Part 18

“An age-worn poet dying amid strangers in a humble village home, leaves the record of his life in a pile of manuscript poems. These are claimed by a friend and comrade of the poet, but, at the request of the cottagers, he reads them over before taking them away. The poet’s life is divided into seven books or ‘notes,’ because seven notes seem to make up the gamut of life.... This is the simple but unique plan, ... which ... forms but the mere outline of a remarkably fine study of the hopes, aspirations, and disappointments of life, ... an American modern life.... The author sees poetry, and living poetry, where the most of men see prose.... The objection, so often brought against our young poets, that form outweighs the thought, cannot be urged in this instance, for the poems of Prof. Raymond are full of keen and searching comments upon life. Neither can the objection be urged of the lack of the human element. ‘A Life in Song’ is not only dramatic in tendency, but is singularly realistic and acute.... The volume will appeal to a large class of readers by reason of its clear, musical, flexible verse, its fine thought, and its intense human interest.”—_Boston Transcript._

“Professor Raymond is no dabbler in the problem of the human spirit, and no tyro in the art of word painting, as those who know his prose works can testify. These pages contain a mine of rich and disciplined reflection, and abound in beautiful passages.”—_Hartford Theological Seminary Record._

“Here are lines which, if printed in letters of gold upon the front of every pulpit, and practised by every one behind one, would transform the face of the theological world.... In short, if you are in search of ideas that are unconventional and up-to-date, get ‘A Life in Song,’ and read it.”—_Unity._

“Some day Dr. Raymond will be universally recognized as one of the leaders in the new thought-movement.... He is a poet in the truest sense. His ideals are ever of the highest, and his interpretation is of the clearest and sweetest. He has richness of genius, intensity of human feeling, and the refinement of culture. His lines are alive with action, luminous with thought and passion, and melodious with music.”—_Cleveland World._

“The main impulse and incident of the life are furnished by the enlistment of the hero in the anti-slavery cause. The story of his love is also a leading factor, and is beautifully told. The poem displays a mastery of poetic rhythm and construction, and, as a whole, is pervaded by the imaginative quality which lifts ‘a life’ into the region of poetry,—the peculiar quality which marks Wordsworth.”—_Christian Intelligencer._

“It is a great work, and shows that America has a great poet.... A century from now this poem will be known and quoted wherever fine thought is appreciated, or brave deeds sung.”—_Western Rural._

BALLADS AND OTHER POEMS

BY GEORGE L. RAYMOND

16mo, CLOTH EXTRA, $1.25

“In the construction of the ballad, he has given some notable examples of what may be wrought of native material by one who has a tasteful ear and practised hand. If he does not come up to the standard of the ancient ballad, which is the model, he has done as well as any of the younger American authors who have attempted this kind of work, and there is true enjoyment in all that he has written. Of his other poems, the dramatic poem, ‘Haydn,’ is finished in form, and has literary value, as well as literary power.”—_Boston Globe._

“The author has achieved a very unusual success, a success to which genuine poetic power has not more contributed than wide reading and extensive preparation. The ballads overflow, not only with the general, but the very particular, truths of history.”—_Cincinnati Times._

“It may well find readers in abundance ... for the sake of the many fine passages which it contains.... ‘Ideals made Real’ has one point of very high excellence ... we have in the conception of the character of Edith the work of a genuinely dramatic poet.... In Edith we have a thoroughly masculine intellect in a thoroughly feminine soul, not merely by the author’s assertion, but by actual exhibition. Every word that Edith speaks, every act that she does, is in accord with this conception.... It is sufficient, without doubt, to give life to a less worthy performance, and it proves beyond doubt that Mr. Raymond is the possessor of a poetic faculty which is worthy of the most careful and conscientious cultivation.”—_N. Y. Evening Post._

“A very thoughtful study of character ... great knowledge of ... aims and motives.... Such as read this poem will derive from it a benefit more lasting than the mere pleasure of the moment.”—_London Spectator._

“Mr. Raymond is a poet emphatically, and not a scribbler in rhyme.”—_London Literary Churchman._

“His is no mere utterance of dreams and fancies. His poetry takes hold on life; it enters the arena where its grandest and purest motives are discussed, and by the vigor and beauty of the language it holds itself on a level with the highest themes.... Every thoughtful reader ... will wish that the poems had been longer or that there had been more of them. It would be possible to quote passage after passage of rare beauty.”—_Utica Herald._

“... Rhythmical in its flow and deliciously choice in language ... indicating a deep acquaintance with human nature, while there is throughout a tone that speaks plainly of a high realization of the divine purpose in life.... Not the least charming characteristic is its richness in pen-and-ink pictures marked by rare beauty and presenting irresistibly that which the poet saw in his mind’s eye.... We confidently promise that any one taking it up will enjoy the reading throughout, that is, if there is any poetry in him.”—_Boston Evening Journal._

