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THE   QUARTERLY   JOURNAL 
OF   ECONOMICS 


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INDEX   OF 


Current  Literature 


Edited  by  EDWARD  J.  WHEELER 


VOL.   XL 
JANUARY-JUNE.  1906 


NEW  YORK 

THE  CURRENT  LITERATURE  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

94  WEST  itfTM  STREET 


CURRENT  LITERATURE— INDEX  TO  VOL,  XL 


INDEX  OF  SUBJECTS 


Acton.  Richard  Mansfield  on. . .  313 

Addams.  Jane,  sketch  of 377 

Age,  Old.  the  microbe  of 75 

Afiriculture,  report  of  the  U.  S. 

Secretary  of ix 

Alcohol,  denatured,  bill  to  exempt 

from  tax 589 

Alexander,   John   W.,   Nordau's 

estimate  ot. 264 

Alfonso  XIII  of  Spain  and  Prin- 
cess Ena S39 

American  Spirit,  the 641 

"Ancestor,  The" — Pitach  opera.  517 
Anglo- Japanese  Alliance  and  the 

new  British  ministry 17 

Antarctic  ice  barrier,  mystery  of.     69 
Anthony,  Susan  B.,  career  of . . . .  49 > 
Anti-trust  war  of  the  Administra- 
tion.   585 

Ants,  ps;^chology  of 551 

Aoki,  Viscotmt  Suiso,  Japanese 
ambaMsdor    to     the     united 

States 133 

"Apostlet,  The,"  |>o]itical  drama.     89 

Art,  the  Greek  spirit  in xs* 

Art,  the  ultimate  significance  of.  625 
**As  Pippa  Dances,    by  Haupt- 

mann 410 

AflMiuith,  H.  H..  in  the  British  Cab- 
inet      19 

Atherton,  Gertrude,  on  the  San 

Prandsoo  disaster 573 

Atomic  theory,  the,  in  the  light 

of  recent  research 990 

Automobile  skate,  an 438 

"Awakening,  The,"  by  Paul  Her- 
vieu 637 


"Babylonism"  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment   646 

Bacteria  destructive  of  muxal 
paintings 190 

Buley,  Senator  Joseph  W.,  sketch 
of,  487;  speech  of.  on  the  rate 
bill 468 

Bannerman,  Sir  Henry  Campbdl. 
made  Prime  Minister 13 

Barrie,  J.  M..  his  latest  plays,  193; 
the  secret  of  his  charm.  409: 
his  new  fantasies. 631 

Barrie,  J.  M..  and  Bernard 
Shaw 534 

Battleships,  a  revolution  in 436 

Beerbohm,  Max,  on  BUen  Terry.  603 

Bernhardt,  Sarah,  in  the  United 
States,  89;  sketch  of X03 

Birth-rate,  is  it  declining? 995 

Bigelow,  Poultney,  and  the  Pan- 
amaCanal 1x9 

Bums,  H.  B..  on  Walt  Whitman's 
religion. 980 

Birreu,  Auffustine,  and  the  edu- 
cation buL 595 

Blonds  to  become  extinct  in 
America. 178 

Books,  enemies  and  destroyers  of  509 

Book!  Noticed  and  Reriewed. 

BiMraphic  Clinice— George  M. 

Goad.M.D 65 

Bronte,  Charlotte — Clement  KL 

Shorter. $19 

Christianity  and  the  Working 
Classes— Edited  by  George 
Haw 647 

Churchill.  Lord  Randolph — 
Winston  Spencer  Churchill. .  38 r 

Conquest.  The,  of  Canaan — 
Booth  Tarkington 109 


Books  Noticed  and  Reviewed— Cont. 
Dawn.  The,  of  a  To-morrow — 

Frances  Hodgson  Burnett..  673 
Debtor,  The— Mary  E.  Wilkins- 

Freeman xo8 

'^^^•^Jlemi&res  Paroles — Leo  Tolstoy  17a 
Dissociation.  The,  of  a  Person- 
ality— Morton  Prince 439 

Dynasts.  The — ^Thomas  Hardy  saa 

Egypt.  A  History  of— James 
Henry  Breasted.  Ph.D 176 

English  Fiction,  The  Makers  of 
— W.  J.  Dawson 970 

Evolution— C.  W.  Saleeby 548 

Fair  Margaret — F.  Marion 
Crawford ro8 

Finality,  The,  of  the  Christian 
Religion— George  Burman 
Poster 438 

Piute,  The.  of  Pan — ^John  Oli- 
ver Hobbes 993 

Great  Refusal,  The— Maxwell 
Gray 563 

Greek  View,  The,  of  Life— G. 
Lowes  Dickinson 549 

Grieg.  Edvard — ^H.  T.  Finckj. .   513 

Healers,  The — ^Maarten  Maar- 
tens 674 

II  Santo — ^Antonio  Pogazsaro.  4x8 
Immanence,  The,  of  God — Bor- 
den P.  Bowne 69 

Individuality  and  Iixmiortality.  494 
In  Peril  of  Change— C.  P.  G. 

Masterman 509 

Italian  Romance  Writers— Jo- 
seph Spencer  Kexmard 35 

Jesus  Christ  and  the  Social  Ques- 
tion— Francis       Greenwood 
Peabody 167 

Jules  of  the  Great  Heart — Law- 
rence Mott 339 

Jungle,  The — ^Upton  Sinclair. .  569 

Kipps— H.  G.  Wells X09 

Lady  Baltimore — Ow^  WiSter  673 
Lake,  The— George  Moore. . . .  994 
Lamb.  Charles,  The  Life  of— E. 

V.  Lucas 5" 

Land  of  the  Strenuous  Life,  In 

the— Abb^  Felix  Klein 63 

Lanier,  Sidney — ^Edwin  Mims. .  36 
Life   and    Matter — Sir    Oliver 

Lodge x8o 

Life,  The.  of  Reason — George 

Santayana 41X 

Lilien,  B.  M. — E.  A.  Regener.  38 
Lincoln.  Master  of  Men — Alon- 

so  Rothschild. 606 

MacDowell.  Edward — ^Laurence 
Gilman 404 

Main  Currents  in  Nineteenth 
Century  Literature — George 
Brandes 977f  6x6 

Man  and  the  Earth — Nathaiuel 
Southgate  Shaler 73 

Mental  and  Moral  Heredity  in 
Royalty — ^Frederick  Adams 
Woods,  M.D 545 

Moral  Overstrain — George  W. 

MyLUe-^'Alfred  Russel*  Wal-     ^* 
lace x8x.  9xx 

Nedra — George  Barr  McCutch- 
eon xxo 

Nietzsche's  Philosophy — ^Jules 
de  Gaultier 989 


Books  Noticed  and  Reviewed — Cont. 
On  the  Field  of  Glory— Henryk 
Sienkiewicz 569 

Party  Leaders  of  the  Time — 
Charles  Willis  Thompson 487 

Patriot's  Mistake.  A— A  Daugh- 
ter of  the  House  (of  Pamell).  494 

Paulus— H.  Weind 58 

Portreeve,  The — Eden  Phill- 
potts 563 

Pre-Raphaelitism — ^W.  Holman 
Humt 97s 

Princess  Priscilla's  Fortnight, 
The — ^The  author  of  "Eliza- 
beth and  her  German  Gar- 
den"  339 

Prophet.  The.  of  Nazareth — 
Nathaniel  Schmidt 497 

Rose  o'  the  River — Kate  Doug- 
las Wiggin xxo 

Scholar's  Daughter,  The — Bea- 
trice Harraden 674 

Sex  and  Character^-Otto  Wei- 
lunger 433 

Shdbum  Essays — ^Paul  Elmer.  968 

Sir  Joshua  Reynolds — (x)  Sir 
Walter  Armstrong— <  9)  Will- 
iam B.  Boulton X57 

Sir  Raoul — James  M.  Ludlow.   995 

Soul.  The.  of  the  People— Will- 
iam M.  Ivins 64X 

Spectdations.  The,  of  John 
Steele— Robert  Barr 338 

Swinburne — George  Edward 
Woodberry 969 

Swinburne,  Selected  Poems  of.  969 

Taine,  H.,  Correspondence  of . .   x6x 

Tchaikovsky,  Peter  Ilich,  Life 
and  Letters  of — Modeste 
Tchaikovsky 3x6 

Theokigy.  The  Use  of  the 
Scriptures  in — ^William  New- 
ton Clarke,  D.D 175 

Torrey  and  Alexandex^— George 
T.  B.  Davis x69 

Travelling  Thirds,  The— Ger- 
trude Atherton 993 

Trident,  The,  and  the  Net— 
The  author  of  "The  Martyr- 
dom of  an  Empress" 995 

Vers  le  Cceur  de  I'Amerique— 

Charles  Wsgner x66 

Victor  Hugo  it  Guernsey — ^Patd 

Stapfer 33 

Von    Kunst    und    Kflnstler — 

Max  Nordau 963 

Voyage,  The.  of  Discovery — 

Capt.  Robert  P.  Scott.  C.  V. 

O..R.N 69 

Walt  Whitman  in  Camden.With 
— Horace  Traubel 507 

Walt  Whitman,  A  Life  of— 
Henry  Bryan  Binns 980 

Wheel,  The,  of  Life — Ellen 
Glasgow.  .  • 338 

Whistler^-Haldane  Macfall...  695 

Boomerang,  principle  of  the  flight 

of  the 656 

Borglum,  Gutson,  talent  of 499 

Botiguereau,    Nordau's  estimate 

otT 963 

Bourgeois,  L6on,  in  the  French 

election X4X 

Brandes.  George,  on  Heine,  977; 

as  a  critic 6x6 

Breeding  for  the  human  race. ...  66 x 

British  education  bill 595 

British    ministry,    the,    and    its 

problems X99 

Bront^,  Emily,  greatest  work  of  519 


CURRENT  LITERATURE- INDEX  TO  VOL.  XL 


Bryan,  WiUsam  J.,  as  a  prenden- 
tial  pooribOity 478 

Bfjce.  James,  as  Secretary  for 
Irdand ao 

Bfllow.  Chancellor  of  Germany. .  363 

Bwna,  John,  in  the  British  Cabi- 
net, 19:  sketch  of. 3x6 

O 

Cadman,    S.    Parkes.    D.D.,    on 

evangelism. x6a 

Campbeli-Bannennan,  Sir  Henry, 

and  his  mimstiy ««9 

''Canadian.  A."  by  Heyse 3x8 

Cancer,  opinions  about 296 

Cannon.  Joseph  G..  sketch  of 59Q 

Camso.  Enrico,  sketch  of 379 

Castro  as  the  * '  Restorer  of  Venes- 

uda" »So 

Catholic  reform 4x8 

Chamberlain.  Joseph,  in  the  new 

Pariiament as8 

Chandler,    ex-Senator,  and    the 

President SQi 

Chattanooga  lynching,  the ...... .  468 

"Child.   The,"  by    Jean   Riche- 

ptn. 564 

Ch^dhood  fsith 590 

China,  threatened  revolution  m.    144 

Chinese  boycott,  the. X4s 

Chinese  question,  the,  m  Great 

Britain 13a 

Christ,    new    portrayals  of,    by 

American  pamters. 537 

Christian  Endeavor  after  15  years  ago 
''Christian  poBtics"  in  Holland.   993 

Christianity  in  politics 4a3 

Christianity's  most  vital  element.  64  a 

Christianity,  the  final  test  of 51 

Church  authority,  revolt  against, 

in  Germany. 540- 

Church  statistics  for  1905 a86 

Church,  the,   and   the    working 

man 647 

Churchill.  Lord  Randolph,  court- 
ship of. 381 

"Claasman^The,"  86:  condemned  350 
"Clarioe."  William  Gillette's  play  196 
Clark,  Dr.  WiUiam   Newton,  on 
the  Christian  elements  in  the- 

oloey....- 175 

dergy   and   laity,    the   growing 

cleavage  between 165 

Cloud  architecture 658 

Coal  strike  prospects a4S 

Cokigne  literary  "Flower  Festi- 
vals"  618 

Cok>rs.  therapeutic  qualities  of. .   445 
Composers,  visiting,  to  the  United 

States 77 

Congress,   the   Fifty-ninth,   bills 

introduced  in x 

Conservation  of  matter  not  estab- 
lished     x8o 

Consumption.     Von      Behring's 

"cure"  for 73 

Cooper.  Penimore,  a  new  esti- 
mate of 6xa 

Corporations  not  privileged  to  re- 
fuse testimony 348 

Courts,  Federal,  interest  in  recent 

action  of 46a 

Crapsey.  Algernon  S.,  trial  of.  tor 

heresy 650 

Criticism,  irresponsible. 610 

Curie.  Pierre,  and  Skoldowski  as 

discoverers. 669 

Custom  House,  the  new,  New 
York 390 


D 

Darwin  and  Wallace  compared. .   x8x 
D'Aummsio  and  xnodem  Italian 

drama. sot 

Dsfidng,  religipus x68 

Dawson,  the  Rev.  William  J.,  on 

recent  fiction a7o 

Day,  Chancellor  James  R.,  re- 
bukes President  Roosevelt. ...  588 


Delitssch,  Professor,  in  the  Unit^ 

ed  States 178 

Dickens,  Charles,  a  romance  of . .  385 

Disease,  beneficence  of X84 

Divorce,  new  drama  on 406 

Dixon,  Thomas,  his  "Clansman" 

condemned 359 

Doumer,  Paul,  as  aspirant  for  the 

French  presidency X39 

Drama,  D'Annunsio,  and  modem 

Italian aoi 

Drama:    notable    plays    of    the 

month 84:  X93 

Drama  wrsMS  novel 5ax 

"Dreadnaught."  the  new  British 

battleship 436 

Dry-dock  "Dewey"  towed  X4,ooo 

miles 18a 

Duma,     the,     speculations     on. 

483 :  meets 597 

Dunbar,  Paul  Laurence,  estimate 

of 400 

Dunne,  Mayor  of  Chicago,  and 

municipal  ownership 474 

"DynasU.  The,"  by  Hardy saa 


Earthquake  in  San  Fraitcisco. . .  455 

Earthquake,  the  problem  of  the .  665 
Educational  Alliance  of  Europe 

and  America. X47 

Education  bill,  the,  in  England. .  595 
Ena.  Princess  of  Battenberg,  and 
Alfonso  XIII.  a39;  becomes  a 

Catholic 5oa 

European  concert 48a 

Evangelism,  the  new  attitude  to- 

.      ward x6i 

Evolution  of  man 548 

Exposure,  the  literature  of.  41 :  458 
Eye-strain  as  the  cause  of  the  va- 
garies of  genius 65 


Falli^res.  Clement  Armand,  chosen 
President  of  France,  13  7 :  sketch 
of 3aS 

Fiction,  recent,  the  Rev,  William 
J.  Dawaon  on a7o 

Finance.  Jacob  Schiff  on  our  cur- 
rency     X3S 

"Finite  and  Infinite."  by  Victor 
Hugo a85 

"Fiona  Macleod"  identified  as 
William  Sharp «5o 

Fitch,  Cly.*  on  the  drama  and 
novel.  .  .  r?*. sax 

"Flower  Festivals."  literary,  of 
Cologne 6x8 

Football ax 

Foreign  interests  of  Americans. .    xxs 

Foreitm  policy  of  the  President 
criticized 334 

Foster,  OoorRe  Burraan,  on  the 
"Finality  of  the  Christian  Re- 
ligion"    4a8 

France  and  Germany,  miliUry 
readiness  of 367 

France, election  orospects  in,  a^i, 
369:  election  in,  594;  and  the 
Roman    Catholic      inventories  368 

Fulda.  Ludwig,  in  the  United 
States aoo 

Funston.  General,  in  the  San 
Francisco  disaster 578 

O 

Gastric,  juice,  extraction  of.  from 
t»..  Uog. 446 

Genius,  the  vagaries  of,  caused 
by  eye-stnun 65 

Germany,  advanced  theology  in. 
57;  and  France,  military  readi- 
ness of,  367;  and  the  United 
States 36a 

Gillette,  William,  and  his  "Clar- 
ice"     X96 


Gisstng,  George,  according  to  C. 

F.  G.  Masterman 509 

God,  huxnanity  of,  as  the  central 

thing  in  Christianity 64  a 

Gompers,  Samuel,  on  injunctions  465 
Goremykin,  Ivan,  succeeds  Witte 

in  Russia '. . . .   597 

Gorky,  Maksim,  career  of.  488; 

and  the  new  Russian  literature  614 

Gospel,  the,  in  a  novel 4ax 

Greeks,  religion  of  the 59a 

Grieg,  Edvard,  estimate  of 5x3 

Griscom,  Lloyd  Carpenter 95 

Guild.  Mra.  Cadwalader 4a 

"Gwenevere":  opera  by  Vincent 

Thomas. X97 


H 

Haakon  VII.  King  of  Norway. . .   101 
Hadley.   Herbert  A.,   Attorney- 
General  of  Missoun.  and  H.  H. 

Rogera xaa 

Hadley,  PresidBnt,  of  Yale,  on  the 

rate  bin... M 346 

Haldane,  Richard  Burton,  m  the 

British  Cabinet. ao 

Hamlet's  country. •  5x6 

Hardy,  Thomas,  "The  Dynasts"  saa 
Harland,    Henry,  and    William 

Sharp 150 

Harper.  Dr.  William  Rainey 97 

ilauptmann's  new  drama 4x0 

Hague  conference  postponed. . .  .  486 
Hawthorne,  Julian,  on  journal- 
ism and  literature a7a 

Heam.  Lafcadio,  a  Japanese  es- 
timate of X59 

Hearat.  William  R..  prospects  of.  476 
Heine.  Heinrich.  as  *  the  wittiest 

man."  a77;  sketch  of 387 

Helium  and  the  transmutation  of 

dements. 555 

Heredity  in  royal  pedigrees 545 

Higher  criticism  in  a  novel,  4ax;  . 

in  two  new  books 4a7 

•  •  His  House  in  Order."  by  Pinero  403 
History,  the  divine  purpose  in. . .  6  a 
Home  rule  and   the  new  British 

Cabinet,  17:  "on  the  sly ".....   a6x 
House  of  Representatives,  U.  S., 

interesting  members  of x 

Howells,  W.  D.,  on  J.  M.  Bame.  409 
Hughes,   Charles  Evans,   sketch 

of ao7 

Hugo,  Victor,  new  revelations  of.  33 
Huraperdinck,  Engelbert,  in  the 

United  Sutes •     77 

Humphrey,    Judge,    decision    of 

Chicago  packera*  case. 46a 

Humanity,  a  romance  of  the  re- 
ligion of ■  ■ .     54 

Hungary's  resistance  to  the  Em- 
peror  ^*  ••«••;••  ^'* 

Hunt.  Hobnan.    on   Pre-Rapha- 

elitism •  •   a74 

Hyde.  Dr.  Douglas,  of  the  Gaehc 
League ai4 

II 

Ice  barrier.  Antarctic 69 

Ikhnaton.  the  earliest  pronhet. .    X76 
Immortality  according  to  Maeter- 
linck. 60;  according  to  William 

Oder 4a4 

Injunctions.  agiUtion  against . . .  464 
Insurance   companies     and   San 

Francisco S84 

Insurance  reforms > 35o 

Ivins,  William  M..  on  the  Ameri- 
can spirit 641 


Japan  and  China ass 

Japan's  naval  policy 9SS 

Japanese  "Don  Qmxot^,"  a  . . .  615 

Japanese  religious  mdifferentism.  4ao 


CURRENT  LITERATURE— INDEX  TO  VOL.  XL 


TeruBalem.  schools  in 541 

Jesus.  Edwin  Bfarkham  on  the 


I 


poetry  of,  56;  was  he  a  Jew? . .  s\i 
.ws.  prospects  of  converting  the  a88 

Johnson,  Tom  L.,  sketch  of 33 1 

'Josephine/*  by  J.  M.  Barrie. . .  631 


Journalism,  effect  of,  on  literature  272 


Kennard,  Dr.  Joseph  Spencer, 
and  the  international  educa- 
tional alliance 147 


Labor  leaders  in  Paiiiament a6o 

•'Labyrinth,  The" 86 

Lamb,  Charles,  estimate  of 511 

Langley.  Samuel  Pierpont,  genius 

oL 549 

Lanier,  Sidney,  place  of,  in  Amer- 
ican poetry. 36 

Ledger,  Dr.  B.,  on  solar  phenom- 
ena    187 

Lcagh.  Mercedes,  in  tiie  "Song  of 

Songs" 699 

Le  Reveil  (The  Awakening^ 310 

Life  insurance,  results  ot  mvesti- 

sataxig,  99 ;  remedies  proposed. .  a9 
Lilien.  B.  M. ,  artist  of  the  (Ghetto.  38 
Lincoln,  Abraham,  a  new  estimate 

of 606 

"Lion,  The,  and  the  Mouse" 84 

Literature,  is  it  being  commer- 
cialised? j^i\  modem,  the  anar- 
chist spirit  m 398 

Littlefield  opposes  rate  biU 94a 

Lkyd-Geotge.  David,  in  the  Brit- 
ish Cabinet ai 

Lodge,  Senator,  and  the  rate  bill.  343 
Lodise.  Sir  Oliver,  on  the  conser- 
vation of  matter.  180:  on  the 
vital  element  in  Christianity. .  64a 
Loifdon,  Jack,  on  the  San  Prmn- 

dsco  disaster 571 

Longevity  and  the  will 999 

"Lost  Conscience,  The" 340 

Lowell,  Josephine  Shaw,  esti- 
mates A 98 

Lowther,    James    William,    new 

speaker  of  Parliament 958 

Lynching  statistics 360 


MacDowell,    Edward,    Lawrence 

Oilman  on ^04 

Maeterlinck,  Maurice,  on  Immor- 
tality. 60;  on  morality 417 

"Major  Barbaia,"  play  by  Ber- 
nard Shaw X91 

Man  and  the  anthropoid  apes. .  548 
Mansfield,  Richard,  on  "Man  and 

the  Actor" 313 

"Masquerade,"  by  Pulda ao3 

Matthews,  Brander,  on  the  drama 

and  novel sai 

Message  of  the  President,  annual.       7 
Messager,  Andr^.  in  the  United 

States 77 

"Miarka":  Prench  opera 196 

Mice  a  cause  of  pneumonia 444 

Microbe,  the,  of  old  age 75 

Miracles  of  Jesus,  Bouaset  on 534 

Mitchell,  Prof.  Hinckley  G.,  and 

the  Board  of  Bishops 5a 

Mwdy,    Vaughn's,    "A    Sabine 

Woman  " 633 

Moon,  the,  maynot  be  dead. ....   188 

Moral  overstrain. 654 

Morsl  upheaval,  the,  in  America . .  53  5 
Morality,  can  we  have,  without 

religion? 49 

Morality,  the,  of  the  future..' 417 

Morley,  John,  in  the  British  Cabi- 
net      ao 

Mmcco  Conference,  the  United 
Stkteeaad,  zt3:  dimiwion  of, 
itf , •4A,  j6s;  «nda. ■4SS 


Morris,   BCrs.  Minor,  ejection  of, 

from  the  White  House Z17 

Mosquito,  the,  how  she  bites 301 

Muck-rake,       the.       President's 

speech  on 457 

Municipal  ownership  in  Chicago.  474 
Music,  American,  has  it  a  distinct 

note? 635 

Music.  Santayana  on.  411:  sense 

of  the  infimte  in 5x9 

Musical  conductors  of  the  current 

season 80 

Musical  season,  the.  .  , 77 

Mural  decoration 6ax 

M 

Negro  question,  the 356 

Nero  according  to  Stephen  Phil- 
lips  40X 

Newton,  Heber,  on  the  future  of 

theology 893 

Nietzsche,  new  revelations  of . . .  644 
Nietszche's  revolutionary  system.  aSa 
Nitrogen,  its  fixation  and  the  food 

supply 553 

Novel,  the.  as  a  political  force  in 

Italy 35 

Novel  versus  drama 5ai 

Nordau  and  modem  artists. 963 

Norway's  theological  storm 655 

O 

Old  age.  the  microbe  of 75 

Olympic  Games  at  Athens,  354! 

winners  in 598 

Opera  in  New  York,    1906.   78; 

singers 8x 

Operas,  new  Prench 517 

Osier,  William,  on  immortality. .  a^A 
"Other  Side  of  the  Moon,"  the. .  675 


Panama  Canal  and  its  critics X19 

Parker,  Alton  B.,  on  the  corpora- 
tions decision. . ; 349 

Pariiament,  the  new  British a57 

Pamell.  Charies   Stewart,    three 

loves  of 494 

Partridge,  William  Ordway,  on 

the  Greek  spirit  in  art 153 

Paul  according  to  the  new  theol- 
ogy      58 

Personality,  alternations  of 439 

"Peter  Pan" 84 

Phelan.  John  D..  in  the  San  Fran- 
cisco disaster 578 

Philippines,  Japan  may  buy 954 

Philippine  tariff  biU  fafls  in  Sen- 
ate Committee 344 

Phillips,  David  Graham,  on  "The 

Treason  of  the  Senate" 458 

Phillips,  Stephen,  on  Nero 401 

Pinero.    Arttittr   Wing,   and    his 

latest  play 403 

Playwright,  the  art  of  the 3x4 

Pneumonia,  its  cause  and  cure. .  444 
Poetry  of  Jesus.  Edwin  Markham 
on 56 


Poetry,  Recent  (Quoted). 

After    the    Battle— Douglas 

Hyde 334 

Arabesque — Charles       Warren 
Stoddard 67a 

Arisona     Bedroom,       My — }. 
William  Lloyd aax 

Babel — Victor  Hugo 104 

Ballade,     A — ^Thomas    Bailey 
Aldrich ai9 

Call,  The,  t>f  the  Sea— W.  Moa> 
foAadanOn 557 


Poetry,  Recent  (Quoted) — Cont. 

Chosen  People.  The— W.  M.  P.  aai 
City  Childrm — Charles  Hanson 

Towne 5S8 

City's  Saint,  A— Joseph  Dana 

Miller sao 

Darby  and  Joan — Henry  Aus- 
tin   336 

Desert.  The— Philip  Verrill 
Mighels 449 

Devo.  The,  that  is  Called  Love 
— Douglas  Hyde 333 

Drawing  of  the  Lot,  The — ^John 
Vance  Cheney az9 

Dream-Child.  The— Louise 
Morgan  Silt 669 

Bt  in  Arcadia  Ego— Theodosia 
Garrison 558 

Eve's  Return,  Ballad  of — ^The- 
odoeia  Garrison aax 

Prom  One  Blind — C^ale  Young 
Rice 670 

Gaudeamus  Igitur — Margaret 
L.  Woods 56X 

Guerrilla — ^John  Williamson 
Palmer 671 

Homer — Walter  Malone Z05 

Homing    Heart,    The — ^Bdwin 

Markham 450 

Hymn  to  Genius — Victor  Hugo  105 

Infant  on  My  Knee,  Ballad  of 

the — Frank  Putnam 561 

InMusco^nr — ^Edith  M.  Thomas  560 
Introit — Katharine  Tynan.  ...  558 
I  Shall  Forget — ^Laurence  Hope  449 
Isle.  The,  of  Dreams— William 
Sharp 560 

King's   Fool,  The— William  J.. 

Niedig X07 

Kmghts    and    King — William 

Watson 45  X 

Knots,  The.  of  the  Blue  and 

Gray— May  Elliot  Hutson. .  670 

Little  Christ,   The   —  Laura 

Spencer  Porter X07 

Loneliness — Douglas  Hyde 334 

Looking     for     Work— H.     C. 

Gauss 67a 

Lover,  A — Clinton  Scollard. . .   aai 
Love's     Confessions    —    Ella 
Wheeler  Wilcox 337 

March  in  Kansa»— A.  A.  B. 
Cavaness 450 

Maryland  Battalion.  The,  in  the 
Battle  of  Long  Island— John 
Williamson  Palmer 449 

Might  Have— Edith  M.  Thom- 
as  337 

My  Faith — ^John  Vance  Cheney  ax9 

Myself,  In  Praise  of— Walter 
Malone xo6 

New  Year's  Thought,  A — Aua- 

tin  Dobson 9x9 

Niagara — Florence  Wilkinson.  559 

.  of  Speech.  The — ^Victor 

^iugo X04 

Ould  Tunes,  The — ^Mora  O'Neill  aaa 
Out   of   the   Shadow — Louise 
Moxgan  Sill 669 

Pact,  The,  of  the  Twin  Goda — 

John  Payne 44? 

Pan  in  April — Bliss  Carman. .  S57 

Pity— TrumbuU  Stickney 67  a 

Prayer  of  Woomh,  Th*— PJooa 
Madeod axS 


!  \ 


CURRENT  LITERATURES-INDEX  TO  VOL.  XL 


Pbetrr.  Rnaot  (Qaotsd)— Gont. 

Rttlwmy  Yard.  The— Floraaoe 

Wflfcimfm. J35 

Reuon.  The — ^WaKam  Wmtar.  los 
Red  Dawn— P.  Habbcrton  Lul- 

^  bam. 679 

Rrvoliitioakt.      The — (Tuxs^ 

caev)  ArtburGultermaa 106 

Rododactuloe— Wilfred  Camp- 
bell  451 

Roral  Pnnena.  A— Victor 
Hugo. 3  J3 

Sayiqga  of  lad — ^Arthur  Giiiter- 

man. aas 

Sereude,  A-— Charlee  Buxton 

aS^fjH.* '  A*  NeW  * '  YoA*.  " 
Dreewd  for  Sunday — ^Anna 

Hempetead  Branch 334 

Silent      Poet.      The—Robert 

r3arifenn  Tongue. eao 

for  a  Cncked  Voice— 

iDaoe  Irwin 336 

,  The,  of  the  Plage— S. 

.  jir  Mitchell 670 

Snrfoce  Righte — ^Laurence 
Hope 448 

"fime— Piona  Madeod ei8 

Totn-Toffle,  Tne— Laurence 
Hope 448 

Watch.  The.  of  the  Code— 
Goorgia  Wood  Pkiy bom 560 

WhsapenrB,  The — ^Richard 
Wateon  Gilder. ai9 

Poiaoo,  the  problem  of  detecting.  305 
"Poor  Pool,  The,"  by  Hermann 

Batar. 525 

Pope  Pius  X  on  the  French  situ- 

alkm. 367 

Poativum.  a  romance  of 54 

Power.  fntuTB  KMirGee  of. 7a 

PicBc^iiiw.  is  it  "muasled"? a78 

Pie-B  apnaetiti im    according    to 

Hofanan  Hunt. 374 

President's  meeaage,  annual 7 

Prince  Ohi]w.t^Isotde  Kurs. . .  aa6 
Protestant    Church    in    France, 

criaasin 174 

Providence,  by  Victor  Ht«o 43* 

PnrcfaolQgy  of  mults-peraonality.  430 

Pulpit*  the.  is  it  **mussled?" a78 

••Punch,"  by  J.  M.  Barrie 631 

Pure  food  buH  passes  Senate. 343 

R 

Rachmaninoff.  S.  G..  in  the  Unit- 
ed Sutes. 7 

Radium  and  the  nature  of  matter  ai 
Railroad  rebates  under  fire. . .  .*.  sJ 

Railurmy  measures  at  Albany 348 

Railways,  rate  regulations  in  Con- 
Rate  bill  jpaaees  ttaA  House.  341; 
m  the  Senate.  345t  465;  paatea 

Senate. S9> 

Rnvnor,  Senator,  speech  on  Santo 

Domingo. a36 

Rebate  investigation  of  railroads.  386 
Redmond.  John,  and  Irish  home 
rule,  131;  sketch  of. 383 


Rednesi  of  the  ddn.  method  of 
treating. 304 

Reger.  Max,  as  a  compoeer oao 

Rctd.  WhiteUw.  defies  British 
sartorial  tradition 374 

Religion.  American,  a  French- 
man's impressions  of  63; 
Charles  Wagner  on t66 

Religion  in  the  dance.  168;  of 
cmldhood,  ssq;  of  the  Greeks. 
S4a;  of  the  twentieth  century. 
4*9;  solidarity  in.  «3a;  Walt 
Whitman's,  a8o;  without  God.  4a6 

Reynolds.  Sir  Joshua,  portrait  of. 

R«>mn,  Nordau's  estimate  vi....  a03 
Rqeefs,  Henry  H.,and  Attoney 

General  HacOey laa 

Roman  Catholic  resbtance  to  the 

French  inventories. 368 

Roosevelt,  Alice,  that  was 3>s 

Roosevelt.  President,  antagonism 
toward.  115;  on  the  muck 
rake."  457>  on  a  progressive 
inheritance  tax,  4<o;  reply  to 
labor  delegation.  404:  attack  on 
the  Standard  Oil  Company. ...  587 

Russia,  affairs  in as 

-Russian  plavers. 407 

Russian  pohtics. 48a 

Russia's  plight. 375 

a 

"Sabine  Woman.  A."  by  Vaughn 

Moody 633 

Safety-pin.  a,  through  a  babv. . .  668 
Saion-Ji,  Marquis,  Prime  Minis- 
ter of  China 145 

"Salome,"  by  Richard  Strauss.87. 307 
San    Francisco   earthquake   and 
fire,   4SSt   568;    disaster    and 

Providence 649 

Santo  Domingo,  our  poticv  with.   a34 
Schiff.  Jacob,  predicts  fmancial 

Sc^idt.  Nathanid.  and  a  mod- 
em view  of  Christ 4>7 

Schmits,  Eugene  B..  and  the  San 
Francisco  disaster 578 

Schools  in  Jerusalem 541 

Schurs.  Carl,  death  and  estimates 
of S9» 

Senate  of  the  United  Sutes  in 
Fifty-ninth  Congress,  a:  criti- 
cism of.  a3a;  passes  important 
bms. 343 

Shakespearean  scenes  in  bas-re- 
lief    a65 

Sharp,  William,  and  "Fiona 
Macleod" is© 

Shaw,  Bernard,  and  J.  M. 
Barrie 5>4 

Ship  subsidy  measure  passes  Sen- 
ate  34S 

"Sidney  Luska"  identified  as 
Henry  Hariand 151 

Solar  phenomena,  man's  igno- 
rance of X87 

Solar  system,  the  newest  theory 
of  the  evolution  of  our 76 

S6lidarity  in  reUgicm 53* 

"Song  of  Songs,  The."  in  New 
Yoric 6a9 

Speech,  problems  of 30a 

Spelling  reform 497 

Spooner.  Senator,  speech  on  San- 
to Domingo •37 


,  Ohio,  mobe  negroes.  35T 
Kl  Company  attacked 

by  the  President;  replies 587 

Statehood  bill  in  Congiees,   xai; 

passes  Senate 344 

"Sucoeas,"    by    Marguerite   von 

Oertsen 4sa 

Sudermann,  Hermann,  two  new 

plays  by. 198 

Sun,  energy  of.  as  useful  power. .  7* 
Superman,  evolution  of  the,  in 

uterature 136 

Swinburne,  estimates  of. ao8 

Symphony  Concerts  in  San  Fran- 

dsoo 6a8 

T 

Taff  Vale  decision,  the a6o 

Taft's activity 374 

Taine's  literary  contemporaries. .  x6f 
Tchaikovsky,  Peter  Ilich,  sketch 

of. 3x6 

Terry,  Ellen,  sketch  of 600 

Thomas,  Vincent,  and  his  opera 

"Gwenevere" 197 

"Three Bfana, The" xix 

Theater,  propoeed  national,  criti- 
cism of. 87 

Theology,  advanced  in  Germany, 
57*,  new.  its  estimate  of  Paul, 
58;    use  of  the  Scriptures  in, 

X7S;  the  future  of. S93 

Tides,  energy  olas  useful  power  7t 

Tolstoy's  "Last  Words" i7t 

"To  the  Stars."  by  Andreyev. . .  311 

Treves.  Sir  Frederick,  on  disease.  184 

Tsetse  fly,  the,  in  Africa 189 

Turicey  yields  to  naval  threats. .  31 

Turner's  masterpieces  recovered.  504 

Tuskegee  Institute  anniversarv. .  470 

"Twisting,  The,  of  the  Rope  '. .  4x3 


U 

"Under  the  Umbiella".* 113 

V 

"VendetU,"  French  opera. J 17 

Venesuela  and  France S49 

Vesuvius  in  eruption 471 

IV 

Washington,  Booker  T.,  on  negro 

progress 361 

Wagner,  Charles,  on  American  re- 
ligion    166 

Wallace,  Alfred  Russd,    oonfes- 

skmsof azi 

Wdls,  H.  Gm  sketch  of 604 

Whitnum,  Walt,  reUgkm  of,  a8o: 

and  his  contemporaries 507 

Whistler.  Nordau's  estimate  of . .   a64 

Will,  the.  and  longevity a99 

Wierts,  Antoine,  the  genius  of. .  394 

William  II,  his  family 339 

Witte.  Ruasian  Premier,  difficul- 
ties of,  a6;  his  prospects,  484: 

and  his  successor 597 

Woman,  non-nxnmL 433 

Wright,  Luke  E..  ambassador  to 
Jepen as4 


CURRENT  LITERATURES-INDEX  TO  VOL,  XL 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


AbW  FeUx  Klein 63 

Aberdeen,  Earl  of 17 

Adams,  Maude 85 

Addams,  Jane 378 

Aldrich,  Senator 4 

AlfonaoXlII 341 

Alfonso  XIII,  Princess  Ena  and 

AlBson.  Senator 4 

All  out  of  tune  (C.) 478 

Altar  of  the  Temple  of  Humanity  54 
American  athletes  of    Olympian 

Sames. 354,  355 

Amonff  the  Lowly" 39 

Antarctic  ice  wall 70.   71 

Anthony,  Susan  B.,  374, 499, 493; 

bas-relief  of 494 

Aoki,  Viscount 134 

Armour.  J.  Ogden 590 

Armstrong  Committee,  the. 351 

Asquith.  H.  H z6,  133 

Automobile  skate 438 

B 

Babcock.  Joseph  W 1 19 

Bacon,  Senator 336 

Baffgedl  (C.) 463 

Bauey,  Joseph  W.:  Frontispiece: 

for  May  and 33  4 

Baker.  Ray  Stannard 461 

Balfour,  Arthur  James 358 

Barrymore.  Ethel 193 

Bear  not  satisfied  (C.) 99 

Behrincr.  Professor  von 74 

Bernhardt,  Sarah,  83;  in  tears. .  195 

Beveridge.  Senator 7 

Bigelow.  Poultney lai 

Birrell,  Augustine 133 

Boomerang,   the.  charts    of    its 

flight 656.  6s7 

Borglum.  Gutson 50a 

Bourgeois,  L^n 140 

Bowne.  Borden  P 62 

Brandegee,  Senator 8 

Brandes,  George 617 

British  seesaw,  a  (C.) a63 

Bryce,  James 17.  13a,  260 

Buffalo  calves 190 

Bulkeley,  Senator 9 

BOlow.  Prince 364 

Burkett.  Senator 9 

Bums.  John 16.  ai7 

Byron's  bust 153 

By  the  light  of  the  moon  (C.) ...  a6 


O 

Campbell-Bannerman,  Sir  Henry     13 

Cannon.  Joseph  0 3.    600 

Caracas.  350;  President's  palace 

in as  I 

Caruso,  Enrico 380 

Castro,  President 249 

Chamberlain,    Joseph.     la,    a6o; 

Mrs.  Joseph  Chamberlain a6  x 

Chaoin,  Benjamin,  impersonating 

Lmcoln 608,    609 

China's   Dowager   Empress   and 

ladies 143 

Christ,  by  American  painters. 536-539 
Churcnili,  Lord  Randolph. .  .381.   38a 

Churchill,  Winston  Spencer 13 1 

Civilisation  only  skin  deep  (C). .  356 

Clark,  Francis  B 391 

Clark,  Senator 7 

Cl^menceau,  Senator,  of  Prance.  371 
Cleveland,     Grover.     and    son: 

Frontispiece  for  February. 

Clotilde  de  Vaux 55 

Clouds 658,    660 

Constantinople 31 


NOTE.— Cartoons  are  designated  by  "C." 

Contending  for  the  body  of  Pa- 

troclus 397 

Coyle,  Robert  F 431 

Cradle  of  crime,  the  (C.) 357 

Crapsey.  Algernon  S.,    651;  the 

court  that  tried  him 653 

Crooks,  Will 358 

Cross,  the.  and  the  harem 33 

Cullum,  Senator 4 

Curie,  Pierre,  and  wife 66a 

Custom  House,  New  York,  and 

sculptures  on 39o~393 

Czar's  dilemma,  the  (C.) 38 

D 

Dance  as  religious  worship  168 ,  170. 1 7  x 

D'Annunxio  at  the  chase 303 

Dante  and  Beatrice XS4 

Dawson.  William  J 371 

Day,  James  Roscoe 430 

Delcass^,  Th^pila xa6 

Delitssch,  Friedrich 178 

Deschanel,  Pattl. '. 371 

Design  for  a  new  coat   of  arms 

(C.) 466 

Devine.  Dr.  Edward  T 579 

Dickens  tablet,  386:  statue  of. . .  387 

D'Indy.  Vincent 79 

Diplomatic  corps 95 

Does  it  paW  (C.) 353 

DoUiver,  Senator 348 

Doumergue.  M 371 

Doumer.  Paul 138 

Dreadnaught.  chart  of  the 436 

Dry  dock,  Dewey 183 

DuBois.  Prof.  W.  E.  B 3  57 

Dunbar,  Paul  Laurence 400 

EC 

Earthqtiake  auU^n^ph 457 

Earthquake  charts 666.  667 

Eitel,  Prince 338 

Elgin.  Earl  of 13  3 

Ellcins,  Senator 5 

Ena,  Princess  of  Battenbcrg ....  34 1 

Encouraging  (C.) 478 

Engineer  Roosevelt  (C.) 343 

England  and  Germany  (C.) 124 

Etienne,  Eugene 140 

Exceeding  the  speed  limit  (C.) . .  x  x6 

FT 

Pacing  the  Music  (C.) 350 

Fairbanks.    Vice-President,    and 

family 2 

Palli^res.  Clement  Armand.  .139.  337 

Fastenrath,  Dr.  Johannes 619 

Fathers  and  sons,  by  E.  M.  Lilien     40 

Fez.  Morocco x 35 

Fiedler,  Max 81 

Field,  Marshall 146 

First  step,  the   (C.) 596 

Fish,  Stuy  vesant 349 

Flint,  Senator 19 

Flower  Queen  and  maids  of  Co- 
logne Festival 6x8 

Football  from  the  outside  (C). .     33 

Forakcr,  Senator 347 

Fortissimo  (C.) 588 

Foster,  George  Burman 437 

Frazier,  Senator 8 

"Free" 45 

French  bishops  consecrated 369 

French  troops 137 

Fulda,  Ludwig 199 

O 

Garfield,  Commissioner 588 

Gearin,  Senator  John  F xi6 


Genxian  warning,  a  (C.) 134 

Getting  there  (C.)  . . . , 34© 

Gillette.  William X9a 

"Girlhood  of  the  Virgin  * 376 

Gissingt  George 509 

Gladstone.  Herbert 15 

Gladstone.  W.  E..  bust  of 46 

Goremykin,  Ivan 597 

Gorky.  Maksim 489. 49o.  49x 

Gould,  Dr.  George  M 67 

Gray.  Sir  Edward U 

Grieg,    Edvard.   and   his   home, 
5  X3 ;  with  wife  and  the  B j6m- 

sons 515 

Griscom.  Lloyd  C 96 

Guild.  Mrs.  Cadwalader 43 

Gunsaulus.  Frank  W 43© 

H 

Haakon  VII  and  family xoi 

Hadlcy.  Herbert  A 123 

Hale,  Senator  Eugene 5 

Hall.  Marie 79 

Hamlet,  tomb  of 5  «7 

Hapgood,  Norman 459 

Hardie.  Kcir a59 

Harland,  Henry X50 

Harper.  William  R X46 

Hauptmann.  Gerhart  (C.) 4x1 

Havemcycr,  Henry  0 59  x 

Hawthorne.  Julian 373 

Heam.  Lafcadio x6o 

Hearst,  William  R 479 

Heine.  Hcinrich,  377.  388;  cari- 
catures of 389 

Hepburn,  Congressman  William  P.  343 

Herbert,  Victor 8x 

Hertz.  Alfred  (C.) 379 

Hervieu.  Paul 3 10 

Heybum.  Senator 337 

Hindu  deity  as  impersonated x6o 

Holding  the  powers  together  (C.)  366 

Homer  reading,  et- iS5 

House  of  RepresenUtives 345 

Hughes,    Charles  E.,     308,    209: 

home  of ao7 

Hugo,  bas-relief  of 34 

Humperdinck,  Engelbcrt 78 

Hunt.  Holman 376 

Hysteria  (C.) 459 

I 

Isle  of  Death,  the  (C.) 484 


Japanese    troops     guarding    the 
American  minister*  s  residence . .     06 

,  auris.  Jean 3  7o 

,  efferson.  Charles  E 43 » 

.  crome.  Jennie 383 

,  erome  sleeps  (C.)  . . . " 458 

,  ohnson.  Tom  L.:     Frontispiece 
for  March. 


K 

Kean.  Senator 6 

Keifer.  Senator xo 

KeiHara »57 

Keiter,  Therese 6x9 

Kennard.  Joseph  Spencer 149 

Keppel,     Augustus.     Reynolds's 

portrait  of X57 

Kitty  Fisher,  by  Reynolds 158 

Knox.  Senator 243 

Koster.  Admiral  von 483 

Kunwald.  Dr.  Ernest 8x 


CURRENT  LITERATURE^INDEX  TO  VOL.  XL 


1^ 

U  FoOette,  Senator. 8,  467 

Umb,  Chaxles. 511 

Lan^.  Samuel  Pierpont 550 

Laoseft  Sidney 37 

Ldgb,  Mercedes 630 

Lilien,    B.    M.,    40:    a  symbolic 

picture  by 38 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  bust  of 47 

Uovd-Geoise,  David 14 

Lodge,  Senator  Henry  Cabot 5 

Loeb.  Secretary up 

Long,  Senator 466 

LoMwortt,  Nicholas.  3*6;  home 

of  the  Lonflfworths 335 

Lorenso  and  Isabella 975 

"Lotos" 44 

Loabet,  Emile 138 

Madame,  and  son 139 

LoweQ,  Josephine  Shaw 99 

Macdonald,  J.  Ramsay aco 

MscDowdU  Edward... 4J5 

Mskino,  S. 256 

Man.  the,  of  the  future,  etc 396 

Marbury»  Elizabeth 315 

*  Mares  of  Diomedes,"  by  Boxs- 

him K0i 

Martyrs  of  Kishineff,  by  B.  M. 

Linen ^o 

Matsuda. „? 

McCurdys  are  resigmn«r  (C.) 39 

Measelbm.  Wilhehn 80 

Mit^eU.  Hinckley  G 53 

JWecules..... 664.    66s 

Money  tight  (C.) 136 

Mooroe  doctrine  as    Uncle  Sam 

Moigan  medBa..' .* .' .'  .* .'  .'   JJa 

i£3^-j^*":::::::::::::::'n 

Morooco  Con^rence.  the  sphinx 

i/fLlll / 36s 

Morocco,  map  of 48a> 

Morocco  noarket 127 

Morocco  meny-go-round  (C.) ....  1 34 
Morocco's  SuiUn,  948;  his  wives  246 
Morocco,  the  Sick  Man  of  (C.)  480. 481 

Morocco  troops 366 

Mosquito,    biting    apparatus    of 

the 301 

Mnxal  paintings,  notable. 620-694 


Negro     hospital     and    training 

^^  scho^ 359 

"Nero."  by  Borglum 500 

New  Columns  of  Hercules  (C.) . .  483 

Newton.  R.  He^ Joi 

New    York's  favorite    diversion 

(C.) „a 

Nicolaon.  Sir  Arthur 367 

Nietzsche,    Priedrich.  bust,  98a: 

portrait 983 

No  common  carrier  (C.) 467 

Nordau.  Max 964 

Norway's  Queen xoa 

Not  decaying  (C.) 591 

O 

OhI  you  dirty  boy  (C.) 93 

Olympic  Games.  American  ath- 

letesin 598 

Olympic  Stadion 356 

Open  door,  the  (C.) 145 

Opening  Congress  (C.) 9 

Ophelia^s  Spring 517 


Panama  Canal,  chart  of 10,  ix 

Pamell,    Charles    Stewart.    495; 

home  of.* 496 

Partridge,  WiUiun  Ordway x  s  a 

Patterson,  Senator 935 

Payne,  Sereno  E x  x8 

Perkins,  Senator 6 

Perry,  Roland  Hinton,  96<:  his 
wife,  968:  his  daughter  Gwen- 
dolen     969 

Phelan,  James  D 579 

Phillips.  David  Graham 458 

Pinero^  Arthur  Wing 40* 

Pius  A. X4X,   368 

Poland's     national     emblem    in 

Warsaw's  streets 97 

Political  party,  a  (C.) 961 

Pollock,  Channing 3x4 

Premature  burial 398 

Princess  of  Saxe-Altenburg 45 

•'Pursued,'*  sculpture  by  Borg- 
lum 498 

Q 

Queen  bees 551 

R 

Rachmaninoff,  S.  G 80 

Radowitz.  Herr  von 365 

Raising  of  Lazarus 987 

RappoTd.  Marie 81 

Raynor,  Senator 8 

Recognition  (C.) 347 

Redmond,  John,  131;  and  wife. .  384 

R^er,  Max 697 

Removing  redness 304 

••Revolt  of  Hell."  by  WierU 394 

Reynolds,  Sir  Joshua 159 

Ribot,  M 370 

Rienzi 975 

Rockefeller,  John  D 460,   489 

Rockefeller  Medical  Institute. ...  306 

Roosevelt,  Alice 393,   394 

Rouvier,  Premier  of  France 196 

Royal  children 545-547 

Ruau.  M 370 

Ruskin,"  by  Borglum 499 

Russian    Bear,    the,    btirsts    his 

bonds  (C.) 98 

3 

Safe  (CO 469 

Safonoff,  WassUy 80 

Saint-Saftns, Camille 5x8 

Saion-Ti,  Marquis 954 

Saito,  Marquis 956 

Saleebv.  Dr.  C.  W sU 

San  rrancisco  earthquake  and 
fire,  views  of. .  .456  and  568  to  585 

Santo  Domingo  views 936,    937 

Sarrien,  Jean.>^«- 594 

•'Scene  in  Hell."  by  Wierte 399 

Schiff,  Jacob 136 

Schmitz,  Eugene  E.:  Frontis- 
piece for  June. 

Schoficld.  Gen.  John  M 374 

Schurz,  Carl 599 

Sculpture  by  Qorglum 500 

Senatorial  persuasion  (C.) 348 

Sermon  on  the  Mount 387 

Shakespearean  scenes  in  bas-re- 

„  Mef 965-a67 

Shakespeare  monument   at  Elsi- 

nore 516 

Sharp,  William 151 

Shaw.  Secretary X37 

Slip-knot,  the  (C.) 139 

Smoot,  Reed 933 

Sobering  up  (C.) 137 

So  different  (C.) 350 

Sophie.  Duchess  of  Oldenberg. . .   399 

Sousa.  John  Philip  (C.) 636 

Sowing  the  seeds  of  war  (C). . .    xa8 


Speech  charts 30a,   303 

Spooner,  Senator 6 

Steffens.  Lincoln 461 

Steinbach,  Fritz 80 

Stilling  the  waves  (C.) laa 

Stratiss,  Richard 307 

His  wife 309 

Sudermann.  Hermann 198 

Sultan's  residence 31 

Sweatshop  worker,  the,  by  E.  M. 

Lilien 39 

Symphony  Concert  in  California. 

638.   6a9 


T 

Taft,  Secretary  of  War:.  Frontis- 
piece for  April. 

Taigny.  M : .  953 

Taine.  H.,  showing  effects  of  eye- 
strain   67 

Taine.  monument  to i6a 

Tangier,  Morocco 197 

Tarbell.  Ida. 461 

Tchaikovsky,  Peter  Ilich 3x7 

Tchaykovsky,  Nicholas 485 

Teddy's  great  feat  (C.) 367 

Tennyson's  bust 155 

Terry.  Ellen.  60 x,  603;  with  her 

son 60a 

They  make  him  nervous  (C.)  ...  590 

Thomas,  Vincent 197 

Tilman,  Senator. 732,  346 

Toe  the  mark  (C.) 1x8 

Too  much  Roosevelt  (C.) a34 

Tree,  Beerbohm,  as  ^fero 40a 

Treves,  Sir  Frederick x86 

Trimming  his  wings  (C.) 589 

Trying  to  block  the  way  (C.)  ...  343 

Trying  to  land  (C.) 144 

Turner,  scenes  from 504-506 

Tuskegee  Institute,   469:  elates 

« 471 

U 

Unkind  sugi^estion,  an  (C.) xao 

Up  against  it  (C.) 1x7 

V 

Velie,  Anton  van,  painting  the 

Pope. X4X 

Venezuela,   Castro's  troops,  350; 

man  of  war. 95X 

Venezuelan  circus,  the  (C.) 95  a 

Venezuelan  hut as  x 

Vesuvius  adapted  (C.) 468 

Vesuvius,  views  of 473,  475 

Von  Moltke,  General 364 

^^ 

Wasner,  Richard,  with  eye  defect  69 

WiJker,  Bishop  W.  D 650 

Wallace,  Alfred  Russel axx,  3x3 

Warner,  Senator 9 

Washington.  Booker  T.,  358,  470; 

wife  of,  350:  wife  and  sons,  470; 

P"  and  friends 473 

Watts,  George  Frederick 44 

Watts^s    sUtue     of     Tennyson: 

Frontispiece  for  January. 

Way  of  life,  the 987 

Wells.  H.G 605 

When  Parliament  opens  (C.) ....  X30 

White,  Henry 947 

Whitman.  Walt 98x,  508 

Why  will  deaf    men  walk    on  a 

railroad?  (C.) 3 

Wiertz,  Antoine 395 

William,   Emperor  of  Germany, 

and  his  family 940, 3  39. 330 

Williams,  John  Sharp 1x7 

Wilson,  Secretary  of  Agriculture,  x  x 

Wright,  Luke  E 955 


L   ^    r^ 


\      li^-l 


$3.00  a  Year 


Jantiary    1906  Price  25  Cents 


For  Complete    Table  of  Contente  see  iaeide  page 


A  Review  of  the  World 


Confess:    Its  Personnel  and  Its  Work 

The  Crusade  Ag^ainst  Football 

Great  Britain's  New  Liberal  Cabinet 

Who  Shall  Own  America  ? 

Life  Insurance :  Disclosures  and  Remedies 

Literature  and  Art 


Science  and  Discovery 

Eye  Strain  and  the  Vagaries  of  Genius 
Von  Behring^'s  **  Cure  for  Consumption  " 
Mysteries  of  the  Great  Antarctic  Ice  Barrier 
Future  Sources  of  Power 
The  Microbes  of  Old  Age 

Music  and  the  Drama 


New  Revelations  of  Victor  Hugo 

Value  of  the  "  Literature  of  Exposure  " 

A  W^oman  Sculptor  of  Genius 

An  Artist  of  the  Ghetto 

Sidney  Lanier's  Place  in  American  Poetry 

Religion  and  Ethics 

The  Case  of  Professor  Mitchell 
Maeterlinck's  Conception  of  Immortality 
Can  We  Have  Morality  Without  Religion 
A  Frenchman's  Impressions  of  Our  Religion 
The  Final  Test  of  Christianity 


Recent  Poetry 


An  Unprecedented  Musical  Season 
Notable  Plays  of  the  Month 
^  Criticism  of  the  Proposed  National  Theatre 
Bahr's  New  Political  Drama 
Sarah  Bernhardt's  Visit 

Persons  in  the  Foreground  , 

Bernhardt  at  Sixty-one 
The  Man  Who  Made  Chicago  University 
Mrs.  Lowell,  a  '<  Saint  of  Gotham  " 
The  Youngest  American  Diplomat 
Personality  of  Norway's  New  King 

Recent  Fiction  and  the  Critics 


Short  Stories ;     The  Three  Elms ;  and  Under  the  Umbrella 


THE    CURRENT    LITERATURE   PUBI.ISHING    CO. 
34    West    26tli    Street.    New   YorR 


HAND  SAPOLIO  DOES,  by  a  method  of  its  own, 
what  other  soap  cannot  do.  If  you  want  a  velvet  skin, 
don't  PUT  ON  preparations,  but  TAKE  OFF  the  dead 
skin,  and  let  the  new  perfect  cuticle  furnish  its  own 
beauty. 


FINGERS  ROUGHENED  by  needlework  catch  every 
stain  and  look  hopelessly  dirty.  HAND  SAPOLIO  will 
remove  not  only  the  dirt,  but  also  the  loosened,  injured 
cuticle,  and  restore  to  the  fingers  their  natural  beauty. 


AFTER  A  REFRESHING  BATH  with  HAND  SAPO- 
LIO, every  one  of  the  2,38  1 ,248  healthily  opened  pores 
of  your  skin  will  shout,  as  through  a  trumpet,  "For  this 
relief,  much  thanks."  Five  minutes  with  HAND  SAPO- 
LIO equal  hours  of  so-called  Health  Exercises.  Its  use 
is  a  fine  habit. 


Quick  Convalescence  t  \ 


A  striklniT  <|uaUty  of  Lkhig  Company's  Extract  h 
thit  H  £f]V£s  strcQgiti  quick ly«  It  I5  the  most  cod- 
cejjtrittd  form  of  beef  knovo;  tv^typAfikk  kof 
fw>l  v^iut  ani  every  paitkle  h  absolutely  pwre*  j 
BrillJaDt  jn  5oIutioa;  ddidoas  infUvcr:  ruij 
la  a  mtuute.  The  Liebig  Company  do  all  tlic  | 
*'tn2kmg,"  all  yoa  have  to  do  Is  iht  mbdn^, 
H  l^tikiisi  cup5  in  a  2  oz.  far* 

UEBIG  COMPANY^ 

E-^xtraet  or  Beef 


It  MUST  fiave 
HQS  signatiut 


^.ti^ 


rn  bluctor  lt*s  | 
Dot  g'e&uine. 


4^ 

Its  presence 
lends  Distinction 
to  the  Music  Doom  i 

- THE 

^  New  Small  ^  m 

Grand  Piano 

Combines  tke  iannous** Fischer  Tone  Quality*  with 

great  Durability  and  Elegance  oi  ca«e-de«ign,  while 

occupying  but  little  more  space  than  the  Upright. 

Catalogue  and  Terms  upon  request. 

J,   OSL  O.    FISCHCR^  Dept.  D 

164  FiflH  Ave.»  near  33a  St.»  aaci 

68  ^West  135tH  St.,  New  York 


Photograph  made  for  Current  Literature. 


WATTS'S    NEW   STATUE    OF   TENNYSON 
Unveiled  a  few  weeks  ago,  by  Lady  Brownlow,  in  Lincoln,  England 


Flower  in  the  crannied  wall, 

I  pluck  you  out  of  the  crannies, 

I  hold  you  here,  root  and  all,  in  my  hand,^ 


Little  flower — but  if  I  could  understand 
What  vou  are,  root  and  all,  and  all  In  all, 
I  should  know  what  God  and  man  is. 


oCA*-C»^ 


1  ■■    ■"  • 


YOL  XL,  No.  I 


Edward  J.  Wheeler^  Editor 
Associate  Editors:  Leonard  D.  Abbott,  Alexander  Harvey 


JANUARY,  1906 


A     Review    of    the     World 


UNLESS  the  fifty-ninth  Congress,  which 
began  its  first  session  on  December  4, 
proves  to  be  one  of  the  most  interesting  and 
important  bodies  that  ever  assembled  itself  in 
the  Capitol,  it  will  disappoint  many  observers 
and  falsify  many  predictions.  It  began  fairly 
well  in  the  lower  house  to  live  up  to  the  pre- 
dictions. On  the  first  day  of  the  session  4,031 
bills  were  introduced,  one  gentleman  from 
Tennessee  being  sponsor  for  more  than  400 
and  a  Michigander  coming  in  a  good  second 
with  350.  Over  thirty  of  the  bills  provide  for 
expansion  of  the  powers  of  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment, indicating  the  spread  of  what  the 
Hartford  Times  calls  "the  hysteria  of  Federal 
control."  The  bare  titles  of  all  these  bills,  if 
printed,  would  make  a  fair-sized  volume,  and 
it  is  safe  to  say  that  before  this  Congress  closes 
its  career  the  number  will  be  quintupled  at 
least  For  there  are  in  this  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives some  386  members,  each  one  a  man 
of  some  consequence  in  his  own  community, 
with  a  constituency  of  at  least  1^3,284  voters  to 
cater  to  and  with  a  reputation  for  public  zeal 
to  make  or  to  preserve.  In  the  sessions  of 
the  preceding  House  over  20,000  bills  were 
introduced,  and  as  this  is  a  progressive  coun- 
try, the  present  Congress  may  feel  that  it  must 
show  at  least  equal  activity  in  shaping  the 
destinies  of  the  nation  and  diminishing  the 
perils  which  come  of  an  overfat  treasury. 

THIS  House  of  Representatives  has  almost 
broken  one  record.  The  dominant  party 
has  in  it  one  of  the  largest  numerical  pluralities 
ever  seen  in  Congress.  The  Republican  plurality 
in  the  House  last  year  was  thirty-two;  now  it 
is  114.  That  party  also  has  in  the  Senate  only 
three  votes  short  of  a  two-thirds  majority. 
If  it  can  hold  itself  together  it  can  pass  any 
bill  or  defeat  any  bill  as  it  pleases.  There  are 
eighty-three  members  of  the  lower  house  who 
were  never  before  in  Congress  and  several  of 


them  are  decidedly  youthful,  swept  into  office 
unexpectedly  to  themselves  and  their  friends 
by  the  Roosevelt  tidal  wave.  In  the  very  first 
session  the  leader  of  the  Democratic  minority, 
John  Sharp  Williams,  in  protesting  against  the 
rules  of  the  House  that  have  heretofore  pre- 
vailed, made  an  appeal  to  what  he  termed  the 
"kids"  in  the  House  to  support  his  protest. 
Up  rose  a  young  man  of  twenty-six,  beardless, 
to  ask  seriously  what  Mr.  Williams  meant  by 
the  term  "kids."  The  crushing  reply  came  as 
follows:  "Mr.  Speaker,  with  that  degree  of 
reverence  which  the  personal  appearance  of  my 
interrogator  excites  in  ray  mind,  I  should  say 
that  he  is  perhaps  the  last  person  in  the  House 
who  ought  to  aslc  the  question."  The  young 
man  aged  twenty-six,  Wharton  by  name,  sub- 
sided. But  Mr.  Williams  made  a  slight  mis- 
take in  assuming  that  his  questioner  was  the 
youngest  member.  Mr.  Zeno  J.  Rives,  also  of 
Illinois,  is  said  to  be  still  younger,  and  there 
seems  to  be  some  doubt  whether  he  is  old 
enough  (twenty-five)  to  qualify.  He  didn't 
expect  to  be  elected  and  didn't  half  try  to  be ; 
but  he  had  greatness  thrust  upon  him.  Of 
one  other  representative,  from  Missouri,  it  is 
said  that  he  never  saw  a  railroad  train  until 
he  was  thirty  years  of  age.  The  New  York 
Sun  suspects  the  story  to  be  a  myth;  but,  if  it 
is  true,  he  will  be  apt,  it  thinks,  to  take  a 
prominent  part  in  the  legislation  for  regula- 
tion of  railways!  One  of  the  interesting  fig- 
ures among  the  older  men  is  a  "resurrected" 
statesman  of  Ohio,  J.  Warren  Keifer,  who  was 
speaker  of  the  House  twenty-two  years  ago, 
and  who  has  vainly  endeavored  since  to  re- 
gain his  political  footing  until  he  also  hitched 
his  wagon  to  the  Roosevelt  star  last  year. 
One  State  is  not  represented — Oregon.  But  its 
two  representatives,  Hermann  and  Williamson, 
have  excuses  that  must  be  accepted  as  valid. 
One  of  them  has  just  been  sentenced  and  the 
other  has  just  been  indicted  for  complicity  in 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


.i 


Stereograph  Copyright,  1904,  by  B.  L.  Slagley. 

MR.  FAIRBANKS  AND  HIS  CABINET 

The  lady  is  the  Vice-President's  wife,  and  the  young 
men  are  his  sons.  Mr.  Fairbanks  was  tall,  green  and 
gawky  when  he  first  went  to  the  Ohio  Wesleyan  Univer- 
sity (like  the  new  student  in  "The  College  Widow"), 
and  he  had  to  work  his  way.  But  Miss  Cornelia  Cole 
saw  what  was  in  him.  She  stood  by  him  then  and  has 
been  standing  by  him  ever  since. 

the  land  frauds  that  have  so  abruptly  ter- 
minated the  career  and  the  life  Qf  Oregon's 
senior  senator,  John  H.  Mitchell. 

AS  FOR  the  Senate,  though  it  is  always 
impressive,  it  is  not  particularly  interest- 
ing at  any  one  stage  of  its  career,  for  it  is 
never  a  brand  new  body,  as  is  the  lower  house, 
in  the  sense  that  its  entire  membership  must 
be  elected  anew  every  two  years.  The  Senate 
is  a  continuing  body,  and  the  new  blood  in 
the  present  Senate  is  not  large  in  amount. 
Frank  H.  Brandegee,  of  Connecticut,  is  a  new 
man  (elected  to  fill  the  vacancy  caused  by  the 
death  of  Senator  O.  H.  Piatt),  and  Senator 
Bulkeley,  from  the  same  State  (successor  of 
Senator  Hawley,  deceased),  though  he  took  his 
oath  in  the  last  session,  is  also  a  new  man. 
James  B.  Frazicr,  of  Tennessee  (successor 
to  the  late  Senator  Bate),  is  a  newcomer.  So 
is  John  McDermott  Gearin,  of  Oregon,  ap- 
pointed to  fill  the  seat  left  vacant  by  the  death 
of  Senator  Mitchell.  William  Warner,  of 
Missouri,  succeeds  Senator  Cockrell,  and 
Robert  W.  La  Follette,  as  soon  as  he  sees  his 
way  to  resigning  the  governorship  of  Wiscon- 
sin without  imperiling  the  railroad  legislation 
which  he  is  engineering  in  that  State,  will  take 
his  place  in  the  Senate  chamber.     The  "kid" 


of  the  Senate  is  Senator  Burkett,  of  Nebraska, 
who  has  amassed  the  wisdom  and  the  dignity 
of  but  thirty-eight  years.    In  the  lower  house 
the  membership  of  the  forty-five  committees, 
which  transact  the  real  business  of  the  House, 
is    determined    by    the    Speaker,    Joseph    G. 
Cannon,  of  Illinois,  whose  power  over  legisla- 
tive  matters   is   second  only  to  that  of    the 
President  and  sometimes  not  even  second  to 
that.    In  the  Senate,  however,  there  is  a  com- 
mittee  on  committees,   and,   more  important 
still,  there  is  what  is  termed  a  "steering  com- 
mittee" chosen  at  a  caucus  of  the  dominant 
party.     This  "steering  committee"  now  con- 
sists of   Senators  Allison   (chairman),   Hale, 
Aldrich,  Cullom,  Lodge,  Perkins,  Clark  (Wy- 
oming), Elkins,  Spooner,  Kean  and  Beveridge. 
The  fate  of  legislation,  of  treaties  and  of  presi- 
dential   appointments    rests    very    largely    in 
their  hands. 

THE  most  important  work  that  will  come 
before  the  present  Congress,  so  far  as 
human  wisdom  can  now  discern,  will  be  the 
question  of  railroad  rate  legislation.  On  that 
there  will  be,  apparently,  not  a  party  fight, 
but  a  contest  between  conservatives  and  pro- 
gressives of  both  parties.  "It  is  not  Republi- 
can control  of  Congress,  but  President  Roose- 
velt's control  of  the  Republican  majority  that 
remains  in  question,"  says  The  World  (New 
York).  It  adds,  with  special  reference  to 
railroad  rate  regulation: 


OPENING  CONGRESS 

—Bush  in  N.  Y.  fVor/d, 


THE  NEW  CONGRESS 


"Mr.  Roosevelt  prides  himself  on  his  method  of 
?:compIishing^  his  ends  through  his  own  party. 
Br  fore  the  session  is  over  he  may  have  occasion 
•:  be  thankftil  to  the  Democratic  minority  for 
enOing  him    votes.     Whatever  his  popular  ma- 

nty  was  at  the  polls,  he  has  yet  to  prove  that 

•e  Republican  majori^  in  Congress  is  a  Roose- 

-it  majority." 

THERE   have  been  no  very  striking  new 
developments  during  the  month  on  this 
Question  of  railroad  rates.    The  position  taken 
'  y  the  President  in  his  message  was  as  posi- 
ve  as  that  taken  in  his  speeches  on  the  sub- 
ect.    The  only  modifications  that  appear  since 
his  message  a  year  ago  arc  in  the  use  of  the 
ttrm    "maximum    rate" — the    significance    of 
v.bich  was  noted  in  these  columns  last  month 
—and  in   his   view  tjiat  this  maximum  rate, 
when  fixed  by  the  commission,  should  go  into 
ciTect  not  "at  once,"  as  he  held  formerly,  but 
within  a  reasonable  time,"  as  he  now  puts  it. 
Otherwise  he  is  as  emphatic  as  ever.    "I  regard 
this  power   to  establish  a  maximum   rate  as 
ht\l^g  essential  to  any  scheme  of  real  reform 
in  the  matter  of  railway  regulation,"  he  says 
in  his  recent  message ;  "the  first  necessity  is  to 
secure  it."     He  has  given  the  Senators  to  un- 
derstand  that   he  positively  will   not   accept 
Senator  Foraker's  bill  on  this  subject.    On  the 
other  hand,  the  reports  from  Washington  in- 
dicate that  the  Republican  Senators  are  plainly 
weakening  in  their  opposition — those  of  them 
who  are  opposed — to  the  President's  position. 
Their  plan,  according  to  the  Washington  cor- 
respondent of  the  New  York  Times  (strongly 


\\n\  WILL  DEAF  MEN  WALK  ON  THE  RAILROAD? 
— Maybell  in  Brooklyn  Eagle. 


Stereograph  Copyrlglit,  1005,  by  Undorvrood  k  Underwood,  N.  Y. 

MR.  SPEAKER 

**  Speaker  Cannon  will  pipe  and  the  House  is  expected 
to  dance  to  the  tune  he  plays  '•  He  '  stands  pat  "  on  the 
tariff  and  is  for  rate  rejjulaUon. 

Opposed  to  rate  regulation),  has  been  to  have 
in  committee  a  mock  fight  over  counterfeit 
rate  bills,  then  pass  one  or  more  as  a  com- 
promise, pretending  that  it  is  about  what  the 
President  wants.     In  this  way  Senators  could 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 

MEMBERS  OF  THE  "STEERING  COMMITTEE" 


ALLISON  OF  IOWA  • 

Senator  Allison  has  served  in  the  upper  House  con- 
tinuously for  twenty«eig:ht  years.  He  is  chairman  of 
the  **  Steering:  Committee." 


CULLUM  OF  ILLINOIS 

Was  Congressman  for  six  years.  Governor  of  Illinois* 
eight  years,  and  has  been  Senator  since  1873.  Father  of 
the  Interstate  Commerce  bill.    Born  in  Kentucky  in  1829. 


ALDRICH  OF  RHODE  ISLAND 

A  little  State  ;  a  big  man.    Is  6^  years  old,  suave,  tact- 
His   daughter   Aoby  .    .    -  .       - 


ful   and   able 
Rockefeller,  Jr 


Not  a  college  man. 


by   married   Jonn    D. 


Still  pose  as  political  friends  of  the  President. 
But  the  latter,  by  his  quick  and  unexpected 
verdict  on  the  Foraker  bill  even  before  it  was 
out  of  committee,  has  begun  the  contest  with 
"a  fine  stroke  of  politics,"  and  one  unprece- 
dented in  the  relations  between  President  and 
Senate.  Opposition  to  rate  regulation  has  been 
formally  expressed  by  the  five  large  labor 
unions  organized  among  railway  employees, 
on  the  ground  that  such  regulatiort  would  en- 
danger their  wages  and  their  fight  for  an  eight- 
hour  day.  The  National  Grange,  on  the  other 
hand,  has  formally  approved  the  President's 
position. 

THE  most  serious  obstacle  to  railway  rate 
regulation  will  come  not  from  the  ques- 
tion of  expediency  nor  the  question  as  to  the 
sentiment  of  the  American  people,  but  from 
questions  of  constitutionality.  Thefe  is  a 
double  question  here  involved:  (i)  the  right 
of  Congress  itself  to  fix  railway  rates,  which 
are  on  their  face  simply  contracts  between  the 
railroad  and  the  shipper;  (2)  the  power  of 
Congress,  assuming  that  it  has  the  foregoing 
right,  to  delegate  the  exercise  of  it  to  a  com- 


CONGtmSS  ANI>  RATE  REGULATION 
•JF  THE  UNITED   STATES  SENATE 


C^rlflit  br  J.  B.  Pardy. 

LODGE  OF  MASSACHUSETTS 

SdM>lar,  historian,  lawyer  and  statesman.  A  Harvard 
^ndaate,  an  LL.D.  of  Yale.  Has  been  Senator  from  the 
jli  Bay  State  for  twelve  years. 

nission.  On*  the  first  of  these  two  questions, 
Senator  John  T.  Morgan,  of  Alabama,  writes 
at  some  length  in  The  Manufacturer's  Record 
(Dec.  7).  "There  is  no  danger,"  he  thinks, 
"that  the  Supreme  Court  will  ever  hold  that 
the  power  of  Congress  to  regulate  commerce 
among  the  States  is  an  arbitrary  power  to 
prescribe  to  either  of  the*  parties  to  a  contract 
for  the  transportation  of  commerce  the  rate  of 
charges  that  shall  be  paid  for  such  service." 
Contracts,  to  be  legally  binding,  must  indeed 
be  "reasonable" ;  but  the  Federal  Constitution 
insures  to  railroad  corporations,  as  to  private 
individuals,  the  right  of  trial  by  jury,  and  the 
question  of  the  reasonableness  of  a  contract 
must  go  to  a  jury,  not  to  a  congressional  com- 
mission. "No  matter  whether  such  rates  are 
iixed  by  general  State  laws  or  by  acts  of  Con- 
gress," says  Senator  Morgan,  "the  reasonable- 
ness of  the  charges  cannot  escape  trial  by 
jury." 

ANOTHER. ground  on  which  he  bases  his 
argument  of  unconstitutionality  is  the 
division  of  power  between  the  State  and  the 
Federal  Government.    His  argument  is: 

**In  the  regulation  of  commerce  Congress  can- 


ELKINS  OF  WEST  VIRGINIA 
He  is  chairman  of  the  1nterstatei,Commerce;Committee 
of  the  Senate  which  has  been  investigating:  the  subject 
of  railroad  rate  regulations  ^during  the  summer.  ^ 


HALE  OP  MAINE 

He  has  been  24  years  in  the  Senate,  and  has  twice  de- 
lined  appointment!  •      "  •  • 
once  under  Hayes. 


clined  appointments  to  the  Cabinet,  once  under  Grant, 
ndei   " 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 

MEMBERS  OF  THE  "STEERING  COMMITTEE" 


Copyright  by  J.  H  Purdy. 

SPOONER  OF  WISCONSIN 
He  and  Senator  La  Follette  from  the  same  State  are 
bitter  enemies.     Spooner  served  as  a  private  iiJithe  Civil 
War  at  the  age  of  i8.     Graduate  of  the  University  of 
Wisconsin.     A  fine  orator. 


^^^^^^^^^f            J^^^^P^^^^^^^^^  '  *  ^^^B 

r/a          1 

hm 

KEAN  OP  NEW  JERSEY 
He  is  a  banker  and  corporation  official  and  is  not  expec- 
ted to  agree  wi'tli  the  President's  plans  for  rate  regulation 


PERKINS  OP  CALIFORNIA 

Reared  on  a  Maine  farm  ;  a  cabin  boy  at  la  ;  shipped 
before  the  mast  in  1855 ;  merchant  (in  California),  miner, 
miller,  banker,  governor*  senator. 

not  repeal,  amend  or  destroy  any  constitutional 
law  of  any  State  that  creates  a  railroad  corpora- 
tion. 

"As  to  rates  of  charges,  the  States  have  granted 
such  rights  or  privileges  to  railroad  corporations, 
in  their  charters,  as  they  have  deemed  wise  and 
just.  Almost  every  such  corporation  has  its  sep- 
arate and  special  powers  and  restrictions  as  to 
the  imposition  of  freight  and  passenger  rates, 
and  they  are  all  lawful  as  terms  and  conditions 
on  which  their  charters  are  granted,  which  the 
States  have  the  right  to  impose. 

"Can  Congress  create  general  freight  and  pas- 
senger rates  that  will  override  and  destroy  these 
charter  rates,  fixed  by  States,  in  the  exercise  of 
lawful  authority? 

"If  Congress  has  such  power  in  the  regtilation 
of  commerce  among  the  States,  the  Constitution, 
which  protects  contracts  and  prohibits  reactionary 
and  post- factum  legislation,  would  at  least  con- 
fine the  effect  of  such  legislation  to  the  bonds  and 
stocks  of  railroads  that  are  issued  after  Congress 
has  enacted  its  laws.  Such  constitutional  legisla- 
tion by  the  States  is  lawful  as  to  the  creditors  of 
railroads,  at  least  until  it  is  superseded  or  pro- 
hibited by  act  of  Congress,  and  cannot  be  violated 
by  a  ppst- factum  act. 

"The  legislation  that  Congress  may  enact,  being 
necessarily  prospective  as  to  railroad  rates  and 
the  rights  of  railroad  stockholders  and  bond- 
holders, and  not  retroactive,  the  question  is  pre- 
sented as  to  what  Congress  can  do  in  violation 
of  the  existing  charter  right  of  such  railroad  cor- 
porations. Can  Congress  enact  amendments  to 
such  State  charters,  or  can  it  repeal  or  abolish 
them?    If  they  arc  territorial  corporations  Con- 


THR  PRESIDENTS  "SERMONIC  MESSAGE 
OF  THE  UNITED    STATES  SENATE 


BEVERIDGE  OF  INDIANA 

He  has  cha.Tge  in  the  Senate  of  the  President's  Santo 
Domiii^o  treaty  and  is  making^  an  aggressive  and  untir- 
iag  canpaisn  ag^alnst  a  stubborn  opposition. 

gress  cai|  do  all  such  things,  having  due  respect 
for  rested  rights  that  have  grown  up  under  their 
shelter.  But  where  the  corporations  are  created 
by  State  Legislatures,  G>ngress  has  no  such 
powers.  If  such  powers  were  unconstitutional 
when  they  were  granted  by  the  States,  they  are 
wide  open  to  the  annulling  decree  of  a  court,  and 
no  act  of  Congress  is  needed  to  destroy  them. 
If  they  are  valid,  Congress  cannot  invalidate 
them." 

THE  further  constitutional  question 
whether,  even  if  Congress  has  itself  the 
right  to  regulate  rates,  it  can  delegate  the 
exercise  of  that  right  to  a  commission,  is  one 
brought  out  already  in  a  preliminary  discus- 
sion in  the  Senate  a  few  days  after  the  open- 
ing of  the  session.  It  is  to  avoid  this  con- 
stitutional obstacle,  evidently,  that  the  Presi- 
dent, in  his  message,  lays  stress  upon  the 
necessity  that  any  commision  that  is  to  regu- 
late rates  "should  be  made  unequivocably  ad- 
ministrative." Senator  Foraker  takes  the 
view  that  the  power  to  fix  rates,  or  to  deter- 
mine the  reasonableness  of  rates,  can  not  be 
made  a  merely  "administrative"  power,  but  is 
of  necessity  legislative  or  judicial.  The  ques- 
tion is  an  exceedingly  important  one  and  still 
remains   to   be   argued   out   at  length.      But 


CLARK  OF  Wyoming 

Senator  Clark  was  born  in  New  York  State,  educated 
in  Iowa  and  went  to  Wyoming  in  1882,  when  it  was 
still  a  territory.    He  is  54  years  of  age. 

enough  has  already  developed  to  show  that 
the  constitutional  features  of  the  coming  de- 
bate are  likely  to  be  as  interesting  and  im- 
portant as  the  political  and  industrial  features. 
From  all  three  points  of  view,  the  regulation 
of  railroad  rates  is  the  supreme  question  that 
is  now  "up"  for  decision.  The  view  of  the 
New  Haven  Register  is  a  defensible  one — that 
in  this  issue  the  President  has  thrown  into 
Congress  "the  biggest  question  it  has  been 
called  upon  to  consider  since  the  days  of  re- 
construction." 


THE  condition  of  the  country  as  revealed 
in  the  President's  message  and  in  the 
reports  of  the  different  Cabinet  officials  is  an 
interesting  historical  study,  none  the  less  so 
from  the  fact  that  there  is  but  little  of  the 
dramatic  or  tragic  in  it.  The  message  itself 
is  terribly  long — 26,000  words — breaking  the 
record  it  is  said  by  those  who  keep  the  run  of 
such  things.  There  is  the  usual  diversity  of 
opinion  as  to  its  ability  as  a  state  paper,  but 
it  has  aroused  no  intensity  of  feeling  such  as 
was  aroused,  for  instance,  by  President  Cleve- 
land's message  on  tariff  reform.  The  sermonic 
character  of  it  is  noted  by  many  journals  both 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


FRAZIER  OP  TENNESSEE 

Resigned  his'office  as  Governor  to  take  a  seat  in  the 
Senate.  He  practiced  law  in  Chattanooga,  is  47  years 
old,  arid  succeeds  the  late  Senator  Bate  who  caught 
pneumonia  on  last  inauguration  day.  ^ 

here  and  in  England.  "It  is  a  lay  sermon," 
says  the  London  Chronicle,  "from  the  pulpit 
with  perhaps  the  biggest  sounding-board  *  in 
the  world,  on  the  duties  of  citizenship." 
"Brave  pulpit  words,"  says  the  London  Tele- 
graph, "but  their  practical  transformation  into 
laws  has  been  found  difficult  by  all  legislators 


RAYNOR  OP  MARYLAND 

/"A  new  senator,  who  opposed  his  colleague,  Senator 
Gorman,  m  the  recent  election  in  Maryland,  on  the  Poe 
Franchise  Amendment.  Was  Admiral  Schley's  counsel 
before.the  investigating  committee. 

from  Solon  downwards."  "Parts  of  the  mes- 
sage," says  the  New  Orleans  Times-Democrat, 


BRANDEGEE  OF  CONNECTICUT 

He  succeeds  the  late  Senator  Piatt  after  an  exciting 
tussle.  Is  a  Yale  graduate,  a  lawyer,  and  has  served 
two  terms  in  the  lower  House. 


LA  FOLLETTE  OF  WISCONSIN  * 

Was  elected  last  winter,  but  has  been  too  busy  as  Gov- 
ernor of  his  State  with  legislative  reforms  to  take  his 
seat  in  the  Senate.  "  If  the  Republican  party  is  domi- 
nated bjr  radical  influenees  in  tne  next  national  conven- 
tion, it  is  easily  possible  that  La  FoUette  may  be  the 
candidate  for  the  presidency ." 


NEW  MEMBERS  OF  THE  SENATE 


WARNER  OV   MISSOUEJ 
A  l«pttl>tlc«tl    i»tjccei?<liiig  Senator  CocVrellT  »   Oemo- 
awL    ft  ii4ft  t>e«ii  A  Ions  titne  since  M»s*M>iiri  wa*  rvpre- 
•leMd  by  a    R«pi3bl»eAn  in  the  t'.  S.  Senate.    &>eiiAtor 
ff <THf  wii^  a  CotoTtel  tf3  Uie  Union  Army. 

'knight  have   been    uttered  with  perfect  pro- 

-^'^r  in  any  one  of  the  gfreat  pulpits  of  the 

rr/*     And  the  New  York  Times,  which 


•<*.. 


FLINT  UF  CAl^IFt.UiMA 
Pmhk  P.  Flint  i^i  another  of  ihe  new  iciiAtors^    He  ia 
very  populmr  on  the  Pucific  Cottst,  but  lils  views  on  pub- 
lic questions  are  practickllv   unknown    to   the   coun:try 
at  Urge. 

has  of  late  hftQii  developing  more  and  more 
strongly  on  an ti -Roosevelt  lines,  says  with  a 
note  ol  sarcasm : 

"The    Congress    has    never    before    been    50 


BULKEl.KY    ^n*   COKHECVtCVT 
XfMir  *.  r,.iti>f.  *,worfi  i^  '^[''  ^'''^'  ^^c'Ssfiiij,     I  s  president 
jcis^Wftrn-'  ?ns  fulher  was 

.s    trtreo  rd  and  gover* 

.t_      V('«t^  >y  after  Chrlat- 

» Mb4Y-««ii0il^  y^c^rs  ago. 


BURKETT  OF  NEBRASKA 
TbfJ  ytjungest  member  of  the  Sertate  Cja).  The  choice 
nf  i^n^tor  to  succeud  Dietrich  waa  referred  to  the  Re- 
publicim  priniJirfeK  in  Nebraska  und  Burkett  won  easily* 
»*  WtU  doubtless  be  heard  from  as  a  national  figure, •* 
cays  on«  Waabfnji^tan  con-espDndent. 


lO 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


KEIFER  OF  OHIO 

Twenty -two  years  ago  he  was  'Speaker  of  the  House. 
Now  he  goes  back  again,  swept  into  office  on  last  year's 
RooseveU  wave.  Was  an  ofiacer  in  the  Civil  War  and 
also  in  the  Spanish- American  War.    He  is 69  years  of  age. 

preached  to  by  any  President  as  by  Mr.  Roose- 
velt in  the  message  sent  to  the  Capitol  yester- 
day. It  is  a  sermon  expository  of  the  rules  of 
human  conduct.  It  is  unshakably  founded  upon 
the  changeless  principle  that  right  is  different 
from  wrong.     It  is  solidly  built  up  with  granite 


blocks  of  ethical  precept.  It  bristles  with  moral 
maxims,  which  only  men  whose  hearts  have  been 
steeped  in  turpitude  would  have  the  hardihood  to 
dispute.  The  Senators  and  Members  who  lis- 
tened to  the  reading  of  it  must  have  risen  from 
their  task  wearier  but  better  men." 

The  Philadelphia  Record  also  sighs  over  the 
length  of  the  sermon — ^the  reading  of  it  before 
Congress  took  two  hours  and  thirty-five  min- 
utes— and  thinks  that  if  the  President  "could 
divest  himself  of  his  passion  for  preaching," 
his  papers  could  be  made  half  as  long;  but, 
perhaps,  so  it  goes  on  to  admit,  they  would  not 
gain  any  in  popularity  by  the  elimination. 

ONE  thing  that  may  account  in  part  both 
for  the  length  of  the  message  and  its 
preachy  tone  is  the  fact  that  this  is  the  first 
time  Mr.  Roosevelt  has  been  free  to  write  him- 
self into  a  message.  When  he  took  the  helm 
after  the  assassination  of  President  McKinley 
it  was  with  a  pledge  to  carry  out  the  McKinley 
policies.  He  is  no  longer  bound  by  that  pledge. 
He  is  now  President  in  his  own  right,  not  by 
virtue  of  an  accident,  and  the  release  from 
three  and  a  half  years  of  self-repression  shows 
in  this  message.  It  is  his  own  message,  no 
doubt  about  that.  All  the  speeches  he  made  in 
his  Southern  tour  are  in  it,  in  substance.  The 
Evening  Post  (New  York)  finds  fault  because 
of  its  slight  treatment  of  the  question  of  tariff 
revision.  "To  judge  by  his  message,"  it  says, 
"President  Roosevelt  has  become  the  weakest 
of  stand-patters — one  without  real  convic- 
tions, that  is,  and  swayed  only  by  political  ex- 


Courtesyof  J7ar|>rr**  Weekljf. 

THE  COMPLETED  PANAMA  CANAL  FROM  ATLANTIC  TO  PACIFIC 

The  Isthmus  will  look  like  this  in  1914,  according  to  one  official  computation.  The  digging  will  cost  $170,000,000 
and  the  expert  talent  for  eij^ht  years  $14,000,000.  Panama  and  Colon  are  to  be  free  ports  for  vessels  and  goods  in- 
tended to  pass  through  the  canal.  United  States  naval  squadrons  are  to  be  stationed  within  maneuvering  distance 
of  both  ports,  but  the  canal  will  be  "neutral "  in  case  of  war  between.two  or  more  European  powers. 


A  GREAT  RECORD  FOR  AMERICAN  FARMS 


II 


pedicncy."  The  New  York  World  has  a  more 
sweeping  criticism.  "Mr.  Roosevelt,"  it  says, 
'lias  submitted  the  most  amazing  program  of 
centralization  that  any  President  of  the  United 
States  has  ever  recommended."  The  Topeka 
Capital's  comment  on  the  message  is  as  fol- 
lows: 

"Snch  a  message  as  that  this  week  of  President 
Roosevck  could  not  have  been  written  ten  ^ears 
ago.  Such  a  message  from  the  then  President 
would  have  precipitated  a  panic.  Men  would 
have  thrown  up  their  hands  in  consternation. 
The  country  is  going  through  a  historic  educa- 
tional experience  of  self  study  and  analysis*  test- 
ing in  the  balances  its  wonderful  material  suc- 
cess. It  is  fortunate  to  have  a  President  who  is 
ac  the  same  time  a  bold  thinker,  without  being  an 
unsound  thinker." 


NO  CABINET  official  has  had  a  more  in- 
teresting story  to  tell  this  year  than  that 
told  in  the  annual  report  of  the  Secretary  of 
Agriculture.  It  is  a  record-breaking  story, 
such  as  no  other  nation  in  any  age  has  been 
able  to  tell.  The  value  of  the  year's  farm 
pr.3ducts — not  the  value,  in  the  retail  markets 
but  on  the  farms — is  estimated  at  $6,415,000,- 
Lco.  That  sum  would  buy  out  six  Steel  Trusts 
paying  par  for  all  the  stock.  It  would  more 
than  pay  the  enormous  national  debt  of 
France  or  Russia.  It  would  purchase  all  the 
gold  produced  in  the  world  in  the  last  twenty 
yeai3.  The  value  is  well  distributed  among 
the  different  sections  and  the  different  kinds  of 
product.  The  American  hen  has  given  us 
-.-ahies  nearly  equal  to  that  of  the  wheat  crop, 
and  the  American  cow  has  brought  100,000 
more  dollars  to  her  owners  than  the  cotton 
crop  has  produced.  Cotton  has  long  since 
ceased  to  be  king.  Three  farm  products,  com 
(Si,2i6,ooo,ooo),  milk  and  butter  ($665,000,- 
000)  and  hay  ($605,000,000)  are  ahead  of 
cotton  ($575,000,000)  in  value.  In  conse- 
fjence  of  these  enormous  crops  following  a 
-fries  of  wonderfully  prosperous  years,  the 
aggregate  value  of  all  our  farms  has  increased 
in  five  years  by  $6,133,000,000.     "Every  sun- 


A  MAN  WITH  A  RECORD-BREAKINCi  STORY 

Secretary  Wilson's  report  of  this  nation's  agricultural 

Srofrress  in  the  last  five  years  beats  anything  the  world 
as  heretofore  heard. 

set  during  the  past  five  years,"  says  Secretary 
Wilson,  has  registered  an  increase  of  $3,400,- 
.  000  in  the  value  of  the  farms  of  this  country." 
This  advance  has  been  relatively  greatest  in 
the  South,  and  for  the  first  time  in  the  history 
of  that  section  the  deposits  in  the  banks  exceed 
the  sum  of  one  billion  dollars. '  The  farming 
population  of  the  United  States  numbers  but 
35  per  cent,  of  the  total,  but  if  the  farmers 
keep  up  for  three  years  more  the  pace  at 
which  they  have  been  going  they  will  have 
produced  in  ten  years  one-half  the  total 
amount  of  wealth  produced  in  the  nation  in 
three  centuries.  Moreover,  the  exports  of 
farm  products  have  amounted  in  sixteen  years 
to  twelve  billion  dollars,  reversing  the  balance 


rr,.  ^giiVQii 


fAnrtemj  of  MarferH  WeeKtf. 

THE  PILE  OP  EARTH  AND  ROCK  TO  BE  CLEARED  AWAY  AT  PANAMA 

TtJM  is  indicated  bylthe  darkened  ontline.     The  "Culebra  cut"  (the  highest  point)  will  prove  the  most  diflBcult.     It 

contains  43,000,000  cubic  yards  of  hard  clay 


12 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


developing  even  fertile  lands 
to  the  highest  point  of  effi- 
ciency by  the  little  streamlets 
that  make  us  so  nearly  inde- 
pendent of  weather  conditions. 
Another  cause  of  our  farming 
prosperity  is  pointed  out  by 
the  Chicago  Tribune: 

"Few  ordinary  persons  realize 
how  far  agricultural  progress 
has  been  promoted  by  the  United 
States  experimental  stations  es- 
tablished eighteen  years  ago  un- 
der the  Hatch  bill.  There  is  one 
in  each  state  and  territory,  in- 
cluding Hawaii  and  Alaska,  and 
a  few  states  have  two.  Each 
station  receives  $15,000  annually 
from  the  national  treasury,  and 
the  various  states  and  territories 
add  to  the  amount,  so  that  the 
aggregate  annual  budget  is  about 
$1,500,000.  These  stations  are 
usually  attached  to  the  state  ag- 
ricultural colleges,  and  they  are 
served  by  a  staff  of  nearly  a 
thousand  trained  men,  including 
many  prominent  experts.  .  .  . 
It  is  doubtful  if  any  national  ex- 
penditure produces  directly  and 
mdirectlv  a  higher  percentage  of 
return  tnan  does  the  money  de- 
voted to  our  sixty  experiment 
stations — ^to  the  scientific  mas- 
tery of  the  land." 


N 


THE  MAN  WHO  CAUSED  THE  CHANGE  OF   MINISTRY  IN  ENGLAND 

He  is  Joseph  Chamberlain'and^forpiim  Lord  Rosebery  suggests  this  epitaph  : 

In  a  politioal  career 

Of  barely  thirty  years 

He  split  up 

Both  the  great 

Political  Parties  of  the  Sute. 


of  trade  and  giving  us  a  favorable  balance  of 
over  five  billions  ($5,092,000,000). 

IT  IS  a  great  record  and  there  are  many 
causes,  some  within  and  some,  of  course, 
beyond  human  control.  One  man  is  now  able, 
by  reason  of  farm  machinery,  to  do  as  much 
work  as  three  men  did  in  1855 — half  a  cen- 
tury ago.  Irrigation  has  done  wonderful 
things  for  large  portions  of  the  country,  and 
is  going  to  do  more,  for,  as  the  Butte  Inter- 
Mountain  points  out,  it  is  not  in  the  arid  lands 
alone  that  irrigation  pays,  and  we  will  one  of 
these  days  learn  to  imitate  the  Japanese  in 


OT  only  on  the  fertile 
lands  and  on  the  ir- 
rigable lands  are  we  now 
growing  crops  to  fill  the  hun- 
gry mouths  of  the  world.  A 
few  years  ago  our  experiment 
stations  set  farmers  in  the 
Dakotas  and  Minnesota  to 
growing,  on  semi-arid  lands 
lying  too  high  for  irrigation, 
durum  or  macaroni  wheat, 
and  the  crop  this  year  is  esti- 
mated at  twenty  million  bushels,  and  even 
as  we  write  a  cargo  of  350,000  bushels  is 
on  the  way  to  the  Old  World.  A  Govern- 
ment expert  who  went  to  the  Sahara  desert 
to  study  agriculture  returned  with  the  use- 
ful knowledge  that  the  finest  date  palm  will 
grow  with  buf  six  inches  annual  rainfall. 
Burbank  has  developed  the  spineless  cac- 
tus, which  is  now  being  grown  as  food 
for  stock  where  nothing  was  produced  here- 
tofore. Yet  with  all  this  production  of  foods, 
the  New  Haven  Palladium  points  out  that  the 
home  market  for  these  foods  is  increasing 
faster  than  the  supply,  and  ''before  many  dec- 


THE  NEW  MINISTRY  IN  GREAT  BRITAIN 


13 


ades  we  will  ourselves  join  the 
list  of  food-importing  coun- 
tries."   It  adds: 

*'That  golden  stream  of  more 
than  $6,000,000,000 — a  sum  equal 
to  the  aggregate  wealth  of  the 
United  States  in  1845 — which  is 
Plowing  into  the  pockets  of  our 
.agriculturists  in  1905  is  small 
L  mpared  with  the  flood  which 
will  come  to  them  in  the  ap- 
prc»aching  years,  and  practically 
ai!  oi  it  will  be  contributed  by 
their  own  people." 


C  IR  HENRY  CAMPBELL- 
O  BANNERMAN  has  at- 
tained suddenly  within  a  fort- 
right  to  the  dignity  of  Prime 
>. Minister  of  England.  Seven 
years  of  vivacity  as  leader  of 
the  Opposition  in  the  House  of 
Commons  thus  lay  their  flat- 
tering unction  to  this  political 
f-  luL  The  g^eat  Liberal  states- 
-..an  now  assuming  the  govern- 
ment of  His  Britannic  Majes- 
ty's dominions  has  been  told 
by  those  actually  within  his 
o\fcTi  party  that  never  could  he 
It.  what  he  has  just  become. 
It  appeared  too  inevitable  that 
not  Sir  Henry  Campbell-Ban- 
rfcrman  but  Earl  Spencer  of 
;»ssibly  Lord  Rosebery  must 
uke  the  place  of  Mr.  Balfour 
when  that  subtle  dialectician 
hud  at  last  to  abandon  his 
brilliant  but  vain  efforts  to 
nake  Englishmen  understand 
that  he  had  views  on  the  great- 
est issue  of  the  day  in  British 
p-i^litics — the  old  free  trade  or 
the  new  protection.  Mortal  mind  could  no 
rrore  mistake  the  new  prime  minister's  posi- 
tion than  it  could  fathom  the  old  prime 
minister's  rhetoric.  Sir  Henry  Campbell- 
Bannerman  has  made  roof  after  roof  ring 
^ith  his  shouts  that  the  greatest  of  British 
blessings  is  free  trade.  "The  thing  is  good  for 
us,"  are  his  precise  words,  "good  for  this  free 
country,  good  for  every  man,  whatever  his 
calling  or  station."  Protection  is  styled  by 
Sir  Henry  a  system  of  poor  relief  based  upon 
favoritism,  involving  the  transformation  of 
healthy  trades,  giving  strength  to  the  com- 
munity, into  parasitic  industries  sapping  its 
vitality.  When  Sir  Henry  cries  from  tke 
platform   that  protection  promotes   monopoly 


THE  LIBERAL  LEADER  WHO  IS  NOW  PRIME  MINISTER  OP 
EDWARD  VII. 

His  utterance  oa  Home  Rule  has  made  a  sensation,  being  to  this  eflFect : 
"  The  only  way  of  healing  the  evils  of  Ireland,  of  solvinfi:  the  difficulties  of 
her  administration,  and  giving  content  and  prosperity  to  her  people,  and  of 
making  her  a  strength  instead  of  a  weakness  to  the  Empire,  was  that  the 
Irish  people  should  have  the  management  of  their  own  aitairs." 


and  favors  special  privilege,  he  is  ready  with 
references  to  this  country  as  a  horrible  ex- 
ample. 

THIS  pugnacious  free-trader  owes  his  tri- 
umph, none  the  less,  to  that  stalwart 
protectionist  whom  Sir  Henry  accuses  of  being 
a  noisy  bee  collecting  vitriol  as  well  as  honey 
— "a  funny  contribution,"  notes  the  London 
Spectator,  "to  natural  history" — Mr.  Joseph 
Chamberlain.  Had  this  impulsive  being, 
agree  London  organs,  only  refrained  from  a 
speech  at  Bristol  in  the  closing  days  of  No- 
vember, constituting  a  point-blank  refusal  to 
follow  Mr.  Balfour's  suggestion  that  the  tariff 
issue  should  remain  indefinite,  the  old  prime 


14 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


ENGLAND'S  NEW  SECRETARY  OF  FOREIGN 
AFFAIRS 

*'  He  might  have  8tood  for  George  Eliot's  portrait  of 
the  man  who  suffered  all  his  life  for  looking  younger 
than  he  was." 

minister  need  not  have  gone  out  and  the  new 
prime  minister  could  not  have  come  in.     No 


THE^LEADER  OF  THE  REVOLT  IN  WALES 

"  David  Lloyd-George  turned  the  wheels  of  government 
backward  in  Wales,  accordmg  to  the  London  Mat/^  and 
gets  a  seat  in  the  Cabinet  for  doing  so. 


general  election  with  its  promise  of  inverting 
all  political  Britain  would  now  impend.  An 
evolution  which  has  been  going  on  for  at  least 
two  years  within  the  Conservative  party  under 
Mr.  Balfour  thus  attained  its  crucial  phase 
last  month.  Mr.  Balfour,  in  an  appeal  having 
to  the  London  Post  "an  air  of  desperation," 
had  implored  his  followers  to  stand  by  him  in 
this  crisis.  There  was  no  use  in  his  being 
a  leader,  he  declared,  unless  he  was  allowed  to 
lead. 


MR.  BALFOUR'S  beautifully  phrased  ad- 
vice was  that  the  Conservative  party, 
with  its  Unionist  wing,  should  accept  so  much 
of  the  Chamberlain  tariff  policy  as  Mr.  Bal- 
four himself  was  disposed  to  agree  with. 
This  meant  "retaliation,"  a  device  dear  to  Mr. 
Balfour,  as  only  a  phantom  with  which  to 
terrify  the  foreigner  into  reciprocity.  It  was 
by  this  time  evident  to  the  London  Telegraph 
and  its  contemporaries  that  the  terms  of  Mr. 
Balfour's  appeal  involved  his  own  continuance 
in  office  as  well  as  his  leadership  of  a  party 
in  turmoil.  But  the  lion  of  that  party,  after 
holding  his  paw  raised  for  a  week,  let  it  de- 
scend upon  Balfour  heavily.  "No  leadership, 
no  successful  leadership,"  cried  Chamberlain 
at  one  of  the  most  memorable  of  political 
gatherings,  "is  possible  unless  the  leader  is 
constantly  in  close  touch  with  his  party,  unless 
he  knows  their  views  and,  I  will  even  say,  un- 
less he  can  honestly  and  conscientiously  say 
he  shares  those  views."  The  majority  of  the 
Conservative  or  Unionist  party,  added  Cham- 
berlain— and  the  boldness  of  the  breach  these 
words  made  caused  a  hush  to  fall  upon  a  vast 
audience — must  not  be  asked  to  sacrifice  its 
views  at  the  bidding  of  a  minority  within  it. 
Mr.  Chamberlain  was  so  obviously  the  leader 
of  the  majority  in  question  and  Mr.  Balfour 
was  so  obviously  feeble  amid  his  cowed  minor- 
ity that  his  inevitable  resignation  was  fune- 
real. Chamberlain  had  captured  the  soul  of 
the  party  the  instant  its  cold  form  was  released 
from  the  frigid  embrace  of  Balfour.  Joseph 
Chamberlain,  thrilled  with  the  excitement  of 
an  approaching  election,  is  asserting  the  right 
of  a  bom  leader  to  do  the  leading.  As  matters 
now  stand,  the  supreme  issue  promises  to  be 
between  free  trade  or  protection,  with  excit- 
ing diversions  in  the  form  of  Home  Rule  for 
Ireland  and  repeal  of  an  educational  law  that 
has  inflamed  whole  counties  of  Britain  into  an 
attitude  not  unlike  rebellion  to  the  law  and 
the  constituted  authorities. 


SIR  HENRY  AND  HIS   VIEWS 


15 


IT  IS  in  the  seventieth  year  of  a  brilliant  old 
age  that  Sir  Henry  Campbell-Bannerman, 
kmg  the  representative  of  a  typical  Scotch 
constituency  in  the  House  of  Commons,  is 
called  to  the  loftiest  political  eminence  attain- 
able by  a  British  subject.  He  has  gone  the 
round  of  public  office  with  a  fluent  sort  of 
drollery  that  leads  the  London  Mail — his 
political  opponent — ^to  deem  him  the  best  after- 
dinner  speaker  in  England.  Financial  Secre- 
tary to  the  War  Office,  Secretary  of  the  Ad- 
miralty, Chief  Secretary  for  Ireland,  Secre- 
tary of  State  for  War — these  and  other  posts 
of  high  distinction  he  has  filled  with  efficiency. 
The  clever  wit  displayed  in  each  of  these 
stations  delights  the  London  News  (mouth- 
piece of  that  Liberal  faction  which  Sir  Henry 
heads) ,  but  the  sober  London  Times  is  grieved 
to  suspect  in  a  statesman  of  his  caliber  a  par- 
tisanship too  egregious,  a  leadership  too  reck- 
less, a  personality  too  vulgarly  vituperative. 
To  the  London  Spectator,  Sir  Henry  seems 
very  happy  as  regards  "the  humorous  side  of 
his  mind"  and  a  first-rate  story  teller ;  but  this 
critic  finds  him  too  much  a  Scot.  He  never 
can,  we  are  told,  help  seeing  in  criticism  of 
his  official  acts  some  lurking  assault  upon  his 
personal  honor.  The  defect  is  attributed  to  the 
curious  Highland  instinct  with  which  he  came 
into  the  world.  Anyhow,  the  new  prime  min- 
ister is  a  hot  speaker  who  never  presumes  to 
orate,  a  dealer  in  political  animosities  who 
will  condescend  to  no  niceness  of  words  when 
he  thinks  Mr.  Balfour  furtively  hypocritical 
and  Mr.  Chamberlain  a  suspicious  character. 
Sir  Henry  retorts  that  the  others  are  rude  of 
speech,  not  he.  "It  appears,"  he  once  observed 
at  a  public  meeting,  "that  Mr.  Chamberlain  is 
somewhat  squeamish  when  plain  words  are  ap- 
plied to  him.  I  should  not  have  expected  fas- 
tidiousness in  that  quarter.  He  lives  and 
moves  and  has  his  political  being  in  plain  and 
sometimes  even  rude  language  concerning  his 
political  adversaries."  Yet  the  London  Mail 
acknowledges  "a  large  amiability"  in  Sir 
Henzy.  His  native  wit  it  finds  real  and  of 
dry,  choice  quality. 

DUT  the  best  thing  to  be  said  of  Sir  Henry, 
*^  or  so  we  are  told  by  Sir  Henry  himself, 
is  the  fact  that  the  man  is  Scotch.  It  occurred 
to  him  to  ask  one  of  his  huge  audiences  why 
the  Scotch  are  so  much  more  intelligent  than 
other  people.  "We  are  ourselves,"  he  averred, 
"at  once  too  modest  and  too  honest  to  dispute 
this  claim,  but  why  is  it?"  It  is  due,  Sir 
Henry  said,  to  John  Knox  and  his  Kirk.    Twin 


"STAUNCHEST  HOME  RULER  OF  THEM  ALL" 

John  Morley,  on  the  eve  of  his  entry  into  the  new 
British  Ministry,  pronounced  himself  in  favor  of  the 
Home  Rale  idea  in  Ireland. 


THE  SON  OF  THE  GREAT  GLADSTONE 

He  prets  a  place  in  the  British  Cabinet  because  he  is  such 
a  good  "  whip." 


i6 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


"THE  ABLEST    FREE   TRADER  IN  SIR  HENRY'S 
CABINET  " 

Mr.  H.  H.  Asqaith  has  for  three  years  led  the  Liberal 
campaigrn  against  Joseph  Chamberlain's  protectionist 
ideas,  which  he^pronotmces  '*  worthy  of  the  dark  ages.*^ 

iijifluehces,  these,  making  all  Scots  spiritually- 
minded  and  with  good  heads  for  business. 
Sir  Henry  is  but  an  indifferent  illustration  of 
his  own  theory,  according  to  the  London 
Times,  which  has  often  called  him  a  grievous 
blockhead.  But  this  newspaper  is  heart  and 
soul  with  Mr.  Chamberlain,  whom  Sir  Henry 
.  deems  an  emissary  of  the  devil.  He  says  it 
bluntly  enough,  although  we  have  the  word 
of  the  London  Mail  for  it  that  the  new  head 
of  the  King's  government  is  an  "easy,  accom- 
plished gentleman"  over  the  walnuts  and  the 
wine.  It  evens  extols  his  exquisite  urbanity — 
upon  occasion. 

THE  idol  of  the  radical  camp  within  the 
Liberal  pale  is  "C.-B.,"  as  the  English 
dailies  dub  Sir  Henry  in  abbreviation  of  his 
lengthy  name.  The  elegant  type  of  Liberal, 
shiningly  exemplified  in  that  former  prime 
minister,  Lord  Rosebery,  barely  tolerates  Sir 
Henry  Campbell-Bannerman.  The  two  politi- 
cal brethren  were  at  loggerheads  not  so  long 
since.  The  feud  between  them  threatened 
to  split  the  Liberal  party.    Lord  Rosebery  was 


actually  denounced  by  Liberal  organs  on  the 
radical  side — like  the  London  Speaker — for 
striving  to  eject  Sir  Henry  from  his  post  as 
leader  of  the  party  in  the  House  of  Commons. 
The  scheme  came  to  nothing.  Rosebery  had 
to  go  into  something  that  wore  the  aspect  of 
sulky  retirement.  His  disappearance  left  the 
Liberal  party  with  no  actual  head  and  the  jar- 
ring sections  turned  to  that  nobleman  who  has 
long  led  a  corporal's  guard  of  Liberal  peers 
in  the  House  of  Lords — Earl  Spencer.  But 
Sir  Henry  Campbell-Bannerman  had  by  this 
time  made  good  his  authority  over  the  party 
rank  and  file  in  the  Commons.  Earl  Spencer 
issued  a  proclamation  of  policy  which  the 
London  Times  took  for  a  manifesto  to  Lib- 
erals in  view  of  an  impending  national  elec- 
tion. Clearly,  as  the  London  Standard  saw, 
Spencer  or  Campbell-Bannerman  would  have 
to  take  a  subordinate  statibn  if  the  Liberals 
were  called  to  office.  The  implication  of  the 
hour  was  that  Earl  Spencer  was  in  some  kind 
of  "Whig  plot"  to  depose  Sir  Henry  from  the 
post  of  leader.  Lord  Spencer's  high  charac- 
ter, concluded  the  London  Standard,  ought  to 
be  sufficient  guarantee,  even  with  avid  hunters 
of  office,  that  he  would  never  lend  himself  to 
so  devious  a  maneuver.    So  it  proved. 


DOCK  LABORER  IN  1885,  IN  PRISON  IN  1887, 
BRITISH  CABINET  MINISTER  TO-DAY 

John   Burns  has  been   made   President  of  the  local 

government  board  by  the   new    British   Premier,     Mr. 
urns'  salary  is  $10,000  a  year. 


INTERNATIONAL  RESULTS  OF  THE  NEW  MINISTRY 


17 


WITH  Sir  Henry  in  the  place  of  power, 
home  rule  for  Ireland,  predicts  the 
London  Times,  becomes  an  issue  upon  which 
the  fate  of  his  ministry  will  be  likely  to  de- 
pend. Never,  according  to  the  London  Spec- 
tator, The  home  rule  bogey  is  not  to  be 
dreaded  For  many  a  month  this  great  British 
weekly  has  implored  English  voters  not  to 
dread  what  the  London  Times  persists  in 
dreading.  Yet  Sir  Henry  has  just  made  what 
the  London  Morning  Post  deems  a  strong 
home  rule  declaration.  The  one  way  to  heal 
the  sores  of  Ireland,  said  he,  is  to  let  the  Irish 
people  have  the  management  of  their  own 
•iomestic  affairs.  If  an  instalment  of  repre- 
sentative control  were  offered  to  Ireland  he 
would  advise  the  home  rulers  to  accept  it 
thankfully,  provided  it  was  consistent  and  led 
up  to  their  larger  policy.  But  it  must  be  con- 
sistent and  it  must  lead  up  to  this  larger 
policy.  Now,  observes  the  London  Times  re- 
garding this,  home  rule  is  not  a  thing  that 
Sir  Henry  will  be  allowed  "to  leave  in  the 
re^on  of  vague  aspiration."  Mr.  Redmond, 
the  home  rule  leader,  is  "not  the  man  to  be 
satisfied  with  the  windy  diet  of  moral  plati- 


THE  CHAMPION  OP  MACEDONIA  WHO  HAS  EN- 
TERED SIR  HEl^RY'S  MINISTRY 

June*  Brycc,  author  of  **The  American  Commonwealth/' 
'is  just  returned  from  a  tour  of  investigation  in  Turkey. 
He  will,  it  is  believed,  use  his  now  ofncial  influence  in 
aror  of  English  interference  in   behalf   of   the   Mace- 


THE  NEW  LORD-LIEUTENANT  OF  IRELAND 

The  Earl  of  Aberdeen,  who  Hs  thus  lectured  by  the 
Dublin  Frreman*s  Journal :  "  The  Irish  Party  have  no 
intention  of  allowing:  Home  Rule  to  be  shelved  until  the 
Liberals  have  outstayed  their  welcome  rand  lost  their 
driving:  power  to  carry  any  great  reform." 


tudes."  Mr.  Balfour  adds  his  own  mordant 
criticism  that  the  logic  of  facts,  the  logic  of 
opinions  and  the  logic  of  votes  will  drive  Sir 
Henry  in  the  direction  of  home  rule.  Sir 
Henry  will  even  be  forced  to  confess  it,  says 
Mr.  Balfour,  in  the  course  of  the  fierce  cam- 
paign that  is  to  precede  the  election  of  a  new 
House  of  Commons.  And  the  London  Times 
finds  much  press  support  for  its  view  that 
England  is  more  than  ever  in  the  dark  as  to 
the  prospects  of  Irish  home  rule. 

FROM  the  comprehensive  standpoint  of 
world  politics,  the  change  of  ministry 
in  England  impresses  the  dailies  of  Conti- 
nental Europe  as  a  possible  menace  to  the 
Anglo-Japanese  alliance.  The  Liberals,  they 
say,  suffer  from  a  lethargy  of  conscience  re- 
garding the  obligations  of  Britain's  pact  with 
the  Mikado.  Not  a  few  serious  Conservative 
and  Unionist  dailies  in  London  have  taken  the 
insinuation  as  well  founded.  But  Sir  Henry 
himself  has  just  blended  this  sweeping  alliance 
with  the  essence  of  Liberal  policy.  Yet  his 
valor  here  goes  with  discretion.  Speaking 
with  the  prospect  of  his  new  dignity  to  steady 


i8 


CURRENT   LITERATURE 


him,  Sir  Henry  told  a  very  eager  audience 
that  his  country's  association  with  the  Japa- 
nese nation  had  always  been  popular  with  Eng- 
lishmen. But,  he  felt  constrained  to  add, 
there  is  a  marked  and  fundamental  difference 
between  an  understanding  in  virtue  of  which 
two  neighboring  countries  are  enabled  to  ad- 
just their  differences  and  an  alliance  which 
places  Britain's  army  and  Britain's  navy  in 
certain  contingencies  at  the  disposal  of  another 
power,  an  alliance  which  lays  down  stipula- 
tions for  a  goodly  term,  no  matter  what 
changes  may  take  place,  that  remain  binding 
upon  both  parties.  Everyone  must  naturally 
prefer  the  former — that  is,  the  cordial  under- 
standing with  France — ^to  the  latter,  the  Anglo- 
Japanese  treaty.  The  alliance  seems  to  Sir 
Henry  an  abandonment  of  Britain's  time- 
honored  position  as  a  power  splendidly  iso- 
lated. The  new  premier  even  declared  that  the 
old  premier  must  have  been  in  possession  of 
information  which  justified  the  committal  of 
Great  Britain  to  so  far-reaching  and  so  im- 
portant an  obligation.  However,  the  thing 
was  done  and  the  obligations  of  the  alliance 
will  be  loyally  undertaken  by  his  government. 
• 

THIS  led  Sir  Henry  to  remark  that  the 
maintenance  of  China's  integrity,  in 
order  that  the  celestial  kingdom  might  not  be- 
come a  cockpit  for  the  armies  of  Europe,  is  an 
object  worth  making  sacrifices  for.  So  far 
as  the  Anglo-Japanese  treaty  aims  in  that 
direction,  so  far  as  it  proceeds  on  the  prin- 
ciple of  development  in  a  commercial  sense 
and  not  through  military  annexation  or 
scrambling  for  territory.  Sir  Henry  says  he 
unreservedly  approves  its  object  As  it  stands, 
it  implies  that  a  sort  of  wardship  over  China 
is  entrusted  to  or  undertaken  by  Great  Britain 
and  Japan  to  defend  China  against  all  comers. 
Yet  is  there  not  danger  that  the  prestige  of 
the  British  Empire  may  be  abased  in  the  eyes 
of  the  world  by  that  provision  of  the  Anglo- 
Japanese  Alliance  which  makes  Japan  jointly 
responsible  for  the  defense  of  India?  This 
latter  point  is  full  of  meaning  to  anti-British 
•organs  like  the  Kreuz  Zeitung  (Berlin),  which 
asks  if  there  be  not  in  it  sources  of  trouble 
yet  to  come.  As  regards  Russia,  referred  to 
by  the  new  prime  minister  as  the  empire  pass- 
ing at  this  moment  through  a  dire  ordeal  upon 
which  it  would  be  out  of  place  io  comment,  we 
are  assured  that  it  is  the  avowed  policy  of  the 
new  government  in  London  to  come  to  an  un- 
derstanding with  the  government  of  St.  Peters- 
burg   embracing    all    conflicting   interests    in 


Asia.  He  significantly  suggests  that  an  oppor- 
tunity for  such  an  arrangement  will  soon 
arrive.  The  idea  that  may  be  in  Sir  Henry's 
mind  perturbs  the  organ  of  Russia's  ally,  the 
Paris  Temps.  It  is  delighted,  though,  that  Sir 
Henry  should  be  asserting  his  appreciation  of 
the  part  France  has  played  in  widening  the 
bounds  of  human  liberty,  in  asserting  those 
vital  political  principles  which  are  at  the  root 
of  his  own  party  creed.  Such  eloquence  is 
vividly  poetical  to  the  organ  of  the  French 
Foreign  Office.  It  feels  confident  that  promo- 
tion of  the  understanding  now  so  cordial  be- 
tween the  two  nations  will  animate  Sir  Henry's 
joys  of  office,  and  it  abandons  itself  to  blissful 
anticipations  of  German  jealousy  at  the  pros- 
pect. 

THE  new  Secretary  of  Foreign  Affairs  in 
Sir  Henry's  rapidly  formed  ministry  is 
the  scion  of  a  great  family,  and  the  London 
Speaker  tells  us  that  he  might  have  stood  for 
George  Eliot's  portrait  of  the  man  who  suf- 
fered all  his  life  for  looking  younger  than  he 
was,  were  it  not  for  the  fact  that  most  of  the 
characteristic  mental  qualities  of  youth  have 
been  denied  him.  Sir  Edward  Grey  is  cold. 
He  holds  aloof.  No  subject  warms  him,  not 
even  the  foreign  affairs  upon  which  he  is  an 
expert  recognized  as  such  even  by  the  carp- 
ing critics  of  the  London  Standard  and  the 
London  Mail.  With  Sir  Edward  Grey  as  his 
associate  in  office.  Sir  Henry  Campbell-Ban- 
nerman  lends  himself  to  tacit  tolerance  of 
Lord  Rosebery's  position  within  the  Liberal 
party.  Of  all  personal  considerations,  re- 
marked Sir  Edward  Grey  only  last  month, 
there  is  nothing  stronger  with  him  than  the 
desire  to  keep  in  touch  with  Lord  Rosebery. 
He  admits,  of  course,  that  Lord  Rosebery  and 
Sir  Henry  Campbell-Bannerman  seem  to  differ 
on  the  Irish  question.  But  Sir  Edward 
is  of  opinion  that  there  has  been  a  misunder- 
standing. He  believes,  he  says,  that  he  knows 
more  about  Lord  Rosebery's  opinion  on  the 
home  rule  question  and  more  about  Sir 
Henry  Campbell-Bannerman's  ({pinion  on  the 
home  rule  question  than  either  of  these  two 
knows  about  the  opinion  of  the  other  on  that 
question.  He  assures  Britons  that  there  is  no 
substantial  difference  between  Lord  Rosebery 
and  Sir  Henry  as  to  what  should  be  the  prac- 
tical policy  of  the  new  Liberal  ministry  with 
regard  to  home  rule  in  the  next  House  of 
Commons.  This,  avers  the  London  Times,  is 
very  nice  splitting  of  hairs  and  it  wonders  how 
Mr.  John  Redmond,  as  leader  of  the  Irish 


PERSONAL  SKETCHES  OF  NEW  BRITISH  MINISTERS 


19 


party,  wiU  take  it  There  is  to  be  no  home 
rule  in  any  shape  or  form,  if  we  are  to  be 
guided  by  the  London  Spectator,  which  seems 
to  have  been  constituted  the  oracle  of  the  new 
ministry  on  this  point. 

WHEN  Sir  Edward  became  Under-Secre- 
tary for  Foreign  Affairs  some  years 
hack  he  asked  whether  it  would  be  necessary 
for  him  to  learn  French.  "On  mature  re- 
flection/* says  the  London  Speaker,  "he 
decided  in  the  negative."  But  he  may  be 
said  to  think  of  foreign  affairs  in  French 
terms.  The  cardinal  points  of  his  policy  in- 
clude a  closer  understanding  with  the  third 
republic,  he  announces.  Not  less  important 
he  considers  thorough  harmony  at  all  points 
with  this  country  of  ours.  He  spoke  em- 
phatically on  that  subject  last  month.  And  he 
means  to  strengthen  the  alliance  with  Japan. 
But  more  than  anything  else.  Sir  Edward 
Orey  goes  in  for  free  trade.  "Protection,"  he 
said  on  the  eve  of  his  entry  into  the  new 
ministry,  "is  organized  and  mobilized.  It 
must  be  fought  to  a  finish." 

MOST  humanly  interesting  of  all  the  men 
in  the  new  ministry  is  that  working 
man  who  neither  drinks  nor  smokes,  John 
Boms.  He  brings  much  expert  knowledge  to 
the  post  of  president  of  the  Local  Government 
Board,  the  knowledge  of  a  self-taught  man 
who  never  discredits  the  school  of  experience 
by  decrying  liberal  education.  He  urges  it  for 
*-age-earners,  especially  when  he  makes  his 
raucous,  oenetrating  voice  heard  in  those 
London  Cx>unty  Council  discussions  in  which 
his  part  is  sq  conspicuous.  His  new  office 
brings  him  ten  thousand  dollars  a  year.  His 
old  post  of  tallow  boy  in  a  candle  factory 
brought  him  fifty  cents  a  week  when  he  was 
ten  years  old.  As  a  full-grown  man  he  earned 
seven  dollars  a  week  as  one  of  the  countless 
dock  laborers  who  were  always  out  of  work 
when  ships  kept  out  of  port.  He  was  jailed 
for  defying  the  police  in  this  period  of  his 
rise  to  fame.  His  international  celebrity 
dates  from  the  great  dock  strike  of  1889. 
When  the  dock  laborers  had  won  their  great 
victory  in  this  struggle,  John  Bums  was  ad- 
mittedly the  greatest  labor  leader  in  the  world. 
He  became  an  authority  on  labor  questions 
(the  mouthpiece  of  what  England  calls  re- 
spectable artisan  opinion),  member  of  the 
House  of  Commons  and  a  shining  light  in  Lon- 
don's rather  Socialistic  county  council.  So- 
cialistic  ideas   have  been  the  foundation   of 


the  political  creed  of  John  Burns  ever  since  he 
had  one.  He  is  Puritanically  moral,  fanatic- 
ally honest,  untouched  by  money  temptation. 
He  is  known  to  stand  half-way  between  British 
Liberalism  and  the  cause  of  labor.  He  was 
put  into  the  new  ministry  for  the  sake  of  a 
working  agreement  between  the  two. 

INTO  the  same  ministry  has  been  put  the 
barrister  whose  first  important  case  was 
the  defense  of  John  Burns  when  that  rugged 
labor  leader  was  tried  for  speaking  ia  Trafal- 
gar Square  against  the  wishes  of  the  London 
police.  The  "Rt.  Hon."  Herbert  Henry  As- 
quith  is  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  bringing 
to  that  high  post  a  curiously  achieved  fame  as 
man  of  fashion,  brilliant  lawyer  with  a  gift 
for  cross-examination,  and  politician  of  co- 
pious eloquence  in  championship  of  free  trade. 
The  Pamell  trial  made  Asquith  famous.  His 
inquisitorial  method  in  questioning  the  man- 
ager of  the  London  Times  was  pronounced 
"one  of  the  most  brilliant  and  skilful  displays 
of  word-baiting  ever  witnessed  in  a  court  of 
law,"  and  gave  Asquith  his  splendid  eminence. 
Nature,  asserts  one  of  his  unwilling  eulogists, 
has  given  him  a  voice  of  admirable  compass 
and  abundant  power,  a  mobile  actor's  face  and 
that  gift  of  arranging  and  dramatizing  un- 
original thoughts  which  is  the  peculiar  spell  of 
oratory.  Fifty-three,  a  manufacturer's  son, 
some  twenty  years  in  the  House  and  once 
home  secretary,  his  career  has  not  gone  out- 
side the  beaten  path  of  that  second-rate  dis- 
tinction which  is  all  his  enemies  will  concede 
to  him.  He  seems  to  have  become  half 
ashamed  of  the  fiercely  radical  views  he  held 
when  younger,  a  feeling  explicable  only  by 
his  brilliant  social  successes,  insist  those  who 
accuse  him  of  having  betrayed  democracy.  He 
has  proved  false  to  home  rule,  too,  say  the 
Irish,  in  order  to  win  the  smiles  of  dowager 
duchesses.  He  married  the  lady  who  was  the 
original  of  Benson's  "Dodo"  and  thus  severed 
the  last  of  the  ties  binding  him  to  the  man.  in 
the  street. 

MR.  ASQUITH  himself  has  elbowed  his 
way  to  a  conviction  that  nothing  of  all 
this  matters  very  much.  He  has  just  told  his 
constituents  that  they  must  think  only  of  the 
coming  general  election  as  involving  a  choice 
between  free  trade  and  protection.  He  de-. 
clared  that  every  one  of  the  assumptions  which 
Mr.  Chamberlain  is  putting  forward  in  jus- 
tification of  tariff  reform  is  belied  by  facts. 
Great  Britain's  trade,  instead  of  decreasing,  is 


20 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


constantly  increasing.  He  made  sport,  like- 
wise, of  Mr.  Balfour's  policy  of  retaliation. 
The  result  of  setting  up  a  wall  of  tariflfs,  the 
constituents  were  told,  is  that  it  always  injures 
the  wrong  person.  It  will  not  matter  a  copeck 
to  Russia  nor  a  cent  to  the  United  States  if 
Britain  puts  a  tariff  upon  their  manufactures. 
Mr.  Chamberlain  would  put  a  small  tax  upon 
food,  to  be  made  up,  he  said,  to  the  working 
classes  in  other  ways.  The  protectionist  al- 
ways begins,  added  Mr.  Asquith,  with  a  small 
tax  upon  food,  but  it  always  ends  by  becoming 
a  big  tax.  On  that  inclined  plane  there  is  no 
halting  place  until  prices  have  been  raised  to 
the  point  where  the  native  producer  can  snap 
his  fingers  at  all  foreign  competitors.  All  this 
would  be  to  the  detriment  of  the  working 
classes.  The  British  colonies,  which  are 
frankly  protectionist,  would  not,  in  return  for 
preferential  duties  on  food,  admit  English 
manufactured  goods  on  terms  which  would 
enable  them  to  compete  with  their  own.  The 
whole  scheme  is  futile,  imperfect  and  absurd. 
Therefore  Mr.  Asquith  has  no  doubt  as  to  the 
result  of  the  impending  general  election. 

I F  ASQUITH  and  Sir  Edward  Grey  are  in 
1  the  Campbell-Bannerman  ministry  to  ren- 
der home  rule  obsolete,  their  combined  weight 
may  be  neutralized  by  the  presence  of  John 
Morley.  He  has  been  put  out  of  harm's  way 
as  secretary  of  state  for  India,  but  his  voice 
is  still  heard  on  the  political  platform  defying 
the  wit  of  man  to  give  to  Ireland  any  effective 
voice  in  the  management  of  her  own  affairs 
unless  there  be  an  executive  responsible  to  a 
body  in  which  the  elective  element  shall  have 
the  decisive  voice,  whether  that  body  sits  in 
Dublin,  or  wherever  it  sits.  "I  will  heckle 
myself,"  he  cried  at  a  meeting  of  his  con- 
stituents, after  the  new  prime  minister  had 
already  offered  him  a  cabinet  post  He  imag- 
ined himself  quizzed:  "Are  you  in  favor  of 
home  rule?"  "Yes,  I  am  in  favor  of  home 
rule,"  Morley  answered  himself,  "if  you  mean 
the  creation  by  Parliament  of  a  local  legisla- 
ture under  the  paramount  authority  of  the 
imperial  Parliament."  But  Mr.  Morley  con- 
fessed that  he  does  not  expect  to  see  anything 
of  the  sort  made  a  pressing  measure  in  the 
new  House  of  Commons.  The  trouble  with 
Mr.  Morley,  say  his  dissenting  friends,  is  that 
he  is  by  temperament  a  student,  a  recluse  even. 
It  is  as  a  man  of  letters  that  he  should  be 
judged — as  the  biographer  of  Cromwell,  Wal- 
pole,  Emerson,  Cobden,  Diderot,  Voltaire.  In- 
cidentally he  was  Gladstone's  lieutenant  in  that 


statesman's  home  rule  policy.  "Two  men  have 
made  me  what  I  am,"  he  says  himself,  and 
those  two  men  were  John  Stuart  Mill  and 
William  E.  Gladstone.  For  the  writing  of 
the  life  of  Gladstone  to  fall  into  the  hands  of 
John  Morley,  declared  Frederic  Harrison,  was 
one  of  those  rare  and  fortunate  coincidences 
which  now  and  then  illumine  the  sphere  of 
politics  and  literature  in  combination.  But 
for  the  post  of  the  secretary  of  state  for  India 
to  have  been  given  to  this  home  ruler  touched 
by  the  teachings  of  the  French  Revolution  is, 
to  the  London  Times,  congruous  only  with  the 
bland  absurdity  informing  the  composition  of 
(all  this  ministry. 

MR.  HALDANE  is  to  be  the  great  concilia- 
tor of  Asquith  with  Morley,  of  John 
Bums  with  Sir  Edward  Grey.  His  fiercest 
enemy  in  the  London  press  assures  us  that  Mr. 
Richard  Burton  Haldane's  most  important 
part  in  British  politics  has  been  played  as  the 
diplomatist,  the  man  of  delicate  adjustments 
between  round  and  square,  the  puller  of  wires, 
the  plausible  concoctor  of  conciliatory  pro- 
posals and  of  schemes  for  smoothing  over 
wounded  susceptibilities  and  avoiding  incon- 
venient assertions  of  principle.  He  got  his 
subtlety  by  studying  metaphyscs  at  Gottingen 
and  Edinburgh.  He  deepened  it  by  devotion 
to  Schopenhauer,  whose  philosophy  he  has 
translated  spiritedly.  He  is  a  pessimist  on  all 
themes  that  do  not  concern  his  qualifications 
for  office,  asserts  the  London  Telegraph,  in 
effect.  He  is  committed  to  nothing  in  par- 
ticular, unless  it  be  free  trade,  to  which  he 
subscribes  in  metaphysical  terms.  CI\!ver  as  a 
writer,  versatile  as  a  speaker,  accomplished  as 
a  politician,  he  is  expected  to  take  a  philoso- 
pher's delight  in  moving  about  in  the  new 
cabinet  as  in  some  sort  an  unseen  providence, 
secretly  advising  his  colleagues  to  be  cautious. 
In  the  capacity  of  secretary  of  state  for  war 
he  occasions  surprise.  The  philosophic  prob- 
lem of  reality  seemed  more  in  his  line  than 
mobilization  and  artillery.  Not  that  it  matters 
— to  him.  If  London  Public  Opinion  be  un- 
prejudiced, Mr.  Richard  Burton  Haldane  is 
like  the  man  of  whom  Sydney  Smith  said  that 
he  was  ready  at  any  moment  to  undertake  the 
command  of  the  Channel  fleet  or  run  a  factory. 

