Paul Laurence Dunbar, the negro poet, is dead. Incomparable in his
presentation of his race's language and thoughts, he occupied a unique
position in the literary world. W.D. Howells called him the only man of
pure African blood and of American civilization to feel the negro life
esthetically and express it lyrically. Last year, while he was dying of
consumption, he contributed to _Lippincott's_ this verse-sermon of
resignation:
Because I had loved so long,
God in his great compassion
Gave me the gift of song.
Because I had loved so vainly
And sung with such faltering breath,
The Master in infinite mercy
Offers the boon of death.