BOOKS BY PROFESSOR RAYMOND

=Dante and Collected Verse.= 16mo, cloth, gilt top =$1.25=

“Epigram, philosophy, history—these are the predominant elements ... which masterly construction, pure diction, and lofty sentiment unite in making a glowing piece of blank verse.”—_Chicago Herald._

“The poems will be read with keenest enjoyment by all who appreciate literary genius, refined sentiment, and genuine culture. The publication is a gem throughout.”—_New Haven Leader._

“The poet and the reformer contend in Professor Raymond. When the latter has the mastery, we respond to the justice, the high ideals, the truth of all he says—and says with point and vigor—but when the poet conquers, the imagination soars.... The mountain poems are the work of one with equally high ideals of life and of song.”—_Glasgow_ (Scotland) _Herald_.

“Brother Jonathan can not claim many great poets, but we think he has ‘struck oil,’ in Professor Raymond.”—_Western_ (England) _Morning News_.

“This brilliant composition ... gathers up and concentrates for the reader more of the reality of the great Italian than is readily gleaned from the author of the _Inferno_ himself.”—_Oakland Enquirer._

=Pictures in Verse.= With 20 illustrations by Maud Stumm. Square 8vo, in ornamental cloth covers =$.75=

“Little love poems of a light and airy character, describing pretty rustic scenes, or domestic interiors.... As charming for its illustrations as for its reading matter.”—_Detroit Free Press._

“Simple songs of human every-day experience ... with a twinkle of homely humor and a wholesome reflection of domestic cheer. We like his optimistic sentiments, and unspoiled spirit of boyishness when he strikes the chord of love. It is all very true and good.”—_The Independent._

=The Mountains about Williamstown.= With an introduction by M. M. Miller, and 35 full-page illustrations from original photographs; oblong shape, cloth, gilt edges. Net, postpaid =$2.00=

“The beauty of these photographs from so many points of vantage would of itself suffice to show the fidelity and affection with which Professor Raymond pursued the theme of his admirably constructed poems. The introduction by his pupil, friend, and associate is an exhaustive study. No better or more thorough review could be written of the book, or more clearly point out the directness and power of Professor Raymond’s work.... Among his many books none justifies more brilliantly the correctness and charm of his rhetorical instruction, or his facility in exemplifying what he commends.”—_Hartford_ (Conn.) _Courant_.

=Rhythm and Harmony in Poetry and Music.= 8º =$1.75=

“The reader must be, indeed, a person either of supernatural stupidity or of marvellous erudition, who does not discover much information in Prof. Raymond’s exhaustive and instructive treatise. From page to page it is full of suggestion.”—_The Academy_ (London).

PROFESSOR RAYMOND’S ART-BOOKS

=Art in Theory.= 8vo, cloth extra. =$1.75=

“A well grounded, thoroughly supported, and entirely artistic conception of art as a whole, that will lead observers to apply its principles ... and to distrust the charlatanism that imposes an idle and superficial mannerism upon the public in place of true beauty and honest workmanship.”—_The New York Times._

“His style is good, and his logic sound, and ... of the greatest possible service to the student of artistic theories.”—_Art Journal_ (London).

=The Representative Significance of Form.= 8vo, cloth extra. =$2.00=

“Evidently the ripe fruit of years of patient and exhaustive study on the part of a man singularly fitted for his task. It is profound in insight, searching in analysis, broad in spirit, and thoroughly modern in method and sympathy.”—_The Universalist Leader._

“An original thinker and writer, the charm of his style and clearness of expression make Mr. Raymond’s book possible to the general reader, though worthy of the study of the student and scholar.”—_Hartford Courant._

=Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, as Representative Arts.= With 225 illustrations, 8vo. =$2.50=

“Expression by means of extension or size ... shape ... regularity in outlines ... the human body ... posture, gesture, and movement ... are all considered.... A specially interesting chapter is the one on color.”—_Current Literature._

“The whole book is the work of a man of exceptional thoughtfulness, who says what he has to say in a remarkably lucid and direct manner.”—_The Philadelphia Press._

=The Genesis of Art-Form.= Fully illustrated. 8vo. =$2.25=

“In a spirit at once scientific and that of the true artist, he pierces through the manifestations of art to their sources, and shows the relations, intimate and essential, between painting, sculpture, poetry, music, and architecture. A book that possesses not only singular value, but singular charm.”—_N. Y. Times._

“A help and a delight. Every aspirant for culture in any of the liberal arts, including music and poetry, will find something in this book to aid him.”—_Boston Times._

=Proportion and Harmony of Line and Color in Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture.= Fully illustrated. 8vo. =$2.50=

“No critical person can afford to ignore so valuable a contribution to the art-thought of the day.”—_The Art-Interchange_ (N. Y.).

