ARNOLD K. C. I. E., C. S. I. MAJOR J. B. POND has the honor to announce an engagement with Sir Edwin Arnold, the Poet and Author, and Editor of the London Daily Telegraph, for a series of fifty readings from his writings, and lectures. Sir Edwin's fame is world-wide. Over eighty editions of his "Light of Asia" have been printed and sold in the United States. The twentieth edition of his latest book, "The Light of the World," is now in press. Sir Edwin's entertainment will consist of descriptive talks and readings from his poems and writings on India. Aside from being, for thirty years, editor of the London Daily Telegraph, and a public speaker, Sir Edwin Arnold is the author of the following books: "The Light of Asia; or, The Great Renunciation."-" Indian Poetry: The Indian Song of Songs," etc.-" Pearls of the Faith; or, Islam's Rosary."-" Indian Idylls" (from the Sanskrit).-"The Song Celestial; or, Bhagavad-gita " (from the Sanskrit)." Lotus and Jewel" (with translations from the Sanskrit) With Sa'di in the Garden; or, The Book of Love."-and "The Light of the World." 66 S IR EDWIN ARNOLD is second son of R. C. Arnold, Esq., J. P. for the counties of Sussex and Kent, and was born June 10, 1832. He was educated at the King's School, Rochester, and King's College, London, and was elected to a scholarship at University College, Oxford. In 1852 he obtained the Newdigate Prize for his English poem on the "Feast of Belshazzar," and was selected in 1853 to address the late Earl of Derby on his installation as Chancellor of the University. He graduated in honors in 1854. Upon leaving college he was elected Second Master in the English Division of King Edward VI.'s School, Birmingham, and subsequently appointed Principal of the Government Sanskrit College at Poona, in the Bombay Presidency, and Fellow of the University of Bombay, which offices he held during the terrible Mutiny, and resigned in 1861, after having twice received the thanks of the Governor in Council. Since 1861 he has been chief of the editorial staff of the Daily Telegraph, and he has recently resumed his position at the office after his recent journeyings round the world, a holiday rendered necessary to his health by a sad bereavement, the death of Lady Arnold. It was Sir Edwin who, on behalf of the proprietors of the Daily Telegraph, arranged the first expedition of Mr. George Smith to Assyria, as well as that of Mr. Stanley, who was sent by the same journal in conjunction with the New York Herald, to complete the discoveries of Livingstone in Africa. Upon the occasion of the proclamation of the Queen as Empress of India on January 1, 1877, he was made a Companion of the Star of India, and in January, 1888, he was created Knight Commander of the Indian Empire by the Queen. It is unnecessary to mention the numerous works which this accomplished scholar and littérateur has produced. “THE LIGHT OF ASIA," PUBLISHED IN 1879, HAS PASSED THROUGH MORE THAN FORTY EDITIONS IN ENGLAND AND EIGHTY IN AMERICA, and we venture to predict for the recent work, "THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD," A STILL WIDER RECEPTION. THE LIGHT OF ASIA. The epic bearing that title is an exposition of the life and teaching of Sakya Gautama, afterward called the Buddha or The Illumined," one of those great religious teachers whom Divine Providence raised up from time to time amongst the peoples and nations outside the Jewish circle of Divine revelation. This extraordinary man was born not far from the year 550 B. C. He was the son of a king, whose kingdom extended from the foot of the Nepal mountains in Northern India. He belonged to the warrior caste, and was a youth of rare beauty and accomplishments. Despising the frivolities, the sports, and the pleasures which engaged the boyhood of his companions, he retired within himself and gave up his mind to a contemplation of the highest themes. After long and painful mental strivings and struggles he received what he believed to be Divine illumination, and, repairing to Benares, became the prophet of a new religion. Wealth, honor, station, and sensuous pleasures he cast behind him, renouncing them all, and with a heart overflowing with brotherly love toward all mankind he lived a life of entire consecration to the cause of humanity. His ethical code has many points strikingly in harmony with Christianity. The two great principles of his creed are the equal brotherhood of mankind and the entire dying to self as the sole condition of eternal rest. The word of this great prophet spake to the milhions as no word had spoken before. It anulled the ritual of Brahminism. Justification by the dead works of its law was repudiated, and justification by faith in humanity and by self-renunciation, was a new gospel for the race. It spread over Eastern Asia and the islands of the sea, welcomed as it was among the crushed and despairing multitudes who rejoiced in the abolition of caste, and found a newly awakened sense of the equal brotherhood of mankind. THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. It is not necessary to explain that The Light of the World," the title of Sir Edwin's second great epic, is the Christ of the Gospels. The time of the poem is after the resurrection. Jesus does not appear in person. Pilate passing through Galilee stops at the house of Mary Magdalene, and first to him, and afterward to one of the three wise men coming back to Palestine in quest of information, Mary Magdalene tells the story of her master. The contrast between Christianity and Buddhism thus incidentally and indirectly, and therefore all the more effectively, brings out that contrast intimated in the contrasted title, The Light of Asia" and "THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD." Sir Edwin introduces some legends from the Apocryphal Gospels in Mary Magdalene's story of the youth of