“Elegy in a Country Churchyard,”—Thomas Gray.
Thomas Gray, the renowned English poet, was born at Cornhill, London, December 26, 1716, and died at Cambridge, July 24, 1771. He wrote: “Ode to Adversity,” “Progress of Poesy,” “The Bard,” “Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College,” and his most famous work, “Elegy in a Country Churchyard.”
It may well wait a century for a reader, as God has waited six thousand years for an observer.
“Martyrs of Science” (Brewster),—John Kepler.
Johannes Kepler, a German astronomer of great fame, was born at Weil, Würtemberg, December 27, 1571, and died at Ratisbon, November 15, 1630. His most famous work was: “New Astronomy, with Commentaries on the Motions of Mars.”
Among men of letters Lowell is doubtless most typically American, though Curtis must find an eligible place in the list. Lowell was self-conscious, though the truest greatness is not; he was a trifle too “smart,” besides, and there is no “smartness” in great literature. But both the self consciousness and the smartness must be admitted to be American; and Lowell was so versatile, so urbane, of so large a spirit, and so admirable in the scope of his sympathies, that he must certainly go on the calendar.
“Mere Literature and Other Essays,”—Woodrow Wilson.
Woodrow Wilson, a famous American educator and author, and twenty-eighth President of the United States, was born at Staunton, Va., December 28, 1856, and died at Washington, D. C., February 3, 1924. His works include: “Congressional Government: A Study of American Politics,” “The State: Elements of Historical and Practical Politics,” “Division and Reunion,” “Epochs of American History,” “An Old Master, and Other Political Essays,” “Mere Literature and Other Essays,” “George Washington,” “A History of the American People,” “Constitutional Government in the United States,” “The New Freedom,” “When a Man Comes to Himself,” “On Being Human.”
Selfishness is the greatest curse of the human race.
“Speech,” Hawarden, May 28, 1890,—William E. Gladstone.