poets for the most part speak for themselves, without intruding my notions upon you. But I am not wholly unacquainted with the ground, and can say in advance that we shall find woman appearing in poetry in a manner that admits of several classifications. Sometimes there are verses addressed simply to the sex-splendid generalizations of the virtues of women; then we shall meet with poems of admiration, describing the qualities of particular women, who sometimes, no doubt, had real existence, and sometimes were only poetic ideals; then there are love-poems, full of amorous passion; then, poems addressed to women of historic or social fame; and, lastly, there are idealizations of women as heroines of romantic story." "Our selections," said Mr. Bluff, "should be drawn from all these classes, so as to include every form in which admiration of women has been expressed or implied." "That is clearly the true principle," continued Herbert; "and I shall take the liberty of grouping or contrasting the various classes as may seem best, having in view both unity and variety." "We trust everything to you," said Sylvia. Thereupon the time and place for the first evening were agreed upon; and soon after the company separated. |