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THE SUNNY SIDE OF BEREAVEMENT AS

ILLUSTRATED IN TENNYSON'S "IN MEMORIAM"

by CHARLES E. COOLEDGE

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Title: THE SUNNY SIDE OF BEREAVEMENT AS ILLUSTRATED IN TENNYSON'S "IN MEMORIAM"


Author: CHARLES E. COOLEDGE
Language: English
Subject: Fiction, Literature
'LJLWDOPublisher: World Public Library Association

Copyright 20, All Rights Reserved Worldwide by World Public Library, www.WorldLibrary.net

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THE SUNNY SIDE OF

BEREAVEMENT

TTH

SUNNY SIDE OF BEREAVEMENT


AS ILLUSTRATED IN

TENNYSON'S "IN MEMORIAM"

J
BY

Rev.

G.

CHARLES

CUPPLES

E.

COOLEDGE

CO., Publishers

Back Bag Bookstore


94 BoYLSTON Street

Efie

Copyright,

By

J.

i^'go,

G. CuppLEs Company,

All rights re semed.

PKHSS OF

Hodges

&

Adams,

?i

Knapp

BOSTON, MASS.

St.,

^3(-

TO

THE MEMORY
OF

WILLIAM LEONARD GAGE,


OEi^is

Book

13

^ffectianatdo

D.D.,

En^rcribctJ.

CONTENTS.
I.

II.

The Bereavement
Grief and Despair

....
.

III.

WiLL-o'-THE-Wisp Lights

IV.

The Lesser Lights

V.

The Great Lights

VI.

...
.

....

Comfort, Resignation and Peace

PAGE.

.3
6

.10
14
.

49

PREFACE
'T'HE

full significance of

ethical

and

like

in its

spiritual teachings, is not perceived

at once, but, like gold,

the surface.

In Memoriam^

It is

not a simple, descriptive poem,

Enoch Arden

metaphysical in

must be sought for below

its

or the

May

Queen^ but

tone, discussing

is

some of the

profoundest questions of science, philosophy and


theology.
is

The unique method

of

another obstacle in the way of

its

its

composition

easy interpre-

tation.

The poem

is

not a single and continuous one,

but a mosaic, made up of one hundred and thirty-

one short poems, with a prologue and epilogue,

and expressing the varying thoughts and

feelings

of the Poet during the long interval of seventeen

PREFACE.

These

years.

poems,

separate

it

are

true,

is

linked together and unified, so that in the comfind " a beginning, a correlation

poem we

pleted

and culmination " yet

of parts, a progress
is

this

not apparent without study and meditation, and

there

is

lacking what necessarily must be, under

the circumstances,

clearly stated

subject, a definite order,

and

which renders the poem

to

and

specific

logical arrangement,

many

minds, in this

busy and hurrying age, a work of genius, to be


greatly praised, perhaps, but practically unappreciated

An

and unread.

attempt, then, to connect

these pearls of poetic thought

upon the thread of

a general subject, that their beauty and lustre

may

be more clearly discernible,

may

not be

deemed altogether a superfluous or presumptuous


undertaking.

The

subject

general way,

is

bereavement

of

In Memoriam^ stated

in

the spiritual experience of a soul in


or,

more

definitely, the passing of

a bereaved soul from the gloom of anguish and


despair

into the brightness of resignation, con-

tentment and peace.

In Memoriani has been

PREFACE.

called the "

XI

most distinctively theological poem of

the century,"

and " the finest

religious

poem of the

age " and these characterizations are undoubtedly


;

correct

for

it

teaches, in the course of the argu-

ment, some of the most vital of moral and


It

truths.

ual

spirit-

affirms the great doctrines

duties of Christianity

and

the existence of a personal

Deity, the immortality of the soul, the providence

and love of God, the divinity of Christ, the truth


of the Bible, the

two great commandments of a

supreme love for God and a disinterested affection

man upon which hang

for

prophets.
of

all

the law and the

It teaches, also, that the great doctrines

God, immortality and freedom are not depend-

ent altogether upon outward proof, but are intuitions of the soul, revealed directly to
his spiritual consciousness.

revelation, as well as

voices

these

same.

For a mind

so unreservedly

cant

fact,

is

an internal

an external one, and when

are listened to

message they utter

There

man through

is

like

and compared, the

found to be one and the


Tennyson's to place

on the side of religion

is

itself

signifi-

and indicates that the idea sometimes

PREFACE.

Xll

advanced, that to be a believer in Christianity


argues either intellectual incapacity or ignorance,

has no foundation in

fact.

But while In Memoriam


for

to

be highly prized

theological teachings, yet the inculcation of

its

these ideas
it

is

is

not the motive of the poem, nor

the great burden of

its

song.

is

It appeals, pri-

marily, not to the intellect or the conscience, but


to

the

heart.

Its

great mission

is

to tell the

world that in the valley of the shadow of bereave-

ment there

is

comfort and peace.

It is the attrac-

tiveness of the theme, as well as the profundity

of the thought, the beauty of the language

and

the rhythm of the verse, which has given to the

poem

its

wide and enduring popularity.

bereavement

poem

is

a universal experience,

so the

revealing the sunny side of bereavement

naturally, of universal interest.


intensified

thoughts
tested.

As
is,

Its influence is

from the fact that the consolatory


presented

The author

have

been experimentally

proclaims, not what he has

discovered by a long and subtle process of reasoning, not

what he has read or heard or observed.

PREFACE.

xill

but what he has himself personally experienced.


" Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be
comforted.'*

There have been many

of the fulfilment of this promise,

many more

some recorded,

unrecorded, but of those

to the world there

is

illustrations

made known

none surpassing, in interest

and impressiveness, the experience of the Poet


Laureate of England.
C. E. C.

THE SUNNY SIDE OF


BEREAVEMENT.
THE BEREAVEMENT.

TN
in

MEMORTAM

is

an elegiac poem written

commemoration of Arthur Henry Hallam,

an intimate friend of the Poet, his classmate at


College,

and the betrothed husband of one of


Hallam, who died when only twenty-

his sisters.

two years of age, was the son of the

man

guished Historian, and a young


cinating

personal

and exalted

character.

are portrayed in

gyric strains

qualities,

the

brilliant

distin-

of

fas-

intellect

His talents and virtues

poem

in

lofty

Seraphic intellect and force,"

'

and pane-

THE SUNNY SIDE


" High nature amorous of the good,"
"

Thy converse drew us with

"

And thus he bore without abuse


The grand old name of gentleman,"

**

life that all the

With

delight,"

'

Muses deck'd

gifts of grace, that

might express

All-comprehensive tenderness,
All-subtilizing intellect,"

The flower of men,"


*'

The sweetest

soul

That ever look'd with human eyes,"


*

Thus
ities

The man

richly

of body,

Tennyson an

held as half divine."

'

endowed with the highest qual-

mind and

ideal friend

soul,
:

Hallam was

to

" Dear as the mother to the son.

More than my brothers


This
cated,

reverence

and

are to

affection

me""

'

was recipro-

and the friendship between the two,

like

OF BEREAVEMENT.
that of Jonathan and David, was " wonderful,

passing the love of women."


inspiring

rudely

companionship

interrupted

This sweet and

was

by the

and

suddenly

hand

of

death.

Hallam, while on a foreign tour, was attacked

by a rush of blood

to the head,

in almost instantaneous death

which resulted

" In Vienna's fatal walls

God's finger touch'd him, and he slept."

'

GRIEF AND DESPAIR.

