Show i r 1 The Year 1000 1909 Ore due ne of Achievement I North Pole Discovery ery cry and Aviation Triumphs Fore Foremost Foremost Foremost most Passing of o owin win urne A Re Review Review Review view o of the Twelve Twelvemonth Twelvemonth Twelvemonth month By ROBERTUS LOVE HEN the tho futuro future historian records tho achievements WHEN W and tho events of tho thi twentieth first decade It Jt Is highly probable that th the tho year ear 1909 will lead the group In world Importance This has hns been a most mos notable year Things have havo happened In 1909 Discoveries that thrill tho the souls of men around tho the sphere have havo been made Invention which In Itself Is discovery has hns gone gono forward with seven Beven league strides Death slinging Its darts every ever year hit bit shining marks In 1909 The year 1809 has hag been called colled the year of or genius because so many men of ot worldwide fame tame were born therein This year exactly a century later may maybe maybe maybe be termed the tho year of or achievement To all time this year will be bo known as ns the tho one ono In which tho the north polo pole was reached or discovered If Ir you like ilke that better Possibly tho the polo was Wal reached In 1908 but that remains to bo be proved Nobody doubts that Com Commander Commander mander Robert E B Peary of or the United States navy actually arrived at tho the polo pole on April 6 G 1909 as ns ho he announced to tho world on the day of ot Septem September September ber Sir SI days prior to that dato date Dr Frederick A L Cook of ot Brooklyn had sent down from the tho frozen north a message that vibrated around the tho globe Ho He said ho had reached tho the polo on April 21 1908 1905 Whether Dr Cook got there or not tho the fact tact remains that tho the year car 1909 has the Imperishable honor of announcing the tho conquering of ot the tho worlds top But lot us not permit this predominant predominant nant pole talk taUe to obscure other superlative super superlative superlative affairs of or 1909 Theres no use going up In tho the air over the north polo pole controversy and proclaiming It as tho the theone one and only matter of ot universal mo moment moment moment ment In 1909 when aviators this same sarno year have gone gono up In the air literally and mado tho the aeroplane a thing of or ac nc actual tua use Man Flies Across Channel Let It be not forgotten It cannot be b for tor that matter that on the of July 1909 A D a Frenchman named Louis a man bird a person of daredevil nerve a fearless argonaut ar of ot the atmosphere arose from the ground at Calais In to an aeroplane and flew fiew across the tho th English channel to the chalk chalks s cliffs of ot Dover making the tho distance of miles In forty Corty minutes beating the steamboat time between France and England by 11 ten minutes Even Napoleon Bonaparte could not get across to England for Cor all his con conquering conquerIng conquering legions yet et this Frenchman of ot 1909 ignoring utterly all accepted and approved methods of oC transportation made mado heroic conquest of the Inviolable air and shot himself by b whirring motor across the channel chann This was one of Ille lie years achieve achievements ments meets that make mako It epochal proved tha tila the t h aeroplane a craft heavier than air can call sustain Itself in aerial flight above an nil ocean roadway x and make safe landing on the other side Swimming the tho English channel I for Cor many man years proclaimed proclaim ell as a feat Ceat to tobe tobe tobe be featured In nearly every ever newspaper 4 throughout the tho world has lIa taken Its place among amon the hack back numbered things PC has flown across tIlL the channel The fhe achievement of this man five months ago belongs to the centuries gi What has been done don once can be done clone j t again The aeroplane Is 19 advancing y The Wright brothers pioneers In avia aviation lion tion have performed marvels In 1909 J Their aviation work In Europe and America has attain d In n this year ear a ay I y height of excellence never reached be bej j 1 fore Core They ThC too could fly fi across tin the channel If they the cared carell to do so but these Americans are me not spectacularly Inclined They arc are dev devotees J to the science of oC aviation labor ry Ing assiduously to develop the aero aeroplane aeroplane aeroplane plane Into a thing of oC practical value t Work of the Che he Wrights Tho The Wrights rights care little for tor record breaking They The care much for tor making their mechanism available for tor actual use In transportation What they havo have done dono this year ear Is an earnest of ot future futuro achievement They havo bave demonstrated I conclusively beyond cavil beyond per por peradventure peradventure adventure of oC doubt that tho the air Is navigable by b heavier than air craft Much remains to be bo done but tho the Wrights and other aviators havo have shown this year ear that tho the dream of ot cen Is upon tho tto very evo eve of fulfillment fulfill fulfillment ment Those who laughed last year ear have hurrahed this year ear Aviation takes Its Us place In 1909 among the ex cx act sciences Many of ot us while we wo discuss the ab question Did Cook beat Peary to tho the polo pole or is ho tho the most gigantic