Non-Fiction > Uncollected essays > Volume 6, 1874 - Academy

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THE ACADEMY.
[Oct. 10, 1874.
Mk. Bauermah, the gentleman lieputed by the
Duke of Argyle to examine the iron and coal de-
posits of India, has issued his report, hut it is not
yen' encouraging as regards the prospect of future
mineral wealth for India. The best iron ore he
has seen is the brown hematite of the Nerbudda
Yalley, which is found in limestone about twenty-
five miles north of Gurrawara ; and if good coal be
discovered in the borings now going on there, that
station would form a good site for iron works
producing small bar and sheet iron and similar
high classed products. There is no locality
which answers perfectly all the requirements
for iron working, but on the whole Raniganj
seems to offer the best site. It is only fair,
however, to that distinguished body, the Geolo-
gical Survey of India, to remark that this con-
clusion entirely confirms their previously ex-
pressed opinions. At the time that they surveyed
Ilaniganj, it was considered unadvisable to recom-
mend the establishment of large ironworks, but
since then increased facilities of communication,
•discoveries of better coals, the possibility of mak-
ing coke, and the steady rise in the price of im-
ported iron, have made the successful manufacture
of iron a less doubtful speculation than before.
It is much to be wished in the interests of India
that these expectations may be realised.
The Nile appears from all accounts to have oc-
casioned great anxiety to the Egyptian people
during the last fortnight. About the begiuniug
of September news came from the Soudan that
the summer rains had abnormally swollen the
stream ; shortly afterwards, it appeared that at
four places in Upper Egypt the river had bui'st its
bounds, and had laid a large extent of countr}-
under water, the loss of life and property being
very great. In this crisis great energy was dis-
played by the Government and people. Not less
than 200,000 men have been distributed along the
com'se of the river and the great canals in Lower
Egypt, and at the weakest points watchmen are
posted every fifty or sixty yards. At Damietta, a
dyke gave way, but it was promptly repaired, and
beyond that caused by infiltration, there now
appears to be no prospect of any serious damage.
The most recent telegrams state that the sub-
sidence of the waters has actually commenced.
The Chicago Tribune states that General Sheri-
dan, in his recent expedition to the Black IliUs
(ah'eady noticed in our columns), took the pre-
caution to take two experienced gold-seekers with
him, and that they were fairly surprised at the
abundance of gold in the district. The deposits
extend for about 150 miles north and south and
200 miles from east to west. The region is at
present occupied by the Sioux Red Skins, and
they form such a mixture of hostile and friendly
tribes, that some difficulty is anticipated in get-
ting them to " move on " westward without
Laving to resort to force.
COLLEGE FOR MEN AND WOMEN.
Ajs inaug'ural meeting of this institution will be
held at eight o'clock next Monday evening, at St.
Oeorge"s liaU, Laugham Place, under the presi-
dency of Mr. Thomas Hughes. For ten years
past it has been known to many good friends as
the College for A\'orking M"oiuen, 20 Queen's
Square, and under this designation it performed a
small, but not unimportant, educational function.
Here came mothers, that they might be able to
teach their children in the course of time. Here
•came certain brave girls, out of a love of know-
ledge that was stronger than the love of pleasure
•or the natm-al weariness that follows a laborious
day. And how constant and unflagging this love
of knowledge was ! Year after year found the
same students following up one course of study after
another. It would have been a pity, certainly, had
there been a want of opportunity for this finedevo-
tion. For a long time, however, it has been the de-
sire of the managers to realise the idea of the late
Professor Maurice, and so to enlarge the scope of
their institution as to throw open classes, library
and conversation room, to men as well as to
women ; and this after long deliberation, and after
having assured themselves of the sympathy and
co-operation of their old students, they have at
last resolved to do.
We ar'! all familiar with the current arguments
against mixed classes. Similar classes, however,
are akeady successfully caiTied on in many insti-
tutions alike in I,ondon and the country ; and
there are mam' special reasons why they should
be employed under the circumstances. The
council remind their friends generally "of the
man}' evils which arise from the separation of
men and women in the worlds of learning and
thought, and of the ennobling influence which
each sex has upon the other, when both
are united in a common work with serious
purpose and endeavour." But out of the spe-
cial circumstances, as I say, there arise special
reasons in favom' of the scheme now adopted.
The number of students with the old system was
necessarily so limited that there was a certain
waste of power, especially in the higher subjects,
which will, it is hoped, be now no longer the case.
Again, wives and sisters will be free to come to
the College under the new conditions, bringing hus-
band or brother aloug with them ; and the prose-
cution of some worthy study will no longer entail
upon them the discomfort and actual dauger of
another daily separation, besides that already en-
tailed upon them by their necessary work. Men
and women, besides, will thus be brought together
by common devotion to culture instead of the
usual haphazard jiuxtaposition and perpetual
" handy-dand}' " of the world. And once brought
together, they will associate in an atmosphere not
otherwise attainable for them ; their intercourse
will take on something of refinement from the
example of those among whom they move ; and
so culture will be begun in them, not only of a
deeper kind, but in a manner more intimate and
effectual.