The blow

fell

upon the Poet with crushing,

almost paralyzing, power.

and

long
which,
aid,

of

He had hoped

happy intercourse with

his

for a

friend,

by mutual co-operation, sympathy and

would have halved the burdens and

and

life

doubled

all

its

joys

and when

death came, he trusted, as companions

still,

might pass together into the unseen world

Arrive at last the blessed goal,

And He

that died in Holy

Land

trials

they

THE SUNNY SIDE


Would reach us out the
And take us as a single

The bright dream


is

the

He

gone.

is left

shock of

first

is

seemed divested of

now

and die

In

great bereavement

life

all

value and charm

me

remains of good

**

And what

to

For

dark where thou art not,"

"

And unto me no second

And

all is

in

my

friend,"

heart, if calm at

"

''

'^

'*

all,

If any calm, a calm despair. "

On

His friend

over.

alone.

to live
his

shining hand,
soul." "

'^

the approach of Christmas, a day which

the friends had been accustomed to celebrate


together, his anguish becomes so poignant, that

he almost wishes that he too were dead

This year
I

I slept

and woke with pain,

almost wish'd no more to wake,

And

that

Before

my

hold on

life

would break

heard those bells again."

'*

OF BEREAVEMENT.
His grief seemed

and

to

the

veil

brightest

with funeral gloom


"

to cast

a pall over nature,

and

objects

fairest

Which sicken'd every living bloom,


And blurr'd the splendor of the sun
" That

made the

"

"

rose

Pnll sideways, and the daisy close

Her crimson fringes

The

takes entire

grief

reaching

nature,

of thought

down

and feeling

" Beneath

Ay me,
Whose

all

this

to
:

possession

the

of

his

lowest springs

the sorrow deepens down,

drown

muffled motions blindly

woe and

life in tears."

despair, as

^*

it

appears to

the Poet, will be changeless and abiding


*

'^

fancied hopes and fears

The bases of my

And

to the shower."

Yet

in these ears,

One

set

slow

till

bell will

hearing dies,

seem to

The passing of the sweetest

toll

soul

That ever look'd with human eyes.

^^

THE SUNNY SIDE


" I bear

it

now, and

and

o'er

o'er,

Eternal greetings to the dead,

And
'

'

Ave, Ave, Ave,' said,

Adieu, Adieu,' for evermore."

^'

WILL-o'-THE-WISP LIGHTS.

In Memoriam
ing, in exquisite

of

is

and tender

Hallam and the love and

This

is

presses

not, however, its

also

cepted as

certain

true

an elegy, embalm-

in part

memory

verse, the

grief of his friend.

only purpose

it

ex-

consolatory thoughts,

ac-

much mental

after

struggle,

which, in the end, wrought a wondrous change


in

the feelings of the Poet, expelling

sorrow

and despair and leading back hope and

and peace.

In Memoriam

and joy as well as

of

is

trust

a psalm of faith

despondency and gloom,

a triumphant ode as well as an elegy, a sweet

and comforting anthem


dirge.

At

as

well as

a funeral

the beginning of the poem, certain

consolatory thoughts are rejected by the Poet as

unsubstantial and unsatisfying

OF BEREAVEMENT.

held

it

with him

truth,

who

sings

To one clear harp in divers tones,


That men may rise on stepping-stones
Of their dead selves to higher things." "

The
is

educative and enriching power of sorrow

a precious truth

one which the Poet after-

wards actually realized

in his

own experience

but when he stood in the chilling presence of


his

great and irreparable

loss,

compensating gain afforded

The good was

soul,

of

its

desire

no

happiness

and companionship
thought

absence
tained

is

if

any

moreover, in

bereavement

shock

the

little

of

too

seems

first

almost

to

apart from the presence


of

the departed;

at

least

deriving advantage from the

repugnant

even to be enter-

But who

shall so forecast the years

And And

in loss

Or reach a hand

The

and

the

'

relief.

too far away, too indefinite

The

uncertain.

the thought of

a gain to match?
thro' time to catch

far-off interest of tears?"

"

THE SUNNY SIDE

The Poet

no consolation in contact

finds

All the glory and beauty of the

with nature.

material world, looked upon through the dark


lenses

of

sorrow, seem symbols only of

spiritual desolation

fate, of

''The

she whispers, 'blindly run;

stars,'

A web

and death

blind

wov'n across the sky

is

From out waste places comes a cry,


And murmurs from the dying sun *^
:

'

"And

all

the phantom, Nature, stands

With

all

the music in her tone,

A
A

hollow echo of

my own

hollow form with empty hands.'

Letters of condolence are received

" ^*

" One writes, that 'Other friends remain/

That 'Loss

But the Poet

is

common

finds

to the race.'"

no comfort in knowing

that others are bearing the same evils as himseK.

This does

not diminish but

creases the burden of


'

That loss

My own

is

his

own

grief

common would

less bitter, rather

not

rather
:

make

more.""

in-

OF BEREAVEMENT.
Such

powerless to help

"And

is

vacant chaff well meant for grain."

Nor does
his

though well intended,

consolation,

"s

the Poet desire any mitigation of

woe, through the benumbing and effacing

influence of time.

To have

more and more dim

the dear face

grow

as the days go by, the sweet

music of his voice become fainter and fainter,


his

words to fade away one by one from mem-

ory,

in a word, to escape the pain of bereave-

ment by forgetting the


the keenest pang of all

friend,
:

" Let Love clasp Grief

this

would be

lest

both be drown'd,

Let darkness keep her raven gloss

Ah, sweeter to be drunk with

To dance with

loss,

death, to beat the ground,

^'^

" Than that the victor Hours should scorn

The long

result of love,

and boast,

Behold the man that loved and

But

all

To such

he was

is

overworn.'

voices as these

"

lost,

^'^

Tennyson

cries,

as

THE SUNNY SIDE

10

Job did

of old, " I have heard

miserable comforters are ye

many such

things

all."

THE LESSER LIGHTS.

We

come now

consolation.

of

know

that

him

not

body of

the

buried

and genuine sources

afforded

It

in

his

some

friend was near

away

laid

to

relief

Vienna where he

brought back and

but
soil

to other

in

died,

English

" 'Tis well;

'tis

Where he

we may

something;

stand

in English earth is laid."^'

know

that though

the spirit of his friend was gone

the casket

It

was indeed something

which enshrined

more

it

to be beheld

around

its

to

was near, and while never


might be approached

resting place the grass

flowers might be taught to

that

and vines and

grow; over

it

the

upon

white and sculptured marble erected

dropped wreaths and

and teara

of love

and

grief.

floral offerings

it

OF BEREAVEMENT.

11

In engaging in his accustomed avocations,


in the exercise of his poetic talent,

was obtained

some

respite

" But, for fhe unquiet heart and brain,

use in measured language

The sad mechanic

lies;

exercise.

Like dull narcotics, numbing pain."

"

This relief was perhaps more negative than


positive

no

direct

consolation was

afforded,

but occupation secured a diversion of mind, so


that for a time and in a degree the pain was

dulled and quieted.

Happy

the person who, in

bereavement, either by voluntary effort or com-

peUed by circumstances,

is

able to put into daily

exercise the hands or the brain or the heart.

Consolation was afforded in the remembrance


of past friendship

man

and affection. God has given to

three great sources of blessedness,

pation, realization

the last

is

and

retrospection,

by no means the

that knocks once at our door

least.

of

antici-

which

Happiness

may knock many

THE SUNNY SIDE

12

times

again,

by

back

led

memory's

Tennyson, in his bereavement, found


in the use of

memory

comfort

" Treasuring the look

The words

hand.

it

cannot

find,

that are not heard again."

"

" But brooding on the dear one dead.