the Christ; he makes Mary Magdalene, Mary the sister of Martha and Lazarus, and the unknown woman who was a sinner, the same person, and he accepts the historical legend which identifies Lazarus with the rich young ruler who went sorrowful away from Christ because he had great possessions. Sir Edwin is a master of rhythm. Some of his descriptions of natural scenery are equal to the finest things in the language. His spirit is always reverential, and hence his poem is never marred by profane touches nor by any of that irreverence which is the result of carelessness. The words of Christ are woven into the narrative with an almost verbal accuracy. Sir Edwin has declined the office of interpreter as one too high and sacred for him to attempt, and has contented himself in all his representation of Christ's teaching with being reporter simply. REPRESENTATIVE MEN AT HOME. SIR EDWIN ARNOLD, K. C. I. E., IN FLEET STREET. SIR EDWIN ARNOLD is back again, occupying his old place in the editorial rooms of the Daily Telegraph. He receives his visitor, not in the fine library in which the daily council of the staff takes place, but in his own sanctum. It is a modest apartment, in no way differing from the writing rooms in the rest of the establishment, except that an Oriental rug and the titles of the few books in the shelves indicate to an extent the Eastern tastes and sympathies of Sir Edwin. The room is furnished in light oak, and the walls are grey tinted. The lamp on the table is an incandescent electric one. Sir Edwin works with no elaborately indexed commonplace books at his elbow, and he does not find inspiration dependent upon the luxury of his surroundings, nor in the contemplation of a beautiful prospect, for in the latter respect, at all events, the lookout from the window before which he sits is most depressing. "Only one more added to the population of London," he says, with a glance at his familiar desk; but Sir Edwin has never been away from the hearts of the English people, for his genius annihilated the distance between England and Japan; and, perhaps for the first time, the two peoples have been taught to understand each other by the kindly tutoring of his pleasant pen. The distinguished poet, Oriental scholar, and journalist has returned to Fleet Street as a giant refreshed. Ten years, at least, appear to have fallen from the shoulders of the erect form of the man whose hand is extended in friendly welcome, a kindly gleam in the expressive eye betraying the genial disposition of the talented author whose readiness to be put upon the rack," as he phrases it, is due solely to the desire not to disappoint his visitor; for Sir Edwin tells you candidly that he does not like "interviewing." One cannot help wondering how a man of such poetic soul, whose love of Nature is so deep, and whose eyes have drunk in the beauties of distant and, to many of us, totally unknown lands, can willingly exchange these calm delights for the drudgeries of the London newspaper world. Painful indeed must the daily demand of the printer's "devil" for more copy" sound in the ears of one who has told all the world how charmingly the soft-tongued Japanese offer to their guest the "honorable hot water" and the like domestic courtesies of their simple life. Yet, Sir Edwin seemingly has reaccustomed himself to the comparatively uncultured manners of civilized London, and he, too, has not forgotten the use of European furniture, although, as he says, he has for many months sat upon his heels and slept upon the floor, to the Japanese manner born, almost. It is with a desire to fathom this adaptability and dual personality of the author of The Light of Asia" and of "The Light of the World" that one frames a leading question." 44 brought him a "proof." It is his rule always, if possible, to read his own proofs. That question," he says, in his courteous manner— a manner which never fails to set a stranger at his ease -“that question demands many columns of space to answer. Briefly the reason is that whatever men do interests me. Their hopes, aspirations, joys, fears, sufferings, trials, temptations are all absorbing subjects to me. I am a poet because I am a journalist-because I am, in heart, of the people." Then you do not find poesy and journalism antagonistic?" 'On the contrary, the most poetical place I know is Fleet Street. It differs very much from the slopes of Fujisan and the beautiful open sea, but there is nothing so interesting to me as humanity. Heine said, as you know Send a philosopher to Fleet Street, but for God's sake, don't send a poet there!' That was because he was an invalid. I would say, 'Send a poet to Fleet Street. Let him work every day there, and learn his business.' " Would it be as congenial to you to compose poetry in Fleet Street as in Japan? "I can accommodate myself to any locality. I may mention something curious to you," said Sir Edwin, as he slowly paced the room. "My Light of the World' was commenced at a tea house in Japan. The little silver pipes were smoking, the samisen (Japanese guitars) were playing, and Japanese songs were being sung. heard one of my friends say, 'Damatte (be quiet)! Dana Sama is writing.' I was reminded by that exclamation that I had just put down on paper the lyric which occurs in 'The Light of the World ': Peace beginning to be, Deep as the sleep of the sea, When the stars their radiance glass In its blue tranquillity. I "It had come to me abruptly," resumed Sir Edwin, after he had in his modulated tones recited these now famous lines," and it had to be written. I had been engaged in conversation, yet it had suddenly struck me, compelling me to withdraw myself for the moment, and I was completely absorbed in that verse." " Did you, then, go to Japan to write The Light of the World'?" 