"UNCLE JOHN'S " LETTERS.
I To THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR."] Six,--lour readers will be devoutly glad of the inspiration which has caused the letters of " Uncle John " to be published in the Spectator, and especially for the envoi of " E. H. D.," which tells of his pas'sing in its true joyous aspect. Would it not be possible to produce these letters, with the vuluable addendum, in the brochure form in which long ago Moijurie Fleming appeared ? What's in a name ? Much— everything in this case. The idea of death has become so clogged with dank and dismal associations that where it does not erect itself in the path of childhood, and even in that of age, as a terror, it lurks in the far distance like a poison-gas, inevitable and irresistible. We have been thinking and speaking of death in heathen terms. Have not Avernus, the Styx, and above all Rhadamanthus, their counterpart in our Christian nomenclature—the decline of life, the going down the hill, the gloomy portals, the cold dark river, the Dread Judge ? No wonder " tim'rous mortals start and shrink . . . and linger shiv'ring on the brink." This awesome war will not have raged in vain if it teaches us to picture the spirit of man as a bird flying out of captivity into the sunshine, where no shadow can fall, for ever glad and free. Should we nut encourage children to acquire knowledge and pursue the beautiful in poetry, arts and crafts, and all noble manual work, because by ex- celling in these they will be so far on the road towards the perfection of unfettered powers in a bright and glorious world that even now lies all around us, though to us invisible ? But do children still read The Arabian Nights and the dear, lovely old fairy-tales 1 is not faerie taboo to a great extent in this materialistic so-called education at the only age when an unlimited diet of fairy-tales can be devoured and assimilated without ever palling ? How well Charles Kingsley and Andrew Lang understood this ! Alas for my beautiful edition of The Arabian Nights. confiscated in horror on my arrival at school, and never seen again ! I have argued the necessity of (aerie to a complete intellectual develop- ment on both sides of the Channel ; " ea faun lea Wes " is the rejoinder. Aerie knows no grey in morals; its people are black or white, The cruel, jealous queen, the covetous, wicked uncle, the greedy, brutal ogre, the crafty Old Man of the Sea are black, and very black. White are the Immortal Babes, the child housewife, the bold, ingenuous youth who sallies forth without fear and without reproach to carve his fortune, the hospitable dame, the fair and kind princess. The judgment of the child is unequipped for compromise which comes all too soon. Thanks to the Spectator for "Uncle John's " letters and those of the " Student in Arms," and especially for " The Sacrament," which helps us to realize that religion is not a thing of moods and downcast looks, but is as the common bread we eat, the wine we drink, and the warm garment
that we are clothed withal.—I am, Sir, &c., H. E. S. Chalon.
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