And

all

he said of things divine,

(And dear to me as sacred wine

To dying
It

may

lips is all

be said such remembrance brings pain

This

as well as pleasure.
it is

is

not denied

only

denied that the pain equals the pleasure


" I hold

when

'Tis better to

Than never

Moreover,
character

of

in

his

strengthening
life.

He

true, whate'er befall;

it

I feel it,

own

he said)."^*

and

sorrow most;

have loved and lost

to have loved at all."

remembering
friend,

there

benign

the

^^

life

and

was exerted a

influence

imagines himself

upon

his

dead in the

place of Arthur and asks what his friend would

OF BEREAVEMENT.

13

The

have done under the circumstances.

blow,

he knows, would have been borne calmly, bravely;

m some way transmuted into good

"His credit thus shall set me free;


And influence-rich to soothe and save,
Unused example from the grave
Reach out dead hands

The Poet
his friend,

is

by death, has escaped those

The most

to,

and a part

web of

this mortal life

woven

in

is

so

tence,

many dark

humanly speaking,

a blessing.

death,

In the

threads are

the

anguish

unendurable that
is

What would

of those, who, like flowers

have

human

Sometimes pain

sometimes

excruciating and

and

lives are

by sorrow.

with the golden.


pleasure;

ills

of,

and happy

successful

not altogether unmarked

overmatches

comforted hy the thought that

woes which are incident


life.

comfort me."

to

exis-

a curse rather than

have been the fate


in

the springtime,

been untimely blighted by the frost of


lies

beyond the ken of human

vision.

THE SUNNY SIDE

14

It is

some comfort,

surely, to

know

that

the

if

departed friend has lost the joys of earth, he


also has escaped its sorrows.

The

friends

have

are

missed,

passed within

longed for;
as

yet,

the lives of

back

if

we

the

vail

their lives

if

By

could.

are

must have been

we would not

some,

who

them

call

the hand of death they

have been led away from the tumult and pain


of

the

earthly

into

life,

that

Better

Land

"where the wicked cease from troubling and


the weary are at rest."

comfort to the Poet

'

'They

rest,'

we

This thought brought

Surely rest

is

meet:

said, 'their sleep is sweet.'"''

THE GREAT

LIGHTS.

Another and higher source of


was afforded
blessed

grave

"

consolation

in his belief in the continued

existence

of

his

friend

beyond

Our voices took a higher range;


Once more we sang
They do not
:

'

die

and
the

OF BEREAVEMENT.

15

Nor lose their mortal sympathy.


Nor chauge to us, although they change.'"

The body
dust

into

of

Arthur was dead and crumbling

but the

immortal essence,

soul, the

the power that thinks and feels and


existence

known by

is

extinct,

panion,

manifesting

Poet's

upon reason,
out a future

intuition
life

it

had not
com-

old

its

ever had been.

immortality

in

faith

whose

upon the earth no

itself

more, but alive as truly as

wills,

effects, that

its

separated from

become

The

^'

and

based

is

revelation.

With-

an

inexpli-

the present

life is

cable enigma, hopelessly darkened by ignorance,

misery and sin


"

My own dim
That

should teach

is

this,

darkness at the core,

dust and ashes

all

that is."

Without immortality God


soul

me

for evermore.

life shall live

Else earth

And

life

is

^^

nothing to the

"

What

then were

God

'Twere hardly worth

to such as I ?

my

while to choose

THE SUNNY SIDE

16
Of things

mortal, or to use

all

little

patience ere

Love

also

would

and become but an


"

idle tale

a sigh,

The sound of that forgetful shore

Will change

my

Half-dead to

know

man

If

and power,

lose its sweetness

And Love would answer with


'

happiness he
"

I die." ^^

No more

that I shall die.' "

*^

and

mortal then in perfection

is

is

sweetness more and more,

below even the brute creation


?

discord.

monster then, a dream,

Dragons of the prime.

That tare each other

in their slime,

Were mellow music match'd with

Environed with so many

evils,

him.' "

*'

physical and

moral, without God, without love, without the

hope

of

Heaven, the

would be true and

life

doctrine

of

Pessimism

would not be worth the

living; to sink without delay into a dreamless

and painless sleep would be the better part of

wisdom

OF BEREAVEMENT.
'*

17

'Twere best at ouce to sink to peace,


Like birds the charming serpent draws,

To drop head-foremost
Of vacant darkness and

But

this

view of

human

*^

reason emphati-

life,

sad

and

and

desires were not

faculties

jaws

to cease."

Human

cally refuses to accept.

such

in the

stupendous

life

cannot be

failure.

made

to

Man's
remain

Far

forever undeveloped and unsatisfied.

su-

perior in intellect to the reptile and the brute,

he

evolution,

is

immortality

ages
at

materialistic

of

more than probable.

emotion

perhaps, in

evolving

man, now,

length the long and toilsome process

finished,

and

is

happiness and

in

suppose that nature, having spent cen-

to

turies,

when

them

Even on the theory

worth.

For

below

be

cannot

and

and

man,

volition,

endowed

reason,

possessing a conscience

a spiritual nature, has

and

with

become a living
jewel of crea-

soul, the

brightest

tion;

suppose that this potentially glorious

to

costliest

THE SUNNY SIDE

18

with

being,

and

desires

death
lost,

capacities

his

unsatisfied,

undeveloped

be plunged

to

is

night,

eternal

into

still

Godlike powers

his

back into elemental dust,

resolved

a supposition

such

improbable but

not only

is

at

irra-

tional, well-nigh inconceivable.

But

this

if

much more

is

the power which

personal

loving

true on

it

Tennyson

the universe.

on the materialistic,

true

is

is

behind

lies

being,

the theistic, view of

phenomena

all

powerful,

all

To him

theist.

wise,

all

is

all

" Strong Son of God, immortal Love,

Whom
By

we, that have not seen thy

faith,

and faith alone, embrace,

Believing where

we

his
'*

own experience

If e'er
I

when

faith

heard a voice

'

cannot prove."

he

If faith ever falters

upon

face.

falls

back for proof

had

fall'n asleep,

believe no more,'

And heard an ever-breaking shore


That tumbled

in the

*''

Godless deep

*^
;

: :

OF BEREAVEMENT.
*

A warmth

within the breast would melt

The freezing

And

reason's colder part,

man

like a

in wrath, the heart

Stood up and answer'd 'I have

God

Believing thus in

immortality

19

felt.'""*'

he believes also in

" Thou wilt not leave us in the dust

Thou madest man he knows not why;


He thinks he was not made to die
And thou hast made him thou art just."

*'

The

and love

justice

of

God

prove to

man

the doctrine of immortality.

The second source

of his faith in the doc-

trine of the immortal life

is

intuition.

Herbert

Spencer affirms that from the nature of thought


it

is

impossible

conceive matter becoming

" The annihilation of matter

non-existent.

thinkable."

to

And what

is

un-

the philosopher holds

tiue of the material atom, the Poet believes

true of the soul.


" But in

my

spirit will I dwell,

And dream my dream, and hold

it

true;

is
is

THE SUNNY SIDE

20

For
I

tho'

cannot

my

may

lips

breathe adieu,

tiiink the thing farewell."

*^

In other words, the doctrine of immortality


is

a self-evident truth

a datum of conscious-

If it is objected that all

ness.

immediate knowledge,

this

it

men do

may

not have

be said that

necessary truths often require a certain intellectcapacity

ual

and

are not

reason

development, and

for

always universally recognized.

Mathematical axioms, clear

and simple

cultivated mind, to a savage or child

meaningless terms.

