“I read them all through once before. In my childhood, those sweet and tender lyrics of hers were a source of great pleasure to me. I admit that I love them yet … I think Mrs. Hemans has been hardly dealt with by our hurrying feverish get-rich-quick age. Surely sweetness and charm of sentiment have their place in literature, as well as strength and grandeur. A violet is a dear thing though it is not a star, and a ferny dell is delightful though it is not a ‘heaven-kissing hill’. In one mood, Mrs. Hemans gives me quite as much pleasure as Kipling does.”
