x, $5.00 net.
de MONVEL, ROGER BOUTET
Beau Brummell and His Times
Illustrated. Octavo. Cloth, with gilt top, $2.50 net;
Three-quarter Levant, $5.00 net.
FISHER, SYDNEY GEORGE
The Struggle for American
Independence
Two volumes. Illustrated. Crown Octavo. Cloth,
gilt top, per set, $4.00 net.
RASMUSSEN, KNUD
The People of the Polar North
Compiled from the Danish by G. Herring. Illus-
trated. Large 8vo. Cloth, $5.00 net.
MOORE, JOHN BASSETT
The Works of James Buchanan
To be completed in 12 volumes. Volumes I. to V.
published during 1908. Octavo. Cloth, per volume,
$5.00 net.
PENNELL, ELIZABETH ROBINS, and PENNELL,
JOSEPH
The Life of James McNeill Whistler
Two volumes. Illustrated in hall-tone, photo-
gravure, and line. Crown Quarto. Half Cloth,
$10.00 net, per set.
CRESSON, W. P., F.R.G.S.
Persia: The Awakening East
Illustrated. Octavo. Cloth, $3.50 net.
MACGOWAN, REV. J.
Side-lights on Chinese Life
Illustrated. Octavo. Cloth, with gilt top, $3.75 net.
FICTION AND JUVENILES
BRUDNO, EZRA S.
SCOTT, JOHN REED
The Tether
The Princess Dehra
12mo. Cloth, $1.50.
Illustrated. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50.
CAREY, ROSA NOUCHETTE
ANDERSEN, HANS
The Sunny Side of the Hill
Fairy Tales
12mo. Cloth, $1.50.
Illustrated. Large square 8vo. Cloth, $1.50.
LUTZ, GRACE LIVINGSTON HILL
FORBES-LINDSAY, C. H.
Marcia Schuyler
Daniel Boone : Backwoodsman
Illustrated. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50.
Illustrated. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50.
MACVANE, EDITH
LEE, HOLME
The Duchess of Dreams
Legends from Fairyland
Frontispiece. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50.
12mo. Illustrated. Cloth, $1.50.
MACDONALD, GEORGE
The Princess and Curdie New Holiday Edition. Illustrated. Octavo. Decorated Cloth, $1.50.
LEA, JOHN
The Romance of Bird Life
Illustrated. Crown 8vo. Cloth, $1.50 net.
GREW, E. S., M.A.
The Romance of Modern Geology
Illustrated. Crown 8vo. Cloth, $1.50 net.
ELLIOT, G. F. SCOTT
The Romance of Early British Life
Illustrated. Crown Octavo. Cloth, $1.50 net.
DAWSON, E. C., M.A.
Heroines of Missionary Adventure
HYRST, H. W. G.
Adventures among Wild Beasts
Illustrated. Crown 8vo. Cloth, $1.50 net.
STEAD, RICHARD, B.A.
Adventures on High Seas
Illustrated. Crown 8vo. Cloth, $1.50 net.
GILLIAT, EDWARD, M.A.
Heroes of Modern Crusades
Illustrated. Octavo. Cloth, $1.50 net.
Illustrated.
Crown 8vo. Cloth, $1.50 net.


66
[Feb. 1,
THE DIAL
Indispensable Books for Every Library
at Less than One-third Published Price
HAVING secured the entire remaining stock of the original
“Muses’ Library,” published by Charles Scribner's Sons
in conjunction with Lawrence & Bullen of London, we are
able to offer this well-known series at less than one-third the
original price. The volumes are beautifully printed and bound,
and fully edited by prominent English scholars. Each contains
a portrait in photogravure. A list of the titles is given below.
POEMS OF HENRY VAUGHAN
Edited by E. K. Chambers, with
an Introduction by H. C.
Beeching.
Two volumes.
'Vaughan may occasionally out-Herbert Herbert in metaphors and
emblems, but in spite of them, and even through them, it is easy to see
that he has a passion for Nature for her own sake; that he has observed
her works; that indeed the world is to him no less than a veil of the
Eternal Spirit, whose presence may be felt in any, even the smallest,
part." —H. C. BEECHING.
POEMS OF JOHN KEATS
Edited by G. Thorn Drury, with
an Introduction by Robert
Bridges.
Two volumes.
What was deepest in the mind of Keats was the love of loveliness for
its own sake, the sense of its rightful and preëminent power; and in the
singleness of worship which he gave to Beauty, Keats is especially the
ideal poet."
STOPFORD BROOKE.
POEMS OF THOMAS CAMPION
Edited by A. H. Bullen.
One volume.
'Few indeed are the poets who have handled our stubborn English
language with such masterly deftness. So long as elegancy, facility,
and golden cadence of poesy' are admired, Campion's fame will be
secure.” – A. H. Bullen.
POETRY OF GEORGE WITHER
Edited by Frank Sidgwick.
Two volumes.
“The poems of Wither are distinguished by a hearty homeliness of
manner and a plain moral speaking. He seems to have passed his life
in one continual act of innocent self-pleasing.” — Charles LAMB.
-
a
.
POEMS OF WILLIAM BROWNE
OF TAVISTOCK
Edited by Gordon Goodwine,
with an Introduction by A. H.
Bullen.
Two volumes.
“Browne is like Keats in being before all things an artist, he has the
same intense pleasure in a fine line or a fine phrase for its own sake.
In his best passages - and they are not few — he will send to the listener
wafts of pure and delightful music.” — W. T. Arnold.
POEMS OF SAMUEL TAYLOR
COLERIDGE
Edited by Richard Garnett.
One volume.
“Although the best poetical work of Coleridge is extremely small in
bulk . . . yet his poetry at its best reaches the absolute limits of English
verse as yet written." – GEORGE SAINTSBURY.
BROWNE'S BOOKSTORE
Reduced from $1.75 to
50c. a Volume, Postpaid
THE FINE ARTS BUILDING
MICHIGAN BLVD. CHICAGO
a


1909.]
67
THE DIAL
FROM THE HOUSE OF CASSELL
BOOKS OF INTEREST
INTEREST TO LIBRARIANS
WOMEN OF ALL NATIONS: A Record of their Characteristics, Habits, Man-
ners, Customs, and Influence. In two quarto volumes, bound in half leather. $12.00 net.
Profusely illustrated with hundreds of Reproductions of Striking and Original Photographs taken by experts in
all parts of the world, together with a Series of Magnificent Plates in Colors from a number of Paintings expressly
executed for this work by Norman Hardy.
The text is written in a fascinating style, instructive and pleasing. The following are some of the contributors :
Professor Otis T. Mason, of the Smithsonian Institution; Mr. W. W. Skeat, Mr. Archibald Colquhoun, Dr. Theodor
Koch-Grünberg, Berlin Museum of Völkerkunde; Mr. Edgar Thurston, of the Madras Museum ; Mr. Shelford, late
of the Sarawak Museum ; Miss A. Werner, Mr. W. Crook, B.A., and others.
Whilst the text is of the highest value the illustrations are fully as remarkable both for their originality and
interest. For many months the Editors were in communication with experts in all parts of the world with a view to
securing the best and most striking photographs. Ninety-eight per cent of these illustrations have never before been
published.
a
NAPOLEON AND HIS FELLOW TRAVELLERS By Clement SHORTER. With
Eight Plates. $4.00 net.
A new book on Napoleon can only be justified by the fact that it contains interesting new material or material
not generally available to the public. Mr. Clement Shorter has brought together some rare and little known books
that have never been reprinted since their first publication, wellnigh a century ago. These include the “Narrative of
William Warden,” which went through many editions at the time of its publication and provoked much criticism.
This little book has been edited and annotated with the assistance of Warden's grandson, who has placed private
documents at the editor's disposal.
A rare pamphlet, privately printed by Lord Littleton, gives an account of interesting conversations with
Napoleon on board the Northumberland that are known to few students of the epoch. The vivid story of Napoleon's
appearance and conversation at the time of his surrender, by George Home, in “The Diary of an Aristocrat," a book
suppressed on publication, also makes attractive reading, as does a little known letter of Ross, the captain of the
Northumberland on its voyage to St. Helena.
GEORGE BORROW By R. A. J. Walling. With Frontispiece. $1.75 net.
The elusive personality of George Borrow, author of “The Bible in Spain,” and “ Lavengro,” is a perpetual
source of interest. Mr. Walling has managed to throw new light on George Borrow, and a considerable amount of
fresh matter relating to his strange career is embodied in this volume.
“The Borrovian, or would-be Borrovian, may read this life and appreciation with pleasure.” The Times
(London).
THE BOOK OF CEYLON By Henry W. Cave, M.A., F.R.G.S., Member of the Asiatic
Society, Author of “Golden Tips,” “The Ruined Cities of Ceylon,” etc.
With over 700
Illustrations from Photographs by the Author, and including Six Maps and Plans, and
Colored Frontispiece. Cloth gilt, $4.75 net.
BYWAYS OF COLLECTING By ETHEL DEANE. With upwards of 60 Illustrations.
$2.50 net.
' Byways of Collecting' is recommended alike to the connoisseur, the neophyte, and the outer barbarian."
Chicago Tribune.
CASSELL AND COMPANY, LIMITED
43-45 EAST NINETEENTH STREET
NEW YORK CITY


68
[Feb. 1, 1909.
THE DIAL
THE BEST BOOK ABOUT ABRAHAM LINCOLN IS
Abraham Lincoln: The Boy and the Man
By James Morgan
With specially interesting portraits, etc. Cloth, $1.50.
The Chicago Tribune editorially recommends reading some account of the whole of Lincoln's life, suggests
Mr. Morgan's book as the best of three named, and says: “It tells the life story well. It is interesting.
It is well written. It gives the significant facts one wants to know.”
The Assassination of Abraham
Lincoln: A Centenary Ode
Lincoln and Its Expiation
By Percy MacKaye
By David Miller De Witt
Jeanne d'Arc,” etc. "A man to be
Author of The Impeachment and Trial of Andrew
reckoned with among American poets," says the Sun.
Johnson." Cloth, 8vo. Price, probably, $3.00.
Cloth, 50 cents net.
..
Author of
THE BEST SELLING NOVEL OF 1908.
Mr. Crewe's Career
By Winston Churchill
Author of "Coniston," etc. Illustrated. Cloth, $1 50.
OTHER WIDELY-READ FICTION OF 1908.
The Singer Trilogy
By Mr. F. Marion Crawford
Fair Margaret
The Set,
The Primadonna
Bored,
The Diva's Ruby
$4.50.
Miss Zona Gale's
Friendship Village
By the Author of "The Loves of Pelleas and Etarre."
Cloth, $1.50.
Mr. Robert Herrick's Together
By the author of "The Common Lot," etc. Cloth, $1.50.
NEW OR FORTHCOMING BOOKS.
The Ancient Greek Historians
By John B. Bury (Harvard Lectures)
Author of "The History of Greece," etc.
Cloth, 8vo. $2.25 net.
The Acropolis of Athens
By Martin L. D'Ooge University of Mich.
Cloth, 8vo. Illustrated. $4.00 net; by mail, $4.28.
Applied Mechanics for Engineers
A Text-Book for Engineering Students.
By E. L. Hancock Assistant Professor of
Applied Mechanics, Purdue University.
$2.00 net; by mail $2.13,
Artificial Waterways and
Commercial Development
By A. Barton Hepburn, LL.D.
Author of "The Contest for Sound Money."
Cloth, 8vo. $1.00 net; by mail, $1.06.
The Psychology of Singing
By David C. Taylor
Of unusual value and may mark the beginning of a
new epoch in vocal instruction." - The Nation.
Cloth, $1.50; by mail, $1.62.
Col. J. H. Patterson's illustrated stories of
The Man-Eaters of Tsavo
President Roosevelt has said that one of the most
remarkable books of adventure ever written is this
story of a running fight between railroad builders
and man-eating lions in Uganda.
New edition. $1.75 net; by mail, $1.87.
.
THE NEW MACMILLAN NOVELS.
The Three Brothers
By Eden Phillpotts author of
"The Secret Woman," " The American Prisoner,"
Children of the Mist," etc.
Cloth, $1.50.
One Immortality
By H. Fielding Hall
Author of The Inward Light.”
Cloth, $1.50.
Jimbo By Algernon Blackwood
A fantasy woven about a child; the sort of book that
grown-ups who know children enjoy.
In press.
The Straw
By Rina Ramsay
Alive with the swing and go of good sport in an
English hunting county.
Cloth, $1.50.
..
A NOTABLE BOOK OF DESCRIPTION.
Mr. F. Marion Crawford's
Southern Italy and Sicily
is the fullest, most tangible, and vivid description of
the region about Messina obtainable; among its
many illustrations are scenes in all parts of the
shaken district. Cloth, $2.50 net; by mail, $2.72.
The Cyclopedia of American Agriculture
edited by L. H. Bailey, of Cornell University, Editor of "Cyclopedia of American Horticulture," chairman of the
Commission on Country Life, is completed by the issue of the fourth volume, soon to appear.
1. Farms, Climates, Soils, etc.
III. Farm Animals, Farm Products
II. Farm Crops (individually in detail) IV. The Farm and the Community
Complete in four 4to volumes, the set $20 in cloth, half morocco $32.
PUBLISHED
BY
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
64-66 Fifth Ave.,
NEW YORK


THE DIAL
A Semi-Monthly Journal of Literary Criticism, Discussion, and Information.
PAGE
.
THE DIAL (founded in 1880) is published on the 1st and 16th of
each month. TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION, 82. a year in advance, postage
A LIBRARY SUGGESTION.
prepaid in the United States, and Merico; Foreign and Canadian
postage 50 cents per year extra. REMITTANCES should be by check, or
The chief factor in recent library develop-
by erpress or postal order, payable to THE DIAL COMPANY.
Unless otherwise ordered, subscriptions will begin with the current ment, viewed from the standpoint of material
number.
When no direct request to discontinue at expiration of sub-
scription is received, it is assumed that a continuance of the subscription equipment and the extension of facilities for
is desired. ADVERTISING RATES furnished on application. All com-
reading, is undoubtedly that provided by the
munications should be addressed to
THE DIAL, Fine Arts Building, Chicago. unexampled benefactions of Mr. Carnegie. Like
Entered as Second-Class Matter October 8, 1892, at the Post Office all good works, this particularly good work has
at Chicago, Illinois, under Act of March 3, 1879.
been met in some quarters with grudging accept-
No. 543. FEBRUARY 1, 1909.
ance and ill-natured criticism, but its positive
Vol. XLVI.
beneficence is not to be minimized merely be-
CONTENTS.
cause some captious people think the money
might have been put to better uses, or because
A LIBRARY SUGGESTION.
69
some penurious communities resent the condi-
GLEANINGS FROM THE LIBRARY PRESS OF
1908. Aksel G. S. Josephson .
tion of maintenance wisely attached to Mr.
71
AMERICAN LIBRARIES THROUGH AN ENG-
Carnegie's gift of library buildings. Those who
LISH MONOCLE
73 take exception to the largess thus generously
CASUAL COMMENT
74
bestowed usually do so upon one or the other of
The classifying instinct. The Public Library of the above grounds, and their fault-finding, while
the District of Columbia. The new head of Har-
it may properly take the form of an occasional
vard. - The joys of an amateur librarian. — The
new historian of Rome. — Poetry and business. —
pleasant jest, should excite only indignation
Robert Burton's bequest of books. — The hunger when it is put forward in the form of serious
for books in the country. - A memorial to Lincoln.
reproof.
- Europe's ignorance of America.
COMMUNICATIONS
The objection of the sentimentalist, to whom
76
“ Ido” and “ Pigeon English.” 0. H. Mayer.
any benefaction that is not a charity is rela-
Esperanto and " Ido." Eugene F. McPike.
tively ill-advised, may be the product of a warm
THE LADY OF HOLLAND HOUSE. Anna heart but is not the conclusion of a clear intelli-
Benneson McMahan
77
gence. The fundamental principle of all wisely-
MOLIÈRE IN ENGLISH VERSE. H. C. Chatfield- directed effort to improve social conditions and
Taylor
78
provide real benefits to mankind is that consid-
THE IRELAND OF TO-DAY. Ellen FitzGerald 80
eration for the future is more important than
CONCLUSION OF THE SCHURZ REMINIS-
CENCES. W. H. Johnson
82
concern for the present. Charities we must
RECENT FICTION. William Morton Payne
84
have, and do have in abundance ; most people,
Mallock's An Immortal Soul. - Ollivant's The in fact, who conjoin wealth with philanthropic
Gentleman. - Wells's The War in the Air. - Par-
purpose, first turn their thoughts toward soup-
tridge's The Distributors. — Masefield's Captain
kitchens and hospitals and asylums. The
Margaret. --- Watson's The Devil's Pulpit. — Mrs.
Thurston's The Fly on the Wheel. Dolf appeal of suffering humanity is so urgent that
Wyllarde's” Rose-White Youth. Miss Mon-
comparatively few philanthropists can resist it,
tague's In Calvert's Valley. — Miss Murfree's The
Fair Mississippian. - Payson's Barry Gordon. –
and devote their gifts to the removal of the
Cable's Kincaid's Battery.
underlying causes of present misery. With this
BRIEFS ON NEW BOOKS
87 emotional bias so widely prevalent, charity is
Evidences of life on the red planet. - Ian Maclaren
at all times sure of getting even a larger share
portrayed by a fellow Scotsman. — President Eliot
on University administration. — The latest hero of
than it should of the total of wealth that is avail.
the nations. — The origin and growth of American able for the amelioration of the conditions of
polity. A reader's vade-mecum.-Sixteenth cen-
existence. It takes both foresight and resolu-
tury French portraits. — A Shelley translation from
Plato.
tion to apply to the processes of gradual regen-
NOTES
90 eration the means whereby many immediate
TOPICS IN LEADING PERIODICALS
91 needs might be speedily relieved. And yet
LIST OF NEW BOOKS
91 | nothing is more certain than the fact that direct
66
>
.
-


70
[Feb. 1,
THE DIAL
into a
>
charity accomplishes little for the future, and directions. Most of the books that go
that it tends to magnify the very evils which it library of moderate size are fairly popular pub-
would diminish. On the other hand, increased lications, or publications of recognized standing,
provision for education (and the library is second that may very well be left to make their own
in importance only to the school as a means of way. On the other hand, there are many works
education) is a sure means of helping the com- of high character that are too narrow in their
ing generation to a better footing than the appeal to belong to the average public library
present generation occupies, and the judgment on any terms. But besides the books of these
that makes it is of all judgments the best- two kinds there are others occupying a sort of
considered.
intellectual borderland between popular writing
Glancing at the other of the two chief criti- and the literature of specialism, that find the
cisms of Mr. Carnegie's library gifts, it is easy struggle for existence difficult, and that would
to see that, just as no individual likes to have bc mightily encouraged by a plan that should
his philanthropies forced, there are sure to be seek them out, give them a helping hand, and
many communities that will receive grudgingly lift them just above the margin of commercial
a gift to which is attached the condition of a possibility. Books of this kind, that have
continuing contribution on their own part. The somehow failed to get adequate attention from
community that adopts the farà da se attitude, reviewers, and yet are highly meritorious, and
and courteously declines the offered gift, may would prove their usefulness in the small library,
have our respect, but hardly the community that exist in considerable numbers, and it would be
accepts it, and then grumbles about the new tax a praiseworthy act to make some sort of system-
which it imposes. The acceptance, if made at
.
atic provision for putting them within the reach
all, should be made in good faith, and include of more readers than they are likely to attract
an acceptance of the responsibility ; indeed, a by their own unaided merits.
gift that does not bring with it a responsibility To put the case a little more concretely, let
is not likely to accomplish a useful purpose in us assume that Mr. Carnegie has a thousand
any direction, philanthropic or other. Hence we public libraries in full operation. Let us then
think that Mr. Carnegie's condition is as wise as suppose that he entrust to a committee of ex-
his primary aim of supplying the multitude with perts the duty of examining the current literary
good reading ; and if the possession of one of his output, and of recommending, from time to
library buildings puts a little moral pressure time, such books as are found to be notable for
upon the town that gets it, the pressure is of the sound workmanship and educational value, but
right sort and in the right direction. Com- which, for some reason or other, do not seem
munities, no less than the individual members to be getting the support which they deserve.
of which they are composed, are apt to be made Books answering to this description are all the
the better by the spur of a little compulsion. time making their modest début, finding a few
This principle, which is the foundation of our appreciative readers, and then disappearing from
political existence, always makes for stability of view without reaching more than a small part
character and aim. It is always the part of
It is always the part of of what should be their real public. It is acci-
wisdom to guard against temporary inclinations dent or caprice (to say nothing of advertising)
and the impulses of the moment.
that largely determines the popularity of a book.
We did not, however, start out with the in- Of two biographies, the one sincere and pains-
tention of making an elaborate defence of the taking, the other careless and sensational, the
Carnegie libraries, which may well give mute latter will have the satisfactory sale. Of two
but eloquent testimony for themselves, needing histories, the one scholarly and the other flashy,
no apologist. What we really had in mind was the former will not be the popular favorite. Of
a suggestion concerning the books that go into two collections of
essays,
the one frothy and the
them. It is, in brief, that the donor should other clarified, the latter will suffer neglect.
supplement his gift of buildings by occasional | Of two volumes of verse, the one slangy or
gifts of books that are worthy of being placed sentimental, the other expressing high ideals of
in the collections, and that would otherwise not beauty and conduct, the latter will not find
be likely to be added to many of them. The enough purchasers to cover the cost of its man-
purpose of such gifts should be not so much ufacture.
ufacture. Now our suggestion is that in each
that of swelling the ranks on the shelves as of these typical cases, and in other similar cases,
of encouraging authorship in certain needed our supposed committee should discover the


1909.]
71
THE DIAL
3
deserving book - the literary Cinderella -
GLEANINGS FROM THE LIBRARY
recommend it for purchase, and that straight-
PRESS OF 1908.*
way an order for a thousand copies, one for
each of the thousand libraries, should go to the The most significant change in the character of
publisher.
the professional library press during the past few
The sale of a thousand copies more or less is
years, at least in England and America, is the par-
a trifling matter for the novel of the hour, but ticular emphasis laid on questions of Extension, -
it is a matter of life and death for many a good give the library its proper place in the community,
a
how to reach the various classes of readers, how to
book. Moreover, the cachet given a book by
and the relegation to the background of the more
thus singling it out for approval would further
technical questions of cataloguing and classification,
advance its fortunes. Approved by the
the disappearance even of the minutiæ of library
Carnegie Committee” might come to mean in technique, the renewed emphasis on the book itself.
this country what “Crowned by the Academy" (See in this connection Mr. Koopman's articles in
means in France ; no guaranty, perhaps, of any Public Libraries": " Lest We Forget, in the Mul-
very large demand, but certainly the stamp of a titude of Books, the Few Great Books.") The
distinction that would be highly prized. The question of open access to the shelves, once vehe-
system might profitably be extended to manu- mently discussed on both sides of the Atlantic, is
scripts, since the sale of a thousand copies the subject of only four papers, two American and
secured in advance, with the knowledge of
two English, none of them particularly significant.
their distribution to a thousand libraries, would
The fiction problem, though the subject of only two
or three
papers, still attracts, and the last word has
insure the printing of almost any kind of a
manuscript that might otherwise have to go oft met hildren. d. L. the same is true of the problem
, which
begging for a publisher. The successful working gated to its proper dimensions. Cooperation in
.
of the plan which we have proposed would, of cataloguing having been solved, at least in America
course, depend upon the good judgment of the and Germany, the larger question of inter-library
committee entrusted with the delicate task of loans enters the field again. The interest in for-
selection, and upon the authority with which it eign affairs is reasonably lively in this country and
could appeal to the public. Probably the safest
in Germany, while England takes on the role of
course that could be taken would be to place
greater self-satisfaction, which is shown in the few
the whole matter in the hands of the National
cases where American conditions are incidentally
Institute of Arts and Letters, with full power
to examine and award.
The following survey of the main articles in two American
library periodicals (“Library Journal” and “Public Libraries"),
The cost of putting this plan into effect would two English (“Library Association Record"and Library World”),
and two German (“Zentralblatt für Bibliothekswesen " and
not be great. In comparison with Mr. Car- “Blätter für Volksbibliotheken und Lesehallen"), during the
negie's huge expenditures for library buildings,
past year brings out some interesting matters about the tenden-
cies and activities in the library field of the three countries.
it would be inconsiderable. Fifty thousand
Questions of Administration (including such questions as
dollars a year applied to this purpose would
Open Shelves, Specialization, Circulation, as well as the sub-
ject of Buildings). L.J.:15-P.L.:7-L.A.R.: 5-L.W.:7-
enrich neither publisher nor author beyond the Z. f. B.: 6-B. f. V.: 2-
Extension, Relation to readers and to public bodies, Co-
dreams of avarice, but it would provide for the
operation with other institutions as well as with other libraries,
publication or the encouragement of perhaps work with children. L.J.: 25 -- P.L.: 18 – L. A.R.: 5-2. f. B.:
fifty volumes of good literature upon conditions
Special classes of libraries (and Special Collections). L.J.:
that would at least protect the former from loss
3-P.L.: 2-L. A. R.: 3-Z. f. B.: 3-B. 1. V.: 2-
Historical features (including Descriptions of individual
and cheer the heart of the latter in better than
touched upon.
3-
libraries and Biographical sketches). L. J.: 8- P. L.: 2 -
pecuniary fashion. It would also add fifty books
Book selection and collecting (including Relations with the
to the shelves of every library in the Carnegie book trade and the Fiction question.
L.A.R.: 3-L. W.: 5-Z. f. B.:1- B. f.V.:6–
system ; and they would be books profitable for
Books and author's (literary articles). P. L.: 3- B. f. V.: 5-
instruction and the elevation of taste. Objectors Bibliography and Cataloguing. L.J.: 6-P.L.: 2-L.A.R.:
3-L.W.: 7-Z. f. B.: 10-B.f. V.:1-
will doubtless urge that our suggestion is too Classification. L.J.: 2-L.W.:1-B. f. V.:1-
artificial and academic, to which we can reply
Manuscripts and paleography. L.J.:1 (a translation) –
Z.1. B.: 5-
only by saying that we believe in the academic Printing (history). Z.1. B: 3-
Physical aspect of the Book (paper, binding). P.L.:1-
idea (despite its “ forty-first chairs” and other
L.A.R.: 3-Z. f.B.: 2--
miscalculations), and that the policy of encourag-
Library profession and Staff questions. L.J.: 3- P.L.:
ing good work' by artificial stimuli has on the
Instruction and training. L.J.: 3-P.L.: 3-L. A.R.:2-
whole thoroughly justified itself in the annals L. W.:1-B.1.V.: 2 -
Foreign library affairs. L. J.: 10-P.L.: 3-L. W.: 3-
of mankind.
Z.f. B.: 5-B.1. V.:1-
L.A.R.:2-L, W.: 9-Z. f. B.: 4-B.I.V.:1-
L. J.: 8-P. L.: 2-
>
1- L.A.R.: 2-L. W.: 5-


72
[Feb. 1,
THE DIAL
a
are
6
66
66
>
as
cusses
Turning now to the individual articles, we find, for recreative reading, and the books should be
naturally enough, the most significant to be those arranged on the shelves so as to help them to select
dealing with extension of the work and influence of that which suits their taste. In fiction the reader
the library. Easily first in importance under this is led in his choice “ by temperament rather than
head is Professor L. H. Bailey's address at the by intellect. The tastes are as a rule permanent.”
Lake George meeting, — “Library Work for Rural And the author goes on to cite several instances
Communities ” (L. J., Oct.). Here are new prob- of highly cultivated men and women, by no means
lems presented in a forceful and attractive way,
and
adverse to “heavy” reading even outside of their
the work of libraries put in relation with the whole professional work, but who, when choosing books
movement to improve rural conditions. The partic- for recreation, select writers of a decidedly light
ular message of Professor Bailey we find in the
character. “ And if a poor seamstress or a down-
statement that while “ to a large extent the effect trodden saleswoman asks for books of the Heimburg
of library work is to cause persons to read for en- and Schobert kind for her lonely, tired evenings, let
tertainment,” the needs of the countrymar her have them to the end of her days.” “I have
different. He is, consciously or not, a fatalist. “His never,” he says, “thought much of the education of
work is largely in the presence of the elemental readers to higher things.'” Reviews of books
'
forces of nature." This develops in him either “a suitable for popular reading have always been a
complacent and joyful resignation” or “a species special feature of Blätter für Volksbibliotheken.”
a
“
of rebellion which leads to a hopeless and pes- Each issue contains a number of notices of current
simistic outlook on life.” “The countryman, books, both fiction and others, short and to the point,
therefore, “needs to read for courage.” It is sig- enabling one to see at a glance the character and
nificant that the rural problem has been touched in point of view of each. Besides this regular depart-
England also, in the address before the Library ment, most issues contain special articles about
Association at Brighton by its President, Mr. C. well-known writers, estimating especially their work,
Thomas-Stanford (L. A. R., Sept.). To make “Volksschriftsteller.” Among the writers dis-
country life attractive to men and women "emanci- cussed during the past year we find Gottfried Keller,
pated by education from the ascriptio glebe which Heinrich Steinhausen, and Karl Emil Franzos.
was the lot of their fathers,” is one of the great Mr. Ernest E. Savage, in a paper read at a
problems of the day, and one way to meet it is to monthly meeting of the Library Association, dis-
increase among them the opportunities for reading.
“ Some Difficulties in the Selection of Scien-
A further extension of the possibilities for use- tific and Technical Books” (L. A. R., Ap.). He
fulness of libraries has been effected in England deprecates the lack of competent guides to the best
through the cooperation of the Library Association books. He seems rather too much given to the cult
with the National Home Reading Union, an organ-
of the books “hot from the press,” and presents
ization of somewhat the same character as the incidentally his compliments to the “A. L. A. Book-
Chautauqua Reading Circles. The October “Li-
.
List,” which he finds to contain chiefly "evaluative
brary Association Record ” contains a statement of gush.” Criticism of American methods is found in
the new developments of the Union, including the another paper in the “Library Association Record”
“
agreement between it and the Library Association. for June, by Mr. James D. Stewart, on “ The Cult
A feature of this cooperation is the publication of of the Child and Common Sense.” Mr. Stewart
a “ Readers' Review” issued by the two bodies,
opposes the introduction of exaggerated work with
through which the readers in public libraries receive children from American to British libraries; the
guidance in the choice of books and subjects for story hour especially he thinks should be avoided.
reading
“The library is primarily for the adult and second-
Closely related to these phases of library extension arily for the juvenile, and if this is kept in mind the
,
are the questions of how to select the most suitable efficiency of the institution will gain, and much money
books for the public library and how to arrange
and energy will be saved.” Mr. Stewart quotes with
them. The classification of fiction is not a new approval from the report of the Examining Committee
matter in this country, or in England; but it would
of the Boston Public Library, which, he says, "pos-
seem that the article by Professor C. Lausberg of sesses one of the most sanely managed children's
Düsseldorf, on “ Die Gliederung der schöngeistigen departments.” It is interesting to find, in the April
Literatur ”* (B. f. V. July-Aug. and Sept.-Oct.), is “Library Journal,” a paper by a former chairman of
the first serious discussion of the subject in the
the subcommittee on branches of the Boston com-
German professional press. The librarian of the
The librarian of the mittee, Miss Caroline Matthews, on “The Growing
Düsseldorf Volksbibliothek has convictions of his Tendency to Over-Emphasize the Children's Side,"
own on the subject, and his articles are directed in which the writer says: “Nothing has astonished
against adverse criticisms of the system used in the me more than this new development in library prac-
library of which he has charge. He claims that in
tice — the placing of the child in importance before
a popular library the borrowers are looking chiefly
the adult." As chairman of the subcommittee on
branches, Miss Matthews has especial opportunity to
* Issued in separate form by 0. Harrassowitz in Leipzig
together with another article: Allerlei Gedanken über das
study the children's rooms and the work with children
Bibliothekswesen."
generally. She sums the matter up in this sentence:
"
6.