"a growing up

this

to

"There

is,"

are only

says

the recognition

to

Spencer,

of

certain

necessary truths merely by the unfolding of the


inherited intellectual forms and

Along with the acquirement


faculty

of

faculties.

more complex

and more vivid imagination, there comes

the power of perceiving to be necessary truths

what were before not recognized as truths


aU."
in

This principle

is

the material world.

at

as true in the spiritual as

To developed

intelli-

OF BEREAVEMENT.

21

gences, truths which to other minds are obscure^

perhaps altogether unperceived, stand forth

self-

reveaied, the direct affirmations of consciousness.

The
of

third source of his faith in the doctrine

a future

Christ

life

is

Jesua

Revelation of

the

"Tho' truths

in

manhood darkly

join,

Deep-seated in our mystic frame,

We

yield

Of Him

That

all

that

blessing to the

name

made them current

coin."

the truth of an immortal

is,

mated and darkly revealed

in

*^

inti-

life,

man's nature,

is

brought fully to the light and divinely expressed


in the

Gospel of the Son of God.

Christ not only taught the


mortality, but proved

the dead to
"

life

When

truth

by

this

to Mary's house return'd,

demanded

if

To hear her weeping by

of

calling

Lazarus left his charnel-cave,

And home

Was

its

doctrine

he yearn'd
his grave

^^

im-

back

THE SUNNY SIDE

22
**

Where wert

There

lives

thou, brother, those four days?'.

no record of reply,

Which telling what it is


Had surely added praise
**

From
The

^'

to praise.

every house the neighbors met,

streets

were

fill'd

with joyful sound,

solemn gladness even crown'd

The purple brows of


"Behold a man

The

He

Olivet.

^^

raised up by Christ

rest remaineth unreveal'd;

told

The

By

to die

lips

not; or something seal'd

it

of that Evangelist."

'"^

thus embodying the truth in his

and deeds, Christ brought

"life

own

life

and immortality

to light," not only to the educated few, but to

and conditions

all classes

"

And

so the

of

Word had

With human hands

men

breath, and

wrought

the creed of creeds

In loveliness of perfect deeds,

More strong than


" Which he

Or

may

all

poetic thought,

read that binds the sheaf,

builds the house, or digs

And

^*

those wild eyes

t^'^c

*Lie

grave,

watch the wave

In roarings rounc. che coral reef."

OF BEREAVEMENT.

The

Poet

objection

urged

existence

after

alleged

not

is

unacquainted

against
death,

opposition

states the objection

the

of

physical

more

has changed

doctrine of a future

soul's

with

the

continued

the ground

or

of

science,

the

and

strongly, perhaps, than

he would at the present time


respects

23

its
life,

for science in

attitude

toward

some
the

and on the theory of

evolution teaches not only the possibility, but, in

a degree, the probability that death does not

end

Tennyson, however, states the supposed

all.

teachings of physical science as they were held


fifty

years ago
*

Are God and nature then at

strife,

That Nature lends such

dreams?

evil

So careful of the type she seems,

So careless of the single

'

'

So careful of the type

From scarped
She cries
I

'

cliff

life. ^

'

but no.

and quarried stone

a thousand types are gone

care for nothing,

all shall go.' ^'

THE SUNNY SIDE

24
"

'

Thou makest
bring to

The
I

The

life,

bring to death

does but mean the breath

spirit

know no

more.' "

^'

personal immortality

that

fact

thine appeal to rae

proved by physical science, though

Poet a passing
the

chill,

science

is

not

gives the

does not destroy his faith in

He

doctrine.

it

is

recognizes

only one source of

physical

that

human knowledge,

and by no means the most important one

that

there are other and higher grounds of evidence

The

than that of the senses.

and
of

intuition

Him who

heeded,

as

especially

voices of instinct

and reason, and especially the voice


spake as

well

when

as

man
that

never spake, are to be


physical

of

their testimony

positive, while that of the other

only negative
against the
says

know;

for

doctrine

"It may be
I

science
of

true,

it

is
is,

gives

so clear

have no means at

and

at the best,

no evidence

immortality,

may

science,

not be.

simply

it

do not

my command

for

25

OF BEREAVEMENT.
So strong

deciding the question."


is

the

evidence of

a future

life

Poet

to the

by

afforded

reason and revelation, that, though affirming no

antagonism between them and science,


there were

yet,

any, this would not disturb in

least his faith.

The

man and

soul of

the

the revela-

more trustworthy guides

tion of Jesus Christ are

than the negative teachings of science, and

came

the two sources of authority

What

we

are,

and then

matters Science unto men,

At least to me?

would not

stay."

Sublime trust in the higher and


sources of knowledge
of

only cunning casts in clay:

Let Science prove

days

if

into collision

he would cling unhesitatingly to the former

'Not

if

materialism,

dirt," as Carlyle calls

How

the

"Gospel of

being so earnestly

is

and dogmatically proclaimed

spiritual

refreshing in these

when
it,

^^

when the

spiritual

and supernatural are being ignored or denied or

THE SUNNY SIDE

26

made

how

to take subordinate places,

refresh-

ing to hear a voice like Tennyson's affirming

and supremacy

their eternal existence

willing

indeed to render unto Caesar the things that are


Caesar's,

God

but

also

unto

render

to

the things that are God's.

And

life

of

believes, his friend has entered, is

unmingled

The mere

growth.

has in

beyond the grave, into which,

this life

as the Poet

determined

it

felicity

fact

continued existence

nothing especially consolatory, for the

question at once arises


this life ?

of

and uninterrupted

What

take away

future

existence

What

the nature of

is

What

give ?

The Greeks believed

in the

does

What

of

it

involve

the

soul,

but

it

was an

existence so unsubstantial

and

darkest and

upon

the earth was

be preferred.

The Hindoos

brighter

and

saddest
to

life

and other nations believe


immortality, but

it

is

in

joyless that

the

doctrine

the

of

the degrading immortality

OF BEREAVEMENT.
The Pantheist

of transmigration.

27

believes that

the soul exists after death, but without individuality,


lost

absorbed in Deity as the rain drop


ocean.

the

in

To

the Poet eternal

is

life

involves not merely existence, but a conscious,

personal and blessed existence


*

The great

Intelligences fair

That range above our mortal

state,

In circle round the blessed gate.

Received and gave him welcome there

And led him thro' the blissful climes,


And show'd him in the fountain fresh
All

knowledge that the sons of

flesh

Shall gather in the cycled times."

In the

invisible world his friend

^'

was enjoy-

ing not merely negative happiness, the absence


of evil, but positive blessedness, the satisfaction
of every innocent desire, the exercise

velopment of

all his faculties

noble deeds which the Poet

would have achieved

if

and

and powers.
is

his life

certain

de-

The

Arthur

had been spared.

THE SUNNY SIDE

28

which would have won him reverence and fame,


are

now being wrought


"

And

Heaven

in

doubtless, unto thee

life that

is

given

bears immortal fruit

In such great offices as suit

The full-grown energies of heaven."*'


' So here shall silence guard thy fame;

But somewhere, out of human view,


Whate'er thy hands are set to do
Is

wrought with tumult of acclaim."

Perhaps,
in

^^

need of him

also, there is greater

Heaven, however much he may be needed

here

' So

So

many
little

worlds, so

much

to do.

done, such things to be,

How know

what had need of

For thou wert strong

as thou wert true?"^*

The continued and ever

blessed existence of

the spirit after death, freed from


tions

and imperfections

and

desires not

the

more

thee,

all

the limita-

of the body, with powers

destroyed but transplanted to

perfect

environment of

God's

im-

29

OF BEREAVEMENT.
mediate presence,
fitted

to

this

minister

surely

a belief well

sorrowing mind and

the

to

is

pour balm into the bereaved and aching heart.


