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Author of “Droo.ia* W “Loaf Lot tors of ft Mystic/' “A Javsl in tho Send, oU.* olAn Appreciation ftlinBY VIVIAN RADCUFFE CiWell-known reviewer of the “New sc York Herald. i wUnder above well displayed cap- to tion, breuton a Book Chat, published th on Filth Avenue, New York, with tfa Washington and Faria branches, a hi periodical aevoted to latest publica-, at lion of nigh-ciaaa literatuie, in its ac issue for April, contains a splendid la steel engraving ol Mias Alma New- er ton, formerly of St. Joseph, who ei has maae ner home at New fork lor ri some years and is devoting her time j fa to liteiature. An appreciation of her j to talent is shown by Vivian Hadciiffe,1 dt well-known reviewer of the New j =s fork He*aid’s literary columns, who pi OO says: I pijwv*sieridmmthcathki- A Mystic ia a person who takes the spiritual interpretation of things as hnal, for it answaia the cosmis meed is his particular mind, soul or individual desire.To th# Mystics the spiritual Ufa is flowing through thp world, as a great river flows to the eas, and they ten us not to swim against this stream but to rest upon the flow and thereby we are finally able to pass down the stream of life in spiritual harmony.The cosmic need requires a mediumship for expression and God has given us that in oar dreams; art is the individual expression of ' a dream; a dream is the individual expression of God, for when the result of a dream becomes an object it is! a miracle in creation.Call this mediumship wb» t you will; dream, intuition, natural law, love or whatever you wish, it is the real pow- J mlt; er of the soul. Alma Newton callsbeisirathis great urge “love and in her book, “The Jewel in the Sand,” we find this lofty desire:“Give me the exaltation, the dignity, of a noble love. Help me to so light my lamp that no idle wanderer will stop at my door. Make it so clear and so bright than only the great of soul will enter here. Let it be so bright that the vain will pam it by for the far red lights that burn in 1 in the mystic night. Let it be so tran- j set681puopatwdeunta:quil that only the wise will comprehend it. Let it be so gentle that only the kind will heed it. Let it be so sweet that only the pure will love it And teach me the simple things,thideitmiso that 1 cannot lose any way. Teachme the higher laws, those of simplicity, faith and impersonal desire, for 1 know that to welcome the guest I must know how to wish, to hope and to smile.The Boston Transcript has said that Alma Newton is truly akin to Blackwood, but that she is no mere disciple. The New York Tribune has said that her work suggests that of Edgar Allen Poe. The New York Times has said that it was the art of Oliver Schreiner.Certainly the ia a versatile artist, but yet I cannot see a kinship to any of the three artists mentioned. The strong rhythmical sec tenses, the color effects and the dramatic* quality saggeat the prose poems and the “de profundis of Oscar Wilda.One doea not find this likeness to Wilde in “The Bine String or in the “Love Letters of a Mystic, bar earlier Works; but it is found in “A Jewel in the Sand/* “Shadows and “Dreaming True.** Her themee am often occult and in this respect do not resemble Wilde. It is the diction BO of which I speak.Alma Newton often writes hi the first person. She docs this because it makes the story more realistic. Du Maurisr said it takes a genius to write in the first person. Ons might add that it take# ths aristocrat to annihilate all sgoli and write in sincere love of realism.And speaking of this, Alma Newton ia a great granddaughter of David Hunt Of MissMppi, a member of one of the oldest and beet known fanfiliea of tho South. Her father, Aigeron Emmett Newton* was born in Louisiana, his family haring gene there from the “Eastern Shore of Maryland, which in AnthBeUum days was, symbolically speaking, a “Coat of Anna, ttaalf.Alma Newton was ban on Huh ley Plantation, one of the plantations inherited from her grandfather and OO i i a woman of ths high sat culture and loveliness. She is young and full of enthusiasm, a sincere lover of art. She is a true Mystic, ons in whom gentleness and kindnsss are art of an esoteric creed where the spiritual principal is mors potent than a levs of occult phenomenon.thith«Shthiende;meofCo•ocofciasdibuOutofoibetlie’listXnibitofteichitoetoattflt;*moash•Iplilt;whchipaifatattaratindult;butdmthecoichiwebetstoboilet
Newspaper Details
Tensas Gazette
Saint Joseph, Louisiana, US
Fri, May 19, 1922
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Forrest W.
USA 11 Aug 2020
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Tensas Gazette