1909.]
73
THE DIAL
a
as
a
as well.
66
“I grew to have a horror of children's rooms dormant in this country, was revived by Mr. W. C.
distinct from children's departments. Intellectually, Lane in his address at the dedication of the new
physically, morally, I believe them harmful. Neither library building of Oberlin College, the concluding
can I see their necessity."
portion of which was printed in the December
If tendencies are apparent to relegate the work Library Journal” under the title: 6 A Central
with children to a less prominent place, the needs Bureau of Information and Loan Collection for
of the workingmen and the industrial classes in College Libraries." It is a carefully worked out
general are receiving more attention. It is evi- plan for the organization of a central office or agency
denced, however, by the articles on this subject that for loans between libraries, which gradually should
appeared in the March “ Public Libraries," that collect a library of such works, chiefly long sets of
American librarians here stand before a problem serials and other expensive works, as are not avail-
that is new to many, and one which they do not able for loan through other libraries.
quite understand. Mr. Sam Walter Foss hits the
AKSEL G. S. JOSEPHSON.
nail on the head when he says that “we are not
keeping step in this country to the new industrial
music as are some of the European nations." His
suggestion that the library " mix a little masculinity | AMERICAN LIBRARIES THROUGH AN
in its over-feminized collections ” is to the point, and
ENGLISH MONOCLE.
might be made to cover methods and surroundings
English and American library efficiency is a sub-
While the journals whose contents have hitherto | ject for good-tempered and helpful, and also for
passed in review discuss mainly the questions of acrimonious and futile, debate. By a well-known
everyday life in public libraries, the case is different weakness of human nature, a weakness rather comi-
with “ Zentralblatt für Bibliothekswesen." This cal than tragic, our own virtues loom large, and our
journal caters to the workers in the large libraries, neighbor's vices even larger. The January number
or at least to those of scholarly character. The of The Library World” (London) opens with a
problems under discussion are therefore to some carefully studied and highly readable editorial com-
extent, though not altogether, different. The ques- parison of “European and American Libraries,”
tion of local collections, for instance, which was dealing especially with libraries in England and the
presented by Dr. Keysser of Cologne at last year's United States. The recognized fact that library
meeting of the German librarians, is of interest to workers are better paid in this country than abroad
the workers in any public library, and Dr. Keysser's is made much of to demonstrate the greater cost of
paper should be read with profit by them. He is per capita service here. It is true that, like all new
particularly competent to speak on the matter, as countries, America has incurred the charge of lavish-
the City Library of Cologne not only makes par ness and waste, and our library economy may not be
ticular effort to collect books of local character, but the strictest economy in one sense of the word. We
is of a group of libraries along the middle course may, too, fail to adopt some of our English cousins'
of the Rhine which have joined together for the library methods and reforms that are richly deserv-
collecting of printed matter relating to their common ing of adoption. But are we quite so blind and
district. Besides the proceedings at the annual foolish, so arrogant and ignorant, as this English
conference of German librarians, this journal con- editor seems to think? Possibly he has indulged the
tains the papers read at the library section of the literary artist's fondness for rhetorical effect, while
eighth International Historical Congress in Berlin. cherishing none but the most cordial and friendly and
The general subject for deliberation at the section admiring sentiments toward us. At any rate, here
was Cooperation, - union catalogues, inter-library are a few of his most picturesque utterances :
loans, and the like. Dr. R. Fick, the head of the matter of fact, what ails the average American library
Bureau of Information of the Prussian Union Cat- invalid is simply indigestion, caused by lack of active
alogue, Dr. F. Eichler in Graz, and Dr. H. Escher employment, and having emoluments large enough to
in Zürich, reported, respectively, on the work in enable him (her more often) to eat pumpkin pie,
Prussia, Austria, and Switzerland. Dr. Aksel clams, baked beans and canvas-back duck all the
year
Andersson of Upsala presented, after a survey of round! The enormous sums frittered away in Amer-
the present situation in matters of inter-library ica on unproductive and useless library activities'
loans, a resolution, which was adopted by the section have no parallel in Europe, where common-sense
for presentation to the International Association of takes the place of hysteria in such matters, for
Academies, which organization has lent its powerful example, as the treatment of children. The
aid to the development of direct relations between mingled bounce and twaddle which garnish the aver-
the libraries of Europe. The resolution expressed age American library report prove somewhat comical
the appreciation of the section for the efforts of the reading to those who really know what library
Association, and presented some desiderata tending conditions are in various parts of the world. . .
to a further simplification of the direct lending of Thus we may have the report of the “superintendent
“
books from library to library. The question of of the page's brass buttons '; the statement of the
inter-library loans, which for some time has been marble polisher; the special report of the torn leaf
one
6 As a
6
.


74
[Feb. 1,
THE DIAL
a
department; the statistical abstract of the steno- faculty is seriously considering either the omission of
graphic department, and all the empty and costly all cataloguing from the general course in 1909 and
parade which distinguishes these preposterous docu-
offering it as a special elective course covering about
ments. . . . In library matters American ideals are
four weeks, or a considerable reduction in the time and
work given to the subject. So many of those who come
decidedly stale. Her methods were more or less
to a summer session are from libraries too small to find
standardized between 1878 and 1888, and since then
use for any catalogue at all, or at least too small for
not an atom of progress has been made save in the
any but the briefest author and title list, or they fill
piling up of immense revenues and the establishment
positions which never have demanded and probably
of unnecessary staffs which have to attempt to justify never will permit any or much experience in catalogu-
their existence by launching out into equally need. ing. The omission of this subject from the required
less and futile.missionary enterprises." Not an work of the summer session will give a very welcome
atom of progress! Far less, then, a molecule; and
increase of leisure time which may be devoted with
some of us thought we had crept forward a good inch, profit to book selection, personal work with readers, the
if not half a foot. The article from which the fore-
actual study of the inside of the books themselves, and
the larger phases of library administration which are
going excerpts are taken honors THE DIAL, among
related to the community which it serves.” The pro-
other American journals, with special mention; but
posed change is commendable. Almost any course of
the charge that certain statements of ours “ are not mental training might profit the would-be librarian (so
only written with a most lofty sense of American miscellaneous will be the demands made on his intelli-
superiority, but are manifestly based on ignorance gence) as long as it does not pourish in him (and in
of library conditions in Europe," seems a little harsh. her) the notion that mankind in general and library-
It is true that in a recent issue we quoted Professor
users in particular are machines, and that the whole
Mahaffy's commendation of our “finely systematized world, especially the library world, is wound up once
for all and runs like clock-work.
and organized libraries "; but he is a Briton, and we
were too proud of his good opinion to keep silent.
THE PUBLIC LIBRARY OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
And we have occasionally alluded to a certain dis-
inclination to cut loose from red tape as noted in
is so much younger, so much smaller, and so much less
important in every way than the Library of Congress in
some of the great royal or imperial libraries of
the same city, that few even of those interested in such
Europe. On the other hand, we not long ago (see things are fully aware how large and excellent a library
vol. 42, p. 214) commented adversely on our own it really is. The Librarian's Tenth Annual Report gives
libraries' inferior efficiency as compared with a the last year's circulation as over half a million, and tells
certain German public library, and were called to in detail what is being done and being planned to increase
account for it in this country; and we also (see
still further the library's usefulness. A matter of general
vol. 43, p. 198) took pleasure in chronicling the
interest is touched upon in the following: “It is gratify-
convention of British librarians at Glasgow, with
ing to be able to report that the percentage of fiction
circulated has been further reduced. In 1903-4, when
approving comment on the unselfish devotion of
British library workers, and regretful note of their
no books except fiction were on open shelves for direct
access, fiction formed nearly 84 per cent of the total
inadequate remuneration. We were not consciously circulation. Gradually during the last four years more
writing in a spirit of loftiness, condescension, or and more books from non-fiction classes have been put
ignorance; but who can understand his errors? We on open shelves, and more and more help and guidance
are glad to be cleansed of some of our secret faults. has been given to readers requiring assistance, with the
result
that the fiction percentage has been reduced to
65. The new Useful Arts and Science room is an open-
shelf room, where those classes are directly accessible
CASUAL COMMENT.
to readers. . . . In spite of too frequent thefts from
open shelves, the value of putting the people in direct
THE CLASSIFYING INSTINCT is in some degree present contact with the books, instead of forcing their approach
in all of us. We feel that if we can only get the heter- through a card catalogue, is so well attested by the grad-
ogeneous and confusing objects and facts and events of ually falling fiction percentage as to justify the recom-
this bewildering world divided into classes and sub- mendation still further to extend open-shelf facilities
classes, all neatly labelled and pigeon-holed, they will until it is possible to have the cream of all classes of the
give us no further trouble. To systematize the uni- library directly accessible to readers.” A life-like por-
verse is to explain it, we are tempted to believe. This trait of the late A. R. Spofford, who served for eleven
mania for classification, for making everything fit into years on the library's board of trustees, and views,
a catalogue (preferably decimal in its scheme of divi- exterior and interior, of the handsome library building
sion), is very naturally, and not altogether improperly, adorn this variously-informing Report, which of course
encouraged in the training of librarians. “It has for bears the imprint of the Government Printing Office.
so long been supposed," writes Director Wyer of the
New York State Library, in his current Report, “ that THE NEW HEAD OF HARVARD, chosen to succeed
cataloguing is the backbone of effective library admin- President Eliot next May, is a man already favorably
istration, that this subject always looms far larger than known in education, as well as in letters and in law.
any other in the program of either a summer or a winter Professor Abbott Lawrence Lowell is the son of
school. In the former case, however, the excessive Augustus Lowell, cotton manufacturer, shrewd Boston
time given to cataloguing seems to be at the expense of business man, and honored founder of the Lowell
the more inspirational features of the work, and the Institute. Born December 13, 1856, Professor Lowell
1


1909.]
75
THE DIAL
a
man.
as a
a
has hardly more than begun his sixth decade, but has THE NEW HISTORIAN OF ROME, Signor Guglielmo
had ample opportunity to display his initiative and force Ferrero, who has made so favorable an impression as
as an educator, both in a term of service on the Boston lecturer and scholar in his visit to this country, and
school board and as Eaton Professor of the Science of whose history of « The Greatness and Decline of Rome"
Government at Harvard. With a successful law prac- is received with such approval, is a comparatively young
tice behind him, and known as the author of a two-
Born near Naples in 1871, the son of a Pied-
volume work on governments and parties in continental montese railway engineer, he studied law at Pisa and
Europe, he accepted a call from his alma mater twelve belles-lettres at Bologna, where he received his academic
years ago and began there his lectures on government degree. He early began his travels and entered upon
which have become so popular with his large classes of those studies of foreign countries and foreign manners
students. His success as lecturer and teacher has been that bore fruit in his “ Young Europe,” a collection of
attributed “not only to his thorough grasp of the sub- observations made in Germany, Russia, England, and
ject and to his complete confidence in it as a field of Scandinavia. The book was immediately successful
study, but to his unfailing self-control in the class-room, and called forth many solicitations from Italian and
his mastery of the art of speaking fluently yet with foreign periodicals for contributions from its author's
dignity; above all, perhaps, to the wealth of apt illustra- pen. A leading Milan journal engaged him to write a
tion and illustrative anecdote which he has at ready weekly article, and the Lombard Peace Society invited
command.” His reputation as a scholar and writer in him to deliver a course of lectures on militarism, which
his chosen field has lately been increased by the publi- were widely discussed. It was in 1902 that the first
cation of still another learned and illuminative work, volume of his great work now in course of publication
“ The Government of England," a book worthy to stand appeared. In person our distinguished visitor is tall
beside Mr. Bryce's “ American Commonwealth” and thin and ascetic, but with an imperious bearing that
foreigner's lucid exposition of a great country's polity marks him as not exactly the midnight-oil-burning
in theory and practice. Professor Lowell's administra- recluse which his depth of learning may have led us to
tive ability has conspicuously attested itself in these expect. With the best years of his life still ahead of
active and fruitful years at Cambridge, so that there is him, Signor Ferrero will disappoint us if he does not go
every reason to feel confidence in his wise and progres- far before he finishes.
sive management of the great institution committed to
POETRY AND BUSINESS mix about as well as oil and
his charge.
vinegar. Nevertheless there is here and there a busi-
THE JOYS OF AN AMATEUR LIBRARIAN are enlarged ness man who is fond of poetry, and, still more rarely,
upon by a writer in the December “ Bulletin of the there may be found one who makes poetry of his busi-
Vermont Library Commission.” She chooses to call ness, which is a very different thing from making a
herself an amateur, but is one only in the best sense of business of poetry. The Marblehead seedsman whose
the word, - an enthusiastic devotee of her calling. annual catalogue we have already twice noticed with
Before being drawn into the work, suddenly and com-
approval again greets his seed-planting, vegetable-
pellingly, she confesses herself to have been “ like many raising, and flower-cultivating patrons with a yearly
others on the outside who felt that library work was
schedule of good things in embryonic plant-life, – that
simple, was work in a straight line, more or less me- is, with his annual “ Vegetable and Flower Seed Cata-
chanical, and just with a daily routine to meet." But logue, Free for All.” It is a most welcome and cheer-
she soon, and to her increasing delight, discovered her ing reminder of the approach of spring, or rather of
mistake. “ There is,” she declares, “no limit for orig- summer, with its pictures of plethoric potatoes and
inality and adaptation of well-known library contrivances pumpkins, of bursting pea-pods and sleek-skinned to-
suggestions, and outlook is so broad and
, of daintilyfringed carnations and thickly-
be of vital interest to one engaged in it." In recount- senior partner's “Word to Old Friends," with its con-
ing some of her enjoyable experiences she says: “Great cluding poem entitled “At Eighty-One." Its four
pleasure comes with choosing new books, conferring stanzas are all good, especially the final one:
with the trustees, ordering and receiving them [i. e., the Happy the life that bears upon its wings
books, not the trustees]. In a large library where new All hope and joy, yet aims at higher things;
books are without novelty, though of great interest in
Takes from each passing hour its priceless share,
And scatter's Love's rich blessings everywhere.”
themselves, this joy is lost, and I am sorry for the peo-
ple who cannot have it, and thankful that my lot was in
To have preserved through the wear and tear of busi-
a bypath.” Only a desire for larger experience and for
ness, the spirit of this poem up to the age of four-score
the training that comes with working under veteran
and more, and to have breathed something of that
librarians induced the writer to exchange her happy
spirit even into one's business, is no small achievement
to look back upon.
lot for what finally proved to be a different sort of
employment in a great city; but she writes : “My in- ROBERT BURTON'S BEQUEST OF BOOKS to Christ
terest in library work is very vital, and the large libra- Church, Oxford, is now, after two hundred and sixty-
ries mean more, the small ones mean more, every nine years, duly catalogued and arranged. The author
bookstore means more, and every working girl means of “ The Anatomy of Melancholy,”. now not exactly
more than they would if I had never had my place a “ best seller," but named by Dr. Johnson as the only
among them.” Well for her, perhaps, that the ama- book that ever took him out of bed two hours before his
teur spirit did not have time to become transformed usual time, - studied both at Brazenose College and at
into the professional. When the amateur's zest has Christ Church, but it was at the latter that he may be
departed from one's calling, it is time to step out and said to have lived and died, holding his ecclesiastical
look around for another sphere of usefulness. When appointments by proxy.
To Christ Church and to the
we have thoroughly learned a trade, that is sometimes Bodleian Library he left his books — such as they did
the psychological moment for giving it up.
not already possess; and we infer that the college
a
road branches into So thang paths that it cand of red it the mastering verbenas - Buet best rofetion is the reciting
9
66


76
[Feb. 1,
THE DIAL
.
.
received the larger share. Burton, too, as we read, was
for a time librarian at Christ Church, which strengthened
COMMUNICATIONS.
his interest in its library. English officials are admit-
tedly slower than our own, and their library methods
are more deliberate. Nevertheless two centuries and a
“IDO” AND “PIGEON ENGLISH."
half seems a long time to take for cataloguing a small
(To the Editor of THE DIAL.)
collection of books; but if they comprise all the books
In suggesting, in a recent issue of your journal, that
quoted from in the “ Anatomy," the collection cannot be
the international language-makers turn their attention
so very small, after all. There is a rumor, we believe, to “ Pigeon English,” you overlook the fact that an
of a legacy or purchase of books from President John
international language should serve not merely for the
Adams that has been slumbering uncatalogued, and so primitive needs of travellers, but also for scientific inter-
practically non-existent, in the Boston Public Library
communications between the nations of western civiliza-
for half a century, more or less. At the end of another
tion. These nations have in the space of two thousand
two centuries perhaps it, too, will be available for use
years developed a common international vocabulary,
THE HUNGER FOR BOOKS IN THE COUNTRY, where
based in the main on Latin, and to some extent on Greek.
time hangs heavy and people go mad from pure ennui,
Even German and Russian possess this Romance vocab-
is evinced by the reported circulation of public library
ulary; but how much of it is to be found in the Saxon-
books in fifty-eight places of less than 500 population
Chinese jargon on which you wish to turn us loose ? A
each, in New York State. With an average population
Teutonic world-language, such as Mr. Molee proposes,
of 290 and an average book-supply of 48 volumes per
is impossible, for similar reasons. An international
capita, there was an average circulation of 6.5 volumes
language must be something more than inter-Teutonic.
to each inhabitant. To equal this creditable record, such
Moreover, the idea of having a union tongue between
representative city libraries as those of Utica and of New
English, German, Dutch, and Scandinavian speakers, to
York would have to increase their present circulation two
supplant their respective native idioms, is the direct
and one-half times. Their per capita supply of books,
opposite of the desire to have an auxiliary tongue, the
second for all nations.
too, falls very far short of forty-eight. These figures
are cited by the Maryland State Library Commission
Only the systems that are based on international roots
in its Report for 1908, the sixth year of its existence.
fulfil this condition; and among them Ido, the simplified
Maryland is still a very poor State in the matter of free
Esperanto, ranks by far the highest in regularity, sim-
libraries, and the results attained in the far larger and
plicity, logic, exactness, flexibility, and euphony. No
richer commonwealth, on which it may well cast eyes of
arguments of a personal character, such as those offered
envy, will not soon be achieved among its more scatter-
by a correspondent in one of your recent numbers, will
ing and less opulent population. But the Commission
prevent this fact from becoming more generally recog-
appears to be putting forth earnest efforts toward so
nized, as Ido becomes better known. The fittest must
desirable an end.
survive.
O. H. MAYER.
A MEMORIAL TO LINCOLN, which will have educative Chicago, January 20, 1909.
influence, has been proposed by the Lincoln Educational
League, an incorporated body with headquarters in
New York. Funds have been or are being raised for
ESPERANTO AND “IDO."
the purpose of placing in the schoolhouses of the coun-
try bronze tablets bearing as inscription the complete
(To the Editor of THE DIAL.)
text of Lincoln's Gettysburg address, that brief but In The Dial for Dec. 16, some remarks were made
almost perfect example of noble elegiac prose. Read by Mr. Julian Park, against the already consummated
and pondered by the school-going youth of the land, reform of Esperanto by the system called “ Ido.”
what might it not, by its daily though unobtrusive pres- Exactly why Mr. Park should wish to discourage
ence before the children's eyes, effect in the way of progress in that direction is not clear. He takes oc-
mental and spiritual uplift? Besides its noble thought, casion to say that a previous note by me was neither
it would set a standard of concise and dignified expres- consistent nor convincing. I beg leave to return the
sion, and would probably be of more value to the pupil, compliment, for Mr. Park himself admits that “ Ido"
first and last, than the irksome writing of a hundred has taken all that is good in Esperanto. Therefore,
themes or compositions. A more worthy method of inferentially and truly, -- the old Esperanto contains
marking this centennial year of one of the world's much that is bad, which, of course, does not appear in
greatest men could hardly be devised.
“ Ido.” The latter is the first and only international
language coming to us with the stamp of scholarship.
EUROPE'S IGNORANCE OF AMERICA has more than
It is not necessary to ascribe its authorship to the
once contributed to the gaiety of at least one nation
Marquis de Beaufront, who is not “a mere plagiarist,”
namely, our own. A German lady that we know of
as alleged by Mr. Park. I would like to ask any well-
took occasion to comment on the causes of our Civil
informed Esperantist where his “kara lingvo" would be
War by remarking: “Well, how could you expect the
to-day, were it not for the valuable propaganda work
North and South not to disagree, with nothing to con- performed for it, in France, during many years, by that
nect them but a narrow isthmus?” And now we find
same Marquis de Beaufront, who, however, is well able
a London weekly review printing a notice of Miss Mary to defend himself.
Johnston's “ Lewis Rand ” in which the reviewer sums
The quickest and best way to end the whole discus-
up his impression of the hero as “a kind of South
sion is to leave the final choice of an international lan-
American Bonaparte.” How many more intelligent
guage in the hands of the public, where, indeed, it must
persons are there across the Atlantic, we wonder, who
eventually rest.
conceive of Virginia, and what we in general call “the
EUGENE F. McPike.
South," as situated in South America ?
Chicago, January 22, 1909.
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1909.]
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The New Books.
much light upon this stirring time. The lady
of the manor is said to have prided herself on
her command of the English language ; but her
THE LADY OF HOLLAND HOUSE.* Journal, certainly, bears little evidence of pic-
Beautiful, clever, imperious, — these are the
turesqueness of phrase or even clearness of
adjectives repeatedly applied by her contem-
statement. Moreover, it requires about half
poraries to the hostess of Holland House, who
of Volume I. to reach the date (1797) when
the writer becomes Lady Holland. When the
for forty years presided there over a coterie of
the brightest and most distinguished men of her
record begins she is Lady Webster, and although
time. The glimpses we have had of this en-
only twenty years old has been already married
.
five years to a man more than twice her
age
and
gaging personality through the pages of Moore,
Rogers, and Macaulay lead to high expectation utterly uncongenial in every way. It is a pa-
thetic story, based on a perfunctory marriage
the lady herself speak through the pages of her arranged by parents, ending in desertion on the
wife's part and divorce sought and obtained on
own Journal.
We know what the guests thought of her -
the husband's. At the age of twenty-two, Lady
Webster writes :
this third Lady Holland — in her best moods
and in her worst, when everything was to her
“ This fatal day seven years gave me, in the bloom
and innocence of fifteen, to the power of a being who
mind or when her dinner-party went badly – has made me execrate my life since it has belonged to
as dinner-parties will at times, even with great him. Despair often prompts me to a remedy within
ladies. We have been charmed with Macaulay's my reach. . ; . Nature is assisted to relieve us in our
picture of that wonderful drawing-room, in all
diseases — why not terminate those of the mind ? My
mind is worked up to a state of savage exaltation, and
its stately grandeur, where “the last debate was
impels me to act with fury that proceeds more from
discussed in one corner and the last comedy of passion and deep despair than I can in calmer moments
Scribe in another ; while Wilkie gazed with justify. Oftentimes in the gloom of midnight I feel a
modest admiration on Sir Joshua's Baretti ;
desire to curtail my grief, and but for an unaccountable
while Mackintosh turned over Thomas Aquinas
shudder that creeps over me, ere this the deed of rash-
ness would be executed.”
to verify a quotation ; while Talleyrand related
his conversations with Barras at the Luxem-
My tormentor” is her usual form of allusion
bourg, or his ride with Lannes over the field of fitting one it is, judging from the sacrifices
to the man whose name she bore; and a most
Austerlitz." What revelations, then, may we
she continually made to keep him in passable
not expect when we are invited to another and
more confidential view? Shall we not learn had, the husband makes himself comfortable in
humor. In travelling, if but one bed is to be
what the hostess thought of her guests, as well
as what the guests thought of the hostess ? Shall
that, while the wife sleeps on the floor and the
we not gain more minute details of this brilliant palace at Florence where English habits have
maid in the carriage outside. Settling in a
circle where every art and science was hospit- not been provided for, and there are but three
ably entertained and given a hearing ?
But alas! the Journal ends in 1811, thirty
rooms with fireplaces, she goes without, while
my tormentor has one, the nursery and sitting
years before the time of which Macaulay wrote;
room the others.'
and consequently not one of the poets, essayists,
or wits of his time whose portraits we had hoped of this ill-assorted pair was spent abroad, in
Most of the eleven years of the married life
to behold is even mentioned in its pages.
This
France and Italy. Naturally, the lady writes
is the first great disappointment of the book.
a good deal about the places she visits, the
The second great disappointment is like unto
the first, though not of equal extent. In these
works of art she sees, etc. But her descriptions
two volumes of about three hundred pages each,
and reflections are not more valuable or signifi-
cant than the opinions of the average young
the political is almost as lacking as the literary
interest. We do indeed find many allusions to
woman in the early twenties, and it seems a pity
men and events during the years when Holland
and something of an injustice to publish them in
House was the rallying place for the Whig foreign lands by much travel. Nevertheless, our
this day of eyes trained for art and familiar with
rebels, but all in so rambling and indefinite a
manner that the Journal cannot be said to throw sympathies are all with the young woman when,
at the age of twenty-six, a divorce is granted,
• THE JOURNAL OF ELIZABETH LADY HOLLAND (1791-1811). with the custody of her children denied.
Edited by the Earl of Ilchester. In two volumes. Illustrated.
But the misery of this first experience of
66
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marriage seems to have been more than com- of drawing out her guests. Conversation never
pensated by the happiness of the second, when flagged at her table, and however diverse were
she became the wife of Henry Richard, third the sentiments of those who met under her roof,
Earl of Holland. If anything more were needed they felt that they were there able to fraternize
to add to our admiration of this delightful gen- on neutral ground."
tleman and distinguished statesman, we should • Two charming pictures of Lady Holland,
have it here, in the adoring wife's Journal. copied from paintings made while she was still
• Imperious ” as she is said to have been, espe- in her youthful grace and beauty, are given in
cially in her later years, there are few signs the first volume. They aid us to realize some-
of it in her Journal, and never in her do- what of her personal fascination, which, combined
mestic relations. She seems to have been a with “ as warm a heart as ever beat in woman's
tender mother to the ten children of her two breast," perhaps furnishes a clue to the charm
marriages.
that gave Holland House its reputation and still
Possibly it is unfair, when offered a peep at a surrounds it with a distinction shared by few
lady's Journal a century after it is written, to other houses on English soil.
complain because it fails to fill certain gaps
ANNA BENNESON MCMAHAN.
which, reasonably or unreasonably, the modern
reader would like to see filled. And although
lacking indeed in the ways we have suggested, -
being too diffuse at the beginning and too cur-
MOLIÈRE IN ENGLISH VERSE.*
tailed at the end, there is now and then a bit
Learning from the title-page of Professor
of happy characterization of persons of whom Curtis Hidden Page's translation of Molière that
we can never hear too much. Charles James
the verse plays are here for the first time rendered
Fox, Lord Holland's uncle, is her great favorite
into English verse, one turns with mistrust the
as he was the favorite of all his contemporaries.
pages until convinced by favorite passages of
Sheridan she does not love over much, and reports 66 Tartuffe or “ The Misanthrope" that the
Hare as saying that Sheridan was always play- arduous task of rendering the Master's rhymed
ing a game when with women ; his forte being at
;
hexameters into the heroic blank measure of the
a club over wine, and in debate. She reports English classic drama has been adequately
several of his happy retorts, however, such as his accomplished. So Gallic is the wit of Molière's
reply when someone ran after him at the theatre
comedies, so replete with French subtlety are
to ask if algebra was not a language. “To be
"
their lines, that no one of the dozen or more
sure,” said Sheridan, “ an old language spoken English translations made heretofore has suc-
by an ancient people called the Classics.” She ceeded in giving the English reader a true per-
describes Parr's vanity and Knight's pedantry, ception of either the finesse or the purely Gallic
and adds they “ fell upon a doubtful Greek word humor in which they abound.
and pulled at it like hungry curs." Dr. Davy,
Of these, the best, as Professor Page himself
Master of Caius, is dubbed a “good-natured, tri-
agrees, is that by Charles Herron Wall in the
fling, insignificant man.” Wordsworth she found
Bohn Standard Library. Next in attractive-
“ much superior to his writings, and his conver-
ness, the present writer is inclined to place the
sation is even beyond his abilities. I should
selection of seventeen plays made by Katharine
almost fear he is disposed to apply his talents
Prescott Wormeley; for, although the more
more towards making himself a vigorous conver- complete translation by A. R. Waller is accom-
sationist in the style of our friend Sharp, than
panied by the French text and many notes, and
to improve his style of composition.”
that by the late Henri van Laun contains a val-
Much allowance has occasionally to be made uable introduction and appendices, the English
for the lady's personal bias, the editor sometimes
of each of these writers is more laborious and
bringing evidence from others to put us on our stilted than is that of either Mr. Wall or Miss
guard. But when all possible deductions have
Wormeley. Earlier editions, or selections, of
been made, the fact remains that to be a hostess
Molière's plays in English were published in
of such power as to attract and hold the kind 1714, 1732, 1748, 1762, and 1771; and one
and the numbers of persons that gladly accepted of these (the edition of 1732-1748) Professor
her invitations to Holland House implies social
al of
9
a
MOLIERE. A New Translation, the Verse Plays being for
gifts of a very high order; and social gifts are the first time rendered into English verse, by Curtis Hidden
not so common as to be spoken of lightly. The
Page. With Introduction by Brander Matthews. In two vol-
editor says : “She possessed to the full the gift
umes. Foreign Classics for English Readers. New York: G. P.
Putnam's Sons.


