THE SPIRIT OF JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL

Behind all the literary genius of James Russell Lowell, flashing forth at every opportunity lay the dominant strain of patriotism. The "Bigelow Papers" were the tools endowed him by nature, with which he most efficiently carried out his fixed purpose of supporting his country in her hours of need. True patriotism is lasting, universal. Lowell's works on this, the hundredth anniversary of his birth, inspire the same feeling that they did half a century ago. What could be more expressive of the emotions of millions of people in the United States today than his famous passage: "The war was ended. I might walk townward without that aching dread of bulletins that had darkened the July sunshine and twice made the scarlet leaves of October seemed stained with blood."

James Russell Lowell was a product of Harvard, brought up in an atmosphere which unconsciously makes for a strong and enduring devotion to the nation. All one need do is look around him to find where Harvard gets these traditions. The Washington Elm, Soldiers Field, Memorial Hall, are mute testimonials of the part Harvard and Cambridge have played in the national crises of the past.

The precepts of their training expressed so eloquently by Lowell in his "Commemoration Ode" were followed again by Harvard men in the World War. They rushed into the service in all parts of the globe, willingly sacrificing themselves for an ideal. And now when peace is here the University is showing her versatility by immediately adjusting herself once more to the ways of peace. Her sons are returning filled with the desire of serving their country vigorously in other fields than that of war. They face the future with the spirit of James Russell Lowell.

"God gave us peace, not such as lulls to sleep,

"But sword on thigh and brow with purpose knit;

"And let our Ship of State to harbor sweep,

"Her ports all up, her battle lanterns lit,

"And her leashed lightnings gathering for their leap."