“One does not need to be a scholar to follow this scholar as he teaches while seeming to entertain; for he does both.”—_Burlington Hawk-Eye._

“The artist who wishes to penetrate the mysteries of color, the sculptor who desires to cultivate his sense of proportion, or the architect whose ambition is to reach to a high standard will find the work helpful and inspiring.”—_Boston Transcript._

BOOKS BY PROFESSOR RAYMOND

=Poetry as a Representative Art.= 8º =$1.75=

This book is an attempt, in accordance with modern methods, aided by the results of modern investigation, to determine scientifically the laws of poetic composition and criticism, by deriving and distinguishing the methods and meanings of the various factors of poetic form and thought from those of the elocution and rhetoric of ordinary speech, of which poetry is an artistic development. The principles unfolded are illustrated by quotations from the first English poets.

“I have read it with pleasure, and a sense of instruction on many points.”—_Francis Turner Palgrave, Professor of Poetry, Oxford University._

“Dieses ganz vortreffliche Werk.”—_Englische Studien, Universität Breslau._

“An acute, interesting, and brilliant piece of work.... As a whole the essay deserves unqualified praise.”—_N. Y. Independent._

=The Essentials of Æsthetics.= Fully illustrated. 8º =$2.50=

A compendium of all the art-volumes, designed as a Text-Book.

“So lucid in expression and rich in illustration that every page contains matter of deep interest even to the general reader.”—_Boston Herald._

“It can hardly fail to make talent more rational, genius more conscious of the principles of art, and the critic and connoisseur better equipped for impression, judgment, and appraisement.”—_New York Times._

=The Orator’s Manual.= 12mo =$1.50=

A Practical and Philosophic Treatise on Vocal Culture, Emphasis, and Gesture, together with Hints for the Composition of Orations and Selections for Declamation and Reading, designed as a Text-book for Schools and Colleges, and for Public Speakers and Readers who are obliged to Study without an Instructor, fully revised with important Additions after the Fifteenth Edition.

“It is undoubtedly the most complete and thorough treatise on oratory for the practical student ever published.”—_The Educational Weekly_, Chicago.

“I consider it the best American book upon technical elocution. It has also leanings toward a philosophy of expression that no other book written by an American has presented.”—_Moses True Brown_, Head of the Boston School of Oratory.

=The Writer= (with POST WHEELER, Litt.D.) 12mo =$1.00=

A Concise, Complete, and Practical Text-book of Rhetoric, designed to aid in the Appreciation, as well as Production of All Forms of Literature, Explaining, for the first time, the Principles of Written Discourse by correlating them to those of Oral Discourse.

“A book of unusual merit ... prepared by practical teachers, and the end in view is evidently to teach rather than to give information.”—_The Pacific Educational Journal._

“The pupil will forget he is studying rhetoric, and will come to express himself for the pure pleasure he has in this most beautiful art.”—_Indiana School Journal._

=Ethics and Natural Law.= 8vo. Net, =$2.25.=

A Reconstructive Review of Moral Philosophy, Applied to the Rational Art of Living,—a Book that is in effect a Continuation and Completion of the Author’s well-known Æsthetic Works, showing the Relationship of the Principles underlying Art to the Culture of Character.

“The student of ethics will considerably fortify his knowledge of the history of ethical thought by reading the book, especially the first twelve chapters. In these Mr. Raymond embodies, with copious references, his extensive knowledge of what has been written and thought by moral philosophers. On pp. 63-67, for instance, will be found in footnotes a kind of classified anthology of all the definitions given of conscience by modern writers. The various ethical theories holding the field do not, he thinks, recognize as indispensable the coöperation, in every slightest detail of thought and feeling, of the two necessary factors of every desire; and he claims that his own doctrine keeps to the purpose he avows in his opening chapter,—to draw no inference, and to advance no theory, not warranted by known facts as ascertainable in connection with the operations of natural law.... Chapters XIII to XXIII deal acutely and comprehensively with the various sides of American life.”—_London_ (England) _Times_.