1909.]
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Page proclaims "a storehouse of apt words and thoroughly the almost insurmountable difficul-
phrases which I, like all modern translators that ties in Professor Page's path. These he has
I know of, have pillaged freely.” After ac- himself set forth in his illuminating preface.
knowledging the aptness of this early transla- " It seems strange," he exclaims, “that in all
tion and the sufficiency of Van Laun's, it may these years no attempt has been made to trans-
be said without hesitation that Professor Page's late Molière's plays into English verse.
is the first to which the word “ excellent"
may
Yet should not the ideal of the translator be to
be justly applied. Were it not for the fact that produce in his own tongue a work as nearly as
but eight of the plays are to be found in the two possible equivalent to the original ? And if so,
volumes in which his text is presented, “ defin- how can he, handicapped as he necessarily is by
itive” would be the word to qualify this alto- the difference between two languages, accept the
gether admirable translation.
still greater handicap of the contrast between
Since these volumes form a part of the Messrs. verse and prose?”
Putnam's "French Classics for English Read- “When it became necessary to include • Tar-
ers" series, the offence of incompleteness may tuffe' and · The Misanthrope' in this series of
not be laid entirely at the translator's door; yet, French Classics,” he goes on to say, “I could
,
when it is announced that in this series “ the not accept a prose translation as at all truly
best and most representative works of each
each reproducing them for English readers.
author are given in full," either he or his editor The ideal which I set before myself was there-
should be held accountable for the failure to fore to say in good English dramatic verse
include among Molière's “ best and most repre- (if I could) exactly what Molière has said in
sentative" plays “ L'Etourdi.” The best it is good French dramatic verse."
not, assuredly; yet it represents the metamor- A praiseworthy ideal, yet difficult in its attain-
phosis of Molière, the hack-writer of a troupe ment. Indeed, so different are the geniuses of
of strolling players, to Molière, the master of the two languages that the translator is met at
the art of comedy. Furthermore, it is typical the outset by prosodial obstacles in themselves
,
of the first phase of his development — the time almost insurmountable. Rhymed alexandrines
when his work was entirely influenced by Italian have, as Professor Page says, “ never been good
comedy; when he had not realized that his duty English dramatic verse and never can by any
was to attack the foibles and hypocrisy of soci- possibility be so.”
possibility be so.” It is a metre ill according
ety " with ridiculous likeness ”; the time before with the spirit of our language, and wisely he
he had exclaimed, “Let us cease to be Italian, has selected the unrhymed pentameter measure
let us disdain being Spanish, let us be French !” of our own dramatic poetry. It was impossible,
Furthermore, one notes with regret the absence of course, to retain by this means the melodious
of “L'Ecole des maris," "L'Ecole des femmes," rhythm of the original, yet, by using the five-
“George Dandin," and, above all, of “Le accent iambic of our heroic measure, he has at
Malade imaginaire." Still, if but eight plays once suggested to the English ear dramatic
must be selected from the thirty-three existing, poetry, thus overcoming the greatest difficulty
it is difficult to cavil at the choice Professor of all translation, — to wit, the avoidance of
Page has made; i.e., “Les Précieuses ridicules," foreign construction in the English rendering.
“Don Juan," "Le Tartuffe," "Le Misan-
“
"
Indeed, so thoroughly English is iambic blank
thrope,” “Le Médecin malgré lui,” “L'Avare,' verse, with its shifting of accents and occasional
“ Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme,” and
6 Les
extra syllables, that the form itself conveys the
Femmes savantes."
suggestion of idiom rather than of translation.
Three of these plays are in verse, and to It is, moreover, our classic equivalent of the
these one turns, as has been said, with mistrust French rhymed alexandrines. Being the medium
- not, be it added, of Professor Page's ability as of all good English dramatic verse, it is histori-
a translator, but of the possibility of rendering cally and dramatically equipollent to the French
adequately in English Molière's alexandrines. measure used by Molière ; therefore it is the
Although in one or two instances verse trans- correct translation of that metre, the one above
lations of important passages have been made, all others with which to convey the spirit, if not
it has remained for Professor Page to render the letter, of Molière's rhymed verses to the
“Le Tartuffe," "Le Misanthrope," and "Les English ear. The phrasing, too, is a matter
“
Femmes savantes " into English verse. Only
Only requiring nicety on the translator's part. It
one who has attempted the verse translation of should be suggestive of the English comedy con-
occasional passages of Molière's may appreciate temporaneous with Molière ; yet not so archaic
66
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SO
as to destroy the surprising modernness of the “ wretches” would have expressed more thor-
great Frenchman's thought.
oughly the Frenchman's meaning.
Having indicated the obstacles in the path of Still, in spite of such occasional lapses, Pro-
the translator of Molière, it becomes a pleasure fessor Page's work is a credit at once to his
to state that Professor Page has surmounted erudition and to his skill as a writer of English.
them admirably. Nowhere does he give the To him all credit is due for an arduous task
fatal impression of translation. Indeed, so skilfully performed. Of the plays in his trans-
idiomatic is his verse, so suggestive of the lation it may be said truthfully that never
English comedy of the time when Molière wrote before have they been so well rendered in our
his masterpieces, that, if one were to venture a language, and that, in all probability, no suc-
criticism, it would be to suggest that it is too ceeding translator will surpass his admirable
English. In other words, in "avoiding all effort presentation of Molière to the English reader
for poetical' ornament,” he has occasionally in unlabored language.
“ wilfully broken up the too regular move- The book contains a comprehensive bibliog-
ment of the French lines” that the rhythm raphy, in which the more vital works are indi-
suffers. A little more rhythm might have sug- cated by asterisks; furthermore, each play is
gested more completely the French alexandrine accompanied by a scholarly notice in which
gliding upon its classic course like a mighty salient features of its sources and presentation
river of harmony. Moreover, Molière's verse are adequately set forth. Professor Page's work
is so singularly lacking in the imagery which is itself is worthily introduced by Professor Brander
the charm of Shakespeare that, shorn of its Matthews, his scholarly prelude being a succinct
rhythm, it is often too suggestive of metrified biography of Molière. The volumes, like the
prose to be satisfying. But as Professor Page others of this series, are edited by Professor
has so successfully avoided all appearances of Adolphe Cohn. These three scholars, all mem-
translation, this criticism of his verse becomes bers of the faculty of Columbia University, stand
so captious that one is tempted to apologize for preëminent among American Moliéristes. It is
having made it. Indeed, so acceptably has his no small credit to them that so satisfactory and
task been accomplished that a just critic should able a translation of Molière should be the result
only exclaim, “ Well done!”
of their joint labor.
In the prose plays, too, he has been so suc-
H. C. CHATFIELD-TAYLOR.
cessful in his choice of apt words, so conscien-
tious in his endeavors to avoid all Latinity, that
they read like English comedies. Throughout
them, he has used quips and expressions of the
THE IRELAND OF TO-DAY.*
corresponding English period, and avoided
It is almost impossible at the present day to
Latin etymologies so thoroughly that they re-
interest Americans in Ireland. The Irish, like
tain no flavor of translation. This is the highest
praise that may be awarded a translator; yet,
the poor, they have always with them; and there
is little desire to know more than that, like all
while bestowing it, one cannot resist saying that
he has occasionally been too faithful to the
foreigners, the Irish are here on a hazard of new
methods of, shall we say, Congreve or Mrs.
fortunes. Excepting the fine verses of Walt
Behn. For instance, when, in “Les Précieuses
Whitman, Americans have written little about
ridicules," Gorgibus, discovering the cruel trick
Ireland more serious than good-natured raillery
that has been played upon his daughter and his growing out of habitual holiday touring in that
niece, exclaims, “ Oui, c'est une pièce sang: attempted, it shows a lamentable lack of acquaint-
country; or, if any more serious treatment is
lante, mais qui est un effet de votre imperti-
,
ance with the vital sources of Irish life and
nence, infâmes !” Professor Page translates
the passage in this wise, “ Yes, it's a cruel trick, thought. Other peoples have found Ireland
well worth their study. Even the English, from
but you may thank your own foolish impudence
Edmund Spenser to Mr. Sydney Brooks, have
for it, you sluts !” This rendering is doubtless
not failed on the score of gravity in writing
suggestive of the restoration period of our
about Ireland, however much some of them
drama ; yet Molière, studied as he is in schools
have failed on the side of truth. The Germans,
by young girls, should not be so restorationized
with their instinct for scholarship, have gone to
as to have his Gallic epithet “infames" ren-
dered in English by a word such as Professor
a
Translation, with an Introduction, by T. M. Kettle, M.P. New
Page has selected. Surely the unsullied term
* CONTEMPORARY IRELAND. By L. Paul-Dubois. An English
York: The Baker & Taylor Co.


1909.]
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Ireland to study the Irish mind in the only these sources is instructive. He adopts De
proper sources of such study — Irish manuscript Beaumont's conclusion, which fixed the cause of
literature. Thus, Zeuss, Zimmer, and Kuno Ireland's decay on an alien aristocracy, respon-
Meyer have a lasting part in what may be, not sible for the whole misgovernment of Ireland.
only for Irish literature but for all literature, Pressing his search no further than this, he
the discovery of a rich vein of poetry.
touches upon the main movements and leading
It is to the French, however, that the Irish personalities of Irish history, with a definiteness
owe the salutary but perhaps thankless service and vigor typical of the entire book. Irish mind
of social and political criticism. “Contemporary and character are treated authoritatively rather
Ireland," by M. L. Paul-Dubois, a writer than critically. In sketching the material de-
already having to his credit important works cline of Ireland, resulting from confiscation of
on social and economic questions, should be the land, the author is at his best. He knows
peculiarly acceptable to Americans who prefer how to make statistics illuminating. His esti-
a condensed survey of a subject rather than an mate, too, of the Irish Nationalist Party is dis-
exhaustive review. This work is the third criminating, and vitally constructive as criticism.
important study of its kind for which the Irish For these, and for an unequivocal sympathy
are indebted to the French. In 1839 Gustave with all the Irish still hope for as a nation, the
De Beaumont, with strict adherence to a cause- author deserves the enthusiastic commendation
and-effect method of inquiry, revealed the social which his translator, Mr. Kettle, gives him in
and political conditions in Ireland, when, under the Introduction. It is not with the spirit of
Daniel O'Connell, the Irish were first emerg- the book that fault may be found. Its tone is
ing into democratic consciousness. A few perhaps too temporizing in treating of some
decades later, Adolphe Perraud achieved the phases of Irish life, but a frank heartiness to-
dismal task of chronicling the aftermath of the ward the people written of is everywhere
Famine by a history of the Irish as emigrants. apparent. What one deplores is that the jour-
In writing of the Ireland of to-day, M. Paul- nalistic plan of the book works ill to its most
Dubois had a. problem not less complex than vital topic — the regenerative influences now in
that of De Beaumont, and scarcely less discourag- progress in Ireland. This part of the discussion
ing than that of Perraud. For, in spite of is too vital to be disposed of with the brevity of
many economic reforms, Ireland shows signs of a business document. It needed keen reaction
fast-spreading national decay ; the Irish, though to the material at hand; an editorial treatment
steadily winning concessions from England, are large, free, conclusive. Moreover, the Irish
emigrating in an unceasing tide. M. Paul- themselves offered ample help in what they are
Dubois had, however, a peculiar advantage over publishing every day. Fond as they are of
his predecessors. There is in the Ireland of flight and fancy, they are not disdainful of se-
to-day an opportunity for a criticism fascinat- vere statistics, rigid facts, lashing self-criticism,
ing to a student of things of the mind. Dreary to prove that if they cannot survive as a race they
as the outlook is for an Ireland economically at least understand why they are about to fail.
vigorous, the Irish are for the first time develop- To what extent M. Paul-Dubois has contributed
ing a national literature; they are creating, too, to an understanding of this impending failure,
schools of painting and of art criticism which depends on how much his readers can amplify
have little to do with the Royal Academy in his compact résumé.
Piccadilly. To solve the problem of a race It is to be regretted that M. Paul-Dubois's
intellectually active in the midst of material plan forbade a searching history of institu-
decay is well worth the serious study of a pub- tional life in Ireland. Humble as Ireland is,
licist. M. Paul-Dubois skilfully meets the her history is in a measure analogous to all
difficulty of this paradox; he treats both phases European history. For centuries she has had
of it by a method of outline, summary, and her Guelf and Ghibelline wars, not fought on
report, rather than by discussion. He knows battlefields, but in cabinets, in petty intrigues,
that the secret of brevity in a comprehensive in compromises and collusions, in every way
subject lies in the large grasp, the inclusive sur- but the one which leads to gain or glory to the
vey, rather than in minute amplification. His Irish people. No Dante could symbolize this
book is thus valuable as a compendium, an ency- struggle ; it is without poetry, though not with-
clopædic reference ready for the student seeking out pathos. Social life in Ireland at the present
the original sources of Irish history.
time requires, too, a fresh analysis. An aris-
The use M. Paul-Dubois himself makes of tocracy almost denuded of power, a middle class
1


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[Feb. 1,
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democratic but unstable, a rural population just of a plea for liberal thought, a more humanistic
entering upon a slight measure of independence, interpretation of life. A Frenchman is the last
a pauper community hopeless and helpless man to despise an effort of this kind. Others,
these afford fine material for a study by the too, are eager in this enterprise of creating a
publicist of large resource and keen judgment. real zest for life among a people to whom prayer
Besides these classes, which are common to all is work rather than work prayer;
whose women
European countries, Ireland has a social life
have the soul of Mary but not the thrift of
based almost wholly upon sectarian distinctions Martha; who as a race love art and neglect
- a condition unknown elsewhere. This is why comfort. It is the “intellectuals ” who under-
Irish patriotism, however sincere, is always in- stand and love the soul of their race.
It is they,
effectual. Here is a subject for a sociological groaning because of the morass of backwardness
writer to explore, to enlarge upon. In treating into which Ireland has fallen, who will wish that
of Ireland's common-school system, M. Paul- M. Paul-Dubois's sympathy had been broader as
Dubois has compressed into a single chapter well as more intense. ELLEN FITZGERALD.
what might have been the main theme of his
book. Education in Ireland is less a subject
for the statistician than it is a call to a real
CONCLUSION OF THE SCHURZ
crusade. On its reformation, particularly in its
REMINISCENCES.*
elementary phases, depends the rehabilitation of
a wasting Ireland.
When near the end, Mr. Schurz told his
It is also to be regretted that some estimate friends that his only deep regret was the neces-
of the present literary movement as a regenera- sity of leaving his memoirs unfinished. As
tive force in Ireland lay outside the purpose of he had only reached the period of the first term
M. Paul-Dubois's skilfully compressed treatise.
of President Grant when his pen was laid down,
A trenchant presentation of this movement as every reader must keenly feel the same regret.
a national force, by a foreigner, might act as a
Of this concluding volume, a little more than
stimulant and a corrective to a group of writers three hundred pages are from the hand of Mr.
inclined too much to dreaming and not enough Schurz; and this is followed by about one hun-
to thought. Irish writers of to-day, excellent as dred and fifty pages by Mr. Frederic Bancroft
they are, learn too much of one another. They and Professor William A. Dunning, devoted to a
are withdrawing too much into a narrow coterie; sympathetic and very satisfactory sketch of his
they have their hearts too much in ethnic Ire- career from 1869 to the end. In our notice of
land, and not enough in the Ireland, weak and
the first two volumes of these Reminiscences,
desolate, of to-day. Much more important to tribute was paid to those qualities of mind and
an understanding of contemporary Ireland, how- heart which made of Carl Schurz, notwithstand-
ever, than a criticism of her poets is some gen-
ing the fact that his birth and early training
uine appreciation of her thinking men. Ireland were in a foreign land, one of the most admir-
has a saving remnant, but those comprising it able fruitages so far secured from the tree of
win scant sympathy from M. Paul-Dubois, who American institutions and citizenship.
dismisses them as “intellectuals," "Voltaireans," The great lesson of his life, as of that of
“men who ape the French.”
Had he come
Curtis, Godkin, and others of his circle of
closer to the heart of Ireland's mystery, he friends and fellow-workers, is that of independ-
would have understood that these are the men ence and intelligent idealism. He was never
who are plucking it out. It is true that some daunted by the fact that none of his high ideals
of them ape the French. He as a Frenchman in American politics was ever wholly attained.
lost an opportunity to show how they can more Temporary reverses were always to be expected,
effectually do this to the saving of Ireland. and each rebuff or delay was only an incentive
This is seen in his attitude toward Mr. George to renewed effort. He had lived to see slavery
Moore. This gifted Irishman's history, per- wiped out, and the spoils system successfully
sonal and artistic, is one of the most signifi-beaten back from the larger part of the terri-
cant facts in the Ireland of to-day. Not till tory which it had usurped ; and though protec-
he imitated the erotic in Theophile Gautier, tionism and imperialism combined had taken
not till he had spent the prime vigor of his fast hold upon the reins of government in the
genius on novels contributive to English fiction, • THE REMINISCENCES OF CARL SCHURZ. Volume III., 1863-
did he discover that his own country needed
to 1906, by Frederic Bancroft and William A. Dunning. New
him. What he has done for her is in the nature
1869. With a Sketch of his Life and Public Services from 1869
York: The McClure Co.


1909.]
83
THE DIAL
a
closing years of his life, he never wavered in the no man in the land whom political committees
faith that farther sighted and less selfish coun- were more anxious to put on the stump in behalf
sels would in the end prevail.
of their candidates than Carl Schurz. Keen
To the blind party man of either side, his insight, high ideals, moral fervor, strict adher-
political career of course seemed wholly erratic. ence to fundamental principles, and absolute
As a matter of fact, the annals of American freedom from partisan shackles, were his distin-
public life present few examples of such guishing characteristics. Of course, even this
thorough-going consistency. In every crisis the cannot guarantee absolute inerrancy of judg-
possible courses of action open to him were ment; but it would be hard to find any com-
brought to the test of the fundamental aims bination of qualities calculated to leave a record
toward which his political life was directed, and to which posterity will turn with more unfailing
that course was chosen which, on the whole, respect and less necessity for apologies.
seemed likely to do most for the honorable fur- We are glad to notice in the preface of this
therance of those aims. He was never one of
He was never one of volume an implied promise of further publica-
those doctrinaire reformers who lose sight of tions. It is well known that the epistolary
actual conditions and disdain the small gains correspondence of Mr. Schurz was enormous.
which are possible in a vain effort for the This must have a high value both personally
immediate attainment of more than is within and historically, since he had among his corre-
immediate reach. And yet no small concession spondents many of the most prominent men of
to his demands ever blinded his eyes to other his time, and made constant use of the private
shortcomings on the part of the politician or letter as an indirect means of influencing public
party by whom it was made. The half-loaf opinion on questions of the day. Letters of
which is better than no bread could never be this latter sort are doubtless amply numerous
palmed off on him as the whole. The high- for separate publication, and we would suggest
tariff policy of the Republican party was always to his literary executors the propriety of pre-
repugnant to him, on moral as well as economic senting them in this way, thus giving the more
grounds; but that did not hinder him from personal correspondence a better chance to
supporting the candidates of that party so long impress upon the reader the more intimate
as its attitude on the questions growing out of personal characteristics of a man whose charm
slavery and the Civil War seemed fairly correct ing personality had no opportunity to make
and of predominant importance. With the sink- itself known to more than a small fraction of
ing in relative importance of these war questions those who knew and admired him in his public
under the wise policy of Hayes, it was inevitable
W. H. JOHNSON.
that his views on the civil service and the tariff
should draw him to the support of Cleveland, as
The fourteenth annual meeting of the Central Division
against a Republican with the personal record
of the Modern Language Association of America was
of James G. Blaine. But when the Democratic
held at the Northwestern University Building, Chicago,
party repudiated Cleveland for Bryan and the late in December. English, Germanic, and Romance
free-silver craze, his long and frequently attested philology received each its proportion of attention.
belief in the vital importance of a sound money
Among the more noteworthy contributions to accurate
system drove him to the support of McKinley. relating to the liturgic Easter drama, made by Professor
scholarship was a collection of new source-material
The imperialism into which McKinley was Neil C. Brooks of the University of Illinois. Professor
driven, against his own original inclination, was Brooks threw much new light upon the mise en scène of
of course deeply repugnant to the man who had the liturgic plays, and brought new evidence to bear
done more than any other to thwart a similar
upon the question of the relations between the early
drama and pictorial art. Professor Weeks's discussion
project in the days of Grant; and as other
of the Boulogne manuscript of the “Chevalerie Vivien”
questions seemed temporarily of less significance was in line with his previous studies. Professor Beatty's
than this, he gave his support to Bryan in the discussion of the Resuscitation Motive in popular liter-
election of 1900. But in none of these cases
ature, Mr. Fortier's brief survey of certain departments
of French literature in Louisiana, and Professor Brown's
did he ever stultify himself by saying a word in
Irish parallels to the Bleeding Lance of the Grail
favor of any part of the platform which was not Legend, were all of particular interest. As business of
in harmony with his own judgment. Of course special interest, should be mentioned a report from the
all this should have left him wholly without
Committee on the Photographic Reproduction of Early
influence on public opinion, according to ordinary Texts, and the organization,
during the session, of an
Illinois Branch of the American Folk-lore Society, with
party theories; but the fact of political history Professor A. C. L. Brown as President and Dr. H. S. V.
is that throughout his public career there was Jones as Secretary and Treasurer.
career.


84
[Feb. 1,
THE DIAL
underlying antinomies of current doctrine in science, Ye
9
RECENT FICTION.*
has all the facts in his possession, and to him the
girl's dual nature becomes a study of absorbing
It is several years since we have had a novel by
interest. From about the middle on, the book be-
Mr. Mallock, whose pen has been chiefly busied with come essentially a scientific treatise, and elaborate
exposing the fallacies of socialism, or revealing the
discussion figures more and more largely in its pages.
Yet even this discussion is so fitted into the novelistic
philosophy, and religion. That the hand of the nov- machinery that both human and dramatic interest
elist has not, however, lost its cunning, becomes are fairly well preserved throughout. The chief
sufficiently evident by the time we have read fifty
element of this interest is provided by the impact
pages of “An Immortal Soul.” The story thus of the revelation upon the clergyman, who finds
alluringly entitled opens engagingly upon an English that he must reckon with facts hitherto undreamed
country scene, and soon finds us deeply interested of in his philosophy, and who feels the very founda-
in a social group which has for its principal figures tions of his belief tottering beneath him. He be-
the local clergyman, the returned traveller who is comes perplexed in the extreme when he is forced
standing for Parliament, a famous specialist in
to realize that this “immortal soul ” which has been
nervous diseases, and a young girl who is clearly
the object of his special solicitude is in reality a
intended to be the heroine. The elderly traveller
two-fold thing, and that its one aspect is as abhor-
finds in her more than a passing attraction, and the
rent to him as its other is appealing. Which of the
clergyman, who has marked her for his spiritual two is the real woman, the spiritual individuality ?
child, and whose sub-consciousness views her in a
The theory of possession sustains him for a time,
more human light, finds his influence weakened, but even that has to be abandoned in the light of a
and his hardly formulated hopes threatened by the
complete record of the girl's history, which makes
advent of the stranger. Thus far, we are dealing
it clear that her evil nature is, on the whole, the
with a novel simply, finished in style and descrip- more predominant and masterful of the two. Mr.
tion, admirable in invention and characterization. Mallock offers us no solution of the problem he has
But the author's "affair " has a much wider scope
propounded. Science is not yet prepared to solve
than this, and he no sooner gets us thoroughly inter- it, or to suggest a reconciliation between such phe-
ested in his heroine and her associates than he nomena and the older doctrines of psychology and
approaches his special problem, which is that of religion. The subject is one after the author's
diagnosing a case of dual personality. For one day heart, and he has never played more brilliantly his
his heroine is spirited away, and a young woman
favorite rôle of the destructive critic. All his life
reputed to be her sister appears in her stead. The
he has been pointing out the logical defects in sys-
delicate and spiritually-minded Vivian gives place
tems of thought that seem superficially coherent,
to Enid, who appears as a girl of sensual disposition,
and in the present instance, although his form is that
cunning in deception, and instinctively vicious. For of fiction, he has given us one of the keenest and
a time we take her to be in reality another person,
most merciless of his many analyses. Readers who
but at last it appears that she represents the tem-
do not expect this sort of thing in a novel may well
porary emergence of another personality ; and that complain that he does not play the game, and will
from childhood Vivian and Enid have alternated the
be justified if their quest is for entertainment only.
tenancy of the same body. Even physically, the But if they are sufficiently serious of mind to enter
change is sufficient to deceive, and Mr. Mallock
into the spirit of the author's speculations, they will
contrives to surmount this crucial difficulty of his give, if anything, a more absorbed attention to his
task. The eminent specialist is the only one who psychological discussion than to the fictive frame-
work in which it is set.
"AN IMMORTAL SOUL. By W. H. Mallock. New York: Harper
A romance of Napoleon and Nelson, and of the
THE GENTLEMAN. A Romance of the Sea. By Alfred Ollivant.
projected invasion of England in 1805, written in a
style as choppy as the waves of the Channel which
THE WAR IN THE AIR. By H. G. Wells. New York: The
baffled the conqueror's ambition, is given us by Mr.
Macmillan Co.
THE DISTRIBUTORS. By Anthony Partridge. New York: The
Alfred Ollivant in the merry invention which he
has labeled “The Gentleman." There are some
CAPTAIN MARGARET. A Romance. By John Masefield. Phila-
delphia: The J. B. Lippincott Co.
four hundred pages of staccato sentences, chronic-
THE DEVIL'S PULPIT. By H.B. Marriott Watson. New York:
ling the events of about ten days, and things are
Dodd, Mead & Co.
happening all the time. The happenings, moreover,
THE FLY ON THE WHEEL. By Katherine Cecil Thurston. New
York: Dodd, Mead & Co.
are of the most exciting nature, whether by sea or
ROSE-WHITE YOUTH. By Dolf Wyllarde. New York: John
by land, and someone is in mortal peril every hour.
There are several heroes, including the “gentle-
IN CALVERT'S VALLEY. By Margaret Prescott Montague. New
man,” who is an Irish soldier of fortune acting as
York: The Baker & Taylor Co.
THE FAIR MISSISSIPPIAN. By Charles Egbert Craddock,
Napoleon's lieutenant, the midshipman (aged fif-
Boston: Houghton Miffin Co.
teen) who saves his country by ingenious and heroic
BARRY GORDON. By William Farquhar Payson. New York:
The McClure Co.
devices, and the fighting parson whose death-dealing
KINCAID's BATTERY. By George W. Cable. New York: Charles
sword causes countless Frenchmen and traitors to
Scribner's Sons.
bite the dust. The story turns about a plot to
& Brothers.
New York: The Macmillan Co.
McClure Co.
Lane Co.


1909.)
85
THE DIAL
а
"
a
a
kidnap Nelson, through the double dealing of Lady may call high-class burglaries. Their victims are the
Hamilton, and the author prudently appends to selfish rich, who possess more jewels than is good
the tale a declaration to the effect that he will for them, and the loot, when converted into money
answer no questions concerning it. The charac- through the agency of a mysterious “fence” — as
terizations are extraordinarily vivid, and this is a free from selfish motives as the “Ghosts" themselves
remarkable feature when we consider the variety of is bestowed anonymously upon various charities.
types presented. There are a great many horrors All goes well with their plans until an American girl,
on exhibition, and they are depicted with relentless piqued because her request to be made a member of
realism, but they are also softened by an infusion the exclusive coterie is denied, and knowing nothing
of sentiment that makes them endurable, and they of the criminal side of their activity, sets a detective
often become almost beautiful in the poetic light of on their track, and uncovers things of which she had
the author's imagination. The spirit in which this not dreamed. The exposure is averted by an appeal
work is conceived is made clear by the verses on to her generosity, the society goes out of existence,
“ Our Sea” which serve as a preface. It is the and the most conspicuous of its members surprises
spirit of invincible pride in the deeds of English himself by falling in love, which for him, at least,
seamen from the days of Drake to the days of makes the further quest of illicit sensations quite
Nelson, and the story itself reveals the composite unnecessary. There are numerous thrills in the fan-
inspiration of such diverse novelists as Marryatt tastic romance, and much sprightliness of dialogue.
and Kingsley and Blackmore, such diverse poets as The author of the “New Arabian Nights” would
Mr. Newbolt and Mr. Kipling and Mr. Swinburne. have found in Mr. Partridge a kindred spirit.
“The War in the Air” is a forecast of the develop- “Captain Margaret,” by Mr. John Masefield, is
ment of aërial navigation which is extremely vivid, a romance of adventure in Virginia and on the
as are all of Mr. Wells's imaginings, and not so far Spanish main, the action being placed in the late
removed as most of them have been from what we seventeenth century. Charles Margaret is the com-
may admit to be possible. The air-ship is certain to mander of a ship equipped by certain London adven-
be used for military purposes in the next chapter of turers for trade with the colonies. He is also a man
warfare, and will doubtless bring with it new possi- with a broken heart, for the woman whom he loves
bilities of destruction. Mr. Wells makes of it a ter- has taken to herself a husband, and has been so
rible instrument indeed, and describes its operations deceived in the bargain that she mistakes a selfish
with a degree of technical realism that gives us a brute of criminal instincts for a hero to be wor-
shuddering anticipation of what may happen when shipped. Now it so happens that just as Captain
this new menace to civilization is developed only a Margaret is setting sail for America, this woman
little more than at present. Unlike most writers of and her husband take refuge upon the ship, for the
fiction who allow their imagination to revel in dead- man has been guilty of forgery, and the officers of
lier means of destruction than those heretofore avail. the law are hot in pursuit. The voyage is a long
able, Mr. Wells does not assume that the common one, but not long enough to open the woman's eyes,
sense of mankind will abandon warfare when it comes either to the true character of her husband, or to
to mean annihilation, but pictures for us an increased the unselfish devotion of Captain Margaret. Then
frenzy of strife which does not cease its fury until follow several chapters of a sojourn in Virginia, and
civilized society is blotted from the earth's surface, a second hasty escape when the Governor receives
and what is left of mankind reverts to primitive con- orders from England to arrest the fugitive. The
ditions of savagery. Civilization suffers final collapse final episode is an expedition to the Isthmus in
as a logical consequence of its own ingenious refine- search of treasure, including a highly graphic ac-
ments, and the thought that it bears within its bosom count of the sacking of one of the Spanish settle-
the seeds of its own destruction is strongly impressed ments. When the fugitive is dastardly enough to
upon us. The protagonist of this world-tragedy is no seek to betray his rescuers into the hands of the
heroic figure, but simply the sort of average cockney enemy, even his wife realizes a situation long before
Englishman who has before served as the medium of
apparent to everyone else, and is not altogether heart-
the author's social satire. All the amazing things broken when he meets the fate he so richly deserves.
that happen in the book are exhibited in their reflec- Whereupon Captain Margaret comes into his own.
tion in the consciousness of this pitiful example of It is a leisurely tale, but there is a great deal of
humankind, and this proves the most effective part life in it, and it is informed by the spirit of genuine
of the author's realistic machinery.
“ The Distributors,” by Mr. Anthony Partridge, Curiously enough, “The Devil's Pulpit,” which is
is a choice tale of a group of men and women, of also the tale of a semi-piratical expedition in search
the highest rank in English society, who, having of treasure, is provided with a heroine by a device
exhausted all the obvious pleasures of life, resort to similar to that adopted by the author of "Captain
the unlawful in their quest for new sensations. They Margaret.” But this time the heroine is a girl, and
form a coterie known as the “Ghosts,” ostensibly for it is in the company of her uncle, an absconding
the discussion of esoteric philosophies, but actually French banker, that she seeks refuge on the ship
for the purpose of planning and executing what we just as it is leaving England. The ship is sent out
a
romance.


86
[Feb. 1,
THE DIAL
a
by a syndicate, acting upon the information conveyed the work of “Dolf Wyllarde,” and is marred by the
by a mysterious chart of the kind familiar to all frequent employment of sensual suggestion, a fault
readers of tales concerning treasure-seekers. Its des- which has marked the earlier books of this writer,
tination is somewhere in the West Indies, and the seeming to indicate an inherent vulgarity of mind.
ship's company, crew and owners alike, constitute a “ In Calvert's Valley” is a story of the moun-
motley and picturesque assemblage of ruffians. Of tains of West Virginia, introducing us to much the
course, there is a hero who saves the situation when
same types of scenery and character as those of
matters become critical, and there are a few other which Mr. John Fox makes the substance of his
decent fellows to stand by him. Equally of course, novels. Miss Montague has neither the humor nor
the treasure is found, the ruffians discomfited, and the dramatic incisiveness of the writer with whom
the affections of the heroine properly bestowed. As her work is thus inevitably brought into comparison,
contrasted with “ Captain Margaret,” this romance but she tells an effective story in her more leisurely
is modern, and its exciting happenings are conceived way. Page Emlyn, a young business man from
in the spirit of comedy, commingled with melodrama. Cincinnati, comes to the Valley, and is at once in-
Mr. H. B. Marriott Watson is the writer, and we all volved in a tragedy. He is led to believe that, in
know how inventive he can be, and with what high the semi-consciousness of intoxication, he has pushed
,
spirits he can carry his action through.
James Calvert over a cliff to his death. Meanwhile,
Mrs. Thurston's “The Fly on the Wheel is a the young woman with whom Calvert was in love is
simple story of Irish life and character, admirable in led to believe that her rejection of his advances has
its fidelity to fact, and incisive in its delineation of impelled him to suicide. Presently, these two young
middle-class character. The parish priest, the wife persons, each bearing a secret burden of imagined
and mother of domestic instincts, her shrewish sister, guilt, learn to love one another. The outcome
the busybodies and gallants of the town, are all put remains long in suspense, and there are many search-
before us in natural and life-like guise. And then, ings of conscience on both sides before the accidental
upon this bourgeois background is projected a great nature of Calvert's death is revealed, and all ends
passion, which shipwrecks a family's happiness, and happily for hero and heroine. The whole story is
brings the heroine to suicide. This heroine is a young conscientious rather than brilliant, but it sustains a
woman whose career is shaped rather by instinct than reasonable degree of interest throughout, and is
reason, and for whom the moral obligations upon clearly the product of close observation of the moun-
which society is based have no effective influence. tain folk and the mountain setting.
Returning home from her French convent, she falls It is natural to turn from this novel to “The Fair
in love with a staid man of affairs, the head of a Mississippian,” which is Miss Murfree's latest pro-
peaceful household, and her infatuation makes him duction. But Miss Murfree seems to have abandoned
for a time forgetful of his honor. His life hitherto her mountaineers of late, and with this defection to
has been one of self-repression, and the impulses she have lost much of the singular power displayed in
evokes get the better of him. It seems to be a case her earlier books. The present story, although it
of opposite electric charges, needing only contiguity shows intimate acquaintance with its plantation scene,
to effect a union. In her case, it is the longing for must be described as essentially commonplace. It is,
ease and luxury; in his, it is the craving for a richer moreover, so weighed down with irrelevant descrip-
life. These motives, acting in connection with a tion and incident that the action drags, and the criti-
strong element of sensual allurement, prove
cal situations miss much of the effectiveness that
plete undoing of the woman, and the all but complete might have been given them. We can find in this
ruin of the man. It is the parish priest who inter- work little indication of the grip upon character
poses, and, by a few fitly-chosen words of admoni- which the writer once had, and still less of the flash
tion, halts the man's steps upon the brink of the of poetic imagination which used to light up her
precipice. The story is strong, but not altogether tales of the Great Smoky Mountains. The hero is a
agreeable.
young man of fine education and broken fortune, who
The heroine of "Rose-White Youth” is fifteen, becomes the tutor of three boys on a Mississippi
and she dies of a broken back (supplemented by a plantation. The excitement is furnished (in diluted
broken heart) on her sixteenth birthday. The man form) by an attack of river-pirates, and by the antics
in the case is a bronzed explorer, known to scientific of a ghost. The ghost turns out to be a member of
fame, a guest of her family at their country house. the household, and his prowlings are concerned with
It is a wretched misunderstanding that causes him the hiding of certain documents which affect the
to misjudge her, and it is not cleared up (for the ownership of the estate. The chatelaine of the
girl) in time to save her from that last reckless ride plantation is a creature of the most radiant beauty,
along the cliff. The tragedy of her taking-off is in consequence whereof the tutor falls in love with
singularly wanton, and we cannot quite forgive the her, and the fact that she is ten years his senior is
author for thus shaping the story. For Betty is a not permitted to interfere with the conventional
nice girl with long red hair (mentioned upon nearly romantic outcome.
every page), and her youth does not prevent her The development of ancestral qualities, inherited
from being a highly attractive heroine. This story is from a long line of Virginian forbears, is the psy-
a
the com-
66
а


1909.)
87
THE DIAL
This was
a
a
>
chological problem worked out in Mr. Payson's
BRIEFS ON NEW BOOKS
story of “Barry Gordon." These qualities in-
clude masterful energy, unregulated character, and
Evidences of
Two years ago there appeared Mr.
a strong disposition to over-indulgence in drink. life on the Percival Lowell's exceedingly attrac-
red planet.
We first meet Barry as a schoolboy, reckless but
tive book on “Mars and its Canals.”
engaging, and knowing little of his inheritance.
so exhaustive in its treatment of the
Summoned to his home in Virginia, he finds his author's observations and his deductions from them
father at the point of death, and learns from his
that one is at first surprised at the appearance of a
lips the burden of the family heredity. The knowl- new work on Mars from the same pen, after so
edge sobers him, and does much to develop his short an interval. The title of the new contribu-
manhood, but we feel that he will have a hard strug- tion to Martian literature is “ Mars as the Abode of
gle to win victory over his unruly self. A period of Life” (Macmillan). Two years ago Mr. Lowell
life in New York follows, which comes to a dramatic delivered a series of eight lectures at the Lowell
climax one evening when he yields to temptation, Institute, in which he set forth his views as to
becomes intoxicated, and is disgraced in the eyes of planetary evolution in general and illustrated them
his friends. For his own good, his guardian cuts by the example of the ruddy planet. These lectures
off his income, and he sets out to make his way
in were subsequently published in the “Century
the world. A long period of wandering in many Magazine," and are now republished, with some re-
quarters of the globe gives him self-discipline, and vision, in book form. The author accepts the planet-
saves his character from wreck. A final episode esimal theory of the origin of the solar system; from
discovers him engaged in a wild adventure in this starting point a planet, when it becomes suffi-
Morocco, where his brother, a civil engineer, has ciently cool to be provided with water, begins to
been held captive.
He effects his brother's rescue develop the lowest forms of life; these, increasing
by deliberately offering his own life in exchange. in complexity as the process of evolution goes on, ,
Fortunately, this ultimate sacrifice is not required, finally find issue in rich flora and fauna such as our
but his willingness to make it shows how complete earth possesses.
earth possesses. As the surface of the planet loses
is the work of regeneration. In the end, his victory its original heat the warmth necessary to varied
is crowned by the love of the woman whom he has manifestations of life is derived from the sun, which
worshipped, afar and hopelessly to his seeming, now becomes dominant in the production and pre-
through all the years of exile. It makes a stirring servation of life. Man appears, and brain begins
tale, effectively told, and fine in its idealism. to be a factor of the greatest significance. But the
Mr. Cable’s new novel is called “ Kincaid's reign of brain cannot be so complete as to arrest
Battery,” and is a story of New Orleans in the first the chain of changes due to the sun's action. The
years of the Civil War. History plays but a small oceans begin to disappear, and the air to decrease
part in it, however, and the interest is essentially in density ; extensive deserts come into being; the
private. We cannot describe it as a successful inhabitants dig canals to utilize to the utmost the
work of fictive art. Mr. Cable’s style is as charm- failing resources of water. In such a state as this
ing as ever, and his power of characterization re- Mr. Lowell believes the planet Mars now to be; the
mains considerable, but he has so succumbed to the “ canals " seen there he thinks to be evidences of
temptations of the allusive manner that nothing the handiwork of intelligent beings. He foresees
which may be called straightforward remains to his the time when, on account of the loss of the supply
narrative. The effort needed to make out the of water on our neighbor, life will become extinct
pattern of his plot is greater than may legitimately there; this doom foreshadows that of man on the
be required of the reader, who is likely to get from earth. For the earth slowly but surely is following
it only vivid bits of color set in relief upon a nebu- the path which Mars is pursuing. The foregoing
lous background. For example, an early chapter theory is elaborated by the author with the wealth
is entitled “One Killed,” and we are not sure, after of language, aptness of illustration, and power of
reading it, who is killed, or why. Indirection carried exposition, manifested in his many preceding writ-
to this extent becomes a literary vice, and all the ings. The book closes with sixty-odd pages of notes
author's charming geniality cannot atone for such a of a mathematical character, which are for the en-
neglect of the story-teller's primary duty. The love lightenment of astronomers. The outward appear-
story which drags through the four hundred pages ance of the book is as delightful to the eye as its
is one of the most exasperating we have ever en- subject matter is to the mind.
countered, made so by the extraordinary and unnat-
The best ministers of religion are
ural effort on the part of each of the lovers to portrayed
conceal from the other the state of his affections. by a fellow
very much else besides. So much
A certain amount of misunderstanding and playing
was there to the late Dr. John Wat-
at cross-purposes is quite proper as a means of hold-
son (“ Ian Maclaren ") as man and author and
ing the reader's interest in suspense, but the device
humorist that the biographer might well despair of
is absurdly overworked in the present instance.
presenting any full and satisfactory likeness of him
between the two covers of a book. Dr. W. Robert-
WILLIAM MORTON PAYNE. son Nicoll, in prefacing his life of his old friend
3
Ian Maclaren
Scotsman.