Besides increased supervision, and the cai-e
which the Council has taken to leaven the life of
the college by the presence of those well qualified
to do so, the programme will remain as before.
The classes will include, as before, those on
INIathematics, Literature, Languages, Physical
Science, History, Law, and Art. The Saturday
evening lectures will be given, for the present
session, hy Professor Morley, Mr. Furnivall, and
Mr. Newton, of the British Museum. To all
who have the higher culture of the working-
classes truly at heart, this announcement cannot
faU to be of interest ; and the iuterest wOl be-
come more serious and hopeful, I believe, as the
facts are more carefully weighed.
EoBEBT LoTiis Stevenson.
HENELE IBSEN S BETTIEir.
Christiania : September 24.
This somewhate sedate — not to say dull — capi-
tal has during the past few days been the scene
of unwonted excitement. This break in our habits
is not due, however, as general!}' is the case at
this season to the meeting of any learned congress,
or to the more trivial festivities of an international
exhibition, but simply to the visit of the national
poet — Ilenrik Ibsen. For many years he has
lived in Dresden — turning his back upon his
native land because he imagined his country-
men too dull or too careless to give his works the
attention they deserved. And it must be aUowed
that had it not been for the high praise accorded
to Ibsen in Germany, and more recently in England,
it is probable that many Norwegians would have
been even now ignorant of the genius, whom
their want of sympathy had banished from the
country. Of late years however, and more
especially since the revival of the national theatre
at Christiania, the works of Ibsen have become
better known to his compatriots, and the more they
were known the more were their beauties acknow-
ledged and appreciated.
From Dresden, where Ibsen had been living
during the last ten years, he has written one after
another in rapid succession five or six pieces, be-
sides a considerable quantity of minor poems,
which have obtained for him the undisputed rank
of the greatest of living Scandinavian poets. His
principal works are Srand, Per Gipit, De Unges
Forbund, Koiu/semtierne, Kejser og Gulilcfer, most
of which are accessible to those unacquainted with
Norsk through the medium of excellent German
translations. Li spite, however, of their admira-
tion for his great talents, the Norwegians were
too good patriots to be able to pardon their
master-singer for having abandoned his native
land. It seemed to them as though his works
lost some of their value for them by being written
in a foreign country. On the other hand, they
explained in some degree the satire and irony of
his writings to the bitterness with which they
thought he regarded his country, and took as
pointed against themselves and their former blind-
ness his sharpest and most cutting epigrams.
During the ten years of his self-imposed exile,
Ibsen paid frequent ^-isits to both Denmark and
Sweden, and in both countries was received with
all the honom' due to his genius and renown. By
degi'ees a feeling grew up in Norway that he
would never put his foot again on his native land,
aud that he continued to look upon his com-
patriots as his enemies. That this feeling was
wholly without foundation is evident from the
events of the last few weeks. Ibsen after passing
a short time in some of the remote districts of the
country, and revisiting the scenes with which he
was once so familiar, anlved in Christiania a few
days ago. The anger of his countrymen vanished
as if by magic, and Ibsen has been the object of
more enthusiasm than it was possible to imagine
the lymphatic Norwegian capable of feeling or
displacing.
The great fete, however, was that given by the
students of the Christiania Lfniversity. They
formed themselves into a vast procession and went
to Ibsen's lodgings to offer their homage to the
poet. On reaching his lodgings in the Pilestraeda
a deputation was sent up to him, and on hearing
of their arrival, Ibsen came down into the street.
After singing the first two verses of a hymn
composed for the occasion, the students saluted
the Skald with loud cries of "Long life to
•Henrik Ibsen ! " accompanied by loud hurrahs, in
which the vast crowds of bystanders joined.
Ibsen then addressed them in the following terms,
explaining through them to the country his real
feelings and the cause of his long estrangement: —
"Gentlemen, — Diu-ing the past few years, whilst
living in a foreign country, the feeling has arisen
from time to time more strongly in my mind that I
must see my native land again. I will not disguise
from you that it was with much doubt and uneasiness
that I finally decided upon this journey home. My
stay woidd, it is true, be but short ; but I felt how-
even short it might be, it would always prove long
enough to dispel an illusion in which I would fain
have continued to live. I asked myself, In ■what spirit
will my countrjTnen receive me ? The flattering re-
ception accorded to my works could not fully re-
assure me, for the question still remained how do I
personally stand \yith my fellow countrymen ? For it
is not to be denied that on more points than one there
has been dissension between us. As far as I have
been able to understand, the complaints urged against
me were of a twofold nature. People took it for
granted that I looked with unwarrantable bitterness
on my personal and private relations with my country-
men — nay, further I was even accused of directing
attacks against peculiarities and incidents of our
national life, which in the opinion of many had a
claim to be treated with anything but irony.
" I do not think I can make a better use of the pre-
sent moment, so fidl of gratification and honour to me,
than to devote it to an explanation and a confession.
■• I have never made my private circumstances the
immediate subject of any poem. In former sorrowful
days I attached less importance to these circumstances