SO  SORRY  a  spectacle  is  James  Bryce  as 
chief  secretary  for  Ireland  in  the  es- 
timation of  Mr.  Chamberlain's  newspapers  that 
they  almost  weep  for  him.  He  will  be  sure  to 
make  trouble  over  Macedonia,  they  say,  Mace- 


THE  CRUSADE  AGAINST  FOOTBALL 


21 


donia  being  to  Mr.  Bryce  what  the  lamented 
King  Charles  was  to  Mr.  Dick's  memorial. 
But  Mr.  Augustine  Birreirs  presence  in  the 
new  ministry — and  president  of  the  Board  of 
Education  at  that — atones  to  many  a  London 
daily  for  the  ponderous  intellectuality  of  the 
rainistry  as  a  whole.  It  contains  too  many 
serious  men  of  letters  not  to  have  required 
the  presence  of  that  born  bookman,  who  has 
said :  "There  is  much  pestilent  trash  now  talked 
about  the  ministry  of  books  and  the  sublimity 
of  art  and  I  know  not  what  other  fine  phrases. 
It  almost  amounts  to  a  religious  service  con- 
ducted before  an  altar  of  first  editions." 
Xevertheless,  the  London  Mail  takes  Mr.  Bir- 
rcll  seriously.  He  is  the  principal  editor,  it 
tells  us,  of  the  30,000,000  Liberal  pamphlets 
printed  and  ready  for  distribution  from  the 
party  headquarters  the  moment  the  general 
election  enters  its  agitated  stage.  He  is  un- 
derstood to  have  infused  into  these  pamphlets 
all  the  freshness  of  phrase  with  which  he 
achieved  what  has  been  described  by  the  Lon- 
don Saturday  Review  as  the  unique  distinc- 
tion of  rousing  Mr.  John  Morley  to  the  heights 
of  enthusiastic  hyperbole.  The  London  Post 
expects  another  kind  of  hyperbole  from  Mr. 
Morley  before  Augustine  Birrell  has  been 
president  of  the  Board  of  Education  for  any 
length  of  time. 

DAVID  LLOYD-GEORGE,  as  fluent  in 
his  native  Welsh  as  he  is  fiery  in  plat- 
form English,  takes  his  seat  in  the  new  cabinet 
to  protest,  as  president  of  the  Board  of  Trade, 
against  all  sectarian  education.  He  protests 
on  behalf  of  what  the  London  Times  styles  a 
profoundly  pious  people,  deeming  themselves 
outraged  iji  the  very  sanctuary  of  their  lives 
and  now  ready  for  conscience'  sake  to  face  the 
dungeon.  Mr.  Lloyd-George  has  put  it  less 
tragically  by  saying  that  if  you  stir  the  Eng- 
lishman's feelings  he  goes  at  once  to  his 
pocket,  whereas  the  Welshman,  when  similarly 
moved,  sings  hymns.  Or,  as  the  London  Times 
once  more  prefers  to  put  it,  foreign  and  impe- 
rial policy,  army  reform,  tariff  controversies, 
even  wars,  do  not  change  or  move  the  Welsh 
voter.  Everything  in  Wales  is  church  or 
chapel.  Wherefore,  Mr.  Lloyd-George  boasted 
lately  that  Welsh  unity  of  revolt  against  the 
sectarian  education  act  passed  by  Mr.  Bal- 
four's ministry  a  few  years  ago  is  not  under- 
mined and  that  the  great  and  unique  com- 
bination of  Welsh  li)cal  authorities  which 
confront  the  forces  of  clericalism  has  not  col- 
lapsed.    Nor  will  it,  he  adds,  until  there  is  a 


complete  abolition  of  religious  tests  for 
teachers  in  school  supported  from  taxation 
and  until  there  is  popular  control  of  every  one 
of  them.  It  will  be  the  duty  of  Mr.  Lloyd- 
George,  he  is  told  by  his  Welsh  constituents, 
to  see  that  this  Campbell-Bannerman  ministry 
takes  this  burning  issue  up  and  the  disestab- 
lishment of  the  Church  in  Wales  as  well.  "The 
Parnell  of  Wales,"  the  London  Mail  styles 
him  for  having  successfully  organized  a  revolt 
which  has  defied  every  effort  of  Mr.  Balfour 
to  make  the  education  act  more  than  a  farce 
there.  Not  once  in  his  plan  of  campaign  did 
Mr.  Lloyd-George  go  outside  the  four  corners 
of  the  law  itself,  though  for  some  three  years 
he  has  kept  Wales  in  a  state  of  practical  in- 
surrection. Never  had  the  nonconformist 
conscience  appeared  in  more  heroic  shape,  ac- 
cording to  that  unfriendly  critic,  the  London 
Times,  "It  seemed  as  if  the  conscience  of 
Great  Britain  had  suddenly  become  embodied 
and  had  fixed  its  dwelling  place  in  Wales." 
With  one  side  contending  for  sectarian  in- 
struction in  the  schools  and  the  other  demand- 
ing public  control  and  the  abolition  of  religious 
tests  for  teachers,  it  is  predicted  that  Sir 
Henry's  ministry  will  wallow  in  a  Welsh  bog 
as  deep  as  any  to  be  found  by  him  in  Ireland. 


THE  football  season  ended  on  Thanksgiving 
Day,  but  the  crusade  against  the  game 
goes  strenuously  on.  Columbia  University 
has  completely  abolished  football  "as  played," 
and  various  other  institutions  have  come  al- 
most to  the  same  point.  Any  number  of  col- 
lege and  university  presidents  have  expressed 
themselves  emphatically  in  opposition  to  the 
game,  and  whether  it  can  be  so  reformed  as 
to  preserve  it  in  anything  like  its  present 
shape  seems  to  many  a  serious  question.  There 
are  voices  raised  in  favor  of  the  game,  but  in 
the  colleges  as  well  as  in  the  general  press, 
the  great  majority  of  opinions  expressed  pub- 
licly of  late  are  for  decided  changes  or  entire 
abolition  of  the  game.  Out  of  twenty-nine 
college  presidents  replying  to  a  letter  of  in- 
quiry sent  out  by  Judge  Victor  H.  Lane,  of 
Michigan,  only  one,  that  of  President  North- 
rup,  of  Minnesota  University,  was  favorable 
to  the  game  as  played  at  present.  President 
Butler,  of  Columbia,  speaking  of  the  effect  of 
the  radical  action  taken  by  his  university, 
says : 

"Since  the  action  of  our  committee  was  made 
known,  we  have  been  overwhelmed  with  mes- 
sages of  congratulation  and  praise  for  our  uni- 
versity from  leaders  of  public  opinion  everywhere. 


22 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


The  best  judgment  of  those  best  qualified  to  judge 
is  that  we  have  done  a  distinct  public  service  in 
shutting  the  present  game  of  football  and  its 
committee  on  rules  out  of  Columbia  University." 

PRESIDENT  BUTLER'S  own  objections 
to  football,  as  devised  and  developed  by 
the  intercollegiate  committee  of  rules,  are 
stated  as  follows: 

"The  game  which  this  committee  has  devised 
and  developed  is  not  a  sport,  but  a  profession. 
It  demands  prolonged  traming,  complete  absorp- 
tion of  time  and  thought,  and  is  inconsistent — 
in  practice  at  least — with  the  devotion  to  work 
which  is  the  first  duty  of  the  college  or  university 
student.  It  can  be  participated  in  by  only  the 
merest  fraction  of  the  student  body.  Throughout 
the  country  it  has  come  to  be  an  academic  nui- 
sance because  of  its  interference  with  academic 
work,  and  an  academic  danger  because  of  the 
moral  and  physical  ills  that  follow  in  its  train. 
The  large  sums  received  in  gate-money  are  a 
temptation  to  extravagant  management,  and  the 
desire  for  them  marks  the  game  as  in  no  small 
degree  a  commercial  enterprise.  The  great  public 
favor  with  which  even  the  fiercest  contests  are 
received  is  not  a  cause  for  exultation,  but  rather 
for  profound  regret.  .  .  .  Moreover,  only  a 
few  of  the  evils  of  the  game  are  seen  on  the  play- 
ing-field. Those  evils  are  many,  subtle,  and  con- 
trolling; they  affect  every  phase  of  college  and 
university    life   and    for    some   years   past   have 


FOOTBALL  FROM. THE  OUTSIDE 

"  Say,  Bill,  did  you  ever  play  football  ? " 
"  Who  me  ?     I  should  say  not.    I  don't  take  no  chances 
like  that  uv  killin'  myself. 

— Omaha  Dat'/y  News. 


reached  down  even  into  the  secondary  schools. 
They  are  moral  and  educational  evils  of  the  first 
magnitude." 

The  university  senate  of  the  University  of 
Chicago  has  passed  a  resolution  declaring  that 
"in  view  of  flagrant  moral  and  physical  evils 
connected  with  intercollegiate  football  as  at 
present  conducted,  it  is  the  opinion  of  the  uni- 
versity senate  that  the  university  should  take 
immediate  steps  in  furtherance  of  far  reaching 
and  permanent  reform."  The  athletic  com- 
mittees of  the  two  faculties  of  Leland  Stanford 
University  and  the  University  of  California 
have  met  together  and  by  formal  resolution 
recommended  that  the  Rugby  game  be  substi- 
tuted for  the  present  game,  and  that  the  inter- 
collegiate rules  committee  be  hereafter  ignored 
President  Wheeler,  of  the  University  of  Cali- 
fornia, speaks  in  strong  terms  of  the  rules 
committee  and  especially  of  "that  fellow  Paul 
Dashiel  [Annapolis]  .who  controls  the  com- 
mittee."   Says  President  Wheeler: 

"He  has  made  the  game  so  that  only  highly 
specialized  trained  experts  can  play  it  success- 
fully. What  we  want  in  college  is  a  game  where 
the  man  who  is  in  college  for  the  right  purpose 
— ^that  of  getting  an  education— can  play  the 
game  and  stand  an  equal  chance  with  the  fellow 
who  has  more  brawn  than  brain.  Football  as 
now  played  is  a  sport  apart  from  college  life. 
The  men  who  play  it  are  especially  trained  and 
coached  for  months,  and  it  takes  only  a  man  of 
exceptional  physical  strength  to  play  the  game. 
As  it  is  now  played  it  is  useless,  it  is  artificial." 

President  Eliot,  of  Harvard,  has  spoken  al- 
most as  strongly  in  opposition  to  the  game  as 
has  President  Butler,  and  Chancellor  Mac- 
Cracken,  of  the  University  of  the  City  of  New 
York,  who  is  seeking  to  secure  joint  action 
by  presidents  of  the  whole  country,  says  that 
in  his  judgment  the  game  should  be  abolished, 
at  least  for  a  term  of  years.  The  students  of 
Northwestern  University  have  petitioned  the 
faculty  for  "a  graduate  system  of  coaching, 
football  for  all  students,  and  the  abolition  of 
gate  receipts." 

THE  position  assumed  by  most  college 
presidents  who  have  expressed  them- 
selves in  the  matter  this  year  is  reflected  in 
the  press  of  the  country.  Here  is  the  opinion 
of  the  Chicago  Tribune: 

"The  betting  evil  has  reached  such  a  degree  of 
open  prevalence  that  it  stands  out  as  the  most 
conspicuous  thing  about  a  football  game.  It  is 
unfair  to  place  this  burden  upon  the  players.  It 
is  degrading  to  place  them  on  a  level  with  prize 
fighters  and  with  brutes.  Information  about  a 
p/ayer's  physical  condition   is  guarded  with  the 


FOOTBALL  EVILS  AND  REMEDIES 


23 


same  reticence  as  in  the  case  of  race  horses,  and 
the  same  endeavor  is  made  to  mislead  the  public 
in  order  to  profit  by  favorable  odds  in  betting. 
The  same  flashy  fraternity  that  frequents  the 
ring,  the  track,  and  the  cockpit  is  at  home  at  a 
football  game,  and  has  acquired  a  prescriptive 
right  in  the  flesh  and  blood,  limb  and  life,  ot  the 
would-be  champions.  Students  are  infected  by 
the  gambling  passion,  and  the  total  sum  at  stake 
in  a  championship  game,  according  to  reports 
which  are  practically  unchallenged,  is  enormous." 

The  New  York  Times  refers  as  follows  to 
the  list  of  casualties: 

*^t  is  notorious  that  injuries  are  deliberately 
inflicted  with  the  intent  to  disable  the  enemy's 
formidable  players.  If  the  truth  could  be  fully 
known,  might  it  not  establish  the  fact  that  some 
of  these  nineteen  [21]  fatalities  would  have  to  be 
classed  not  as  accidents,  but  as  manslaughter?  Is 
there  any  student  football  player  now  at  large 
who  knows  in  his  inmost  soul  that  he  caused  the 
death  of  one  of  these  victims  by  the  violence  of 
an  attack  intended  only  to  maim,  cripple,  and 
disable?  This  is  a  serious,  a  dreadful  aspect  of 
the  question.  The  more  one  reflects  upon  it  the 
more  certain  he  will  be  to  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  college  football  must  no^be  played  in  future 
as  it  has  been  played  in  the  past.  .  .  .  Foot- 
ball has  degenerated  into  a  savage,  brutal,  bloody 
fight  between  men  animated  with  the  passions  of 
pugilists,  seeking  to  win,  not  by  demonstrations 
of  skill  and  strength,  but  by  the  blackguardly  ex- 
pedient of  physically  disabling  as  many  of  their 
adversaries  as  possible.  Kick  the  ball  or  kick  a 
head — ^it  is  all  in  the  game." 

THE  New  York  Herald  has  collected  the 
casualty  statistics  for  football,  baseball 
and  other  sports,  and  tabulates  the  figures  for 
deaths  as  follows: 

DEATH    LIST 

1904  1905 

Football    16  21 

Baseball    21  11 

Boxing     5  6 

Jockeys    3  9 

The  same  journal  notes  that  "the  majority 
of  football  players  and  boxers  killed  were  un- 
trained, unknown  athletes."  The  statistics 
published  by  the  Chicago  Tribune  some  time 
before  the  close  of  the  present  football  season 
showed  that  out  of  seventeen  deaths  up  to  that 
time  for  the  year  1905,  ten  were  of  high-school 
players  and  only  three  were  of  college  players ; 
but  of  those  injured  and  not  killed,  seventy- 
three  were  college  players,  thirty-three  high- 
school  scholars  and  scvcr  grade-school  schol- 
ars.   The  New  York  World  says  of  the  game : 

•nnhc  football  that  is  played  is  to  the  football 
that  should  be  played  as  a  finish  prize  fight  is  to 
legitimate  boxing.  Indeed,  as  between  the  two 
prize-fighting  is  on  a  higher  ethical  plane  than 


college  football.  The  fighters  are  frankly  pro- 
fessional. They  make  no  pretense  of  amateur 
standing.  They  fight  openly  for  money,  and  they 
have  to  fight  fairly.  The  fouling  of  opponents 
which  football  referees  tolerate  would  not  be  al- 
lowed in  a  prize-ring.  The  contest  would  be 
stopped  at  once,  and  the  decision  given  to  the  vic- 
tim of  the  foul.  .  .  .  Either  a  game  that  does 
not  invite  fraud,  murder  and  mayhem  or  no  game 
at  all." 

SIMILAR  expressions  to  the  above  could  be 
culled  from  scores  of  journals.  Ameri- 
can Medicine  calls  the  game  "the  shame  of 
young  men  and  the  disgrace  of  American  edu- 
cation." The  Atlanta  Constitution,  however, 
calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  not  a  death  has 
occurred  this  year  on  Southern  gridirons,  and 
it  deprecates  the  sweeping  condemnation  by 
"people  who  do  not  understand  its  fascinations 
and  advantages."  Jt  reprints  with  approbation 
the  following  from  the  New  York  American: 

"Perhaps  there  is  danger  of  getting  a  little  hys- 


OH  !  YOU  DIRTY  BOY 

— Brinckerhoff  in  Toledo  B/aaTr 


24 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


terical  about  football  and  its  perils.  Nineteen 
deaths  in  a  season  does  seem  a  high  price  to  pay 
for  sport.  But  how  many  players  were  on  the 
'gridirons?*  Hardly  less  than  100,000.  In  swim- 
ming, sailing,  motoring,  hunting,  or  almost  any 
other  sort  of  manly  sport  the  percentage  of  fatal- 
ities must  have  been  about  as  great. 

"Football  is  not  without  its  advantages,  even 
to  members  of  the  community  not  engaged  in  its 
active  pursuit.  We  have  in  mind  a  college  town 
which  boasts  one  of  the  largest  universities  in  the 
United  States;  a  college  whicn  supports  a  foot- 
ball team  not  ^scored  on  in  three  vears.  In  the 
little  town  are  some  20,000  people.  To  every 
growing  boy  there  the  successful  coach  and  the 
captain  are  heroes.  The  little  lads  emulate  the 
giants.  They  'train*  as  they  learn  that  the  half- 
back or  right  ^ard  is  training.  They  spurn 
cigarettes,  eat  wisely  and  avoid  the  beer  shop  as 
they  would  a  pest  house." 

Other  utterances  that  have  attracted  especial 
attention  come  from  General  Miles  and  Carl 
Brill,  the  tackle  on  Harvard's  team.  Says 
General  Miles: 

"I  have  seen  the  game  placed  in  this  and  other 
countries,  and  there  are  various  rules  or  systems 
governing  the  game  of  football,  known  as  the 
Australian  game,  the  Scottish  game,  the  English 
game,  and  the  American  game.  Football  as 
played  here  now,  while  it  meets  the  approval  of 
a  large  number  of  our  people,  is,  in  my  opinion, 
the  most  brutal,  fatal,  and  fll-advised  of  any 
game  or  sport  practised  by  any  people  in  any  part 
of  the  world." 

Carl  Brill's  statement  is  as  follows:- 

"This  season  ends  my  football  career.  The 
Yale  game  was  my  last  contest.  I  have  been  in 
the  game  ten  years,  playing  tackle  most  of  the 
time.  I  believe  the  human  body  was  never  meant 
to  withstand  the  enormous  strain  which  football 
demands.  Moreover,  I  don't  believe  the  game  is 
right.  I  dislike  it  on  moral  grounds.  It  is  a  mere 
gladiatoral  combat.  It  is  brutal  throughout. 
When  you  are  opposed  to  a  strong  man,  you  have 
got  to  get  the  better  of  him  by  violence.  Many 
ask  me  what  the  sensations  are  of  a  great  multi- 
tude wildly  applauding  for  half  an  hour.  I  can 
honestly  say  I  have  none.  I  stand  and  take  my 
medicine,  impatient  to  get  back  to  the  locker 
building  and  get  off  the  dirt." 

THAT  the  game  of  football  must  be 
"mended  or  ended"  may  be  taken  as  set- 
tled. The  question  how  to  mend  it  satisfac- 
torily to  the  public,  the  college  authorities  and 
the  students  themselves  is  the  subject  of 
anxious  meditation  and  discussion  by  coaches 
and  athletes.  What  appeals  to  us  as  a  very 
intelligent  discussion  of  the  game,  its  present 
faults  and  their  remedy,  appears  recently  in 
the  form  of  an  open  letter  from  a  member  of 
the  Harvard  Alumni  Athletic  Association, 
Henry  M.  Williams,  of  Boston,  to  the  athletic 
director  of  that  university.    The  turning  point 


in  the  game,  the  one  which  has  led  to  nearly  all 
the  faults  of  the  present,  came,  Mr.  Williams 
thinks,  when  Princeton  introduced  "offside  in- 
terference" about  eight  years  ago.  This  had 
always  been  considered  unfair,  and  Princeton 
was  promptly  challenged;  but  no  explicit  pro- 
hibition was  found  in  the  rules  at  that  time, 
and  the  challenge  could  not  be  sustained.  One 
of  the  first  results  of  this  innovation  was  the 
provision  made  in  the  rules  for  tackling  below 
the  waist.  This  was  considered  necessary 
because  "offside  interference"  had  so  strength- 
ened the  offensive  that  some  offset  had  to  be 
found  to  strengthen  the  defense.  To  these 
two  innovations,  both  contrary  to  the  spirit  of 
the  game,  "the  faults  of  the  game  to-day  are 
directly  attributable."  The  dense  mass  plays 
"arise  almost  wholly  from  the  idea  of  inter- 
ference massed  ahead,"  and  the  tackling  below 
the  waist  is  responsible  for  a  large  share  of 
the  more  serious  injuries  in  the  "open"  game. 
The  practical  result  of  the  offside  play  is  that 
any  player  can  and  is  expected  to  "go  for"  any 
player  on  the  opposite  side,  and  if  he  can 
"knock  him  out,"  all  the  better.  The  umpire 
and  referee  must  watch  not  only  the  man  with 
the  ball  and  those  opposing  him,  but  all  the 
other  players  at  the  same  time,  which  is  mani- 
festly impossible  and  gives  the  present  wide 
opportunity  for  dirty  playing  without  being 
detected. 

THE  remedy  for  the  faults  of  the  game, 
Mr.  Williams  feels  sure,  is  to  do  away 
with  these  two  vicious  innovations  and  to  go 
back  to  the  spirit  of  the  old  rules : 

"The  concrete  results  of  play,  if  the  change 
should  be  made,  would  be,  first,  the  line  men 
could  open  up  holes  in  the  line  where  they  stand, 
but  could  not  advance  in  front  of  the  ball  to  put 
out— or,  more  accurately  described,  'knock  out' 
— the  proposing  tacklers.  The  powers  of  these 
tackier s  would  be  lessened  by  their  restriction  to 
waist-high  tackles.  With  the  ball  fairly  in  play, 
the  opposing  team  could  only  touch  the  runner 
with  the  ball.  His  support  from  his  own  team 
would  not  come  from  a  lot  of  thugs  running 
ahead  of  him  for  knock-out  purposes,  but  from  a 
body  of  supporters  ready  to  receive  the  ball  by 
pass  when  he  himself  had  failed  to  avoid  or 
overcome  the  opposing  tacklers.  The  change 
would  restore  the  lost  art  of  passing,  requiring 
skill,  strength  and  nicety  of  judgment,  both  the 
quarterback  pass  from  a  down  and  the  pass  in 
motion.  The  good  pass  was  as  much  a  tninp^  of 
beauty  and  interest  as  the  grand  run  or  long  kick." 

Already,  it  may  be  noted,  the  old  game  of 
association  football — the  socker  or  soccer 
game — is  being  rapidly  restored.  An  inter- 
collegiate league  has  been  formed  to  play  the 


THE  FRENZIED  CONDITION  OF  RUSSIA 


25 


old  game,  in  which  Harvard,  Columbia,  Cor- 
ndJ,  Princeton  and  Pennsylvania  are  already 
represented,  and  Yale  is  expected  soon  to  be. 

PROFESSIONAUSM  is  another  evil  that, 
by  general  consent,  must  be  eliminated 
from  the  college  game.  President  Jordan,  of 
Stanford  University,  who  still  speaks  a  good 
word  for  the  present  game  as  "a  rough,  virile, 
unsparing,  man-making  contest,  with  a  dis- 
tinct lesson  in  courage,  patience,  self-control, 
and  cooperation,"  is  disgusted  with  the  pro- 
fessional feature.  He  says  in  Collier's  Weekly: 

**It  is  a  recognized  fact  that  many  members  of 
our  roost  successful  football  teams,  in  fact  most 
of  the  men  chosen  by  our  experts  for  an  'All- 
American'  line-up,  are  professional  or  semi-pro- 
fessional athletes.  That  is,  they  are  in  the  college 
not  for  education,  but  for  what  they  can  make 
out  of  the  game— taking  their  pay  in  cash  or 
Ec4oriety,  or  both.  Through  the  ingenuity  of 
non-academic  professional  coaches,  *rank  out- 
•i<iers/  Sb  far  as  university  standards  are  con- 
cerned, through  the  patriotism  of  alumni  and  in- 
terested citizens  (largely  gamblers,  saloon- 
keepers and  promoters)  a  good  many  'induce- 
ments' can  be  offered  to  the  husky  boys  of  the 
high  schools,  and  even  to  the  still  huskier  fellows 
of  no  school  at  all.  H  the  professor  in  the  college 
assumes  an  attitude  of  indifference  in  these  mat- 
ters, the  'bleacher'  set  has  its  way ;  the  more  scru- 
palous  of  the  student  body  are  swept  aside,  al- 
though  usually  in  the  majority,  and  the  team  is 
axed  for  victory." 

The  remedy  for  this  evil,  President  Jordan 
thinks,  is  in  the  hands  of  college  faculties. 
If  a  college  maintains  "snap  courses,"  night 
law  schools,  etc.,  it  should  at  least  debar  the 
students  in  these  courses  from  university 
privileges,  especially  in  athletics.  Another 
writer  in  Collier's,  Edward  S.  Jordan,  writing 
of  football  in  the  University  of  Minnesota, 
gives  the  names  of  man  after  man  who  has 
been  induced  by  financial  offers  to  come  to  the 
university  for  a  merely  nominal  period  in  order 
to  take  part  in  football  games  and  help  the 
university  win  victories.  After  telling  of  case 
after  case  of  this  kind— Usher  L.  Burdick, 
Henry  O'Brien,  "Sunny"  Thorp,  etc.— Mr. 
Jordan  says: 

'The  demand  for  victory  comes  with  no  more 
striking  force  from  the  commercial  interests  of 
Minneapolis  than  from  the  sporting  element, 
the  habitues  of  the  saloons,  the  cigar  stores,  and 
the  gambling  dives,  now  languishing  'under  the 
Kd.'  Minneapolis  has  had  a  wave  of  municipal 
reform.  The  city  conscience  has  been  exercised, 
and  vice  in  its  manifold  forms  has  been  driven 
from  the  town,  or  suppressed  beyond  the  reach 
of  the  novice.  There  are  no  curb  men  who  now 
even  dare  to  announce  in  a  whisper  chance  games 
going  on  'inside*;  yet  when  the  dignity  of  a  uni- 


versity is  loaned  to  the  practice  of  betting,  thou- 
sands of  dollars  are  openly  wagered  in  public  on 
the  results  of  the  larger  games.  Operators  on 
the  Board  of  Trade  boasted  to  me  of , betting 
money  on  local  and  outside  college  teams,  and  a 
cigar  dealer  on  a  principal  street  exhibited  a 
show-case  of  large  capacity  that  had  been  filled 
with  bills  put  up  on  a  big  game.  It  is  public 
knowledge  that  football  gamblers  need  fear  no 
municipal  ban.  This  is  all  a  part  of  the  Minne- 
sota system  of  athletics,  a  product  of  her  alliance 
with  commercial  Minneapolis." 

It  is  the  president  of  this  university— Presi- 
dent Northrup— who  says  that  the  game  has 
"such  a  tremendous  hold  upon  everybody"  that 
he  sees  "no  use  in  fighting  it  even  if  it  is  an 
evil." 


I N  RUSSIA  the  frenzies  of  all  the  month's 
1  revolutions  have  established  foundations 
for  new  reactions.  It  may  be  a  setting  sun 
that  now  reddens  the  edifice  of  autocracy,  as 
the  Indipendance  Beige  (Brussels)  proclaims; 
but  that  edifice  still  stands,  solitary  and  silent, 
for  the  moment,  yet  frowning  a  militant  de- 
fiance even  upon  its  peasantry,  who  have  dared 
to  invade  its  precincts  with  a  demand  for 
land,  more  land.  The  Czar  replies  by  demon- 
strating anew  to  his  critics  how  little  fitted  he 
is  to  occupy  a  throne  during  the  anguish  of  his 
empire's  transition  from  a  low  scale  of  civi- 
lization to  a  higher  one.  Reaction  itself  curses 
him  for  giving  strength,  by  the  weakness  of 
his  will,  to  the  enemies  of  his  absolutism.  He 
is  dealt  with  insolently  in  his  own  palace-— 
so  insolently  that  a  grand  duke  shot  him,  if 
we  are  to  believe  one  of  the  month's  tragical 
despatches.  The  sense  of  despair  with  which 
the  mother  of  Nicholas  II  has  so  long  regarded 
him  seems,  in  the  past  four  weeks,  to  have  ex- 
tended to  all  his  relatives.  That  is  why  so 
many  European  dailies  take  seriously  the  story 
of  a  revolution  within  the  palace,  barely  frus- 
trated, a  few  weeks  since,  by  the  energy  and 
high  spirit  of  a  wife  who  plays  the  part  of 
Mrs.  Micawber  to  a  man  who  is  always  wait- 
ing for  something  to  turn  up.  He  does  not 
wait  in  vain.  Tillers  of  the  soil,  no  longer 
able  to  subsist  upon  manifestoes,  took  to  the 
pillage  of  landed  estates.  Whole  regiments 
proclaimed  revolution.  Battleships  were 
navigated  in  and  out  of  port  by  mutineers. 
Murdered  Jews  lay  unburied  for  days  in  the 
streets  of  populous  cities.  Crowds  cheered 
wildly  when  a  former  minister  of  war,  prac- 
tising pacification  of  the  peasantry  by  the  ap- 
plication of  whips  to  bare  backs,  was  assassi- 
nated   for    witnessing    with    indifference    the 


96 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


outrage  of  the  women  of  a  whole  village  by 
his  own  drunken  troops.  Thus  revolutionary 
energy  radiated  outward  from  St.  Petersburg 
all  last  month,  until  the  balance  upon  which 
were    poised    the    foundations    of    Muscovite 


BY  THE  LIGHT  OF  THE  MOON 

Witte  (ready  to  flee):  '*  Wait  a  while!     Hush!     But  be 
ready  at  a  moment's  notice." 

—Kladderadatsch  (Berlin). 


bureaucratic  rule  in  Finland,  the  Caucasus, 
Poland,  became  overweighted  and  collapsed^ 
"Russia,"  says  the  Paris  Action,  "lies  in 
pieces." 

ALL  this  is  very  much  as  it  should  be,  to 
the  way  of  thinking  of  that  unbending 
reactionary,  Count  IgnatieflF,  now  so  high  in 
the  esteem  of  the  Czar  that  he  seemed  about 
to  be  made  dictator  when  the  month's  revolts 
were  threatening  personal  violence  to  the 
throne.  The  count  avows  that  in  Russia 
power  is  tyranny  and  that  tyranny  should  be 
absolute.  General  Trepoflf  is  his  ally  from 
motives  of  immediate  expediency.  The  two, 
with  Grand  Duke  Nicolai,  form  the  triumvi- 
rate through  which  the  forces  of  reaction 
make  themselves  articulate.  From  their 
number,  according  to  one  unconfirmed  report, 
will  be  chosen  the  dictator  whom  the  Czar  is 
urged  to  appoint  at  this  moment.  This  may 
be  rumor  only,  as  the  London  Telegraph  un- 
derstands, but  it  agrees  with  the  Paris  Temps 
that  reaction  is  waiting  confidently  for  its  op- 
portunity. For  that  reason  all  champions  of 
autocracy  have  resolved  not  to  intervene  just 
now.  Matters  must  not  be  allowed  to  mend. 
Confusion  must  grow  worse  confounded. 
Then,  when  the  hour  strikes,  reaction  can  be 
more  terrible  than  an  Ivan  would  make  it. 
The  influence  of  Ignatieff  and  his  sort  grows 
proportionately,  says  the  Journal  des  Debats 
(Paris),  with  the  spread  of  the  revolutionary 
movement.  "Should  the  ultra-reactionary 
party  gain  the  upper  hand  again,"  says  the 
London  Post,  "the  outbreak  of  a  counter- 
revolution may  be  feared,  the  consequences  of 
which  would  be  more  sanguinary  than  the 
present  troubles."  Fascinated  by  the  possi- 
bility, grand  ducal  baiters  of  the  rabble  give 
encouragement  to  mutiny  that  disorganizes 
the  very  troops  upon  which  the  existence  of 
any  form  of  government  must  depend.  All  the 
revolutions,  observes  the  Paris  Aurore,  are 
symptoms  of  the  one  conspiracy.  Its  object  is 
to  discredit  Witte. 

WITTE  lost  most  of  his  credit  last  month. 
Upon  that  point  the  acutestnobservers 
agree.  The  many  aggravations  of  his  dilemma 
are  now  the  greater  because  he  lacks  support 
of  any  substantial  kind.  However  much  of  a 
liberal  he  may  be,  he  is  so  only  from  expe- 
diency. Popular  leaders  feel  no  confidence  in 
him.  Court  circles  detest  him.  The  workmen 
in  their  meetings  call  him  a  fox.  In  Western 
Europe  he  is  scarcely  more  esteemed  than  he 


THE  SEAMY  SIDE  OF  LIFE  INSURANCE 


97 


Pram  ibti  lUmatrmUd  Landom.  Srnt*. 

CARRYING  POLAND'S  FORBIDDEN  NATIONAL  EMBLEM  THROUGH   WARSAW'S  STREETS 

Polish  revolutionaries  are  seen  here  carryina^  devices  of  the  white  eaele.  This  symbol  of  an  independent 
t4ti<jnality  has  been  proscribed  ever  since  Russian  Poland  passed  under  the  autocratic  sway  of  the  Czar.  The 
s»re  wearing  of  the  white  eagle  on  a  piece  of  jewelry  was  a  criminal  offense  until  last  month's  edict. 


is  in  his  own  country.  "He  is  obviously  a 
self-seeking  man  and  a  vain  one/'  says  the 
London  Spectator,  His  wish,  it  imagines,  is  to 
bring  about  a  revolution  without  sacrificing 
all  of  Czardom,  to  transmute  the  old  autocracy 
into  a  twentieth-century  royal  power.  "Before 
be  can  do  anything  he  must  convince  a  reflect- 
ive gentleman  with  a  feeble  will  who  is  swayed 
by  ideas  which  are  not  his  and  by  people  who 
are  his  enemies."  Then  the  Czar  dislikes 
Witte  "as  probably  not  devoted  and  certainly 
plebeian,"  and  makes  use  of  him  because  there 
is  no  one  else  to  use  just  now.  The  Spectator 
thinks  there  are  sources  of  weakness  in  both 
Witte*s  character  and  Witte's  patriotism  and 
these  render  him  a  poor  barrier  against  revolu- 
tion. But  Russia  stands  just  now,  according 
to  French  dailies  like  the  Paris  Temps,  be- 
tween Witte  and  reaction.  The  idea  makes  the 
St.  Petersburg  Russ  indignant.  "Reaction  is 
impossible,"  it  says.  "If  a  military  dictator- 
ship is  attempted  the  whole  country  will  go 
on  strike  and  thcCzar's  authority  will  be  con- 
fined to  the  region  of  Tsarskoe  Selo."    That  is 


far  from  evident  to  a  most  reliable  commenta- 
tor on  Russian  affairs,  the  London  Outlook. 
"The  reactionaries  are  not  dead,"  it  opines. 
"For  the  most  part  the  reactionaries  have  not 
even  left  their  posts  and  they  are  as  effectually 
in  possession  of  the  great  system  of  govern- 
mental machinery  as  are  the  employees  of  the 
posts  and  railways  of  the  country's  commu- 
nications." It  thinks  the  reactionaries  will  be 
able  to  manage  the  army  if  Witte  falls.  Then 
there  are  the  stories  of  Witte's  physical  break- 
down. "Injured  in  health  and  wounded  in 
spirit,  he  seems  to  be  suffering  from  partial 
paralysis  and  complete  exhaustion."  News  of 
his  resignation,  were  it  to  come  now,  must 
entail  a  revival,  on  the  most  ambitious  scale, 
of  the  policy  for  which  Plehve,  the  Grand 
Duke  Sergius,  and  so  many  others,  have  paid 
with  their  lives. 


THE  seamy  side  of  life  insurance  has  con- 
tinued on  exhibition  in  New  York  dur- 
ing the  month  and  the  feeling  of  public  in- 
dignation   and    disgust    still    finds    abundant 


38 


CURRENT  UTERATURE 


Czar— ** Pull  on  the  lines.  Count,  pull  on  the  lines!' 
WiTTB — **I  das'ent,  .Little  Father,  they're  rotten!" 

— Maybell  in  Brooklyn  Eagle. 

expression.  But  there  are  also  evident  a 
growing  conviction  that  the  worst  has  been 
told  and  a  disposition  to  get  comfort  out  of 
the  fact  that  the  situation  might  have  been 
even  worse  than  it  is.  No  company,  so  far  as 
has  yet  transpired,  has  been  looted  to  the 
point  of  insolvency  and  no  death-claims  have 
gone  unpaid,  as  the  cartoonists  might  lead  us 
to  think,  in  consequence  of  the  "grafting"  that 
has  gone  on  for  thirty  years  or  more.  The 
system  of  straight  life  insurance  has  not  been 
discredited.  Such  at  least  is  the  conclusion 
the  Kansas  Capital  draws.    It  says: 

"In  condemning  the  outrageous  misuse  of  their 
trust  funds  and  abuse  of  their  character  as 
trustees  by  the  managements  of  the  'high  finance' 
companies,  it  should  be  repeated  over  and  over 
again,  lest  the  public  get  an  utterly  misleading 
notion  about  what  has  been  proven  in  the  in- 
vestigation, that  life  insurance  itself  comes  out 
of  the  fire  unscathed  as  a  device  for  the  protec- 
tion of  dependent  families  which  is  deserving  of 
all  praise.  Even  the  worst  abused  companies  are 
perfectly  solvent,  indeed  rich.  And  it  should  be 
remembered  that  in  all  the  panics  of  fiftv  years 
not  an  old  line  life  insurance  company  of  prom- 
inence has  ever  gone  down.  So  much  can  not  be 
said  of  any  other,  business  in  the  land,  and  it 
leaves  no  warrant  whatever  for  suspicion  of  the 
solvency  of  the  life  insurance  companies  doing  a 
general  business  over  the  United  States." 

OTHER  forms  of  consolation  are  available 
at  the  present  moment.  "It  is  doubtful 
if  a  more  thorough  investigation  was  ever 
known  in  this  country,"  says  the  New  Orleans 
Times-Democrat;  and  "it  is     clear  no  inves- 


tigation ever  made  will  have  more  beneficial 
results."  The  Springfield  Republican  gets  en- 
couragement by  contrasting  the  deferential  and 
teachable  spirit  of  some  of  the  directors  who 
have  recently  testified  before  the  committee, 
notably  Senator  Depew,  with  the  "brazen  de- 
fiance" exhibited  earlier  in  the  investigation. 
And  expressions  of  satisfaction  are  general 
over  the  recent  resignations  that  have  been 
made.  Referring  to  the  retirement  of  Presi- 
dent McCurdy  from  the  New  York  Mutual, 
The  World  (New  York)  says: 

"To  the  erstwhile  dummy  trustees  of  the  Mu- 
tual is  due  the  ousting  of  the  McCurdys.  Those 
trustees  were  not  thick-skinned  hypocrites.  The 
perjury  was  none  of  theirs.  The  policy-holders 
were  not  robbed  for  their  profit.  Their  names  and 
their  reputations  were  a  cloak,  but  when  what  had 
been  concealed  was  disclosed  they  recognized  that 
the  duty  was  theirs  to  act,  and  they  acted.  The 
dummies  of  the  New  York  Life  are  now  respon- 
sible for  the  continuance  of  McCall  and  Perkins 
[the  latter  has  since  resigned].  They  have  the 
power.  They  are  in  law  the  trustees  of  the 
policy-hblders." 

The  reorganization  of  the  Equitable,  the  re- 
tirement of  McCurdy  (succeeded  by  Charles 
A.  Peabody,  an  attorney  of  William  Waldorf 
Astor,  at  a  salary  of  $50,000)  from  the  Mutual, 
and  the  resignation  of  Vice-President  Perkins 
from  the  New  York  Life,  leaves  President 
McCall,  the  president  of  the  latter  company, 
as  the  chief  target  now  for  the  press.  The 
Cleveland  Leader  appeals  to  his  directors: 

"Is  it  possible  that  McCall,  of  the  New  York 
Life,  pan  cling  indefinitely  to  his  place  of  power 
and  his  huge  salary?  What  are  the  trustees  of 
that  corporation  doing  for  their  policyholders? 
When  do  they  propose  to  show  that  they  are 
fit  for  the  responsibilities  with  which  they  are 
entrusted?  If  McCall  will  not  let  go  he  should 
be  kicked  out." 

Two  other  resignations  that  are  clamored 
for  are  those  of  Senators  Depew  and  Piatt 
from  their  seats  in  the  upper  house  at  Wash- 
ington.     The    Journal    of    Commerce    (New 


THE  RUSSIAN  BEAR  BURSTS  HIS  BONDS 


LIFE  INSURANCE  REMEDIES 


29 


York),  not  a  political  paper,  referring  to  Sena- 
tor Depew's  record  as  a  director  of  the  Equi- 
table and  to  Senator  Piatt's  admissions  as  to 
his  constant  receptance  for  years  of  campaign 
contribations  from  the  life  insurance  com- 
panies, says: 

"Both  Senators  should  resign.  Neither  has 
been,  is  or  can  be  a  good  and  faithful  servant  of 
this  great  State,  and  their  presence  in  the  Senate 
covers  it  with  confusion  and  humiliation.  It  is 
many  years  since  the  Empire  State  has  had  a 
worthy  representation  in  that  august  body,  and 
to-day  it  can  only  be  regarded  with  mortification 
and  shame.  Nothing  in  the  political  life  of  either 
Senator  would  so  become  him  as  the  leaving  it." 

POINTS  in  the  testimony  during  the  last 
few  weeks  that  have  elicited  most  com- 
ment have  been  the  story  told  by  Mr.  Ryan 
of  Mr.  Harriman's  attempt,  by  threats  of  the 
adverse  use  of  his  political  power,  to  secure 
a  participation  in  the  purchase  made  by  Mr. 
Ryan  of  Mr.  Hyde's  stock  in  the  Equitable; 
Senator  Piatt's  acknowledgment  that  he  re- 
ceived many  contributions  from  the  Equitable 
and  other  companies  for  the  Republican  State 
campaigns;  and  Mr.  Hyde's  testimony  to  the 
effect  that  Governor  Odell  used  his  political 
power  to  compel  the  Mercantile  Trust  Com- 
pany (one  of  the  Equi table's  organizations) 
to  make  good  the  loss  he  incurred  on  the  stock 
of  the  "shipbuilding  trust"  which  he  purchased 
through  the  Mercantile.  The  bearing  upon 
politics  and  politicians  has,  indeed,  been  the 
most  sensational  feature  of  all  the  more  recent 
disclosures.  In  addition  to  these  major 
charges,  a  series  of  minor  disclosures  have 
been  made,  such  as  the  payment  by  the  Mutual 
Reserve  of  $3,500  to  W.  H.  Phelps,  of  St. 
Louis,  before  a  license  to  do  business  in  Mis- 
souri could  be  secured ;  the  payment  by  the 
Prudential  of  considerable  sums  to  "J^^S^" 
Hamilton,  the  legislative  lobbyist  at  Albany; 


BUT  THB  CONSTITUTIONAL  RESULT  IS  NOT  TO 
HIS  LIKING 

—Kladderadatsch  (Berlin). 


THE  BkcCURDYS  ARE  RESIGNING 

— McCutcheon  In  Chicago  Trtbune, 

and  the  payment  to  an  attach^  in  the  State  in- 
surance deparment  at  Albany  of  a  salary  of 
$500  a  year  by  a  Binghamton  company.  The 
New  Orleans  Times-Democrat  describes  the 
situation  as  follows: 

"The  companies,  or  rather  the  officials  of  the 
companies,  appear  to  have  had  two  grand  out- 
lets for  money.  What  funds  were  not  diverted 
into  their  own  pockets  or  those  of  their  relatives, 
seem  to  have  been  given  freely  to  support  a 
crowd  of  representatives  of  the  class  whose  mal- 
odorous activities  are  sufficiently  well  known 
around  legislative  halls  and  the  offices  of  public 
officials.  Men  have  been  paid  money  on  all  sorts 
of  grounds:  for  aiding  and  for  refraining  from 
doing  anything  to  the  injury  of  the  companies. 
Were  it  not  proved  beyond  question  that  many 
leading  insurance  officials  are  simply  'grafters  of 
a  larger  growth,'  one  would  be  tempted  to  sym- 
pathize with  the  way  in  which  they  were  appar- 
ently held  up  by  Tom,  Dick  and  Harry  with  some 
sort  of  pull  with  a^  Legislature  or  an  insurance 
commissioner  or  someone. 


DISCUSSION  of  remedies  for  the  life  in- 
surance evils  has  not,  so  far,  been  very 
general,  except  on  the  one  suggestion  of  Fed- 
eral supervision,  which  is  arousing  very  con- 
siderable opposition.  A  series  of  suggestions 
for  legislative  remedies  has  been  made  to  the 
investigating  committee  by  Gage  E.  Tarbell, 
of  the  Equitable,  which  has  been  favorably  re- 
ceived.   It  includes  "complete  publicity,"  with 


30 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


various  changes  in  bookkeeping  to  facilitate 
such  publicity;  political  contributions  from  life 
insurance  funds  to  be  made  a  misdemeanor; 
no  officer  in  a  life  insurance  company  to  be 
allowed  to  accept  a  salaried  office  in  any  other 
corporation;  no  life  insurance  company  to  be 
allowed  hereafter  to  hold  more  than  20  per 
cent  of  the  capital  stock  in  any  bank,  trust 
company  or  other  corporation.  A  more  elab- 
orate series  of  reforms  is  proposed  by  Louis  D. 
Brandeis,  in  an  address  before  the  Commercial 
Gub  of  Boston.  Mr.  Brandeis  is  the  counsel 
for  the  Protective  Committee  of  policyholders 
in  the  Equitable.  After  a  very  lucid  statement 
of  the  situation,  arraigning  the  officials  of  the 
big  companies  for  selfish  and  dishonest  abuse 
of  power  and  gross  inefficiency,  he  presents  a 
list  of  ten  reforms,  including  the  following: 
Issuance  of  deferred  dividend  policies  to  be 
discontinued;  the  forfeiture  of  policies  to  be 
prohibited;  investments  restricted  as  in  the 
case  of  savings-banks;  officials  to  be  debarred 
from  engaging  in  other  business;  the  size  of 
companies  to  be  limited.  Mr.  Brandeis  con- 
siders that  the  present  evils  must  be  prevented 
in  the  future  or  we  shall  soon  find  the  people 
resorting  to  State  insurance.  This  he  would 
consider  "at  the  present  time  highly  unde- 
sirable" ;  but  he  faces  the  possibility  as  follows : 

"If  our  people  cannot  secure  life  insurance  at  a 
proper  cost  and  through  private  agencies  which 
deal  fairly  with  them,  or  if  they  cannot  procure 
it  through  private  agencies  except  at  the  price  of 
erecting  financial  monsters  which  dominate  the 
business  world  and  corrupt  our  political  institu- 
tionSp  they  will  discard  the  private  agency  and 
resort  to  State  insurance. 

"Despite  your  or  my  protest,  the  extension  of 
Government  activity  into  fields  now  occupied  by 
private  business  is  urged  on  every  side.  Of  all 
services  which  the  community  requires,  there  is 
none  in  which  the  State  could  more  easily  engage 
than  that  of  insuring  the  lives  of  its  citizens.  The 
business  of  life  insurance  is  one  of  extraordinary 
simplicity.  To  conduct  it  successfully  requires 
neither  energy  nor  initiative,  and  if  pursued  by 
the  State  does  not  even  call  for  the  exercise  of 
any  high  degree  of  business  judgment^  The  sole 
requisites  are  honesty,  accuracy  and  economy." 

FEDERAL  supervision  of  insurance  is,  how- 
ever, the  most  discussed  of  the  remedies 
so  far  proposed.  It  is  recommended  by  the 
President  in  his  recent  message,  and  has  al- 
ready aroused  some  discussion  on  the  floor  of 
the  Senate.  Mr.  Brandeis  is  very  positive  in 
his  oppositon  to  it.  He  says  in  the  address 
already  quoted  from: 

"Doubtless  the  insurance  departments  of  some 


States  are  subjects  for  just  criticism.  In  many 
of  the  States  the.  department  is  inefficient,  in  some 
doubtless  corrupt  But  is  there  anything  in  our 
experience  of  Federal  supervision  of  other  de- 
partments of  business  which  should  lead  us  to 
assume  that  it  will  be  freer  from  grounds  of 
criticism  or  on  the  whole  more  efficient  dian  the 
best  insurance  department  of  any  of  the  States  ? 
For  it  must  be  remembered  that  an  efficient  super- 
vision by  the  department  of  any  State  will  in 
effect  protect  all  the  policyholders  of  the  com- 
pany wherever  they  may  reside.  Let  us  remem- 
ber rather  the  ineffectiveness  for  eighteen  long 
years  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  to 
deal  with  railroad  abuses,  the  futile  investigation 
by  Commissioner  Garfield  of  the  Beef  Trust,  and 
the  unfinished  investigation  into  the  affairs  of  the 
Oil  Trust,  in  which  he  has  since  been  engaged. 
Federal  supervision  would  serve  only  to  cen- 
tralize still  further  the  power  of  otu  Government 
and  to  increase  still  further  the  powers  of  the 
corporations." 

THE  demand  for  Federal  supervision  seems 
to  The  Sun  (N.  Y.)  "only  a  symptom  of 
the  general  but  perhaps  temporary  mania  for 
reforming  everything  that  ought  to  be  re- 
formed by  increasing  the  powers  of  the  gov- 
ernment. Federal,  State  or  municipal."  The 
Detroit  News,  however,  thinks  that  this  move- 
ment which  the  Sun  calls  a  "mania"  is  destined 
to  increase  and  to  enlist  in  its  behalf  not  only 
the  owners  of  insurance  companies  but  of  rail- 
way corporations  and  others.  Speaking  of  in- 
surance business  it  says:  "Thousands  of  men 
who  have  spent  years  in  working  up  a  business 
and  establishing  a  reputation  find  themselves 
handicapped  because  the  central  coterie  which 
juggled  the  funds  and  misused  public  con- 
fidence has  been  exposed."  It  is  no  wonder, 
the  News  thinks,  that  such  men  now  demand 
Federal  control  as  a  matter  of  self-protection. 
Two  interesting  bills  have  been  introduced 
in  Congress  which  are  desigfned  to  give  Fed- 
eral supervision  of  insurance  in  a  way  that 
avoids  most  of  the  objections  raised  on  con- 
stitutional and  other  grounds.  They  provide 
merely  for  inspection  by  a  Federal  department 
of  all  insurance  companies  seeking  to  do 
business  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  in  the 
territories  and  in  our  insular  possessions.  It 
is  contended  that  any  company  seeking  ex- 
tended public  confidence  would  have  to  submit 
to  such  inspection,  and  that  thereby  all  the 
practical  results  of  Federal  supervision  would 
be  obtained  without  impairing  in  any  way 
supervision  by  the  various  State  departments. 
This  plan  is  said  to  have  the  President's  en- 
dorsement. The  New  York  Times  thinks  it 
would  be  constitutional  but  ineffective  as  a 
means  of  checking  the  present  forms  of  evil. 


THE  PERSUASION  OF  ABDUL  HAMID 


31 


TURKEY'S  subtle  Sultan,  after  five  irri- 
tated refusals  to  have  anything  to  do 
with  the  latest  international  scheme  for  ter- 
minating the  terrors  of  Macedonia,  has  been 
subjected  to  the  suasion  of  a  fleet  of  war-ships. 
Abdtd  Hamid  was  practically  at  war  with  five 
powers  simultaneously  less  than  a  month  ago. 
He  saw  his  port  of  Mitylene  seized,  descents 
made  upon  an  island  or  two,  contingents 
landed,  custom-houses  held.  Yet  the  head  of 
the  house  of  Othman  stood  firm.  He  threat- 
ened to  glut  the  furies  of  Mohammedan  fanat- 
icism upon  the  Christians  in  Constantinople 
kfore  he  would  consent  to  what  is  in  effect  " 
direct  European  control  over  the  finances  of 
Macedonia  and  the  transmutation  of  his  own 
authority  in  that  region  into  the  ghost  of  its 
fcwmer  self.  But  Abdul  Hamid  did  at  last 
bring  himself  to  look  into  the  mirror  of  his 
bumiliation  and  behold  therein  the  specter 
of  his  sovereignty  in  Europe.  He  saved  his 
ace  by  consenting  "in  principle"  only.  Points 
of  detail  are  to  be  settled  later.  Europe's  sur- 
prise at  the  outcome  finds  free  expression. 
"Had  he  determined  to  meet  force  by  force," 
says  the  London  Times  of  the  Sultan,  "the 
task  of  reducing  him  to  submission  might  have 
cost  more  blood  and  treasure  than  seems  to  be 
iiragined  in  some  quarters."  With  that  digni- 
fied urbanity  and  naturally  majestic  grace  for 


Otpyri^t  bj  H.  C.  Wbite  Cob,  N.  Y. 

WHERE  THE  SULTAN  THREATENED  A 
MASSACRE 

This  shows  Constantinople  with  the  bridge  over  the 
Crtjldcn  Horn  to  the  Turkish  quarter.  Abdul  Hamid 
*fud  the  powers  that  the  Mohammedans  would  rush 
•T^tT  the  bridge  and  slay  the  Christians  if  a  naval  dem- 
cs»;ration  were  made. 


Copjrrigtic  by  H.  C.  White  Co.,  N.  T. 

RESIDENCE  OP  THE  TURKISH  SULTANS 
It  is  at  Constantinople  and  the  heir  to  the  throne  of 


Abdul     Hamid    was    surrej 
recently  by  the  Sultan's^  or( 
despatches 


eptitiously    conveyed     there 
der.according  to  last  month's 


which  he  is  so  famed,  Abdul  Hamid  had  as- 
sured the  few  diplomatists  who  have  access 
to  himself  that  he  could  not  yield.  And  yield 
he  does. 

THE  unexpected,  by  happening  thus  in  Con- 
stantinople, convinces  the  Paris  Gaulois 
anew  that  a  fleet  of  battleships  is  the  only 
counter-irritant  to  the  dogmas  of  the  Sultan's 
religion.  For  the  scruples  of  the  Sultan  in 
the  present  case  were  wholly  religious,  The 
Koran  prohibits  the  very  thing  the  powers 
have  just  forced  from  Abdul  Hamid  — 
financial  control  of  a  Moslem  province  by 
the  Christian  dog.  Voluntary  acceptance 
of  the  terms  now  proposed  to  him  would, 
he  says,  mean  his  abdication  in  the  eyes  of 
every  true  Mussulman.  But  the  Sultan's  theo- 
cratic sanctity  remains  unaffected  when  he 
yields  to  superior  force.  Those  champions  of 
orthodoxy,  the  members  of  the  Ulema,  and 
that  exalted  hierarch,  the  Sheik-ul-Islam, 
agree  that  when  the  Sultan  is  faced  by  squad- 
rons and  battalions  he  has  no  choice  but  to 
submit.  Terms  wrung  from  him  when  he  is 
left  with  no  alternative  may  be  at  variance 
with  the  precepts  of  the  Koran,  as  authori- 
tatively expounded,  but  they  do  not  com- 
promise his  orthodoxy.  If  Abdul  Hamid  sins 
unwillingly,  he  is  free  from  blame.  But  the 
erratic  way  in  which  the  great  powers  resort 
to  armed  force  in  their  dealings  with  Turkey 
has  aggravated  the  discord  of  the  concert  of 
Europe.    Austria-Hungary  long  held  back  be- 


3a 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


cause  Russia  once  sent  war-ships  to  Turkish 
waters  without  due  notice  to  herself.  France 
has  also  been  criticized  for  moving  her  squad- 
rons too  near  Constantinople  without  first  ob- 
taining the  general  approval.  The  diplomacy 
of  Constantinople  has,  again  and  again,  found 
it  easy  to  induce  Europe  to  postpone  a  united 
naval  demonstration.  For  the  first  time  in 
many  years,  Abdul  Hamid  has  openly  defied 
instead  of  furtively  evading. 

AGGRAVATED  as  the  lot  of  the  Chris- 
tians in  Turkey  thus  becomes,  they 
suffer  from  the  additional  scourge  of  fresh 
dissensions  among  themselves.  In  the  Euro- 
pean portion  of  the  Sultan's  empire  the  Chris- 
tian element  in  the  population  is  wholly  unable 
to  unite  in  the  presence  of  the  common  enemy. 
Thcrd  are  Protestant  missionaries.  Orthodox 
Greek  missionaries,  Roman  Catholic  mission- 
aries. National  churches  owing  ecclesiastical 
obedience  to  superior  authority  in  Russia, 
Bulgaria,  Greece  and  S'ervia  began  last  month 


another  internecine  strife  of  sect  against  sect. 
Although  in  a  few  parts  of  EuVopean  Turkey, 
according  to  the  census  just  taken,  the  Chris- 
tians constitute  a  decided  majority  of  the  popu- 
lation, they  neutralize  this  advantage  by  mu- 
tual jealousies  between  Greek  and  Roumanian, 
Slav  and  Suabian.  Everywhere,  reports 
James  Bryce,  after  a  tour  of  the  region  just 
completed,  the  Christian  is  unable  to  hold  his 
own  against  the  Moslem.  Still  another  source 
of  discord  is  education.  Servia,  Roumania, 
Bulgaria  and  Greece  maintain  separate  sets  of 
schools,  which  are  too  often  but  nests  of  politi- 
cal propaganda.  In  no  part  of  European  Tur- 
key is  there  even  a  tendency  to  that  union  of 
Christian  forces  which  is  indispensable  to 
headway  against  the  exactions  of  the  Moham- 
medan overlord.  In  strijcing  contrast  with  this 
dissension  is  the  unity  among  the  Turks,  who 
are  held  together  by  the  bond  of  religion  and 
of  that  national  tradition  which  makes  them 
out  a  body  of  conquerors  surrounded  by  a  sub- 
ject population. 


1 

-  H 

1 

WS  •  1  >^ 

'  « 

'  si 

:'  -if^^ 

il^^B^^^  ^jIH^HI 

1                   ^ 

\.       ...J 

THE  CROSS  THAT  SAVES  MAIDS  AND  MATRONS  FROM  THE  HAREM 

These  Bulf^artan  women  have  crosses  on  their  foreheads.  In  some  villagres  all  the  women  are  thus  branded. 
The  cross  inspires  aversion  in  the  Turks  and  averts  from  a  woman  the  fate  of  abduction j  and  imprisonment  in  a 
Mohammedan  harem. 


33 


Literature    and     Art 


NEW  REVELATIONS  OF  VICTOR  HUGO 


A  woric  full  of  interest,  especially  for  lovers 
A  Victor  Hugo,  has  just  appeared  in  Paris. 
It  is  from  the  pen  of  a  distinguished  French 
nan  of  letters,  M.  Paul  Stapfer,*  who  for  a 
tine  shared  the  poet's  exile  in  Guernsey.  M. 
Stapfer  became  a  sort  of  Boswell  and  took 
exact  and  copious  notes  of  his  conversations 
with  the  great  writer  upon  all  sorts  of  sub- 
jects—literature, philosophy,  theology,  politics. 
His  book,  therefore,  has  almost  the  value  of  a 
yew  work  by  Victor  Hugo.  One  recognizes 
-it  (Mce  the  ''Olympian"  phrase  of  the  master 
in  these  utterances,  full  of  odginality  2ind 
charm.  It  is  as  though  the  golden  tones  of  the 
tnnnpct  voice,  so  long  stilled,  were  heard  again 
from  the  Pantheon. 

Victor  Hugo  confided  to  his  friend  the  amaz- 
rug  intelligence  that  Marius,  one  of  the  princi- 
pal characters  in  "Les  Miserables,"  was  no 
other  than  himself.  "He  told  me,"  says  M. 
Stapfer,  "that  Marius  was  created  in  his  own 
!:kened8,  that  he  had  put  into  this  character  his 
'/WB  traits,  and  that  in  the  acts  and  career  of 
the  lover  of  Cosctte  would  be  found  the  whole 
history  of  his  own  life,  even  to  the  very  list  of 
bis  dinners." 

In  his  conversations  upon  literature  with 
M  Staffer,  Victor  Hugo  expressed  boundless 
ybsdmtion  for  Dante.  He  referred  to  "Pur- 
gatory* and  "Paradise"  as  "two  badly  under- 
stood poesns  which  are  at  least  equal  to  the 
InferoOw"*  Shakespeare,  however,  may  be 
said  to  have  been  the  god  of  his  literary  idol- 
atry.   He  said  to  his  friend: 

"As  rcigards  this  great  poet,  you  share  in  the 
mrrent  ofnnioci  which  has  been  made  the  fashion 
by  Taiae  and.  Deschanel,  who  see  in  Shakespeare 
merely  a  reproduction  of  men  as  they  are  and 
hi  nature  as  she  is.  According  to  this  view 
Shakespeare  would  be  no  more  than  the  prototype 
r.f  Balnc  But  it  is  not  so.  His  characters  par- 
ticipate in  the  ideal,  like  those  of  Corneille  and 
Aeschylus.  Where  can  you  find  in  nature,  I  pray 
^oa,  the  types  of  Macbeth,  of  Richard  III,  of 
bthclk>,  of  Falstaff— above  all,  of  Falstaff?  To 
the  human  element  Shakespeare  adds  the  super- 
hnman  element,  and  it  is  by  reason  of  this  that 
be  is  great.  Every  true  poet  is  a  creator  of  types ; 
now  it  is  of  the  very  essence  of  types  that  they 
be  above  nature  and  superhuman." 


•Victor  Hugo  X   Guernsey. 
'>adin  et  Cie     Paris. 


By    Paul    Stapfer. 


He  acknowledged  that  there  are  blemishes 
in  Shakespeare.  He  disapproved,  for  example, 
of  the  final  scene  in  "Hamlet,"  and  especially 
of  the  exchanging  of  the  foils.  But  on  such 
blemishes  he  disliked  to  dwell.  '1  am  a  fanatic 
upon  this  point,"  he  said.  "I  am  not  one  of 
those  who  hold:  Quandoque  bonus  dormitat 
Homerus  (Sometimes  the  good  Homer  nods). 
I  admire  all  in  Homer,'  in  Shakespeare  and 
the  Bible." 

Among  philosophers  he  particularly  ad- 
mired Spinoza,  in  whose  grandiose  dreams  he 
probably  saw  reflections  of  his  own.  To 
Plautus  he  awarded  very  high  rank,  claiming 
that  he  was  the  equal  of  Moliere  and  would 
be  comparable  to  Shakespeare  had  he  pos- 
sessed the  tragic  gift ;  he  held  that  the  Roman 
dramatist  was  less  philosophic  and  profound 
than  Moliere,  but  that  he  excelled  the  French- 
man in  poetic  feeling  and  in  style.  "I  avoid 
reading  Plautus."  he  said,  "because  when  I 
have  begun  to  read  one  of  his  comedies  I  can- 
not leave  it  alone,  and  my  whole  morning  is 
gone."  Toward  the  great  French  classicist; 
Racine,  he  was  peculiarly  intolerant. 

"You  have  done  too  much  honor  to  Racine  in 
placing  him  in  the  group  of  the  greatest  poets, 
and  in  making  him  the  equal  of  Corneille.  Racine 
is  but  a  writer  of  the  third  rank,  hardly  superior 
to  Campistron.  He  is  essentially  a  bourgeois 
poet  He  responds  to  what  one  may  call  a  na- 
tional need,  so  universal  is  it  in  France:  the  need 
of  a  bourgeois  poetry.  .  .  .  The  bourgeois  have 
wished  to  have  their  poet.  They  have  one.  It  is 
Racine." 

One  of  Hugo's  particular  aversions  among 
modern  men  of  letters  was  Taine.  He  cited 
with  indignation  the  famous  phrase  of  the 
great  determinist,  "Vice  and  virtue  are  prod- 
ucts, like  vitrol  and  sugar,"  and  exclaimed  ear- 
nestly : 

"This  is  the  negation  of  the  difference  between 
good  and  evil.  Certainly  Dupanloup  is  not  my 
man,  but  I  approve  him  when  he  takes  the  field 
against  such  infamous  doctrines.  I  would  I  were 
in  Paris;  yes,  I  would  I  were  in  the  Academy 
that  I  might  vote  with  the  Bishop  of  Orleans 
against  this  whipster  of  the  schools  r 

Hugo  had  a  profound  contempt  for  Taine's 
famous  historical  theories.    Pointing  out  some 


34 


CURRENT   LITERATURE 


rom  "Tbe  Romance  <^f  Victor  Dago  and  Juliette  Drouet."    (O.  P.  Patnuni'i  Sena.) 
A  BAS-RELIEF  OF  HUGO,   BY  PROFESSOR   MICHEL. 


atrocious  errors  of  the  contemporary  press,  he 
said  that  the  Taine  of  i960  would  found  elabo- 
rate theories  upon  these  "documents"  of  the 
nineteenth  century. 

"The  great  moral  facts  alone  are  important  and 
not  the  external  details,  the  color  of  one's  hair, 
the  place  of  one's  birth,  etc.  .  .  .  Neither 
Tacitus  nor  Thucydides  has  fallen  into  this 
ridiculous  mistake.  What  matters  it  whether  a 
man's  hair  is  blond  or  black?  Will  you  pretend 
that  his  temperament  can  be  explained  by  this? 
.  .  .  The  criticism  in  fashion  reminds  me  of 
the  famous  problem :  Given  the  height  of  the 
tallest  mast  of  a  vessel  and  the  quantity  of  provi- 
sions on  board,  to  find  the  age  of  the  captain." 

M.  Stapfer's  book  contains  new  and  interest- 
ing information  concerning  Hugo's  intellectual 
equipment.  The  idolater  of  Shakespeare  did 
not  know  one  word  of  English.  His  knowledge 
of  the  greatest  of  dramatists  was  gained  from 
French  translations  and  must,  'therefore,  have 
been  very  imperfect.  He  knew  very  little 
Greek  and  his  knowledge  of  Greek  literature 
was  confined  to  Aeschylus  and  Homer,  whom 
he  read  in  Latin  translation.     Like  Cato,  he 


began  the  study  of  Greek  in  his  olc 
age,  "but  could  not  boast  of  having 
made  much  progress."  He  was  a 
thorough  and  brilliant  Latin  scholar 
and' could  recite  whole  pages  by  heart 
from  the  following  authors:  Horace, 
Tacitus,  Juvenal,  Virgil,  Lucretius, 
Justinius,  Quintus  Curtius  and  Sal- 
lust    M.  Stapfer  continues: 

"One  afternoon  I  encountered  Victor 
Hugo  wandering  in  meditative  mood 
through  the  country,  according  to  his 
wont.  Upon  seeing  me  he  burst  out 
excitedly : 

"T  have  not  yet  recovered  from  the 
stupefaction  with  which  I  have  been 
overwhelmed  by  a  discovery  I  made  this 
morning.  Imagine  it,  I  have  found  in 
Juvenal  a  translation  of  one  of  my 
verses,  and,  what  is  more,  of  an  unpub- 
lished verse!* 

"I  asked  for  an  explanation  of  so 
queer  a  phenomenon. 

"There  is  a  whole  volume  of  the 
"Chatiments."  *  he  replied,  'which  has 
not  yet  seen  the  light,  and  in  which  you 
will  read  this: 

"'"Personne    ne    connait    sa    maison 
mieux  que  moi 
Le  Champ  de  Mars."* 

"  'Well,  to-day,  by  chance,  I  opened 
my  Juvenal,  and  what  did  I  find  there? 

"  *  "Nulli  nota  magis  domus  est  sua 
quam  mihi  lucus  Martis.**  * 

"  'It  is  the  exact  translation  in  Latin 
of  my  French  verse.' 

"  'But,'  objected  I,  respectfully,  'would  not  your 
verse  be  more  likely  to  be  an  exact  translation  into 
French  of  Juvenal  s  Latin  verse?' 

'"No,  no!*  replied  he  energetically,  'for  it  is 
the  first  time  I  ever  came  across  it.  I  have  not 
read  absolutely  all  of  the  satires  of  Juvenal. 
There  are  some, that  I  know  almost  by  heart  from 
reading  them  over  and  over;  but  there  are  some 
also  that  I  do  not  know  and  this  is  one  of  them. 
Therefore,  one  of  us  two  must  necessarily  have 
stolen  from  the  other,  and  I  maintain  that  Juvenal 
is  the  thief.* " 

Contrary  to  the  general  impression,  Victor 
Hugo  was  a  lover  and  connoisseur  of  music. 
Here  are  his  opinions  on  some  of  the  German 
masters : 

"Neither  Goethe  nor  any  other  German  poet 
has  given  reality  to  his  dramatic  personages. 
Curious  fact!  The  German  musicians  offer  us 
more  real  creations  than  Goethe  or  Schiller.  The 
cataracts  and  the  forests  of  Beethoven  are  gen- 
uine forests  and  cataracts.  My  admiration  for 
Beethoven  is  only  equalled  by  that  which  I  have 
for  Gliick.  In  my  eyes  these  two  are  as  great 
geniuses  as  Aeschylus  and  Michael  Angelo.  In 
'Alceste*  and  in  'Armide'  there  are  pieces  of  a 
sublimity  that  has  never  been  surpassed  or  even 
attempted.     Mozart  is  great  but  he  comes  after 


LITERATURE   AND    ART 


35 


'jjBct  There  is  a  little  too  much  of  Louis  XIV 
-i  Mcsart  He  is  inferior  to  Gluck,  as  Rubens  is 
'  >  Rembfandt,  as  Raphael  is  to  Michael  Angelo, 
i'  Radne  is  to  0>meille  and  Moliere." 

The  religious  side  of  Victor  Hugo,  so  ap- 
arent  in  his  writings,  stands  out  more  clearly 
±m  ever  in  these  memoirs.  He  was  a  firm 
'jdicTer  in  God  and  in  the  immortality  of  the 
JOcl  and  looked  with  contempt  upon  the  in- 
SdelitT  which  inras  beginning  to  widen  its  em- 
pire in  France.  Upon  this  subject  he  always 
^e  with  passion.  Is  not  the  following  al- 
cost  worthy  of  St.  Paul  ? 

*t)h,  l^w  poor  atheism  is !  how  small  and  how 
iliaird !  *God  exists.    I  am  more  certain  of  His 


existence  than  of  my  own.  If  God  grants  me 
life  enough,  it  is  my  tlesire  to  write  a  book  in 
which  I  shall  demonstrate  that  prayer  is  neces- 
sary to  the  soul,  that  it  is  useful  and  efficacious. 
As  for  myself,  I  do  not  pass  four  hours  in  suc- 
cession without  praying.  I  pray  regularly  every 
morning  and  every  evening.  If  I  awake  during 
the  night  I  pray.  What  do  I  ask  of  God?  That 
he  give  mt  strength.  I  know  what  is  good  and 
what  is  evil,  but  I  am  weak,  I  am  conscious  of  mv 
weakness,  and  I  find  that  I  have  not  the  strength 
in  myself  to  do  that  which  I  know  to  be  right. 
God  supports  us  and  envelops  us.  We  exist  in 
Him.  In  Him  we  have  life,  movement,  bein^. 
He  is  the  Author  of  all,  the  Creator.  But  it  xs 
not  true  to  say  that  He  has  created  the  world. 
For  He  creates  eternally.  He  is  the  soul  of  the 
universe.    He  is  the  I  of  the  Infinite." 


THE  NOVEL  AS  A  POLITICAL  FORCE  IN  ITALIAN  HISTORY 


One  of  the  most  interesting  points  brought 
•:ut  in  Dr.    Spencer  Kennard's  new  book  on 

Italian  Romance  Writers"*  is  the  extent  to 
vhich  classical  learning  was  used  as  a  pall  to 
extinguish    the   national   aspirations  of   Italy 

t  the  opening  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and 
he  influence  which  the  novel,  and  above  all 
he  romantic  novel,  had  in  making  Italy  free. 
Vever  in  the  world's  history,  he  maintains, 
"35  the  reciprocal  influence  of  literature  and 
rob'tical  events  been  so  apparent  as  in  this 
xriod  of  Italian  history;  but  this  influence 
was  obtained  only  by  breaking  away  from  the 
icading-strings  of  the  ancient  classics. 

Dr.  Kennard,  as  will  be  recalled  by  our 
readers,  is  the  American  who  is  to  be  made  an 
Italian  noble  for  his  services  to  Italian  litera- 
ture, and  who  last  year  was  invited  to  lecture 
at  the  Sorbonne,  Paris — an  honor  extended  to 
no  other  American  since  the  days  of  Ben- 
jamin Franklin*  (see  Current  Literature, 
September).  In  the  introduction  to  his  new 
book  he  dwells  upon  this  connection  of  politics 
and  literature — a  connection  which  elsewhere 
he  is  emphasizing  to  Italian  minds  as  indicat- 
ing the  surest  means  to  secure  the  moral  re- 
generation of  the  Italian  people  to-day. 

Before  the  necessity  of  shaking  off  the 
foreign  yoke  had  been  realized  by  the  people 
of  Italy,  its  poets  and  novelists  had  defeated 
their  lives  to  the  movement.  The  Italian  novel 
owed  its  birth  not  to  mere  literary  aspiration, 
but  to  patriotic  purpose.  "Many  glowing 
pages,"  we  are  told,  "were  written  in  the  in- 
tervals of  campaigning,  and  sometimes  in  the 

•Ttaliaw     Rokakcb     Writbksi.      By    Joseph    Spencer 
Reasard .     Brentano's. 


dungeons  of  the  Austrian  oppression." 
then 


Fur- 


"The  fact  that  this  fiction  was  at  once  both  the 
child  and  the  parent  of  the  Italian  cry  for  free- 
dom, both  the  product  and  the  inspiration  of  the 
nation's  revolt,  cannot  be  too  strongly  empha- 
sized. It  is  this  interdependence  of  the  political, 
social,  and  literary  movements,  and  the  results 
achieved,  which  gives  to  this  Italian  evolution  its 
title  to  be  considered  one  of  the  world's  greatest 
evolutions.    ... 

"When  the  dawn  of  1800  shone  on  the  wretched 
peninsula,  Italian  nationalism  had  reached  its 
lowest  depth.  The  many  petty  states  were  cal- 
loused by  the  weight  of  diains  and  happy  in  their 
humiliation.  Dante's  apostrophe,  Ahif  serva 
Italia,  di  dolore  ostello!  had  never  been  more 
sadly  true,  yet  Italy  was  the  gayest  land  in 
Europe,  and  strangers  gathered  to  share  in  the 
perpetual  carnival.  This  thoughtlessness  was 
encouraged  by  foreign  masters  as  well  as  by 
petty  tyrants,  mindful  of  the  Juvenalian  panem 
et  circenses. 

"A  stifling  pall  of  classic  training  was  used  to 
extinguish  all  liberal  aspirations.  Humanism, 
that  inspiration  of  Italian  genius  during  the 
Renaissance,  was  now  frozen  into  a  pedantic 
scholarship.  In  the  schools  were  taught  a  fastid- 
ious taste  and  a  strict  observance  of  the  purity  of 
the  language,  in  the  hope  of  shutting  out  the  flood 
of  foreign  philosophical  and  literary  innovation." 

But  Napoleon's  invasion  broke  the  barriers, 
liberal  ideas  were  given  a  chance  to  propa- 
gate, the  words  "Glory"  and  "Liberty"  rang 
over  all  the  land,  and  the  Italian  romantic 
novel  came  into  existence  as  the  literary  ex- 
pression of  social  and  political  aspirations. 

The  first  novel  to  arouse  the  nation  was  the 
"Last  Letters  of  Jacobo  Ortis,"  by  Ugo  Fos- 
colo  (1798) — "a  masterpiece  unique  in  its 
double  character  of  poetic  prose  and  classical 


36 


CURRENT   LITERATURE 


transposition  of  a  romantic  subject."  But  the 
first  masterpiece,  the  first  real  Italian  romance, 
was  "I  Promessi  Sposi,"  by  Alessandro  Man- 
zoni,  "the  fixed  star  into  whose  orbit  other 
planets  were  attracted."  Every  Italian  novel- 
ist was  at  one  time  a  Manzonian,  and  to-day 
he  is  as  much  studied  and  as  greatly  admired  as 
at  the  time  of  his  death  in  1873.  His  great 
romance  is  still  a  text-book  in  his  country's 
schools.  His  ideas  of  literary  work  and  its  re- 
lations to  life  are  set  forth  by  Dr.  Kennard  as 
follows : 

"Manzoni  considered  literary  work  the  noblest 
of  missions.  On  a  paper  discovered  in  his  room 
after  his  death  was  found  the  following  sentence, 
copied  from  an  English  book:  'When  society 
becomes  better  enlightened,  no  literary  perform- 
ance which  is  a  mere  work  of  art  will  be  toler- 
ated.' This  feeling  restrained  him  from  admitting 
to  his  page  anything  unworthy  of  his  lofty  aim, 


even  though  he  might  thus  add  to  its  interest  and 
popularity.  Hence,  the  absence  from  his  novel  of 
scenes  of  love-making.  In  one  of  his  posthumous 
papers  he  tells  us  that  when  he  first  wrote  his 
novel  all  the  love-scenes  and  tender  endearments 
were  there.  But  on  revising  his  work  this  wasleft 
out.  'Because,*  he  says,  'we  ought  not  to  write 
about  love  in  such  a  manner  as  to  awaken  that 
passion  in  our  reader's  mind.  .  .  .  There  are 
many  other  feelings,  such  as  pity,  self-denial,  a 
desire  of  justice,  which  a  writer  should  strive  to 
excite,  there  can  never  be  too  much  of  them;  but 
as  for  love,  there  is  certainly  more  than  enough 
for  the  preservation  of  our  revered  species.* 

"He  continues:  'If  literature  had  no  higher 
aim  than  the  amusement  of  people  who  are  al- 
ways amusing  themselves,  it  would  be  tfie  vilest, 
most  frivolous  of  professions,  and  I  would  search 
for  some  manlier  employment  than  this  aping  of 
the  mountebank,  who  on  the  market-place  enter- 
tains with  a  story  a  crowd  of  peasants;  .  .  . 
he  at  least  affords  pleasure  to  those  who  live  in 
endless  toil  and  misery.' " 


SIDNEY  LANIER'S  PLACE  IN  AMERICAN  POETRY 


That  Sidney  Lanier  possessed  genius  no  one 
who  has  written  of  his  life  has  ever  denied. 
That  he  stands  in  the  front  rank  of  American 
men  of  letters  many,  at  least  on  this  side  the 
ocean,  can  be  found  to  affirm.  But  just  what 
his  rank  is  seems  to  be  a  question  still  timidly 
approached.  The  writer  of  the  first  important 
life  of  Lanier,*  Prof.  Edwin  Mims,  of  Dur- 
ham, N.  C,  does  not  even  attempt  the  task  of 
"placing"  him.  He  notes  that  Lanier's  posi- 
tion in  American,  to  say  nothing  of  English, 
literature,  is  still  a  moot  point  with  the  critics. 
Some  in  this  country  who  have  a  right  to 
speak  with  authority  "shake  their  heads  in 
disapproval  at  what  they  call  the  Lanier  cult." 
In  England  his  vogue  does  not  begin  to  match 
that  of  Emerson,  Poe  and  Walt  Whitman, 
while  "Madame  Blanc's  article  [a  few  years 
ago]  in  the  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes,  setting 
forth  the  charm  of  his  personality  and  the 
excellence  of  his  poetry,  met  with  little  re- 
sponse in  France."  More  time  is  demanded  by 
those  who  believe  justice  is  yet  to  be  done 
to  him.  Professor  Mims  is  positively  apolo- 
getic in  respect  to  some  of  Lanier's  preten- 
sions to  fame.  He  deprecates  the  unwise  pub- 
lication of  a  large  body  of  Lanier's  prose  work, 
and  admits  that  his  author  has  no  claim  to 
rank  high  as  a  critic.  Lack  of  wide  knowledge 
and  also  of  catholicity  of  judgment  may  rea- 

•Sli>NEY  Lanier.  By  Edwin  Mims.  Houghton, 
Mifflin  &  Co. 


sonably  be  urged,  he  thinks,  against  such  a 
claim  in  Lanier's  behalf.  His  single  novel, 
"Tiger  Lilies,"  is  no  doubt  a  negligible  quan- 
tity in  his  claim  for  remembrance.  Not  so, 
however,  his  achievement  in  the  field  of  poetry, 
both  as  singer  and  as  a  scientific  investigator 
of  the  technique  of  verse.  Professor  Mims 
says  that  Lanier  believed  that  he  was,  or  would 
be,  a  great  poet  There  is  no  lack  of  con- 
fidence in  a  declaration  like  the  following, 
which  the  biographer  quotes :  "I  know,  through 
the  fiercest  tests  of  life,  that  I  am  in  soul,  and 
shall  be  in  life  and  utterance,  a  great  poet." 
His  ideal  was  high  and  with  it  went  a  dis- 
paragement of  the  ideals  of  some  of  his  fellow 
practitioners.    Says  Professof  Mims: 

"Time  and  a^in  he  spoke  of  'the  feeble  maga- 
zine lyrics'  of  his  time.  'This  is  the  kind  of  poetry 
that  is  technically  called  culture  poetry,  yet  it  is 
in  reality  the  product  of  a  want  of  culture.  If 
these  gentlemen  and  ladies  would  read  the  old 
English  poetry  .  .  .  they  would  never  be  con- 
tent to  put  forth  these  little  diffuse  pettishnesses 
and  dandy  kickshaws  of  verse.'  And  again:  'In 
looking  around  at  the  publications  of  the  younger 
American  poets  I  am  struck  with  the  circum- 
stance that  none  of  them  even  attempt  anything 
great.  .  .  .  Hence  the  endless  multiplications 
of  those  little  feeble  magazine  lyrics  which  we  all 
know :  consisting  of  one  minute  idea  each,  which 
is  put  in  the  last  line  of  the  fourth  verse,  the 
other  three  verses  and  three  lines  being  mere  sur- 
plusage.' His  characterizations  of  contemporary 
poetry  are  strikingly  like  those  of  Walt  Whitman. 
Different  as  they  were  in  nearly  every  respect, 


LITERATURE    AND    ART 


37 


dK  two  poets  were  yet  alike  in  their  idea  that 
there  should  be  a  reaction  against  the  conven- 
tional and  artificial  poetry  of  their  time.  .  .  . 
In  both  poets,  there  is  a  range  and  sweep,  both  of 
conc^don  and  of  utterance,  that  sharply  differ- 
entiates them  from  all  other  poets  since  the  Civil 
War." 

Professor  Mims  posits  the  question  whether, 
vkith  this  faith  in  himself,  and  his  lofty  con- 
ception of  the  poet's  work,  Lanier  succeeded 
in  writing  poetry  that  will  stand  the  test  of 
time.  In  Lanier's  poetic  equipment  there  was 
"a  sense  of  melody  that  found  vent  primarily 
:n  music  and  then  in  words  which  moved  with 
a  certain  rhythmic  cadence."  Furthermore,  he 
had  ideas  and  "was  alive  to  the  problems  of 
his  age  and  to  the  beauties  of  nature."  Pro- 
fessor Mims's  analysis  next  takes  a  negative 
turn: 

'With  the  spiritual  endowment  of  a  poet  and 
in  unnsual  sense  of  melody,  where  was  he  lack- 
ing in  what  makes  a  great  poet?  In  j^wer  of 
expression.  He  never  attained,  except  in  a  few 
poems,  that  union  of  sound  and  sense  which  is 
characteristic  of  the  best  poetry.  The  touch  of 
finality  is  not  in  his  words;  the  subtle  charm  of 
Terseoutside  of  the  melody  and  the  meaning  is 
not  lis— he  failed  to  get  the  last  'touches  of 
vitalizing  force.'  He  did  not,  as  Lowell  said  of 
Kots,  'rediscover  the  delight  and  wonder  that 
lay  enchanted  in  the  dictionaxy.'  He  did  not 
attain  to  'the  pwerfection  and  the  precision  of  the 
instantaneous  line.'" 

Explanations  of  his  partial  failure  are  of- 
fered in  such  phrases  as  "lack  of  spontaneous 
utterance" — a  temperamental  defect;  "lack  of 
time  for  revision" — a  penalty  which  his  pov- 
erty exacted.  A  further  explanation,  rather 
strangely,  is  to  be  found  in  Lanier's  overwork- 
ing the  musical  effect  of  his  verse,  which  is 
directly  traceable  to  his  theory  of  verse.  If, 
however,  he  suffered  through  his  theories  as 
a  poet,  it  was  by  their  means  that  he  achieved 
his  solidest  results.  His  book  on  "The  Science 
of  English  Verse,"  built  upon  the  thesis  that 
"the  laws  of  music  and  of  verse  are  identical." 
that  in  all  respects  "verse  is  a  phenomenon  of 
«ound,"  remains  an  enduring  monument  to  his 
fame.  In  commenting  on  the  value  of  his 
theory.  Professor  Mims  says : 

The  book  emphasizes  a  point  that  needs  con- 
stantly to  be  emphasized,  both  by  poets  and  by 
smdents  of  poetry.  Followed  too  cloaely  by 
minor  poets,  it  will  tend  to  develop  artisans  rather 
than  artists.  Followed  by  the  greater  poets— 
consciously  or  unconsciously, — it  may  prove  to 
be  one  of  the  surest  signs  of  poetry.  This  phase 
of  poetical  work  needed  to  be  emphasized  in 
.\merica,  where  poetry,  with  the  exception  of 
Foe's,  has  been  deficient  in  this  very  element. 
Whatever  else  one  may  say  of  Emerson,  Bryant, 


SIDNEY  LANIER. 

He  said  :  *'*'  1  know,  tbroufi^h  the  fiercest  tests  of  life, 
that  I  am  in  soul,  ana  shall  be  in  life  and  utterance,  a 
great  poet." 

Whittier  or  Longfellow,  he  must  find  that  their 
poetry  as  a  whole  is  singularly  lacking  in  mel- 
ody. Moreover,  the  poet  who  was  the  most 
dominant  figure  in  American  literature  at  the  time 
when  Lanier  was  writing,  prided  himself  on  vio- 
lating every  law  of  form,  using  rhythm,  if  at  all, 
in  a  certain  elementary  or  oriental  sense.  T 
tried  to  read  a  beautifully  printed  and  scholarly 
volume  on  the  theory  of  poetry  received  by  mail 
this  morning  from  England/  said  Whitman,  l)ut 
gave  it  up  at  last  as  a  bad  job.'  One  may  be 
Uioroughly  just  to  Whitman  and  grant  the  worth 
of  his  work  in  American  literature,  and  yet  see 
the  value  of  Lanier's  contention  that  the  study  of 
the  formal  element  in  poetry  will  lead  to  a  much 
finer  poetry  than  we  have  yet  had  in  this  coun- 
try. Other  books  will  supplant  'The  Science  of 
English  Verse*  as  text-books,  and  few  may  ever 
read  it  understandingly ;  but  the  author's  name 
will  always  be  thought  of  in  any  discussion  of 
the  relations  of  music  and  poetry.  It  is  not  only 
a  scientific  monograph,  but  a  philosophical  treatise 
on  a  subject  that  will  be  discussed  with  increas- 
ing interest." 

In  even  stronger  terms  the  literary  editor  of 
the  Springfield  Republican  writes : 

"The  Science  of  English  Verse'  is  the  one 
epoch-making  study  in  prosody.  It  is  true  that  it 
is  full  of  mistakes.  It  is  puzzling,  even  mislead- 
ing to  the  unmusical  reader,  who  does  not  see 
exactly  where  Lanier  went  astray.  With  more 
time  to  work  his  theory  out,  or  with  the  measur- 
ing apparatus  of  a  modern  psychological  labora- 


38 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


tory  at  hand,  he  would  have  seen  that  the  nota- 
tion of  music  is  too  stereotyped  and  clumsy  for 
the  subtler  rhythm  of  poetry.  No  two  people  read 
alike,  and  each  reader  divides  up  the  time  to  suit 
himself.  It  would  have  been  a  matter  of  years 
to  measure  with  precision  the  allotment  of  time 
between  the  syllables  of  a  line.  But  the  essential 
principle  stands,  and  it  makes  nearly  worthless 


the  enormous  mass  of  grammarians'  literature 
which  had  been  accumulating  through  the  cen- 
turies. When  music  is  generally  understood  by 
the  cultivated  classes  who  have  to  do  with  poetry, 
it  will  be  seen  that  the  book  which  Lanier  per- 
haps came  to  write  because  he  was  not  a  scholar, 
is  the  most  original  and  important  contribution 
yet  made  to  American  scholarship." 


LILIEN:  A  NOTABLE  ARTIST  OF  THE  GHETTO 


'"His  art  is  a  flower  which  blooms  in  Zion," 
says  E.  A.  Regener,  in  a  lately  published 
book*  on  Ephraim  Moses  Lilien,  the  great 
Jewish  artist.  Lilien's  work  is  well  known 
throughout  Europe.  Though  scarcely  past  the 
age  of  thirty,  he  is  already  the  subject  of  two 
biographical  studies,  a  previous  volume  having 
been  contributed  by  Stefan  Zweig.  The  num- 
ber of  newspaper  and  magazine  articles  written 
about  him  is  legion, 

Lilien  is  a  genuine  son  of  the  Ghetto.  He 
was  born  in  the  dreary  town  of  Drohobycz, 


♦E.  M.  Lilien. 
Goslar. 


By  E.  A.   Regrener.      P.   A.  Lattmann, 


Galicia.  His  father  was  a  turner,  and  from 
childhood  up  he  was  surrounded  by  poverty. 
"It  was  in  these  early  days  of  youth/'  says 
Stefan  Zweig,  "that  the  idea  of  suffering  hu- 
manity, of  the  enslaved  proletariat,  which  re- 
mained impressed  upon  his  mind  forever,  was 
perhaps  first  formed.  For  he  saw  his  people 
disconsolate,  the  poorest  of  the  poor,  the 
despised  Galician  Jews." .  His  struggle  with 
untoward  circumstances  was  long  and  severe; 
several  times  he  found  himself  on  the  point  of 
despair,  but  finally  he  worked  his  way  up  to 
material  success.  The  founding  of  the  Jugend 
presented  him  a  worthy  medium  for  his  ef- 


IN  COMMEMORATION  OF  THE  FIFTH  ZIONIST  CONGRESS  AT  BASEL 

(By  E.  M.  Lihen.) 


LITERATURE   AND    ART 


39 


THE  SWEATSHOP  WORKER 
(By  E.  M.  Lilien.) 

forts.  Then  he  became  contributor  to  the 
Suddeuische  Postilion,  the  Grazien,  Weltspie- 
gel  and  Osi  und  West, 

Bat  although  some  of  his  work  for  these 
oornals  showed  great  promise,  none  of  it 
realized  his  future  greatness.  It  was  only 
when  the  Zionist  movement  became  a  power- 
ful factor  in  Jewish  life  that  an  opportunity 
for  the  full  realization  of  his  art  was  offered 
to  hira.  It  is  not  that  Lilien's  art  is  not  broad 
and  comprehensive  enough  to  be  understood 
and  enjoyed  by  all  lovers  of  the  beautiful ;  in 
fact  Regener,  who  is  himself  not  a  Jew,  gives 
Lilien  the  same  place  in  the  modern  renais- 
iance  of  German  art  as  that  occupied  by 
Walter  Crane  in  the  English  art  world.  But 
Lilien's  genius  best  expresses  itself  through 
the  medium  of  Jewish  subjects>  just  as  Zang- 
will  is  at  his  best  in  literature  when  he  deals 
with  Jewish  life. 

Strangely  enough,  the  first  opportunity  that 
Lilien  had  to  show  to  the  world  this  talent 
was  afforded  in  the  illustration  of  a  book  of 
poems  called  "J^^^h,"  written  by  Borries, 
Freiherr  von  Munchausen,  himself  not  a  Jew, 
These  poems  deal  with  biblical  subjects  and 
Lilien  found  in  them  ample  inspiration.  The 
poems    of    a    New   York   sweatshop   worker, 


\\.^ffM>mTMmu  ^r^m.^^^:, 


^L^a^^     ^BM     I-  --TTTlnp^^- T--    -ly -23-  Lt       -LJJ_I  '-irlt '  "  f^t^_M^M^^B 


DEDICATED  TO  THE  MARTYRS  OF  KISHINEFF 
(By  E.  M.  LiKen.) 

written  in  Yiddish  and  translated  into  German, 
offered  him  subjects  on  which  he  could  work 
with  an  even  surer  hand.  Morris  Rosen f eld's 
"Songs  of  the  Ghetto"  present  a  pathetic 
chapter  of  Judaism — its  toil,  trouble  and  suf- 
fering— written  by  the  greatest  singer  of  mod- 
ern Israel.  Although  the  life  depicted  in  these 
poems  is  that  of  the  New  York  Ghetto,  in 
which  Rosenfeld  himself  lived,  yet  their  re- 
semblance to  Jewish  Ghettoes  the  world  over 
is  so  close  that  Lilien  needed  but  to  draw  upon 
his  own  experiences  in  his  parental  home  to 
give  these  burning  poetical  utterances  their  fit 
accompaniment  in  pen  and  pencil  sketches. 

Finally,  in  portrayal  of  the  Zionist  move- 
ment Lilien  found  his  supreme  expression. 
**Lilien  is  the  artist  of  Zionism,"  says  Dr.  J. 
Thou,  one  of  his  German  interpreters.  "He 
has  created  symbols  that  embody  the  Zionist's 
ideas,  wishes  and  yearnings.  In  them  he  has 
shown  us  the  suffering  of  Judaism,  persecuted 
and  in  exile;  learning  as  the  only  bright  point 
in  the  dusk;  and  the  rising  sun  of  emancipa- 
tion." "Zionism,"  adds  Regener,  "g^ves  to 
Lilien  the  thought-content  of  his  works.  He 
is  borne  onward  by  the  movement  and  is  him- 
self a  brave  fighter  for  its  citadel.  It  was 
Zionism  and  the  renaissance  of  our  book  craft 


40 


CURRENT   LITERATURE 


E.  M.  LILIEN 

HiR  work  is  regrarded  as  the  supreme  artistic  expression 
of  Jewish  sentiment. 


that  together  have  supplied  the  force  that  up- 
lifted the  artist  and  gave  his  name  fame  and 
significance."  The  longing  of  the  Jewish  race 
for  their  old  national  home  suggested  to  Lilien 
the  subjects  of  sketches  which  "in  their  art 
reveal  the  climax  of  his  possibilities,  and  in 
their  relation  to  Zionism  form  the  most  im- 
portant creative  phenomena  that  have  ap- 
peared in  connection  with  this  movement,  next 
to  the  personality  of  Herzl." 

One  of  the  most  famous  of  these  Zionist 
sketches,  made  in  conmiemoration  of  the  fifth 
Zionist  Congress  at  Basel  and  reproduced  on 
postal  cards,  is  thus  interpreted  by  Regener: 
"The  Jew  plods  along,  a  slave  and  a  stranger 
in  a  strange  land.  Weary  and  in  despair  he 
falls  on  his  staff.  .  .  .  His  eyes  close  in 
dumb,  silent  resignation.  Suddenly  he  feels 
the  hand  of  a  stranger  on  his  shoulder.  His 
eyes  are  dazzled  by  a  brilliant  light.  Behind 
him  stands  the  Angel  of  the  Lord,  with 
hand  pointing  to  the  Promised  Land,  which 
blazes  up  ruby-red-  in  the  brilliancy  of  the  sun. 
Far  off,  he  sees  a  Jew  driving  a  plow  across 
the  field  toward  the  sim.  Ears  of  com  bend  at 
his  side;  the  thorns  about  the  staff  of  the 
wanderer  turn  green;  and  fragrant  blossoms 
sprout  forth  on  the  way  from  the  Ghetto  to 
Zion." 


After  the  Kishineff  massacre  Lilien  drew  a 
-picture  for  Gorky's  "Sbomik,"  the  frame  of 
which  is  constructed  of  flames  and  thorns.  It 
bears  the  inscription:  "Dedicated  to  the  Mar- 
tyrs of  Kishineff."  It  shows  an  old  Jew  on  a 
funeral  pyre.  His  face  expresses  mildness  and 
resignation.  An  angel  kisses  him  on  the  fore- 
head, bearing  in  his  hands  the  scroll  of  the 
torah,  the  emblem  of  the  Jewish  faith. 

Another  powerful  work  of  Lilien  poignantly 
illustrates  the  position  of  the  Russian   Jews 
during  the  Russo-Japanese  War.    It  is  entitled 
"Fathers  and  Sons,"  and  is  described  as  fol- 
lows   by    Regener:    "When    Russia's    greed 
brought  on  the  war  with  Japan  many  Jewish 
physicians  had  to  go  to  the  front.    Their  rela- 
tives, the  fathers  and  brothers  dependent  upon 
them  for  support,  were  compelled  to  leave  the 
cities,  for  the  Russian  law  does  not  allow  men 
to   live   in  the  cities  without  any  means   of 
subsistence.     In  Lilien's  picture,  the  fathers 
and  sons  meet,  the  latter  led  by  a  figure  of 
Death  on  a  jaded  horse,  the  former  by  the 
angel  of  the  Jewish  people,  who  lowers  the 
torch  of  life  and  light  to  the  earth  in  mourn- 
ing, and  presses  his  left  hand  painfully  against 


FATHERS  AND  SONS. 

(By  E.  M.  Lilien.) 

Fathbrs  :  "  Whither  are  vou  bound,  sons  ? ".'  ""* 
Sons:  "To  the  East,     rfoly  Russia  sends  us  thither. 

And  you,  fathers  ? " 

i^^THBRS :    "  To  the  West.      Holy   Russia  drives  us 

thither." 


LITERATURE   AND    ART 


41 


his  head,  with  its  fingers  still  bent  as  if  to 
bless.  Everyone  goes  to  certain  death.  The 
host  of  fathers  cry:  "Whither  are  you  bound, 
sons?"  The  host  of  children  replies:  "To 
the  East.  Holy  Russia  sends  us  thither.  And 
yon,  fathers?'*  "To  the  West.  Holy  Russia 
drives  us  thither." 

Lilien  has  already  accomplished  much,  and 
considering  his  youth,  the  growing  strength  of 
his  work,  the  seriousness  of  his  purpose,  and 
the  task  for  which  nature  seems  to  have  de- 


signed him,  there  is  promise  of  a  still  greater 
future.  Lately,  in  fact,  he  has  struck  out  on 
somewhat  new  lines  with  great  success  in  his 
illustrations  of  the  passionate  love-themes  of 
D'Annunzio's  poems,  and  although  he  has  for 
a  time  renounced  color-painting  and  canvas, 
the  critics  are  confident  of  his  great  possi- 
bilities in  this  highest  form  of  the  painter's  art. 
Even  now,  however,  his  works  stand  supreme 
as  the  artistic  embodiment  of  the  Jewish 
mind  and  heart  and  soul. 


VALUE  OF  THE  "  LITERATURE  OF  EXPOSURE 


The  phrase  above  quoted  has  come  much 
into  vogue  lately,  and  serves  to  characterize 
a  marked  tendency  in  periodical  literature  at 
this  time.  Articles  dealing  with  scandals  in 
private  and  public  life  are  obviously  in  de- 
mand. Thomas  W.  Lawson  has  made  the  for- 
tnne  of  a  magazine  by  telling  the  public, 
through  its  pages,  what  he  knows  about  the 
workings  of  "frenzied  finance."  Miss  Ida  M. 
TarbelFs  study  of  Rockefeller  and  the  Stand- 
ard Oil  Company,  and  Lincoln  Steffens's  ar- 
ticles on  civic  corruption,  have  been  read  and 
discussed  from  one  end  of  the  country  to  the 
other.  "Exposure,"  says  George  W.  Alger, 
in  a  recent  article  in  The  Atlantic  Monthly 
(Boston),  "has  become  a  peculiar  art,  which, 
like  some  other  arts,  seems  to  exist  for  its  own 
sake."  As  Mr.  Alger  sees  it,  the  literature  of 
exposure  grows  out  of  "an  almost  superstitious 
reverence  for  publicity."  It  will  do  more  harm 
than  good,  he  thinks,  so  long  as  the  writers 
who  so  cleverly  point  out  to  us  our  social 
sores  have  no  salve  in  their  hands.  He  con- 
tinues: 

''There  is  comparatively  little  which  is  con- 
stmctive  about  this  kind  of  work,  and  it  is  for 
the  most  part  merely  disheartening.  Its  copious- 
ness and  Its  frequent  exaggeration  have  a  strong 
tendency  to  make  sober  and  sane  citizens  believe 
that  our  political  and  business  evils  cannot  be 
gr^pled  with  successfully,  not  because  they  are 
in  themselves  too  great,  but  because  the  moral 
fibre  of  the  people  has  deteriorated, — a  heresy 
more  dangerous,  if  adopted,  than  all  die  national 
perils  which  confront  us  to-day,  combined." 

In  direct  opposition  to  Mr.  Alger's  view  is 
that  presented  in  the  November  Bookman 
(New  Yoik)  by  a  well-known  writer  who  con- 
ceals his  identity  under  the  nom-de-plume, 
"Richard    W.    Kemp."      He    urges    that   the 


literature  of  exposure  is  in  the  highest  degree 
valuable  and  effective.    He  says,  in  part : 

''In  our  time  there  has  been  adopted  a  scien- 
tific method  even  in  the  poi>ular  exposure  of  great 
public  crimes;  and  the  writer  now  sits  down  to 
his  table,  not  to  scarify  with  epithets,  but  to  com- 
press into  the  briefest  possible  compass  die  re- 
sults of  months  of  patient  investigation.  Not 
opinions,  not  judgments,  not  censure  even,  but 
only  facts,  facts,  facts.  And  this  is  effective  be- 
yond the  effectiveness  of  any  rhetoric,  for  it  ap- 
peals not  merely  to  those  who  feel,  but  to  those 
who  think  and  reason." 

As  an  illustration  of  this  "scientific  method," 
the  writer  cites  Charles  £.  Russell's  "abso- 
lutely convincing  study  of  the  Beef  Trust"  in 
Everybody's,  which  he  pronounces  "the  finest 
piece  of  demonstration  that  has  been  done, 
except  Miss  Tarbell's."  "Its  figures  and  sta- 
tistics," he  declares,  "are  unanswerable.  They 
tell  a  tale  to  which  no  'vivid'  writing  can  add 
one  jot,  and  from  which  no  sophistry  can  take 
one  jot  away."  Miss  Tarbell  he  regards  as 
"the  model  investigator  and  demonstrator"; 
adding:  "Her  work  on  the  Standard  Oil  Com- 
pany is  an  honor  not  only  to  her  but  to  her 
sex;  for  it  exhibits  those  higher  judicial  qual- 
ities of  thoroughness  and  impartiality  which 
men  are  wont  to  arrogate  to  themselves  as 
purely  masculine."  Of  the  general  value  of 
the  exposi,  the  writer  has  this  to  say : 

"How  great  that  value  is  when  the  exposure  is 
of  the  sort  which  we  have  indicated,  may  be 
gathered  from  the  history  of  the  past  year.  The 
demonstrations  have  been  directed  mainly  and 
most  effectively  against  (i)  the  Standard  Oil 
Company;  (2)  the  great  insurance  companies; 
(3)  the  Beef  Trust;  (4)  the  railway  combina- 
tions which  have  been  giving  illegal  rebates  and 
'drawbacks;'  and  (5)  the  public  land  frauds. 
Have  these  demonstrations  been  without  tangible 
results?  For  the  first  time  in  its  history,  the 
Standard  Oil   Company  has  officially  come  for- 


42 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


ward  through  its  attorney,  Mr.  S.  C.  T.  Dodd,  to 
make  public  answer  to  the  charges  brought 
against  it  by  Miss  Tarbell  and  a  dozen  others. 
For  the  first  time  in  its  history  one  of  its  chiefs, 
Mr.  Rogers,  has  been  stung  into  threatening  legal 
action  (in  the  case  of  Mr.  Lawson),  and,  having 
done  so,  has  been  awed  into  backing  down.  Mr. 
Rockefeller  himself  has  disbursed  over  $11,000,000 
during  the  year  for  philanthropic  purposes.  Of 
course,  it  may  be  that  he  had  long  intended  to 
make  these  gifts  at  precisely  this  time;  but  the 
great  public  is  very  sceptical  and  will  continue  to 
believe  that  this  munificence  had  some  relation 
to  the  cry  of  'tainted  money* — z  fearful  phrase 
that  stuck  and  stank.  How  many  months  ago 
was  it  that  all  the  life-insurance  journals  were 
making  merry  over  Mr.  Lawson's  charges,  and 
busily  explaining  why  it  was  not  worth  the  Equi- 
table's  while  to  sue  him  for  libel  ?  Not  very  many 
months;  and  now  a  cataclyism  has  shaken  out  of 


that  particular  institution  the  concentrated  rotten- 
ness of  many  years;  while  its  sister  companies 
are  before  the  judgment  seat  with  fear  and 
trembling.  As  for  the  Beef  Trust,  five  of  its  con- 
stituent companies  and  seventeen  of  its  leading 
members  are  under  criniinal  indictment  and  in  a 
fair  wapr  to  be  convicted.  As  to  the  railways, — ^the 
most  difficult  problem  of  all — ^the  President  of  the 
United  States  is  pledged  to  draw  their  fangs, 
either  by  rate  regulation  or  by  national  owner- 
ship, and  though  the  struggle  must  be  long,  it 
can  end  in  but  one  way.  And  the  exposure  of  the 
land  frauds  has  already  brought  a  long  sentence 
of  imprisonment  upon  a  Senator  of  the  United 
States.  [Senator  Mitchell  has  since  died.— Editor 
of  Current  Literature.]  Let  us,  therefore,  take 
a  cheerful  view  of  the  literature  of  exposure.  It 
belongs  no  more  to  the  category  of  cheap  enter- 
tainment. It  has  become  the  efficient  instrument 
of  civic  and  national  reform." 


A  WOMAN  SCULPTOR  OF  GENIUS 


Art  is  thought  expressed  in  form,  but 
thought  is  not  all.  There  must  be  soul,  or  it 
is  not  art — it  is  but  craft.  One  American 
artist  imbued  with  this  rare  quality  is  a 
sculptor  who  is  virtually  unknown  in  this  coun- 
try, but  who  has  received  marked  recognition 
in  many  foreign  art  centers. 

Much  interest  should  be  awakened  when  it 
is  learned  that  this  artist  is  a  woman,  for 
sculpture  is  a  field  in  which  women  seldom 
achieve  much  distinction.  Still  greater  in- 
terest should  be  aroused  by  the  fact  that  this 
artist.  Mrs.  Cadwalader  Guild,  is  an  Ameri- 
can woman  born  and  bred,  a  most  loyal  one 
at  heart,  although  nearly  all  her  work  has  been 
executed  and  her  encouragement  received 
abroad.  Several  times  she  has  journeyed  back 
to  the  United  States  hoping  to  have  her  work 
made  known  to  her  fellow  countrymen.  Two 
years  ago  the  Boston  Herald  proclaimed  her 
"a  force  to  be  reckoned  with  in  contemporary 
sculpture" — "the  embodiment  of  the  restless, 
resistless  American  spirit."  But,  in  the  main, 
her  work  has  been  neglected  in  this  country. 

Her  first  American  opportunity  came  when 
Ambassador  White,  after  seeing  her  work 
abroad,  urged  her  to  return  to  the  United 
States  and  make  a  bust  of  President  Mc- 
Kinley.  Through  correspondence  with  both 
Mr.  White  and  Mrs.  Guild,  the  President 
agreed  to  give  the  sculptor  sittings.  Twice 
she  came,  but  each  time  the  President 
was  very  busy  and  she  was  not  permitted 
to  see  him.  Not  to  be  daunted,  she  mod- 
eled, on  her  own  commission,  a  bust  of  Mr. 


McKinley.  She  had  never  seen  the  Presi- 
dent, and  had  nothing  but  poor  prints  to  guide 
her — ^not  even  a  photograph.  Yet  the  result 
was  a  remarkable  likeness.  When  she  asked 
Mr.  Hanna  to  criticize  the  bust,  he  said:  "I 
see  nothing  to  be  changed.  It  is  by  far  the 
best  that  has  ever  been  made."  Then  Mr. 
Hanna  at  once  entered  a  bill  asking  Congress 
to  purchase  the  portrait.  This  the  Government 
did,  and  Mrs.  Guild's  bust  of  Mr.  McKinley 
is  now  in  the  President's  room  of  the  National 
Capitol. 

Mrs.  Guild  has  made  a  striking  likeness  of 
Lincoln — 2l  head  at  which  one  gazes  many 
minutes.  She  has  expressed  his  idealism,  has 
caught  the  wonderful  kindliness  of  his  eyes. 
Mr.  John  Hay  said  of  it:  "The  power  in  the 
head  is  remarkable.  It  is  a  great  expression 
of  the  personality  of  the  man."  There  is  an 
interesting  note  relative  to  Mrs.  Guild's  bust 
of  Lincoln.  A  photograph  taken  just  before 
his  election  was  considered  by  Lincoln  his  best 
portrait.  Some  time  after  his  death  this 
photograph  disappeared.  The  photographer 
who  owned  the  plate,  having  indifferently  kept 
it  for  years,  left  Chicago  just  prior  to  that 
city's  historic  fire.  Again  years  passed,  the 
photographer  not  realizing  its  value  until  as 
late  as  1903.  Then  prints  were  made  and  it 
came  to  be  much  admired.  The  photograph  is 
the  only  one  in  existence  which  represents 
Lincoln  without  a  beard.  Mr.  John  Hay  and 
Mr.  Nicolay,  in  their  "Life  of  Lincoln,"  re- 
produced this  as  the  standard  photograph  of 
our  great  President,  and  it  is  from  this  plioto- 


43 


MRS.  CADWALADER  GUILD  TN  HER  STUDIO 

**  V5»ctron,**   the  statue    shown,  represents  the  god  Mercury,  who  has  come  to  earth  and  is  touching  an  electric 
^»*tt«ii  on  the  grottnd   'befoTe  him.    He  realizes  that  his  dominion  has  gone.     Science  has  wrested  from  him  his 


44 


CURRENT   LITERATURE 


GEORGE  FREDERICK  WATTS 
(By  Mrs.  Cadwalader  Guild.) 

graph  that  Mrs.  Guild  has  made  her  superb 
portrait 

Her  two  busts  of  Gladstone — one  in  bronze, 
one  in  marble — ^are  the  only  ones  for  which 
Mr.  Gladstone  gave  sittings.  It  was  at  his 
own  request  that  Mrs.  Guild  modeled  his 
portrait.  After  three  or  four  sittings,  Mrs. 
Guild  removed  the  bust  to  her  studio  to  com- 
plete the  work.  Wishing  to  give  her  a  final 
sitting,  Mr.  Gladstone  called  one  day  un- 
heralded. The  sculptor  was  out,  but  the 
Premier  waited  a  half-hour  for  her  return. 
When  she  arrived  he  said :  "I  have  been  study- 
ing and  admiring  every  piece  of  work  in  your 
studio.  You  have  made  a  new  departure  in 
art  and  I  congratulate  you  sincerely." 

A  writer  in  The  German  Times  (Berlin), 
reviewing  one  of  Mrs.  Guild's  foreign  ex- 
hibits, says:  "All  these  works,  displaying  ab- 
solutely astounding  catholicity  of  taste  and 
technique,  are  products  from  one  hand,  that  of 
the  well-known  artist,  Mrs.  Cadwalader  Guild, 
.  .  .  Of  great  power  and  worth  are  Mrs. 
Guild's  two  Gladstone  studies  done  from  life. 
Here  the  imaginative  artist  was  not  content 
to  blend  in  a  single  face  the, many  varied 
types  that  made  the  great  Premier  so  unique 
a  personality.  By  giving  us  two  distinct 
portraits  of  Gladstone,  one  the  statesman, 
alert,  keen,  and  grim,  the  other  the  scholar 
and  poet,  thoughtful,  kindly,  wise,  and  benign, 
Mrs.  Guild  has  presented  us  with  a  complete 
biography  of  the  Grand  Old  Man." 


The  Manchester  Permanent  Exhibition 
(England)  commissioned  Mrs.  Guild  to  make 
a  bust  of  George  Frederick  Watts.  Mr.  Watts, 
knowing  but  little  concerning  Mrs.  Guild's 
ability,  was  disinclined  to  give  her  actual 
sittings.  Because  of  this  it  was  necessary  for 
her  to  model  his  portrait  under  great  diffi- 
culties, while  he  was  running  up  and  down 
a  ladder  at  work  upon  one  of  his  paint- 
ings. When  the  bust  was  completed  Mr.  Watts 
expressed  his  praise  of  it  in  a  very  circum- 
locutory way,  but  nevertheless  with  as  genuine 
a  compliment  as  was  ever  given.  After  look- 
ing a  long  time  at  the  bust  he^said:  "When  I 
look  at  that  bust  I  can  understand  how  that 
man  could  have  painted  that  picture,"  point- 
ing to  one  of  his  own  great  paintings. 

Among  royalty,  Mrs.  Guild  has  made  por- 
trait-busts,  from   life,   of   Princess   Christian 


"  LOTOS  '• 
(By  Mrs.  Cadwalader  Guild.) 


LITERATURE    AND    ART 


45 


oi  Schleswig-Holstein,  second  daughter  of 
<Jiiecn  Victoria;  Princess  Henry  of  Prussia: 
little  Prince  Henry ;  and  Princess  of  Saxe- 
Altenborg.  Other  distinguished  patrons  of 
Mn.  Guild's  art  are  Dr.  Henry  Thode,  Pro- 
fessor of  Art  at  Heidelberg;  His  Excellency 
Dr.  Studt,  State  Minister  of  Education  and 
Art  in  Germany;  Joseph  Joachim,  the  famous 
-.iolinist;  Hans'  Thoma,  the  painter;  and  a 
rnimbcr  of  society  beauties. 

Mrs.  Guild's  idealistic  heads  and  statues  are 
as  remarkable  as  her  portraits.  One  study  is  a 
narble  head,  half  girl,  half  nymph.  It  is 
named  the  "Lotos."  The  expression  in  the 
eres  is  marvelous.  The  sculptor  has  suc- 
ceeded perfectly  in  catching  the  characteristic 
glance  of  such  beings  as  this  bust  typifies.  Re- 
ferring to  this  head,  The  German  Times  says : 
This  psychic  masterpiece  stamps  Mrs.  Guild 
oneqaivocally  as  an  artist  of  the  very  first 
rank." 

A  bronze  statuette  called  "Free,"  has  created 
freat  admiration  among  critics  abroad,  and 
has  been  exhibited  at  the  Paris  Salon,  at  the 


THE  PRINCESS  OP  SAXE-ALTENBURG 
(By  Mrs.  Cadwalader  Guild.) 


"FREE  " 
(By  Mrs.  Cadwalader  Guild.) 

Royal  Academy,  London,  and  at  Mtmich.  It 
is  the  figure  of  a  slave,  freed,  but  who  still 
feels  the  pressure  of  his  former  bondage. 
Half  supported  by  a  stump,  he  leans  with 
drooping  shoulders  and  hands  clasped  behind, 
self-manacled.  It  is  one  of.  her  finest  efforts 
and  her  first  modeled  from  life. 

Her  "Electron"  represents  the  god  Mercury 
descended   to   earth    for   an   instant.     He   is 


46 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


WILLIAM  EWART  GLADSTONE 

(By  Mrs.  Cadwalader  Guild.) 

Mrs.  Guild's  two  busts  of  Gladstone — one  in  bronze,  one  in  marble — are 
the  only  ones  for  which  he  ever  gave  sittings. 


with  hand  out- 
an  electric  but- 
him.  With  this 
that    his   mission 


seated  on  an  anvil  and, 
stretched,  bends  to  touch 
ton  on  the  ground  before 
touch  the  half-god  learns 
as  messenger  is  over,  as  science  has  wrested 
from  him  his  absolute  control  of  this  power. 
The  idea  of  combining  poetry  and  science  is 
splendidly  portrayed  in  this  statue.  The  figure 
of  the  god  is  beautiful  and  graceful,  and  broad 
and  strong  in  treatment.  The  German  Gov- 
ernment purchased  this  "Electron"  and  placed 
it  in  the  Post-Museum  at  Berlin. 

Another  large,  beautiful  figure,  in  marble,  is 
called  "Endymion."  The  youth  is  slowly  walking 
with  arms  raised  and  finofcrs  interwoven  across 


the  back  of  the  head,  the  eyes 
fixed  above.  Of  this  work  The 
International  Studio  ( Decem- 
ber) says:  "The  sculptor  wished 
to  embody  the  search  for  the 
ideal,  the  spirit  possessed  of  the 
high  discontent,  saddened  with 
the  quiet  disappointment  and 
yet  comforted  in  the  unshaken 
faith  that  are  natural  to  most 
artistic  experience."  In  the 
whole  pose  one  most  forcibly 
feels  the  movement  of  the  per- 
fect dreamer  forever  gliding  on 
and  upward.  The  back  is  es- 
pecially fascinating.  Mrs.  Guild 
sought  to  model  the  figuref  in  the 
most  beautiful  pose  a  man's 
body  can  take,  and  this  she  se- 
cured in  the  triangular-like  out- 
lines formed  by  the  upraised 
arms.  The  pose  is  not  to  be 
found  elsewhere  in  either  mod- 
ern or  ancient  sculpture. 

The  very  latest  work  by  this 
gifted  woman  is  a  bust  of  Gen. 
Samuel  Chapman  Armstrong, 
which  is  soon  to  be  placed  in  the 
Hampton  Institute.  One  of  the 
members  of  the  Armstrong  As- 
sociation, from  which  Mrs. 
Guild  received  her  commission, 
when  seeing  the  bust  in  bronze, 
said:  "It  is  a  splendid  portrait. 
The  spirituality  is  there.  In  the 
eyes  the  sculptor  has  so  ex- 
pressed the  mission  of  the  man." 
This  bust,  together  with  Mrs. 
Guild's  other  work,  is  now  on 
exhibition  at  her  studio  in  the 
Bryant  Park  Building,  New- 
York. 
In  every  sense  is  Mrs.  Guild  an  enthusiastic 
American.  She  believes  implicitly  that  Ameri- 
can art  will  become  a  recognized  force.  She 
has  achieved  what  she  has  through  much 
discouragement,  suffering  and  patience.  She 
is  a  painter  as  well  as  a  sculptor  and  known 
abroad  as  one  of  superior  merit. 

She  possesses  wonderful  creative  powers. 
Each  painting  or  statue  is,  in  itself,  an  expres- 
sion of  her  deep  study  of  life  or  ideals — not 
merely  an  expression  of  her  own  individuality. 
She  is  unmistakably  an  idealist — a  woman  of 
great  culture,  but  of  the  utmost  simplicity  of 
bearing. 

Grace  Whitworth. 


LITERATURE    AND    ART 


47 


IS  LITERATURE  BEING  *  COMMERCIALIZED  "? 


That  our  literature  "has  fallen  to  a  lower 
estate  than  it  knew  for  generations,"  and  that 
this  depressing  result  is  due  to  the  ravages  of 
commercialism,  is  the  conviction  of  Henry 
Holt,  the  well-known  New  York 
publisher.  He  devotes  a  lengthy 
article  in  The  Atlantic  Monthly 
(November)  to  the  support  of 
this  conclusion,  and  his  observa- 
tions have  aroused  a  great  deal 
of  interest  and  comment  in  the 
literary  world.  The  article  was 
suggested  by  a  series  of  papers 
appearing  in  the  Boston  Tran- 
script about  a  year  ago,  and 
subsequently  published  in  book 
form  under  the  title,  "A  Pub- 
lisher's Confession"  (see  Cur- 
rent Literature,  Juty)-  The 
anonymous  author  of  that  work 
<  reported  to  be  Mr.  Walter  H. 
Page)  thinks  that  "the  whole 
business  of  producing  contem- 
poraneous literature  has  for  the 
nioment  a  decided  commercial 
squint."  With  this  view  Mr. 
Holt  is  in  substantial  agree- 
ment There  is  altogether  too 
much  "commercialism,"  he  de- 
clares, in  the  practices  of  both 
author  and  publisher.  At  least 
three  of  his  fellow-publishers, 
he  charges,  "exert  every  means, 
from  the  dinner-table  to  the 
auction-block,  to  get  hold  of  the 
author."  And  the  author,  on 
his  side,  is  losing  all  sense  of 
personal  relationship  to  his 
publisher  by  employing  "literary 
agents"  whose  only  aim  is  to  get 
as  high  a  price  for  a  manu- 
script as  possible!  On  this  point 
Mr.  Holt  writes: 


into  the  mean  and  short-sighted  competitions  that 
inevitably  recoil;  many  of  them  have  danced  to 
any  tune  the  agents  saw  fit  to  play;  and  many  of 
them  have  been  licking  the  agents*  boots.'  .  .  . 
So  far  as  I  know,  but  one  prominent  publisher 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
(By  Mrs.  Cadwalader  Guild.) 


"A  literary  agent  told  me  that 
among  authors  the  feeling  is 
-quite  frequent  that  the  publisher  is 
to  be  squeezed  to  the  last  possible  cent.  The 
agents  have  not  been  slow  to  please  their  clients 
by  falling  in  with  this  feeling.  Between  them, 
the  publisher  has  lately  been  treated  merely  as  a 
corpus  vilum  to  be  exploited  for  money.  The 
possibility  of  there  being  any  thought  or  feeling, 
not  to  speak  of  aspiration,  in  him  has  been  ig- 
nored. And  in  many  cases  the  treatment  has  been 
richly  deserved.    Many  of  them  have  been  tempted 


Made  from  the  onlv  photosfraph  showing   Lincoln    without   a   beard. 
John  Hay  said  of  this  fikeness :  ''The  power  in  the  head  is  remarkable. 


It  is  a  great  expression  of  the  personality  of  the  man," 


in  England  and  perhaps  two  or  three  in  America 
have  kept  out  of  the  scramble." 

Mr.  Holt  speaks  even  more  emphatically  in 
regard  to  the  question  of  advertising.  "I  can- 
not but  think,"  he  says,  "that  lately  many 
American  publishers  were  as  crazy  about  ad- 
vertising as  the  Dutch  ever  were  about  tu- 


48 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


lips,  or  the  French  about  the  Mississippi 
Bubble."  He  instances  the  great  newspaper 
advertisements  of  some  publishers,  and  the  ex- 
travagant sums  expended  in  the  brazen  lauda- 
tion of  literary  wares.  The  inefficiency  of  such 
miscellaneous  advertising  he  indicates  in  these 
paragraphs : 

"There  is  the  advertising  that  appeals  to  the 
eye,  and  the  advertising  that  appeals  to  the  in- 
telligence. One  shapes  popular  habit,  independ- 
ently of  deliberation:  everybody  has  eyes,  and 
everybody  uses  food  and  shoes;  so  this  kind  of 
advertising  may  take  root  anjrwhere,  and  it  pays 
to  scatter  it. 

"But  the  eighty  million  people  using  food  and 
shoes  in  the  United  States  did  not  include  a  hun- 
dred thousand  who  would  buy  a  single  book  ad- 
vertised last  year,  and  probably  do  not  include 
fifty  thousand  who  spend  as  much  on  books  as 
they  do  on  shoes.  Whatever  the  number,  they 
are  the  very  people  least  affected  by  the  sort  of 
advertising  that  appeals  to  habit.  Let  them  know 
sufficiently  clearly  what  there  is  in  the  market 
that  they  may  care  for,  and  they  will  make  up 
their  minds  whether  they  want  it  or  not;  and  the 
more  damnable  iteration  you  bother  them  with, 
the  more  apt  you  will  be  to  turn  them  aWay." 

In  a  concluding  paragraph,  Mr.  Holt  offers 
some  suggestions  which  he  hopes  will  help  to 
stem  the  present  rapid  "commercialization"  of 
literature: 

"My  opinion,  based  upon  a  very  long  expe- 
rience, is  that  the  remarkable  concurrence  of  the 
many  exceptional  conditions  I  have  described, — 
the  piracy  under  the  old  non-copyright  license, 
the  chaos  of  the  transition  from  the  old  license  to 
the  new  law,  the  advertising  mania,  the  mad  com- 
petition stimulated  t^  the  literary  agent, — ^has  pro- 
duced a  strange  and  abnormal  condition  in  pub- 
lishing, and  that  this  condition  is  destructive  and 
cannot  last.  It  has  already  wrought  great  ruin, 
and  how  much  more  ruin  it  must  work  before  a 
healthy  condition  can  arise,  and  how  that  ruin 
can  be  minimized,  is  matter  for  anxious  considera- 
tion. One  class  of  remedies  is  clear,  if  the  trade 
has  character  enough  to  apply  them, — ^more  subor- 
dination of  the  present  to  the  future,  more  avoid- 
ance of  petty  games  that  two  can  play  at,  more 
faith  in  the  business  value  of  the  golden  rule, 
more  feeling  for  the  higher  possibilities  of  their 
'profession,'  and  more  i)lain,  homely,  commonplace 
self-respect.  The  publishers  probably  have  their 
human  share  of  the  needed  virtues ;  but  they  have 
been  strangely  and  sorely  tried." 

The  New  York  Times  Saturday  Review 
thinks  that  Mr.  Holt's  article  "throws  a 
stronger  light  upon  a  high-minded  publisher's 
relation  to  authors  and  to  literature  than  the 
book  which  is  its  text";  and  the  New  York 
Evening  Post  says :  "Nothing  fresher  or  more 
interesting  to  Grub  Street  has  been  written 
these  many  years.    No  longer  is  the  publisher 


a  Barabbas,  as  Byron  politely  called  his  Mur- 
ray; the  opprobrium  is  to  fall  on  the  once 
down-trodden  but  now  triumphant  scribbler.'^ 
The  Post  comments  further : 

"We  can  see  little  indication  that  'the  commer- 
cialization of  literature'  has  really  begun  to  dimin- 
ish. One  of  the  most  hopeless  signs  of  the  tend- 
ency is  the  fact  that  our  successful  novelists  are 
more  and  more  making  the  stock  market  or  the 
conflict  of  labor  and  capital  their  theme.  They 
not  only  write  for  money,  but  about  money.  Mr. 
Holt  is  so  far  right  in  blaming  the  audior  for 
the  present  state  of  affairs.  It  is  the  business  of 
the  publisher  to  sell  books,  and,  in  a  way,  to  com- 
mercialize literature;  it  is  the  business  of  the 
author  to  make  himself  independent  of  the  baleful 
influence  of  the  ledger." 

The  World's  Work  (New  York),  the  maga- 
zine of  which  Mr.  Page  is  editor,  takes  the 
whole  controversy  in  light  vein.  "Is  it  not  all 
a  question  of  definition  ?"  it  asks.    It  continues : 

"Is  it  not  impossible  for  literature  to  become 
commercialized?  For  as  soon  as  any  writing,  in 
the  purpose  of  the  author,  is  touched  with  the 
commercial  spirit,  for  that  very  reason,  if  for  no 
other,  it  forfeits  all  claim  to  be  regarded  as  litera- 
ture. The  blight  shows  at  the  heart  of  it.  The 
endless  flood  of  written  stuff  that  keeps  the  pub- 
lishers' presses  going  contains  very  little  litera- 
ture. Most  of  it  is  avowedly  commercial  in  its 
aim.  It  is  written  for  money  and  published  for 
money,  whereas  literature  is  written  diiefly  be- 
cause it  gives  joy  to  the  writer  and  satisfies  an 
impulse  to  do  good  work.  It  cares  no  more  for 
the  opinions  of  contemporary  men  than  the  sun- 
light cares  for  a  fog,  nor  does  it  worry  itself  about 
the  flood  of  commercial  writing.  But  to  confuse 
trade  stuff  with  literature  is  enough  to  make  the 
most  gallant  of  philosophers  sad." 

The  Saturday  Evening  Post  (Philadelphia) 
also  refuses  to  take  the  issue  seriously.  It  re- 
calls a  saying  of  Dr.  Johnson's:  "No  one 
but  a  blockhead  ever  wrote  except  for  money," 
and  thinks  he  might  have  added,  "though  a 
good  many  able  but  snobbish  writers  have  pre- 
tended that  they  did."    It  goes  on  to  comment : 

"Producing  what  people  will  read,  will  give  up 
cash  for — ^that  is  hardly  a  deplorable  tendency. 
No  man  ever  was  able  deliberately  to  produce 
'good  sellers.'  It  simply  happens  that  the  sort  of 
stuff  he  writes  best  sells  well. 

"'Commercializing  literature'  can  hardly  mean 
advertising  it  so  that  the  people  learn  that  the 
kind  of  literary  wares  that  thejr  want  are  to  be 
had.  A  good  book  is  exactly  like  a  ^ood  steak 
or  a  good  warm  overcoat — it's  a  necessity,  an  ar- 
ticle of  health  and  comfort  and  happiness.  To> 
regard  it  in  any  other  way  is  to  fall  under  the 
spell  of  the  maudlin,  damp  and  dreary  false  cul- 
ture which  weakens  strong  minds  and  drives 
feeble  minds  to  imbecility." 


49 


Religion    and    Ethics 


CAN  WE  HAVE  MORALITY  WITHOUT  RELIGION? 


The  question.  Is  it  possible  to  establish  an 
effective  system  of  morality  without  a  belief 
ic  God?  has  been  presented  to  a  number  of  the 
leading  French  "intellectuals"  by  the  editor  of 
the  well-known  Parisian  magazine,  La  Revue. 
The  question  is  an  exceedingly  "live"  one  in 
France  just  now,  in  view  of  the  separation  at 
last  decreed  between  church  and  state.  The 
greatest  thinkers,  authors  and  men  of  affairs 
have  been  invited  to  participate  in  the  discus- 
sion, and  they  have  generously  responded,  as 
is  attested  by  the  contributions  of  Max  Nor- 
dao,  Anatole  France,  F  Brunetiere,  Anatole 
Leroy-Beaulieti,  Jules  Qaretie,  Abbe  Gayraud 
and  many  others. 

The  editor  of  La  Revue  is  convinced  that  a 
mutnal  exchange  of  opinions  on  this  subject,  if 
it  cannot  lead  to  a  reconciliation  of  opposing 
views,  will  at  least  facilitate  a  comprehension 
of  them,  and  thereby  bring  about  a  condition 
of  mutual  toleration  favorable  to  social  har- 
mony and  the  triumph  of  truth.    He  writes : 

"Up  to  the  present  the  morality  of  the  bulk  of 
humanity  has  been  founded  upon  reli^ous  dogma, 
and  the  echoes  to  which  they  have  listened  were 
tliosc  of  Sinai  and  the  sea  of  Tiberias.  Now, 
whether  it  is  to  be  deplored  or  not,  it  is  an  ac- 
cepted fact  that  religious  faith  is  declining  in  our 
days.  Will  the  shipwreck  of  our  ancient  faiths, 
«hen  it  takes  place,  drag  down  morality  also? 

This  is  a  very  grave  question,  to  which  the 
separation  of  church  and  state  now  going  on 
in  France  gives  the  significance  of  a  burning 
adnality." 

The  contributions  to  the  symposium  are 
divided  into  four  main  classes,  and  the  spokes- 
men of  the  various  shades  of  thought  are  pre- 
sented in  the  following  order  of  succession: 
I.  Those  who  think  that  morality  grows  up 
unconsciously,  and  is  derived  from  collective 
habits  and  social  instincts.  2.  Those  who 
waver  in  uncertainty.  3.  Those  who  affirm 
the  rigorous  union  of  morality  and  faith.  4. 
Those  who  assert  reason  to  be  the  sole  basis  of 
morality.    This  order  we  here  preserve. 

Anatole  France,  the  eminent  French  novel- 
ist, offers  the  following  reflections : 

'*What  is  morality?  Morality  is  the  rule  of 
cnstooL  And  custom  is  habit  Morality,  then, 
is  the  rule  of  habit  Habitual  customs  are  called 
good  customs.    Bad  customs  are  ti}ose  to  which 


we  are  not  habituated.  The  old  habits  are  dear 
and  sacred  to  men.  In  them  is  found  the  origin 
of  the  religious  law.  Hence  we  see  that  the 
morality  of  religions  corresponds  to  ancient  cus- 
tom. This  is  true  of  all  cults.  And  it  is  in  this 
sense  that  Lucretius  said  that  religion  engenders 
crime. 

"Among  Christian  peoples,  notably  among 
Catholics,  theological  morality  represents  a  state 
anterior  to  that  of  civilization.  It  is  respected 
but  little  understood,  and  in  point  of  fact  one 
takes  no  account  of  it 

"Law,  which  is  a  systematization  of  practical 
morality,  is  in  Europe  independent  of  any  con- 
fessional idea.  The  Italian  minister,  Minghetti, 
has  very  justly  observed  that  the  Code  o!  Na- 
poleon reproduced  in  very  large  part  the  Roman 
law  anterior  to  Christianity,  and  that  what  is  new 
in  it  was  inspired  by  the  eighteenth  century  spirit 

"We  have  already  not  only  a  morality,  but 
moral  sanction  independent  of  religious  dogmas. 
But  they  cannot  remain  fixed.  Morality  changes 
continually  with  custom,  of  which  it  is  only  the 
general  idea.    Law  should  follow  custom." 

According  to  Max  Nordau,  sociability  is  the 
foundation  of  morals.  It  is  an  instinct  rather 
than  a  dogma  or  a  process  of  reasoning,  he 
contends ;  and  if  reasoning  can  have  no  effect 
upon  an  anti-social  being,  it  is  not  likely  that 
religion  will  have  any  greater  effect  upon  him. 
Further: 

"The  sane,  normal  man  has  social  tendencies; 
only  the  morbid  degenerate  is  an  anti-social 
being.  The  former  accepts  and  practices  morality 
by  instinct  because  it  is  a  social  institution.  The 
latter,  on  the  other  hand,  escapes  morality,  also 
by  instinct,  and  only  submits  to  its  prescriptions 
in  so  far  as  he  is  constrained  to  do  so.  No  argu- 
ment will  make  the  naturally  good  and  social 
man  bad;  no  arpiment  will  make  the  naturally 
bad  and  anti-social  man  good.  Every  man  may 
have  bad  impulses,  but  he  restrains  them  by  an 
energetic  inhibition.  The  inhibitory  force  of 
reason  may  be  augmented  by  education,  instruc- 
tion and  the  suggestion  of  environment;  but  if  it 
is  absent  no  exterior  influence  can  replace  it 

"Reason  suffices  to  keep  the  social  being  on  the 
road  of  goodness.  Neither  reason,  nor  theology, 
nor  any  argument  whatsoever,  can  have  the  least 
effect  upon  the  natural  non-morality  or  immorality 
of  an  anti- social  being." 