88
[Feb. 1,
THE DIAL
DIAL
more
The latest hero
of the nations.
"Ian Maclaren': The Life of the Rev. John appear ungracious to find fault with the author for
Watson, D.D.” (Dodd, Mead & Co.)— acknowl- not doing what he did not set out to do, the regret
edges the difficulty of his task, but assures the is too keen, and too close at hand to be suppressed,
reader that there is nothing in the book that is not that the venerable president of Harvard University
strictly true and based on indisputable authority. did not choose to take the public into his confidence,
Also, he has wisely allowed his friend to exhibit his and write with less reserve, substituting analysis
own character and his own opinions as far as possi- and criticism for mere description, and thus making
ble in letters and other writings of his own. The available the vast resources of wisdom to justify
coöperation of Dr. Watson's son, Mr. Frederick W. policy and action, which he than
any
other has
Watson, is an additional voucher for the authenticity at command. A volume not so able, doubtless, yet
of the volume. Among other things to be noted in serving adequately the same purpose, could have been
reading the book are the suddenness and unprepared written by any one of a score of University presi-
ness with which young John Watson, at the close dents. The volume that President Eliot alone could
of his university course at Edinburgh, received his have written is the source of regret,
one that
father's behest that he should enter the church ; the might have really discussed the vital issues upon
zeal with which he threw himself into the work after which not practice alone but sound policy must in
some five years of preparation; the account of his the future be based.
literary work, which one might wish fuller and
William the Conqueror and the
longer; the description of his three visits to Amer.
ica ; the extraordinary and militant patriotism which
Rule of the Normans,” by Mr. Frank
he, a minister of the gospel of peace, displayed on
Merry Stenton, M.A., late Scholar of
the outbreak of the Boer War; and the very engag-
Keble College, Oxford, is volume No. 43 of the
ing picture of him as a member of society and an
“Heroes of the Nations” series (Putnam). This
unrivalled teller of good stories. One is not sur-
is one of the more serious biographies in a series
prised to read his own assertion that he knew not a
whose authors are not quite at one in their methods
of treatment; which fact does not prevent its being
word of the language of the church when he was
called upon to become a preacher, and that he never
extremely readable, as well as valuable in content.
An elaborate Introduction makes it clear that the
really acquired its accent even after he had famil-
iarized himself with its language. Dr. Nicoll has,
native government lost control because it was utterly
acceptably enough, put something of himself into
inadequate to the task of governing, and that the
Normans did more in a generation than their pre-
his book, as well as a good deal of “ Ian Maclaren.”
decessors had done in a century toward unifying the
It is all highly interesting and worth reading ; but
social customs of England. The concluding chapter,
does not, for some reason, have that indescribable
quality of the “ inevitable,” the best possible, the
which deals with the Domesday Book, is a notably
complete and final, which the greatest biographies thoughtful piece of work. The general reader wil
seem to possess. Perhaps the subject was too diffi- probably be somewhat startled to learn that this
cult, too Protean, too impossible to master.
remarkable fiscal census, although it “may claim to
rank as the greatest record of mediæval Europe,"
That any treatment of a topic so is based on earlier apportionments which are evi-
on university professionally close to his interests by dently arbitrary and far from accurate, so that “a
administration.
so recognized a leader of academic fiscal arrangement which can be traced back to the
thought as President Eliot will be received with time of Alfred ” was still “utilized in the days of
widespread and keen attention is obvious. President Richard I. and Hubert Walter.” The secret of
Eliot delivered the Harris lectures for 1908 at William's success seems to have been largely the
Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill., and selected tact that taught him to keep his hands off. The
for his topic the problems arising from the career volume is elaborately equipped with charts and
in which he is about to complete his fortieth year of maps, and represents original investigation of much
service. These lectures, now reprinted (Houghton value.
Mifflin Co.), form a serviceable statement of the
In a handy volume of three hun-
The origin and
several constituent factors that make the American
growth of dred pages, entitled “Ideals of the
University and its administration distinctive, com-
American polily. Republic” (Little, Brown, & Co.),
plex, and engrossing. To the interested outsider, Dr. James Schouler has collected a dozen chapters
and particularly, it may be surmised, to the foreign based on “occasional lectures given by the author
student of American institutions, the volume will in 1906-8 at the Johns Hopkins University, to close
prove helpful. The style is direct, terse, orderly, a connection of seventeen years with its Historical
trenchant; and thus reflects the clear-minded execu- Department” whose purpose is “to trace out
tive. Having chosen so objective, almost detached, those fundamental ideas, social and political, to
a point of view, President Eliot has accomplished which America owes peculiarly her progress and
his purpose with the success belonging to poise, prosperity, and to consider the application of those
insight, experience. Also, as was inevitable, are ideas to present conditions.” He begins with a
there many forcible opinions scattered through the chapter on “ The Rights of Human Nature," and
descriptions of the status quo.
Yet while it may
discusses the historic assertion of our Declaration,
President Eliot


1909.]
89
THE DIAL
Sirteenth
9
a
9)
“ That all men are created equal,” etc. A not very which went through five editions between 1851 and
convincing defense is made of this remarkable 1860, was at least five times issued in German, and
pronouncement; it amounts in brief to this, that in has lately been republished in this country. The
personal and civic rights all men stand on a level. compilers' acknowledgments include one to the
Types of Equality is the heading of the next publishers of T. B. Pond's (meaning J. B. Pond's)
chapter, which considers, without offering any new « Eccentricities of Genius”; but neither in the index
solution, the problem of alien races within our bor- nor in the table of contents nor in the body of the
ders. Discussions of such subjects as civil rights, book do we discover any trace of the genial Major.
government by consent, written constitutions, parties The book is one of the handiest and usefulest and
and party strife, and servants of the public, succeed most attractive of such manuals.
one another, with the due and expected exhibition
Miss Edith Sichel has added to her
of ripe scholarship, but with little of a new, striking,
century French studies on the French women of the
or unusually important nature. Perhaps the topics
portraits.
selected hardly admit of very original treatment;
sixteenth century a volume on “The
Later Years of Catharine de' Medici” (Dutton).
and doubtless, too, the printed page is not so favor-
able a medium for these lectures as was oral delivery: sketching the portraits of the principal personages
In it she gives the history of the religious wars by
Somewhat remarkable, however, and having a note
almost of prophecy in it, is the following passage
of the period, emphasizing by anecdotes, which are
from the author's presidential address before the
often of unusual interest, their individual charac-
teristics. Much of the material has been drawn
American Historical Association in 1897. The
address itself, or rather a part of it, under the title
from contemporary memoirs and Archives curieuses.
“A New Federal Convention," closes the volume.
At times the reader may feel that the portraits would
have gained in significance if the background of
“In no respect, as it seems to me,” says Dr.
Schouler, "is it plainer that more than our present
conditions and tendencies in politics and literature
had been drawn with greater fulness. The chap-
bare majorities of a quorum should be required,
ters on Charles IX. and Queen Margot possess a
than in such momentous legislation as disturbs our
national equilibrium by admitting new States into special interest, partly because their history is less
the Union or by sanctioning the acquisition of alien
familiar, but mainly because their characters were
territory with an alien population. In the latter
so strangely complex. In describing her person-
respect we seem simply to have gone forward with-
ages the author seems occasionally to force the note
and to go beyond the evidence of her documents.
out clear warrant from our Federal charter at all.”
One becomes a little skeptical in regard to her accu-
Safe, sane, and scholarly are the proper adjectives
to apply to the book as a whole.
racy when she repeatedly dates the of Amboise
peace
in 1562. In dealing with the marriage negotiations
To
young
readers and to old readers,
of 1565 between Catharine, in behalf of the boyish
rather than to readers half-way be- Duke of Anjon, and Queen Elizabeth, it is as a
tween, books on reading and the woman rather than as an historian that the author
choice of books are often peculiarly attractive. records Elizabeth's age, stating that she was twenty-
Middle-aged bookmen are commonly too busy, either five, although she was born in 1533. The volume
in reading books or in writing books, or both, to let is enriched with prints taken from the great Paris
their thoughts dwell expectantly on a paradise of collections. The bibliography should have men-
.
books that lies in the radiant future, or to linger in tioned the new “Histoire de France,” edited by
fond retrospect on an Augustan age of books that Lavisse, for the volume on this period is done with
has its place in the golden past. “ Books and masterly skill.
Reading” (Baker & Taylor Co.), compiled by
The latest addition to the Louis XVII.
Messrs.
Roscoe Crosby Gaige and Alfred Harcourt,
of the Bourbons. mystery is a volume entitled “The
is an excellent collection of essays and fragments
Little Dauphin," written by Miss
from the great bookmen of modern times stimu- Catherine Welch, and published by Messrs. Scrib-
lating to the young reader and full of pleasant ner's Sons. It would seem that a problem which,
memories to the old. The compilers have braved beginning with the “Question importante sur la
the charge of repetitious platitude and have gathered | Mort de Louis XVII.,” has called forth more than
together “the most human things written about a thousand printed solutions and even maintained
books,” no matter if now and then somewhat trite several monthly periodicals, would be pretty thor-
and tiresomely familiar. Of course every reader oughly threshed out by this time. The new book
will take the liberty to say to himself that if he claims to be a distinct addition to the literature on
had edited the volume he would have included some the subject, not because it contributes additional
things omitted, and omitted some things included. information,
it is for the most part merely a rep-
Among the more conspicuous omissions is Richard- etition of matter that can be found in other easily
son's "Choice of Books,” a veritable little classic of accessible volumes, but because it offers no solu-
its kind, which might well have contributed one tion at all, simply a catalogue of the solutions that
brief chapter at least. Of less important exclusions other writers have concocted or preserved. The
may be noted Willmott's “ Pleasures of Literature,” book is bright and eminently readable; the author
A reader's
vade-mecum.
The old mystery
-


90
[Feb. 1,
THE DIAL
>
paper label.
>
, the
has steeped herself so thoroughly in the work of the been made for another impression. The American
magical historical “restorer” Lenôtre that she has publishers announce that the new edition will be ready
caught a little of his wizardry. Notable illustra- immediately. It will contain all the original plates
tions are the famous Thackeray picture supposed to
and reproductions.
represent the Little Dauphin, now iu the possession
Last Spring Professor J. B. Bury of Cambridge was
of Lady Ritchie, and the hitherto unpublished por-
the guest of Harvard University, where he delivered the
Lane Lectures. The substance of these lectures has been
trait of the pretender Naundorff, from the collection
incorporated into a book entitled “The Ancient Greek
owned by M. Foulon de Vaulx.
Historians," which the Macmillan Co. will publish this
month.
A Shelley
The “Symposium " is considered the
translation most perfect in form of the Platonic
“ Balthasar" (the titular story in a collection of seven)
from Plato.
and « The Well of St. Clare" are two new volumes in
dialogues, and also one of the pro-
foundest and most suggestive in its thought and
the English edition of the writings of M. Anatole France,
now in course of publication by the John Lane Co. Mrs.
speculation. Shelley's translation of it is regarded
John Lane translates the former of these volumes, while
as one of the best examples of his prose style. we owe the latter to Mr. Alfred Allenson.
Under the title, “ The Banquet of Plato," this trans- Mr.J.G. Bartholomew's “ Handy Reference Atlas of
lation appears in a limited edition from the Riverside the World” is now in its eighth edition, imported by
Press (Houghton Mifflin Co.), beautifully printed Messrs. E. P. Dutton & Co. It is a compact volume,
from Montaigne type on Batchelor hand-made paper,
, and its maps, although small, are clearly printed and
and bound in plain boards, with
It artistically agreeable. They include a large number
was in the summer of 1818 that Shelley, then at the
which give us small areas on a relatively large scale.
Baths of Lucca, occupied his mornings for nine or
Mr. Owen Seaman, editor of “ Punch," has collected
ten successive days in turning this dialogue on love
some forty pieces, mostly of his recent humorous verse,
(the only one besides the “ Phædrus” that discusses
into a volume called “Salvage,” which Messrs. Holt will
the theme in detail) into English. The subject was
soon publish. As was the case with the author's “ A
Harvest of Chaff” and “Borrowed Plumes," most of
congenial, and his love of Greek and familiarity
the verses in the new volume first appeared in “ Punch.”
with it, combined with his intuitive sympathy with
It is interesting to note, in connection with the recent
literary genius wherever found, made the task of
award of the Nobel Prize for literature, that “Rudolph
translation a light one. His version is skilful and Eucken's Philosophy of Life," by Professor W. R. Boyce-
fluent, and is perhaps even above the Platonic level Gibson, is already in a second edition. Professor and
in nobility of expression. But while it well catches Mrs. Gibson have almost ready for publication in the
the spirit, it is not always accurate in the letter; for
Spring a translation of Eucken’s “The Meaning and
which, of course, Shelley has long since been for-
Value of Life."
given. The external appearance of the present
Miss Margaret Symonds's “ Days Spent on a Doge's
reprint is in every way worthy of the text.
Farm” is, as the publishers say, a book which “makes
of every reader a friend." It is now republished by
the Century Co. in an enlarged edition, with enough
additional illustrations to bring the number close to three-
NOTES.
score. The introduction supplied for this new edition
takes the form of a memoir of the Countess Pisani, whose
Mr. J. C. Snaith, author of “ William Jordan, Jr.," has
country estate is the scene of the volume.
a new novel ready for immediate publication.
“German Literature in American Magazines, 1846 to
Mr. William de Morgan's new book, “ Blind Jim," is
1880” is the title of a monograph by Mr. Martin Henry
now ready for the printer, but will not be brought out
until next Spring
Haestel now published by the University of Wisconsin.
It continues the work of Dr. S. H. Goodnight upon the
A new book by Mrs. Jennette Lee, author of “Uncle
same subject prior to 1846, published two years ago in
William,” will appear this month. The new book is
the same series. The last year considered by Mr.
called “ Simeon Tetlow's Shadow."
Haestel is the first year of THE DIAL, and four refer-
A new volume (the third) in the “Cambridge History ences are given to our first volume, but curiously enough
of English Literature ” will appear this month. Its sub- the only index entry of the periodical refers to the late
ject is “ The Renascence and the Reformation."
Moncure Conway's Cincinnati “ Dial” of 1860, from
Mr. John Reed Scott, author of “ The Colonel of the which eight articles on German literature are catalogued.
Red Huzzars” and “The Princess Dehra,” has written
Among the more important books on Messrs. A. C.
a new novel, to be published in the Spring, under the McClurg & Co.'s Spring list are the following: A history
title, « The Master of Fairlawn.”
and forecast of the Panama Canal, entitled “The World
Mr. H. C. Chatfield-Taylor, author of the standard United,” by Mr. John George Leigh, a London engineer
biography in English of Molière, has written a novel and specialist on the canal; “ Letters from China,” by
dealing with the early life and love affairs of the great Mrs. Sarah Pike Conger, wife of the late Minister to
French dramatist. The book, entitled “Fame's Path- China; “The Empire of the East,” an illustrated de-
way,” will appear in March.
scription of Japan, by Mr. H. B. Montgomery; “A
When the Pennells' “ Life of Whistler
Summer in Touraine,” a profusely illustrated study of
brought out it was the understanding, both in London the old chateaux of the Loire, by Mr. Frederick Lees;
and Philadelphia, that the work would be limited to and “ A Summer Garden of Pleasure," by Mrs. Stephen
the original edition, but the demand for the book has Batson, with thirty-six colored illustrations by Mr.
been so unexpectedly large that arrangements have Osmund Pittman.
was first
6


1909.]
91
THE DIAL
TOPICS IN LEADING PERIODICALS.
February, 1909.
Aērial Warfare, Menace of. H. B. Hersey. Century.
Amalfian Cornice Road, The Arthur Colton. Putnam.
American Art and Its Past. W. L. Price. Craftsman.
American Artists, A Plea for. A. Hoeber. North American.
American Commerce, Extension of. A. L. Bishop. Atlantic.
American Diplomatic Service. Herbert H. D. Peirce. Putnam.
American Marine To-day, The.G.A.Chamberlain. World To-day.
American Riviera, The. Charles F. Holder. Outing.
American Social Life in Illustration, A. Hoeber. Bookman.
Anti-Tuberculosis Campaign, The. 0. F. Lewis. World's Work.
Arabian Horse in England, The. David Buftum. Outing.
Armours, The. Arthur Brisbane. Cosmopolitan.
Art Collections of Chicago, Private. G, D’Unger. World To-day.
Art, Modernism in. Christian Brinton. Putnam.
Bahai Revelation," The. Jean Masson. Review of Reviews.
Banking and Currency Problem. M. W. Hazeltine. No. Amer.
Barnard, George G. M.Twombly and W.Downes, World's Work.
Baudelaire Legend, The. James Huneker. Scribner.
Berlin, Tenements of. Madge C. Jenison. Harper.
Botanists at St. Louis. P. Spaulding. Popular Science.
Broadway's Thousand Miles. A. H. Ford. World To-day.
Broward, Napoleon, Career of. R. D. Paine. Everybody's.
Brunswick, Romantic. R. H. Schauffler. Century.
Caine, Hall, Reminiscences of — VI. Appleton.
Calabrian Disaster, The Latest. W.H. Hobbs. Popular Science.
Camel Experiment, Jefferson Davis'8. W. L. Fleming. Pop. Sci.
Canada, Race Prospects in. C. R. Henderson. World To-day.
Caribbean, Our Commerce in the. R. A. Wilson. World's Work.
Cats, The Aristocracy of. Virginia Roderick. Everybody's.
China That Is, The. D. Lambuth. Review of Reviews.
Christianity, The Salvation of. Chas. F. Aked. Appleton.
Church and Social Service. Shailer Matthews. World To-dav.
Cleveland the Man. George F. Parker. McClure.
Cliff Dwellers' Club of Chicago. Bookman.
Cotton-Grower's Plight, The. D. J. Sully. Cosmopolitan.
Country Life Commission, The. A. Inkersley. World To-day.
Democracy, The Trend Toward. W. A. White. American.
Desert, Reclaiming the. Forbes Lindsay. Craftsman.
Deserter-Hunting. John S. Wise. Putnam,
Digestion. Young's Observations on. L. B. Mendel. Pop. Sci.
Dime Museum, The. R. L. Hartt. Atlantic.
Dyeing Silk. Charles Pellew. Craftsman.
Educational Emphasis, A Change of. E. A. Birge. Atlantic.
Eliot, George, and Lewes. Lyndon Orr. Munsey.
Emmanuel Movement, Dangers of. J. M. Buckley. Century.
England, The Beaten Track in. W. G. Brown. Atlantic.
English from an American Viewpoint, The. Scribner,
English Spelling, Simplifying. Max Eastman. No. American.
Faerie Queene: Where It was Written. A. Meynell. Atlantic.
Farm Movement, A Stay-on-the. W.P.Kirkwood. World To-day.
Florida, The New. H. N. Casson. Munsey.
Food of the City Worker. Hollis Godfrey. Atlantic.
Fuegian Archipelago, In the. C. W.Furlong. Harper.
German Painting To-day. Christian Brinton. Scribner,
Gothenberg System, The. H. S. Williams. McClure.
Gothic Architecture, Lesson of. E. A. Batchelder. Craftsman.
Greek Marbles, Some Recent Finds in. Putnam.
Hack, The, and his Pittance. John Walcott. Bookman.
Hanks, Nancy. Harriet Monroe. Century.
Hazing, A History of. Harry Thurston Peck. Munsey.
Helena, Queen, Italy's Heroine. Review of Reviews.
House of Representatives' Rules. A. P. Gardner. No. American.
Hysteria and Faith Cures. Pearce Bailey. Appleton.
“Ik Marvel.” Joseph B. Gilder. Review of Reviews,
Indians of the Stone Houses. E. S. Curtis. Scribner.
Insurance Legislation, Defective. J.P. Ryan. North American.
Italy's Exhausting Emigration. W. E. Weyl. Review of Revs.
Japan, Southernmost. R. Van V. Anderson. Popular Science.
Jewish History, What is? A. S. Isaacs. North American,
Kaiser, Younger Children of the. Theodore Schwarz. Munsey.
Kipling Poem, The Last. R. D. Pinkerton. Bookman.
Labor and the Railroads. J. O. Fagan. Atlantic.
Life Insurance, Romanceof-IX. W.J.Graham. World To-day.
Life on Earth, Origin of. W. Kaempffert. McClure.
Lincoln. George L. Knapp. Lippincott.
Lincoln, An Audience with. T. B. Bancroft. McClure.
Lincoln and Darwin, Emancipators. Appleton.
Lincoln at the Helm. John Hay. Century.
Lincoln Centennial Celebration, The Review of Reviews.
Lincoln Correspondence, A. W. H. Lambert. Century.
Lincoln-Douglas Debates. Hannis Taylor. North American.
Lincoln, If Russia Had a. E. Tobenken. World To-day.
Lincoln Literature, Old and New. Review of Reviews.
Lincoln, Mrs. Abraham, and Her Friends. W.Steell. Munsey.
Lincoln, Our Heritage in. World To-day.
Lincoln, Recollections of. James G. Wilson. Putnam.
Lincoln, Roosevelt's Tribute to. Review of Reviews.
Lincoln the Leader. Richard Watson Gilder. Century.
Lincoln, What I Saw of. Grenville M. Dodge. Appleton.
Lincoln's, A Letter of. World To-day.
Lincoln's Nomination. Mary King Clark. Putnam.
Lowell, A. Lawrence. F. A. Ogg. Review of Reviews.
Maeterlinck and his Home. A. F. Sanborn. Munsey.
Maine Faces Bitter Facts. Holman Day. Appleton.
Margin Gambling in Wall St. F. S. Dickson. Everybody's.
Messina: A City That Was. H. F. Alexander. World To-day.
Mexico, American Invasion of. E. H. Talbot. World's Work.
Mexico, Legends of the City of. T. A. Janvier. Harper.
Mississippi, A Trip through. B. T. Washington. World's Work.
Modernism. Newman Smyth. Scribner,
Monorail Road for N. Y. F. C. Bryant. World To-day.
Moulton, Louise C., in London. J. B. Rittenhouse. Bookman.
Musical Suggestion. Redfern Mason. Atlantic.
National Academy of Design. G. Edgerton. Craftsman.
National Arts Club of New York. Gardner Teall. Craftsman.
Navy of the Land, Our. G. K. Turner. McClure.
New York at Table. Richard Duffy. Putnam.
Night-riders, The. Edward A. Jonas. World's Work.
Nürnberg, The Spell of. P. Van Alstyne. Craftsman.
Opera and the People. Mary Garden. Everybody's.
Opium, Japan's Crusade against. K. Midzuno. No. American.
Paris, The Dark Side of. Bertha P. Weyl. World To-day.
People's Institute, The. J. Collier. World To-day.
“Pericles.” Theodore Watts-Dunton. Harper.
Philippines, American Rule in. W. C. Forbes. Atlantic.
Poe, The Weird Genius. Elisabeth E. Poe. Cosmopolitan.
Population, An Experiment in. Walter Weyl. Atlantic.
Radium and the Earth's Internal Heat. J. Joly. Harper,
Railroad Terminal, The. E. Hungerford. Harper.
Railroads, An Era of Better. C. M. Keys. World's Work.
Religio-Medical Movement. A. McL. Hamilton. No. American.
Renaud, Abbé Maurice. H. C. Finck. Century.
Research, Instruments of. L. A. Bauer. Popular Science.
Rio de Janeiro, Exposition at. R. De C. Ward. Popular Science.
Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research. Review of Reviews.
Rockefeller Institute, Work at. B. J. Hendrick. McClure.
Rockefeller, J. D., Reminiscences of - V. World's Work.
Rosebud Reservation, Opening. Lindsay Denison. American.
Rosecrans, The Conference over. E. P. Oberholtzer. Scribner'.
Saint-Gaudens, The Student. Homer Saint-Gaudens. Century.
Salem Ships and Sailors, Old – XIII. R. D. Payne. Outing.
School, The Choice of a. Frederick Winsor. Appleton.
Sembrich, Marcella, Career of. L. Reamer. Munsey.
Shaler, Nathaniel S., Autobiography of -- II. Atlantic.
Shaw, Bernard, Philosophy of. A. Henderson. Atlantic.
Sloan, John, Etchings of. C. R. Barrell. Craftsman.
Slums as a National Asset. C. E, Russell. Everybody's.
Smoke Nuisance and Railroads. C. R. Woodruff. Pop. Science.
Smoke Problem and Government. J. L. Cochrane. Rev.of Revs.
Spain, A Second-class Trip into. E. C. Allen. Outing.
Speech of the Uneducated, Archaic. T. R. Lounsbury, Harper.
Stock Exchange: If It Should Close. J.H.Gannon, Jr. Appleton.
Stockholders of the U.S., Report to. A. W. Page. World's Work.
Tariff, Future of the. R. P. Porter. North American.
Tariff Revision, Perplexities of. A. H. Washburn. No. Amer.
'Tidal Waves" after Earthquakes. T.J. J. See. Munsey.
Treves, Sir Frederick. Wilfred T. Grenfell. Putnam.
Truck Farming in Florida. E. P. Powell. Outing.
Victoria. Queen: An American View. S. C. Stevenson. Century.
Welles, Gideon, The Diary of -). Atlantic.
White Plague, The Great. C. Harcourt. Craftsman.
Wisconsin University. Lincoln Steffens. American.
Woman's Invasion of the Working World - IV. Everybody's.
Woman's Position - II. Duchess of Marlborough. No. Amer.
Woman's Problem. Annie Nathan Meyer. Appleton.
Women of the West, Pioneer. Agnes G. Laut. Outing.
Yankee Notions, Millions in. G. E. Walsh. World To-day.
LIST OF NEW BOOKS.
[The following list, containing 62 titles, includes books
received by THE DIAL since its last issue.]
BIOGRAPHY AND REMINISCENCES.
William Morris. By Alfred Noyes. 12mo, pp. 156. “English
Men of Letters." Macmillan Co. 75 cts. net.
The Life of James Robertson, Missionary Superintendent
in the Northwest Territories. By Charles W. Gordon (Ralph
Connor). Illus., 8vo, pp. 403. F. H. Revell Co. $1.50 net.