I fake of the tho ages ageg havo have paused to ac knowledge to our own that the tho discovery of or tho the worlds up per apex Is really of ot no value to the I worlds Inhabitants It was known I last year and nod all nil tho the years ears before that tho the north pole la is In the tho place where It I is wherever that may be and the fact I that a ono one e or r two men have e got t there at last a is I immaterial I a fa so far as a the tho I bread question Is concerned The Tho dis covery of tho the pole polo bakes bales no biscuits II for tor hungry mouths as exemplified by Orvillo Orville and Wilbur Wright by b Louis by b Glenn II Curtiss and others who have achieved things therein this year promises In time to become of or very ver great SToat practical value to tho the round wide world of ot hu human human man beings I Standing out as n mountain peaks pales i from tho the plains of ot tho the twelvemonth are these two things tho tile north polo news J and the tho advance In aviation but the tho year has given us from month to I month many other things of ot Interest not to bo be slurred over In passing passIn I Tho The death list of 1909 Is notable A I great poet u a great novelist a great reat preacher a II great Teat general and a great editor have havo died These arc are In tho the order indicated Algernon AI ernon Charles Georgo George Meredith Edward Edwar d Everett Hale Rale General Oliver Oller Otis Howard and Richard Watson Glider Gilder Death of I I was first of or these to pass pas I Ho He died April 10 at his home Putney I England at the tho ago of Ono One of oC the strangest of or human mortals mortal s was Undersized red haired unhandsome he ho passed his long life a aa as asa asa a a recluse never marrying His bride brid o was Wall Poesy Poes espoused in early youth I Before he ho grow grew his straggling red re d i whiskers ho he looked like a troubadour r I I f F I f L 4 J A 4 tt W rw S kF A 3 it r s a a rid ridS t t 4 r fr F t 1 0 lh A iFt k 4 4 r r rt I t wl r A Vw vAi t Z y 71 d f s r a r art t el f 71 T 4 ti y t te e s n IJ 1 t r F MEREDITH a rr J u 1 f if d e d f iv a F Fh h 1 r rr rolY r r olY f 3 r t r 4 r ti ri y CC ft fth OFt R O h ND C kY c t f fk M r w N Z k d dM d dr I 4 rim y ri r r V ti ly 1 1 ti u r r 1 sM of ot tho the middle ages I have havo seen an early portrait of ot by Dante G his brother poet and paint painter er which shows him to have been al almost almost almost most womanish In appearance Ho He wore long lon wavy hair h lr and his face sug suggested suggested suggested that of 01 Shelley though less I Tile The superb masculinity I of ot however none who has haD read his poetry can question To tho the English language was music Words were throbbing viols syllables were singing strings sentences were splendid arias of 01 sound ho was the mu music music I I Isic sic master of English speech The harshness of ot our conglomerate tongue I Iwas was toned down and turned to melo melodies melodies dies In to his Ills verse erse No person who has written English verso verse ever captured like tho the haunting wraiths of ot harmony wandering through tho the language nor has hall any other poet wrought these elusive ghosts of ot speech Into such Buch masterful music There Thero ae are poets and poets Some Seine of them are poets by brevet of courtesy The distinction has been conferred up upon upon on them by b editors or by lIy I i I persons of special plea pleD was a poet by birthright Tho The divine fire lire burned within him like Fortunately for him and for humanity he ho had suf sut sufficient Income In como to fend feud him against tho the 1 I II wolf that obsesses the tho doors of ot most mOlt I men of oC genius Ho He could live IIvo his hili life and do his work worl undeterred by the tho i nasty Importunities which beset besot most j mortals All his hia life was Just a poet nothing else Ho He never was com corn commonplace He never nover yielded to popular demand Ho He never was wan compelled for Cor forthe tho the sake sako of ot a bread crust to write tho the pamby sort of stun which maga magazine magazine magazine zine editors accept and pay for formell formea mca gerly He wrote from his has soul and no noman noman noman I man can dispute that Sw was wasa wasa a soul of sky born bore Ideals was too big for the Brit Ish lab laureateship He Ho was a democrat a republican a u believer in tho the divine rIghts of ot tho fife people In 1890 he ho wrote wroten n a poem In which he lIe suggested the as assassination of oC czar because of 01 that despots crimes against humanity c t tt tf t f f i That settles settled tho the matter so far tar as ns succession to the tho lau laureateship laureateship was concerned When Ten Tennyson Tennyson Tennyson died two years later tho the con eon conservative s administration of Great Brit Britain Britain ain never considered for Cor a moment tho claims of ot to be bo poet I laureate though the man was Indis Indisputably Indisputably and Indubitably tho the foremost poet poat employing tho the English tongue A Consummate Artist did not need the laureateship laureate ship His brow was wreathed with tho laurel of ot lovu lava and appreciation from millions of ot hearts throughout the Eng lish apex ing fag lands He was W 5 hailed halted as asan an nn artist