In an article entitled _A Desirable Acquaintance_, _Prof. A. S. Hobart_, _D.D. of Crozer Theological Seminary_, after mentioning his twenty years’ experience in teaching Ethics, says, “I find this book the only one that has come within the range of my reading which has, for the basis of its system, what I have found to be satisfactory. The writer assumes that there is in the nature of things a law of ethical conduct as continuous and self-evincing as is the law of physical health.... The study of psychology has opened the mind to inspection as we open the back of a watch-case and see the wheels go round; and this study lays its crown of victorious explorations at the feet of ethics.... His view is that conscience is the sense of conflict between bodily and mental desires ... therefore not a guide; it is only a sense of lostness in the woods, that wants a guide. Good sense and good religion are the guides to be consulted. By many illustrations and very clear reasoning he verifies his view. Then, ... he takes up the task unusual in such books—of showing how the leading moral qualities can and ought to be cultivated. In view of my own careful reading of the book I venture to call attention to it as a most fertile source of instruction and suggestion for ethical teaching.”—_The Baptist._

“The book is clear and comprehensive. His theory in regard to conflict is reasonable, and the principles deduced from it have philosophic foundation.”—_Boston Transcript._

“Professor Raymond extracts a fundamental principle that largely reconciles existing ethical theories ... makes distinctions that have vitality, and will repay the necessary study and application.”—_Scientific American._

=A Poet’s Cabinet= and =An Art Philosopher’s Cabinet=.

Two books containing quotations, the one from the poems, and the other from the æsthetic works of George Lansing Raymond, selected by Marion Mills Miller, Litt.D., editor of _The Classics, Greek, and Latin_. Each book 8vo. cloth-bound, gilt top. $2.00

“Dr. Raymond is one of the most just and pregnant critics, as well as one of the most genuine poets, that America has produced.... His verse generally, and his prose frequently, is a solid pack of epigrams; and hundreds of the epigrams are vigorous, fresh, telling, worth collecting and cataloguing.... Probably from no other American but Emerson could a collection at all comparable be made. Many of the phrases are profound paradox.... Others are as hard-headed as La Rochefoucauld.... Some are plain common sense, set in an audacious figure, or a vigorous turn of phrase.... But few or none of them are trivial.... As an æsthetic critic, Professor Raymond is, by training and temperament, remarkably versatile and catholic. He is almost or quite equally interested in architecture, painting, sculpture, music, poetry.... Each is as definitely placed in his system as the several instruments in a great orchestra.... If Dr. Raymond had been born in France, England, or Germany, he would, no doubt, have enjoyed a wider vogue. But it is just as well that he was none of these; for the, as yet, æsthetically immature New World has sore need of him.”—_Revue Internationale_, Paris.

“We risk little in foretelling a day when all considerable libraries, private as well as public, will be deemed quite incomplete if lacking these twin volumes. Years after the thinker has paid the debt to nature due, his thoughts will rouse action and emotion in the hearts and minds of generations now unborn.”—_Worcester_ (Mass.) _Gazette_.

“This Poet’s Cabinet is the best thing of its class—that confined to the works of one author—upon which our eyes have fallen, either by chance or purpose. We can’t help wishing that we had a whole book-shelf of such volumes in our own private library.”—_Columbus_, (O.) _Journal_.

“The number and variety of the subjects are almost overwhelming, and the searcher for advanced or new thought as expressed by this particular philosopher has no difficulty in coming almost immediately upon something that may strike his fancy or aid him in his perplexities. To the student of poetry and the higher forms of literature ... the volume will be of distinct aid.”—_Utica_ (N. Y.) _Observer_.

“Dr. Miller’s task in selecting representative extracts from Professor Raymond’s works has not been a light one, for there has been no chaff among the wheat, and there was an ever present temptation to add bulk to the book through freedom in compilation. He thought best, however, to eliminate all but the features which revealed the rare rich soul and personality of the poet, and each quotation is a gem.”—_Albany_ (N. Y.) _Times-Union_.

“To study the works of any one man so that we are completely familiar with his ideas upon all important subjects—if the man have within him any element of greatness—is a task which is likely to repay the student’s work.... This fact makes the unique quality of the present volume ... quotations which deal with practically every subject to be found in more general anthologies.”—_Boston_ (Mass.) _Advertiser_.

=The Psychology of Inspiration=. 8vo, cloth. (New Revised Edition). Net, =$2.00=; by mail, =$2.14=

The book founds its conclusions on a study of the action of the human mind when obtaining and expressing truth, as this action has been revealed through the most recent investigations of physiological, psychological, and psychic research; and the freshness and originality of the presentation is acknowledged and commended by such authorities as Dr. J. Mark Baldwin, Professor of Psychology in Johns Hopkins University, who says that its psychological position is “new and valuable”; Dr. W. T. Harris, late United States Commissioner of Education and the foremost metaphysician in the country, who says it is sure “to prove helpful to many who find themselves on the border line between the Christian and the non-Christian beliefs”; and Dr. Edward Everett Hale, who says that “no one has approached the subject from this point of view.”