92
[Feb. 1,
THE DIAL
IMPORTANT BOOKS FOR EVERY
AMERICAN LIBRARY
MEMORIALS OF THE
COUNTIES OF ENGLAND
General Editor, REV. P. H. DITCHFIELD, M.A., F.S.A.,
F.R.Hist.s., F.R.S.L.
Each volume is edited by some well-known Antiquary and
Historian, and contains special articles contributed by eminent
writers connected with the County, and is beautifully illus-
trated. Demy 8vo, cloth extra, gilt top. Price $3.75 each, net.
Volumes for EIGHTEEN COUNTIES have already been
issued, and others are in active preparation.
“Messrs. Bemrose's famous Series of books dealing with the
archæology of English Counties. Printing, illustrations, and
matter leave nothing to be desired." - Daily Graphic.
OLD ENGLISH SILVER
AND SHEFFIELD PLATE
(The Values of)
FROM THE FIFTEENTH to the NINETEENTH CENTURIES
By J. W. CALDICOTT. Edited by J. STARKIE GARDNER, F.S.A.
3,000 Selected Sale Auction Records; 1,600 Separate Valua-
tions; 600 Articles. Illustrated with eighty-seven Collotype
Plates. 300 pp., royal 4to, buckram. Price $10.50 net.
“A most comprehensive and abundantly illustrated volume.
Enables the most inexperienced to form a fair opinion of
the value of a single article or a collection.” – Daily Telegraph
Full particulars may be obtained from
any Bookseller, or direct from
BEMROSE & SONS, Ltd., PUBLISHERS
LONDON, ENGLAND
OF INTEREST
to LIBRARIANS
WE
E are now handling a larger per-
centage of orders from Public
Libraries, School and College
Libraries, than any other dealer in
the entire country. This is because
our book stock, covering all classes
and grades of books, is more
plete than that of any other book-
seller in the United States, enabling
us to make full and prompt ship-
ments. Also, because we have a well
equipped department looking after
this special branch of the business.
com-
HISTORY.
The Making of Canada. By A. G. Bradley. 8vo, pp. 396.
E. P. Dutton & Co. $3. net.
The True Story of the American Flag. By John H. Fow.
Illus. in color, 8vo. Philadelphia: William J. Campbell.
75 cts. net.
GENERAL LITERATURE.
On Nothing and Kindred Subjects. By H. Belloc. Second
edition ; 16mo, pp. 261. E. P. Dutton & Co. $1.25 net.
G. K. Chesterton: A Criticism. With portraits, 12mo, pp. 272.
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[Feb. 16, 1909.
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Entered as Second-Class Matter October 8, 1892, at the Post Office
at Chicago, Illinois, under Act of March 3, 1879.
No. 544.
FEBRUARY 16, 1909. Vol. XLVI.
CONTENTS.
PAGB
LINCOLN
'. 101
EDGAR ALLAN POE: A CENTENARY OUT-
LOOK. Warren Barton Blake .
103
.
CASUAL COMMENT
105
The weighing and measuring of genius. — The
fascinating problem of the origin of language.—A
library on wheels. — An early portrait of Chaucer.
-The next lecturer before the Alliance Française.
-Sweetness and light in the reading-room.—Litter
and literature. — The progress of spelling-reform.
- Dr. Osler as chief speaker at the coming library
dedication. — A useful Lincoln bibliography.
COMMUNICATIONS
108
Tennyson and “The Quarterly Review." Albert
H. Tolman.
The Carnegie Institution and Literature. S. Weir
Mitchell.
Another Literary Seedsman. Charles Welsh.
REMINISCENCES OF A NOTED WOMAN. George
Robert Sparks
108
LINCOLN.
Nearly forty-four years have passed since that
“startled April morning" when the word went
forth from Washington that our great President
was no more. For close upon half a century he
has been numbered among the small company
of immortals who “ sit with their
peers
above
the talk," and the fitness of the words, "Now
he belongs to the ages," spoken by Stanton in
the hushed chamber when the assassin's victim
had drawn his last breath, are now perhaps just
beginning to be realized. This centennial year
of Lincoln's birth has rightly been singled out
to signalize his achievements, and still more to
emphasize the value of the example offered by
his life and character. The record of his words
and deeds has long been, and will long remain,
one of the chief springs upon which our national
idealism is fed ; and purer waters never flowed
into the current of a people's life.
Those of us whose lives overlapped his,
whether we ever saw him in the flesh or not,
have a sense of personal possession in which the
younger generation cannot share. Even if we
have nothing more than childish recollections of
the tragic day of his death, of the awed silence
that surrounded us when the tidings came, and
of the grief that might be expressed in sobs but
not in words, we have a memory that has grown
precious as it has become chastened, and that
makes Lincoln in very truth a part of our own
lives. No one can ever quite efface from con-
sciousness the very real distinction between past
and present, between the world which we may
know from books alone, and the world upon
which our own eyes and ears have been opened.
To all Americans who have rounded the half-
century cape there exists to-day a Lincoln
essentially although perhaps indefinably differ-
ent from the Lincoln known to those born since
the year of Appomattox. And as long as such
Americans shall survive, it will be their sacred
obligation to do what they may to keep vital
an image which is fast receding into the ghostly
realm of legend.
For it is quite clear that mythopoetic forces
are already busied with the deeds and the char-
acteristics of the Emanipator, and that the man
is fast becoming invested with the attributes of
.
SIR SPENCER WALPOLE AS HISTORIAN.
Ephraim D. Adams .
110
THE STORY OF HERCULANEUM. G. J. Laing . 112
LETTERS OF THE WIFE OF A GREAT POLIT-
ICAL LEADER. W. H. Johnson .
114
.
BRIEFS ON NEW BOOKS
115
Essays by Thackeray's daughter. — Short studies
in medical biography. - The building of a great
State in the Northwest. — Some simple annals of
the poor. — Dolls and doll-lore. — A colleague's
tribute to Carla Wenckebach.— Backward glances
of a veteran educator. - A fascinating page of
Greek history. – A history of the Philippines.
A Lincoln centennial souvenir.
NOTES
118
LIST OF NEW BOOKS
119


102
[Feb. 16,
THE DIAL
he"
>
the tutelary hero and the demigod. The trans- in this memorial season, but time will rectify
formation is inevitable, and idealism becomes that miscalculation, and fix our thought more
the gainer from it by so much as reality suffers and more fully upon the things which are worthy
loss. Every age has thus dealt with the com- of immortal remembrance.
manding figures of the past which have been The celebration whose echoes are still ringing
singled out as its exemplars. It has been so in our ears has had, like all similar outpourings
with Cæsar and Charlemagne, with Dante and of feeling, the defects of its qualities. There
Milton. The characters of these men, and of has been a good deal of splurge about it, a good
countless others of similarly resounding fame, deal of the perfunctory or insincere, a good deal
a
is figured in our modern consciousness under a of empty parade and display of self-seeking.
guise that would have seemed strange indeed to How much of it has been genuine reverence
their contemporaries. So with Lincoln, the new and how much lip-service it would be hard to
generation is already coming to view him in a say; the admixture of the two elements has
light very different from that in which he stood been obvious enough, although we may not be
revealed in the days of the nation's fiery trial. able to state the proportions. But on the
The figure of a hero thus recreated by the whole, the demonstration has made for good.
idealizing instinct of a whole people takes on It has doubtless been the occasion of some soul-
outlines that bear little relation to the man in searching on the part of men and women, and
his habit as he lived ; it reveals, however, with of much seed-gowing in the minds of the young.
unerring certainty the image of what we would To what moral disaster the nation has in recent
fain believe him to have been. The figure years forsaken Lincoln's teachings and departed
which was in process of reconstruction from the from the example of his life must have been
time of Lowell's ode and Whitman's threnody brought home to those who have renewed the
to the time of the statue by Saint-Gaudens, and study of his career, and out of all this multitude
which is being still more definitely shaped in there surely will be some, perhaps there will be
this centennial year, is far more the expression many, who will “ highly resolve” that he shall
of our ideal than it is of our memory, and it not have lived and died in vain, and that the
speaks well for the national character in the new birth of freedom ” which he helped to
twentieth century that this ideal is so pure give the nation shall be reaffirmed in deed no
and wholesome and altogether worthy of our less than in word. His political principles,
devotion.
now cynically flouted in the high places of our
“ What a piece of work is a man!” What government, and his ideals of social obligation,
a bewildering complex of acts and moods and now made a mockery by predatory and selfish
impulses and compromises with existence is any wealth, would soon become controlling influ-
given individual, and what insight it requires ences in our national life if we really meant
to disengage the essentials of a character from one-half of what we have been saying during the
its many confusing accidents!
Perhaps, after past week. If our words had purpose behind
all, we may come to have clearer knowledge of them, in any sort of proportion to their vehem-
a man when his muddy vesture of decay has ence and volume, the day of regeneration would
been cast aside, and time has withdrawn us far be now at hand.
from his presence. Do we see the real Lincoln Once more our thoughts go back to that
when we read of the country store-keeper, the spring day “ when lilacs last in the door-yard
itinerant lawyer, the petty politician, and the bloomed,” when there was given
retailer of coarsely humorous anecdote, or do
“ To death's own sightless-seeming eyes a light
we first really know him when he speaks to us Clearer, to death's bare bones a verier might,
in the Inaugurals and the Gettysburg address ? Than shines or strikes from any man that lives."
Iu biography as in history there are many de- On the last Sunday of his life, Lincoln had
grees of reality, ranging from the lower to the
read aloud, and, after a pause, repeated these
higher levels, and the sound instinct — par-
- lines from “ Macbeth":
ticularly the collective instinct — learns in time
-
« Duncan is in his grave;
to discriminate between these various orders of
After life's fitful fever he sleeps well;
fact, to care little for what is merely trivial and Treason has done his worst: nor steel, nor poison,
commonplace, to discern the shining life of the Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing
Can touch him further."
spirit as a thing apart from the dull life shaped
by material environment. We are still making A few days later, treason's worst had been done
too much of the lower realities of Lincoln's life upon him also, and the apotheosis proclaimed
a
.


1909.]
103
THE DIAL
66
I.
by Stanton's words had become his portion. Griswold, his later biographers have raised him to
There is a sense in which we may be glad that a demi-respectability too nearly bourgeois to be
death came to him at sueh a time and in such poetic, — have deprived him, then, of the compan-
a manner. His life and death were thus given
ionship of Heine and Musset and Byron, for which
he was a candidate. The first man of letters to
a unity which appeals to the artist in us; they
romanticize his strange unhappy life was Poe him-
seem to constitute a tragedy of faultless design.
self. It was he who recounted adventures that
Lincoln would have served his country wisely
were never his, in countries that he never visited
had he been spared, but perhaps we may say in France, in Greece, in Russia even. Taking the
that fate, through the agency of the assassin's cue, his French biographers have hailed in Poe the
weapon, made him the instrument of a better poète-névrosé, the génie morbide ; Germans have
and more enduring service by bestowing upon ascribed his productivity to alcoholic epilepsy or to
his career that supreme consecration. No words paranoia ; but now we needs must read : “ The
can be fully adequate to express the significance warmth of Bohemia, boulevard mirth, however
of such an end as was Lincoln's, but music is stimulating to other mad bards of New York and
always ready to aid us when words fail, and the
Philadelphia, never fetched a song from him.” And
it is true! Poe was less a drunkard than we
sublime strains of Death and Transfiguration
comforted by the thought that a New England con-
completely interpret for us that transition from
science mates not with dark eyes “in a fine frenzy
life to death, or, as the mystics of all ages have rolling,” consoled by our utter respectability for our
it, from illusion to reality, from death-in-life to want of genius - have fondly made him out; and
life itself, true and everlasting.
in so far as he was ever drunkard, his craving came
from lust of Lethe, or from the insistence of a
decadent organism. If alcohol but made Poe ill,
then it is clear that here was a poet as dreary in
his vice as the rest were in their virtue.
EDGAR ALLAN POE: A CENTENARY
Perhaps there is a moral profit in our seeing the
OUTLOOK.
poet stripped of all illusion, - great in spite of his
weakness, and not on its account. And yet the
" The real Poe,” writes his latest biographer, 6 is letting in of daylight on the dark places of a Rous-
““
a simple, intelligible, and, if one may dare say it,
seau's career, or of a Poe's, seems almost as grievous
a rather insignificant man. To make a hero or a
an offence against æsthetics as the absurdities of
villain of him is to write fiction.” And yet to have
pseudo-scientific criticism. The romance spun around
Chatterton or our American has been the poesy of
to wail,
“Romance beside his unstrung lute lies stricken dead,"
those who take their poesy in prose. “I've an idea,”
wrote Aldrich to Stedman, “that if Poe had been
abandoning the legend so long cherished, - this
an exemplary, conventional, tax-oppressed citizen,
seems too numbing to our sensibilities. Happy the
like Longfellow, his few poems, striking as they are,
suburbs of sound criticism, where he who mourned
would not have made so great a stir." Cheap as is
Lenore, and told of murders in a Paris street, and
the quality of fame springing from sentimentalism,
brought the gooseflesh to young limbs and old with
if it has brought the heedless crowd under a poet's
Ligeia's eeriness and Morella's ghost, is still the
Poe who died in hospital after a wild Byronic life, spell it may be better than truth itself. If one
can-
not throw the white veil over the passions of a
adventurous and perverted; the Poe, in fine, for
Rousseau in France, a Hearn or a Poe in America,
whom
“ The sickness, the nausea,
let us ignore the life and look but to the fine achieve-
The pitiless pain,
ment. More than once has genius stood distinct from
Have ceased, with the fever
moral greatness,-though we may hold, with Lowell,
That maddened my brain,
that all great geniuses have that greatness too. It
With the fever called 'Living '.
That burned in my brain,
is an unimportant question, here ; for Poe, whatever
the personality, was a great artist. There need have
since now a new and unfamiliar figure has stalked been no sullying of his memory, or hovering over
stiff and unasked into our company : a Poe who those last and painful years.
“He was never the
overworked at book-reviews, and whose worst vice same again," wrote the gentle Mitchell who has just
left us, of the Poe who had lost his Virginia. “We
Surely, “ we have sold our birthright for a mess of have hardly a right to regard what he did after
facts!” As Thomas Wentworth Higginson put it this — whether in the way of writing, of love-making,
long ago: “If Poe fared ill at the hands of his
enemy,
or of business projects — as the work of a wholly
he has fared worse, on the whole, at those of his responsible creature. It were perhaps better if the
friends.” For, without failing to establish, with a story of it all had never been told.”
different emphasis, most of the unpleasant facts Without his finishing touch of dying in the garret,
recorded but only half-proved by the “perfidious Chatterton would never have come so near to being
would seem to be a weakness for “: superior women.” left


104
[Feb. 16,
THE DIAL
own.
a
a
a
9
II.
9
III.
read by a generation as late and antipathetic as our found in the Hoffmanns and Tiecks and Novalis. In
Without his vagabondage, de Nerval might this very circumstance that their terror is of the soul,
by this time be forgotten. But Poe needs nothing of and not of Germany, we may find the secret of their
this histrionic glamor; and so it matters little how freshness and power to-day. The disposition to
he died — or lived. New England critics have always regard Poe as “Germanic dreamer," however
seemed a little overweighted by their own sublimity natural to continental criticism, seems to the nearer
in writing of this man; but if, as Lowell says, he witness totally. mistaken. As was pointed out in
was " three-fifths of him genius and two-fifths sheer Poe's own lifetime, while occupying that dim land
fudge,” we are grateful that the genius in his com- stretching from the outer limits of the probable into
position gave to the world, along with those poems the "weird confines of superstition and unreality,'
that have won the popular admiration, others less he combined qualities that are seldom united; “
obvious but more beautiful, “ To Helen,” and power of influencing the mind of the reader by the
“ Annabel Lee,” and even “Ulalume,” with tales that impalpable shadows of mystery, and a minuteness
prove Poe, too, cognizant of “that element which, of detail which does not leave a pin or a button
for want of a better name, we call character,” unnoticed.” There is, in “ The Facts in the Case of
the “ William Wilson or “The Tell-tale Heart." M. Valdemar,” that blending of science and romance
which makes us shiver in reading it to-day, when
Tieck has become to us exciting only to the risibili-
It is upon the tales that present emphasis is placed; ties, and Hoffmann but a weaver of idle fantasies.
and among them “William Wilson ” with its doppel-
gänger, “ Valdemar ” and “Mesmeric Revelations
“ The breeze, the breath of God, is still,
And the mist upon the hill
with their hypnotism, "Ragged Mountain" with its
Shadowy, shadowy, yet unbroken,
hypnotism and metempsychosis mingled in one dis-
Is a symbol and a token;
turbing whole, have made almost as wide a stir and
How it hangs upon the trees,
an even deeper impression than the cruder tales of
A mystery of mysteries!”
horror, like “The Black Cat," or the stories of So in the work of Hearn, in our own generation, is
what their author called “ratiocination.” Thus it there a blending of the mystic and the tangible -
is strange, to say the least, that in what must be the matter-of-fact, almost -- which moves us as true
regarded as the standard memoir of Poe, that by ghostliness, when ghastliness would not suffice.
Professor Woodberry in the “ American Men of
Letters ” series, no mention is made of him who,
before Poe, most consistently made use of these To-day we praise Poe as the true inventor of a
devices—hypnotism habitually, and auto-duplication class of fiction variously estimated and everywhere
until Brandes writes of him, “To Hoffmann, the enjoyed. The writer himself belittled his tales of
Ego is simply a disguise worn on the top of another ratiocination, and complained that they should ever
disguise, and he amuses himself by peeling off these have had more vogue than what we hold with him
disguises one by one.” In Hoffmann's diary one
”
his greater achievement. But for the crowd which
may read : “Possessed by thoughts of death and sees in the poet only the writer of “The Raven"
doppelgänger. ... Seized by a strange fancy at and “The Bells,” he will ever be, in prose fiction,
the ball on the sixth, — imagined myself looking the writer of “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,"
at my Ego through a kaleidoscope, - all the forms
, -
“The Purloined Letter,” and “The Gold-Bug.” It
moving round me are Egos, and annoy me by what is on this side that he is most easily followed by less
they do and leave undone. . . . Why do I think gifted craftsmen; and if “ an entire literature ” has
so much, sleeping and waking, about madness?”
been founded upon
“ The Raven," it is no less
Though there is no proof that Poe, who shared these remarkable that, although Poe was the initiator of
thoughts of multiple Ego and of madness, ever read a new genre in these tales, he has never been im-
“The Devil's Elixir," or Hoffmann's other tales, proved upon. In the elegant phrase of Professor
the “phantasy-pieces ” whose name he gave to his Brander Matthews, Poe “rang the bell the very first
own excursions in the same weird field, it is certain time he took aim.” If, as this critic of the “short-
enough that he knew them indirectly through the story” has pointed out, Poe's tale differs from older
work of Scott and others, - quite as he professed tales of terror, seeking to interest us not in the
to know the tales of Tieck, whom he hailed as horrors of a mystery but in the steps taken to untie
Hawthorne's master. And there is no difficulty in a knotty problem, it is no less true that it differs
exaggerating the debt of Poe and Hawthorne to the from its developments in the hands of modern prac-
Germans, whose fiction remained Gothic, while that titioners. We have the word of Sherlock Holmes's
of the Americans struck a new note - not national most clever manufacturer, that while his own crea-
so much as universal. As Poe said, “If in many tion is bloodless and mechanical, Poe's figures are
of my productions terror has been the thesis, I neither mere automata nor beings “fantastically
maintain that terror is not of Germany, but of the inhuman,” and that “one story by Edgar Allan Poe
soul.” It is not merely in the deeper simplicity, the would be worth a dozen” such as his. If Poe's
higher art, of our own story-tellers, that they differ tales are too strange not to be true, perhaps the par-
from their German models — if models they ever adox of Oscar Wilde is not without its meaning, -
"


1909.]
105
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1
as
ܪ
perhaps literature does sometimes anticipate, not
CASUAL COMMENT.
copy, life, and mould it to its purposes : life the
mirror, art the reality.
THE WEIGHING AND MEASURING OF GENIUS is
Poe himself might have enunciated some such not often attempted, and is sure to be found a
mad doctrine. Literature was his religion, said his baffling undertaking. Nevertheless Dr. Frederic
employer, Graham, - paraphrased by an ungentle Lyman Wells has had the zeal and persistence to
essayist who has said, “In the place of moral carry through “A Statistical Study of Literary
feeling, he had the artistic conscience.” Surely, Merit”; for thus he entitles his account of certain
he had both ; and therein lurked a world of woe. minute and marvellous investigations of the peculiar
In this early epoch of our literature was marked
properties of ten leading American authors. The
the passage from superstition over into a shadowy English Graduate Club of Columbia University aided
symbolism, most properly vague; the allegory was him in his work, and the results are printed by the
here more used by Hawthorne, but Poe used it too Science Press as number seven in the series known
and with a perfect artistry. There are, to be sure, “ Archives of Psychology.” Far be it from a
tales which we ignore. In the exigencies of a hand- non-statistician to decry the virtues of statistics.
to-mouth existence, Poe wrote his arabesques, In the first half of the nineteenth century the great
his “Omelettes” and his “Spectacles,” — such as French physician Louis mightily advanced the
a kindly editor leaves out when he collects the fic-
science of medicine by the statistical or numerical
tion. It is in an absence of humor and, alas!
study of diseases ; and the value of statistics in vari-
an apparent ignorance that the humor is lacking-
ous other departments of science is indisputable.
that Poe is most deficient when we compare him But to fit the strait jacket of statistical tabulation
with the man of Salem. Yet what a record is
on the gloriously unfettered form of artistic or lit-
his for the short life he had, and the difficulties
erary genius is even worse than yoking Pegasus
he faced ! “It was he," writes a foreign critic, to the plough. Mr. Wells's pages are packed with
“who opened up, in his · Hans Pfaal,' the way of numbers and letters, with arbitrary markings and
the scientific novel ; he who invented the detective abbreviations, with tables and headache-generating
story with the “Rue Morgue,' and the novel of spirit. disquisitions thereon.
spirit. disquisitions thereon. To some it may be illumi- .
ism with his stories of Bedloe and M. Valdemar."
nating to learn that the p.e. (probable error?) in this
And there remains his verse.
sort of assaying is capable of mathematical expres-
Incidentally mentioned here, that passing notice sion in the form of a fraction whose numerator is
shall suffice. It is the poetry which least needs .845 A. D., and whose denominator is the square
explanation, and its body is so small, its perfection root of n - 1. But to us the best thing in the whole
at its best so unmistakable, there is no need to recapit- learned treatise is this : “ It is a not uncommon
ulate either the monstrous praises or the petty blame observation that we often form judgments for which
which it has oft evoked. “Once as yet,” in Swinburne's
we cannot give satisfactory reasons, and it is per-
well-remembered word, once as yet, and only once, haps not less common to observe that these judg-
has there sounded out of it all (all America] one pure ments are about as likely to be correct as those for
note of original song - worth singing, and echoed
which we can.
To this empirical generalization the
from the singing of no other man;. a note of song above figures seem to lend experimental support.
neither wide nor deep, but utterly true, rich, clear, We are more accurate in our opinions than in our
and native to the singer.” Let that estimate stand.
reasons for them.”
And while it would be grateful to linger over one's
THE FASCINATING PROBLEM OF THE ORIGIN OF
favorites in the slender volume of Poe's poetry, and
to discuss his theory, real and pretended, in things
LANGUAGE will tease and baffle, delight and torment
poetical and critical, all has been said in these hun-
the curious philologist until the world shall come to
dred years which have elapsed since his birth there
an end and the heavens shall be rolled together as
in Boston child of the stage. His mysterious
a scroll. A new and plausible and well-defended
death, sixty years ago, is but the slightest of the bonds hypothesis is offered by Professor Fred Newton
between him and the one name that precedes his on
Scott in his late address as president of the Modern
the roll of American poets. There was a premoni- Language Association of America. Perhaps, how-
tion of Poe's coming, when the poet of our Revolution,
ever, it would be dangerous to claim entire novelty
Philip Freneau, composed his “House of Night”:
for his tentative solution of the problem, since
nothing whatever under the sun is entirely new.
“ Trembling I write my dream, and recollect
Be that as it may, he traces the “genesis of speech”
A fearful vision at the midnight hour;
So late, Death o'er me spread his sable wings,
to respiration. “If we consider,” he says, in one sig-
Painted with fancies of malignant power.
nificant passage of his address, “how intimately the
most elementary phenomena of speech are related
“Let others draw from smiling skies their theme,
to the musculature of the thorax and diaphragm, we
And tell of climes that boast unfading light; shall see some reason for suspecting that the life-
I draw a darker scene, replete with gloom,
serving movement from which speech has arisen
I sing the horrors of the House of Night.”
is ordinary respiration. Such, at any rate, is the
WARREN BARTON BLAKE. hypothesis which I shall adopt. Speech, in its in-
> >
66


106
[Feb. 16,
THE DIAL
a
no
.
ception, is significantly modified breathing. Just appears from the inventory of pictures in the posses-
as gesture arose from movements of the hand in sion of that ancient and respectable family.” The
obtaining food or warding off enemies, so speech | earlier history of the portrait is unknown, but it bears
arose from the movements of the muscles of the a close resemblance to the only authentic likeness of
thorax and diaphragm in obtaining a fresh supply the poet, the miniature in Occleve's “ De Regimine
of oxygen and in rejecting the harmful products of Principum" (written in 1411-12). Professor Nor-
physiological combustion.” Just how exactly Pro- ton received the panel portrait as a gift from Mr.
fessor Scott's further elaborated and extremely inter- James Loeb, who had bought it of Faixfax Murray.
esting explanation of the stages in speech-evolution To learn through whose hands it had passed, from
fits the actual truth of the matter, no one will ever first to last, would not greatly profit us; but the
be able to determine ; for no eye-witness, - near resemblance of the picture to the face we already
ear-witness rather, can be summoned for cross- know so well as Chaucer's is significant. How much
examination. His theory is at least an appreciable clearer is our mental image of the great fourteenth-
advance from the amusing tradition which arbi- century poet than of his still greater sixteenth-century
trarily assigned such and such a language to Adam compatriot, even though the latter is three hundred
and Eve in Paradise, another to the serpent, and years nearer to us in time. We
may
have a truer
still another to the Lord. “The Genesis of Speech” likeness of Shakespeare than of Chaucer, but we are
is issued in pamphlet form by the Modern Language not certain which one of several portraits it is. In
Association.
Chaucer's case, however, we are not confused by a
number of widely differing possibilities.
A LIBRARY ON WHEELS, which has already sev-
eral times attracted our attention and elicited our
approving comment, may be seen by any interested THE NEXT LECTURER BEFORE THE ALLIANCE
visitor to the rural districts of Washington County, FRANÇAISE is to be M. Marcel Poëte, librarian of
Maryland. Its librarian (librarian and coachman
the Paris Institute of Municipal History, a writer
in one) fills a position that is probably unique. and lecturer of repute, an antiquary of untiring re-
The “Seventh Annual Report” of the free library search, and editor of the Bulletin published by the
at Hagerstown, whence this Book Wagon starts out Library of the City of Paris. (That he is not also
on its sixteen routes of travel, has this (among a poet, in keeping with his uncommon and striking
other things ) to say of its activities : “ It far exceeds family name, will hardly surprise anyone; for libra-
the travelling library or deposit station in its use- rianism and verse-making are weaknesses seldom
fulness, in that the personal element enters into the
united in the same person, although Chicago can
work. . . . Furthermore, the work of a Library in boast of a poet-librarian, and a suburban library
a community is never solely to supply known wants, within sight of Beacon Hill is in charge of a maker
but ever and always to be on the ert to create a of very acceptable and often delightfully humorous
demand. The gospel of books is like the gospel of verse.) The published list of M. Poëte's lectures
eternal life for which the world has never hungered in this country promises a rare treat. Among other
until it has been brought to them by the zeal of attractive titles are these : “The Pont-Neuf, or the
its ministers.” Other country districts might well
Life of the People in the Seventeenth Century,"
adopt the Book Wagon, pending the provision of
“ The Fashionable Promenades of the Seventeenth
better library facilities. Indeed, why not equip and Century,” “A Picture of Paris in the Time of the
send forth a number of library railway cars to visit Revolution,” “Madeleine-Bastille, or a Little History
small railroad towns that have no public libraries? of the Grands Boulevards," "The Cries of Paris,"
We have agricultural schools and roadmaking semi-
“ Artistic Influence: The Primitive Parisian Paint-
naries, and even churches, rolling over the prairies ers,” and “Paris in the Time of the Romanticists."
on steel rails and doing an extensive missionary Numerous and interesting lantern-slide illustrations
work. The library car ought to prove even more
will enliven the lectures, which promise to be every
useful than the book wagon.
way worth while for those who have ever visited
Paris, those who intend to visit Paris, and (most of
AN EARLY PORTRAIT OF CHAUCER, painted in oil
all) those who despair of ever being able to visit
Paris.
on an oak panel, has been received by the Harvard
University Library by bequest from the late Charles SWEETNESS AND LIGHT IN THE READING-ROOM
Eliot Norton, with the testator's request that it be that is, a pure atmosphere and a sufficient natural
inscribed as a memorial of two Chaucer-lovers, or artificial illumination of the page under perusal
Francis James Child and James Russell Lowell. should be abundantly provided for in every public
The back of the panel bears the following inscrip- library. The peculiar smell that greets the wor-
tion : “ This picture was presented by Miss Frances shipper in old churches, especially country churches,
Lambert to Benjamin Dyke on the 16th of Sep- the smell that for so many ages was mistaken for the
tember, 1803, to perpetuate the memory of her late odor of sanctity, has its counterpart in the stuffiness
invaluable relation, Thomas Stokes, Esq., of Llan- and closeness of old libraries ; only there it is sup-
shaw Court, in the county of Gloucester, where it posed to be the fragrance of erudition, the perfume
was preserved for more than three centuries, as from the flowers of poesy and from the various anthol-
5


1909.]
107
THE DIAL
66
a
ogies and other specimens of literary efflorescence shock will be eased by this slowness of adoption,
culled by careful hands from belletristic gardens. and it may well be (as, indeed, we hope it will be)
This indescribable “ bouquet” has doubtless been that the familiar old spellings will, to all intents
unthinkingly taken by many as an essential and even and purposes, last out our time. After us, the
highly desirable attribute of a well-appointed library. deluge of heterographic novelties may set in- if it
At any rate, we all know the shudder of horror that must—but we hope to sleep untroubled in our graves.
80 often attests high displeasure when windows are List number three of these “ Simplified Spellings'
opened and it is sought to replace a nineteenth (or has appeared. It embraces words having ea pro-
eighteenth) century atmosphere with a twentieth- nounced as short e, preterites and participles ending
century one. But not all users of public libraries in -ed pronounced -d, words ending in unaccented
are enemies of light and air. A solicitation of public- -ice pronounced -is, and words ending in -ve (after
library suggestions from the laity has been diligently l or r) pronounced -v,
l or r) pronounced -v, — about two hundred and fifty
conducted by Dr. Louis N. Wilson, librarian at Clark in all. “In due course,” we are informed, “the
University, and among other more or less interesting three lists will be printed in one alfabetic order, and
and instructive complaints against the existing order used as a basis for more extensiv simplifications to
are a number of protests against insufficient provision appear in a larger list or Vocabulary of Simplified
of light and air in some of our reading-rooms. Poor Spellings."
ventilation is far more prevalent than poor lighting.
DR. OSLER AS CHIEF SPEAKER AT THE COMING
“As for ventilation,” declares one respondent, “libra-
LIBRARY DEDICATION,
the dedication, namely, of
ries do not know what the word means." Too many
the fine Medical and Chirurgical Library building
librarians are ignorant, in proportion to their book-
connected with the Johns Hopkins Hospital and
learning, of the value and need of abundant oxygen.
expected to be finished this month and opened in
May, will be sure to draw a full audience. What-
LITTER AND LITERATURE seem to have more than
an alliterative relation to each other. Looking at
ever his subject, which will not fail to be appropriately
the working habits of writers, one is almost
tempted serious, his address will be pointed with epigram
to say, The more litter, the more literature,-although
and enlivened with apt allusion and anecdote.
Another distinguished participant in the exercises
there are conspicuous exceptions. Walt Whitman's
will be Dr. S. Weir Mitchell. An unusual but not
room in Camden was notoriously untidy.
unattractive feature of the new library building will
Quincey's writing was done in various more or less
obscure resorts, with
no observance of method and be a large room in the basement set apart for pur.
order. The elder Dumas cannot be imagined as
poses of bodily refreshment and the repair of wasted
tissues,
sitting at an immaculately tidy desk, with pens,
- a dining room, that is, or banquet hall.
Whether a kitchen also is to be provided in connec-
paper, inkstand, paper-cutter, reference manuals,
and so forth, all in their appointed places. On the
tion with it, does not appear from the reports. The
other hand, Thackeray's exquisitely neat and legi. in existence; and if its visitors are to find food there
structure is expected to be one of the best of its kind
ble script suggests nothing so much as well-trimmed
for both brain and stomach, it will certainly be one
pens (goose-quills, of course) and a writing-desk in
of the most complete. The dedicatory exercises are
proper order. Lowell's study at Elmwood, too, was
no wilderness of disorder. Walter Pater's rooms at
announced for May 13, 14, 15, and will (one cannot
Oxford were almost painfully self-conscious in their
but hope) be held in the large auditorium on its
immaculateness. FitzGerald revelled in the chaotic
first floor, to be known as Osler Hall.
and the haphazard. Scott and Shakespeare, we
can imagine, wrote with piles of manuscript and
A USEFUL LINCOLN BIBLIOGRAPHY, among the
other papers on either hand. In general, can we, many such lists now appearing, is issued by the
even the most orderly of us, conceive of the frenzy Chicago Publie Library as “Special Bulletin No. 7."
of inspired composition as for a moment vexing it. In its forty-two pages there must be a thousand titles
self with considerations of symmetry and balance or more, arranged under such headings as these :
and geometrical regularity in the disposal of books Genealogy and Family History, Biography (divided
and papers and other appurtenances of the study ? into eleven sub-classes), Estimates of Character,
Lincoln as a Lawyer, Lincoln as a Literary Man,
THE PROGRESS OF SPELLING-REFORM, as marked Lincoln as an Orator, Religion of Abraham Lincoln,
by the successive lists of “Simplified Spellings Lincoln and Temperance, Personal Appearance,
sent out from No. 1 Madison Avenue, New York, etc. Books, periodicals, pamphlets, sermons, all sorts
by the Simplified Spelling Board, is interesting, of printed matter have been consulted in preparing
though necessarily a somewhat melancholy sight to the bulletin, which is especially useful to Chicago
those who cling to the old forms with all their cher- readers as the works cited are all to be found in the
ished associations. Happily for the “old fogies," Chicago Public Library. A bibliography of Lincoln
however, the new forms in all their shivering naked-bibliographies, all likewise in the Library, forms the
ness of phonetic spelling are not very rapidly opening section. The compilation shows care and
invading our current literature. The inevitable industry, and is a work of permanent value.
:


108
(Feb. 16,
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a
But an
66
COMMUNICATIONS.
The New Books.
TENNYSON AND “THE QUARTERLY REVIEW."
(To the Editor of THE DIAL.)
REMINISCENCES OF A NOTED WOMAN.*
I have just read in your issue of January 1 (p. 9) In turning the pages of the Reminiscences of
your comment upon the “lavish praise" bestowed by
“ The Quarterly Review upon Tennyson's volume of Lady Randolph Churchill, covering a period of
1833 (really printed in 1832). I am surprised that you nearly thirty years, the reader is confronted
were not suspicious of a quotation which speaks of with such a multiplicity of persons, places, and
Tennyson as “another and a brighter star of that galaxy
events, as to be wellnigh bewildered. But they
or milky way [!] of poetry of which the lamented Keats
was the harbinger."
are presented in so entertaining a fashion that
In Vol. I. of the Tennyson Memoir, Arthur Hallam
the task becomes a delightful one. It is a book
speaks of the review now in question as “the infamous that one may pick up and lay down, read and
article” (p. 91); and Hallam Tennyson refers to it as re-read. The author has a natural talent for
“the sneering savage Quarterly attack” (p. 94). It
seeing things, and a charming way of describing
was probably this review, more than anything else,
which caused Tennyson to print almost nothing between
them. From the time of her début, in the early
the so-called volume of 1833 and the triumphant two
seventies, into English political and social life,
volumes of 1842.
ALBERT H. TOLMAN. she has, by fortuitous circumstances as well as
University of Chicago, Feb. 5, 1909.
by a pleasing personality, made herself an influ-
[We might make the plea that the irony of our
ential and powerful factor. As the young wife
comment was still finer in its subtlety than the
of a Cabinet minister, she discharged her duties
irony of the Quarterly Reviewer – too fine, in fact, with tact and delicacy. It was no easy matter,
to be discernible to the ordinary eye.
in the days of her early career, to overcome the
unaccommodating frankness compels us to admit resentment shown to Americanism ; but how
that though we were surprised and, in a subcon-
scious way, uneasily suspicious, we allowed the frag: shown in these pages.* Thirty years ago," she
cleverly Lady Randolph played her part is
mentary quotation to slip through, in the press of
other matters, without attaching the proper label.
remarks, “ there were very few Americans in
- EDR. THE DIAL.]
London. In England, as on the Continent, the
American woman was looked upon as a strange
THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTION AND LITERATURE. and abnormal creature with habits and manners
(To the Editor of THE DIAL.)
between a Red Indian and a Gaiety girl. Any-
In your recent review of “ The Old Yellow Book”
thing of an outlandish nature might be expected
your critic failed to make plain that this costly volume
of her. If she talked, dressed and conducted
was issued by the Carnegie Institution of Washington.
The need to give this credit arises from the fact that
herself as any well-bred woman should, much
this foundation has been much criticised for its failure
astonishment was invariably evinced, and she
to foster literature. Dr. Hodell’s volume is our first was usually saluted with the tactful remark,
venture in this direction. It will be followed by two · I should never have thought that you were
volumes of Professor Sommers's rendering of the
Arthurian legends from the MSS. of the British Mu-
an American,' which was intended as a compli-
seum. The publication of Flügel's great dictionary of
ment.”
Chaucerian English will begin shortly and will appear One could quote indefinitely from these pages,
in numbers.
as so many of the stories ar
bo mots related by
How otherwise and further we can assist literature
Lady Churchillare worth repeating; and they are
we have been unable to see. S. WEIR MITCHELL,
given with an air of easy frankness which adds
of the Executive Committee of the
Carnegie Institution of Washington.
greatly to their charm. At Bayreuth she met
Philadelphia, Feb. 3, 1909.
Mrs. Sam Lewis, wife of the well-known money-
lender; an excellent musician, and a benefac-
ANOTHER LITERARY SEEDSMAN.
tress of many institutions. Mr. Lewis, unlike
(To the Editor of THE DIAL.)
The note in your issue of the 1st inst. about the
his wife, was not artistic. It is told of him that,
Literary Seedsman of Marblehead reminds me of another
having once made a fortnight's stay in Rome,
Seedsman who flourished in Scotland in the latter half he was asked how he liked it. " You can 'ave
of the nineteenth century, Peter Drummond of Stirling, Rome,” was his laconic answer.
who combined the writing and printing of religious tracts She met the Abbé Liszt at the Russian
with his business. He was not only a shrewd business
man and a clever advertiser, but a bit of a wag as well,
Embassy in London, when M. de Staal was
for he always placed with the imprint to his little tracts
Ambassador. "I sat next the great man, whose
the quotation: “For the field is the World, and the seed strong and characteristic face, so often deline-
is the Word of God.”
CHARLES WELSH.
*The REMINISCENCES OF LADY RANDOLPH CHURCHILL. Illus-
Winthrop, Mass., Feb. 6, 1909.
trated. New York: The Century Co.
9
6


1909.)
109
THE DIAL
his error.
6
a
>
>
ated both by brush and chisel, seemed strangely ful finger at Mr. Gladstone, declared he was
familiar. He was so blind that he ate his “ inebriated with the exuberance of his own
asparagus by the wrong end, until I pointed out verbosity.” We believe that it was at the
Ah,' he exclaimed, - merci bien,
• merci bien, House of Commons, and not at this banquet,
il me semblait tout de même que cela n'était that Disraeli made these memorable remarks,
pas très bon !'”
and that Gladstone later on retorted that it was
On another occasion, Lady Randolph was on
" the hair-brained chatter of irresponsible fri-
a visit to Queen Victoria, and tells the story of volity.”
an officer, who, being on guard duty at the Lord Randolph was just then at the zenith of
Castle, was asked to dine there. The whispered his power, and much of his success may be
conversation and the stiffness of the proceed- attributed to his clever and vivacious wife. She
ings beginning to weigh on him, he thought he assisted him in every possible manner, and was
would enliven the party with a little joke. The active on his behalf in public meetings and in
Queen, hearing smothered laughter, asked what canvassing for votes. In the autumn of 1883
it was about. Scarlet and stammering, the the Primrose League was formed, and Lady
poor man had to repeat his little tale, amid dead Randolph was enrolled as one of the dames. She
silence. Fixing a cold eye upon him, “ We are spoke in Manchester just before the general elec-
not amused,” was all the Queen said.
tion of 1886, and prophesied the downfall of
Owing to her husband's position as a Cabinet Mr. Gladstone and the defeat of his famous
officer, Lady Randolph bad many opportunities Home Rule bill. Of this period she relates some
of meeting prominent people of both political amusing electioneering anecdotes. Being asked
parties. The years 1880-1884 were stirring to help canvass for Mr. Burdett-Coutts, she was
ones, and, she says, “ full of excitement and
, “ full of excitement and pleading with a wavering voter for his support.
interest for me. Our house became the rendez- Waggishly and with a sly look, he said, “ If I
vous of all shades of politicians. . . . Sir Charles could get the same price as was once paid by the
Dilke and Mr. Joseph Chamberlain came fre- Duchess of Devonshire for a vote, I think that
quently. The Duke of Marlborough, my father- I could promise.'
“ Thank you very much,
in-law, was particularly incensed, and took Lady Randolph replied, “ I 'll let the Baroness
Randolph seriously to task for having had Mr. Burdett-Coutts know at once.”
Chamberlain to dinner, a man who was a Notwithstanding that Lord Randolph Chur-
socialist, or not far from one; who was reputed chill rapidly rose to the highest positions, first
to have refused to drink the Queen's health as Secretary of State for India, and afterwards
when Mayor of Birmingham.'” It was a strange as Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of
irony of fate that Mr. Chamberlain some years the House of Commons, his downfall was equally
later became one of the leading figures in English sensational. It was a great surprise and shock
parliamentary life, honored and fêted by King to the country when he tendered his resignation
Edward and his courtiers, and but for impaired to the Queen. To Lady Randolph Churchill
health might probably still be one of the giants it meant the destruction of all her hopes and
of the political arena. At that time the names plans. “He went into no explanation, and I
of Gladstone, Salisbury, Hartington, Churchill, felt too utterly crushed and miserable to ask
Harcourt, and Stafford Northcote, were those for
any, or even to remonstrate,” she writes in
to be conjured with. Balfour was then com- her journal. It was claimed, at the time, that
paratively unknown. He and Sir John Gorst, Lord Randolph disagreed with his colleagues on
with Sir Henry Drummond Wolff and Randolph some question of expenditure. History may or
Churchill, constituted what was known as the may not be right in this respect; but it is gen-
Fourth Party, and many a lively tilt was erally believed that the state of his health,
exchanged between those obstreperous gentle added to a naturally nervous temperament, was
men and the occupants of the Government mainly responsible for his action.
benches. It is related that Mr. Gladstone con- Lord Randolph Churchill was a fearless
fided to an intimate friend that he feared Lord fighter in debate, and a thorn in the side of
Randolph Churchill in debate even more than his opponents. The press was very bitter
Disraeli. Lady Randolph, in speaking of the against him, the “Times” in particular attack-
banquet in honor of Lord Beaconsfield and Lord ing him on every occasion. One night, after a
Salisbury on their return from the Berlin Con- particularly poisonous leader had appeared in
ference, says that Disraeli, pointing with a scorn- that paper, Lady Randolph met Mr. Buckle,


110
[Feb. 16,
THE DIAL
a
the editor of the “ Times," at a reception.
SIR SPENCER WALPOLE AS HISTORIAN.*
Coming up, he half chaffingly asked her if
she intended to speak to him, or if she was
The appearance of the two last volumes of Sir
too angry
“ Not a bit,” she replied, “I Spencer Walpole’s “ History of Twenty-Five
have ten volumes of press-cuttings about Ran- Years ” marks the passing of an historian who,
dolph, all abusive. This will only be added to
if he is not to be classed among the greatest
them.”
historical writers, was yet distinctly gifted in
No record of Lady Churchill's Reminiscences the art of historical presentation. Sir Spencer
would be complete without reference to the Walpole died on July 7, 1907. He was con-
splendid work she accomplished in helping to fit nected, through both father and mother, with
out the hospital-ship“ Maine "for service in the the so-called ruling class of England, and his
South African War. No stone was left unturned life was in many respects the life of other men
to procure money — much money, and it had to of his class and inherited tastes. Added to high
be all American
money.
“ It would be useless," culture, breeding, and education, was a consci-
she says, “ to deny the fact that the Boer War entious devotion to and interest in the routine
was viewed with disfavor by my countrymen. administrative duties of the State.
. He was a
They had a fellow feeling for the Boers, fight- university man, and from early manhood mani-
ing, as they thought, for their independence. fested a desire to make a place for himself in
But the plea of humanity overran their political the world of letters. Beginning as a clerk in
opinions, and the fund once started, money
the War Office, he held various administrative
poured in.” As is often the case with char- positions, such as Commissioner of Fisheries or
itable appeals, Lady Randolph and her co-
Governor of the Isle of Man, his last office being
workers met with rebuffs, - notably in the case, that of Secretary of the Post Office. These
as she tells, of an American multimillionaire to administrative labors constituted the everyday
whom she cabled asking for a subscription for
work of his life, and to them he gave a genuine
the hospital. He replied that he had “no interest and a sane energy.
He was a good
knowledge of the scheme.”
The press by this servant of the State, and was always welcome in
time, in both countries, was full of the enter- political circles and society. Having an un-
prise. She cabled back, “ Read the papers ”; usually wide acquaintance with leaders in both
but this, alas! did not untie the rich man's parties, his opportunities for observation and
purse-strings. It may be asserted with perfect judgment were many, while his essentially judi-
truth that Lady Randolph did more to estab-
cial and unbiassed mind fitted him peculiarly
lish an entente cordiale, and to help cement a for the writing of contemporary history. His
friendship between England and America, than work, whether in the earlier history of England
could have been accomplished by any other
from 1815 to 1858, or in this present history,
planned and executed as a continuation, is
Of her work in connection with “ The Anglo- always readable, and moves with a dignified
Saxon Review,” we regret we cannot speak so precision, presenting its facts always clearly
highly. That she was ill-advised to enter into and impressing them by sheer simplicity of
the undertaking, no doubt remains. She did statement. Indeed, the keynote of Walpole’s
all she could to make the “ Review”
a success,
attractive style of writing is simplicity
and her friends helped her con amore. Advice
Advice simplicity which, based upon a wide knowledge
was readily forthcoming, but not the means. and true assimilation of facts, gives evidence of
The reasons for the failure of the enterprise are a logical mind and a discriminating pen. Clar-
not far to seek; it is generally conceded that ity is characteristic of all his writing. His
the subscription price, for one thing, was pro- straightforward clear résumé of events reads so
hibitory. That the scheme as a whole savored simply that at first one may lose sight of the
of snobbishness is self-evident; and Lady painstaking effort involved in achieving such
Randolph was shrewd enough to let go of it in satisfactory results. Doubtless it is advanta-
time.
geous to the general historian to be unhampered
This book is admirably illustrated and well by the masses of tiresome detail that the mono-
made, but lacks an index. This is a great dis- graphists must handle; yet Walpole's sources
advantage, especially as the author has an unfor- were by no means meagre. Many and careful
tunate habit of confusing dates and events.
means.
a
THE HISTORY OF TWENTY-FIVE YEARS. 1856-1880. By Sir
Spencer Walpole. Volumes III. and IV. New York: Long-
GEORGE ROBERT SPARKS.
mans, Green, & Co.


1909.]
111
THE DIAL
footnotes indicate a mastery of the most im- treating the topics of English diplomacy during
portant state papers, and the more accessible the Franco-Prussian War, the Russo-Turkish
materials for a broader field than that custom- War, and the Berlin Treaty of 1878. These
arily included within the labors of a specialist. volumes furnish an excellent analysis of condi-
He stands midway, therefore, between the spe- tions which it is to-day necessary to understand
cialist and the “popular historian,” avoiding if one is to appreciate the strength and import-
the dreary detail of the former and escaping ance of present-day disturbances in the Balkan
the accusation of inexact knowledge frequently States. Nor is this a merely English point of
directed with justice against the latter.
view; for Walpole, more than most Englishmen,
These general considerations apply to the knows his Continental politics, and is able to
two present volumes as well as to earlier avoid the insular limitations of other writers.
work, even though these last volumes were As regards America, the main interest in the
incompleted at the time of the author's death. present volumes centres about the Alabama case
Sir A. C. Lyall, who had the duty of preparing and the Geneva Award ; and here, as every-
them for the press, explains this when he states where, the essentially judicial quality of Wal-
in the preface that his labor has been confined pole's mind is made evident. He is most fair in
practically to slight alterations in the final re- stating the argument for either side, acknowl-
view and arrangement of the manuscript, and edging the impossible dilemma in which Lord
that “the views and conclusions recorded by Russell placed England when he ordered the
Sir Spencer Walpole stand untouched as he detention of the Alabama, yet denied that he was
wrote them.” No one at all familiar with in any way bound to prevent her escape. At
Walpole's method and style could doubt this; the same time, from the writer's point of view,
for in the opinion of the reviewer it would be the proposal of Sumner to claim from Great
quite impossible to discover any appreciable Britain a sum equal to the entire cost of the
difference between the method and style of Civil War, is equally preposterous. Walpole
these last volumes and those of earlier dates. also points out with care one aspect of the
And this is important; for in addition to the Alabama arbitration that our American histo-
value of his work as an exhibition of his his- rians are prone to neglect — the important con-
-
torical study and writing, Walpole's labors have nection in the minds of English statesmen
the merit and interest of being the product of between the demand for damages by America
a keen, fair-minded, contemporary observer of and the Russian demand, in 1871, for a reversal
the events which he narrates, and of one in of the Black Sea provisions of the Treaty of
close touch with all political leaders of note in Paris. The two demands had no real connec-
England, yet not affected by political change tion save that of coincidence ; but this was not
and political animosities. His work has, there perfectly clear to the English Government.
fore, the value of a personal interpretation, “ British statesmen,” says Walpole, “ however
representing first of all the view-point of the ready they might be to uphold their country's
man himself, but going even further and repre- cause and their country's honor, could not afford
senting the view-point of a class, both in society to disregard the combination of the great Empire
and in permanent official position, that con- of the East, with the great Republic of the West."
stitutes a steady and important factor in the The importance here attributed to the effect of
history of England in the nineteenth century. the Russian announcement upon the situation,
The “ History of Twenty-Five Years” is not in regard to the Alabama case, but illustrates
merely a narrative of events ; it is also a careful the necessity of much deeper study than has
presentation of both sides of each debatable hitherto been given to American diplomatic inci-
incident, with a frankly expressed judgment of dents. Our historical students and writers as a
the Governmental treatment of that incident. class have very largely lost sight of any save the
Thus the history becomes itself historical mate- two contending parties, when the United States
rial, as the expression of the historical judg- has been one of the disputants; whereas in fact,
ments of a man and his class.
in incident after incident of American diplo-
When first undertaking this later work, the matic history, the foreign country with which
author stated that the period from 1856 to 1880 we as a nation were in dispute was more largely
was unusually full of events demanding English controlled in its final action by concurrent poli-
interest in questions of foreign policy. He has tical conditions in other European countries than
therefore, in Volumes III. and IV., continued by its disposition towards the United States.
to confine his attention largely to such questions, In connection with the Alabama case, it is


112
(Feb. 16,
THE DIAL
customary to say that the United States might under which the burial of the ancient town took
have acquired British America, but preferred a place. The disaster which overtook it arrested
litigious dispute for cash. This idea is but its ancient life exactly as it was ; the city was
touched upon by Walpole, and at that in such hermetically sealed — much more so than any
a way as to create the impression that such an other of the cities near Vesuvius. Its nearness
arrangement was never seriously entertained in to the volcano must be borne in mind; for
England, even though the British minister at while Pompeii was five and three-fourths miles
Washington and the London “Times” did distant, Herculaneum was only four and a half
quite openly hint at it. This aspect of the miles.
miles. Moreover, we know from the letters of
case is not brought specifically forward, however, the younger Pliny (Ep. VI., 16 and 20) that
and the author enters no explicit denial for Pompeii was buried by the rain of ashes which
England. His great interest is in the European the wind, blowing from the northwest, gradu-
rather than in the American situation ; and here ally sent over the city. Even ultimately, Pom-
we find him at home in his estimates of men peii was not completely buried, the lapilli and
and in his analysis of events.
ashes not reaching a greater height than twenty
Briefly recapitulated, the essential merits of feet, so that the upper stories of the houses were
Walpole's History are lucidity of statement still uncovered after the eruption had ceased.
and style, fair-mindedness, and a true assimila- Consequently, there was ample time in which
tion of such material as was easily accessible. to remove valuables. Hardly a house now
These qualities will render his work profitable remains whose walls were not broken into so as
and pleasant reading for many years, while the to admit those who were bent on carrying off
personal testimony of the author's own opinions its contents. In Herculaneum, on the other
places his writing in the class of indestructible hand, there was no time to save valuables. The
historical material.
EPHRAIM D. ADAMS. city was completely and immediately buried to
a depth of from sixty to eighty feet. It was
not gradually covered by a rain of ashes lasting
for days, but suddenly, by a stream of mud
THE STORY OF HERCULANEUM.*
which rolled down the slope over it. There
In setting forth the importance of Hercula-
was time for the inhabitants to escape from the
neum as a site for archæological excavation,
town (and it may be noted in passing that very
Professor Waldstein rides effusissimis habenis.
few human bodies have been found at Hercula-
He goes so far as to say that authorities con-
neum), but time for collecting and carrying off
valuables there could not have been.
cerned with classical antiquity are agreed that
of all ancient sites, without exception, Hercula- A second cause that makes Herculaneum
neum promises to yield the richest treasure to unique among archæological sites is the singu-
the excavator. He believes that the artistic larly preservative quality of the mud that flowed
treasure to be found there and the intellectual through the streets and into the innermost
harvest to be reaped is greater than at Rome
recesses of the houses and other buildings. This
mass of mud became a kind of matrix, covering
or Athens, Delphi or Olympia, Alexandria or
Pergamon.” Herculaneum, moreover, is of
and preserving the forms it enveloped. The
greater archæological importance than the other
bronzes in the Naples Museum that have come
cities near Vesuvius — Čumæ, Naples, Stabiæ,
from Herculaneum show a most delicate surface
and Pompeii — although each of these was
patina ; glass is not melted, marble is not cal-
larger. An instance is cited where a single villa cined, even manuscripts are not damaged beyond
excavated at Herculaneum in the eighteenth
the possibility of restoration. The mention of
the manuscripts found in the villa of Piso (there
century yielded greater treasure in original
ancient bronzes, and more ancient manuscripts, imagination — a quality in him, it would seem,
were eight hundred of them) arouses the author's
than the excavation of Athens or Rome, Olympia of uncommon sensitiveness and power of respon-
or Delphi, Alexandria or Pergamon.
The reasons given by Dr. Waldstein for his
siveness ; and we have a flight of rhetoric, con-
spicuous even in this rather over-rhetorical
belief in the preëminence of Herculaneum as
volume.
an archeological site are of various kinds. The
“ In some villa there," he writes,
first and most important lies in the conditions
“ may be waiting for us all the great Greek
tragedians and writers of comedy, including
* HERCULANEUM - Past, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. By Charles
Menander; the works of the early Greek phil-
Waldstein and Leonard Shoobridge. Illustrated. New York:
osophers, Heracleitus, Parmenides, Empedocles,
a
The Macmillan Co.


1909.]
113
THE DIAL
is that on
on
Democritus, Anaxagoras; the missing works of The most noticeable part of Professor Wald-
Plato and Aristotle; the whole of Roman liter- stein's volume
stein's volume — the part that manifestly lies
ature, the lost books of Livy."
closest to the interest of the author
A further reason upon which Professor “ The Future of Herculaneum.” His elaborate
Waldstein lays emphasis in developing the scheme for the international excavation of the
theme of Herculaneum's importance is the evi- site, a project upon which he worked with great
dence that it, unlike commercial Pompeii, was energy from 1903 to 1907, fell through. From
the home of many cultured families — the Balbi,
-the Balbi, the documents given in the Appendix it
appears
for example. Other illustrious Romans who that he had succeeded in interesting King Victor
lived here were Servilia, Agrippina, Appius Immanuel, King Edward, Emperor William,
Claudius Pulcher, and L. Calpurnius Piso. It the King of Sweden, President Roosevelt, and
was, in brief, a sort of Roman Newport. Finally, many ambassadors and financiers. His plan was
says our author, Herculaneum was originally a to form in each of the great countries a national
Greek settlement, as we see from its name; and committee, of which the King, Emperor, or
even if we cannot go so far as to say that it President, as the case might be, would be
preserved a pure Greek tradition from its earliest honorary chairman. This committee was to be
days, we may at least assume that it was more broadly representative; it was to include not
susceptible to the influence of Greek culture only the rich and the cultured, but even mem-
than Pompeii, which was of Oscan origin. At bers of labor-unions; for, according to Dr.
any rate, whatever the cause, the objects actually Waldstein, the workingman should be per-
found in those parts of Herculaneum that have mitted, even stimulated, to contribute his penny
been excavated indicate a high degree of Greek to the great cause.
These various national
culture.
committees were to have their representatives
Over the chapters dealing with the past and an international committee under whose
present of Herculaneum we must pass briefly. immediate direction the excavation would be
The accounts of its topography, of the inhabit- carried on. The honorary chairman of this
ants, and of the disasters of 63 and 79 A.D., international committee was to be the king of
give a sufficiently serviceable summary of our Italy. The actual work on the site was to be
present knowledge of these subjects, without performed by a corps of a hundred experts of
adding anything new. The contents of Chap- different nationalities, with workmen hired by
ter IV., the “ History of the Site since the them.
Eruption,” will probably be less familiar to a It is the belief of the author that the plan
majority of readers. It was in the eighteenth almost succeeded. Its failure, he thinks, was
century that excavations of importance were due mainly to a misunderstanding on the
first instituted, and were carried on under the part of Italian officials and the Italian press,
auspices of Charles III. of Naples. With the who accepted as authoritative a garbled report
exception of the underground passages of the of it which appeared in a London newspaper.
Theatre, these excavations no longer exist for But whatever the immediate occasion of the
Further attempts were made from 1828– apparently sudden change of feeling among
1855, and again from 1869-1875. To this last Italian officials, the underlying cause was obvi-
period belong the parts which are now visible ously the jealousy which Italy has always shown
the so-called scavi nuovi, near the sea. Since toward excavation by foreign archæologists on
1875 no further excavations have been attempted. Italian sites. She wishes to discover her own
The causes which led to the abandonment of the treasures.
site are (1) the unusual facility of excavation at With the main thesis of the book, that Her-
Pompeii, which promised immediate results for culaneum should be excavated, everyone will
a comparatively small expenditure of money ; agree; but in regard to Professor Waldstein's
(2) the fact that there is a flourishing modern extremely positive assertions concerning the rich-
town, Resina, right over the ancient city; and ness of the treasure buried there, and his insist-
(3) the current belief that Herculaneum was ence on the preëminence of this over all other
covered with lava. This belief, the error of ancient sites, there will hardly be the same
which has been pointed out, seems to have been unanimity. Undoubtedly many valuable dis-
partly due to the fact that there are patches of coveries would be made there; even a library
lava to be found here and there on the site of that would be less disappointing than that of
Resina. These, however, have come from erup- Piso's villa might be found ; but few kinds of
tions of Vesuvius in more recent times.
prophecy are more delusive than that which
>
us.
-


114
[Feb. 16,
THE DIAL
forecasts the finds in an archæological excava-
ever.”
Unfavorable comment on various com-
tion. The book contains much material that is peting Republican leaders is not infrequent,
interesting ; but we believe the author would President Hayes suffering perhaps the most
have been
more convincing, and would have pro- severe treatment a fact which in itself helps to
moted his cause more effectively, if he had stated show that the Blaine point of view of American
the facts in the case more soberly,
if, in other politics was not that which was destined to live.
words, he had given his readers more archæ- With half the country feeling that his title to
ology and less rhetoric.
his seat was at least questionable, and a large
Professor Waldstein's efforts have not been share of his own party in opposition to his dis-
wholly in vain. The Italian government has tinctive policies, President Hayes had a heavy
announced that it will excavate Herculaneum, load to carry; but time and thought have
and has appropriated 15,000 francs as a begin- placed the honor and wisdom of his official con-
ning. In his plan of complete excavation, duct out of reach of successful attack. One
Professor Waldstein estimated that the cost looks in vain for any criticism of the Democrat
would be £40,000 a year.
who foiled Mr. Blaine's ambitions in the one
On the mechanical side, the book is beauti- case in which he succeeded in capturing the
fully made. The illustrations are numerous
nomination from opponents within his own party.
and unusually well executed ; paper, printing, Mrs. Blaine's letters are almost all to members
and binding leave nothing to be desired. of her immediate family, and they were all at
G. J. LAING. home during the 1884 campaign. There were
ample opportunities for the expression of opinion,
however, during President Cleveland's admin-
LETTERS OF THE WIFE OF A GREAT
istration, and one is doubtless safe in the con-
POLITICAL LEADER.*
clusion that he owes his immunity to the kindness
of the editor, and not to the forbearance of Mrs.
The rush of really important events of the
Blaine.
past few years, as well as their excess of empty
din, causes the letters of Mrs. Blaine to seem
Her loyalty to her brilliant husband was of
like an echo from a much remoter period than
course too great to allow her to appreciate in
their dates attest. There is real rest to the
any adequate degree the defects which marred
weary soul, however, in dropping back into
a really great natural endowment; but no gen-
a political field even no more quiet, compara-
erous reader will blame her for that. He would
tively, than that upon which Blaine deployed would take from love its traditional right to be
be an enemy indeed to the human race who
his forces.
Mrs. Blaine at her best was a bright and
blind. Those who know the whole story, how-
witty woman, and her letters would stand on
ever, can hardly avoid the feeling that it would
their own merits far above
have been better to withhold these letters from
many which get into
print; but, after all, it is the political connection publication. The contrast between the cheerful
,
which gives them their chief interest. Hence it
family life of the earlier years and the gather-
is the inevitable impression that they have been ing gloom toward the end is too painful for the
a little too thoroughly culled, for the sake of public gaze. The editor herself feels the terribly
avoiding offense, that will be felt by many as
depressing effect, and closes with the letters of
their main defect. Mrs. Blaine was no mere
1889, frankly stating that she lacks the courage
to look farther.
colorless reflector of her husband's opinions and
“ The path that the writer
prejudices, and the touches of personal feeling
was called upon to follow was already passing
which have been preserved in her letters are
under the shadow of a great grief, and was to
often both amusing and effective. For instance, that never was lifted in this life.”
lead on, from sorrow to sorrow, into a darkness
.
just after Mr. Blaine had written his famous
letter from abroad withdrawing himself from
There are occasional mistakes in the explan-
the race for the Republican nomination in 1888, atory footnotes which a proof-reader of ordinary
-
she writes : “I had a sweet letter from Mr.
intelligence ought to have challenged, as,
for
instance, a reference to Preston S. Banks as the
Morton, calling your Father's letter a master-
assailant of Charles Sumner. Of course it was
piece, and not seeing how it could be accepted.
You can trust John Sherman for seeing, how-
right to print Mrs. Blaine's letters “wart and
all,” but errors in the notes stand on quite a
different basis.
W. H. JOHNSON.
>
• THE LETTERS OF MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE. Edited by
Harriet S. Blaine Beale. In two volumes. New York: Duffield
& Co.