Consolation

is

afforded the Poet in the belief

that the love as well as the


survived,

and

lives

and changeless

life of his

friend has

on in Heaven, as pure,

as before
"

warm

They do not

die

Nor lose their mortal sympathy,


Nor change to us although they change.""

Even though

the soul should slumber in the

a dreary
doctrine which the Poet does not accept, even
or weakened
then the love would not be

tomb

until the Resurrection's morn,

lost

"

To

And love will last as pure and whole


As when he loved me here in Time
And at the spiritual prime
Rewaken with the dawning soul." ^^

this beautiful

and consolatory thought of

the survival and continuance of love arose three


objections.

THE SUNNY SIDE

30

Is it certain that

accompany the

Man,

it

soul

said,

is

memory

into

eternal

the

memory

often fails

awaken

in

if

this

flash

world?

has no recollection of a pre-

existent state or of infant days


;

why, then,

Heaven altogether

To

earthly career?

of the past will

this the

mature

in

may

not the soul

oblivious

Poet

life

of

replies,

its

even

were the case some recollection might

upon the consciousness and the

lost

knowl-

edge be regained through angelic intelligence

And in the long harmonious years


(If

Death so taste Lethean springs)

May

sorae

dim touch of earthly things

Surprise thee ranging with thy peers.

' If such a dreamy touch should

fall,

turn thee round, resolve the doubt;

My

guardian angel will speak out

In that high place, and

But there
that

^'

is

of

thee

all."

no good reason for supposing

memory becomes

experiences

tell

extinct

infancy

are

at

death.

The

not remembered

OF BEREAVEMENT.
because

the intellectual

31

powers are not

ciently developed to admit of this


'

The baby new

What time

to earth

his tender

suffi-

and sky,

palm

is

prest

Against the circle of the breast.

Has never thought

Memory
years, either

suffers

that 'this is l.'"69

temporary eclipse in later

from physical weakness or for the

development and perfection of character


*'

We

ranging

down

The path we came


Is

of

this lower track,

by, thorn and flower,

life

should

fail in

looking back."

in eternity all reasons for the

memory

shadow'd by the growing hour,

Lest

But

will

be removed

'

dimming

" There no shade can last

dawn behind the tomb,


But clear from marge to marge shall bloom
The eternal landscape of the past. " "
In that deep

Another objection
love in

to the survival of Arthur's

Heaven was based upon

his intellectual

THE SUNNY SIDE

32

which the Poet fears may cause him,

superiority,
in time, to

'*

outgrow his early friendship

Yet oft when sundown

An

inner trouble

spectral doubt

That

This

Who
the

which makes me

cold,

be thy mate no more."

I shall

there

moor

behold,

a practical and

is

is

skirts the

who has not

common

"

objection.

at times trembled lest

with the ampler opporlength


Heaven should come

departed friend

tunities of

at

to

regard the former friendship with indifference.

To

objection

this

affection

tioned

intellectual

for Arthur, even


rial

mind

own:

Poet replies that heart

not dependent upon

is

to

the

in

if

it

nor

attainments.

propor-

No

love

were of the most impe-

Heaven, could be greater than his

" I loved thee, Spirit, and love, nor can

The

But

is

soul of Shakspeare love thee more."

human

love of

any value

"

to the glori-

33

OF BEREAVEMENT.
fied

Yes, the Poet answers,

spirit?

too

precious, even the humblest,


to be rejected or despised
" I

With Love's too precious


'

The
friend's

little

precious ever

grain shall not be spilt.""*

third objection to the continuation of his


love

And

How
How
How

in

Heaven

if

upon

rested
:

dwarf'd a growth of cold and night,


blanch'd with darkness must I grow?

Should

still

Is there

be near us at our side?

no baseness we would hide?

inner vileness that

Shall he for

we

dread?

whose applause

'^

I strove,

had such reverence for his blame,

See with clear eyes some hidden shame

And

own

dimly character'd and slight,

indeed desire the dead

No

his

thou cast thine eyes below,

Do we

is

to be lost,

moral and spiritual unworthiness


"

love

a fancy trouble-tost

lull

all

be lessen'd

in his

love?""

'*

THE SUNNY SIDE

34

To

Poet replies that true love in

the

this

Heaven, as upon the earth, though


over

human

does

imperfection,

it

may

grieve

on

not

that

account grow cold and die; the more the soul

becomes

like

God

resembles

Him

in charity to the erring

more

the

character,

in

'

Ye watch, like God, the rolling hours


With larger, other eyes than ours,
To make allowance for us all. '^

'

So fret not,
That

life is

Abide

then,

girl,

dash'd with flecks of sin.

thy wealth

When Time
Love

an idle

like

is

gather'd in,

hath sunder'd shell from pearl.

like

the

Death has no power

soul, is

glory

and

79

indestructible.

to annihilate the

remem-

brance of former friendship; Heaven with


its

it

blessedness can not

lessen

all

the

value of the earthly affection; even moral and


spiritual unworthiness has

darken

the

love

which

no power to

chill or

the

Divine

now, in

OF BEREAVEMENT.
presence, resembles
love of

God

35

more than ever before the


Arthur, in Heaven, could

Himself.

not forget or cease to cherish the friend he had


left

behind any more than the friend could forget

or cease to cherish him.

With

the faith in the continued and blessed

existence of his friend

source

comfort,

of

is

presence of Arthur.

associated, as another

in

belief

To enjoy

the

spiritual

this presence

had

long been the earnest wish and prayer of the

Poet

"Be near me when my light is low,


When the blood creeps, and the nerves
And
And

tingle;
all

and the heart

is sicl?,

the wheels of Being slow.

" Be near
Is rack'd

me when

the sensuous frame

with pangs that conquer trust;

And Time, a maniac scattering dust,


And Life, a Fury slinging flame. '
" Be near

To

prick

me when

fade away,

point the term of

human

strife,

THE

36

And on
The

sujsTPrr

side

the low dark verge of life

twilight of eternal day."

^^

This prayer, as the Poet believes,

and

a real

in

friend

is

though

off

thou

I have thee

'
'

answered,

spiritual sense his lost

near him and with him

"Far

is

but ever nigh:

art,

and

still,

The face

I rejoice. ^^

will shine

Upon me, while I muse alone;


And that dear voice, I once have known,
Still

At

speak to

me

me and

of

mine."

the marriage of his sister he imagines

that Arthur, though unseen and silent,

among

^*

the wedding guests

"Nor

count

me

all

Conjecture of a

to blame if I

stiller guest,

Perchance, perchance,

And, tho'

may be

in silence,

among

the rest,

wishing joy."

^*

His faith comes in part, doubtless, from his


Christian education

from Bible intimations of

OF BEREAVEMENT.

37

the possibility, perhaps probability, of the presence

and ministry of departed

ministry of angels
ings of the

Angel

one of the cardinal teach-

is

Old Testament dispensation.

''

The

Lord encampeth round about them

of the

that fear

The

friends.

Him, and

delivereth them."

"

He

shall

give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee


in

thy ways.

all

They

their hands, lest thou

shall

bear thee

uj^

in

dash thy foot against a

stone."

Angelic

visitations

punishment,

deliverance

were common

occurrences

All the

history.

for

counsel,

and
in

guidance,

encouragement,

Old

Testament

way down from Genesis

Malachi, "the pious

Jew saw

to

the shining foot-

steps of these heavenly messengers."

Angelic ministration plays an important part


in

New

to the

Testament history.

Angels announced

two Marys the respective births of Jesus

and John.

Over the

plain,

near Bethlehem,

THE SUNNY SIDE

38

they heralded, with songs of praise, the Saviour's


advent.