Jules  Lemaitre  frankly  declares  that  he  can- 
not answer  the  question  propounded;  and 
Emile  Faguet  says:  "This  question  is  one  that 
I  study  deeply  and  almost  constantly,  but  I 
must  admit  that  I  have  not  yet  arrived  at  any 
definite  conclusion  or  any  firm  conviction," 


so 


CURRENT   LITERATURE 


F.  Brunetiere,  on  the  other  hand,  is  as  posi- 
tive that  morality  without  religion  cannot 
subsist  as  Anatole  France  is  that  the  opposite 
is  true.     He  says: 

"If  you  mean  by  reason  simple  common  sense, 
or  individual  sense,  it  is  evident  that  morality 
could  nQt  rest  on  a  more  fragile  or  more  ruinous 
basis.  Individual  sense  is  relative,  and  morality 
is  nothing  if  it  has  not  an  absolute  basis.  Since 
human  reason  cannot  attain  the  absolute,  what  re- 
mains to  us  but  to  recognize  that  reason  is  in- 
capable of  supplying  a  basis  for  morality?  And 
in  fact,  this  will  be  proved  in  the  future  as  it 
has  been  in  the  past.  There  is  a  Jewish  morality, 
a  Christian  morality,  a  Buddhist  morality,  a  Mo- 
hammedan morality.  There  has  practically  never 
existed  in  history  a  Stoic  morality  or  a  Platonic 
morality,  nor  even  a  Socratic  morality.  There 
have  been  rare  Stoics  or  disciples  of  Socrates 
who  have  tried  to  secularize  the  lessons  of  a  re- 
ligious origin,  but  the  only  result  was  the  'Man- 
ual* of  Epictetus  and  the  Thoughts'  of  Marcus 
Aurelius." 

Anatole  Leroy-Beaulieu,  French  author 
and  President  of  the  Anti-Atheist  League, 
takes  issue  with  these  conclusions,  though  he 
also  maintains  that  to  suppress  God  means  to 
suppress  morality.    He  declares : 

.  "That  morality  can  be  founded  on  reason  does 
not  admit  of  any  doubt.  All  history  proves  it, 
from  Socrates  to  the  Stoics  in  classical  antiquity; 
from  Confucius  in  Chinese  antiquity  to  Kant  and 
Guyau.  A  morality  founded  on  reason,  a  purely 
rational  morality,  does  not  signify,  however,  a 
'morality  without  God.'  Far  from  it.  From 
Socrates  to  Kant  the  greatest  phibsophers  have 
supported  their  morality  upon  faith  in  God,  so 
that  one  might  say  that  if  the  religious  idea  and 
the  moral  idea  have  been  interwoven  and  bound 
together  through  the  course  of  the  centuries, 
philosophy  has  contributed  to  that  end  almost  as 
much  as  religion.  Morality  has  been  so  intimately 
connected  with  religion,  and  especially  with  a 
faith  in  God,  that  it  is  difficult  to-day  to  separate 
them  without  distorting  and  enfeebling  morality 
by  depriving  it  of  the  force  it  drew  from  religious 
creeds.  This  is  a  truth  confirmed  by  the  observa- 
tion of  individuals,  as  well  as  by  the  history  of 
nations.  Except  in  the  cases  of  rare  and  noble 
individuals,  the  disappearance  or  weakening  of 
faith  has  been  followed  by  a  lowering  of  morality 
and  by  a  looseness  of  customs.  This  fact  is  so 
constant  that  it  might  be  erected  into  a  law  of 
history. 

"Is  not  that  which  is  true  of  the  past  also  true 
of  the  present?  Is  it  really  possible  at  the  present 
time,  without  danger  to  our  customs,  to  base  a 
popular  morality  solely  upon  reason?  I  confess 
that  I  do  not  believe  it.  There  is  nothing  to  per- 
mit us  to  suppose  that  in  this  respect  we  arc  so 
superior  to  our  ancestors.  Faith  in  the  moral 
progress  of  society,  independent  of  the  bases  on 
which  repose  our  ethics  and  morality,  is  a  super- 
stition. '  Among  all  peoples  and  at  all  periods  of 
time  a  purely  rational  morality  has  been  an  aris- 
tocratic morality,  which  sufficed  for  an  intellectual 


elite,  but  was  found  devoid  of  force  and  virtue 
as  far  as  the  masses  were  concerned.  It  has  been 
so  with  the  Stoicism  of  antiquity;  it  is  still  so 
with  Confucianism  in  China. 

"It  is  not  enough,  either  with  individuals  or 
with  nations,  to  have  a  high  moral  ideal;  it  is 
necessary  to  have  the  power  to  realize  this  ideal. 
Religious  creeds,  faith  in  a  God  and  in  a  future 
life,  the  habit  of  prayer,  even  the  worship  of  a 
cult,  offer  to  human  infirmity  the  resources  which 
are  lacking  entirely  to  a  morality  without  a  God.'* 

M.  TAbbe  Gayraud,  member  of  the  Cham- 
ber of  Deputies,  naturally  believes  that  moral- 
ity is  impossible  without  religion.    He  argues : 

"It  is  only  by  authority  that  man  acquires  and 
possesses  literary,  historic  and  scientific  knowl- 
edge, and  often  even  the  professional  knowledge 
which  constitutes  the  fund  of  his  little  intellectual 
life.  Why,  then,  should  the  knowledge  of  morality 
escape  this  law  of  popular  education?  Reasoning, 
that  is  to  say,  the  process  of  investigation  or  of 
the  demonstration  of  truth  by  research  and  per- 
sonal reflection,  is  no  more  within  the  reach  of  the 
men  of  the  people  than  of  beginners.  This 
does  not  mean  that  the  method  of  authority  is 
not  rational  or  reasonable.  But  opposed  to  it  is 
the  method  of  discussion,  of  criticism,  and  of  in- 
dividual reasoning.  I  conclude,  therefore,  that 
morality  should  not  be  taught  to  grown-up  people, 
any  more  than  to  children,  by  the  method  of 
critical,  individual  discussion." 

Jules  Claretie,  the  famous  novelist  and  critic, 
says:  "My  answer  is  positive:  Yes,  it  is  pos- 
sible to  found  a  popular  morality  such  as  you 
have  posited.  Reason  will  end  by  being  right ; 
that  has  been  said  long  ago.  And  reason, 
which  is  the  truth,  is  good,  it  seems  to  me. 
But  I  would  rather  read  what  the  others  have 
to  say  than  develop  an  opinion  so  simple.  I 
have  always  believed  that  two  and  two  make 
four." 

Octave  Mirbeau  meets  the  question  in  his 
usual  sledge-hammer  style: 

"Religions  have  never  founded  a  morality.  Nay, 
more,  they  have  founded  the  very  contrary  of  a 
morality,  since  they  are  all  based  on  lies  and  on 
extortion,  and  it  is  enough  for  the  most  infamous 
scoundrel  to  repent  a  second  before  his  death  to 
be  paternally  received  by  God,  and  to  gain  the 
eternal  joys  of  Heaven.  As  long  as  there  are 
gods  on  earth,  so  long  will  there  be  no  morality; 
there  will  be  only  the  hypocrisy  of  morality." 

And,  finally,  the  great  scientist,  M.  Berthe- 
lot,  speaks  this  word  in  behalf  of  science: 

"Science  is  the  true  moral  school,  let  us  openly 
admit;  it  teaches  man  to  love  and  to  respect  the 
truth,  without  which  all  hope  is  -chimerical. 
Science  teaches  man  the  idea  of  duty  and  the 
necessity  of  labor,  not  as  a  chastisement,  but,  on 
the  contrary,  as  the  most  exalted  employment  of 
our  activity.  It  is  to  science,  above  all,  that  we 
owe  the  idea  of  the  solidarity  of  the  human  race." 


•RELIGION  AND  ETHICS 


SI 


THE  FINAL  TEST  OF  CHRISTIANITY 


The  paramount  ethical  duty  of  the  Christian 
church  to-day,  says  the  Rev.  Charles  D.  Will- 
iams, for  twelve  years  Dean  of  Trinity  Cathe- 
dral, Qeveland,  and  now  Bishop  Coadjutor- 
elect  of  Michigan,  is  "to  let  the  Christian  con- 
science out  of  the  narrow  limitations  where  we 
too  often  confine  it,  and  give  it  its  rightful 
sway  over  the  whole  common  life  of  man." 
We  modems,  he  thinks,  are  very  much  like  a 
l»y  who  has  outgrown  all  his  clothes.  The 
religion  of  the  past  was  concerned  chiefly  with 
ecclesiastical  proprieties  and  personal  moral- 
ities. There  has  come  to  the  world  a  sudden 
and*  vast  expansion  of  commercial  develop- 
ment. And  now  "the  old  Christianity  is  con- 
fronted with  conditions  for  which  she  has  no 
definite  treatment."  Mr.  Williams  illustrates 
and  explains  his  meaning  as  follows  (in  Mc- 
Clure's  Magazine,  December)  : 

"There  have  been  some  appalling  revelations 
made  in  the  last  few  years  both  in  our  periodical 
and  also  in  our  more  permanent  literature;  ex- 
posures of  commercial  and  political  iniquity  and 
civic  unrighteousness.  There  are  the  stories  of  some 
■»f  our  gigantic  business  enterprises  which  have 
dimbed  to  dizzy  heights  of  unprecedented  finan- 
cial power.  And  they  have  done  it  by  deliberate 
f»ilicies  of  commercial  assassination,  by  ruthlessly 
crowding  to  the  wall,  both  by  fair  means  and 
oftencr  by  foul,  all  honest  competitors.  And 
imae  is  so  insignificant  as  to  escape  their  notice; 
the  keeper  of  the  little  corner  grocery  and  even 
the  street  peddler  are  as  calmly  and  quickly 
crushed  out  of  existence  as  the  great  rival  con- 
rems.  For  with  the  trusts  as  with  God,  though 
in  a  different  sense,  'there  is  no  respect  of  per- 
sons.' It  considers  'not  the  person  of  the  poor 
nor  has  respect  unto  the  person  of  the  mighty/ 
lot  because  it  'fears  the  Lord,'  but  because  it  has 
respect  unto  the  recompense  of  the  reward.' 
There  are  flagrantly  dishonest  collusions  with  the 
^eat  transportation  corporations,  whereby  not 
only  utterly  unfair  advantages  are  secured  over  all 
cnmpetitors,  but  often  the  honest  profits  of  these 
ri^-als  are  directly  taxed  to  pay  tribute  into  the 
treasury  of  the  trusts.  There  is  solemn  perjury 
committed  before  courts  of  justice  and  investigat- 
ing committees.  Stocks  are  manipulated  with 
diabolical  ingenuity  to  the  fleecing  of  the  innocent 
and  the  ruin  of  the  honest  investor.  There  is  not 
wanting  evidence  of  crimes  against  persons, 
against  individual  rights  of  'life,  liberty,  and  the 
pursuit  of  happiness.'  There  are  indirect  evasions 
and  overt  fractures  not  merely  of  the  moral  law, 
but  of  the  common  statutes  of  the  state  and  na- 
tion; and  there  are  great  legal  firms  who  de- 
Hbcratcly  prostitute  the  brilliant  abilities  and  ac- 
cumulated knowledge  which  should  be  conse- 
crated to  the  maintenance  of  justice  among  men, 
to  the  defense  of  such  iniquitous  injustice.  These 
arc  the  real  anarchists  who  are  chiefly  to  be  feared 


to-day,  who  threaten  most  seriously  to  overturn 
the  very  foundations  of  law  and  order  among  us." 

And  who  are  the  men  who  do  these  things? 
asks  the  writer.  He  replies:  "They  are  often 
gentlemen  who  are  scruplously  correct  in  their 
personal  behavior.  As  to  the  minor  morals, 
they  are  temperate,  sober  and  chaste.  They  are 
good  husbands,  kind  fathers.  Their  home  life 
is  above  reproach.  They  are  often  kind  and 
considerate  neighbors.  They  pay  their  debts 
and  fulfill  their  personal  obligations  to  their 
friends.  They  scorn  a  lie  where  no  business 
interest  is  at  stake.  They  are  interested  ac- 
tively in  all  civic  improvements  of  a  material 
sort.  They  give  munificently  to  all  movements 
for  human  betterment  that  do  not  interfere 
with  their  commercial  schemes.  They  found 
hospitals,  schools  and  social  settlements.  They 
build  libraries  and  universities.  They  are  even 
orthodox,  pious  and  devoted  in  their  religious 
life.  They  go  to  church  regularly,  teach  in 
Sunday-school,  lead  in  prayer-meeting,  support 
the  pastor  fso  long  as  he  preaches  smooth 
things),  and  give  generously  to  missions." 
Continuing;.  Mr.  Wiliams  says: 

"Now,  why  is  this  so?  What  is  the  secret  of 
this  strange  ethical  inconsistency,  this  moral  con- 
tradiction? It  seems  to  me  to  lie  in  a  lack  of 
moral  coordination,  a  divided  and  disintegrated 
conscience.  These  men  have  attained  and  ful- 
filled their  ideals  of  morality  in  their  personal 
conduct  and.  relationships  and  their  technically 
religious  life.  In  these  regions  they  exercise  and 
exhaust  their  conscience.  But  in  their  commer- 
cial relations  and  business  life  they  have  no  stand- 
ards whatsoever.  Here  they  are  morally  color- 
blind. They  see  no  distinctions  of  right  and 
wrong.  They  are  for  the  most  part  utterly  un- 
conscious of  the  flagrant  iniquity  of  their  doings. 
For  here  in  this  region  of  commercial  life,  the 
writs  of  Christ  do  not  run.  Even  common  con- 
science and  the  moral  law  have  no  jurisdiction. 
'The  accepted  rules  of  the  game'  are  a  sufficient 
code  of  ethics.  There  is  a  hopeless  cleavage,  a 
bridgeless  gulf  through  the  midst  of  their  lives. 
They  have  fulfilled  all  the  reasonable  require- 
ments of  righteousness  here  in  their  personal 
conduct  and  religious  piety.  They  are,  therefore, 
free  to  do  as  they  like  in  this  other  and  outer  re- 
gion of  their  existence.  They  need  to  pray  the 
prayer  of  the  Psalmist:  Unite  my  heart  to  fear 
thy  name.' " 

The  supreme  task  of  the  church,  then,  says 
Mr.  Williams,  in  concluding,  is  to  unite  and 
integrate  the  divided  and  disintegrated  con- 
science of  Christendom.  She  is  to  "teach  men 
to  do  business  and  to  vote  as  they  pray,  in  the 


53 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


fear  of  God";  and  to  "speak  as  fearlessly  from 
her  pulpits  against  the  evils  of  commercial  dis- 
honesty and  political  corruption  as  she  does 
now  against  the  evils  of  divorce  and  drunken- 
ness."   Further: 

"She  is  to  sound  in  the  ears  of  her  young  men 
of  this  generation,  young  men  who  are  always 
ready  to  answer  the  call  to  chivalrous  action  and 
even  sacrifice,  young  men  who  still  'dream  dreams 
and  see  visions/  she  is  to  sound  in  the  ears  of 
these  young  men  the  call  to  righteous  political  and 
honest  commercial  careers  and  make  that  call  as 
holy  and  imperative  as  the  call  to  her  ministry. 
There  is  no  holier  or  higher  sphere  to-day  for 
the  best  service  of  God  and  humanity  for  the  con- 
secrated man,  the  man  of  the  highest  principles 
and  most  delicately  sensitive  conscience,  in  other 
words,  the  most  truly  religious  and  Christian 
man,  than  this  same  sphere  of  business  and  even 
politics.    .    .    .    Here  then  lies  the  searching  and 


final  test  of  our  modem  Christianity.  Can  it 
produce  such  men  to-day?  If  it  can  and  will,  it 
shall  prove  itself  to  the  conscience  and  mind  of 
to-day  'the  power  of  God  unto  salvation.'  If  it 
cannot  or  will  not,  it  must  perish,  whatever  argu- 
ments may  be  alleged  as  to  its  authenticity  and 
authority.  In  every  age  it  has  produced  the  saint 
who  met  the  needs  of  that  age.  Can  it  produce  to- 
day the  type  of  Christian  who  shall  meet  the 
needs  of  this  age;  the  man  of  open  mind  and  yet 
reverent  faith,  of  intellectual  hospitality  and 
spiritual  insight;  the  man  of  large  heart  with 
room  for  all  that  is  human;  and  the  man  of  solid 
conscience  who  rings  true  wherever  you  strike 
him,  in  whatever  region  or  plane  of  his  Hfe? 

"I  make  no  doubt  that  the  Christianity  of  Christ 
can  do  all  this.  It  has  the  inherent  force  and 
vitality  to  do  it,  but  whether  it  will  to-day  re- 
mains for  us  who  bear  His  name  before  the  world 
to-day,  particularly^  those  of  us  who  still  face  the 
future,  to  answer  in  the  lives  and  careers  that  lie 
before  us." 


THE  CASE  OF  PROFESSOR  H.  G.  MITCHELL 


It  seems  to  be  a  question  of  ecclesiastical 
polity,  rather  than  of  heretical  views  and 
freedom  of  speech,  that  is  at  stake  in  the 
"Mitchell  case,"  now  stirring  the  Methodist 
world.  The  facts  in  this  case  may  be  briefly 
stated  as  follows:  Dr.  Hinckley  G.  Mitchell 
has  been  Professor  of  Hebrew  and  Old  Testa- 
ment Exegesis  in  Boston  University  School  of 
Theology  for  twenty-two  years.  This  is  a 
Methodist  institution.  The  professors  of  the 
school  are  elected  by  the  trustees  for  five-year 
terms,  and  when  elected  or  re-elected  must  be 
approved  by  the  Board  of  Bishops  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  Five  years  ago 
the  board  showed  some  hesitation  in  confirm- 
ing Professor  Mitchell,  and  the  vote  was  not 
unanimous.  On  the  occasion  of  his  re-election 
six  months  ago,  the  bishops  were  still  divided. 
They  unanimously  adopted  a  resolution  regis- 
tering their  opinion  that  "some  of  the  state- 
ments of  Professor  Mitchell  concerning  the 
historic  character  of  the  early  chapters  of  the 
book  of  Genesis  seem  to  us  unwarranted  and 
objectionable,  and  as  having  a  tendency  to 
invalidate  the  authority  of  other  portions  of 
the  Scriptures,"  and  requesting  the  trustees  of 
the  school  to  take  "proper  action  in  the 
premises."  It  is  understood  that  the  "unwar- 
ranted and  objectionable"  statements  referred 
to  occur  in  Professor  Mitchell's  book,  "The 
World  Before  Abraham."  His  views,  however, 
are  not  generally  regarded  as  radical,  and,  in 
reply  to  a  direct  query  from  the  bishops  in 


1900,  he  has  put  himself  on  record  as  one  who 
accepts  the  "divine  authority"  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament and  recognizes  "a  supernatural  element 
manifested  in  miracles  and  prophecy."  The 
real  bone  of  contention,  so  far  as  can  be 
judged,  is  not  so  much  Professor  Mitchell's 
interpretation  of  the  Old  Testament  as  it  is 
his  general  attitude  and  that  of  the  administra- 
tors of  the  school.  It  appears  that  the  trustees 
instead  of  meeting  the  issue  as  presented  by 
the  bishops,  and  explaining  or  modifying  the 
statements  complained  of,  instituted  on  their 
own  account  an  investigation  into  Professor 
Mitchell's  orthodoxy;  decided  he  was  sound 
in  the  faith;  and  returned  his  nomination  un- 
modified to  the  bishops,  requesting  his  con- 
firmation. The  bishops  thereupon  refused,  by 
a  unanimous  vote,  to  confirm  the  nomination. 
The  trustees,  on  their  side,  have  issued  a  state- 
ment warmly  defending  Professor  Mitchell, 
on  the  ground  that  he  has  given  "long  and 
brilliant  service"  to  the  university,  and  that  as 
a  teacher  of  Hebrew  he  has  "no  superior  in 
the  English-speaking  world."  They  also  say: 
"His  attitude  toward  modern  biblical  questions' 
is  by  no  means  dogmatic.  He  seeks  the  truth, 
and  he  asks  only  such  liberty  in  teaching  as 
can  rightfully  be  accorded  to  a  man  holding 
the  essential  doctrines  of  our  Church — such 
liberty  as  was  exercised  by  John  Wesley,  and 
has  been  exercised  by  our  intellectual  leaders 
ever  since  his  day." 
The  "Mitchell  case"  has  been  widely  dis- 


RELIGION  AND  ETHICS 


53 


cnssed  in  papers  of  every  denominational  hue. 
Many  incline  toward  Professor  Mitcheirs  side 
of  the  controversy.  Even  the  Methodist  fVest- 
em  Christian  Advocate  (Cincinnati)  expresses 
some  doubt  as  to  the  wisdom  of  the  bishops' 
action,  which  it  suggests  was  rather  flimsily 
based  on  "a  seeming  discrepancy  between  the 
teaching  and  other  scriptural  statements  or 
our  doctrinal  standards."  It  adds:  "As  mat- 
ters now  stand,  who  knows  whether  not  only 
Professor  Mitchell  but  Professors  Bowne, 
Sheldon,  Terry,  Rogers — not  to  enumerate  the 
entire  faculties  of  our  theological  schools — 
are  all  heterodox  ?  We 
have  heard  of  certain 
movements  which  broke 
down  under  the  weight 
of  their  own  absurd- 
ity/' Zion's  Herald, 
the  Boston  Methodist 
paper,  taking  a  close- 
range  view  of  the  facts 
in  dispute,  lays  stress 
on  what  it  calls  "the 
personal  equation  in 
Dr.  Mitchell"  Accord- 
ing to  this  paper,  "it 
was  the  personality  of 
Professor  Mitchell,  in- 
genuous, hearty,  frank 
and  unrestrained, 
breaking  out  now  and 
then  in  criticism  of 
traditonal  notions  and 
of  prominent  officials 
in  the  church,  that, 
Qc^withstanding  h  i  s 
many  other  confessedly 
excellent  qualities,  pro- 
<i  u  c  e  d  a  conviction 
with  the  bishops  that 
he  was  not  a  safe 
teacher   and   guide  for 

immature  and  undeveloped  minds."  The 
Christian  Advocate  (New  York)  sums  up 
the  whole  matter  thus: 

'The  defense  of  the  bishops  of  their  position 
is  dear :  They  declined  to  confirm  six  months  ago ; 
they  told  the  trustees  why  they  declined  to  con- 
firm; the  trustees  simply  again  asked  them  to 
confirm,  and  their  statement  to  the  bishops  was 
of  such  a  nature  as  to  intensify  the  alarm  of 
those  who  were  most  decided  in  their  minds  that 
Professor  Mitchell  ought  not  to  remain.  And 
baring  declared  that  a  reasonable  doubt  existed 
they  decided  that  they  could  not  reopen  the  case. 
Professor  Mitchell  has  been  entirely  cleared  from 
heresy  with  respect  to  his  belief  in  such  doctrines 
of  the  chtu-ch  as  he  was  examined  upon.     The 


HINCKLEY  G.  MITCHELL,  D.D. 

Late  Profeasor  of  Hebrew  and  Old  Testament  Exe- 
g^esis  in  Boston  University  School  of  Theologry. 


bishops  unanimously  declined  to  consider  him  a 
heretic  on  those  pomts." 

The  Boston  Congregationalist  regards  the 
action  of  the  bishops  as  "surprising  and  dis- 
appointing"; and  the  New  York  Churchman 
(Protestant  Episcopal)  makes  the  comment: 
"It  is  strange  that  men  do  not  realize  that 
blindfolding  their  own  eyes  will  not  put  out 
the  sun."  In  severer,  terms,  the  New  York 
Outlook  says: 

"The  bishops,  to  speak  plainly,  have  yielded  to 
an  impulse  of  moral  timidity ;  they  have  abridged 
the  freedom  of  the  scholar  without  courageously 
saying  that  free  scholar- 
ship is  dangerous;  they 
have  punished  a  candid 
teacher  without  dearly 
and  frankly  announcing 
in  what  particulars  he 
has  oflFended;  they  have 
attempted  to  stand  as 
defenders  of  the  faith 
without  committing 
themselves  to  opposing 
any  specific  line  of  prog- 
ress. A  church  has  a 
perfect  right  to  decide 
that  in  the  schools  it 
sustains  and  controls  the 
pupils  shall  be  informed 
that  the  earth  is  flat,  and 
that  any  teacher  who  de- 
clares that  the  earth  is 
round  must  be  dis- 
missed; if  it  should  do 
so,  it  would  be  entitled 
to  some  respect,  if  not 
for  its  enlightenment,  at 
least  for  its  courage  of 
conviction  ;  but  the 
Methodist  Church,  in 
this  instance,  has  not 
openly  and  bravely  stood 
for  a  traditional  view;  it 
has  rather  vaguely  re- 
buked a  man  for  the  |un- , 
warranted  and  objection- 
able' method  by  which  he 
has  departed  from  a  tra- 
ditional view." 

The  New  York  Independent  characterizes 
the  action  of  the  bishops  as  "amazing  and 
puerile" : 

"They  have  forbidden  a  conservative  scholar — 
for  every  Old  Testament  scholar  knows  that  Pro- 
fessor Mitchell  is  what  would  now  be  called  a 
conservative — to  question  'the  historic  character 
of  the  early  chapters  of  Genesis.'  This  is  amaz- 
ing and  puerile.  .  .  .  It  is  a  part  of  the  busi- 
ness of  such  a  professor  as  Dr.  Mitchell  to  show 
his  students  how  to  reconcile  their  knowledge 
with  their  faith;  and  it  should  have  been  the 
business  of  the  bishops  to  brush  aside  technical- 
ities, and  And  a  wav  to  approve  one  of  their  most 
devout  scholars.  Instead  they  have  done  a  sad 
injury  to  the  church  they  ought  to  lead." 


54 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


A  ROMANCE  OF  THE  RELIGION  OF  HUMANITY 


A  temple  consecrated  to  the  Religion  of 
Humanity  and  to  Aug^ste  Comte,  its  foimder, 
and  especially  dedicated  to  Clotilde  de  Vaux, 
the  beautiful  priestess  of  the  cult,  who  was 
beloved  by  the  famous  philosopher,  has  been 
recently  erected  in  Paris.  This  imique  temple, 
located  in  the  Rue  Payenne,  was  built  at  the 
expense  of  a  wealthy  Englishman  named 
Crampton,  an  enthusiastic  adept  of  Comte's 
philosophy.  In  construction  and  plan  it  fol- 
lows the  ideas  of  the  master  with  great  fidelity. 
The  chapel  is  designed  with  sober  elegance 
and  contains  as  its  principal  feature  a  large 
altar  bearing  a  general  resemblance  to  the 
altars  of  Roman  Catholic  churches.  Sur- 
mounting this  altar  is  the  motto  in  Italian: 
"Virgin    Mother,    Daughter    of    Thy    Son.'* 


ALTAR  OF  THE  TEMPLE  OF  HUMANITY 
Recently  unveiled  in  Paris. 


Under  this  is  the  legend  in  French:  "Country, 
Humanity,  Family."  Surmounting  what 
closely  resembles  the  tabernacle  in  a  Roman 
Catholic  church  is  a  large  bust  of  Auguste 
Comte  by  the  sculptor,  Etex,  said  to  be  a  fine 
likeness  of  the  philosopher  in  his  maturity. 
In  a  large  center  panel  dominating  the  altar, 
and  by  far  the  most  striking  feature  of  the 
temple,  appears  the  portrait  of  Clotilde  de 
Vaux  holding  in  her  arms  a  child  and  sym- 
bolizing humanity,  according  to  the  Comtean 
ideas.  Though  its  suggestiveness  of  the  Sis- 
tine  Madonna  is  almost  too  obvious,  it  is  not 
without  artistic  merit.  The  lateral  walls  con- 
tain the  portraits  of  the  following  great  men : 
Moses,  Homer,  Aristotle,  Archimedes,  Caesar, 
St.  Paul,  Charlemagne,  Dante,  Gutenberg, 
Shakespeare,  Descartes,  Frede- 
rick the  Great  and  Bichat  In 
addition  there  is  a  portrait  of 
Heloise.  Here  and  there  are 
inscribed  maxims  such  as  "Do 
thy  duty,  come  what  may,"  and 
"Know  thyself  in  order  to  im- 
prove thyself."  The  worship 
consists  in  ceremonies  sug- 
gested by  the  different  modern 
creeds.  Naturally,  Christianity 
has  been  drawn  upon  largely, 
and'  more  especially  that  side  of 
it  which  accords  to  woman  so 
important  a  role.  A  summary 
of  the  doctrines  and  tenets  of 
the  creed  is  contained  in  "The 
Positivist  Catechism,  or  Gen- 
eral Exposition  of  the  Univer- 
sal Religion."  The  revolution- 
ary character  of  Comte's  con- 
ception is  here  seen  at  a  glance. 
He  abolishes  the  old  calendar 
as  Robespierre  did,  devising  a 
new  one  of  thirteen  months. 
Each  month  consists  of  twenty- 
eight  days.  The  new  calendar 
starts  from  1789,  the  year 
which  is  regarded  by  the 
founder  as  the  beginning  of  the 
modern  era.  The  cult  com- 
prises nine  "sacraments."  These 
mark  the  important  periods  of 
human  life  and  are  designated 
as  follows:  Presentation, 
which  takes  place  at  birth; 
Initiation  (at  fourteen  years)  ; 


RELIGION  AND  ETHICS 


55 


Admission  (twenty-one  years) ;  Destination 
(twenty-eight  years);  Marriage;  Maturity 
(forty-two  years)  ;  Retreat  (sixty- three 
years)  ;  Transformation  (at  death)  ;  and  In- 
corporation with  the  Great  Being  (seven 
rears  after  death).  The  Universal  Religion 
contains  a  numerous  priesthood,  whose  prin- 
cipal function  is  education  and  the  diffusion 
of  the  tenets  of  the  sects. 

A  recent  article  in  Le  Monde  Moderne 
I  Paris),  to  which  we  are  indebted  for  the 
above  facts,  gives  a  vivid  account  of  the  ro- 
mantic friendship  existing  between  Comte  and 
Gotilde  d  e  V  a  u  x, 
which  is  closely  linked 
with  the  history  of  the 
Positive  Philosophy, 
and  which  is  discov- 
ered to  have  been  one 
of  the  most  interesting 
romances  to  be  found 
in  the  annals  of  litera- 
ture. Renan,  in  the 
course  of  his  profound 
studies  in  religious  his- 
u>ry,  has  frequently 
called  attention  to  the 
important  influence 

which  women  have 
exerted  upon  the  for- 
mation and  develop- 
ment of  new  religions. 
A  woman  of  extraor- 
dinary personality  was 
destined  to  assume  a 
role  of  the  first  im- 
portance in  the  re- 
ligious movement 
which  marked  the  final 
stages  of  Comte's  phi- 
kisophy.  To  Comte 
the  appearance  of  this 
woman  was  like  a  new 
dawn  after  a  life  full  of  gloom  and  storm. 
To  appreciate  its  full  effect  it  is  essen- 
tial to  recall  an  earlier  period — the  period 
of  his  ill-starred  marriage.  This  marriage, 
which  took  place  in  1826,  while  he  was  still 
a  young  man,  was  most  unfortunate.  It  was, 
in  his  own  words,  "the  sole  grievous  mistake 
of  his  whole  life."  Contracted  against  the 
wishes  of  his  parents,  it  proved  disastrous 
from  the  beginning.  Madame  Comte,  though 
not  lacking  in  intelligence,  was  a  worldly  and 
practical  woman,  incapable  of  appreciating  or 
sympathizing  with  the  genius  of  her  husband. 


CLOTILDE  DE  VAUX 

The  woman  that  Aug^uste  Comte  exalted  as  "a  sort 
of  Madonna  of  the  Religion  of  Humanity." 


She  complained  bitterly  of  the  modest  sur- 
roundings of  the  philosopher  and  several  times 
deserted  him.  In  1842  it  was  mutually  agreed 
to  separate  forever,  Comte  stipulating  to  pay 
his  wife  a  regular  pension,  an  obligation  which 
he  kept  faithfully,  notwithstanding  his  slight 
resources.  It  is  supposed  that  the  mystical 
turn  which  was  given  to  Comte's  philosophy 
was  due  in  some  measure  to  the  intense  suffer- 
ing and  melancholy  which  resulted  from  the 
shipwreck  of  his  married  life.  Other  causes 
were  contributory  as  well.  Comte  had  been 
brought  up  in  strict  Roman  Catholic  tradi- 
tions, and  though  he 
had  entirely  outlived 
his  early  beliefs,  the 
moral  and  spiritual 
portion  of  the  religion 
of  his  youth  remained 
rooted  strongly  in  his 
nature.  But  by  far  thft 
most  important  factor 
in  Comte's  matured  re- 
1  i  g  i  o  u  s  development 
was  represented  by  the 
superior  woman  who  ' 
came  into  his  life  at 
the  critical  moment 
and  gave  to  his  phi- 
losophy its  needed  hu- 
man touch. 

Clotilde  de  Vaux,  the 
daughter  of  an  old 
soldier  of  the  empire, 
was  a  woman  of  re- 
markable beauty  and 
superior  intellectual  at- 
tainments. Her  do- 
mestic life  was  even 
more  unfortunate  than 
Comte's.  Shortly  after 
her  marriage  her  hus- 
band deserted  her,  and 
she  was  left  without  resources.  This  epoch  of 
her  life  left  ineffaceable  traces  upon  her  char- 
acter and  health.  Forced  to  gain  a  precarious 
living  by  her  pen,  the  delicate  woman  had  to 
suffer  all  sorts  of  indignity  and  even  physical 
want.  It  was  during  this  period  of  stress  that 
she  produced  her  novel,  "Lucie,"  which  Comte 
pronounced  a  work  of  rare  literary  merit.  Col- 
ored deeply  by  her  sad  experiences  and  re- 
flecting many  traits  of  her  character,  this 
novel  is  regarded  as  a  valuable  human  docu- 
ment by  the  adepts  of  the  Religion  of  Human- 
ity.    From  their  first  meeting  this  remarkable 


S6 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


woman  exerted  a  strong  influence  upon  Comte, 
who  at  once  recognized  in  her  a  kindred  spirit 
capable  of  appreciating  his  lofty  ideas.  Since 
his  separation  from  his  wife,  he  had  buried 
himself  in  metaphysical  speculation  and,  living 
the  life  of  a  Trappist,  was  painfully  elaborat- 
ing the  system  of  philosophy  which  was  to 
make  him  famous.  Suddenly  the  vision  of 
Qotilde  burst  upon  his  somber  meditations 
and  from  that  moment  his  conceptions  were 
as  though  irradiated  with  a  new  light  He  had 
already  expressed  this  sentiment  to  a  friend: 
"In  order  to  become  a  perfect  philosopher  it 
was  essential  that  I  should  experience  a  pas> 
sion  at  once  deep  and  pure,  which  would  en- 
able me  adequately  to  appreciate  the  part 
which  love  plays  in  humanity."  On  another 
occasion  he  had  said  to  his  friend  Valat :  "You 
cannot  imagine  how  strong  the  love  of  woman 
is  in  me." 

The  little  that  is  known  of  the  personal  re- 
lations of  Comte  and  Qotilde  has  been  gleaned 
from  the  philosopher's  correspondence.   What 


is  certain  is  that  he  conceived  an  ardent  pas- 
sion for  this  rare  woman  and  that  his  love 
was  returned.  Several  times  he  urged  mar- 
riage, but  always  met  a  firm  refusal.  Her 
health  had  been  seriously,  undermined  by  priva- 
tion and  suffering  and  she  foresaw  her  ap- 
proaching death.  "Alas !"  she  says  in  one  of 
her  letters;  "I  cannot  go  beyond  the  limits  of 
friendship;  no  one  will  ever  appreciate  you  as  I 
do,  and  no  other  will  ever  inspire  in  me  what 
you  have  inspired;  but  the  bitterness  of  the 
past  is  still  with  me  and  I  was  wrong  in  wish- 
ing to  brave  it" 

She  died  soon  after,  leaving  to  Comte  the 
ineffaceable  memory  of  a  pure  and  elevated 
love.  Gradually  that  love,  intensely  human  at 
at  first,  assumed  a  sacrosanct  character,  and 
Qotilde  de  Vaux  became  for  Comte  what  Bea- 
trice was  to  Dante.  He  reserved  for  her  the 
foremost  place  in  his  new  pantheon.  She  has 
become  a  sort  of  Madonna  of  the  Religion  of 
Humanity. 


EDWIN  MARKHAM  ON  THE  POETRY  OF  JESUS. 


"He  was  moved  not  only  by  the  beauty  of 
holiness  but  by  the  holiness  of  beauty."  In 
this  striking  sentence,  Edwin  Markham  pays 
tribute  to  Jesus  as  one  of  the  world's  great 
poets.  The  poetic  soul,  so  runs  Mr.  Mark- 
ham's  train  of  thought,  is  forever  haunted  by 
"a  divine  beauty  that  broods  over  us,  an  ideal 
splendor  that  completes  the  real."  Poetry  ex- 
presses this  beauty  in  words,  religion  in  deeds ; 
and  "Jesus,  the  supreme  religious  genius  of 
the  world,  carried  the  vision  of  the  poet : 

The  light  that  never  was  on  sea  or  land, 
The  consecration  and  the  poet's  dream.'* 

As  interpreted  by  Mr.  Markham,  this  light 
is  the  light  of  the  ideal;  this  consecration  is 
the  consecration  to  the  service  of  humanity; 
and  this  dream  is  the  dream  of  the  social 
federation  of  the  world.  He  goes  on  to  say 
(Homiletic  Review,  December) : 

"Jesus,  like  every  great  poet,  was  stung  with 
the  pain  of  genius,  the  passion  for  perfection,  the 
yearning  for  the  ideal.  No  wonder,  then,  that  he 
was  'a  man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted  with 
grief.'  Out  of  the  long  collision  between  the  is 
and  the  ought-to-be,  between  the  world  that  exists 
and  the  world  that  awaits  us  in  the  future, 
springs  that  majestic  sorrow,  that  noble  reticence, 
tnat  touches  with  its  shadow  all  elevated  and 
poetic  natures. 


"Upon  Greece  came  the  passion  for  beauty,  upon 
Palestine  the  passion  for  righteousness.  Jesus 
carried  both  ideals  in  his  heart,  for  he  saw  the 
glory  of  the  lilies  in  the  furrow  and  also  the  per- 
fidy of  the  oppressors  who  walk  over  graves.  He 
was  moved  not  only  by  the  beauty  of  holiness, 
but  also  by  the  holiness  of  beauty." 

Jesus  preached  artistically,  continues  Mr, 
Markham,  as  the  true  poet  always  preaches; 
he  twined  the  truth  with  the  beauty.  "His 
message  was  flung  forth  in  telling  metaphor, 
vivid  simile,  pointed  parable — ^the  chief  ma- 
chinery of  the  poet.  He  unsouled  himself  in 
the  poet's  way  because  the  poet's  way  is  the 
natural  and  spontaneous  utterance  of  the 
heart."    Furthermore : 

"Feeling  ever  the  pity  and  terror  of  our  exist- 
ence— its  sad  perversity,  its  pathetic  brevity,  and 
its  tremendous  import — still  his  poet's  heart  took 
loving  note  of  the  beauty  and  wonder  never 
wholly  lost  from  these  gray  roads  of  men.  He 
did  not  fail  to  note  the  wayward  wind  that  blow- 
eth  where  it  listeth,  the  red  evening  sky  that 
means  fair  weather,  the  cloud  out  of  the  west 
that  brings  the  shower,  the  tempest  in  the  sea, 
and  the  calm  that  follows  after  the  storm.  Nor 
did  he  overlook  the  birds  of  the  air  that  feed  on 
the  Father's  bounty  in  the  open  fields  and  lodge 
in  the  branches  of  the  mustard-trees;  nor  the 
green  grass  that  {[lories  in  the  field  to-day  and 
to-morrow  is  cast  into  the  oven.    .    .    . 

"Observe  the  poet's  glance,  the  brric  utterance, 


RELIGION  AND  ETHICS 


57 


3ni  the  deUcacy  of  fedixig  in  the  passages  that 
make  even  the  birds  and  the  flowers  upbraid  us! 
'Behold  the  fowls  of  the  air,  for  they  sow  not, 
nestiber  do  they  reap,  nor  gather  into  bams;  yet 
yoor  heavenly  Father  feedeth  them.  ,  .  .  And 
why  ukc  ye  thought  for  raiment?  Consider  the 
lilies  of  the  field,  how  they  grow:  they  toil  not, 
neither  do  they  spia  And  yet  I  say  unto  you  that 
Sobmon  in  all  his  glory  was  not  arrayed  like  one 
of  these.'  Who  docs  not  feel  the  idyllic  charm  of 
these  words,  their  naivete  and  sweetness  of 
spirit?" 

When  he  wished,  Jesus  could  throw  a  ro- 
mantic color  over  life,  calling  men  to  "poetic 
adventure  in  quest  of  the  beautiful  ideal." 
Again,  he  used  an  artistic  severity  of  expres- 
sion.   "He  is  always  intense,"  says  Mr.  Mark- 


ham,    "yet    always   restrained.      He    has    no 

wasted  word,  no  needless  image,  no  riot  of 

emotion,    no   efflorescence   of  oriental   fancy. 

Dante  does  not  have  more  severity  of  style," 

At  times  there  was  a  note  of  "terrific  majesty" 

in   the  utterances  of  Jesus.     Mr.   Markham 

says,  in  concluding: 

"Jesus  never  touches  the  thought  of  the  end  of 
the  world  save  with  words  colored  with  high 
poetic  seriousness.  In  his  parable  of  the  sheep 
and  the  goats  we  have  a  dramatic  compression  of 
our  earthly  life  into  a  brief  spectacle  of  judgment. 
We  see  the  two  multitudes,  one  passing  to  the 
rieht  hand  and  the  other  to  the  left  hand  of  the 
King.  Nothing  in  all  poetry  surpasses  the  dignity 
and  humanity  of  this  little  drama." 


POPULARIZING  ADVANCED  THEOLOGY  IN  GERMANY 


Are  critical  and  advanced  theological  teach- 
ings an  esoteric  wisdom,  to  be  confined  to  the 
university  lecture-rooms  and  to  academic  cir- 
cles, or  should  they  become  the  common  prop- 
erty of  the  average  man?  This  question  has 
frequently  come  up  for  discussion  in  the 
religious  world  and  has  generally  been  dis- 
posed of,  even  by  the  radicals,  with  the  state- 
ment that  the  church  at  large  is  not  in  a  con- 
dition to  understand  and  appreciate  the  new 
views,  and  hence  that  debates  on  their  merits 
and  dements  should  be  confined  to  those  who 
are  masters  of  the  subject.  But  lately  a 
marked  change  has  become  manifest  among 
the  radical  theologians  themselves.  It  is  only 
two  or  three  years  since  the  Christliche  Welt, 
of  Marburg,  the  brilliantly  edited  weekly  organ 
of  advanced  thought  in  Germany,  declared 
emphatically  that  it  was  not  its  purpose,  nor 
that  of  the  school  it  represented,  to  bring  the 
new  views  before  the  members  of  the  church 
at  large,  as  these  were  incompetent  to  pass  on 
the  matter ;  and  the  "Freunde  der  Christlichen 
Welt,"  consisting  of  associations  of  liberals 
among  the  professors,  pastors  and  laymen  all 
over  Germany,  have  shown  in  their  regular 
meetings  what  seemed  but  an  academic  interest 
in  the  radical  theories  proposed,  and  have  ex- 
pressly disclaimed  any  purpose  of  organizing 
a  party  of  their  own  within  the  different  state 
churches. 

Now  all  this  has  been  changed.  Systematic- 
ally and  aggressively  the  advanced  theologians 
have  announced  that  they  are  setting  out  to 
conquer,  and  have  begun  a  formal  crusade  with 
a  view  to  popularizing  their  views.    The  bold- 


est expression  of  this  crusade  is  the  publica- 
tion of  a  series  of  popular  works,  issued  at  an 
almost  nominal  price,  in  which  the  newer 
views  are  expounded  by  its  ablest  representa- 
tives. This  series  is  called  "Religionsge- 
schichtliche  Volksbucher"  (Popular  Religious 
Expositions  on  the  Basis  of  the  History  of 
Religion),  and  its  purpose  is  to  explain  the 
leading  problems  of  Christianity  in  the  light 
of  the  newest  school  of  theology  known  as  the 
"historico-religious."  The  editor  of  the  series 
is  Fr.  Michael  Schiele,  of  Marburg,  and  the 
publishers  are  Gebauer-Schwetschke,  of  Halle. 
Only  a  few  issues  have  yet  appeared,  but  fully 
three  dozen  prominent  university  theologians 
have  promised  to  contribute.  Of  the  works  so 
far  published,  the  most  important  is  by  Profess- 
or Bousset,  of  Gottingen,  entitled  "J^sus."  It 
is  a  neat  little  volume  of  103  pages,  containing 
the  sum  and  substance  of  the  teaching  of  mod- 
ern theology  concerning  Jesus,  and  sells  for  the 
small  price  of  sixty  pfennige  (about  15  cents). 
These  little  books  are  printed  in  editiohs  of 
5,000  copies.  Among  the  topics  announced 
for  the  near  future  are  the  following:  "The 
Religion  of  the  Old  Testament,"  "Faith  and 
Morals,"  "Pictures  from  Church  History." 

Several  causes  have  contributed  to  this 
change  of  front  on  the  part  of  the  advanced 
school.  One  of  these  is  the  fact  that  radical 
thinkers  have  been  "ruled  out"  of  the  state 
churches  on  the  ground  that  they  no  longer 
teach  the  fundamental  doctrines  found  in  the 
official  confessions  of  the  church.  The  brilliant 
Dr.  Stocker,  formerly  coyirt  preacher  in  Ber- 
lin, and  probably  the  most  influential  pulpit 


S8 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


orator  in  Germany,  has  been  the  leader  of  the 
crusade  against  the  advanced  theologians.  In 
his  organ,  the  Reformation,  he  has  frequently 
declared  that  honesty  should  compel  advo- 
cates of  the  newer  views  to  leave  the  historic 
churches,  whose  creed  they  no  longer  share, 
and  organize  churches  of  their  own.  Stocker 
has  also  said  that  the  conservatives  would  be 
willing  to  give  them  their  share  in  the  church 
properties.  Not  unnaturally,  his  views  have 
been  vigorously  combated.  Dr.  Foerster,  of 
Frankfort,  has  written  in  the  Chronik,  of 
Leipsic,  and  in  a  special  brochure,  giving  rea- 
sons why  advanced  thinkers  cannot  and  will 
not  do  as  Stocker  proposes.  Protestantism  is 
capable  of  development,  he  maintains;  modern 
theology  is  a  legitimate  development  of  the 
principles  of  the  Lutheran  Reformation,  and 
advanced  theologians  are  accordingly  the  law- 
ful children  of  the  great  religious  revival  of 
the  sixteenth  century.  The  Christliche  Welt 
takes  similar  ground,  arguing  that  Luther, 
when  correctly  interpreted,  stands  with  them 
and  not  with  the  orthodox. 

Another    series    of    brochures    on    modern 


theology  seeking  to  popularize  the  newer  views, 
is  edited  by  Professor  Weinel,  of  Jena,  and 
published  by  Mohr,  of  Ttibingen.  It  is  en- 
titled "Lebensfragen,"  and  discusses  such  sub- 
jects as  "The  Resurrection  of  Christ,"  "Paul," 
[see  following  article,  "Paul  as  Pictured  in  the 
New  Theology"],  "The  Dogma  of  the  Trinity," 
"The  Religion  of  our  Classics,"  "Naturalistic 
and  Religious  Philosophy,"  "Religion  and 
Art,"  "Redemption,"  etc. 

As  a  result  of  this  radical  propaganda,  the 
conservatives  are  up  in  arms.  They,  too,  have 
begun  to  issue  a  series  of  popular  discussions 
intended  to  counteract  the  influence  of  the 
"Volksbucher."  This  new  set  is  entitled  "§treit- 
und  Zeitfragen"  (Leipsic,  Deichert),  and  is 
edited  by  Professor  Kropatscheck,  of  Breslau. 
It  represents  not  a  blind  orthodoxy,  but  a  posi- 
tive type  of  evangelical  thought  that  is  willing^ 
to  recognize  the  actual  good  that  recent  re- 
search has  accomplished.  The  fact  that  all 
these  sets  are  selling  by  the  thousands  and 
even  tens  of  thousands,  shows  how  deep  the  in- 
terest of  the  German  people  in  religious 
problems  is. 


PAUL  AS  PICTURED  IN  THE  NEW  THEOLOGY. 


Next  to  Jesus  himself,  the  most  discussed 
character  in  the  New  Testament  is  the 
apostle  Paul.  Did  the  great  apostle  of  the 
Gentiles  merely  continue  the  teachings  of  the 
Nazarene,  or  did  he  introduce  into  the  Chris- 
tian system  something  radically  new  and  for- 
eign to  the  purposes  of  the  Master?  Such  are 
the  questions  that  continually  vex  the  theo- 
logical world,  ^any  advanced  German  theo- 
logians set  Paul's  influence  above  that  of 
Jesus,  although  Harnack  and  other  eminent 
thinkers  dissent  from  this  view.  The  new 
school  claims  that  not  Christ,  but  Paul,  is 
the  real  founder  of  Christianity  as  accepted 
by  the  church  and  handed  down  tra- 
ditionally as  "orthodox."  In  opposition  to 
this  claim  is  heard  the  cry,  "Away  from  Paul 
and  back  again  to  Christ !"  the  original  teach- 
ings of  the  Master  being  regarded  as  those  of 
the  first  three  gospels,  with  the  express  ex- 
clusion of  the  fourth. 

One  of  the  most  brilliant  of  the  younger 
protagonists  of  the  new  school,  Dr.  H.  Weinel, 
now  professor  in  Jena,  has  written  a  book*  in 


*Paulus.     By  H.  Weinel.     Paul  Siebeck.  Tabingen. 


which  he  gives  us  a  picture  of  Paul  in  the 
light  of  modern  criticism.  How  diflferently 
Jesus  and  Paul  speak,  he  says.  The  former 
was  the  child  of  a  small  agricultural  town, 
who  grew  up  surrounded  by  fields  of  grain, 
meadows  full  of  flowers  and  pasturing  herds; 
the  latter  was  the  child  of  a  mighty  city,  ac- 
customed to  the  bustle  of  business  streets  and 
thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  clanking 
march  of  armed  men,  the  gladiatorial  shows 
and  the  theater.  Jesus  and  Paul  moved  in  two 
different  worlds  of  thought  and  action,  and 
this  difference  is  reflected  in  what  they 
taught.  Jesus  was  a  man  who  spoke  boldly 
out  of  his  own  consciousness,  and  in  the  sim- 
plicity of  his  central  truth  that  God  is  a  Being 
of  Love  whom  we  can  approach  directly  and 
without  fear;  while  Christianity,  as  developed 
by  Paul,  is  a  complicated  affair,  full  of  dog- 
matic conceptions.  The  original  disciples  of 
Jesus  only  partially  understood  him;  Paul 
made  the  religion  of  Jesus  acceptable  by  ad- 
justing it  to  the  needs  and  wants  of  the  Gentile 
world  and  by  freeing  it  from  its  Jewish  nar- 
rowness. Without  this  further  development 
of  their  doctrines  the  Christians  would  prob- 


-AMONG  THB  LOWLV  " 

wATte  bv  1^*^*11  Lthe>ftnitte^  tbe  Prencli  painter,  which  hiis  been  acqiiire-d  by  the  Metropulitun  Museum  of 
^^        '  Art,  New  York. 


6o 


CURRENT  LITERATUJtE 


ably  have  shared  the  fate  of  many  a  Jewish 
sect.  Paul  became  the  organizer  of  the  church 
as  it  went  out  on  its  mission  conquering  and 
to  conquer,  and  he  achieved  success  by  effect- 
ing compromises  between  Christianity  and  the 
religious  thought  of  his  day.  It  may  be  a 
regrettable  fact  that  Christianity  won  by  such 
compromises,  but  its  fate  without  this  creative 
work  of  Paul  would  have  been  even  more  re- 
grettable. However  great  the  difference  may 
be  between  Jesus  and  Paul,  the  latter  is  yet 
entitled  to  the  distinction  of  having  given  the 
religion  of  Jesus  that  form  in  which  it  became 
the  world-subduing  faith. 

Among  the  many  additions  which  Paul 
made  to  original  Christianity,  continues  Pro- 
fessor Weinel,  some  were  in  the  nature  of 
burdens  that  have  been  difficult  to  carry. 
Whatever  may  otherwise  have  been  the  char- 
acteristics of  Paul's  nature,  he  was  certainly 
a  shrewd  and  close  thinker.  He  felt  the 
necessity  of  formulating,  in  a  systematic  way, 
what  he  had  inwardly  experienced.  When 
he  came  to  deal  with  Christianity,  he  built 
on  the  basis  of  the  philosophy  and  thought  of 
his  own  times  and  used  the  means  that  rab- 
binical theology  placed  at  his  disposal.  The 
outcome  of  this  process  was  an  artistic 
(kiinstlerisch)  but,  on  account  of  the  meager 
material,  an  inharmonious  system  of  thought. 
Jesus  had  boldly  directed  the  repentant  sinner 
to  God  Himself,  who  would  without  any  fur- 
ther conditions  forgive  his  sins.  Paul  de- 
manded that  first  the  justice  of  God  must  be 


satisfied  by  the  death  of  Jesus,  and  only  then 
could  the  love  of  God  become  effective.  What 
a  strange  thought!  But  Paul  was  compelled 
to  find  an  answer  to  the  question,  Why,  other- 
wise, should  Jesus  have  died?  For  the  fact 
that  he  did  die  and  that  the  Messiah  was  com- 
pelled to  enter  into  death  was  something  so 
incomprehensible  to  him,  and  so  offensive,  that 
he  felt  himself  compelled  to  justify  these  facts 
before  the  bar  of  his  thought.  In  this  way 
the  ideas  of  an  atonement-offering,  of  the 
atoning  power  of  the  blood  of  Christ,  and  of 
the  justifying  virtue  of  his  sufferings  and 
death,  found  their  way  into  Christianity  and 
became  a  burden  to  it  through  the  centuries. 

Are  we  to  censure  Paul  for  all  this?  asks 
the  author.  Are  we  to  expect  him  to  look 
upon  Christ  with  the  eyes  of  our  own  age,  and 
shall  we  blame  him  for  loading  upon  the 
cheerful  religion  of  the  Master  the  gloomy 
burden  of  his  own  theories?  Certainly  not. 
The  Pauline  stage  represented  a  most  impor- 
tant part  of  the  development  of  Christianity  as 
a  world-religion,  and  Paul  was  the  most  im- 
portant factor  in  this  development. 

In  the  supplement  of  the  Munich  Allge- 
meine  Zeitung,  the  views  of  Weinel  are 
warmly  welcomed  as  representing  the  fair 
results  of  historical  and  literary  criticism  ap- 
plied to  the  early  records  of  Christianity. 
At  the  same  time  it  is  held  that  we  of  to-day, 
knowing  the  exact  facts,  ought  to  return  to 
the  joyful  declaration  of  God's  love  as  origi- 
nally proclaimed  by  Jesus  himself. 


MAETERLINCK'S  CONCEPTION  OF  IMMORTALITY 


If  we  cannot  explain  the  simplest  objects 
around  us,  if  we  know  nothing  of  the  begin- 
ning or  the  end  of  the  flame  that  burns  in  the 
lamp  on  the  table  and  that  comes  or  goes  at 
our  pleasure — how  can  we  hope  to  penetrate 
the  profound  mystery  of  a  future  life?  Such, 
in  effect,  is  the  argument  used  by  Maurice 
Maeterlinck,  the  noted  essayist  and  dramatist, 
to  illustrate  his  attitude  toward  the  problem 
of  immortality.  That  we  live  again  he  is  con- 
fident; how  we  live  again  he  thinks  that  we 
cannot  know. 

Three  positions,  as  he  points  out  (in  Har- 
per^ s  Magasine,  December),  may  reasonably 
be  taken  in  regard  to  the  question  of  immortal- 
ity. We  may  hold  that,  after  death,  we  are 
annihilated  absolutely.     Or  we  may  contend 


that  we  live  again  with  the  same  personality 
as  that  which  we  now  possess.  Or  we  may 
accept  the  hypothesis  of  an  after-life  with 
an  enlarged  and  transformed  consciousness. 
Dealing  with  these  various  theories,  in  the 
order  mentioned,  Maeterlinck  brushes  aside 
the  first  without  discussion.  "That  the  state 
of  nothingness  is  impossible,"  he  says;  "that, 
after  our  death,  all  subsists  in  itself  and  noth- 
ing perishes:  these  are  things  that  hardly  in- 
terest us.  The  only  point  that  touches  us,  in 
this  eternal  persistence,  is  the  fate  of  that  little 
part  of  our  life  which  used  to  perceive  phe- 
nomena during  our  existence."  This  statement 
leads  to  a  consideration  of  the  second  theory, 
that  of  a  continuance  of  individual  conscious- 
ness.   It  is  perfectly  natural,  Maeterlinck  ad- 


RELIGION  AND  ETHICS 


6i 


mits,  that  we  should  desire  personal  immor- 
tditf.  We  cannot  but  feel  that  the  possible 
beaiity  and  splendor  of  any  future  life  is  as 
nothing  to  us  if  we  lose  our  identity  and  the 
recollection  of  the  life  that  now  is.  And  yet, 
he  asks,  is  not  this  an  essentially  "childish/'  or 
a  least  an  ''extraordinarily  limited,"  concep- 
tion? Arc  we  wise  in  wishing  to  live  for 
ercr?  Are  we  not  like  sick  men  who  hug  their 
ailments?    To  quote: 

*Pictiire  a  blind  man  who  is  also  paralvzed 
and  deal  He  has  been  in  this  condition  from 
ins  birth  and  has  just  attained  his  thirtieth  year, 
^liat  can  the  hours  have  embroidered  on  the 
imageless  web  of  this  poor  life?  The  unhappy 
nan  must  have  gathered  iti  the  depths  of  his 
memory,  for  lack  of  other  recollections,  a  few' 
wretched  sensations  of  heat  and  cold,  of  weariness 
-ulA  rest,  of  more  or  less  keen  physical  sufferings. 
Di  hunger  and  thirst.  It  is  probable  that  all 
homan  joys,  all  our  ideal  hopes  and  dreams  of 
p3xadise,  will  be  reduced  for  him  to  the  confused 
sense  of  well-being  that  follows  the  allaying  of 
2  pain.  This,  then,  is  the  only  possible  ec^uipment 
of  that  consciousness  and  that  ego.  The  intellect, 
taring  never  been  invoked  from  without,  will 
sleep  soundly*  knowing  nothing  of  itself.  Never- 
tbdess,  the  poor  wretch  will  have  his  little  life 
to  which  he  will  cling  by  bonds  as  narrow  and 
as  eager  as  the  happiest  of  men.  He  will  dread 
death;  and  the  idea  of  entering  into  eternity 
vithout  carrying  with  him  the  emotions  and 
memories  of  his  dark  and  silent  sick-bed  will 
phnge  him  into  the  same  despair  into  which  we 
are  pimiged  by  the  thought  of  abandoning  for 
the  icy  gloom  of  the  tomb  a  life  of  glory,  light, 
and  love. 

"Let  us  now  suppose  that  a  miracle  suddenly 
qnickens  his  eyes  and  ears  and  reveals  to  him, 
tbroogh  the  open  window  at  the  head  of  his  bed, 
the  dawn  rising  over  the  plain,  the  song  of  the 
^rds  in  the  trees,  the  murmuring  of  the  wind  in 
the  leaves  and  of  the  water  against  its  banks, 
the  ringing  of  human  voices  among  the  morning 
bins.  Let  us  suppose  also  that  the  same  miracle* 
completing  its  work,  restores  to  him  the  use  oi 
bis  limbs.  He  rises,  stretches  out  his  arms  to  that 
prodigy  which  as  yet  for  him  possesses  neither 
reality  nor  a  name:  the  light!  He  opens  the 
door,  staggers  out  amidst  the  effulgence,  and  his 
whole  body  dissolves  in  all  these  marvels.  He 
enters  upon  an  ineffable  life,  upon  a  sky  of  which 
30  dream  could  have  given  him  a  foretaste ;  and, 
\rs  a  freak  which  is  readily  admissible  in  this  sort 
of  cure,  health,  when  introducing  him  to  this  in- 
oTciceivable  and  unintelligible  existence,  wipes 
oat  in  him  every  memory  of  past  days." 

Maeterlinck  is  plainly  out  of  sympathy  with 
the  conception  of  personal  immortality,  as  or- 
dinarily held.  He  asserts  that  it  is  "at  bottom 
so  narrow,  so  artless  and  so  puerile  that, 
whether  for  men  or  for  plants  and  animals, 
one  scarcely  sees  a  means  of  finding  a  reason- 
able place  for  it  in  boundless  space  and  in- 
finite time.''    He  adds  his  conviction  that,  of 


all  our  possible  destinies,  the  preservation  of 
the  ego  would  be  "the  only  one  to  be  really 
dreaded,"  and  that  "annihilation  pure  and 
simple  would  be  a  thousand  times  preferable." 
There  remains  the  third  theory  of  an  enlarged 
and  transcendent  consciousness,  already  re- 
ferred to,  and  eloquently  suggested  in  the  pas- 
sage above  quoted.  Are  we  not  all  conscious 
at  times,  asks  Maeterlinck,  of  obscure  traces 
of  a  "budding  or  atrophied  sense"?  Do  we 
not    know    moments    of   pure    unselfishness? 

"Is  it  not  also  possible  that  the  aimless  joys  of 
art,  the  calm  and  deep  satisfaction  into  which 
we  are  plunged  by  the  contemplation  of  a  beauti- 
ful statue,  of  a  perfect  building,  which  does  not 
belong  to  us,  which  we  shall  never  see  again, 
which  arouses  no  sensual  desire,  which  can  ht  of 
no  service  to  us :  is  it  not  possible  that  this  satis- 
faction may  be  the  pale  glimmer  of  a  different 
consciousness  that  filters  through  a  cranny  of  our 
mnemonic  consciousness?  If  we  are  unable  to 
imagine  that  different  consciousness,  that  is  no 
reason  to  deny  it.  All  our  life  would  be  spent  in 
the  midst  of  things  which  we  could  never  have 
imagined,  if  our  senses,  instead  of  being  given  to 
us  all  together,  had  been  panted  to  us  one  by  one 
and  from  year  to  year.  During  childhood  we  did 
not  suspect  the  existence  of  a  whole  world  of 
passions,  of  love's  frenzies  and  sorrows  which 
excite  'grown-up  people.'  If,  by  chance,  some 
garbled  echo  of  those  sounds  reached  our  inno- 
cent and  curious  ears,  we  did  not  succeed  in  un- 
derstanding what  manner  of  fury  or  madness  was 
thus  seizing  hold  of  our  elders,  and  we  promised 
ourselves,  when  the  time  came,  to  be  more  sen- 
sible, until  the  day  when  love,  unexpectediv  ap- 
pearing, disturbed  the  centre  of  gravity  of  all  our 
feelings  and  of  most  of  our  ideas.  We  see,  there- 
fore, that  to  imagine  or  not  to  imagine  depends 
upon  so  little  that  we  have  no  right  to  doubt  the 
possibility  of  that  which  we  cannot  conceive." 

We  stand  a  much  greater  chance  of  lighting 
upon  a  fragment  of  truth  by  imagining  the 
most  unimaginable  things,  says  Maeterlinck, 
than  by  "striving  to  lead  the  dreams  of  that 
imagination  between  the  dikes  of  logic  and  of 
actual  possibilities."    He  concludes : 

"Let  us  say  to  ourselves  that,  among  the  possi- 
bilities which  the  universe  still  hides  from  us,  one 
of  the  easiest  to  realize,  one  of  the  most  pal- 
pable, the  least  ambitious  and  the  least  dis- 
concerting, is  certainly  the  possibility  of  a 
means  of  enjojring  an  existence  much  more  spa- 
cious, lofty,  perfect,  durable,  and  secure  than  that 
which  is  offered  to  us  b^  our  actual  consciousness. 
Admitting  this  possibility — ^and  there  are  few  as 
probable — ^the  problem  of  our  immortality  is,  in 
principle,  solved.  It  is  now  a  question  of  grasping 
or  foreseeing  its  ways  and,  amid  the  circumstances 
that  interest  us  most,  of  knowing  what  part  of 
our  intellectual  and  moral  acquirements  will  pass 
into  our  eternal  and  universal  life.  This  is  not 
the  work  of  to-day.  or  to-morrow;  but  it  would 
need  no  incredible  miracle  to  make  it  the  work  of 
some  other  day." 


63 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


THE  DIVINE  PURPOSE  IN  HISTORY. 


The  doctrine  of  the  immanence  of  God  has 
been  called  the  great  religious  discovery  of 
the  nineteenth  century.  Its  significance  as  a 
key  to  the  interpretation  of  history  and  of 
daily  life  is  ably  indicated  in  a  new  volume* 
by  Prof.  Borden  P.  Bowne,  of  Boston  Uni- 
versity. Too  often  in  the  past,  he  declares, 
men  have  assumed  that  nature  pursues  her 
own  course  according  to  pre-established  law, 
and  that  God  is  an  "absentee."  Thus  the  re- 
ligious mind,  in  its  search  for  God,  has  found 
that  a  false  philosophy  had  removed  him  to  an 
indefinite  distance,  and  substituted  a  self-run- 


BORDEN  P.  BOWNE,  LL.D. 
Professor  of  Philosophy  in  Boston  University. 
He  says:  "If  our  daily  bread  came  to  us  by  raven 
exoress  or  by  a  great  sheet  let  down  from  the  skies,  it 
would  be  no  Lore  divinely  sent  than  it  if  when  it  comes 
Jhrough  the  springing  grass,  or  the  growing  corn,  or  the 
ripening  harvest." 

ning  '^Nature"  and  a  self-running  "Humanity"; 
and  there  has  been  no  recourse  but  to  look  for 
God  in  prodigies  and  disorder  in  general.  Un- 
der such  a  misunderstanding,  the  professor  ar- 
gues, "the  believer  in  God  in  history  has 
sought  for  Him  largely  in  strange  and  striking 
events,  in  historical  crises,  in  marvelous  coin- 
cidences, rather  than  in  the  orderly  movement 
and  progress  of  human  life  and  society."  The 
doctrine  of  the  divine  immanence  "allows  us 
to  find  God  as  present  in  the  ordinary  move- 

♦Thb    Immanbncb    o»    God. 
Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co. 


By     Borden    P.     Bowne. 


ments  of  life  and  society  as  in  the  strange  and 
uninterpretable  things."  There  is  no  objec- 
tion, he  adds,  to  finding  God  in  prodigies,  if 
there  be  such  things,  but  it  is  far  more  im- 
portant to  find  him  in  the  normal  activities  of 
men  and  the  unfoldings  of  history.  "Prodigies 
are  vanishing  quantities  in  any  case,  in  com- 
parison with  the  historic  life  and  development 
of  humanity;  and  here  alone  does  the  divine 
presence  have  abiding  significance."  To  quote 
further : 

"A  divine  purpose,  a  moral  development  in 
bumanity,  is  the  essential  meaning  of  God  in 
history.  This  history  is  the  unfolding  and  realiza- 
tion of  the  divine  purpose.  We  cannot,  indeed, 
trace  this  purpose  in  all  the  details  of  history, 
and  when  we  begin  to  make  specific  interpreta- 
tions, we  are  very  apt  to  go  astray.  But  the  exist- 
ence of  such  a  purpose  is  a  necessary  implication 
of  theistic  faith.  Sometimes  the  historical  crisis 
is  such,  and  the  co-working  of  complex  factors 
so  marked,  that  we  seem  to  be  aware  of  a  divinity 
that  shapes  our  ends.  Then  we  speak  of  a  guid- 
ing or  overruling  Providence.  But  commonly  life 
runs  on  in  the  familiar  routine,  and  we  seem  left 
to  our  own  judgment  to  find  the  way.  At  such 
times  we  have  nothing  to  say  of  Providence.  But 
it  is  clear  that  the  only  difference  is  that  some- 
times the  divine  purpose  seems  manifest,  while  at 
other  times  it  is  hidden.  The  purpose,  however, 
is  equally  real  and  equally  controlling  at  all  times, 
though  not  equally  manifest.  Our  eyes  are  holden 
in  this  matter  mainly  because  of  our  deistic  phi- 
losophy with  its  self-running  nature  and  absentee 
God.  If  this  philosophy  were  set  aside,  most  of 
our  difiiculties  would  disappear  of  themselves." 

The  stereotyped  form  of  objection  to  belief 
in  a  prodigy  or  miracle,  the  writer  goes  on  to 
say,  is  based  on  the  "suspicion  that  if  we  un- 
derstood all  the  hidden  connections  of  the 
event,  we  should  find  it  to  be  natural,  and 
hence  undivine,  after  all."  This  objection  van- 
ishes when  we  accept  the  idea  of  divine  im- 
manence, for  "then  we  come  to  a  natural  which 
roots  in  the  supernatural,  and  a  supernatural 
whose  methods  are  natural."  To  this  neither 
science  nor  religion  has  any  objection. 

Similarly,  the  objections  to  "special"  crea- 
tion, "special"  providence,  rest  on  a  miscon- 
ception. If  there  be  any  providence  at  all, 
says  Professor  Bowne,  it  must  be  special,  "as 
a  providence  in  general  would  be  no  provi- 
dence at  all.  .  .  .  Any  real  providence  in 
our  lives  must  specify  itself  into  perfectly  def- 
inite and  special  ordering  of  events,  or  it  van- 
ishes altogether.  In  this  sense  all  providences 
are  special  providences,  or  they  are  nothing." 
He  continues: 


RELIGION  AND  ETHICS 


63 


"Here  again  the  divine  immanence  helps  us 
If  there  be  purpose  in  anything,  there  is  purpose 
:n  evcrythiiig.  The  creative  plan  must  include 
ill  its  details,  and  the  immanent  creative  will 
most  specifically  realize  all  its  special  demands. 
Both  philosophy  and  religion  unite  in  this  view. 
Philosophy  sjiuts  us  up  to  it,  and  it  is  a  postulate 
of  rel^on.  But  both  philosophy  and  religion  also 
unite  in  rejecting  a  doctrine  of  special  providence 
which  implies  that  things  go  their  own  wa^  for 
the  most  part,  and  that  God  now  and  then  mter- 
v^es  in  a  striking  fashion  for  his  favorites.  On 
the  view  of  the  divine  immanence,  events  are 
-:ipematural  in  their  causality  and  natural  in 
the  order  of  their  happenings;  and  a  so-called 
special  providence  would  be  simply  an  event  in 
which  the  divine  purpose  and  causality,  which  are 
h  all  things,  could  be  more  clearljr  traced,  or 
w(>{ild  more  markedly  appear,  than  in  more  fa- 
miliar matters.  But  when  we  know  that  divine 
trisdom  and  love  are  in  all  things,  we  are  less  con- 
cerned about  'special  interventions.' " 

It  will  be  a  great  step  forward,  the  writer 
concludes,  when  religious  thought  is  adjusted 
to  this  conception,  "when  we  see  the  divine 
causality  in  aJl  things  and  the  naturalness  of 
the  divine  working,  and  when  instead  of  melo- 
dramatic irruptions  from  without  we  have  or- 
derly tin  foldings  from  within  along  the  lines 
-)f  familiar  law  and  influence."    Further: 

"If  our  daily  bread  came  to  us  by  raven  ex- 
press, or  by  a  great  sheet  let  down  from  the  skies, 
It  would  be  no  more  divinely  sent  than  it  is  when 
It  comes  through  the  springing  grass,  or  the  grow- 
ing com,  or  the  ripening  harvest.  Similarly,  God 
works  His  will  in  history  not  apart  from  men,  but 
through  men  and  in  partnership  with  them;  and 
the  work  is  no  less  divine  on  that  account.  An 
angel  flying  abroad  through  the  skies  to  preach 


ABBE  FELIX  KLEIN 

Of  the  Catholic  University  of  Paris;  who  lately  visited 
our  shores,  and  chronicles  his  impressions  in  a  book  that 
has  been  crowned  by  the  French  Academy. 

the  everlasting  gospel  would  amazingly  tickle  the 
spiritual  groundling,  but  devoted  men  and  women, 
speaking  from  heart  to  heart  in  our  human  speech 
of  the  good  news  of  God,  would  be  quite  as  divine 
and  more  effective.  For  if  they  hear  not  Moses 
and  the  prophets,  they  would  not  be  persuaded 
though  one  rose  from  the  dead." 


A  FRENCHMAN'S  IMPRESSIONS  OF  OUR  RELIGIOUS  LIFE, 


The  Abbe  Felix  Klein,  of  the  Catholic  Uni- 
versity of  Paris,  recently  visited  our  shores 
and  set  down  his  impressions  in  a  volume  en- 
titled "Au  Pays  de  la  Vie  Intense,"  which  has 
already  run  through  seven  editions  and  has 
been  crowned  by  the  French  Academy.  He 
has  now  put  the  book  within  reach  of  Ameri- 
can readers  in  an  English  translation,*  and  we 
have  a  chance  to  look  at  our  coiintry  and  its 
institutions  through  the  eyes  of'  a  scholarly 
French  priest.  The  abbe  is  friendly,  and  even 
flattering,  in  his  tone.  He  devotes  a  great  deal 
of  space  to  religious  subjects,  and  is  especially 
impressed  by  our  religious  tolerance.  Initia- 
tive and  tolerance  are  the  two  great  American 


•In  THB   Land  of  thb  Strbnuous  Livb. 
Klein.     A.  C.  McClurg  &  Co. 


By  Abb«<  Felix 


qualities,  he  says;  adding:  "The  courage  to 
act  and  the  wisdom  to  permit  others  to  act, — 
what  is  more  beautiful,  and  in  our  day  more 
necessary,  than  this?"  The  abbe's  opinions 
are  strongly  colored  by  his  Roman  Catholic 
sympathies,  and  in  one  place  he  goes  so  far 
as  to  say:  "America,  far  from  being,  as  we 
had  been  led  to  expect,  a  Protestant  country  in 
which  the  Catholic  Church  was  respected, 
proved  to  be,  in  our  opinion,  a  country  half 
theistic  and  half  Christian,  in  which  Catholi- 
cism holds  the  highest  place." 

President  Roosevelt  and  Bishop  J.  L.  Spald- 
ing, of  Peoria,  Illinois,  are  taken  as  exemplars 
of  the  truest  kind  of  American  religion.  To 
the  former  the  author  dedicates  his  book,  by 
permission;    the   latter's   works   he   is   trans- 


64 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


lating  into  French.  The  abb^  thinks  that 
President  Roosevelt  deserves  to  be  described 
as  "the  militant  Christian."  He  comments 
with  approval  on  a  characteristic  address  made 
by  our  Chief  Executive  before  the  Catholic 
Society  of  the  Holy  Name,  founded  for  the 
suppression  of  blasphemy,  and  on  felicitous 
words  uttered  by  him  at  a  great  open-air 
gathering  of  Episcopalians.  He  is  impressed 
by  the  fact  that  the  President  was  fraternizing 
with  Roman  Catholic  priests  one  day  and  with 
Anglican  bishops  the  next.    He  says  further : 

"President  Roosevelt  is  a  complete  man,  in 
whom  mind  and  muscle,  soul  and  body,  are  har- 
moniously developed,  the  realized  ideal  of  the 
nation  to  which  he  belongs;  who  by  years  of 
ranch-life  turned  an  originallv  weak  constitution 
into  one  of  robust  health;  who  in  politics  never 
hides  his  convictions;  who  in  foreign  affairs, 
perhaps  like  others,  has  exaggerated  the  rights 
of  his  own  country ;  but  who,  if  we  judge  him  by 
his  intentions  and  acts  as  a  whole,  regulates  his 
conduct,  as  he  says,  by  the  motto  of  Lincoln :  'Do 
the  best ;  but  if  you  can't  do  the  best,  then  do  the 
best  you  can.' " 

The  abb6  pays  another  enthusiastic  tribute 
to  Bishop  Spalding,  preluding  his  remarks 
with  the  statement:  "American  bishops  are 
noted  for  their  simplicity,  and  he  is  the  sim- 
plest of  them  all." 

"Bishop,  orator,  author,  simple  citizen,  he  goes 
about  his  work  without  ever  caring  for  appear- 
ances; and  thinks  of  what  he  ought  to  do,  not 
what  people  may  say  of  him.  There  is  no  more 
affectation  in  his  mode  of  living  than  about  his 
person.  His  dwelling,  his  speech,  and  his  manner 
are  those  of  an  honest  man,  neither  luxurious 
nor  austere.  It  seems  as  if  he  considered  ex- 
ternal details  not  worth  either  magnifying  or  be- 
littling. For  him,  the  picture,  not  the  frame,  is 
of  importance.  During  our  week  of  intimacy  I 
did  not  remark  a  single  striking  feature  in  con- 
nection with  this  great  bishop.  We  lived  in  the 
little  rectory,  with  his  family  of  three  priests 
belonging  to  the  Cathedral.  We  took  long  drives 
in  a  buggy,  and  when  we  stopped  to  visit  churches 
or  convents,  the  prelate,  more  expert  in  the  mat- 
ter than  I,  tied  our  horse  to  the  hitching-post  him- 
self; we  enjoyed  long  chats  after  meals — and 
that  was  all.  All?  Yes,  truly;  but  I  sought  no 
more ;  for  those  few  days  have  left  in  my  memory 
much  light  and  peace.  ...  I  have  met  more 
competent  specialists  on  many  topics.  But  I 
doubt  if  there  actually  exists  in  the  world  another 
man  with  a  better  understanding  of  religious, 
social,  and  philosophic  problems;  and  I  do  not 
know  if  there  lives  anywhere  a  more  Christian 
thinker  or  a  Christian  who  thinks  more  pro- 
foundly." 

In  surveying  the  general  religious  situation 
in  this  country,  M.  Klein  confesses  that  he  was 
surprised  to  find  that  one-half,  or  even  more, 


of  the  people  of  the  United  States  are  non- 
sectarian,  t.  e.,  belong  to  no  religions  de- 
nomination whatsoever.  But  of  these  he  says : 
"Even  the  non-church-goers,  for  the  most  part, 
believe  in  God,  and  in  the  immortality  of  the 
soul;  they  sincerely  take  part  in  the  prayers 
the  nation  offers  up  to  God  on  certain  solemn 
occasions;  and,  more  than  that,  they  love  the 
Gospel,  and  what  might  be  called  their  natural 
religion  is  always  Christian  in  its  outward 
manifestation."  He  remarks  that  during  his 
sojourn  in  this  country  he  "bought  at  ran- 
dom every  kind  of  newspaper,  without  ever 
hearing  or  reading  a  word  against  religion." 
He  comments  further: 

"But  still  the  bald  and  disquieting  fact  re- 
mains, that  in  this  great  country  one-half  of  the 
people  are  absolutely  without  any  positive  re- 
ligion.   .    .    . 

"Will  this  state  of  things  continue?  Will  it 
even  grow  worse? 

"This  is  doubtless  a  serious  problem ;  and  those 
Americans  who  feel  that  they  are  in  some  way 
responsible  for  the  nation's  future  realize  it  full 
well.  To  maintain  at  all  costs  the  religious  ideal, 
and  the  Christian  standard  above  wealth,  ma- 
terial well-beingr  and  power, — this  is  the  one 
thing  chiefly  insisted  upon  in  their  discourses  by 
the  leaders  of  American  public  opinion,  by  the 
most  clear-sighted  and  eminent  of  her  sons,  like 
President  Roosevelt  or  Bishop  Spaulding." 

From  almost  all  his  experiences  in  this  coun- 
try the  abbe  gathers  spiritual  fruits.  Even  a 
visit  to  Wall  Street  led  indirectly  to  "clear 
testimony  to  a  faith  in  other  than  material 
treasures" : 

"We  visited  the  business  section,  inspected  a 
few  stores  and  newspaper  offices,  and  then  went 
to  the  new  Stock  Exchange.  From  the  gallery 
overlooking  the  great  floor  of  the  Exchange,  we 
witnessed  a  barbarous  spectacle;  They  tell  us 
that  Paris  and  London  and  Berlin  offer  sights 
quite  equal  to  this,  and  I  will  believe  it  if  I  must. 
I  found  the  New  York  Exchange  utterly  beyond 
the  possibilities  of  description;  and  fleeing  away 
as  fast  as  I  could,  I  was  fain  to  seek  the  seclusion 
of  the  neighboring  cemetery,  which,  like  a  poetic 
little  hamlet,  encircles  Trinity  Church.  Around 
^his  beautiful  Gothic  temple,  very  pure  and  sober 
in  style,  are  grouped  tombs  a  century  and  a  half 
old.  Stones  hidden  in  the  grass  cover  the  an- 
cestors of  the  great  metropolis,  and  so  reverently 
is  their  sleep  guarded  that  not  even  the  most 
tempting  offers  can  induce  the  trustees  of  the 
church  to  surrender  this  holy  ground.  Yet  every 
square  foot  of  that  domain  represents  a  fortune. 
Thus  to  respect  the  pious  purpose  for  which  it 
was  originally  destined  is,  in  my  opinion,  to  give 
clear  testimony  to  a  faith  in  other  than  material 
treasures,  and  nobly  to  proclaim  in  the  very 
midst  of  the  temple  of  Mammon  the  sovereignty 
of  the  ideal." 


6s 


Science  and    Discovery 


EYE-STRAIN  AS  THE  CAUSE  OF  THE  VAGARIES  OF  GENIUS 


Those  vagaries  of  genius  which  the  world 
has  been  taught  to  discern  in  the  careers  of 
Wagner,  Nietzsche,  Carlyle,  De  Quincey, 
Tschaikowsky  and  Turner  were  the  direct  re- 
sult of  eye-strain.  There  was  no  madness  in  the 
origin  of  their  eccentricities.  Similarly,  eye- 
strain affords  a  key  to  the  careers  of  Robert 
Browning,  George  Eliot,  Herbert  Spencer, 
Darwin,  Huxley,  Margaret  Fuller,  John  Ad- 
dington  Symonds,  Taine  and  innumerable 
others.  In  the  light  of  the  new  ophthal- 
mology, therefore,  volumes  of  literary  and  art 
history  must  be  rewritten.  Thus  the  Berlin 
oculist,  Liebreich,  was  certain  that  the  peculiar 
character  of  Turner's  pictures  was  due  to  his 
astigmatism.  If  Turner's  pictures  be  viewed 
through  proper  astigmatic  lenses,  these  paint- 
lags  would  appear  as  those  of  other  painters 
^ith  normal  eyes.  The  musician,  Tschai- 
kowsky, was  troubled  all  his  life  by  sleepless- 
ness, fatigue  and  depression,  traceable  to  eye- 
strain and  conditioning  the  prodiicts  of  his 
amazing  genius.  Why  these  truths  have  been 
completely  missed  and  why  the  notion  that 
genius  is  to  madness  near  allied  should  persist 
are  matters  with  which  Dr.  George  M. 
Gould  deals  in  a  series  of  notable  recent 
studies.*  Here  are  the  preliminary  considera- 
tions involved: 

*"Dryden's  famous  couplet  is  a  poor  and  un- 
truthful variation  of  Aristotle's  'No  excellent 
soul  is  exempt  from  a  mixture  of  madness,'  and 
of  Seneca's  *No  great  genius  is  without  a  mixture 
of  insanity.'  The  truth,  the  little  truth,  there  may 
be  in  the  sa3rings  consists  principally  of  three  con- 
stituent errors :  i.  The  people  who  accept  such  a 
ps>'chology  of  genius  and  insanity  are  themselves 
incapable  of  knowing  or  understanding  in  what 
?cmus  or  madness  consists  and  view  both  as 
something  alien.  They  are  in  no  danger  of  illus- 
trating either  genius  or  insanity.  2.  They  may 
drive  the  genius  into  dementia  by  their  stupid  un- 
recognition  and  even  hatred.  3.  A  genius  may  go 
mad  because  of  eye-strain. 

*TkIrs.  Carlyle,  tortured  for  forty  years  by  ex- 
cruciating suffering,  may,  in  the  crisis  of  pain 
and  the  mystery  of  it,  gaspingly  demand  a  promise 
that  if  she  goes  mad  she  shall  not  be  put  in  a 
madhouse.  De  Quincey  may  prevent  pain  and  in- 
sanity by  opium.  Great  alienists  may  assure  Park- 
man  he  will  soon  be  a  maniac  and  may  class 

•Biographic    Clinic?.    By    George   M.   Gould»   M.D. 
Tlirce  volumes,    P.  Blakiston'a  Son  &  Co. 


Schopenhauer  and  Wagner  as  such.  Wagner 
may  live  in  fear  of  it  and  Nietzsche  may  be 
crushed  into  the  horrible  actuality  of  it.  It  all 
proves  not  the  silly  pathology  of  the  proverb  but 
the  sin  and  the  want  of  medical  science.  A 
simple  or  rather,  speaking  in  optical  terms,  a  com- 
pound pair  of  lenses  would  have  absolutely  pre- 
vented the  entire  tragedy  in  each  case." 

Ocular  symptoms,  ignored  in  a  crude  state 
of  ophthalmological  science,  show  to-day  that 
De  Quincey's  life  was  one  of  intense  ocular 
strain.  One  proof  is,  Dr.  Gould  tells  us,  that 
De  Quincey  kept  an  eye  closed  in  the  latter 
part  of  his  life  when  he  was  reading  or  writ- 
ing, and  that  eye  is  plainly  divergent  in  his 
portrait.  In  the  latter  part  of  Wagner's  life 
at  least  the  left  eye  wa§  turned  upward  and 
outward  and  the  forehead  wrinkled  to  keep 
the  lid  above  the  pupil.  That  demonstrates  to 
Dr.  Gould  many  years  of  previous  suffering. 
Parkman's  photophobia  was  his  first  and  most 
constant  symptom  during  life.  He  had  also 
blepharitis  and  meibomian  cysts.  Pain  in  his 
eyes  was  as  constant  a  symptom  with  Nietzsche 
as  pain  in  the  head  and  gastric  trouble.  The 
significances  of  such  things  in  the  careers  of 
these  great  men  are  best  illustrated.  Dr.  Gould 
points  out,  by  a  diagnosis  or  "biographic 
clinic,"  based  upon  an  individual  case.  He 
gives  many,  that  of  De  Quincey  being  typical. 
Having  supplied  appropriate  extracts  from  the 
list  of  this  writer's  physical  ailments  as 
recorded  in  the  biographies  and  letters.  Dr. 
Gould  diagnoses : 

"Without  a  scrap  of  direct  evidence  as  to  the 
existence  of  eye-strain,  a  study  of  the  clinical 
biography  of  De  Quincey  by  a  competent  oculist 
should  convince  him  that  the  mystery  of  De 
Quincey's  life  and  disease,  *the  key  to  the  original 
cause,*  as  he  puts  it,  of  his  suffering,  was  reflex 
ocular  neurosis.  Why  then  did  his  eyes  not  pain 
him  and  he  suffer?  It  is  one  of  the  greatest  of 
unutilized  truths,  long  known,  strangely  ignored, 
that  in  the  vast  majority  of  cases  of  eye-strain 
the  morbid  results  of  the  astigmatism,  etc.,  are 
not  felt  in  the  ^es.  It  is  perfectly  explainable 
why  this  is  so.  The  value  of  the  eye  so  overtops 
that  of  almost  any  other  organ  that  the  reflex 
results  of  its  unphysiologic  function  must  be 
shunted  anywhere  except  back  to  the  eye  itself. 
In  women  it  goes  to  the  head  and  the  world  is 
full  of  those  tortured  nearly  every  day  of  their 
life  with  head  ache  and  sick  head  ache  ('bilious' 
or  nervous  head  aches).    In  many,  and  especially 


65 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


DR.  G  EORGE  M.  GOULD 

His  researches  in  ophtalmology  have  revolutionised  sci- 
entitle  conceptions  of  the  pathology  of  genius. 

in  men  working  much  with  the  ejres,  the  reflex  is 
to  the  digestional  organs,  with  'indigestion'  and 
'liver  derangements/  'anorexia/  etc.  The  truth 
that  eye-strain  induces  these  functional  gastric, 
intestinal  and  biliary  disorders,  can  not  much 
longer  be  ignored.  When  acted  upon  it  will  con- 
stitute one  of  the  greatest  advances  in  practical 
medicine  that  has  ever  been  made.    .    .    . 

"We  must  not  forget  that  in  the  days  of  De 
Quincey,  Carlyle,  etc.,  candles  and  rush  lights 
were  the  common  sources  of  artificial  light.  When 
even  our  wonderful  best  modem  lights  are  by  no 
means  equal  to  daylight  and  are  found  taxing  to 
weak  and  defective  eyes,  what  must  have  been 
the  degree  of  eye-strain  in  the  days  of  candles? 

"At  about  sixty-five  De  Quincey's  eyes  began 
troubling  him.  When  accommodation  had  been 
entirely  lost,  the  morbid  reflex  could  not  be 
shunted  elsewhere  and  must  be  returned  to  the 
eyes  themselves.  He  had  'pain,'  which  means, 
beyond  question,  inflammation  of  the  external 
or  visible  parts  of  the  eye.  (Cataract  and  retinal 
inflammations  are  painless.)  Stopping  reading 
by  candle  light  naturally  relieved  him.  It  re- 
turned worse  than  ever  and  affected  the  cornea 
('all  but  blind')  and  sulphate  of  zinc  was  the 
excellent  remedy  used.  This  conjunctival  trouble 
continued  to  the  end  of  his  life  and  in  the  last 
years  most  of  the  reading  was  done  for  him  by 
others,  reading  aloud. 

"As  I  have  said,  the  trained  oculist  would  not 
need  direct  evidence  of  ametropia,  etc.,  to  con- 
vince him  of  the  subtle  source  of  De  Quincey's 
affliction.  But  as  such  positive  evidence  would 
aid  in  bringing  conviction  to  the  layman  and  to 
the  ultra-conservative  physician,  he  would  wel- 


come any  such  demonstration  of  the  optical    5it>- 
normality  of  this  patient's  eyes.    Luckily,  it  e^cists 
and   in   a   duplicate   and   mutually   corroborative 
form.     The  first   is  the  picture  of  De  Quincey 
prefixed  to  the  'Life  and  Letters'  (by  Page)  made 
from  the  portrait  by  Mr.  James  Archer,  R.  S-    A. 
In  this,  as  any  ophthalmologist,  or  even  any    ob- 
servant layman,  can  see,  the  eyes  are  diverg-ent. 
In  sitting  for  a  portrait  in  which  the  eyes  are   not 
directed  ('centred')  upon  the  spectator,  they  nat- 
urally fall  into  a  position  of  noninnervation,    de- 
scribed as  'at  rest,'  'fixed  upon  vacancy*  or  'look- 
ing at  an  infinite  distance.'    .    .    . 

"The  truth  was  that  De  Quincey  had  what  tlie 
American  oculist  calls  'exophoria'  and  the  Euro- 
pean names  'insufficiency  of  the  interni.' " 

It  should  also  be  noted,  adds  Dr.  Gould,  that 
the  opium   De   Quincey  took   would  produce 
myosis  or  narrowing  of  the  pupil  to  a  "pin 
point"  diameter.    This  would  also  greatly  aid 
him  in  shutting  out  the  confusing  rays  or  dif- 
fusion   circles    caused    by    astigmatism    and 
would  thus,  in  a  way,  make  his  vision  better. 
Unconsciously  this  fact  may  also  have  aided 
in  the  addiction  to  the  opium  habit  itself.     Up 
to  the  age  of  about  sixty-two  he  was  able  to 
preserve  binocular  vision,  but  at  an  expense 
to  his  nervous  and  digestional  system  which 
was  essentially  the  cause  of  his  opium  habit 
and  of  all  his  suffering.     At  any  time  of  his 
life  a  proper  pair  of  spectacle  lenses  would 
have  relieved  De  Quincey  of  his  sufferings, 
would  have  enabled  him  to  quit  opium-taking 
and  would  have  allowed  him  to  pursue  a  far 
more    wonderful    literary    career.     And    De 
Quincey's  struggle  to  free  himself  from  his 
opium  habit  was  to  a  certain  extent  a  scientific 
blunder.    It  was  well  that  he  relapsed  into  the 
habit  at  one  period  of  the  myopic  astigmatism 
he  suffered  from. 

In  the  case  of  Carlyle — whose  indigestion  is 
scorned  by  Dr.  Gould  as  a  blunder  of  diagnosis 
distorting  to  our  whole  view  of  the  man — the 
painter  of  his  portrait  could  not  help  carrying 
to  the  canvas  the  pained,  exhausted  look  of 
eye-strain  ta  be  seen  in  all  the  later  portraits 
of  the  sage  of  Chelsea.     Carlyle's  portrait  re- 
veals  years   of    morbid   ocular   labor.     That 
ocular  labor  gave  the  feeling  of  the  rat  gnaw- 
ing at  the  pit  of  Carlyle's  stomach.    The  acme 
of  physical  and  intellectual  suffering  was  in 
his    case    to    supply    a   correct    intellect,    the 
product  of  eyes,  with  an  optically  morbid  pair 
of  eyes  and  compel  them  to  work  for  sixty 
years  against  the  demands  of  the  laws  of  all 
past  time.   Carlyle's  real  disposition  was  sweet, 
mild,     kind.       Eye-strain — not     indigestion- 
soured  him: 

"In  some  men  the  untoward  conditions  of  cir- 


SCIENCE  AND  DISCOVERY 


67 


cumstances,  the  ill  health,  the  mental  abnormal- 
ism, etc.,  may  have  little  or  no  effect  upon  the 
qoality  of  their  literary  labors.  In  others  this 
may  be  subtly  modified,  and  in  others  still  the 
differences  caused  may  be  most  profound.  Car- 
lyle,  I  think,  is  an  example  of  the  last  class. 
Every  work  he  brought  forth  is  in  almost  every 
line  modified  by  the  direct  result  of  the  condi- 
tions of  e>'e-strain  while  engaged  upon  it.  The 
very  choice  of  subjects  is  dictated  by  it." 

The  more  sensitive  the  nature  of  a  man,  the 
more  the  reflex  from  eye-strain  tends  to  be 
cerebral.  The  more  resistant  a  man's  nature, 
the  more  the  reflex  from  eye-strain  tends  to  be 
digestional.  Carlyle  and  Huxley,  therefore, 
would  not  have  headache  so  much  as  dyspeptic 
symptoms.  Robert  Browning,  on  the  other 
hand,  had  chiefly,  though  not  solely,  the  cere- 
bral type  of  reflex  from  eye-strain. 
He  was  cursed  not  with  the  tem- 
perament ascribed  to  him  by  biog- 
raphers, but  by  reflex  ocular  neuro- 
ns. Like  De  Quincey,  Carlyle,  Dar- 
win and  Huxley,  the  poet  Browning 
never  suspected  the  cause  of  his  life 
ragedy.  Wagner  had  astigmatism, 
the  key  to  his  career.  The  whole 
course  of  Wagner's  life  crisis  might 
have  been  deflected  if  ophthal- 
mology had  been  in  a  stage  suffi- 
ciently advanced  to  prescribe  the 
right  lenses — bifocals  in  his  mature 
years.  Each  of  several  of  Wagner's 
operas  has  over  a  million  notes,  the 
stems  being,  of  course,  at  axis  9a^ 
and  the  five  ruled  lines  of  the  music 
paper  at  axis  180**.  These  notes 
were  placed  there  by  his  hand  gov- 
erned by  his  astigmatic  eyes !  In 
the  same  way,  Dr.  Gould  finds  John 
Addington  Symonds  dying  at  fifty- 
three,  a  hero  of  erudition  and  litera- 
riire,  a  martyr  of  medical  indiflfer- 
ence  and  ignorance.    To  quote : 

"The  principles  had  been  scientific- 
ally stated  for  thirty  years  which,  if 
put  into  practice,  would  have  given 
him  complete  relief.  Although  many 
thousands  have  found  that  relief  dur- 
r\g  the  last  twenty-five  years,  many 
ither  thousands  are  to-day  needlessly 
suffering  exactly  as  did  Symonds.  .  .  . 

The  pity  of  it  is  all  the  greater  if 
the  tragedy  was  wholly  unnecessary 
and  obviable.  For  the  patient  it  is,  as 
Symonds  himself  wrote,  'the  final  sense 
■yl  impotence  to  be  effectual,  most 
poignant,  most  crushing,  most  persua- 
sive and  yet  unutterable.*  The  heart- 
rending outbreaks  of  sorrow  and  dis- 
appointment at  his  destiny  are  almost 


too  poignant  to  reproduce.  More  than  once  he 
thought  of  suicide  and  once— at  twenty-eight,  note 
the  age — ^he  seriously  contemplated  it.  He  had 
thought  deeply,  perhaps  too  deeply,  of  his  life 
problem,  but  his  nonmedical  mind  could  reach  no 
nearer  the  little-great  truth  than  'it  is  the  centre  of 
the  soul  that  ails.*  Intellect,  one  must  keep  re- 
peating, is  the  product  of  vision — ^physical  or 
rather  physiologic  vision." 

As  regards  the  biographic  clinic  upon 
Symonds*s  life,  declares  Dr.  Gould,  the  greatest 
medical  interest  may  lie  in  the  development  of 
his  pulmonary  tuberculosis.  Careful  observa- 
tion of  the  morbid  conditions  of  many  such  pa- 
tients has  convinced  Dr.  Gould  that  the  severe 
migraine  of  eye-strain  is  a  potent  and  frequent 
source  of  this  kind  of  infection.     The  symp- 


From  "Biograpbir  Clinic*,"  by  Dr.  Ge«»rge  M.  OouW. 

PHOTOGRAPH  OF  TAINE  SHOWING  HIS  STRABISMUS 
AND  PTOSIS 

"How  eas_>'  it  is  at  present  to  [prevent  in  modern  patientsTthe  entire 
list  of  evils  which  is  evident  in  the  case  ot  Taine  !  " 


68 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


CouriMy  or  Mcm   Drat  *;Co. 

PORTRAIT  OF  RICHARD  WAGNER  REVEALING  HOW  HIS  LEFT  EYE 
TURNED  OUT  AND  UPWARD 

"  This  turning  of  the  left  e^e  upward  and  outward,"  writes  Dr.  George  M.  Gould  in  "Bio- 
graphic Clinics,"  (Vol.  II),  "is,  as  oculists  know,  a  result  of  ametropia  and  especially  of 
astigmatism  and  anisometropia." 


toms  immediately  preceding  Symonds's  death 
at  fifty-three  suggest  the  symptoms  of  Lewes 
and  of  George  Eliot.  Far  otherwise  was  the 
accompaniment  of  the  eye-strain  that  caused 
the  tragedy  of  Taine's  life : 

"It  is  the  old  story  repeated — the  production 
or  increase  of  myopia  by  uncorrected  ametropia. 
That  he  was  also  astigmatic  and  anisometropic  is 
beyond  question  from  the  fact  of  his  most  severe 
reflexes  caused  by  the  use  of  his  eyes  both  to  the 
eyes  themselves  and  to  the  brain.    .    .    . 

"Towards  the  end  of  life  there  was  paretic, 
almost  paral3rtic  ptosis  or  drooping  of  the  lids,  a 
somewhat  frequent  result  of  long  continued  eye- 
strain. In  the  right  it  is  greater  than  in  the  left, 
showing  the  longer  and  more  severe,  but  at  last 
ineffectual,  effort  to  keep  the  right  eye  in  func- 
tion. The  entire  expression  of  the  eyes  and 
neighboring  structures  speaks  plainly  of  the 
struggle.      His  eyes  showed  a  cast  behind  their 


spectacles,'  says  one  who  knew  him  in  later  life. 
The  date  at  which  the  right  eye  gave  up  the  at- 
tempt at  binocular  vision  is  not  suggested  in  the 
life  and  letters.     .    . 

"Its  exclusion  from  use  marked  the  end  of 
long  and  painful  periods  of  effort  which,  while 
it  lasted,  produced  great  suffering  and  when  com- 
pleted would  probably  bring  a  decided,  possibly 
an  entire,  measure  of  relief.  How  easy  it  is  at 
present  to  prevent  in  modern  patients  the  entire 
list  of  evils  which  is  so  evident  in  the  case  of 
Taine!" 

Taine's  eye-strain  never  apparently  went  so 
far  as  to  imply  that  delusion,  the  insanity  of 
genius.  But  in  the  great  majority  of  cases 
there  are  the  mental  and  physical  agonies  en- 
dured by  Nietzsche  until  paralysis  came  to  his 
rescue : 

"One  heartrending  result  of  their   exhaustion 


SCIENCE  AND  DISCOVERY 


69 


was  the  desire  or  fear  of  death,  or  of  worse  than 
death,  insanity.  Darwin  was  always  on  the  verge 
of  despair  and  at  one  time  in  middle  life  made  his 
will  in  view,  as  he  thought,  of  approaching  death. 
Carlyle  often  shuddered  at  the  apparent  useless- 
ness  and  fatigue  of  life  and  the  advisability  of 
death.  Wagner  was  constantly  tempted  to  suicide 
and  at  one  time  seems  to  have  resolved  upon  it. 
Whittier,  Nietzsche,  Wagner,  all  were  convinced, 
in  youth  or  mid-age,  that  their  lives  had  been 
lived  out  and  that  nothing  was  left  to  do,  at  least 
no  ability  to  do  it.  The  peculiar  nature  of  eye- 
strain, the  rapidity  with  which  it  produces  morbid 
reflexes  and  is  relieved,  explains  the  facts  of  the 
coexistence  and  alternation  of  exhaustion  and  irri- 
tation. They  are  mere  aspects  of 'one  neural  and 
psychic  fact." 

The  explosion  of  the  delusion  that  insanity 
and  genius  are  allied  is  to  be  attributed,  Dr. 
Gould  tells  us,  to  one  of  the  greatest  dis- 
coveries of  recent  years — astigmatism : 

**Even  up  to  the  last  vears  the  diseases  called 
biliousness,  headache,  oyspepsia,  acute  lithemia 
and  by  many  other  terms,  were  entirely  mistmder- 


stood  and  treatment  was  in  the  highest  degree 
unsatisfactory.  But  there  was  brought  into  prac- 
tical use  dtirmg  the  last  quarter  of  the  nineteenth 
century  a  discovery  of  as  great  medical  importance 
as  any  made  during  the  century  and,  so  far  as 
the  relief  of  actual  suffering  is  concerned,  of  far 
greater  significance  than  any.  Astigmatism,  its 
influence  upon  the  general  health  and  character 
and  the  methods  of  correcting  it,  is  the  dis- 
covery of  which  we  speak,  and  with  the  dis- 
covery the  last  great  stronghold  of  the  ancient 
and  medieval  superstition  of  the  humoral  pa- 
tholo^  was  taken.  Whenever  th^  symptoms  of 
functional  cerebral,  mental  and  digestional  dis- 
ease, such  as  headache,  dyspepsia,  ^biliousness,' 
sick  headache,  migraine,  neurasthenia,  anemia, 
vertigo,  insomnia,  anorexia,  constipation,  eructa- 
tion of  gas,  languor,  ill  temper,  melancholia,  etc., 
are  temporary  or  acute  and  dependent  upon  well 
known  excess  or  abnormalism  m  eating  or  drink- 
ing, the  patient  is  more  than  stupid  if  he  does 
not  tell  you  of  the  fact  The  vast  majority  of 
such  cases,  say  at  least  ninety  per  cent.,  are  not 
caused  by  dietary  indiscretion  or  organic  disease, 
and  of  these  oyer  ninety  per  cent,  are  reflex 
ocular  neuroses,  i.e.,  due  to  eye-strain." 


MYSTERY  OF  THE  GREAT  ANTARCTIC  ICE  BARRIER] 


It  was  mainly  for  the  purpose  of  solving 
the  riddle  of  the  great  ice  barrier  of  the  Ant- 
arctic— a  wall  of  ice  about  470  miles  long  and 
on  an  average  150  feet  high — that  Captain 
Robert  F.  Scott,  C.  V.  O.,  R.  N.,  made  his 
famous  voyage  toward  the  south  pole  in  the 
Discovery,  a  full  account  of  which  he  has 
just  given  to  the  world.*  Captain  Scott  was 
instructed  by  the  scientific  societies  financing 
his  expedition  to  explore  the  ice  barrier  to  its 
eastern  extremity  and  to  discover  the  land 
supposed  to  flank  this  barrier  to  the  eastward 
or  to  ascertain  that  it  does  not  exist,  and  gen- 
erally to  solve  the  very  important  physical  and 
geographical  problems  connected  with  this  re- 
markable ice  formation.  Sixty  years  before, 
as  Captain  Scott  himself  relates,  Ross's  tri- 
mnphant  voyage  to  these  same  regions  had 
been  abruptly  terminated  by  a  frowning  cliff 
of  ice,  which  he  traced  nearly  four  hundred 
miles  to  the  east.  Such  a  phenomenon  was 
unique,  and  for  sixty  years  it  had  been  dis- 
cussed and  rediscussed,  and  many  a  theory 
had  been  built  on  the  slender  foundation  of 
fact  which  alone  the  meager  information  con- 
cerning it  could  afford. 
Yet  the  most  important  result  of  the  expedi- 

•The  Vovage  of  the  Discovery.  By  Captain  Robert 
P.  Scott,  C.  V.  O.,  R.  N.  In  two  volumes.  Charles 
Scribner's  Sons. 


tion  led  by  Captain  Scott — so  far  as  concerns 
the  great  ice  barrier — was  obtained  almost  by 
accident.  Some  thirteen  and  a  half  months 
after  the  establishment  of  a  supply  depot— es- 
tablished by  carefully  calculated  alignment — 
a  member  of  the  expedition  found  to  his 
astonishment  that  the  alignment  was  no  longer 
"on."  There  was  a  displacement  of  608 
yards.  Thus  was  obtained  an  indication  'of 
movement  in  this  great  barrier  of  ice — a 
movement  the  comparative  rapidity  of  which 
presents  a  problem  for  which  he  can  conceive 
of  no  solution.  The  cause  of  it  remains  "a 
problem  of  extraordinary  interest,"  and  "shows 
that  there  are  still  conditions  in  the  extreme 
south  of  which  we  have  no  knowledge." 

Captain  Scott's  first  view  of  the  great  ice 
barrier  impressed  him  profoundly: 

"The  sea  to  the  north  lay  clear  and  blue,  save 
where  it  was  dotted  by  snowy  white  icebergs. 
The  barrier  edge,  in  shadow,  looked  like  a  long 
narrowing  black  ribbon  as  it  ran  with  slight 
windings  to  the  eastern  horizon.  South  of  this 
line,  to  the  southeast  of  our  position,  a  vast  plain 
extended  indefinitely,  whilst  faint  ^adows  on 
its  blue-grey  surface  seemed  to  indicate  some 
slight  inequality  in  level.  Further  yet  to  the 
south  the  sun  faced  us  and  the  plain  was  lost  in 
the  glitter  of  its  reflection.  It  was  an  impressive 
sight  and  the  very  vastness  of  what  lay  at  our 
feet  seemed  to  add  to  our  sense  of  its  mystery. 
...    As  we  steamed  along  this  high  ice  wall 


70 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


on  the  atternoon  of  the  29th  we  had  an  inde- 
scribable sense  of  impending  change.  The  con- 
stant differences  which  we  had  observed  in  the 
barrier  outline  during  the  past  twenty- four  hours 
seemed  to  us  to  indicate  strongly  the  proximity 
of  land,  though  probably  none  of  us  could  have 
produced  a  very  tangible  argument  to  support 
this  view.  We  all  felt  that  the  plot  was  thick- 
ening and  we  could  not  fail  to  be  inspirited  by 
the  facts  that  we  had  not  so  far  encountered  the 
heavy  pack  ice  which  Ross  reported  in  this  region, 
and  that  consequently  we  were  now  sailing  in  an 
open  sea  into  an  unknown  world. 

"Many  an  eager  face  peered  over  the  side, 
Now  and  then  a  more  imaginative  individual 
would  find  some  grand  discovery  in  the  cloud 
forms  that  fringed  the  horizon,  but  even  as  he 
reported  it  in  excited  tones  his  image  would  fade 
and  he  would  be  forced  to  sink  again  into  crest- 
fallen silence. 

"Meanwhile  we  were  making  comparatively 
rapid  progress  along  the  uniform  high  wall  on 
our  right.  Perhaps  the  engines,  as  well  as  those 
in  charge  of  them,  were  eager  to  find  out  what 
lay  beyond.  Our  course  lay  well  to  the  north- 
ward of  east  and  the  change  came  at  eight  in 
the  evening,  when  suddenly  the  ice  cliff  turned 
to  the  east  and,  becoming  more  and  more  ir- 
regular, continued  in  that  direction  for  about  fiwt 
miles,  when  it  again  turned  sharply  to  the  north. 

"Into  the  deep  bay  thus  formed  we  ran  and  as 
we  approached  the  ice  which  lay  ahead  and  to  the 
eastward  of  us,  we  saw  that  it  differed  in  char- 
acter from  anything  we  had  yet  seen.  The  ice 
foot  descended  to  varying  heights  of  ten  or 
twenty  feet  above  the  water  and  behind  it  the 
snow  surface  rose  in  long  undulating  slopes  to 
rounded  ridges  whose  height  we  could  only  esti- 
mate. If  any  doubt  remained  in  our  minds  that 
this  was  snow-covered  land,  a  sounding  of  100 
fathoms  quickty  dispelled  it.     But  what  a  land! 


On  the  swelling  mounds  of  snow  above  us  there 
was  not  one  break,  not  a  feature  to  give  definition 
to  the  hazy  outline.  Instinctively  one  felt  that 
such  a  scene  as  this  was  most  perfectly  devised 
to  produce  optical  illusions  in  the  explorer  and 
to  cause  those  errors  into  which  we  had  fotmd 
even  experienced  persons  to  be  led.  What  could 
be  the  height  of  that  misty  summit?  And  what 
the  distance  of  that  shadowy  undulation?  In- 
struments provided  no  answer — we  could  but 
guess,  and  although  guesses  gave  an  average 
height  of  800  or  900  feet  to  the  visible  horizon, 
one  would  have  been  little  surprised  to  learn  that 
the  reality  was  half  or  double  that  amount." 

The  time  had  now  come  to  employ  the 
balloon  which  was  one  of  the  prime  factors 
in  this  part  of  the  exploration.  The  honor  of 
being  the  first  aeronaut  to  make  an  ascent  in 
the  antarctic  region  belongs  to  Captain  Scott. 
He  went  up  five  hundred  feet  and  made  very 
novel  observatioils : 

"Here  the  nature  of  the  barrier  surface  towards 
the  south  could  be  seen  well.  South  of  the  rising 
slope  ahead  of  the  ship  I  had  expected  to  see  a 
continuous  level  plain,  but  to  my  surprise  found 
that  the  plain  continued  in  a  series  of  long  un- 
dulations running  approximately  east  and  west, 
6v  parallel  to  the  barrier  edge;  the  first  two  un- 
dulations could  be  distinctly  seen,  each  wave  oc- 
cupying a  space  of  two  or  three  miles,  but  beyond 
that  the  existence  of  further  waves  was  only  in- 
dicated by  alternate  light  and  shadow,  growing 
fainter  in  the  distance.  In  the  far  south  a  bank 
of  cloud  had  all  the  appearance  of  high  land,  but 
such  indications  are  now  too  well  known  not  to 
be  received  with  caution,  and  even  as  I  looked 
through  my  glasses,  faint  changes  in  outline  were 
perceptible.    Far  over  the  snow  expanse  a  small 


Coiirteny  of  Cbarlea  Scrlbncr's  Sons,  New  York. 

A  CLOSE  VIEW  OP  THE  GREAT  ANTARCTIC  ICE   BARRIER 

"What  could  be  the  height  of  that  misty  summit  ?     And  what  the  distance  of  that  shadowy  undulation  ?     Instru- 
ments provided  no  answer — we  could  but  guess." 


SCIENCE  AND  DISCOVERY 


7» 


ff  f^fiTjiftrirf'T"-'-  '^•^-    Ni'A   link 

TKB   lilOHeST  ICB  WALL  UF  THE  BARRIER  BETWEEN   MaN  AND  THE  SOUTH   POLE 

.„-  on©  f»U  that  such  n  ftc^iie  »fi  this  was  most  perfectly  devised  to  produce  optical  QluAtons  in  tlic  e^- 
p^KTjLfxd  lo  cmose  tl3o««!  errors  into  which  we  had  fotiQd  even  experieaced  persons  to  be  led. 


liaek  d^t  represented  our  sledge  party.  They 
taa  ^TC  beeji  tiearly  eight  mtles  away  ait4  their 
tutbilitx  abows  how  easily  a  contrast  can  be  seen 
CO  the  monotonous  grey  of  the  snow.'* 

KcvcrtbeJess,  Captain  Scott  confesses  that 
be  kft  the  great  ice  barrier  what  he  had  found 
tt-^ie  grand  mystery  of  the  Antarctic.  He 
goes  no  further  than  to  say  that  it  runs  over 
foar  hundred  miles  east  and  west  as  a  con- 
tiouoBS  cliff  of  ice.  It  comes  to  an  abrupt 
tenninjition  where  it  attains  that  lonely  island 
ta  which  tite  name  o£  Ross  is  given  on  the 
a&pi^  And  Captain  Scott  observes  with  the 
rrgTTt  of  the  born  but  baffled  explorer  that 
-^  the  exp)orer*s  ship  is  brought  up 
^nd  or  by  some  mighty  wall  rescm- 
Um^  that  of  the  great  ice  barrien  To  pass 
^"-"1  his  ship,  therefore,  the  explorer  must 
r  ravel  over  land  or  over  great  and  an* 
tiftit  suaw  fields  whtch  possess  a  similar  sur- 
bc<;    fiMigJiig  from  our  present  knowledge  of 


the  antarctic  regions  it  is  doubtful  whether 
extensive  journeys  will  ever  be  made  over  the 
sea  ice," 

But  the  scientific  societies  which  defrayed 
the  expenses  of  Captain  Scott's  daring  journey 
are  not  at  all  daunted  by  the  obstacle  of  the 
ice  barrier.  Already  the  interest  of  explorers 
has  been  enlisted  in  a  new  expedition.  The 
plans  of  the  enterprise  have  not  been  finally 
made.  The  present  purpose  is  to  secure  the 
co-operation,  if  possible,  of  the  leading  govern* 
ments  of  the  world  The  geographical  sec- 
tion of  the  British  Association  has  authorized 
the  preparation  of  an  elaborate  rei>ort  on  the 
ice  barrier.  There  is  some  dispute  as  to 
whether  Captain  Scott  has  understood  the 
phenomena  upon  which  he  bases  his  opinion 
that  the  great  ice  barrier  ts  in  a  state  of  mo- 
tion. According  to  the  Paris  Cosmos  the  bar- 
rier could  scarcely  be  in  a  state  of  motion  if 
it  reposes  upon  a  continent 


72 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


FUTURE  SOURCES  OF  POWER 


Coal  and  natural  oils  and  gases  are  essen- 
tially temporary  resources  in  relation  to  man's 
ever-growing  need  of  power  and  the  world  is 
within  measurable  distance  of  their  super- 
session or  extinction,  thinks  Dr.  Nathaniel 
Southgate  Shaler,  Professor  of  Geology  at 
Harvard.  In  his  new  book*  he  asserts,  how- 
ever, that,  viewed  as  a  whole,  the  forecast  for 
the  future  of  power,  with  the  world  peopled  to 
its  maximum  of  food-giving  resources,  is  far 
from  unfavorable.  In  fact,  it  is  rather  favor- 
able. The  falling  waters,  the  winds,  and  the 
tides  are  great  and  permanent  sources  of  sup- 
ply from  which  the  mind  of  man  will  be  cer- 
tain to  win  his  needs  for  the  period  of  his 
sojourn  upon  this  planet: 

"The  largest  share  of  solar  energy  which  we 
have  a  chance  to  captur^e  and  turn  to  account  in 
our  arts  is  that  embodied  in  the  winds.  There 
are  as  yet  insufficient  data  for  computing  the 
quantity  of  this  power  that  can  possibly  be  won 
for  our  service,  but  it  certainly  amounts  to  very 
many  times  as  much  as  is  now  won  from  all  the 
other  sources  now  utilized  by  man.  This  source 
of  power  was  the  first  to  be  used — at  the  outset 
in  the  sails  of  boats — but  it  has  as  yet  afforded 
little  help  in  the  arts.  The  winds  have  ground 
much  corn  and  pumped  a  deal  of  water  but,  ex- 
cept in  sails,  they  have  not  helped  us  much.  The 
difficulty  arises  from  the  great  variations  in  the 
speed  of  the  air  currents  and  the  long  periods  in 
which  the  movement  is  so  slight  that  they  af- 
ford no  effective  power  whatever,  together  with 
other  periods  when  their  speed  is  likely  to  be 
destructive  to  any  machinery  larg[e  enough  to 
win  much  value  in  any  state  of  their  motion.  It 
seems  likely,  however,  that  the  method  of  the 
storage  battery,  with  the  cheapening  of  its  cost 
and  the  increase  of  its  efficiency,  which  may 
reasonably  be  expected  in  the  near  future,  will 
enable  us  so  to  husband  the  energy  afforded  by 
windmills  that  they  will  serve  for  constant  uses. 
It  may  also  be  possible  to  find  a  more  direct  way 
of  utilizing  this  source  of  power  by  using  the 
variable  work  of  windmills  in  pumjping  water  to 
a  height  whence  it  can  be  made  to  ^ve  a  constant 
supply  to  water  engines.  As  it  is,  this  oldest 
servant  of  man  is  still  among  his  useful  helpers; 
the  sails  of  mills  and  ships  are  together  more 
numerous  than  any  other  machines  by  which  he 
hitches  his  economic  wagons  to  the  stars  and  in 
time  they  are  likely  to  yield  more  power  than  all 
other  devices." 

The  next  largest  source  of  solar  energy  is 
that  obtained  from  falling  water : 

"With  the  method  of  turning  the  energy  of  fall- 
ing water  into  electricity  and  thence  back  to 
dynamic  power  it  is  now  possible  to  send  that 
force  a  hundred  miles  from  the' point  where  it  is 

•Man  and  the  Earth.     By  Nathaniel  Southfirate  Shaler. 
Fox,  Duffield  &  Co. 


obtained  and,  with  the  improvements  that  are 
constantly  making,  it  seems  likely  that  the  dis- 
tance to  which  it  way  be  conveyed  will  in  time 
become  practically  unlimited.  In  no  other  case 
has  the  use  of  any  source  of  power  been  so 
speedily  extended.    .    .    . 

"Considered  as  a  whole,  the  rivers  of  the  earth 
promise,  with  the  aid  of  the  engineer,  to  afford 
far  more  dynamic  help  to  the  arts  than  all  that 
now  serves  them.  Moreover,  this  help  will  be 
from  sources  of  continuous  supply  and  not,  like 
that  from  coal,  in  the  way  of  speedy  exhaustion. 
And,  further,  the  full  utilization  of  the  streams 
as  sources  of  power,  because  it  involves  the  proc- 
ess of  holding  back  the  flood  waters,  will  in  a 
considerable  measure  aid  in  diminishing  the  speed 
with  which  the  soil  passes  to  the  sea,  while  the 
water,  after  it  has  been  used  to  turn  the  wheels, 
may,  to  a  great  extent,  be  made  to  serve  the  pur- 
poses of  irrigation.  The  increase  in  the  use  of 
this  source  of  energy  will  probably  not  continue 
to  be  very  rapid  until  the  supply  of  the  fossil  fuel 
approaches  exhaustion;  from  that  time  on  it  will 
necessarily  be  speedy,  until  all  this  group  of  re- 
sources is  completely  applied  to  the  arts." 

The  other  source  of  power  originating  be- 
yond the  earth  is  the  tide,  produced  mainly  by 
the  moon's  attraction.  The  total  energy  in- 
volved in  the  tidal  movement  is  so  large  that 
if  all  of  it  could  be  turned  to  the  uses  of  man 
there  would  be  a  supply  ample  for  the  needs 
of  all  the  hosts  which  the  soil  could  sustain : 

"Unfortunately,  we  can  conceive  of  no  conve- 
nient means  whereby  this  power  which  the  sun 
and  moon  expend  upon  the  earth  can  in  any  great 
measure  be  applied  to  industries.  The  tide  mill, 
which  appears  to  have  been  designed  in  England 
some  centuries  ago  and  to  have  been  brought  to 
this  country  in  Uie  colonial  period,  is  a  simple 
device  consisting  of  a  dam  with  wheels  so  ar- 
ranged that  they  are  impelled  by  the  water  as  it 
enters  or  leaves  the  embayed  space.  The  energy 
thus  attained  may  be  very  considerable;  it  would 
not  be  costly  at  many  places  to  win  a  maximum 
of  several  thousand  horse  power.  There  is,  how- 
ever, the  serious  difficulty  that  the  energy  thus 
obtained  is  irregularly  distributed,  the  maximum 
arising  twice  each  day  at  mid-tide  and  falling 
to  nothing  four  times  each  day  at  the  time  of 
low  and  high  tide.  There  are  yet  other  irregu- 
larities in  the  difference  between  spring  and  neap 
tides,  as  well  as  the  daily  alteration  by  about  an 
hour  of  the  maxima  and  minima  of  the  risings. 
The  result  is  that  there  have  never  been  more 
than  a  few  hundred  tide  mills  at  any  one  time 
in  operation,  and  these  have  been  limited  to  such 
uses  as  grinding  corn.  With  the  development  of 
steam  power,  they  have  gradually  passed  out  of 
service,  so  that  it  is  doubtful  if  there  be  a  score 
of  them  now  in  operation  in  North  America.  It 
is,  however,  possible  that  with  the  development 
of  an  efficient  storage  battery  system  the  powers 
obtainable  from  the  tides  will  be  greatly  increased. 
In  the  time,  but  a  few  centuries  remote  from  the 


SCIENCE  AND  DISCOVERY 


73 


present,  when  the  need  of  replacing  the  power 
derived  from  fuel  is  great,  the  tide  is  pretty  sure 
to  afford  a  most  valuable  resource  to  all  the 
coantries  about  the  northern  parts  of  the  Atlantic 
and  Pacific  oceans  where  the  range  is  great  and 
the  sites  for  mills  numerous." 

Power    obtained   from   the   motion   of   sea 
waves  will    scarcely  be  used  by  man,  thinks 


Professor  Shaler,  except  in  the  last  extremity. 
Nor  is  it  any  more  probable  that  man  will 
ever  be  able  to  derive  power  of  any  account 
by  concentrating  the  sun's  heat  through  lenses. 
The  project  of  utilizing  the  central  heat  of  the 
earth  as  a  source  of  power  is  pronounced 
chimerical. 


PROFESSOR  VON  BEHRING'S  "  CURE  "  FOR  CONSUMPTION 


It  seems  to  be  the  fate  of  international  medi- 
cal congresses,  observes  the  London  Lancet, 
to  be  the  occasion  for  pronouncements  of 
startling  or  somewhat  heterodox  views  by 
coiinent  bacteriologists.  The  latest  of  them 
emanates  from  that  pathologist  of  world-wide 
reputation,  "with  a  splendid  record  of  past 
achievements,"  Professor  von  Behring.  The 
fundamental  conception  of  his  method  of  war- 
fare npon  tuberculosis  is  stated  by  himself  in 
highly  technical  terms,  from  which  it  appears 
that  he  claims  to  produce  not  an  antitoxic  or 
immoral  immunity,  but  a  cellular  immunity, 
which  is  induced  by  a  modified  constituent  of 
the  tubercle  bacillus.  This  process  of  im- 
munization is  accompanied  by  a  change  in  the 
white  cells  of  the  blood  and  of  the  tissues  in 
which  they  take  their  origin,  by  virtue  of 
which  these  cells  become  apparently  able  to 
destroy  the  bacilli  from  which  formerly  they 
fled  With  all  due  allowance  for  the  reserve 
still  maintained  by  Professor  von  Behring  him- 
self, Dr.  C.  W.  Saleeby  feels  warranted  in 
describing  the  situation  as  follows  in  the  Lon- 
don Outlook : 

The  change  is  determined  by  the  absorption 
on  the  part  of  the  white  cells  of  a  non-crystalline 
sdbstance,  or  complex  of  substances,  which  is 
itself  derived  from  tubercle  bacilli.  This  remark- 
able substance,  which  von  Behring  calls  TR,  is 
none  other  than  the  ground-up  bodies  of  tubercle 
bacilli  whose  fangs  have  been  drawn;  that  is  to 
say,  whose  poisons  have  previously  been  ex- 
tracted. TR  is  not  a  living  substance  and  there- 
fore cannot  reproduce  itself  in  the  body,  but  von 
Behring  finds  that  it  is  able  to  give  rise  to  certain 
PkolUrt  formations  which  have  long  been  fa- 
miliar to  the  pathologist,  and  which  have  already 
been  looked  upon  as,  in  all  probability,  defensive 
in  character. 

"A  point  of  great  practical  importance  arises  in 
connection  with  the  preparation  of  this  substance 
which  von  Behring  calls  TR.  By  way  of  con- 
trast, let  us  look  first  at  the  manner  in  which 
▼on  Behring  and  his  Japanese  helper,  Kitasato, 
bave  taught  us  to  prepare  the  antitoxin  which  has 
already  altered  the  whole  aspect  of  diphtheria  and 
bas  saved  tens  of  thousands  of  lives.    This  sub- 


stance is  an  antitoxin,  as  TR  is  not;  it  is  an 
antitoxin  because  it  is  capable  of  uniting  with 
and  destroying  the  poisonous  properties  of  the 
toxin  of  diphtheria.  In  brief,  the  mode  of  prep- 
aration is  this:  the  bacillus  of  diphtheria  is  cul- 
tivated in  a  suitable  medium,  and  the  whole^  in 
liquid  form,  is  filtered.  In  the  filtrate  there  is  a 
quantity  of  the  specific  poison  or  toxin  which  has 
been  produced  by  the  bacilli.  This  is  now  in- 
jected into  a  vein  of  the  horse— which  never 
turns  its  head  whilst  the  tiny  operation  is  per- 
formed. In  the  horse's  blood  there  is  produced, 
after  a  time,  a  substance  which  neutralizes  the 
toxin,  and  ultimately  this  is  produced  in  such 
excess  that,  when  a  portion  of  the  horse's  blood 
is  removed  and  is  injected  under  the  skin  of  a 
choking  diild,  the  toxin  which  is  being  produced 
by  the  diphtheria  bacilli  in  the  child's  throat  is 
neutralised  and  the  child  recovers.  Death  is  now 
practically  unknown  amongst  cases  treated  on  the 
first  day  by  this  means." 

The  main  point  in  all  this  for  scientists  is 
that  the  intervention  of  the  horse  (or  some 
other  animal)  is  necessary.  Doubtless,  the 
blood  of  a  child  who  had  recently  recovered 
from  diphtheria  might  serve  the  purpose  as 
well;  but  at  any  rate  the  recovery  of  the  pa- 
tient treated  by  this  means  depends  upon  the 
efforts  previously  made  by  the  tissues  of  some 
other  patient.  The  case  is  different  with  the 
new  process  of  immunization  from  tubercu- 
losis : 

"TR  is  not  an  antitoxin,  and  it  does  not  even 
require  to  be  elaborated  by  the  tissues  of  an 
animal  infected  with  tuberculosis.  It  is  con- 
tained within  the  tubercle  bacilli  themselves;  so, 
in  all  probability,  is  the  diphtheria  antitoxin  po- 
tentially contained  within  the  bodies  of  the 
diphtheria  bacilli — ^but  that  is  a  long  and  difficult 
story.  Apparently  von  Behring  has  been  able  to 
obtain  TR  from  tubercle  bacilli  grown  outside  the 
body  of  any  animal,  and  with  this  TR  he  has 
actually  cured  various  animals  suffering  from 
tuberculosis.  A  large  number  of  interesting 
questions  present  themselves.  If,  as  everyone 
now  believes,  despite  the  opinion  of  Professor 
Koch,  tuberculosis  is  essentially  one  and  the  same 
in  all  mammals,  it  ought  to  be  possible  to  cure  a 
tuberculosis  cow  by  TR  prepared  from  tubercle 
bacilli  from  the  lungs  of  a  consumptive  man. 
Similarly,  it  ought  to  be  possible  to  cure  human 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


THE    LATEST    BACTERIOLOGIST    WITH  A  CON- 
SUMPTION CURE 

Professor  von  Behringf,  the    pathologist    whose  world- 
wide fame  was  won  through  his  diphtheria  antitoxin. 

tuberculosis  by  TR  prepared  from  bacilli  of  bovine 
origin.  Doubtless  von  Behring  will  expect  the 
best  results  to  follow  from  the  employment  of 
TR  obtained  from  bacilli  of  human  ori^n.  In- 
deed there  is  no  reason,  on  paper,  why  it  should 
not  be  possible  some  day  to  cure  a  consumptive 
by  TR  derived  from  bacilli  obtained  from  his  own 
sputum,  and  then  cultivated  profusely  outside  his 
body." 

The  attention  of  the  London  Lancet  is 
drawn  less  to  TR  than  to  that  modified  con- 
stituent of  the  tubercle  bacillus  which  Pro- 
fessor von  Behring  tentatively  calls  TC  and 
which,  when  modified  by  the  cellular  activity, 
Professor  von  Behring  refers  to  as  TX.  The 
Lancet  says: 

"He  states  that,  in  his  opinion,  in  the  process 
of  immunisation  of  cattle  against  tuberculosis  the 
TC  is  freed  from  other  substances  and  exercises 
a  specific  action  on  the  tissue  cells,  especially 
those  of  the  germ  centres  of  lymphoid  organs. 
The  TC  is  to  be  regarded  as  the  cause  on  the 
one  hand  of  the  'hypersensibility*  to  Koch's 
tuberculin,  and  on  the  other  hand  of  the  pro- 
tective reaction  against  tuberculosis.  Part  of 
Professor  von  Behring*s  experiments  have  been 
directed  to  saving  the  organism  the  labour  of 
elaborating  the  TC  which  he  has  been  able  to 
eflfect  in  vitro;  in  other  words, 'to  substitute  a 
passive  immunisation  for  an  active  one.  He  then 
goes  on  to  state  that  as  a  result  of  his  researches 
he  is  able  to  distinguish  three  groups  of  bacillary 
materials.  First,  a  substance  soluble  in  water 
which  possesses  a  fermentative  and  catalytic 
action.  This  substance,  which  he  refers  to  as  TV, 
represents  the  toxic  factor  of  Koch's  tuberculin. 


but  a  gramme  in  the  dried  state  is  more  power- 
fully toxic  than  a  litre  of  Koch's  tuberculin. 
Secondly,  there  is  a  globulin,  called  TGL,  soluble 
in  a  10  per  cent,  solution  of  sodium  chloride. 
It  also  is  toxic  after  the  manner  of  Koch's  tuber- 
culin. Thirdly,  there  are  several  non-toxic  sub- 
stances which  are  soluble  in  alcohol,  ether,  and 
chloroform.  The  bacillus  deprived  of  these  three 
groups  of  bodies  is  referred  to  as  the  Vest  bacillus/ 
which  retains  the  shape  and  staining  reactions  of 
the  tubercle  bacillus  itself.  By  means  of  certain 
preparations,  the  nature  of  which  Professor  von 
Behring  withholds,  this  'rest  bacillus'  can  be 
transformed  into  an  amorphous  substance  which 
is  capable  of  being  absorbed  by  the  lymphoid  cells 
o£  certain  animals,  such  as  the  guinea-pig,  rabbit, 
sheep,  goat,  ox,  and  horse.  This  amorphous  sub- 
stance is  elaborated  and  metamorphosed  by  the 
lymphoid  cells  of  such  animals  and  the  cells  then 
assume  oxyphile  or  eosinophile  characters  and 
coincidently  with  this  change  the  condition  of 
immunity  develops.  A  point  of  great  importance 
is  that  the  TC,  although  a  non-living  substance, 
is  capable  of  producing  tubercles  which,  however, 
neither  caseate  nor  soften  and  correspond  in  all 
details  to  'the  tuberculous  granulation*  of  Laennec. 
As  already  stated,  Professor  von  Behrin^f  believes 
that  the  TC  can  be  elaborated  in  vitro  m  such  a 
manner  as  to  be  capable  of  utilisation  in  the 
treatment  of  human  tuberculosis,  but  he  does  not 
propose  to  publish  the  therapeutic  section  of  his 
work  until  the  efficacy  and  innocuous  nature  of 
his  new  remedy  have  been  established  by  clini- 
cians. He  also  thinks  that  it  is  advisable  that 
his  experiments  on  animals  should  be  controlled 
by  observers  in  other  laboratories,  to  some  of 
whom  he  offers  to  supply  his  'remedy*  for  that 
purpose.  In  conclusion,  he  draws  a  parallel  be- 
tween the  present  state  of  his  researches  and  that 
of  his  work  on  diphtheria  antitoxin,  published  in 
1890,  which  was  subsequently  so  triumphantly 
established." 