1909.]
115
THE DIAL
Essays by
-
a
66
:
>
a
acter. Then follow short studies of Thomas Dover
BRIEFS ON NEW BOOKS.
(of Dover's powders), Keats the apothecary poet,
Charles Lamb writes of names in our 0. W. Holmes, John Locke as a physician, William
Thackeray's literature that have a fragrance in Pepper, Alfred Stillé, Sir Thomas Browne, Harvey,
daughter. them names like Kit Marlowe and and others less renowned in medicine or surgery or
Drummond of Hawthornden. There are names, too, literature, but all more or less honorably associated
that have echoes in them; and to those of us who
ho with that profession which is the writer's own. Of
care for our English heritage, Lady Ritchie's name personal interest is it to learn that the “Religio
has in it echoes of all that we delight to honor in Medici,” in James T. Fields's edition of 1862, has
literary England of the Victorian past — that past been Dr. Osler's companion since his school days
which was the present so short a while ago, yet seems and is the most precious book in his library, which
to have receded into the shadow so much farther than also contains an “almost complete collection of the
the actual count by the almanac would warrant. editions of his (Browne's] works." What Dr. Osler
Thackeray's daughter is one of the few whose voice notes as true of Burton, Browne, and Fuller — that
can make the shadow real to us, and Lady Ritchie's they have “a rare quaintness, a love of odd conceits,
new book, “ Blackstick Papers ” (Putnam), is like and the faculty of apt illustrations drawn from out-
the gift she tells us of, made by “Jacob Omnium” of-the-way sources - is, by a psychological neces-
to her father- a cup in which some of us may still sity, in some measure true of himself.
His style,
drink to the past. The quaint title is a reminder of too, is enriched with a rare blend of subtle allusion
that most delightful Thackerayan region, Paphla- and veiled quotation. Probably not every hearer
gonia, the country of “The Rose and the Ring." of these addresses caught the full flavor of such
“Readers of my father's works,” says Lady Ritchie, passages as the following incidental reference to the
in her introduction, “will be familiar with the name coming quater-centenary of the birth of Caius,
of the Fairy Blackstick who lived in Crim Tartary co-founder of Caius College, Cambridge: “As well
some ten or twenty thousand years ago, and who used in love as in gratitude, we could celebrate it in no
to frequent the Court of his Majesty King Valoroso more appropriate manner, and in none that would
XXIV. If I have ventured to call the following touch his spirit more closely, than by the issue of a
desultory papers by the Fairy Blackstick's name, it fine edition of his principal works.” Among the
is because they concern certain things in which she few and fitting illustrations in the book is a portrait
was interested -old books, young people, schools of of Browne from a little-known original at Norwich
practical instruction, rings, roses, sentimental affairs, a most pleasing and satisfying presentment. One
etc., etc.”
“ Felicia Felix” and her admirers (the could wish that Dr. John Brown of Edinburgh had
pretty frontispiece shows Mrs. Hemans in her bloom), been included among these excellent sketches of
George Sand at Nahant, Horace Walpole's Miss medico-literary worthies.
Berrys (the elder of whom Lady Ritchie, when a
child, was taken to see by her father), such “links The building of
The history and development of
with the past as the Miss Horace Smiths, the artist
a great state in Minnesota may be taken as typical
Bewick and his birds,—these are some of the people
of the Northwest, and the volume
of whom Lady Ritchie discourses in the graceful
on that State in the “ American Commonwealths'
serene manner which is her own. “ She writes like
series (Houghton Mifflin Co.) has for this reason a
a lazy writer who dislikes her work,” said Anthony general interest that is added to the intrinsic interest
of the story
Trollope of “Annie Thackeray” in his “Autobiog-
The book has been carefully and
raphy” more than a quarter of a century ago, adding skilfully written by Professor William W. Folwell
,
a monitory word to his praise of her talent. To-day,
for many years connected with the State University.
There are several main currents of interest followed
with the trail of the journalist over almost all that
is written for us, we can afford to accept the leisurely by the narrative. First come the dealings of the
traders and settlers with the former possessors of
sentences with nothing but gratitude.
the soil. It is the old story of over-reaching through
A new book from Dr. Osler, even trickery and fraud, through treaties to which the
Short studies
though but a collection of addresses, simple children of the prairie who knew not what
biography.
some of them from ten to fifteen they promised were held with literal fidelity, while
years old, is most welcome to all who hunger for the greedy trader or lumberman could break them
high thoughts clad in fit language. “An Alabama at his pleasure. Even of the petty sum awarded the
Student, and Other Biographical Essays" (Oxford Indians for the vast stretches of their lands, very
University Press) is a substantial octavo giving the little reached them, and then only to be squandered
general reader a more satisfying taste of the writer's for whiskey, the old shameful story. Another
quality than has yet been afforded. The title chap. current of interest is in the rush of settlers, the
ter deals with the least famous, but not therefore organization of Territorial and State governments,
the least deserving, subject of the thirteen embraced and the rainbow schemes for getting land from the
in the book. Dr. John Y. Bassett of Alabama, who Government through sham railroad and other com-
died at forty-six after a useful and active life, panies. Not at all creditable is the history of the
becomes in Dr. Osler's hands an interesting char- | five-million loan, the bonds for which the State long
the Northwest.
"
in medical


116
[Feb. 16,
THE DIAL
DIAL
annals of
the poor.
endeavored to repudiate because it secured nothing (Outing Publishing Co.) is the delightful result.
of value in return; but as wealth grew and the pub- She dedicates her studies “ To all who are interested
lic conscience became more sensitive, a fair settle- in dolls, from the children who play with them to
ment was finally reached and the credit of the State the students of their ethnological and educational
was saved.
A third feature is the serious Sioux aspects,” — which sounds impossible until one has
outbreak of 1862, which occurred while a large part read the book, looked at the pictures, many of them
of the defenders of the State were at the front in in color, and come to realize the universality of the
the Civil War. This was one of the severest of passion for dolls and the odd varieties of its expres-
the Indian disturbances, and the tradition of it sion. There are fetish dolls, for instance, and dolls
remains to this day among the people. The state- of the nativity, puppets, fashion dolls, and dolls with
ment of the causes of the trouble shows that the
supposedly supernatural powers — like the Blessed
-
Indians were not without reasons for anger against Bambino at Rome, or the dolls in the Asakusa
those who had tricked and cheated them, even Temple in Tokio; particularly among primitive peo-
though much of the vengeance fell in this case, as ples, there are doll rites and doll festivals; and the
always, upon innocent persons.
history of the doll, and of some historic dolls, is full
of interest. Little girls may not care particularly
Back to the homely realities goes
Some simple
for these strange creatures nor for the crude dolls
Mr. Stephen Reynolds in quest of of antiquity; but they will vastly enjoy hearing about
material for his book, "A Poor Man's
the tilt-up dolls of the East, the Japanese dolls with
House” (Lane). In a general way its tone is like
their five wigs to represent the five stages of woman-
that of another very real and wholesomely enjoyable hood, the wooden dolls that the little Queen Victoria
narrative which is being much read at present, dressed, the Dutch and Irish dolls in peasant cos-
namely, “A Lord of Lands," by Mr. Ramsey
tume, the manufacture of dolls in various parts of
Benson. But Mr. Reynolds's book is the veritable
the world, and the vast possibilities of home manu-
journal of actual adventures and observations among facture out of such unpromising material as string,
the
poor
fisherfolk of a little Devonshire seaport, corn-husks, flowers, or bottles. Miss Starr has been
whereas Mr. Benson, with all his verisimilitude, is
skilful in arranging her material, so that in spite
obviously not hampering his genius with a strict
of its diversity of interests the book seems complete
adherence to the literal truth. The English writer's rather than heterogeneous. As befits its subject,
summer sojourn in the humble home of the Widger “ The Doll Book” is gaily bound, with a Spanish
family is related with minuteness and humor, and doll in sailor costume on the cover, and many pic-
with no squeamish avoidance of sundry very human
tures, made largely from the dolls in Miss Starr's
and lifelike details that hardly admit of much ideal-
valuable and interesting collection.
ization. He tells us that he has lived
among
the
poor,“ neither as parson, philanthropist, politician,
Six
A colleague's
have passed since the un-
years
inspector, sociologist, nor statistician; but simply tribute to Carla timely death of Fräulein Wencke-
because I found there a home and more beauty of
Wenckebach. bach left in the faculty of Wellesley
life and more happiness than I had met with else- College a gap hard to fill; and now, after thorough
where." It is his firm belief, too, that was regards preparation for the labor of love, her one-time assist-
the things that really matter, the educated man has ant and subsequent successor as head of the German
more to learn of the poor man than to teach him.” department, Fräulein Margareth Müller, presents a
It may comfort us a little amid all the appalling warmly eulogistic biography of Carla Wenckebach,
accounts that reach us of widespread and extreme Pioneer" (Ginn), enlivened with humorous and
destitution in London and throughout the country, otherwise noteworthy extracts from her lively letters
to be assured that “the more intimately one lives
to the home folk, and adorned with seven portraits
among
the
poor,
the more one admires their amaz- of her genuinely German face at various ages from
ing talent for happiness in spite of privation, and thirteen to forty-five. Born at Hildesheim in 1853,
their magnificent courage in the face of uncertainty; and educated in that town and at Hannover, fifteen
and the more also one sees that these qualities have miles southward, Fräulein Wenckebach took her
been called into being, or kept alive, by uncertainty courage and her destiny in both hands and became
and thriftlessness. Extreme thrift, like extreme a wandering teacher of young girls, serving as gov-
cleanliness, has often a singularly dehumanizing
erness in Scotland and Russia before she made the
effect.” There is abundance of homely dialect con- still bolder move of seeking her fortune in America,
versation, not needing a glossary, however; and the where she arrived in the summer of 1879. The
realistic story throughout is well worth reading. story of her ups and downs until she unexpectedly
found herself installed in the enviable position of
Some
years ago Miss Laura B. Starr German Professor at Wellesley, in 1883, should be
lost her heart to the Japanese dolls in read in full in Miss Müller's brisk and picturesque
the Yokohama shops, and thereupon narrative. It is gratifying to find the keenly observ-
she began collecting dolls and doll-lore. A six years' ant young foreigner so enthusiastic in her admiration
tour around the world gave her unusual opportunities of her adopted country. “She waxes fairly dithy-
“
to indulge her unusual fad, and now “The Doll Book" | rambic," says her biographer, “in describing the free
Dolls and
doll-lore.
6


1909.]
117
THE DIAL
a
a veteran
new.
a
9
libraries with their royal outfit for King Public.” involved; he understands that he is dealing with
Miss Müller regrets the necessity of writing her very living creatures, instead of mere archæological
book in English instead of German, and of trans- material; and, above all, he has worked faithfully
lating the passages quoted from letters; but however and long at his diverse and often difficult sources.
excellent a German biography she might have given The outcome is a volume of nearly seven hundred
us, she has certainly succeeded in presenting in pages,
which
may
be commended to the student or
English a very engaging picture of a strong and the exceptionally earnest traveller. In itself the
inspiring character.
period is not quite so enchainingly attractive as our
author insists. That “the romance, the poetic haze
Backward In his “ Recollections of a New
of Greece was in her middle ages, rather than in
glances of
England Educator” (Silver, Burdett
her classic youth,” may be entirely true for the
educator. & Co.) Dr. William A. Mowry shows writer, and partly true for a few of us; to most
himself to be, in a pleasant and instructive and readers, however, it will seem largely a matter of
wholly commendable fashion, a sort of connecting personal predilection. Nor can we altogether agree
link between the old methods of education and the that Frankish Greece has been unduly neglected, at
Born in 1829 at Uxbridge, a small town in least by recent students. Just now it is assuredly
Worcester County, Mass., he traces his earliest receiving its proportionate share of attention. Mr.
schoolboy remembrances back to the little red (in Miller writes clearly and succinctly; but he does
his case it was red brick) schoolhouse with hard not exhibit the final grace of style that might carry
wooden benches and a division of the pupils accord- the general reader through the inevitable details of
ing to sex, - boys on one side of the room, girls on a painstaking history treating of countless and
the other. Both as pupil and as teacher he became ephemeral petty dynasties. The use of “ Levant
thoroughly acquainted with the New England dis- in the title is rather unfortunate, since most people
trict school, before continuing his education beyond understand the word quite differently, and our
the three R's at the Phillips Academy, Andover, author himself frequently uses it in the more com-
and at Brown University. The Andover years
mon acceptation. The index and the maps are
fell within the period when such worthies as John useful; but the valuable bibliography might have
Willard, Samuel Fiske (“Dunne Browne"), G. N. been arranged more conveniently.
Anthony, Calvin E. Stowe, Austin Phelps, Justin
Edwards, and Bela B. Edwards walked the elm-
A new edition of “A History of
shaded streets of that beautiful town, and contributed A history of the the Philippines,” by Dr. David P.
Philippines.
their part toward making its atmosphere one of lit-
Barrows, director of education in
erature and learning and orthodox theology. Dr. those islands, comes from the press of The Bobbs-
Samuel H. Taylor, affectionately known as “Uncle Merrill Co. of Indianapolis. It is practically iden-
Sam” to old Andoverians, was then principal of the tical with the original edition of 1905, the author
Academy, and he receives a glowing eulogy from having found himself unable to agree with the
his pupil of fifty-five years ago. From Andover many criticisms of the book that came from Roman
young Mr. Mowry went to Brown University, where Catholic sources. The history of the Philippines
Wayland was nearing the end of his presidency, has yet to be written, in the modern sense of the
and where such well-known names as Harkness, word. The summary by Mr. John Foreman, the
Lincoln, Greene, Angell, Caswell, and Chase shed work in English that is most commonly cited as an
lustre on the faculty list. Mr. Mowry's experiences authority, is a mere hodge-podge of information and
as student, teacher, captain of volunteers in the misinformation. This little work by Dr. Barrows
Civil War, editor of educational journals, superin (originally written for a Philippine school text, but
tendent of schools, lecturer, and head of teachers' never so used) and the introduction written by the
institutes, are entertainingly presented, with por- late Edward G. Bourne for the 55-volume work en-
traits and other illustrations, and numerous remin- titled " The Philippine Islands, 1493–1898,” are the
iscences of famous educators of his time.
only surveys of the entire field of Philippine history
which are written by competent scholars and in
In a rather extended notice of
A fascinating
the modern spirit. Both are necessarily brief and
page of Greek
“ The Princes of Achaia and the incomplete; but that by Dr. Barrows is much
history. Chronicles of Morea,” which ap- fuller of data, and based on a wider reading of
peared in THE DIAL for May 16, 1907,
Philippine sources.
spoke of the reviving interest in the
of Greek History from 1204 to 1566. Now we
Unique among the host of books
A Lincoln
have another careful study of the same period,
called forth by the Lincoln centen-
bearing the title “ The Latins in the Levant” souvenir. nial is Messrs. G. P. Putnam's Sons'
(Dutton), by Mr. William Miller, already known as commemorative volume suggested by M. Jules
the writer of several works on various parts of the Edouard Roine's Lincoln medal. Instead of the
“ Near East.” Our author loves his subject,—“this conventional illustration, each copy of the book,
most fascinating stage in the life of Greece "; he which is of course issued in a small edition, contains
has an enviable familiarity with the geography
of the medal in bronze, mounted in
copy
we
course
centennial
66
an actual


118
[Feb. 16,
THE DIAL
9)
a heavy cardboard frame. M. Roine's position as “What We Know about Jesus,” by Dr. Charles F.
one of the great medallists of the world is already Dole, is a small book sent us by the Open Court Pub-
assured ; his head of Lincoln will no doubt remain lishing Co. It is a simple popular statement, of “posi-
the authoritative medallic representation, and the
tive, ethical, and constructive "intent, of the view which
modern investigation discloses of the personality of the
symbolism of the reverse, with its wreath of palm
Founder of Christianity.
and oak, is fitting and beautiful. Besides the medal,
the book contains an essay on the origin and sym-
“Who's Who” for 1909, published by the Macmillan
Co., is thicker than ever, filling nearly twenty-two
bolism of medals by Professor George N. Olcott of
hundred pages. We would suggest the omission from
Columbia University, an account of the purpose future editions of the American names, now so capri-
and character of the centennial commemoration by ciously selected, and so well provided for in the Amer-
Richard Lloyd Jones, and half a dozen of Lincoln's ican work of similar scope.
most characteristic letters and addresses.
Miss Alice B. Kroeger has prepared a new edition of
her “Guide to the Study and Use of Reference Books"
for the use of students and library assistants. The
work has been greatly enlarged and correspondingly
increased in usefulness. It is a publication of the
NOTES.
American Library Association.
Mrs. Gaskell's “ North and South,” with an introduc- “Old English Plate,” by W. J. Cripps, published
tion by Mr. Clement Shorter, is now published in “ The thirty years ago, has been for that time a standard man-
World's Classics" by Mr. Henry Frowde.
ual for the collector, having gone through no less than
Messrs. Henry Holt & Co. publish a second edition
nine editions. An abbreviation of the work, entitled
of “A Laboratory Course in Plant Physiology," by
“ The Plate Collector's Guide,” prepared by Mr. Percy
Professor William F. Ganong. The original work has
Macquoid, is now published by Messrs. Charles
Scribner's Sons.
been entirely rewritten and considerably extended.
Dr. T. Rice Holmes has just published, through the
« The Works in Prose and Verse of Charles and
Macmillan Co., a translation of " Cæsar's Commentaries
Mary Lamb,” edited by Mr. Thomas Hutchinson, fill
on the Gallic War." This version is a by-product of the
two volumes of the “Oxford Edition of Standard
author's historical labors in dealing with the subject of
Authors,” published by Mr. Henry Frowde. To the
the Roman Conquest of Gaul.
same series is also added « The Complete Poetical
Mr. Eugene Parsons is the author of “ The Making
Works of James Thomson," in one volume, edited by
of Colorado," published by the A. Flanagan Co., Chicago.
Mr. J. Logie Robertson. This is a variorum edition,
It is an historical sketch, very readable and attractively
for which students will be particularly thankful.
illustrated, of the Centennial State from the age of the
Mr. Whistler's famous « Ten O'clock” has been
cliff-dwellers to that of the suffragists.
reprinted by Mr. Ernest Dressel North, and issued
“ Hazell's Annual ” for 1909, imported by Messrs.
as a booklet, tastefully bound in paper covers of a
Whistlerian brown with the inevitable butterfly by way
Charles Scribner's Sons, is revised up to the first of
last December, which is about as nearly up-to-date as a
of decoration. The reprint, which has the rare dis-
work of reference may hope to be. Mr. W. Palmer is
tinction of having been authorized by the author's liter-
the editor of this very useful book.
ary executor, is the only separate edition of the lecture
now in print. The Pennell biography and the remin-
“ The Book of Divine Consolation of the Blessed
iscences of Mr. Bacher, · which unfortunately Miss
Angela of Foligno," translated by Miss Mary G.
Philip did not authorize, have revived interest in
Steegmann, and provided with an introduction by Mr.
Whistler's personality; and that personality never,
Algar Thorold, is the latest addition to the « New
surely, had more final expression than in the crisp, auda-
Medieval Library” of Messrs. Duffield & Co.
cious phrases of this heretical gospel of art, which set
The volume called “ Abraham Lincoln: Tributes from London agog and forever severed the friendship between
His Associates," prepared under the auspices of “The Whistler and Oscar Wilde.
Independent” some years ago, and edited by Dr.
Five volumes recently added to the “ Belles Lettres
William Hayes Ward, is now republished by Messrs. Series" of Messrs. D. C. Heath & Co. range over English
Thomas Y. Črowell & Co. in their “ Astor Library of
literature from the earliest to the latest period. Old
Prose.”
English is represented by the “Exodus " and the
Volume III. of the new and superbly illustrated edi- “ Daniel,” edited by Professor Francis A. Blackburn.
tion of Crowe and Cavalcaselle's “ History of Painting The drama is represented by Professor Edgar C.
in Italy” is now published by Messrs. Charles Scribner's Morris's edition of “ The Spanish Gipsie” and “ All's
Sons. It is devoted to the schools of Siena, Umbria, Lost by Lust,” by Middleton and Rowley, and by
and North Italy. The reëditing has been done by Mr. Otway's “ The Orphan ” and “Venice Preserved,” in
Langton Douglas.
one volume edited by Professor Charles F. McClumpha.
Issued as Volume II. of the “ Viking Club Trans- The section of nineteenth-century poetry is now enlarged
lation Series,” we have « The Elder or Poetic Edda," in by volumes of selections from Shelley and Arnold, the
a translation by Miss Olive Bray, with illustrations by former edited by Professor George E. Woodberry, and
Mr. W. G. Collingwood. This volume includes the the latter by Professor Edward E. Hale, Jr. We do
mythological poems only, and each page of the trans- not understand why these two volumes should have
lation faces one upon which the original text is printed. no portraits, or frontispiece illustrations of any sort.
There is an elaborate introduction and commentary, Otherwise, they follow the general plan of their prede-
besides occasional footnotes.
cessors in the series.
2
9)


1909.]
119
THE DIAL
LIST OF NEW BOOKS.
[The following list, containing 104 titles, includes books
received by THE DIAL since its last issue.]
Priests of Progress : An Arraignment of Vivisection. By G.
Colmore. 12mo, pp. 384. B. W. Dodge & Co. $1.50.
The Silver Cleek. By John Campbell Haywood. Illus., 12mo,
pp. 236. Mitchell Kennerley. $1.
Lincoln's Love Story. By Eleanor Atkinson. Illus., 12mo,
pp. 60. Doubleday, Page & Co. 50 cts, net.
Lincoln and the Sleeping Sentinel: A True Story. By
L. E. Chittenden. With portraits, 16mo, pp. 54. Harper &
Brothers. 50 cts. net.
TRAVEL AND DESCRIPTION.
With Rifle in Five Continents. By Paul Niedieck. Illus.,
8vo, pp. 426. Charles Scribner's Sons. $5. net.
France of the French. By Edward Harrison Baker. Illus.,
12mo, pp. 271. Charles Scribner's Sons. $1.50 net.
Greece: A Handbook for Travellers. By Karl Baedeker.
Fourth revised edition; with maps and plans, 16mo, pp. 447.
Charles Scribner's Sons. $2.40 net.
Italy from the Alps to Naples : A Handbook for Travellers.
By Karl Baedeker. Second edition; with maps, plans, and
sketches, 16mo, pp. 398. Charles Scribner's Song. $2.40 net.
BIOGRAPHY AND REMINISCENCES.
Some Eminent Viotorians : Personal Recollections in the
World of Art and Letters. By J. Comyns Carr. Illus. in
photogravure, etc., 8vo, pp. 299. Charles Scribner's Sons.
$3.50 net.
Bartholomew de Las Casas : His Life, His Apostolate, and
His Writings. By Francis Augustus MacNutt. Illus. in
photogravure, 8vo, pp. 472. G. P. Putnam's Sons. $3.50 net.
The Tragedies of the Medici. By Edgcumbe Staley. Illus.
in photogravure, etc., 8vo, pp. 297. Charles Scribner's Sons.
$3.50 net.
Stonewall Jackson. By Henry Alexander White, Ph.D. With
portrait, 12mo, pp. 378. American Crisis Biographies."
George W. Jacobs & Co. $1.25 net.
Aubrey Beardsley. By Robert Ross. Illus., 12mo, pp. 112.
John Lane Co. $1.25 net.
Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln. By distinguished men
of his time; collected and edited by Allen Thorndike Rice.
Revised edition; with portrait, 12mo, pp. 428. Harper &
Brothers. $2. net.
The Death of Lincoln: The Story of Booth's Plot, His Deed,
and the Penalty. By Clara E. Laughlin. Illus., 12mo, pp. 336.
Doubleday, Page & Co. $1.50 net.
Abraham Lincoln. By Brand Whitlock. With photogravure
portrait, 18mo. Beacon Biographies." Small, Maynard
& Co. 50 cts, net.
An Astronomer's Wife: The Biography of Angeline Hall.
By Angelo Hall. With portrait, 12mo, pp. 129. Baltimore:
Nunn & Co. $1.
HISTORY.
The Ancient Greek Historians (Harvard Lectures). By
J. B. Bury, Litt.D., LL.D. 8vo, pp. 281. Macmillan Co.
$2.25 net.
New Hampshire as a Royal Province. By William Henry
Fry, Ph.D. 8vo, pp. 525. Studies in History, Economics,
and Public Law" edited by the faculty of Political Science
of Columbia University. Longmans, Green, & Co. $3. net,
History of Contemporary Olvilization. By Charles Seig-
nobos; translation edited by James Alton James, Ph.D.
12mo, pp. 464. Charles Scribner's Sons. $1.25 net.
DRAMA AND VERSE.
The Faith Healer; A Play in Four Acts. By William Vaughn
Moody. 12mo, pp. 160. Houghton Mifflin Co. $1. net.
Joseph and His Brethren: A Dramatic Poem. By Charles
Wells; with Introduction by Algernon Charles Swinburne
and note on Rossetti and Wells by Theodore Watts-Dunton.
18mo, pp. 230. “World's Classics.” London: Henry Frowde.
Our Benny. By Mary E. Waller, 12mo, pp. 102. Little, Brown,
& Co. $1. net.
Day Dreams of Greece. By Charles Wharton Stark. 16mo,
pp. 61. J. B. Lippincott Co. 75 cts. net.
ART AND ARCHITECTURE.
The Acropolis of Athens. By Martin L. D'Ooge. Illus.,
8vo, pp. 405. Macmillan Co. $4. net.
A History of Painting in Italy from the Second to the six-
teenth century. By J. A. Crome and G. B. Cavalcaselle.
Vol. III., The Sienese, Umbrian, and North Italian Schools.
Illus. in photogravere, etc., 8vo, pp. 300. Charles Scribner's
Sons. $6. net.
The Plate Collector's Guide. Arranged from Cripps's "Old
English Plate." By Percy Macquoid. Illus., 8vo, pp. 199.
Charles Scribner's Sons. $2.25 net.
The Abbeys of Great Britain. By H. Claiborne Dixon. Illus.,
12mo, pp. 204. Charles Scribner's Sons. $1.50 net.
The History of Engraving from Its Inception to the Time of
Thomas Bewick. By Stanley Austin. Illus., 12mo, pp. 200.
Charles Scribner's Sons. $1.50 net.
PUBLIC AFFAIRS.
Artificial Waterways and Commercial Development
(with a History of the Erie Canal). By A. Barton Hepburn.
12mo, pp. 111. Macmillan Co. $1. net.
The Banking and Currency Problem in the United
States. By Victor Morawetz. 12mo, pp. 119. North Amer-
ican iew Publishing Co. $1. net.
RELIGION AND THEOLOGY.
The Faith of a Modern Protestant. By Wilhelm Bousset;
trans. by F. B. Low. 12mo, pp. 119. Charles Scribner's Sons.
75 cts. net.
Some Aspects of Rabbinio Theology. By S. Schechter, M.A.
12mo, pp. 384. Macmillan Co. $2.25 net.
The Wisdom of Solomon. In the Revised Version, with
Introduction and notes by J.A.F.Gregg, M.A. 16mo, pp. 192.
"Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges." G. P.Putnam's
Song. 90 cts. net.
The Sunday School Teacher's Manual. Edited by William
M. Groton, S.T.D., and others. 12mo, pp. 391. George W.
Jacobs & Co. $1. net.
Sano Evangelism. By W. Wistar Hamilton, D.D. 12mo,
pp. 216. Griffth & Rowland Press. 75 cts. net.
Abraham Lincoln's Religion. By Madison C. Peters. 12mo,
pp. 70. Gorham Press. 75 cts.
Mionh. By Max L. Margolis, Ph.D. 12mo, pp. 104. Philadel-
phia: Jewish Publication Society of America.
PHILOSOPHY.
The Life of the Spirit: An Introduction to Philosophy. By
Rudolph Eucken; trans. by F. L. Pogson. 12mo, pp. 403.
Crown Theological Library." G. P. Putnam's Sons.
$1.50 net.
The Philosophy of Self-Help. By Stanton Davis Kirkham.
12mo, pp. 272. G. P. Putnam's Sons. $1.25 net.
REFERENCE BOOKS.
Dictionary of the Bible. Edited by James Hastings, D.D.,
with the assistance of John A. Selbie, D.D., John C. Lambert,
D.D., and Shailer Mathews, D.D. Large 8vo. pp. 992. Charles
Scribner's Sons. $5. net.
A Standard Bible Dictionary. Edited by Melancthon W.
Jacobus, D.D., Edward E. Nourse, D.D., and Andrew C.
Zenos, D.D., in association with American, British, and
German scholars. With maps and illustrations, large 8vo,
pp. 920. Funk & Wagnalls Co. $6. net.
FICTION
Maurice Guest. By Henry Handel Richardson. 12mo, pp. 562.
Duffield & Co. $1.50.
One Immortality. By H. Fielding Hall. 12mo, pp. 263. Mac-
millan Co. $1.50.
Comrades: A Story of Social Adventure in California. By
Thomas Dixon, Jr. Illus. in color, 12mo, pp. 320. Doubleday,
Page & Co. $1.50.
The Spell. By William Dana Orcutt. Illus. in tint, 12mo,
pp. 352. Harper & Brothers. $1.50.
The Explorer. By W. Somerset Maugham. With frontispiece
in color, 12mo, pp. 297. Baker & Taylor Co. $1.50.
The Climber. By E. F. Benson. With frontispiece in color,
12mo, pp. 346. Doubleday, Page & Co. $1.40 net.
The Bridge Builders. By Anna Chapin Ray. 12mo, pp. 407.
Little, Brown, & Co. $1.50.
By the shores of Aroady. By Isabel Graham Eaton. Illus.,
12mo, pp. 325. Outing Publishing Co. $1.25.
But still a Man. By Margaret L. Knapp. 12mo, pp. 376.
Little, Brown, & Co. $1.50.
The Magician. By W. Somerset Maugham. 12mo, pp. 310.
Duffield & Co. $1.50.
The Other Man's Wife. By Frank Richardson. With frontis-
piece in color, 12mo, pp. 392. Mitchell Kennerley. $1.50.


120
[Feb. 16,
THE DIAL
THE
Mosher
Books
THE
MOSHER BOOKS
CATALOGUE
The only collec-
tion of genu-
ine hand-made
paper books at
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[Feb. 16, 1909.
THE DIAL
Four New Books of Travel and Observation
Another “ New World” is to be reckoned with. Some of the oldest races are putting on
new youth. Japan has already attained adolescence in this process. China is in the
stormy state preceding adolescence, and in South America the Latin race is assuming a
new and stronger manhood. At the same time Anglo-Saxon enterprise is digging the
Panama Canal with its prophetic motto “ The Land Divided : the World United.” The
whole process may be traced by readers of the four books following :
The Andean Land
Two volumes, with over fifty illustrations and four maps.
Large 8vo. $6.00 net.
By CHASE S. OSBORN
South America is the theatre where the Latin race may for the extension of trade in South America, and points
regenerate its fallen fortunes. Vast and wealthy beyond out causes of American weaknesses in export business
computation, the continent's internal development has methods. Many sections of the book, such as the historical
outstripped the historian, and up to the present but little sketch of Bolivar, and the description of the Falkland
has been recorded of this newer world. Mr. Osborn's book Islands, contain matter never before printed in thiscountry
is not only good literature, but performs a distinct service The story of Bolivar's desperate fight for freedom,when even
to all whose interests in our southern neighbors has been the terror of earthquake seemed set loose to aid the tyranny
but poorly served by their knowledge. Its table of dig. of Church and State, is of special interest. Mr. Osborn
tances, and other matter of interest to the tourist, give it writes with the authority of an intimate acquaintance
the authorty of a guide book. It contains valuable hints with the country from Panama to the Straits of Magellan.
The World United : The Panama Canal, 1ts History, Its Making, and
Letters From China
,
Future
By JOHN GEORGE LEIGH.
Ready April
Profusely illustrated by photographs and plans. Indexed, and with an appendix. Large 8vo. $4.00 net.
The inscription on the seal of the Panama Canal Zone the powers to arrange for permanent neutrality of the zone.
Government reads" The Land Divided : the World United,” The Panama Canal is likely to take a prominent place in
The progress of this prophecy toward fulfilment is traced political discussions, news and editorial pages, and appro-
exhaustively in Mr. Leigh's book. The author has priations during the next few years, and whoever would
"covered” the canal for the last nine years for the Lon- discuss, read, or listen intelligently, will read this most
don Engineer," the greatest of British engineering clear-sighted résumé and forecast of Panama. The book is
papers. He was formerly associate editor of the "Engi- a most readable one, beginning with Columbus and Magel-
neering Magazine" of New York and London. Mr. Leigh lan, covering the unfortunate French régime, and paying
is, therefore, well equipped to view the canal project from high tribute to the American conquest of the hygienic diffi-
an international standpoint. That he does so is evidenced culties. Matters of technical detail which would cumber
by his plea for the calling by America of a conference of the otherwise easy text, have been confined to an appendix.
With Particular Reference to the Empress Dowager
and the Women of China
By SARAH PIKE CONGER
Ready April
Profusely illustrated. Smooth red cloth stamped in white, gold, and green. Crown 8vo. $2.80 net.
The dismissal from office of Yuan Shi Kai, Grand well as the Empress Dowager, the Imperial Princesses, and
Councillor and Commander-in-Chief of the Chinese forces, their retinue, to pose before the camera for the first time in
following so closely upon the death of the Empress their or their country's history. Among these photographs
Dowager, focusses the attention of the western world upon are striking ones of the Empress Dowager, and of Yuan Shi
the inscrutable empire once more and gives a most timely Kai, who now faces possible death following political dis-
interest to this sidelight on China. Mrs. Conger lived in grace at the hands of the reactionaries. Mrs. Conger's
China from 1898 to 1904 as the wife of the American Minister. relations with the Empress Dowager were those of closest
Her letters to relatives in America, with other papers, and personal intimacy and these letters reveal that mysterious
copies of official documents, the letters including a running woman in a new and kindlier light. At the same time
account of the seige of the legations, comprise the text of they show that Mrs. Conger used her influence in China to
this book. Mrs. Conger made a unique collection of photo- further materially the interests of Western civilization in
graphs while in China, persuading many high officials, as that country.
Japan as It Was, Is, and Will Be
By H. B. MONTGOMERY
With frontispiece in color, and sixteen other Ullustrations. Large 8vo. $2.50 net. Ready April
Mr. Montgomery takes Japan seriously. But his con- Spencer's Philosophy, Huxley's Essays, and, a large section
ception of Japan is not colored by the Yellow Peril, which of it, Marx and Engel too. That Japan will discourage
he declares is the only thing about Japan that many peo- foreign enterprise on her soil, when it is legitimate, that
ple do take seriously. Throughout this work, the author she will enlist China as an engine of destruction against
avoids the bizarre and presents a comprehensive picture of the western world, that she will stop short at western imi-
an active nation, permeated with art, it is true, but even in tation, are things Mr. Montgomery does not believe. He
its art, utilitarian, and bending all its energies toward does believe in Japan and her future. His chapters on
national progress, the extension of trade and adequate Japanese art are unusually explicit and collectors would
recognition by other nations. The Japan Mr. Montgomery do well to read them.
pictures is reading Mill's Representative Government,
The Empire of the East:
A. C. MCCLURG & CO.,
CO., PUBLISHERS, CHICAGO


