Authors and Writers Associated with Morristown Part 10

The forts that frown along the coast, The ramparts on the steep, Are held by men who never boast, But true allegiance keep.

While still in thunder tones shall speak Our giants on the tide, Rebuking those who madly seek To tame the eagle's pride.

While breezes blow or sounding sea Be whitened by a sail, The banner of the brave and true Shall float, nor fear the gale.

While Ironsides commands the fleet, Shall patriot vows be heard, Where pennants fly or war drums beat, True to their oaths and word.

Then back, ye traitors! back, for shame!

Nor dare to touch a fold; We'll guard it till the suns.h.i.+ne wane And stars of night grow old.

Thus ever may that flag unrent At peak and staff be borne, Nor e'er from mast or battlement By traitor hands be torn.

Mrs. Alice D. Abell.

Mrs. Abell has for several years contributed poems and articles to various papers and magazines. From the poems we select the following, which was copied in a Southern paper as well as in two others, from _The New York Magazine_ in which it first appeared:

BEHIND THE MASK.

Behind the mask--the smiling face Is often full of woe, And sorrow treads a restless pace Where wealth and beauty go.

Behind the mask--who knows the care That grim and silent rests, And all the burdens each may bear Within the secret breast?

Behind the mask--who knows the tears That from the heart arise, And in the weary flight of years How many pa.s.s with sighs?

Behind the mask--who knows the strain That each life may endure, And all its grief and countless pain That wealth can never cure?

Behind the mask--we never know How many troubles hide, And with the world and fas.h.i.+on show Some spectre walks beside.

Behind the mask--some future day, When all shall be made plain; Our burdens then will pa.s.s away And count for each his gain.

George Wetmore Colles, Jr.

The following is by one of the young writers of Morristown, written at Yale University and published in the _Yale Courant_ of February, 1891:

TO A MOUNTAIN CASCADE.

To him who, wearied in the noontide glare, Seeks cool refreshment in thy quiet shade, In all thy beauteous rainbow tints arrayed, How sweet! O das.h.i.+ng brook, thy waters are!

Sure, such a glen fair Dian with her train Chose to disport in, when Actaeon bold That sight with mortal eyes dared to behold Which mortals may not see and life retain.

To such a glen I, too, at noonday creep, Leaving the dusty road and haunts of men, To quaff thy purling, sparkling ripples; then To plunge within thy clear, cold basin deep.

Alone in Nature's lap (this mossy sod) I lie; feel her sweet breath upon me blow; Hear her melodious woodland voice, and know Her pa.s.sing love, the eternal love of G.o.d!

HYMNODIST.

John R. Runyon.

Our fellow townsman of old New Jersey name, whose enthusiastic love for music, and especially for church music, is well known, has manifested his interest in this direction by compiling a collection of hymns known as "Songs of Praise. A Selection of Standard Hymns and Tunes". It is published by Anson D. F. Randolph & Company, and "meets", says the compiler, "a universally acknowledged want for a collection of Hymns to be used in Sunday Schools and Social Meetings".

Says Charles H. Morse in _The Christian Union_ of August 20th, 1892: "If music is a pattern and type of Heaven, then, indeed, are those whose mission is to provide the music for our wors.h.i.+p burdened with a weight of responsibility and called to a blessed ministry second only to that of the pastor who stands at the desk to speak the words of Life".

To compile from various sources a collection of hymns acceptable to varied cla.s.ses of minds, requires much discernment, great care and large range of knowledge on the subject, as well as a comprehension of what is needed which comes from long and wide experience, study and observation, in addition to natural genius.

NOVELISTS AND STORY-WRITERS.

Francis Richard Stockton.

Although born in Philadelphia, Mr. Stockton belongs to an old and distinguished New Jersey family, and he has, after many wanderings, at last selected his home in the State of his ancestors.

Within a few years he has purchased and fitted up a quaint and attractive mansion in the suburbs of Morristown, overlooking the beautiful Loantika Valley, where in the Revolutionary days the tents of the suffering patriots were pitched or their log huts constructed for the bitter winter. Beyond the long and narrow valley, the homes of prominent residents of Morristown appear on the Western limiting range of hills, and are charmingly picturesque.