In the

Garden

the

their

Gethsemane they ministered unto

of

To

Lord.

temptation and in

vv^ilderness of

the troubled

and despairing

disciples they brought tidings of the

of

tion

Christ,

Resurrec-

and after His ascension

they

appeared again, predicting His second coming in


the clouds of Heaven.

Unto Cornelius an angel

appeared, telling liim his prayers and alms had

gone up for a memorial before God, and

direct-

ing him unto Peter for further enlightenment.

By

the

hand
from

delivered
friends.

of

Peter was twice

an angel

prison

and

restored

unto

Unto Paul an angel appeared,

ing from

God words

of

his

bring-

encouragement

and

hope.

Angelic visitation by material manifestation


passed away with
necessarily

angelic

intimations

and

the

Apostolic age, but not

ministration.

hints

in

the

New

There

are

Testament

OF BEREAVEMENT.
which seem to indicate the Divine guardianship
through the medium of angels
" There

a thing of the past.


*'

is

what

then, with

is

and are interested

God

them who

shall

in

over one

going on upon the earth,

"Are

sent forth

to

they not

Heaven

the

face

my

of

all

minister for

"For

be heirs of salvation?"

I say unto you, that in

always behold

read,

Angels are acquainted,

therein.

ministering spirits,

we

joy,"

in the presence of the angels of

sinner that repenteth."

is

by no means

is

their angels do

Father which

Heaven."

If the Infinite Spirit, unseen, unheard, unap-

prehended

in

any way by the bodily

draw near the human


and abide with

it,

soul,

there

sense,

encompass

is

it

may

around

nothing irrational,

certainly, in attributing, in a degree at least, the

same power

to the finite

mind.

If this doctrine of the spiritual presence

ministry of angels

is true,

as reason

and

and

revela-

THE SUNNY SIDE

40

seem

tion

more

nothing could be

indicate,

to

natural and fitting than that the celestial guar-

dianship of bereaved souls should be entrusted to

departed friends, who, having

them

in the life below,

and intenser

feeling,

Tennyson's

in

loved

now, with clearer vision

know and

faith

known and

the

love in Heaven.

presence

of

his

friend was confirmed by an experience in which

he seemed to hold direct and personal intercourse


with the spirit of

was

Arthur.

not physical.

spiritual

This communion

While desirous

of

seeing his friend again in bodily form, he has no

expectation that

He
of

is

this

most emphatic

desire
in

will

be

satisfied.

denying the possibility

any physical communication with departed

friends.
spirit,

There

is

no materialization of

the

no visual appearance, no touch of hand,

no material contact of any kind.


any sensory manifestation of
tinctly affirms

In respect to

his friend he dis-

41

OF BEREAVEMENT.
"I

shall not see thee."

So strong and

utter

is

his

disbelief,

that,

though a vision should reveal the very likeness


of Arthur, he would not credit

make appeal

to

experience,

he

its reality,

"Count

but

vain
"^^
As but the canker of the brain.

Though
events

it

should speak, and

common

to

their

past

it

would only regard the apparent supernatural


communication as some murmuring wind of his

own memory

" Yea, tho'

it

spake and bared to view

fact within the

And

tho' the

coming year;

months, revolving near,

Should prove the phantom-warning true."

Even

this

he would not regard as a real

prophecy, but only as a presentiment of his

mind

"

^^

And such
As often

refraction of events
rises ere they rise."

^^

own

THE SUNNY SIDE

42

These

emphatic assertions ought

to

settle

decisively the question which is sometimes raised,


*'

Whether

Tennyson

not

or

modern

the doctrine of

But while thus

a believer in

is

spiritism ?

"

rejecting altogether the idea

of any physical manifestation of his friend, he


believes

the possibility of a spiritual inter-

in

communication
'

No

visual shade of

But

may come
nerve of sense is numb;

all

the

Spirit to Spirit,

ever,

is

lost,

he, the Spirit himself,

Where

The

some one

enjoyment

of

Ghost to Ghost."

this

not unconditional

communion, how-

a certain attitude of

mind and heart

is

purity of

soundness of mind and love

heart,

toward God
'

How

essential.

There must be

pure at heart and sound in head,

With what

divine affections bold

Should be the man whose thought would hold

An

hour's

communion with the dead."

^'

OF BEREAVEMENT.

The

spirit

must be

at peace with all

" In vain shalt thou, or any,

The

from

spirits

43

call

their golden day,

Except, like them, thou too canst say,

My

spirit is at

peace with

The memory must be


science at rest

all."^^

cloudless

and the con-

"They haunt

the silence of the breast,

Imaginations calm and

fair,

The memory like a cloudless air.


The conscience as a sea at rest."
If these conditions are wanting,
is full

ion

is

of

" But

when

the heart

And doubt
And hear

of din,

listen at the gates.

the household jar within."

Having complied with


Poet earnestly invokes the

is full

beside the portal waits.

They can but

own:

the heart

if

doubt and tumult, spiritual commun-

impossible

to descend

^^

and enter

into

these
spirit

^*

conditions, the
of

his

friend

communion with

his

THE SUNNY SIDE

44

* Descend, and touch, and enter: hear

The wish too strong for words


That

My

answered.

Ghost may feel that thine

summer

At

name;

frame

in this blindness of the

This prayer, at length, as

to

is

near."

^*

seems to him,

it

is

the close of a calm and pleasant

had been

evening, which

delightfully-

spent with friends in conversation and song, he


finds himself at last alone.

heart for the

hunger seized his

companionship of

He

Arthur.

reads again and again the letters of his friend

"Those

As

fall'n

leaves which kept their green."

'''

thus he perused and pondered, suddenly,

the longing of his soul


his friend flashes
into a real

other:

upon

is satisfied

his own,

the spirit of

and they enter

though mystical communion with each

" So word by word, and line by

line,

The dead man touch'd me from the

And

all

at once

it

seem'd at

His living soul was

flash'd

past,

last

on mine,

^'

OF BEREAVEMENT.
*

And mine

in his

About empyreal

And came on
The deep

45

was wound, and

whirl'd

lieights of thought,

that

which

is,

and caught

pulsations of the world,

^^

"iEonian music measuring out

The steps of Time the shocks of Chance


The blows of Death." ^
This experience, like

that

the

of

Apostle

Paul, when caught up into the third heaven, was,


to

a great extent, unspeakable and incommuni-

cable

'*

Vague words

but ah,

how hard

to frame

In matter-moulded forms of speech,

Or

ev'n for intellect to reach

Thro'

Nor was

memory

that which I became." *^

the Poet altogether convinced of the

objective reality of his vision

"At

Was

length

my

cancell'd, stricken thro'

trance

with doubt."

**

Later on this uncertainty again finds expresgion

THE SUNNY SIDE

46

Oh, wast thou with me, dearest, then,

While

*'

rose up against

my

doom.

^^

If thou wert with me, and the grave

Divide us not, be with

But while

this

me now."

could

experience

regarded as incontestably

real,

'^

be

not

and hence afforded

no absolute proof of the presence of Arthur,

it

was, nevertheless, confirmatory evidence, and the


Poet's

comforting belief in the spiritual

ence of his friend was

pres-

strengthened and con-

firmed.

Another and

final source of consolation

was

afforded in his belief in a future reunion with

Arthur in Heaven.
his

old

spent so

home

in

As he was about

hours, he

had

where he

Lincolnshire,

many happy

leaving

had a beautiful

and suggestive dream, by which he was greatly


comforted.

He

seemed, in

his

vision,

to

be

dwelling in a hall in the front of which flowed a


river fed

by springs from

far-off

hills.

Com-

47

OF BEREAVEMENT.

panions played and sang to a veiled statue of

which stood in the centre of the

his friend

dove flew

sea.