In  this  he  is  quite  justified,  adds  The  Lancet, 
which  concedes  that  the  evidence  of  time  in 
favor  of  the  antitoxin  treatment  of  diphtheria 
justifies  the  utmost  confidence  in  Professor 
von  Behring  now: 

"In  the  opinion  of  almost  all  those  who  have 
studied  the  question  apart  from  preconceived  bias 
the  treatment  of  diphtheria  by  antitoxin  has 
passed  beyond  the  stage  of  doubt  as  to  its  effi- 
cacy to  the  position  of  an  established  and  ap- 
proved therapeutic  method.  Voices  from  among 
the  medical  profession  in  this  country  or  abroad 
raised  against  it  are  few  and  far  between  and 
attract  little  attention.  That  this  attitude  of  con- 
fidence is  justifiable  can  scarcely  be  doubted,  but 
it  is  possible  to  arrive  at  true  conclusions  on  false 
premises  and  the  opponents  of  all  treatment  by 
serums  or  preparations  derived  from  living  ani- 
mals endeavor  from  time  to  time  to  cast  doubt 
upon  the  value  of  antitoxin  by  challenging  the 
arguments  which  are  sometimes  brought  forward 
to  support  it,  just  as  they  endeavored  to  combat 
the  use  of  vaccination  against  small-pox  by  en- 
larging upon  the  error  formerly  committed  by 
some  of  Its  supporters  in  maintaining  that  the 
protection  conferred  by  one  inoculation  lasted  un- 
impaired throughout  life." 


SCIENCE  AND  DISCOVERY 


75 


THE  MICROBE  OF  OLD  AGE  IN  BIRDS,  QUADRUPEDS 

AND  MAN 


The  phenomena  characteristic  of  old  age 
depend  upon  the  indirect  action  of  microbes 
that  accumulate  in  our  digestive  tube,  accord- 
ing to  a  hypothesis  brought  forward  by  Prof. 
Elie  Metchnikoff,  the  famous  scientist  of  the 
Pasteur  Institute.  This  hypothesis,  Professor 
Metchnikoff  adds,  rests  upon  a  g^eat  many 
welV-established  facts,  although  absolute  proof 
can  be  supplied  only  by  investigations  carried 
on  for  long  years.  However,  the  professor 
brought  together  as  many  arguments  as  pos- 
sible to  substantiate  his  theory  in  a  lecture  de- 
livered at  Paris  and  recently  made  accessible 
to  readers  here  through  the  enterprise  of 
The  Scientific  American: 

'If  it  is  really  intestinal  microbes  that  are  the 
cause  of  our  senile  atrophy,  we  must  believe  that 
the  more  the  flora  of  the  intestines  is  reduced  the . 
fewer  manifestations  of  old  age  there  will  be. 

"If  we  compare  an  old  mammal  with  an  old 
Isrd  we  are  at  once  struck  with  the  great  differ- 
ence in  their  external  appearance.  An  old  horse 
or  an  old  dog  can  easily  be  recognized  by  its 
ugliness,  its  lazy  movements,  its  worn  teeth,  its 
hcterless  hair  turned  white  on  certain  portions  of 
the  body.  A  dog  of  12  to  15  years  shows  very 
markedly  all  these  signs  of  senile  decrepitude. 
Birds  keep  their  age  much  better  and  longer  than 
mammals  do.  An  aged  duck,  more  than  20  years 
old,  is  alert  in  its  movements  and  does  not  show 
externally  any  sign  of  its  advanced  age.  Parrots 
2nd  parroquets  also  remain  for  long  years  in  a 
very  youthful  state.  A  little  parroquet  from  15 
to  19  years  old,  which  I  observed  very  closely  for 
several  years,  manifested  no  signs  whatever  of 
oJd  age.  It  was  very  lively  and  curious,  interest- 
ing itself  in  all  sorts  of  things  about  it,  and  its 
pimnage  was  brilliant  and  richly  colored.  We 
have  possessed  for  some  years  past  a  parroquet 
that,  according  to  reliable  information,  must  be 
from  70  to  75  years  old.  It  is  impossible  to  recog- 
nize its  advanced  age,  so  normal  is  its  appearance 
and  so  easy  are  its  movements." 

The  general  rule  is  that  birds  have  a  much 
greater  longevity  than  the  large  majority  of 
mammals.  An  attendant  circumstance  is  ren- 
dered significant  in  consequence: 

"Birds  are  distinguished  by  having  an  intestinal 
flora  very  much  poorer  in  microbes  than  that  of 
mammals.  Possessing  no  large  intestine,  birds 
lack  that  great  reservoir  for  alimentary  refuse 
which,  in  mammals,  breeds  an  enormous  quantity 
of  all  sorts  of  microbes.  A  very  simple  method 
of  assuring  ourselves  of  this  consists  in  a  mi- 
croscopic examination  directed  toward  ascertain- 
ing the  comparative  quantity  of  microbes  con- 
tained in  different  parts  of  the  digestive  tube  of 
a  small  mammal,  a  white  mouse,  for  example. 
We  find  quite  a  large  nmnber  in  the  stomach; 


very  few  in  the  upper  portions  of  the  small  in- 
testine. The  lower  part  of  the  small  intestine 
contains  many  microbes,  but  it  is  in  the  caecum 
and  the  large  intestine  that  are  found  quantities 
truly  enormous.  The  examination  of  the  digestive 
organs  of  a  small  bird,  a  canary  for  example, 
having  the  same  weight  as  the  mouse  above  men- 
tioned, gives  quite  a  different  result.  In  canaries 
microbes  are  found,  but  in  vtry  small  numbers. 
The  stomach  and  the  small  intestine  contain 
throughout  their  course  only  a  few  isolated  speci- 
mens. The  inferior  portion  of  the  intestinal  tract 
contains  a  few  more  microbes,  but  their  number 
is  very  far  from  being  equal  to  that  found  in  the 
mouse.  The  caecum,  that  large  reservoir  for  in- 
testinal microbes  in  the  mouse,  is  represented 
in  the  canary  merely  by  two  rudimentary  culs  de 
sac  destitute  of  microbes.  It  is  not  astonishing 
that,  under  these  conditions,  the  toxic  effects  de- 
rived from  intestinal  sources  should  be  much  less 
in  the  canary  (and  in  birds  in  general)  than  in 
the  mouse  and  most  other  animals.  So  we  see 
that  while  the  mouse  is  already  old  after  a  few 
years,  and  lives  hardly  five  years  at  most,  the 
canary  is  vigorous  for  a  much  longer  period  and 
may  attein  the  age  of  15  or  even  20  years." 

When  we  see  that  cold-blooded  vertebrates, 
such  as  turtles  and  crocodiles,  attain  a  very 
advanced  age  without  showing  any  extensive 
signs  of  senility,  we  are  tempted  to  ascribe 
this  fact  to  the  rather  inactive  life  of  those 
animals.  As  they  do  not  have  to  maintain  a 
high  bodily  temperature  they  take  but  little 
food  and  are  not  forced  to  expend  much  energy 
in  procuring  it.  Birds  have  none  of  these  ad- 
vantages : 

"They  lead  a  very  active  and  agitated  life;  in 
order  to  preserve  their  normal  condition  they 
must  maintain  a  higher  bodily  temperature  than 
is  necessary  for  mammals,  yet  they  attam  a 
greater  and  more  active  old  age  than  do  mam- 
mals, even  including  man. 

"Notwithstanding  the  great  difference  between 
the  life  of  birds  on  the  one  hand  and  that  of 
turtles  and  crocodiles  on  the  other,  these  animals 
Have  this  point  in  common,  that  in  them  the  large 
intestine  is  very  slightly  developed,  if  not  absent, 
and  their  intestinal  flora  is  extremely  scanty. 

"In  spite  of  the  imperfect  state  of  our  knowl- 
edge at  the  present  time,  the  mass  of  facts  we 
have  cited  may  well  justify  us  in  maintammg  the 
hypothesis  that  the  intestinal  microbes  play  the 
part  of  one  of  the  preponderant  causes  of  that 
chronic  malady,  our  old  age." 

Old  age  as  ordinarily  observed  is  not  a 
natural  state,  we  are  likewise  told.  It  is  rather 
a  chronic  malady  for  which  no  real  cure  is  at 
present  available,  but  which  can  be  stamped 
out  in  time. 


76 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


THE  NEWEST  THEORY  OF  THE  EVOLUTION  OF 
OUR  SOLAR  SYSTEM 


Laplace's  nebular  hypothesis  of  the  origin 
of  our  solar  system,  together  with  all  varia- 
tions of  it,  must  be  abandoned  as  untenable  in 
the  light  of  late  investigations,  asserts  Dr. 
Forest  Ray  Moulton,  Professor  of  Astronomy 
at  the  University  of  Chicago,  writing  in  The 
Astrophysical  Journal,  The  original  theory  as 
formulated  by  Laplace,  and  all  theories  based 
upon  it  subsequently,  assumed  that  the  planets 
have  developed  out  of  rings  left  off  from  a 
parent  nebular  mass.  The  inconsistency  of 
this  ring  theory  with  known  phenomena  has 
been  shown  recently,  however,  by  an  appeal 
to  the  laws  of  dynamics.  The  ring  theory  must 
be  given  up.  In  its  place  Professor  Moulton 
favors  what  has  been  termed  the  "planetes- 
imal  hypothesis/'  elaborated  from  a  series  of 
calculations  by  Prof.  T.  C.  Chamberlain  and 
himself.  The  outline  of  the  planetesimal  hy- 
pothesis is  as  follows: 

"It  is  supposed  that  our  system  has  developed 
from  a  spiral  nebula,  perhaps  something  like 
those  spiral  nebulae  which  Keeler  showed  are 
many  times  more  numerous  than  all  other  kinds 
to|fethcr.  The  spiral  nebula  is  supposed  to  have 
originated  at  a  time  when  another  sun  passed 
very  near  our  Sun.  The  dimensions  of  the  nebula 
were  maintained  almost  entirely  by  the  orbital 
motions  of  the  great  number  of  small  masses  of 
which  it  was  composed,  and  only  a  very  little  by 
gaseous  expansion.  It  was  never  in  a  state  of 
hydrodynamical  equilibrium,  and  the  loss  of  heat 
was  not  necessary  for  its  development  into  plan- 
etary masses.  The  planets  have  been  formed 
around  primitive  nuclei  of  considerable  dimen- 
sions by  the  accretion  of  the  vast  amount  of  scat- 
tered material  which  was  spread  throughout  the 
system. 

"Such  a  spiral  nebula  as  that  described,  having 
originated  in  such  a  way,  will  develop  into  a 
system  having  the  following  properties:  The 
planets  will  all  revolve  in  the  same  direction,  and 
approximately  (though  perhaos  not  exactly)  in 
the  same  plane;  the  sun  will  rotate  in  the  same 
direction,  and  nearly  in  the  same  plane,  and  will 
have  an  equatorial  acceleration;  the  more  the 
planets  grow  by  the  accretion  of  scattered  matter,, 
the  more  nearly  circular  will  their  orbits  become ; 
the  planets  will  rotate  in  the  forward  direction, 
and  approximately  (though  perhaps  not  exactly) 
in  the  planes  of  their  orbits;  the  more  a  planet* 
grows  by  the  accretion  of  scattered  matter,  the 
more  rapidly  will  it  rotate;  the  planetary  nuclei 
may  be  attended  originally  by  many  satellite 
nuclei  revolving  in  any  direction,  but  the  scat- 
tered material  will  tend  to  drive  all  those  satellite 
nuclei  down  on  to  the  primary  nucleus  which  do 
not  move  forward  in  the  general  plane  of  the 
system;  the  scattered  material  develops  and  pre- 


serves circularity  in  the  satellite  orbits,  if  they 
revolve  in  the  forward  direction,  but  considerable 
eccentricity,  if  in  the  retrograde  direction;  a 
satellite  may  revolve  more  rapidly  than  its  pri- 
mary rotates;  the  system  may  contain  many 
planetoids  whose  orbits  are  interlocked;  the 
small  planets  will  be  cool  and  dense,  and  the  large 
ones  hot  and  rare;  and  the  greater  part  of  the 
moment  of  momentum  of  the  system  will  belong 
to  the  planets." 

In  other  words,  the  whole  hypothesis  fits  the 
facts  and  on  its  mathematical  side  it  responds 
to  every  test.  Professor  Moulton  goes  into  the 
mathematics  of  the  theme  and  finds  the  spiral 
theory,  as  he  calls  this  "planetesimal  hypoth- 
esis," a  good  working  one.  Nothing,  he  adds, 
has  yet  been  found  which  seems  seriously  to 
question  its  validity.    In  conclusion : 

"The  spiral  theory  raises  a  whole  series  of  new 
and  very  difficult  questions  in  celestial  mechanics. 
These  are  the  immediate  effects  of  the  tidal 
forces  which  are  developed  by  the  near  approach 
of  two  suns,  the  perturbations  of  the  orbits  of 
matter  which  has  been  ejected  by  one  of  them 
under  a  \ariety  of  conditions,  and  the  secular 
evolution  of  the  orbits  of  this  ejected  material. 
A  large  amount  of  labor  will  be  required  to  carry 
the  discussion  of  these  questions  to  a  successful 
conclusion. 

"The  spiral  theory  is  fertile  in  suggesting  new 
considerations  for  interpreting  the  immense  va- 
riety of  special  phenomena  of  the  system.  '  It  is 
not  too  much  to  expect  that  it  may  suggest  new 
questions  for  observational  investigation.  It  af- 
fords geologists  new  conceptions  of  the  early 
history  of  the  Earth.  But  perhaps  its  most  inter- 
esting contribution  is  to  our  general  philosophy 
of  nature.  Heretofore  we  have  regarded  the 
cosmical  processes  as  forever  aggregating  matter 
into  larger  and  still  larger  bodies,  and  dissipating 
energy  more  and  more  uniformly.  Now  we  recog- 
nize important  tendencies  for  the  dispersion  of 
•matter.  This  idea  has  introduced  an  element  of 
possible  cyclical  character  in  the  evolution  of  the 
heavenly  bodies,  though  the  question  of  the  source 
of  the  requisite  energy  is  serious." 

Organs  of  scientific  thought  have  been  cau- 
tious in  committing  themselves  to  these  views. 
London  Nature  observes: 

"The  original  spiral  nebula  is  supposed  to  have 
been  formed  by  the  near  approach  of  another 
star  to  the  body  which  is  now  our  sun.  This 
exterior  attraction  set  up  tides  in  the  solar  mat- 
ter, and,  being  continued,  actually  caused  immense 
masses  to  be  ejected  and  drawn  out  into  the  spiral 
form.  On  this  assumption  the  spiral  would 
emerge  from  the  central  nucleus  in  two  directions, 
on  opposite  sides,  and  this  is  the  form  generally 
shown  on  photographs  of  such  nebulae" 


7? 


Music    and    the     Drama 


AN  UNPRECEDENTED  MUSICAL  SEASON 


The  opening  of  the  musical  season  in  New 
York  has  been  attended  by  a  distressing  omen 
—the  announcement  that  Edward  MacDowell, 
our  one  composer  of  world  rank,  is  prostrated 
by  a  sickness  which  has  completely  shattered 
hfs  cerebral  and  nervous  system,  and  from 
which  he  may  never  recover.  This  untoward 
event,  feelingly  referred  to  by  the  New  York 
Evening  Post  as  "one  of  the  greatest  tragedies 
that  the  musical  world  has  ever  known,"  is  so 
far  the  single  regrettable  feature  in  connection 
with  the  winter's  music.  The  season  is  one  of 
unprecedented  variety  and  prosperity.  As  Mr. 
Richard  Aldrich,  of  the  New  York  Times,  puts 
it:  "The  plans  already  perfected  assure  more 
orchestral  music,  more  choral  music,  more 
chamber  music,  more  performances  by  visiting 
and  local  virtuosos,  and  more  opera,  than  ever 
before."  The  list  of  visiting  composers  and 
conductors  is  especially  imposing,  including, 
as  it  does,  the  names  of  Humperdinck,  dlndy, 
Rachmaninoff,  and  several  other  of  the  most 
distinguished  figures  in  European  music.  The 
grand  opera  season,  which  is  to  last  seventeen 
wedcs — ^two  weeks  longer  than  any  previous 
season — ^has  been  signalized,  at  its  outset,  by 
noteworthy  revivals  of  Goldmark's  "Queen  of 
Sheba"  and  Humperdinck's  "Haensel  and 
Gretel."  In  the  field  of  symphonic  music,  no 
less  than  four  orchestras  of  the  first  class  can 
be  heard  in  New  York  alone.  Finally,  the 
visiting  virtuosos,  headed  by  Raoul  Pugno, 
the  Italian-French  pianist,  and  Kubelik,  the 
Bohemian  violinist,  are  legion. 

Visiting  Composers 
It  is  not  often  that  America  has  a  chance  to 
welcome  composers  of  such  eminence  as  those 
who  visit  our  shores  this  winter.  Andre  Mes- 
sager,  the  first  to  arrive,  came  to  superintend 
the  production  of  his  comic  opera,  "Vero- 
nique,"  which  ran  for  three  hundred  nights  in 
London  and  has  been  favorably  received  in 
New  York.  He  is  a  pupil  of  Saint-Sacns, 
But  while  recognized  as  a  talented  musicii^n, 
he  is  completely  overshadowed  by  his  distin- 
guished countryman,  Vincent  d'Indy.  DTndy 
is  a  man  of  genius — ^"a  unique  figure  not  only 
in  contemporary  music,  but  in  well-nigh  the 
iHiole  range  of  musical  history/'  according  to 


Edward  Burlingame  Hill,  the  Boston  musical 
critic.    To  quote  from  the  New  York  Sun: 

"Vincent  d'Indy  is  the  leader  of  the  group  of 
composers  known  as  'the  younger  Frenchmen/ 
men  for  the  most  part,  followers  and  pupils  of 
Cesar  Franck,  who  have  sought  to  restore  abso- 
lute music  to  its  proper  place  in  France.  He,  in 
common  with  most  of  the  other  members  of  this 
school,  has  always  been  a  most  ardent  disciple  of 
the  art  and  theories  of  Richard  Wagner.  Now  in 
his  fifty-fourth  year,  he  has  a  long  list  of  com- 
positions to  his  credit,  embracing  all  forms  of 
music,  symphonic,  damber,  operatic  and  lyric. 
Many  of  his  compositions  in  the  larger  forms 
have  been  performed  by  the  Boston  Symphony 
Orchestra,  and  his  chamber  music  is  rapidly  com- 
ing to  be  well  known  in  America.  One  of  the 
founders  of  the  Schola  Cantorum  of  Paris,  he  is 
now  a  director  of  the  institution  and  the  professor 
of  composition." 

Engelbert  Humperdinck,  the  composer  of 
"Haensel  and  Gretel,"  is  another  ardent  ad- 
mirer of  Richard  Wagner.  He  assisted  at  tfie 
now  historic  Bayreuth  festivals  and  gave 
music  lessons  to  Wagner's  son.  "Haensel  and 
Gretel"  has  been  pronounced  by  authoritative 
critics  the  most  inspired  opera  written  since 
the  death  of  Wagner.  Humperdinck  was  at 
one  time  a  musical  critic  in  Frankfort  Now 
he  lives  in  the  Rhine  country.  His  latest 
works  are  "The  Forced  Marriage,"  produced 
a  few  months  ago  under  the  direction  of 
Richard  Strauss;  a  "Moorish"  symphony;  and 
incidental  music  to  "Konigskinder,"  "Cinder- 
ella" and  "The  Merchant  of  Venice."  One 
critic  sums  up  Humperdinck  thus:  "He  has 
managed  to  think  as  a  child  and  to  express  his 
thoughts  as  a  man."  Another  says:  "Hum- 
perdinck is  a  musical  Hans  Andersen  with  oc- 
casional lapses  into  somebody  else." 

S.  G.  Rachmaninoff,  who  comes  to  us  in 
the  spring  to  present  his  own  compositions, 
has  been  hailed  as  the  successor  of  Tschai- 
kowfiicy.  This  brilliant  young  Russian — he  is 
but  thirty  years  old — h  at  present  conductor 
of  the  Imperial  Opera  at  Moscow.  Of  his 
work  Lawrence  Gilman,  the  New  York  critic, 
writes  is  The  Retnew  of  Reviews  as  follows : 

"A  man  whose  temperament  is  both  rich  and 
impulsive,  he  is  dravnatic  rather  than  contempla- 
tive, forthright  and  masterful  rather  than  sensi- 
tive,— the  temperament  of  Richard  Strauss  rather 
than  of  Cesar  Franck.     He  is  young,  and  his 


78 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


EN(iELBERT  HUMPERDINCK 

He  came  to  the  Unil*»d  States  recently  to  supervise 
the  production  of  his  '*  Haensel  and  Gretel " — "the  most 
inspired  opera  written  since  the  death  of  Wagner  " 

youth  is  reflected  in  his  art, — not  in  any  imma- 
turity, for  that  is  not  readily  discoverable,  but  in 
exuberance,  freshness  of  sentiment,  and  largeness 
of  endeavor.  Rachmaninoff  has  composed  thr^e  op- 
eras,— The  Bohemians,'  The  Avaricious  Knight' 
(based  upon  poems  by  Pushkin),  and  Trancesca 
da  Rimini ;'  a  symphony ;  a'  toBe-poem  for  orches- 
tra. The  Cliff;'  a  cantata, '*Spring,'  for  chorus 
and  baritone ;  a  'Bohemian  Caprice/  for  orchestra ; 
two  piano  concertos,  two  four-hand  suites  (one 
of  which,  re-scored  for  orchestra,  will  be  con- 
ducted by  Rachmaninoff  on  the  occasion  of  his 
appearance  with  the  Russian  Symphony  Orches- 
tra), a  piano  trio,  a  'cello  sonata,  a  number  of 
smaller  works  for  piano,  and  numerous  songs." 

Felix  Weingartner,  of.  Munich,  will  return 
to  the  United  States  to  preside  over  some  of 
the  concerts  of  the  New  York  Symphony  So- 
ciety; and  Sir  Edward  Elgar,  the  greatest 
living  English  composer,  is  announced  as  the 
conductor  of  the  next  Cincinnati  Festival. 

Grand  Opera 
On  Monday  evening,  Nov.  20,  the  twenty- 
first  season  of  grand  opera  at  the  Metropolitan 
Opera  House,  and  the  third  •  under  Heinrich 
Conried's  management  was  initiated.  "Fashion 
was  there  in  all  its  gorgeous  array,"  says  The 
Musical  Courier  (New  York),  "and  the  scene 
resembled  a  vision  in  the  'Arabian  Nights* 
more  than  it  did  an  opera  opening  in  the 
world's  busiest  commercial  centre."  Never  has 
a  season  begun  more  auspiciously.    More  than 


$340,000,  according  to  Mr.  Conried's  own 
statement,  were  netted  on  advance  sales  of 
tickets,  exclusive  of  the  amount  paid  by  the 
box-holders  for  the  use  of  their  season's 
boxes.  No  wonder  he  has  been  given  carte 
blanche  to  proceed  along  liberal  lines  in  his 
new  presentations.  Five  operas  were  pro- 
duced during  the  first  week:  "La  Gioconda," 
"The  Queen  of  Sheba,"  "Haensel  and  Gretel" 
(under  the  composer's  supervision),  "Rigo- 
letto"  and  "Tannhauser."  Neither  "The  Queen 
of  Sheba"  nor  "Haensel  and  Gretel"  has  been 
heard  in  America  for  many  years,  and  their 
revival  at  this  time  constitutes  a  musical  event 
of  more  than  ordinary  importance. 

Carl  Goldmark's  "Die  Konigin  von  Saba" 
was  first  presented  in  this  country  at  the  Met- 
ropolitan Opera  House  in  1885.  It  was  the 
composer's  earliest  dramatic  work  and  remains 
his  most  successful.  "It  reeks  with  Gold- 
mark's  Orientalism  of  style,"  says  Mr.  W.  J. 
Henderson,  of  the  New  York  Sun,  "his  lush 
instrumental  colors  and  his  Hebrew  idioms." 
Mr.  Henderson  characterizes  its  motive  as  one 
"as  old  as  human  nature": 

"It  is  the  proposition  of  the  man  pledged  to 
honorable  and  chaste  union  with  a  virtuous  wom- 
an and  led  astray  by  a  wanton.  In  this  case  the 
gentleman  is  the  tenor  of  the  opera,  Assad,  a 
favorite  courtier  of  King  Solomon.  The  virtuous 
maiden  is  Sulamith,  the  daughter  of  the  High 
Priest  of  the  Temple.  The  temptress  is  the 
Queen  of  Sheba,  who  is  represented  as  a  sort  of 
Arabian  Cleopatra,  a  serpent  of  the  oasis  with 
the  heat  of  the  blasting  simoon  io  her  veins." 

The  opera  affords  rich  opportunities  for 
scenic  display,  which  were  utilized  to  the  ut- 
most in  the  new  production.  Says  the  New 
York  Evening  Post: 

"Mr.  Conried's  'Queen  of  Sheba'  is  arrayed 
even  more  sumptuously  than  his  *Aida,'  and  the 
Orientalism  of  the  setting  is  more  rampant. 
Whether  it  goes  too  far  in  brightness  and  con- 
trasts of  coloring,  it  is  difficult  to  say,  as  Oriental 
eyes  differ  from  ours,  but  certainly  Europe  has 
only  two  or  three  houses  where  an  opera  is  ever 
placed  on  the  stage  with  such  multitudinous 
splendor,  and  it  is  difficult  to  say  which  is  the 
more  effective  scene — the  opening  one  in  Solo- 
mon's palace,  with  an  endless  procession  of  the 
Queen's  attendants  and  slaves  bearing  costly  pres- 
ents for  Solomon,  the  marriage  festivities  in  the 
temple,  or  the  sand-storm  and  the  solitary  palm, 
swayed  to  the  ground  by  the  fierce  blast." 

"Haensel  and  Gretel"  is  said  to  be  the  most 
successful  opera  produced  in  Germany  within 
a  quarter  of  a  century.  It  has  been  repeatedly 
given,  with  iclat,  in  London,  Paris  and  Mos- 
cow. It  is  based,  of  course,  on  Grimm's  fa- 
mous fairy  tale — the  story  of  the  wicked  step- 


MUSIC  AND    THE   DRAMA 


79 


mother,  the  babes  in  the  wood,  and  the  witch 
with  the  gingerbread  palace,  that  has  stirred 
the  hearts  of  several  generations  of  children. 
To  quote  again  from  The  Post : 

"All  Europe  has  been  enjoying  and  applaud- 
ing Hamperdinck's  opera  for  years,  and  if  New 
Yorkers  have  been  less  favored,  this  hak  been  due 
chiefly  to  an  ill-starred  attempt  to  produce  it, 
made  ten  years  ago,  which  gave  managers 
the  impression  that  it  did  not  appeal  to  American 
taste.  The  chief  trouble,  however,  was  that  on 
that  occasion  this  grand  opera  was  not  produced 
<m  a  grand-opera  scale  and  in  a  grand-opera 
milieu.  Mr.  Conried  has  mended  all  that;  he  has 
put  the  fairy  opera  on  the  stage  with  fairy-like 
splendor,  has  g^ven  it  a  satisfactory  cast,  and  the 
attitude  of  Saturday's  audience  indicated  that  at 


MARIE  HALL 

A  irreat   violinist    who  began   ber   career  as  a  harpist 
^ying  for  bread  in  the  streets  of  English  towns 


VINCENT  D'INDY 

The  eminent  French  composer  now  visiting  this  coun- 
try. "A  unique  figure  not  only  in  contemporary  music, 
but  in  well*  nigh  the  whole  range  of  musical  history  " 

last  'Hansel  and  Gretel'  will  become,  what  it 
should  have  been  long  ago,  a  regular  'Repertoiro- 
per/  as  the  Germans  say.  The  audience  was  visi- 
bly moved  by  the  beautiful  things  it  saw  and 
heard,  and  when  the  curtain  closed  on  each  of  the 
three  acts  there  were  many  calls  for  the  singers 
and  for  Mr.  Humperdinck,  Mr.  Conried,  and  Mr. 
Hertz." 

The  "stars"  at  the  opera  include  most  of  the 
old  favorites.  Nordica,  Sembrich  and  Eames 
are  with  us  again.  Caruso,  that  "prince  of 
tenors,"  is  duplicating  his  last  year's  suc- 
cesses; and  Heinrich  Knote,  one  of  the  most 
eminent  living  interpreters  of  Wagnerian 
roles,  has  been  tempted  to  cross  tKe  Atlantic 
once  more.  Of  the  new  singers  the  most  in- 
teresting is  probably  Marie  Rappold,  the  wife 
of  a  Brooklyn  doctor,  who  has  studied  under 
Oscar  Saenger,  of  New  York.  Mr.  Conried 
was  so  impressed  by  her  singing  at  the  Schiller 
festival  in  Br^ooklyn  last  year  that  he  decided 
to  try  her  in  grand  opera.  She  made  her  debut 
in  "The  Queen  of  Sheba,"  and  "it  is  many  a 
long  day,"  says  Mr.  Henderson,  "since  any 
debutante  has  received  such  cordial  and  sus- 
tained applause."  "This  American  woman," 
adds  a  writer  in  The  Times,  "has  proved  that 
it  is  not  necessary  to  have  *Made  in  Germany' 
stamped  on  a  voice  in  order  to  make  a  success." 


8o 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


FRITZ  STEINBACH 

Of  the   Gfkrzenich  Concerts  and 
Conservatory  of  Music,  Cologne. 


WILHBLM  MBNGELBERG 

Of  the  Musikgebouw  Orchestra, 
Amsterdam. 


WASSILY  SAFONOFF 

Of  the  Imperial  Russian  Music  So- 
ciety, Moscow. 


CONDUCTORS  OF  THIS  SEASON'S 


SYMPHONIC  MUSIC 

For  three  years  the  Philharmonic  Society 
has  recruited  its  conductors  from  Europe. 
Wassily  Safonoff,  the  Moscow  conductor  who 
has  twice  come  to  this  country  under  its 
auspices,  returns  again  this  year.  The  other 
conductors  invited  are:  Wilhelm  Mengelberg, 
of  the  Musikgebouw  Orchestra,  Amsterdam; 


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s 

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■iidl 

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Coortcty  of  The  Berlew  of  ReTlewi. 

S.  G    RACHMANINOFF 

Conductor  of  the  Imperial  Opera  at  Moscow.    He  comes 
to  us  in  the  spring  to  present  his  own  compositions. 


Max  Fiedler,  of  the  Philharmonic  Society  and 
Conservatory  of  Music,  Hamburg;  Dr.  Ernest 
Kunwald,  of  the  Opera  House,  Frankfort;  and 
Fritz  Steinbach,  of  the  Giirzenich  Concerts 
and  Conservatory  of  Music,  Cologne.  Victor 
Herbert,  the  well-known  American  composer, 
is  also  a  Philharmonic  conductor  this  year. 
Mr.  Mengelberg's  work  at  the  opening  Phil- 
harmonic concert  has  been  highly  commended. 
He  is  a  high-priest  of  the  Strauss  cult,  and 
Strauss  has  proclaimed  his  admiration  of 
him  by  dedicating  to  him  his  "Heldenleben." 
The  Amsterdam  conductor's  reading  of  this 
work  at  the  New  York  concert  is  declared  to 
have  been  even  more  competent  than  that  of 
Strauss  himself.  While  in  this  country  Mr. 
Mengelberg  heard  the  Boston  Symphony  Or- 
chestra, and  expressed  himself  as  delighted 
with  its  precision  and  intelligence  under  Wil- 
helm Gericke's  bdton.  The  present  season 
marks  the  end  of  the  first  quarter  century  in 
its  history.,  and  the  twentieth  year  in  which 
it  has  given  concerts  in  New  York. 

A  large  measure  of  popular  favor  is  also  en- 
joyed by  the  concerts  of  the  New  York  Sym- 
phony, under  Walter  Damrosch,  and  of  the 
Russian  Symphony,  under  Modest  Altschuler. 
At  the  first  concert  given  this  season  by  the 
former  organization,  Mr.  Damrosch  produced 
Debussy's  "L'Apr^-midi  d'un  Faune."  "De- 
bussy's increasing  appeal  to  musicians  of  in- 
dependent thought,"  says  Mr.  Oilman,  in 
Harper^ s  Weekly,  "is  not  to  be  questioned ;  and 
it  is  in  no  insignificant  part  due  to  Mr.  Dam- 


MUSIC  AND   THE   DRAMA 


8z 


DR.  ERNEST  KUNWALD 


Of  the   Opera    and    Opera 
Concerts,  Frankfort. 


VICTOR  HERBERT 


House  American    composer,    'cellist 

orchestral  conductor. 


MAX  FIEDLER 

and  Of  the  Philharmonic  Society    and 

Conservatory  of  Music,  Hamburg^. 


PHILHARMONIC   CONCERTS 


rosch's  activities."  The  Russian  Symphony 
Society  has  made  marvelous  strides  during  the 
two  years  since  its  foundation.  Started  in 
Cooper  Union  by  volunteer  workers  and  with 
very  slender  resources,  it  now  holds  its  con- 
certs in  Carnegie  Hall  and  is  engaging  soloists 
of  the  first  rank.  Safonoff  is  lending  it  his 
in^uence  and  co-operation,  and  Miss  Isabel 
Hapgood,  the  well-known  translator  of  Tolstoy 
and  Turgenieff,  is  its  present  secretary. 

Among  the  other  orchestras  playing  in  New 
York  may  be  mentioned:  The  People's  Sym- 
phony Orchestra,  an  organization  founded  by 
Franz  X.  Arens  to  educate  the  masses  in  the 
appreciation  of  classical  music;  the  Young 
People's  Symphony  Orchestra,  conducted  by 
Frank  Damrosch  ;  the  Volpe  Orchestra, 
designed  to  encourage  young  American  solo- 
ists and  composers ;  and  Victor  Herbert's  popu- 
lar orchestra,  which  has  been  holding  Sunday 
evening  concerts  in  the  Majestic  Theater. 

VISITING   VIRTUOSOS 

Pugno,  Reisenauer,  Bauer,  Arthur  Rubin- 
stein, Maud  Powell,  Kubelik,  Marteau,  Sauret, 
Otie  Chew,  Marie  Hall,  Edwin  Grasse,  Marie 
Nichols,  Hugo  Heermann,  Alice  Nielsen,  Cam- 
panari,  Bispham — these  are  but  a  few  of  tht 
names  of  the  pianists,  violinists  and  singers  who 
are  thronging  to  our  shores.  Of  the  artists  men- 
tioned none  has  been  greeted  more  cordially 
than  Pugno,  who  pays  us  his  third  visit. 
"Pugno  represents  the  mature  artist  in  whom 
all   the    intellectual,    emotional   and   musical 


forces  are  balanced  in  proper  proportion,"  says 
The  Musical  Courier  (New  York).  Kubelik 
is  felt  to  have  gained  in  artistic  stature  since 
his  last  appearance  here.  Marie  Hall,  a  violin- 
ist who  began  her  career  as  a  harpist  playing 
for  bread  in  the  streets  of  English  towns,  has 


MARIE  RAPPOLD 

The  wife  of  a  Brooklyn  doctor  who  has  recently  made  a 
successful  d^but  in  sfrand  opera. 


82 


CURRENT   LITERATURE 


been  warmly,  but  not  enthusiastically  received. 
Says  the  New  York  Times: 

"Everything  she  does  is  crystal  clear  and  fin- 
ished; her  intonation  even  in  the  most  compli- 
cated passages  is  not  often  at  fault.  Her  tone  is 
large  and  fully  at  her  command  in  all  its  lights 
and  shades,  and  it  has  a  quality  of  distinction 
that  many  players  might  envy  her  for.  .  .  .  What 
Miss  Hall  does  not  have  and  does  not  show  in 
her  playing  is  a  deep  musical  feeling,  the  sense 
that  there  is  in  the  music  she  is  playing  an)rthing 
more  important  or  more  deep-seated  and  influen- 
tial than  the  notes,  the  phrases.  Of  her  intelli- 
gence there  can  be  no  doubt,  and  of  her  power 
to  express  anything  that  she  feels  there  ought  to 
be  none." 

Of  the  total  effect  conveyed  by  the  multiplex 
attractions  of  the  New  York  musical  season, 
Mr.  Edward  Ziegler,  a  writer  in  The  World, 
says: 

"New    York   is   not    yet    afflicted    by    so    vast 


a  number  of  smaller  concerts  as  are  Berlin  and 
London,  the  hotbed  of  song  and  piano  recitals ; 
but  it  is  rapidly  reaching  these  numerical  levels. 
From  the  humble  beginning,  when  orchestral  con- 
certs were  novelties,  through  the  tentative  period 
when  Theodore  Thomas  did  his  share  toward  the 
education  of  the  masses  by  performing  classic 
works  at  popular  concerts,  New  York's  music- 
madness  has  grown  with  each  season.  The  ener- 
getic type  of  New  Yorker  has  hitherto  strewn 
his  ambition  and  force  entirely  along  the  path  of 
mercantile  attainments.  Now,  from  the  pinnacle 
of  these  he  looks  longingly  at  the  artistic  devel- 
opment of  the  forei«m  centres  of  civilization,  and 
with  the  instinct  of  his  wonderful  race  proceeds 
to  emulate  his  foreign  ideas,  doing  so  on  the  same 
lavish  scale  that  has  stamped  his  other  enterprises. 
"For  decades  New  York  has  been  money-mad. 
Now,  at  the  threshold  of  the  *most  imposingly 
promising  music  season;  it  has  turned  music-mad. 
The  malady  of  craving  music  that  has  taken  staid 
Europe  centuries  to  acquire,  New  York  is  catch- 
ing with  almost  the  furore  of  frenzy.  But  music 
madness  is  a  sane,  artistic  malady." 


SARAH  BERNHARDT'S  VISIT 


Madame  Sarah  Bernhardt  has  fallen  under 
the  ban  of  clerical  condemnation  in  Canada, 
and,  according  to  press  dispatches,  received 
discourteous  treatment  at  the  hands  of  Que- 
bec rowdies.  In  this  country,  however,  she 
can  hardly  complain  of  lack  of  appreciation. 
From  the  day  of  her  arrival  until  now  she 
has  been  the  recipient  of  the  most  enthusiastic 
tributes.  Hurried  across  the  continent  from 
New  York  on  a  "Bernhardt  special"  to  fill  her 
first  engagement  in  Chicago,  she  was  greeted 
at  the  depot  by  "shrill  French  cheers,  five 
hundred  French  hats  thrown  upward,  five 
hundred  pairs  of  French  arms  gesticulating," 
and  in  struggling  to  the  hotel  she  distributed 
a  bouquet  of  roses  and  carnations  in  single 
blossoms.  "Sarah  Bernhardt  captured  Chi- 
cago," according  to  the  Chicago  Record- 
Herald,  The  same  paper  adds :  "In  beginning 
her  farewell  American  tour  at  the  Grand 
Opera  House  the  first  actress  of  France  and 
of  the  generation  received  a  greeting  from  ^n 
audience  as  brilliant  socially  as  it  was  large 
and  cosmopolitan.  Both  French  and  English 
speaking  residents  of  Chicago  united  in  hail- 
ing the  famous  artiste — a  proof  that  Bern- 
hardt's  genius  is  admired  here  as  deeply  as  in 
her  own  Paris." 

Madame  Bernhardt  plans  an  extended 
itinerary,  and  has  refused  to  confirm  the 
statement    that   this    is    her    "farewell   tour." 


She  expects  to  go  as  far  South  as  the 
City  of  Mexico,  and  may  visit  Cuba.  Her 
present  repertoire  consists  of  ten  plays  : 
"La  Sorciere,"  "Fedora,"  "La  Dame  aux 
Camelias,"  "La  Femme  de  Claude,"  "Angelo" 
(by  Victor  Hugo),  "Phedre,"  "Magda,"  "La 
Tosca,"  "Sapho"  and  "Adrienne  Lecouvreur." 
The  first-named  play,  recently  given  in  this 
country  by  Mrs.  Patrick  Campbell,  was  chosen 
for  the  opening  night  in  Chicago.  "  *La 
Sorciere*  is  by  no  means  the  best  that  the 
genius  of  Sardou  has  given  to  the  stage,"  re- 
marks the  Chicago  Tribune,  "but  any  one  who 
sat  beneath  the  spell  of  Madame  Bernhardt's 
inimitable  presentment  will  not  deny  that  so 
long  as  she  lives  the  play  has  a  sufficient  reason 
for  being,  and  that  it  merits  the  interest  and 
attention  of  the  public."  "Adrienne  Lecou- 
vreur," written  by  Sarah  Bernhardt  herself, 
she  confesses  she  likes  "best  of  all";  but  the 
verdict  of  the  American  papers  is  rather  un- 
favorable. In  the  opinion  of  the  Chicago 
Evening  Post,  this  play  requires  "the  mantle 
of  charity,"  and  is  "inconsequent  and  shaky  in 
structure."  The  most  favorable  comment  is 
evoked  by  "Camille."  Of  Madame  Bern- 
hardt's impersonation  of  this  famous  heroine, 
the  creation  of  Alexandre  Dumas,  tils.  The 
Post  says: 

"If  Mme.  Bernhardt  has  done  more  remarkable 
things  in  the  course  of  her  histrionic  career,  it  is 


MUSIC   AND    THE   DRAMA 


83 


::>t  probable  that  her  art  has 
tit:  been  seen  to  greater  ad- 
'.«3tage  than  in  her  Marguerite 
Gauticr  of  this   farewell  tour. 

"The  great  charm  of  her  work 
as:  night  was  its  magnificent 
rcsen'c  This  is  a  significant 
f-ncnt  to  find  oneself  making 
n  Bamhardt's  art.  Whatever 
1:5  astonishing  achievements 
-4\e  been,   reserve  in   just  the 

:3Mi  one  found  in  her  Mar- 
.Tcntc  last  night  has  not  been 

vsr>'  salient  merit.  She  is,  in- 
^tvd.  an  artist  of  too  high  a 
rank  not  to  have  had,  since  her 
tTitrrity,  command  of  her  emo- 
i  lil  equipment.  It  is  only  the 
'.cT nationalist  of  the  cruder  sort 
"  ..  kises  that. 

"But  the  high  point,  and  even 
!':c  distinguishing  merit,  of 
^tmhardt's  art  has  been  the 
nc  dramatic  climax,  given  with 
:^l:Jh  astonishing  power  and  ef- 
fect as  to  sweep  her  audience 
i'jn  its  feet.  A  long  series  of 
S.rJo'j  plays,  equipped  with 
•rnnendous  sensational  scenes, 
^:s  given  Bernhardt  easily  the 
r^'st  place  among  players  of  her 

r-rf  as  the  exponent  of  the  pas- 

Bernhardt's  "Marguerite," 
cclares  The  Post,  is  "one  of 
■b»>5e  extraordinary  achieve- 
Tients  of  histrionic  genius 
which  seems  to  pass  out  of  the 
rqpon  of  art  into  that  of  na- 
ture."   It  continues : 


SARAH  BERNHARDT  AS  ADR  TENNE    LECOUVREUR 


"Bernhardt's     Marguerite    to- 

5>  is  not  on  the  highest  plane 
"J  dramatic  art  merely  because 
-e  subject  matter,  the  substance 
'''•  the  play,  does  not  permit  it.    Cordelia,  played 
'Tth  the  same  masterl^^  perfection  of  method,  the 
^^ne  sincerity  of  feeling  and  nice  artistic  taste, 
*  nld  have  been. 

The  consideration  is   important  in   any   esti- 
^te  of  Mme.  Bernhardt's  place  in  the  pantheon 

i  the  world's  great  actors.  Is  this  Marguerite, 
*rii  its  wonderful  perfection  of  detail,  its  subtle 
5)Tapathetic  vitality,  its  exquisite  artistic  reti- 
>^^er-ces,  an  evidence  that  Bernhardt,  under  difFer- 
^t  conditions,  might  have  reached  a  higher  range 

i^  attainment  than  she  has  ?  Or  is  it  the  cooling 
c^ect  of  years  that  covers  her  art  to-day  as  with  a 
'^^Jcatc  silver  haze,  through  which  even  the  flame 
::  her  passion  shows— dimly,  but  more  beautifully  ? 

*To-day  her  Marguerite  is  at  its  best;  to-day, 
^^ter  a  lifetime  of  the  stage.  During  a  generation 
^'.it  changes  have  come  to  histrionic  methods,  as 
i>  the  tec&iique  of  the  dramatist,  and  even  as  to 
the  great  innocent  taste  of  the  public.  Yes,  even 
^  Sarah,  who  has  taught  a  generation  of  emo- 
.Kjoal  actresses  all  they  know." 
Reviewing  Madame  Bernhardt's  work  on 
3tr  present   tour,  the   Chicago   Tribune  also 


"  Her  art  remains  as  matchless  as  it  long  has  been,"  says  the  Chicago 
Tribune.  "  She  stands  unique  on  the  world's  stage  to-day,  and  to  see  her  is 
to  realize  that  great  acting  and  grreat  art  still  exist  in  the  realm  of  the 
spoken  drama." 


comes  to  the  conclusion  that,  in  spite  of  her 
sixty-one  years,  she  is  "more  remarkable  than 
ever."  It  says: 

''Her  art  remains  as  matchless  as  it  long  has 
been.  That  voice,  the  like  of  which  is  not  to  be 
found  elsewhere  in  the  world,  is  just  as  marvel- 
ous as  before  in  its  ability  to  express  every  shade 
and  variation  of  emotion,  from  the  softest  caress 
of  love  or  sympathy  to  the  fiercest  outburst  of 
anger  or  passionate  invective.    .    ,    . 

**But  it  is  not  alone  the  voice  of  Bernhardt  that 
has  remained  unchanged  since  last  she  was  seen 
here.  Her  grace  is  as  matchless,  her  poses  as 
exquisite  in  every  line,  her  movements  as  fault- 
less, her  bearing  as  finely  erect,  and  her  facial 
expression  as  wonderfully  varied,  swift,  and  elo- 
quent as  they  have  been  for  years.  Her  tempera- 
ment is  just  as  great  and  responsive,  and  her  in- 
telligence as  keen  and  unfailingly  artistic,  as  of 
yore.  She  still  stands  unique  on  the  world's  stage 
to-day,  and  to  see  her  was  to  realize  that  great 
acting  and  great  art  still  exist  in  the  realm  of 
the  spoken  drama." 


84 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


NOTABLE  PLAYS  OF  THE  MONTH 


Drama  to  suit  every  taste  has  been  pre- 
sented in  this  country  during  the  past  few 
weeks.  Classicists  have  had  a  chance  to  see 
interpretations  of  Shakespeare  by  several  dif- 
ferent companies  and  an  impersonation  of  a 
Schiller  hero  by  Richard  Mansfield  (see  Cur- 
rent Literature,  December).  Lovers  of  pure 
phantasy  have  welcomed  J.  M.  BarrJe's  fairy 
play,  "Peter  Pan/'  which  affords  Maude 
Adams  a  winsome  role  and  is  being  given  in 
New  York  contemporaneously  with  the  fairy 
opera,  "Haensel  and  Gretel."  Practical  men 
have  recognized  in  Charles  Klein's  new  play, 
"The  Lion  and  the  Mouse,"  an  attempt  to 
dramatize  the  "trust  question."  Southern  au- 
diences have  been  offered  a  dramatic  sensa- 
tion in  the  shape  of  Thomas  Dixon's  "Clans- 
man," a  play  which  preaches  the  necessity  of 
maintaining  the  absolute  supremacy  of  the 
whites  over  the  negroes.  Playgoers  who  crave 
the  "modern"  and  passionate  note  have  found 
it  in  the  art  of  Sarah  Bernhardt  (see  article, 
"Sarah  Bernhardt's  Visit"),  in  Olga  Nether- 
sole's  acting  in  "The  Labyrinth,"  and  in  Oscar 
Wilde's  "Salome." 

"peter  pan" 
Readers  of  "The  Little  White  Bird"  know 
that  Peter  Pan  is  the  Boy  Who  Wouldn't 
Grow  Up.  In  the  book  he  lives  in  Kensington 
Gardens,  London;  in  the  play  he  inhabits  a 
tropical  island — the  Never,  Never,  Never 
Land— to  which  he  entices  children.  "Peter 
Pan"  cannot  be  judged  by  the  ordinary  stand- 
ards of  the  drama,  says  the  New  York  Out- 
look. "It  is  a  bit  of  pure  phantasy  by  the 
writer  who,  since  the  death  of  Robert  Louis 
Stevenson,  has  most  truly  kept  the  heart  and 
mind  of  a  child."  To  quote  further  from  the 
same  paper : 

"Boys  and  girls  of  all  ages  will  love  it  because 
it  is  a  boy's  mind  turned  inside  out  and  put  on 
the  stage.  Everything  in  it  happens  precisely  as 
is  would  happen  in  a  world  made  by  a  healthy 
boy  of  imagination.  All  the  best  things  come 
true;  there  is  a  real  wonderland  to  which  you 
actually  fly;  there  you  build  a  house  precisely  as 
you  would  in  an  actual  country;  there  are  In- 
dians; above  all,  there  are  pirates  as  ferocious, 
as  picturesquely  wicked,  and  as  full  of  malevo- 
lence to  children  as  the  pirates  you  used  to  dream 
of  were;  there  is  a  fascmating  crocodile  who  has 
swallowed  a  clock  which  ticks  audibly;  there  is  a 
lion  whom  you  subdue  by  looking  at  him,  and 
when  he  retreats  you  calmly  cut  off  his  tail; 
there  arc  tremendous  combats  in  which  childish 
ingenuity  and  simplicity  are  more  than  a  match 


for  the  brute  force  of  grown  men;  there  is    a 
pirate  ship  which  is  a  joy  to  the  eye  because   it 
is  precisely  what  a  pirate  ship  ought  to  be,  and 
the  figures  on  it  are  as  black,  as  menacing,  and  as 
gruesome  as  such  figures  ought  to  be— when  they 
go  overboard,  the  spray  comes  over  the  rail   in 
the  most  deliciously  realistic  manner;  and,  last  of 
all,  there  is  an  enchanting  vision  of  the  tops  of 
the  trees,  of  Peter   Pan  at  home  in  the  inde- 
structible  domain   of   childhood,    surrounded   by- 
fairy  lights.     Hardened  sinner,  weary  playgoer, 
ennuied    society  man  and   woman,    disillusioned 
pursuer  of  money,  however  you  may  have  gone 
astray,  you  come  out  of  the  theater  rested  and 
refreshed.     For  two  hours  you  have  believed  in 
fairies.    You  have  been  a  child  again.    And  noth- 
ing, it  may  be  said  in  passing,  could  be  better  for 
the  average  theater-goer  than  to  be  carried  back 
to  the  faith,  innocence,  credulity,  and  joy  of  child- 
hood." 

The  New  York  dailies  comment  in  the  same 
spirit  "Of  all  the  plays  of  the  season  and  of 
several  seasons  past,"  says  The  Times,  "this 
has  seemed  the  most  worth  seeing,  the  most 
worth  doing."    It  adds : 

"The  little  people  of  the  Never-Never-Never- 
Land  are  children,  and  yet  they  are  something  more 
than  children,  and  Peter  Pan  himself  is  a  rare 
blend  of  the  real  and  the  supernatural.  As  a  re- 
sult his  proper  embodiment  on  the  stage  calls  for 
most  unusual  qualities.  It  would  be  impossible 
to  name  anv  one  who  could  meet  the  require- 
ments as  Maude  Adams  has  done.  Her  frail, 
delicate  personality  has  taken  on,  the  last  two  or 
three  years,  just  enough  of  the  more  material 
substance  to  make  her  Peter  Pam  in  appearance 
exactly  the  being  that  Mr.  Barrie  has  conceived. 
There  is  the  lightness  of  Ariel  in  her  movements, 
and  the  grace  of  Puck;  half  spirit  and  half 
human,  she  has  the  gossamer,  fairylike  freedom 
of  the  one  and  the  human  heart-throb  of  the 
other.  Peter  rides  on  the  winds  and  is  lifted 
above  the  earth  on  sylphlike  wings,  but  he  is 
never  so  far  removed  from  the  actual  that  he 
ceases  to  remember  his  human  origin." 

Mr.  John  Corbin,  of  The  Sun,  goes  so  far 
as  to  say:  "In  the  whole  range  of  English 
poetry  and  the  English  theatre  there  is  but 
one  man  comparable  in  spiritual  humor,  in 
imaginative  sympathy,  to  the  author  of  Teter 
Pan,'  and  that  is  the  author  of  *A  Midsum- 
mer Night's  Dream.*  Barrie,  like  Shakespeare, 
sees  life  with  the  inner  eye,  and  has  the  gift 
of  realizing  his  vision  in  the  external  ma- 
terial of  the  stage."  ^ 

"the  lion  and  the  mouse" 

This  play  is  by  Charles  Klein,  who  made  a 
reputation  for  himself  and  afforded  David 
Warfield  the  opportunity  to  make  his  in  the   * 


MUSIC  AND   THE   DRAMA 


8S 


very  successful  "Auctioneer" 
ajKi  "Music  Master."  It  has 
almost  nothing  in  common, 
however,  with  these  two  ear- 
lier efforts.  "The  Lion  and 
the  Mouse"  deals  with  the 
dominant  power  of  money  in 
American  politics,  and  shows 
m  honest  judge  pitted  against 
a  corrupt  and  unscrupulous 
n  llionaire.  The  story  is  thus 
summarized  by  the  New  York 
Dramatic  Mirror: 

''John  Burkett  Ryder  is  sup- 
posed  to  be  a  composite  photo- 
graph of  various  American 
masters  of  finance/  which  leads 
one  to  infer  that  the  author  is 
not  intimately  acquainted  with 
The  many  real  flesh  and  blood 
multi-millionaires.  He  has  a 
boundless  desire  for  wealth — no 
mean  avarice,  but  a  love  of  the 
power  to  be  gained  through 
riches — a  domineering  will  and 
an  unscrupulous  soul.  Previous 
to  the  opening  of  the  play  he  has 
compassed  Judge  Rossmore's 
^oancial  ruin  and  professional 
di^g^ace  to  avenge  himself  for 
certain  adverse  decisions  which 
the  judge  has  rendered  against 
the  corporations.  Shirley,  the 
jcdge's  daughter,  has  fallen  in 
love  with  young  Jefferson  Ryder 
on  the  steamer  returning  from 
Europe  before  either  of  them  is 
con«icious  of  what  has  been  hap- 
pening in  New  York.  She  has 
written  a  novel  in  which,  from 
the  descriptions  of  his  son,  she 
has  drawn  a  realistic  picture  of 
the  'magnate'  not  much  more 
complimentary  than  Ida  Tarbell's 
picture  of  John  D.  Rockefeller. 
John  Ryder  has  already  announced  his  son's  en- 
gagement to  the  daughter  of  Senator  Roberts 
without  in  the  least  consulting  the  young  man's 
inclinations.  Shirley  Rossmore  has  written  her 
book  under  the  pseudonym  of  Green,  and  under 
this  name  appears  at  Ryder's  house,  he  having 
been  so  impressed  by  her  analytic  prowess  as  to 
select  her  to  compile  his  biography.  The  result- 
ing situations  with  the  two  lovers  under  the 
same  roof  are  as  evident  as  they  are  humanly  im- 
possible. The  little  mouse  beards  the  lion  in  his 
den  as  courageously  as  though  she  were  a  grizzly 
bear,  but  only  wins  his  admiration  by  the  out- 
spoken audacity  of  her  opinions  on  his  life  and 
moral  code.  Finally  the  old  man,  having  dis- 
covered that  Kate  Roberts  is  going  to  elope  with 
his  aristocratic  private  secretary — 'fourth  groom 


MAUDE  ADAMS 
'       From  a  crayon  drawing  by  Ernest  Haskell. 
There  is  the  lightness  of  Ariel  in  her  movements,  and  the  grace  of  Puck.* 


of  the  bed  chamber  to  the  second  son  of  Eng- 
land's queen' — offers  to  compromise  if  Jefferson 
will  give  up  Miss  Rossmore  and  marry  Miss 
Green.  Shirley  declares  her  identity,  admits  that 
she  has  stolen  certain  letters  that  might  help  to 
prove  the  judge's  innocence  and  pleads  for  her 
father.  Ryder  summarily  orders  her  to  leave  his 
house  in  the  morning.  Then  he  sits  up  all  night, 
consumes  innumerable  black  cigars  and  conquers 
his  own  vanity.  In  the  morning  Shirley  stoutly 
refuses  to  marry  Jefferson  or  any  other  man  with 
such  a  father.  As  the  boy  exclaims,  with  bitter 
humor,  'She  objects  to  the  family!'  the  father 
eats  an  immense  slice  of  humble  pie,  announces 
that  he  will  prevent  the  judge's  unjust  impeach- 
ment by  the  Senate,  and  the  curtain  falls  in  a 
glow  of  radiant  happiness." 


86 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


Critical  comment  on  this  play  is,  in  the  main, 
favorable.  The  New  York  Times  thinks  it  will 
prove  "one  of  the  most  talked-about  plays  of 
the  season" ;  and  the  New  York  Evening  Post 
says: 

"In  some  respects,  with  all  its  crudity  and  ar- 
rant thcatricalism,  it  is  more  like  the  great  Ameri- 
can play  for  which  we  have  all  been  waiting  so 
long  than  any  piece  that  has  been  seen  on  the 
local  stage  for  many  years.  In  the  first  place, 
it  deals  directly,  though  very  superficialljr,  with 
one  of  the  chief  menaces  to  our  modern  civiliza- 
tion; in  the  second,  it  represents  a  genuine  con- 
flict of  character  and  principles  worked  out  to  a 
sufficiently  logical  conclusion,  and,  finally,  it  is 
full  of  human  interest  and  emotions,  without  the 
least  suggestion  or  taint  of  illicit  passion.  A  play 
that  is  at  once  purposeful,  vigorous,  and  clean  is 
uncommonly  welcome." 

"the  clansman" 
Here  is  another  play  dealing  with  a  "live" 
question.  It  is  a  dramatization  made  by 
Thomas  Dixon,  Jr.,  of  his  own  novels,  "The 
Clansman"  and  "The  Leopard's  Spots."  In 
four  acts,  with  five  scenes,  he  attempts  to 
depict  the  conditions  in  South  Carolina  dur- 
ing the  period  of  reconstruction,  making 
the  Ku-Klux  Klan  the  central  figure,  and 
illustrating  the  consequence  of  the  domina- 
tion of  the  black  man  over  the  white.  "The 
negro  must  be  kept  in  his  place,"  is  the  moral 
of  the  play;  and  Mr.  Dixon  propounds  his 
argument  with  the  same  kind  of  frankness  as 
that  which  distinguished  Harriet  Beecher 
Stowe's  championship  of  the  negro  cause  in 
"Uncle  Tom's  Cabin."  According  to  a 
Charleston  (S.  C.)  correspondent  of  the  New 
York  Evening  Post,  "The  Clansman"  is  not 
a  play  at  all.  "It  is  a  deliberate,  well-matured 
harangue  to  the  white  people  of  the  Southern 
States  by  a  man  who  believes  that  the  coercive 
powers  of  the  regnant  race  are  not  yet  suffi- 
ciently strong;  that  the  white  man  is  not  suffi- 
ciently aware  of  the  menace  of  the  great  sub- 
merged class;  that  the  danger  of  a  reassertion 
of  strength  by  that  submerged  class,  followed 
by  another  terrible  storm  such  as  accompanied 
the  Reconstruction,  is  real — is  imminent." 
The  same  writer  says  further : 

"Rarely  has  been  made  such  an  appeal  to  sec- 
tional feeling  and  race  prejudice  in  the  Southern 
States  as  that  which,  starting  from  Richmond  a 
short  time  since,  is  now  on  its  way  through  the 
larger  cities  of  what  is  called,  in  discussing  the 
race  problem,  *the  black  belt,'  ...  As  a  po- 
tent factor  in  determining  the  future  treatment  of 
the  gravest  problem  with  which  the  country  has 
to  concern  itself,  and  as  a  means  of  sowing  the 
seed  of  revulsion  for  the  black  man,  the  play 
cannot  well  be  ignored.  Already  a  half-dozen 
cities  have  seen  'The  Clansman';   already   The 


Clansman'  is  almost  the  sole  subject  of  conversa- 
tion in  every  Southern  home  where  the  news  of 
its  presentation  has  come." 

The  Southern  press  is  flooded  with  letters 
discussing  this  remarkable  play,  and  several 
newspapers  make  editorial  comment.  Mr*. 
Dixon's  most  prominent  supporter  is  Senator* 
Tillman.  The  Charleston  News  and  Courier 
is  lukewarm  in  defense  of  the  play.  The 
Columbia  State  condemns  it  bitterly.  The 
Augusta  Chronicle  comments: 

"We  do  not  say  we  fear  it,  because  we  believe 
the  intelligence  and  morality  of  the  South  is  al- 
ready having  an  influence  against  this  great  evil, 
but  if  an  epidemic  of  l3mchings  should  follow  in 
tne  wake  of  The  Clansman,'  Thomas  Dixon 
should  be  made  to  answer  for  it  to  his  God,  if 
not  to  his  fellow  countrymen." 

"the  labyrinth" 

Paul  Hervieu's  play,  "Le  Dedale,"  has  been 
translated  into  English  by  W.  L.  Courtney, 
editor  of  The  Fortnightly  Review.  It  scored 
a  pronounced  success  when  given  at  the 
Theatre  Fran^ais,  and  has  been  chosen  by 
Olga  Nethersole  as  the  latest  vehicle  for  her 
talents.  The  first  American  performance  was 
given  at  the  New  National  Theater  in  Wash- 
ington, under  the  patronage  of  the  French  and 
British  embassies.  Like  many  of  the  modern 
French  plays,  it  deals  with  the  divorce  prob- 
lem. Hervieu  endeavors  in  this  play  to  show 
"nature's  argument  against  divorce  when  there 
are  children  of  a  marriage."  The  plot  is  given 
by  the  New  York  Sun  as  follows: 

"The  Labyrinth  of  the  title  refers  to  the  de- 
vious path  trodden  by  a  divorced  woman  who  has 
married  a  second  husband.  It  leads  her,  in  a 
moment  of  weakness,  back  to  the  bed  of  her  first 
husband  while  the  second  is  still  living.  As 
Hervieu  conceives  the  case,  this  is  no  mere  law- 
less wandering  of  the  feminine  heart,  but  the 
natural  and  logical  outcome  of  essential  human 
nature. 

"For  in  this  domestic  grand  right  and  left  the 
role  of  Sir  Pandarus  of  Troy  is  played  all  un- 
consciously by  the  child.  While  on  a  visit  to  his 
father  he  has  fallen  ill,  and  his  mother  comes  to 
nurse  him.  Living  side  by  side  with  her  first 
husband  over  the  sick  bed,  she  realizes  the 
strength  and  the  sanctity  of  the  bond  of  parent- 
hood, and  learns  what  she  has  not  before  sus- 
pected— that  if  she  had  acted  less  harshly  toward 
her  husband  in  his  lapse  from  rectitude  he  was 
ready  to  return  to  her  repentant.    .    .    . 

"The  last  act  is  both  logical  and  melodramatic. 
The  two  men  encounter  and  hurl  themselves  over 
a  cliflF,  while  the  wife  lives  on  with  her  child." 

"The  Labyrinth"  draws  varying  verdicts 
from  th€f  critics.  The  Washington  Star  thinks 
that  it  deals  with  an  "unfortunate"  topic,  and 


MUSIC  AND   THE   DRAMA 


87 


adds:  '^t  descends  to  the  level  of  petty  scan- 
dal. It  goes  far  beyond  'Sapho'  in  prurient 
suggestion  and  falls  far  short  of  it  in  artistic 
appeal."  On  the  other  hand,  the  Chicago 
Evening  Post  speaks  with  enthusiasm  of  Miss 
Xethersole's  "notable  presentation  of  a  notable 
play": 

'^n  The  Labyrinth'  Miss  Nether  sole  emerges 
from  the  mire  of  hectic  Cypriennes  it  has  been 
her  wont  to  portray  heretofore,  and  personates  a 
woman  of  class,  a  woman  possessing  the  moral 
attributes  of  the  best  of  her  sex — a  good  woman 
who  falls  a  sacrifice  to  'nature's  argument.'.  To 
do  this  her  marvelous  emotional  powers  are  re- 
pressed, but  not  weakened,  and  instead  of  the 
looked-for  shrieks  of  the  virago  and  the  passions 
tcm  to  tatters,  we  have  the  tense,  quiet  and  co- 
gent forces  in  the  strong  woman  doing  battle  with 
nature  against  piteous  odds.  Scarcely  once  during 
her  performance  last  evening  was  Miss  Nether- 
sole's  voice  lifted,  and  yet  her  powers  never  made 
her  so  much  the  absolute  mistress  of  her  au- 
dience. A  wonder-work  of  art  is  Miss  Nether- 
sole's  portrayal  of  Marianne  in  *The  Labyrinth.' " 

"salome" 
*'Salome"  recently  ran  for  a  week  at  the 
Berkeley  Lyceum,  New  York,  with  Mercedes 
Leigh  in  the  title  role  and  the  Progressive 
Stage  Society  as  sponsor.  The  performances 
were  inadequate,  but  even  so  were  notable. 
For  "Salome,"  as  the  New  York  World  points 
out,  is  "a  literary  masterpiece"  —  intense 
in  its  dramatic  feeling  and  embroidered 
with  marvelous  imagery.  It  was  written  by 
Oscar  Wilde  in  French  before  the  days  of  his 
disgrace  and  imprisonment.  It  has  been  per- 
formed in  Paris  and  London,  and  is  well 
known    to    German    theater-goers.      Richard 


Strauss's  new  opera,  "Salome,"  just  produced 
in  Dresden,  was  suggested  to  the  composer 
after  witnessing  a  performance  of  the  play  in 
Berlin.  The  story  follows  the  biblical  nar- 
rative only  in  part  Salome  is  represented 
as  the  unhappy  daughter  of  a  wanton  woman, 
Herodias.  Herod  and  his  spouse  are  living 
oppressed  by  a  sense  of  guilt.  Outside  the 
palace  walls  John  the  Baptist,  imprisoned  in 
a  cistern,  lifts  up  his  voice  ever  and  anon  in 
prophetic  warning  and  solemn  denunciations. 
Salome,  fleeing  from  the  corrupt  atmosphere  of 
the  court,  is  held  enthralled  by  the  words  of 
the  prophet.  She  commands  that  he  be 
brought  to  her  that  she  may  look  upon  him, 
and  when  he  appears,  she  who  has  never  loved 
falls  passionately  in  love  with  this  Christly 
figure.  She  follows  him,  comparing  his  body 
to  ivory,  his  hair  to  black  grapes,  his  mouth  to 
a  pomegranate  cleft  in  twain.  He  spurns  her 
with  words  that  bum  as  scorpions  of  fire. 
Gradually  her  rejected  love  turns  into  bitterest 
hatred,  and  when  Herod  asks  her  to  dance  for 
him,  promising  her  the  half  of  his  kingdom, 
she  complies  in  order  that  she  may  have  the 
head  of  John  the  Baptist  on  a  charger  and 
may  "kiss  his  lips."  As  she  accomplishes  her 
purpose,  Herod  orders  his  soldiers  to  crush 
her  to  death  with  their  shields. 

Many  of  the  New  York  critics  severely  con- 
demn the  play.  Mr.  William  Winter,  of  The 
Tribune f  makes  the  comment:  "It  is  notable 
that  all  these  'progressive*  movements  take  the 
direction  of  muck" ;  and  The  Globe  thinks  that 
"Salome"  is  the  expression  of  "morbid  emo- 
tion, unwholesome  and  revolting  ideas." 


CRITICISM  OF  THE  PROPOSED  "NATIONAL  THEATER" 


The  recent  announcement  of  a  project  to 
erect  a  magnificent  "National  Theater,"  facing 
Central  Park  in  New  York,  as  a  temple  of  art 
to  be  conducted  on  the  social  scale  of  grand 
opera,  has  aroused  a  surprising  amount  of 
hostile  criticism.  Richard  Mansfield,  our  lead- 
ing actor,  thinks  that  unless  the  scope  of  the 
enterprise  is  broadened,  it  may  prove  "a  de- 
lusion and  a  snare";  and  the  National  Art 
Theatre  Society,  an  organization  of  some 
three  thousand  members,  which  has  been  work- 
ing for  several  years  to  bring  about  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  great  public  institution  devoted 
to  the  "national  art  of  the  theatre,"  has  issued, 
through  its  president,  Mr.  J.  I.  C.  Clarke,  a 


statement  expressing  distrust  of  this  new 
scheme  and  intimating  that  the  backers  of  it 
represent  the  "financial  force"  but  not  the  "art 
life"  of  the  metropolis.  These  backers  are 
known  to  include  Mr.  Clarence  Mackay,  Mr. 
Henry  Morgenthau,  Mr.  James  Speyer,  Mr. 
James  Stillman  and  Mr.  Daniel  Guggenheim; 
and  Heinrich  Conned,  the  present  director  of 
the  Metropolitan  Opera  House,  is  to  be  in 
charge  of  the  proposed  theater.  Capital  to  the 
amount  of  $3,000,000  has  already  been  sub- 
scribed, and  a  committee  of  women,  "all 
leaders  in  New  York  society,"  is  to  be  en- 
trusted with  the  duty  of  exercising  a  social 
censorship  in  accepting  or  rejecting  applica- 


88 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


tions  for  boxes.  Performances  of  classic  and 
contemporary  drama,  and  of  a  high  class  of 
comic  opera,  will  be  given.  The  following 
additional  details  in  regard  to  the  theater  have 
been  furnished  by  Mr.  Conried  in  a  newspaper 
interview : 

"The  plans  are  not  drawn,  but  they  arc  to  be 
for  a  building  so  small  that  a  whisper  ma;yr  be  heard 
in  it,  and  so  large  that  it  may  contain  a  ^reat 
audience.  There  are  to  be  thirty  boxes  m  a 
horseshoe,  bought  in  perpetuity  by  thirty  persons. 
There  are  to  be  six  hundred  seats  at  25  cents  each 
for  students.  There  arc  to  be  subscriptions  at  $20 
for  an  entire  series  of  plays.  The  first  season  is 
to  be  of  ten  plays  in  thirty  weeks.  It  is  to  be 
called  the  National  Theatre  because  it  is  to  be  a 
national  educator,  like  the  Comedie  Frangaise.  In 
France  and  in  Germany  the  mission  of  the 
theatre,  like  that  of  the  school  and  the  church, 
is  to  educate.  The  theatre  amuses  while  it 
educates.  Here  a  theatre  really  national,  paid 
for  by  the  government,  is  impossible.  In  my 
lectures  about  the  National  Theatre  I  asked 
for  thirty  subscribers.  ...  I  had  no  diffi- 
culty about  money.  But  the  subscribers  were 
to  be  thirty  box  holders,  and  I  wanted  them  to 
like  one  another.  I  didn't  want  Mrs.  H.  to.  say 
to  me,  *Mrs.  Y.  is  not  of  my  set,  and  my  place  is 
not  to  be  near  hers.'  A  committee  is  to  be  ap- 
pointed as  soon  as  the  Metropolitan  Opera  House's 
stockholders  all  return  to  the  city.  This  commit- 
tee is  to  select  the  thirty  persons  that  are  to  pay 
each  one  $100,000,  to  be  boxholders  in  perpetuity." 

Richard  Mansfield's  attitude  is  evidently  in- 
spired by  his  lack  of  sympathy  with  the  al- 
leged oligarchic  and  "exclusive"  basis  of  the 
new  venture.  He  would  have  the  director  of 
such  a  "national"  playhouse  elected  by  the 
people,  and  suggests  the  appointment  of  a  lit- 
erary board  comprising  the  best  minds  of  the 
country  and  including  the  presidents  of  the 
universities.  He  says  (as  reported  by  the  New 
York  Times)  : 

"The  financial  side  of  the  enterprise  should  be 
in  the  hands  of  a  board  of  trustees,  appointed  in 
the  first  place  by  the  founders  and  thereafter  by 
the  Presidents  of  the  universities.  The  director, 
or  acting  chief,  should  be  elected  by  the  people, 
and  after  the  literary  board  has  decided  upon  the 
plays  to  be  produced  each  season,  his  decision  in 
all  matters  appertaining  to  their  production  should 
be  final. 

"The  members  of  the  acting  company  should  be 
elected  by  the  literary  board.  Any  actor  (or  ac- 
tress) remaining  an  active  member  of  the  Na- 
tional Theatre  until  retirement  should  be  entitled 
to  a  pension  from  the  National  Theatre  Fund. 
All  performances  given  by  the  National  Theatre 
should  go  to  the  fund.  The  National  Theatre 
should  be  established  not  only  in  New  York,  but 
in  Chicago.  Half  the  season  should  be  devoted 
to  the  EsLSt  and  half  to  the  West.  A  library 
should  be  established  in  connection  with  the  the- 
atre, and  a  theatrical  college  for  the  study  of  the 
drama,  literary  and  acting. 

"These  are  my  views  concerning  a   National 


Theatre,  and  in  my  opinion  anything  short  of  this 
would  be  a  delusion  and  a  snare  and  would  not 
be  accepted  by  the  American  people  as  a  National 
Theatre." 

The  manifesto  issued  by  the  National  Art 
Theatre  Society  emphasizes  a  number  of 
points  of  difference  between  its  own  ideals  and 
those  of  Mr.  Conried.  The  new  enterprise,  it 
points  out,  is  to  take  legal  form  as  "a  private 
corporation,  operating  for  profit,"  and  while 
"this  feature  is  not  to  be  quarreled  with,  where 
so  many  theaters  are  built  every  year  without 
any  pretense  of  serving  artistic  or  social  pur- 
poses," it  is  "not  the  sign  of  a  National 
Theatre."  The  plan  to  give  comic  opera,  as 
well  as  classic  drama,  is  characterized  as  "un- 
dignified and  inexpedient,"  and  the  fear  is  ex- 
pressed that,  under  Mr.  Conried's  manage- 
ment, foreign  influences  will  dominate,  and 
the  American  playwright  will  only  be  able  to 
look  for  "a  frosty  and  occasional  welcome." 
The  document  closes: 

"The  National  Art  Theatre  Society  welcomes 
this  evidence  that  its  spirit  is  abroad. 

"It  would  not  publish  anything  to  deter  or  im- 
pede an  effort  toward  building  a  playhouse  which 
offers  some  prospect  of  an  approach  to  its  ideals, 
but  it  would  seriously '  and  insistently  ask  all 
those  who  may  be  concerned  in  furnishing  the 
funds  for  it,  to  see  if  it  is  not  possible  frankly  and 
fully  to  broaden  the  scheme  to  really  'national' 
dimensions. 

"If  that  were  done,  and  it  became  the  enterprise 
of  the  people  at  large,  as  well  as  one  of  the  parade 
grounds  of  fashionable  life ;  if  it  were  placed  un- 
der a  government  that  reflected  the  art  life  as 
well  as  the  financial  force  of  our  great  city,  it 
would  enlist  every  American  lover  of  the  dra- 
matic art  in  its  service." 

Press  comment  in  various  parts  of  the 
country  reveals  a  spirit  of  marked  antagonism. 
The  Kansas  City  Journal  objects  to  the  title, 
"National  Theatre,"  on  the  ground  that  the 
proposed  institution  "will  be  the  furthest  thing 
imaginable  from  a  national  theatre,  which 
name  implies  a  place  of  popular  interest  and 
attendance."  The  Chicago  Evening  Post  de- 
clares that  "Chicago  does  not  envy  New  York 
her  $3,000,000  temple  of  snobbishness;"  and 
the  Louisville  Courier- Journal  says:  "It  is  to 
be  concluded  that  the  throne  of  art  shall  be  a 
home  of  snobbishness.  It  is  to  offer  the 
nouveaux  riches  one  more  place  where,  laden 
with  diamonds,  flashy  and  ill-mannered,  they 
may  make  a  coarse  display  and  offend  all  con- 
siderations of  refined  breeding.  Hence,  for 
every  inch  it  promotes  dramatic  art  in  America 
it  will  advance  silliness,  false  pride  and  vul- 
garity an  ell."  The  New  York  Evening  Post 
comments : 


i 


MUSIC  AND  THE  DRAMA 


89 


"The  new  scheme  is,  we  fear,  more  masnifi- 
cent  than  practical.  That  the  three-million-dollar 
house  will  give  distinction  to  its  neighborhood 
and  satisfaction  to  its  patrons,  may  be  regarded 
as  certain ;  that  it  may  offer  some  notable  repre- 
sentations is  by  no  means  improbable;  but  that 
it  will  immediately  and  directly  raise  the  national 
standard  of  drama,  or  hasten  the  looked-for  re- 
vival, only  the  most  sanguine  of  enthusiasts  will 
believe." 

The  dramatic  papers  are  more  friendly.  The 
New  York  Dramatic  Mirror  thinks  that  such 
a  theater  as  is  proposed  would  "easily  and 
quickly  dominate  the  society  notion  that  gave 
it  birth,"  and  "might  well  become  the  pride  of 
the  whole  country."  The  Theatre  Magazine 
(New  Yoik)  says: 


"The  new  National  Theatre  probably  will  not 
be  more  successful  in  finding  good  new  plays 
than  are  the  speculative  managers,  but  at  least 
it  will  do  what  the  speculative  manager  does  not 
do — it  will  give  us  adequate  performances  of  the 
classic  and  standard  plays,  so  that  th^  growing 
generation,  the  men  and  women  of  to-morrow, 
may  have  an  opportimity  of  seeing  well  acted  the 
dramatic  masterpieces  of  all  lands.  In  this  lies 
the  real  value  of  the  proposed  theatre — not  in  the 
fact  that  it  will  be  the  most  expensive  and  prob- 
ably the  most  beautiful  playhouse  in  America,  if 
not  in  the  world,  and  that  society — which  really 
cares  as  much  about  educating  the  drama  as  it 
does  about  educating  the  naked  Hottentot — will 
make  it  the  resort  of  wealth  and  fashion.  And 
so  potent  and  far  reaching  will  be  this  educational 
influence  of  the  splendid  new  playhouse  that  indi- 
rectly it  will  affect  all  our  other  theatres.  It  will 
improve  plays  and  acting  everywhere." 


THE  APOSTLE— BAHR'S  POLITICAL  DRAMA 


"The  Apostle,"  by  Hermann  Bahr,  an  Aus- 
trian playwright  and  dramatic  critic  of  ex- 
traordinary power  and  brilliancy,  deals  with 
a  theme  somewhat  veiled  by  the  title.  The  name 
•* Apostle"  scarcely  suggests  the  atmosphere 
of  modern  party  politics,  yet  this  is  the  milieu 
in  which  the  personages  and  the  events  of  the 
play  are  set,  and  the  conclusion  deduced  from 
it  is  the  impossibility  of  accomplishing  the 
regeneration  of  society  by  the  machinery  of 
the  state.  Bahr's  drama  is  now  being  played 
in  St.  Petersburg,  where  it  has  produced  a 
sensation  owing  to  the  bearing  which  it  is 
interpreted  to  have  upon  the  actual  political 
happenings  in  Russia,  and  in  New  York  its 
production  is  promised  in  the  near  future  by 
Orleneff's  Russian  company,  with  Orleneff  in 
the  leading  role. 

The  point  on  which  the  plot  turns  is 
very  similar  to  that  in  Mrs.  Edith  Whar- 
ton's short  story,  "The  Best  Man,"  which 
was  contributed  to  Collier's  recent  "Short- 
Story  Contest,"  and  which  one  of  the  judges, 
Senator  Lodge,  thought  "by  far  the  best 
story  offered."  In  the  drama  and  in  the 
story  the  hero,  an  upright  statesman,  is  com- 
promised by  the  action  of  his  wife,  who, 
without  his  knowledge,  has  been  trapped  into 
receiving  a  loan  from  one  who  seeks  this 
means  of  placing  the  statesman  in  his  power. 
In  each  case  the  statesman,  though  nearly 
overwhelmed,  triumphs  nobly  over  his  tricky 
enemies.  In  "The  Apostle"  the  statesman  is  an 
Austrian  priilie  minister  who  has  earned  his 
sobriquet  by  his  sterling  character,  his  lofty 


ideals  and  his  disinterested  motives  in  serving 
his  country.  The  government  is  undertaking 
the  building  of  a  canal  for  which  two  com- 
panies are  bidding — the  National  Bank  of 
Austria  and  the  Southwest  Company,  an 
American  corporation.  The  Prime  Minister  is 
in  favor  of  the  National  Bank,  while  the  party 
of  the  right  favors  the  Southwest  Company, 
and  is  greatly  aided  by  the  enormous  sums  of 
money  that  the  American  company  is  expend- 
ing in  bribes  to  obtain  the  contract.  Great  op- 
position to  the  Premier's  course  is  manifested. 
The  members  of  the  ministerial  party  are 
discontented  and  urge  upon  the  Minister  the 
necessity  of  strengthening  their  position  by 
awarding  the  government  offices  to  their 
own  men.  At  a  meeting  in  the  house  of 
the  minister,  which  takes  place  before  the 
parliamentary  session  at  which  this  question  of 
the  canal  franchise  is  to  be  decided,  Gohl,  a 
deputy  of  the  chamber,  comes  out  most  boldly 
for  this  change  of  policy.  He  is  known  to  be 
himself  an  aspirant  for  the  office  of  prefect, 
and  in  order  to  gain  the  assistance  of  the 
premier's  wife,  Irene,  he  has  iilduced  her  to 
borrow  money  from  the  National  Bank  without 
the  knowledge  of  her  husband.  In  the  course 
of  the  meeting,  the  Premier  g^ows  furious  at 
Gohl,  calls  him  a  "scoundrel,"  and  turns  him 
out  of  the  house. 

The  second  act  opens  upon  a  scene  in  par- 
liament in  which  Andri,  the  young  leader  of 
the  right,  in  a  brilliant  speech,  attacks  the 
government  and  calls  the  Minister  an  unprac- 
tical dreamer  and  a  poet,  not  fit  to  administer 


go 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


the  sober  business  of  state.  The  Minister  re- 
plies in  a  calm,  impressive  address,  and  sits 
down  amid  thundering  applause.  The  victory 
of  the  ministerial  party  seems  assured  and 
the  President  is  about  to  put  the  matter  to  a 
vote,  when  Gohl,  smarting  under  the  sense  of 
his  recent  rough  handling  by  the  Premier  and 
the  open  scorn  with  which  he  is  treated  by  all 
the  members  of  his  own  party,  demands  the 
floor  and  precipitates  the  following  tumultuous 
scene : 

Gohl  (to  the  Premier,  who,  after  giving  Gohl  a 
contemptuous  look,  turns  to  the  door  and  is  about 
to  withdraw)  :  I  want  you  to  remain  here,  Pre- 
mier; I  am  goin^  to  bring  charges  against  you. 

Premier  (motioning  to  his  secretary  to  stay)  : 
I  hear. 

Gohl:  I  accuse  you  of  having  betrayed  the 
country  and  sold  it  for  money. 

Andri  (leader  of  the  right;  breaking  out  indig- 
nantly against  Gohl)  :   For  shame! 

Taun,  Luz  and  Leppa  (prominent  members  of 
the  left;  jumping  up  and  addressing  Gohl)  :  For 
shame !     Scoundrel !     Liar ! 

(The  Premier  stands  motionless  as  if  transfixed.) 

Gohl  (in  a  shrill,  loud  voice  reaching  out  above 
the  noise  of  the  house)  :  Sold  it  for  the  money  of 
the  National  Bank,  which  bribed  and  paid  him  in 
hard  cash! 

(Andri  turns  away  in  contempt  from  Gohl  and 
walks  up  ostentatiously  to  the  Minister.  There 
is  a  great  uproar  in  the  house.  The  president  has 
risen  from  his  seat  and  rings  the  bell  violently.) 

Gohl  (shouting  with  all  the  vigor  of  his  lungs)  : 
I  am  going  to  prove  it! 

President  (sfiouting)  :  Deputy  Gohl,  I  will  not 
suffer  you  to 

Gohl  (not  heeding  the  President's  interrup- 
tion) :  I  am  going  to  prove  it ! 

President  (ringing  violently  and  shouting), 
You  cannot  speak  if  I 

Gohl  (in  a  still  shriller  voice)  :  I  am  going  to 
prove  it! 

All  the  Deputies  on  the  Left:  For  shame! 
Scoundrel  V   Down  with  him !    Put  him  out ! 

Minister  (coming  up  at  one  bound  to  the  ste- 
nographers' table,  and  stretching  himself  to  his 
full  height  like  a  lion,  with  a  powerful  gesture  of 
his  uplifted  hand):  Let  him  prove  it!  (Then 
turning  to  Gohl  amid  the  sudden  stillness  that 
ensues)  :  Prove  it ! 

Gohl:  I  am  going  to  prove  that  the  Minister 
is  not  only  a  petty  adventurer  as  Andri  has  called 
him  with  that  delicate  and  careful  circumlocution 
which,  under  the  mask  of  justice,  he  parades  for 
every  species  of  corruption,  for 

All  the  Deputies  on  the  Right  (some  jumping 
on  the  benches,  others  running  to  the  middle  of 
the  hall  and  waving  their  fists  at  Gohl)  :  Scoun- 
drel!   Scamp!    Call  him  to  order! 

Andri :   He  is  mad,  stark  mad ! 

Minister  (shoving  back  the  deputies  of  the 
right)  :  Let  him  furnish  the  proofs !  (Address- 
ing Gohl  in  a  loud,  threatening  voice)  :  Your 
proofs ! 

Gohl:  Not  only,  as  Deputy  Andri  said,  a  little 
adventurer,  but  a — a  common  thief! 


(A  terrific  uproar.  The  whole  audience  in  the 
gallery  and  in  the  boxes  jump  up  from  their  seats 
and  bend  over  the  railing.) 

The  Ministers  (addressing  the  President) : 
Close  up,  close  up!     Close  the  session! 

(The  President  rings  the  bell  continuously  with 
an  air  of  helplessness.) 

All  Deputies  of  Highland  Left  (tumultuously)  : 
Proofs!  proofs! 

Prime  Minister  (steps  up  close  to  Gohl)  : 
Proofs ! 

Gohl  (clamors  at  the  top  of  his  voice)  :  I  have 
them,  yes,  I  have  the  proofs!  (Pulls  a  package 
of  papers  from  his  pocket  and  waves  it  trium- 
phantly in  the  air)  :  Here,  here,  here  they  are. 
the  proofs! 

(A  sudden  stillness  falls  upon  the  entire  house. 
All  the  groups  seem  to  be  dazed.  Not  a  sound, 
not  a  movement  is  heard.  All  look  with  breath- 
less suspense  at  the  Minister.) 

Gohl  (in  a  light,  calm,  conversational  tone  as 
he  displays  one  paper  after  the  other)  :  Acknowl- 
edgements to  the  director  of  the  National  Bank  of 
receipts  of  loans  (with  light  irony),  of  course. 
loans,  Sept.  loth,  Nov.  4th,  and  so  on,  and 
so  forth.  (Handing  a  paper  to  the  Minister)  : 
Tell  me,  please,  is  this  your  wife's  writing?  Or 
are  you  going  to  deny  it? 

Prime  Minister  (remains  rooted  to  the  spot  as 
if  struck  by  lightning;  then  slowly  puts  out  his 
hand  for  the  paper,  looks  at  it,  and  suddenly  be- 
gins to  simper  as  if  in  a,  fit  of  convulsions;  he 
opens  his  mouth  twice,  but  is  incapable  of  articu- 
lating a  sound;  finally  he  says  in  a  rattling,  gur- 
gling voice)  :  It  is  my  wife's  writing.  (Then 
breaks  down  and  tumbles  on  a  chair  with  his  head 
thrown  back.  At  this  moment  the  fearful  tension 
is  relieved  and  gives  place  to  a  wild  uproar  and 
confusion.) 

People  in  the  gallery  and  in  the  boxes  (furi- 
ously gesticulating):  For  shame!  for  shame!  De- 
pose him !  Down  with  the  Minister !  Down  with 
him! 

One  of  the  audience  (clamoring)  :  The  Minis- 
ter is  a  thief !  a  thief !    The  Minister  is  a  thief ! 

Several:  The  Minister  is  a  thief!  Down  with 
the  Minister!    The  Minister  is  a  thief! 

A  street-arab  (pushes  up  to  the  front  bench  of 
the  gallery,  and  jumping  upon  it  shouts  in  a 
thundering  voice,  pointing  his  finger  at  the  Minis- 
ter) :  Beware  of  pickpockets !  Pickpocket !  Pick- 
pocket ! 

The  entire  gallery  on  the  right,  soon  also  fol- 
lowed by  the  left  (chanting  in  a  rhythmic  fashion)  : 
Pickpocket!     Pickpocket!     Pickpocket! 

Firmian  (the  most  intimate  friend  of  the  Min- 
ister, goes  up  to  him,  touches  him  on  the  shoulder 
and  whispers)  :    Carl!     Carl! 

Ministers  (gesticulating  violently  and  talking 
all  together  so  that  only  disconnected  words  and 
phrases  are  heard)  :  Evidence !  Dismissal !  But 
the  evidence  ?  I  wash  my  hands  clean  of  the  entire 
matter!  Impossible!  Dismiss!  Break  up!  At 
once !    Resignation !    Resignation ! 

Deputies  of  the  Rght  (violently  gesticulating)  : 
An  unconditional  resignation!  What!  agamst 
such  evidence?  Resignation!  Now  or  never! 
The  people  are  with  us!  In  the  face  of  such 
evidence!     Immediate  resignation! 


MUSIC  AND  THE  DRAMA 


91 


Prime  Minister  (with  glassy  eyes,  his  head 
thrown  forward  in  the  arms  of  Firmian)  :  The 
wretch !  The  wretch !  Think  of  it,  Firmian !  My 
aire!  My  wife!  What  have  I  done?  (Weeps 
iike  a  child.  He  starts  as  if  in  a  sudden  fit  of 
iKscnity,  thrusts  back  Firmian  and  his  secretary, 
ind  staggering  down  the  steps  shouts  in  an  un- 
n&^urai  voice):  I  am  a  thief!  Away!  Don't 
ojzat  near  me !  I  am  a  thief !  (Gajsing  up  at  the 
^ullery  and  his  whole  body  shaking  convulsively)  : 
I  un  a  thief! 

Andri  (rushing  upon  Gohl)  :  Judas !    Judas ! 

The  disorder  in  the  chamber  increases  until 
it  becomes  a  veritable  pandemonium.  Sorae- 
or^e  rushes  from  the  gallery  and  attacks  the 
Premier.  Cries  of  "Police !"  and  "Help !"  are 
raised,  and  finally  the*  chamber  is  cleared  amid 
the  wildest  excitement,  the  fighting  continuing 
in  the  street.  The  third  act  discovers  the 
Premier  in  a  dark  room  in  his  own  house  after 
be  has  succeeded  in  making  his  escape  from 
the  infuriated  mob. 


premieres  Secretary  (putting  down  his  hat  and 
'ifnbreUa  upon  the  table)  :  We  are  saved !    Oh ! 

Premier  (without  hat,  his  coat  crumpled  and 
r*'smudged,  his  collar  loose,  his  hair  disheveled)  : 
Tae  beasts !  the  beasts !  (Feeling  his  face  with  a 
jevnish  hand,  and  bursting  forth  in  a  fit  of  in- 
dignation) :  Spat  upon !  trampled  upon ! — whipped ! 
^ trying) — whipped  like  a  cur!  (Jumps  up  stag- 
:trs,  and  utters  inarticulate  cries)  Oh-oh-oh! 
iHis  body    trembles  with  rage,  he  falls  back). 

Secretary  (picks  him  up  and  puts  him  on  a 
chair)  :    Premier !    Premier  I 

Premier:  The  beasts!  The  beasts!  Oh-oh- 
cb!     (Shaking  his  fists  at  the  window)    Beasts! 

Wolves!     Devils!    Infernal  Devils!     I — I — I 

(His  voice  breaks;  he  seises  his  throat  with  his 
hands,  tears  open  his  shirt,  and  tumbles  down 
krir:ily  with  the  chair.  With  a  rattle  in  his  voice) 
iirr— hrr 

Secretary  (trying  to  help  him  up)  :   Premier! 

Premier  (pushes  him  away  with  his  feet;  shriek- 
ing) :  Leave  me  alone!  Go!  I  want  nobody,  no- 
x-dy ! — Alone  I  I  want  nobody,  nobody  any  more ! 
—The  beasts !    The  beasts ! 

\  Secretary  walks  up  to  the  door,  presses  the 
ilcctric  button,  and  the  room  is  lighted  up.) 

Premier  (starts  back,  blinded  by  the  light.  Me- 
chcnically^  :  My  *>eople !  My  people !  My  peo- 
:At\  Everybody  is  gone  from  me,  everybody!  I 
an  left  all  alone. 

Secretary  (pained):    Premier! 

Premier  (indifferently,  almost  contemptuously)  : 
Oh.  you!  That's  because  you  get  paid  for  it! 
Beasts!  Everybody!  Everybody  has  left  me,  even 
Firmian  (shaking  his  head,  while  large  tears  roll 
d'yxn  his  face).  Firmian!  No  more  Firmian  I 
\V}iy  should  he?  I  am  only  a  thief.  (Jumping 
K#  with  a  desperate  shriek)  I  am  only  a  thief, 
only  a  thief !     I  am  a  thief,  a  thief,  a  thief ! 

(A  shrill  zvhistle  is  heard  from  the  street  close 
under  the  balcony.  This  is  answered  by  whistles 
from  ail  sides.  Then  steps  are  heard  approaching 
nearer  and  nearer;  a  confusion  of  voices,  laugh- 
ter.) 


A  groaning  voice  in  the  street:  There  is  light 
in  the  house  of  the  thief. 

Secretary  (trembling) :  They  have  seen  the 
light.  (He  quickly  puts  out  the  light,  and  the 
room  is  again  in  darkness.) 

Many  voices  in  the  street:  Pickpocket!  pick- 
pocket! pickpocket!  Down  with  him!  Down 
with  the  thief!  Down  with  him!  (Laughter 
and  yells.) 

(A  large  stone  crashes  through  the  glass  door 
of  the  balcony  and  falls  on  the  table  upon  which 
the  Premier  has  tumbled  in  his  fright,  narrowly 
missing  him;  he  crawls  under  the  table  in  mad 
panic. 

Repeated  cries  of  "Pickpocket!"  The  Secretary 
rolls  down  the  shutters  and  the  noise  in  the  street 
grows  faint.  At  this  point  Firmian  rushes  wildly 
into  the  room.) 

Premier  (from  under  the  table)  :  Don't  let 
anybody- come  in!    Help!  help! 

Firmian  (walking  up  to  the  Premier)  :  Carl ! 
Carl! 

Premier  (crawling  out  from  under  the  table  to- 
ward the  door  on  the  left;  shrieks  with  terror)  : 
Mercy!  mercy!    I  am  innocent! 

Firmian :  Carl,  it  is  I,  Firmian.    Calm  yourself ! 

Premier  (gropes  with  his  hands  after  him,  com- 
poses himself  and  tries  to  rise;  still  hesitating  as 
if  surprised)  :  You  ?    Firmian  ? 

Firmian:  The  gate  is  guarded  by  military; 
you  are  safe.  (Lifts  the  Premier  and  puts  him 
on  a  chair.) 

Premier:  Firmian,  you  will  remain  with  me, 
will  you  not?  Thank  you,  thank  you!  (Puts  his 
head  on  Firmian* s  breast.) 

Firmian:  Calm  yourself,  for  Heaven's  sake! 

Premier  (sinks  on  the  chair)  :  My  good  Fir- 
mian !  ( The  street  is  quiet  again,  not  a  sound  is 
heard.) 

Firmian:  I  do  not  know  how  I  came  to  lose 
you  so  suddenly.  My  hat  was  knocked  from 
my  head;  I  bent  down  to  pick  it  up  and  fell 
forward.  A  young  man  helped  me  up,  but  when 
I  got  on  my  feet  again  you  were  already  gone.  I 
was  carried  along  with  the  crowd,  but  mially  suc- 
ceeded in  slipping  out  into  a  side  street.  I  ran 
and  ran  until  I  found  a  cab  at  the  bridge.  But  it 
was  imposible  to  pass  on  account  of  the  throngs 
of  people.  Then  I  happened  to  come  across  a 
military  guard.  The  lieutenant  knew  me  and 
escorted  me  to  your  house.    But  now  all  is  over. 

Premier  (laughing  with  a  melancholy  air)  :  Do 
you  think  so?  Yes,  all  is  over. — Fame,  power 
(lowering  his  voice),  honor.  All  is  over.  I  have 
nothing,  nothing  left.  My  whole  life,  everything 
is  gone.  My  whole  life's  work  is  shattered,  gone 
in  an  hour.  Not  a  trace  remains.  I. am  a  thief, 
a  thief. 

Firmian:    But  whoever  believes  that  you ? 

Why,  no  one  imagines  it  even.  You  are  out  of 
your  mind!  (IValks  up  and  down  the>  room.) 
The  few  criers  and  comedians !  It  will  blow  pver, 
and  they  will  be  ashamed  of  it  themselves.  There 
is  no  one  who  believes  this  about  you.  It  is  stu- 
pid to  think  it.  We  are  not  yet  so  far  gone. 
Every  honest  man  knows  what  to  think  of  you, 
and  you  can  well  afford  to  be  indifferent  about 
the  opinion  of  the  others.  No  decent  man  can 
imagine  anything  of  the  sort  about  you.  They 
know  you.    Your  whole  life  lies  open  to  them. 


9a 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


Premier:  But  it  is  true,  it  is  true. 

Fimiian:    What  is  true? 

Premier  \    I  saw  the  notes. 

Firmian :    Well  ? 

Premier:   It  is  her  writing.    It  is  true. 

Firmian:  But  no  decent  man  who  knows  you 
will  think  on  that  account  that  you 

Premier:  Can  you  comprehend  it?  You  know 
her  well.  Can  you  {struggling  with  his  tears), 
can  you  comprehend  that  she ? 

Firmian:    Good  Lord,  women! 

Premier:  She,  shel  I  could  have  sooner  be- 
lieved anything,  anything  else  in  the  world  than 
that  she 

Firmian :  That  will  all  be  explained,  I  am  sure. 
Wait  until  we  hear  what  the  director  of  the  bank 
has  to  say.    I  am  positive  she  had  no  idea 

Premier:    No  idea? 

Firmian:   1  have  no  doubt  of  it;  I  am  positive. 

Premier:   No  idea  that  one  must  not  steal? 

Firmian:  Women  have  their  own  opinions. 
Did  you  ever  explain  to  her  that  our  peculiar  po- 
sition sometimes  does  not  permit  us  to  do  certain 
things  which  in  themselves  are  not  at  all  inad- 
missible ? 

Premier  (staggered)  :  1  do  not  know  what  you 
mean. 

Firmian :  This  is  not  the  time  to  enter  into  ex- 
planations. What  you  want  now  above  all  else 
IS  rest.  You  must  gather  up  all  your  strength,  all 
your  energy  for  to-morrow,  in  order  to 

Premier:   What  am  I  to  do  to-morrow? 

Firmian :  You  must  show  them  to-morrow  who 
you  are. 

Premier:  I? 

Firmian :  You  owe  this  to  yourself  and  to  your 
country.  Nothing  has  happened  so  far.  We  will 
get  through  with  Gohl  in  very  short  order.  And 
the  people  {with  ironic  emfhasis),  the  people  who 
spat  upon  you  to-day  will  hail  you  to-morrow. 
Mobilia  turba  QuiritiumI  You  must  only  not 
give  yourself  up.  You  must  show  how  it  has 
come  about,  you  must  prove  that  you  are  inno- 
cent There  is  no  calumny  that  cannot  be  put 
down  if  you  only  go  at  it  with  might  and  main. 
But  for  this  you  must  above  all  be  fresh  and 
healthy,  and  with  strong  nerves.  Don't  agitate 
yourself  any  further.  The  best  thing  for  you 
now  is  to  go  to  bed. 

Premier :  To  her  ?  Yes,  I  must  go  through  that 
yet,  I  must  go  through  that.  {To  the  Secretary) 
Call  my  wife  in.  {As  if  frightened,  bursting  into 
a  laugh)  My  wife! 

Firmian:  Not  to-day,  not  now,  you  are  too 
much  worn  out. 

Premier:  1  must  go  through  that.  {To  the 
Secretary)  Call  her  in. 

Firmian:    Then  I  will  leave  you. 

Premier:  Stay  here,  I  entreat  you.  I  promise 
you  I  will  be  very  calm,  I  will  be  quite  composed. 
I  only  want  to  know  {tuith  a  sudden  outburst) 
because   I    still   cannot   conceive   that    she,    that 

she {Crying  out  aloud)   Firmian,  can  you 

conceive  that  she  whom  I,  she  who 

Firmian:   Did  you  not  promise  me ? 

Premier:  Yes,  yes,  I  shall  be  calm,  very  calm, 
but  you  must  remain  here  with  me. 

Irene,  his  wife,  enters,  looking  very  pale. 
Gohl  had  told  her  previously  that  he  was  going 


to  bring  a  public  accusation  against  her  hus- 
band, and  the  situation  is  therefore  clear  to 
hen 

Firmian  {with  an  air  of  compassion) :  Ladx» 
lady! 

Premier:  Silence!  I  am  going  to  speak,  (/w 
a  whisper,  without  looking  at  her)  I  am  not  ex- 
cited, 1  am  quite  composed,  quite  composed.  Now 
then.    I  want  to  know. 

Irene  {softly)  :    Carl ! 

Premier:   Yes? 

Irene:   Now  do  listen  to  me! 

Premier  {thunderingly)  :    Yes? 

Irene:    1  did  not  loiow  that 

Premier:    Yes  or  no?    Yes?    Yes? 

Irene  {bursting  into  tears)  :  Forgive  me!  For- 
give me! 

Premier :  Oh  1  oh !  oh !  Thief  I  thief !  {Rushes 
at  Irene,) 

{Firmian  interposes  between  him  and  Irene.) 

Premier  {to Firmian)  :  Get  away!  Get  away,  or 
I {Springs  at  his  throat,) 

Firmian  {pushing  him  away)  :    Carl ! 

{Premier  staggers  back  as  if  in  terror  of  him^ 
self,  and  drops  on  a  chair,  covering  his  face  with 
his  hands  in  shame, 

Firmian  {takes  Irene  by  the  hands  and  leads 
her  to  a  corner  on  the  left)  :  I  can  very  well 
imagine  how  it  came  about.  You  were  in  an 
embarrassed  position,  and 

Irene  {softly)  :  We  needed  more  than 

Firmian :  Why  did  you  not  tell  me  about  it  ? 

{Premier  raises  his  head  and  listens  to  the  con- 
versation.) 

Irene:  I  was  afraid  of  Carl. 

Firmian:  Gohl  is  just  the  man  you  should  not 
have 

Irene:  He  proposed  it  himself;  he  must  have 
learned  that  I  was  in  financial  difficulties. 

Firmian  {in  a  mild  tone)  :  And  you  never 
thought,  Irene,  that 

Irene :  What  do  I  know  about  such  matters  ? 

Firmian:  But  you  could  have  understood  that 
for  Carl  to  be  implicated  in  that  way  with  the 
National  Bank 

Irene:  I  did  not  even  know  that  the  money 
came  from  the  National  Bank. 

Firmian:  What  then?  Where  did  you  think 
the  money  came  from? 

Irene  {shrugging  her  shoulders)  :  I  took  the 
money  and  asked  no  questions. 

Firmian:  And  did  not  think  of  the  conse- 
quences at  all? 

Irene:  The  money  was  not  given  to  me,  I  just 
borrowed  it,  and  meant  to  save  up  and  pay.  How 
could  I  have  known  that? 

Firmian :  If  you  had  only  said  a  word  to  me. 

Irene :  I  did  not  have  the  courage. 

Firmia    :    But  you  confided  in  Gohl. 

Irene:  Because  he  took  pains  with  me.  He 
noticed  that  I  was  troubled.  He  asked  me,  you 
did  not.  (Smiling  painfully.)  I  do  not  mean 
this  as  a  reproach.  How  could  you  have  thought 
of  it?  Only  I  want  to  explain  how  it  happened. 
I  had  nobody  to  turn  to.  Gohl  was  the  only  per- 
son. 

Premier  {with  a  mild  tone)  :   And  I? 

Irene  {raising  her  head  to  the  Premier,  xnsibly 
affected):    You? 


MUSIC  AND  THE  DRAMA 


93 


Premier:   I,  Irene.    Was  I  not  here? 

Irene  {slightly  embarrassed) :  But  you — ^you 
were  occupied  with  more  important  matters. 

premier:    More  important  matters? 

Ireiu  (very  simply)  :  I  could  not  come  to  you 
asd  bother  you  with  my  troubles  too. 

Premier:  I  was  occupied  with  more  important 
natters ! 

Irene  (to  Firmian)  :  Don't  you  understand  it? 
I  wanted  him  to  have  peace  at  least  when  he  was 
ViEc-  I  tried  to  do  the  best.  It  gave  him  such 
f*leasure  to  sec  me  contented.  I  had  often  made 
op  my  mind  to  speak  to  him  when  I  saw  no  other 
H^ay  out,  but  then  when  he  would  come  home 
tired  and  exhausted  and  so  glad  to  have  a  half- 
briT  to  play  with  the  children,  I  could  not  do  it. 
Yoa  may  say  what  you  please,  but  I  could  not 
-nakc  up  my  mind  to  do  it.  You  say  that  1  have 
icted  wrongly.  It  ftiay  be,  I  do  not  know.  I  only 
knfiw  that  I  could  not  do  otherwise.  You  have 
n-^er  seen  him  tired  and  worn  the  whole  day 
hng  with  all  these  duties  and  cares  that  I  do 
rot  understand,  and  then  I  was  to  come  to  him 
-ith  my  cares  in  addition,  and  torment  him 
.jn.in?  No,  no;  I  could  not  act  otherwise!  Do 
*  ih  me  what  you  please,  I  could  not,  I  could  not 
ar:  otherwise!    (Tears  stifle  her  voice.) 

Premier  (after  a  lonf  pause)  :  Firmian,  after 
ii\  the  whole  thing  was  a  lie. 

firmian  (tvith  surprise^:    What? 

Premier:  Our  whole  work. — ^Well,  it  is  just  a 
fh'^jght  that  came  to  me.  (Remains  standing  at 
*nc  windoTv  absorbed  in  thought,  then  turns  to 
Irene)  :  What  you  must  have  suffered,  my  poor 
child!  Irene  (Bursts  into  sobs.)  Did  he  torment 
yf3c  very  much? 

Irene  (weeping)  :    Only  of  late. 

Premier  (putting  his  Itand  on  Irene's  head)  : 
F^Tfive   me! 

ilrene  grasps  his  hand  and  tvants  to  kiss  it.) 

Premier:  No,  no,  you  must  go  now. — To-mor- 
row!   (Exit  Irene.) 

Premier  (closing  the  door  after  her) :  To- 
morrow! It  is  my  fault.  Now  I  understand  all. 
Now  only  do  I  understand  it. 

Secretary :  Deputy  Andri  is  here.  He  wants 
to  see  you  very  urgently. 

Premier  {recovering  his  self-composure)  :  Let 
him  come  in.  But  nrst  open  the  windows  and 
let  in  some  air. 

Andri  (enters) :  I  have  come  to  apologize  to 
yoa. 

Premier  (surprised) :  To  apologize  to  me? 
You? 

.4ndri  C^uickly)  :  I  regret,  I  am  so  ashamed 
that  I  have  worked  against  you! 

Premier   (calmh)  :    Why,  you  never 

.'indri:  I  have  always  tried  to  rtm  you  down 
and  to  incite  people  against  you.  I  have  trav- 
eled through  the  country  to  set  the  people  against 
yoa.  I  have  fought  against  you  with  all  the  pas- 
sion of  my  feverish  soul  because  I — (pausing  an 
instant)  because  I  hated  you,  hated  you. 

Premier  (with  a  warding-off  gesture)  :   Andri ! 

Andri:  Hated  you  out  of  envy,  out  of  sheer 
envy,  as  an  insignificant  and  weak  man  hates  the 
powerful  and  the  good  man.  I  hated  you  for  many 
years.  Now  I  have  repented  it,  I  have  been  pun- 
isbed  with  this  terrible  day,  this  terrible  day.  I 
shall  never  betray  you  again.  I  promise  you 
that    I  shall  crawl  away  somewhere  in  a  corner 


and    disappear.     (Premier    puts    his    hdnds    on 
Andri^s  shoulder.) 

Andri  (unthdrawing,  with  drooping  head)  :  No, 
leave  me.  I  am  ashamed  of  myself,  I  am  ashamed 
of  myself! 

Firmian :  Yes,  dear  Andri,  life  is  different  from 
what  one  imagines  it  to  be. 

Andri:   Terrible!  terrible! 

Firmian:  You  have  slandered  and  lied  — 
(Andri  makes  a  negative  gesture) — or  you  have 
allowed  others  to  slander  and  to  lie;  all  in  £[ood 
faith,  of  course,  so  as  to  propagate  your  opinions 
and  to  put  us  out,  for  the  sake  of  the  party.  That 
excuses  everything!  Acheronta  movebo!  You 
did  move  it!  Now  take  care  that  it  does  not 
swallow  you  also. 

Andri:  It  is  not  for  this  reason. 

Premier:  Let  that  alone  now.  That  is  not  the 
question  any  more.  (Extending  his  hand  to  An- 
dri) Thank  you. 

Andri  (grasping  his  hand)  :  1  apologize  for 
everything,  everything. 

Premier  (pressing  his  hand  again)  :  We  have 
all  erred. 

Andri:  Oh,  I  have  paid  for  it,  I  have  atoned 
for  it. 

Firmian:  Why,  what  happened?  What  is  it 
that  makes  you  so  queer? 

Andri:  I  wanted  to  come  here  directly  after 
the  break-up  of  the  session,  but  it  was  impossible 
to  make  my  way  through  the  crowd.  I  tried  here, 
there,  because  I  felt  I  had  to  see  you,  because  I 
could  not  get  any  peace  of  mind  until  I  told  you 
that  I  did  not  believe  all  this  about  you,  that  I 
knew  that  the  scoundrel  lied,  and  that  I  trusted 
and  honored  you.  But  it  was  impossd)Ie  to  get 
through  the  crowd.  Then  I  met  a  group  of  peo- 
ple who  knew  me.  They  shouted,  clamored  and 
acclaimed  me.  I  was  seized  and  carried  along 
with  them.  Oh,  how  ashamed  I  was  of  myself, 
how  I  despised  myself!  In  order  to  get  away 
from  them  I  said  that  I  wanted  to  go  home.  They' 
carried  me  to  my  house  and  up  the  steps.  It 
seemed  as  if  they  could  not  tear  themselves  away 
from  me  from  sheer  admiration  and  enthusiasm. 
For,  don't  you  see?  I  am  the  hero,  the  hero  of 
the  mob!  (With  a  gesture  of  disgust)  I  still  feel 
their  touch  and  wish  I  could  purge  myself  of  the 
defilement.  When  we  got  on  the  balcony  they 
surrounded  me,  knelt  before  me  and  kissed  my 
hands. — Oh,  those  faces,  distorted  with  anger, 
malice  and  hate  !  .  The  infamy  of  it,  the 
beasts  !  .  .  .  Oh,  that  hour,  that  hour  ! 
I  have  made  good,  I  have  atoned  for  all  the 
wrong  I  have  done  you.  I  will  crawl  away  in 
some  comer  and  disappear. — But  one  thing  I  still 
had  to  do — to  apologize  to  you.  My  motives 
were  good,  I  did  not  know  the  people.  I  regarded 
as  conviction  what  was  nothing  but  hatred  and 
envy.  I  know  it  now.  I  recognized  myself  in 
Gohl.  We  wished  to  revenge  ourselves  on  you 
because  you  are  greater.  That  was  it.  We  are 
like  the  crowd,  like  the  mob  that  acclaimed  us; 
they  know  why  they  acclaim  us.  This  is  the  rec- 
ognition I  came  to  in  that  terrible  hour,  and  I 
was  anxious  to  let  you  know  it,  that  is  all.  Af- 
ter that  I  am  ready  to  go.  I  will  disappear  and 
try  to  become  a  decent  man  in  some  quiet  place 
and  earn  my  bread  by  honest  toil. 

Premier  (in  calm  but  powerful  voice)  :  You 
err. 


94 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


(Andri  raises  his  eyes  to  the  Apostle,  while 
his  face  seems  to  radiate  with  a  sort  of  religious 
ecstasy.) 

Premier:  You  err.  You  have  no  apologies  to 
make  to  me ;  I  have  no  apologies  to  make  to  you. 
We  have  both  been  wrong,  we  have  both  learned. 
Now  we  can  both  walk  together  and  seek  the 
right.  We  shall  never  part  again.  {Pointing  at 
the  door)  There  is  a  woman  who  has  lived  here 
many,  many  years,  a  woman  who  loves  me,  whom 
I  love,  a  good  woman,  the  best  of  mothers,  faith- 
ful, pure — in  short,  good.  Many  years  has  she 
been  with  me,  and  was  loved  by  me.  This  woman 
became  a  thief.  Right  here  at  my  side,  whose 
whole  life  was  honesty.  She  stole  without  knowing 
it,  not  even  from  frivolity,  but  simply  because  she 
did  not  understand  it.  It  is  my  fault,  mine  alone. 
For  this  woman  who  has  lived  for  so  many  years 
at  my  side  and  loved  me,  the  mother  of  my  chil- 
dren, had  no  one  to  confide  in.  I  was  not  pres- 
ent to  advise  her,  to  help  her.  I  thought  I  had 
more  important  work  to  do.  I  was  outside.  I 
had  to  convert  the  people,  I  had  to  speak,  to 
speak  always  and  everywhere.  In  your  speech 
against  me  to-day  you  reproached  me  with  my 
big  words  and  small  accomplishments.  You  were 
quite  right.  Words  are  nothing.  Men  have  lis- 
tened to  us  in  the  name  of  liberty  and  justice, 
have  applauded  and  hurrahed  us  and  grown  en- 
thusiastic, and  then  they  went  forth  and  remained 
slaves  and  unjust.  Like  my  wife,  who  always  lis- 
tened to  talk  about  virtue,  they  believed  in  it  and 
then  stole!  Behold!  the  word  has  no  power,  the 
word  cannot  help.  Everyone  takes  it,  repeats  it, 
and  remains  what  and  where  he  was.  The  inner 
man  cannot  be  reached  by  words.  We  who  bring 
the  words,  we  have  felt  them  here-  (pointing  to 
his  breast),  and  therefore  we  believe  them.  Our 
feelings  must  accompany  our  words.  But  the 
people  hear  only  a  sound  which  deceives  them, 
but  has  no  genuine  feeling.  We  imagine  that 
because  they  repeat  our  words  they  also  feel  with 
us.  No,  they  repeat  your  ^ords,  they  repeat  my 
words,  but  they  do  not  feel  them  and  that  is  why 
they  do  not  act  up  to  them.  Now  we  must  see 
that  the  word  be  expressed  in  life.  All  else  is 
sham  and  emptiness.  You  have  experienced  it. 
You  meant  to  speak  the  truth,  but  they  heard 
in  your  words  only  their  greed  and  their  wrath. 
I  have  experienced  it  also.  Give  me  your  hand. 
Now  we  will  seek  the  right  path  together. 

Andri:    No,  I  do  not  deserve  it. 

Premier:   We  have  both  erred. 

Andri:   In  your  presence  I  feel  myself  old. 

Premier:  No  one  is  old  who  has  a  task  to  per- 
form. 

Andri:   And  I  have  lost  my  faith  in  man. 

Premier:  Believe  only  in  yourself  and  you 
shall  be  strong. 

Andri:   I  am  ashamed  of  myself. 

Premier:  You  have  suffered;  the  gods  love 
you.     That  is  their  sign. 

Andri:  It  is  too  hard,  too  profound. 

Premier:  Suffering  is  grace,  it  purges  and  im- 
proves. 

Andri  (wearily):    To  begin  again? 

Premier :  Yes,  again !  Always,  always  again ! 
In  order  again  to  fail,  again  to  suffer,  again  to 
err,  again  to  learn,  endlessly — until  we  reach  the 
goal,  not  you  and  I,  but  the  people  in  the  distance 


(gasing  into  the  distance).    Bright,  radiant  men 
who  smile  and  soar.    I  believe  in  men. 

Andri  (touched,  kissing  his  hand)  :   You — you 
are  great. 

Premier  (smiles  and  puts  his  hands  on  Andri' s 
head;  then,  while  his  whole  being  seems  to  pass* 
into  a  sort  of  spiritual  ecstasy,  and   he   groivs 
taller  and  taller)  :   Only  good.    We  need  be  only 
good.    That  is  far  greater  than  to  be  great.     Be- 
hold, have  we  not  been  foolish?    What  have  we 
done?    Once  in  a  blessed  moment  we  perceived  a 
purer  condition.    And  how  did  we  show  our  grat- 
itude?    We  pressed  it  into  the  mold  of  a   poor 
word — Liberty,  Justice!    And  we  grow  impatient 
if  the  people  fail  to  understand  it  immediately.     It 
is   so   foolish.     To   us,   indeed,    is  sufficient    the 
memory  of  that  blessed  moment!    But  the  people, 
how  should  they  know  of  it  ?    What  can  the  poor 
word  do  for  them?     It  flickers,  and  the  people 
see  it  glimmer  and  run  to  catch  it:  Liberty,  Jus- 
tice !     But  in  their  hands  it  turns  gray.     It  has 
only  sparkled  in  the  reflection  of  our  own  felicity. 
No,  it  is  so  foolish;  so  foolish!     You  can  make 
people  understand  only  what  they  themselves  have 
already  experienced.    That  is  it.    Let  them  enter 
into  our  own  felicity,  our  own  blessedness,  that 
they  may  see   with   us  and   reverence  with   us ! 
The  word  is  of  no  avail;  they  must  feel  it.   (To 
Firmian)   Now  you  laugh,  you  wise  man,  for  it 
is  not  given  to  you  to  hope  because  you  think 
you  know  evil.     But  I  say  that  the  evil  is  only 
apparent,  it  is  not  real.     We  are  all  good,  only 
no  one  believes  it  of  another,  and  because  each 
one   thinks   the   other  bad   he   disguises   himself 
until  he  becomes  bad  himself.    Wait  until  we  are 
but  together  in  some  blessed  moment  so  that  wc 
can  see  one  another  as  we  really  are,  and  all  men 
will  sink  into  one  another's  arms  like  brothers. 
Come  with  us,  wise  man !     Humanity  has  been 
too  clever.     You  see  how  little  reason  has  ac- 
complished.   Come  with  us  and  be  an  enthusiast. 

Firmian    (moved,   extending   his   hand  to   the 
Premier)  :    You  glorious  man ! 

Premier  (stationing  himself  between  Andri  and 
Firmian,  and  holding  each  one  by  the  hand)  : 
Only  good,  Firmian.  We  need  only  be  good. 
Good  is  the  only,  the  highest  thing.  (To  Andri, 
smiling)  In  a  quiet  place,  did  you  say?  Yes,  we 
will  go  to  a  quiet  place  and  sit  down  by  the  side 
of  the  people,  and  take  each  one  singly  by  the 
hand  and  envelope  him  with  such  love  that  he 
will  grow  weak  and  be  no  longer  able  to  with- 
stand us.  (Laughing  good-naturedly)  No  party, 
my  Andri!  No  words!  We  shall  sit  very  still 
by  the  side  of  the  people,  and  nestle  up  closely 
and  warmly  against  them ;  and  we  shall  be  good 
to  them  and  so  tender  and  loving  that  they  will 
incline  toward  us  and  become  even  as  we,  first 
one,  then  two,  then  several,  then  all  —  gentle, 
subdued,  all — in  the  future,  in  the  far  distance. — 
Let  this  be  our  covenant. 

Andri  (with  admiration)  :  Thus  did  you  ap- 
pear to  me  when  I  was  a  boy,  when  they  told  me 
about  you :  the  Apostle ! 

Premier :  Go  now !  The  day  is  breaking.  Wc 
must  each  of  us  hasten  to  his  task!  (Stretching 
forth  both  his  hands)  I  am  thankful  for  the  lot 
that  has  fallen  to  me! 

(The  light  of  dawn  breaks  through  the  mn- 
dows;  the  curtain  falls.) 


Persons   in   the   Foreground 


95 


THE  YOUNGEST  AMERICAN  DIPLOMAT 


Mr.  Lloyd  Carpenter  Griscom,  minister  to 
Japan  since  December,  1902,  and  who,  so 
Americans  resident  in  Japan  hope,  is  soon  to 
return  to  Tokio  as  ambassador,  enjoys  the  dis- 
tinction of  being  the  youngest  of  American 
diplomats.  Yet  he  is  far  from  being  the  least 
experienced.  Though  his  age  is  but  thirty- 
three,  his-  training  in  the  foreign  service  began 
over  twelve  years  ago,  when  he  became  private 
secretary  to  ex-Senator  Bayard  of  Delaware, 
our  first  ambassador  to  England.  When  Mr. 
Bayard  left  London  in  1894  Mr.  Griscom  re- 
turned to  New  York,  where  he  took  a  post- 
graduate course  in  the  New  York  Law  School, 
and  was  duly  admitted  to  the  bar,  for  which 
— being'  a  Philadelphian — he  had  first  studied 
at  the  L^niversity  of  Pennsylvania. 

His  experiences  during  the  next  two  or 
three  years  included  a  brief  term  as  deputy 
assistant  district-attorney  of  New  York 
and  a  trip  to  Central  and  South  America  as  a 
volunteer  War  correspondent,  in  company  with 
Mr.  Richard  Harding  Davis  and  Mr.  Somers 
Somerset,  a  son  of  Lady  Henry  Somerset,  the 
philanthropist.  This  novel  and  exciting  ex- 
pedition forms  the  subject  of  Mr.  Davis's  en- 
tertaining   book,    "Three    Gringos    in    Ven- 


ezuela." When  the  Spanish-American  War 
broke  out,  Mr.  Griscom  promptly  volunteered, 
was  commissioned  a  captain,  and  served  for 
four  months  in  Cuba  as  aide-de-camp  on  the 
staff  of  General  Wade.  Declining  promotion 
and  a  career  in  the  army,  he  resigned  when  the 
war  was  over,  and,  re-enlisting  in  the  diplo- 
matic service,  was  appointed  secretary  of  the 
American  legation  at  Constantinople.  His 
youthfulness  and  engaging  personal  qualities 
won  the  personal  good- will  of  the  Sultan,  and 
his  native  shrewdness  enabled  him  to  turn  this 
advantage  to  account  when  the  minister,  Mr. 
Straus,  took  a  protracted  leave  of  absence,  and 
then  resigned  an  uncongenial  task.  As  chargi 
d'affaires  from  December,  1899,  till  March, 
1901,  Mr.  Griscom  was  our  chief  representa- 
tive at  the  Yildiz  Kiosk,  and  when  Mr. 
Straus's  successor  was  at  last  appointed,  it 
was  the  Sultan's  wish  that  there  should  be  no 
change  in  the  secretaryship  of  the  legation. 
But  President  McKinley  saw  fit  to  make  him 
a  minister  in  name  as  well  as  in  fact,  and  he 
was  accordingly  sent  to  Persia  in  1901.  It 
was  in  this  year  that  he  married;  and  while 
his  success  has  been  due  to  his  own  abilities, 
he  has  been  fortunate  in  having  a  wife  who 


THE  DIPLOMATIC  CORPS  OF  WHICH  LLOYD  C.  GRISCOM  IS  AN  ORNAMENT 

He  stands  in  the  last  row  (seventh  from  the  reader's  left),  while  our  old  friend,  BaronjKomuia,  (in  the  front 
row)  ^11  be  readily  recognized.  The  baron  had  just  been  given  a  complimentary  dinner  by  these,  the  ambassadors 
aad  ministers  of  all  the  world's  powers  in  Tokyo. 


96 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


is  persona  gratissima  at  every  court  to  which 
his  career  has  taken  him.  On  his  way  from 
New  York  to  Teheran  he  made  a  brief  stop 
at  Constantinople,  and  received  from  the  Sul- 
tan the  grand  cordon  of  the  Order  of  Chefekat 
for  Mrs.  Griscom,  and  for  himself  a  cigarette 
case  with  the  signature  of  the  donor  in  bril- 
liants— 2i  most  useful  gift  to  a  traveler 
through  the  Sultan's  dominions  in  Asia  Minor. 
One  of  the  fruits  of  his  sojourn  at  the  court 
of  the  Shah  was  the  marking  out  of  a  new 
trade  route  to  the  coast. 

After  an  eighteen  months'  residence  in 
Persia,  Mr.  Griscom  i^eceived  a  further  promo- 
tion, being  transferred  by  President  Roosevelt 
to  the  legation  at  Tokio  in  December,  1902. 
In  the  Far  East,  during  the  anxious  period 
that  preceded  the  outbreak  of  hostilities  be- 
tween Russia  and  Japan,  as  well  as  in  the 
troublous  days  of  actual  warfare,  the  young 
diplomatist  easily  held  his  own  with  the  older 
and  more  experienced  representatives  of  the 
European  countries.  And  now — though  the 
Japanese,  much  as  they  esteem  the  present 
minister,  might  like  to  see  an  older  and  more 
famous  man  sent  out  as  America's  first  am- 
bassador to  their  country — the  probabilities 
are  that  Mr.  Griscom,  who  has  just  returned 
home  for  a  well-earned  rest,  will  go  back  to 
Tokio  as  his  own  successor,  having  attained 
ambassadorial  rank  at  an  earlier  age  than  any 
other  man  in  the  service.  Had  Secretary  Hay 
lived  and  remained  at  Washington,  it  is  un- 
derstood that  Mr.  Griscom  would  have  suc- 
ceeded Mr.  Loomis  as  Assistant  Secretary  of 


PREPARING  A  WARM  RECEPTION  FORiTOKYO'S 
ANTI-AMERICAN  RIOTERS 

These  Japanese  troops  stood  j^uard  over  Lloyd  C. 
Gribcom  and  his  official  residence  as  United  States  min- 
ister to  Japan,  during  the  brief  outbreaks  after  the  first 
announcement  of  the  peace  terms. 


AN  AMERICAN  DIPLOMATIST  WHO  AWAITS 
PROMOTION 

Lloyd  C.(Griscom,  our   minister   in   Tokyo,  may    be 

given  the  rank  of  ambassador  there,  an  elevation  in 
igrnity  already  awarded  to  her  minister  in  Japan  by 
Greai  Britain.  He  was  bom  in  Riverton  New  Jersey, 
thirty-three  years  ago. 

State.  This  shows  in  what  regard  he  was  held 
by  his  late  chief;  and  his  youthful  energy,  his 
devotion  to  duty,  and  his  love  for  outdoor 
sports  are  unfailing  passports  to  the  good-will 
of  the  Chief  Executive.  '  Like  the  President, 
Mr.  Griscom  is  a  lover  of  big-game  hunting, 
and  has  indulged  his  taste  for  it  in  lands  more 
remote  than  Mr.  Roosevelt  has  yet  visited. 
In  Persia  he  was  so  fortunate  as  to  bag  some 
fine  ibexes. 

Mr.  Griscom's  father  is  Clement  A.  Gris- 
com, president  of  the  International  Navigation 
Company,  and  his  mother  is  one  of  the  Phila- 
delphia Biddies.  He  is  a  much  "clubbed" 
young  man,  belonging  to  club  organizations 
not  only  in*  Philadelphia  and  New  York,  but 
in  London,  Ireland  and  Constantinople  as  well. 


PERSONS  IN  THE  FOREGROUND 


97 


THE  MAN  WHO  HAS  MADE  CHICAGO  UNIVERSITYj 


For  years  the  president  of  the  Chicago 
University,  Dr.  William  Rainey  Harper  (now 
offering  from  an  incurable  malady  and  walk- 
ing calmly  but  not  slowly  toward  an  open 
grave),  went  to  bed  at  midnight  and  rose  at 
five.  •T^r.  Harper  knows  all  about  the  eight- 
hour  day,**  said  one  of  his  faculty;  "he  puts  in 
two  such  days  every  twenty-four  hours."  A 
theological  student  tried  once  to  make  arrange- 
ments for  advanced  work  under  Dr.  Harper's 
personal  direction.  It  seemed  impossible  to 
arrange  an  hour,  and  the  student,  downcast, 
was  about  to  leave.    Said  Dr.  Harper: 

"Are  you  free  at  five  thirty  in  the  morning?" 

"Yes/*  was  the  startled  answer. 

"Then  come  every  day  at  that  hour." 

And  the  arrangement  was  concluded  on  that 
basis. 

These  and  other  interesting  points  in  the 
career  of  the  man  who  has  in  fifteen  years 
built  up  the  third  largest  university  in 
America,  having  now  4,500  students,  a  faculty 
of  over  300  members,  and  an  endowment  of 
twenty  millions,  are  given  in  World's  Work 
by  James  Weber  Linn.  The  most  notable  thing 
about  the  university,  says  Mr.  Linn,  is  not  its 
rapid  growth,  but  the  fact  that  it  is,  more 
markedly  than  any  other  educational  institu- 
tion in  the  world,  the  expression  of  the  ideals 
and  individuality  of  one  man.  "Harvard  is  not 
Dr.  Eliot,  nor  Yale  Dr.*  Hadley,  but  the  Uni- 
versity of  Chicago  is  President  Harper." 

The  two  traits  of  Dr.  Harper's  character 
most  plainly  shown  in  the  university  are,  Mr. 
Linn  thinks,  his  energy  and  his  democratic 
character.  But  he  is  more  than  energetic  and 
democratic,  more  than  "a  bom  organizer." 
He  is  also  an  idealist,  a  dreamer.  We  quote 
from  Mr.  Linn's  article: 

"His  conceptions  have  not  infrequently  the  hazi- 
ness, and  the  magnificence,  of  dreams,  and  once 
and  again  he  has  failed  because  he  was  blinded 
by  visions.  It  is  idealism  which  has  made  him 
nrge  new  theories  and  new  methods  alike — which 
(in  the  effort  to  correlate  primary,  secondary,  and 
university  education)  has  'littered  the  campus 
with  kindergartners' — which,  disregarding  many 
a  well-worn  idea  which  had  been  fancied  funda- 
mental, put  in  practice  many  a  new  principle  'to 
make  Quintilian  stare  and  gasp.'  He  was  an  in- 
novator twenty-five  years  ago,  and  he  is  an  inno- 
vator now. 

"It  is  this  idealism  that  has  caused  him  to  be 
called  a  radical  by  people  who  mean  the  term, 
when  applied  to  an  educator,  to  stand  for  some- 
thing intmiteiy  futile  or  infinitely  dangerous  and 
had.    Yet  it  is  this  idealism  that  lifts  him  above 


the  mere  executive,  and  gives  him  power  over 
hearts,  so  that  those  who  work  with  him  become 
devoted  to  him  with  their  strength  and  soul. 
It  is  this  idealism  which  must  prevent  the  Uni- 
versity, so  quick-spning  into  largeness,  from 
being  merely  a  material  success,  and  which  must 
confute  the  charge  which  is  often  brought  against 
him,  that  his  aims,  like  his  methods,  are  com- 
mercial." 

There  are  men  in  the  university  now,  we  are 
assured,  who  came  twelve  years  ago  on  the 
bare  assurance  of  the  president  that  "some- 
thing would  turn  up"  to  enable  them  to  get 
their  salaries  the  next  year.  And  "no  one 
has  ever  voluntarily  left  Chicago  to  accept  a 
position  of  equal  rank  elsewhere."  The  reason 
that  is  given  for  this  is  that  men  are  treated 
there  as  men,  not  mechanics.  This  is  not  very 
illuminating  until  Mr.  Linn  goes  on  to  draw 
comparisons  between  the  class-room  work  re- 
quired at  Chicago  and  that  required  elsewhere. 
In  a  certain  scientific  department  selected  at 
random  for  comparison,  twenty-one  hours  of 
teaching  are  required  each  week  in  Harvard 
from  each  instructor;  in  Columbia,  twenty- 
one;  in  Chicago  University,  fourteen.  In  a 
department  of  the  liberal  arts,  Harvard  re- 
quires fifteen  hours,  Columbia  fourteen  hours, 
Chicago  but  ten.  "Comparison  of  Chicago 
with  other  Western  universities  makes  the 
amount  of  leisure  permitted  to  the  instructors 
at  the  former  seem  almost  startling."  The 
reason  for  this  is  not  that  the  university  is  so 
rich  it  can  afford  to  be  so  generous,  but  that 
Dr.  Harper  believes  that  such  a  system  affords 
the  instructors  opportunity  to  develop,  and 
"what  develops  the  instructors  must  raise  the 
standards  of  teaching  and  of  study." 

Dt.  Harper's  democratic  nature  and  convic- 
tions have  also  been  impressed  upon  the  uni- 
versity.   Says  Mr.  Linn : 

"His  democracy  is,  one  fancies,  less  the  result  of 
emotion  than  of  theory.  He  believes  in  democ- 
racy, rather  than  feels  it.  But  the  belief  has  be* 
come  a  part  of  him,  and  one  sees  it  working  out 
in  practical  details.  He  showed  it  in  the  arrange- 
ment of  the  college  year.  At  the  foundation  of 
the  University,  he  declared  for  a  system  that 
would  put  higher  education  within  the  reach  of 
the  greatest  number.  The  result  was  the  so- 
called  'quarter  system,*  under  which  a  student 
may  do  three  months'  work  and  leave  until  op- 
portunity enables  him  to  come  again.  The  usual 
arrangement  contemplates  a  year  of  study.  Un- 
der this  arrangement,  courses  follow  each  other 
in  a  continuous  procession  and  without  halt. 
Work  goes  on  in  the  summer  quarter  under  the 


98 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


same   instructors   and   counts   toward   the   same 
final  degrees  as  in  any  other  quarter." 