consummate To those who know ow poetry when they meet it face taco to taco face was the tine highest living exponent of the art He was accepted and approved Nobody was waa disappoint disappointed ed when another person was made poet laureate Thousands would have been disappointed had been be belittled belittled by tho the distinction This man wrote Ing verse Much of his poetry la Is so divinely musical that It may be bo read aloud like a chant with no attention to tho the thought or the meaning It has tho the sweep and roll of ot a mighty organ In a vast cathedral It suggests the tho thunder of the tho sea against riven crags craSs tho the rise and fall Call of or tides In rocky caverns caverns caverns erns tho the long low monotone of 01 surf sur f beating upon barren sands was n a musician In i words Ho He was wa tho the Wagner the tho Mo Mozart Mozart Mozart the Beethoven of language What Whatever Whatever I ever over topic ho he touched his treatment was magic He transmuted the harsh hers h English tongue Into soft and sibilant j I melody He Ho was tho the ono one supreme and I superb wizard of word appreciation j i I The world of ot action never nevor properly proper es cs estimated I t I because he was a ama magnificent ma minstrel singing a siren sires J I I l music against the Iron gates of 01 a clamorous clam cam clamorous orous commercialized age ace j I I Yet he had hall his In 1887 j i the tho New Now York Tines Times published in full tull his tragedy of oC In advance cf l c t f tIts Its publication In England cabled cable d across the th sea seu It occupied nearly near two tw o newspaper pages in tho small hand set Bet sett BetI t t I 2 i I j I I typo of that period This Indicates In Ina ina a degree tho the Important place which the poet occupied a score of years be before fore tore his death was the tho poets poet He H was the tho bard of oC protest against the vulgarities of 01 the tho mob and the vices ices of oC the tho lords of temporal power But It was teas as a word musician In ht the ulti ultimate I mate estimate that ho rte made mado his ca career reer roer Now that he lie has lies passed his I sheer artistry In English has become I an Inheritance to the ages I George Merediths Death George Meredith who died May lIa 18 I I was a British novelist unknown to tho the ordinary horde being the tho opposite of ot the best seller Reller sort of oC story writer Meredith was a poet also but It Is his 1 fiction which will carry his name down downto to tine the elect of oC future futuro generations He never was widely read and never will wm j be The man was an nn Intellectual co colossus colossus colossus 1 I I too big bl for the assimilation of oC tho the average brain It Is difficult for tor a II 1 mouse to understand an nn elephant Meredith was a 11 friend of oC i and once lived with and when ho died he ho heI I was tho the connecting link between the tho I grand old od school Of or British novelists i and the Ienn of the tho present 1 I It is Interesting to note noto that Mere More Merediths MeredIths first novel which perhaps Is his 1 I greatest was published In Ir 1359 1859 the I same year that gave gac light to A Tale of ot Two Cities by Dickens Adam I Bede by b George Eliot and The Vir Virginians by William Makepeace Makepence Thackeray Merediths B book Tho The Or Ordeal Ordeal Ordeal deal of 01 Richard attracted lit tie popular attention though divining critics foresaw that a novelist had arisen who would do high bight honor to tho thoI art Richard has grown fown In ap I Today Toda half a n century after aCter Its publication It Is s a n favorite with the tho elect It contains character studios studies that are arc taro in the vast bulk of Eng i fiction last book boole a volume of 01 poems was published In 1901 He began with poetry and ended with it but Ills hiD verso verse has not found popular acceptance It Is rather too much on the order As I I 1 j I v i I a writer of or prose Meredith Is a purist and a classic lIe Ho has ha the same santo keen k en enI j i 1 appreciation of or the value of oC words as asto I to their shades of meaning that Swin burno burne had In relation to their metrical and musical adaptability Meredith was poor POOl In his youth sad saddled saddled with debts Incurred by bv others and It Is salt that for nearly nearl a year ho lie lived In III London on oatmeal He Ito possessed losses ed a bravo brave and unconquerable unconquerable unconquerable able spirit He wrote all his writing life lite In ht n a stylo style which he know was wall un unpopular unpopular unpopular popular Ho conceived It as an Ideal and adhered to It ll Meredith was great enough if tit I fling convention to the th winds In his literary work worle and abide by b the he slow alett result of oC time which has not been unkind to him Dr Hales Hates Long Career The Tho first of 01 a trio of or distinguished Americans who died In 1909 was the tho Rev Dr Edward Everett Hale Dr Hale Hae passed away June 10 at his home In Massachusetts He Ito was eighty seven years ears old and had been for Cor many years curs one of the most beloved of or all nil As a Unitarian preacher ho he won wide recognition In early life liCe I I but It was his literary and lecture work which gained for Cor him his widest wildest re repute repute i Pule Dr |