They

in,

summons from

bringing a

enter a

little

hall.

shallop

and

glide

the

down

the stream, which ever widens as they advance.

Vaster becomes the shore and grander

The Poet and

floods.

his

roll the

companions grow in

stature, in strength, in grace, in intellectual

At length they reach

spiritual power.

where they see


**

On

and

the ocean

great ship

lift

her shining sides."

"*

deck stands Arthur waiting to welcome

his friend,
in silence

who

eagerly climbs the deck and falls

on his neck.

and spreading the

They

sails steer

"Toward

all

enter the ship

a crimson cloud

That landlike slept along the deep."

^'^^

This vision was regarded by Tennyson as a

symbol

or prophecy of

the reunion awaiting

Arthur and himself in the other world

THE SUNNY SIDE

48

Abiding witli

'

To seek
And the

till

I sail

thee on the mystic deeps,

keeps

electric force, that

thousand pulses dancing,

And we

"

me

'^

fail.

shall sit at endless feast,

Enjoying each the other's good

What

Of love on earth?"

Will

there

Heaven ?

be

length,

'"^

recognition

friends

of

Yes, the Poet answers

"Eternal form

The

mood

vaster dreams can hit the

in

shall still divide

The

eternal soul

And

I shall

from

all

beside;

know him when we meet."

"*

anticipation of this reunion became, at


so

strong and

joyous

that

lessened the pain of his bereavement


" Yet less of sorrow lives in

it

greatly-

me

For days of happy commune dead;


Less yearning for the friendship

Than some strong bond which

By
future

their

is

fled,

to be."

'

temporary separation the joy of

communion

will

be greatly increased

OF BEREAVEMENT.
"

days and hours, your work

To

hold

little

For
*

49

me from my

is this,

proper place,

while from his embrace,

fuller gain of after bliss

"
:

That out of distance might ensue


Desire of nearness doubly sweet;

And unto meeting when we

meet,

Delight a thousand fold accrue." "*

COMFORT, RESIGNATION, AND PEACE.


These consolatory thoughts wrought in the
feelings of

Tennyson a profound and permanent

The

change.

sense

loss

and

Hallam

had

irreparable

of

desolation,

which

occasioned,

no longer

his mind.

Though not cognizable by the

his

friend

death

the

of

haunted and

was as truly

"Far

off

thou

I have' thee

art,
still,

I prosper, circled
I shall

"Known

but ever nigh:

and

I rejoice;

with thy voice;

not lose thee tho'

I die."

"*

and unknown; human, divine;

Sweet human hand and

senses,

and perhaps as

alive,

near to him, as he had ever been

oppressed

lips

and eye;

THE SUNNY SIDE

50

Dear heavenly friend that canst not


Mine, mine, for ever, ever mine."

The

that his

grow cold

might

away

fear

own

and

die,

*'^

love for his friend

dim has

passed

also

'*

My
My

love involves the love before;


love

is

vaster passion

now;

Tho' mixed with God and Nature thou,

seem to love thee more and more."

He

is

able to visit the old

home

of

""

Hallam

without depression and gloom, and to celebrate


birthday with social and festal cheer.

his

determines
return to

I will

And

his

secluded

life

not shut

me from my

kind.

lest I stiffen into stone,

I will

not eat

my

heart alone,

Nor feed with sighs a passing wind."

He
ship

and

companionship and pursuits of

the

his fellow-men
*'

abandon

to

He

"^

even formed another and intimate friend-

not to supplant but to supplement the old

OF BEREAVEMENT.
and

one,

which,

was

passionate,

friend

intense

and

affectionate

and

not

nevertheless

new

This

true.

though

was

51

as

received,

as

he

believed, in accordance with the wish of Arthur,

whose voice he seemed

to hear biddinoo

him

" Arise and get thee forth and seek

friendship for the years to come."

Though no
expressed, yet

and love

of

rebellious feeling has ever been

now

God

his faith in the providence

is

more firmly

gives joyful expression

to

his

supreme Ruler of the universe


in

some way

good

""^

all

belief
is

and he

fixed,

that the

Love, and that

things are working together for

"Love is and was my King and Lord,


And will be, tho' as yet I keep
Within his court on earth, and sleep

Encompass'd by his faithful guard,


"

And hear

"'

at times a sentinel

Who moves

about from place to place,

And whispers

in the

worlds of space,

In the deep night, that

all is well.

"^

THE SUNNY SIDE

62
"

And all is well, tho' faith and form


Be sunder'd in the nigiit of fear;
storm to

AVell roars the

tho.se that

hear

deeper voice across the storm." "^

In the epilogue of In Mernorknn^ Tennyson


describes the

Edmund Law

marriage of his

Cecilia to

sister

Lushington, a distinguished Pro-

The Poet

fessor of the University at Glasgow.


is

present and engages in the festivities of the

The music,

occasion.

the

dance, the

feasting,

the gay marriage bells are symbols of the feelings which

now pervade

He

mind.

his

forgotten or ceased to cherish his friend

wedding

feast he conjectures
"

Of a

But while

now upon
80

cold

still

in

in

at the

stiller guest,

Perchance, perchance,

And, tho'

has not

silence,

among

the rest,

wishing joy."

bereavement he

the sunny side of

it.

is

His

and dark, has been flooded

'-'^

dwelling
life,

witli

once
the

53

OF BEREAVEMENT.
warm, bright beams

shadow

of

morning

death

consolation,

of

has

been

turned

and

the

into

the

' To-day the grave

is

bright for me." '"

INDEX
.

9
10
11
12

13
14
15
IG
17
18
19

ex,

cxi, G
Ixxxv, 12
.

xcix,

cix, 2
cix, o

3
. xiv, 3
ix, 5
Ixxxv, 5
Ivii,

Ixxxiv, 11
.

vi, 11
viii,

vi. 11

41

xi, 4

42
43
44
45
4G
47
48
49
50

xxviii, 4
Ixxii, 2
Ixxii, 3

xlix, 4

20

21

i,

i,

2
2
3

22
28
24
25

28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
30
37
38
39
40

3
Ivii, 4
Ivii,

iii,

iii,

2fi

vi, 1

27

vi, 2

51

52
53
54

VI,

i,

xviii,

V,
xviii,
.

xxxvii,
xxvii,
Ixxx,

XXX,
XXX,
xxxiv,
xxxiv,

XXX v.

Ivi

xxxiv,

Proloi>-ne,
.

cxxiv,
cxxiv,

Prolo.i^ue.
.
cxxiii,
.
.
.
.

.
.

xxxvi,
xxxi.
xxxi,
xxxi,
XKXi,
xxxvi,

56

55
56
57
58
59
CO

INDEX.

...
...
...

xxxvi, 4

80
81

82
83
84

li

li

111

li

lii

112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121

cxx, 2
Ixxxv, G
Ixxxv, 7
xl, 5

Ixxv, 5
Ixxiii, 1
XXX, G
xliii, 4
xliv, 3
xliv, 4

xlv,

xlvi, 1
xlvi, 2
xli, 5
ixi,

Ixv,

Ixi, 2

cxxx

cxvi
Epilogue.

xciii
xcii

xcii

xcii
xciii

90

Ivi,

Ivi, 2

85,.