The  student  body  is,  in  consequence,  a  very 
democratic  body.  "Inquiry  has  failed  to  dis- 
close a  single  student  who  admits  spending 
$1,200  a  year."  The  man  "working  his  way 
through"  is  the  rule,  not  the  exception,  at  Chi- 
cago University;  and  not  a  few  women  are 
working  their  way  by  doing  housework. 

College  life,  however,  Mr.  Linn  asserts, 
"has  been  robbed  of  its  traditional  sweetness." 
Getting  an  education  is  a  business  there,  not 
a  sentiment,  and  the  effect  of  this,  though  it 
is  not  satisfactory  to  the  president,  was  fore- 
seen by  him  and  accepted  as  a  necessary  con- 
sequence, for  the  time  being,  at  least,  of  the 
choice  he  deliberately  made.    We  quote  again : 

"Dr.  Harper  felt  that  he  must  choose  between 
two  ideals.  Loyalty  to  *Alma  Mater'  which  finds 
expression  in  undergraduate  songs  of  praises  and 
cheering,  and  which  brings  back  graduates  year 
after  year  to  reunions  at  commencement-time,  is 
loyalty  founded  on  the  idea  of  the  college  as  sep- 
arate from  the  world;  it  is  clique-loyalty,  and  is 
dissipated  in  proportion  as  an  institution  grows 
away  from  the  old  aristocratic  academic  ideal. 


At  Yale  it  is  frantic;  at  Harvard  less  so,  at  Chi- 
cago, and  Clark,  and  Johns  Hopkins  it  can 
hardly  be  said  to  exist.  The  Alumni  Association 
of  Chicago  is  little  but  a  name,  and  the  Alumni 
Club,  the  organization  of  the  men  who  live  in 
the  city,  is  a  joke.  The  alumni  of  Chicaj^o  seem 
for  the  most  part  no  more  bound  to  their  Alma 
Mater  by  ties  of  affection  than  the  gradu- 
ates of  a  business  college  or  of  a  night  school. 
The  undergraduates  are  openly  indifferent  to  all 
but  the  intellectual  aspects  of  the  place.  They 
do  not  support  athletics;  they  hardly  go  to  the 
games  even  when  admission  is  made  free.  The 
students*  social  unit  is  the  fraternity,  not  the 
University.  The  ordinary  student  activities  are 
carried  on  almost  entirely  through  these  asso- 
ciations. Hundreds  pass  through  the  University 
every  year  without  a  shadow  of  emotional  con- 
sideration for  it;  life  to  them  is  a  business,  and 
these  their  days  of  apprenticeship." 

Dr.  Harper  is  "essentially  open-minded,"  is 
tolerant  and  liberal  in  his  religious  views  and 
a  man  of  prominence  in  the  "higher  criti- 
cism." He  has  no  memory  for  personalities 
and  never  indulges  in  them.  He  is,  finally, 
never  impulsive,  but  cautious  and  systematic. 
"He  talks  pleasantly,  but  he  will  not  be 
'drawn  out.' " 


A  SAINT  OF  GOTHAM 


New  York  City  has  its  saints  as  well  as  its 
life  insurance  presidents.  Three  of  the  fine 
arts  have  been  called  into  service  to  com- 
memorate fittingly  the  life  and  character  of 
one  of  them — Josephine  Shaw  Lowell,  who  died 
a  few  weeks  ago.  On  another  page  we  repro- 
duce a  bas-relief  of  her  made  by  St.  Gaudens. 
In  Boston  one  of  the  Symphony  concerts  was 
held  in  memory  of  her,  and  Thomas  Went- 
worth  Higginson  chose  for  the  program  of  the 
occasion  Schubert's  "Unfinished  Symphony" 
and  Beethoven's  "Heroic  Symphony."  In 
New  York  City  Felix  Adler,  Joseph  H.  Choate, 
Seth  Low,  Jacob  Riis  and  others,  in  a  memo- 
rial service,  paid  oratorical  tribute  to  her 
worth.  A  number  of  the  speakers  in  this  serv- 
ice re-echoed  the  statement  of  Robert  W. 
De  Forest  that  "had  Mrs.  Lowell  lived  in 
medieval  times,  she  would  long  since  have  been 
canonized  as  a  saint."  And  the  suggestion 
made  by  Mr.  Riis  that  one  of  the  parks  of  the 
city  be  named  after  her  has  met  favorable 
consideration,  a  committee  having  been  ap- 
pointed to  secure  this  or  some  other  form  of 
memorial. 

All  this  honor,  it  is  safe  to  say,  will  come  as 


a  surprise  to  most  Americans,  for  she  never 
sought  or  secured  a  conspicuous  place  in  public 
life.  Cultured  and  wealthy,  she  consecrated 
herself  to  humanitarian  work.  She  was  the 
founder  of  the  Charity  Organization  Society. 
She  was  the  first  woman  appointed  to  a  place 
on  the  State  Board  of  Charities.  In  innumer- 
able other  movements  she  bore  a  leading  part 
— the  establishment  of  State  reformatories  for 
women,  State  asylums  for  feeble-minded  girls 
of  child-bearing  age,  municipal  lodging-houses 
for  men,  the  placing  of  matrons  in  police  sta- 
tions, industrial  conciliation,  the  Consumer's 
League,  the  Woman's  Industrial  League,  the 
Philippine  Progress  Association  and  many 
other  movements.  Said  The  Evening  Post,  in 
editorial  comment  on  the  memorial  service: 

"Even  those  who  deemed  themselves  familiar 
with  Mrs.  Lowell's  achievements  were  astounded 
as  speaker  after  speaker  rehearsed  not  merely 
her  self-sacrifice,  but  the  actual  results  of  her 
work.  In  her  own  person  she  refuted  the  idea 
that  women  cannot  be  as  practical  as  men,  when 
given  offices  of  responsibility;  and  her  success 
as  a  state  commissioner  of  charities  and  in  private 
associations  opened  wide  a  door*  to  useful  public 
service  for  hundreds  of  her  sex." 


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JOSEPHINE  SHAW  LOWELL 
**  Had  Mr«.  Lowell  lived  in  medieval  times,>he  would  long  since  have  been  canonized  as  a  saint," 


zoo 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


Seven  years  after  her  birth  (in  Roxbury 
Mass.,  in  1843)  Josephine  Shaw  was  taken  to 
Europe  by  her  parents  and  for  five  years  re- 
ceived education  in  a  school  in  Paris  and  a 
convent  in  Rome,  gaining  facility  in  the  use  of 
the  French,  Italian  and  German  languages. 
On  her  return  she  spent  one  year  in  a  Boston 
and  one  year  in  a  New  York  school.  She  was 
married  at  the  age  of  twenty  to  Charles  Russell 
Lowell,  who  just  one  year  later,  while  serving 
under  Phil  Sheridan,  was  killed  at  the  battle 
of  Cedar  Creek.  Her  brother  was  that  Robert 
Gould  Shaw  who  organized  the  first  negro 
regiment  in  the  Civil  War,  and  whose  death 
at  the  head  of  his  black  regiment  at  Fort 
Wagner  is  commemorated  by  St.  Gaudens's 
well-known  bas-relief  on  Boston  Common. 
The  pathos  of  her  double  bereavement  never 
went  out  of  her  life  or  her  countenance. 
Samuel  Macauley  Jackson  wrote  recently  of 
her: 

"Her  face  here  was  a  sad  one.  At  least  it  always 
seemed  so  to  me.  She  was  never  able  to  forget 
the  crushing  sorrow  of  her  young  womanhood. 
But  we  who  could  not  enter  into  that  sorrow, 
only  wonder  at  its  intensity  and  its  duration, 
recognizing  that  it  had  sanctified  her  life.  She 
was  by  her  sorrow  able  to  serve  as  she  would 
not  have  been  had  she'  been  the  joyful  wife  and 
the  mother  of  many  children.  She  never  knew 
poverty;  she  =  was  a  patrician  in  birth  and  train- 
ing and  property.  She  had  access  to  the  really 
best  society,  and  had  made  for  herself  a  promi- 
nent place  among  the  volunteer  host  in  the  army 
of  philanthropists.  But  she  did  know  the  heart- 
ache, the  loneliness,  the  unsatisfied  gaze  into  the 
sky,  the  sickening  sense  of  desertion  which  are 
harder  than  poverty  to  bear.  The  unfortunate, 
the  fallen,  the  tempted,  the  poor,  would  have  felt 
that  between  her  in  her  high  social  station,  her 
culture,  her  refinement,  and  themselves  there 
was  no  common  experience,  were  it  not  for  her 
widowhood." 

A  few  weeks  before  she  died  Jacob  Riis 
visited  her  at  her  home  in  Greenwich.  Of  that 
visit  he  said :  "As  we  sat  by  the  fire,  she  spoke 
of  my  wife  and  kept  my  hand  in  hers,  and 
smoothed  it  again  and  again,  and  she  nodded 
with  the  gentle  smile  that  hovered  on  her  lips 
all  that  evening,  and  repeated,  *Yes,  yes;  I 
know.  But  think  of  waiting  for  my  husband 
forty-one  long  years,  forty-one  years.' " 

Dr.  Felix  Adler,  in  his  address  at  the  memo- 
rial service  (published  in  full  with  the  other 
addresses  in  the  December  number  of  Char- 
ities), after  speaking  of  "her  charm,  her  sweet 
dignity,  her  simplicity,"  endeavors  to  pack  into 
a  phrase  what  seemed  to  him  to  be,  apart  from 
her  lofty  personality,  the  peculiar  nature  of 
h«r  lif^    His  phrase  is,  "the  harmony  of  op- 


posites."    He  elaborated  his  thought  as  fol- 
lows: 

"She  was  an  idealist  of  the  purest  kind.  And 
yet  she  was  always  the  most  practical  of  realists. 
.  .  .  She  was  a  harmonizer  of  the  ideal  and 
the  realistic  She  was  a  harmonizer  ofbpposites. 
She  was  an  intense  enthusiast  for  certain  causes. 
Above  all,  she  dwelt  with  motherly  sympathy, 
with  the  motherhood  that  embraces  all  mankind; 
she  dwelt  upon  the  sufferings  and  the  miseries 
of  the  world.  But  more  than  by  the  sufferings 
and  the  miseries  of  the  world  was  she  touched  by 
the  wrongs.  It  was  injustice  in  any  form  that 
called  out  her  keenest  feeling.  It  was  this  that 
made  her  for  so  long  a  time,  with  one  other,  the 
only  support  of  the  movement  in  this  country  for 
justice  to  the  Filipino  people.  And  yet,  despite 
her  capacity  for  righteous  indignation,  she  was 
never  one-sided.  I  could  not  say  at  this  moment, 
truthfully,  that  she  was  on  the  side  of  the  Fili- 
pinos, that  she  took  the  side  of  the  Filipinos ;  nor 
could  I  say  truthfully  that  she  took  the  side  of 
the  laboring  people,  for  the  reason  that  she  also 
felt  so  genuinely  and  intensely  how  cruel  the 
oppressor  is  to  himself.  If  ever  anyone  loved  the 
wrongdoer  it  was  Mrs.  Lowell  when  she  pro- 
tested against  his  wrongdoing." 

"Father"  Huntington  (the  Rev.  James  O.  S. 
Huntington)  expressed  the  same  view  of  her 
impartiality  and  sense  of  all-around  justice,  in 
speaking  of  her  participation  in  a  strike  of  the 
feather  workers  some  years  ago.  She  went 
into  the  cause  of  the  strikers  with  all  her 
energy,  putting  strength  into  the  toilers,  lift- 
ing up  their  cause,  seeing  the  humorous  as 
well  as  the  pathetic  side  of  it;  but  "she  never 
arrayed  herself  on  one  side  as  against  the 
other,"  and  in  the  strike  of  the  garment- 
cutters  "every  one  of  the  three  parties  to  it 
came  to  her  expecting  her  to  sympathize  with 
it,  as  she  did." 

From  her  voluminous  writings  on  humani- 
tarian subjects,  we  quote  the  following  brief 
passage  as  summing  up  in  a  sort  the  phil- 
osophy which  she  sought  to  embody  in  actual 
conditions.  She  wrote  in  a  paper  on  "Out- 
door Relief"  (1890): 

"I  object  to  the  term  'dependent  classes,'  unless 
in  speaking  of  the  insane.  .  .  .  That  there 
will  always  be  persons  who  must  be  helped,  m- 
dividuals  who  must  depend  on  public  relief  or 
on  private  charity  for  maintenance,  is  true,  but 
it  is  a  disgrace  to  any  community  to  have  a  de- 
pendent  class,  and  the  fact  of  its  existence  is  a 
proof  that  the  community  has  done  its  duty 
neither  to  those  who  compose  it  nor  to  those  who 
maintain  it." 

Through  an  oversight  last  month,  we  neg- 
lected to  state  that  the  pictures  of  Governor 
Folk  and  his  mother  were  from  photographs 
copyrighted,  1905,  by  J.  C.  Strauss,  of  St.  Louis. 


PERSONS  IN  THE  FOREGROUND 


lOZ 


THE  ATTRACTIVE  PERSONALITY  OF  NORWAY'S  NEW  KING 


"His  wife  adores  him;  but  who  does  not?" 
That  is  the  way  a  Paris  paper  spoke  of  the 
new  King  of  Norway  a  few  weeks  ago,  while 
he  was  still  Prince  Charles  of  Denmark.  Eu- 
ropean views  in  general,  if  they  do  not  go 
quite  so  far  as  to  assert  the  existence  of  gen- 
eral adoration,  agree  that  the  new  sovereign 
has  always  been  one  of  the  most  likable  and 
human  of  men,  and  they  dwell  particularly 
upon  his  democratic  tastes  and  his  cheerful 
disposition.  If  the  Norwegians  really  desired 
a  democratic  king,  as  is  gen- 
erally understood,  they  appear 
to  have  chosen  the  right  man. 
He  is  "the  most  democratic  of 
men  in  most  things,"  according 
to  the  Vienna  Zeit  and  the 
Etoile  Beige  of  Brussels,  and 
any  number  of  other  European 
dailies  say  the  same. 

It  is  said  in  the  personal  ac- 
counts of  him  which  have 
gained  circulation  abroad  that 
his  sympathies  were  all  on  the 
side  of  Norway  in  the  recent 
trouble  with  Sweden.  For  one 
thing.  King  Haakon  has  always 
disliked  the  form  and  ceremony 
so  much  in  vogue  in  the  land 
of  aristocratic  traditions  ruled 
by  King  Oscar.  He  was  reared 
in  a  native  Danish  atmosphere, 
notes  the  Berlin  Vossische 
Zeitung,  and  that  accounts  for 
his  democratic  tendencies,  for 
there  can  scarcely  be  said  to  be 
any  Danish  aristocracy  at  all. 
The  "upper  classes"  in  King 
Christian's  realm  are  largely 
wealthy  merchants  and  farmers 
of  the  "scientific"  sort.  As 
Prince  Charles  he  mingled  with 
them  freely.  Titles  of  nobility 
are  no  longer  issued  in  Den- 
mark and  the  few  remaining 
"noblemen"  in  the  kingdom  are 
not  much  seen  at  court  The 
nobility  of  Denmark,  in  short, 
is  running  ta  seed.  In  Norway 
also  there  exists  no  aristocracy 
in  the  real  sense  of  the  word,  or 
rather,  as  one  Norwegian  paper 
puts  it,  every  man  is  an  aristo- 
crat    This  fact  is  declared  to 


be  perfectly  satisfactory  to  King  Haakon. 

Unfortunately,  as  the  Paris  Matin  thinks. 
King  Haakon  is  a  poor  man  as  royalties  go. 
Before  his  accession  he  mentioned  this  fact 
to  some  Norwegians  who  sounded  him  on  the 
subject  of  the  kingly  dignity.  In  fact,  he  ad- 
vanced three  objections — ^his  wife's  unwilling- 
ness to  assume  the  royal  dignity,  his  own 
poverty,  and  the  fact  that  he  ought  to  be 
elected  by  the  Norwegians  instead  of  by  the 

parliament.    The  Norwegian  gentlemen  prom- 


KING  HAAKON  VII,  HIS  QUEEN  AND  HIS  HEIR 
The  little  boy  is  now  heir  to  the  throne  of  Norway,  and  is  not  three 
years  old.     His  name  is  E*rince  Alexander,  but  the  Norweg^ians  wish  him 
to  be  called  Prince  Olaf. 


to2 


CURRENT   LITERATURE 


ised  that  a  fund  would  be  provided  for  his 
family's  proper  maintenance  and  that  in  the 
event  of  his  deposition  a  life  pension  would 
be  granted  him.  As  for  his  wife's  objection, 
that  was  overcome  through  the  personal  in- 
fluence of  King  Edward.  And  the  choice  of 
the  new  King  was  ratified  by  popular  vote. 

King  Haakon  VII  is  "essentially"  a  domestic 
man,  says  the  Paris  Matin.  Describing  him 
while  he  was  still  a  prince,  the  Matin  said: 

"He  is  essentially  the  life  of  those  gatherings 
of  the  Danish  royal  family  which  have  become 
one  of  the  institutions  of  monarchical  Europe. 
Prince  Charles  is  the  most  attractive  figure  at 
those  palace  gatherings  which  so  often  include 
in  addition  to  the  venerable  King  Christian,  the 
Queen  of  England,  the  former  Czarina  of  Russia, 
the  King  of  the  Hellenes  and  innumerable  other 
branches  of  the  same  tree.  These  are  strictly 
family  gatherings.  There  are  games,  dinners, 
talks — all  of  the  homeliest,  most  domesticated 
sort.  Then,  indeed,  is  Prince  Charles  of  Den- 
mark most  truly  himself.  He  is  the  life  of  the 
affair,  organizing  some  new  form  of  diversion, 
suggesting  a  novel  game  to  play,  telling  some 
bright  story  or  endearing  himself  to  father,  aunt 
or  cousin  in  the  way  he  knows  so  well.  He  is,  in 
fact,  the  favorite  of  the  large  family.  He  is 
never  seen  out  of  humor,  there  appears  to  be  no 
circumstance  that  can  throw  a  wet  blanket  over 
the  surface  of  his  disposition.  He  is  cheerful- 
ness itself,  not  cheerful  in  the  flamboyant,  vola- 
tile style  of  Princess  Waldemar,  the  French  mem- 
ber of  the  Danish  royal  family,  but  in  his  own 
quiet,  ready,  sympathetic  way.  He  is  not  a  jolly 
prince  but  a  kindly  one.  His  wife  adores  him — 
but  who  does  not?" 

In  short,  the  King's  character  fully  justifies, 
apparently,  the  assertion  of  the  London  Morn- 
ing Post  that  he  unites  "in  a  singular  degree 
many  of  the  qualifications  which  the  sovereign 
of  an  essentially  democratic  state  must  pos- 
sess." The  British,  indeed,  seem  particularly 
well  pleased  with  his  accession  to  kingly  dig- 
nity. Their  own  sovereign,  Edward  VII,  is 
King  Haakon's  father-in-law,  and  has  long 
had  a  noticeable  fondness  for  his  son-in-law, 
never  being  so  well  pleased  as  when  Prince 
Charles  would  join  him  on  a  shooting  expedi- 
tion through  the  Sandringham  woods.  Prince 
Charles  was  always  described  as  a  capital  shot. 

The  name  Haakon  is  a  name  associated  with 
the  splendors  of  Norwegian  history,  as  is  also 
that  which  the  new  queen,  formerly  Princess 
Maud,  assumes — Queen  Maragrethe.  The 
London  Times  comments: 

"He  will  be  crowned  King  under  the  name  of 
Haakon  VII.  in  remembrance  of  the  days  when 
a  Norse  King  ruled  over  a  fully  independent 
Kingdom  of  Norway.  The  name  of  this  King, 
who  died  in  1380,  was  Haakon  VI.    .    .    .    The 


NORWAY'S  NEW  QUEEN     . 

Her  great  objection  to  her  new  dignity  caused  the 
new  Kin>r  of  Norway  to  hesitate  before  accepting  the 
crown.     She  was  Princess  Maud  Alexandra  of  Wales. 


new  name  for  her  Royal  Highness  recalls  the 
memory  of  this  very  King  Haakon's  wife,  a  lady 
who  fills  a  great  place  in  northern  history  because 
she,  already  the  reigning  Queen  of  Denmark, 
brought  Norway  and  Sweden  under  her  mighty 
sceptre  and  in  1397  formed  the  great  union  of 
all  the  northern  countries  which  is  now  again  a 
dream  of  the  future  in  modem  form." 

At  this  moment  Haakon  VII  is  a  king  with- 
out a  court.  He  has  already  been  deluged  with 
applications  for  "gold  stick"  positions. 


PERSONS  IN  THE  FOREGROUND 


103 


SARAH  BERNHARDT  AT  SIXTY-ONE 


"Life  in  all  its  phases  has  an  untiring  charm 
for  her."  That  sentence,  we  are  told  by 
Giarles  Henry  Meltzer,  contains  the  secret  of 
Sarah  Bernhardt's  power  and  of  her  youthful- 
ness  still,  although  sixty-one  years  have  passed 
over  her  head,  and  most  of  them  have  been 
years  of  storm  and  strenuosity. 

It  was  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago — 1881 — 
when  Madame  Bernhardt  made  her  first  jour- 
ney to  the  United  States.  Six  friends  accom- 
panied her,  of  whom  Mr.  Meltzer,  the  secre- 
tary of  Alphonse  Daudet,  was  one.  She  was 
at  that  time  an  erratic  and  rebellious  star  who 
had  just  hurled  defiance  at  the  managers  of  the 
Theatre  Franqais.  All  sorts  of  sensational 
stories  were  told  about  her  and  she  seemed  to 
encourage  that  sort  of  advertising.  Protests 
many  and  strong  were  made  in  the  pulpits 
and  the  church  press  of  America  during  her 
tour  here,  and  her  private  character  was  bit- 
terly assailed.  Now,  a  quarter  of  a  century 
later,  although  the  moralists  have  never  be- 
come reconciled  to  her,  she  elicits  little  or  no 
protest  of  the  sort  that  she  encountered  then, 
though  a  misreported  interview  in  Quebec  a 
few  weeks  ago  resulted  in  a  noisy  demonstra- 
tion of  popular  disapproval. 

It  is  a  pleasure,  however,  to  note  the  differ- 
ence in  the  character  of  the  stories  told  now 
of  her  personal  career  and  those  which  ob- 
tained such  currency  upon  her  first  trip.  An 
element  pf  sweetness  and  simplicity  seems  to 
have  entered  into  her  life  which  contrasts  well 
with  the  gusty  passions  and  reckless  extrava- 
gance which  she  exhibited  or  affected  in  the 
days  gone  by.  Mr.  Meltzer  writes  of  her,  in 
the  San  Francisco  Chronicle,  as  follows: 

"In  private  life  the  most  adulated  actress  of  her 
day  is  vcty  simple  and  very  interesting.  She  has 
faults  (which  of  us  has  not?),  but  she  has  vir- 
tues and  great  qualities.  Her  nerves  may,  to 
outsiders,  make  her  appear  'sensational.'  But  in 
her  own  home  she  is  a  rare  comrade,  a  kind 
mother,  a  staunch  friend.  She  is  happiest,  as 
she  herself  would  tell  you,  when,  after  a  hard 
season  at  her  Paris  house  or  *on  the  road,'  she 
retires  to  her  plain  little  house — an  abandoned 
fort — on  the  island  of-  Belle-Isle,  in  Brittany. 
There,  amid  solitude  and  savagery,  and  there 
only,  she  rests  and  lives  naturally.  Her  com- 
panions are  the  peasants,  the  rude  fisher  folk  and 
the  cure  of  the  village  in  which  at  times  she  at- 
tends mass.  For,  though  by  race  a  Jewess,  she 
is  —  or  she  believes  she  is  —  a  devout  Catholic. 
Echoes  of  Paris  are  brought  down  to  her,  even 
in  this  retreat,  by  the  artists  whom  she  admits 
to  her  intimacy.  But  at  Belle-Isle  she  shakes  off 
the  wearing  tyranny,   the   enthralling   spell,   the 


relentless  influence  of  the  stage,  and  reveals  her- 
self as  a  mere  woman.  Witty  to  a  fault,  insa- 
tiably curious,  an  excellent  listener  and  a  delight- 
ful talker,  she  makes  an  ideal  hostess.  She  is 
interested  not  only  in  her  own  art,  but  in  the 
affairs  of  others.  Life  in  all  its  phases  has  an 
untiring  charm  for  her.  That  is,  perhaps,  the 
secret,  if  there  be  a  secret,  of  the  strange  power 
and  youth  which,  at  an  age  when  most  are  ready 
to  retire,  she  still  enjoys." 

Despite  the  vast  sums  which  Madame  Bern- 
hardt has  made  on  the  stage — she  made  over 
one  million  dollars  in  this  country  under  the 
management  of  Maurice  Grau  and  his  partner, 
Henry  Abbey — and  despite  this  strain  of  sim- 
plicity in  her  life  in  Brittany,  she  is  likely  to 
die  poor.  At  the  outset  of  her  career,  we  are 
told  by  Mr.  Meltzer,  she  loaded  herself  down 
with  debt  and  she  has  never,  save  for  a  few 
months  or  years,  recovered  from  that  unfor- 
tunate start.  She  never  was  able  to  save 
money.  We  quote  again  what  is  said  concern- 
ing this  side  of  her  character : 

"Her  own  lavishness — her  inability  to  deny  her- . 
self  the  gratification  of  her  whims,  her  insatiable 
hunger  for  the  rare  and  beautiful,  whether  it 
chance  to  take  the  shape  of  a  Lalique  hatpin  or 
cinquecento  tripych — ^have  helped  to  impoverish 
her.  Generous  to  a  fault,  reckless  as  the  women 
of  her  race  are  rarely  reckless,  she  has  squan- 
dered her  hard-gotten  earnings  without  counting, 
on  poor  relations,  rapacious  friends  and  distressed 
comrades.  In  the  old  days,  when  her  delightful 
little  villa  in  the  Avenue  de  Villiers  was  one  of 
the  Parisian  landmarks,  I  have  known  her  to 
play  hostess  day  after  day,  week  after  week,  to 
scores  of  visitors.  Bankruptcy,  with  the  usual 
consequences,  once  at  least  rewarded  her  for  her 
good  nature.  Her  Paris  villa  and  her  country 
house  were  sold,  and  her  possessions,  including 
her  pictures  and  her  sculpture,  went  to  the  ham- 
mer." 

Most  of  her  money,  however,  it  is  worth 
while  to  note,  has  been  lost  as  Irvingfs  was, 
in  producing  plays  which,  though  of  artistic 
merit,  have  failed  to  win  popularity.  "I 
question  whether  she  has  saved  much  more 
than  enough,"  says  Mr.  Meltzer,  "to  pay  her 
expenses  and  keep  up  her  life  insurance  pol- 
icy." Fortunes  have  gone,  also,  into  theaters 
which  she  has  "financed"  for  her  son  Maurice. 
Thanks  to  her  health,  however,  which  has 
nearly  always  been  marvelous,  though  for  a 
time  she  had  fainting  fits  and  has  always  had 
"nerves,"  and  thanks  to  her  high  spirits,  her 
sense  of  humor  and  the  philosophic  strain 
in  her  nature,  she  has  fought  her  way  through 
all  her  many  difficulties. 


164 


Recent    Poetry 


It  sounds  too  good  to  be  true;  but  it  is  true: 
a  new  book  of  poetry  by  Victor  Hugo  has  just 
been  published  in  Paris  entitled  Xa  Demiere 
Gcrbe"  (The  Last  Sheaf).  It  contains  passages 
that  will  take  rank  with  the  best  of  the  poet's 
work,  and  has  all  his  characteristic  qualities— 
his  grandiose  imagery  and  his  Olympian  tone— 
which  Brandes  in  his  new  book  on  "The  Romantic 
School  in  France"  has  thus  described:  "We  feel 
as  if  the  poet  had  actually  seen  all  and  had  painted 
it  with  a  brush  like  that  pine  which  Heine  would 
fain  have  torn  from  the  Norwegian  cliffs  and 
dipped  in  the  fire  of  Etna  to  write  with  it  the 
name  of  his  beloved  across  the  expanse  of  heaven. 
The  poet  dared  to  lay  hold  of  the  painful, 
the  ugly,  the  terrible,  and  incorporate  it  in  his 
verse,  assured  of  his  power  to  penetrate  it  all 
with  poetry,  to  impart  transparency  to  all  these 
shadows  and  immerge  all  the  blackness  in  a  poetic 
sea  of  light." 

We  give  a  literal— not  metric— translation  of 
three  of  the  poems  in  this  posthumous  volume. 
The  first  of  the  three  is  a  sort  of  lyric  nightmare : 

BABEL 
By  Victor  Hugo 

Babel  is  in  the  depths  of  the  land  of  horrors. 

If  the  Frightful  were  a  visible  thing  it  would 
resemble  this  unheard-of  tower,  its  immeasurable 
summit  lost  in  the  clouds. 

Nay,  it  is  no  tower,  but  rather  a  monster 
building. 

Daylight,  powerless  to  illumme,  slips  oft  it. 

Its  side  openings,  full  of  shadow,  swallow  up 
the  storm-laden,  hissing  winds  of  the  void. 

Out  of  it  issue  unfamiliar,  somber  hootings. 

Its  spire,  deformed  and  cloud-piercing,  ends 
there,  or  perchance  only  begins. 

Its  granite  porticoes  have  been  gnawed  by  the 
hurricane :  the  breach  is  like  a  hole  that  the  spade 
scoops  in  the  earth;  its  stairways  are  hewn  out 
of  the  giant  rock,  and  upon  its  mournful  escarp- 
ments are  engraved  masks,  tripods,-  gnomes, 
clepsydras.  ,  ,    ,       i.  j 

Its  caves,  large  enough  to  shelter  hydras,  seem 
from  afar  like  clefts  wherein  the  asp  lurks. 

From  the  fog- wrapt  juttings  of  its  sheer  walls 
emerge  clumps  of  thick  herbage. 

Its  broken  arch-clusters  are  like  unto  sheaves, 
and  the  stone  has  the  sinister  pallor  of  a  shroud. 

Babel  would  fain  mount  to  the  zenith:  God 
alone  may  set  a  limit  to  its  ascent. 

One  trembles  beholding  that  floomy  interior— 
so  black  that  no  starlight  may  pierce  it. 

Attached  to  walls  descending  sheer  from  the 
pediment  there  stand  out  colossal  figures  of 
frightful  aspect,  targets  for  the  thunderbolt. 


From  the  foundation  rise  twin  towers  resem- 
bling lighthouses,  specters  in  the  distance. 

Out  of  the  ghastly  pile  of  architectural  enormity 
emerge  vague  forms:  a  dome,  a  chaos  of  stair- 
ways, terraces,  bridges,  all  outlined  in  confused 
mass  upon  the  horizon. 

And  as  a  Right  of  pigeons  or  swift  swallows 
will  sometimes  be  seen  to  alight  upon  a  housetop, 
so,  descending  upon  these  gloomy  bastions,  there 
issue  out  of  the  depths  of  the  air  griffins,  black 
hippogriffs,  sphinxes  born  of  nightmare,  whose 
foldless  wings  are  sharp  as  swords;  the  dragon 
smothering  lightnings  under  its  huge  belly;  the 
eagle  of  the  Apocalypse  and  the  larvae  of  the  air ; 
white  seraphim  upborne  upon  enormous  wings, 
terrible  and  newly  come  from  some  far-off  star. 


Hugo  lets  his  fancy  revel  in  the  following  way 
over  the  beginnings  of  human  language : 

THE  ORIGIN  OF  SPEECH 
By  Victor  Hugo 

Whence  comes  the  word.^  Whence  comes  lan- 
guage? 

From  whom  do  we  derive  the  words  which  are 
the  fabric  of  our  speech? 

Writing  and  the  alphabet— whence  come  they? 

Plato  beheld  I  issuing  from  the  subtle  afr; 
Messene  copied  M  from  the  bucklers  of  the  Mede; 
the  cranes  in  their  flight  give  Y  to  Palamede; 
Perseus  heard  the  roll  of  R  in  the  barking  of  the 
dog ;  Z  revealed  itself  to  Prometheus  in  the  light- 
ning; O  is  eternity,  the  serpent  gnawing  its  tail; 
L,  F  and  G  were  seen  in  the  blue  vault,  confused 
gestures  of  the  airy  clouds. 

Nevertheless,  the  grammarians  dispute  all  this. 

D  is  the  triangle  in  which  God  is  upborne 
by  Job;  T  is  the  fatal  cross  that  inspired  Eze- 
kiel's  dreams. 

Think  you  now  that  the  problem  is  solved? 

Did  Triptolemus  in  his  harvesting  let  fall 
words  even  as  the  wheat  fell  beneath  his  scythe? 

Did  Greek  blossom  from  the  lips  of  Euterpe? 

Did  Hebrew  come  from  Adam?  or  Celtic  from 
Irmensul  ? 

Dispute  this  as  you  will,  it  is  certain  that  no 
one  knows  who  placed  in  the  void,  pointing  to  the 
glorious  ideal,  the  letters  of  the  ancient  alphabet 
— those  stairs  b^  which  the  human  mind  mounts 
to  the  sacred  heights,  those  five  and  twenty  golden 
steps  of  the  ladder,  Thought. 

Bethink  thee,  then,  poor  insensate  clay,  man, 
shadow,  how  thou  art  not  able  to  explain  tiiyself. 

To  the  human  eye  man  is  naught  but  a  phantom. 

When  we  would  mount  from  speech  to  thought 
and  would  fain  know  what  relation  that  sound 
bears  to  this  flame,  there  is  no  answer. 

The  bond  has  been  broken. 

Of  thyself,  by  means  of  thy  brain,  thou  art 
powerless  to  solve  the  enigma. 

Thou  canst  not  even  open  thine  own  window. 


RECENT  POETRY 


loS 


Thou  knowest  not  thyself  and  thou  wouldst 
know  Him! 

Peering,  sightless,  O  miserable  magician,  thou 
dost  not  understand  thine  own  word  and  thou 
wouldst  fathom  His. 

Here  is  another  of  the  poems,  one  with  an 
adorably  audacious  ending: 

HYMN  TO  GENIUS 
By  Victor  Hugo 

The  work  of  man  is  the  echo  of  the  work  of 
God. 

Star  or  thought,  one  hears  in  the  masterpiece 
bek)w  the  echo  of  the  masterpiece  on  high. 

Shakespeare,  Dante,  Job,  Aeschylus  1  your 
genius  in  itself  is  a  harmony  in  the  azure  depths. 

It  broods  upon  the  world  and  the  shadow  and 
die  blue  heavens  and  all  existence,  and  its  works 
are  its  reply  to  God. 

It  enlists  the  Ideal  in  its  vast  pursuits. 

Behold !  God  made  the  Ocean;  man  made  Ham- 
let   Quits! 

William  Winter's  hair  is  like  the  driven  snow, 
but  the  fire  of  his  oratory,  the  flash  of  his  sword 
wielded  in  dramatic  criticism,  and  the  melody  of 
his  poetic  lyre  have  wonderfully  withstood  the 
assaults  of  time.  We  offer  this  (from  the  New 
York  Tribune)  in  part  evidence: 

THE   REASON 

By  William  Winter 

I  know  not  if  thy  charm  it  be. 

Or  Nature's  charm,  reveal'd  in  thee ; 

Whether  thy  face,  as  now  I  view  it, 

Is  thine, — or  hers  that's  shining  through  it : 

Bat  this  I  know— whate'er  the  art 

That  wins  me,  thou  hast  won  my  heart! 

And  therefore,  though  my  old  guitar 

Has  strings  that  were, — not  strings  that  are,— 

Once  more,  ere  ^et  its  time  be  spent, 

I  touch  that  anaent  instrument, 

In  praise  of  truth  and  beauty  blent ! 

Through  the  red  glare,  the  scorching  light, 
The  din,  the  havoc,  and  the  blight 
Of  clamorous  wradi  and  hideous  haste, 
That  make  this  life  one  dreary  waste. 
Thy  voice,  of  Music's  soul  complete, 
Was  ever  tender,  low  and  sweet,— 
To  make  the  frantic  tumult  cease 
And  Uess  me  with  the  balm  of  peace! 
And  so  for  thee  I  breathe  a  sigh- 
Therefore  I  love  thee— far  or  nigh— 
Or  else, — or  else— I  know  not  why. 

The  name  of  Walter  Malone  used  to  be  more 
familiar  to  magazine  readers  a  few  years  ago 
than  it  is  now.  Mr.  Malone  now  wears  the 
judge's  ermine  (or  would  if  judges  still  wore 
ermine)    in  Memphis,  Tennessee;   but  he  looks 


back  longingly  to  the  days  and  nights  when  he 
was  a  constant  wooer  of  the  muses  in  Bohemia. 
He  has  just  published  a  volume  of  his  poems,  and 
there  is  much  in  it  that  is  well  worth  while. 
This,  for  instance: 

HOMER 
By  Walter  Malonb 

What  earthly  King  who  envies  not  my  name? 

What  century  shall  behold  my  honor  dim? 
As  virile  and  as  vigorous  is  my  fame 

As    when    mankind   first    heard    my    morning 
hymn. 

Csesar  has  come,  has  concjuered,  passed  away; 

Young  Alexander's  empire  is  a  dream; 
Napoleon  shared  my  sceptre  for  a  day, 

Then  saw  the  snapping  of  his  cobweb  scheme. 


But  I,  who  living  begged  my  daily  bread, 
Found  death  the  gateway  to  a  golden  throne ; 

I  rule  the  living,  though  they  call  me  dead. 
And  time  to  me  is  but  a  term  unknown. 


I  see  new  poets  come  to  take  my  place; 

They  can  not  lift  my  lance  or  bend  my  bow ; 
If  in  their  lines  be  loveliness  or  grace, 

I  said  the  same  three  thousand  years  ago. 

So  Babylon  and  Nineveh  have  gone, 
While  I  rejoice  in  everlasting  day; 

Paris,  Manhattan,  London,  had  their  dawn, 
And  I  shall  see  their  splendor  fade  away. 

The  dear  old  gods  I  knew  in  ancient  days. 
Of  Egypt  and  Assyria,  Greece  and  Rome, 

Have  lost  their  crowns,  and  strange  new  idols 
gaze 
Across  the  desert  and  the  ocean  foam. 

The  golden-haired  Apollo  is  no  more, 
But  songs  I  sang  him  still  have  power  to  thrill ; 

Though  Pallas  pass,  I  keep  my  strength  of  yore; 
Great  Pan  is  dead,  but  1  am  living  still. 

Lo,  by  the  everlasting  throne  of  God 
Sits  Gabriel  with  his  trumpet  in  his  hand, 

Waiting  that  far,  far  day,  when  sea  and  sod 
Give  up  their  dead,  before  that  Judge  to  stand. 

Not  till  that  trumpet  bids  the  sun  grow  black, 
Shall  breath  of  God  blow  out  my  radiant  flame ; 

Not  till  the  earth  shall  wander  from  her  track. 
And  there  is  no  more  sea,  shall  die  my  name. 

A  poem  does  not  have  to  be  good  theology  or 
good  philosophy  in  order  to  be  good  poetry.  The 
philosophy  of  the  following  poem  may  strike 
some  as  vulnerable,  but  it  certainly  has  strength 
and  genuineness,  and  voices  in  a  forthright  way 
the  lesson  of  self-reliance. 


io6 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


IN  PRAISE  OF  MYSELF 
By  Walter  M alone 

I  am  sick  of  the  days  of  love,  of  the  prating  of 

beautiful  eyes, 
Of  the  ruby  lips,  of  the  golden  hair,  and  of  cheeks 

like  morning  skies; 
For  a  day  will  dawn  when  the  eyes  grow  dim, 

and  the  ringlets  of  gold  are  gray, 
And  Love,  like  a  traitor,  when  wrinkles  come, 

will  silently  sneak  away. 

I  am  weary  of  lays  of  Friendship,  too,  of  the 

truth  that  never  turns, 
Of  the  trusting  hearts  and  the  helping  hands,  the 

faith  that  forever  burns; 
For  when  Fate  may   frown,  and  when  P'ortune 

flies,  and  your  golden  age  is  done, 
You  will  find  at  last,  wherever  you  go,  there  is 

left  of  your  friends  not  one. 

I  am  weary  alike  of  Prayer,  of  beseeching  of  piti- 
less skies. 

Of  the  wails  for  help,  of  the  shrieks  for  aid  as 
the  wretch  in  anguish  dies; 

For  the  gods  help  those  who  uplift  the  sword, 
not  those  who  as  beggars  come; 

To  the  rich  they  give,  from  the  poor  they  take,  to 
the  weak  are  deaf  and  dumb. 

Whenever  you  hang  on  another's  arm,  the  soul  of 

your  strength  is  past; 
When  you  give  your  fate  to  another's  hands,  the 

die  of  your  doom  is  cast ; 
Whenever  you  mumble  for  mercy  here,  the  day  of 

defeat  draws  nigh ; 
Whenever  you  weep,  whenever  you  wail,  you  are 

left  to  droop  and  die. 

Whenever  you  win  a  battle  of  life,  reap  riches  or 

gain  renown. 
No  hand  but  your  own  on  the  flaming  field  will 

place  on  your  head  the  crown. 
If  the  palms  you  bear,  if  the  bays  you  wear,  if 

you  heap  and  hoard  your  pelf. 
No  finger  will  lift  from  a  friendly  arm  till  first 

you  have  helped  yourself. 

I  care  not  what  men  or  women  may  say  when  of 

outside  aid  they  tell, 
For  work  others  do  can  never  suit  you — ^you  only 

can  do  it  well. 
And  I  know  this  truth,  that  if  win  I  will,  I  must 

win  by  force  of  might ; 
What  gift  I  may  crave,  what  reward  I  seek,  I  lose 

if  I  do  not  fight. 

Whatever  a  friend  may  do  for  a  friend  is  only 

reflected  light, 
From  the  sun  of  Self,  of  splendor  the  source,  and 

without  which  all  is  night. 
Whenever  the  fang  of  a  foeman  stings,  infection 

never  takes  place 
Unless  I  myself  have  poisoned  myself,  nourishing 

grafted  disgrace. 

So  I  praise  myself  for  fights  I  have  fought,  for 

the  enemies  underfoot  hurled. 
And  I  love  myself  and  I  hug  myself  as  I  face  a 

hostile  world; 


And  I  praise  myself  that  I  heeded  not  the  hisses 

and  hoots  and  jeers, 
And  with  bulldog  grip  have  clung  to  my  rights 

through  all  of  the  friendless  years. 

Though  I  blundered  oft,  and  I  stumbled  oft  while 

bleeding  from  thrust  on  thrust, 
I  have  faced  all  foes,  have  endured  all  blows,  have 

risen  when  hurled  to  dust. 
Though  many  my  faults,  and  my  passions  strong, 

and  sins  of  self  were  to  down, 
I    have    forged   ahead,    and  my   brow   deserves, 

though  never  it  wear,  a  crown. 

So  I  praise  myself  for  the  fights  I  fought  against 

all  the  hosts  of  hell, 
Though  I  knew  at  last  was  a  greedy  grave,  and  a 

shroud  and  a  funeral  bell. 
I  have  trod  the  path  which,  I  know  not  why,  leads 

on  to  the  lonely  tomb. 
And  never  a  man  or  a  seraph  or  saint  more  boldly 

has  marched  to  doom. 

I  care  not  what  sage  or  sophist  might  do,  what 

higher  beings  might  say. 
What  counsel  of  man,  what  wisdom  of  God,  may 

have  shown  a  better  way; 
Had  they  fought  like  me,  had  they  bled  like  me 

as  they  crept  through  earth  to  die, 
I  would  challenge  them  all  to  take  up  my  lot  and 

bear  it  better  than  I. 

I  have  asked  for  aid  from  the  sons  of  men — they 

have  left  me  all  alone; 
I  have  prayed  the  gods  for  a  loaf  of  bread — ^they 

have  always  given  a  stone. 
So  I  clenched  my  teeth,  and  doubled  my  fists,  and 

I  fought  to  hold  my  own, 
And  the  mobs  of  men,  when  I  helped  myself,  have 

begged  me  accept  a  throne. 

So  little  I  care  if  they  say  my  words  are  vanity, 

pomp  or  conceit, 
For  I  know  that  Self  and  that  Self  alone,  can 

bring  me  a  mess  of  meat. 
So  the  little  tin  gods  of  the  old-time  bards  I 

shove  in  dust  on  the  shelf, 
And  asking  no  leave  of  a  living  soul,  I  take  off  my 

hat  to  myself. 


The  assassination  the  other  day  of  General 
Sakharoff  by  a  woman,  at  the  behest  of  the  Rus- 
sian revolutionists,  gives  an  air  of  grim  reality  to 
the  poem  (from  the  New  York  Times)  which 
follows : 

THE  REVOLUTIONIST 

From  a  Russian  Prose  Poem  op  Turcenev 

By  Arthur  Guiterman 

I  saw  a  spacious  house.    O'erhung  with  pall, 
A  narrow  doorway  pierced  the  sombre  wall. 
Within  was  chill,  impenetrable  shade; 
Without  there  stood  a  maid — z.  Russian  maid, 
To  whom  the  icy  dark  sent  forth  a  slow 
And  hollow-sounding  Voice: 


RECENT  POETRY 


107 


"And  dost  thou  know, 
When  thou  hast  entered  what  awaits  thee  here?" 
"I  know/'  she  said,  "and  knowing  do  not  fear." 
*'Cold,      hunger,      hatred,      Slander's      blighting 

breath," 
The  Voice  still  chanted,  "suffering— and  Death?" 
"I  know,"  she  said. 

"Undaunted,  wilt  thou  dare 
The  sneers  of  kindred?    Art  thou  steeled  to  bear 
From  those  whom  most  thou   lovest,   spite  and 

scorn?" 
"Though  Love  be  paid  with  Hate,  shall  that  be 

borne," 
She  answered. 

"Think !  Thy  doom  may  be  to  die 
By  thine  own  hand,  with  none  to  fathom  why, 
Unthanked,  unhonored,  desolate,  alone, 
Thy  graye  unmarked,  thy  toil,  thy  love  unknown, 
And  none  in  days  to  come  shall  speak  thy  name." 
She  said:  "I  ask  no  pity,  thanks,  or  fame." 
"Art  thou  prepared  for  crime?" 

She  bowed  her  head: 
**Yes,  crime,  if  that  shall  need,"  the  maiden  said. 
Now  paused  the  Voice  before  it  asked  anew : 
''But  knowest  thou  that  all  thou  boldest  true 
Thy  soul  may  yet  deny  in  bitter  pain. 
So  thou  shalt  deem  thy  sacrifice  in  vain  ?" 
"E'en  this  1  know,"  she  said,  "and  yet  again, 
I  pray  thee,  let  me  enter." 

"Enter  then!" 
That  hollow  Voice  replied.    She  passed  the  door. 
A  sable  curtain  fell — and  nothing  more. 
'\\  fool!"  snarled  some  one,  gnashing.     Like  a 

prayer, 
"A  Saint !"  a  whispered  answer  thrilled  the  air. 

The  new  Christmas  poetry  that  has  come  to 
our  notice  this  year  is  not  compelling.  This  from 
Tk€  Atlantic  Monthly  is  the  best  we  have  seen; 
but  it  is  not  very  Christmasy: 

THE  LITTLE  CHRIST 

By  Laura   Spencer   Portor 

Mother,  I  am  thy  little  Son — 
Why  weepest  thou? 

Hush!    for  J  see  a  crown  of  thorns, 
A  bleeding  brow. 

Mother,  I  am  thy  little  Son — 
Why  dost  thou  sigh? 

Hush!  for  the  shadow  of  the  years 
Stoopeth  more  nigh! 

Mother,  I  am  thy  little  Son — 

Oh,  smile  on  me. 
The  birds  sing  blithe,  the  birds  sing  gay, 

The  leaf  laughs  on  the  tree. 

Oh,  hush  thee!     The  leaves  do  shiver  sore, 

That  tree  whereon  they  grow, 
I  see  it  hewn,  and  bound,  to  bear 

The  weight  of  human  woe. 


Mother,  I  am  thy  little  Son— 

The  Night  comes  on  apace — 
When  all  God's  waiting  stars  shall  smile 

On  me  in  thy  embrace. 

Oh.  hush  thee!   I  see  black  starless  night! 

Oh,  could'st  thou  slip  away 
Now,  by  the  hawthorn  hedge  of  Deaths — 


The  stanzas  below  come  from  one  of  the  Brit- 
ish periodicals.  We  have  neglected  to  make  a 
record  of  the  name: 

THE  KING'S  FOOL 
By  William  J.  Niedig 

A  Fool  it  was,  and  took  his  Soul 

Within  his  hollowed  hands; 
He  took  his  Soul  and  smoothed  it  calm, 

And  loosed  its  strained  bands. 

"O  Soul,"  he  cried,  "you  bear  the  stain 

Of  chain-gyves  interwove! 
Who  did  this  thing?"    The  Soul  replied 

"It  was  the  friend  I  love." 

"O  Soul,  you  have  a  flaming  brand 

Burned  on  your  nakedness! 
Who  did  this  thing?"    The  Soul  replied: 

"That  was  a  pure  caress." 

"O  Soul,  a  fissure  shows  your  heart 

Like  wound  of  bloody  sword! 
Who  did  this  thing?"    The  Soul  replied: 

"That  was  a  friendly  word." 

"O  Soul,  you  shrink  within  my  hand, 

I  scarce  see  where  you  be! 
Who  did  this  thing?"    The  Soul  replied: 

"A  woman  pitied  me." 

The  Fool  laid  down  his  Soul  and  wept, 

And  knelt  him  down  beside; 
He  soothed  and  questioned  all  the  night, — 

No  soul  of  him  replied. 


The  poetry  of  "Miss  Fiona  Macleod"  has  for 
ttsn  years  attracted  wide  attention  and  has  had 
much  to  do  with  the  so-called  Celtic  movement  in 
literature.  It  now  transpires  that  "Miss  Fiona 
Macleod"  was  none  other  than  Mr.  William 
Sharp,  one  of  Great  Britain's  well-known  authors 
and  critics,  whose  death  occurred  in  Sicily  a  few 
days  ago — December  14.  His  widow  makes 
known  this  fact,  which  clears  up  one  of  the  most 
interesting  mysteries  of  literary  history.  Mr. 
Sharp,  whose  poems  under  his  nom  de  plume  have 
"served  as  a  clarion  call  to  the  Irish  muse,"  was 
a  Scotsman. 


io8 


Recent    Fiction    and    the   Critics 


I 


Marion  Crawford  has  written  more  than  a  score 
of  romances,  all  of  them,  or  nearly  all,  good  read- 
able novels,  with  real  stories,  real  characters  and 
the  charm  of  excellent  workman- 
Margaret  :  ship.  But  the  publication  of  a  new 
A  Portrait  story  by  him  is  not  an  arousing 
event.  He  is  not  an  epoch-maker, 
and  he  projects  no  new  problems  of  art  or  so- 
ciology upon  a  startled  public.  His  latest  novel* 
is  regarded  as  a  fairly  good  specimen  of  his  work, 
not  as  good  as  his  best,  not  as  bad  as  his  worst. 
The  scene  of  the  story  is  laid  in  Paris,  instead  of 
in  Italy,  where  his  scenes  are  usually  laid.  The 
heroine,  Miss  Margaret  Donne,  is  an  English  girl 
who  has  a  divine  voice  and  is  preparing  for  her 
dibut  on  the  operatic  stage.  (She  doesn't  get 
that  far  in  this  book,  but  a  sequel  is  foreshadowed 
in  the  closing  chapter.)  The  coterie  of  artists 
among  whom  her  aspiration  brings  her  include 
two  men,  Lushington  (French-born  but  English- 
bred)  and  Legotheli,  a  Greek,  both  of  whom  fall 
in  love  with  her,  and  neither  of  whom  gets  her 
(in  this  book)  ;  also  Mme.  Bonnani,  a  great  prima- 
donna,  of  peasant  manners  and  stained  reputation, 
but  of  good  heart.  The  critics  are  agreed  on  one 
point— that  the  character  of  Mme.  Bonnani  is 
splendidly  drawn.  The  London  Academy,  which 
finds  the  story  rather  disappointing  after  Mr. 
Crawford's  Italian  romances,  calls  the  prima 
donna  a  brilliant  sketch.  "She  is  so  full  of  life, 
so  vivacious,  so  generous  in  the  highest  sense  of 
the  word,  that  it  is  impossible  not  to  like  her." 
Fred  Taber  Cooper,  writing  in  The  Bookman 
(New  York),  says  of  her:  "If  there  were  nothing 
else  in  this  book  than  the  portrait  of  this  big- 
hearted,  Junoesque,  voluble  French  woman,  who 
has-  been  a  great  soprano  for  thirty  years,  and  a 
vulgar  peasant  all  her  life,  it  would  still  be  one 
of  the  books  that  Mr.  Crawford  might  justly  be 
very  proud  of."  The  same  critic  thinks  that 
Crawford  has  produced  nothing  since  his  Sarici- 
nesca  trilogy  that  approaches  this  work.  But  The 
Book  News  finds  that  some  places  in  it  wear  the 
reader's  patience  nearly  threadbare.  Of  Margaret 
herself  it  says : 

"With  a  little  more  freedom,  Margaret  would 
have  developed  into  warm  flesh  and  blood,  but 
the  author  remembered  his  'portrait'  and  placed 
her  under  lock  and  key.  If  at  times  she  seems 
cold  and  automatic,  it  must  be  laid  to  this  restraint 

•Fair  Maroamt.      A  Portrait.       By  F.  Marion  Craw- 
ford.    The  MacmlUan  Compaoy. 


— it  was   a  case  of  Margaret  over-ruling   Mr.      I 
Crawford  or  vice  versa,  and  the  author,  being  the 
stronger  of  the  two,  poor  Margaret  has  sunered 
unspeakably." 

This  novel  is  called  by  a  different  name  in  Eng- 
land. There  it  is  known  as  "Soprano :  A  Portrait." 


When  Mary  E.  Wilkins  was  married  to  Dr. 
Freeman,  she  went  to  a  New  Jersey  town,  Me- 
tuchen,  to  reside.    She  now  gives  us  a  New  Jersey 

story*  of  562  pages,  which  com- 

Xhe  bines  psychology,  dramatic  action 

Debtor       and  love  sentiment  in  a  way  that 

elicits  critical  admiration  for  her 
unsparing  realism.  The  hero  of  the  novel — ^"thc 
best  picture  of  a  genteel  dead-beat,"  accordmg  to 
the  New  York  Evening  Post,  "that  has  been  pro- 
duced in  this  country" — is  Arthur  Carroll,  from 
Kentucky.  Naturally  high-spirited,  impulsive  and 
trustful,  he  became  the  victim  of  a  smooth  friend 
who  swindled  him  out  of  all  his  possessions  in  the 
South.  Thereafter  he,  his  wife,  his  sister,  his  two 
daughters  and  his  son  Hit  from  one  suburban  resi- 
dence to  another,  "doing"  everybody,  sometimes 
suffering  when  their  credit  with  the  tradesmen 
ran  out,  but  keeping  up  appearances  for  a  sur- 
prisingly long  time,  and  never  losing  their  loyalty 
to  one  another  nor  the  manners  that  come  from 
good  breeding.  In  the  end  the  hero  bravely 
buckles  to  the  task  of  earning  an  honest  living. 
The  New  York  Tribune  finds  the  story  truthful, 
impressive  and  entertaining,  and  thinks  it  would 
be  difficult  to  find  a  more  apt  and  clear-cut  picture 
of  suburban  life.  The  Louisville  Times  rates  it 
the  best  story  Mrs.  Freeman  has  given  us,  and 
the  New  York  Sun  thinks  it  the  most  successful 
which  she  has  written  since  she  began  construct- 
ing long  stories.  The  Outlook  speaks  of  it  as  "a 
searching  study  of  character"  on  an  unhackneyed 
theme.    It  adds: 

"One  misses  the  crispness  of  style  that  marked 
'Pembroke'  and  'Jerome;'  one  sometimes  finds  in- 
volved sentences  and  careless  phrasing;  but  the 
reality,  intensity,  and  force  of  the  novel  are  re- 
markable. The  author  has  here  proven  beyond 
question  that  she  does  not  need  her  old  adjuncts 
of  New  England  dialect  and  New  Enjg^land  en- 
vironment She  is  perfectly  at  home  in  a  New 
Jersey  suburban  town  in  probing  subtly  into  mo- 
tive and  in  creating  substantial  characters  whose 
actions  and  lives  are  interesting  to  the  psycholo- 
gist and  the  novel-lover  alike." 

*Thb  Debtor.      By  Mary  B.  Wilkins-Freeman.      Harper 
&  Brothers. 


RECENT  FICTION  AND  THE  CRITICS 


109 


The  Proridence  Journal  finds  the  tale  "in  many 
ways  a  painful  study,"  but  goes  on  to  say:' 

"The  love  story  of  the  joanfer  daughter  is  the 
bright  ^>ot  in  the  narrative;  in  the  scenes  with 
her  father  and  with  her  lover  her  character  de- 
velops; she  is,  on  the  whole,  the  most  fascinating 
heroine  whom  Miss  Willdns  has  ever  drawn. 
And  if  *TTie  Debtor"  cannot  be  called  a  pleasant 
novel,  it  is  better  than  that;  it  has  a  true  grip 
upon  life  and  it  deals  with  actual  conditions. 


A  good  many  hopes  have  been  built  upon  Booth 
Tarldngton,  and  nothing  that  he  has  done  lately 
has   seemed   to  the  critics  to  go  quite   so   far 


The 


.»  toward  their  realization  as  his  new 


Camquest  novel*  There  is  quite  a  chorus  of 
off  enthusiastic  praise,  and  most  of  the 

Canaan.  reviewers  agree  that  it  is  the  best 
norel  he  has  yet  produced.  As  a  serial  in 
Harper's  it  attracted  much  interest  and  held  it 
to  the  end.  It  is  another  story  of  an  Indiana 
town,  with  any  number  of  provincial  types  drawn 
as  from  life.  We  agree  with  the  critic  of  the  Provi- 
dence Journal  that  the  story  itself  is  rather  crude, 
and  the  doubt  which  intrudes  itself  upon  a  re- 
Ticwcr  in  the  New  York  Times  whether  there 
could  be  quite  so  stony-hearted  a  town  as  Canaan 
seems  justified.  The  Springfield  Republican 
thinks  the  work  is  not  an  inch  beyond  'prentice 
work,  and  the  story  "distorted  at  almost  every 
point";  but  it  admits  that  it  is,  none  the  less,  "de- 
cidedly interesting."  The  popularity  of  the  book 
seems  already  assured.  Note  the  enthusiasm  of 
the  following  from  Book  News: 

**It  is  the  welding  of  beauty  and  strength  in 
the  work  of  a  writer  who  has  conscientiously,  un- 
h^sting,  unresting,  pursued  an  ideal,  and  achieved 
a  masterpiece.  For  The  Conquest  of  Canaan' 
is  a  great  American  novel;  the  finest  fruit  of  a 
Htcrary  and  imaginative  art;  a  piece  of  American 
Hfe  in  all  its  sahency  of  characterization  and  en- 
Tironmcnt ;  a  contribution  to  the  permanent  litera- 
tnre  of  our  country.  The  stamp  of  reality  and 
genius  attests  its  genuineness  as  a  human  docu- 
ment conceived  and  crystallized  in  the  alembic  of 
the  ima^nation." 

The  Outlook  is  not  far  behind  in  its  praise : 

"  'The  Conquest  of  Canaan'  has  not  lost  the  note 
of  refinement,  but  it  has  gained  in  solidity  and 
distinctness  of  outline;  it  is  an  original  story  in 
point  of  plot;  it  is  witty,  spirited,  romantic,  and 
beautifally  human  in  its  spirit.  It  will  be  read  for 
its  interest  and  its  charm ;  it  ought  to  be  read  also 
br  the  Pharisees,  the  uncharitable,  the  hard  and 
har^-minded,  of  whom  society  is  far  too  full." 

Joe  Louden,  the  hero,  is  as  a  boy  a  scapegrace, 
gets  a  bad  name  in  Canaan  and  runs  away  to 
avoid  the  penalty  of  one  of  his  pranks.  When 
be  retnmsy  years  later,  having  been  a  good  deal 


of  a  vagabond,  but  having  in  the  end  equipped 
himself  as  a  lawyer,  he  finds  that  the  respectable 
class  are  all  against  him.  His  interest  in  the 
shady  classes — a  sort  of  unconfessed  missionary 
interest — ^intensifies  the  hostility  of  Canaan  so- 
ciety, but  Joe  sticks  to  his  work  as  a  lawyer  and 
gets  plenty  of  clients;  but  the  loneliness  of  his 
life  leads  to  drink  and  he  is  in  a  fair  way  to 
justify  his  bad  name  when  the  heroine  appears 
on  the  scene.  She  is  the  kind  of  a  heroine  you 
wish  to  read  about  She  was  his  playmate  in  his 
scapegrace  days,  and  when  she  returns  from 
Paris,  an  accomplished  artist,  wealthy,  beautiful 
and  tactful,  she  is  as  loyal  as  ever  to  Joe.  How 
her  tact  and  Joe's  courage  effect  the  conquest  of 
Canaan  and  the  downfall  of  the  local  magnate, 
Martin  Pike,  is  the  burden  of  the  tale,  which,  as 
the  Philadelphia  Press  says,  is  "to  be  read  with 
unremitting  interest."  Of  the  hero  and  heroine. 
The  Times  (New  York)  says:  "A  novelist  sel- 
dom creates  two  more  fascinating  young  people. 
Heroes  and  heroines  are  a  stiff-necked  genera- 
tion, usually  refusing  to  live  up  in  any  wise  to 
their  author's  praises  of  them;  but  Joe  and  Ariel 
are  altogether  humanly  delightful,  made  up  of 
fine  traits,  wide  in  their  interests,  not  merely 
puppets  of  perfection  worked  by  the  one  string 
of  the  universal  passion."  It  is,  the  same  critic 
concludes,  one  of  "that  rare  inner  circle  of  books 
which  satisfy— books  with  a  soul." 


Mr.  H.  G.  Wells  has  more  than  one  string  to 
his  literary  bow.  The  pseudo-scientific  novel,  a  la 
Jules  Verne,  is  one  string  and  that  of  social  satire 
is  another,  and,  many  think,  even 
Kipps  a  better  string.  "Kipps"*  is  a  so- 
cial satire,  not  too  severe  or  bitter, 
but  sweetened  with  fun  and  human  interest.  It 
reminds  one  in  many  ways  of  Judge  Warren's 
"Ten  Thousand  a  Year"  and  his  Tittlebat  Tit- 
mouse; but  the  hero  in  "Kipps"  never  loses  our 
respect  even  in  his  most  ludicrous  exhibitions. 
Like  Titmouse,  Kipps  is  a  draper's  clerk  who 
comes  unexpectedly  into  possession  of  wealth — 
twelve  hundred  pounds  a  year.  He  can  easily 
change  the  spelling  of  his  name  to  Cuyps,  but 
his  aitches  and  his  manners  are  more  in- 
tractable and  render  him  in  the  social  circles 
he  now  moves  in  as  miserable  as  a  fish  out  of 
water.  He  ends  by  running  away  from  a  fashion- 
able dinner  party  and  from  the  young  woman  who 
has  set  her  cap  for  him  and,  in  full  evening  dress, 
hunts  up  a  winsome  parlormaid  he  had  loved  in 
his  apprentice  days  and  proposes  to  her  in  the 
kitchen.    And  Mr.  Wells  makes  you  think  well  of 


*Tn  Camavm&r  or  Cahaam. 
Harper  «  Bnyther^. 


By    Booth    Tarklngton. 


•KiPPS: 


Thb   Story  of   a    Simplb  Soul.  [By  H. 
Charles  Scribner's  Son8< 


G' 


no 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


his  hero  for  doing  just  so.  The  discriminating 
lover  of  good  literature,  The  Sun  thinks,  is  sure 
to  be  delighted  with  the  crisp  and  vigorous  style 
of  the  story,  its  whimsical  and  homely  conceits, 
its  genuine  pathos  and  humor  and  its  sincerity  of 
realism.  "Why  try  to  make  of  a  man  a  some- 
thing he  was  never  intended  to  be?"  is  the  moral 
of  the  story  as  interpreted  by  Book  News,  and 
the  answer  Mr.  Wells  gives  us  is  "a  picture  of 
life  drawn  without  obscuring  flourishes  or  the 
lights  and  shadows  so  placed  as  to  twist  the  truth 
into  an  'artistic  effect.'"  All  the  English  critics 
speak  admiringly  of  the  story.  Kipps,  the  hero, 
is  well  entitled  to  be  called  a  creation,  The  Satur- 
day Review  thinks,  and,  Mr.  Wells  "treats  him 
with  fine  skill,  sympathetically,  humanely,  ten- 
derly, never  savagely  as  Warren  did  his  Tit- 
mouse." The  characters  of  the  book  live,  says 
the  London  Times,  and  the  author  never,  for  a 
single  page,  fails  to  be  amusing.  The  Athenaeum 
concludes  its  review  as  follows: 

"In  this  engrossing  story  Mr.  Wells  comes  to 
his  own  once  more.  He  has  set  aside  the  specu- 
lations of  scientific  imagination,  and  deals  with 
warm  human  life  to-day.  This  is  the  work  which 
was  designed  for  him  in  the  end,  and  we  cannot 
doubt  that  he  will  continue  to  devote  himself 
to  it."  

Kate  Douglas  Wiggin  has  not,  in  her  latest 
book,*  quite  met  the  expectations  of  her  ad- 
mirers. Not  exactly  that  they  love  her  Rose  less, 
but  love  her  Rebecca  and  Pe- 
Rose  o*         nelope  more.    The  Times  (New 

the  River  York)  concedes  the  "graceful 
sprightliness"  of  the  new  book 
and  would  have  found  much  in  it  to  praise  if  it 
were  a  first  book  by  a  new  writer.  As  it  is,  the 
critic  experiences  a  "distinct  disappointment." 
Kate  Blackiston  Stille,  reviewing  the  book  in 
Book  News,  finds  "generous  feelings,"  "alert 
imagination"  and  "the  poet's  love  of  nature"  in 
the  novel;  but  she  also  uses  the  words  "rather 
disappointing."  The  Independent  calls  it  "a 
pretty  story  pleasantly  told,"  and  adds  with  a 
touch  of  real  enthusiasm :  "We  do  not  remember 
a  dearer  little  house  in  fiction  than  the  one  which 
Stephen  made  ready  for  the  rose  of  a  girl  who 
was  made  to  bloom  within  its  walls." 

A  reviewer  in  the  London  Academy  seems  to 
be  very  greatly  charmed  with  the  story.    He  says : 

"The  thread  of  this  story  is  so  slender  that  it  is 
almost  imperceptible.  A  touch  of  jealousy,  a 
lovers*  quarrel,  a  lovers'  meeting  at  the  journey's 
end,  and  you  have  the  matter  in  a  nutshell;  but 
you  have  it  without  any  hint  of  the  charm  that 
holds  you  from  first  page  to  last  Miss  Wiggin 
has  gone  back  to  America  and  given  us  an  idyl 

*  Rose  o'  thb  Rivbr.     By  Kate  Douglas  Wiggin.     Hough- 
ton, Miffiin  ft  Co. 


of  the  Saco  and  of  the  lumbermen  who  ply  their 
dangerous  trade  there.  The  river  is  the  settings 
of  the  story  and  the  oeople  on  its  banks  are  seen 
in  the  light  of  its  beauty,  its  strength,  its  sudden 
passions.  But  Miss  Wiggin  touches  lightly  on 
the  tragedies  of  life.  She  sees  a  vigorous,  happy 
race  making  homes  on  her  river  banks :  she  shows 
you  their  failings  kindly  and  their  virtues  with 
real  belief.  Yet  her  optimism  is  not  of  the  exas- 
perating, unpersuasive  quality  that  has  lost  all 
sense  of  proportion  and  cannot  distinguish  bad 
from  good.  .  .  .  All  Miss  Wiggin's  men  and 
women  are  alive,  and,  when  she  wishes  it,  lovable. 
Rose  herself  is  as  glowing  and  fragrant  as  her 
namesake  flowers  running  riot  in  the  garden  of 
her  old  home  and  on  the  wall-paper  of  the  new 
one  she  comes  to  in  the  end  as  bride." 

The  London  Athenaeum  speaks  of  the  book 
as  "slight  and  mildly  interesting."  Our  own 
Critic  classes  it  among  the  pot-boilers,  and  The 
Literary  Digest  calls  it  a  "skimpy  little  bit  of 
sentimentality,"  for  whose  "cheap  banality"  the 
author  ought  to  apologize.  Robert  Bridges  in 
Collier's,  on  the  other  hand,  terms  it  "an  idyllic 
love  story"  and  The  Outlook  thinks  it  is  "spon- 
taneous and  fascinating." 

Nobody  takes  Mr.  McCutcheon's  latest  story* 
very  seriously,  but  then  it  is  evident  that  the 
author  never  intended  that  it   should  be  taken 

seriously.     It   is   an   amusing   ex- 
Nedra        travaganza.    Nedra  is  the  name  of 

an  island  in  the  Philippine  group 
inhabited  by  cannibals.  Mr.  Hugh  Ridgeway,  a 
young  Chicago  millionaire,  is  shipwrecked  on  this 
island  together  with  Lady  Tennys,  who  is  Eng- 
lish, you  know,  and  whose  husband  is  drowned 
in  the  shipwreck.  A  dreadful  fight  ensues  on  the 
island  between  two  tribes  of  cannibals  to  decide 
which  tribe  shall  secure  possession  of  the  two 
strangers.  When  that  is  settled,  Hugh  and  the 
lady,  instead  of  being  eaten,  are  deified,  and  for 
a  year  rule  over  the  tribe  as  absolute  sovereigns. 
Then  they  get  to  Manila.  Hugh  finds  there  the 
young  lady  to  whom  he  was  engaged,  and  with 
whom  he  had  run  away  from  Chicago  to  escape 
a  fashionable  wedding.  Accidents  had  prevented 
their  being  married  before  embarking  on  the  ship, 
and  now  they  find  that  neither  wishes  to  marry 
the  other,  and  everything  turns  out  all  right  all 
right.  The  story  seems  to  a  reviewer  in  Every- 
body's a  trifle  less  glittering  in  its  imaginings 
than  Mr.  McCutcheon's  "Graustark"  is,  but  the 
same  reviewer  confesses  a  gladness  that  has  not 
been  restrained  in  the  perusal  of  the  tale.  "Im- 
agine this  story  set  off  with  cleverness  and  vivid- 
ness," says  The  World  To -Day,  "and  you  have 
one  of  the  most  attractive  examples  of  the  lighter 
fiction  of  the  season." 
^Nbdra.  By  Geor^  Barr  McCutcheon.    Dodd^  M«Ad  A  Co* 


The  Three  Elms 


III 


This  powerful  little  tale  is  by  an  English  writer  whose  name  is  just  becoming  known,  at 
least  on  this  side  the  Atlantic — Mr.  Henry  Normanby.  This  story  and  several  other  of  his 
stories,  all  quite  short,  have  lately  appeared  in  The  Grand  Magazine,  and  though  we  make  it 
a  point  usually  to  publish  only  such  stories  as  are  not  otherwise  easily  accessible  to  American 
readers,  we  make  an  exception  in  this  case.  Mr.  Normanby  is  worth  knowing,  and  this  little  story, 
striking  into  a  new  vein,  seems  to  us  to  merit  wider  acquaintance. 


They  were  of  equal  age  and  beauty,  the  three 
elms,  and  the  memory  of  man  failed  and  became 
extinct  before  it  reached  back  through  the  years 
to  the  hour  of  their  nativity.  They  were  gracious 
to  the  sight,  and  their  leaves  made  slumbrous 
music  in  the  soft  night  breeze.  A  great  brother- 
hood of  soul  was  theirs,  a  sublime  patience,  an 
unfailing  charity  to  every  living  thing.  They 
stretched  their  arms  hospitably,  and  the  birds  of 
the  air  came  into  them  and  made  them  their 
home.  They  lifted  their  heads  in  the  stmlight 
and  whispered  their  secrets  beneath  the  moon. 
The  compassionate  rain  brought  them  their  peace 
and  the  harsh  winds  of  winter  moved  them  not 
to  anger.  In  the  days  of  their  youth  young  chil- 
dren climbed  about  them  and  made  merry  in  their 
branches,  and  in  the  fulness  of  time  grew  up  to 
manhood  and  went  their  ways,  forgetting  them. 
But  the  three  elms  remained  and  remembered. 

Together  they  grew  in  their  stateliness  and 
strength,  and  toil  was  not  theirs,  neither  sorrow, 
nor  suffering:.  War  and  strife  passed  by  them 
unheeding,  leaving  them  to  their  august  repose. 
Theirs  was  an  added  glory  to  the  landscape,  a 
culminating  beauty  to  the  wide  stretch  of  ver- 
durous earth.  In  the  deep  shade  bestowed  by 
them  tired  cattle  found  coolness  and  rest,  and 
>oung  lambs  nestled  therein,  and  the  wayfarer 
unhurdcned  himself  and  slept.  Beneath  them,  in 
the  rich  autunuial  noondays,  aged  children  of  the 
earth  sat  in  contentment,  becoming  drowsily 
reminiscent,  telling  of  the  days  of  their  adoles- 
cence, far  back  in  the  hazy  region  of  the  past. 

Removed  from  all  discord  of  commerce,  they 
towered  high  and  broadened  nobly,  and  the  green 
of  their  leaves  was  unsullied  by  the  mire  of  cities 
and  the  noxious  exhalations  of  factories.  In  the 
long  June  nights  the  benediction  of  their  arms 
was  given  freely  to  the  lovers  who  plighted  troth 
in  their  spacious  midst,  and  at  eventide,  in  the 
great  silence  of  winter,  having  cast  off  their  gar- 
ment of  leaves,  they  slumbered. 

It  was  theirs,  each  one  of  them,  to  have  an  aus- 
tere destiny,  to  take  great  part  in  the  triumphant 
march  of  the  world,  to  determine  the  tragedies 
of  the  lives  of  men,  to  be  the  agents  of  love  and 


sorrow,  of  despair  and  death.  They  knew  it  not, 
the  three  elms,  as  they  grew  together  in  the  sun- 
light, stretching  out  their  long  arms,  touching  and 
caressing  each  other. 

The  slow  years  passed  away,  beckoning  to  the 
children  of  the  earth  who  unwillingly  followed 
them,  and  the  three  elms  grew  old.  Many  genera- 
tions of  men  had  lived  and  died,  and  the  hand  of 
Change  lay  disquietingly  upon  the  land.  A  rail- 
way had  marred  their  peace  and  broken  their 
solitude  and  the  horrible  din  of  machinery 
drowned  the  sibillant  lisping  of  their  voices. 
These  innovations  weighed  upon  them  with  ex- 
ceeding heaviness,  their  brows  became  furrowed, 
their  limbs  bent  and  distorted,  and  the  bright 
green  of  their  leaves  dull  and  discolored;  their 
hands  trembled  as  stricken  of  the  palsy,  and  they 
nodded  feebly  and  without  meaning. 

Yet  high  above  the  discordant  railway  and  the 
reverberating  workshops  they  towered  magnifi- 
cently. Still  they  stretched  out  their  majestic 
arms,  and  still  they  gave  an  added  glory  to  the 
landscape,  a  culminating  beauty  to  the  earth. 

At  length,  in  the  full  blaze  of  high  summer, 
men  approached  the  trees  and  stood  in  their 
serene  shade.  They  spoke  together  long  and 
earnestly,  as  those  who  do  business  in  mer- 
chandise, and  measured  them  with  tapes  and 
rods.  With  coarse  speech  and  rude  jest  they  laid 
sacrilegious  hands  on  the  fathers  of  the  forest, 
and  the  three  elms  knew  that  their  hour  had 
come.  Sublime  in  their  stately  grace  and  dignity 
they  asked  no  mercy,  no  consideration.  It  was 
sufficient  that  it  had  to  be.  Presently  the  men 
returned  with  axes  with  which  they  struck  at  the 
trees,  foully  and  insolently.  The  other  trees 
looked  on  in  dull  amazement.  Blow  after  blow 
the  men  struck,  paused  to  rest  awhile,  then  smote 
again  and  again.  For  a  space  the  Patriarchs  gave 
no  sign,  then  the  wind  blew  upon  them  and  they 
groaned,  for  the  wind,  which  hitherto  had  as- 
sailed them  in  vain,  now  had  power  upon  them 
and  wrought  with  it  grievously  to  their  undoing. 
Still  the  men  went  on  striking  and  cutting  into 
them,  deeply  and  cruelly,  and  the  wind,  gathering 
in   resolution,  pressed  heavily  and  bowed  their 


iia 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


majestic  heads.  They  swayed  awhile,  leaned 
widely,  then,  with  a  stupendous  uproar  of  tearing 
wood,  fell  lifeless  upon  the  earth.  Side  by  side 
they  lay  in  their  calamity,  even  as  they  had  stood 
together  in  their  strength  and  beauty. 

Nevertheless,  it  was  supremely  theirs  to  have 
an  austere  destiny,  to  march  magnificently  through 
the  centuries,  to  symbolise  the  tragedies  of  the 
lives  of  men,  to  be  the  august  agents  and  accom- 
plices of  love  and  sorrow,  of  desolation  and  death. 

Their  broad,  beneficent  arms  no  longer  stretched 
widely;  their  bright  green  leaves  no  longer  whis- 
pered sweet  secrets  beneath  the  moon;  their  ma- 
jestic crests  no  longer  towered  above  the  world. 
Shorn  of  their  strength,  disfigured  and  mutilated, 
they  lay  silent  upon  the  moist  green  earth. 

Presently  they  were  borne  away  in  carts  to  the 
railway,  chained  ignomintously  to  vile  trucks,  and 
dragged  swiftly  through  the  peaceful  country  to 
a  great  and  turbulent  city.  Here  they  were 
separated.  It  was  the  last  of  their  associated 
misfortunes.  Through  all  the  changes  of  the 
fateful  years  they  had  grown  up  together.  Every 
joy  and  every  sorrow,  every  triumph  and  every 
vicissitude,  had  been  equally  shared  by  them. 
The  same  benign  showers  had  fallen  upon  them; 
the  same  soft  winds  had  caressed  them;  the  same 
flowers  had  breathed  over  them;  the  same  fair 
children  had  gamboled  beneath  their  branches; 
the  same  dews  had  cooled  them;  the  same  birds 
had  slept  in  the  shelter  of  their  leaves.  Now,  in 
their  death,  they  were  divided;  the  Fates  had 
spoken  and  the  austere  destiny  of  each  was  about 
to  be  fulfilled. 

The  first  was  taken  to  a  large  prison,  and  of 
it  was  builded  a  gibbet,  whereon  doomed  men, 
haggard-eyed,  were  strangled.  It  was  cast  about 
with  horror  and  darkness  and  desolation.  Men 
passed  it  shudderingly,  with  averted  eyes;  women 
wept  at  the  thought  of  it;  children  were  not  al- 
lowed to  look  upon  it;  the  very  hangman  hurried 
away  from  its  appalling  presence.  The  lost  men 
who  were  taken  to  it  saw  in  its  face  the  abandon- 
ment of  hope.  The  light  of  the  sun  never  more 
fell  upon  it;  no  longer  did  it  hearken  to  the 
sound  of  laughter  and  song;  not  once  again  did 
the  pure  air  of  heaven  whisper  its  benison  over 
its  head.  Yet,  since  it  stood  as  the  dread  symbol 
of  human  justice,  since  by  its  means  was  carried 
out  the  due  punishment  of  sin,  and  since  it  alone 
heard  the  last  whisper  of  dying  men,  its  destiny 
was  austere. 

The  second  was  purchased  by  ^.  shipwright,  and 
of  it  was  fashioned  a  fishing-boat.  It  was  dedi- 
cated to  the  high  office  of  Toil,  and  by  night  and 
by  day,  in  summer  and  winter,  sunshine  and  rain, 
wind  and  bitter  sleet,  it  sailed  the  sea,  spoiling  it 


of  its  treasure  of  food,  doing  battle  with  it  val- 
iantly for. ever.  It  was  the  home  of  lonely  men, 
going  with  them  wheresoever  they  went,  protect- 
ing them  from  the  violence  of  the  tempest  and 
the  unreasoned  raging  of  the  sea.  It  carried  for 
them  that  which  they  perilously  wrested  from  the 
clutch  of  the  waters,  and  they  put  their  trust  in 
it,  placing  their  lives  in  its  keeping,  loving  it. 
In  no  wise  did  it  betray  their  sublime  faith,  for, 
when  at  length,  after  long  years  of  patient  labor, 
borne  always  without  anger  and  without  com- 
plaint, the  might  of  the  sea  was  greater  than  it 
could  withstand,  and  the  wild  rush  of  the  wind 
swifter  than  it  could  out-flee — ^when,  on  a  tem- 
pestuous night,  its  strength  failed  and  the  sea 
conquered,  it  perished  with  them.  Together  they 
went  down  into  the  uttermost  deeps  of  the  sea, 
lying  cold  and  forgotten  in  the  great  waters. 

Yet,  since  it  performed  its  task  nobly  and  with- 
out hope  of  reward,  since  women  blessed  it  and 
men  trusted  to  it  not  in  vain,  and  since,  at  the 
end,  it  perished  without  fear  and  undeserving  of 
reproach,  its  destiny  was  austere. 

The  third  and  last  elm  was  hurried  away  at 
night  to  the  most  squalid  part  of  a  squalid  town, 
where  dwelt  an  old  man — ragged,  mole-like, 
cadaverous.  He  worked  long  and  arduously,  and 
often  into  the  deep  watches  of  the  night,  for  the 
merchandise  wherein  he  had  dealings  was  in  con- 
stant and  hurried  demand.  His  work-place  was 
a  cellar,  damp  and  dreary,  and  ill-lit  by  a  dingy 
oil-lamp.  He  had  a  wife  and  children,  and  he 
buried  the  dead  to  support  the  living.  Day  after 
day,  and  month  after  month,  and  year  after  year 
he  toiled,  this  old  man,  making  coffins  of  elm, 
wherein  were  hidden  the  dead,  that  men  might 
behold  them  no  more.  His  customers  were  the 
poor  and  broken  in  spirit,  and  his  cellar  was  wet 
with  the  tears  of  the  afilicted.  With  a  rare  fore- 
sight he  made  his  own  coffin,  that  his  widow 
might  be  spared  the  expense  of  purchasing  it. 
To  him  came  the  tree,  fresh  from  the  fragrance 
and  living  sweetness  of  the  sunlit  fields.  He  cut 
it  up  into  short  pieces,  and  of  them  fashioned  his 
wares.  It  made  many  of  them,  and  many  was 
not  enough.  And  so,  bit  by  bit,  it  was  taken  away 
and  returned  to  the  earth  whence  it  came;  and 
the  last  coffin  that  was  carried  out  of  that  dread- 
ful cellar  took  with  it  him  who  had  fashioned  it. 

Yet,  since  it  alone  assuaged  the  suffering  of 
their  pain,  lifted  the  burden  from  the  heavy- 
laden,  and  brought  the  weary  into  their  appointed 
rest;  since  its  place  was  the  place  of  mourning 
and  lamentation,  its  speech  the  low  cry  of  the 
afflicted,  and  its  silence  the  unbroken  stillness  of 
the  grave;  since  for  ever  with  it  marched  surely 
Death,  its  destiny  was  austere  indeed. 


"3 


Under  the  Umbrella 


The  writer  of  this  sunny  little  love-story,  Enrico  Castehiuovo,  has  been  for  more  than 
thirty  years  one  of  the  most  beloved  authors  of  Italian  fiction.  He  excels  especially  in  the  short 
story,  although  he  has  written  a  number  of  larger  novels  that  are  among  the  most  widely  read 
in  Italy,  the  first  one  to  gain  him  general  recognition  having  been  "II  Quademo  della  Zia" 
(Aunt's  Picture).  A  German  critic,  Dr.  Siegfried  Lederer,  says  of  him:  "The  themes  of  Cas- 
tehiuoYo's  compositions  are  extremely  simple  and  free  from  all  artificiality,  but  he  has  a  fresh- 
ness and  a  heartiness  about  him  that  always  wins  the  reader.  Throughout  his  works  there  is 
r^ected  a  Idnd,  gentle,  characteristic  note."  Castelnuovo  has  occupied  a  professor's  chair  at  the 
Royal  School  of  Commerce  in  Venice  since  the  year  1872.  This  story  is  translated  for  us  by 
Thomas  Seltzer. 


A  disUnce  of  more  than  three  kilometres  still 
separated  them  from  their  summer  home  when 
it  commenced  to  rain. 

Signora  Susanna  looked  up,  extended  her  arm 
and  received  the  first  drops  on  the  back  of  her 
hand  and  on  her  face.  Then  she  said  to  her 
nq>hew,  a  boy  of  between  fourteen  and  fifteen 
years  of  age:  'Terrudo,  jump  over  quick  to  old 
Martha,  and  see  if  she  can't  let  us  have  an  um- 
brella for  a  while.  You  stay  here,  Cecelia.  Now, 
be  careful  you  don't  get  the  mud  all  over  you." 

So  saying,  Signora  Susanna  opened  her  little 
umbrella  and  said  to  her  daughter : 

"Come  tmder  my  umbrella  until  Ferrucio  gets 
back.  It  will  not  do  you  much  good,  but  it  will 
keep  oflF  a  little  of  the  rain." 

"No,  mamma,"  returned  Cecelia,  "it  is  no  use 
for  two  to  try  to  get  under  that  tiny  umbrella." 

Ferrucio  was  not  long  in  reappearing,  breath- 
lessly followed  at  a  distance  of  several  feet  by  a 
woman  who  carried  a  huge  red  umbrella  under 
her  arm. 

"Would  you  not  rather  stop  over  at  my  house 
for  a  little  while?"  inquired  the  newcomer  po- 
litely. "A  shower  like  this  can't  last  very  long, 
I  am  sure.  I  think  that  would  be  best,  signora. 
But  if  you  prefer  to  go  at  once  I  brought  you  this 
umbrella.  It  is  a  poor  umbrella,  because  we  are 
poor  people  ourselves,  but  it  is  the  only  one  I 
have." 

"Thank  you,  Martha,"  answered  Signora 
Susanna  cordially.  "I  shduld  be  glad  to  stay  at 
your  house;  but  it  is  late  and  dinner  is  waiting 
for  us.  I  will  take  your  umbrella  and  let  you  have 
it  back  soon.    Thank  you,  thank  you." 

Ferrucio  and  Cecelia  exchanged  smiles  as  they 
regarded  the  large  umbrella  of  the  woman,  whose 
wings  seemed  calculated  to  give  shelter  to  an  en- 
tire family. 

"Everybody  arm-in-arm  1  Everybody  arm-in- 
arm?"  exclaimed  the  girl,  clapping  her  hands. 

"What  art  you  thinking  of,  child?"  retorted  her 
mother,    '^ou  take  my  parasol  and  Ferrucio  will 


hold  the  large  umbrella  and  be  my  gentleman." 

This  arrangement  by  no  means  stiited  the  two 
cousins,  whose  faces  elongated  several  centi- 
metres ;  but  the  signora  did  not  observe  it  because 
at  that  moment  her  attention  happened  to  be 
drawn  away  by  the  noise  of  an  approaching  car- 
riage. 

It  was  the  buggy  of  Dr.  Lonzi 

"Signora  Mellini,"  cried  the  doctor,  stopping 
his  horse  and  putting  out  his  head  from  the  buggy, 
"do  you  want  to  come  into  my  carriage?  I  have 
a  place  for  you  here." 

"Really?"  answered  Signora  Susanna.  "If  you 
assure  me  that  you  will  not  go  out  of  your  way 
on  my  account  I  will  accept  your  kind  offer." 

"Not  at  all.  I  am  going  in  your  direction. 
And  at  all  events,  I  would  not  leave  you  out  in 
the  rain  that  way.  I  am  only  sorry  I  cannot 
accommodate  the  young  lady  and  the  young  gen- 
tleman." 

"The  young  lady  and  the  young  gentleman  have 
no  objection  to  walking  on  foot,"  said  Cecelia, 
with  a  smile  of  contentment. 

And,  returning  her  mother's  parasol,  she 
plunged  under  the  ample  firmament  of  the  red 
umbrella. 

"This  girl  will  remain  a  child  until  extreme  old 
age,"  remarked  her  mother  as  she  was  helped  into 
the  carriage  by  the  doctor;  and,  turning  to  the 
young  couple,  she  added :  "Now  don't  fool  around, 
but  go  straight  home.  Ferrucio,  you  are  the 
younger  of  the  two,  but  you  are  the  wiser,  never- 
theless. Take  care  of  your  cousin.  I  entrust  her 
to  you." 

Dr.  Lonzi  shook  the  reins  over  his  horse's  neck 
and  he  started  off  on  a  run. 

"Did  you  hear?"  said  Ferrucio,  with  an  air  of 
importance.  "You  are  entrusted  to  my  care. 
Now,  then,  respect  and  awe  in  the  presence  of 
your  superior!    Do  you  understand?" 

"Oh!"  exclaimed  Cecelia,  "what  a  formidable 
cavalier.  I  can  push  you  into  that  ditch  with  one 
turn  of  my  hand." 


"4 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


•!  should  like  to  see  it,"  answered  Femido, 
irritated  at  this  reflection  on  his  manly  strength. 

"Will  you  attempt  to  deny,  perhaps,  that  I  am 
at  least  two  inches  taller  than  you  are?" 

"That  is  a  calumny.  We  haven't  measured  our- 
selves this  fall." 

"No,  not  this  fall,  but  last  fall." 

•There  is  the  rub.  You  see  I  have  grown  in 
^.^'T'^.  ^*'"  '•*^'  "*"'  «  '«"»  not  in  height." 

.J^!i.  r""  ?  "•*  *""**"»>'  °^  •»»  «>««" 
seemed  to  h.m  such  a  stupendous  piece  of  audacity 
that  he  regretted  it  before  it  was  well  out  of  his 
mwith.  and  he  blushed  and  lowered  his  eyes 

Jl  *  TT*  ^'^  ^'^  '""'"■''«>  "  <»on««  «  to 
^^L  H       u''  ?""*"  °'  ^''*  "*^'  »  ''he 

t^r^tb^r "  """  """"""■"•^ «'-««'  -- 

y«?^'t  Jp'''"  •""''  *^'  '^'"'*  «>»«  o*- 

«o  easily  from  this  embarrassment. 
"What  account?" 
"Why,  that  about  my  stature  " 
"You  will  get  to  be  a  regular  Goliath,  I  dare 

Z"  ^Z  M 'I'  "^^  '""'''^  ^'"*»*'  «»  you  or  can 
you  not  hold  that  famous  umbrella  decently?" 

the  .Ih?.r"**^'"'  ''"'  "^^  ^^™«°  »»naged 

.We^jnaafler  than  his  cousin.    To  make  matters 
Zl?  «  *"  "^  '*~"«  *«  »'  «very  gust 

^n  ro2.'"""''^ '-----'<•-- 

relrTedTi'  '''"'"■''*  •*"  "^  '«"'  »^'^-•' 
^And  I  on  my  left,"  returned  Ferrudo. 
Wll  you  let  me  try?"  said  the  young  lady. 
l.tt  you  have  the  umbrella?" 
"Yes,  for  five  minutes." 
"I  guess  I  won't." 
"Come,  be  a  gentleman." 
"I  tell  you  I  won't." 
But  Cecelia,  who  was  obstinate  by  nature  did 

force  what  she  could  not  do  by  kind  words 
She  began  to  pull  ,t  one  way  and  another  umil  the 

dosed  up  all  of  a  sudden,  catching  the  heads  of 
the  two  contestants  as  in  a  trap 

When  thqr  finally  succeeded'  in  reopening  it, 
Ferruco  had  his  hat  cocked  on  one  side  while 
Ceceba  was  altogether  in  a  state  of  disarrange- 
ment They  were  both  dripping  wet.  almost  as  if 
they  had  just  come  out  of  a  bath. 

"It  is  your  fault,"  cried  the  girl,  "you  savage!" 

"It  is  my  fault,  is  it?    Was  it  not  you  who " 

Continued  on  second  fair'  following. 


At  this  point,  however,  the  humor  of  the  sitna- 
tion  overtook  them,  and  the  two  cousins  looked 
cadi  other  in  the  face  and  Uughed  with  all  their 
might 

•^That  was  a  fine  blow  you  got  on  your  head." 
I  should  say  so.    I  guess  I  must  have  a  bump 
on  my  forehead."  *^ 

"And  I,  too,  here." 

"My  poor  little  Cecelia!"  cried  Fermcio 

'Don't  laugh  so."  said  Cecelia,  striking  up  a 
comic  attitude  of  alarm.  "If  you  shake  the  um- 
brella too  much  it  will  start  its  funny  tridc.  again 
and  will  shut  up." 

.n".?^'L.''T'*.'  ^"'^  '"•  ^«='''»'  *hen  I  come 
to  Uimk  of  It,  It  wasn't  sudi  a  bad  tridc  the  um- 
orella  played  on  us,  was  it?" 

Again  Fermcio  thought  that  he  allowed  him- 
self to  speak  too  rashly  and  he  flushed  red. 

Cecdia  darted  him  a  glance  in  which  there  was 
a  world  of  unconsdous  coquetry.    Then  disposing 
herself  to  a  resolute  mood  she  said:  "Come  now 
let  us  walk  the  rest  of  the  way  like  respectable 
people." 

She  passed  her  arm  again  through  that  of  her 
cavalier  and  drew  hersdf  up  against  him  as  dosely 
as  possible.  "That  is  the  way,"  she  said,  "now  I 
will  have  my  whole  body  under  cover." 

Ferrucio  fdt  a  kind  of  uneasiness,  a  discomfort 
that  he  had  never  experienced  before;  but  that 
discomfort  was  so  delidous  that  at  that  moment 
he  would  not  have  exchanged  it  for  anything  else 
in  the  world. 

And  Cecelia,  indimng  her  pretty  head  toward 
him,  spoke  to  him  as  she  had  never  spoken  to  him 
before  until  that  day,  as  one  speaks  not  to  a  boy 
and  a  playmate,  but  to  a  young  man  who  can  be 
taken  into  one's  confidence,  to  a  friend. 

Sedng  himsdf  finally  treated  as  an  equal  by  a 
young  lady  almost  fifteen  and  a  half  years  old  and 
so  very  pretty,  Ferrucio  was  beside  himsdf  with 
joy.  At  first  he  was  confused  and  embarrassed, 
but  gradually  his  tongue  was  unloosened  and  he 
began  to  speak  with  warmth  and  with  an  un- 
usual  emphasis. 

How  many  things  the  two  cousins  said  to  each 
other  under  that  umbrella!  They  recalled  the 
time  of  thdr  infancy  when  they  lived  in  the  same 
city  and  passed  many  hours  together  every  day 
quarreling  frequently,  occasionally  also  palling 
each  other's  hair,  but  never  able  to  remain  sei>- 
arated.  Later  the  families  went  to  live  in  different 
places,  and  Cecelia  and  Ferrucio  remembered  how 
bitterly  they  wept  on  the  day  of  thdr  separation. 
Yes,  they  wept  and  wept,  and  swore  that  ^ty 
would  write  each  other;  but  inasmuch  as  tfa^ 


CURRENT  UTERATURB  FOR  JANUARY.  1906 


A    Brain  Energu ! 


HORSFORDS 

ACID  PHOSPHATE 

A  boon  to  businessand  ^^' 

Professional  Men  a 

rEstormg  the  worn  ^ 

and  tired  bran  to  Its  '' 
normal  condition. 


m  POSTED 


MAN^ 


IS  A       f 
KREMENT2 


The  posted  man 
never  takes  the  just 
as  good  Bmion.     He     1^ 
insists  on  the  genuine  -^ 
one-piece    ''Krementz 
He  knows  the  qualiiv 
is  stamped  on  back  of 
button.     Made  in 
gold  and  rolled  plate. 
Easy  to  button  and  un 
button.   Stays  buttoned. 

If  damaged  in  any  way, 
exchange  It  for  a  new  one  at 
any  deaJer.     All   jewelers   and 
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The  purity  of  Moller's  Oil 
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5    Free  from  Taste 
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It  is  this  purity  that 
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The  genaine  is  sold  onlt  in 
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CURRENT  LITERATURE 


were  then  scarcely  able  to  make  strokes  with 
their  pens  there  was  no  possibility  of  keeping 
their  promise.  But  in  the  fall  Ferrucio  came  to 
pass  his  vacation  with  his  uncle  and  atmt,  and 
continued  to  do  so  every  year.  For  Cecelia  this 
was  the  pleasantest  season  of  the  year.  It  was  true 
that  there  was  an  interval  of  considerable  cooling 
down  when  Cecelia  seemed  to  be  bent  on  becom- 
ing a  steeple,  while  Ferrucio  evidently  had  made 
up  his  mind  to  stop  growing.  Then  she  really 
looked  down  upon  him.  Basta!  But  now  all 
this  humiliation  was  at  an  end,  and  Cecelia  faith- 
fully recognized  that  Ferrucio  would  not  cut  a 
bad  figure  at  her  side.  But  what  a  pity  it  was 
that  they  could  not  walk  arm-in-arm  the  whole 
year  round!  What  a  pity  that  they  could  not 
always  confide  their  intimate  thoughts  to  each 
other,  their  secret  desires,  the  little  sorrows 
of  Ufe! 

The  two  cousins,  passed  into  pathos.  Who 
knew  what  the  future  had  in  reserve  for  them? 
A  series  of  disillusionments,  perhaps,  premature 
death  I  Brr !  The  very  thought  of  it  made  their 
blood  freeze  in  their  veins. 

"Don't  even  say  it,  Cecelia!"  ejaculated  Fer- 
rucio. 

"You  would  really  be  grieved  if  I  died?" 

"Oh,  what  terrible  language!"  he  answered, 
turning  his  humid  eyes  upon  her. 


In  answer  she  pressed  his  hand  gently. 

This  sentimental  conversation  was  interrupted 
by  the  sound  of  a  voice. 

"Eh,  children,  why  don't  you  hurry?" 

It  was  Signora  Susanna  who  waited  for' them 
at  the  gate  of  the  villa  where  they  had  arrived 
without  noticing  it 

"And  now,"  continued  Signora  Susanna,  **do 
me  the  kindness  to  explain  why  you  keep  the 
umbrella  open?  It  is  twenty  minutes  since  it 
stopped  raining." 

"It  has  stopped  raining?"  exclaimed  Cecelia  and 
Ferrucio  in  great  surprise. 

"Yes,  of  course?  Have  you  been  wandering  in 
the  clouds?  I  am  not  surprised  at  Cecelia,  she 
never  knows  where  her  head  is;  but  you,  Fer- 
rucio, shame  on  you !  And  in  what  a  horri<l  con- 
dition you  are?  All  muddy  from  top  to  bottom  I 
Walk  up  quick  and  change  your  dress,-  and  then 
come  down  at  once  to  the  table.  You,  Ferrucio, 
give  this  umbrella  to  Menico  and  let  him  Return 
it  to  old  Martha  at  once.  For  all  the  good  it  has 
done  you  you  might  as  well  have  done  without  it" 

"No,  mamma,  believe  me,  it  was  very  nice  under 
this  umbrella,"  said  Cecelia  as  she  entered  the 
house. 

"You  little  rogue!"  whispered  Ferrucio  in  her 
ear  as  he  caught  up  beside  her  at  the  door. 


The   Maiden's  Quavering  Heart' 


Miss  Marie  was  half  romantic, -half  practical, 
and  a  rather  pretty  girl.  She  could  play  the 
piano  a  little,  knew  some  French,  was  always 
tastefully  dressed,  had  a  little  nose  gracefully  up- 
tilted,  and  eyes  that  were  sometimes  a  light  and 
sometimes  a  dark  blue. 

Once  she  had  a  remarkable  dream. 

She  saw  a  balance  suspended  from  the  sky. 
The  scales  moved  up  and  down  without  finding 
their  equilibrium. 

Two  angels  kept  putting  things  in  them. 

On  one  side  a  dark  angel  in  high  silk  hat  and 
frock  coat  put  in  diamonds,  pearls  and  gold. 

On  the  other  side  a  white,  glorified  angel  put 
in  tears,  sighs  and  songs. 

Above,  on  the  tongue  of  the  balance,  was  sus- 
pended her  own  heart.  She  recognized  it  in- 
stantly. 

•Translate  1  for  Current  L'Teraivrb  from  the  Yiddish  of 
J.  L.  Perez. 


This  little  heart  quavered  and  fluttered  and 
kept  moving  from  one  scale  to  the  other. 

"Which  will  you  have — 
The  ring  of  gold, 
The  music  of  song  ? 
Will  you  have  pearls  or  tears?" 

Thus  sang  the  angels,  and  the  little  heart 
quavered  and  knew  not  which  to  choose. 

Suddenly  she  thought  of  a  device — women 
think  even  in  their  dreams.  She  sprang  up  and 
seated  herself  upon  the  scale  containing  the 
pearls  and  diamonds  and  gold,  and  in  order  not 
to  weigh  down  the  scale  she  rested  her  head  upon 
the  other! 

Her  body  was  with  the  gold,  the  pearls  and 
the  diamonds;  her  head  amid  the  tears,  the 
sighs  and  the  songs. 

And  still  her  heart  kept  ceaselessly  vibrating 
from  one  to  the  other! 


Watches  of  Greatest  Utility 

FOR  MEN,  WOMEN  AND  CHILDREN 


The  INGERSOLL  Dollar  Chains 

Made  in  12  attractive  patterns  and  every  one 
foaranteed  to  contain  more  gold  than  any  chain 
3w»  can  hvy  for  $3.00.  Also  guaranteed  to  give 
Btisfaction. 

Sold  by  dealers  or  postpaid  by  tis  for  $1.00. 
Grctilar  free. 


We  take  it  that  readers  of  Current  Literature 
are  both  discriminating  and  practical  people.  They 
are  able  to  sift  out  the  essential  from  the  non- 
essential and  choose  by  the  light  of  reason. 

In  this  belief  we  submit  that  the  Ingersoll 
Watches  are  of  greater  practical  utility,  price,  serv- 
ice and  all  things  considered,  than  any  other  watch 
manufactured  in  this  country  or  abroad.  They  are 
worth  anybody's  consideration  from  the  standpoint 
of  reliability  alone  and  they  should  not  be  adversely 
prejudged  on  account  of  their  low  price. 


Watelies 

$1.22,  $1.25,  $1.25,  $2.21 

The  Function  of  a  watch  is  to  keep  time.  It  cannot  do 
less  and  be  a  real  watch.  No  watch  can  do  more  unless  it 
be  to  fill  the  place  of  a  piece  of  jewelry. 

Many  of  our  foremost  men  m  all  walks,  looking  at  the 
subject  merely  in  the  light  of  an  investment,  have  adopted 
the  Ingersoll  Watch.  Cost  with  them  is  not  the  first  con- 
sideration. They  recognize  that  the  Ingersoll  answers 
every  requirement  of  a  watch;  that  its  cost  is  less  than  the 
annual  cleaning  of  other  makes;  that  it  is  less  delicate  and 
less  liable  to  injury.  Cold  reason,  common  sense  and  true 
economy  dictate  their  choice,  why  not  yours? 

Look  for  INGERSOLL  on  the  Dial. 

Ingersoll  Watches  are  sold  by  merchants  in  every  town 
and  city,  or  the  latest  models  postpaid  by  the  makers.  They 
are  absolutely  guaranteed. 

For  the  sake  of  a  few  cents  extra  profit  some  dealers  offer 
a  substitute  which  is  not  a  watch  because  it  does  not  keep 
time.     Look  for  INQERSOLL  on  the  dial. 

Don't  "Stand"   For  Substitution. 
DESCRIPTION. 

The  movements  in  the  several  Ingersoll  Watches  arc  the  same.  As 
timekeepers  they  are  equally  reliable.  The  Dollar  Watch,  the  Eclipse 
($1.50)  and  the  Triumph  ($1.75)  arc  regular  modem  size  models.  The 
Ellipse  is  stemwmd  and  stemset  and  is  in  a  sohd  German-silver  case. 
The  Triumph  is  heavily  silver  plated.  All  are  made  also  in  Gold-plate  and 
Gunmetai  finishes. 

The  MIdret  is  our  new  ladies*  size  model.  It  is  stemwind  and  stemset 
and  is  regular  six-size.  It  is  the  greatest  watch  for  girls  and  small  boys, 
too.     Price  $2.00.     Booklet  free. 


ROBT.   H.  INGERSOLL  &  BRO., 


64    JEWELERS    COURT, 
NEW    YORK. 


vose 


HAVE  BEEN  ESTABLISHED 
54  YEARS 

and  are   receiving  more  fav- 
orable comments  to-day  from  an  art- 
iste standpoint  than  all  other  makes  combined. 

WE  CHALLENGE 
COMPARISONS. 

By  our  easy  payment  plan  every  family  in  moderate 
circumstances  can  own  a  vose  piano.  We  allow 
a  liberal  price  for  old  instruments  in  exchange,  and 
deliver  the  piano  hi  your  house  free  of  expense. 
You  can  deal  with  us  at  a  distant  point  tlie  same 
as  in  Boston.  Catalogue,  books, 
etc..  giving  full  hiformatlon 
mailed  free. 

.vose   &  SONS  PIANO  CO., 
1160  Boylston  St.,  Bostoo,  Mass. 


lANOS 


MENNENS 

BOilATCO  TALCUM 

TOILET  ^is^POYTDER 


Wlien  the  Snow  Flies 


I 


inri  biting,  ffiiitf  ■Erfnuirlnrnt  t^**  i1  m,  »i  if  l^SpinnrF^V  — Tt  \  ^rf.5 
the  ilin  J.vt  Hi;l'1.  A  i...iillv.'  rrE|>i  t^i  (-|lupp4Mt  fafmilj^ 
oIikObv  *n'l  Wll  skin  troUlllCB.     M'M>neii  ;(  U-an  «tHrrv 

Li  jt  — l>r  *ni!ff  nj^r  yi-j  prt  (htECJium^,  Vnt  ijIcc'iT.fvi'-hrrcor 
i<y  mail,,  ^JSC^.     Szriii  i-i  ftf^f.      Jrjr  AUfirtrn' s  i'f    'ff  Taicicttt, 

GERHARD  MENNEN  CO.,  Newark,  N.J. 


"THE  REAL  CHOCOLATE  DE  LUXE* 

OUR  HIGHEST  GSAOE  CHOCOLATE 
AND  BEST  QUAUTY  ROASTED  NUTS. 
MHXED  AS  HNE  AS  SKILL  AND 
IMPROVED  MACHINERY  WILL  PERMIT. 


Nut  Chocolate 


EACH  CAKE  PACKED  IN  TIN  BOX. 

I  SOLD  BY  RRST  CLASS  GROCERS  atDRUGOISTS  ( 
EVERYWHERE. 

IFNOT  HANDLED  BY  \OURS.  MAILED  FREE 
UPQN  RECEIPT  OF  PRICE,  155  PER  CAKE. 


[*^^c^d^  Cocoa  &  Chocolate  Works, 
BllLSLfi-Irving  Place,  N.YCity. 


If  Coffee 


Does  Things 
To  You 

When  you  are  hit  hard  enough,  quit 
and  save  the  remaining  stock  of  health. 
It  may  be  small,  but  it  will  steadily  in- 
crease if  good,  well-made 

P05TUM 
FOOD  COFFEE 

Is  used  in  place  of  ordinary  coffee. 

"There's  a  Reason.*' 

Postum   Cereal  Co.,   Lt<i.,   Battle  Creek,  Mich. 


WVNKOOP  MALLENBECK  CRAWFORD  CO.,  NEW  YORK 


Current 
iti^Mure 


Edited   bx  KDMTARD  J.    MTHKKI^ER 


For  Complete    Table  of  Contents  see  inaide  page 


A  Review  of  the  World 


Growing  Antagonism  to  the  President 
Elections  in  France  and  Great  Britain 
A  New  Currency  Agitation 
The  Morocco  Conference  and  America 


Literature  and  Art 


Science  and  Discovery 

Coming  Extinction  of  Blond  Americans 
The  Beneficence  of  Disease 
Towing  a  Giant  Dry  Dock  24000  Miles 
Differences  Between  Darwin  and  Wallace 


Music  and  the  Drama 


Intellectual  Alliance  of  Europe  and  America 
Two  Authors  with  Dual  Personalities 
Evolution  of  the  Superman  in  Literature 
A  Japanese  Estimate  of  Lafcadio  Hearn 


Religion  and  Ethics 

New  Attitude  Toward  Evangelism 
Tolstoy's  Last  Words  to  the  World 
Religious  Interpretation  in  the  Dance 
A  Crisis  in  the  French  Protestant  Church 


Notable  Plays  of  the  Month  in  America 
Shaw's  New  Play,  '*Major  Barbara  " 
Ludwig  Fulda's  Visit  and  His  Latest  Drama 
D'Annunzio  and  Modern  Italian  Drama 


Persons  in  the  Foreground 


Recent  Poetry 


The  Man  of  the  Rising  Inflection 
Confessions  of  a  Great  Scientist 
The  Most  Popular  Man  in  Ireland 
The  Right  Honorable  John  Burns 


Recent  Fiction  and  the  Critics 


Prince  Ghika.— A  Complete  Short  Story 


F   CURRENT    LITERATURE   FUBLISKING    CO. 
aA    IVeat    2f>#h     Str^at.     "^  e  w    Y  n  t>  K 


.-  .J 


HAVE  YOU  EVER  TRIED  that  "Dainty  Womar 
Friend,"    HAND    SAPOLIO,  for  toilet  and  bath?     It 
delicate  preparation  of  the  purest  ingredien 
also  a  necessity  to  every  man,  woman  and  c 
the  beauty  of  perfect  cleanliness. 


is  a   i 


DON'T  INFER  that  the  patient  ate  a  horse  because  you 
saw  a  saddle  under  the  bed.  HAND  SAPOLIO  is  related  to 
Sapolio  only  because  it  is  made  by  the  same  company,  but  it 
is  delicate,  smooth,  dainty,  soothing,  and  healing  to  the  most 
tender  skin.    Don't  argue.  Don't  infer.  Try  it  I 


HAND  SAPOLIO  SAVES  doctors'  bills,  because  proper 
care  of  the  skin  promotes  healthy  circulation  and  helps 
every  function  of  the  body,  from  the  action  of  the  muscles 
to  the  digestion  of  the  food.  The  safest  soap  in  existence. 
Test  it  yourself. 


WateranaTkS 


^ 


FountainPeivlli 

Useful  to  all 
BUSINESS  MEN 


Attorneys 
Physicians 
Teachers 
Insurance  and 
Other  Agents 


Bookkeepers 
Correspondents 
Reporters 
Lodgemen 
Clerks,  etc. 


Manufactured  by 

L.     E.    WATERMAN    CO. 

173  BROADWAY,  NEW  YORK 


a^^gsaa 


Its  presence 
lends  Distinction 
to  ihe  Music  Doom 


THE 

riscHE:^ 

^  New  Small  ^'^ 

Grand  Piano 

ComhinestheizmouB'* Fischer  Tone  Quality*  witK 

^rcat  Durability  and  Kle^ance  of  case-design,  while 

occupying  but  little  more  space  than  the  Upright. 

Catalogue  and  Terms  upon  request. 

J.   (SL  C.    FISCHBR,  Dept.  D 

1G4  FiflH  Ave.,  near  33cl  St.*  and 

68  "West  135tH  St.,  New  YorlC 


,St.'r'Vj|rifrti[.h  Cnvr'  l'«1**.  1'^"^  ''■  ii'l*rwti*Ki  *.t.'n.l«rwin 


GROVER    CLEVELAND    AND    HIS    SON    RICHARD 


The  (?*-Pr' 
iiiljuHtmcnt  uT 

ri'teree  fur  tUt  L „.    ..:    -.  -    ..., -., - 

but**,  thtf  iibi>UtJtJ4i  tii  wUkii  Imn*  bvt»n  r^iSiiUviJ  tipoii^ 


tintl  more  important  iisrure  m  there 
:  table  LifPt  he  ha*  ouvr  bife^  maijie  a 
,:uai — iti  iiW  matUTS  pertiiiumf;  to  re- 


Current  Literature 

A    Review    <)f-    the    World 


WHAT  have  we  to  do  with  abroad?"  This 
question,  more  or  less  popular  a  score 
of  years  ago,  seems  surprisingly  antiquated 
to-day  when  one  regards  the  questions  that  are 
engaging  most  of  the  attention  of  Congress 
and  the  press.  It  is  only  necessary  to  enumer- 
ate these  questions  to  sec  how  far  we  have 
traveled  of  late  years  in  the  way  of  closer  in- 
ternational relations  with  the  rest  of  the  world. 
Next  to  the  regulation  of  railroad  rates  and 
the  statehood  of  our  four  remaining  territories 
— ^purely  domestic  topics — recent  reports  from 
Washington  have  been  full  of  the  Philippine 
tariff,  the  Panama  Canal,  the  Santo  Domingo 
mix-up,  the  conditions  in  China,  the  Morocco 
conference,  the  situation  in  Venezuela  and  the 
threatened  tariff  war  with  Germany.  These 
are  ndt  subjects  of  merely  speculative  interest. 
They  are  compelling  attention  by  the  demand 
each  of  them  is  making  for  action  of  some 
sort  on  our  part,  and  as  a  consequence,  in 
most  cases,  of  responsibilities  which  we  might 
have  evaded  had  we  wished,  but  which  we  have 
chosen  wisely  or  unwisely  to  assume.  It  is 
not  an  unusual  thing  nowadays  for  any  editor 
to  find,  in  looking  over  his  exchanges,  that 
journal  after  journal,  even  of  those  published 
in  inland  American  cities,  has  devoted  the  ma- 
jor part  of  its  editorial  page  to  the  discussion 
of  foreign  political  affairs.  The  interest  in 
"abroad'*  is  not  confined  to  Congress  or  the 
departments.  If  the  press  of  the  country  is 
a  reliable  index,  a  striking  expansion  of  in- 
terest in  world  affairs  has  developed  in  the 
American  people,  dating,  we  presume,  from 
the  Spanish-American  War  and  the  position 
in  which  we  found  ourselves  at  its  close. 

CRITICISM  of  President  Roosevelt  has 
become  the  order  of  the  day  lately  in 
Washington,  as  a  result  largely  of  his  policy 
in  our  foreign  affairs.    At  least  his  policy  in 


foreign  affairs  is  the  ostensible  reason  for 
much  of  this  criticism,  but  there  is  ground  for 
assuming  that  it  is  often  the  occasion  rather 
than  the  cause.  So  far  has  antagonism  to  the 
President  developed  in  Washington  that  Henry 
Loomis  Nelson,  a  special  correspondent  of  the 
Boston  Herald  (Ind.),  asserts  that  President 
Roosevelt  is  to-day,  and  for  sometime  has  been, 
"the  most  disliked  and  dreaded  executive  the 
capital  has  ever  known,"  and  that  he  is  to-day 
a  President  without  a  loyal  party  following  in 
Congress.  "There  is  hardly  a  single  follower," 
Mr.  Nelson  tells  us,  "whose  loyal^,  if  he  may 
be  said  to  have  any  loyalty,  is  inspired  by  the 
common  enthusiasm  of  the  two  for  any  polit- 
ical ideal  or  a  political  principle."  The  same 
thing  is  noted  in  words  not  much  less  emphatic 
by  a  large  number  of  the  correspondents  in 
Washington.  The  Springfield  Republican,  an- 
other independent  journal,  that  has  frequently 
manifested  a  liking  for  the  President,  says : 

"The  attitude  of  Congress  toward  him  has 
changed  radically,  the  attitude  of  the  newspaper 
correspondents  at  Washington  is  changing,  and 
that  of  the  public  is  certainly  undergoing  material 
modification.  Where  before  was  unstinted  praise, 
undiscriminating  approval  and  un-American  adu- 
lation, there  now  succeeds  a  more  questioning, 
critical,  challenging  spirit.  .  .  .  He  has  reached 
and  apparently  passed  his  climacteric  in  popular- 
ity and  power,  and  it  is  not  easily  possible  that 
so  unusual  a  position  of  unopposed  and  unassail- 
able ascendency  can  be  recovered." 

The  President,  says  the  correspondent  of 
The  Evening  Post  (New  York),  was  first 
amazed  at  the  development  of  this  antagonism, 
then  concerned,  and  then  amused 

VARIOUS  reasons  are  assigned  for  this  in- 
crease of  hostility  in  Washington  —  its 
increase  elsewhere  is  seldom  asserted.  What 
the  New  York  Sun  calls  "the  majestic  question 
of  'pap' "  accounts  for  much  of  it,  in  the  judg- 


Ii6 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


THE  NEW   ftEXATOR   PROM  OH&,OS 

j'/hr.  F  <r*'iirin.  who  «krj"  »-*-^*  th«-  lat**  S"r.a»'»r  Mitrh*r!!, 
U  tr.-^  ♦.'•>*  I>»-m'x  rat  M;r*»  lo  the-  United  ^'atc*  Senate 
ff'/rn  <'/r»-i<'An  :n  e;;<hterTi  y*:ar% 

merit  of  a  number  of  trained  ol/servers.  Saying 
the  same  thing  in  another  way,  The  Evening 
Post  sarcastically  ot>serve$:  '*Thc  postmaster- 
ship  of  Podunk  is,  after  all,  the  vital  question 
tjeforc  Omgrcss  to-day.  .  .  .  Representatives 
arc  no  fools.  They  see  that  if  they  cannot  settle 
questions  of  patronage,  statesmanship  is  a  hol- 
low sham."  A  faction  called  the  "insurgents," 
in  the  lower  house  of  G)ngress — Republicans 
who  are  in  opposition  to  administrative  and 
caucus  measures — is  led  by  Congressman  Bab- 
cock  of  Indiana,  who  has  resigned  his  posi- 
tion as  chairman  of  the*  Congressional  Cam- 
paign Committee,  which  he  has  held  for  many 
years,  because  he  does  not  think  he  has  been 
treated  fairly  by  Speaker  Cannon  in  the  com- 
mittee assignments,  and  by  Congressman  Over- 
street,  secretary  of  that  committee,  because  the 
President  appointed  to  the  office  of  surveyor 
of  the  port  in  Indianapolis  a  man  of  Senator 
Beveridge's  hclcction  instead  of  a  man  he,  the 
Congressman,  had  selected. 

PERSONAL  considerations  of  other  kinds 
account  for  this  recent  development  of  hos- 
tility. For  instance,  according  to  the  New 
York  Herald's  correspondent,  a  number  of  new 
Congressmen  who  have  come  into  office  on  a 
tidal  wave  realize  that  unless  they  make  them- 


se^res  cr^-zLypzzz^yzi  zr.  2»:c^  -w^j  zucj  ir^  txttct 
come  bade  for  a  sec-oc  term,  ani  ±*^  zhizi^ 
that  there  is  tjj  ^jazzzzt'.it  gicrj  r=:  f:n:ccrtir:  =: 
an  admirfstrancc  wrth  a  z^zrzzrLil  rLiirrrr  of 
over  one  h::r:drcc  T:i:er.  wbil*  Z^.'tt  :r2.j    >-e 
imrA  in  ^hting  ft.     The  Pre?- oert's  pers-rris.! 
p^ectiliarhies  arc  al^o  assiztied  as  a  C2.:i5e   •:  f 
boi*:V:iy\    It  is  a  ccnir>:'!:  zzczz'^:r.z  ni  private. 
says  the  Boston  He^zli,  zzl  the  tor:  of  men 
called    into    consultat:  .-ti    -a-th    the    Presiient. 
that  they  "can  har^Ij  ^et  a  wird  in  edr-eA'^^-" 
and  that  what  he  M^Zu^I^rf  ttz^zs  is  n-'t  acvire 
b-jt  a^vjrances  of  support.      "His   impettiv  us 
haste  in  getting  thicgi  c:t:e,*'  in  other  wi.rls. 
has  arous^  the  opt-csitict:  :•£  thrse  in  less  •:  f 
a  hurr>-.     His  inclination  "to  assnme  t«>3  lar^re 
a  share  of  the  powers  of  g^-.^vemnten:''  and  "t.-* 
rely  too  strenuoiLsly  on  his  o'An  ;- lament  an«l 
that  of  his  personal  ass-'^iaies"  is  the  tr«:.:''^!e. 
according   to   the    Phila'lel^hia   Ezcning   Bul- 
letin   ^Rep>.      "Perha[»5    Mr.    R.X'^e\-eit   dc-es 
not  intend  to  f>e  arro^nt,"  says  the  Baltimore 
Sun    (Ind.;,   "but   his   pi-sition   regardir.g  the 
canal  and  other  questions  suggests  that  he  is 
not  altogether  free  from  a  certain  conviction 
that  he  can  never  be  in  the  wrong  and  that  he 
never  needs  enlightenment"    "It  is  not  on  rec- 
ord," so  the  Washington  correspondent  of  the 
Springfield  Republican  again  asserts,  **that  Mr. 
Roosevelt  has  ever  since  he  has  been  President 
admitted  making  a  mistake  or  apologized  for 
a  wrong."    So  runs  the  diagnosis  made  by  the 
correspondents. 


EXCEEDING  THE  SPEED  LIMIT 

— Boston  Herald. 


GROWING  ANTAGONISM  TO  THE  PRESIDENT 


117 


BUT  the  personal  qualities  thus  attributed  to 
the   President  can  hardly  afford  a  satis- 
factory  explanation  of  the  recent  deluge  of 
criticism,  since  no  one  suggests  that  they  are 
qualities  newly  acquired.    One  clue  to  the  sud- 
den accession  of  antagonism  is  given  by  the 
Hartford  Times  (Dem.),  which  accounts  for 
the  fact  that  he  "suddenly  finds  himself  antag- 
onized by  and  antagonistic  to  practically  the 
whole  body    of   newspaper  correspondents   in 
Washington  and  also  the  newspapers  of  Wash- 
ington city,"  because  of  the  fact  that,  a  few 
months  ago,   he  "undertook  to  limit  the  fur- 
nshing  of  news  in  all  the  departments  of  the 
Government"  by  means  of  the  order  restricting 
to  the  heads  of  departments  the  giving  of  in- 
formation about  the  work  of  their  departments. 
This  action,  touching  the  154  correspondents 
<  tiartered  in  Washington  in  a  vital  spot,  so  to 
>::cak,  seems  to  have  aroused  not  only  their 
r-^ntment  but  in  some  cases  the  resentment 
of  their  editors,  and  to  have  resulted  in  un- 
sparing criticism  on  the  part  of  some  who  have 
iHTcn  wont    to   criticize  sparingly   and   a   dis- 
j^ruirtled  silence  on  the  part  of  some  who  have 
•etn  wont  to  defend  the  administration.     Sev- 
eral of  those  who  comment  on  the  situation 
recall  the   quick  change  of  public   sentiment, 
t- r  •  inadequate  causes,  in  regard  to  Admiral 
Dewey,  and  express  the  view  that  the  alleged 
Jxline  of  the  President's  popularity  is  due  to 
inching  but  the  general  traits  of  fickle  human 


THE  LEADER  OF  THE  DEMOCRATS  IN  CONGRESS 

John  Sharp  Williams,  of  Yazoo.  Miss.,  supported  free 
trade  with  the  Philippines,  and  called  for  more  of  it. 

nature  that  render  it  disposed  to  tear  down  to- 
day the  idols  it  erected  yesterday  out  of  sheer 
wantonness  and  ennui.  The  New  York  Press 
(Rep.),  however,  scouts  all  these  theories  and 
scents  conspiracy,  deep,  deliberate  and  danger- 
ous. The  recent  attacks  are  to  its  mind  "only 
one  part  of  the  general  plan  of  the  railroads 
to  weaken  the  influence  of  the  President."  Re- 
plying to  this.  The  World  (New  York)  hurls 
at  the  President  an  indictment  that  sums  up 
all  the  charges  in  one  fell  paragraph  as  fol- 
lows: 

"Mr.  Roosevelt's  influence  has  undeniably  been 
weakened;  but  the  railroads  did  not  do  it  and 
could  not  do  it.  The  responsibility  rests  with 
Theodore  Roosevelt  alone.  The  railroads  did  not 
make  him  tactless;  they  did  not  make  him  im- 
pulsive; they  did  not  make  him  impatient  of  con- 
stitutional restraints;  they  did  not  make  him  in- 
different to  the  rights  of  co-ordinate  branches  of 
the  Government;  they  did  not  make  him  intem- 
perate of  speech;  they  did  not  make  him  rash  in 
action  and  contemptuous  of  precedent;  they  did 
not  impregnate  him  with  the  germ  of  Little 
Fatherism.  The  sources  of  Mr.  Roosevelt's  weak- 
ened influence  all  lie  within  himself.'* 


UP  AGAINST  IT 

—Bosh  in  New  York  ffVrA/. 


THE  case  of  Mrs.  Morris  seems  to  have  set 
loose  at  once  all  the  critics  of  the  Presi- 
dent, whether  on  political,  personal  or  other 
grounds.  Mrs.  Morris  is  the  wife  of  Dr.  Minor 
Morris,  at  one  time  in  the  army  medical  serv- 


ii8 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


THE  FLOOR-LEADER  OF  THE  REPUBLICANS  IN 
CONGRESS 

Sereno  Elisha  Payne  of  Auburn  N.  Y.,  as  chairman  of 
Ways  and  Means  Committee  in  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives, had  charge  of  the  Philippine  Tariff  bill. 

ice  and  dismissed  for  the  reason,  it  is  said, 
that  he  struck  another  employee  of  the  War 
Department  in  the  face.  Dr.  Morris  has  been 
for  years  seeking  reinstatement  and  his  wife 
went  the  other  day  to  the  White  House  to 
plead  with  the  President  for  a  re-examination 
of  the  circumstances  of  his  dismissal.    She  was 


Drillmaster  Roosevelt:  "Toe  the  mark  there ! " 
— De  Mar  in  Philadelphia  H€CQr4, 


denied  access  to  the  President  and  told  that  she 
should  go  to  the  War  Department.  She  still 
insisted  on  seeing  the  President,  and  Assistant- 
Secretary  Barnes  signaled  to  a  police  officer, 
"a  mild-mannered  man  of  some  forty  years," 
who  has  for  some  time  been  assigned  to  the 
White  House.  He  with  the  aid  of  another 
policeman  removed  her  by  force,  taking  her 
to  a  police  station.  There,  on  the  basis  of  a 
lengthy  poem  on  insomnia  which  she  had 
written  and  was  carrying  in  an  envelope  ad- 
dressed to  President  Roosevelt,  she  was  charged 
with  insanity,  but  the  charge  was  changed 
later  to  one  of  disorderly  conduct  when  on  a 
physician's  examination  she  was  adjudged 
sane.  She  was  released  on  bail,  taken  in  a 
condition  of  nervous  collapse  to  her  hotel,  and, 
no  one  appearing  for  her  the  next  day  in  court, 
she  was  found  guilty  and  fined  ^ve.  dollars. 
Assistant-Secretary  Barnes  issued  an  official 
statement  of  the  incident,  Mrs.  Morris  issued 
a  second  statement.  Dr.  Morris  issued  a  third. 
Congressman  Hull,  chairman  of  the  Commit- 
tee on  Military  Affairs,  who  is  a  brother  of 
Mrs.  Morris  and  has  had  a  great  deal  of  trou- 
ble with  her,  issued  still  another.  Moreover, 
Congressman  Sheppard,  of  Texas,  introduced 
in  the  House  a  resolution  calling  for  an  inves- 
tigation and  Senator  Tillman  introduced  a 
similar  resolution  in  the  Senate. 

WHETHER  Mrs.  Morris  created  enough 
disturbance  in  the  White  House  (she 
admits  that  she  refused  to  leave)  to  render  her 
forcible  ejectment  necessary,  and  whether 
more  force  was  used  than  was  demanded  are 
facts  on  which  Secretary  Barnes  and  several 
newspaper  men  who  claim  to  have  been  pres- 
ent disagree.  The  feeling  aroused  in  Wash- 
ington over  the  occurrence  is  described  as  in- 
tense. Mr.  F.  A.  Richardson,  until  a  few  years 
ago  the  dean  of  the  corps  of  Washington  cor- 
respondents, wrote  to  the  Washington  Star, 
saying : 

"I  do  not  thiqk  the  men  and  women  of  Wash- 
ington have  ever  before  been  stirred  to  such  in- 
dignation. This  indignation,  indeed,  has-  spread 
to  the  confines  of  the  nation,  and  the  American 
people  will  not  be  satisfied  until  some  adequate 
punishment  has  been  inflicted  upon  every  one  of 
the  ruffians  responsible  for  this  national  disgrace." 

This  excitement  over  the  case  is  generally 
regarded  as  disproportionate  to  its  importance. 
Most  of  the  journals,  however,  view  the  oc- 
currence as  an  evidence  of  deficient  tact  on 
the  part   of   the   President's   subordinates,    a 


THE  PANAMA  CANAL  CONTROVERSY 


119 


deficiency  which,  it  is  intimated,  has  been  ap- 
parent several  times  since  Mr.  Cortelyou  left 
the  post  of  secretary  for  a  higher  position. 
Several  journals,  on  the  other  hand,  point  out 
that  the  President  is  one  of  the  most  accessible 
officials  in  the  country,  and  far  more  accessible 
than  any  one  holding  a  similar  high  position 
in  any  other  country.     Says  the  New  York 

"There  is  a  difference  between  the  position  of 
the  President  of  the  United  States  and  that  of  an 
ordinary  citizen.  Booth,  Guiteau  and  Czolgosz 
have  made*  it  necessary  to  guard  with  especial 
care  the  man  who  holds  that  exalted  office.  Yet 
:he  humblest  citizen  has  a  perfect  right  to  eject 
N^ith  force  from  his  house  or  his  cabin  any  ob- 
streperous person  who  insists  upon  remaining 
there  against  his  wish.  That  right  can  no  more 
bte  denied  to  the  President  than  it  can  to  a  day 
laborer.  The  place  in  which  to  thresh  out  any 
just  grievance  which  Mrs.  Morris  or  her  husband 
may  have,  as  against  the  men  who  put  her  out 
of  the  White  House,  is  a  competent  court  of  the 
District  of  Columbia,  and  not  the  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives." 

The  Washington  Star,  however,  considers 
the  occurrence  "shameful  in  the  last  degree," 
and  lays  especial  stress  upon  the  fact,  as  it 
alleges,  that  its  representative  was  sternly 
warned  the  next  day  that  his  report  of  the 
affair  was  "objectionable  to  the  White  House," 
a  warning  which  it  and  some  other  journals 
construe  as  an  attempt  by  the  President  to 
abridge  the  freedom  of  the  press.  The  case  of 
Mrs.  Morris  has,  therefore,  still  further  in- 
creased the  tension  between  President  Roose- 
velt and  the  corps  of  newspaper  correspondents 
representing  the  nation's  "fourth  estate"  at 
Washington. 


WHETHER  or  not  dirt  has  been  flying  in 
Panama,  it  is  certain  that  fur  has  been 
flying  in  Washington.  Three  documents  have 
recently  been  transmitted  to  Congress  by  the 
President,  at  least  two  of  which  are  well 
charged  with  dynamite.  One  is  a  report  by  the 
President  himself  on  the  general  condition  of 
the  canal  work,  the  other  two  are  reports, 
more  in  detail,  by  Secretary  Taft,  one  of  them 
being  entirely  devoted  to  an  article  which  Mr. 
Poultney  Bigelow,  the  newspaper  and  maga- 
zine correspondent,  contributed  to  The  Inde- 
pendent (January  4).  The  President  gives  a 
glowing  account  of  the  progress  of  the  canal 
work,  but  his  indorsement  of  the  acts  of  his 
subordinates  and  his  characterization  of  the 
criticisms  that  have  been  made  of  late  are  in 
language  altogether  too  sweeping  and  strenu- 
ous to  suit  many  influential  journals,  and  are 


LEADER  OF  THE  "INSURGENT"  CONGRESSMEN 

Joseph  Weeks  Babcockj  of  Wisconsin,  has  resig^ed'as 
chairman  of  the  Reptibhcan  Concessional  Committee 
and  is  headinj?  the  fijfht  in  the  House  of  Representatives 
against  administration  measures. 


THE  PRESIDENT'S  PRIVATE  SECRETARY 

Mr.  Loeb  has  come  in  for  some  of  the  criticism  stirred 
up  by  the  Mrs.  Morris  incident. 


