They did not reverence him merely because he was a poet, a teacher,
or a musician of note; they were drawn to him by strong personal ties --
he had magnetism. The little informal notes that he wrote to them,
or the longer letters he wrote in absence, or the conversations
that he had with them, sometimes till far into the night,
are cherished as among the most sacred memories of their lives.
He knew how to endure human weakness and to inspire human efforts.
One of the friends who knew him best has recorded in a tender poem
what Lanier meant to those who were intimate with him: --
"That love of man for man,
That joyed in all sweet possibilities: that faith
Which hallowed love and life. . . .
So he, Heaven-taught in his large-heartedness,
Smiled with his spirit's eyes athwart the veil
That human loves too oft keep closely drawn. . . .
So hearts leaped up to breathe his freer atmosphere,
And eyes smiled truer for his radiance clear,
And souls grew loftier where his teachings fell,
And all gave love. . . .
Aye, the patience and the smile
Which glossed his pain; the courtesy;
The sweet quaint thoughts which gave his poems birth."*
--
* Poem by Mrs. Lawrence Turnbull, read at the presentation of the Lanier bust
to Johns Hopkins University.
--
She speaks, too, of "his winning tenderness with souls perplexed";
"his eagerness for lofty converse"; "his oneness with all master-minds";
"his thirst for lore"; "his gratitude for that the Lord
had made the earth so good!"
In the house of this same friend, Mme.
Pages:
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273