This home Mr. Stockton has named "The Holt" and his legend, taken from Turberville, an old English poet, is painted over the fire-place in his Study which is over the Library on the South corner of the House:

"Yee that frequent the hilles and highest holtes of all, a.s.sist me with your skilful quilles and listen when I call."

Mr. Stockton and Richard Stockton, the signer of the Declaration of Independence, are descended from the same ancestor, Richard Stockton, who came from England in 1680 and settled in Burlington County, New Jersey.

Much fine and interesting criticism from various directions, has been called out by Mr. Stockton's works.

Edmund Gosse, the well-known Professor of Literature in England, said just before leaving our sh.o.r.es:

"I think Mr. Stockton one of the most remarkable writers in this country. I think his originality, his extraordinary fantastic genius, has not been appreciated at all. People talk about him as if he were an ordinary purveyor of comicality. I do not want to leave this country without giving my _personal tribute_, if that is worth anything, to his genius."

"More than half of Mr. Stockton's readers, without doubt", says another critic, "think of him merely as the daintiest of humorists; as a writer whose work is entertaining in an unusual degree, rather than weighed in a critical scale, or considered seriously as a part of the literary _expression_ of his time".

It is acknowledged that Americans are masters, at the present day, of the art of writing short stories and these, as a rule, are like the French, distinctly realistic. In this art Mr. Stockton excels. Among his short stories, "The Bee Man of Orn" and "The Griffin and the Minor Canon"

represent his power of fancy. "The Hunting Expedition" in "Prince Ha.s.sak's March" is particularly jolly, and in "The Stories of the Three Burglars", we find a specimen of his realistic treatment. In the last, he makes the young house-breaker, who is an educated man, say: "I have made it a rule never to describe anything I have not personally seen and experienced. It is the only way, otherwise we can not give people credit for their virtues or judge them properly for their faults." Upon this, Aunt Martha exclaims: "I think that the study of realism may be carried a great deal too far. I do not think there is the slightest necessity for people to know anything about burglars." And later she says, referring to this one of the three: "I have no doubt, before he fell into his wicked ways, he was a very good writer and might have become a novelist or a magazine author, but his case is a sad proof that the study of realism is carried too far."

No critic seems to have observed or noticed the very remarkable manner in which Mr. Stockton renders the negro dialect on the printed page. In this respect he quite surpa.s.ses Uncle Remus or any other writer of negro folk-lore. He spells the words in such a way as to give the sense and sound to ears unaccustomed to negro talk as well as to those accustomed to it.

This we especially realize in "The Late Mrs. Null".

But besides the qualities we have noticed in Mr. Stockton's writings, there is a subtle fragrance of purity that exhales from one and all, which is in contrast to much of the novel-writing and story-telling of the present day.

We have reason to welcome warmly to our homes and to our firesides, one who, by his pure fun and drollery, can charm us so completely as to make us forget, for a time, the serious problems and questions which agitate and confront the thinking men and women of this generation.

So varied and voluminous are the writings of Mr. Stockton, they may be grouped as _Juveniles_, _Novels_, _Novelettes_ and _Collected Short Stories_. Besides, there are magazine stories constantly appearing, and still to be collected. Most prominent among the volumes are "The Lady or The Tiger?"; "Rudder Grange" and its sequel, "The Rudder Grangers Abroad"; "The Late Mrs. Null"; "The Casting Away of Mrs. Lecks and Mrs. Ales.h.i.+ne"; "The Hundredth Man"; "The Great War Syndicate"; "Ardis Claverden"; "Stories of the Three Burglars"; "The House of Martha" and "The Squirrel Inn".

After considering what Mr. Stockton has accomplished and the place which by his genius and industry he has made for himself in Literature, we do not find it remarkable that in July, 1890, he was elected by the readers of _The Critic_ into the ranks of the _Forty Immortals_.