'Not at all. Although I had often thought of composing that poem, I had no intention of writing it there." Sir Edwin here expressed his contempt for "fussy" people who cannot write unless surrounded with everything to their hand, and he then went on to explain that his last great work was the natural, logical sequence of his former books. "My idea," he observed, “has been briefly this: The great religions of the world are not mutual enemies, but own sisters; or you may call them the facets of a diamond which reflect different rays of the same light. I have written these books of mine which find their natural crown and finish in Th its distinctive ray-what it especially reflects. By-andby critics will find the thing out, and understand how logical I have been and how clear the plan was I have shown-how each great faith contributes a special color to the philosophical spectrum which makes the white light of truth.” Developing this explanation their author indicated how " Pearls of the Faith" did justice to the energy with which Mahometanism teaches the unity of God; how The Song Celestial" brings out the profound metaphysical conception of the universe reached by Brahminism; how "The Indian Song of Songs" gives the æsthetic and beautiful side of that idea which is also prominent in "Sadi in the Garden," embracing the Persian mystical conception of the same doctrine of the Divine; how "The Light of Asia" teaches the great ideas which Buddhism conceived of human destiny and the affinity between mankind and the lower animals, together with the absolute ineffableness of God; and, finally, how The Light of the World" strives to do justice to the original power and splendor of Christianity-as embodying the noblest ethics ever taught—the proximity of Heaven and Earth, and the boundless power of Love to propitiate and to redeem. Before leaving reluctantly this all-engrossing subject, his visitor asked Sir Edwin if, in undertaking the metrical and imaginative treatment of the New Testament, he had not been alive to the difficulties which would be raised by many who revered the Scriptures as they stood; and he replied that, like a captain of a ship, he had looked well at the dangers ahead. “I knew my course," added he, "and where I meant to steer." * Sir Edwin has resumed so completely his old routine that one is prompted to ask him if he experienced any difficulty, if at all, in so doing. He answered that whatever disinclination he might have had to work again was not the result of weariness; but because he had tasted another life of leisure and found it delightful. "I hardly think you have made it leisure." "Somebody reproached me with idleness. Well, I have written some sixty two-column letters to my journal; I have composed an epic poem longer than The Light of Asia,' and furnished articles besides for Scribner's Magazine which will make a volume; I have learned to speak colloquial Japanese and to write the KataKara character, so I was not so very idle." the World," which has been such a brilliant success even already. In America more than 30,000 copies have been sold; and in England the publisher has declared that only Lord Tennyson and Sir Edwin Arnold could sell out an edition of 6,000 in two or three weeks. Curiously enough Sir Edwin Arnold, whose faculty for revision is marvelous, never had an opportunity of correcting the proof sheets, and he never saw his own book at all until he had reached Paris on his way home from Japan. "I do not at any time force poetry," said he. "I must be thoroughly in the mood. These moods come imperatively, but very irregularly. My method is this: Either I write first and roughly on scraps of paper, or my daughter takes it down from my dictation-she is the only one who can do so for me— as I walk up and down the room and smoke. I put the rough notes in my pocket until the next day. Then I read the verse over and over, correct and copy all out myself, altering it very much, and filling it up. These scraps I enter into a sort of day book or ledger until the work is nearly finished. I treat the matter thus compiled as the rough draft. I go over it myself, polish it, and transcribe into a second book which may be called the poem itself, but still in a rough state. Then I copy it out again, and finally, in a fair manuscript for the printer. Every line of the poem, therefore, passes through my mind three or four times. Sometimes the lines are importunate and will be at once registered. Reading, smoking, driving, dressing for dinner-it does not matter how I may be then engaged, the verses will haunt you, fascinate you, dance before your imagination, demanding to be fixed; and you must catch them then and there or they will go. Sometimes the right ideas will come as suddenly as if by electric message. As his guest rises to leave, Sir Edwin has yet one word more to say: "This 'Light of the World' I set great store by. It never was my purpose, while I was trying to exhibit the beauty, the grace, and the tenderness of Eastern faiths, to withdraw the people of the West from the most beautiful, most graceful, most tender and advanced of all Eastern faiths, which is Christianity, for, if you will consider, the founder of that faith is just as much an Eastern as Mahomet or Buddha. That is not realized quite clearly enough. I hope to lead those who have patience and indulgence enough to follow me, through these palm groves of Oriental teaching, to the Mount of Olives-itself a hill of Asia," From the above it can readily be inferred that it has cost no small effort to secure SIR EDWIN ARNOLD for an American tour; and nothing but a dazzling proposition and guarantee of a princely sum has induced him to ask once more a leave of absence from his great daily paper in London for fifty nights of the platform. FIRST CHURCH, OBERLIN, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4th. Auction Sale of Seats at Comings', Wednesday, December 2, at 1:15 p. m. |