THE BEST THING IN THE WORLD.

THE BEST THING IN THE WORLD.
500.6.

The present year, 1906, is the one hundredth since the birth of
Eliza- beth Barrett Browning and the sixti- eth since her marriage to
Robert Browning; for she was in her forty- first year
when she became his bride, while he was only thirty-five.
Every one knows the story of this gifted wo- man-how as a child of eleven
she composed an epic poem: how in her teens
she read the Greek poets and studied many philosophies;
how she wrote verse of wonderful charm and power; and then
how she fell ill and for seven years seemed to be a bed- ridden Invalid
without hope of even a partial recovery.
Then she met Rob- ert Browning, and the two were in- stantly drawn
together by a love which has become famous.
Miss Bar- ret’s father, a strange, eccentric per- son, opposed
Browning’s suit. With a singular perversity he forbade his own daughter to be happy.
But Browning-ardent, impetuous, and persistent-arranged a secret mar
where she regained her health and lived to rival her husband as a weaver of pure poetry.
Unlike him, however, Mrs. Brown-
ing was lueld in her verse, and seldom
difficult to understand. Yet in the
poem here reprinted, the inst two
lines are somewhat puzzling. How
can the best thing in the world be
“something out of it”? The meaning
is not obviouos at once, and in fact
the lines may be explained in several
ways. We leave the problem for our
readers to solve, as a bit of intellectu-
al diversion.
(By Elizabeth Barrett Browning.) What’s the best thing in the world? June-rose by May-dew Impearled; Sweet south-wind, that means
rain;
Truth, not cruel to a friend; Pleasure, not in haste to end; Beauty, not self-decked and curled Till its pride is overplain; Light, that never makes you wink; Memory, that gives no pain; Love, when so you’re loved again. What’s the best thing in the world?- Something out of it, I think,