MAR 1 1909
(.
THE DIAL
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Volume XLVI. CHICAGO, MARCH 1, 1909.
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126
(March 1, 1909.
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Cyclopedia of
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Edited by L. H. BAILEY, with the
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in our own concerns by going far afield, and
Unless otherwise ordered, subscriptions will begin with the current
number, When no direct request to discontinue at expiration of sub- there is a lesson even for American schools in
scription is received, it is assumed that a continuance of the subscription
the candid revelations of the writer who, in
is desired. ADVERTISING RATES furnished on application. All com-
munications should be addressed to
the last “ Contemporary Review,” describes the
THE DIAL, Fine Arts Building, Chicago.
results of his efforts to teach English literature
Entered as Second-Class Matter October 8, 1892, at the Post Office
to East Indian students. The Indian Educa-
at Chicago, Illinois, under Act of March 3, 1879.
tional Service prescribes (how dear is prescrip-
No. 545.
MARCH 1, 1909. Vol. XLVI.
tion to the managerial heart!) certain English
classics for use in the instruction of ingenuous
Mussulman and Hindu youth. “Paradise Lost,"
CONTENTS.
the odes of Keats and Shelley, “ The Vanity of
Human Wishes," Macaulay's essay on Warren
A FAR EASTERN EXAMPLE
127
Hastings, and the “ Breakfast Table” books of
CREATION AND CRITICISM. Charles Leonard
Dr. Holmes, are examples of the strangely-
Moore.
129
assorted provender thus provided. The sort of
CASUAL COMMENT
130 mental indigestion caused by this pabulum is
The readable quality of book lovers' books. — An
amusingly illustrated by our writer, who entered
English conception of American culture. - The
upon his task with much enthusiasm, determined
linguistic conquests of English. — The fisherman's
solace at sea. - Organization for the spread of
“ to demolish what is artificial and affected in
culture. — The born story-teller. — A purveyor of
literature, and reverently to discover and enshrine
useful knowledge. - The pride of bureaucracy. what is spontaneous and true." But East is
The parcels post and the public library. — A nation
East and West is West, as has been remarked
without an encyclopædia. — The Newberry libra-
ry's new librarian.
before, and our ambitious teacher was not long
in rediscovering the fact for himself.
COMMUNICATION
133
He had been at his post only a few days when
St. Louis during the Civil War. Galusha Anderson.
one of his students made an unconsciously happy
SOME CELEBRATED CHARACTERS OF THE
emendation of Milton :
LAST CENTURY. Percy F. Bicknell . . . 134
“ Hail, horrors! hail
AMERICAN HISTORY IN AMERICAN POETRY.
Infernal World! And thou, profoundest Hell
Isaac R. Pennypacker
135
Receive thy new Professor."
COURTS, CONGRESS, AND EXECUTIVE. James
A few days later, the “new professor” received
Wilford Garner
. 138 some insight into the nature of his task when at
THE NORTHWESTERN EMPIRE OF THE FUR
work with a class upon “ The Vanity of Human
TRADER. Lawrence J. Burpee.
Wishes." In a misguided moment he ventured
139
a quotation from “ Adonais” for the purpose of
A POET'S STUDY OF A POET. W. E. Simonds . 141
effective contrast:
BRIEFS ON NEW BOOKS
142
“ He has outsoared the shadow of our night;
A sane manual of hygiene. — Counsels on peace
Envy and calumny and hate and pain,
and happiness.—A volume of pleasant nonsense.—
And that unrest which men miscall delight,
Problems of age, growth, and decay. — Art history
Shall touch him not, and torture not again."
of Christian Rome. — Folk-tales and leg of
old Japan. — For the amateur print collector.
Then he questioned the class concerning the dif-
New England leaders in thought and action. -
ference in style and treatment. “What would
Annals of a famous theatre.
you say was the characteristic of this kind of
BRIEFER MENTION
145 poetry?” “Bombasticity,” said one; “humor,”
said another. “Good heavens! Where?” Was
NOTES
145
the amazed query of the teacher. 66 In that
TOPICS IN LEADING PERIODICALS
147
unrest which men miscall delight.' The humor
LIST OF NEW BOOKS
148 | depends on incongruity.” Whereupon the
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teacher wrote to the authorities, asking them are predisposed to certain ailments at certain
to spare Shelley and Keats. “Let us be sacri-
“. ages, they should all be dosed alike with certain
ficers, but not butchers.” This appeal resulted standard drugs, and then, finding the degree of
in a prescription of more Keats (on the theory, ailment not perceptibly diminished, that physi-
evidently, that the boys must be made to under- cians should recommend a doubling of the bolus
stand it) including the two great odes. Here or a stiffening of the black draught. Of course,
is a specimen result:
no physician of the body could be guilty of this
Away! away! for I will fly to thee
absurdity of treating his patients en bloc, but
Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards, our physicians of the developing soul are practis-
But on the viewless wings of Poesy,”.
ing this method all the time. It is a matter in
suffered paraphrase as follows:
which individual idiosyncrasy counts for every-
“ Fly away and I will dog thy steps, but I will not thing, and yet the individual is almost wholly
come to thee by taking seat in the carriage of God of ignored. The humane and intelligent teacher
Wine and Leopard. I will accompany you in flying by
can do something to mitigate the evils of a pre-
reciting and writing poems."
scribed literary discipline, but the system rests
All this seems painfully familiar to us, not upon him like a dead weight, and the best that
merely as an illustration of baboo English, which he is able to accomplish seems trifling in com-
has amused us many a time and oft, but chiefly parison with what he knows that he might accom-
as a far-off reflection of the experience of all plish were he given a free hand.
teachers here in our own native land. It is the The two ideals are as unlike as night and day.
same sort of thing as the classical example The irrational ideal gives the teacher a class and
recorded by Matthew Arnold when he told us a list of texts and bids him administer the one
of the English child who gave “Can you not to the other. The rational ideal gives the teacher
wait upon the lunatic ?” as embodying his notion a roving commission to explore the minds of his
of what Shakespeare meant by the question, individual students, to use his own means of
“ Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased ? lighting up the dark places, and to experiment,
And the explanation, whether offered for India, by selecting from the whole range of literature,
or England, or America, is the same simple one. until he discovers what will prove most richly
If a child be confronted with literature that is nutritive in each given instance. Reverting to
absolutely beyond his powers of comprehension, our earlier metaphor, he has the whole pharma-
and asked to express his opinion, he will make copæia at his disposal, instead of being restricted
just such a mess of his ideas. Yet we persevere to the use of a few standardized preparations,
in our fatuous attempt to make school children and he may engage freely in diagnosis, because
appreciate the things which we think they ought he knows himself free to provide the proper
to appreciate, and then hold up our hands in treatment for each individual case.
horror at the natural consequences.
It is a We do not hesitate to say that a very large
hypocritical horror, for we get just what we have part of the instruction in English now given in
every reason to expect, and we shall continue to our schools is sheer waste of time and energy.
get it until we learn the simple lesson that liter- It fails to create an intelligent comprehension
ature is not to be taught as we teach algebra, of literary art or a feeling for its beauty and
and physics, and syntax, and geography ; is not, emotional significance. The facts of literature
in fact, to be “ taught” at all in the accepted -its history and its mechanics—may be drilled
sense of the word, but rather “imparted " or into the mind by ordinary methods of teaching,
“ inculcated” by the contagion of a child's sym- but the spirit that gives them life is to be trans-
pathy, and the free response of his nature to a mitted only by some subtler process, not capable
guidance so gentle that he does not feel it to be of formulation by any sort of pedagogy. As
either coercion or restraint.
long as the teaching of literature is carried on
The “English ” course (we had almost writ- in accordance with the rules of the system, by
ten“ curse ") which has come during the past means of imposed texts and class-exercises and
quarter-century to have so tenacious a grip upon periodical examinations, it is certain to fail of
our school machinery demonstrates its own
its real purpose.
Better no instruction at all
ineffectiveness year after year, but its talons are than instruction of the systematic kind which
not relaxed. Let us rather have more and more may accomplish admirable results in science,
of it is the cry, and perhaps we shall begin to but which is worse than useless in æsthetics and
get results worth mentioning. It is as if physi- ethics.
ethics. If it be urged that the sort of literary
cians should urge that, since average children guidance which we assert to be alone effective
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cannot be fitted into our programmes, or made lieved that inspiration was a result, not a cause';
to square with our administrative rules, we can and their works prove that they were largely right.
only say that both programmes and rules must From the example of their schools it may fairly be
be disregarded if we wish to keep literature in argued that something of the same sort oxisted in
our education at all as a vital subject. A great
the early life of most nations. For it is another
mistake to suppose that the first poets of any race
deal of pedagogical inertia will have to be over-
come before this principle shall win practical for the language, the ideals, the very life of a people,
are the best. On the contrary, it takes a long time
acceptance, but the goal is worth striving for, to be got into shape fit for literature.
and its ultimate attainment is beyond question.
Leaving races and coming down to individuals,
there are two main ways in which a writer begins
artistic creation. One is the way of imitation :
something in the literature of the past pleases him,
CREATION AND CRITICISM.
stimulates him, and he tries to copy it. The other
is the way of revolt: the work that is being done
I am far from believing that literature is only a around him
criticism of life.. Creation and criticism are as
as true, that is not life or beauty as I see them," and
much opposed as synthesis and analysis — the put he strikes out a method of his own. The imitative
ting together and the taking apart. Indeed, they incentive accounts for the long reigns of certain
are further removed; for the putting together im- types or forms or styles in literature. The rebellious
plies a conscious act, whereas the greatest effects in motive explains the sudden changes, reversions, or
literature are given to the artist. After his work originations which every now and then sweep over
in assembling his materials and placing them in a literature. Some writer or group of writers revolts
mould is done, it requires the fusing fire of inspira- against the rule that seemed good to their fathers,
tion to weld them together and make them into a and, drawing a third part of the kingdom of litera-
new whole.
ture after them, set up a new government, which in
But it is doubtful whether anything is given to turn becomes conventional or despotic. It is obvious
the artist who does not strive — whether the light that the literature of appreciation and the literature
ning flash will descend upon any altar which is not of rebellion alike have their beginning in a critical
heaped with combustibles. Observation, study, con- attitude.
scious judgments, the acceptance or rejection of this The reason that the critical movements in the
or that quality or material, all these operations are past the ebb and flow of opinion are not so
necessary to the construction of a work of art, and apparent as they are in modern times, is that there
they are all critical operations. It follows that a was then little market for criticism as such. Authors
good literary artist must be a good critic.
published their main works, but all their preparatory
The part which the naïve, the unconscious, the studies and sketches were destroyed. Their private
untrained faculties of man play in the production of opinions about life and art, their shop-talk among
literature was over-insisted upon in the criticism of themselves, their letters, were all criticism, and all
the last century. It was held then that literature aided in making their works what they are; but
was the spontaneous speech of man; that the folk. whereas now all this is largely caught and preserved
lores, mythologies, ballad poetry, and early epics were and published, in olden times it only lived as the
the work of natural geniuses. The great existing rain and sunlight of the past live in the corn and
epics of the world were divided into two classes, the wine they mature. Imagine a Boswell or an Ecker-
naïve and the artificial. As far as they are con- mann for Shakespeare ! Two-thirds of modern
cerned, this position is abandoned to-day. It is criticism would have been superfluous.
seen that as much thought and conscious art must Shakespeare began with the imitative mood,
have gone to the making of the “Iliad” as of if, as I believe is probable, “Titus Andronicus” and
“Paradise Lost.” But still, as regards the slighter “The Two Gentlemen of Verona" are his earliest
form of literature, the old idea of spontaneous crea- works; but in “Love's Labour Lost” he sets up the
tion lingers. “These books were not made by fools, banner of critical revolt. Throughout this piece he
or for the use of fools," said Thomas Moore of the is making fun of the existing styles in dramatic poe-
early Irish legends and poems. The beginnings of try; and Marlowe, Greene, Lyly, the objects of his
most literatures are lost in mist, so that we cannot previous admiration, come in for unsparing satire.
tell how they arose or what manner of men pro-
After this he became so various and universal in the
duced them. But the Irish and Welsh bardic sys- excellencies he aimed at and reached, that it is diffi-
tems are revealed to us in something more than cult to follow the critical trend of his mind - to
glimpses, and we can see that they were keenly decide whether he is idealist or realist, conscious
critical and entirely conscious attempts to produce stylist or naïve producer of poetry.
literature. Nothing in our modern world is like Ben Jonson was a determined critic, and his plays
the consecration, the training, the control which these are built up with rigid regard to rule and authority;
systems suggest-unless it may be De Maupassant's
—
but criticism as a trade was hardly born in English
apprenticeship to Flaubert. The Celtic bards be | literature until Dryden's time. His prefaces, which


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for
:
But they
Swift declared were “writ to fill in, and raise the and Keats are full of glittering nuggets of criticism,
volume's price a shilling,” are admirable in the and there are a good many in those of Tennyson.
quality they profess, and they show that he learned In America, Emerson, Lowell, Poe, and a score of
by teaching.'
others are Janus-faced and have their outlook equally
The eighteenth century in England has been called on the peace of poetry and the war of criticism.
a critical age; but I think it is just the reverse. Among the best of modern men I can recall only
Dominated by two great writers, Dryden and Pope, one, Dickens, who seems to have written no criti-
yet not quite satisfied with them, it was afraid to cism; and only one absolutely great critic, Hazlitt,
trust itself to new or original forms of thought in who did nothing that can be called creative work.
literature, and it vacillated between servile copying Criticism would therefore seem to be almost a
of its master's work and feeble attempts at some- necessity to the creative artist. The Greeks sur-
thing different. It was a choppy sea with no great rounded their pregnant women with beautiful statues
ground-swell on. Not until the Romantic revival and pictures ; and the preoccupation with the divine,
came in sight, with its forerunners in Collins, Gray, noble, or terrible forms and thoughts of past litera-
Chatterton, and Blake, and its culminating kings, ture should and undoubtedly does aid in the shaping
in Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Byron, was there a of new works. But when all that criticism can do
real critical movement.
for an artist is wrought, there yet remains something
There can be no question that this movement was that he must hope and pray the dæmoniac, the
a conscious one. Wordsworth and Coleridge did inspirational element in art, from which comes its
not do their work out of impulse and feeling; they intoxicating, its enchanting spell. By this the man
were intellectually alive to the change they desired to is lifted to converse with the gods, and he comes
bring about: Wordsworth's first poems are Popeian back with his face aglow and their language upon
in form, and Coleridge's early pieces are mainly his lips. No amount of critical study or preparation
mild imitations of Gray and Collins.
can guarantee to him this translation of soul. But
came together, and the flint and steel were struck to he can keep himself ready for it, and that is the
light a blaze of revolution. As is the case of most chief object of criticism.
reformers, they were partly uncertain in their
CHARLES LEONARD MOORE.
principles and partly demonstrably wrong. Late in
life, Wordsworth declared that he never thought
very much of his famous preface to the Lyrical
Ballads,” and that he wrote only it to please Cole-
CASUAL COMMENT.
ridge ; but at the time it was doubtless real and
earnest enough to him.
THE READABLE QUALITY OF BOOK-LOVERS' BOOKS,
It is not worth while to go through the histories of publications issued by or for associations of biblio-
of the other great movements in modern literature philes, is sometimes conspicuously absent. In a
the German revolt against French models captained recent address on “ The Functions of the Book
by Lessing and Herder and Goethe, the revolt of the Club," delivered before the Rowfant Club of Cleve-
French themselves under Hugo and Dumas against land, Mr. Henry H. Harper, treasurer of the
their own classical literature, the advent of the real- Bibliophile Society of Boston, caused his hearers to
ists, and so on. My point simply is that creation in sit up and pay attention by asking the startling but
the main is born of criticism that artists generally pertinent question: “ Why do book clubs insist on
know what they are doing, be their deeds ever so bringing forth books that are the least readable ?”
mistaken; and also that practically all writers, even Most book-lovers, as he remarked, are collectors to
though not swept away in any great movement, a greater or less degree; but many collectors who
begin and continue their work in a critical attitude; hoard books in considerable numbers are not book-
that each one has his compass and chronometer, and lovers in the true sense. In considering the issue,
takes his bearings from day to day instead of drift- by book clubs, of a particular sort of unfascinating
ing idly about on the ocean of art.
literature, he said : “For my part, however, the
It is an old jest that the critic is the man who bibliographies will be reserved till the last [in read-
has failed in creation. Well, then, three-fourths of ing my own collection of books], with the fond hope
our greatest moderns must have failed, for at least that I shall never reach them."
This by way of
that proportion have left vast outpourings of criti- introduction, on our part, to a brief mention of the
cism, either in the form of recorded conversations, second volume of the “Proceedings and Papers” of
letters, or formal treatises. Lessing is equally great the Bibliographical Society of America, beautifully
in critical and creative work, and one might almost printed on soft creamy paper, wide-margined and
dare to say the same of Goethe. Wagner's critical rough-edged, bound in flexible boards with paper
works are a huge reservoir of good, bad, and in- label — could any exterior and material qualities be
different opinions. Hugo's deliverances are com- more irresistibly attractive to bibliophiles and biblio-
paratively few in number, but they make up in maniacs ? But is there a single one of the tribe who
intensity what they lack in extent. Coleridge and would not consider it a hardship to be forced to read
Arnold, the two greatest English critics, are unset- the volume? Someone may answer that it is not
ting stars in our poetic field. The letters of Byron | meant to be read
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1909.]
131
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and well that it is so. The curious consultant will to enumerate other regions where also it has a firm
find, among other out-of-the-way bits of information, foothold. Enough that where it has penetrated,
the intelligence that if he is interested in the study there it has come to stay. It is the language most
of heredity in pigeons the Concilium Bibliograph- used in commercial transactions, and by the electric
icum can furnish him with a list of all extant works telegraph. With all its faults thick upon it, these
on the subject. On the whole, these Proceedings agencies are operated to best purpose with its use."
and Papers are wonderfully scholarly, and are One cogent reason, ordinarily overlooked, why En-
packed with information which it would be difficult, glish has become all but a world-language, at the
if not impossible, to find elsewhere.
expense of French, German, and other candidates
for this proud preëminence, may be found in the
AN ENGLISH CONCEPTION OF AMERICAN CULTURE,
British disinclination to chatter in alien tongues.
not much nearer the truth than many another trans-
The Russian, the Dutchman, the German, and even
atlantic notion concerning things on this side the
the haughty Spaniard, have a more polyglot pliability
water, arrests the eye in the dignified pages of that
than the sturdy Briton, who persists in acting on the
old and authoritative literary review, “The Athe- assumption that good Anglo-Saxon, repeated with
næum.” Our great reading public, it seems, is emphasis if necessary, as one reiterates in louder
nearly a century behind that of England in its tastes,
tones to a deaf person or an inattentive child, will
but is making strenuous endeavors to catch up.
make his meaning clear to any foreigner he may
“Naturally,” says our critic, speaking of these
encounter in his continental tours. Thus, since John
readers, “they have as yet little delicacy or depth
Bull will not come to the foreigner in the latter's
of taste: they are out in search of general informa-
tongue, the foreigner is forced to go to John Bull
tion, and what they really appreciate in literature
in the language that has now become more or less
is its instructive qualities. A literary critic who
familiar to so large a fraction of mankind.
intends to inform the minds of a public of this order
must naturally refrain from writing for amateurs of
THE FISHERMAN'S SOLACE AT SEA, when there is
the finer delicacies of literature, in the manner of
nothing doing "in his field of business, is a good
Hazlitt, Lamb, Arnold, or Pater.” And who is the story-book; or, at any rate, thus we are assured by
literary critic that is conceived of as refraining from
Mr. Charles F. Karnopp, who is soon to be stationed
the finer delicacies in order to suit the vulgar taste?
at St. John's, Newfoundland, in charge of the
It is none other than the author of the “ Shelburne Seamen's Institute which it is proposed to build in
Essays " and the literary editor of “ The Nation,”-
connection with Dr. Grenfell's work in Labrador. It
Mr. Paul Elmer More! Mr. More, it is true, has appears that eighty-five thousand fishermen and
some of the good old-fashioned tastes and something other toilers of the sea enter the port of St. John's
of the weighty and erudite manner of the early Edin every year, and they have a consuming appetite for
burgh reviewers, as his English critic affirms, in a reading matter of a light and entertaining sort, such
two-column notice of the Shelburne volumes. But as old magazines with plenty of good stories. Mr.
there are worse crimes than industry and learning in Karnopp writes : “ Especially during the months of
literary criticism, and one of them is harshness and September, October and November, hundreds and
lack of sympathy. The article (the “ hurticle” one
thousands of men are in the harbor where these
might well call it, borrowing Thackeray's term) magazines might be distributed with a great deal of
winds up with a good sharp sting in its tail : “ They appreciation on the part of the fishermen; and again
[those for whom Mr. More is supposed to write) are
during the months of April and May, when they
ineffectual dilettanti in the making, and Mr. More,
prepare for the Labrador fisheries, we could use
instead of purifying, enlarging, and training their
thousands of magazines; for oftentimes these vessels
taste, reflects it.” If there are certain traits of go down the coast with practically no reading matter
readers that date back to “1820 or thereabouts," at all.” Evidently here is work cut out for the
there is also a certain manner of book-reviewing that
marine department of the travelling library indus-
can claim a like antiquity.
try; but individual readers of this appeal will do a
charitable deed by sending any suitable magazines
THE LINGUISTIC CONQUESTS OF ENGLISH, as a
they may be willing to part with to Mr. Karnopp at
medium of communication, are great and ever-
the rooms of the Grenfell Association, 156 Fifth
Avenue, New York.
increasing. Dr. Alexander Wilder, writing in advo-
cacy (whether well or ill advised) of simplified ORGANIZATION FOR THE SPREAD OF CULTURE is
spelling, notes the spread of our language all over
often neces
cessary and commendable. Public-school
the globe as an unprecedented development in the education requires machinery and method. No creed,
history of human speech. “By colonization and however spiritual, secures converts without conde-
commercial intercourse," he says, “the English lan- scending somewhat to the necessity of material
“
guage already holds the lead in the civilized world. instruments. Public libraries do not grow and
Great Britain, Canada, the United States, South flourish with the spontaneity of dandelions in spring.
Africa, Australia, and New Zealand are all peopled California, energetic and progressive, even if not
by English-speaking population. It is not necessary always most wisely directing her energies, is debat-
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132
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con-
ing the establishment of county libraries to bring into been known to be put than the slaking of the thirst
harmonious cooperation all the public libraries of for knowledge. The Springfield (Mass.) City Li-
each county, while the county libraries themselves brary is publishing a series of instructive notes on
will look to the State Library as their head, and the local trees that will greatly aid readers in the per-
State Librarian will find himself in a position of plexing task of naming correctly the many kinds of
greatly increased importance and dignity and useful- trees met with in their walks - more perplexing in
ness in the general administration and supervision this leafless season of the year than at other times.
of the library interests of the entire commonwealth. “ Descriptions of, or specimens from, such trees,"
By such completeness of organization, with the hoped- we read in the current “ Bulletin” of the library,
for aid of a special parcels post for rural book- were so frequently brought to the museum (which
delivery, it is expected that public-library privileges, is closely allied with the library] by persons wishing
in some form or other, will be extended to the remot- to know more about them, and so much interest was
est dweller on ranch or fruit-farm. The beauty of shown, that, in the Bulletin for December, 1906, was
this scheme is very appealing. Other States - begun a series of brief notes descriptive of some of
Maryland, Ohio, Oregon - have already accom-
-
the more noticeable species.” Only one subsequent
plished something in the way of county action of issue has failed to contain these notes, and back
this sort; but nowhere has so elaborate a plan been numbers are furnished on request, as far as the
80 seriously and hopefully discussed as in California. supply permits. The February issue devotes nearly
Legislative action of an enlightened kind is now three pages to five varieties of the birch. It also
awaited. Of course there are manifest dangers in gives a list of thirty-two winter birds that are now
any
such centralized system of library control as that “exhibited by themselves ” in and about the city.
proposed; but with a state librarian of talent, if not
genius, for the task before him, what beneficial results
THE PRIDE OF BUREAUCRACY, or a consuming
may we not expect to witness ?
fondness for red tape, appears to have taken posses-
sion of the British Museum authorities. The reading-
THE BORN STORY-TELLER (for such there are, as room, as many of us have learned with interest from
well as born poets) will smile at the notion of teach- recent London despatches and letters, has undergone
ing the art of writing novels. In a late number of thorough repairs and refurbishings; and now, it
“The University Monthly," of Toronto University, seems, the readers are to be no less thoroughly over-
Mr. Anthony Hope Hawkins discusses the question, hauled. A late number of “The Athenæum
partly in reply to a newspaper assertion that “there tains an indignant letter from an "editor and author"
are in more than one of the universities of the United
who for thirty years has enjoyed the freedom of the
States classes for the teaching of writing novels and reading-room, and is now, for the first time in almost
stories." He does not call to mind any colleges or a generation, unceremoniously halted at the door and
other schools of higher education, except the omnis- asked to produce the ticket which he obtained so long
cient and (if we may coin the word) omni-didactic ago that it is now quite worn to nothingness and thin
correspondence schools, that offer novel-writing as air. Of course he is as well known to all the attend-
a part of the curriculum. Some of our larger uni- ants as they are to one another; but nevertheless
versities do, indeed, give courses in the systematic he must show his passport. He has written to the
study of fiction as a department of literature, and superintendent, sarcastically recommending that if
thus may effect something toward strengthening in tickets are to be shown at the door during the holder's
a few of their students a previously existing bent lifetime, they be made ære perennius — though he
toward novel-writing; but to attempt to teach did not express himself in these Horatian terms. To
romance would be much like trying to teach the this the high official has coldly and briefly replied
wind which way to blow. Mr. Hawkins well says that if his correspondent wishes to obtain a new card
that “the idea of novel writing being turned into a of admission he must apply in person
and bring with
recognized occupation or profession, such as law or him the letter communicating this ultimatum. They
engineering, is, to speak frankly, almost appalling"; do these things differently, if not in France, at any
and that “ he would be a cruel parent who deliber- rate in America.
ately destined a plodding youth to live by the exer-
THE PARCELS POST AND THE PUBLIC LIBRARY
cise of a recalcitrant imagination, and his cruelty
would not be confined to his offspring; it might promoting the cause of good literature. At several
will before long, it is to be hoped, join hands in
reach the public.'
meetings of the Country Life Commission, appointed
A PURVEYOR OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE is a public by President Roosevelt to make a study of rural
benefactor. How far the public library should spend conditions and devise means of improving them, the
its energies in the purveying of useful knowledge, subject of a parcels post for rural delivery routes
in the form of lecture courses, special exhibitions, has been considered. The League of Library Com-
special bulletins, and so on, is more or less vehe- missions, representing a number of States, has
mently debated by tax-payers and others. Yet there appointed a committee to urge the matter; and this
are far worse uses to which municipal funds have committee, besides taking other action to hasten
66


1909.]
133
THE DIAL
the desired end, has petitioned the Country Life
Commission to include in its report a recommenda-
COMMUNICATION.
tion of the proposed postal service for the following
reasons : “Under existing conditions a wide dis-
ST. LOUIS DURING THE CIVIL WAR.
tribution of books for home study in rural commu-
(To the Editor of THE DIAL.)
nities is made prohibitive through the existing high
Your reviewer of my recently-published book, “ The
rates of postage, many borrowers, who would pur-
Story of a Border City during the Civil War,” declared
sae courses of study, being unable to do so through that while I am not bitter, I am so extremely partisan
postal exactions. Through the establishment of a that it is doubtful if I even knew that there was
parcels post the educational value of public libraries another side than that of the unionists.
and travelling libraries will be greatly increased, as In writing the book it was my cherished purpose to
it will enable librarians to send individual volumes be non-partisan; to relate fairly and truthfully just what
to patrons on rural routes at less than half the present took place in St. Louis during the period of the war.
cost, thus encouraging home study.” The Commis- And no one, not even your reviewer, has shown that I
sion is favorably inclined, and all persons interested
have distorted any of the facts of that memorable
in the proposed measure are asked to use their influ-
struggle. Most of the reviewers of other journals have
ence toward its adoption.
represented my book as being quite free from partisan-
ship. Whether it is or not must be left to the judgment
of those who may read it.
A NATION WITHOUT AN ENCYCLOPÆDIA must be
But as to my ignorance of the other side, permit me
nearly as rare, but perhaps not quite so happy, as a to say that I have long been quite familiar with the
nation without a history. Japan appears to have political parties and political opinions of leading men
reached her present advanced stage of civilization both North and South, and with the different construc-
unaided by any such compendium of all knowledge. tions of the Federal Constitution. And if I had not
But the lack is now to be supplied — in fact, has been, touching elbows as I did with the secessionists of
already been in part supplied by the recent publi-
St. Louis during the entire period of the war, and hear-
cation of the first volume of “The Japanese Ency- ing over and over again their views from their own lips,
I
elopædia," with the imprint of the prominent hend their position. I not only knew their side but I
”, I
publishing-house of the Sansei-do. A garden party have truthfully stated it in my book, especially in the
of sixteen hundred guests at Count Okuma’s Waseda chapter on “ The Boomerang Convention."
villa celebrated the event, and listened to a gratu- Your reviewer also states that I have represented the
latory address from the host. Dr. Inouye Tetsujiro, Southern women as coarse. But I have nowhere said
one of the compilers, told how the great work had that in my book; that is his generalization, not mine.
been in preparation for nine years, at the hands of In fact, the women of St. Louis during the war were
two hundred and thirty-nine scholars, and that it
not divided into Northerners and Southerners, but into
would be completed in seven volumes of about one
unionists and secessionists. A large number of South-
thousand pages each, embracing in all more than
ern women were among the staunchest unionists. But
I have not characterized the secession women as coarse.
one hundred thousand subjects. This epoch-making Many of them, especially at the beginning of the war,
publication — for such it surely is - ought to take
were intensely bitter, and at times some of them, not
rank with the immense Chinese encyclopædia re- all, gave vehement expression to their feelings in words
ferred to by us not long ago as one of the curiosities and acts that were far from ladylike, not because they
of the British Museum.
were essentially coarse, but because they were in the
excitement of the moment unbalanced, and in a tem-
THE NEWBERRY LIBRARY'S NEW LIBRARIAN, to
porary frenzy.
In their calmer moments they must
succeed Mr. John Vance Cheney, whose regretted have deprecated what they had said and done.
resignation will take effect in a few months, is Mr. Your reviewer also says that I have represented the
William N. C. Carlton, at present head of the Trinity
unionists as persecuted by the secessionists. This is
College library, Hartford, Conn. Mr. Carlton is the manifestly a mistake. No such thought ever entered
son of an English army officer who moved to Boston
my head. To be sure, in 1861, some secessionists shot
in 1882, and he had seen service in the Watkinson
down some unionists in the streets, and threatened the
lives of others; but we never regarded such conduct,
Library of Reference, at Hartford, before taking up, however dastardly and condemnable, as persecution. We
ten years ago, his work at Trinity, where he has
were engaged in a desperate fight, which threatened
produced a finely organized and equipped library out the existence of our republic, and we were not so ignoble
of a chaos of books. Current report represents him as to regard any suffering on behalf of our country as
as a pleasant person to deal with and a fine conver- persecution.
sationist, and also as having a reading acquaintance It seemed to me to be only fair that, in a friendly
with divers languages, especially those of Scandi- spirit
, I should be permitted to take exception to these
navia, whose literature he has made the object of
declarations of your reviewer, - declarations so foreign
special study. To be called to fill the chair occupied
to my thought and, in my judgment, so misleading in
first by a Poole, and then by a Cheney, is no mean
reference to the character and spirit of my book.
honor; but Mr. Carlton is believed to have earned
GALUSHA ANDERSON.
the promotion.
Washington, D. C., February 20, 1909.
-
a


134
[March 1,
THE DIAL
always reciting things of his own choice, but responding
The New Books.
with equal readiness to any call that might be made
upon him by others."
Mr. Carr's successive connection with not a
SOME CELEBRATED CHARACTERS OF
few of the leading London newspapers and
THE LAST CENTURY.*
reviews, and his editorship of “The English
Expectation of good reading in a book of
reminiscences by the well-known and variedly- him acquainted with the chief writers and artists
Illustrated Magazine " in its first years, made
experienced magazine editor and art and dra-
and actors of his time and country. More than
matic critic, Mr. J. Comyns Carr, is not
one amusing anecdote is recorded of the unfail-
disappointed. “ Some Eminent Victorians,” ingly amusing Whistler, whose pride in his own
written at the close of the author's sixth decade, unpopularity and whose zestful practice of the
is not only pleasantly and intimately reminiscent
gentle art of making enemies are truly delightful
of many celebrated men of the last century, but
to contemplate. This side of his freakish nature
also receives something of added weight and
is thus touched upon by the observant wri