86
87
88

89
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110

(U

02
03
04
05
GG
07
08
09
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79

Iv, 2

THE END.

xciv
xciv
xciv
xciv
xciii

xcv
xcv
xcv,
xcv,
xcv,
xcv,
cxxii
cxxii
ciii,
ciii,

ex XV
xlvii
xlvii

cxvi
cxvii
cxvii

cxxx
.

cxx IX

cxxx
cviii

Ixxxv,
cxxvi
cxxvi

cxxvii
Epilogue,
Epilogue,

New

Important

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i2mo. 267 pp. Cloth. $1.50.
JOE CUMMINGS; OR THE STORY OF THE SON OF A
SQUAW IN SEARCH OF HIS MOTHER. Written by Himself.
i2mo. 329 pp.

Cloth.

AN EXPERIMENT

$1.50.

IN A

NEW

VARIETY OF FICTION.

THE CHEVALIER OF PENSIERI-VANI TOGETHER WITH


FREQUENT REFERENCES TO THE PROREGE OF AR;

COPIA.

By Stanton Page.

Cloth, $1.00.

Paper, 50 cents.

An idealistic travel-fiction, in a series of semi-detached narratives, which


have to do with Music, Paintii.g, Architecture, Bibliography, Diplomacy,
Archaeology, the Theatre and other matters, with which the polite world of
Europe may be imagined as concernirg itself.
A book of high litera'-y merit, suggestive of and not unworthy
pared with Richterand

/.

Cut)t>leS
^^

Don

Co,

to be

com-

(^lixole.

^"

^Booklellers,

stationers.

BOSTON.

New

Important

Books.

A STARTLING THEOLOGICAL WORK.

THE WORLD MOVES: ALL GOES WELL.


121110.

"

Cloth.

voL

pp.
possesses in another profession a national reputation.

Layman"

The Press

By a Layman,

$1.00.

.-'.03

says:

" At certain stages of human progress books are sure to occasionally appear
.... which express the mind of the age. Such a book is before us
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Boston Transcript.
" riie reader feels the instant conviction that its author must be one who
loves his fellow men,' and is in large and loving sympathy with all that m.ikes
for the fuller development and the better understanding of life."
Boston

Traveller.
*'
is causing
of attention."

much

speculation as to

its

Boston Home Jonriial.

"Will have a great


{Mass. )/ournal.

many

readers,

authorship, and

is

exciting a great deal

and create wide discussion."

Ne^uton

" Broad, manly and progressive." Boston Satzirday Evening Gazette.


**
As a revelation from one inside the lines it indicates that those who stand
outside have not erred in their estimate of the nature and extent of the rapidly
Universalist Quarterly.
advancing changes."
" A breezy, wide-awake and practical layman."
Zioti's Herald.

HOW
SEA-SiCKNESS:

TO AVOID SEA-SICKNESS.

COMPREHENSIVE TREATISE FOR,

PRACTICAL USE.

By Herman Partsch, M. D., ex-surgeon of the


steamship " Alameda," member and prize essayist of the Med. Society of
With Index. Cloth. $1.00.
i6mo. 19S pp.
the State of California.
Of great scientific and practical value.

"
little treatise which will be found of value to a large proportion of the
travelling public."
San Francisco Argonaut.
" The defect of Dr. Beard's system is that it demands the filling of the patient
with bromine two or three days before the steamer sails, and most other methods
are nearly as bad as the malady
Dr. Partscli makes a scientific study
of causes and effects
Then he shows how, without the use of medicine,
San Francisco
one may greatly reduce the severity .... of the malady."
Chronicle.

DAINTY VERSES.
IN

DIVERS TONES.
Cloth.

By Herbert Wolcott Bowen.

i6mo. 124pp.

J1.25.

" Trifles light as a feather caught in cunning forms


Life to such a
poet is meant for love and happiness. Death itself is not a grim dread, but
Bostonjoitrnal.
something to be welcomed."
" A volume of graceful verses, embodying many dainty conceits and some
thoughts of a deeper quality."
Boston Pilot.
" Many pleasant verses, especially the sentimental lines."
T/ic Arena.

J.

Co.
G. Cuptfles
^^

^"^^^Booksellers,
stationers.

BOSTON,

New

Important

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REMARKABLE NOVEL.
HIERO-SALEM: THE VISION OF PEACE.
A

vol.

With

illustrations.

Large square

i2rao.

By E. L. Mason.
Unique cloth binding,

bevelled boards.

The

writer, evidently an earnest believer in the immortality of the spiritual


ego, treats in this work of the endeavor made by a man deeply versed in all
lore that treats of the universality of the immaterial world, and the possibility
in this life of the partial removal of the sensual barriers which separate us
from if, to raise the siandard of physical and intellectual man by the establishment of a new race founded at the outset by careful selection of two individuals.
Many subjects of much interest to many thinkers now, are introduced as an inthe doctrine of re-incarnation, the beliefs of
tegral part of the narrative,
Esoteric Buddhism, even the occult knowledge acquired by the Kabbalists.
The idea, howrver, that shines through all is that behind these mere glimmerings of light, theie is the splendor of the truth itself, of which these are but the
a aeeper
reflections vouchsafed to the earnest studies and strivings of man
It is a book to be ranked in the
truth which this book endeavors to express.

same

"

class with

THE

'

Consuelo."

ELIXIR

BY DR. BROWN-SEQUARD.
OF LIFE." Dr. Brown-Sequakd's own account

of his

famous alleged remedy for debility and old age, Dr. Variot's experimenvs,
and contemporaneous comments of the profession and the press, with
Edited by Newell
sketch of Dr Brown-Sequard's life, and portrait.
Dunbar, i vol. Square i6mo. Cloth. $1.00

At a time when all reading classes are interested, either through the medical
or secular press, in the above subject, it is remarkable to notice the amount uf
ignorance and misapprehension that exists regarding what this remedy really is,
While
iis method of applica ion, and the results which have been aitained.
some would claim for it all the virtue suggested by the name by \\-iiich it is
popularly known, others, at the other extreme would almost refuse to give
credence to the evidence of experiments; this little book has, therefore,
been compiled to give the gist of the opinions of all classes, placing within
reach of all, in a handy and condensed form, all facts of interest connected
with the subject.

ECHOES FROM CAPE ANN;


by

Maria

J.

Dodge,

elled boards, gilt edges.

vol.

Poems and Memorial Tokens,


Handsomely bound in cloth, bev-

a book of

i2mo.

$r.5o.

Charming verses; narrative, descriptive, and devotional, touched here and


there with a lighter strain, of especial interest to all who reside in or are
acquainted with the home of Elizabeth Stuart Phelps and Lucy Larcom.

A DIRECTORY OF THE CHARITABLE AND BENEFICENT


ORGANIZATIONS OF BOSTON, ETC. Prepared for the Associated Charities.

vol., 196 pp.

G. Cuppks Co.

i6mo.

Cloth.

SSW..
Stationers,

$1.00.

BOSTON.

Important

New

Books.

AUNT NABBY: HER

RAMBi.S,

HER ADVENTURES, AND


HER NOTIONS.
With
nettes.

characteristic

i2mo.

pp.

Paper, 50 cents.

illustrations

and

vig-

314, xii.

Cloth, $1.00.

Delightful drollery."
-Pilot.
''

'

Highly amusing."
Boston Herald.

SECOND EDITION, ENLARGED AND IMPROVED,

BRIGHT ORIGINALITY, SPRIGHTLINESS, AND KEEN


OBSER VA TION.

A BUNDLE OF LETTERS FROM OVER THE


By Louise
i2mo.

pp. 320.

SEA.

B. Robinson.

Cloth, elegant, $2.00.

" The authoress of A Bundle of Letters from over the Sea has produced a book ufiiike any oilier. It is original, bright, entertaining, aad shows
whjit an open-eyed, independent American woman can see.''
^Press.

],

G. CuppleS Co,

Publishers,
Booksellers,
Printers,

BOSTON.

The End.

World Public Library Association

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