Newspaper Page Text
4
ATHENS, GA.
Saturday Evening, March 5, 1870.
Published by the Literary Societies of the University.
EDITORIAL CORPS.
Dei wstheiiiau Society. Phi Kappa Society.
XT. B. HILL, WM. A. SHORTER,
J. B. B. SMITH, I. P. HUTCHINSON.
TESMS OF SUBSCRIPTION,
Single copies, one year. $ 2.50
“ “ six months 1.50
“ “ three months 1.00
Clubs of five, one year II .00
“ “ ten, “ “ 20.00
“ “ twenty, one year 40.00
And an extra copy to the one who gets up a
Club of 20.
all Letters to “Georgia Col
lEOIAN,” Athens, Ga.
INDUCEMENTS TO AGENTS.
Any one who constitutes himself an agent,
and gets us 5, or more than 5 subscribers, can
have the advantage of our club rates. Thus
one who gets 5 subscribers (at $2.50 each), need
remit us only $11.00 ; if 10 subscribers, he need
remit only $20.00.
Answers to Correspondents,
“ Q.” —Your article is rejected be*
cause in the first issue we had much
on the same subject. Will be glad to
hear from you in future.
“ B.”—The piece of poetry is not
printed for the reason that we have
another article of the same nature.
The other contribution cannot be
sent to the printer, as it is written on
k both sides of the payer. hope you
will write f&r us frequently.
The name of each contributor
must accompany the articles sent in ;
otherwise they will be rejected. The
names of the writers should bo en
closed, with the articles, in sealed en
velopes. If the article bo rejected,
the sealed envelope will not be open
ed. The design of this arrangement
is to secure perfect impartiality.
Wo expect to have regular
correspondents at Emory College and
Mercer University. Our paper is
named “ Georgia” Collegian., to show
that it is not local in its object. We
solicit contributions from the Oxford
and Penfield students, and from all
the other institutions of learning in
this and adjoining States.
The citizens of Athens are re
spectfully notified that they can sub
scribe for tho Collegian at the book
store of A. M. Scudder, or at the
office of the Southern Watchman.
JS@T“ We hope that the Graduates
of the College—especially those who
have graduated since the war—will
not only subscribe, but interest them*
selves to procure subscribers for us.
Contributions solicited from
the Alumni of tho College, tho stu
dents at the institutions of learning
throughout this State and other
States; and from the friends of the
University generally.
THE GEORGIA COLLEGIAN.
The Province of Poetry
Is sadly abused. Daily incursions
are made into its boundaries by thiev
ish and outlandish marauders, whose
sole object it seems, is, not to contend
for renown, but to despoil and perse
cute this lovely paradise. These de
predators are heathens, and need tho
light of truth; they are pirates, and
rob the coast of every gem; they are
brigands who strip and despoil the
temple of its sacred relics; they are
monsoons, that blight every flower
in the realm ; and they ought to be
chained in the narrow confines of
their own A. B. C. home.
But the misfortunes of Poetry stop
not here. Treachery and grossness
have entered the hearts of some of
those who aspire to rule tho king
dom. Is there not a man to uproot
the conspiracy and banish tho trait
ors ?
The legitimate themes of Poetry
are not rightly appreciated, or else
they are unmercifully prostituted
We wonder if the ballad-mongers of
the present day feel that they enjoy
the blessing of Melpomene ? Do the
quack comic bards get their inspira
tion from Thalia 1 And seriously, do
the star-gazers and common herd of
rhymesters imagine that Calliope has
secured for them a “ private box” in
the great opera of Eternal Fame?
If so, ah ! sweet must be their repose
afcd sublime thoir Complacent
Although Pootry is potent in one
sense, yet it is tender and fragile, and
needs to be guarded. Like a spot
less virgin, it derives power from in
nocence and purity; and though its
silent rebuke repels many undue ads
vances, yet when the seducer comes,
it wants tho physical strength to
strike the ruthless invader.
Every true poem must have an el
ement of the Beautiful; and hence
tho great and dominant theme of po
etry is the Beautiful. A discrepancy
might appear bore, since it is univer
sally conceded that Sublimity is one
of tho domains of pootry; but poet
ry of this description must bo the
sublimely beautiful, as every so-call
ed sublime poem will testify. As to
whether tho Ludicrous and Ridicu
lous should possess a piece in poetry,
we are very skeptical. If it does, it
certainly comprehends the very low
est class of poetry. Tho reason is
obvious. Poetry is invention, is im
agination, is taste; but the Ludic
rous aod Ridiculous consist in the
combination, arrangement and dispo
sition of materials already at hand ;
and this implies but a little exercise
of the imagination and less of taste.
Os the higher and nobler themes of
pootry, the sublimely Beautiful and
the beautifully Melancholy are nearly
on a par. Were it not for casting,
defiance in the face of many able cri
tics, we would award the palm to the
latter. Among the finest and most
meritorious examples of the latter
are to be specially mentioned Byron’s
“ Senacberib,” Poe’s “ Annabel Lee,”
and Hood’s “ Bridge of Sighs.” For
instances of the sublimely Beautiful,
of course we go to Milton.