120 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


AN  UNKIND  SUGGESTION 


The  Lady  :  "  Will  yoo  oblige  me,  sir,  by  kindly 
jumping  off  ? " 

— Denver  News, 

being  used  as  another  count  in  the  indictment 
which  everything  he  does  or  says  seems  to 
bring  forth  in  some  direction  or  other  just 
now.  On  the  work  so  far  done  the  President 
says: 

"AH  the  work  so  far  has  been  done,  not  only 
with  the  utmost  expedition,  but  in  the  most  care- 
ful and  thorough  manner,  and  what  has  been  ac- 
complished gives  us  good  reason  to  believe  that 
the  canal  will  be  dug  in  a  shorter  time  than  had 
been  expected  and  at  an  expenditure  within  the 
estimated  amount.  All  our  citizens  have  a  right 
to  congratulate  themselves  upon  the  high  stand- 
ard of  efficiency  and  integrity  which  has  been 
maintained  by  the  representatives  of  the  Govern- 
ment in  doing  this  great  work.  If  this  high 
standard  of  efficiency  and  integrity  can  be  main- 
tained in  the  future  at  the  same  level  which  it 
has  now  reached,  the  construction  of  the  Panama 
Canal  will  be  one  of  the  feats  to  which  the  people 
of  this  Republic  will  look  back  with  the  highest 
pride." 

He  takes  up  the  criticisms  that  have  been 
made  and  declares  that  he  has  carefully  exam- 
ined every  one  that  seemed  worthy  of  atten- 
tion with  the  result  that  "in  every  instance  the 
accusations  have  proved  to  be  without  founda- 
tion in  any  shape  or  form."  He  goes  on  also 
to  characterize  the  sources  of  these  accusa- 
tions. They  spring  sometimes  from  "irrespon- 
sible investigators  of  a  sensational  habit  of 
mind,"  and  more  often  from  "individuals 
with  a  personal  grievance."  "Every  specific 
charge,"  he  says  again,  "relating  to  jobbery, 
to  immorality,  or  to  inefficiency  from  whatever 


source  it  has  come  has  been  immediately  in- 
ve^ig^ted,  and  in  no  single  instance  have  the 
statements  of  these  sensation  mongers  and  the 
interested  complainants  behind  them  proved 
true."  He  courts  a  complete  investigation  by 
Congress,  and  such  an  investigation  is  now 
under  way. 

SOMETHING  of  a  discrepancy  is  pointed 
out  by  many  editorial  writers  between  the 
President's  sweeping  language  of  commenda- 
tion for  "all  the  work  so  far  done,"  especially 
during  the  last  few  months,  and  Secretary 
Taft's  accompanying  report,  in  which  he  crit- 
icizes two  of  the  acts  of  Chairman  Shonts,  the 
head  of  the  Canal  Commission.  The  Secre- 
tary's criticism  is  described  by  some  as  "in  the 
nature  of  a  broadside"  at  the  chairman;  but, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  he  does  not  question  that 
the  chairman  and  the  other  members  of  the 
commission  acted  in  good  faith  and  with  a  due 
regard  to  their  trust.  In  one  case — the  payment 
of  $10,745.97  to  J.  E.  Markel  for  expenses  in- 
curred in  making  estimates  on  a  proposed  con- 
tract for  eating-houses — the  Secretary  declares 
that  the  claim  "was  meritorious  and  moderate," 
but  either  the  President  or  himself  should 
have  been  consulted  before  payment.  In  the 
other,  case — the  sale  of  bonds  of  the  Panama 
Railway — the  Secretary's  criticism  is  that  the 
sale  should  not  have  been  made  without  au- 
thority of  Congress,  and  he  has  compelled  a  re- 
purchase of  the  bonds.  One  other  criticism  of 
Mr.  Shonts  that  has  found  expression,  not 
from  Secretary  Taft  but  from  many  newspaper 
critics,  has  been  based  upon  his  retention  of 
an  official  relation  with  the  Clover  Leaf  Rail- 
road while  serving  as  chairman  of  the  Panama 
Canal  Commission.  It  is  now  announced  that 
he  is  not  in  receipt  of  a  salary  from  the  rail- 
road company. 

WHEN  Secretary  Taft  takes  up  the  charges 
made  by  Mr.  Poultney  Bigelow,  he  comes 
down  on  that  gentleman  with  all  the  force  of 
his  297  pounds.  The  fifty  pounds  which  he 
has  contrived  to  rid  himself  of  lately  will 
hardly  be  missed  by  Mr.  Bigelow.  The  latter 
casts  doubt  upon  the  Secretary's  recent  per- 
sonal investigation  of  the  conditions  at  Colon 
by  stating  that  he  was  there  but  five  days  and 
in  that  time  attended  three  dances  and  vari- 
ous other  functions.  Mr.  Taft,  in  reply,  shows 
that  Mr.  Bigelow  was  there  but  twenty-eight 
hours.  Mr.  Bigelojv  describes  Colon  as  a  pestif- 
erous swamp  and  the  "hundred  or  more"  huts  for 
laborers  which  he  entered  there  as  unsanitary 


ARIZONA  DOESN'T  WISH  TO  BE  MARRIED 


I2t 


in  the  lasft  degree,  furnishing  photographs  of 
some  of  them  in  evidence.  Mr.  Taft  says  that 
of  the  17,000  laborers  on  the  canal  company's 
pay-roll,  not  more  than  two  or  three  hundred 
are  living  in  Colon.  Mr.  Bigelow  tells  of  a 
rush  on  the  part  of  laborers  to  get  back  home, 
400  going  away  on  the  ship  in  which  he  left. 
Mr.  Taft  says  that  they  were  going  home  for 
the  holidays  and  nearly  all  of  them  are  already 
back  at  work.  The  men  who  are  named  by 
Mr.  Bigelow  as  furnishing  him  testimony 
about  conditions  in  general  in  the  canal  zone 
are  described  by  Mr.  Taft  as  soreheads  and 
disappointed  seekers  after  offices  or  special 
privileges,  and  he  is  specific  in  telling  just 
when,  where  and  how  each  one  has  been  dis- 
appointed. Mr.  Bigelow  makes  a  plucky  but 
not  very  effective  rejoinder  (in  the  New  York 
Times),  standing  by  his  guns  and  reasserting 
his  charges,  but  giving  no  further  facts  to 
break  the  force  of  the  Secretary's  broadside. 
The  New  York  Evening  Post,  which  printed 
an  editorial,  on  the  basis  of  Mr.  Bigelow's  arti- 
cle, severely  scoring  the  administration,  later 
on,  after  reading  the  Secretary's  reply,  re- 
tracted its  criticism  and  repudiated  Mr.  Bige- 
low as  an  unreliable  authority.  There  is,  nev- 
ertheless, a  hope  generally  expressed  that  the 
Senate  will  investigate  matters  thoroughly. 
The  Mail  (New  York),  however,  fears  that 
such  an  investigation  means  a  further  delay  of 
several  years  in  the  completion  of  the  canal. 

FOUR  Territories  are  all  that  Uncle  Sam- 
uel now  possesses,  and  he  is  trying  to 
dispose  of  tho$^e  by  making  them  into  States. 
He  is  having  trouble  about  it.  Two  of  ^hem, 
Oklahoma  and  Indian  Territory,  are  fairly 
ripe  for  statehood,  and  the  proposition  to  join 
them  and  admit  the  two  as  one  State,  of  half 
a  million  inhabitants,  under  the  name  Okla- 
homa, creates  but  little  opposition.  But  the 
new  State  would  probably  be  Democratic,  and 
it  is  against  the  ethics  of  party  leaders  to  add 
two  votes  for  the  other  party  in  the  United 
States  Senate  unless  their  own  party  gets  a 
compensatory  increase.  Now  the  other  two 
Territories,  Arizona  and  New  Mexico,  are 
hardly  up  to  the  mark  for  separate  statehood, 
and  the  proposition  of  Republican  leaders,  es- 
pecially Senator  Beveridge  (chairman  of  the 
Committee  on  Territories),  Speaker  Cannon 
and  the  President,  is  to  tie  them  also  together 
and  admit  them  as  one  broad  commonwealth — 
considerably  larger  in  acres  than  New  Eng- 
land, New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  New 
Jersey  and  West  Virginia  combined.     Unfor- 


HE    WENT    TO    SCHOOL   WITH    EMPEROR 
WILLIAM 

America,  France  and  Germanv  had  a  part  in  the  edu- 
cation of  Poultney  Bigelow,  but  Secretary  Taft  thinks 
he  should  have  taken  a  longer  course  at  Colon  than 
twenty-eight  hours  before  writing  down  the  Panama 
Canal  operations. 

tunately  for  the  success  ot*  this  plan  Arizona 
does  not  love  New  Mexico,  and  95  per  cent, 
of  her  people,  it  is  said,  would  rather  dwell 
for  a  generation  to  come  in  territorial  spin- 
sterhood  than  to  enter  with  New  Mexico  into 
the  connubial  bliss  of  statehood  even  under 
their  own  name  of  Arizona.  They  protest 
against  the  banns  and  they  protest  with  true 
Western  emphasis.  One  orator  has  been 
counseling  rebellion  rather  than  submission,  in 
the  real  give-us-freedom-or-give-us-death  style. 
"It  is  a  national  drama,"  says  a  writer  in  The 
World's  Work,  referring  to  the  strenuous  op- 
position of  Arizona  citizens.  The  objections 
which  they  offer  are :  The  unwieldy  size  of  the 
proposed  State,  the  geographical  barriers,  the 
differences  in  the  character  of  the  popula- 
tion and  the  fact  that  New  Mexico,  with  her 
nearly  300,000  inhabitants  (nearly  one-half 
of  them  "Greasers"  and  Indians),  would  po- 
litically dominate  over  Arizona,  with  her  150,- 
000  inhabitants,  about  25,000  of  whom  are 
Indians.  New  Mexico  politics,  as  "Bull"  An- 
drews, formerly  of  Pennsylvania,  has  developed 
the  game  among  the  "Greasers,"  having  himself 
learned  it  of  Matthew  S.  Quay,  does  not  com- 
mend itself  to  Arizona,  where  they  boast  of 


122 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


/*^4)M 


NEW   YORK'S    FAVORITE    DIVERSION 

— McCutcheon  in  Chicago  Tribune. 

a  larger  proportion  of  college  graduates  than 
any  other  population  of  similar  size  can  ex- 
hibit and  public  schools  as  good  as  those  of 
Boston. 

CONGRESSMEN  are  playing  politics  with 
the  question.  The  bill  for  joint  state- 
hood passed  the  lower  house  in  the  preceding 
Congress,  but  failed  in  the  Senate.  It  is 
again  pushed  as  an  administration  measure, 
having  been  recommended  in  the  President's 
message.  All  those  Republican  Congressmen, 
called  "insurgents,"  who  are  rebelling  against 
their  Republican  leaders  and  are  using  any 
club  that  is  handy,  and  all  those  who  really 


have  strong  convictions  against  the  joint 
statehood  bill  are  asserting  their  determination 
to  join,  under  the  leadership  of  Congressman 
Babcock,  with  the  Democratic  minority,  in 
opposing  the  bill.  They  are  not  without  news- 
paper support.  Most  of  the  newspaper  com- 
ment that  has  been  evoked  by  the  contest  is 
strongly  in  favor  of  sustaining  the  protest  of 
Arizona,  The  union  of  the  two  Territories 
would  be  "a  gross  outrage,"  in  the  opinion  of 
the  San  Francisco  Chronicle,  and,  in  the 
opinion  of  the  Philadelphia  Ledger,  would  be 
"a  blunder  the  magnitude  of  which  grows  the 
longer  it  is  studied."  "Let  Oklahoma  in," 
says  the  Republican  Evening  Mail  (New 
York),  "but  better  leave  both  New  Mexico 
and  Arizona  out  of  the  Union  for  another 
generation  than  bring  in  one-half  the  region 
under  bondage  to  the  other  half." 


STILLING  THE  WAVES 

— Bush  in  New  York  IVor  Id. 


WHEN  Henry  H.  Rogers,  once  a  grocer's 
boy  and  driver  of  a  delivery  wagon  in 
Fairhaven,  Mass.,  now  vice-president  of  the 
Standard  Oil  Company  and  its  executive  head, 
was  recently  served  with  a  subpoena  and 
brought  to  the  witness  stand  in  the  proceed- 
ings conducted  by  Attorney-General  Herbert 
A.  Hadley,  of  Missouri,  a  very  considerable 
portion  of  the  world  metaphorically  pricked  up 
its  ears  to  hear  what  he  might  say.  About  all 
it  heard  was  this:  "On  the  advice  of  counsel 
I  refuse  to  answer."  This  reply  was  made, 
with  the  aid  of  four  or  five  high-salaried  law- 
yers, to  every  question  of  importance.  It  was 
somewhat  disappointing  to  Governor  Folk's 
young  and  clever  Attorney-General,  but  could 
not  have  been  very  much  of  a  surprise,  for  no- 
body expects  Mr.  Rogers  to  be  any  more  com- 
municative in  business  matters  than  the  courts 
compel  him  to  be.  What  was  much  more  of  a 
surprise,  and  a  very  unpleasant  one  to  the 
country  at  large,  judging  from  the  comments 
of  the  press,  was  Mr.  Rogers's  general  atti- 
tude toward  the  investigators.  What  they  are 
trying  to  find  out  is  whether  the  Waters-Pierce 
Oil  Company  of  Missouri,  the  Standard  Oil 
Company  of  Indiana  and  the  Republic  Oil 
Company  of  New  York  are  owned  or  con- 
trolled by  the  Standard  Oil,  and  are,  in  conse- 
quence, doing  business  in  Missouri  contrary 
to  the  laws  of  that  state  relating  to  trusts. 
Mr.  Rogers  has  refused  to  treat  the  investiga- 
tion in  other  than  a  humorous  and  flippant 
way.  He  seems  to  have  rather  captivated  the 
reporters  with  his  geniality  in  the  waiting- 
room;  but  his  attitude  on  the  witness-stand 


INVESTIGATING  THE  STANDARD  OIL 


121 


has  caused  a  deep  rumble  of  indignation  in  the 
editorial  sanctums  of  all  sections. 

NOT  the  "yellow"  papers  alone,  but  some 
of  the  most  staid  and  conservative  jour- 
nals of  the  country  are  voicing  their  disappro- 
bation. The  Sun  (New  York)  is  regarded  as  a 
th:ck-and-thin  corporation  paper;  but  it  warns 
Mr.  Rogers  that  his  "broad  comedy"  part  is 
b-dng  overdone.    It  says: 

*'It  is  possible  for  a  witness  in  Mr.  Rogers' 
n-'sitioo  to  overdo  this  sort  of  thing.  We  are 
rrcHigly  of  the  opinion  that  he  is  overdoing  it 
low.  If  Mr.  Rogers  and  his  codirectors  of  the 
S-^afldard  Oil  and  their  able  and  multitudinous 
rrjusel  apprehended  more  accurately  the  temper 
«:"  the  American  people,  who  constitute  the  specta- 
!"tr5  at  the  present  spectacle,  there  would  be  less 
luttooncry  and  more  seriousness  and  decency  in 
heir  demeanor  toward  the  representatives  of 
even  distant  law." 

The  Journal  of  Commerce  (New  York) 
thinks  that  Mr.  Rogers  and  those  with  him  "do 
r.ut  seem  to  realize  the  kind  of  exhibition  they 
are  making  before  the  public  of  the  whole 
coantry."  The  attitude  assumed  evinces,  it 
thinks,  "flippant  disrespect"  and  "sneering  con- 
tempt/' and  produces  on  the  public  jnind  the 
rftect  of  a  confession  that  the  laws  are  being 
'fcfied.  "Has  Mr.  Rogers  gone  mad  through 
possession  of  enormous  financial  power  ?"  asks 
The  Wall  Street  Journal,  The  Chicago  Even- 
'«^  Post,  a  conservative  paper,  speaks  of  the 

unseemly  spectacle"  of  this  attempt  to  turn 
a  legal  inquiry  into  a  farce,  and  says :  "Many 
legitimate  interests — perhaps  his  own — may  be 
injured  through  him.  There  never  has  been  a 
-ime  when  honorable  men  of  large  affairs  have 
had  mofe  need  than  now  to  make  public  and 
dear  their  respect  for  law."  "This  is  a  peril- 
ous game  to  play,  gentlemen,"  remarks  the 
Xew  York  Mailj  and  the  Richmond  Times-Dis- 
patch comments  in  the  same  vein :  "Since  the 
possession  of  wealth  is  safeguarded  by  the  law, 
and  the  law  only,  is  it  sound  common  sense  for 
a  man  of  great  wealth  to  endeavor  to  impress 
th€  public  with  the  insignificance  and  impo- 
tence of  the  law?"  Attorney-General  Hadley 
has  applied  to  the  court  to  compel  Mr.  Rogers 
to  answer  the  questions.  Up  to  the  time  of 
this  writing  the  court's  decision  had  not  been 
rendered. 


|F  SOME  of  our  American  statesmen  are 
^  right,  the  United  States,  in  sending  dele- 
gates to  the  Morocco  conference,  has  stepped 
out  of  her  secure  isolation  and  placed  her  foot 


Pbotognph  by  Brown  Brothcri 

A  HUNTER  OF  THE  OCTOPUS 

Attoraev-General  Hadley,  of  Missouri,  is  Qovernor 
Folk's  right-hand  man  and  his  efforts  to  make  Henry  H. 
Rogers  answer  questions  are  exciting  general  interest. 

in  a  hornet's  nest.  Why,  they  ask,  should  we 
participate  in  a  European  conference  over  a 
strictly  European  question?  "When  our  dele- 
gates once  take  part  in  this  conference,"  says 
a  Florida  paper  {The  Times-Union)  appre- 
hensively, "we  will  be  estopped  from  denying 
the  nations  of  Europe  a  voice  in  American 
affairs.  Under  what  system  could  we  refuse 
to  g^ve  to  others  what  we  ask  or  even  accept 
for  ourselves?"  The  same  question  has  been 
raised  in  the  Senate  by  Senator  Bacon,  of 
Georgia,  and  Senator  Hale,  of  Maine.  The 
answer  that  is  made  to  it  by  Senators  Spooner 
and  Lodge  is  to  the  following  effect :  We  have 
commercial  interests  in  Morocco  which  it  is 
our  duty  to  consider  in  any  readjustment  of 
Morocco's  affairs;  this  country  was  one  of 
the  signatory  powers  to  the  original  trade 
treaty  with  Morocco,  and  was  therefore  very 
appropriately  invited  to  participate  in  the  con- 
ference and  very  appropriately  accepted;  our 
delegates,  Messrs.  White  and  Gummere,  will 


124 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


THE    MOROCCO    MERRY-GO-ROUND    AT 
ALGECIRAS 

— Berlin  Kladderadatsch. 


ENGLAND  AND  GERMANY 

BRITANNIA:     "What  is  it?" 

Edward  VII:     "They  won't  attack  Germany  for  me" 
Britannia  :     "What  has  Germany  done  to  you?" 
Edward  VII:     "Nothing — only   Germany  is  so  patient 

—Berlin  Kladderadatsch. 


and  industrious." 


not  vote  on  any  subject,  limiting  their  actior 
to  listening  and  speaking;  even  if  they  dc 
vote  and  sign  agreements,  neither  they  noi 
the  President  himself  can  bind  this  natior 
to  any  action  except  in  the  regular  constitu- 
tional way  of  drafting  a  treaty,  submitting  it 
to  the  Senate,  and  awaiting  action  by  that 
body. 

THIS  answer  has  not  quieted  the  apprehen- 
sions of  everybody.    Indeed,  it  was  after 
the  answer  was  made  that  Senator  Hale,    one 
of  the  Republican  leaders,  expressed  his    ear- 
nest  wish   that   the   President   and   Secretary 
of   State  had   refused  the  invitation  to    par- 
ticipate  in  the   conference.     It   is,   he   main- 
tained,   wholly    a    political    conference,    with 
which  we  should  have  no  concern.    There    is 
danger  in   our  action.     Of  course  ^lo  treaty 
can  be  consummated  without  the  consent    of 
the    Senate,    but,    the    Springfield   Republican 
points  out,  the  conference  may  not  embody  its 
action  in  a  treaty,  but  in  a  protocol  or  agree- 
ment or  entente,  or  something  of  that   sort, 
and  it  recalls  the  "Peking  protocol"  resulting 
from   the   Boxer   troubles,   which   was    never 
submitted  to  the  Senate,  although  the  United 
States  was  one  of  the  signatory  powers.     The 
New  York  Sun  thinks  that  the  danger   that 
our  delegates  will  get  us  into  trouble  is  very 
slight,  and  it  remarks  that  if  there  is  likely 
to  be  any  doubt  at  Algeciras  of  our  direct  in- 
terest in  the  political  subjects  to  be  discussed 
there,  it  might  be  well  for  our  delegates    to 
take    along    with   them    Mr.    Ion    Perdicaris. 
Mr.   Perdicaris,   whose  enforced  sojourn   not 
long  since  with  an  agreeable  Moroccan  ban- 
dit is  still  fresh  in  the  memory  of  the  pubHc, 
takes  part  in  the  controversy  over  the   con- 
ference in  a  letter  to  the  Washington  Post,  in 
which    he    defends    the    Administration's    ac- 
tion, on  the  ground  of  the  great  industrial  in- 
terests that  are  involved.    He  writes: 

"It  may  be  remembered  that  Tangier,  which  is 
only  eight  days  distant  from  New  York,  is  the 
gate  city  to  a  hinterland  of  vast  agricultural  and 
mineral  resources,  and  that  the  development  of 
Morocco  may  mean  a  large  demand  for  Ameri- 
can goods  and  for  machinery,  especially  sectional 
steel  bridges,  electric  traction,  and  innumerable 
other  openings  for  American  enterprise.  Why 
lose  this  market  through  inadvertence,  when  we 
are  spending  such  vast  sums  and  incurring  such 
serious  responsiblilities  to  maintain  the  open  door 
in  the  Far  East?  When  we  are  sending  float- 
ing docks  14,000  miles  across  thi  ocean,  we  may, 
with  propriety,  at  least  keep  an  eye  on  what  are 
practically  virgin  opportunities  nearer  home." 


WHY  THE  MOROCCO  CONFERENCE  WAS  CALLED 


125 


FEZ— THE  CAPITAL  :OF  MOROCCO— AT  TIMES 

Sometimes  the  Sultan  must  flee  from  the  criticisms  and  even  the  revolts  ot  his  subjects,  and  the  capital  is 
wherever  the  Sultan  happens  to  be.  He  prefers  Fez,  and  asked  that  the  Morocco  conference  be  held  there.  The 
powers  thought  that  too  risky. 


THIS  Morocco  conference,  which  is  in  ses- 
sion, as  we  go  to  press,  in  the  antiquated 
Spanish  city  of  Algeciras,  has  been  nominally 
assembled  to  lift  the  corrupt  and  ravaged  em- 
pire of  Abdul-Aziz  out  of  the  sink  of  its  defile- 
ment ;  but  in  reality  it  has  been  called  to  decide 
whether  there  shall  be  war  between  France  and 
Germany.  That  is  the  deliberate  verdict  of 
practically  all  the  responsible  dailies  in  Europe. 
Indeed,  one  of  the  most  responsible  of  them  all, 
^^^ Independance  Beige  (Brussels),  affirms  that 
the  situation  has  become  so  aggravated  that  offi- 
^^^1  Germany,  as  distinguished  from  industrial 
^nd  democratic  Germany,  is  bent  upon  war  as  a 
means  of  escape  from  its  political  isolation  and 
'or  the  purpose  of  realizing  colonial  ambitions 
^nd  securing  preponderance  in  Europe.  "We 
^c  no  solid  grounds  for  these  extravagant 
alarms,"  observes  the  London  Times,  "but  the 
'"ere  circumstance  that  they  are  expressed  in 
^  serious  neutral  newspaper  is  indicative  of 
^€  disquiet  which  the  Morocco  dispute  must 


continue  to  occasion  until  it  has  been  finally 
closed."  But  it  will  not  be  finally  closed,  what- 
ever be  the  outcome  of  this  conference,  replies 
the  Belgian  organ,  "until  thousands  and  thou- 
sands of  human  lives  have  been  lost,"  until 
"ruin  accumulates"  and  until  "disaster  of  a 
kind  frightful  to  the  commerce  and  industry  of 
western  Europe"  has  been  brought  to  pass.  As 
the  Portsmouth  conference  assembled  to  end 
a  war,  observes  the  Paris  Aurore,  inspired  by 
the  exceedingly  well-informed  Senator  Clem- 
encjeau,  it  looks  as  if  the  Morocco  conference 
gathered  to  begin  one. 

THIS  latest  conference  of  the  world's  pow- 
ers has  been  confronted  by  a  dilemma  so 
menacing  to  peace  on  our  planet  as  to  over- 
shadow purely  local  considerations  like  the 
organization  of  Morocco's  police,  the  schedule 
of  Morocco's  tariffs  and  the  control  of  Moroc- 
co's finance.  Has  the  republic  of  France  a 
special  relation  to  the  empire  of  Abdul  Aziz 


126 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


ACCUSED  OF  A  FRENCH    BACK-DOWN   IN 
MOROCCO 

Premier  Ronvier  is  said  by  his  opponents  to  have 
made  the  Algreciras  conference  inevitable  by  weakly 
yieldinjBT  to  Emperor  William  and  dismissing  Foreign 
Minister  Delcass^. 


"  THE  MARTYR  OF  MOROCCO  " 
Th^pHa  Delcasse  is  thus  hailed  by  his  friends.     As 
French  Foreism  Minister  he  was  said  to  be  defying  Ger- 
many to  a  war  over  Morocco,  whereupon  Premier  Rou- 
vier  asked  him  to  resign. 


and  a  preponderance  of  interest  entitling  her 
to  absorb  Morocco  in  the  sense  in  which  Great 
Britain  is  absorbing  Egypt?  That  polished 
diplomatist  whom  Paris  has  despatched  to  Al- 
geciras,  M.  Revoil,  contends  that  his  country 
will  be  appeased  with  nothing  less.  Every 
power,  concedes  the  French  delegate,  making 
himself  the  echo  of  his  official  superior,  Pre- 
mier Rouvier,  has  some  rights  in  Morocco. 
They  are  not  disputed.  Every  power  benefits 
by  its  treaties  with  Morocco.  There  has  never 
been  any  question  of  infringing  them.  But 
what  France  has  sought  to  make  clear  from  the 
opening  of  this  conference  is  what  M.  Rouvier 
terms  the  special  nature  of  French  rights,  the 
peculiar  importance  of  French  interests.  This 
special  and  peculiar  relation  of  France  to 
Morocco  is  not  solely  due  to  contiguity  of 
frontier.  Her  right  has  a  more  general  bear- 
ing. France  is  a  Mussulman  power  in  north- 
ern Africa.  She  has  to  maintain  her  authority 
there  over  a  native  population  of  6,000,000  in 
contact  with  700,000  European  colonists.  The 
community  of  language,  religion  and  race,  link- 
ing this  colonial  French  population  to  that  of 
Morocco,  renders  it  liable  to  be  affected  by 
any  unrest  which  may  develop  in  the  neighbor- 
ing state,  either  through  the  absence  of  regu- 
lar government  or  through  the  constitution  of 
a  hostile  government. 

SOLIDARITY  so  absolute  as  that  of  the 
French  press  in  upholding  these  conten- 
tions is  rarely  evident  in  the  newspapers  of  the 
republic.  The  Paris  Temps,  organ  of  the  For- 
eign Office  and  admittedly  inspired  at  times  by 
the  French  Premier,  is  actually  bellicose.  The 
Paris  Gaulois,  wedded  to  monarchical  institu- 
tions and  longing  for  the  return  of  the  Bour- 
bons to  Versailles,  sees  something  to  admire  in 
a  republic  that  refuses  to  bend  the  knee  in 
Morocco.  Whether  we  take  up  the  Journal 
des  Debats,  slightly  horrified  at  separation  of 
Church  and  State,  or  turn  to  the  flaming  and 
indiscreet  Aurore,  alive  with  anticlericalism, 
the  same  grimness  of  determination  to  uphold 
a  position  in  which  the  national  honor  is 
deemed  at  stake  reveals  itself  almost  trucul- 
lently.  If  Germany  wants  war  over  Morocco, 
she  will,  apparently,  be  accommodated  by  the 
French  newspapers.  They  have,  in  truth,  be- 
gun it.  Only  the  Socialist  Paris  Humanite, 
echoing  the  famed  Jaures,  and  certain  dailies 
of  the  ideal  collectivist  school,  offer  anything 
like  protest.  But  they,  to  employ  a  phrase 
once  used  by  the  German  Chancellor,  bite  on 
granite. 


TENSION  BETWEEN  FRANCE  AND  GERMANY 


127 


THE  TROOPS  WITH  WHICH  FRANCE  ASKS  LEAVE  TO  POLICE  MOROCCO 

They  belone  to  the  corps  stationed  in  Algeria  and  will  become  an  army  of  penetration  if  Prance  can  get 
her  way  at  Algeciras.  But  Germany  wants  an  international  force  to  do  the  work  of  reducing  the  Maghzen  to 
sntnciseion. 


SCANNING,  now,  the  Moroccan  horizon 
through  the  German  eyepiece,  we  discern 
a  French  monopoly  magnified.  Nothing  else, 
in  fact,  is  visible  to  Berlin's  representative, 
the  faultlessly  groomed,  insistent  yet  polite 
Hcrr  von  Radowitz,  high  in  the  esteem  of 
Emperor  William.  He  is  suspected  to  have 
inspired  an  utterance  in  the  Magdehurger 
Zeitungj  which,  in  any  case,  is  an  organ 
through  which  German  diplomacy  communi- 


cates itself  to  an  anxious  earth.  France  has 
hoped,  we  read  therein,  that  this  conference 
would  supply  her  with  a  "mandate"  to  organize 
a  military  police  force  for  all  Morocco.  Vain 
imagining!  That  would  amount  to  absolute 
political  control  over  the  government  of  Abdul- 
Aziz.  Maintenance  of  the  policy  of  the  open 
door,  in  its  true  sense,  cannot  be  guaranteed 
in  Morocco  if  military  police  control  be  made 
over  to  France  or  to  any  one  power.    Concilia- 


Stereograpb  Copyright,  I9M.  H.  C.  White  Co.,  N.  Y. 

AT  MARKET  IN  MOROCCO 

The  natives  in  Tangrier  assemble  here  to  plot  rebellion, 
which  is  described  as  the  national  pastime.  This  spot  is 
the  business  center  of  Tangier. 


Stereograph  Copyright,  1904,  U  C.  White  Co  ,  N.  Y. 

TANGIER— THE  CHIEF    SEAPORT   OP   MOROCCO 

The  f^enuine  and  famous  Morocco  leather  is  manu* 
factured  in  this  town.  Most  of  the  naval  demonstra- 
tions off  Algeciras  are  calculated  for  effect  in  Tangier. 


128 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


tory  assurances  by  M.  Revoil  that  France  de- 
sires to  maintain  the  open  door  in  Morocco  are 
but  springes  to  catch  woodcocks  if  all  the  efforts 
of  the  Paris  Government  are  centered  on  the 
task  of  establishing  a  monopoly.  Germany 
must  oppose  to  the  last  any  bestowal  of 'police 
and  military  control  in  Morocco  upon  France. 
Nothing  but  international  control  can  establish 
equality  of  commercial  opportunity  in  Morocco. 
If  the  conference  fails  to  agree  on  this  point, 
it  is  well  that  it  disperse  without  arriving  at 
any  decison  at  all. 

NOW  France,  as  even  the  pugnacious  Berlin 
Tageblatt  admits,  can  never  reconcile  this 
point  of  view  with  her  own.  She  is  firml> 
determined,  according  to  the  German  daily,  to 
maintain  that  the  military  police  shall  be  or- 
ganized and  controlled  by  herself,  not  only  in 
the  region  bordering  on  the  Algerian  frontier 
but  in  the  whole  empire  of  the  reckless  young 
Moorish  Sultan.  She  will  insist  upon  an  anal- 
ogy between  the  relation  of  the  United  States 
to  Cuba  and  her  own  connection  with  Morocco. 
Here,  laments  the  Berlin  daily,  is  the  live 
wire  that  \v'A\  make  for  the  doom  of  the  con- 
ference. A  chorus  of  assent,  from  the  Berlin 
Post,  the  Suddeutsche  Reichscorrespondens, 
supposed   to   get    its    political    opinions    from 


EMPEROR  WILLIAM  SOWING  THE  SEEDS  OF 
WAR 

—London  Punch. 


Prince  Biilow,  the  Deutsche  Tagespost,  voicing 
the  official  mind  there,  is  not  indicative  to 
Europe  of  much  harmony  at  Algeciras.  Mat- 
ters are  not  mended  by  the  circumstance 
pointed  out  in  the  London  Morning  Post  that 
at  this  conference  of  the  powers  there  is  no 
such  thing  as  a  majority.  The  conference  can 
reach  an  agreement  only  if  and  when  all  the 
powers  represented,  from  little  Montenegro  to 
these  great  United  States,  are  unanimous.  The 
objections  of  any  one  of  the  number  suffice  to 
prevent  agreement  on  the  point  to  which  they 
apply.  Every  delegate  is  imprisoned  with'n 
the  four  corners  of  his  written  instructions. 
Some  of  the  delegates  may  not  even  vote  at 
all.  They  have  simply  been  attending  and  lis- 
tening. Others  must  telegraph  to  their  capitals 
every  time  an  unforeseen  contingency  presents 
itself.  "A  conspiracy,"  comments  the  Paris 
Figaro,  "against  expedition." 

KEEN  scrutiny  of  the  firmament  of  interna- 
tional politics  reveals  to  many  a  British 
organ  those  stars  with  trains  of  fire  and  dews 
of  blood  that  herald  sanguinary  disturbance  of 
the  world's  peace.  Emperor  William,  we  are 
assured,  wants  a  war  with  France,  and,  like 
the  infant  in  the  advertisement,  will  not  be 
happy  till  he  gets  it.  The  London  Times  has 
permitted  its  military  expert  to  forecast  the 
issue  of  such  a  conflict  at  much  length  in  its 
columns.  "He  does  not  think  it  by  any  means 
well  established,"  observes  our  contemporary 
editorially,  "that  in  the  event  of  a  sudden  on- 
slaught on  the  eastern  frontier  of  France,  Ger- 
many would  possess  the  overwhelming  advan- 
tages which  we  are  sometimes  told  she  would 
enjoy.  On  the  contrary,  he  believes  that  in 
mobilization,  in  concentration  and  in  numbers 
France  would  be  no  bad  match  for  her  foes  on 
land,  though  he  hints  that  at  sea  she  or  even 
this  country  might  on  occasion  be  caught  nap- 
ping by  Germany.  At  any  rate,  he  shows 
that  the  France  which  Germany  would  have  to 
attack  to-day  is  very  different  from  the  France 
which  she  invaded  in  1870."  The  utterance 
induces  in  the  Berlin  Kreus  Zcitung  an  over- 
teeming  sarcasm  mellowed  by  a  rather  sudden 
regret  that  Germany  and  Great  Britain  are  not 
better  friends. 

YET  there  would  have  been  war  between 
France  and  Germany  last  summer,  de- 
clares the  serious  and  careful  London  Spec- 
tator, if  Emperor  William  had  not  convinced 
himself  that  Great  Britain  would  fight  to  de- 


AN  EXCITING  ELECTION  IN  GREAT  BRITAIN 


129 


izLd  France  from  an  unprovoked  attack.  "Ever 
met  the  close  of  the  Franco-German  war,  Ger- 
man statesmen   and  military  chiefs  have  been 
haunted   by    the   notion  that  Germany  would 
2 A  be  safe  if  France  rose  once  more  to  a  posi- 
jca  of  power."     On  several  occasions,  it  adds, 
wir  has  almost  come  to  pass  as  a  consequence 
:i  this  dread  in  Germany's  ruling  class.    That 
f  why  war  was  so  nearly  precipitated  between 
:iese  two  powers  in  1875.    ^^  ^^is  the  alliance 
between  France  and  Russia  wliich  at  last  con- 
-Qced  the  Berlin  Government  that  war  with 
be  Third  Republic  involved  too  grave  a  risk. 
Now  that  the  autocracy  lies  in  fragments,  Ber- 
iTs  policy  of  war  upon  France  is  to  the  fore. 
It  would  be   idle  to  conceal  the  fact  that  if 
jrrmany   still    means  to  avail  herself  of  the 
Russian  revolution  to  crush  France,  the  Mo- 
roccan conference  will  give  her  any  number 
ct  excuses  for  action."     Many  well-informed 
Frenchmen,   The  Spectator  declares,  are  con- 
r:aced  that  Emperor  William  means  to  attack 
their  country.     They  believe  the  republic  will 
be  attacked  "wnth  all  the  suddenness  and  over- 
wtekning  force  that  modern  military  organiza- 
-«5ti  renders    possible."     That  is  the  shadow 
-ver  the  gathering  at  Algeciras. 


THE  sweeping  triumph  for  Sir  Henry  Camp- 
bell-Bannerman  which  is  the  result  of  the 
ThDcth's  parliamentary  elections  throughout  the 
British  Isles  is  made  veritably  picturesque  by 
:a€  defeat  of  Mr.  Balfour  himself  in  his  own 
Cijnstituenc>'.  That  same  London  Post  which 
'♦n  the  eve  of  the  polling  could  say  that  "there  is 
':itie  heard  now  as  to  the  certainty  of  a  Liberal 
majority,"  is  at  present  clamoring  for  the  depo- 
sition of  Balfour  as  a  party  leader.  Returns  up 
to  and  including  the  20th  of  the  month — the 
V.  ling  terminating  a  week  later — enabled  all 
iht  London  dailies  to  announce  in  advance  that 
the  ministerial  majority  would  be  handsome 
e^ven  without  the  Irish  home-rule  contingent. 
Out  Sir  Henry  Campbell-Bannerman's  strength 
in  the  new  House  of  Commons  proves  more 
formidable  on  paper  than  in  fact  to  organs  like 
the  Mail  and  Times.  They  predict  already 
iihat  the  labor  element  is  potent,  not  only  in 
njmerical  force,  but  in  the  fact  that  dozens  of 
newly  elected  Liberals  owe  their  seats  to  a 
combination  with  the  laborites.  The  London 
Times  foretells  a  possible  combination  between 
the  laborites  and  the  home-rulers.  Mr.  Win- 
ston Churchill,  son  of  the  great  Lord  Ran- 
'i*>Iph,  scouts  such  prophecy.  This  young  man 
has  teen  elected  to  the  House  by  a  great  ma- 
jority in  one  of  the  Manchester  districts  that 


balked  at  Balfour.  Not  until  all  the  returns 
are  received  and  analyzed,  of  course,  will  it 
be  possible  to  measure  the  extent  of  the  great 
political  revolution.  Mr.  Chamberlain  pro- 
fesses himself  undaunted  by  what  the  London 
Spectator  calls  a  free-trade  landslide.  His 
own  constituency  re-elected  him  by  a  rousing 
majority.    He  will  fight  on. 

WITH  a  home  rule  specter  throwing  its 
preternatural  unreality  into  the  political 
contest,  with  an  unworkable  Education  Act 
outraging  the  nonconformist  conscience,  with 
an  army  of  Chinese  making  havoc  of  the  union 
rate  of  wages  in  the  Transvaal,  and  with  the 
citadel  of  free  trade  threatened  by  irruptions 
of  the  protectionist  horde.  Great  Britain's 
national  election  has  been  dipped,  as  Shelley 
would  say,  in  earthquake  and  eclipse.  Never 
was  the  English  practice  of  heckling,  as  the 
quizzing  of  candidates  on  the  "stump"  is 
termed,  indulged  in  with  sterner  ferocity.  Mr. 
Balfour's  largest  audience  was  as  a  looking- 
glass  wherein  he  could  behold  the  image  of  his 
fallen  political  nature.  He  was  howled  down 
in  one  constituency,  his  neatest  speech  became 


THE  SLIP-KNOT 

After   the  late   Sir  John   Everett  Millals*  well-known 
picture  "The  Huguenot." 

— London  Punch 


I30 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


DOWNtrsiG  S^ 


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■JNNECTIOH      : 

•HftTEVEK           '* 

•  iH  iNt  FtKM  r 

'^T    ft£C£MTt.V   I  ■ 

vVvCATt-DTHtSt  I 

■ 

PREHISES'     1 

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c.       1 

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% 


open 


Joey  :    "  Oh !  I  say,  Arthur !     Won't  we  just  have  jolly  larks  with  their  windows  when  they  get  the  shot 
?     I've  got  my  pockets  full  of  chestnuts  to  shy  at  'em  ! " 


Pantaloon  :  "  So  have  I,  Joey  ! ! " 

a  running  debate  between  his  hearers  and  him- 
self in  another,  and  one  oi  the  greatest  gather- 
ings he  ever  faced  was  dissolved  into  its  con- 
stituent human  elements  amid  perturbations 
nearly  as  elemental  as  those  of  a  typhoon.  The 
columns  of  the  London  Times  exhale  S3rmpathy 
for  him.  Mr.  Joseph  Chamberlain  was  repeat- 
edly interrupted  with  vegetables,  and  free  trad- 
ers were  held  responsible  for  the  eccentricities 
of  the  automobile  in  which  he  sped  from  audi- 
ence to  audience.  On  one  occasion  he  nar- 
rowly escaped  being  carried  into  the  presence 
of  eternity. 

NEVER  in  his  life  did  Britain's  Prime  Min- 
ister, Sir  Henry  Campbell-Bannerman, 
favor  a  separate  and  independent  parliament 
for  Ireland.  This  he  maintained  all  through  the 
sound  and  fury  of  the  fortnight's  general  elec- 
tion. Btft  the  Prime  Minister  deals  here  in 
evasions,  says  the  London  Morning  Post,  a 
paper  which  distrusts  his  Irish  policy  as  pro- 
foundly as  the  London  Spectator  professes  to 
believe  in  it  Sir  Henry's  government,  de- 
clares the  Post,  is  committed,  both  by  the  irre- 
sistible force  of  its  traditions  and  by  the  recent 


— London  PuncK 

public  admissions  of  its  members,  to  an  inde^ 
pendent  executive  in  Ireland.  This  independ- 
ent executive,  it  adds,  must  inevitably  lead  to 
the  separation  of  Ireland  from  Great  Britain. 
The  Prime  Minister,  so  that  eminent  British 
publicist,  Professor  A.  V.  Dicey,  also  asserts 
has  "in  the  plainest  language"  avowed  his 
purpose  to  carry  out  a  policy  which  "may" 
lead  toward  home  rule.  Such  a  policy,  we  are 
assured,  is  far  more  likely  to  obtain  success 
than  any  attempt  to  pass  an  outright  home 
rule  bill.  The  House  of  Lords  would  reject 
such  a  bill,  as  Sir  Henry  and  the  Irish  are 
aware.  Therefore  the  Prime  Minister's  al- 
leged plan  is  to  bring  home  rule  about  ad- 
ministratively. Home-rulers  are  gradually  to 
fill  every  office  in  Ireland.  Unionists  are  to  be 
discouraged  in  every  posible  official  way.  The 
scheme  is,  in  fact,  to  confer  home  rule  by 
instalments. 

PICTURES  of  Ireland  as  it  will  be  under  Sir 
Henry  Campbell-Bannerman  reveal  a  mas- 
tery of  somber  effects  on  the  part  of  his  polit- 
ical enemies.    It  is  despondently  conceded  that 
the  Prime  Minister  is  likely  to  succeed  by  in- 


THE  '* SPECTER  OF  HOME  RULE' 


131 


directiolu  He  will  end  by  creating  an  Irish 
parliament  for  Irish  affairs.  Yet  he  will  not 
banish  Irish  members  from  the  House  of  Com- 
mons in  London.  There  they  are  to  remain 
*'for  the  management  or  mismanagement  of 
British  affairs,"  to  quote  the  complaint  of  Pro- 
fessor Dicey.  But  the  endeavor  to  confer 
home  rule  by  instalments,  adds  this  authority, 
involves  evils  even  worse.  Agitation  in  the 
Emerald  Isle  will  become  incessant,  blatant 
and  violent  Throughout  the  coming  six 
months  of  turmoil  in  Dublin,  Sir  Henry  Camp- 
bell-Bannerman  will,  it  is  predicted,  bemuse 
his  countrymen  with  talk  of  "devolution." 
That  is  defined  in  the  London  Times  as  a  Lib- 
eral synonym  for  home  rule.  It  portends  the 
creation,  apparently,  of  a  statutory  legislative 
body  and  a  financial  council  for  Ireland.  The 
House  of  Commons,  as  the  London  Mail  views 
the  inatter,  would  in  consequence  part  with  the 
power  of  the  purse  to  please  "Sir  Henry's 
master,"  Mr.  John  Redmond. 

FROM  the  electoral  struggles  of  the  past 
month  Mr.  John  Redmond  emerges  reiter- 
ating that  his  ultimate  goal  is  the  national 
independence  of  his  country.    He  declares  that 
in  its  essence  the  national  movement  in  Ireland 
is  exactly  what  it  was  in  the  days  of  Emmett. 
**When  we  say  we  are  working  along  peaceful 
lines  it  is  because  they  are  the  only  means  at 
hand."     He  has  been  saying  all  this  for  years 
in  a  melodious  voice  without  a  trace  of  Hi- 
bernian accent     Mr.   Redmond,  in  truth,  is 
admitted  in  the  anti-home-rule  London  Mail  to 
be  perhaps  the  greatest  orator  in  the  House  of 
Commons.    But  the  London  Standard  remains 
unmoved  by  an  eloquence  embodying  the  idea 
that  "armed  rebellion  itself  would  be  a  duty 
did  a  reasonable  chance  of  success  exist."    Mr. 
Redmond   never   says   these   things   bombast- 
ically.    As  a  maker  of  home  -  rule  speeches, 
according  to  the  London  Mail  itself,  "he  is 
always  the  pink  of  courtesy,  lacking  neither  in 
tact  nor  in  good  taste."     "Perhaps  he  is  the 
one   Irishman  in   Parliament,"  adds  this  ad- 
mirer, "who  knows  how  to  hold  his  tongue. 
He  has  a  superb  gift  of  silence."    Because  he 
is  so  forceful,  so  skilled  in  leading  men,  such 
a  master  of  the  practise  and  procedure  of  the 
House  of  Commons  and  so  exquisite  at  persua- 
sion, it  will  be  the  task  of  the  Prime  Minister's 
life  to  bafl3e  this  Mr.  Redmond's  determination 
to  get  the  precise  kind  of  home  rule  he  wants. 
The  Prime  Minister  has  his  own  kind  of  home 
rule  and  he  means  to  bestow  it  lavishly,  but 
The  Freeman's  Journal  (Dublin)  warns  Eng- 


THE  YOUTH  WHO  CAUSED  MR.  BALFOUR  1  O 
LOSE  HIS  SEAT 
Winston  Spencer  Churchill,  leader  of  the  revolt 
against  "  Balfourism  "  in  Manchester,  has  just  brought 
out  a  life  of  his  father,  the  late  Lord  Randolph  Church- 
ill He  is  three  years  younger  than  the  American  Win- 
ston Churchill. 


THE  BEST    ORATOR  IN    THE    BRITISH   PARLIA- 
MENT 
John  Redmond,  the  Home  Rule  leader,  is  entitled  to 
be  so  considered,  in  the  opinion  of  the  London  AfaiL  a 
foe  of  Home  Rule. 


132 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


ONE  OF   THE   HOME-RULERS    IN    THE  BRITISH 
CABINET 

James  Bryce  is  said  to  have  planned  the  new  ministe- 
rialist policy  of  "home-rule  on  the  instalment  plan"  as 
Mr.  Balfour  persists  in  calling  it 


THE  HERO  OF  ENGLAND'S  ANTI-CHINESE 
CRUSADE 

As  a  member  of  the  Campbell-Bannerman  Ministry, 
the  Earl  of  Elgin  took  the  action  that  stopped  the  rush 
of  Chinese  to  South  Africa. 


lish  Liberals  thaf  Ireland  prefers  her  own  lex- 
icon of  political  terminology. 

WHAT  will  happen  to  home  rule  when 
the  new  House  of  Commons  finds  the 
subject  pressing,  depends,  in  the  opinion  of 
English  organs,  upon  the  Prime  Minister's 
command  of  his  heterogeneous  majority.  The 
returns  are  not  yet  subject  to  any  sound  analy- 
sis because  no  competent  authority  can  make 
anything  of  the  labor  element  in  the  Liberal 
ranks.  In  addition  to  the  two-score  or  so 
of  out-ah-out  labor  members,  there  are  fully 
a  score  of  seats  won  by  an  alliance  of  Liberals 
and  labor  unions.  It  looks  as  if  the  Prime 
Minister's  government  will  be  much  embar- 
rassed between  home-rulers  on  one  side  and 
the  labor  element  on  the  other.  This  was 
predicted  before  the  election  by  Mr.  Keir 
Hardie  in  an  acute  Nineteenth  Century  (Lon- 
don) article.  "For  fighting  purposes,"  said  he, 
"the  forces  in  the  next  Parliament,  apart  from 
the  recognized  opposition,  will  be  the  Irish 
and  labor  parties.  I  do  not  anticipate  any 
alliance  between  these  sections,  scarcely  even 
an  understanding,  but  certainly  a  general  back- 
ing of  each  other  in  the  division  lobby." 
Hence,  according  to  Mr.  Hardie,  the  Prime 
Minister's  eflForts  will  be  expended  rather  in 
"keeping  the  team  together"  than  in  writing 
anything  into  the  statute  book.  In  that  case, 
retort  some  influential  Liberal  organs,  Mr. 
Burns  might  as  well  have  been  left  out  of 
the  Cabinet.  That  labor  leader  was  given 
office  in  anticipation  of  what  has  happened. 
Sir  Henry  Campbell-Bannerman  is  definitely 
pledged  to  a  repeal,  or  rather  to  a  modification, 
of  the  Education  Act,  now  weighing  so  heavily 
upon  Englishmen  who  resent  government  sup- 
port of  sectarian  schools.  Sir  Henry  is  like- 
wise pledged  to  rid  South  Africa  of  Chinese 
labor,  so  far  as  that  can  be  managed. 

THIS  Chinese  question  alone  has  inspired 
more  printed  infuriation  in  the  British 
Islands  within  two  years  than  California  felt 
when  Ah  Sin  was  at  the  height  of  his  career 
there.  The  London  Post  does  not  overstate  the 
truth  when  it  asserts  that  the  Chinese  labor 
question  occupied  a  place  in  the  foreground  of 
the  policy  upon  which  Sir  Henry  Campbell- 
Bannerman  depended  for  victory  in  the  elec- 
tions of  the  month.  The  result  showed  how 
powerful  was  the  Chinese  cry  upon  the  labor 
vote.  That  vote  was  left  impassive  by  the 
warning  that  free  trade  had  been  imperilled  by 
Mr.  Balfour  and  Mr.  Chamberlain.    "To  fight 


JAPAN'S  FIRST  AMBASSADOR  TO  AMERICA 


^33 


[\2T\H]  retaliation,  where  such  a  course  might 
be  necessary,  against  the  foreigner,  is  danger- 
ous ^ound  for  a  labor  leader  to  tread,"  says 
iJie  London  Post,  "seeing  that  hitting  back 
when  struck  has  ever  been  regarded  by  the 
^'  rkingraan  as  the  Englishman's  natural  right, 
ar.J  the  old  trick  of  the  big  and  little  loaf, 
'i 'wever  neatly  it  may  be  performed,  is  far  too 
transparent."  So,  as  this  commentator  on  the 
v^s  of  the  time  will  have  it,  the  labor  lead- 
ers and  those  Liberals  who  cater  to  the  labor 
sute  made  "Chinese  labor"  their  own  particu- 
lar election  cry. 

IT  IS  not  so  very  long  since  Mr.  Balfour 
announced  his  willingness  to  base  his  polit- 
-cai  campaign  wholly  upon  the  Chinese  labor 
j->ue.  His  ministry  sanctioned  the  bringing 
'f  the  coolies  into  the  gold-mine  region. 
There  are  now  some  fifty  thousand  of  these 
^il ejects  of  the  Son  of  Heaven  in  the  ancestral 
Lime  of  the  Boers.  The  consequences  of  grat- 
iiying  what  the  London  Ne7vs  deems  the  lust 
•"t  mine  owners  for  cheap  labor  include  "enor- 
nities,"  "abominable  practices,"  "degrading 
nmorality"  and  conditions  to  which  Liberal 
■rgans  have  applied  even  grosser  names  in 
th.ir  appeal  to  the  labor  vote.  Sir  Henry 
'  impbell-Bannerman  went  so  far  as  to  say 
-he  Chinese  in  South  Africa  were  slaves  until 
He  tcok  office.  The  London  Leader  has  told 
jf  coolies  being  made  to  hang  two  hours  by 
the  wrist  at  the  behest  of  a  mine  boss.  It 
>etms  that  any  Chinaman  who  deserts  the  em- 
ployment of  his  "importer"  or  refuses  to  work 
\vhen  required  by  his  "importer"  to  do  so,  must 
?o  to  prison  for  eight  weeks.  Yet  it  appears 
hat  desertions  frgm  the  mines  have  been  fre- 
'V>jnt.  The  deserters  recently  took  to  roving 
the  country  in  bands,  terrorizing  the  dwellers 
"H  isolated  farms.  Details  of  this  sort  lost 
nothing  of  their  piquancy  in  the  speeches  of 
-h«r  Prime  Minister's  followers  on  the  eve  of 
tie  polling.  British  laborers  were  told  of  a 
v^ag^e  scale  lowered  by  heathens.  The  heathens 
bd  been  recruited  in  their  very  temples  and 
'iri^ged  from  Pe-chili*s  opium  dens  to  gorge 
the  coffers  of  Mr.  Balfour's  gold-mining  sup- 
>)rters.  The  effect  of  these  philippics  is  re- 
corded in  the  month's  election  returns. 


THE  Viscount  Suizo  Aoki  is  the  first  diplo- 
matic representative  to  come  from  Tokyo 
to  Washington  with  the  rank  of  ambassador. 
An  ambassador,  from  the  standpoint, of  inter- 
national law,  is  in  a  special  sense  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  honor  and  dignity  of  his  sov- 


A  GREAT  FIGURE  IN  BRITAIN'S  POLITICAL 
LANDSLIDE 


Mr.  H.  H.  Asquith,  free-trader,  is  the  most  trenchant 
fiehl     ^   *        -     - 
lain  culminated  in  the  Liberal  triumph  at  the  polls. 


\8qt 
wnt 


of  the  orators  wnose  fisht  against  Balfour  and  Chamber- 


AN  AMUSING  AUTHOR  IN  A  CABINET  OF 
SERIOUS  ONES 

Augustine  Birrell,  with  the  portfolio  of  education  in  the 
British  ministry,  is,  accordingf  to  the  London  Evening 
Standard,  a  relief  from  the  jprofundity  of  such  deep 
scholars  as  Bryce,  Morley,  Haldane  and  the  rest.  "  Bir- 
rell can  be  funny." 


134 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


HE  COMES  FROM  MUTSU-HITO  TO    ROOSEVELT 

The  Viscount  Aoki  is  Japan's  ambassador  in  Washing- 
ton, the  first  of  his  countrymen  to  reach  our  national  capi- 
tal with  that  diplomatic  rank. 

ereign.  But  in  public  an  ambassador  has 
never  been  permitted  to  exact  the  precedence 
of  one  representing  the  person  of  a  royal 
ruler  until  last  month,  when  President  Roose- 
velt instituted  the  innovation  —  for  us  —  of 
ranking  these  diplomatists  above  the  justices 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 
Technically,  therefore,  the  new  Japanese  am- 
bassador is  a  "bigger"  man  in  Washington 
functions  than  Chief  Justice  Fuller.  Viscount 
Aoki  has  been  in  the  Mikado's  diplomatic 
service  for  many  years,  his  highest  distinction 
having  been  won  at  the  court  of  Berlin.  In- 
deed, he  married  a  German  lady,  and  his 
daughter  married  into  the  German  nobility, 
and  was  thought  in  her  own  country  to  have 
lost  caste  by  the  match.  Her  husband,  al- 
though a  scion  of  a  most  exclusive  Prussian 
house,  strove  vainly  for  years,  according  to 
one  story,  to  penetrate  the  inner  circle  of 
Tokyo  society,  a  circle  to  which  even  the  most 
distinguished  foreigners  are  seldom,  if  ever, 
admitted.  Love  found  a  way,  however,  and 
the  present  Japanese  ambassador  here  became 
the  father-in-law  of  a  Hatzfeldt. 

THIS  Viscount  Aoki  is  described  as  a  man 
of  such  exquisite  tact  that  certain  mis- 
understandings   between   Tokyo    and    Berlin, 


consequent  upon  the  Asiatic  policy  of  Em- 
peror William,  were  adjusted  by  the  exercise 
of  his  personal  influence.  That,  anyhow,  is 
the  story.  His  task  in  Washington,  as  the 
German  press  hints,  will  be  to  convert  this 
republic  into  as  much  of  an  unofiicial  member 
of  the  Anglo- Japanese  alliance  as  our  traditions 
permit.  He  is  rather  an  elderly  man  for  that 
task,  being  in  his  sixly-third  year  and  not  espe- 
cially vigorous.  His  appointment  has  caused 
some  little  surprise,  in  fact,  for  he  belongs  to  the 
old  school  of  Japanese  statesmanship  and  was 
put  into  that  asylum  for  the  superannuated,  the 
Privy  Council,  long  ago.  Nor  does  he  seem  to 
possess  any  particular  experience  of  America. 
On  the  other  hand,  his  personality  is  so  per- 
suasive, his  talent  for  diplomacy  is  so  art- 
fully molded  by  European  experience  and  his 
genius  for  entertaining  is  of  such  perfection 
that  he  may,  as  one  daily  abroad  puts  it,  "go 
far"  in  Washington.  The  Paris  Journal  des 
Dehats  recently  called  attention  to  the  flam- 
boyant gorgeousness  with  which  European 
diplomatists  stationed  here  entertain  members 
of  the  United  States  Senate.  Invitations  are 
said  to  descend  in  showers  upon  the  Foreign 
Relations  Committee,  especially  when  an  im- 
portant treaty  awaits  confirmation.  European 
governments  are  alleged  to  complain  that  it 
might  be  better  fbr  their  purposes  if  they 
could  accredit  ambassadors  to  the  Senate  in- 
stead of  to  the  President.  However,  as  our 
French  contemporary  explains,  they  console 
themselves  by  entertaining  our  Senators.  Vis- 
count Aoki  is  confidently  expected  to  make 
his  assimilation  of  Western  civilization  abun- 
dantly manifest  to  the  members  of  the  Foreign 
Relations  Committee. 


A    GERMAN  .WARNING    AGAINST    THE    ANGLO- 
JAPANESE  ALLIANCE 

"  Powers  of  continental  Europe,  look  out  for  your 
colonies ! 

— Berlin  Kladderadatsck, 


BANKER  SCHIFF'S  WARNING  CRY 


135 


THE  worst  panic  this  country  has  ever  seen, 
one  in  comparison  with  which  preceding 
panics  will  seem  like  "child's  play,"  is  pre- 
dicted imless  we  proceed  to  reform  our  cur- 
rency system.  The  prophet  of  such  dismal 
things  is  not  one  of  the  "calamity-howlers" 
'.trft  over  as  a  relic  of  Populist  days,  but  one 
if  the  most  influential  bankers  in  New  York, 
ar,*J  usually  one  of  the  more  optimistic — ^Jacob 
H.  SchiflF,  of  Kuhn,  Loeb  &  Company,  and  late 
r.  director  of  the  Equitable  Life.  What  must 
be  done  to  avert  the  panic,  he  thinks,  is  to 
^eal^e  a  more  "elastic"  currency.  The  sug- 
irtstion  is  not  novel.  Every  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  from  the  days  of  Secretary  Windom 
tvith  his  interconvertible  bond  down  to  Secre- 
tary Shaw  with  his  "asset  currency,"  has  es- 
-lyed  the  task  of  securing  increased  elasticity. 
It  was  the  favorite  theme  of  Greenbackers  and 
Farmers'  Alliance  orators,  .whose  scheme  to 
have  the  Government  build  warehouses  where 
farm  products  could  be  held  in  bond  and  made 
the  basis  for  a  currency  very  elastic  indeed  is 
Till  remembered  with  varying  emotions.  The 
principal  trouble  has  been  and  still  is  the  lack 
of  agreement  on  the  part  of  successive  Secre- 
taries of  the  Treasury  and  on  the  part  of  dif- 
ferent financial  magnates  as  to  the  method  by 
which  elasticity  is  to  be  increased.  The  occa- 
sion of  the  renewal  of  an  agitation  on  this 
scbject  at  this  time  is  the  high  rate  that  was 
prevailing  for  money  on  Wall  Street  last  De- 
cember and  the  first  part  of  January,  call 
xoney  being  loaned  at  the  rate  of  125  per  cent, 
ior  a  time,  and  in  some  instances  going  be- 
yond that.  This  condition  of  the  money  mar- 
ket Mr.  Schiff,  in  an  extemporaneous  speech 
before  the  New  York  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
termed  "nothing  less  than  a  disgrace  to  any 
civilized  country."  Speculation  was  not,  he 
liiinks,  the  sole  cause  for  it,  for  other  countries 
have  had  wider  speculation  than  the  United 
States  without  such  extreme  rates.  "The 
cause  is  in  our  insufficient  circulating  medium, 
or  the  insufficient  elasticity  of  our  circulat- 
ing medium." 

THE  plan  which  Secretary  Shaw  has  been 
urging  is  to  allow  the  national  banks  to 
issue  an  emergency  circulation,  equal  to  50 
per  cent  of  their  bond-secured  circulation,  this 
emergency  issue  to  be  taxed  five  per  cent  in 
order  to  insure  its  retirement  when  the  emer- 
gency is  past.  Mr.  Schiff  disapproves  that  plan. 
He  calls  it  a  "very  poor  recommendation,"  be- 
cause the  emergency  issue  would  all  go  just 
where  it  ought  not  to  go — to  the  speculators. 


He  favors  an  increase  of  circulation  (by  the 
banks,  of  course)  based  on  commercial  paper 
held  by  them.  Ex-Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
Lyman  J.  Gage  agrees  with  Mr.  Schiff  as  to 
the  danger  of  a  panic  some  time  in  the  future 
as  a  result  of  our  bad  currency  system;  but 
he  is  in  favor  of  Secretary  Shaw's  scheme 
—  "with  modifications."  Secretary  Shaw's 
scheme,  in  fact,  seems  to  be  more  popular 
among  the  bankers  than  Mr.  Schiff's  sugges- 
tion. The  latter  has  since  explained  thrft  he 
did  not  mean  to  suggest  a  substitute  for  the 
Secretary's  plan,  but  an  addition,  commercial 
paper  to  be  made  merely  an  extra  security  for 
the  emergency  circulation.  Ex-Comptroller  of 
the  Currency  Eckels  says  our  currency  laws 
are  out  of  date  and  a  positive  hindrance  to 
trade  and  industrial  development.  He  wants  to 
see  "a  clean  sweep"  of  the  old  laws  "so  far  as 
they  relate  to  bank  notes  and*  the  handling  of 
Government  funds,"  and  the  abolition  of  the 
sub-Treasury.  There  are  other  bankers  only 
waiting  to  be  called  on  to  make  other  sugges- 
tions. 

THE  spirit  in  which  Mr.  Schiff's  remarks 
have  been  received  by  the  country  in  gen- 
eral is  far  from  being  cordial  or  encouraging. 
The  disposition  is  widespread  to  attribute  the 
wild  flight  of  call-money  in  New  York  to  the 
still  wilder  speculations  on  Wall  Street,  and  to 
the  encouragement  of  such  speculations  by  the 
Wall  Street  banks.  Many  facts  are  pointed 
out  to  uphold  this  view  of  the  case.  On  De- 
cember 12  last  the  New  York  correspondent 
of  the  London  Economist  was  saying: 

"Some  of  the  big  downtown  banks  have  been 
too  intimately  associated  with  operations  in  Wall 
Street,  through  managers,  directors  or  others  in 
interest,  to  permit  of  an  inference  that  all  of  the 
in-and-out-of-season  booming  of  securities  has 
been  done  with  money  borrowed  abroad.  From 
this  point  of  view,  then,  when  the  second  drop 
below  the  25  per  cent,  limit  of  reserves  and  the 
third  squeeze  in  call  loan  rates  within  a  month 
are  considered,  it  must  be  inferred  that  some  of 
the  banks  here  are  willing  to  play  with  the  specu- 
lative crowd,  whatever  may  befall,  in  the  ex- 
pectation or  belief,  or  both,  that  if  the  worst 
should  happen  the  secretary  of  the  treasury  may 
be  relied  on  to  come  to  their  relief." 

That  influential  paper,  the  New  York  Jour- 
nal of  Commerce,  also  puts  the  blame  on  the 
banks.    It  says  editorially: 

"Why  have  New  York  banks  been  so  accom- 
modating to  the  daring  operators  of  the  Stock 
Exchange,  reckless  of  all  interests  but  their  own, 
and  played  the  role  of  partners  in  their  manipu- 


136 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


THE  MOST  INFLUENTIAL  JEW  IN  AMERICA 

Banker  Schiff  was  eigrhteen  when  he  came  from  Ger- 
many to  America.  He  is  the  wealthiest,  most  power- 
ful, and  most  liberal  Hebrew  in  the  country.  He  is  pre- 
dicting the  greatest  panic  of  our  history  if  our  currency 
is  not  made  more  elastic. 

lations  of  the  market?  It  is  largely  because  rich 
and  powerful  stock  operators,  employing  their 
brokers  on  the  Exchange,  are  in  many  cases  bank 
directors  themselves  or  closely  allied  with  them. 
They  have  control  or  great  influence  in  banks 
and  use  them  for  their  own  purposes.  Bank  offi- 
cers are  in  many  instances  subservient  to  them, 
because  they  are  in  a  measure  dependent  upon 
them  or  interested  with  them.  This  close  alliance 
of  banks  with  great  corporate  interests  is  one  of 
the  perils  of  the  situation." 

AT  THE  very  time  that  100  per  cent,  was 
being  asked  for  call-money  on  the  floor 
of  the  New  York  Stock  Exchange,  so  the  Bos- 
ton Herald  asserts,  business  firms  were,  with 
no  great  difficulty,  borrowing  all  the  money 
they  actually  needed  for  business  purposes  at 
^yi  per  cent.,  this  fact  seeming  to  indicate  that 
the  relief  called  for  by  Mr.  Schiff  and  other 
bankers  is  the  relief  of  the  speculators  (as 
Secretary  Shaw  has  been  maintaining),  not 
of  mercantile  and  commercial  business.  The 
Baltimore  American  also  holds  that  the  abnor- 


mal prices  in  New  York  were  the  result  sole  I  j 
of  the  speculative  craze  here,  the  same  con 
dition  not  being  manifest  anywhere  else.  TH< 
Springfield  Republican  finds  that  the  figures  oi 
currency  circulation  show  an  increase  on  Janri 
ary  i  over  one  year  ago  of  $101,922,446,  and 
its  conclusion  is  that  the  wild  rates  in  N'cw 
York  have  been  due,  not  to  contraction  or 
rigidity  of  the  currency,  but  rather  to  unciuc 
expansion  and  the  consequent  buoyancy  in 
prices  and  the  speculation  stimulated  there l3_y. 
**It  is  in  truth,"  so  it  observes,  "a  period  of 
great  monetary  inflation  attended  by  the  phe- 
nomena common  to  all  such  periods  in  tHe 
past."  The  Evening  Post  diagnoses  the  situa- 
tion as  follows: 

"We   have   had   a   market   admitting   that    ono 
$70,000,000   stock,   another  of  $50,000,000,   and      a 
third    of    $30,000,000,    were    virtually    comereci  ; 
their  prices  were  then  advanced,  after  the  opening: 
of   September,   by  the   speculators   in   control    of 
them,   thirty,   forty-seven,  and  one  hundred    an  <1 
seventy    points    respectively.      These    operation  s, 
and    numerous    similar    ventures    which    accom- 
panied them,  were  undertaken  at  a  time  when  tHe 
legitimate   demands  of  trade  and  industry   were 
at  the  very  highest.     It  is  notorious  that  these 
speculating  millionaires  and  their  following  were 
provided  by  our  banks  with  money  which   had 
been    largely    obtained    from    deposits    made    by- 
Western  institutions  in  this  city,  and  which  were 
certain   to   be   recalled   when   the   active   harvest 
trade  set  in.  Whether  loaned  for  such  purposes  on 
call  or  on  time,  no  intelligent  man  in  Wall  Street 
doubts  for  an  instant  that  these  huge  advances. 


^:?^^v^'-^  ^V>**^ 


MONEY  TIGHT  IN  NEW  YORK 

— McCutcheon  in  Chicago  Tribune, 


A  NEW  PRESIDENT  IN  FRANCE 


137 


for  pure  stock-jobbing  operations,  so  far  tied  up 
available  resources  of  our  banks  that  they  came 
into  December  wholly  unable  properly  to  meet 
the  situation.  The  extent  to  which,  even  then, 
with  25  per  cent,  money  and  bank  reserves  below 
the  legal  minimum,  great  lending  institutions 
continued  to  provide  the  fuel  for  continued  spec- 
ulation, leaves  the  money  convulsion  at  the  end 
of  the  year,  in  our  opinion,  a  phenomenon  which 
the  simplest  mijid  can  understand." 

REGARDING  the  chances  of  currency  leg- 
islation at  Washington,  the  Post  of  that 
city  remarks  that  "Congress  never  meddles 
with  the  currency  until  the  public  forces  it 
to  do  so.  When  it  comes  to  that  sort  of  work, 
G>ngress  is  the  biggest  coward  on  earth." 
The  reason  for  its  cowardice  is  easily  found. 
It  lies  in  the  irreconcilable  differences  of  pub- 
lic sentiment  in  different  sections  on  the  fun- 
damental principles  involved.  Here,  for  in- 
stance, is  a  paragraph  from  the  Omaha  World- 
Herald's  comment  on  Mr.  Schiff's  relief  meas- 
ure: 

*'To  coin  and  issue  money  is  a  government 
function,  and  should  not  be  a  banking  privilege. 
The  increase  or  decrease  of  the  circulating  me- 
dium beyond  the  limits  fixed  by  the  natural  laws 
governing  the  production  of  the  precious  metals 
is  a  responsibility  of  the  gravest  importance  that 
should  rest  on  all  the  people. .  It  should  not  be 
intrusted  to  any  one  class.  Above  all  things  else, 
it  should  not  be  intrusted  to  the  great  and  daring 
and  unscrupulous  money  kings  who  control  the 
large  banking  institutions  of  New  York  in  the 
interest  of  their  enormous  gambling  operations." 


"REFUSED  TO  COME  TO  THE  AID  OF  WALL  ^ 
STREET 

Secretary  Shaw,  of  the  Treasury,  who  hopes  to  be- 
come President  Shaw,  of  the  White  House,  is  blamed  by 
Banker  Schiff  for  recent  high  rates  for  money  in  Wall 
Street;  but  he  holds  speculators  and  the  New  York 
bankers  responsible. 

That  doctrine  still  has  power  from  the 
stump  to  arouse  wild  enthusiasm  and  to  deter- 
mine elections  in  many  States.  The  canny  pol- 
iticians at  Washington  know  it,  if  the  bankers 
in  New  York  sometimes  forget  it. 


SOBERING  UP 
It  is  mighty  convenient  sometimes  to  have  a  steady 

friend.  ^,,  ,.    ^  .. 

— Mmneapohs  Trtbun^. 


A  NAME  rendered  very  familiar  to  the 
world  by  the  fortnight's  contest  for  the 
chief  magistracy  of  the  second  republic  of  the 
world  is  that  of  Clement  Armand  Fallieres. 
In  all  the  sixty-five  years  of  his  life,  neverthe- 
less, he  has  remained,  so  the  Paris  Gaulois 
asserts,  a  human  cipher,  committed  to  nobody, 
representing  nothing.  From  the  date  of  his 
first  election  to  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  thirty 
years  ago  until  he  was  chosen  president  of 
the  republic  in  succession  to  Loubet,  he  has 
lived  in  comparative  obscurity.  He  has  held 
portfolios  in  seven  ministries  and  he  was  Pre- 
mier for  some  twenty-two  days  years  ago;  but 
to  his  countrymen  he  has  heretofore  signified 
little  or  nothing.  His  official  career  has  been 
one  of  lengthened  political  inaction,  unexcited 
by  the  Panama  scandal,  the  Dreyfus  affair,  the 
war  between  Church  and  State.  Fallieres,  in 
short,  has  a  political  organism  in  which  the 


138 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


VHOM  THE  ih.V^EE    PAUACB  TO  A  SI X- ROOM    FLAT 

TliAt  tfunsfarmation  in  this  life  of  ^mlLc  Loi^bet  will  he  made  when  he  vcicttteD  the  post  of  pTencta  Pr«sidfiDt  on  the 

tttU  and  ffocs  to^reside  f n  the  Roe  XJamr*  P&rls. 


THE  ^"STRONG  MAN"    IN    THE    FRENCH    PRESI- 
DENTIAL  CAMPAIGN 

tpicuouii  g^ure  iii  the  ts^reut  cuutoiit  fur  ih«  Prmiidetit^x* 


bacillus  of  parti zatiship  has  to  wander  vainly 
in  quest  for  a  spot  favorable  to  growth*  **He 
is  practically  a  man  without  a  history,*'  ob- 
serves the  London  News,  "and  has  never 
been  aggressively  associated  with  any  of  the 
great  political  agitations  which  have  disturbed 
France  during  the  past  fifteen  years.**  But 
he  has  been  six  years  an  avowed  candidate 
for  the  presidency  and  until  six  months  ago 
his  election  was  deemed  by  the  most  compe- 
tent dailies  in  Paris  a  foregone,  conclusion. 
The  abrupt  thunder  of  the  Doumer  candidacy 
awaked  M.  Fallieres  rudely, 

HIS  first  step,  or  that  of  his  friends*  was  to 
identify  his  candidacy  with  all  that  is 
respectably  anticlerical.  He  has  always  been 
what  the  French  call  a  progressive  republican. 
He  favors  separation  of  Church  and  State  as 
welt  as  "keeping  the  priests/'  to  quote  the 
Paris  Humanitif  **m  their  places/*  Recent 
months  have  found  him  in  closer  touch  with 
such  pronounced  haters  of  monks  and  nuns  as 
Emilc  Combes  and  Camille  Pelletan*  These 
two  men  stand  for  all  that  is  fiercer  in  the 
spirit  of  French  anticlerical  ism*     They  want 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  PAUL  DOVMER 


t39 


a  President  who  will  be  content  with  the  posi- 
tion of  a  mere  figurehead.  Now  nobody  ques- 
tioos  the  aptitude  of  M.  Fallieres  as  a  figure- 
head. He  has  been  one  for  years.  France 
could  never  suspect  a  dictator  in  one  of  his 
stout  and  ungainly  shortness,  although,  as  the 
Paris  Action  notes.  Napoleon  also  was  fat  and 
slK>rt.  Fallieres  is  said  to  possess  great  firm- 
i^ss  of  character  beneath  his  gentle  and  quiet 
manner.  His  affability,  too,  is  proverbial.  His 
eloquence  has  been  mentioned  enthusiastically 
by  his  supporters  at  Versailles,  but  the  clerical 
press  calls  him  a  dealer  in  platitudes. 

PAUL  DOUMER  is  credited  by  his  enemies 
with  an  unedifying  fitness  for  sophistica- 
tion. He  strutted  through  the  presidential 
election  afc  Versailles  last  month^  they  say,  as 
if  he  were  a  peacock  in  full  feather — all  for 
00  other  discernible  reason  than  that  he  is  a 
sdf-made  man.  But  then  it  is  only  natural,  it 
was  said,  that  in  a  democracy  a  man  who  has 
risen  {rom  an  engraver's  apprentice  to  be  Gov- 


J^^PP^^^BI 

^^^^^^I 

H^m  1 

^^^^p     i^^^^^^^^^^ 

II^^^Btv            .^j^^^^^^Kli 

Dfk'  !flH 

llj^B           ,  ^K                               ^^^^^^^^^^r  fn  l^^^^^^^lr 

ItADAMB    LOUBET    AND    HER    YOUNGEST   SON 

Tlie  lady  is  «aid  to  have  been  most  reluctant  to  see 
btt  lmst>and  relinquish  the  French  Presidency,  which  he 
dots  this  mofrth. 


THE   SUCCESSFUL   CANDIDATE    FOR   THE 
FRENCH  PRESIDENCY 

Clement  Armand  Fallieres  has  striven  for  many  years 
to  attain  the  summit  of  his  life's  ambition — the  chief 
magistracy  of  the  third  republic.     He  has  now  attained  it. 

ernor-General  of  Indo-China  and  President  of 
the  Chamber  should  deem  himself  as  worthy  of 
the  supreme  dignity  in  the  republic  as  a  little 
country  doctor  like  Combes,  a  former  grocer's 
boy  like  Rouvier,  a  nobody  like  Fallieres.  In 
the  Chamber  of  Deputies  Doumer  has  talked 
much  in  the  last  twelve  months.  One  observer 
says  of  him:  "A  curious  admixture  of  excel- 
lent style,  graphic  and  forcible,  with  more 
than  indifferent  syntax,  betrays  the  self-taught 
man ;  but,  worse  than  that,  an  evident  pleasure 
in  himself,  his  capacities  and  the  part  he  has 
played,  together  with  a  constant  want  of  a 
central  standpoint,  puts  one  in  mind  of  the 
conceited  self-made  man."  He  is  accused  of 
speaking  with  immense  complacency  of  the 
chapter  of  colonial  history  he  has  written  on 
Asiatic  soil  and  of  the  modesty  with  which  he 
has  endeavored,  since  he  returned  to  Paris 
some  two  years  ago,  to  make  people  forget  it. 
Another  estimate,  that  of  Labouchere's  Lon- 
don Truth,  makes  Doumer  out  a  high-class 
adventurer.  "He  has  no  conception  of  the 
small  place  he  holds  or  ought  to  hold  in  a  big 
national  organism."  But  he  speaks  and  writes 
ably,  admits  this  critic,  for  a  man  whose  hori- 
zon is  bounded  by  his  interests  and  his  sense 
of  his  own  merits. 


t4C> 


CURRENT  LiTERATURn 


SCULPTOR,  EX-PRIME  MINISTER,  AUTHOR  AND 
PARTY  LEADER 

L^on  Bourgeois,  who  was  voted  for  in  the  French  presi- 
dential election,  wrote  a  book  called  "  Solidarity  "  a  few 
years  ago  which  still  remains  the  b^sisof  the  charge  that 
he  is  at  heart  a  radical  social  revolutionary.  "The  ablest 
man,"  says  the  London  News,  *'  in  French  politics." 


CHAMPION  OF  THE  "BIG  STICK"  IN  FRANCE 

Eugene  Etienne,  leader  of  a  "group"  in  the  French 
Chamber,  wishes  the  republic  to  become  mighty  on  the 
sea  and  a  great  colonial  power.  He  was  said  to  have  been 
urged  as  a  "surpri.se  candidate"  for  the  French  presidency. 


IT  was  Doumer,  with  his  aching  consciotis.— 
ness  of  being  great  and  his  fury  to   riso', 
says  the  Socialist  Humanite,  who  broke  up  t:l:i<^ 
"block"  or  combination  of  anticlerical  groups 
under  Combes  which  paved  the  way  for  sep- 
aration of  Church  and  State.    "What  impellorcl 
him  to  wage  merciless  war  against  a  goverr-i- 
ment  most  members  of  which  belonged  to  tlio' 
party  he  called  his?"     Ambition,  comes    the 
Socialist  reply.    His  election  to  the  presidencr>' 
of  the  Chamber  a  little  over  a  year  ago   ro-- 
vealed  the  existence  of  that  intrigue  of  dissat- 
isfied radicals  which  led  to  the  resignation  o  £ 
the  Combes  ministry  not  long  afterward.   Henx-i 
Brisson,   whom   Paul   Doumer  then  defeated, 
did  his  best  last  month  to  return  the  compli- 
ment.    Himself  a  presidential  aspirant,  Bris- 
son toiled  night  and  day  to  hold  Doumer  from 
the  summit  of  his  ambition.     To  Brisson,  his 
rival  is  the  type  of  that  purely  material  kind 
of  worldly   success  which  the  third  republic 
is  too  prone  to  worship.     Doumer  worships 
worldly  success  like  the  rest,  but  he  worships 
himself,  too.     He  likewise  worships  his  eight 
children,  never  touches  alcoholic  drink,  scorns 
tobacco,  is  a  model  husband  in  a  land  where 
model  husbands  are  less  rare  than  French  nov- 
elists  would   incline   Anglo-Saxons   to  think. 
Doumer's  father  was  a  poorly  paid  railroad 
clerk  who  died  when  his  son  was  a  boy.    Paul 
Doumer  began  life  in  a  medal-making  estab- 
lishment.    He  taught  himself,  and  did  it   so 
well  that  he  got  a  university  degree  while  still 
working  for  wages.    Next  he  was  a  Professor 
of  Mathenatics  with  a  turn  for  science.   From 
that  to  journalism  was  a  step,  and  from  jour- 
nalism to  politics  was  another  step.     He  be- 
came a  deputy,  then  a  Cabinet  minister  and  at 
last  satrap  of  the  Asiatic  empire  of  France. 

EVERY  anticlerical  liver  was  convulsively 
swollen  by  the  Doumer  candidacy.  This 
self-made  man,  declared  the  Paris  Lantcrnc, 
had  won  the  Pope  to  his  cause.  Yet  Doumer  is 
a  Freemason,  and  the  Vatican  chafes  restlessly 
over  Freemasonry.  But  certain  French  car- 
dinals were  assembled  at  the  archbishopric  of 
Paris  last  month,  avers  the  Paris  Action,  and 
schemed  for  the  triumph  of  Doumer.  The 
least  curious,  adds  this  anticlerical  organ, 
might  be  interested  in  the  secret  of  that  anom- 
aly. M.  Brisson's  friends  were  so  interested 
as  to  accuse  Doumer  of  having  "gone  over  to 
the  Pope,"  just  as  once,  in  the  fury  of  a  hot 
contest  between  the  Bourgeois  Cabinet,  to 
which  he  belonged,  and  the  Meline  party,  he 
deserted,  bag  and  baggage,  to  the  latter.     It 


THE  VATICAN  AND  THE  FRENCH  ELECTION 


14^ 


TWO  FAMOUS  MASTERS  AT  WORK  IN  THE  VATICAN 

One  \s  Pope  Pius,  -who  consented  to  let  the^other — Anton  van  Velic,  the  Dutch  artist — paint  his  portrait  only 
«f.  v.o^d\UoTi  that  tlie  pontifical  business  be  not  interrupted.  This  stipulation  is  understood  to  have  been  forced  upon 
liic  Vope  owing  to  the  pressure  of  work  entailed. by  adjusting  the  Church  in  France  to  the  newly  consummated 
«?arai\on  ol  Church  and  State.     The  Pope,  say  some  Paris  jmpers,  did  his  best  to  have  Doumer  made  President. 


happened  years  ago,  but  it  told  against  him  in 
'ast  month's  balloting.  Yet  another  indictment 
of  Doumer  is  on  the  subject  of  Japan.  He  had 
b<rt  on  the  wrong  horse  in  Asia  by  making 
himself  objectionable  to  the  Japanese.  He  is 
said  to  hate,  dread  and  denounce  them  in  se- 
er^. For  proof  we  are  referred  to  his  official 
correspondence  and  to  a  book  on  Indo-China  he 
was  unlucky  enough  to  bring  out  at  the  wrong 
moment.  "They  rtrive,"  he  declares  of  these 
bated  Japanese,  "to  raise  their  military  power 
to  the  level  of  their  pretensions  and  the  idea 
of  their  strength  renders  them  unbearingly 
overweening.  They  will  before  long  be  dan- 
gerous." A  man  with  such  prejudice  against 
Britain's  ally,  says  Brisson's  organ,  would,  if 
he  could,  involve  France  with  Britain  herself. 
Vet  the  cordial  understanding  with  Britain  is 
a  French  bulwark  against  German  aggression. 
Thus  argue  politicians  made  nervous  by  the 
Morocco  conference.  The  hostility  of  the  So- 
cialists to  Doumer  is  intense,  and  it  was  shared 
by  all  the  candidates.  Henri  Brisson,  Cato 
of  this  third  republic,  worked  less  for  himself 
than  against  Doumer.  The  friends  of  Leon 
Bourgeois,  that  tragic  figure  in  French  poli- 
tics, declared  that  Doumer  stood  for  a  Bour- 
bon restoration  unless  he  had  been  bought  by 
the  Bonapartists. 


NO  French  politician  speaks  with  greater 
authority  or  commands  higher  esteem 
than  Leon  Bourgeois.  The  death  of  a  wife 
and  a  daughter  to  whom  he  was  devotion  per- 
sonified and  recently  his  declining  health  have 
forced  Bourgeois  from  active  political  life. 
Last  month  his  name  was  put  forward  for  the 
presidency,  but  he  worked  for  Fallieres.  He  saw 
in  Doumer's  candidacy  a  Vatican  design  to 
undo  the  separation  of  Church  and  State.  For 
many  years,  he  thinks,  the  radicals  of  France 
have  been  obliged  to  devote  most  of  their 
energy  to  defense  of  republican  institutions 
against  Caesarism  of  all  kinds,  against  clerical- 
ism of  all  shades.  Treason  is  again  abroad. 
Monarchy  lifts  its  head.  His  culture  has  lifted 
him  quite  above  the  level  of  the  politicians 
about  him  and  of  the  class  from  which  he 
sprang — his  father  made  and  sold  watches  on 
the  instalment  plan.  Leon  Bourgeois  is  in 
spirit  "an  antique  Roman."  He  loves  the  clas- 
sical authors  of  Greece  and  Rome.  His  mind 
is  said  to  have  as  many  facets  as  a  well-cut 
diamond.  Leon  Bourgeois,  says  the  Paris 
Temps,  dould  have  made  a  name  as  a  painter 
or  sculptor.  His  natural  bent  prompted  him  to 
be  an  artist  and  his  leisure  is  now  given  to 
modeling  in  clay.  But  his  father  made  a  law- 
yer of  him.    Destiny  did  the  rest. 


I4i 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


AS  a  student  of  social  philosophy,  Leon  Bour- 
geois is  said  by  the  Lx)ndon  News  to  have 
sat  at  the  feet  of  Comte  and  to  have  remained 
his  follower.  The  fact  becomes  apparent  in 
"Solidarity,"  a  work  put  forth  by  Bourgeois  in 
recent  years.  It  reveals  the  meditating  recluse 
rather  than  the  presidential  aspirant.  Human 
solidarity  is  the  basis  of  the  Bourgeois  con- 
ception of  justice.  There  can  be  no  liberty 
without  it.  The  book  ran  through  edition 
after  edition,  forming  the  basis  of  the  month's 
partizan  cry  that  Bourgeois  is  too  Socialistic 
for  the  presidency.  He  wants,  moreover,  old- 
age  pensions,  land  taxation  in  something  like 
Henry  George  style,  disarmament  and  that 
sort  of  thing.  He  is  impractical,  says  the 
Paris  Figaro,  proving  it  when  Premier  by 
choosing  a  renowned  chemist  for  his  Minister 
of  Foreign  Affairs.  Was  not  the  immortal 
Lavoisier  told  that  the  republic  had  no  use  for 
chemists?  Does  not  Bourgeois  profess  devo- 
tion to  the  principles  of  1789?  Inconsistency, 
thy  name  is  Bourgeois!  To  which  pleasantry 
the  Gaulois  added  its  sarcasms  at  the  devotion 
of  Bourgeois  to  Sanskrit  and  to  Hindu  poetry. 
He  wants  France  given  over  to  a  simple  forest 
life  among  innocent  girls.  He  knows  no  real- 
ity outside  the  Sakuntala  of  Kalidasa.  How 
differently  the  Humanite  appraises  Bourgeois ! 
He  keeps  in  contact  with  life  to-day,  he  is  an 
expert  in  parliamentary  practice,  he  has  sound 
common  sense,  his  philosophy  is  that  of  Poor 
Richard's  Almanac.  By  no  authority  has  the 
honesty  of  Bourgeois  ever  been  impeached. 
In  a  republic  scourged  by  its  scandals  his 
record  is  spotless.  That  is  why  his  warning 
against  Doumer  was  taken  so  seriously.  It 
had  impatted  to  the  presidential  election  some- 
thing of  the  atmosphere  of  conspiracy,  with 
Doumer  in  the  character  of  Catiline.  Fallieres 
won. 


OUR  relations  to  the  Far  East  —  China, 
Japan  and  the  Philippines — are  eliciting 
considerable  discussion,  some  legislation,  and 
much  apprehension.  The  Philippines  have 
caused  most  of  the  discussion  and  China  has 
caused  most  of  the  apprehension.  The  dis- 
cussion has  revolved  around  the  Philippine 
tariff  bill  and  the  action  of  the  "insurgents"  in 
Congress  in  opposing  the  administration  meas- 
ure. The  passage  of  this  measure,  which  gives 
free  trade  to  the  islands  on  all  products  but 
sugar  and  tobacco,  and  reduces  the  tariff  rate 
on  those  two  products  to  25  per  cent,  of  the 
Dingley  rates,  was  effected  in  the  lower  house 
by  a  vote  of  251  to  71.    The  sentiment  of  the 


country,  so  far  as  the  press  voices  it,  is  em- 
phatically in  favor  of  the  action  taken  and  in 
favor  of  the  Senate's  following  the  example  of 
the  lower  house  as  speedily  as  possible.  Some 
of  the  strongest  protectionists  in  the  house, 
Dalzell,  of  Pennsylvania,  and  Grosvenor,  of 
Ohio,  were  among  the  active  champions  of 
the  bill,  and  the  Democrats,  following  the 
guidance  of  John  Sharp  Williams,  supported 
it  on  final  vote,  with  the  exception  of  fifteen 
members. 

CHINA  furnishes  material  for  dark  fore- 
bodings. The  boycott  on  American 
trade  has  not  been  lifted,  and  the  general  feel- 
ing of  the  Chinese  toward  all  foreigners  is, 
it  is  feared,  deepening  into  a  set  purpose  that 
will  prove  far  more  refractory  than  the  Boxer 
uprising  was.  One  indication  of  the  way  in 
which  the  boycott  is  affecting  this  country  is 
seen  in  the  following  despatch,  which  we  take 
from  a  Spokane  paper: 

"Seattle,  Wash.,  Jan.  6. — Unless  the  Chinese 
boycott  on  American  goods  is  removed  within 
the  next  30  days  the  plant  of  the  Centennial 
Milling  company,  with  a  capacity  of  2400  barrels 
of  flour  per  day,  and  that  of  the  Hammond  Mill- 
ing company,  with  its  daily  capacity  of  2000, 
will  be  forced  practically  to  close  down.  The 
boycott  has  been  felt  for  the  past  few  months  by 
every  flour  milling  company  doing  export  busi- 
ness on  the  Pacific  coast,  and  the  outlook  for 
the  flouring  industry,  unless  the  boycott  is  re- 
moved, is  believed  to  be  anything  but  rosy." 

EX-SECRETARY  of  State  John  W.  Foster 
writes  an  article  on  the  Chinese  boycott  for 
The  Atlantic  Monthly,  in  which  he  lays  stress 
upon  the  fact  that  the  boycott  is  entirely  a 
popular,  not  a  governmental,  movement.     It 
has  been  directed  against  this  country  first, 
despite  the  fact  that  the  United  States  is  the 
only  one  of  the  great  powers  which  has  not 
despoiled    China's    territory    and    never    as- 
sumed an  attitude  of  hostility  to  its  govern- 
ment,  because    it   is    so    far    almost   entirely 
caused    by    the    victims    of    our    harsh    ex- 
clusion  laws   and  the   sufferers   of  the  race 
hatred  existing  in  some  of  our  localities.    It  is 
"the  culmination  of  a  long  series  of  events 
extending  through  a  generation."    Reviewing 
these   events,    Mr.    Foster   asserts   that  from 
time  to  time  all  the  constitutional  and  treaty 
guarantees  which  we  have  given  to  the  Chinese 
have  been  disregarded  by  the  authorities  of  the 
United  States.     If  the  present  legislation  is 
continued  in  force,  he  predicts  that  the  boy- 
cott will  not  only  continue,  but  will  grow  in 


144 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


'J^em  gemmen  was  settin'  dere  las'  time  I  tried  to  Ian." 
— Westerraan  in  Ohio  State  Journal. 

extent  and  vigor.  "The  danger  is  that  it  will 
not  only  affect  our  commerce,  but  extend  to 
all  other  American  interests."  The  San  Fran- 
cisco Chronicle  finds  another  origin  for  the 
boycott.  It  says  that  there  is  no  room  for 
doubt  that  it  has  been  inspired  by  the  Jap- 
anese, and  cites  the  words  of  one  of  our  mer- 
chants in  China  as  follows:  "All  investiga- 
tion leads  to  but  one  conclusion,  namely,  that 
behind  the  boycott  is  something  foreign  to 
anything  ever  known  before  in  China,  and  that 
that  something  is  Japanese  influence  exerted 
with  the  all-powerful  subtlety  of  Oriental 
cunning."  The  purpose  of  the  Japanese,  as 
alleged,  is  to  secure  commercial  advantages 
and  to  nullify  the  advantages  to  other  coun- 
tries of  the  "open  door"  policy  in  China.  In- 
terest in  the  general  subject  of  our  relations 
with  the  Flowery  Kingdom  is  likely  to  be 
stimulated  by  the  Chinese  Imperial  Commis- 
sion which  is  now  visiting  this  country,  led 
by  his  Excellency  Tuan  Fang,  Viceroy  of 
Foochow,  for  the  purpose  of  studying  this 
question  and  our  industrial  and  commercial 
institutions  in  general. 

IMPENDING  revolution  in  China  is  the 
prospect  upon  which  last  month's  move- 
ments of  United  States  troops  in  the  Philip- 
pines were  said  to  have  been  based.  The 
British  Government  is  alleged  to  be  exchang- 
ing views  with  Paris  regarding  joint  military 
and  naval  action  against  Peking.  Germany's 
press  grows  almost  sensational  in  some  of  its 
predictions  and  reports  of  the  imminence  of 
Chinese    revolutionary    horrors.      "The    real 


Chinese  question,"  avers  the  London  Morning 
Post,  "is  only  just  beginning."    It  will  have  a 
sanguinary  end,   adds  the   Paris  Journal   des 
Debats.    Opinions  of  many  missionaries  in  all 
parts  of  China,  gathered  by  a  cautious  London 
organ  Jast  month,  point  to  dangerous  inflamma- 
tion of  the  native  mind.    "The  recent  massacre 
at  Lien-chau  and  the  still  more  recent  affray 
at  Shanghai,"  says  the  British  daily,  "are  inci- 
dents, we  fear,  that  are  only  too  likely  to  be 
repeated."     This  means  that  more  American 
women  missionaries  may  be  stripped  of  their 
clothing  by  Chinese  mobs,  exposed  to  the  pub- 
lic gaze  in  heathen  shrines,  and  finally  hurled 
into  the  river,  where  boatmen  complete  what 
has  been  so  thoroughly  begun  by  spearing  the 
expiring  victims.     It  is  feared  that  many    a 
tragedy  not  less  harrowing  has  still  to  be  re- 
ported.    But  such  events  are  scarcely  to   be 
connected  with  that  hatred  of  Americans  and. 
all  things  American  to  which  Secretary  Taft 
owes  some  embarrassments  of  his  recent  tour 
through  the  Orient.    These  fresh  frenzies  are 
but  a  logical  outcome  of  that  degradation  of 
the  Chinese  masses  to  which  European  organs 
bear  witness  through  first-hand  reports.     The 
occasion  for  the  atrocities  in  Lien-chow  is  de- 
scribed as  a  clash  between  the  interests  of  a 
mission   hospital  and  a   native  theater.     But 
back  of  the  occasion  lies  the  cause,  and  that 
is  neither  local  nor  ephemeral.    It  is  the  wide- 
spread suffering  and  desperation  of  the  people. 

MORE  than  one  Chinese  province  is  in  a 
state  of  utter  ruin  because  of  the  exac- 
tions of  officials  who  are  said  to  foresee  the 
impending  wreck  of  their  country  and  to  be 
determined  to  feather  their  own  nests  while 
opportunity  is  afforded  them.  Famine  often 
completes  such  a  work  of  havoc  as  mobs  began 
last  month.  Thousands  of  human  beings  have 
died  of  hunger  in  the  rural  districts.  In  many 
villages  the  population  has  been  subsisting 
upon  roots  and  herbs  for  weeks  past.  Fathers, 
having  sold  their  wives  and  children  into  sla- 
very, have  ended  by  selling  themselves.  Last 
month's  news  despatches  haVe  been  filled  with 
reports  of  agrarian  revolt.  We  read  thaft  the 
bodies  of  prisoners  executed  for  resisting  the 
tax  gatherer  have  been  devoured  by  a  horde 
of  hungry  spectators.  The  executioners  them- 
selves are  declared  by  some  European  ob- 
servers to  have  driven  a  lucrative  traffic  in  the 
bodies  of  criminals  sent  to  death  by  hundreds. 
The  public  revenue  even  is  said  to  have  occa- 
sionally been  derived  from  the  growing  prac- 
tice of  cannibalism. 


DESPERATE  CONDITION  OF  THE  CHINESE  PEOPLE 


MS 


NOW  the  only  influence  which  acts  equally 
upon  these  vast  masses  of  human  beings 
in   China    is     the    acute    discontent    growing 
irectly  out   of   the  burden  of  the  indemnity 
wrung  by  the  European  powers  from  a  peas- 
zntry  suffering    for   food.     It   would   appear 
that  while  there  is  a  great  difference  of  opin- 
ion among  the  natives  regarding  the  dynastic 
jestion,  the    religious  question,  the  question 
<A  progress  as  opposed  to  tradition  and  a  vari- 
ed of  kindred  topics,  there  is  no  disagreement 
at  all  regarding  the  deviltry  of  the  foreigner 
and  the  desirability  of  ridding  the  country  of 
his  exactions.      All  the  provinces   have  out- 
reaks  not   wholly  unlike  that  now  reported. 
Those  who   lead  them  are  in  some  instances 
former    Chinese    troopers    who    have    waited 
vairJy  for  their  pay  and  are  finally  left  desti- 
t'jte.    Thousands  of  the  peasantry  take  to  the 
vlls    and    lead    there    a    life    of   brigandage. 
Another  element  is  made  up  of  revolutionaries 
•jtright  who  wish  to  put  an  end  once  for  all 
1 1  the  woes  of  China.     Towns  and  villages 
are  captured  by  the  outlaws,  only  to  be  retaken 
^rth  infinite  slaughter  by  government  troops. 
Each  viceroy  does  what  he  can  for  the  pacifi- 
cation of  his  own  province,  with  results  that 
are   sometimes   serious    and   often    unknown. 
The  confusion  is  worse  confounded  by  the  fact 
that  the  importation  of  arms  into  China,  for- 
>4riden  for  two  years  by  the  indemnity  treaty, 
>eems,  from  the  reports  of  the  past  few  weeks, 
:t  be  growing,  if,  indeed,  it  ever  was  checked. 
Not  only  are  arms  being  introduced  into  the 
provinces,  but  native  arsenals  are  constantly 
engaged  in    the  manufacture  of  all  kinds  of 
weapons.     The  Chinese  Government  is  under- 
>tDod  to  have  abandoned  all  effort  to  check  the 
distribution  of  arms  among  the  natives.    Mobs 
are  strong,  or  feel  so,  and  they  can  burn  and 
ravage  with  little  fear  of  a  neighboring  gar- 
ri^n.    As  one  comes  down  to  the  coast,  con- 
ditions   improve,    of    course;    but    a    striking 
feature  of  outbreaks  such  as  that  in  which  the 
American  missionaries  lost  their  lives  is  the 
ofScial    secrecy    maintained    with    regard    to 
them. 

1'HE  Peking  dynasty  is  said  to  fear  that  the 
European  powers  may  be  led  to  inter- 
vene again  if  the  full  extent  of  the  rebellion 
becomes  known.  The  world  is  usually  wihout 
reliable  news  as  to  what  is  going  on  in  the  in- 
terior of  China.  The  capture  of  a  village  is 
represented  at  times  as  the  loss  of  a  city. 
Defeat  becomes  victory  in  official  reports  of 
a  brush   with    rebels.     Lists   of   killed    and 


The  POWERS:  '*The  door  is  open  all  right  and  the 
Jap  it  there  with  the  goods." 

wounded  fail  to  discriminate  between  the 
forces  of  rebellion  and  the  forces  of  consti- 
tuted authority.  One  rebel  leader,  to  show  the 
natives  the  stuff  of  which  he  is  made,  mur- 
ders his  family  and  dons  imperial  robes  before 
gathering  an  army  which  grows  in  size  and 
devastates  a  countryside.  The  relatives  of 
insurrectionist  leaders  are,  when  captured,  ex- 
terminated in  accordance  with  a  code  demand- 
ing the  decapitation  of  their  grandparents, 
parents,  sons,  daughters  and  family  connec- 
tions. For  the  political  offenses  of  one  man 
dozens  of  disinterested  relatives  are  led  to  exe- 
cution. This  is  a  circumstance  to  be  remem- 
bered in  connection  with  the  official  Chinese 
assurance  that  those  found  responsible  for  the 
outrages  in  November  will  be  rigorously  pun- 
ished. Nor  does  any  competent  authority  in 
the  press  of  Europe  see  how  Washington  is 
to  exact  real  redress  or  prevent  the  recurrence 
of  these  now  familiar  furies.  London,  acting 
alone,  is  equally  impotent.  France,  in  a  sense, 
is  on  the  spot,  having  her  great  Indo-Chinese 
possession.  Yet  Paris  organs  urge  united  ac- 
tion of  all  the  powers,  if  there  is  to  be  any 
action  at  all.  Germany's  press,  or  the  officfially 
inspired  section  of  it,  seems  disposed  to  find 
fault  with  Japan  for  not  having  soothed  China 
into  quietude.  "Is  this,"  asks  the  Rheinische- 
Westfalische  Zeitung,  "the  Japanization  of 
China,  of  which  the  English  prate  so  much?" 

JAPAN'S  most  blue-blooded  aristocrat,  the 
Marquis  Saion-ji,  is  to-day  her  Prime  Min- 
ister. His  gait,  his  deportment,  his  physiog- 
nomy, his  most  trivial  gesture,  bear  the  stamp 
of  that  nobility  which  the  marquis  is  said  to 
keep  as  close  to  him  as  his  own  skin.  "Edu- 
cated in  France,"  says  the  London  Timfs,  "he 
has  all  the  quiet  and  somewhat  cold  dignity 


146 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


of  a  grand  seigneur,  and  his  manner  and  con- 
versation suggest  a  man  removed  alike  by 
nature  and  culture  from  the  arena  of  political 
turmoil."  Politically,  according  to  the  same 
high  authority,  the  Marquis  Ito  has  always 
held  the  new  Prime  Minister  by  the  hand. 
When,  some  few  years  ago,  the  Japanese  Em- 
peror invited  Ito  to  resume  the  presidency  of 
the  Privy  Council  —  a  dignity  wholly  incom- 
patible with  leadership  of  a  political  party — ^the 
Bismarck  of  Nippon  was  in  a  cruel  dilemma.* 
An  imperial  invitation  was  equivalent  to  a  com- 
mand. Yet  obedience  meant  abandonment  of 
the  constitutional  party  or  Sei)ru-kai,  of  which 
Ito  is  the  father.  The  grand  old  man  evaded  his 
difficulty  by  going  into  the  Privy  Council  and 
handing  the  leadership  of  the  Seiyu-kai  over 
to  the  Marquis  Saion-ji.  Not  that  the  aristo- 
crat who  is  now  at  the  head  of  the  government 
is  a  figurehead  merely.  He  stands  for  a  vital 
political  principle  —  constitutional  government 
through  a  ministry  responsible  to  a  party. 
There  has  never  yet  been  anything  like  true 
party  government  in  Japan.  The  ministry  of 
the  Marquis  Saion-ji  represents  the  nearest  ap- 
proach to  it  that  Japan  has  yet  witnessed. 


YET  it  is  an  approach  only  that  Japan  now 
witnesses.    The  Marquis  Saion-ji  does  not 
begin  to  have  a  parliamentary  majority  behind 
his  official  back.     Not  one  party  in  all  tHe 
Diet  is  strong  enough  to  achieve  anything  by 
itself.     Every  ministry  is  a  jumble  of  oppo- 
sites,  and  the  new  one,  in  this  regard,  departs 
from  no  precedent.    But  it  is  stronger  than  any 
previous  ministry  in  those  elements  which  for 
years  have  protested  against  the  deference  of 
Japan  to  her  elder  sftatesmen,  because  that  def- 
erence was  a  negation  of  party  government. 
Marquis  Ito  and  his  pupil,  the  new  Prime  Min- 
ister, are  at  odds  to  the  extent  that  the  older 
man  thinks  a  party  system  premature  while 
the  younger  deems  it  too  long  delayed.  Neither 
gets  satisfaction  from  things  as  they  are,  but 
the  Prime  Minister,  according  to  his  organ, 
the  Seiyu,  has  the  future  on  his  side.     He  is 
fifty-seven,  however,  and  as  thoroughly  Frencli 
in  training  and  in  temperament  as  our  own 
James  Hazen  Hyde.    When  he  was  twenty-one 
the  Marquis  Saion-ji  went  to  Paris  and  there 
lived  for  ten  years.    He  speaks  French  like  a 
native,  loves  French  literature  and  French  art, 
and  is  wedded  to  French  political  ideas. 


HIS  MONUMENT  IS  CHICAGO  UNIVERSITY 

*»  I  am  K<>inj<  before  my  work  is  finished,"  siiid  Presi- 
dent Harper.  "  I  do  not  know  where  I  am  Koi"Xi  but  I 
hop^  *y  ^'"rk  will  jfo  on.  I  expect  to  continue  work  in 
the  future  state,  for  this  is  only  a  small  part  of  the  glor- 
ious whole." 


CHICAGO  SUSPENDED    BUSINESS    ON  THE    DAY 
OF  HIS  FUNERAL 

Marshall  Field,  who  died  the  other  day  of  pneumonia, 
at  the  age  of  seventy,  was  the  richest  merchant  in 
America.     He  began  Iffe  as  a  New  England   farm-boy. 


Literature    and     Art 


NEW  DEVELOPMENTS  IN  THE  INTELLECTUAL  ALLIANCE 
OF  EUROPE  AND  AMERICA 


Italy  makes  the  third  European  country  to 
alter  into  what  may  be  described  as  an  in- 
tellectual  and    educational   alliance   with   the 
United  States.        The  movement  has  become 
5  sort  of  world-movement  of  large  and,  it  is 
to  be  hoped,  of  lasting  significance,  not  only 
n  a  literary  and  educational  way,  but  in  its 
pojtical  possibilities  as  well.    In  France  and 
Gcnnany  the  main  feature  of  the  movement  is 
the  interchange   of  professors   and   lecturers 
with  this    country.        The    progress   of   the 
aovement  as  developed  there  has  been  noted 
Tith  interest  in  the  press  and  the  magazines. 
One  of  the  most  influential  figures  in  bring- 
Ji?  about  this  relation  between  America  and 
France  has    been   Mr.   James   Hazen   Hyde, 
::  New  York,  late  vice-president  of  the  Equi- 
tile  Life  Assurance  Society,  whose  interest 
iid  financial  support  made  possible  the  visits 
tj  this  country  of  such  eminent  French  lec- 
^rs  as  MM.  Bruneti^re,  Edouard  Rod  and 
Gaston    Deschamps,    and    who    founded    the 
tliair  at  the  Sorbonne,  in'  Paris,  which  Prof. 
Barrett  Wendell,  of  Harvard  University,  occu- 
pied last  winter.     The  relation  between  Ger- 
•3aay  and  this  country  is  due  to  the  efforts 
of  various    public  -  spirited   citizens   on   both 
Kdes  of  the  Atlantic,  as  well  as  to  the  sympa- 
tisetic  interest  of  Kaiser  Wilhelm  and  Presi- 
toit  Roosevelt.      At    the    time    of    the    St 
Ucis  Fair   an   agreement  was   entered   into 
^jetween  representatives  of  Berlin  and  Har- 
•yd  Universities,  providing  for  an  exchange 
i  professors  every  year.      The  first  lectures 
rader  the  new  arrangement  have  just  been 
?'en  by  Prof.  Francis  G.  Peabody,  of  Har- 
'ird,  in  Berlin,  and  by  Prof.  Wilhelm  Ost- 
^d,  of  Berlin,  at  Harvard.    Two  further  de- 
velopments in  the  German-American  entente 
^  from  the  foundation  of  the  "Germanistic 
Society    of    America"  in    1904,  and    of    the 
Theodore  Roosevelt  professorship"  of  Amer- 
■^  history  and  institutions,  recently  endowed 
'•  Berlin  University  by  Mr.  James  Speyer,  of 
^'cw  York.     It  is  under  the  auspices  of  this 
f»«nnanistic  Society  that  Prof.  Friedrich  Del- 
^^»ch  (the  famous  biblical  scholar  of  "Babel 
^  Bible"    fame)    and  Ludwig   Fulda,    the 
^^amatisit,  arc  at  present  visiting  our  shores; 


and  it  is  announced  that  Prof.  John  William 
Burgess,  Dean  of  the  Faculty  of  Political 
Science  in  Columbia  University,  will  be  the 
first  occupant  of  the  Roosevelt  chair  in  Berlin. 

The  latest  country,  as  we  have  said,  to 
enter  the  international  educational  alliance  is 
Italy,  and  this  fact  must  be  set  down  to  the 
credit  of  Dr.  Joseph  Spencer  Kennard,  the 
distinguished  American  student  of  Romance 
literature.  Last  summer  Dr.  Kepnard  went 
to  Italy  in  the  interest  of  a  plan  to  encourage 
American  students  to  study  in  Italian  univer- 
sities and  to  promote  an  exchange  of  pro- 
fessors between  Italy  and  the  United  States. 
He  has  returned  to  America  crowned  with 
success  so  far  as  Italy's  cooperation  is  con- 
cerned. Italian  universities,  authors  and  mem- 
bers of  Parliament  have  expressed  themselves 
enthusiastically  in  regard  to  the  plan. 

The  King  received  Dr.  Kennard  in  private 
audience  at  the  request  of  Signor  Tittoni, 
Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  was  profoundly 
interested,  and  promised  his  sympathetic  sup- 
port. Signor  Tittoni  and  Signor  Bianchi, 
Minister  of  Instruction,  have  also  assured 
the  moral  support  of  the  Italian  Government 
to  the  "Alleanza  Italiana,"  the  society  which 
Dr.  Kennard  has  founded  for  the  purpose 
of  carrying  out  the  alliance,  and  at  a  dinner 
of  honor  given  him  by  the  rector  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Rome,  Dr.  Kennard  was  invited  to 
be  the  first  American  to  lecture  before  that 
university. 
The  objects  of  the  Alleanza  Italiana  are : 

1.  The  exchange  of  students  between  American 
and  Italian  universities.  In  furtherance  of  this 
plan  Italian  universities  will  in  future  not  only 
accept  American  college  diplomas  and  certificates 
as  an  equivalent  to  entrance  examinations,  but  also 
for  graduate  standing  for  those  students  who  de- 
sire the  degrees  of  Doctor  of  Letters,  Philosopliy, 
Medicine  or  Law. 

2.  A  temporary  exchange  of  professors  be- 
tween the  universities  of  the  two  countries. 

3.  The  exchange  of  lectures  by  the  more 
prominent  authors  and  publicists  of  the  two  coun- 
tries. 

4.  The  foundation  of  Italian  professorships  in 
American  colleges  and  of  American  professor- 
ships in  Italian  imiversities. 

5.  The  foundation  in  the  cities  and  larger 
towns   of   the  United   States  of  circles   for  the 


148 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


study  of  the  Italian  language  and  literature  and 
the  encouragement  of  our  Italian  fellow  citizens. 

In  //  Giornale  d* Italia,  the  foremost  news- 
paper of  Rome,  Commendatore  Tonelli,  rec- 
tor of  the  University  of  Rome,  declares  his 
conviction  that  the  project  can  prove  only 
"beneficent  in  the  highest  degree"  both  to 
Italy  and  the  United  States.  He  comments 
further : 

"Dr.  Kennard  asked  himself  why  a  land  yet 
young,  but  rich  in  its  intellect,  its  enterprise  and 
the  promise  of  its  future,  like  the  United  States, 
might  not  gain  freer  access  to  the  fountains  of 
Italian  mentality  -  and  spirituality.  And  why 
should  not  an  ancient  nation,  potent  in  thought 
and  in  its  grasp  of  the  most  perfect  form  of  civil 
order,  desire  and  be  enabled  to  gain  from  contact 
with  the  new  world  a  wealth  of  experience  brac- 
ing to  its  own  endeavor  and  to  its  intellectual, 
moral  and  social  capacities? 

"The  idea  of  an  intellectual  alliance  between 
Italy  and  America  arose  in  the  mind  of  Dr.  Joseph 
Spencer  Kennard  from  these  considerations,  based 
upon  the  logical  position  and  upon  the  history  of 
both  nations.     And  as  a  model   for  himself  he 


Court ecy  of  N.  Y.  Indepeudent 

MEDAL  PRESENTED  TO  J.  PIERPONT    MORGAN    BY  THE 
ITALIAN  ACADEMY 

The  desigrn  is  by  Madame  Lancelot-Croce  aud  is  Intended  to  ex- 
press the  Italian  nation's  appreciation  of  Mr.  Morgan's  g:enerosity 
in  restoring  the  cope  of  Nlcnolas  IV,  stolen  from  the  ancient  city 
of  Ascoli  and  sold  to  him  in  Paris.  Mr.  Morgan  is  shown  in  the 
act  of  handing  over  the  famous  cope  to  Italy,  represented  by  a 
female  figure,  who  grasps  his  hand  in  gratitude.  On  the  opposite 
side  of  this  medal  is  an  inscription  surrounded  by  a  wreath  of  vio- 
lets which  symbolize  "the  modesty  of  the  American  millionaire, 
who  returned  the  valuable  cope  without  making  any  parade 
about  it." 


took  the  Franco-American  intellectual  alliance, 
which  has  already  some  40,000  members  and  funds 
equivalent  to  the  sum  of  $600,000. 

"Dr.  Kennard,  by  forming  an  association  made 
up  of  the  elect  in  the  two  nation S)  proposes  to 
bring  from  America  numbers  of  students  to  our 
universities.  Here  they  will  either  obtain  their 
education  or  complete  it  at  our  intellectual  cen- 
tres. Dr.  Kennard  will  bring  into  our  country 
numbers  of  studious  Americans  who  will  gain  an 
acquaintance  with  our  institutions,  and  learn  our 
true  history  from  our  time-honored  memorials. 
In  the  United  States,  Dr.  Kennard  will  prepare 
the  way  for  our  most  representative  men  of  cul- 
ture, that  they  may  spread  throughout  the  republic 
a  knowledge  of  Italian  thought,  Italian  traditions 
and  Italian  idealism. 

"From  such  contact  and  from  such  exchanges 
of  idea  and  of  standpoint,  Dr.  Kennard  rightly 
believes  that  a  more  thorough  reciprocal  compre- 
hension will  ensue.  This  in  turn  can  only  bring 
about  better  understanding  in  the  political  domain. 
"Our  king  the  other  day  granted  an  audience 
to-  the  energetic  American,  who  besides  being  a 
man  of  splendid  intellect  is  gifted  with  the  utmost 
energy  of  will. 

"We  hope,  nay,  we  feel  more  than  hope,  we 
firmly  believe  that  this  undertaking  will  succeed. 
The  outcome  can  prove  only  benefi- 
cent in  the  highest  degree  to  our 
country  and  to  the  influence  which  it 
will  both  exercise  and  receive  through 
the  agency  of  the  youthful  but  potent 
and  expansive  civilization  of  the  great 
American  republic." 

The  Florence  Marzocco  thinks 
that  if  Dr.  Kennard  modifies  a  pop- 
ular American  impression  that  Italy 
can  supply  the  American  republic 
only  with  undesirable  immigrants 
and  murder  mysteries,  his  work 
will  redound  to  the  glory  of  the 
Siena  school  and  of  Dante.  It  de- 
plores the  failure  of  former  genera- 
tions to  undertake  the  task  which  it 
thinks  Dr.  Kennard  is  ideally  capa- 
ble of  achieving.  Its  tribute  to  his 
culture,  his  knowledge  of  Italy,  her 
people,  her  art  and  her  literature, 
is  a  glowing  one  ai)d  is  based  on 
personal  knowledge,  so  it  declares. 
It  looks  forward  with  fond  impa- 
tience to  the  era  when  students 
from  our  land  will  repair  eagerly 
to  Italian  universities,  rivalling  in 
their  appreciation  of  Italian  cul- 
ture that  fineness  of  spirit  which 
lured  Milton  to  Rome  and  the  let- 
tered Englishmen  of  Shakespeare's 
day  to  Pisa  and  Verona.  Dr.  Ken- 
nard, according  to  our  Florentine 
authority,  is  inaugurating  an  epoch 
in  human  culture,  by  the  work  so 
auspiciously  begun. 


for  Carres*  l^lterrture.  Copyright,  ig06 

JOSEPH  SPENCER  KENNARD,  Litt.  D.,  D.C.L. 


\>:-¥LKcmaTC,  ^^o  is  ?*JP°J^P'„?rP®**^®°^  ^^}^^  Society  Letteraria  Dante  Alighieri  and  the  founder  of  the  All*. 
aK*.V^SMrfoT  tUc  exc^Attgre  of  professors  and  students  between  American  and  Italian  univ-ersiUes   Ld  a  ^r.vLf: 


I50 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


Dr.  Kennard  is  an  enthusiast  regarding 
Italian  literature.  From  the  historic  point 
of  view,  he  thinks,  the  Italian  language  and 
literature  are  the  most  interesting  in  Europe. 
In  a  recent  letter  to  the  Societa  Letteraria 
Dante  Alighieri,  of  Philadelphia,  he  wrote: 

"From  it^  [Italy's]  literature  our  own  greatest 
English  masters  from  Chaucer  and  Shakespeare 


and  Spenser  to  Robert  Browning,  have  drawn 
much  of  their  inspiration  and  borrowed  much  of 
their  literary  material.  All  modem  literature 
dates  from  the  Italian  Rinascimento.  The  Italian 
Dante  alone  stands  on  the  same  high  summit  with 
our  English  Shakespeare.  And  we  are  only  just 
realizing  that  the  most  vital,  the  most  vigorous, 
the  most  dynamic  influence  in  modem  European 
literature  is  Italian." 


TWO  AUTHORS  WITH  "DUAL  PERSONALITIES" 


William  Sharp  and  Henry  Harland  may 
have  been  unacquainted  with  one  another  dur- 
ing life,  but  their  names  are  written  close 
together  in  the  death-roll  of  the  past  month. 
And  though  the  quality  of  their  work  sug- 
gests almost  nothing  that  they  had  in  com- 
mon, a  peculiar  fact  has  served  to 'link  the 
two.  They  were  both  authors  with  "dual  per- 
sonalities," 

The  announcement  of  Mrs.  William  Sharp, 
that  her  husband  wrote  all  the  works  in 
prose  and  verse  credited  to  "Fiona  Macleod" 
has  solved  a  literary  mystery — "the  most,  in- 
teresting literary  mystery  in  the  United 
Kingdom  during  the  past  ten  years,"  accord- 


HENRY  HARLAND 

Who  wrote  Jewish  stories  under  the  nont  de  plume  of 
*'  Sidney  Luska,"  and  afterward  made  a  new  reputation 
as  the  author  of  "  The  Cardinal's  Snuff  Box  "  and  *'  My 
Friend  Prospero,*' 


ing  to  the  New  York  Times.    The  same  paper 
says  further: 

"Many  guesses  have  been  made  regarding  the 
identity  of  'Miss  Fiona  Macleod.'  William  Sharp's 
name  has  been  mentioned,  but  not  nearly  so  fre- 
quently as  the  names  of  som^  other  people,  and 
at  length  it  came  to  be  the  general  opinion  that 
Fiona  Macleod  really  existed  in  her  own  proper 
person. 

"The  English  'Who's  Who/  which  is  strongly 
opposed  to  noms  de  plume  and  is  supposed  to 
print  biographical  outlines  of  real  persons  only, 
has  a  lengthy  item  about  Miss  Fiona  Macleod, 
giving  a  list  of  her  books  and  stating  that  her 
recreations  are  'sailing,  hill  walks,  and  listen- 
ing.' .  .  .  One  of  her'  chief  pleasures  must 
have  been  'listening*  to  guesses  regarding  'her* 
identity.  The  pseudonym  may  have  been  profit- 
able, but  what  other  pleasure  William  Sharp  ob- 
tained from  the  'knowledge  that  he  was  Fiona 
Macleod  it  would  be  difficult  to  say. 

"Indeed,  here  is  the  real  mystery.  Sharp  was 
a  well-known  man  of  letters,  a  most  industrious 
author,  clever  and  cultivated,  a  friend  of  many 
famous  people,  editor  of  numerous  volumes,  and 
a  critic  for  various  periodicals,  but  he  nev.er  at- 
tained fame.  In  a  moment  he  could  have  become 
famous  instead  of  respected.  The  word  that 
would  have  given  him  renown  he  never  spoke, 
and  it  has  been  left  to  his  widow  to  make  him 
famous  after  his  death. 

"Famous  his  memory  will  undoubtedly  be. 
Those  poems  of  'Fiona  Macleod'  are  more  than 
brilliant  productions;  they  have  struck  a  new  note 
in  European  literature.  To  them  is  directly  trace- 
able the  'Celtic  movement,'  which  is  now  so  well 
defined  and  strong  a  force.  Indeed,  the  chief 
argument  for  the  theory  that  Fiona  Macleod  was 
no  nom  de  plume — at  least,  the  nom  de  plume  of 
no  known  person — was  that  the  poems  were  un- 
like anything  that  any  one  else  was  writing — or 
capable  of  writing,  many  of  the  critics  said. 

"And  in  this  connection  the  parallel  of  Mac- 
pherson  and  'Ossian'  will,  of  course,  suggest  it- 
self. Macpherson  was  a  fraud,  and  yet  'Ossian' 
started  the  romantic  movement  in  English  litera- 
ture. William  Sharp  was  a  Scotchman,  and  yet 
his  poems  have  served  as  a  clarion  call  to  the 
Irish  muse." 

The  comparison  between  William  Sharp's 
case  and  that  of  Macpherson  and  his  Ossian 


LITERATURE  AND  ART 


151 


15  "perfectly  natural,"  but  "misleading,"  in 
:it  opinion  of  a  writer  in  the  London  Acad- 
nny.     Macpherson  invented  Ossian,  he  says, 

for  the  purpose  of  passing  off  certain  of 
h  s  own  works  as  those  of  the  ^ancient  Gaelic 
Bards.  What  William  Sharp  did  was  quite 
J  flerent.  He  was  one  of  those  few  peo- 
p  c  who  seem  to  have  inherited  a  dual  per- 
♦oiality,  and  he  was  able  to  keep  its  parts 
entirely  separate.  It  was  as  if  a  man  and 
.:man  were  joined  together  in  one  person." 

n  this  statement  should  be  added  that  of 
>!r.  Richard  Whiteing,  an  intimate  friend  of 
"harp's.  Mr.  Whiteing  writes  in  the  London 
Sfkere: 

" 'Fiona  Macleod*  was  the  greatest  of  his  own 
Tcati<»is  in  fiction.    She  had  never  any  existence 
raiever,  except  in  his  brain,  and  yet  she  was  a 
-  ng,  real  personality  with  all  the  charm  of  the 
~:^t   delicate    and    S3rmpathetic    womanhood.     I 
m  cot  exactly  concerned  to  defend  him  for  the 
fir,  he  made  her  play;  it  is  quite  enough  to  take 
±t  motive  into  account.    He  felt  his  Celtic  poetry 
~:cnscly;  he  took  enormous  pains  about  it    He 
*Tvew  what  it   was  to  live  in  lonely  fishermen's 
^n:s  in  the  remotest  highlands,  and  to  make  his 
Tcndcrful  studies  of  cloud  and  sea  and  storm  un- 
:r  conditions  that  would  have  appalled  many  an 
i  salt.      He   had   an   idea — ^perhaps  a   fanciful 
^!^— that  he  had  enemies  in  the  press,  and  that 
'■  five  his  Celtic  muse  the  best  chance  she  should 
be  wholly  dissociated  from  his  name.    In  this  way 
Fjna'   came   into  the  world.     .     .     .     He  was 
•mt  of  a  race  apart,  the  bora  believers  who  have 
^hit  aptitude  as  others  have  the  sense  of  color. 
-le  had  the  ease  of  the  Swedenborgian  adepts  in 
Eoring  amongst  the  figures  of  a  shadow  land.    I 
tiiink  this  has  a  good  deal  to  do  with  his  creation 
c:  Tiona.'     She  soon  ceased  to  be  a  mere  pseu- 
^-mjuL    He  gradually  perfected  his  own  concep- 
!xc  until  she  became  a  thing  of  perfect  woman- 
'  xd  and,  as  I  have  said,  the  greatest  of  his  char- 
acters.   He  not  only  thought  in  her  name  but  he 
pincred  her   in  his  mind.     At  one  time,   I  be- 
•^Tt  there  was  actually  a  portrait  of  her  pub- 
iivhed,  which,  of  course,  he  selected  or  inspired. 
Hi  wrote  letters  for  her  in  answer  to  the  bundles 
re-.eivcd  through  the  publishers,  some  of  them,  I 
btlfevc,  containing  passionate  offers  of  heart  and 
hand" 

The  following  is  a  list  of  the  works  in 
ofose  and  verse  of  "Fiona  Macleod": 

""Pharais :  A  Romance  of  the  Isles,"  1894 ; 
The  Mountain  Lovers,"  1895;  "The  Sin- 
ister." 1895;  "The  Washer  of  the  Ford," 
3896;  "Green  Fire,"  1896;  "From  the  Hills  of 
Dream/'   1896;  "The  Laughter  of  Peterkin," 

Old  Celtic  Tales  Retold,"  1897;  "Spiritual 
Tiles,"  "Barbaric  Tales,"  and  "Tragic  Ro- 
rT:ances,"  1897;  "The  Dominion  of  Dreams," 
J  899:  "The  Divine  Adventure,"  "lona,"  and 
"Other  Studies  in  Spiritual  History,"  1900: 
**?oenis  Old  and  New,"  "For  the  Beauty  of 


WILLIAM  SHARP 

His  widow's  announcement  that  he  wrote  all  the  works 
in  prose  and  verse  credited  to  **  Fiona  Macleod,"  has 
solved  "the  most  interesting  literary  mystery  in  the 
United  Kingdom  during  the  past  ten  years.*' 

an  Idea,"  "The  Magic  Kingdoms,"  and  "The 
House  of  Usna." 

Under  his  own  name  Mr.  Sharp  was  general 
editor  of  the  "Canterbury  Poets"  and  the  author 
of  many  works,  including  "The  Human  In- 
heritance," "Earth's  Voices,"  "Romantic  Bal- 
lads and  Poems  of  Fantasy,"  "Flower  of  the 
Vine"  (published  in  America),  biographies 
of  Dante  Gabriel  Rossetti,  Shelley,  Heine  and 
Browning;  "A  Fellow  and  his  Wife"  (in 
collaboration  with  Blanche  Willis  Howard), 
"Madge  o'  the  Pool,"  and  "Wives  in  Exile." 
He  also  wrote  two  plays. 

The  case  of  Henry  Harland  has  little  of  the 
romance  or  dramatic  interest  associated  with 
William  Sharp.  But  Harland  also  had  two 
selves,  and  his  "double"  was  "Sidney  Luska." 
Under  the  latter  name  he  wrote  a  number  of 
clever  stories  of  Jewish  life,  among  them 
"The  Yoke  of  Torah,"  "The  Land  of  Love" 
and  "Grey  Roses."  During  this  period  he 
lived  in  New  York,  and  his  intimate  knowledge 
of  Jewish  traits  and  character  led  to  the 
erroneous  conclusion  that  he  was  a  Hebrew  by 
birth.  Later,  he  went  to  London  and  became 
the  editor  of  The  Yellow  Book.  He  was 
there  the  center  of  a  coterie  that  included 
Aubrey    Beardsley,    Max    Beerbohm,    Ernest 


152 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


WILLIAM  ORDWAY  PARTRIDGE 

!^He  says :  "  Greece's  art  would  never  have  been  the 
great  art  of  the  world  had  patriotism  been  lacking?.  No 
nation  can  be  gjeat  other  than  through  itself,  and  no  art 
can-  be  supreme  that  is  not  a  nationaiart." 


Dowson,  Arthur  Symons  and  Richard  Le 
Gallienne.  Finally,  he  turned  again  to  novel 
writing,  and  under  his  own  name  wrote  "The 
Cardinal's    Snuff    Box,"     'The     Lady     Para- 


mount,"  and   "My    Friend   Prosper©/'      Sa>rs 
the  New  York  Outlook: 

"The  first  of  these  stories  was  one  of  the  most 
charming  pieces  of  what  may  be  called  rococo 
work  that  has  come  from  an  American  hand ;  es- 
sentially artificial,  but  done  with  the  nicest  feel- 
ing. It  is  to  be  compared  only  with  Mr.  Tartc- 
ingfton's  'Monsieur  Beaucaire.'  It  is  a  romance 
of  the  purest  kind,  told  with  great  delicacy  of 
feeling  and  refinement  of  style,  against  a  beguil- 
ing Italian  background.  The  two  succeeding 
stories,  'The  Lady  Paramount'  and  'My  Friend 
Prospero,*  were  in  the  same  vein  and  very  much 
in  the  same  manner.  They  established  Mr.  Har- 
land's  reputation  as  a  writer  of  skill,  charm,  and 
with  the  faculty  of  enveloping  his  stories  in  an 
enchanting  atmosphere.  His  early  death  ends  a. 
most  promising  career.  Committed  to  literature 
at  an  early  age  by  his  tastes  and  education,  the 
godson  of  Mr.  Stedman,  he  seemed  marked  from 
the  beginning  for  a  long  and  harmonious  develop- 
ment; for  he  had  industry,  persistence,  and  many 
charming  qualities  of  character." 

The  New  York  Times  adds  a  word  of  com- 
ment on  what  it  regards  as  "one  of  the  most 
remarkable  puzzles  in  the  history  of  letters** : 

"Aside  from  any  question  of  the  ultimate  value 
of  his  work,  the  career  of  Henry  Harland  affords 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  puzzles  in  the  history 
of  letters.  There  have  been  a  few  cases  of  'double 
personality'  among  authors — of  men  who  have  had 
two  distinct  styles  or  have  given  up  one  style  to 
achieve  a  reputation  with  another.  But  Harland,* 
after  making  a  reputation  in  one  kind  of  work, 
made  another  reputation  along  entirely  different 
lines,  and  then  underwent  another  transformation 
and  gained  his  chief  success  with  work  absolutely 
different  from  any  he  had  hitherto  done." 


WILLIAM  ORDWAY   PARTRIDGE   ON   THE  GREEK 

SPIRIT  IN  ART 


"The  Greeks  carved  their  souls  in  marble; 
they  expressed  ideas  rather  than  actions,  and 
the  results  are  the  splendid  simplicity  before 
which  we  bow  to-day,  as  well  as  the  perfect 
blitheness  and  sanity  of  which  Winkelmann 
speaks.**  In  the  above  sentence,  our  own  dis- 
tinguished sculptor,  Mr.  William  Ordway 
Partridge,  gives  expression  to  some  of  his 
views  of  Greek  art  which  have  just  been 
deepened  and  strengthened  by  a  recent  artistic 
tour  through  Sicily  and  Greece.  We  are  ac- 
customed to  consider  the  joy  of  living  as  the 
dominant  note  of  Greek  art  and  literature ;  but 
on  the  contrary,  so  Mr.  Partridge  thinks,  the 
dominant  note  was  the  recognition  of  the  near 


presence  of  death  —  a  recognition  that  was 
never  absent  in  any  of  their  moments  of  pagan 
joy. 

Mr.  Partridge  writes  in  Brush  and  Pencil 
(Chicago),  and  his  article  treats  of  various 
mechanical  and  archeological  as  well  as  ar- 
tistic features  of  Greek  art.    He  says : 

"Technical  dexterity,  or  that  fatal  thumb  facil- 
ity so  rampant  in  Paris  to-day,  was  never  con- 
sidered an  end,  but  a  means  to  an  end,  by  the 
Greeks.  With  the  Greek,  it  went  without  saying 
•  that  he  could  use  his  tools.  Sometimes  he  per- 
mitted himself  technical  'fireworks.*  just  to  show 
that  he  could  do  it,  but  as  a  rule  it  did  not  seem 
worth  while ;  the  thought,  not  the  method,  was  the 
main  thing. 


LITERATURE  AND  ART 


153 


"The  Greek  sculptor,  further,  was  not  biased  by 
any  Puritan  element  which  forbade  the  represen- 
trion  of  the  nude,  nor  bound  nor  harassed  by 
fcdesiasticism.  Neither,  on  the  other  hand,  was 
he  tainted  by  any  decadent  trait  such  as  the 
R  man  sculptor  displays,  and  as  is  so  much  in 
-.!daice  in  modem  work,  showing  that  the  mind 
if  the  creator  is  impure.  To  him,  the  Greek,  the 
nude  form  was  the  most  bold  and  perfect  thing 
-n  the  world,  the  home  of  the  immortal  spirit. 
>jt  in  the  greatest  period  of  Greek  art  we  seldom 
t^nd  the  figure  treated  entirely  nude,  for  the  rea^ 
'  n  that  the  Greek  found  that  drapery,  propferly 

iT.dlcd,  enhanced  the  beauty  of  the  figure  and 

eped  out  its  action.  He  did  not  scruple  to  take 
T.:ch  poetic  license  with  drapery,  as,  for  instance, 

".  :.ie  Elgin  marbles  and  the  figures  of  the  friezes. 

ireck  drapery  eddies  about  the  limbs  of  the  fig- 

c:c  as  the  water  of  a  brook  eddies  about  a  stone. 

