Show c n I 4 LETTER I j BY B Y RI 12 RICHARD C H A R LE G L L LE IE N N E 1 IBSEN is ill said ald to be so ao 01 DI Q that the tile fas fiJo ft in honor honer of 0 his hi birthday bk 7 nave have had bad to go p do without withal him Newspaper dis l j etches describe d him a as a men and aDd physical tl k From all ail accounts account a nta It ft would that OM K i the he tow few tf remaining malat giant to is about bout to to take t his rest t n Tolstoi T Meredith all ail in their way and ancI only Ave Ive of them t left That t they ihy 1 have all an d dine e their work and ad done it ft well dud and that 1 lat their going Iq will make ua us no DO poorer is ia I of season course I It true tru t rut enough They can no more take t e their book Iw Iwi Aith i ith r h them thin the rich man can take his bla gold Yet 1 hough h the loW loss lu of or a great aret flana man a completed treat nan lIun so to 0 say 1 largely a fallacy of the imagination n nIr i Ir is a It sense In which the dying of such men lIMn how howver ow ver v pr safely ardy raped Jt Ped and stored their harvest may be bet beI I 1 t lose los I UI It LI L a lop loa 1 to our Imagination at t all 11 events everta eve Q is always something inspiring In the thought IIi f t great gr at pers pt personalities a actually living hying somewhere in world at the folk time a as ourselves They TIte give Dve givet t padou pea p time and moreover keep p h hAorld he be berid rid r of the truth that greatness and great gnat T men mat and d the tile heroic b her roI way of oft 0 living are not mere l e leg 1 enda esda of a past pact age ava ven though they the rosy may y have hav ceased to be actively great groat their continued in tile the world worN by 1 7 virtue of their prestige exerts aena a aIt trong if It silent And did you once ne ae BaIley plain r How eagerly some of u us Ua will be beed naked ed a few year years hence ee the stout ame question about the Men ten aen I J have ban named Some day cia I shall be able to Bay my y my vole voice quaver quavering leg ing with age apt that I once saw been take hi bl his lunch at t the cafe of the Grand Orand hotel Chri and even poke spoke a few words wards with him But a as he t peak speak English and aDd I dont speak peak Norwegian our con conversation carried cabled on oa with the assistance of a friend who poke spoke both wa wu was naturally limited in la its Ita nature tare Stilt Still I J saw aw for myself the stony ker 4 old oiL face tact dear der to the caricaturist irascibly intellectual and aad an expression lon something between a German pro rind nd a Japanese Externally te indeed Ibsen was nothing If not professional with a touch of at c the tb dandy dand A rather funereal dandy for he was wu dressed all aU in bl black ck broadcloth a frock cost coat of por porI I t length being the most moat noticeable garment though hi his ble white tie and a scrupulously polished ik silk hat ht were hardly leas lea I impressive Instead n of f a walking stick he be carried a carefully folded umbrella A 4 figure Ate more grimly spick pick and span pan it if is ia difficult dIAt to t Thus Thu attired he was waa to be seen every day about bout noon walking down the main street to the kand hotel and his daily dally pilgrimage pU was waa a national event The passersby greeted d him respectfully and in the cafe itself he was pointed out ut to strangers stranger tra like a public monument nt That is our great rut poet t Dr Ibsen I you yeu would be told for Norway Non after lter p driving him into exile for tor years yeaM has hu grown own to te be proud p of its it Grand Old JIb I should rather have said 81 Of one of ot it Its Grand Old Men len for fop Norway of course coune has two to be proud of and nd my sight of Ibsen DIMa 1 en was wan w all ail the themore sore more Interesting to me because I had hadt just jolt com eos from froma a visit to and was thus tIt ably able we to tb two anteA ante A l greater ter contrast than the two man it Ia hardly ba IJ conceivable Ibsen saturnine maNal mag forbid forbidding forbidding ding dI BJornson an openhearted tali of frank peach speech and mighty laughter Never Nver mail I forget I my m first ant sight eight ht of him billa as he stood on oa Ute the veranda of I his bill country house of Aulestad Aule tad near hi his bill I splendid white hair glittering in lit the morning I sun un shine bIDe and his la great t arms extended to us iii half a an it seemed In welcome halt half In ta he be looked like what indeed he lie la some e beautiful father of Ma his people Welcome to Aul stad he called to our ow little party part of three pilgrims pilgrim pil i a U as we slighted alighted 4 from our oar quaint little Norwegian carriages do they tn y car call them He stood tood there hatless bailees and ad with a bath towel over ever his hUI shoulder and explained that he was just off to te hi his IUs morning bath in the torrent that bat comes come comedown eo down the pine pinewood wood at the bit bat of his hie house hoa we join him So off wp WIt all ail U went up through the wood and came ame at t length to a place where the little river makes make a waterfall of some ten feet teet This Tbt was morning bath and there with her hta herback back the rock and the water dashing over OY Ida his shoulders his hiB great creat head had laughing Ilal amid the spray it was waa as aa though one had bad caught a glimpse of fit Saturn In la the woods Thence returning it was our privilege to snare share for a little while in the beautiful home life Ute of Auie Aule Aulestad stad and to understand what a good pod lovely nature a M well wen aa as a great t man Bjornson I la ii It I Is not strange that he be is fa loved by the whole Norwegian people for forit forit forit it can seldom have bare happened that goodness and power J e strength Irth and gentleness have been so 80 wonderfully united tee In one ODe man Ibsen may m be and doubtless doa to Is the th Intellectual king klog of ot Norway but BJornson is aa as certainly its Ita spiritual head That the men mea have ban been lifelong rivals was u inevitable ant and two rivals rival more strikingly contrasted con and nd more evea ey y matched could not be It must maet have been hard bani on both of them to find their children making maid up the theold theold old feud with a kiss kl for a u as everyone knows 99 mund Ibsen IbM married Bergliot BJornson Beautiful BJornson I once saw law 11 her too but alas like lUte Ibsen In she talk English Yet Tet I fear f I mind it so eo much in IbM case eue And a her ber marriage a quaint quail little story atOl is la told which s worth retelling The two great fathers had been brought b bt so 10 tar far a as to agree ree to the marriage but at atthe atthe the wedding feast teut an as embarrassing em point of af Pt arose aro e Which of the two great INt men was u to walk be before i fore the other The difficulty vanished val by their j walking walkill arm in fn arm ann So I 1 think their t work ended and aDd their lr riva forgotten they then dI some day enter the Temple Tempe of Fame Iame i iA Copyright W I by Robert Howard B RusselL A |