There is no true poem that cannot
be included under the held of the
Sad, Mysterious, Sentimental, Beau
tiful and Sublime ; and some of these
are subordinate divisions. If Wit
and Ilumor have places here, it is
because they are usurpers; and they
should be cast from their ill-gotten
thrones. That tho Humorous, the
Ludicrous and .Ridiculous are not
among the cardinal and essential el
ements of poesy, is demonstrated
from the history of poetry. And, if
this be not sufficient, we can appeal
te Eternity for evidence. Poetry is
the language of Heaven, for do not
the mangels “sing day and night;”
and is it not preposterous to suppose
that anything but what is pure, and
holy, and lovely, and gracious, and
glorious (which is the Beautiful) is
chanted by God’s cherubim and sera
phim ?
The mind of man is too limited to
comprehend tho idea of Eternity;
but through its language, poetry, we
are enabled to read and interpret its
monstrous hieroglyphics looming up
in the vast and fathomless expanse of
its awful obscurity. These hiero~
f' ’phios, Silence, Mysteriousness,
auty and Sublimity, when taken
gly, predicate nothing ; but when
considered together, in tho language
of Poetry, they spell— Eternity !
A Valuable Suggestion.
In a letter from Judge Iverson L.
Harris, containing a handsome do*
nation to the Collegian , this distin
guished gentleman makes the follow
ing valuable suggestion :
“ Traco tho history of Franklin
College, from its original endowment
—its Trustees, Faculty and Students,
yearly, until you reach the year
1870. A Chronological table embra
cing the uames of graduates of each
year ; where from; who are dead ;
who alive; their College distinctions;
what pursuits they have entered up
on ; their success in the battle of
life ; with short biographical sketch
es procured from friends familiar
with their lives—cannot, in my esti
mation, but be invaluable. It will bo
a record reflecting the highest honor,
on the Societies, the University, and
Georgia.”
While wo tender to Judue
O
Harris our thanks for his encoura£r
ing financial aid, we at the same
time, would thank him for his honor
ed advice, tho worth of which we
readily recognize, and in accordance
with which wo shall make arrange
ments to act.
'
BSau Contributors must write only
on one side of the paper.
Extract
From tho Commencement Oration of
B. 11. llill, Jr., delivered Monday
Evening, Aug. 2d, 1860 :
“ The moral malady, the social
distemper, the political epidemic of
this age, is the mania for equality.
Equality! A word unknown in
God’s vocabulary; which is full of
infidelity to God’s law, and of trea
son to God’s government. The most
fatal form in which this madness has
yet been exhibited, is in the attempt
to degrade woman to political equal
ity with man, in many of the na
tions considered civilized and Chris
tian. But to the student of South
ern civilization, there is inexpressi
ble comfort and hope in the fact that
our true native Southern women
have thus far exhibited no symptom
of this disease. Here at least, wo
man still comomes courage with
modesty; intelligenoe with refine
ment; usefulness with delicacy, and
power with retirement. Here the
voice of woman has not degenerated
into the traders’ equivoque, or the
politicians’ brawl. Whether we
should dig our capital earth,
or invite it from other lanS; whe
ther we should fill our fields and
forests with immigrants; whether
we shall make our own laws, or live
under the rule of others, are ques
tions about which Southern men
differ. Send us if you will, Dutch,
Irish, Turk, Mongrel and Chinamen;
soad armies of Union invaders, trea-
carpdt bag rufers s¥id
African voters, but spare, oh, spare
our Southern land the infliction of
Womans’ Rights Conventions, fe
male demagogues, and Yankee she
he’s!
I have walked amid the flowers;
fresh blooming in the early morn
ing, and gazed on the beautiful tints
of the rose, the pink and the violet;
and gazing, I have said is there any
color in nature or art which can ex
cel these? .1 have looked at the
heavens when the clouds were re
treating, and as I gazed upon the
distinct, yet indistingnishably ming
ling colors—the arching Bow of
Promise—l have said, surely these
caught their hues from the mind of
the Almighty in that auspicious mo
ment when He was happy with the
thought of ordaining peace to man.
I have gazed upon the western sky
when the sun was setting, and have
been lifted up with rapture, as I be
held the happy clouds laughing with
the ever-varying and beautiful col
oring which tho almighty rays of
the god of light were pencilling on
their rugged crests; and I have
said, surely the sun, fearful, lest
when gone, he should also be for
gotten,.is making a death-effort to
ineffaceably impress the world with
the beauty, softness and splendor of
his power.
1 ake away our blooming flowers,
and leave us a wilderness of thorns;
brush the rainbow from our heavens
and leave us in perpetual deluge ;
bid our setting sun to pencil no
more our skies, nor photograph again