Neither  did  the  Greek  scruple  to  use  poetic 

cense  in  other  things.     When  he  fashioned  the 

'  rses  which  figure  so  largely  in  the  frieze  of  the 

I  irthenon  he  made  them  larger  or  smaller  as  the 

ice  demanded.     Also,  he  understood  perfectly 

:  •  value  of  alliteration  and  repetition  in  art,  the 

:  teration  of  certain  lines,  as  in  the  procession  of 

: :  \irgin  in  the  Greek  festival,  held  once  in  every 

^  ::  years." 

The  Greeks,  continues  Mr.  Partridge,  made 
i  distinction    in    their    treatment    of    statues 

Hch  we  do  not  to-day.  A  temple  statue  was 
-.".nished  in  style,  and  treated  with  a  stiffness 
-r^i  dignity  almost  architectural ;  while  a  statue 
'  trnded  to  be  viewed  in  the  open  was  polished 
•'  a  gleamingly  smooth  surface  and  perfectly 
t^  shed  Phidias  has  generally  been  accepted 
d'  the  master  of  architectonic  sculpture,  or 
^  jhture  as  the  handmaid  of  architecture;  but, 
n  Mr.  Partridge's  opinion,  "the  pre-Phidian 
'^Viies,  crude  and  rough  as  they  were,  were 
t  :er  adapted  to  the  uses  and  effects  of  archi- 
ecture  than  the  noble  works  of  Phidias."  The 
•jpposedly  Oriental  character  of  Phidian  and 
;:c-Phidian  work  has  led  to  a  popular  belief 
'J:at  Egypt  was  the  birthplace  of  sculpture. 
On  this  point    Mr.    Partridge   writes:     "The 

.>>t  finds  in  Crete  seem  to  prove  that  Greek 
•n  may  have  g^own  from  its  own  soil  instead 

•^  being  imported,  as  it  were,  from  older  lands. 
Ihe  Oriental  quality  was  inevitable  with  Crete 
-J  closely  in  touch  with  the  East — Tyre  on  one 
:  de  and  Egypt  on  the  other."  Of  impressions 
leaned  in  Greece  and  Sicily  Mr.  Partridge 
zives  us  these : 

""When  I  went  to  Greece  I  entered  through 
-ic  Gate  of  Gold— Sicily.  First,  of  all  came  Pal- 
^nrio,  the  Concho  di  Oro,  or  Golden  Shell,  where 
tiic  blue  bay  curves  into  the  brilliant  land,  even 
ic  the  shell  they  named  it  for.  It  was  full  of 
>Tangcs  and  lemons  and  yellow  sunlight.  And 
i'^«i,  straight  across  Sicily,  I  went  to  Girgenti, 
•We  there  are  more  temples  than  anywhere  in 
••■^  world  except  Athens.    And  then  to  Syracuse, 


.*^- 


'^.^'^  / 


BYRON 
(By  William  Ordway  Partridge.) 

of  Grecian  colonization  fame;  then  to  Taormina, 
where  the  great  theatre  of  the  Greeks  lies  in 
ruins,  with  the  Roman  theatre  built  above  it, 
and  Aetna,  in  the  distance,  staining  the  sapphire 
sky  with  faintest  smoke — Taormina,  on  the  coast, 
with  the  port  of  Greece  just  over  the  way.  So  I 
went  to  Naples,  and  thus  across  the  blue  water 
to  Greece  itself. 

"I  traveled  all  over  Greece,  and  lingered  as  I 
went,  though  in  some  ways  the  land  where  for- 
merly Sappho  loved  and  sung  does  disappoint 
the  traveler.  The  ground  plans  of  Delphi  and 
Olympia  are  all  like  Poippeii  —  roofless  entirely, 
lifting  broken  columns  against  the  sky.  These 
pale  pillars,  in  rows  on  rows,  make  the  ruins  look 
like  cemeteries,  cities  of  the  dead.  Delphi  is 
a  very  small  place.  All  the  excavations  could  be 
fitted  easily  into  an  American  football-field.  And 
this  is  Delphi — the  harbinger  of  our  modern  de- 
mocracy; Delphi — the  scourge  of  empires!  The 
Greeks  themselves  have  done  nothing  in  the  way 
of  excavations,  but  the  French  and  German  ar- 
chaeologists have  excavated  Delphi  and  Olympia 
very  thoroughly — the  French  Delphi,  the  Ger- 
mans Olympia.  Now  the  Americans  are  doing 
equally  complete  and  skillful  work  at  Corinth, 
under  Dr.  Heermance  of  Yale.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  though,  the  'finds'  in  the  way  of  sculp- 
ture are  not  proving  very  great  in  Greece. 
It  must  be  so.  The  Romans  carried  away  all  the 
best  works  of  art  to  decorate  their  villas  in  the 
first  place.  Nero,  as  we  know,  took  75,000  statues 
from  Delphi  alone,  and  some  of  the  rarest  crea- 
tions, notably  a  famous  bronze  by  Praxiteles,  were 
found  in  the  wrecks  of  Roman  ships.  Then  what 
the  patricians  did  not  take  for  their  houses  the 


154 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


DANTE  AND  BEATRICE 
(By  William  Ordway  Partridge.) 


barbarians  took  for  less  aesthetic  purposes.  Burned 
marble  makes,  lime,  and  no  one  can  estimate  how 
many  priceless  statues  were  destroyed  for  this 
sordid  purpose  alone,  and  thus  lost  to  the  world 
of  art  forever. 

"After  the  conquest  of  Persia  a  number  of 
marbles  were  discovered  buried  in  the  Ercch- 
thcum.  They  had  been  piled  one  on  top  of  the 
other  as  stop-gaps,  and  proved  to  be  a  remark- 
able collection,  covering  the  entire  period  of  the 
rise,  development,  and  highest  pomt  of  Greek 
sculpture.     They  are  in  the  Acropolis  Museum 


SHAKESPKARE 
(By  William  Ordway  Partrid>^^c.) 


now,  beside  the  Parthenon.  It  is  singularly  in- 
teresting to  note  that  this  period  of  development 
covered  only  fifty  years—fifty  years  from  the 
crudest  pre-Phidian  figures  to  the  most  complete 
achievements  of  sculptural  art  Such  rapidi^  of 
development,  one  must  admit,  is  nothing  less  than 
wonderful." 

The  building  of  the  great  Greek  temples,  as 
of  the  Pyramids,  has  been  a  matter  of  mystery 
and  conjecture;  and  the  question  has  often 
been  asked.  Just  how  were  the  huge  blocks  of 
marble  lifted  into  place?    Says  Mr.  Partridge: 

"There  are  two  theories  which  may  explain 
this.  The  first  is  that  great  windlasses  were  used, 
worked  by  vast  numbers  of  men,  the  cheapness 
of  labor  enabling  the  builders  to  accomplish  ex- 
traordinary results  through  sheer  force  of  niun- 
bers.  The  other  theory  is  rather  more  curious 
and  interesting,  as  well  as  being  the  more  prob- 
able, all  things  considered.  It  makes  the  follow- 
ing hypothesis:  As  each  block  of  marble  was  set 
in  place,  earth  was  dug  up  and  piled  all  about 
it,  making  a  slowly  increasing  hill  up  the  slope 
of  which  the  workmen  dragged  the  succeeding 
blocks.  As  the  column  grew,  the  incline  became 
steeper  and  steeper  and  the  work  more  arduous. 
The  column  itself  was  entirely  buried,  only  the 
white  topmost  block  being  visible.  When  the 
whole  was  complete,  the  earth-hill  was  dug  away 
bit  by  bit,  receding  slowly  from  the  great  white 
pillar,  which  finally  rose  straight  and  perfect  from 
the  leveled  ground.  The  Arabs  worked  thus  in 
the  desert,  and  even  as  late  as  the  Renaissance 
we  know  of  the  same  method  being  practised  in 
the  building  of  the  Santa  Croce  Cathedral  in 
Florence." 

One  of  the  most  insistent  qualities  in  the  art 
of  the  Greeks,  writes  Mr.  Partridge,  in  con- 
cluding, is  the  recognition  of  the  near  presence 


LITERATURE  AND  ART 


155 


HOMER  READING  HIS  ILIAD  TO  A  BAND  OF  GREEK  YOUTHS 
(By  William  Ordway  Partridgre.) 


of  death.  "It  is  the  dominant  note,  the  envel- 
oping spirit.  All  their  finest  work  and  most 
delicate  designing  went  to  the  fashioning  of 
their  funeral  urns.  And  in  no  pagan  moment 
of  joy  was  the  fatalism  of  the  race  absent; 
they  lived  and  laughed,  but  knew  the  shadow 
lay  just  beyond  the  path  of  sunlight  where 
they  danced."    Mr.  Partridge  adds : 

"Yet  another  thing,  and  this  is  worth  noting^ 
the  spirit  of  Greek  art  is  always  one  of  fervid 
patriotism.  Love  of  country  and  desire  to  dedicate 
their  lives  to  her  service  surely  animated  the  souls 
of  the  men  who  carved  the  gp-eat  friezes,  and 
symbolized  the  glory  and  triumph  of  righteous 
war.  Greece's  art  would  never  have  been  the 
great  art  of  the  world  had  the  patriotism  been 
lacking.  No  nation  can  be  great  other  than 
through  itself,  and  no  art  can  be  supreme  that 
is  not  a  national  art  It  is  Coleridge  who  says 
that  the  only  true  cosmopolitan  is  the  true  patriot, 
for  in  him  alone  does  the  true  cosmic  human 
sense  find  sincere  expression.  Patriotism  is  one 
of  the  noblest  sentiments  known  to  humanity,  one 
of  the  p-eat  white-hot  irons  that  bum  out  the 
epochs  m  the  world's  destiny.  The  man  who 
fights  nobly  for  a  lost  cause  is  better  than  the 
man  who  achieves  a  masterpiece.  Was  not  the 
one  bright  glorious  spot  on  Byron's  inglorious 
fame  the  record  of  his  struggle  for  the  Greece 
that  he  loved? 

"Probably  no  one  ever  understood  Greece  bet- 
ter, or  adored  her  with  more  passionate  devotion, 
than  this  strange,  imperfect  genius.  In  his  fight- 
ing for  her  lies  a  greatness  &r  beyond  his  gp-eat- 
cst  songs.  And  this  bears  out  a  pet  theory  of 
mine,  that  every  man  must  be  greater  than  his 
works.  I  contend  that  a  small  soul  cannot  prompt 
a  big  creation  nor  a  base  heart  lie  behind  a  noble 
achievement  in  art.  Art  must  be  the  expression 
of  the  artist,  and  if  the  man  is  weak,  bad,  or  arti- 


ficial, the  work  of  his  brain  and  hands  must  be 
meretricious  and  imtrue." 

Mr.  Partridge  is  not  only  an  admirer  of 
Byron  but  of  all  the  great  poets,  and  he  has 
made  it  one  of  the  delights  of  his  artistic  life 
to  reproduce  in  marble  and  bronze  a  series  of 
the  greatest  figures  in  poetry.  Besides  the 
Dante  and  Homer  groups,  he  has  made  busts 
of  Shakespeare,  Byron,  Shelley,  Milton,  Ten- 
nyson, Burns,  and,  more  recently,  Poe  and 
Edwin  Markham. 


TENNYSON 
(By  William  Ordway  Partridge.) 


IS6 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SUPERMAN  IN  LITERATURE 


Hegel,  the  German  philosopher,  once  faced 
an  audience  of  students  in  Berlin  University 
with  the  startling  statement:  "To-day.  gentle- 
men, we  shall  proceed  to  create  a  god."  Ac- 
cording to  Professor  Caffi,  a  noted  Italian 
publicist,  the  nineteenth  century  actually  wit- 
nessed the  birth  of  a  deity  in  Nietzsche's  con- 
cept of  the  Uebermensch.  "In  Christianity," 
says  Caffi,  "the  Jehovah  of  the  ancient  Hebrews 
became  a  man-God;  in  modern  philosophy  we 
have  the  God-man,  the  Superman."  The 
professor  finds  numberless  traces  of  this 
thought  in  the  literature  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  especially  in  Germany,  which  is  de- 
clared to  have  been  "at  once  the  propagator 
of  the  new  belief  and  the  soil  wherein  it  has 
taken  deepest  root."  Passing  in  brief  review 
the  theological  conceptions  of  Kant,  Fichte, 
Feuerbach,  Schelling  and  Hegel,  Professor 
Caffi  emphasizes  the  influence  of  Max  Stirner, 
the  most  radical  of  Nietzsche's  forerunners, 
who  "overthrew  Hegel's  god,  substituting  for 
it  the  individual  man  destined  to  climb  to  the 
highest  rung  on  the  ladder  of  power — to  be- 
come the  Unicum,  the  Superman." 

Outside  of  Germany,  Caffi  notes  the  influence 
of  three  men  over  religio-philosophical 
thought:  Emerson  with  his  "Oversoul"  and 
the  "  Universal  Soul  in  Art,"  in  many  ways 
premonitory  of  the  Uebermensch;  Carlyle, 
with  his  "Heroes  and  Hero-Worship,"  in 
England,  so  intensely  individualistic  in  its 
teachings;  and,  in  Scandinavia,  the  great 
Kierkegaard,  that  Danish  theologian  who 
created  a  revolution  in  contemporary  thought 
by  preaching  individualism  in  Christianity. 
"Others,"  he  once  said,  "bewail  our  times 
because  men  are  drawing  away  from  the 
church;  I  anathematize  our  times  because  all 
passion  is  disappearing,  whereas  only  by  pas- 
sion can  men  scale  the  heights  of  individ- 
uality." This  Professor  Caffi  calls  "pure 
Nietzscheanism." 

Goethe's  "Faust,"  Shelley's  "Prometheus." 
and  Byron's  "Manfred"  are  all  interpreted  as 
poetical  forebears  of  Nietzsche's  literary  mas- 
terpiece, the  strange  rhapsody,  "Thus  Spake 
Zarathustra."  In  Dostoyevsky  and  the  Rus- 
sian school.  Professor  Caffi  also  discerns  "the 
closest  approximation  to  the  Superman."  He 
continues  (in  the  Rcvista  d' Italia)  : 

"In  Nietzsche  are  embraced  and  united  all  the 
currents  of  individualism,  of  evolution,  of  super- 
humanistic    ideas    which,    from    Plato     (whose 


*Kingly  Man'  is  but  a  species  of  superman),  have 
dominated  philosophers  and  theologians.  .  .  . 
The  Nietzschean  Superman,  in  the  process  of 
evolution,  passes  through  three  stages.  First,  he 
he  is  the  free  man  of  unrestricted  liberty,  with- 
out a  god,  without  religion,  without  family, 
without  morality,  a  sceptic,  a  glutton,  devoid  of 
human  feelings.  This  is  the  'Blonde  Beast,' 
in  other  words,  the  primitive  German.  .  .  . 
In  the  second  phase  we  have  the  aristocrat,  who 
stands  on  an  elevation  above  good  and  evil,  and 
stamps  all  his  actions  with  the  one  word  edel 
[noble].  In  the  third  we  have  the  veritable  Super- 
man. Just  what  this  word  means  Nietzsche  him- 
self does  not  tell  us,  nor  can  we  form  any  accu- 
rate idea  from  his  works.  'Tis  something  which 
floats  aloft  in  the  empyrean,  and  vanishes  at  our 
touch.  It  is  a  word,  an  ideal,  a  thought,  a  desire, 
a  dream,  a  chimera  maybe,  a  vague  but  pulsing, 
living  aspiration  toward  the  infinite. 

"Nietzsche  was  assailed  by  all  parties ;  he  beheld 
the  destruction  of  his  philosophy  by  a  bristling  host 
of  syllogisms  and  arguments.  It  seems  now  as 
though  we  were  witnessing  the  march  of  so  many 
Don  Quixotes  going  forth  portentously  and  in  all 
gravity  to  fight  with  windmills.  But,  notwithstand- 
ing all  his  critics,  Nietzsche  remains  as  great  as 
ever,  and  perhaps  greater  to-day  than  ever  before. 
In  the  strict  sense  of  the  term  he  is  not  a  philos- 
opher, although  in  some  of  his  works  he  has  given 
evidence  of  a  profim4ity  far  from  common.  But 
above  all  things  he  is  a  great  writer,  an  artist,  a 
poet.  His  'Zarathustra'  is  a  poem  in  prose,  but 
nevertheless  it  is  a  great  poem.  If  Nietzsche  had 
not  been  a  great  artist,  his  career  would  have  been 
that  of  the  meteor  which  is  engulfed  in  night;  but 
Art  is  imperishable  and  'Zarathustra'  will'  remain 
as  the  greatest  monument  of  German  prose.'' 

In  closing,  Professor  Caffi  admits  that  Nietzs- 
che is  a  paradoxical  figure,  and  ought  not  to 
be  taken  too  seriously: 

"Let  us  not  take  too  seriously  his  frenzied  out- 
bursts (I  can  find  no  more  adequate  phrase). 
Too  often,  like  Leopardi,  he  curses  where  he 
should  have  blessed.  He  styles  himself  a  deicide 
and  yet  he  has  a  religion  of  his  own;  professes 
to  be  an  'immoralist'  and  yet  has  his  own  system 
of  morality;  calls  himself  an  anti-humanitarian 
and  is  more  humanitarian  than  the  philanthropists 
themselves.  Moreover,  he  possesses  admirable 
qualities  of  mind  and  heart;  his  thoughts  are 
noble,  his  sentiments  elevated;  he  has  all  the 
ardor  and  enthusiasm  of  life,  controlled  by  intel- 
lectual sincerity  and  probity.  And  so,  if  indeed 
he  has  faults  (and  who  is  without  them?),  let 
us  forgive  him  Christianly,  as  we  forgive  .  .  . 
Tolstoy  his  imprecations  against  art  and  human 
passions.  And  let  us  forgive  him  in  the  name  of 
Art  and  Poesy.  He  is  a  great  poet.  His  poetry 
thrills  one  with  its  potent  lyricism:  his  thoughts 
have  something  ineffably  picturesque  which  se- 
duces the  imagination  and  ravishes  the  soul." 

The  growing  influence  of   Nietzsche   upon 


LITERATURE  AND  ART 


157 


writers  is  indirectly  illustrated  by  Jack  Lon- 
<Jon's  novel,  "The  Sea  Wolf,"  and  by  Bernard 
Shaw's  play,  "Man  and  Superman."    The  for- 


mer is  a  romance  permeated  with  the  Nietzs- 
chean  spirit.  The  second  is  in  part  a  dramatic 
travesty  of  the  idea  of  the  Overman. 


A  PORTRAIT  THAT  MARKS  AN  EPOCH  IN  ART 


The  father  of  modern  portrait  -  painting, 
according  to  two  new  biographies,*  was  Sir 
Joshua  Reynolds,  and  the  picture  that  marks 
the  advent  of  a  new  school  of  art  is  his  por- 
trait of  Keppel,  who,  as  a  boy  of  twenty-one, 
had  been  in  command  of  the  British  frigate, 
the  Maidstone,  had  chased   a   French   vessel 

inshore    in    thick   weather,    and 

in  the  chase  had  run  his  ship 
ashore.  By  great  energy  and 
nerve  he  managed  to  save  his 
crew,  and  when  tried  afterward 
by  court-martial  had  been  hon- 
orably acquitted.  Such  was  the 
subject  which  Sir  Joshua  had 
and  which  he  handled  in  a  way 
that  made  it  ever  memorable. 
What  he  did  and  how  he  did  it 
are  described  by  Mr.  Boulton. 

Ever  since  the  days  of  Van 
Eyck,  in  the  fourteenth  century, 
the  method  of  portrait-painters 
had  been  "to  reproduce  their  sit- 
ter, choosing  a  moment  when  he 
or  she  was  thinking  of  nothing 
in  particular,  and  surrounding 
him  with  familiar  properties 
carefully  marshalled  into  a  de- 
sign." With  his  portrait  of 
Keppel,  Sir  Joshua  began  to 
work  on  a  new  line,  in  which 
he  took  his  keynote  from  his 
subject,  portraying  him  when 
some  characteristic  power  or 
passion  was  actually  at  work, 
and  so  endeavoring  to  g^ve  the 
spectator  the  deepest  possible 
insight  into  his  character  and 
his  career.  Says  Mr.  Boulton 
of  the  Keppel  Portrait : 


tional  background,  placed  Keppel  on  the  seashore, 
alert,  brisk,  hand  outstretched,  giving  orders,  the 
very  emlx)diment  of  the  able  young  naval  officer 
of  that  day,  who  was  a  very  important  member  of 
the  community  indeed.  As  in  all  great  art,  the 
very  spirit  of  the  times  appears  in  this  portrait, 
and  it  would  have  been  produced  in  no  other  age, 
whatever  the  genius  of  the  painter  who  attempted 


"Reynolds  chose  the  incident 
[just  narrated]  as  the  setting  of 
his  portrait  He  dropped  all  the 
pillars  and  curtains  of  the  conven- 

•SiR  Joshua  Reynolds,  First  Pres- 
ident OF  THE  Royal  Academy.  By 
Sir  Walter  Armstrong.  Chas.  Scrib- 
ner'ft  Sons. 

•Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  P.  R.  A.  By 
WiUiAin  B.  Boalton.fE.>P.  Button  &  Co. 


SIR  JOSHUA  REYNOLD.S'S  PORTRAIT  OP  THE  HON.  AUGUSTUS 
(AFTERWARD  ADMIRAL)   KEPPEL 

For  centuries  the  method  of  portrait-painters  had  been  **  to  reproduce 
their  sitter,  choosinjf  a  moment  when  he  or  she  was  thinkms:  of  nothing 
in  particular,  and  surroundinjf  him  with  tamiliar  properties  carefully 
marshalled  into  a  design."  With  this  portrait.  Sir  Joshua  began  to  work 
on  a  new  line,  in  which  he  took  his  keynots  from  hts  subject,  portraying 
him  when  some  characteristic  power  or  pa«»sion  was  actually  at  work. 


158 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


KITTY   FISHER 

(By  Sir  Jobhua  Reynolds.) 

An  admirable  illustration  of  »*  femininity  of  concep- 
tion." Every  element  in  the  picture  carries  with  it  the 
notion  of  woman. 

it.  The  days  of  public  exhibition  were  not  yet. 
and  Fisher's  mezzotint  plate  of  the  picture  did  not 
appear  imtil  six  years  later;  but  any  of  the  band 
of  portrait-painters  of  that  day  who  chanced  to 
get  sight  of  the  canvas  and  had  eyes  to  see,  must 
have  known  that  their  light  was  soon  to  be  ex- 
tinguished by  the  new  blaze  in  Newport  Street" 

In  the  same  picture,  Sir  Walter  Armstrong, 
the  author  of  the  other  biography,  sees  evi- 
dence not  only  of  Sir  Joshua's  originality,  but 
also  of  his  discriminating  eclecticism.  He 
writes : 

"The  painting  of  Keppel  marks  an  epoch  in 
the  career  of  Reynolds  as  well  as  of  modem  art. 
Down  to  1752  it  is  easy  to  determine  whence  the 
inspiration  came  for  everything  he  did.  One  pic- 
ture is  a  sublimated  Hudson,  another  an  echo  of 
Rembrandt,  a  third  a  Hogarth  with  a  difference. 
The  Keppel  is  new  mainly  because  he  there  draws 
upon  his  memories  of  a  different  art,  but  still 
new.  He  paints  the  energy  and  aptitudes  of  the 
man  as  well  as  his  head  and  body.  Such  a  thing 
had  never  really  been  done  before.  Some  of  the 
great  Italians  had,  no  doubt,  suggested  the  dy- 
namic possibilities  of  their  sitters ;  Velasquez  had 
now  and  then  gripped  the  nature  before  him  with 
so  nervous  a  hand  as  to  produce  a  dramatic  re- 
sult; but  before  Reynolds  painted  his  Keppel  no 
'♦ne  had  succeeded  in  fusing  frank  and  veracious 
Tative  with   other  artistic  qualities   in   a  por- 


trait. It  was  exactly  the  thing  to  create  a  furore, 
for  it  was  at  once  novel  and  entirely  comprehen- 
sible. People  could  say  'How  new!'  and  'Why 
hasn't  it  been  done  before?'  in  the  same  breath. 
Such  a  success  would  have  been  dangerous,  if 
not  fatal,  to  most  men.  They  would  have  re- 
peated it  tmtil  all  merit  had  been  taken  out  of 
the  original  performance." 

There  is  a  particular  in  which,  according 
to  Sir  Walter  Armstrong,  Sir  Joshua  went 
on  to  develop  his  pre-eminence  above  nearly  all 
other  great  painters.  This  was  his  power 
of  contrasting  the  character  of  his  male  and 
female  sitters.  One  would  think,  says  he, 
that  the  first  care  of  a  portrait-painter  would 
be  to  adapt  his  ideas  —  his  ideas  of  design, 
handling  and  action — to  the  sex  of  his  sitter. 
"But  as  a  matter  of  fact,  very  few  painters 
have  done  anything  of  the  kind,  and  the  best, 
least  of  all.  Titian,  Velasquez,  Rubens,  Rem- 
brandt, Hals  and  Van  Dyck,  all  had  pretty 
much  the  same  formulae  for  men  and  women. 
As  a  consequence  no  one  among  them,  with 
the  possible  exception  of  Titian,  succeeded 
equally  well  with  both  sexes."  Van  Dyck's 
portraits,  he  says,  seem  always  feminine,  while 
those  of  Rembrandt,  Frans  Hals,  and  Velas- 
quez seem  no  less  invariably  masculine.  The 
writer  adds: 

"The  hard  thinking  of  Reynolds  preserved  him 
from  a  similar  mistake.  His  patterns  in  line  and 
color  have  sex.  During  his  first  period  of  ma- 
turity he  painted  some  half  a  dozen 'magnificent 
portraits  which  illustrate  this,  as  well  as  other 
characteristics,  with  peculiar  force.  The  earliest 
of  these  is  the  'Mrs.  Bon  joy,'  at  Port  Eliot, 
painted  the  year  after  the  Keppel.  Better  known 
is  the  'Kitty  Fisher*  with  the  doves  ...  a 
capital  instance  of  what  I  mean  by  femininity  of 
conception.  Every  element  carries  with  it  the 
notion  of  woman.  The  handling  is  vaporous,  sin- 
uous and  long;  the  color  opalescent,  and  without 
masterful  contrasts;  the  design  .  .  .  avoids  any 
hint  at  the  quick  aggression  of  the  male.  In  the 
'Lady  Tavistock*  .  .  .  Rejmolds  suggests  with 
extraordinary  felicity  the  atmosphere  of  tender 
waiting,  of  intelligent  docility,  which  is  proper  to 
the  young  wife.  Technically,  too,  it  is  one  of  the 
best  of  his  early  works,  and  shows  the  example 
of  Rembrandt  put  to  the  most  agreeable  use.  But 
finer  still  than  either  the  'Kitty  Fisher'  or  the 
•Lady  Tavistock'  is  the  great  'Nelly  O'Brien'  of 
1763,  in  the  Wallace  colection. 

"On  the  whole,  I  think  this  might  be  accepted 
as  Sir  Joshua's  masterpiece.  In  other  pictures  he 
flies  at  higher  game.  In  the  'Duchess  of  Devon- 
shire with  her  Baby'  he  paints  maternal  interest, 
energy,  love,  and  paints  them  with  a  broader  and 
more  audacious  brush;  in  the  'Lady  Crosbie*  he 
concentrates  a  life  history  into  a  movement  and 
wins  a  miraculous  unity.    .     .     . 

"No  artist  has  been  so  indefatigable  as  Sir 
Joshua  in  hunting  up  significant  attitudes  and 
gestures    when    notable    men    proposed    that   he 


LITERATURE  AND  ART 


159 


should  paint  their  pictures.  The  'Lord  Heath- 
field'  holding  the  key  of  the  Mediterranean  is  the 
t]rpical  instance;  but  it  is  the  exception  to  find 
him  handing  celebrated  people  down  to  us  with- 
out some  hint  of  how  they  won  their  fame.  .  .  . 
He  paints  women  in  one  spirit,  men  in  another; 
and  in  both  makes  a  point  of  building  his  con- 
ception on  something  they  have  been  or  done." 

Mr.  Boulton  points  out  an  inestimable  value 
which  Reynolds's  work  has,  altogether  apart 
from  its  purely  artistic  qualities: 

"Sir  Joshua  has  preserved  for  posterity  ^hc  as- 
pect of  the  chief  figures  of  his  times  with  a  perfec- 
tion and  completeness  unequalled  by  any  other 
portrait  painter.  The  England  of  Reynolds'  day 
was  eminently  the  England  of  a  relatively  few 
personalities  to  whom  for  good  or  evil  the  des- 
tinies of  the  country  were  committed.  These  men 
dominated  Parliament,  they  officered  the  services, 
filled  the  public  offices,  administered  the  law,  and 
governed  the  dependencies  of  the  country.  Rey- 
nolds lived  among  these  men,  and,  with  a  few 
notable    exceptions,    two    generations    of    them 


SIR  JOSHUA  REYNOLDS 
(Painted  by  Himself.) 

passed  through  his  painting-room  to  leave  their 
images  behind  for  us,  and  to  provide  a  national 
possession  which  is  literally  priceless." 


A  JAPANESE  ESTIMATE  OF  LAFCADIO  HEAJIN 


It  is  generally  recognized  that  Lafcadio 
Heam,  the  Greco-Irish  Professor  of  English 
Literature  in  the  Imperial  University  of  Tokyo, 
who  died  over  a  year  ago  in  Japan,  of  pa- 
ralysis of  the  heart,  was  a  most  exquisite 
literary  artist.  But  it  was  as  an  interpreter 
to  the  Occidental  world  of  the  soul  of  Japanese 
life  and  art  that  Heam  was  unique,  and  it  is 
interesting  in  the  extreme  to  get  such  an  in- 
telligent judgment  of  him  and  his  work,  both 
as  artist  and  •  interpreter,  as  is  now  given  us 
by  a  Janapese  writer,  Nobushige  Amenomori. 
Writing  in  The  Atlantic  Monthly,  he  lays 
stress,  at  the  outset,  upon  Hearn's  poetic 
qualities. 

"Being  a  poet,"  we  are  told,  "he  naturally 
found  pleasure  in  the  emotional,  and  he  saw 
the  emotional  side  of  Evolutionism,  so  to 
speak,  in  Buddhism  and  Shintoism.  ...  I 
am  inclined  to  think  that,  had  Hearn  lived 
longer  and  taken  to  versifying,  he  would  have 
been  to  Evolutionism  what,  in  a  sense,  Pope 
was  to  the  philosophy  and  theology  of  Boling- 
broke.  As  Pope  embellished  his  ideas  with 
Christian  tenets,  so  Heam  ornamented,  in 
prose,  his  ideas  with  Buddhist  and  Shintoist 
beliefs;  and  as  some  verses  of  Pope's  have 
been  thought  models  of  orthodox  Christian  de- 
votion on  account  of  their  beauty  concealing 
their  real  sentiment,  so  a  similar  illusion  has 


been  created  with  regard  to  Hearn's  books 
because  of  their  uncommon  charm." 

The  always  interesting  facts  of  Hearn's 
life  are  briefly  reviewed.  He  was  born  in 
the  Ionian  Islands  about  1850,  of  a  Greek 
mother  and  an  Irish  father,  the  latter  a  sur- 
geon in  the  British  army.  Early  orphaned, 
a  great-aunt  had  him  educated  for  the  priest- 
hood, but  he  broke  away  when  only  nineteen 
years  old  and  came  to  America,  here  entering 
the  profession  of  journalism  and  beginning  to 
contribute  odd  sketches  and  articles  to  the 
magazines.  One  of  his  first  and  little  known 
books — "Stray  Leaves  From  Strange  Liter- 
ature"— is  a  rare  collection  of  stories  from  the 
Talmud  and  Moslem  lands,  Egypt,  the  Es- 
kimos, and  others,  in  the  most  exotic  liter- 
atures he  could  find.  During  these  years' 
of  hard  study  and  brooding,  Hearn  wrote  to  a 
friend:  "I  never  read  a  book  which  does  not 
powerfully  impress  the  imagination ;  but  what- 
ever contains  novel,  curious,  potent  imagery 
I  always  read,  no  mattter  what  the  subject. 
When  the  soil  of  fancy  is  really  well  enriched 
with  innumerable  fallen  leaves,  the  flowers 
of  language  grow  spontaneously."  Here  was 
no  Stevensonian  labor  for  expression ! 

In  1884  Hearn  "had  at  last  found  his  feet 
intellectually  through  the  reading  of  Herbert 
Spencer,  which  had  dispelled  all  ^isrns'  from 


i6o 


CL'RREXT  LITERATURE 


LAFCADIO  HBARN 

**  Withln'thU  h'/mely-looking:  man  there  burned  totne- 
thintc  aA  pure  an  the  veittal  fire,  and  in  that  flame  dwelt 
a  miod  tnat  called  forth  life  and  p'^etrv  cut  of  the  duf»t, 
and  fir^aftped  the  hif^heat  themes  of  human  thought." 


his  mind  and  left  him  *the  vague  but  omnipo- 
tent consolation  of  the  Great  Doubt/  "  And  in 
1887  he  l^egan  his  wanderings  to  exotic  coun- 
tries, "a  small  literary  bee  in  search  of  in- 
spiring honey."  Hut  it  was  not  until  1890 
that  he  reached  Japan,  there  at  last  to  find 
his  great  inspiration.  He  married  a  Japanese 
woman,  Ixrcame  a  professor  in  the  university 
at  Tokyo,  and  finally  was  adopted  by  his  wife's 
family  in  order  to  secure  the  succession  of  his 
property  to  wife  and  children.  Thenceforth 
he  was  known  in  Japanese  as  *'Yakumo  Koi- 
zumi." And  it  was  undoubtedly  this  very  ab- 
sr^rptirin  in  Jftpaiic-e  life,  so  rli>plcasing  to 
some  of  Hearn's  Western  friends  and  critics, 
that  enablefl  him  to  write  those  classic  in- 
terpretations which  now  enrich  our  literature. 

CJwing  to  the  inimitable  charm  of  his  style, 
some  critics  have  been  led  to  suppo^c  that  the 
author  occasionally  invented  stories  to  suit 
his  own  taste;  but.  says  N'obushige  Ameno- 
mori,  this  is  a  mistake.  Hearn  himself  says: 
"I    do    not    invent    my    stories.      I    get    them 

'm\  Japanese  life — facts  told  in  papers,  facts 
\  me  by  pilgrims,  travellers,  servants, — facts 


observed  in  travelling  nnrsclL*  Ke  was  in- 
satiable in  getting  informatk-Q-  Tbc  more 
he  got,  the  more  did  be  iranr  to  know,  and 
he  ever  retained  what  be  had  leanxd. 

While  making  studies  of  Shinto  shrines^ 
Hcam  once  ^Tote  to  his  fricsd:  "Yoa  nnder- 
itand.  of  course,  bow  dimcnlt  it  is  for  a 
foreigner  to  convey  to  Western  minds  the 
feeling  of  these  things  as  tfaev  inipress  Aim. 
On  the  other  band,  be  cannot  convey  the 
feeling  of  the  Japanese  mind,  because  be  has 
not  experienced  it.  He  can  only  guess  or 
imagine/'  "Yet,"  adds  the  Japanese  scholar, 
*'how  correctly  Hearn  'guessed  or  imagined* 
the  'feeling  of  the  Japanese  mind'  is  amply 
shown  in  some  of  bis  papers,  such  as  'Yuko' 
and  "The  Japanese  Smile.*  Xo  Japanese 
could  give  a  better  elucidation  of  those  sub- 
jects.' 

Although  Hearn  was  a  journalist  of  long 
experience  and  training,  there  was  little  of  the 
journalistic  mejhod  in  his  production  of  liter- 
ature. Says  his  friend:  "So  far  as  I  know, 
he  never  wrote  *on  the  spur  of  the  moment' 
anything  that  appeared  under  his  signature. 
.  .  .  And  he  never  wrote  one  sketch  or  essay 
at  a  time.  He  did  not  begin  at  the  beginning: 
he  worked  at  parts  first,  and  from  parts  built 
up  a  whole."  Hearn  himself  wrote:  ''I  never 
begin.  It  is  too  much  trouble.  I  write  do>\-n 
the  easiest  thing  first,  then  something  else. — 
finally  the  forty  or  fifty  fragments  interlink 
somehow,  and  shape  into  a  body.  It  is  like 
the  Prophet's  vision  of  drv-  bones." 

*Tn  writing  on  some  subjects,"  we  are 
further  told,  "Hearn  was  not  satisfied  with 
having  simply  seen,  read,  understood  them;  he 
waited  till  he  felt  them.  Until  tbc  desired 
sensation,  feeling,  came  upon  him.  bis  mind 
was  in  a  state  of  restless  suspense."  The  fol- 
lowing extract  is  from  a  letter  written  by 
him  in  that  mood: 

"But  somehow,  working  is  'against  the  grain.* 
I  get  no  thrill,  no  frisson,  no  sensation.  I  want 
new  experiences,  perhaps :  and  Tokyo  is  no  place 
for  them.  Perhaps  the  power  to  feel  thrill  dies 
with  the  approach  of  a  man's  fiftieth  year.  Per- 
haps the  only  land  to  find  the  new  sensations  is 
in  the  Past, — floats  blue-peaked  under  some  beau- 
tiful dead  sun  *in  the  tropic  clime  of  youth.*  Must 
I  die  and  be  born  again  to  feel  the  charm  of  the 
Far  East;  or  will  Xobushige  Amenomori  discover 
for  me  some  unfamiliar  blossom  growing  beside 
the  Fountain  of  Immortality?  Alas,  I  don*t 
know !  He  is  largely  absorbed  by  things  awfully 
practical. — g-uidebooks,  hotels,  silk-stocks,  mar- 
kets and  politics,  I  suppose.  He  has  little  time 
to  travel  to  the  Islands  of  the  Blest." 

Interesting  above   all    is   the   following  ad- 


LITERATURE  AND  ART 


i6i 


vice     Heam    wrote    to  this   dear   friend   and 
comrade : 

•'Now  with  regard  to  your  own  sketch  or  story. 
If  3rou  arc  quite  dissatisfied  with  it,  I  think  this 
if  probably  due  not  to  what  you  suppose, — imper- 
fection of  expression;  but  rather  to  the  fact  that 
some  latent  thought  or  emotion  has  not  yet  de- 
lined    itself  in  your  mind  with  sufficient  sharp- 
ness.    You  feel  something  and  have  not  been  able 
to  express  the  feeling— only  because  you  do  not 
yet  quite  know  what  it  is.    We  feel  without  un- 
derstanding feeling;  and  our  most  powerful  emo- 
tions are  the  most  un definable.    This  must  be  so 
because  they  are  inherited  accumulations  of  feel- 
ing   and    the   multiplicity  of  them — superimposed 
one    over    another — ^blurs  them,  and  makes  them 
dim,     even    though    enormously    increasing   their 
strength.  .  .  .  Unconscious  brain  work  is  the  best 
to   develop   such  latent  feeling  or  thought.     By 
quietly  w^riting  the  thing  over  and  over  again,  I 
find  that  the  emotion  or  idea  often  develops  itself 
in  the  process, — unconsciously.    Again,  it  is  often 
worth  while  to  try  to  analyze  the  feeling  that  re- 
mains dim.  Th^  effort  of  trying  to  understand  ex- 
actly what  it  is  that  moves  us  sometimes  proves 
successful.     ...    If  you  have  any  feeling  —  no 
matter   what — strongly  latent  in  the  mind   (even 
only   a    haunting  «adness  or  a  mysterious  joy), 
y«5u  may  be  sure  that  it  is  expressible.    Some  feel 
ings  are,  of  course,  very  difficult  to  develop.     I 
shall  show  you  one  of  these  days,  when  we  see 
each  other,  a  page  that  I  worked  at  for  months 
before  the  idea  came  clearly.    .    .    .    When  the 
best  result  comes,  it  ought  to  surprise  you,  for 
our  best  work  is  out  of  the  Uncoitscious." 

"The  'page'  at  which  he  had  labored  so 
hard,"  adds  Amenomori,  "I  found,  on  our  next 
meeting,  to  be  a  fragment  of  an  intended  essay 
on  a   palm-tree, — ^the  emotion  caused  by  the 


sight  of  a  palm-tree  as  a  possible  result  of 
many  ancestral  memories.  He  said  then, 
'Probably  this  will  never  be  finished.*  Un- 
fortunately, it  proved  more  thap  probable.  The 
essay    was    never    finished." 

Physically  Lafcadio  Hearn  was  unlovely. 
"Slightly  corpulent  in  later  years,  short  in 
stature,  hardly  five  feet  high,  of  somewhat 
stooping  gait" — he  is  described  by  his  friend — 
"a  little  brownish  in  complexion,  and  of  rather 
hairy  skin.  A  thin,  sharp,  aquiline  nose,  large 
protruding  eyes,  of  which  the  left  was  blind, 
and  the  right  very  near  sighted."  We  quote 
further : 

"I  shall  ever  retain  the  vivid  remembrance  of 
the  sight  I  had  when  I  stayed  over  night  at  his 
house  for  the  first  time.  Being  used  myself  also 
to  sit  up  late  I  read  in  bed  that  night.  The  clock 
struck  one  in  the  morning,  but  there  was  a  light 
in  Ream's  study.  I  heard  some  low,  hoarse 
coughing.  I  was  afraid  my  friend  might  be  ill; 
so  I  stepped  out  of  my  room  and  went  to  his 
study.  Not  wanting,  however,  to  disturb  him,  if 
he  was  at  work,  I  cautiously  opened  the  door  just 
a  little,  and  peeped  in.  I  saw  my  friend  intent 
on  writing  at  his  high  desk,  with  his  nose  almost 
touching  the  paper.  Leaf  after  leaf  he  wrote  on. 
In  a  while  he  held  up  his  head,  and  what  did  I 
see!  It  was  not  the  Heam  I  was  familiar  with; 
it  was  another  Heam.  His  face  was  mysteriously 
white;  his  large  eye  gleamed.  He  appeared  like 
one  in  touch  with  some  unearthly  presence. 

"Within  that  homely  looking  man  there  burned 
something  as  pure  as  the  vestal  fire,  and  in  that 
flame  dwelt  a  mind  that  called  forth  life  and 
poetry  out  of  dust,  and  grasped  the  highest  themes 
of  human  thought." 


TAINE'S  PEN  PORTRAITS  OF  HIS  LITERARY  CONTEMPORARIES 


A  newly  published  volume  of  Taine's  cor- 
respondence* deals  with  the  period  of  1870-75, 
and  contains,  in  addition  to  much  interesting 
comment  on  the  Franco-Prussian  War  and 
the  Paris  Commune,  some  graphic  pictures  of 
the  literary  celebrities  of  that  time.  It  appears 
that  in  1871  Taine  was  invited  to  lecture  at 
Oxford.  He  met,  among  others,  Swinburne, 
Matthew  Arnold,  and  the  Miss  Arnold  who 
was  to  become  Mrs.  Humphry  Ward,  and  he 
set  down  his  impressions  as  follows: 

"I  was  at  the  home  of  M.  Jowett  yesterday. 
Was  presented  to  M.  Swinburne  the  poet.  His 
verses  are  in  the  style  of  Baudelaire  and  of  Victor 
Hugo.  He  is  a  little  sandy  man,  wearing  a  red- 
ingote  and  a  blue  cravat,  and  thus  forming  a 
contrast  with  all  the  black  coats  and  white  ties. 

•H.  Taise,  Sa  Vie  et  Sa  Correspondence.  Hachette, 
Paris. 


He  talks  in  a  brusque  manner,  straightening  him- 
self with  a  convulsive  backward  movement  of  the 
arms  like  a  man  in  delirium  tremens — a  passion- 
ate admirer  of  modern  French  literature,  of  Hugo 
and  Stendhal,  and  also  of  painting.  His  style  is 
that  of  a  sickly  visionary  seeking  systematically 
for  excessive  sensations. 

"Was  presented  to  M.  Matthew  Arnold,  the 
poet-critic,  son  of  the  celebrated  Doctor  Arnold, 
and  an  inspector  of  primary  schools  at  a  salary 
of  one  thousand  pounds  sterling  per  annum.  He 
is  a  great  friend  and  admirer  of  Sainte-Beuve. 
He  is  a  large  man  with  black  hair  growing  very 
low  on  his  forehead,  of  careless  and  wrinkled 
appearance,  but  very  courteous  and  very  amiable. 
His  brother,  Thomas  Arnold,  who  lives  here,  has 
sent  me  an  elegant  little  compilation  of  extracts, 
notices  and  prefaces  embracing  almost  all  Eng- 
lish literature.  His  letter  has  some  polite  ob- 
servations on  my  large  work. 

"The  remainder  of  the  evening  was  taken  up  by 
young  girls  to  whom  I   was  introduced ;   among 


l62 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


A  NEW  MONUMENT  TO  TAINE 
Recently  erected  at  Vouzie/s  in  France. 

Others  was  Miss  Arnold  [Mrs.  Humphry  Ward], 
who  was  my  partner  at  dinner.  'A  very  clever 
girl/  was  M.  Jowett's  remark  as  he  presented  me 
to  her.  She  is  about  twenty  years  old,  very 
agreeable,  and  tasteful  in  her  dress,  a  rare  thing 
here  (another  young  lady  was  imprisoned  in  the 
strangest  looking  tube  of  red  silk),  bom  in  Aus- 
tralia and  reared  there  up  to  her  fifth  year.  She 
knows  French,  German  and  Italian,  and  for  a 
year  has  been  studying  old  Spanish  of  the  time 
of  the  Cid,  and  also  Latin,  for  the  purpose  of 
understanding  the  old  chronicles  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  She  spends  all  her  mornings  at  the  Bod- 
leian Library.  She  is  very  learned,  though  sim- 
ple in  manner  and  still  a  young  girl.  Finally, 
giving  me  one  of  her  sweetest  smiles,  she  let  me 
know  that  she  had  written  for  Macmillan's  Mag- 
azine  her  maiden  article  on  the  subject  of  the 
ancient  romances." 


In  a  later  letter,  dated  July  23,  1873,  ^^^  ad- 
dressed to  Georg  Brandes,  the  eminent  Danish 
critic,  who  is  sometimes  spoken  of  as  "the 
Northern  Taine,"  he  pays  a  notable  tribute  to 
TurgenieflF,  the  Russian  novelist  Speaking  of 
this  writer  in  comparison  with  German  au- 
thors, he  says:  "I  hope  I  am  not  amenable  to 
the  charge  of  French  prejudice,  for  to  me  the 
Russian  TurgeniefF  appears  to  be  a  writer  of 
the  first  rank.  One  might  heap  together  in  a 
mortar  all  the  German  authors  without  being 
able  to  extract  one  drop  of  his  vigor  and  sap." 

Writing  in  another  place  of  the  French 
authors  of  the  day,  he  indulges  in  this  very 
caustic  criticism : 

"I  have  just  re-read  Hugo,  Vigny,  Lamartine, 
Musset,  Gautier,  Sainte-Beuve,  as  types  of  the 
poetic  pleiad  of  1830.  How  mistaken  they  have  all 
been !  How  false  has  been  their  idea  of  mankind 
and  of  life!  Their  eternal  theme  is:  1  desire  an 
infinite,  ideal,  superhuman  happiness;  I  do  not 
know  in  what  it  consists,  but  my  soul,  my  person- 
ality, has  need  of  the  infinite.  Society  has  been 
badly  constructed,  earthly  life  is  insuflScient;  give 
me  the  sublime,  or  I  shall  dash  my  brains  out!' 

"Following  his  peculiar  bent  and  talent  each 
one  has  given  us  variations  upon  this  theme. 

**Victor  Hugo,  first  period:  nothing  fixed  or 
determined.  He  is  a  simple  musical  instrument 
which  produces  new  and  astonishing  melodies, 
and  is  at  the  service  of  all  the  positive  theses — 
Christianity,  htlmanitarianism,  legitimacy.  Napo- 
leon, the  Republic,  Louis-Philippe,  morality,  li- 
cense, etc.  Second  period:  in  this  gp'eat  natural 
cavern,  the  Republic,  Socialism,  the  humanitarian 
dream  of  the  subscriber  of  the  Siicle,  monopolize 
the  scene,  and  at  the  same  time  the  instrument 
deteriorates  and  the  fingering  is  like  that  of  a 
,  deaf  performer. 

"Gautier:  in  this  connection  Mile,  de  Maupin 
is  admirable.  This  is  the  theme:  I  desire  for  my 
personal  use  a  paradise  made  up  of  all  the  ideas 
of  painting  and  sculpture  realized,  with  Oriental 
splendor  and  real  voluptuousness,  plus  a  dash  of 
dramatic  emotion.  But  even  this  Sultan's  para- 
dise could  not  satisfy  me ;  I  am  an  exacting  God, 
and  I  am  bored  with  all  this! 

"Vigny  is  a  solemn  and  self-exalted  priest; 
Musset  a  nervous,  covetous  gentleman -gamin  who 
squeezes  his  orange  dry  and  fiings  it  away  im- 
mediately afterwards;  Sainte-Beuve  and  the  oth- 
ers are  sires  or  sons  of  Voluptuousness;  all  of 
Hugo's  dramas  having  as  their  motif  excessive 
emotion  and  sudden,  unexpected  development,  are 
included  in  this  same  category.  It  is  the  same 
with  George  Sand's  first  manner,  and  with  Bal- 
zac's The  Shagreen  Skin.' 

"What  remains  over,  what  survives  of  all  this, 
is  the  history,  the  psychology  of  the  age.  Observe 
this  especially  in  George  Sand,  Balzac,  Stendhal, 
Dumas  the  younger,  Augier,  Flaubert,  Champ- 
fleury,  and  in  all  recent  realism ;  in  Cousin  in  the 
historical  portion  of  his  philosophy,  in  Guizot, 
Michelet,  Thierry,  Vitet,  in  parts  of  Hugo  and  the 
elder  Dumas,  and  in  the  astonishing  number  of 
monographs  and  critiques  of  which  Sainte-Beuve 
and  Renan  offer  the  best  tjrpes." 


Religion    and     Ethics 


THE  NEW  ATTITUDE  TOWARD  EVANGELISM 


"Looking  forward  to  church  conditions  in 
the  new  year  of  our  Lord  1906,"  says  The 
Church  Economist  (New  York),' "the  leading 
problem,  in  our  judgment,  is  the  relation  of 
church  and  evangelist." 

This  issue,  as  the  same  paper  goes  on  to 
point  out,  is  almost  as  old  as  the  Christian 
church.  It  was  active  in  the  second  and  third 
centuries.  It  entered  into  the  rise  and  spread 
of  monasticism.  It  led  to  the  foundation  of  the 
so-called  religious  or  mendicant  orders  in  the 
medieval  church.  It  found  expression  in  the 
woric  of  the  Lollards.  And  in  later  ages,  from 
time  to  time,  it  has  come  into  prominence  in 
the  lives  and  labors  of  such  men  as  the  Wes- 
leys,  Whitefield,  Jonathan  Edwards,  Finney 
and  Moody. 

Just  at  present  it  has  been  projected  into 
the  field  of  religious  controversy  as  a  result  of 
the  critical  attitude  assumed  by  influential 
American  clergymen  and  religious  journals 
toward  evangelistic  revivals.  It  appears  that 
the  Rev.  Dr.  J.  Wilbur  Chapman,  acting  under 
the  auspices  of  the  Evangelistic  Committee  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  recently  held  a  num- 
ber of  meetings  in  several  of  the  large  cities 
of  the  Pacific  coast.  Upon  endeavoring  to 
organize  a  similar  campaign  in  San  Francisco, 
a  committee  of  local  clergymen  declined  to  co- 
operate with  him.  "Wc  knew  that  there  had 
been  gp*eat  disappointment  in  Oakland,"  said 
the  Rev.  Dr.  George  C.  Adams,  of  the  First 
Congregational  Church;  "in  Los  Angeles,  in 
Portland  and  in  Seattle  the  outcome  was  ex- 
ceedingly discouraging.  And  when  we  thought 
of  asking  our  people  for  six  or  eight  thousand 
dollars  to  meet  the  expenses  of  an  effort  con- 
cerning which  we  would  be  likely  to  be  com- 
pelled to  admit  later  on  that  it  was  a  poor 
investment,  we  felt  that  we  had  no  right  to  do 
it  The  result  was  the  unanimous  vote  of  the 
committee  to  request  Dr.  Chapman  to  cancel 
the  engagement." 

Dr.  R.  A.  Torrey  and  Mr.  Charles  M.  Alex- 
ander, whose  evangelistic  meetings  in  Aus- 
tralia and  the  United  Kingdom  have  attracted 
world-wide  attention  and  who  have  now  re- 
turned to  this  country  to  carry  on  their  cru- 
sade here,  are  also  under  criticism.  A  guarded 
but  significant  warning  bearing  the  signatures 


of  the  Rev.  Dr.  S.  P.  Cadman,  of  Brooklyn, 
and  three  other  prominent  clergymen  who  had 
personally  familiarized  themselves  with  the 
Torrey- Alexander  meetings  in  England,  has 
been  published  in  the  Boston  Congregationalist, 
cautioning  churches  in  this  country  from  mak- 
ing such  meetings  the  center  of  their  activi- 
ties. To  a  request  from  The  Church  Econo- 
mist for  a  more  detailed  statement  of  his  views, 
Dr.  Cadman  replied  as  follows : 

"I  am  in  active  sympathy  with  all  genuine  evan- 
gelical work,  but  I  am  opposed  to  its  being  used 
for  the  advocacy  of  any  peculiar  theological  views 
which  create  division  in  the  church  and  excite 
just  oposition  among  thinking  men  everywhere. 
We  are  not  going  to  win  the  great  fight  which  is 
upon  us  by  clinging  to  obsolete  traditions  which 
have  been  discarded  by  the  sane,  reverent  and  con- 
structive scholarship  of  Christianity;  and  when 
these  traditions,  which  are  matters  of  private 
opinions,  are  insisted  upon  as  dogmas  necessary 
to  salvation,  I  for  one  refuse  to  be  allied  with  any 
such  human  perversions  of  the  Divine  truth. 

"The  time  has  come  to  call  a  halt  upon  the 
oft-made  statement  that  only  men  who  favor  cer- 
tain schools  of  theological  thought  can  be  used  by 
God  to  communicate  His  blessings  to  their  fellows. 

"This  is  not  Protestantism.  It  is  at  heart  Pa- 
pacy and  it  denies  the  rights  of  that  common  life 
which  all  believers  in  Jesus  Christ  enjoy,  and  by 
which  they  are  federated  together. 

"Such  characteristics  have  beset  the  work  of 
Dr.  Torrey  in  Great  Britain,  and  the  verdict  upon 
that  work  is  by  no  means  an  unmixed  one.  There 
are  leading  mmisters  of  the  gospel  in  Great  Brit- 
ain who  believe  that  the  work  of  evangelization 
has  been  retarded  rather  than  helped  in  many  in- 
fluential sections." 

The  Torrey  -  Alexander  movement  has  an 
even  more  formidable  critic  in  the  New  York 
Outlook,  This  influential  weekly  devotes  a 
lengthy  editorial  in  a  late  issue  to  a  decidedly 
derogatory  review* of  Mr.  George  T.  B.  Davis's 
chronicle*  of  the  Torrey-Alexander  crusade. 
It  comments,  in  part,  as  follows : 

"Dr.  Torrey  and  Mr.  Alexander  have  con- 
ducted a  series  of  remarkable  meetings,  and  they 
have  been  characterized  by  great  emotional  in- 
terest; but  what  has  been  their  permanent  ethi- 
cal effect?  The  revivals  conducted  by  Dr.  Fin- 
ney were  followed  by  higher  standards  of  hon- 
esty in  business,  purity  in  public  affairs,  temper- 

♦  TORREV  AND  ALEXANDER  :  THE  wSTORV  OF  A  WORLD- 
WIDE Revival.  By  George  T.  B.  Davis.  F.  H. 
Revell  Co.  ^ 


l64 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


ance  in  personal  life.  And  he  left  as  a  monu- 
ment of  his  labors  at  least  two  great  churches 
and  one  great  university,  largely  due  to  his 
spiritual  power.  Mr.  Moody  left  as  a  monu- 
ment of  nis  labors  a  great  church,  a  continu- 
ous summer  conference  whose  inspiring  influ- 
ence is  testified  to  by  hundreds,  and  two  schools 
of  permanent  educational  value.  It  may  be  too 
soon  to  look  for  similar  fruits  of  Mr.  Torrey's 
ministry.  But  it  is  not  too  soon  to  ask  whether 
it  gives  any  promise  of  such  fruits.  And  this 
question  Mr.  Davis  does  not  answer;  he  does 
not  seem  even  to  have  asked  it  of  himself." 

The  Outlook  goes  on  to  cite  an  account  of 
how  Mr.  Alexander  once  "prayed  the  Lord 
that  he  would  help  him  choose  a  good  suit  of 
clothes,  and  lead  him  to  the  right  pattern." 
When  he  went  to  the  tailor's,  he  was  offered 
at  less  than  half  price  a  suit  that  had  been 
rejected  by  an  earlier  customer  but  that  "fitted 
him  exactly,  with  the  exception  that  the  trou- 
sers had  to  be  shortened  a  little."  This  he 
accepted  as  an  evidence  that  "God  answers 
prayer  for  temporal  things  as  well  as  for 
things  spiritual."  The  incident  illustrates, 
says  The  Outlook,  "the  supreme  objection  that 
devout  souls  feel  for  the  Torrey-Alexander 
movement."    Continuing,  the  same  paper  says : 

"Many  spiritually  minded  men  and  women 
feel  a  protest  against  the  Torrey-Alexander  Mis- 
sion which  they  have  often  been  reluctant  to 
utter.  They  object  not  chiefly  that  its  methods 
often  violate  good  taste,  nor  that  its  theology 
often  antagonizes  the  reason.  Their  chief  objec- 
tion is  neither  rationalistic  nor  aesthetic,  but 
spiritual.  They  object  to  any  religious  ministry 
which  substitutes  conventional  phrases  for  spirit- 
ual realities;  which  regards  belief  in  the  iner- 
rancy of  a  book  as  equivalent  to  a  living  faith 
in  the  living  truths  of  which  that  book  is  an 
interpreter;  which  treats  redemption  as  getting 
out  of  hell  into  heaven — ^that  is.  out  of  horrible 
pain  into  celestial  pleasure;  which  teaches  any 
man  to  think  himself  'saved*  unless  his  character 
is  transformed;  which  recognizes  any  other 
test  of  that  transformation  than  Christ's  test, 
'By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them;'  which  puts 
arty  value  whatever  on  great  meetings  and  waves 
of  emotional  excitement,  except  as  they  lead  to 
higher  and  holier  living;  which  honors  as  reli- 
gious any  experiences  unless  they  leave  behind 
them  the  churches  strengthened,  the  sources  and 
springs  of  vice  weakened,  and  higher  standards 
of  honesty  in  business,  public  spirit  in  politics, 
purity  in  society,  and  love  in  the  home.  In  short, 
literalism,  conventionalism,  and  emotionalism  are 
not  the  marks  of  the  Christian  religion.  In  so 
far  as  they  characterize  any  movement,  that 
movement  is  not  toward  the  kingdom  of  Christ." 

The  Church  Standard  (Protestant  Episco- 
pal), of  Philadelphia,  commenting  on  the  ef- 
forts at  present  being  made  to  start  a  revival 
in  that  city  under  the  leadership  of  Dr.  Torrey 
and  Mr.  Alexander,  says  that  it  regards  the 


Christian  desire  to  co-operate  in  true  revival 
work  "with  sincere  respect  and  cordial  sym- 
pathy." Nevertheless,  it  adds,  "we  find  our- 
selves turned  against  it  mainly,  and  almost 
exclusively,  by  the  machine-like  methods  pur- 
sued and  to  be  pursued."  The  Christian  Work 
and  Evangelist  (New  York)  says: 

"We  hope  the  Torrey-Alexander  Mission,  now 
under  way  in  this  country,  will  achieve  good  re- 
sults. But  we  do  not  hesitate  to  declare  that 
brass-band  work,  big  choir  work,  big  'statistics,' 
and  everything  on  the  score  of  Bigness,  which 
were  the  features  abroad,  will  not  work  here. 
There  is  room  for  earnest  evangelical  preach- 
ing,— lucid,  intelligible,  and  sane.  It  is  the  life 
in  the  heart,  not  our  eighteenth  century  theology, 
proclaimed  amid  fanfare,  that  is  wanted  to-day. 
'Behold,  old  things  have  passed  away:  all  things 
are  become  new.' " 

Messrs.  Torrey  and  Alexander  are  not  with- 
out warm  defenders  in  the  religious  press. 
The  Missionary  Review  of  the  World  (New 
York),  edited  by  Dr.  A.  T.  Pierson,  thinks  that 
some  of  the  attacks  upon  them  are  "both  un- 
fair and  unfounded."    It  says  further: 

"Of  course,  the  evangelist  [Dr.  Torrey]  is  an 
old-fashioned  believer  in  the  whole  Bible,  and  is 
uncompromising  in  his  defense  of  the  infallible 
teaching  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  But  his  confident  tone 
has  acted  as  a  tonic  in  the  midst  of  the  looseness 
and  uncertainty  of  present-day  thinking.  Wher- 
ever he  has  labored,  not  only  have  marked  conver- 
sions followed,  but  all  evangelistic  work  has  been 
stimulated.  We  have  heard  it  often  said  that  noth- 
ing has  equaled  it  in  power  since  the  Moody  and 
Sankey  work  of  a  quarter  centurv  ago.  The 
closer  the  work  has  been  watched,  the  more  sat- 
isfactory have  the  results  been  found." 

Commenting  in  similar  vein,  the  Philadel- 
phia Presbyterian  says: 

"It  is  idle  to  speak  of  the  teachings  of  Dr. 
Torrey  as  his  'personal  opinions.'  Remission  of 
sins  through  the  blood  of  the  Cross,  acceptance 
before  God  on  the  merits  of  Jesus  alone,  ever- 
lasting punishment  as  the  penalty  of  unbelief,  to- 
gether with  acceptance  of  the  Bible  as  authorita- 
tive in  all  its  parts — ^these  doctrines,  which  con- 
stitute in  sum,  as  we  understand,  the  teachings 
of  Dr.  Torrey,  are  church  doctrines,  and  not 
any  man's  personal  opinions.  They  are  not  dead 
nor  obsolete,  but  a  living  power  to-day  in  the 
experience  of  millions  of  Christians.  The}r  are 
the  doctrines  which  made  Mr.  Moody  mighty 
in  his  day;  the  doctrines  which  constituted 
Charles  Spurgeon's  pulpit  in  London  the  seat 
of  a  world-wide  influence:  the  doctrines  which, 
preached  by  Dr.  Paton  in  the  New  Hebrides, 
transformed  the  haunts  of  savages  and  canni- 
bals into  the  abodes  of  peace  and  prosperity.  Dr. 
Torrey^  is  undertaking  a  great  task.  He  is  not 
going  into  conflict  with  the  entrenched  powers 
of  evil  accoutred  in  new-fangled  armor,  or  with 
untried  weapons  in  his  hands.     He  has  the  ex- 


RELIGION  AND  ETHICS 


i6S 


pericflce  of  ages  behind  him,  and  he  comes  now 
to  a  new  sphere  of  action  with  a  spirit  of  con- 
fidence bom  of  the  fact  that  these  doctrines  of 
grace,  with  which  God's  servants  before  him 
did  exploits,  have  constantly  proved  in  his  own 
use  of  them,  as  he  has  traveled  aromid  the  world, 
the  power  of  God  unto  salvation. 
"Why  complain  of  the  air  of  authority  with 


which  such  a  man  speaks?  Authority  is  the 
very  thing  bv  which  the  pulpit  ought  ever  to 
be  distinguisned.  The  faithful  ambassador  of 
Jesus  has  an  inspired  Book  open  before  him,  and 
he  is  giving  to  the  people,  not  his  'personal  views,' 
not  the  views  of  the  advanced  scholarship  of 
the  day,  not  'the  words  which  man's  wisdom 
tcachcth,  but  which  the  Holy  Ghost  teacheth.'" 


THE  GROWING  CLEAVAGE  BETWEEN  CLERGY  AND  LAITY 


Dean  Robbins,  of  the  General  Theological 
Seminary  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church, 
is  deeply  impressed  by  "an  ever-increasing  gap 
between  the  clergy  and  laity."  Speaking  re- 
cently before  the  Church  Qub,  in  New  York, 
he  asked :  What  sympathy  does  the  young  semi- 
narian who  comes  to  a  rural  congregation 
fresh  from  his  studies,  professional  or  dog- 
inatic,  find  with  his  views?  What  does  the 
average  city  curate  care  for  what  a  layman 
thiiiks,  and,  for  that  matter,  what  does  a  lay- 
man care  about  the  curate  ?    He  continued : 

The  attitude  of  the  laity  to  the  clergy  is  one 
almost  of  condescension,  a  very  different  attitude 
from  that  once  held.  Generally  the  layman  feels 
the  clergy  to  be  out  of  the  quick  flowing  current 
of  life.  It  is  with  enthusiasm,  a  glad  surprise,  if 
yon  will,  that  the  layman  meets  a  clergyman  who 
13  hardheaded,  practical  and  business-like.  Now, 
the  real  seriousness  of  this  is  that  it  makes  for  a 
great  ineffectiveness.  The  clergy  are  pulling  one 
way  and  the  laity  another.  A  great  g&lf,  gaping, 
pawning  and  increasing  ever,  stretches  between. 
The  clergy  and  laity  cannot  meet  on  common 
^ound  in  these  days.  I  take  it  that  no  one  will 
deny,  that  no  one  can  deny,  that  there  is  this  in- 
effectiveness. .  .  .  The 'average  layman  hardly 
knows  why  he  is  a  Churchman." 

This  utterance  has  aroused  much  interest  and 
discussion  in  the  religious  world,  coming,  as  it 
docs,  almost  contemporaneously  with  the  an- 
notmcement  of  two  important  changes  in 
church  polity  looking  toward  a  closer  union  of 
dcrgy  and  laity.  In  England,  a  House  of  Lay- 
aen,  co-ordinate  with  the  House  of  Bishops 
and  the  House  of  Gergy,  is  being  organized 
within  the  Anglican  Church.  In  Chicago  the 
synod  of  the  Roman  Catholic  archdiocese  voted 
a  few  days  ago  to  vest  the  business  manage- 
n«nt  of  parishes  within  the  diocese  in  the 
^ands  of  laymen  to  an  extent  not  permitted 
Wore.  Says  the  New  York  Churchman  (Prot- 
^nt  Episcopal)  : 

1  "^en,  not  only  laymen  but  clergymen,  will  in 
the  end  have  only  contempt  for  thoughts  and 
words  and  ritual  acts  that  do  not  issue  m  deeds. 


They  believe  that  the  church  exists  to  redeem  so- 
ciety. They  believe,  so  far  as  they  are  true  Chris- 
tians, that  their  work  to  be  eflfective  should  be 
done  through  the  church  as  Christ's  means  for 
accomplishing  his  purpose.  Wherever  the  church 
is  administered  in  this  spirit  of  social  redemption 
there  is  no  cleavage  between  the  clergy  and  laity, 
but  the  most  devoted  loyalty.  The  time  is  past, 
and  it  ought  to  be  recognized  as  past,  when,  if 
'the  hungry  sheep  look  up  and  are  not  fed'  they 
will  stay  till  they  starve  before  seeking  greener 
pastures.  If,  then,  the  clergy  will  do  their  part 
to  remove  this  cleavage  they  must  fit  thcipselves 
to  appty  the  spirit  of  Christ,  as  well  as  the  law 
of  Christ,  not  alone  to  the  individual  heart  and 
conscience,  but  to  society.  Laymen  can  do  their 
part  by  helping  the  clergy,  who  attempt  this  reali- 
zation of  the  Kingdom  here  and  now,  by  their 
hearty  sympathy  and  co-operation.  It  is  char- 
acteristic of  our  age  and  one  of  the  worthiest  of 
its  characteristics,  that  men  will  not  waste  time 
on  machinery  that  proves  itself  worthless  or  in- 
adequate. They  subject  the  church  to  the  same 
standard." 

The  layman's  point  of  view  is  voiced  by 
the  New  York  Evening  Post  as  follows : 

"The  late  Archbishop  Benson  once  described 
this  'alienation'  [between  clergy  and  laity]  as  'ter- 
rific' He  thought  the  Dissenters  were  doing 
what  they  could  to  widen  the  breach,  and  that 
the  clergy  were  to  blame  because  of  their  devo- 
tional methods,  their  sacramentarian  practices, 
and  their  judgments  concerning  education  and 
Parliament,  They  wish  the  clergy  to  be  sep- 
arate, i.e.,  Pharisaic'  Extreme  high  churchmen 
would  say  that  the  clergy  had  lost  the  respect  of 
the  laity  by  abdicating  their  sacerdotal  position, 
and  by  making  themselves  merely  ministers  and 
public  teachers.  The  low  churchmen  would  con- 
tend that  it  was  precisely  this  assumption  of  su- 
periority and  separateness  which  had  impaired  the 
influence  of  the  clergy,  and  that  the  parson  should 
be  like  the  layman,  except  that  it  is  his  business 
to  pray  and  preach.  Mr.  Moncure  Conway  has 
expressed  admiration  of  the  established  Church 
of  England  because  it  admits  of  this  levelling 
process,  and  he  would  seem  to  favor  a  state 
church  in  this  country  in  which  the  clergyman 
might  have  greater  liberty,  and  there  mi^ht  be  a 
minimum  of  difference  between  the  pnest  and 
his  parishioner.  But  is  not  the  'cleavage'  simply 
a  new  definition  of  the  old  schism  between  the 
church  and  the  world?" 


i66 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


RELIGION  IN  AMERICA  AS  VIEWED  BY  THE  AUTHOR  OF 

*THE  SIMPLE  LIFE" 


Charles  Wagner,  the  celebrated  French  di- 
vine, whose  book,  "The  Simple  Life,"  enjoyed 
such  popularity  in  America  that  his  recent 
visit  to  this  country  was  one  continual  ovation, 
has  written  a  volume*  chronicling  his  im- 
pressions of  the  customs  and  religion  of  the 
American  people.  The  book  is  dedicated  "To 
Theodore  Roosevelt,  President  of  the  United 
States,  the  Magnanimous  and  Pacific;  to  his 
Home;  and  to  the  People  of  the  United 
States." 

As  a  clergyman,  M.  Wagner  was,  of  course, 
greatly  interested  in  the  religious  aspect  of 
American  life.  What  struck  him  particularly, 
at  first  sight  was  the  multitude  of  people 
he  saw  going  to  church,  with  a  peculiar,*  sol- 
emn, Sunday  expression,  in  every  large  Ameri- 
can city.  "On  a  Sunday  morning,"  he  says, 
"the  streets  leading  to  the  churches  present  an 
aspect  both  of  singular  animation  and  of  calm. 
All  these  street  passengers  seem  to  be  medi- 
tative. One  feels  that  they  know  where  they 
are  going.  In  going  to  church  they  already 
think  of  what  they  will  hear ;  in  returning  from 
it  they  think  of  what  they  have  heard.  In  a 
word,  they  convey  the  pleasant  impression  of 
taking  the  matter  very  seriously." 

M.  Wagner  goes  on  to  speak  of  the  great 
number  of  religious  societies  and  churches 
existing  in  America  and  representing  every 
possible  shade  of  human  sentiments  and  ideas. 
In  spite  of  the  contrasts  and  contradictions 
among  these  various  groups,  he  regards  this 
very  number  as  a  sign  of  "beautiful  vitality." 
"It  is,  of  course,  questionable,"  he  proceeds  to 
comment,  "whether  several  chapels  in  small 
j)laces  are  not  a  harmful  luxury;  whether  it 
would  not  be  a  good  thing  for  them  to  unite, 
in  order  the  better  to  be  able  to  aspire  toward 
an  object  which  is  after  all  a  common  one." 
Nevertheless,  he  thinks  the  actual  state  of 
affairs  one  that  speaks  very  favorably  for 
American  religious  institutions.  "In  the  first 
place,"  he  remarks,'  "perfect  liberty  is  the 
common  good  of  all  the  churches.  This  en- 
sures a  condition  that  is  neither  to  the  advan- 
tage nor  the  detriment  of  anyone,"  He  con- 
tinues : 

"The  faithful  keep  up  their  creed  at  their  own 
expense,    and    organize    it    as    seems    proper    to 

•Vers  le  Cceur  de  I'Amerique.     By  Charles  Wagrner. 
Libraire  Fischbacher,  Paris;  Brentano's,  New  York. 


them.  Enjoying  general  liberty,  everyone  re- 
spects his  neighbor.  It  is  contrary  to  a  general- 
ly adopted  practice  to  preach  against  others. 
Everyone  does  his  .best  with  his  own  faith  and 
leaves  his  neighbor  alone.  Cordial  relations 
subsist  among  the  various  denominations,  and 
this  feeling  of  cordiality  is  steadily  growing. 
They  all  feel  the  need  of  one  another,  and  op- 
portunities for  fraternization  are  sought  with 
ardor.  The  points  of  contact  multiply  from  year 
to  year.  It  has  not  always  been  so.  American 
history  has  known  periods  of  bitter  intolerance. 
And  certainly  one  would  not  have  to  go  very  far 
to  find  actual  specimens  of  a  sectarian  attitude 
on  the  part  of  some  who  have  been  disposed  to 
deny  the  right  to  the  name  of  Christian  to  those 
who  think  otherwise  than  themselves.  But  im- 
mense progress  has  been  made  towards  mutual 
justice  and  respect  for  the  beliefs  of  others. 
Narrowness  is  becoming  the  exception,  breadth 
the  rule.  In  the  school  of  history,  America  has 
learned  to  know  and  respect  liberty.  She  has 
understood  the  danger  of  religious  authoritarian- 
ism. Her  national  temperament,  slowly  formed 
by  instincts  of  good  will,  perseverance,  and  the 
desire,  above  all,  of  being  equitable  to  everybody, 
is  gradually  being  more  and  more  purged  of 
sectarian  prejudice." 

M.  Wagner  relates  that  during  his  trip  he  had 
the  honor  of  being  invited  to  give  lectures  and 
sermons  in  Presbyterian,  Episcopalian,  Methdd- 
ist.  Unitarian,  Lutheran,  Congregationalist  and 
Baptist  churches.  "I  had  even  the  rare  privi- 
lege of  preaching  in  a  synagogue,"  he  says, 
"which  constitutes  an  exceptional  event  even 
in  America."  And  he  regrets  having  been 
prevented  from  showing  his  "sincere  and  fra- 
ternal sympathy  with  the  Catholic  Church" 
by  accepting  an  invitation  to  speak  for  the 
Society  of  the  Ladies  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul. 
This  invitation,  he  declares,  he  was  compelled 
to  decline  owing  to  his  imminent  departure  for 
France. 

In  the  Protestant  churches  he  found  what 
he  deemed  a  very  happy  combination  of  tradi- 
tion and  of  living  thought.  He  writes  on  this 
point : 

"Of  course,  there  sre  exceptions.  Formalism  and 
dogmatic  vigor,  on  the  one  hand ;  rationalistic  dry- 
ness, absence  of  the  mystic  fibre,  and  a  tendency 
to  ignore  the  soul  of  the  past,  on  the  other,  are 
spiritual  phenomena  which  one  meets  with  in 
America,  even  as  in  our  old  world.  But  the  gen- 
eral impression  is  that  of  a  healthy  and  living  pie^ 
respectful  of  the  spirit  of  tradition  and  intelli- 
gently preserving  it  in  the  freer  manifestations 
of  contemporary  thought  and  sentiment  This 
fact  enabled  me  to  understand  fully  the  Ameri- 
can Christians  whom  I  was  able  to  meet,  and  to 


RELIGION  AND  ETHICS 


167 


be  folly  understood  by  them.  I  have  learned  to 
love  them  greatly  for  their  amenity,  their  open- 
n^s  of  mind,  their  warmth  of^  heart,  and  their 
baldness  of  thought." 

This  liberal  American  spirit  M.  Wagner 
notes  as  having  had  a  favorable  eflFect  upon 
Roman  Catholicism  in  the  United  States.  "It 
has  produced  a  Catholicism  of  a  very  particu- 
lar kind,  living,  original,  resolved  to  march  in 
accord  with  what  is  best  in  our  times."  This 
is  especially  true,  M.  Wagner  remarks,  of  the 
kind  of  Roman  Catholicism  represented  by 
the  ''Venerable  Archbishop  Ireland"  and  his 
colleagues.  "I  made  it  a  duty  and  a  pleasure," 
he  says,  "to  go  to  St.  Paul  in  order  to  pay 
homage  to  him."  "Side  by  side  with  this  lib- 
eral spirit,"  continues  the  French  clergyman, 
"it  is  true  that  there  is  another  kind  of  Cathol- 
icism in  process  of  formation,  with  narrow 
and  exclusive  traits  which  cannot  but  be  de- 
plored by  the  friends  of  the  broader  and  more 
generous  Catholic  Church,  among  whom  I 
have  always  counted  myself."  He  warns  the 
Roman  Catholics  and  the  other  religious 
groups,  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic,  against 
alienating,  by  an  attitude  of  opposition  and 
exclusiveness,  elements  that  otherwise  could 
be  attracted  to  them,  and  become  great  work- 
ing forces  on  their  side.    He  adds: 


"The  American  Catholic  Church  is  a  manifest 
proof  of  the  justice  of  my  remarks.  The  quality 
which  makes  her  grand,  living  and  powerful  is 
her  atmosphere  of  liberty.  If  ill-inspired  coun- 
sellors ever  succeed  in  making  her  change  her 
methods,  she  will  be  menaced  by  a  terrible  dan- 
ger. It  would  be. contrary  to  elementary  wisdom 
to  wish  to  introduce  in  the  land  of  liberty  the 
old  errors  which  have  so  often  made  the  church 
an  object  of  suspicion  in  liberal  Europe." 

The  gp'eat  religious  problem  confronting  the 
United  States  to-day,  according  to  M.  Wag- 
ner, is  that  of  the  "transformation  of  her 
venerable  and  inherited  thought  into  words 
and  ideas  capable  of  being  assimilated  by  the 
modern  mind": 


"To  guide,  inspire  and  penetrate  the  public 
spirit,  to  direct  the  education  of  the  young — in  a 
word,  to  condense  and  keep  constantly  vital  all 
the  best  inspirations  of  a  people — religion  must 
remain  living  itself,  must  neglect  nothing,  must 
sconi  nothing.  It  must  unite  with  a  pious  mem- 
ory which  guards  the  best  heritage  of  the  past 
a  spirit  of  research  and  of  liberty  by  which  the 
future  may  be  conquered.  America  will  solve 
this  problem,  because  she  holds  herself  ready 
to  receive  every  new  impression  of  the  Divine 
Spirit,  which  alone  is  capable,  at  each  successive 
stage  of  humanity,  of  inspiring  us  with  the  neces- 
sary word  and  of  furnishing  us  with  the  fresh 
manna  which  our  souls  require." 


THE  "MOST  UNFORTUNATE  INCIDENT"  IN  HERBERT 
SPENCER'S  CAREER 


During  mid-life,  Herbert  Spencer,  the  emi- 
nent English  scientist  and  philosopher,  was 
deeply  stirred  by  the  aggressive  attitude  of  the 
British  Government  toward  weaker  races,  and 
permitted  himself  to  attend  a  public  meeting 
and  make  a  speech.  His  action  temporarily 
weakened  his  health,  and  so  far  interrupted  the 
regular  tenor  of  his  life  and  intellectual  work 
that  he  was  led  to  speculate  whether  the  eflfort 
to  do  good  does  not  generally  bring  more  harm 
than  benefit.  This  train  of  thought  appears 
in  a  chapter  of  his  "Autobiography"  bearing 
the  startling  title,  "A  Grievous  Mistake,"  and 
he  confesses  that  he  came  to  regard  his  one 
attempt  at  public  service  as  "the  most  unfor- 
tunate incident"  of  his  career. 

The  incident  serves  as  a  text  for  the  eluci- 
dation of  Christian  ethics  in  Prof.  Francis 
G.  Peabod/s  latest  work.*    "Never,  perhaps," 

•Jesus  Christ  and  the  Social  Question.    By  Fran- 
ci«  Green'wood  Peabody.     The  Macmillan  Company. 


he  avers,  was  there  "so  candid  a  disclosure  of 
a  wholly  self-considering  career,"  or  a  more 
explicit  contrast  with  the  Christian  doctrine  of 
sacrifice.    He  continues : 

"From  this  point  of  view,  the  career  of  Jesus, 
ending  at  the  age  of  thirty,  with  its  task,  as  it 
seemed,  half  done,  its  disciples  despairing,  and  its 
teaching  not  even  preserved  in  literary  form, 
would  have  certainly  seemed  *a  grievous  mistake/ 
Would  not  the  world  have  been  richer  if  Jesus, 
like  the  English  philosopher,  had  lived  to  a  ripe 
old  age,  and  left  behind  him,  not  a  few  beatitudes 
and  parables,  but  a  complete  system  of  religion 
and  ethics  such  as  his  later  years  might  have 
produced  ? 

"The  answer  to  this  criticism  is  sufficiently 
given  by  the  unconscious  evidence  of  Mr.  Spencer 
himself.  He  had  set  himself  to  write  a  universal 
philosophy;  but,  with  a  candor  which  no  critic 
would  have  dared  to  use,  he  points  out  how 
meagre  was  the  material  for  such  a  philosophy 
which  could  be  drawn  from  his  own  emotions 


X 


i68 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


and  desires.  He  did  not  permit  himself  to  enter 
the  region  of  life  where  Jesus  found  not  only 
the  joy  of  living,  but  all  that  he  understood 
under  the  name  of  Life.  Mr.  Spencer's  narrow 
range  of  experience  disqualified  him  from  inter- 
preting experience.  The  severest  indictment  of  his 
ethics  is  his  autobiography.  Love  and  pity,  service 
and  sacrifice,  are  subordinated  by  him  to  the  task 
of  explaining  human  life;  but  the  subject  which 
was  his  theme  was  precisely  the  subject  he  had 
left  unexplored,  and  when  his  Ethics  was  set, 
as  a  capstone,  on  the  great  structure  he  had 
built,  the  writer  regarded  it  with  a  sigh  of  dis- 
appointment,  as   though    aware   that    his    system 


was  soon  to  be  a  historical  monument,  marking 
a  point  where  the  procession  of  thought  had  for 
a  few  years  paused.  The  fragmentary  ethics  of 
Jesus  remains  Ihe  interpreter  of  the  modern 
conscience,  while  Mr.  Spencer's  System,  in  com- 
parison with  which  a  generous  impulse  seemed 
a  grievous  mistake,  has,  like  many  another  sys- 
tem, had  its  day  and  ceased  to  be.  The  whole 
story  is  told  in  a  conversation,  with  Professor 
Huxley.  As  they  walked  together  one  day,  Mr. 
Spencer  said :  T  suppose  that  all  one  can  do  with 
his  life  is  to  make  his  mark  and  die.'  Tt  is  not 
necessary  to  make  one's  mark,*  replied  Huxley; 
'all  one  need  do  is  to  give  a  push.' " 


AN  INTERPRETATION  OF  RELIGION  IN  DANCING 


Since  the  religious  dance  is  the  oldest  and 
highest  form  of  the  art  of  dancing,  and  was 
the  first  art  born  of  religious  sentiment,  espe- 
cial interest  attaches  to  a  serious  effort  just 
made  in  New  York  to  revive  the  dance  as  a 


medium  of  expression  for  religious  ideas.  To 
this  day,  we  are  told,  every  Hindu  temple  has 
its  band  of  dancers  as  our  churches  have  their 
choirs,  and  this  fact  is  made  use  of  by  Miss 
Ruth  St  Denis,  an  American  woman,  whose 


THE  DANCE  AS  RELIGIOUS  WORSHIP 

'  The  oflTering  of  flowers,  the  beating  of  the  g^onj;,  the  chanting  of  the  higfh  priest  before  the  idol  of  Radba,  are  all 

acts  of  worship.' 


\ 


THB  HINDU  DEITY.  EADHA,   AS  tMPBRSONATBD  BY  AN  AMERICAN  WOMAN 

ibc  Liirtiiso  goc'i  up,  Radlm,  the  i-Jf.a,  fitts  cros&-tegj?ed  on  the  throoe.      The  worship  of  tho  pdesU  brinfft 
ddwm  ihe  *plrjt  of  tho  deity*  Radha,  Into  thU  image/' 


lyo 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


Hindu  Temple  Dance  was  given  in  a  New  York 
theater  a  few  days  ago.  A  recent  writer  in  The 
Cosmopolitan  Magazine,  speaking  of  the  gen- 
eral relation  of  the  art  of  dancing  to  religion, 
states  that  in  the  past  the  nearer  religion  has 
been  to  nature  the  greater  has  been  the  im- 
portance given  to  the  dance  as  an  element  of 
ritual.    This  same  writer  says  further : 

"The  early  Christians  did  not  despise  the 
dance,  but  as  monkish  asceticism  drew  away  from 
the  simple,  natural  teaching  of  •Christ,  the  dance 
fell  into  disfavor  and  was  frowned  upon  as  a 
manifestation  of  the  Evil  One.  And  just  so  it 
was  with  artistic  perception  and  artistic  appre- 
ciation. Where  they  were  highest,  in  Hel- 
lenic antiquity,  dancing  had  its  place  among  the 
arts  and  was  revered  as  the  oldest  of  them  all, 
that  art  upon  which  all  the  others  were  based. 
Dragged  down  to  pander  to  luxury  and  profligacy, 
as  were  all  the  arts  during  the  period  of  Roman 
triumph  and  Roman  decadence,  the  dance  fell, 
under  a  cloud  with  the  rest,  and  seemed  to  dis- 
appear during  the  dark  ages,  as  did  the  others|" 

The   esoteric   dance,   however,   has    always 
found  its  principal  devotees  in  Oriental  coun- 


tries, and  it  is  to  India  that  Miss  St  Denis 
has  gone  for  material  wherewith  to  elucidate 
the  artistic  and  religious  possibilities  of  the 
dance.  She  explains  her  method  in  this  way : 
"The  impersonation  of  a  favorite  deity  offers 
a  larger  scope  for  expression  than  that  fur- 
nished by  the  limited  personality  of  one  dancer. 
Hence  in  my  temple  dances  I  have  chosen  from 
the  deities  of  each  Oriental  religion  the  one 
best  suited  to  express  its  main  idea.  At  the 
same  time  I  employ  such  forms  of  the  dance  as 
are  characteristic  of  the  country." 

In  her  Hindu  dance  (see  accompanying 
illustrations)  Miss  St.  Denis  impersonates 
Radha,  the  deified  wife  of  Krishna,  who  is 
sometimes  called  the  "Dancing  God."  As  a 
background  she  uses  what  is  said  to  be  the  first 
representation  of  a  Hindu  temple  ever  made. 
The  imported  properties  are  authentic,  and  the 
temple  priests  are  natives  of  India.  As  the 
temples  or  mundirs  are  inaccessible  to  foreign- 
ers, the  details  of  the  ceremonies  have  been 
obtained  through  native  Hindu  worshipers. 


BEGINNING   OF  THE  DANCE 
*  Slowly  as  the  spirit  enters  the  idol,  Radha  rises,  steps  down,  and  the  sacred  dance  begrins." 


RELIGION  AND  ETHICS 


171 


PORTRAYAL  OP  THE  SENSES 
*■  For  smell,  she  weaves  about  her  in  wonderful  curves  a  huge  flexible  wreath  of  pale  roses." 


From  the  moment  the  curtain  rises,  when  the 
incense  is  burning  before  the  image  of  Radha 
on  the  throne  or  altar,  the  atmosphere  of 
Orientalism  pervades  the  scene.  The  offering 
of  flowers,  the  beating  of  the  gong,  the  chant- 
ing of  the  high  priest  before  the  idol  of  Radha, 
arc  all  acts  of  worship.  There  are  flower- 
wreathed  cocoanuts,  twinkling  little  lamps  on 
the  shrine,  and  even  the  caste  marks  sacred  to 
the  Brahman  priests  who  meditate  before  the 
^mall  brass  idols  on  the  low  table. 

When  the  curtain  goes  up,  Radha,  the  idol, 
sits  cross-legged  on  the  throne.  The  worship 
of  the  priests  brings  down  the  spirit  of  the 
deity  Radha  into  this  image.  Slowly  as 
the  spirit  enters  the  idol,  Radha  rises,  steps 
down,  and  the  sacred  dance  begins.  In  a 
scries  of  five  circles  the  god  shows  the  use  and 
the  dominion  of  the  five  senses.  Before  each 
circle  is  performed  the  temple  high  priest 
places  upon  her  the  symbols  of  the  sense  to 
be  pictured.  For  sound,  she  wears  strings  of 
bells;  for  smell,  she  weaves  about  her  in  won- 


derful curves  a  huge  flexible  wreath  of  pale 
roses ;  for  taste,  she  carries  a  bowl  from  which 
she  drinks,  and  at  the  end,  suddenly,  dramatic- 
ally, she  flings  it  down  crashing  to  the  floor, 
as  a  symbol  of  the  unfulfilment  of  the  appe- 
tites. This  is  the  teaching  of  the  dances  of 
the  senses — unfulfilment,  renunciation.  Touch 
is  symbolized  by  raising  the  hand  to  the  lips 
and  kissing  it.  At  last  Radha  falls  down 
in  a  swoon  and  an  empty  blackness  follows. 
The  curtain  has  gone  down.  When  it  rises, 
Radha  is  kneeling,  and  the  lighting  and  ac- 
tion symbolize  enlightenment.  She  carries 
the  begging  bowl  of  the  mendicant.  At  the 
end  of  the  ceremony  Radha,  signifying  the 
attainment  of  fulness,  rises  to  her  full  height, 
reaching  upward.  Little  by  little  she  retires 
and  at  the  last  is  again  seen  sitting  cross- 
legged  on  the  throne  in  semi-darkness  sur- 
rounded by  the  worshiping  and  chanting 
priests. 

In  this  dance  very  few  liberties  are  taken 
with  the  actual  practices  of  the  Hindu  wor- 


I7a 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


shipers.  Miss  St.  Denis  combines  the  sacred 
dances  of  the  nautch  girls,  native  East  Indian 
dancers  trained  from  childhood,  with  the  im- 
personation of  deified  Radha.  So  that,  while 
in  the  present  creation  of  a  poetic  imagina- 
tion the  details  are  actualism,  the  spirit  is 
symbolism.  The  teaching  is  that  of  Buddha: 
From  the  illusion  of  the  senses,  through  re- 
nunciation toward  enlightenment,  man  attains 
perfect  spirituality  and  peace. 

Gellini,  in  speaking  of  the  Greeks  as  dancers, 
said:  "Their  dresses  were  magnificent,  and 
they  spared  neither  pains  nor  cost  toward  the 
perfection  of  their  dances.    It  was  in  this  light 


that  the  ancients  required  the  union  of  the 
actor  and  of  the  dancer  in  the  same  person. 
They  expected,  in  the  theater  especially,  dances 
of  character  that  should  express  to  the  eyes 
the  sensations  of  the  soul." 

And  so,  according  to  this  young  student,  the 
dance  is  a  creative  art,  and  the  temple  dance 
its  highest  form.  It  employs  a  skill  and  grace 
which  are  only  acquired  through  years  of 
discipline,  the  result  of  as  severe  a  technique 
as  that  of  poetry  and  painting  or  music.  It 
brings  into  service  the  imagination  and  all 
love  of  beauty.  But  above  all  it  may  serve  as 
a  means  for  the  teaching  of  spiritual  truths. 


TOLSTOY'S  "LAST  WORDS'*  TO  THE  WORLD 


The  phrase  "Last  Words"  is  the  one  which 
Tolstoy  himself  selects  as  a  title  for  his  new 
book,  which  has  just  bpen  published  in  Paris,* 
and  which  contains  the  utterances  designed  by 
him  to  be  his  final  testament  to  mankind.  Tol- 
stoy is  now  in  his  seventy-eighth  year,  and 
though  his  health  is  relatively  good,  he  is  con- 
vinced that  the  end  is  not  far  oflf.  No  sign  of 
age  or  decadence,  however,  appears  in  these, 
his  latest  writings,  which  illustrate  above  all 
the  intensity  of  his  religious  conviction.  There 
are  the  same  freshness  and  x)riginality  of  con- 
ception that  we  find  in  his  earlier  works,  and 
even  an  added  note  of  optimism  as  regards 
ultimate  progress.  In  spite  of  his  vogue,  his 
status  as  a  thinker  and  teacher  is  not  generally 
understood.  The  Russian  orthodox  church 
classes  him  as  an  atheist,  though  he  himself 
claims  to  be  a  disciple  of  Christ.  His  works 
teem  with  citations  from  the  New  Testament, 
of  which  he  is  a  profound  and  reverent  stu- 
dent. Of  course  he  is  far  from  being  a  Chris- 
tian in  the  orthodox  sense,  since  he  has  dis- 
carded the  whole  of  the  supernatural  side  of 
Christianity.  This  he  regards  as  foreign  to  the 
original  teaching  of  the  Master,  as  encrusted 
legend  added  by  succeeding  generations.  He 
believes  that  all  government  is  wrong  since  it 
is  founded  in  the  last  resort  upon  violence  and 
is  thus  opposed  to  the  gospel  of  Christ.  Social- 
ism, anarchism,  monarchy,  are  to  be  equally 
condemned.  Humanity  is  to  be  redeemed  not 
through  political  means  but  through  Christian- 
ity translated  into  individual  action  and  be- 
come practical  in  life. 

•  DERNiiRES  Paroles.     By  Leo  Tolstoy.      Mercure^de 
Prance,  Paris. 


These  doctrines  are  now  held  by  consider- 
able numbers  of  Tolstoy's  disciples  in  Russia 
and  different  parts  of  Europe,  and  are  being 
actively  promulgated  in  England  by  an  exiled 
colony  of  "peaceful  anarchies." 

The  following  reflections  are  taken  from 
Tolstoy's  hitherto  unpublished  "Journal  In- 
time,"  extracts  from  which  are  included  in  his 
"Last  Words": 

"The  idea  that  the  teaching  of  religion  is 
a  form  of  violence  is  right.  It  amounts  to  that 
scandalizing  of  children  of  which  Christ  has 
spoken.  What  right  have  we  to  teach  that  vvhich 
is  disputed  by  an  enormous  majority :  the  Trinity, 
the  miracles  of  Buddha,  of  Mahomet,  or  of 
Christ?  The  only  thing  that  we  can  and  should 
teach  is  the  doctrine  of  morality." 

"I  was  contemplating  a  magnificent  sunset. 
Here  and  there  among  the  heaped-up  clouds  ap- 
peared the  light,  and  the  sun  itself  looked  like 
a  live  coal  of  irregular  shape  hovering  over  the 
forest.  I  felt  my  heart  swell  with  joy  and  I 
thought:  No,  this  world  is  not  a  mirage;  it  is 
not  merely  a  place  of  trial,  of  transition  to  a 
better  and  eternal  world.  It  is  itself  one  of  the 
eternal  worlds,  beautiful  and  full  of  joy,  a  world 
which  we  can  and  ought  to  make  more  beautiful 
and  joyful  for  those  with  whom  we  live,  and  for 
those  who  shall  come  after  us." 

"From  the  ordinary  point  of  view  the  death 
of  children  is  thus  explained:  Nature  endeavors 
to  give  us  her  best  creations,  and  she  sometimes 
recalls  them  when  she  sees  that  the  world  is 
not  ready  for  them.  But  let  us  try  to  improve 
on  this  explanation :  It  is  like  the  swallows  who 
come  too  soon  and  die  from  the  cold;  yet  they 
must  needs  have  come.  All  this  reasoning,  how- 
ever, is  ordinarily  false.  An  intelligent  explana- 
tion would  be  that  the  child  who  dies  has  ac- 
complished the  work  of  God — the  establishment 
of  the  kingdom  of  God  by  the  increasing  of  love 
— in  a  more  important  way  than  those  who  have 
lived  a  half  century  or  more." 


RELIGION  AND  ETHICS 


173 


"What  happens  after  death?  For  their  own 
happiness,  men  know  not,  neither  have  they  any 
need  of  Imowing.  In  fact,  if  men  knew  this,  and 
if  th^  knew  that  the  life  beyond  the  grave 
were  worse  than  the  present  life,  they  would  have 
sdll  more  fear  of  death;  and  if  they  knew  that 
the  life  beyond  the  grave  were  better,  they  would 
have  no  care  for  this  life,  and  would  hasten  their 
own  death.  This  is  why  we  do  not  know  the 
hereafter  and  do  not  need  to  know  it.  The  only 
thing  that  it  concerns  us  to  know  is  that  our  life 
will  not  end.  And  we  know  this.  The  whole 
doctrine  of  Christ  is  in  this:  man  has  two  lives, 
the  bodily  life  which  comes  to  an  end  and  the 
spiritual  life  which  does  not  change  and  has 
no  end.  'Before  Abraham  was,  I  am,'  said 
Christ,  and  this  applies  to  us  all.  As  soon  as  we 
transport  our  ego  into  the  spiritual  life,  we  live 
but  for  a  spiritual  end.  Thus  our  life  cannot 
cease.  It  is  part  of  God.  It  always  was  and 
always  will  be.'  We  do  good  not  out  of  fear  of 
hell  or  hope  of  paradise,  but  because,  in  living 
the  s^ritual  life,  man  can  desire  nothing  except 
what  is  good.  And  if  a  man  believes  in  his  spirit- 
uality, he  cannot  fear  death  or  annihilation.  And 
what  will  this  life  be?  He  need  not  concern  him- 
self about  that,  since  he  has  faith  in  God  as  a 
Father  from  whom  he  has  proceeded,  to  whom 
he  goes,  and  with  whom  he  has  lived,  lives  and 
shall  Hvc." 

"We  are  passing  through  trying  days.  War, 
like  a  storm  in  nature,  provokes  in  the  mind  of 
inan  a  beneficent  change,  in  the  sense  that  move- 
ment, hitherto  unperceived,  becomes  visible.  The 
movement  concerns  conscience.  The  times  are 
trying,  and  it  is  all  the  more  necessary  to  lead 
just  lives.  Each  assault  of  the  press — ^and  not 
merely  the  Russian  but  the  foreign  and  revolu- 
tionary press — is  in  vain.  It  is  the  same  as  cut- 
ting down  weeds:  they  sprout  up  again  with  all 
the  more  strength.  It  is  necessary  to  pull  them 
up  by  the  roots.  And  this  can  only  be  done  in 
the  religious  domain.  It  alone  is  powerful  and 
invincible." 

"In  these  later  days,  I  have  occupied  myself 
with  the  composition  of  a  daily  lecture  composed 
of  the  best  thoughts  of  our  best  writers.  I  have 
been  reading  not  only  Marcus  Aurelius,  Epictetus, 
Xenopbon,  Socrates,  the  Brahman  and  Chinese 
sages,  Seneca,  Plutarch,  Cicero,  but  also  more 
recent  writers:  Montesquieu,  Rousseau,  Voltaire, 
Lessing,  Kant,  Lichtenberger,  Schopenhauer, 
Emerson,  Channing,  Parker,  Ruskin,  Amiel  and 
others  (I  have  read  neither  newspapers  nor  re- 
views for  two  months).  I  have  been  more  and 
more  astonished  and  fri|;htened,  not  at  the  ig- 
norance, but  at  the  'civilized'  savagery  in  which 
our  society  is  sunk.  Education  and  culture  are 
for  the  purpose  of  enjoying  the  spiritual  heritage 
left  by  the  ancients:  meanwhile  we  go  reading 
the  newspapers,  Zola,  Maeterlinck,  Ibsen,  etc. 
How  I  wish  that  I  might  remedy  in  some  degree 
this  terrible  misfortune,  worse  than  war ;  for  this 
civilized  savagery  is,  by  reason  of  its  self-satis- 
faction, most  terrible.  It  Ijrings  in  its  train 
all  horrors,  among  the  number,  war." 

"I  had  a  visit  recently  from  an  American, 
Bryan,  a  very  intelligent  and  very  religious  man; 
he  inquired  of  me  why  I  thought  simple  manual 
labor  necessary.     I   replied:  first,  because  it  is 


the  practical  recognition  of  the  equality  of  all 
men;  secondly,  because . manual  labor  brings  us 
into  association  with  toilers  from  whom  we  are 
separated  by  a  wall,  profiting  the  while  by  their 
wretchedness;  thirdly,  because  manual  labor  con- 
fers on  us  superior  benefits:  tranquillity  of  con- 
science, which  cannot  be  enjoyed  bv  an  honest 
man  who  profits  by  the  services  of  slaves." 

"In  their  struggle  against  lies  and  superstition, 
men  are  often  encouraged  by  the  amount  of  su- 
perstition that  they  have  destroyed.  Their  com- 
placency is  not  justified.  We  should  not  be  sat- 
isfied until  we  have  destroyed  all  that  is  con- 
trary to  reason  and  that  requires  faith.  Super- 
stition is  like  a  cancer.  If  an  operation  be  begun, 
all  must  be  eradicated.  If  the  least  vestige  is 
allowed  to  remain,  all  reappears  and  in  a  graver 
form." 

"When  we  try  to  split  a  very  hard  block  of 
wood,  the  blow  rebounds  as  though  we  were 
striking  upon  steel,  and  we  think  that  nothing 
will  come  of  our  efforts,  that  it  is  useless  to 
strike.  It  is  a  great  pity  that  we  become  thus  dis- 
couraged. We  should  keep  up  our  blows  and 
soon  we  shall  hear  a  dull  sound  which  is  a 
sign  that  the  block  is  broken.  A  few  more  blows 
and  it  splits  open.  The  world  is  in  a  like  situa- 
tion with  regard  to  Christian  truth.  I,  myself, 
remember  the  time  when  the  blows  fell  and  I 
thought  they  were  hopeless.  So  it  is  with  men 
in  general.  We  ought  to  do  like  that  man  who 
proposed  to  himself  to  empty  the  sea.  If  a  man 
gives  his  whole  life  to  a  work  he  will  realize  it, 
whatever  the  work  may  be — and  all  the  more  if  it 
be  the  work  of  God." 

The  following  observation  is  called  forth  by 
the  events  which  have  recently  taken  place  in 
Russia.  It  is  one  of  the  most  recent  utterances 
of  Tolstoy: 

"In  England,  in  America,  in  France,  in  Ger- 
many, the  malfeasance  of  governments  is  so  well 
masked  that  the  citizens  of  these  different  coun- 
tries, in  view  of  the  events  in  Russia,  naively  im- 
agine that  what  passes  in  Russia  never  happens 
outside  its  boundaries,  and  that  they  themselves 
enjoy  absolute  liberty  and  have  no  need  of  im- 
proving their  condition — that  is  to  say,  they  are 
in  the  very  worst  condition  of  slavery:  the 
slavery  of  those  who  do  not  comprehend  that  they 
are  slaves  and  are  proud  of  their  condition.  In 
this  sense  the  condition  of  us  Russians,  though 
more  painful  (by  reason  of  the  grossness  of  the 
violence  to  which  we  are  subjected),  is  never- 
theless better,  because  it  is  easier  for  us  to  under- 
stand what  the  question  is — to  wit :  every  govern- 
ment sustained  by  force  is  in  its  very  essence  a 
useless  scourge,  and  it  is  therefore  the  duty  of 
Russians  and  of  all  men  subject  to  governments, 
not  to  replace  one  government  by  another,  but 
to  suppress  all  government.  To  sum  up,  my 
opinion  on  present  events  is  as  follows:  The 
Russian  government,  like  every  existing  govern- 
ment— American,  French,  Japanese,  English — is 
a  horrible,  inhuman  and  impotent  robber  whose 
maleficent  activity  manifests  itself  unceasingly. 
Therefore  all  reasonable  men  should  endeavor 
with  all  their  strength  to  deliver  themselves  of 
all  government" 


^74 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


A  CRISIS  IN  THE  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  CHURCH 


The  separation  between  State  and  Church 
in  France  has  seemingly  endangered  the  Prot- 
estant church  even  more  than  the  Roman 
Catholic.  According  to  latest  reports,  French 
Protestants  are  torn  by  internal  dissension.  It 
is  within  the  range  of  possibility  that  a  church 
which  has  been  one  body  for  three  hundred 
years  may  now  be  rent  in  twain. 

The  Protestant  Church  of  France,  while 
under  State  control,  had  the  support  of  all  its 
different  factions  in  the  struggle  against  en- 
croachments on  the  part  of  the  political  au- 
thorities, and  it  was  hoped  that  when  independ- 
ence was  achieved  the  same  unity  of  spirit  and 
co-operation  would  enable  the  church  to  meet 
and  to  solve  the  problems  of  the  new  situa- 
tion. In  this  respect  Protestants  must  confess 
to  a  keen  disappointment.  Even  before  the 
actual  separation .  took  place,  the  antagonism 
between  the  conservatives  and  the  liberals,  es- 
pecially in  the  Reformed  congregations,  be- 
came pronounced,  and  as  soon  as  independence 
had  been  gained  there  was  a  bitter  contest  for 
the  control  of  the  church.  An  actual  schism 
between  those  who  insist  that  the  historic 
creeds  shall  be  fully  recognized  in  the  churches, 
in  the  theological  seminaries  and  in  practical 
life,  and  those  who  profess  an  advanced  type 
of  theological  thought  seemed  to  be  inevitable. 
There  has  been  and  still  is  a  party  that  is  seek- 
ing to  effect  such  a  separation  and  to  organize 
two  churches,  not  because  of  preference  but  as 
a  matter  of  necessity,  since  the  differences  be- 
tween the  conservatives  and  radicals  are  felt 
to  be  irreconcilable. 

A  writer  in  the  Christliche  Welt  (Marburg), 
to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  the  above  facts, 
says  that  strenuous  efforts  have  been  made  to 
prevent  such  a  schism.  At  first  an  "assemblee 
fraternelle"  was  proposed  by  leading  authori- 
ties, in  which  all  the  church  parties  could 
openly  discuss  their  rights  and  wishes ;  but  the 
conservatives  predicted  that  this  would  end 
in  a  failure.  Then  the  consistories  of  Lyons 
and  Rouen  suggested  a  general  synod  of  the 
Reformed  churches  of  France.  But  this  also 
was  opposed  by  the  conservatives  through  their 
representatives,  the  learned  and  influential 
Professor  Doumerge,  of  Montauban,  and  Pas- 
tor Couve,  of  Paris.  Finally,  however,  thanks 
to  the  good  offices  of  the  Vie  Nouvelle  (Paris), 
the  organ  of  the  mediating  party,  the  more 
thoughtful  members  of  both  factions  were 
brought  together  in  a  synod  held  at  Rheims  for 


the  purpose  of  debating  ways  and  means  of 
agreement.  It  is  rather  singular  that  the 
party  insisting  most  decidedly  upon  the  rec- 
ognition of  the  confessions  in  the  full  his- 
torical sense  is  largely  composed  of  young 
men.  Their  leader,  Pastor  Dejarac,  writes  in 
the  Christianisme  insisting  upon  the  Confes- 
sion of  Faith  as  formally  recognized  as  late 
as  1872. 

At  the  synod  in  Rheims  the  two  parties  were 
about  equally  divided.  They  agreed  upon  the 
appointment  of  a  special  commission  of  thirty 
men  who  were  to  propose  measures  looking 
toward:  (i)  The  organization  of  a  national 
synod  in  which  both  elements  should  be  duly 
recognized;  (2)  a  change  in  the  ordination 
vow  to  suit  the  theological  status  of  the  times ; 
(3)  a  modification  of  the  Confession  of  Faith 
of  1872.  A  convention  of  three  days  ended 
in  a  failure  to  agree  upon  a  modus  vivendi. 
The  synod  agreed  to  a  recognition  of  the  prin- 
ciple of  independence  in  theological  thought, 
but  reached  no  conclusion  as  to  the  prac- 
tical application  of  this  principle.  It  was 
the  feeling  of  the  conference  that  the  separa- 
tion of  State  and  Church  must  not  be  allowed 
to  bring  with  it  a  schismatic  division  of  the 
Protestants,  and  that  in  some  way  the  co-oper- 
ation of  the  two  parties  must  be  effected. 

Later,  however,  it  appeared  that  the  work 
of  the  Rheims  synod  had  not  met  with  the 
approval  of  many  advanced  thinkers,  who  com- 
plained bitterly  of  the  hostility  of  the  conserva- 
tives. The  Vie  Nouvelle  itself  expressed  the 
fear  that  a  division  would  come,  in  spite  of  all 
that  has  been  done  to  prevent  it. 

The  latest  developments,  as  chronicled  in  the 
Evangel,  Lutherische  Kirchenzeitung  (Leip- 
sic),  are  more  encouraging.  It  seems  that  the 
advanced  party  of  the  Reformed  churches  of 
France  has  taken  a  step  that  will  possibly  tide 
over  the  crisis.  Representatives  of  the  liberal 
congregations  recently  met  in  Montpelier  and 
formulated  a  "Declaration  of  Principles,"  in 
which  they  stated  their  demands  moderately, 
and  appealed  to  the  conservatives  to  remove 
the  dangers  of  schism  by  recognizing  the  prin- 
ciples contained  in  this  document  The  state- 
ment concedes  that  Jesus  Christ  is  "the  high- 
est gift  of  God,  namely,  the  Redeemer,  who 
through  his  person,  his  teachings,  his  holy  life, 
his  sacrifice,  and  his  victory  over  death,  com- 
municates at  all  times  to  the  children  of  our 
Heavenly   Father  the  power  necessary,  here 


RELIGION  AND  ETHICS 


175 


upon  earth,  to  secure  for  righteousness  and  for 
k)vc  the  supremacy  over  that  which  is  evil." 
The  declaration  insists  that  all  be  recognized 
who  accept  the  forgiveness  of  sin  in  Christ 
Jesus,  and  who,  in  details  of  doctrine,  re- 
main true  to  the  old  Protestant  and  evangel- 
ical principle  of  the  Gospel  and  to  the  principle 
of  independent  .theological  thought.  At  the 
same  time,  an  appeal  is  made  for  a  general 
convention  of  the  representatives  of  the  Re- 
formed Protestant  churches  to  decide  upon  the 


organization   of   the   church   in   view   of  its 
changed  status. 

The  final  outcome  of  the  controversy  is  as 
yet  uncertain.  The  orthodox  periodicals  and 
leaders  have  not  had  the  opportunity  to  express 
themselves;  but  the  Leipsic  paper  above  men- 
tioned thinks  that,  as  the  liberal  standpoint  in 
reference  to  the  person  of  Christ  and  other 
matters  is  now  openly  stated,  the  conservatives 
will  need  much  enlightenment  from  on  high 
to  act  wisely  in  the  premises. 


THE  INDISPENSABLE  ELEMENT  IN  CHRISTIAN  THEOLOGY 


To  a  greater  and  greater  degree  the  em- 
phasis of  modern  theology  is  laid  upon  Christ 
as  the  sole  foundation  of  religious  thought 
and  belief.  Prof.  William  Newton  Clarke,  in 
his  Taylor  lectures,  recently  given  before  the 
Divinity  School  of  Yale  University  and  now 
published  in  book  form,*  goes  so  far  as  to  say 
that  the  Christian  element  in  the  Scriptures 
is  not  merely  "the  formative  element  in  Chris- 
tian theology,"  but  also  "the  only  element  in 
the  Scriptures  which  Christian  theology  is 
either  required  or  permitted  to  receive  as  con- 
tnbuting  to  its  substance,"  He  insists  that 
there  is  no  doubt  or  mystery  as  to  what  this 
Christian  element  is.  "The  way  to  know  a 
Christian  thought  is  the  same  as  the  way  to 
perceive  the  blue  in  the  sky — look  at  it  and 
discern  the  quality."  Speaking  more  specifi- 
cally, he  says:  "From  Jesus  Christ  there  came 
forth  the  clearest,  simplest,  worthiest  and 
truest  view  of  God  and  the  relation  of  God  to 
man  that  has  existed  in  this  world" ;  and  "this 
view  of  God  constitutes  the  revelation  of  Jesus 
Christ."     To  quote  further: 

•'It  is  a  revelation  made  in  life.  When  Jesus 
lived  in  perfect  filial  fellowship  with  God  and 
called  his  disciples  to  do  the  same,  he  was  mak- 
ing God  known  as  One  who  is  worthy  to  receive 
filial  confidence  and  love  from  all  souls,  and  avail- 
able for  all  who  will  live  with  Him  as  His  chil- 
dren. He  assumed  in  God  the  reality  of  all  that 
men  need  to  find  in  Him.  A  God  for  men  to  love, 
to  trust,  and  to  adore,  a  God  who  hates  evil  and 
desires  to  save  men  from  its  control,  a  God  of 
free,  forgiving  grace,  a  God  to  whom  men  are 
precious  and  who  seeks  them  in  love  that  He  may 
make  them  what  they  ought  to  be,  a  God,  indeed, 
whose  holy  love  is  expressed  in  the  love  of  Christ 
himself,  which  goes  to  death  in  order  that  it  may 
save, — such  a  God  Jesus  has  manifested  and  com- 

•The   Use   of  the   Scriptures  in  Theology.      By 
WOliaxn  Newton  Clarke,  D.D.  Charles  Scribner's  Sons. 


mended  to  our  faith  and  affection.  A  God  too 
who  claims  as  well  as  loves,  who  holds  His  chil- 
dren strictly  to  the  spirit  of  their  Father,  who  in- 
sists that  a  man  shall  love  not  only  Him  but  his 
neighbor,  who  is  to  be  served  by  serving  men 
and  honored  by  doing  righteousness,  who  makes 
human  service  and  fellowship  an  element  in  di- 
vine religion,  and  so  blesses  all  in  blessing  each, — 
such  a  God  is  He.  And  since  there  is  such  a  God 
of  free  unpurchased  grace,  Jesus  gives  us  to  know 
that  though  men  are  sinful  they  need  not  con- 
tinue so,  though  they  are  sorowful  they  need  not 
remain  uncomforted,  though  they  are  harming 
their  fellows  they  can  be  transformed  into  a  power 
to  bless.  Out  of  their  evil  living  they  can  be 
brought  into  such  filial  life  with  God  as  Jesus 
lived. 

"Thus  Jesus  is  the  revealer  of  God,  and  is  also 
in  a  true  sense  the  revelation  of  God." 

Here,  then,  is  the  touchstone  of  Christianity. 
All  in  the  Bible  that  is  in  harmony  with  this 
conception  of  God  is  to  be  accepted;  all  that 
is  at  variance  with  it  must  be  rejected. 

Professor  Clarke  does  more  than  state  a  gen- 
eral principle.  He  applies  it,  with  results  that 
have  already  evoked  expressions  of  dissent  and 
protest  in  conservative  circles.  Many  of  the 
older  views  in  regard  to  the  Old  Testament 
will  have  to  be  abandoned,  he  admits.  For  in- 
stance, "we  used  to  suppose  that  the  first  chap- 
ters of  Genesis  were  witnesses  concerning  the 
manner  in  which  the  world  and  man  were  cre- 
ated"; but  now  "we  have  learned  to  under- 
stand these  writings  better,  and  know  that 
they  are  not  historical  records."  Similarly, 
"theology  begins  to  see  that  Genesis  withdraws 
its  contribution  concerning  the  origin  of  hu- 
man sin."  If  Christian  theology  seems  to  be 
weakened  by  such  admissions  as  these,  it  is 
well  to  remember,  says  Professor  Clarke,  that 
Christ  "bore  no  testimony  as  to  the  manner  of 
creation  or  the  age  of  the  world  and  man,  and 
we  cannot  imagine  that  these  questions  could 


X76 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


have  any  bearing,  near  or  remote,  upon  the 
substance  of  his  supreme  revelation."  This 
revelation  antiquates  only  those  portions  of 
the  Bible  which,  in  the  truest  sense,  are  un- 
christian. The  "naive  anthropomorphisms"  of 
the  primitive  Hebrew  race  fade  before  it.  It 
relegates  from  theology  to  history  the  whole 
idea  of  "the  special  localizing  of  worship"  (so 
strongly  emphasized  in  the  Old  Testament) ; 
for  "God  is  a  spirit,  and  they  that  worship 
Him  must  worship  Him  in  spirit  and  in  truth." 
In  the  light  of  the  Christian  revelation,  ques- 
tions relating  to  Jews  and  Gentiles,  the  privi- 
leges of  the  one  and  the  unprivileged  condition 
of  the  other,  sink  into  relative  insignificance. 
The  idea  of  a  "second  coming"  of  the  Messiah 
and  the  doctrine  of  the  Atonement  were  es- 
sentially of  Jewish  origin,  maintains  Professor 
Clarke;  and  Paul  himself  was  committed  to 
"distinctly  Jewish  conceptions,  not  transformed 
by  Christie -iiy."    To  quote  again: 

"Thcs?  iMustrations  show  what  our  principle  is, 
— it  is  simply  the  law  that  we  must  set  the  gospel 
by  itself  and  keep  it  there.  We  must  not  bmd  in 
with  the  gospel  f  God  thoughts  that  originated 
and  took  on  their  quality  where  God  was  not 
known  as  He  is  known  in  Christ.  To  Christian 
theology  is  entrusted  the  work  and  privilege  of 
setting  the  gospel  t»y  itself,  and  it  must  use  the 
Scriptures  with  this  end  in  view.  .  .  .  The 
work  of  separation  has  never  been  thoroughly 
done,  and  the  result  is  that  the  genuine  Christian 
reverence  still  holds  firmly  on  to  much  that  is 
not  Christian.  The  great  distinction  cannot  be 
made  in  a  day,  and  if  someone  were  now  to  draw 
it  with  perfect  correctness  according  to  the  mind 
of  Christ  it  would  not  be  accepted  at  once  by  the 
C!.ilstian  people.  It  is  a  work  of  time.  But 
we  can  at  least  see  of  what  nature  the  undertak- 
ing is,  and  devote  ourselves  to  it  with  an  honest 
heart." 

Turning  from  the  negative  to  the  positive 


effect  of  the  Christian  revelation  which  he 
preaches  as  the  "indispensable"  element  of 
Christianity,  Professor  Clarke  says: 

"The  object  of  faith  is  God.    What  the  troubled 
faith  needs  is  to  change  its  basis,  to  transfer  itself 
from  one   foundation  to  another.     The  present 
generation  of  Christians  scarcely  needs  anything: 
else  more  than  to  change  the  foundation  of  its 
faith  from  the  Bible  to  God.    Yet  perhaps  those 
who  need  it  most  would  be  puzzled  to  know  just 
what  this  would  be.    I  have  told  students  of  this 
great^  necessity,  and  been  met  in  reply  by  the 
question,  'But  what  do  we  know  of  God,  except 
through  the  Bible?'    Yes,  and  what  do  we  know 
of  the  star  except  by  help  of  the  telescope? — and 
yet  the  telescope  is  not  the  star,  and  we  need  not 
be  told  that  the  telescope  is  given  us  in  order 
that  the  star  may  be  revealed.    The  Bible  is  the 
telescope,  and  God  is  the  star,  the  sun.    The  Bible 
is  a  means,  not  an  end ;  a  help  to  faith,  not  an 
object  of  faith.    We  wrong  it  if  we  make  it  the 
foundation  of  our  faith :  God  must  be  foundation, 
as  well  as  object.    It  is  the  one  thing  needful,  not 
that  we  keep  our  Bible,  but  that  we  keep  our 
God.    We  must  know  Him  as  in  Christ  he  is,  and 
must  know  no  other.    If  you  say  to  me,  'This  I 
must  believe  and  this  respect,  lest  I  lose  my  Bible,' 
I  say  to  you  in  answer,  This  I  must  believe  and 
this  reject,  lest  I  lose  my  God,'— -lest  I  fail  to 
mark  Him  as  He  is  in  Christ,  but  get  some  false 
conception  of  Him,  and  bind  to  my  heart  some 
image  of  God  that  is  unlike  the  living  One  whom 
in  Christ  we  know.    Knowledge  of  Him  as  He  is 
in  Christ  is  what  the  Bible  was  given  to  bring  us. 
If  in  any  of  its  parts  it  brings  us  anything  dif- 
ferent, it  is  our  Christian  privilege  and  duty  to 
mark  the  difference.     If  anything  in  the  bible 
obscures  the  Christian  thought  of  God,  it  is  no 
part  of  the  abiding   Christian   ^ft;   let   it  not 
trouble  you:   leave   it   aside  if  it   darkens  that 
divine  face  which  Christ  reveals.     This  is  what 
the  Christian   people  need  to  learn.     We  must 
transfer  our   faith   from  the  book  that  reveals 
God  in  Christ,  to  God  in  Christ  whom  the  book 
reveals,— from  the  telescope  to  the  sun.     When 
we  have  done  this,  our  Christian  faith  will  rest 
upon  a   foundation  that  will  stand  forever." 


'THE  FIRST  PROPHET  OF  HISTORY' 


The  fatherhood  of  God  and  the  goodness  of 
one  All-Father  were  perceived  and  proclaimed 
in  some  degree  in  Egypt  over  thirteen  hundred 
years  before  Christ,  so  Dr.  James  Henry 
Breasted,  Professor  of  Egyptology  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Chicago,  tells  us.  In  a  striking  work 
on  ancient  Egypt*  we  are  told  that  other  ideas 
associated  with  Christianity  were  promulgated 
by  an  African  who  actually  proclaimed  his 
teaching  by  anticipating  the  sentiment  of  one 


•A  History  of  Egypt  from  the  Earliest  Times  to 
THE  Persian  Conquest.  By  James  Henry  Breasted, 
Ph-D.     Charles  Scribner*s  Sons. 


of  the  psalms,  and  even  the  words  of  one  of 
them.  This  wonderful  religious  genius  of 
ancient  Egypt  was  king  of  the  country,  Ikhna- 
ton  by  name,  or,  as  he  figures  in  the  dynastic 
lists,  Amenhotep  IV.  He  grasped,  says  Dr. 
Breasted,  the  idea  of  one  world  dominator  as 
the  creator  of  nature.  He  saw  revealed  the 
creator's  beneficent  purpose  for  all  his  crea- 
tures, even  the  meanest.  "The  birds  fluttering 
about  in  the  lily-grown  Nile  marshes  to  him 
seemed  to  be  uplifting  their  wings  in  adora- 
tion of  their  creator;  and  even  the  fish  in  the 
stream  leaped  up  in  praise  of  God."    It  was  a 


RELIGION  AND  ETHICS 


^11 


moiudhdstic  conception  of  a  god  of  infinite 
gcodoess,  of  infinite  power,  entitling  Ikhnaton 
to  a  place  never  yet  accorded  him  among  the 
few  sublime  teachers  of  spiritual  truth : 

°He  based  the  universal  sway  of  God  upon  his 
udjerly  care  of  all  men  alike,  irrespective  of 
nee  or  nationality,  and  to  the  proud  and  exclu- 
^ire  ^yptian  he  pointed  to  the  all-embracing 
bsantr  of  the  common  father  of  humanity,  even 
radng  Syria  and  Nubia  before  Egypt  in  his 
fraTcration.  It  is  this  aspect  of  Ikhnaton'sr  mind 
^-hich  is  especially  remarkable;  he  is  the  first 
rjophct  of  history.  While  to  the  traditional 
r:araoh  the  state  god  was  only  the  triumphant 
:on^ucror,  who  crushed  all  peoples  and  drove 
•^^  tribute-laden  before  the  Pharaoh's  chariot, 
Tiinaton  saw  in  him  the  beneficent  father  of  all 
siL  It  is  the  first  time  in  history  that  a  dis- 
fning  eye  has  caught  this  great  universal  truth. 
Afiin  his  whole  movement  was  but  a  return  to 
•^T:re,  resulting  from  a  spontaneous  recognition 
'[  the  g^oodness  and  the  beauty  evident  in  it, 
~^3gled  also  with  a  consciousness  of  the  mystery 
T  t  all,  which  adds  just  the  fitting  element  of 
STstidsm  in  such  a  faith." 

Bttt  while  Ikhnaton  thus  recognized  clearly 
t-e  power  and  to  a  surprising  extent  the  benefi- 
^cc  of  God,  there  is  not  apparent  in  his  re- 
■  Med  teaching  a  very  spiritual  conception  of 
•:e  deity  nor  any  attribution  to  him,  according 
'  Dr.  Breasted,  of  ethical  qualities  beyond 
•  *5e  which  Amon  had  long  been  supposed  to 
?5ses5.  The  king  has  not  perceptibly  risen 
■T'lm  the  beneficence  to  the  righteousness  in 
^^e  character  of  God,  nor  to  His  demand  for 
*Ji^  in  the  character  of  men.  Nevertheless, 
•ere  is  in  his  teaching,  as  it  is  fragmentarily 
p'eferved,  a  constant  emphasis  upon  truth  such 
is  i>  not  found  before  nor  since.  And  for  him 
-hat  was  was  right  and  its  propriety  was  evi- 
"tt  by  its  very  existence.  "Aton"  is  the 
anie  applied  by  the  king  to  this  father  of  all 
^okind  Either  for  temple  service  or  for 
personal  devotions  the  king  composed  hymns 
"5  Aton,  and  from  them  we  may  gather  an 
nidation  of  the  doctrines  which  the  specu- 
^Tc  young  Pharaoh  made  great  sacrifices  to 
''^sseminate  among  his  people.  The  immense 
'^ess  in  our  knowledge  of  the  language  of 
2r  :ient  Egypt  that  has  been  achieved  during  the 
^  twenty  years  has  enabled  Dr.  Breasted  to 
proride  his  own  translation  of  these  remarka- 
^•e  teachings.  Their  anticipation  of  the  one 
^dred  and  fourth  psalm,  notes  Dr.  Breasted, 
5  striking.  But  while  the  psalms  are  permeated 
with  a  sense  of  the  terrible  might  of  Jehovah, 
'it  god  of  wrath  as  well  as  of  goodness,  this 
•weninner  of  Jesus  Christ  dwells  upon  God's 
I'ithcrhood.  Yet  there  is  a  striking  similarity 
ci  thought  and  language  between  Ikhnaton  and 


the  author  of  the  Old  Testament  masterpieces. 
Psalm  CIV  has :  "Thou  makest  darkness  and  it 
is  night,  Wherein  all  the  beasts  of  the  forest 
do  creep  forth.  The  young  lions  roar  after 
their  prey;  They  seek  their  meat  from  God." 
And  Ikhnaton  writes: 

"When  thou  settest  in  the  western  horizon 
of  heaven, 

"The  world  is  in  darkness  like  the  dead. 

"They  sleep  in  their  chambers, 

"Their  heads  are  wrapped  up, 

"Their  nostrils  stopped  and  none  seeth  the 
other. 

"Stolen  are  all  their  things,  that  are  under  their 
heads, 

"While  they  know  it  not 

"Every  lion  cometh  forth  from  his  den, 

"All  serpents,  they  sting. 

"Darkness  reigns.  (?) 

"The  world  is  in  silence, 

"He  that  made  them  has  gone  to  rest  in  his 
horizon." 

This  same  Psalm  CIV  may  well  be  deemed 
foreshadowed  in  another  instance.  The  psalm- 
ist, for  instance,  tells  us:  "The  sun  ariseth, 
they  get  them  away.  And  lay  them  down  in 
their  dens.  Man  goeth  forth  unto  his  work, 
And  to  his  labor  until  the  evening."  With 
this  Dr.  Breasted  compares  the  utterance  of 
Ikhnaton  on  the  subject  of  "day  and  man": 

"Bright  is  the  earth, 
"When  thou  risest  in  the  horizon. 
"When  thou  shinest  as  Aton  by  day. 
"The  darkness  is  banished, 
"When  thou  sendest  forth  thy  rays, 
"The  two  lands  (Egypt)  are  in  daily  festivity, 
"Awake  and  standing  upon  their  feet, 
"For  thou,  has  raised  them  up. 
"Their  limbs  bathed,  they  take  their  clothing; 
"Their  arms  uplifted  in  adoration  to  thy  dawn- 
ing. 
"Then  in  all  the  world  they  do  their  work." 

Even  more  noteworthy  is  the  anticipation  of 
the  psalmist  where  he  exclaims :  "O  Lord,  how 
manifold  are  thy  works  I  In  wisdom  hast  thou 
made  them  all;  The  earth  is  full  of  thy  crea- 
tures."   Ikhnaton  exclaims : 

"How  manifold  are  all  thy  works! 

"Thev  arc  hidden  from  before  us, 

"O  thou  sole  God,  whose  power  no  other  pos- 
sesseth. 

"Thou  didst  create  the  earth  according  to  thy 
desire. 

"While  thou  wast  alone: 

"Men,  all  cattle,  large  and  small, 

"All  tiiat  are  upon  the  earth, 

"That  go  about  upon  their  feet; 

"All  that  are  on  high, 

"That  fly  with  their  wings. 

"The  countries  of  Syria  and  Nubia, 

"The  land  of  Egypt; 

"Thou  settest  every  man  in  his  place, 

"Thou  suppliest  their  necessities. 

"Every  one  has  his  possessions, 


178 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


"And  his  days  are  reckoned. 
"Their  tongues  are  divers  in  ^ech, 
"Their  forms  likewise  and  their  skins, 
"For  thou  divider  hast  divided  the  peoples." 

Still  more  in  touch  with  Christian  sentiment 
arc  the  exclamations  of  Ikhnaton  to  the  all- 
father:  "Thou  art  in  my  heart,"  "By  thee  man 
liveth,"  and  "The  world  is  in  thy  hand."  How- 
ever, as  Dr.  Breasted  informs  us,  the  study  of 
Egyptian  religion  has  but  begun,  and  it  might 
be  overbold  to  press  other  analogies  further 
until  investigation  has  been  pursued  more 
completely.  All  the  documents  on  the  religious 
system  of  Ikhnaton  and  all  his  known  hymns 
were  examined  in  the  original  by  Dr.  Breasted. 
He  denies  that  the  teaching  of  Ikhnaton  was 
sun-worship.  The  god  worshiped  by  this  an- 
cient king  and  prophet  was  clearly  distin- 
guished from  the  material  sun.  In  fact,  Aton, 
as  God  was  called,  received  recognition  as 
"lord  of  the  sun."  The  "vital  heat"  which 
Ikhnaton  found  accompanying  all  life  played 
in  his  religion  a  part  as  important  as  we  find 
it  assuming  in  the  early  cosmogonic  philoso- 
phies of  the  Greeks.  Thence,  as  we  might  ex- 
pect, says  Dr.  Breasted,  God  is  stated  by  Ikh- 
naton to  be  everywhere  active  by  means  of  his 
rays,  and  his  symbol  is  a  disk  in  the  heavens, 
darting  earthward  numerous  diverging  rays 
which  terminate  in  hands,  each  grasping  the 
symbol  of  life.  "In  his  age  of  the  world,  it  is 
perfectly  certain  that  the  king  could  not  have 
had  the  vaguest  notion  of  the  physico-chemical 
aspects  of  his  assumption  any  more  than  had 
the  early   Greeks  in   dealing  with   a  similar 


PROF.    FRIEDRICH    DELITZSCH,    OP    THE    UNI- 
VERSITY OF  BERLIN 

The  leading  liviog:  Assyriologrist,  now  on  a  visit  to  this 
country. 


thought;  yet  the  fundamental  idea  is  surpris- 
ingly true." 


THE  VISIT  OF  PROFESSOR  DELITZSCH 


Professor  Delitzsch,  of  the  University  of 
Berlin,  who  has  recently  come  to  our  shores  to 
lecture  here  under  the  auspices  of  the  Ger- 
manistic  Society,  is  accounted  the  leading  liv- 
ing Assyriologist.  Many  of  our  own  greatest 
scholars  have  studied  under  him.  He  has  writ- 
ten a  dozen  books  on  the  Egyptian  excavations, 
cuneiform  writing  and  kindred  subjects.  His 
lectures  on  "Babylon  and  the  Bible,"  delivered 
in  1902,  in  which  he  discarded  the  theory  of 
revelation  in  the  Old  Testament  and  tried  to 
show  its  direct  descent  from  Assyrian  inscrip- 
tions, created  a  sensation  in  the  religious 
world.  The  K^iiser  considered  the  utterances 
of  the  distinguished  professor  so  important 
that  he  found  it  necessary  to  counteract  De- 


litzsch's  influence  by  publishing  his  own  Credo 
in  a  letter  to  Admiral  Hollmann. 

An  American  interviewer,  Mr.  George  Syl- 
vester Viereck,  recently  elicited  some  interest- 
ing expressions  of  opinion  from  Delitzsch, 
and  publishes  them  in  the  New  Yorker  Revue. 
It  seems  that  he  has  not  in  any  way  modified 
his  statements  since  the  publication  of  the 
Kaiser's  letter.  He  still  believes  that  the  Old 
Testament  is  mostly  of  Babylonian  origin; 
but  he  holds  that  "the  myths  of  the  Babylo- 
nians have  been  exaggerated  and  distorted  by 
the  writers  of  the  Bible."  *Tt  is  my  ambition," 
he  says,  "to  cleanse  our  religion  of  its  Baby- 
lonian prejudices;  it  is  the  essence  of  religion 
alone  that  we  want  to  retain." 


Science  and   Discovery 


COMING  EXTINCTION  OF  BLOND  AMERICANS  BY  LIGHT 


Men  tend  to  be  big  in  daric  climates  and  to 
be  little  in  light  climates  ;  but  only  in  dark, 
cloudy  climates  where  there  never  is  intense 
light  do  we  find  the  blonds  at  home,  writes 
that  noted  military  surgeon,  Major  Dr. 
diaries  E.  Woodruff,  U.  S.  A,,  in  the  New 
York  Medical  Record.  In  the  cold  northern 
portion  of  Europe,  he  adds,  blondness  is  an 
actual  advantage  in  conserving  heat  White 
surfaces  radiate  less  heat  than  dark  ones. 
Consequently  blonds  are  perfectly  adjusted  to 
dark,  cold  climates,  and  when  they  migrate  to 
Hghter  countries  they  are  more  or  less  dam- 
aged according  to  the  excess  of  light  to  whi  h 
they  are  exposed.  This,  he  thinks,  fully  ac- 
counts for  the  fact  that  though  there  has  been 
a  succession  of  streams  of  blond  races  flow- 
ing southward  in  Europe,  they  do  not  per- 
manently survive.  He  thinks  it  necessary  to 
inquire  how  this  extinction  has  taken  place, 
and  in  America  this  inquiry  can  be  prose- 
cuted to  good  advantage.  Since  America  is 
peopled  entirely  by  European  types,  many  of 
whom  are  far  south  of  their  natural  habitat, 
it  is  evident  that  the  process  of  extinction  is 
now  going  on  under  our  very  eyes,  but  so 
slowly  that  it  has  never  been  noticed.  An- 
thropologists have  repeatedly  called  attention 
to  the  fact  that  Americans  are  becoming  more 
and  more  brunette,  so  as  to  approximate  the 
complexions  of  people  of  similar  latitudes  in 
Europe.  The  ordinary  explanation  has  been 
in  the  direction  of  a  belief  that  our  children 
arc  becoming  darker  than  their  parents.  No 
one  seems  to  have  noticed  that  the  blonds  are 
suffering  a  greater  mortality  than  the  b'u- 
ncttcs,  yet  that.  Dr.  Woodruff  thinks,  is  the 
real  process  and  has  already  progressed  con- 
siderably in  our  south,  where  the  vigorous 
types  of  white  men  are  notably  brunette. 

The  most  important  facts,  we  are  told,  are 
found  in  reference  to  complexion.  "It  has 
Wn  particularly  noticed  that  blonds  suffer 
in  the  Philippines  more  than  brunettes,  have 
higher  grades  of  neurasthenia,  break  down  in 
larger  numbers  proportionately,  and  in  many 
ways  prove  their  unfitness  for  the  climate." 
This  is  an  important  point  in  America,  and 
particularly  in  the  cities,  in  which  the  light 
gUre  is  so  intense  in  summer.    The  inhabit- 


ants of  European  cities  are  more  brunette  than 
those  of  the  surrounding  country  and  the  same 
condition  is  becoming  manifest  here.  This 
process  of  the  death  of  blond  families  in  our 
larger  cities,  particularly  in  the  South,  is  very 
slow,  but  it  is  a  fact,  nevertheless,  and  is  per- 
haps the  main  reason  for  another  fact,  so  long 
noticed,  that  cities  are  consumers  of  population. 
Growing  or  germ  cells  are  more  easily  in- 
jured than  differentiated  adult  cells.  Men  who 
are  raised  in  the  country  can  move  to  a  city 
and  stand  the  light  which  k^lls  off  all  their 
children  or  makes  them  so  nervous  that  they 
are  not  fit  to  procreate  a  healthy  third  gen- 
eration. Hence  we  find  dreadful  neurasthenic 
conditions  in  children  in  the  cities,  even  ba- 
bies, when  the  parents  are  strong.  Hence,  too, 
we  find  white  children  in  the  tropics  begin- 
ning to  fade  at  seven  or  eight,  or  about  the 
time  they  begin  to  run  about.  Infants  kept 
indoors  and  protected  from  the  light  appar- 
ently do  well  in  the  Philippines,  though  Dr. 
Woodruff  has  seen  them  very  sick,  particu- 
larly blond  children.    Again  : 

"I  have  been  informed  by  a  Philadelphia  neu- 
rologist that  most  if  not  all  his  neurasthenics 
are  from  the  South,  and  blond  at  that.  The 
Northwest  corner  of  the  United  States  is  the 
cloudiest  and  rainiest.  Not  only  do  blonds 
flourish  there,  but  the  report  of  the  Surgeon- 
General  shows  that  the  soldiers  in  that  region 
have  the  lowest  sick  and  death  rates  of  any  place 
in  the  country.  As  soldiers  are  all  of  one  type 
and  live  under  identical  conditions,  the  result 
must  be  due  to  the  cloudy  climate.  It  may  be 
remarked  in  passing  that  slight  degrees  of  pig- 
mentation are  quite  good  light-screens.  The  tan- 
ning due  to  a  sunburn  prevents  a  repetition  of 
the  damage,  and  jr-rays  can  be  applied  very 
strongly  after  previous  applications  have  tanned 
the  skin.  An  olive  skin  such  as  is  found  in  the 
Mediterranean  basin  is  a  protection  permitting 
exposures  harmful  to  Scandinavians,  so  that 
such  dark  types  show  less  damage  here  in  Amer- 
ica." 

Physicians  should  find  more  neurasthenic 
conditions  among  the  city  blonds  than  among 
the  brunettes,  omitting  the  Jews,  whom  Dr. 
Woodruff  pronounces  notoriously  neurasthenic 
the  world  over.    Further  : 

"It  will  also  be  found  that  all  conditions  having 
a  basis  in  a  weakened  nervous  system  are  apt  to 
be  more  frequent  in  the  blonds,  but  to  particular- 
ize would  require  a  very  long  list  of  diseases  of 


i8o 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


this  nature.  In  the  tropics  we  have  noted  that 
apepsia  is  very  common,  and  so  is  amnesia,  which 
may  go  even  to  the  point  of  complete  loss  of 
memory  of  recent  events.  There  are  a  host  of 
other  neuroses  which  can  have  no  other  origin 
than  neurasthenia. 

"It  has  long  been  known  that  suicides  and 
insanity  are  more  frequent  in  the  lighter  months 
of  the  year  than  in  the  darker — phenomena  no- 
ticed in  every  part  of  the  world.  It  seems  that 
the  pain  or  irritation  due  to  the  light  is  the  last 
straw  which  forces  melancholies  to  the  final  act. 
Chronic  manias  are  reported  to  be  worse  after 
several  days  of  intense  light,  and  school  chil- 
dren are  known  to  be  better  behaved  in  soothing 
dark  days,  but  irritable  and  hard  to  manage  after 
several  days  of  bright  light  streaming  into  the 
school  room.  Their  sufferings  can  be  imagined 
when  it  is  known  that  there  is  an  actual  sun- 
pain,  or  a  curious  blinding  headache,  resulting 
from  light  glare  in  the  Philippines,  even  when 
there  is  not  an  excessive  heat.  I  have  found 
these  cases  so  bad  that  life  was  hardly  worth  the 
living,  and  yet  complete  relief  could  be  obtained 
through  darkening  the  house  with  appropriate 
window  shades  and  verandas.  It  is  a  dreadful 
pain,  which  is  more  marked  in  the  blond,  the 
neurasthenic,  and  in  women.  Hence  it  is  true 
that  dark  gloomy  weather  has  a  soothing  effect 
and  reduces  crime,  insanity,  misdemeanors,  and 
suicides,  and  has  the  exact  opposite  result  of  what 
popular  opinion  gives  to  it." 

Now,  if  it  be  true  that  excessive  light  is 


one  of  the  many  causes  of  neurasthenia,  it 
follows  that  this  condition  in  America  should 
be  worse  in  blonds  than  in  brunettes,  should  be 
worse  in  cities  than  in  the  country,  and  should 
be  vastly  benefited  or  cured  by  a  removal  to 
dark  and  cloudy  climates.  Says  Dr.  Woodruff 
on  these  points  : 

"As  a  matter  of  fact  severe  cases  are  known 
to  be  remarkably  benefited  by  removal  from  the 
city  in  the  Summer,  and  are  made  worse  by  re- 
maining ;  are  damaged  by  a  trip  to  lighter  climates 
and  benefited  or  cured  by  a  sojourn  in  northern 
cloudy  ones.  It  is  not  the  heat,  fpr  the  fact  is 
the  same  even  if  the  sufferer  escapes  the  heat. 
Of  course  cases  can  arise  in  cloudy  places  if 
there  are  other  causes.  It  is  merely  proof  that 
light  is  one  of  the  causes  of  this  trouble. 

"In  the  case  of  insanity,  it  is  said  that  there 
is  a  tendency  to  brunetness  because  of  the  large 
number  of  our  foreign  element  who  are  notoriously 
brunet  to  begin  with;  but  in  the  old  families  it 
is  said  that  the  blonds  suffer  more  than  the  bru- 
nets  in  this  respect  as  well  as  in  all  nervous  con- 
ditions. 

"The  degeneration,  through  nervous  instability, 
of  the  blond  families  of  our  Western  plains,  is 
a  phenomenon  which  is  bound  to  receive  atten- 
tion in  the  future.  The  curious  hysterical  out- 
bursts, religious  or  political,  which  characterize 
certain  of  these  Western  States,  have  an  explana- 
tion in  a  pathological  state  of  the  nervous  sys- 
tem." 


WHY  "  CONSERVATION  OF  MATTER  "  IS  NOT  AN 
ESTABLISHED  FACT 


The  law  which  has  been  called  "the  sheet 
anchor  of  chemistry"  is  considered  by  Sir 
Oliver  Lodge,  the  famous  British  scientist,  to 
be  still  an  hypothesfs — a  "reasonable  hypoth- 
esis" is  the  term  he  uses  in  his  latest  volume.* 
The  law  in  question — ^that  of  the  conservation 
of  matter — means,  observes  Sir  Oliver,  that  in 
any  operation,  mechanical,  physical  or  chem- 
ical, to  which  matter  can  be  subjected,  its 
amount,  as  measured  by  weight,  remains  un- 
changed; so  that  the  only  way  to  increase  or 
diminish  the  weight  of  substance  inside  a 
given  enclosure,  or  geometrically  closed  bound- 
ary, is  to  pass  matter  in  or  out  through  the 
walls.  Such  is  the  law  of  which  chemistry 
makes  so  much  and  which  Sir  Oliver  finds  far 
from  self-evident.    He  writes: 

"Its  statement  involves  the  finding  of  a  property 
of  matter  which  experimentally  shall  remain  un- 
changed, although  nearly  every  other  property 

♦Life  and  Matter.    By  Sir  Oliver  Lodge.    G.  P.  Put- 
nam's Sons. 


is  modified.  To  superficial  observation,  nothing 
is  easier  than  to  destroy  matter.  When  liquid — 
when  dew,  for  instance — evaporates,  it  seems  to 
disappear  and  when  a  manuscript  is  burned,  it  is 
certainly  destroyed;  but  it  turns  out  that  there 
is  something  which  may  be  called  the  vapor  of 
water  or  the  'matter'  of  the  letter,  which  still  per- 
sists though  it  has  taken  rarer  form  and  become 
unrecognizable.  Ultimately,  in  order  to  express 
the  persistence  of  the  permanent  abstraction 
called  'matter'  clearly,  it  is  necessary  to  speak  of 
the  ultimate  atoms  of  which  it  is  composed  and 
to  say  that  though  these  may  enter  into  various 
combinations,  and  thereby  display  many  outward 
forms,  yet  that  they  themselves  are  immutable 
and  indestructible,  constant  in  number  and  quality 
and  form,  not  subject  to  any  law  of  evolution; 
in  other  words,  totally  unaffected  by  time." 

At  this  point,  observes  Sir  Oliver,  if  we  ask 
for  the  evidence  on  which  this  generalization 
is  founded  we  have  to  appeal  to  various  deli- 
cate weighings  conducted  chiefly  for  practical 
purposes  by  chemists,  and  very  few  of  them 
really  directed  to  ascertain  whether  the  law  is 
true  or  not : 


SCIENCE  AND  DISCOVERY 


i8i 


"A  few  such  direct  experiments  are  now,  in- 
deed, beinfiT  conducted  with  the  hope  of  finding 
that  the  law  is  not  completely  true;  in  other 
words,  with  the  hope  of  finding  that  the  weight 
of  a  body  does  depend  slightly  on  its  state  of 
aggregation  or  on  some  other  physical  property. 
The  question  has  even  been  raised  whether  the 
weight  of  a  crystal  is  altogether  independent  of 
its  aspect :  the  direction  of  its  plane  of  cleavage 
with  reference  to  the  earth's  radius;  also  whether 
the  temperature  of  bodies  has  any  influence  on 
their  weight;  but  on  these  points  it  may  be  trul^ 
said  that  if  any  difference  were  discovered  it 
would  not  be  expressed  by  saying  that  the  amount 
of  matter  was  different,  but  simply  that  'weight* 
was  not  so  fundamental  and  inalienable  a  prop- 
erty of  matter  as  has  been  sometimes  assumed; 
in  which  case  it  is  clear  that  there  must  be  a  more 
fundamental   property  to   which   appeal    can  be 


made  in  favor  of  constancy  or  persistency  or  con- 
servation." 

Now  the  most  fundamental  property  of 
matter  known,  we  are  told,  is  undoubtedly  in- 
ertia. The  law  of  conservation  would  there- 
fore come  to  mean  that  the  inertia  of  matter 
is  constant,  no  matter  what  changes  it  under- 
goes. But  inertia  is  not  an  easy  property  to 
measure — ^very  difficult  to  measure  with  great 
accuracy.  It  is  in  practice  nearly  always  in- 
ferred from  weight;  and  "in  terms  of  in- 
ertia," Sir  Oliver  goes  on  to  say,  "the  law  of 
conservation  of  matter  can  not  be  considered 
really  an  experimental  fact.  It  is,  strictly 
speaking,  a  reasonable  hypothesis." 


DIFFERENCES  BETWEEN  DARWIN  AND  WALLACE 


The  fact  is  well  knovm  that  the  theory  of 
evolution  as  developed  by  Darwin  was  dis- 
covered independently  and  almost  simultane- 
ously by  Alfred  Russel  Wallace.  The  latter,  in 
the  course  of  his  newly  issued  biography,*  com- 
f^ains  that  his  differences  of  opinion  with 
Darwin  are  so  construed  as  to  imply  that  he 
has  now  abandoned  the  most  essential  parts 
of  the  theory  of  natural  selection.  This,  he 
says,  is  far  from  being  the  case.  He  pro- 
ceeds to  enumerate  these  differences  and  to 
explain  their  significance,  as  it  appears  to 
him.  First  and  foremost  among  his  conflicts 
of  theory  with  Darwin  he  places  that  relating 
to  the  origin  of  man  as  an  intellectual  and 
moral  being.  On  this  topic  Dr.  Wallace 
states: 

"The  belief  and  teaching  of  Darwin  was  that 
man's  whole  nature — physical,  mental,  intellectual 
and  moral — was  developed  from  the  lower  ani- 
mals by  means  of  the  same  laws  of  variation  and 
sarvival ;  and,  as  a  consequence  of  this  belief,  that 
there  was  no  difference  in  kind  between  man's 
nature  and  animal  nature,  but  only  one  of  degree. 
My  view,  on  the  other  hand,  was  and  is  that 
there  is  a  difference  in  kind,  intellectually  and 
morally,  between  man  and  other  animals;  and 
that  while  his  body  was  undoubtedly  developed  by 
the  continuous  modification  of  some  ancestral  ani- 
mal form,  some  different  agency,  analogous  to 
that  which  first  produced  organic  life,  and  then 
originated  consciousness,  came  into  play  in  order 
to  develop  the  higher  intellectual  and  spiritual 
nature  of  man.    .    .    . 

"These  views  caused  much  distress  of  mind  to 
Darwin,  but  they  do  not  in  the  least  affect  the 
general  doctrine  of  natural  selection.    It  might  be 

♦My  Life.      By  Alfred  Russet  Wallace.     Two  volumes. 
New  York,  Dodd,  Mead  &  Company. 


as  well  argued  that  because  man  has  produced 
the  pouter  pigeon,  the  bulldog  and  the  dray  horse, 
none  of  which  could  have  been  produced  by  nat- 
ural selection  alone,  therefore  the  agency  of  natu- 
ral selection  is  weakened- or  disproved.  Neither, 
I  urge,  is  it  weakened  or  disproved  if  my  theory 
of  the  origin  of  man  is  the  true  one." 

The  next  most  important  conflict  of  views 
between  these  eminent  scientists  related  to 
the  subject  of  sexual  selection  through  female 
choice.  Darwin's  theory  of  sexual  selection. 
Dr.  Wallace  observes,  consists  of  two  quite 
distinct  parts — ^the  combats  of  males,  so  com- 
mon among  polygamous  animals  and  birds, 
and  the  choice  of  more  musical  or  more  orna- 
mental male  birds  by  the  females.  The  first, 
he  says,  is  an  observed  fact,  and  the  develop- 
ment of  weapons  such  as  horns,  canine  teeth, 
spurs,  etc.,  is  a  result  of  natural  selection  act- 
ing through  such  combats.  The  second  is  an 
inference  from  observed  facts  and  **an  infer- 
ence supported  by  singularly  little  evidence." 
The  first  he  still  holds  as  strongly  as  Darwin 
himself.  The  latter  he  at  first  accepted;  but 
he  soon  came  to  doubt  the  possibility  of  such 
an  explanation,  at  first  from  considering  the 
fact  that  in  butterflies  sexual  differences  are 
as  strongly  marked  as  in  birds,  and  it  was  to 
him  impossible  to  accept  female  choice  in 
their  case.  As  the  whole  question  of  color 
came  to  be  better  understood  he  saw  equally 
valid  reasons  for  the  total  rejection  of  the 
theory  even  as  to  birds  and  mammalia. 

The  presence  of  arctic  plants  in  the  south- 
em  hemisphere  and  on  isolated  mountain  tops 
within  the  tropics  developed  the  third  differ- 
ence of  standpoint  between  these  brethren  in 


l82 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


an  identical  field.  Darwin  accounted  for  the 
phenomena  by  a  cooling  of  the  tropical  low- 
lands of  the  whole  earth  during  the  glacial 
period  to  such  an  extent  as  to  allow  large  num- 
bers of  north  temperate  and  arctic  plants  to 
spread  across  the  continents  to  the  southern 
hemispheres,  and  as  the  cold  passed  away  to 
ascend  to  the  summits  of  isolated  tropical 
mountains.    Dr.  Wallace  says  of  this  view  : 

"The  difficulties  in  the  way  of  Darwin's  view 
are  twofold.  First,  that  of  lowering  temperature 
of  inter-tropical  lowlands  to  the  required  extent 
would  inevitably  have  destroyed  much  of  the 
overwhelming  luxuriances  and  variety  of  plant, 
insect  and  bird  life  that  characterize  those  regions. 
This  has  so  impressed  myself,  Bates,  and  others 
familiar  with  the  tropics  as  to  render  the  idea 
wholly  inconceivable;  and  the  only  reason  why 
Darwin  did  not  feel  this  appears  to  be  that  he 
really  knew  nothing  personally  of  the  tropics  be- 
yond a  few  days  at  Bahia  and  Rio,  and  could 
have  had  no  conception  of  its  wonderfully  rich 
and  highly  specialized  fauna  and  flora.  In  the 
second  place,  even  if  a  sufficient  lowering  of  tem- 
perature had  occurred  during  the  ice  age,  it  would 
not  account  for  the  facts,  which  involve,  as  Sir 
Joseph  Hooker  remarks,  *a  continuous  current  of 
vegetation  from  north  to  south,*  going  much  fur- 
ther back  than  the  glacial  period,  because  it  has 
led  to  the  transmission  not  of  existing  species 
only,  but  of  distinct  representative  species,  and 
even  distinct  genera,  showing  that  the  process  must 
have  been  going  on  long  before  the  cold  period. 


The  reason  why  Darwin  was  unaffected  by  these 
various  difficulties  may  perhaps  be  found  in  the 
circumstance  that  he  had  held  his  views  for  so 
many  years  almost  unchallenged." 

Pangenesis  and  the  transmission  by  hered- 
ity of  acquired  characters  were  subjects  re- 
garding which  debate  between  Darwin  and 
Wallace  was  keen.    Says  Wallace  n6w: 

"Darwin  always  believed  .in  the  inheritance  of 
acquired  characters,  such  as  the  effects  of  use  and 
disuse  of  organs  and  of  climate,  food,  etc.,  on 
the  individual,  as  did  almost  every  naturalist,  and 
his  theory  of  pangenesis  was  invented  to  explain 
this  among  other  effects  of  heredity.  I  therefore 
accepted  pangenesis  at  first,  because  I  have  always 
felt  it  a  relief  (as  did  Darwin)  to  have  sotne 
hypothesis,  however  provisional  and  improbable, 
that  would  serve  to  explain  the  facts ;  and  I  told 
him  that  *I  shall  never  be  able  to  give  it  up  till 
a  better  one  supplies  its  place.'  I  never  imagined 
that  it  could  be  directly  disproved,  but  Mr.  F. 
Galton's  experiments  of  transfusing  a  large  quan- 
tity of  the  blood  of  rabbits  into  other  individuals 
of  quite  different  breeds,  and  afterwards  finding 
that  the  progeny  was  not  in  the  slightest  degree 
altered,  did  seem  to  me  to  be  very  nearly  a  dis- 
proof, although  Darwin  did  not  accept  it  as  such. 
But  when,  at  a  much  later  period,  Dr.  Weismann 
showed  that  there  is  actually  no  valid  evidence 
for  the  transmission  of  such  characters,  and  when 
he  further  set  forth  a  mass  of  evidence  in  support 
of  his  theory  of  the  continuity  of  the  germ-plasm, 
the  'better  theory*  was  found,  and  I  finally  gave 
as  pangenesis  was  untenable." 


TOWING  A  GIANT  DRY  DOCK  14,000  MILES 


The  huge  steel  dry  dock  Dewey,  which  left 
our  shores  for  the  Philippines  last  Decem- 
ber, may  not  reach  its  destination  until  May  or 
June.  Yet  all  reports  indicate  that  this  un- 
precedented undertaking,  involving  the  convoy 
of  the  greatest  structure  of  its  type  afloat 
along  a  stretch  of  waters  14,000  miles  in  ex- 
tent, is  proceeding  successfully.  In  towing 
this  dock,  as  the  New  York  Herald  explains, 
hawsers  having  a  total  length  of  1,220  fath- 
oms, or  140  yards  more  than  a  mile  and  a 
quarter,  now  stretch  between  the  ships  and  the 
dock.  This  great  length  of  hawser,  together 
with  the  lengths  of  the  ships  and  the  dock 
itself,  make  a  tow  of  about  one  mile  and  three- 
quarters. 

These  giant  machines  hooked  up  present, 
according  to  the  reports  in  the  New  York 
Herald,  a  dazzling  spectacle  on  clear  nights. 
The  four  ships  convoying  the  dock  are  fully 
equipped  with  electricity  in  the  way  of  search 
and  signal  lights,  and  each  ship  and  the  dock 
are  equipped  with  wireless  telegraphy.  One 
of  the  most  important  factors  in  the  towing 


of  the  dock  are  the  automatic  towing  ma- 
chines, which  are  an  American  invention. 
These  are  depended  upon  in  a  large  measure 
to  make  the  undertaking  comparatively  safe : 

"The  resistance  of  the  tow  is  borne  entirely 
by  the  steam  pressure  in  the  cylinders  of  the 
towing  machine,  which  consists  of  a  reel  or 
drum  upon  which  the  steel  wire  hawsers  wind 
and  unwind  automatically.  This  drum  is  driven 
by  a  pinion  gear  in  the  crank  shaft  of  the  engine, 
which  meshes  with  the  gear  on  the  drum  shaft. 
The  machine  has  a  regulating  reducing  steam 
valve,  in  which  the  opening  is  increased  or  di- 
minished according  as  the  strain  on  the  towing 
hawser  increases  or  diminishes. 

"In  a  seaway,  as  the  vessel  rises  on  a  wave  or 
sea,  thus  increasing  the  strain  on  the  hawser, 
the  drum  begins  to  revolve  and  to  pay  out  or 
slack  the  hawser.  This  action  of  the  hawser 
opens  the  regulating  valve  and  increases  the 
steaAi  pressure  in  the  cylinders  until  the  pressure 
is  sufficient  to  equalize  the  strain  on  the  hawser. 
Then,  as  the  strain  on  the  hawser  decreases,  the 
pressure  in  the  cylinders  will  revolve  the  drum 
and  wind  in  the  slack  of  the  hawser. 

"In  this  way  the  machine  is  prevented  from 
paying  out  the  whole  of  the  hawser  and  only 
enough  is  paid  out  to  relieve  the  extra  and  mo^ 


SCIENCE  AND  DISCOVERY 


183 


C4iwtCB)  of  MMine  Ettfftf^eerUig  ("New  York).  Photo  by  Giocnlngvr. 

THE  FLOATING   DRY  DOCK  DEWEY  WITH  THE  BATTLESHIP  IOWA  ON  THE  BLOCKS 

"  A  novel  feature  of  the  dock  is  its  ability  to  dock  itself,"  says  the  New  York  Herald.  "  All  steel  vessels  take 
C31  a  marine  RTovrth  on  their  bottoms,  which  necessitates  hauling  them  out  every  year  or  so,  as  their  life  depends 
ao  receiving  paint  to  protect  the  hulls.  Docks  now  afloat  are  so  gigantic  that  they  cannot  be  docked  to  be  cleaned 
or  repaired,  with  the  exception  of  the  Oewey.*' 


mcntary  strain  on  the  line  and  thus  prevent  its 
injury  or  breaking.  The  regulating  valve,  which 
admits  and  cuts  off  the  steam  to  and  from  the 
c)Iindcrs,  is  entirely  automatic  and  requires  no 
handling  whatever.  An  independent  admission 
valve  is  provided,  by  which  steam  is  admitted  to 
the  cylinders  and  the  hawser  lengthened  and 
shortened   at   will." 

This  great  steel  dry  dock,  christened  in  honor 
of  Admiral  Dewey,  was  built  at  the  plant  of 
the  Maryland  Steel  Company  in  a  great  exca- 
vation near  the  water-front,  just  outside  of 
Baltimore.  When  it  was  completed  a  bulk- 
bead  that  separated  the  Patapsco  from  the  hole 
in  the  ground  was  cut  away  and  the  water 
ran  in  and  floated  the  huge  mass  of  steel.  The 
dock  lifts  a  20,000-ton  battleship,  although  the 
contract  called  for  only  a  16,000- ton  capacity 
in  this  direction.  Indeed,  this  dock  broke  all 
records  when  it  lifted  the  battleship  Iowa,  of 
16,000  tons,  with  heavy  weights  in  her  turrets 
amidships,  in  one  hour  and  thirty-seven  min- 
utes. A  novel  feature  of  the  dock  is  its  capac- 
ity to  dock  itself.  All  steel  vessels  accumulate 
marine  growths  on  their  bottoms.  This  neces- 
sitates hauling  them  out  every  year  or  so,  as 
their  life  depends  upon  coatings  of  paint  to 
protect  the  hulls.     Docks  now  afloat  are  so 


gigantic  that  they  cannot  be  docked  for  clean- 
ing purposes,  with  the  exception  of  the  Dewey, 
The  Dewey  can  release  two  side  walls  and  dis- 
connect the  three  pontoons  that  are  joined  to- 
gether in  the  flooring  or  hull.  Then  the  two 
smaller  pontoons  are  filled  with  water  and 
sunk  under  the  larger  or  center  pontoon. 
They  are  then  pumped  out  and  the  two  smaller 
steel  pontoons  rise  with  the  larger  one  on  top 
of  them.  When  it  is  desired  to  dock  the 
smaller  pontoons,  the  conditions  are  reversed. 
The  big  center  pontoon  is  sunk  and  the  two 
smaller  ones  placed  on  it,  and  the  big  one 
pumped  out  to  raise  the  little  ones. 

When  heavy  weather  comes  on  at  sea  the 
bottom  sections  of  the  Dewey  are  filled  with 
water  until  the  body  of  the  mass  of  steel  is 
submerged  and  only  the  side  walls  extend 
above  the  surface.  Even  then  she  presents  a 
large  surface  to  the  wind. 

No  effort  is  made  to  tow  the  dock  while  it 
is  partly  submerged  through  stress  of  weather. 
The  towing  vessels  simply  hang  on,  drifting 
with  the  giant  structure  as  the  wind  drives  it. 
When  the  gale  has  spent  its  force,  the  course 
is  resumed. 


1 84 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


THE  BENEFICENCE  OF  DISEASE 


In  the  important  address  recently  deliv- 
ered by  him  before  the  Edinburgh  Philosoph- 
ical Institution,  that  most  celebrated  of  the 
world's  surgeons.  Sir  Frederick  Treves,  sought 
to  show  that  the  purpose  of  d'sease  is  "benefi- 
cent"— ^his  own  word — and  that  the  processes 
of  disease  are  aimed  not  at  the  destruction  of 
life  but  at  the  saving  of  it  The  Grand  Maga- 
zine, which  has  been  enterprising  enough  to 
secure  the  distinguished  expert's  address  and 
to  publish  it  entire,  quotes  him  as  saying  that 
if  it  were  not  for  disease  the  human  race  would 
soon  be  extinct  Disease,  adds  Sir  Frederick, 
is  not  one  of  the  ills  that  fiesh  is  heir  to,  but 
one  of  the  good  gifts,  for  its  motive  is  protect- 
ive and  benevolent  An  individual,  for  in- 
stance, meets  with  a  severe  wound  of  the  hand 
from  an  unclean  instrument  and  the  wound  is 
dressed.  What,  then,  is  the  fear  of  the  pa- 
tient's friends?  There  is  one  dread  possibility 
in  their  minds— inflammation.     But: 

"The  facts,  however,  are  as  follow:  Into  the 
wound — at  the  time  of  the  accident — certain 
germs  or  micro-organisms  have  been  introduced. 
These,  finding  themselves  in  a  favorable  soil, 
proceed  to  flourish  and  multiply.  They  multiply 
m  no  uncertain  manner.  Those  who  are  curious 
in  the  matter  of  birth-rates  may  be  interested  to 
know  that  the  progeny  of  one  single  cell  may  at 
the  end  of  twenty-four  hours  be  sixteen  millions. 
The  cells  are  not  only  prolific ;  they  produce,  also, 
a  subtle  poison  called  a  toxin.  Thp  invasion, 
therefore,  of  the  body  by  a  poison-producing  host, 
capable  of  multiplying  by  millions  in  a  day,  is  a 
matter  of  some  concern,  and  if  the  name  'disease' 
be  limited  to  this  accident,  I  am  willing  to  call 
it  a  calamity. 

"Now,  how  is  this  germ  invasion  met?  There 
is  a  rush  of  blood  to  the  wounded  part,  and  the 
vessels  around  the  damaged  area  enlarge  to  their 
utmost  capacity,  in  order  that  as  much  blood  as 
possible  may  be  brought  to  the  invaded  quarter. 
The  limb  in  consequence  becomes  red  and  swollen, 
smd  of  necessity  painful,  so  that  it  is  said  to  be 
'inflamed.'  The  pain  causes  the  member  to  be 
kept  at  rest,  a  state  conducive  to  recovery. 
Blood  is  hurried  to  the  part  for  precisely  the  same 
reason  that  an  army  is  hurried  to  the  frontier 
when  a  country  is  attacked.  At  the  seat  of  the 
wound  an  invading  force  has  landed ;  their  weap- 
on is  poison;  they  need  neither  transport,  auxil- 
iaries, nor  stores,  for  they  live  on  the  body  itself 
and  can  add  to  their  numbers  without  extraneous 
aid.  The  blood,  on  the  other  hand,  contains  cer- 
tain cells  or  corpuscles,  poor,  pale,  flabby-look- 
ing objects,  called  leucocytes,  which  are,  however, 
bom  microbe  killers,  and  have  a  passion  for  fight- 
ing which  no  racial  hatred  among  men  could 
even  faintly  imitate.  These  leucocytes  do  not 
wait  for  the  invading  germs  to  enter  the  blood- 
^s,  but  make  their  way  out  of  those  channels 
'St  the  invaders  in   the  open.     They  also 


have  a  power  of  multiplication  and,  in  the  field, 
are  joined  by  comrades  of  the  same  kin. 

"There  now  takes  place  a  battle  the  like  of 
which  no  pen  has  ever  attempted  to  describe. 
Millions  are  opposed  to  millions,  and  the  fight- 
ing is  to  the  death.  The  hosts  of  Armageddon 
would  be  a  mere  handful  to  the  uncountable 
hordes  which  fill  the  battlefield  about  the  con- 
fines of  a  wound.  The  leucocytes  destroy  the 
germs  by  eating  them— and  thus  it  is  they  arc 
sometimes  called  'phagocytes.'  They,  also,  by 
sacrificing  their  living  bodies  to  the  poisons  of 
the  enemy,  save  the  country  they  defend.  The 
mortality  of  this  combat  is  beyond  the  limits  of 
reasonable  computation.  The  arena  is  piled  up 
with  the  dead,  until  at  last  the  living,  the  dead, 
the  poisoning  and  the  poisoned  are  thrown  out 
in  the  form  of  what  is  known  as  'matter'  or  pus, 
and  die  trouble  probably  ends." 

Of  course,  should  the  invading  force  beat 
down  the  first  line  of  defense  and  find  a  way: 
into  the  channels  of  the  body,  then  a  stand  as 
vigorous  is  made  at  the  second  circle  of  en- 
trenchments— ^the  lymphatic  glands.  In  the 
case  of  a  wound  of  the  hand  the  glands  under 
the  arm  oppose  the  invading  host  They  in* 
flame,  possibly  they  suppurate.  The  sub- 
ject of  this  condition  grumbles  and  deplores 
the  misfortune  which,  in  addition  to  his  wound 
(already  trouble  enough),  has  given  him  an 
inflamed  hand  and  now  a  tender  gland  under 
his  arm.  The  blame  is  ill  placed.  It  is  the 
story  all  over  again  of  the  faithful  but  mis- 
understood hound. 

This,  then,  is  the  inflammation  that  is  re- 
garded as  a  dire  disease,  a  portent  of  calam- 
ity. It  is  to  the  multitude  a  disorder  whose 
symptoms  must  be  combated  by  every  means 
within  the  surgeon's  power.  In  reality  it  is 
a  wholly  benevolent  process  with  one  purpose 
—to  protect  the  body;  and  with  one  aim— to 
cure.  If  it  fail,  it  is  only  because  the  task 
was  impossible,  never  because  the  generous 
intention  faltered.  For  centuries  there  has 
been  presented  the  strange  spectacle  of  men 
of  science  struggling  to  the  utmost  to  thwart, 
to  curb,  to  annihilate  a  process  of  cure. 
Volume  after  volume  has  been  written  upon 
the  treatment  of  inflammation  and  schools 
have  been  formed  to  uphold  with  much 
wrangling  this  method  or  that.  At  last, 
amidst  the  Babel  of  suggestion,  advice  and 
aimless  discourse,  a  surgeon.  Lord  Lister, 
points  out  that  if  the  invading  force  be  pre- 
vented from  landing,  the  country,  or  body 
politic,  will  remain  at  peace  and  the  aid  of 


SCIENCE  AND  DISCOVERY 


i8s 


inflammation  will  be  uncalled  for.     Such  is 
the  whole  teaching  of  antiseptidsm. 

Again,  in  that  phase  of  the  inflammatory 
process  known  by  the  dread  name  of  perito- 
nitis, the  benign  intentions  of  what  are  termed 
manifestations  of  disease  are  very  remark- 
ably illustrated.  The  peritoneum  is  most  sus- 
ceptible to  the  inroad  of  bacteria,  whether  they 
find  an  entrance  through  a  wound  or  through 
a  breach  in  such  an  organ  as  the  appendix. 
The  moment  the  invasion  takes  place  the 
symptoms  of  peritonitis  appear.  These  symp- 
toms are  nothing  more  than  nature's  efforts  to- 
ward the  saving  of  life  from  the  undoubted 
disaster.  They  serve  to  secure  at  once  those 
conditions  which  are  most  conducive  to  recov- 
ery. They  provide  prompt  means  for  closing 
the  breach  and  for  staying  the  spread  of  the 
trouble: 

"  Peritonitis  has  always  been  spoken  of  as  the 
operating  surgeon's  deadliest  enemy;  it  is,  in  re- 
ality, his  best  friend.  The  general  mortality  of 
the  common  disease  known  as  appendicitis  is  low. 
This  forttmate  circumstance  is  due  to  peritonitis, 
for,  without  that  much-abused  ally,  every  exam- 
ple of  the  disorder  would  be  fatal.  Even  now 
it  is  usual  to  say  that  a  death  from  appendix 
trouble  is  due  to  peritonitis;  it  should  rather  be 
Slid  that  it  came  about  in  spite  of  peritonitis. 
Peritonitis  is,  indeed,  never  a  calamity,  for.it  i.« 
never  other  than  a  process  of  cure.  It  is  only 
the  accident  which  calls  it  into  being  that  is  whol- 
ly disastrous. 

''Certain  disorders  are  called  infectious  be- 
cansc  they  have  been  proved  to  be  due  to  an  in- 
fection from  without  In  such  maladies  there  is 
the  simple  disposition  of  a  seed,  on  the  one  hand, 
and  on  the  other  of  a  soil  in  which  it  can  grow 
luxuriantly.  The  seed  is  a  specific  bacterium; 
the  soil  the  body  of  a  living  creature.  When  the 
soil  IS  generous  the  individual  is  said  to  be  sus- 
ceptible; when  it  is  inhospitable  he  is  said  to  be 
immune. 

"The  common  cold  is,  no  doubt,  a  so-called 
bacterial  disease.  It  can  be  'caught';  it  can  be 
conveyed  from  person  to  person.  The  germ 
would  seem  to  linger  in  the  haunts  of  men  and 
to  find  pleasure  in  the  '  madding  crowd. '  When 
I  was  concerned  in  starting  hospital  ships  in  the 
North  Sea,  I  found  that  fishermen,  returning  to 
port  after  a  two  months'  voyage,  were  very 
prone  to  catch  cold.  Many  told  me  that  they  de- 
veloped a  cold  whenever  they  went  ashore.  The 
chilly  blasts  of  the  North  Sea  in  the  winter  were 
unpleasant  enough,  but  they  were  not  laden 
with  the  cold-in-the-head  bacillus,  while  the  air 
of  the  cosy  seaport  was.  It  is  often  claimed  that 
the  common  cold  is  due  to  cold.  In  connexion 
with  this  fallacy  I  may  quote  the  following  from 
the  report  of  Dr.  Wilson,  surgeon  to  the  Dis- 
covcry,  in  the  recent  Antarctic  Expedition. 
Speaking  of  'colds,'  he  writes:  'We  were  en- 
tirely free  from  this  trouble  from  the  time  we  en- 
tered the  ice  to  the  time  we  reached  New  Zealand, 
two  and  a  half  years  later,  except  on  two  occa- 


sions, which  were  somewhat  remarkable.  On 
the  occasion  of  our  unpacking  a  large  bale  of 
woollen  clothing,  long  after  we. had  been  in  the 
ice,  a  very  virulent  form  of  nasal  catarrh  ran 
through  the  whole  ship's  company.  Undoubt- 
edly in  this  case  the  infection  was  in  the  clothing. 
On  the  second  occasion,  the  catarrh  was  ac- 
counted for  by  the  fact  that  our  wardroom  car- 
pet was  taken  up  for  beating,  and  the  infection 
which  had  lain  dormant  for  many  months  was 
liberated  and  had  the  usual  effect'  The  germ 
enters  through  the  air-passages,  and,  finding  a 
suitable  medium  for  growth  m  the  lining  mem- 
brane of  the  nose  and  throat,  develops  there. 
The  symptoms  which  result  are  too  well  known 
to  be  dwelt  upon:  the  sneezing,  the  catarrh,  the 
sore  throat,  the  cough,  the  tnalatse, 

"According  to  popular  medicine,  these  phe- 
nomena constitute  a  disease;  are  purposeless, 
profitless,  and  wantonly  distressful,  so  that  the 
victim  demands  from  the  physician  a  means  for 
stamping  the  trouble  out.  These  symptoms,  how- 
ever, are  in  the  main  the  manifestations  of  a 
process  of  cure,  and  are  so  far  benevolent  that 
without  them  a  common  cold  might  be  a  fatal 
malady." 

It  rs  noticed  in  connection  with  infectious 
diseases  that  certain  classes  of  animals  are 
susceptible  to  one  malady  and  immune  to  an- 
other. It  is  also  observed  that  there  is  an  im- 
munity as  well  as  a  susceptibility  which  be- 
longs to  the  individual  as  distinguished  from 
the  class.  For  example,  typhoid  fever  attacks 
man  but  not  animals,  rinderpest  attacks  ani- 
mals but  not  man.  The  horse  is  liable  to 
glanders  but  the  pig  is  immune.  The  white 
rat  is  immune  to  anthrax  but  can  be  made 
susceptible  by  feeding  on  an  exclusively  vege- 
table diet.  Fowls  are  likewise  immune,  but 
can  be  infected  by  anthrax  if  kept  in  a  state 
of  continued  cold.  The  immune  pigeon  can, 
in  a  similar  manner,  be  made  susceptible  by 
starvation.  The  favoring  of  infection  in 
man  by  exposure  to  cold,  fatigue  and  famine 
is  well  known.  Most  notable  of  all  is  the  fact 
that  in  certain  diseases  one  attack  exempts 
the  individual  from  further  onslaughts  of  the 
same  trouble.  How,  in  such  cases  is  immu- 
nity secured?  This  somewhat  wide  question 
may  be  illustrated  by  a  particular  instance  : 

"It  is  known  that  one  attack  of  diphtheria  ap- 
pears to  protect  the  individual  against  further 
outbreaks.  The  history'  of  this  affection  is  as 
follows  :  The  bacterium  gains  access  to  the 
throat  of  a  susceptible  child  and,  settling  on 
the  tonsils,  finds  a  favorable  soil  for  growth.  In 
that  growth  it  develops  a  poison  or  toxin  which 
finds  its  way  into  the  blood.  The  moment  the 
bacillus  effects  a  lodgment  the  cells  of  the  body 
rise  up  against  it,  and,  for  a  time  at  least,  make 
a  successful  defence.  An  active  inflammation  is 
induced,  one  evidence  of  the  energy  of  which  is 
shown  by  the  fibrinous  exudation  which  forms 
over  the  invaded   surface.     This  much  dreaded 


i86 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


KING  EDWARD'S  SURGEON 

Sir  Frederick  Treves  resrards  disease  as  one  of  the 
benienant  processes  through  which  nature  labors  for  the 
happiness  of  mankind. 


membrane  is  the  outcome  not  of  a  vicious  and 
purposeless  action  but  of  a  process  which  has  for 
its  sole  intent  the  arrest  oi  the  destroying  host 
At  the  same  time  there  is  developed  in  the  blood 
a  substance  of  xndeftnite  nature  which  is  an  an- 
tidote to  the  poison  filtering  in  from  the  dis- 
turbed area.  This  substance  is  called  an  anti- 
toxin. It  is  not  existent  at  the  time  of  the  in- 
fection. It  is  produced  on  the  spur  of  the  mo- 
ment and  with  such  good  result  that  many  pa- 
tients recover  from  diphtheria.  The  child  in 
any  case  becomes  very  ill,  and  it  is  said  that  its 
distressing  symptoms  are  due  to  the  disease  and 
are  therefore  ill-meaning.  The  symptoms--no- 
tably  of  fever — are  due  to  the  excessive  activity 
of  the  body  in  its  attempt  to  ward  off  the  bacte- 
rial invasion,  to  the  inflammation,  to  the  very 
elaborate  blood  changes  concerned  in  the  pro- 
duction of  an  antitoxin.  That  some  degree  of 
the  ill  condition  is  due  to  the  poison  which  is 
entering  the  system  is  undoubted,  but  when  the 
phenomena  of  poisoning  are  paramount  the  child 
i^  dying.  Without  what  are  called  the  symptoms 
of  diphtheria  no  case  could  recover. 

"In  diphtheria  the  workings  of  the  disease 
have  been  so  far  recognized  as  efforts  towards 
cure  that  they  have  been  imitated  in  the  modem 
treatment  of  the  malady.  In  this  wise  :  the 
horse  can  be  inoculated  with  diphtheria,  but,  be- 
ing little  susceptible  to  the  bacterium,  is  hardly 
made  ill  by  the  incident.  The  toxin  of  diphthe- 
ria is  injected  into  the  horse  and,  as  a  result, 
the   blood   of  the  animal   at  once   develops,   for 


protective  purposes,  an  antitoxin.  Repeated  and 
increasing  doses  of  the  poison  are  introduced, 
each  inoculation  being  followed  by  an  aug- 
mented formation  of  antitoxin  in  the  blood.  At 
last  the  serum  of  the  blood  of  this  much  in- 
fected horse  is  so  potent  in  antitoxins  that  when 
drawn  off  and  injected  into  the  body  of  any 
child  suffering  from  diphtheria  it  is  possible  for 
the  disease  to  be  stayed.  The  child,  on  its  part, 
is  laboring  with  infinite  effort  to  produce  the 
antitoxin.  The  horse's  blood  provides  it  with 
the  antidote  it  is  inadequately  manufacturing. 
The  success  of  the  serum  treatment  of  diphtheria 
is  now  beyond  all  question." 

But  Sir  Frederick  has  limited  the  applica- 
tion of  his  theory,  as  he  admits,  to  diseases 
the  nature  of  which  is  comparatively  well  un- 
derstood. But  he  deems  the  obscurer  diseases 
no  obstacle  to  his  theory.  New  facts  may  con- 
firm it.  There  are,  unfortunately,  large  num- 
bers of  disorders  whose  secrets  have  not  yet 
been  fathomed: 

"If  it  be  claimed  that  they  afford  exceptions 
to  the  theory  advanced,  I  am  content  to  wait 
until  the  exact  nature  of  those  affections  is  made 
manifest.  One  cannot  fail,  however,  to  be  met 
with  the  assertion  that  at  least  the  machinations 
of  cancer  have  nothing  in  them  that  is  good.  To 
this  I  have,  at  present,  no  answer.  What  con- 
stitutes malignant  disease  is  known  to  no  man, 
and  there  is  little  profit  in  being  dogmatic  about 
the  unknown.  In  this  connection  an  experience 
in  tne  past  may  be  recalled  with  advantage. 
There  is  a  disease  of  blood-vessels  known  as 
'aneurism,'  in  which  the  wall  of  the  artery  dilates 
so*  as  to  form  a  sac,  which  tends  to  become  thin- 
ner and  thinner  until  at  last  it  bursts,  and  the 
victim  dies.  Within  the  widening  sac  nature 
forms  a  curious  clot,  layer  by  layer,  with  infinite 
patience.  This  clot  may  ultimately  fill  the  cavity, 
close  it,  and  cause  the  lesion  to  be  cured.  There 
was  a  time  when  this  carefully  deposited  clot 
was  considered  to  be  a  malignant  growth,  and, 
under  the  influence  of  that  conviction,  .it  was 
cut  out  by  the  surgeon.  It  was  claimed  to  be 
the  product  of  disease,  a  cancer,  and  as  all  the 
manifestations  of  disease  were  convicted  of  ill- 
intention,  the  clot  must  needs  be  got  rid  of.  So 
with  much  labor  and  more  risk  the  nearly  com- 
pleted product  of  a  cure  was  sliced  away.  It  was 
as  if  a  drowning  man  had  cut  the  rope  he  found 
about  his  waist  for  no  other  reason  than  that 
he  could  not  understand  how  it  came  to  be  there. 
In  time  the  truth  was  made  clear,  and  then  the 
accepted  method  consisted  in  aiding  in  every 
possible  way  the  formation  of  the  much-abused 
clot  ;  the  surgeon  but  imitated  the  phenomena 
of  a  so-called  malignant  disease.  It  would  seem 
that  cancer  reproduces,  under  inopportune  cir- 
cumstances, the  type  of  exuberant  growth  normal 
and  opportune  when  the  structures  of  the  body 
are  being  formed;  a  strange  resuscitation  in  the 
declining  body  of  a  process  normal  in  the  young. 
What  the  purpose  is  of  this  out-of-placc  activity 
no  one  can  tell.  In  the  absence  ot  any  knowl- 
edge, it  is  in  conformity  with  custom  to  con- 
sider it  malign  in  intention." 


SCIENCE  AND  DISCOVERY 


187 


MAN'S  IGNORANCE  OF  SOLAR  PHENOMENA 


It  cannot  be  too  strongly  insisted  upon  that 
man  remains  in  a  state  of  dense  ignorance 
regarding  the  sun  and  solar  phenomena  in  gen- 
eral, wc  are  told  by  that  experienced  astron- 
omer. Dr.  E.  Ledger,  for  years  connected  with 
one  of  the  most  adequately  equipped  observa- 
tories in  Britain.  There  is  a  popular  impres- 
sion, according  to  him,  that  we  know  a  great 
deal  about  the  sun.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
science  can  teach  us  very  little,  comparatively, 
r^arding  tho^e  things  of  which  we  are  most 
anxious  to  have  information  respecting  the 
sun.  ''Its  distance  is  so  great,  in  comparison 
with  the  power  of  our  instruments,"  writes  Dr. 
Ledger  in  The  Nineteenth  Century  and  After 
(London),  "as  to  reduce  our  knowledge  of  its 
nature  and  constitution  almost  to  a  minimum." 
The  sun  is  so  far  away,  he  adds,  that  we  are 
stifl  "intensely  ignorant"  with  regard  to  it, 
while  the  brilliance  of  its  light  is  such  as  to  be 
the  greatest  hindrance  to  our  study  of  it,  ob- 
scuring our  view  of  what  we  long,  but  for  the 
most  part  try  in  vain,  to  decipher  or  explain. 
To  quote: 

"So  far  as  we  can  judge,  almost  all  solar  phe- 
nomena are  probably  remarkably  interdependent. 
The  diemistry  of  the  sun,  its  magnetism,  its  spots, 
its  eruptions,  its  heat,  its  light,  are  all  related  to 
ODe  another.  .  .  .  Such  a  very  limited  knowl- 
edge of  the  sun  as  we  possess  at  present  is  due 
mamly  to  the  telescope  and  to  the  spectroscope, 
bat  much  more  to  the  latter  than  to  the  former 
of  these  two  instruments,  while  in  connection  with 
both  of  them  photography  fias  afforded  very  great 
^idp.    ... 

'In  its  more  elementary  and  daily  observation 
the  sun  is  seen  as  a  huge  globe  of  about  866,000 
miles  in  diameter,  having  for  its  apparent  bound- 
ary 'an  intensely  heated  and  brilliant  surface 
which  astronomers  terra  the  photosphere.  This 
limits  what  is  ordinarily  visible  either  with  or 
without  a  telescope.  What  is  thus  seen  is,  how- 
ever, no  solid  surface.  Under  favorable  condi- 
tioQs,  with  a  powerful  telescope,  or  if  a  photo- 
graph be  taken,  with  a  very  brief  exposure,  so 
that  the  intensity  of  the  light  does  not  blot  out 
details,  it  is  perceived  that  the  bright  surface  is 
mottled  all  over.  It  is  not  at  all  uniformly  bright. 
It  seems  to  be  formed  by  a  layer  of  individual 
cIoiKl-like  formations  of  vast  size,  so  close  to- 
gether as  to  look  like  a  continuous  surface  under 
a  low  magnifying  power.  But  whether  we  ob- 
serve this  photosphere  telescopically  or  spectro- 
scopically,  with  or  without  the  aid  of  photography, 
<iay  by  day,  or  at  the  special  moments  when  the 
advancing  body  of  the  moon  leaves  the  minutest 
sickk  or  crescent  of  light  uncovered,  at  the  begin- 
ning or  ending  of  the  totality  of  an  eclipse,  the 
result  is  the  same.  We  can  find  out  very  little 
indeed  as  to  what  these  cloud  formations  are, 
whether  their  matter  is  in  the  form  of  solid  metal- 


lic particles  or  is  of  a  more  liquid  or  viscous  na- 
ture; whether,  as  they  float,  they  bear  some 
re&emblance,  although  on  a  vaster  scale,  to  the 
little  clouds  of  our  own  atmosphere,  in  spite  of 
their  intense  heat  and  light ;  or  whether  they  may 
be  merely  the  summits,  if  such  a  term  may  be 
used,  of  great  uprising  currents  of  matter  from 
beneath.  All  is  doubt,  vagueness,  mystery  and 
hypothesis  in  regard  to  them." 

Equally  unsatisfactory  is  the  state  of  our 
ignorance  respecting  the  region  in  which  these 
cloud  formations  may  float,  the  heights  or 
depths  to  which  they  may  rise  or  fall,  their 
size,  or  even  whether  cloud  formation  be  at 
all  a  correct  appellation.  These  so-called  cloud 
formations  may  be  but  the  summits  of  emana- 
tions coming  up  radially  from  the  sun's  inte- 
rior; but  of  that  interior  our  ignorance  is  of 
necessity  greater  still.    We  quote  again : 

"Wc  may  venture  to  say  that  there  must  be  in 
it  intense  and  immense  currents,  deeply  stirring  it, 
and  incessantly  conveying  supplies  of  heated  mat- 
ter upwards,  and  of  cooler  matter  downwards. 
But  how  little  does  this  really  explain !  Who  can 
dogmatise  as  to  the  way*  in  which  such  currents 
may  work  in  the  midst  of  the  conflict,  that  must 
be  ever  raging  around  them,  between  such  intensi- 
ties of  heat  and  pressure  as  lie  entirely  beyond 
the  range  of  any  of  our  laboratory  experiments, 
and  may  therefore,  in  their  mutual  action,  most 
probably  be  free  from  any  law  that  we  can  deter- 
mine?   .    .    . 

"Let  us  further  notice  that  the  only  way  in 
which  we  ever  have  an  opportunity  of  looking 
down  below  the  general  surface  of  the  Photo- 
sphere at  all,  and  then  •  probably  only  to  a  very 
slight  depth,  is  when  we  observe  some  of  the 
great  dark  spots  which  are  periodically  seen  in 
it,  and  are  occasionally,  as  in  two  instances  last 
October,  clearly  visible  to  the  naked  eye.  Yet 
the  very  mention  of  such  spots  reminds  us  that 
so  little  is  known  with  regard  to  them  that  quite 
recently  a  discussion  has  arisen  among  astronom- 
ical authorities,  whether  they  are  as  a  rule  ele- 
vations or  depressions;  an  attempt  also  being 
made  to  reconcile  both  these  ideas  by  supposing 
that  the  spots  are  caused  by  matter  elevated 
from  beneath  till  it  rises  above  the  Photosphere, 
but  that  their  darker  or  deeper  parts  fail  to  reach 
the  general  level  of  the  surface  around  them.  At 
the  same  time  masses  of  fiery  vapour  arc  ejected 
through  them,  which  may  hover  over  them  for  a 
while  and  presently  fall  in  again,  or  even,  through 
the  extreme  velocity  pf  their  projection,  rush 
forth  into  outer  space  never  to  return.  Within 
the  spots  the  spectroscope  certainly  indicates  the 
presence  of  masses  of  seething  vapors,  which  are 
ever  rising,  falling,  and  rotating.  With  regard 
to  them  it  constantly  records  many  details  of  a 
most  complicated  character  which  are  excessively 
difficult  to  explain." 

To  the  question  of  the  existence  of  any  plan- 


i88 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


et  or  planets  nearer  to  the  sun  than  Mercury 
much  attention  has  recently  been  given.  Such 
planets  would  be  illuminated  by  intense  solar 
light;  and,  if  of  a  diameter  only  one-quarter 
that  of  Mercury,  ought  to  be  easily  seen  by  the 
naked  eye.  It  is  possible  that  such  a  planet 
might  be  hidden  in  some  eclipses  by  the  sun 
or  moon.  Up  to  the  present,  however,  no  such 
planet  has  been  detected.  In  the  eclipse  ojE 
the  i8th  of  May,  1901,  as  many  as  170  stars 
were  recorded  around  the  Sun,  and  it  was  con- 
cluded that  no  intra-Mercurial  planet  was  then 
visible.  No  portion  of  the  sun  is  more  tanta- 
lizing in  its  mystery  than  the  corona.  Astron- 
omers have  often  tried  to  see  it  and  still  more 
often  to  find  some  means  by  which  to  photo- 
graph its  form  and  features  day  by  day.  Some 
photographs'  are  so  taken  as  to  show  the  inner 
parts,  others  the  outer  parts,  of  the  corona 
most  distinctly.  Its  light  is  analyzed  by  the 
spectroscope;  the  proportion  of  that  light 
which  may  merely  be  a  reflection  of  that  from 
the  main  body  of  the  sun  is  tested  by  the  po- 
lariscope ;  drawings  are  made  by  means  of  eye 
observations  as  accurately  as  possible.  All  that 
can  be  accomplished  is  recorded  during  the 


brief  moments  of  totality  by  observers  on  the 
small  portion  of  our  globe  from  which  any 
given  eclipse  is  visible.  And  all  this  is  done 
in  the  vague  hope  that  what  is  detected  in  the 
corona  may  help  toward  the  solution  of  the 
many  problems  connected  with  the  regions 
lying  beneath  it,  or  with  the  sun's  constitution 
in  general.  Nevertheless  very  little  has  so  far 
been  really  achieved: 

"It  is  found,  no  doubt,  that  some  of  the  coronal 
light  (although  the  proportion  may  vary  from 
time  to  time)  is  the  ordinary  light  of  tiie  sun 
reflected  from  particles  which  may  be  of  the  na- 
ture of  excessively  fine  dust ;  that  another  portion 
is  derived  from  self-luminous  incandescent  parti- 
cles; and  yet  another  from  highly  heated  gas. 
There  are  some  indications  that  the  light  of  its 
outer  extensions  may  resemble  that  of  the  comets' 
tails  and  perhaps  be  due  to  electrical  excitement. 
Its  light  also  seems  in  general  to  be  almost  wholly 
devoid  of  heat  and  so  far  to  resemble  a  mere 
phosphorescent  glow.  But  the  principal  gas  ex- 
isting in  it,  up  to  an  average  height  of  150,000  to 
200,000  miles  above  the  Photosphere,  whose  light 
gives  the  chief  bright  line  in  its  spectrum,  is  one 
that  can  be  identified  with  no  known  substance. 
Astronomers,  therefore,  as  a  confession  of  ig- 
norance, have  agreed  to  call  this  unknown  gas 
Coronium." 


WHY  THE  MOON  MAY  NOT  BE  DEAD 


Familiar  as  the  notion  has  now  become 
that  the  moon  is  dead  —  absolutely  destitute 
of  any  form  of  life — recent  advances  in  sel- 
enography made  by  Professor  Pickering,  the 
distinguished  astronomer,  demonstrate  appar- 
rently  to  the  satisfaction  of  The  Scientific 
American  (New  York),  that  although  our 
satellite  is  "not  a  riotously  luxuriant  abode,"  it 
is  anything  but  the  lifeless  orb  commonly  sup- 
posed. 

The  moon  may  be  desolate  and  cold,  but 
it  is  not  absolutely  dead.  "Although  it  once 
formed  part  of  the  earth,"  says  the  journal 
just  quoted,  in  commenting  on  Professor  Pick- 
ering's studies  of  the  subject,  "the  moon  is 
different  from  our  globe  in  many  respects. 
Charred  by  fires  long  since  dead,  honeycombed 
like  a  giant  ball  of  slag,  scarred  by  terrific 
volcanic  upheavals,  its  telescopic  aspect  is 
anything  but  cheerful."  The  craters  that 
appear  on  the  moon's  surface  are  astonish- 
ing in  their  number  and  size.  "At  the 
lunar  south  pole  these  dead  volcanoes  are  so 
closely  packed  together  that  to  Galileo  (the 
first  nian  who  ever  saw  the  moon  through  a 


telescope)  they  seemed  like  the  eyes  of  a  pea- 
cock's tail.  So  large,  indeed,  are  many  of  these 
craters  that  a  man  standing  within  one  of  them 
would  be  unable  to  see  the  surrounding  ram- 
parts because  they  would  lie  below  his  horizon. 
A  diameter  of  ten,  twenty,  or  even  sixty  miles 
is  not  infrequently  met  with  in  a  lunar  crater." 
What  indication  is  there,  then,  that  these-cra- 
ters  are  not  all  dead  ?  It  is  found,  we  are  told, 
in  Professor  Pickering's  observations  of  two 
craters : 


"On  an  old  map  one  observer  records  Linne 
as  a  crater  of  moderate  size.  A  century  later  it 
is  described  ls  a  small,  round,  brilliant  spot. 
When  modern  instruments  of  precision  were  in- 
vented the  crater  was  measured  repeatedly,  with 
decidedly  surprising  results.  Once  its  diameter 
was  four  miles;  then  it  grew  to  six  miles;  and 
now  it  has  shrunk  to  three-quarters  of  a  mile.  If 
this  volcano  is  extinct,  how  comes  it  that  it 
changes  its  size  so  strangely?  Still  another  proof 
of  activity  is  found  by  Prof.  Pickering  in  the 
eccentricities  of  a  gigantic  crater  called  Plato, 
and  in  dense  clouds  of  white  vapor  which  have 
appeared  before  his  eyes,  rising  from  a  tortuous 
cleft  known  as  Schroeter's  Valley.  So  minute 
have    been    Prof.    Pickering's    observations    that 


SCIENCE  AND  DISCOVERY 


189 


Ibdr  accuracy  can  not  be  seriously  called  into 
question.'' 

Granted  that  few  of  the  moon's  craters  are 
active,  it  follows  that  they  must  discharge 
something  into  space.  That  something,  judged 
by  our  earthly  volcanoes,  must  be  water  and 
carbonic  acid  gas.  Because  the  pressure  on 
the  moon's  surface  is  exceedingly  low,  and  be- 
cause the  temperature  during  the  long,  cold 
Itmar  night  is  probably  not  far  from  460  de- 
grees Fahrenheit  below  zero,  water  cannot 
possibly  exist  in  the  fluid  state.  Ice  and  snow 
are  the  only  forms  water  can  assume.  We 
(piote  again : 

"Is  there  any  evidence  of  snow  and  ice?  Al- 
most every  crater  is  lined  with  white.  The  lofty 
peaks  of  mountain  ranges  are  hooded  in  white. 
At  the  South  Pole  the  white  glare  is  almost 
blinding.  What  is  this  white  sheen  ?  Merely  the 
natural  color  of  the  moon's  wrinkled  face,  accord- 
ing to  most  astronomers — snow  and  ice,  forming 
where  it  should  form,  according  to  Professor 
Pickering.  The  disappearance  and  reappearance 
of  these  white  spots  are  admirably  explained  by 


this  theory;  for  snow  and  ice  would  vaporize  in 
the  long  lunar  day — equal  to  fifteen  of  our  days, 
and  congeal  again  in  white  crystals  as  the  sun  set 
"It  has  been  said  that  an  earthly  volcano  vomits 
carbonic  acid.  Conceding  that  a  lunar  crater  ejects 
water  in  the  form  of  a  vapor  and  carbonic  acid 
ffas,  is  there  any  reason  why  life,  in  its  lowest 
forms  at  least,  may  not  exist  on  the  moon  ?  Prof. 
Pickering  believes  that  he  has  discovered  traces 
of  vegetation.  There  are  variable  spots  on  the 
moon,  spots  that  darken  after  sunrise  and  gradu- 
ally disappear  toward  sunset.  They  are  not 
shadows,  for  they  are  most  pronounced  when  the 
sun  is  high  in  the  heavens.  They  appear  quickly 
at  the  equator,  and  encroach  on  the  higher  lati- 
tudes after  a  few  days  have  elapsed.  They  are 
never  seen  in  the  polar  r^ons.  It  is  in  these 
variable  spots  that  Prof.  Pickering  has  discov- 
ered what  he  considers  to  be  vegetation.  Whether 
he  is  right  or  wrong,  this  much  is  certain:  he 
has  explained  with  admirable  simplicity  a  phe- 
nomenon that  has  long  puzzled  astronomers.  To 
offset  the  objections  that  the  temperature  of  the 
moon  is  too  low  to  support  organic  life,  it  may 
be  answered  that  certain  lichens  thrive  in  our  own 
Arctic  regions,  where  the  temperature  rarely  rises 
above  the  melting  point  of  ice.  Moreover,  many 
bacteria  resist  the  most  intense  cold  that  we  can 
produce." 


THE  PARASITE  THAT  RENDERS  THE  '*  FLY  COUNTRY 

UNINHABITABLE 


No  horses,  cattle  or  dogs  can  now  venture, 
even  for  a  day,  into  the  so-called  "fly  country" 
of  Africa.  This  result  is  due  to  the  industry 
of  a  minute  blood  parasite  gaining  entrance  to 
the  blood  of  animals  under  conditions  ex- 
plained by  Col.  D.  Bruce,  F.  R.  S.,  president 
of  the  physiology  section  of  the  British  Asso- 
ciation for  the  Advancement  of  Science.  It 
was  once  thought,  according  to  Colonel 
Brute's  paper  in  London  Nature,  that  the  dev- 
astation was  all  the  work  of  the  tsetse  fly, 
which  presumably  injected  a  poison  into  ani- 
mals upon  which  it  alighted.  The  latest  in- 
vestigations show  that  the  real  mischief-maker 
is  a  parasite  known  as  the  trypanosoma,  which 
signi6es  a  screw-like  body.  This  trypanosoma 
is  undoubtedly  the  cause  of  the  death 
of  the  horses  and  cattle  struck  by  the 
tsetse  fly.  The  tsetse  fly  sucks  the  parasite 
out  of  the  blood  of  wild  animals.  Then  the 
parasite,  having  lived  for  some  days  in  the 
alimentary  tract  of  its  host,  is  transferred  by 
the  tsetse  when  it  has  its  next  feed  on  an  ani- 
nial.  Access  is  gained,  in  other  words,  to 
the  blood  of  a  new  host,  and  so  the  disease  is 
set  up.  It  is  not  at  all  improbable,  thinks 
Colonel    Bruce,    that    this    fly    disease    may 


spread  over  thousands  of  miles  in  South  Africa 
in  addition  to  the  vast  regions  it  now  renders 
uninhabitable.    To  quote: 

"Investigation  brought  to  light  the  curious  fact 
that  most  of  the  wild  animals— the  buffalo,  the 
koodoo,  the  wildebeeste — carried  the  trypano- 
somes  in  small  numbers  in  their  blood,  and  it 
was  from  them  that  the  fly  obtained  the  parasite. 
The  wild  animals  act  as  a  reservoir  of  the  dis- 
ease. The  trypanosome  seems  to  live  in  the  blood 
of  the  wild  animals  without  doing  them  any 
harm,  just  as  the  rat  trypanosome  lives  in  tiie 
blood  of  healthy  rats;  but  when  introduced  into 
the  blood  of  such  domestic  animals  as  the  horse, 
the  dog,  or  ox  it  gives  rise  to  a  rapidly  fatal  dis- 
ease. The  discovery  that  the  wild  animals  act  as 
a  reservoir  of  the  disease  accounted  for  the  cu- 
rious fact  that  Tsetse-fly  Disease  disappears  from 
a  tract  of  country  as  soon  as  the  wild  animals  are 
killed  off  or  driven  away." 

In  spite  of  innumerable  experiments  directed 
toward  the  discovery  of  some  method  of  vac- 
cination or  inoculation  against  this  disease, 
nothing  definite  up  to  the  present  time  has 
been  discovered.  "At  present  there  docs  not 
seen  to  be  any  likelihood  that  a  serum  can  be 
prepared  which  will  render  animals  immune  to 
the  tsetse  fly  disease.  It  has  also  been  found 
impossible,  up  to  the  present,  to  modify  its 
virulence, 


1 9© 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


BACTERICIDAL  FUNCTIONS  OF  MURAL  PAINTING 


Bacteriology  has  already  doomed  wall- 
paper and  tapestry.  Mural  painting  will  per- 
form important  bactericidal  services  in  that 
great  reconstruction  of  civilized  society 
toward  which  our  race  tends.  Generation 
after  generation  of  our  species,  inhaling  the 
accumulated  infection  of  dwellings  adorned 
with  curtained  lambrequins  and  costly  dadoes, 
has  perished  because  mural  painting  was  not 
sufficiently  encouraged.  In  the  future  the 
great  artist  will  decorate  walls  not  only  for 
esthetic  reasons,  but  in  a  bactericidal  spirit, 
for  this  form  of  art  undoubtedly  prolongs  the 
lives  of  those  who  are  reared  in  its  environ- 
ment. Recent  experiments  all  over  Europe 
prove  that  coloring  extracts  applied  to  walls 
are  microbicidal. 

All  the  foregoing  observations  are  deduced 
from  the  study  of  wall  coatings  and  their  hy- 
gienic effects  as  made  by  Dr.  A.  Cartaz  and 
described  in  Nature  (Paris).    He  writes: 

"The  best  results  have  been  obtained  with 
enamelled  porcelain  colors.  After  an  interval  of 
four  days  there  remained  no  trace  of  the  vibrio 


of  cholera  or  of  the  diphtheric  bacillus.  The 
bacillus  of  Eberth  (typhoid  fever)  and  the  golden 
staphylococcus,  the  microbe  of  suppuration,  dis- 
appeared on  the  eighth  day.  Carbuncular  bac- 
teria are  the  most  resistant.  A  delay  of  at  least 
thirty  days  is  necessary  before  the  cultures  are  ^ 
sterile.  In  the  case  of  oil  colors,  with  white 
lead  or  oxide  of  zinc  as  a  base,  the  effects  arc 
less  rapid  but  just  as  constant.  In  the  case  of 
other  coatings  such  as  amphiboline  or  hyperolinc, 
a  considerable  time  is  required  for  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  germs." 

The  bactericidal  action  of  mural  painting 
Dr.  Cartaz  regards  as  thus  beyond  dispute. 
But  what  is  the  method  of  this  action?  It 
seems  a  point,  says  Dr.  Cartaz,  regarding 
which  there  are  as  many  opinions  as  there  are 
experimenters.  Many  factors  have  to  be 
considered.  There  are,  to  begin  with,  the 
chemical  substances,  more  or  less  toxic  and 
acting  in  a  more  or  less  bactericidal  way, 
which  enter  into  the  composition  of  the  colors. 
Then  there  are  conditions  of  light  and  ventila- 
tion, the  porosity  of  the  coated  surfaces.  In 
any  event,  says  Dr.  Cartaz,  let  there  be  no 
more  wall-paper  and  no  more  tapestry. 


i 


This  is 
to  cre- 


Copyrlgbt  1906,  by  Ert.e«t  Uarold  Baynca. 

BUFFALO  CALVES  AS  DRAFT  ANIMALS 
Ernest  Harold  Baynes,  Secretary  of  the  American  Bison  Society,  sends  the  above  photojcraph,  saying:  ** 
a  team  of  buffalo  calves  which  I  have  reared  by  hand  and  broken  to  the  yoke  and  to  harness,  with  a  view 
atinar  additional  interest  in  the  national  movement  now  on  foot  to  siivc  the  miflfalo  from  extinction.  These  calves 
are  intelligent,  and  have  much  jfreater  strcn^^th  and  speed  than  most  domestic  steers  of  the  same  ajfc  I  wish  to 
impress  upon  all  those  who  do  not  yet  know  the  fact,  that  the  buffalo  can  be  domesticated  and  used  as  a  beast 
of  burden.  The  calvesjwere  five  months  old  when  first  broken  to  harness.  They  are  now  nine  njonths  of  aji^e  aqd 
were  a  feature>>f  the  recent  Sportsmen's  Show  iu  |5oston. 


Music    and    the     Drama 


BERNARD  SHAWNS  "  DISCUSSION  "— "  MAJOR  BARBARA  " 


Bernard  Shaw  has  recently  declared  that  he 
considers  it  his  prime  function  in  life  to  "cre- 
ate intellectual  unrest."  Judged  from  this 
point  of  view,  his  new  play,  which  he  frankly 
'.abels  a  "discussion,"  has  already  scored  a  pro- 
nounced success.  One  of  its  earliest  perform- 
ances at  the  Court  Theatre,  in  London,  at- 
tracted Mr.  Balfour,  the  late  Prime  Minister 
of  England,  and  Sir  Oliver  Lodge,  the  eminent 
scientist.  They  shared  a  box,  and,  according 
to  reliable  authority,  thoroughly  enjoyed  the 
qjigrams  and  perversities  of  this  extraordinary 
plaj.  "Major  Barbara"  is  a  tangle  of  para- 
<joxes  which  London  editors  and  correspond- 
ents are  tr>-ing  to  unravel.  Critical  comment 
s  voluble,  and,  in  the  main,  unfavorable. 
Even  Mr.  Walkley,  of  the  London  Times,  to 
whom  Bernard  Shaw  dedicated  "Man  and  Su- 
ptnnan,"  makes  the  remark:  "In  Mr.  Shaw's 
earlier  plays  there  was  some  pretense  of 
dramatic  form,  unity,  coherence.  In  'Major 
Barbara'  there  is  none."  The  same  critic  says 
further; 

**\Vhat  a  farrago!  Mr.  Shaw  has  certainly 
justified  his  sub-title  of  'discussion,*  and  he  has 
discussed  everything  under  the  sun;  Salvation- 
ism,  Wliiggism,  Parliament,  the  press,  university 
crlucation,  the  choice  of  a  profession,  the  philos- 
ophy of  war,  alcohol,  charity,  Donizetti's  music, 
Greek  scholarship,  English  slang,  courtship  and 
matrimony,  the  manufacture  of  explosives,  quic- 
qvid  aguHt  homines.  It  is  all  very  'Shavian,' 
very  bewildering,  very  suggestive  in  its  flashes 
of  shrewd  sense,  very  amusing  in  its  long 
^trctdles  of  March-hare  madness  (until  they  be- 
ojne*too  long),  and  absolutely  undramatic 
throoghouL" 

**Major  Barbara"  (impersonated  by  Annie 
Ru>scll  in  the  London  production)  is  the 
daughter  of  Andrew  Undershaft,  millionaire 
I  and  manufacturer  of  explosives,  a  gentleman 
vbo  is  made  up  in  the  likeness  of  Andrew  Car- 
negie and  who  advises  the  world  to  scrap  its  old 
prejudices,  its  old  moralities,  its  old  religions 
and  its  old  political  constitutions,  as  it  scraps 
its  old  boots  and  its  obsolete  steam-engines, 
Returning  to  his  wife  and  family  after  years 
of  separation,  he  is  surprised  to  find  Barbara 
an  active  member  of  the  Salvation  Army.  She 
is  engaged  to  a  Greek  professor  who  "plays 
tHe  big  drum  for  her  in  public  because  he  has 
fallen  head  over  heels  in  love  with  her."    Bar- 


bara, in  true  propagandist  zeal,  resolves  to 
convert  her  father,  and  induces  him  to  visit  a 
Salvation  Army  barracks.  There  is  an  inter- 
esting exhibition — in  cynical  Shaw  fashion— 
of  comic  converts,  and  the  following  dialogue 
takes  place  between  Mr.  Undershaft  and  a 
member  of  the  Salvation  Army : 

The  -millionaire  father,  the  maker  of  death- 
dealing  engines,  being  told  that  he  does  not  know 
what  the  Army  does  for  the  poor,  replies,  "Oh, 
yes,  I  do.  It  draws  their  teeth:  that  is  enough 
for  me — as  a  man  of  business." 

"Nonsense,"  says  the  Army's  defender.  "It 
makes  them  sober." 

"I  prefer  sober  workmen."  says  the  millionaire, 
in  the  manner  of  the  Wolf  answering  Red  Rid- 
ing Hood.    "The  profits  are  larger." 

The  other  pleads  that  the  Army  makes  men 
honest. 

"Honest  workmen  are  the  most  economical," 
replies  the  employer. 

" — attached  to  their  homes,"  says  the  other. 

"So  much  the  better:  they  will  put  up  with 
anything  sooner  than  change  their  shop." 

" — happy — "   continues  the  apologist. 

"An  invaluable  safeguard  against  revolution," 
says  the   plutocrat. 

*| — unselfish — "  says  the  Salvationist. 
^  "Indifferent  to  their  own  interests,  which  suits 
me  exactly,"  says  the  millionaire. 

"—with  their  thoughts  on  heavenly  things—" 
says  the  Salvationist. 

"And  not,"  says  the  employer,  rubbing  his 
hands,  "on  trade  unionism  nor  Socialism.  Ex- 
cellent." 

"You  really  are  an  infernal  old  rascal,"  says 
the  Salvationist. 

"And  this,"  says  the  armorer,  pointing  to  an 
able,  teetotal  workman,  who  has  worked  ten  to 
twelve  hours  a  day  since  he  was  13,  and  has  now 
been  discharged  because  he  is  too  old  at  46,  "and 
this  is  an  honest  man." 

There  is  a  suggestion  of  Rockefeller,  as  well 
as  Andrew  Carnegie,  in  Bernard  Shaw's  heart- 
less millionaire.  Not  to  be  outdone  by  a 
wealthy  distiller,  who  makes  a  handsome  con- 
tribution to  the  funds  of  the  Army,  Mr.  Un- 
dershaft offers  a  check  for  $5,000.  But  in 
Major  Barbara's  estimation,  the  money  is 
"tainted,"  and,  rather  than  accept  it,  she  sadly 
resigns  her  position. 

Later,  a  characteristic  dialogue  takes  place 
between  Mr.  Undershaft  and  his  son  in  regard 
to  the  management  of  his  business. 

The  son,  being  consulted,  declares  that  he  has 
no   capacity   for  business,   and   "nothing  of  the 


192 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


WILLIAM  GILLETTE 

In  his  new  play  **Claiice,"  he  "has  scored  another  tri- 
umph both  as  a  writer  of  plays  and  as  an  actor." 


artist  about  him,  either  in  faculty  or  character, 
thank  Heaven/'  and  will,  therefore,  devote  him- 
self to  politics.  There  is,  happily,  one  thing  he 
knows:  he  knows  the  difference  between  right 
and  wrong. 

"You  don't  say  so,"  cries  the  father.  "What! 
No  capacity  for  business,  no  knowledge  of  law, 
no  sympathy  with  art,  no  pretension  to  phi- 
losophy :  only  a  simple  knowledge  of  the  secret 
that  has  puzzled  all  the  philosophers,  baffled  all 
the  lawyers,  muddled  all  the  men  of  business,  and 
ruined  most  of  the  artists:  the  secret  of  right 
and  wrong!  Why,  man,  you  are  a  genius,  a 
master  of  masters,  a  god!" 

The  son  sulkily  retorts  that  he  pretends  "to 
nothing  more  than  any  honorable  English  gentle- 
man claims  as  his  birthright." 

"Oh!"  assents  the  father,  "that's  everybody's 
birthright.  Look  at  poor  little  Jenny  Hill,  the 
Salvation  lassie.  She  would  think  you  were  laugh- 
ing at  her  if  you  asked  her  to  stand  up  in  the 
street  and  teach  grammar,  or  geography,  or 
mathematics,  or  even  drawing-room  dancing. 
But  it  never  occurs  to  her  to  doubt  that  she  can 
teach  morals  and  religion.  You  are  all  alike, 
you  respectable  people.  You  can't  tell  me  the 
bursting  strain  of  a  ten-inch  gun,  which  is  a 
very  simple  matter;  but  you  think  you  can  all 
tell  me  the  bursting  strain  of  a  man  under  temp- 
tation. You  daren't  handle  high  explosives;  but 
you  are  all  ready  to  handle  honesty,  and  truth, 
and  justice,  and  the  whole  duty  of  man,  and  kill 
one  another  at  that  game.  What  a  country  1 
What  a  world!" 


The  last  act  passes  in  Mr.  Undcrshaft's 
workshops,  and  is  in  large  part'  devoted  to  a 
glorification  of  his  "money  and  gunpowder; 
freedom  and  power  ;.command  of  life,  and  com- 
mand of  death."  The  millionaire  contrasts  the 
well-being  of  his  workers  with  the  poverty, 
misery,  cold  and  hunger  of  the  wastrels  in 
Barbara's  Salvation  shelter.  He  declares  he 
has  saved  them,  as  he  has  saved  Barbara,  from 
the  worst  of  crimes,  which  is  poverty.  He 
goes  on,  in  eloquent  declamation : 

"All  the  other  crimes  are  virtues  beside  it. 
all  the  other  dishonors  are  chivalry  itself  by  com- 
parison. Poverty  blights  whole  cities;  spreads 
horrible  pestilences;  strikes  at  the  souls  of  all 
those  who  come  within  sight,  sound,  or  smell  of 
it.  What  you  call  crime  is  nothing:  a  murder 
here  and  a  theft  there,  a  blow  now  and  a  curse 
then,  what  do  they  matter?  They  are  only  the 
accidents  and  illnesses  of  life:  there  are  not  fifty 
genuine  professional  criminals  in  London.  But 
there  are  millions  of  poor  people,  abject  people, 
dirty  people,  ill-fed,  ill-clothed  people.  They 
poison  us  morally  and  physically:  they  kill  the 
happiness  of  society:  they  force  us  to  do  away 
with  our  own  liberties,  and  to  organise  unnatural 
cruelties,  for  fear  they  should  rise  against  us 
and  drag  us  down  into  their  abyss.  Only  fools 
fear  crime;  we  all  fear  poverty.  Pah!  You  talk 
of  your  half-saved  ruffian  in  West  Ham:  you  ac- 
cuse me  of  dragging  his  soul  back  to  perdition. 
Well,  bring  him  to  me  here,  and  I  will  drag  his 
soul  back  again  to  salvation  for  you.  Not  by 
words  and  dreams,  but  by  38s.  a  week,  a  sound 
house  in  a  handsome  street,  and  a  permanent  job. 
In  three  weeks  he  will  have  a  fancy  waistcoat;  in 
three  months  a  tall  hat  and  a  chapel  sitting;  be- 
fore the  end  of  the  year  he  will  shake  hands  with 
a  duchess  at  Ji  Primrose  League  meeting,  and 
join  the  Conservative  Party.  .  .  .  It  is  cheap 
work  converting  starving  men  with  a  Bible  in  one 
hand  and  a  slice  of  bread  and  butter  in  the  other. 
I  will  undertake  to  convert  West  Ham  to  Ma- 
hometanism  on  the  same  terms.  ...  I  had 
rather  be  a  thief  than  a  pauper.  I  had  rather 
be  a  murderer  than  a  slave.  I  don't  want  to  be 
either;  but  if  you  force  the  alternative  on  me, 
then,  by  Heaven,  I'll  choose  the  braver  and  more 
moral  one.  I  hate  poverty  and  slavery  worse 
than  any  other  crimes  whatsoever.  And  let 
me  tell  you  this.  Poverty  and  slavery  have  stood 
up  for  centuries  to  your  sermons  and  leading 
articles:  they  will  not  stand  up  to  my  machine 
guns.  Don't  preach  at  them:  don't  reason  with 
them.    Kill   them." 

Mr.  A.  M.  Thompson,  the  dramatic  critic  of 
the  Socialist  Clarion  (London),  to  whom  we 
are  indebted  for  the  above  quotations,  con- 
fesses that  he  is  puzzled  by  this  "audacious 
propagandist  drama."  He  endeavors  to  sum 
up  its  meaning  thus : 

"Shaw  drives  his  patrons  furiously  to  think — 
which  is  already  more  than  playgoers  bargain 
for — and  the  lines  are  clear  enough  along  which 
their  thought  is  driven:  civilized  socie^s  pri- 
mary business  is  to  cast  all  its  obsolete  creeds 


MUSIC  AND  THE  DRAMA 


193 


an  J  moral  codes  to  the  scrap  heap,  and  apply 
itself  with  all  its  mi^ht — even  at  the  cost  of 
bullets,  blood,  and  social  revolution — not  to  the 
making  of  'good*  men,  but  to  the  making  of 
healthy,  strong  men,  to  the  elimination  of  the 
fit  from  the  unfit,  to  the  evolution  of  the  Super- 
man from  the  supervacaneous." 

A  more  conservative  critic,  Mr.  St.  John 
Hankin,  of  the  London  Academy,  interprets 
the  play  in  this  way : 

'What  we  are  meant  to  be  interested  in  is 
the  mental  development  of  Barbara  and  her 
Professor  as  their  high  idealist  views  of  morality, 
philanthropy  and  religion  came  under  the  solvent 
of  Undershaft's  cold-blooded  but  eminently  prac- 
tical philosophy.  It's  all  very  well  to  wield  a 
tamborine  in  West  Ham  and  hand  round  tea 
and  bread  in  Salvation  Army  «^ielters,  but  isn't 
it  really  more  useful  to  pay  high  wages  to  an 
army  of  employees,  even  though  their  employment 
is  that  of  making  Lyddite  and  quick-firers?  And 
though  humanitarian  folk  are  greatly  shocked 
at  the  manufacture  of  high  explosives  for  the 
dismemberment  of  their  fellows,  it  is  none  so 
certain  that  the  world  would  get  on  as  well 
without  those  aids  to  civilization.  While,  if  your 
mind  revolts  against  the  material  force  rep- 
resented by  shells  and  cannon,  does  not  'the  man 
behind  the  gun'  represent  moral  force  too?  So 
Andrew  Undershatt— <)r  more  or  less  so.  And 
the  interesting  thing  is  that  the  audience  listens 
with  every  sign  of  absorbed  interest.  How  many 
people  five  years  ago  would  have  believed  that 
you  could  hold  a  London  audience  for  more  than 
three  hours  in  its  seats  in  a  west-end  theatre 
while  the  people  on  the  stage  discussed  Ethics 


ETHEL  »ARRYMORE 

Who  takes  the  title  r61e  in  the  American  presentation 
of  J.  M.  Barrie's  latest  play,  "  Alice-Sit-by-the-Fire." 

and  Sociology?  It  is  when  one  thinks  of  that 
that  one  realizes  the  full  extent  of  the  *Shaw 
Revolution.' " 


NOTABLE  PLAYS  OF  THE  MONTH  IN  AMERICA 


Mr.  James  Huneker,  the  well-known  dra- 
matic and  musical  critic,  finds  J.  M.  Barrie's 
"Peter  Pan"  as  immoral  in  its  way  as  Bernard 
Shaw's  "Mrs.  Warren's  Profession."  "In  it," 
he  declares  {Metropolitan  Magazine),  "Mr. 
Barrie  preaches  the  subversive  doctrine  that 
fairies  exist;  that  fairies  always  exited.  This 
relic  of  paganism  when  the  very  hedges  hid 
glow-worm  goblins  and  the  trees  jested  greenly 
with  the  g^ass,  Barrie  would  seek  to  incor- 
porate in  his  Christian  mythology.  Does  he 
realize  that  in  illuding  middle-aged  men  with 
his  charming  and  damnable  theories,  he  robs 
them  of  their  hard-won  sense  of  present  reali- 
ties, sending  their  vacillating  minds  back  to  the 
nursery,  aye,  to  the  very  cradle?  This  senti- 
mental trick  is  all  the  more  dangerous  because 
it  robs  us  of  moral  underpinnings."  But  even 
Mr.  Huneker  cannot  bring  a  charge  of  immo- 
rality against  "Alice-Si  t-by-the-Fire"  and  "Pan- 
taloon," Mr.  Barrie's  late^  plays.    They  har- 


bor no  fairies.  They  are  charged  with  a  spirit 
of  delicious  naivette  and  breezy  optimism. 
They  represent  the  most  interesting  individual 
offering  made  of  late  from  across  the  Atlan- 
tic, just  as  William  Gillette's  "Clarice"  is  rec- 
ognized as  the  most  notable  recent  achievement 
of  an  American  playwright. 

BARRIERS  "pantaloon." 

"Pantaloon"  is  a  romance  of  the  harlequinade, 
of  which  the  dramatis  personce  are  Clown, 
Harlequin,  Columbine  and  Pantaloon — figures 
more  familiar  to  the  lovers  of  English  panto- 
mime than  to  the  American  public.  "A  mas- 
terpiece in  miniature,"  Mr.  John  Corbin,  of  the 
New  York  Sun,  proclaims  it,  adding  his  con- 
viction: "Few  things  in  the  English  drama  of 
any  time  ring  as  sweet  or  true  as  this  little 
tragi-comedy."  The  story  may  be  briefly  out- 
lined as  follows: 

Columbine  is  the  daughter  of  Pantaloon,  who 


194 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


designs  her  for  the  Clown,  his  ideal  and  his 
tyrant.  But  Columbine,  after  consenting  to  the 
hateful  union,  takes  flight  with  Harlequin,  and 
Pantaloon  feels  the  vengeance  of  the  malicious 
Clown,  who  comes  to  taunt  him  in  his  poverty 
and  loneliness.  Then  Columbine  and  Harlequin 
return,  and  are  overwhelmed  with  reproaches 
for  the  disaster  which  they  have  brought  upon 
the  household  by  their  foolish  fondness,  until 
they  produce  their  first  bom,  a  clown  in  minia- 
ture, who,  with  a  touch  of  the  familiar  hot  poker, 
soon  revives  poor  Pantaloon's  sinking  spirits, 
and  fetches  the  curtain  down  upon  a  scene  of 
rejoicing. 

As  interpreted  by  Mr.  Corbin,  old  Pantaloon, 
pining  in  his  lonely  room  for  the  glitter  o£  the 
footlights,  is  "the  protagonist  of  what  the  Ger- 
mans call  a  'universal  human'  drama,  the  trag- 
edy of  superannuation,  which  sooner  or  later 
we  all  enact  in  our  own  persons."  Mr.  J.  Ran- 
ken  Towse,  of  the  New  York  Evening  Post, 
sets  a  rather  different  estimate  on  the  play : 

"The  tale  may  be  regarded,  according  to  the 
taste  and  fancy  of  the  beholder,  either  as  a  mere 
Christmas  frolic  or  as  an  allegory  of  human 
life,  with  a  seasoning  of  satire  that  is  not  without 
a  dash  of  bitter  in  its  flavor.  The  Clown,  of 
course,  is  the  griping,  vulgar  Croesus,  to  whom 
Columbine,  representative  of  beauty,  innocence, 
and  filial  devotion,  is  ruthlessly  sold  by  the 
wretched  old  parent,  Pantaloon,  who  mumbles 
about  his  affection  and  the  advantages  of  the 
match.  It  is  the  primeval  plot  at  the  bottom  of 
all  domestic  melodrama.  Incidentally  Mr.  Bar- 
rie  indulges  in  some  light  but  pointed  raillery 
at  the  expense  of  buffoons  who  proclaim  them- 
selves as  artists,  and  of  the  public  intelligence 
that  can  discern  so  much  humor  in  their  antics. 
Doubtless  the  harlequinade  of  the  last  century  was 
a  foolish  thing,  but  dulce  est  desipere  in  loco, 
and  seniors  used  to  laugh  as  heartily  as  the  boys 
and  girls  when  Pantaloon  was  folded  jip  in  a 
barrel  and  rolled  off  the  stage,  or  Clown  v/as 
made  to  dance  for  once  at  the  point  of  his  own 
hot  poker.  Should  it  come  back  again,  as  is 
said  to  be  probable,  the  babies  will  not  be  soli- 
tary in  their  rejoicing." 

barrie's  "alice-sit-by-the-fire" 
When  given  in  England  last  September,  the 
title  role  of  "Alice-Sit-by-the-Fire"  was  taken 
by  Ellen  Terry.  In  this  country  the  part  has 
fallen  to  Ethel  Barrymore,  whose  impersona- 
tion is  regarded  as  charming  and  intelligent, 
but  as  hardly  satisfying  in  some  phases  of  the 
character.  "She  was  ingratiating  in  the  vari- 
ety and  naturalness  of  her  expressions,"  re- 
marks the  New  York  Times,  "nearly  (but  not 
.quite)  making  one  forget  that  she  is  years  too 
young  in  appearance,  movement  and  tempo 
of  action  for  this  youthful  but  still  forty-year-  ' 
old  Alice." 

"Alice-Sit-by-the-Fire"  is  a  satire  with  the 
true  Barriesque  flavor.    It  makes  fun  of  the 


modern  and  social  problem  drama,  with  its 
artificial  and  theatrical  conventions.  Inciden- 
tally, it  portrays  an  amusing  conflict  between 
the  older  and  younger  generations.  Says  the 
New  York  Sun: 

"A  Colonel  in  the  Indian  service  has  educated 
his  children  in  England  and  returns  with  his 
wife  to  find  them  grown  past  recognition.  The 
eldest  daughter.  Amy,  has  become  what  we  should 
call  a  matinee  girl,  and,  quite  ignorant  of  the 
real  world,  has  a  head  filled  with  ideas  of  Life 
derived  from  the  problem  play  of  French  ex- 
traction, the  chief  ingredients  of  which  are  the 
eternal  triangle  and  its  single  insistent  note,  a 
bachelor's  chambers  with  clandestine  suppers  and 
a  heroine  concealed  in  a  closet,  compromising^ 
letters  and  a  heroic  deed  of  «elf-sacrifice.  It  so 
happens  that  Amy's  mother,  who  is  only  just 
40  and  has  shone  as  the  belle  of  the  Punjab,  is 
on  comradely  terms  of  affection  with  a  quite 
innocuous  cub,  and  in  full  sight  of  her  theatrico- 
romantic  daughter .  she  kisses  him  good  night 
on  the  ear.  In  an  instant  Amy  knows  the  worst, 
and,  clad  in  her  first  evening  frock,  sets  out  to 
save  her  mother's  character  and  her  father's 
peace  of  mind  by  acting  in  the  manner  of  a  real 
theatric  heroine.  Then  follows  a  series  of  situa- 
tions in  which  all  the  familiar  phases  of  the 
drama  of  convention  are  exhibited  in  a  shrewd 
and  delectable  contrast  with  simple,  unaffected 
reality.  The  result  is  a  series  of  lively  comedy 
scenes  made  out  of  the  familiar  appurtenances 
of  dramatic  convention,  in  which  everyone  is  in 
turn  mystified  and  rendered  amiably  ludicrous. 
It  is  Amy,  of  course,  who  is  most  ludicrous  of 
all,  and  not  least  so  when  the  stroke  of  self- 
sacrifice  which  she  has  planned  as  a  means  of 
her  mother's  rescue  and  reformation,  as  a  'happy 
ending'  in  short,  turns  out  to  provide  herself 
with  the  consummation  devoutly  to  be  wished 
of  marriage  to  the  aforesaid  innocuous  cub." 

"Generalization  upon  anything  so  will-o'- 
the^wisp  like  as  a  Barrie  piece,"  comments 
The  Post,  "is  not  easy,  and  a  too  close  insist- 
ence upon  details  might  easily  become  tedious. 
Suffice  it  to  say,  in  this  instance,  that  the  enter- 
tainment afforded  is  varied  and  excellent,  but 
of  inconstant  quality.  But  the  light  of  intellect 
is  visible  in  it  all."  Mr.  Winter,  of  the  New 
York  Tribune,  writes  of  the  play  rather  se- 
verely : 

"As  a  whole  it  is  formless,  spineless,  indirect, 
incoherent,  exceedingly  pretentious,  and,  though 
piquant  in  spots,  a  whirling  mass  of  vacuous 
prattle.  Such  effects  of  mirth  as  it  causes  are 
produced  by  the  well  worn  expedient  of  capsizing 
common  sense,  in  sitQation  and  in  lan^:uage. 
Colman  began  this  in  the  English  drama,  in  the 
eighteenth  century,  and  W.  S.  Gilbert  carried 
it  to  perfection,  m  our  time,  and  set  the  pace 
that  many  later  writers,  Mr.  Barrie  among  them, 
have  followed.  The  play  is  often  insipid,  never 
strong,  has  no  character,  no  action,  no  dramatic 
effect;  but  it  pleases  as  a  bit  of  chaff.  ...  It 
will  probably  run,  but  it  is  exceedingly  flimsy 
stuff,  and  it  has  been  dreadfully  overrated  in  the 
preliminary  proclamation." 


SARAH  BERNHARDT  IN  TEARS:    AN  UNCONVENTIONAL  PORTRAIT 
.  ''Whatever  the  reason,"  says  The  Theatre  Magazine  (New  York)  of  her  tour  in  America  this  season, 


it  is  cer- 


~>n  technique  the  foremost  expon^pt  of  modem  academic  culture  in  the  drama ;  in  temperament  an  embodied  gen- 
josof  sentiment  and  passion :  a  chameleon-like  human  creature  of  fire  and  air,  an  essence  of  woman-spirit  in  every 
'^'tc  mood,  the  eternal  child,  impervious  to  time,  and  the  perennial  priestess  of  an  immortal  art." 


196 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


GILLETTE  S  *  CLARICF  " 

In  this  play,  Mr.  Gillette  "has  scored  another 
triumph  both  as  a  writer  of  plays  and  as  an 
actor,"  says  the  Boston  Herald.  "  'Qarice'  is 
by  far  the  best  thing  he  has  done  since  'Secret 
Service,' "  adds  the  same  paper. 

As  presented  in  London  and  Liverpool  last 
year  with  a  diflFerent  final  scene,  "Qarice" 
was  not  successful,  as  Mr.  Gillette  reckons 
success.  Remodeled  and  improved,  it  has  been 
played  before  crowded  houses  in  Boston,  and 
seems  likely  to  prove  one  of  the  greatest  suc- 
cesses of  the  theatrical  year  in  America.  Says 
The  Herald: 

"The  leading  part  is  taken  by  a  doctor  who 
has  gone  into  South  Carolina  to  win  back  his 
lost  health.  He  takes  with  him  the  only  child 
of  an  old  friend,  an  orphan  girl,  Clarice,  whom 
he  cares  for  first  as  a  daughter,  then,  with  an 
overpowering  love,  one  for  whom  he  will  make 
any  sacrifice,  no  matter  what  the  cost  Clarice, 
in  turn,  loves  him — ^wor ships  him,  in  fact — and 
even  when  he  tries  to  make  her  think  he  no 
longer  cares  for  her  she  still  asks  only  to  be 
near  him. 

"Interwoven  into  the  story  there  is  another 
doctor  who  also  loves  Clarice,  and  her  aunt  and 
uncle,  the  former  plotting  to  have  Clarice  married 
to  the  rival  of  her  guardian.  The  uncle  is  an 
amusing  character,  one  of  the  class  who  'enjoy 
poor  health.'  Then,  too,  there  is  an  ever-preScnt 
colored  servant,  who  exercises  complete  and  un- 
disputed sway  over  the  whole  household.  Four 
of  the  five  scenes  are  shown  in  Dr.  Carrington's 
living  room,  a  most  effective  stage  setting. 

"The  current  theatrical  season  has  been  marked 
by  a  .dearth  of  strong,  or  even  amusing  plays. 
Cfontrasted  with  much  of  the  rubbish  served  up 


to  the  theatre-goer,  'Clarice'  is  a  refreshing  relief, 
'a  play  that  is  really  worth  while,'  as  one  of  the 
audience  well  expressed  it" 

The  most  dramatic  moments  of  the  play  rest 
on  a  situation  that  contains  elements  both  of 
originality  and  of  improbability.  Mr.  Gillette 
asks  us  to  believe  that  a  physician  of  con- 
spicuous professional  skill  does  not  know 
whether  or  not  pulmonary  consumption  has 
come  upon  him,  or  whether  it  has  advanced  so 
far  that  the  girl  whom  he  is  about  to  marry  is 
in  danger  of  infection  from  him.  'The  first 
assumption,"  thinks  the  Boston  Transcript, 
"might  be  credible.  The  second  is  quite  in- 
credible."   The  same  paper  comments  further : 

"The  skill  of  Mr.  Gillette  as  playwright  and 
actor  in  'Clarice'  is  not  the  skill  of  invention. 
In  that,  indeed,  from  the  <iays  of  'Held  by  the 
Enemy'  and  'Secret  Service,'  he  has  never  been 
strong.  His  has  rather  been  the  skill  of  treat- 
ment, and  in  his  newest  play  it  is  so  fine,  supple 
and  plausible  that  the  spectator  forgets,  as  he 
looks  and  listens,  the  basic  improbability  upon 
which  that  treatment  rests.  No  playwright  of 
our  time  knows  better  than  Mr.  Gillette  how 
by  endless  verisimilitude  in  detail  to  give  the 
semblance  of  life — ^nay,  the  truth  of  life  itself — to 
a  series  of  incidents  that  depend  upon  a  hypoth- 
esis palpabljT  at  variance  with  that  truth.  Few 
such  playwrights,  too,  are  shrewder  judges  than 
he  of  the  lengths  to  which  he  can  carry  this  ver- 
isimilitude and  of  the  moment  when  he  must 
yield  it  to  an  audience's  habitual  notions  of  stage 
conventions.  By  every  sign  'Clarice'  gripped  the 
spectators— not  by  the  force  of  the  material  in 
the  play,  but  by  the  skill  with  which  hc^  as  play- 
wright and  actor — and  his  company  with  nim — 
handled  it" 


TWO  OPERATIC  NOVELTIES  IN  ENGLAND  AND  FRANCE 


Young  as  the  operatic  season  is  as  yet  in 
Europe,  it  has  already  introduced  two  interest- 
ing novelties — one '  in  Paris,  at  the  Opera 
Comique,  the  other  at  the  London  Coronet 
Theatre.  The  French  novelty  is  called 
"Miarka,"  and  is  a  romantic  composition,  "a 
lyrical  comedy"  in  four  acts,  for  which  Alex- 
andre Georges,  a  young  composer,  has  written 
the  music  and  Jean  Richepin,  the  eminent 
author,  has  provided  the  libretto,  based  on  a 
novel  from  his  own  pen.  The  English  novelty 
is  called  "Gwenevere"  and  is  variously  de- 
scribed as  a  "lyric  play,"  Celtic  music  drama 
and   romantic   opera. 

Very  different  in  style  and  origin  and  in- 


spiration, there  appears  to  be  not  a  little 
that  is  common  to  these  two  new  contributions 
to  the  world's  operatic  repertory. 

"Miarka"  is  really  a  series  of  pictures, 
depicting  the  life  of  the  heroine,  a  princess 
of  a  Romany  tribe.  The  music  is  throughout 
illustrative  of,  and  appropriate  to,  the  situations 
and  scenes.  It  appears  that  when  the  novel 
first  appeared  the  composer  wrote  a  group  of 
melodies  for  the .  "songs  of  Miarka"  in  the 
book;  these  melodies  became  very  popular 
in  salons,  as  well  as  among  the  people,  and  M. 
Georges  thereupon  conceived  the  idea  of  mak- 
ing an  opera  of  the  subject  and  incorporating 
in  it  his  Miarka  songs. 


MUSIC  AND  THE  DRAMA 


197 


VINCENT  THOMAS 

K  LoQdoti  \>aiiliL  cleric'' w^ho  has  written  an  opera  based  on 
tlie  Arthurian  legend 

Oi  the  plot  and  the  music,  Gabriel  Faure, 
l\ve  musician,  writes  as  follows  in  the  Paris 
Figoro; 

"This  lyrical  comedy  may  thus  be  represented 
in  a  resume :  Miarka  is  born ;  Miarka  grows  up ; 
Miarka  finds  out;  Miarka  loves  not;  Miarka 
defends  herself;  Miarka  escapes. 

"Miarka  is  born  on  a  village  square.  Who  is 
her  father?  No  one  knows.  Her  grandmother, 
la  Vougue,  a  member  of  the  errant  Romany  race, 
attributes  royal  origin  to  her.  She  gives  her  the 
sun  for  godfather  and  the  river  for  godmother, 
whence  a  ringing  song  to  the  sun  and  a  more 
tranquil  hymn  to  the  river. 

"Miarka  grows  up,  and  is  beautiful.  Her 
charm  captivates  Glende,  the  innocent,  the  bird- 
catcher.  Miarka  learns  the  mysteries,  legends, 
traditions  of  her  race,  as  well  as  the  songs  of 
her  tribe.  Glende  pursues  and  torments  her  with 
his  amorous  attentions,  but  she  does  not  favor 
his  suit.  Her  grandmother,  by  her  magic,  has 
evoked  for  Miarka  the  image  of  the  Romany 
king  she  is  to  marry.  The  mayor  of  the  village 
gives  her  protection  and  shelter  (hoping  to  ob- 
tain the  secret  documents  of  her  tribe),  but  she 
is  not  grateful.  -  In  running  away,  la  Vougue  sets 
fire  to  the  house  which  has  given  her  and 
Miarka  hospitality  and  refuge. 

"So  Miarka  goes  away.  On  the  way  la 
Vougue  falls  exhausted  and  d^ing.  Miarka  en- 
counters mists,  clouds  and  ram — ^and  there  are 
songs  about  mists,  clouds  and  rain ;  but  finally 
she  meets  a  whole  gypsy  tribe,  which  proves  to 


be  her  tribe,  and  the  king  of  which,  according 
to  predictions,  loves  and  marries  her. 

"Thus  ends  in  cheerfulness  and  joyous  song — 
in  spite  of  the  melancholy  fate  of  la  Vougue  and 
Glende — a  tale  distinctly  uncertain  from  a  dra- 
matic point  of  view,  but  written  in  a  style  that 
is  luxuriously  poetic  and  picturesque  and  which 
contains  more  than  one  characteristic  and  charm- 
ing episode." 

In  regard  to  the  quality  of  the  music  of 
''Miarka,"  M.  Faure  finds  that,  appropriate 
as  are  the  melodies  to  the  songs,  the  work  as 
a  whole  is  deficient  in  variety,  in  warmth  of 
tone,  in  richness  of  color.  The  composer  is 
direct  and  fluent,  but  he  does  not  elaborate 
his  themes,  and  while  eloquent  and  interesting, 
he  spares  himself  the  trouble  of  conceiving 
new  rhythms,  original  turns.  He  is  too  spon^ 
taneous  and  writes  as  he  feels,  so  that  there 
is  little  in  the  score  that  is  unexpected  or 
calculated  to  excite  surprise. 

"Gwenevere,"  as  the  title  indicates,  is  based 
on  the  Arthurian  legend.  The  action,  how- 
ever, does  not  tell  the  whole  story,  and  some 
previous  familiarity  with  the  latter  is  required 
of  the  auditor-spectator.  Yet  the  opera 
is  very  long,  as  long  as  any  of  Wagner's 
greater  works.  It  is  written  on  Wagnerian 
principles,  for  it  is  described  as  "an  attempt 
to  bring  poetry  and  music  together  on  the 
stage  with  a  sense  throughout  of  their  lyric 
dependence  upon  one  another  and  their  ideal 
equality  in  art." 

The  libretto  is  by  Ernest  Rhys  and  the 
music  by  Vincent  Thomas,  a  London  bank 
clerk.  King  Arthur  and  his  knights  are  first 
shown  awaiting,  at  the  Round  Table,  the  return 
of  Merlin,  who  is  bringing  Gwenevere  from 
Caledon.  She  rides  into  the  hall,  bedraggled 
and  wet,  and  in  spite  of  the  opposition  of 
Mordred  and  Morgan  le  Fay,  is  chosen  as 
Arthur's  Queen.  Three  years  elapse.  Gwen- 
evere comes  into  the  woods  with  her  attend- 
ants and  meets  Lancelot.  She  hangs  her 
crown  on  a  tree,  and  strays  off  into  the  wood 
with  her  lover.  Mordred  and  two  knights  lie 
in  wait,  and  on  their  return  attack  Lancelot, 
who  is  unarmed.  He  plucks  a  bough  and 
slays  a  knight.  Merlin  shields  Gwenevere, 
and  in  his  house  she  awaits  the  return  of  her 
attendant  maidens.  The  third  act  shows 
Arthur's  return  to  Camelot,  after  he  has  re- 
ceived his  death-blow  from  the  treacherous 
Mordred.  He  is  carried  out  to  die,  after  for- 
giving Lancelot,  who  returns  in  the  nick  of 
time  in  the  guise  of  a  monk. 

Of  the  music  The  Westminster  Gazette  says 
that  it  is  "mildly  descriptive,"  with  traces  of 
melody,  but  that  the  beginning  of  the  second 


iqS 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


HERMANN  SUDERMANN 

He  shares  with  Hauptmann  the   honors  of  intellectual 
leadership  in  present-day  German  drama. 

act  is  both  clever  and  fine.       The  Pall  Mall 
Gazette  is  more  specific.    It  thinks  that  pass- 


ages of  great  merit  alternate  with  music  that 
is  totally  uninspired.    To  quote : 

"Mr.  Vincent  Thomas  has  written  some  clever 
music  for  this  play.  There  are  some  choral 
items  which  are  extremely  pretty,  and  some  bal- 
lads of  a  rather  too  modern  type,  which,  though 
possessing  a  certain  little  charm,  cannot  be  de- 
scribed as  anything  more  than  obvious.  There 
is  one  delightful  reminiscence  of  Purcell  (though, 
of  course,  not  taken  from  Purcell)  in  a  song  for 
Gwenevere,  *Out  of  the  Birch  Leaves.'  Again, 
one  recognizes  a  sense  of  folk-song  in  some  of 
Mr.  Thomas's  music  which  is  all  the  happier 
because  it  is  naturally  associated  with  one  of  the 
most  ancient  of  our  folk-legends.  The  scoring, 
too,  is  clever;  but,  take  the  music  as  a  whole, 
where  it  is  untouched  by  the  influence  of  Wag- 
ner— now  and  then  one  is  reminded  of  that 
musician's  Tristan* — its  texture  is  too  light,  its 
tunes  too  undistinguished  to  our  mind  for  any 
lasting  popularity.  It  is  true  that  Mr.  Thomas 
has  a  vein  of  melody  which  never  runs  dry ; 
sometimes,  in  fact,  one  is  even  a  little  astonished 
by  its  continuity.  He  has,  too,  a  sense  of  choral 
writing,  and  will,  we  imagine,  do  much  better 
things  when  he  has  learnt  how  to  distinguish  pre- 
cisely between  that  which  is  really  good  in  his 
inspiration  and  that  which  is  possibly  a  trifle 
cheap." 

The  London  Times  finds  some  individuality 
in  the  melodic  ideas  of  the  composer  and 
praises  particular  airs  and  numbers  as  having 
expressiveness,  quaintness,  charm.  As^  a 
whole,  the  score  is  declared  to  be  lacking*  in 
contrast  and  power. 


TWO  NEW  PLAYS  BY  SUDERMANN 


Hermann  Sudermann,  who  shares  with 
Hauptmann  the  honors  of  intellectual  leader- 
ship in  present-day  German  drama,  has  re- 
cently completed  two  new  plays.  The  first, 
"Stein  unter  Steinen"  (Stone  among  Stones), 
is  being  given  in  Germany  at  this  time.  Built 
on  an  underlying  motive  not  unlike  that  of 
Ibsen's  "When  We  Dead  Awake,"  it  aims  to 
show  that  the  hearts  of  the  majority  of  men 
to-day  in  their  relation  to  their  fellows  are 
being  turned  to  stone.  The  second  play,  "Das 
Blumenboot"  (The  Flower  Boat),  published 
in  book  form  but  not  yet  presented  on  the 
stage,  is  deemed  of  special  significance  as  in- 
dicating a  reaction  from  the  ultra-artistic  and 
sometimes  decadent  note  of  several  of  Suder- 
mann's  plays. 

"Stein  unter  Steinen"  is  a  popular  but  not  a 
critical  success.  No  contemporary  German 
playwright  has  had  as  much  trouble  with  the 
press  critics  as  Sudermann.     Some  years  ago 


he  was  moved  to  make  a  general  attack  on 
these  professional  judges  of  the  drama,  point- 
ing out  that,  while  he  has  generally  pleased 
the  theatre-going  public,  he  has  failed  to  elicit 
the  approval  of  the  critics.  Whatever  the 
causes  of  this  may  be,  his  new  play  has  not 
proved  an  exception  to  the  rule.  Most  of  the 
German  critics  have  passed  adverse  verdicts 
upon  it,  and  some  have  been  quite  severe  in 
their  comments.  It  has  been  pronounced  stale, 
shallow,  conventional  and  melodramatic — an 
attempt  to  imitate  Hauptmann  without  the 
latter's  courage  and  boldness  in  attacking  the 
ideals  and  sentiments  of  "bourgeois"  society. 

The  play  deals  with  the  subject  (not  un- 
familiar in  German  dramatic  literature)  of  the 
attitude  of  society  toward  an  ex-convict;  of 
the  struggles  and  hardships  encountered  by  a 
social  delinquent  after  his  release  from  prison. 
Instead  of  the  bread  of  sympathy  and  help,  he 
is  oflfered  the  stone  of  suspicion,  hostility  and 


MUSIC  AND  THE  DRAMA 


199 


persecution.  The  whole  philosophy  of  the  play 
is  summed  up  in  some  reflections  by  one  of  the 
•*good"  characters.    The  story  is  as  follows : 

Jacob  Bigler,  who  has  served  a  long  term  of 
imprisonment  at  hard  labor  for  the  crime  of 
manslaughter,  is,  upon  his  release,  taken  by 
an  old  master  stone-cutter  into  his  employ  as 
night-watchman.  The  employer  knows  Jacob's 
past,  but  his  workmen  do  not.  Jacob  never 
was  a  criminal  at  heart ;  he  had  killed  a  scoun- 
drel under  the  influence  of  passion  aroused  by 
outraged  love  for  a  girl  dishonored  by  the 
former. 

Jacob  has  an  enemy  in  his  predecessor  in  the 
place  of  night-watchman,  an  old  man  named 
Eichholtz.  An  accidental  remark  reveals  to 
the  workmen  the  secret  of  Jacob's  life,  and 
Eichholtz  makes  full  use  of  the  weapon  thus 
placed  in  his  hands. 

The  woricmen  scornfully  and  mercilessly 
turn  their  backs  on  the  ex-convict,  and  he 
finds  himself  once  more  a  social  outcast.  His 
dejection  would  be  extreme,  but  at  least  one 
human  being.  Lore,  the  daughter  of  the  old 
Eichholtz  (a  young  woman  who  had  been 
seduced  and  betrayed  by  one  of  the  stone- 
cutters, Gettling,  and  who,  with  an  illegitimate 
child  to  care  for,  has  known  suffering  and  neg- 
lect and  shame),  manifest  sympathy  and  kind- 
ness for  him,  and  this  introduces  a  ray  of  light 
and  comfort  into  his  unhappy  existence — ^this, 
and  also  his  art,  for  he  is  not  merely  a  laborer, 
but  a  true  artist  in  stone-cutting,  and  he  works 
early  and  late  at  his  art. 

Gettling  persecutes  Jacob  even  more  mali- 
ciously than  Lore's  father.  He  is  the  knave  of 
the  drama,  his  physical  attractiveness — for  he 
is  tall,  handsome,  strong — making  him  the 
more  dangerous.  Marie,  the  daughter  of  the 
employer,  a  cripple,  is  in  love  with  him,  and 
he  intends  to  abuse  her  confidence  and  affec- 
tion. Lore  discovers  this  from  his  boastful, 
impudent  hints,  and,  remembering  her  own 
infatuation  and  awakening,  she  has  a  violent 
scene  with  the  betrayer. 

Jacob  comes  in,  overhears  the  conversation, 
and  in  his  righteous  wrath  strikes  Gettling  and 
shows  himself  a  brave,  chivalrous  and  true 
man.  His  two  bitter  enemies  conspire  to  kill 
him  at  the  works,  but  the  plan  miscarries  and 
he  triumphs  over  all. 

He  wins  the  love  of  Lore,  who  defends  him 
before  her  confused  and  humbled  father  and 
who  exclaims  at  the  close,  "Listen,  it  is  hap- 
piness which  sings."  The  happiness  is  to  take 
the  form  of  a  union  of  the  two  who  have  un- 
derstood each  other  and  faced  the  pitiless 
world.     Lore    deplore?    th?    selfishness    and 


LUDWm  FULDA 

A  German  dramatist  who  comes  to  this  country  m 
February  to  read  from  his  plays  and  lecture  upon  the 
modern  drama. 

cruelty  of  men,  whose  hearts  so  easily  turn 
to  stone.  Nature,  she  says,  requires  long  ages 
to  form  her  rocks,  while  men's  hearts  die 
within  them  and  become  stone  in  a  short  time. 
They  work,  they  sleep,  eat  and  even  make 
merry,  but  in  truth  they  are  dead — for  their 
souls  have  been  turned  to  stone. 

This,  according  to  the  critics,  is  conven- 
tional melodrama,  not  honest,  genuine,  human 
drama.  Die  Gegenwart  (Berlin)  says  that  it 
is  "American"  in  its  conception,  "for  Suder- 
mann's  most  pronounced  characteristic  is  his 
Americanism,"  but  that  he  has  utterly  failed  to 
realize  it.  The  ending  is  commonplace,  and 
there  is  no  social  moral  in  the  play,  according 
to  this  critic.  Where,  he  asks,  is  the  stone? 
Jacob  is  not  one,  and  Lore  and  the  employer 
are  certainly  good  and  virtuous.  Besides, 
Jacob  is  not  really  an  ordinary  ex-convict;  he 
is  a  victim,  not  a  criminal,  and  an  artist  and 
hero  in  addition.    What  does  the  case  prove? 

Even  more  scathing  are  the  comments  of 
the  Allgemcine  Zeitung  (Munich),  which  says 
that  Sudermann,  with  all  his  independence  and 
heterodoxy,  has  not  risen  above  middle-class, 
Philistine  morals  and  sentiment. 

**Das  Blunienboot"  is  described  as  a  strong 
reading  play,  like  "Sodom's  End"  and 
"Home,"  a  sharp  social  satire,  full  of  d^mg- 


2oO 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


cratic  protest,  and  its  success  is  predicted  upon 
the  stage.  Much  of  its  sarcasm  will,  it  is 
thought,  there  be  found  very  telling. 

The  play  is  in  four  acts  and  an  "interlude" ; 
the  last  term  has  been  criticized  on  the  ground 
that  what  it  covers  is  an  integral  part  of  the 
drama.  This  deals  with  a  family  of  "ac- 
knowledged respectability,"  Hoyer  by  name, 
founded  by  a  self-made  business  man,  now  in 
his  dotage,  but  possessing  a  large  fortune.  The 
leading  characters  are  his  two  grandchildren, 
cousins,  Fred  and  Thea.  Fred  is  the  dissipated 
heir,  squandering  his  substance  in  riotous 
living  and  shamelessly  (albeit  amusingly) 
flaunting  his  wildness  in  the  face  of  his  family 
and  society.  The  character  of  Thea  sho>ys 
with  startling  frankness  the  naked  spiritual 
deformities  of  the  modern  German  "smart" 
woman.  She  cares  for  nothing  but  pleasure, 
despises  all  that  possesses  true  dignity,  and 
plays  with  the  most  sacred  things.  In  a  very 
remarkable  scene  with  her  married  sister, 
Raffaela,  she  reveals  the  most  unblushing  cor- 
ruption, at  the  very  moment  when  a  member 
of  the  aristocracy  is  at  the  door  to  ask  her 
hand.  This  suitor  she  rejects,  and,  having 
been  in  joke  engaged  to  Fred,  becomes  so  in 
earnest.    Under  stipulation  that  each  shall  re- 


tain full  liberty  to  do  whatever  may  seem 
pleasing,  they  marry  and  spend  their  wedding 
night  in  a  low  artists'  pot-house  known  to 
Fred.  What  appears  and  happens  here  forms 
the  intei-lude.  A  burlesque  actor  named  Little 
Moppel,  dropping  into  Thea's  ear  the  warning 
"not  to  make  herself  common,"  arouses  con- 
science and  womanhood.  After  a  struggle 
with  her  own  nature,  having  defied  and  mocked 
her  husband  (who  is  now  on  the  road  to  re- 
form), and  seen  Raffaela's  happiness  wrecked 
as  a  result  of  her  own  disgraceful  talk  to  her, 
she  comes  to  herself.  Wretchedness  of  heart 
is  seen  to  bloom  on  the  flowery  path  of  sin — 
in  the  hands  of  the  impure  and  the  weak, 
"freedom"  brings  indeed  only  enslavement — 
and  she  flees  to  her  husband's  side,  unheeding 
the  calls  of  "personality"  and  satisfied  hence- 
forward with  the  good  "old"  ways,  content  to 
be  just  a  woman. 

Fred's  and  Thea's  evolution  teaches  the 
natural  superiority  of  goodness,  propriety  and 
useful  activity  to  depravity,  looseness  and 
dissipation.  The  play  is  built  round  these  two 
characters,  and  (read  or  acted)  must  stand  or 
fall  with  them.  While  their  story  recalls 
"Sodom's  End,"  the  dinouement,  it  will  be 
seen,  is  brighter. 


THE  VISIT  OF  LUDWIG  FULDA 


Toward  the  end  of  February  those  of  us 
who  have  mastered  the  German  language  may 
have  the  pleasure  of  hearing  one  of  Germany's 
most  prominent  dramatists,  Ludwig  Fulda, 
reading  his  plays  and  lecturing  on  the  modem 
drama  at  Columbia  University.  For  several 
years  Americans  and  Germans  interested  in 
promoting  cordial  relations  between  this  coun- 
try and  the  Fatherland  have  directed  their  at- 
tention to  the  American  universities  as  a  splen- 
did medium.  The  Kaiser  favored  an  "ex- 
change of  professors,"  and  Professor  Peabody, 
of  Harvard,  took  the  initiative  in  delivering  a 
series  of  lectures  at  Berlin  University.  On 
this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  under  the  presidency 
of  Nicholas  Murray  Butler,  of  Columbia  Uni- 
versity, and  with  Carl  Schurz,  Andrew  D. 
White,  and  Seth  Low  as  vice-presidents,  a 
"Germanistic  Society"  has  been  formed  for 
the  purpose  of  furthering  the  study  of  German 
and  making  us  acquainted  with  the  leaders  of 
German   thought. 

Dr.  Fulda  speaks  under  the  auspices  of  this 


society.  He  is  a  playwright  who  was  classed 
among  the  "moderns"  some  ten  years  ago.  To- 
day Germany  listens  to  "misbegotten,  strange 
new  gods  of  song,"  of  which  he  is  not  one. 
Yet  though  the  extremists  may  not  bow  to*  him, 
his  plays  are  never  off  the  boards.  Once, 
under  the  spell  of  Sudermann,  he  went  for  a 
time  into  realism,  but  he  repented  long  ago, 
and  has  given  us  the  "Talisman"  and  "Jugend- 
freunde."  He  is  a  satirist  of  Aristophanic  po- 
tentialities. His  language  is  classic.  Fedor 
von  Zobeltitz,  his  friend,  gives  in  the  New 
Yorker  Revue  a  charming  account  of  the 
poet's  life.  "What  first  struck  me  when  I 
met  him,"  says  that  writer,  "was  his  lack  of 
appetite.  He  looked  the  true  German  poet, 
lean,  pale-cheeked  and  with  a  curl  hanging 
down  the  middle  of  his  forehead.  Later,  when 
he  became  famous,  he  combed  it  back."  It 
seems  that  even  at  that  time,  at  the  age  of 
twenty-one,  he  had  received  a  prize  for  a  one- 
act  comedy.  His  father  wanted  him  to  go  into 
business,  but  soon  the  poet's  incapacity  for 


MUSIC  AND  THE  DRAMA 


20I 


financial  tnuisactions  became  so  evident  that 
he  was  pennitted  to  study  philology.  But,  as 
the  Germans  say,  "the  lion  had  licked  blood,** 
and  soon  we  find  young  Fulda  eager  for  more 
theatrical  laurels.  And,  as  his  friend  admits, 
he  had  both  talent  and  luck.  Then  came  the 
realistic  intermezzo.  He  published  "Paradise 
Lost"  and  "The  Slave."  Both  show  strong 
dramatic  talent  and  fine  touches  of  feeling,  but 
lack  this  author's  greatest  gifts — satire  and 
humor. 

And  then  came  the  "Talisman."  The  poet 
had  found  himself.  The  play  is  written  in 
verse  and  combines  charming  freshness  of  feel- 
ing with  profound  truth.  It  is  built  upon  the 
legend  of  the  emperor  for  whom  a  crafty  de- 
ceiver pretends  to  weave  a  garment  so  finely 
spun  that  coarse-fibered  and  ignorant  people 
are  unable  to  see  it  at  all.  The  emperor,  un- 
willing to  confess  his  shortcomings,  and  with 
him  all  his  couit,  heaps  praises  upon  this  imag- 
inary apparel.  Finally  all  is  discovered,  but 
the  monarch  is  consoled  by  the  charming  line, 
"Du  bist  ein  Koenig  auch  in  Unterhosen," 
which  we  might  freely  render,  "Thou  art  a 


king  even  in  pajamas."  The  moral  and  its 
application  to  the  German  Emperor  are  obvi- 
ous, and  the  Kaiser  showed  his  mortification. 
When  in  1893  a  competent  committee  awarded 
the  Schiller  Prize  to  the  poet,  the  Emperor  re- 
fused his  sanction  and  Fulda  had  to  be  satis- 
fied with  the  applause  of  the  people  without  the 
superfluity  of  official  recognition.  Not  quite 
as  successful  was  "The  Son  of  the  Caliph," 
something  on  the  line  of  the  "Talisman."  But 
"Jugendf reunde,"  a  light  comedy,  and  his  won- 
derful translation  of  "Cyrano  de  Bergerac" 
were  decided  hits.  Among  his  other  transla- 
tions Zobeltitz  mentions  especially  "The  Mis- 
anthrope" and  "Tartuffe,"  also  Beaumarchais's 
"Figaro's  Marriage."  His  latest  play,  "Mas- 
querade," will  be  given  in  Conried's  German 
Theater,  New  York,  in  honor  of  the  author's 
presence. 

Mr.  Fulda  was  married  to  a  young  Viennese. 
actress,  but  it  seems  that  the  union  was  not 
very  happy  and  ended  in  separation.  The 
poet  has  published  several  books  of  verses  and 
is  famous  for  his  repartee.  He  is  also  an  ex- 
cellent lecturer. 


D'ANNUNZIO  AND  MODERN  ITALIAN  DRAMA 


D'Annunzio's  qualities  as  poet  and  play- 
wright may  savor  of  degeneracy,  btit  the  fact 
remains,  and  is  duly  emphasized  in  recent 
magazine  articles,  that  he  has  revolutiopized 
the  esthetic  and  dramatic  literature  of  modem 
Italy.  "Taking  D'Annunzio  as  a  whole,"  says 
Annetta  Halliday-Antona  in  the  New  York 
Critic,  "it  is  undoubtedly  true  that  no  Italian 
writer  since  Dante  has  done  so  much  for  his 
language." 

"Why  do  you  get  down  in  the  dirt  so?" 
D'Annunzio  was  asked  one  day  by  an  Italian 
critic.  **Would  you  call  the  primary  instincts 
the  principal  instincts  in  life,  the  best  heritage 
that  has  come  down  to  us  after  all  these  cen- 
turies?" And  D'Annunzio,  whose  fundamental 
faith  is  in  aristocracy  and  lineage,  answered 
that  because  of  their  long  descent  these  pri- 
mary instincts  were  of  the  utmost  importance. 
His  reply  is  cited  by  the  writer  in  The  Critic 
as  an  indication  of  his  attitude  toward  "the 
mightiest  problem  that  life  possesses  for  him 
as  yet,  the  sex  emotion,  the  attitude  of  man 
towards  woman,  and  of  woman  towards  man." 

D'Annunzio,  says  the  same  writer,  is  "a 
type  of  the  new  Italian,^  the  Italian  with  whom 


Keats,  Rossetti,  Holman  Hunt,  Shelley  and 
Bume- Jones  are  enthusiasms,  and  who  is  as 
familiar  with  German  philosophy  and  English 
estheticisms  as  with  the  classics."  He  is  pas- 
sionately fond  of  music,  and  closely  allied  to 
his  love  of  music  is  his  love  of  color  and  of 
smell.  For  every  odor  he  has  a  name.  He 
speaks  of  fruit  odors  as  ethereal,  of  gum  odors 
as  fragrant,  of  musk  odors  as  ambrosial. 
Shells,  beetles,  birds,  man,  all  speak  to  the 
color-sense  in  him;  even  black  has  a  pleasur- 
able effect  upon  him.  He  says  of  the  strength 
of  beauty:  "What  great  elemental  force, — 
flood,  frost,  fire, — can  compare  with  that  love- 
liest, strongest  thing  in  the  world,  the  sweet 
gold  of  sunlight?  The  life  essence  of  the 
plant  world  is  chlorophyl  or  emerald  coloring, 
the  life  essence  of  the  animal  organism  is  ruby 
red;  both  are  types  of  the  beauty  of  color." 
To  quote  further: 

"D'Annunzio  has  often  been  called  a  pagan. 
It  is  his  birthright  Paganism  is  essentially  an 
Italian  attribute,  and  this  paganism,  stirring  be- 
neath all  of  the  religious  strata,  stimulated  the 
whole  Renaissance  movement.  In  Italian  litera- 
ture this  strain  has  always  shown  itself  in  a  very 
wide  license  of  speech,  hence  D'Annunzio's  chap- 


203 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


4                        1     /                               /'"'J^^^^^^L                   ^B 

iflhSliS 

D'ANNUNZIO  AT  THE  CHASE 
Showing  a  picturesque  phase  of  Italian  life  on  the  Roman  Campagna. 


ter  of  horrors,  the  pilgrimage  to  Casalbordino, 
which  out-Zolas  Zola  s  'Lourdes.'  All  the  docile 
apprentice  habit  of  mind  which  is  his,  is  not  al- 
together an  unmixed  blessing,  for  as  a  result  the 
Italian  author  has  levied  tribute  right  and  left. 
Zola,  Bourget,  Loti,— every  page  pricks  one  into 
remembrance.  An  ardent  student  of  Petrarch, 
of  Cino  da  Pistoja,  of  Benuccio  Salimbeni, 
Saviozzo  da  Siena,  all  the  centuries  from  the 
twelfth  onward,  contribute  to  his  works.  He 
would  have  made  an  admirable  member  of  the 
coterie  of  Lorenzo  de  Medici." 

Miss  Helen  Zimmern,  writing  in  The  Corn- 
hill  Magazine  (London)  on  the  conditions  that 
have  made  possible  the  vogue  of  D'Annunzio's 
dramas  in  Italy,  points  out  that  problem  plays 
find  no  favor  with  Italian  audiences,  whereas 
historical  plays,  pronounced  dull  by  an  English- 
speaking  public,  appear  greatly  to  please  them. 
She  continues : 

"This  taste  originates,  perhaps,  in  the  classical 
traditions  of  the  Italians.  .  .  .  They  will  listen 
for  hours,  and  with  the  most  rapt  attention, 
to  what  a  northerner  would  call  empty 
tion,  to  what  a  northerner  would  call  empty 
flight  of  rhetoric;  they  will  applaud  to  the  echo 
interminable  speeches  of  richly  coloured  words 
and  rolling  periods,  regardless  of  the  fact  that 
when  reduced  to  plain  speech  they  contain  few 
ideas,  and  are  compounded  chiefly  of  'words,  idle 
words';    sufficient   if  they  are   musically   woven 


and  tickle  the  sensitive  and  innately  true  ear  of 
the  Italian.  Hence  in  part  the  great  and  over- 
whelming success  achieved  by  Gabriele  d'An- 
nunzio." 

So  successful  a  dramatist  as  D'Annunzio 
was«bound  to  have  imitators,  and  Miss  Zim- 
mern thinks  that  "in  pointing  them  to  higher 
dramatic  ideals  than  those  of  mere  amusement 
he  certainly  has  done  good  work."  Unfor- 
tunately his  followers,  for  the  most  part,  have 
his  faults  without  his  genius.  There  is  one 
Italian  dramatist,  however,  whose  works,  the 
writer  predicts,  will  far  outlast  D'Annunzio's 
"magnificently  worded  but  immoral  fireworks." 
His  name  is  E.  A.  Butti,  a  man  as  yet  hardly 
known  outside  of  Italy,  Other  young  writers 
who  are  making  their  way  without  evincing 
D'Annunzio's  decadent  and  morbid  character- 
istics are  Roberto  Bracco,  of  the  school  of 
Hauptmann ;  Giuseppe  Giacosa,  a  light  comedy 
writer;  Rovetta,  a  historical  dramatist;  and 
Praga,  whose  amusing  plays  are  very  success- 
ful. Miss  Zimmern  says  finally:  "One  thing 
is  certain.  No  other  nation  has  a  modern 
drama  so  full  of  high  classical  aspirations,  so 
remote,  as  a  whole,  in  its  essence,  from  the 
trivial  humdrum  of  life,  so  desirous  to  take  its 
auditors  outside  the  daily  routine  of  existence." 


MUSIC  AND  THE  DRAMA 


203 


"MASQUERADE"— LUDWIG  FULDA'S  LATEST  DRAMA 


This  play,  which  is  shortly  to  be  produced  In 
Xew  York  by  Conried's  German  company,  is, 
from  a  literary  point  of  view,  the  best  dramatic 
production  of  the  past  year  in  Europe.  It  is  a 
scathing  satire  on  the  tociety  of  the  upper 
German  officials  and  the  mariage  de  conve- 
nance  which  in  the  upper  circles  of  the  gov- 
ernment has  developed  into  an  institution  the 
unwritten  laws  of  which  can  rarely  be  broken 
except  at  the  cost  of  social  and  official  ostra- 
cism. The  drama  is  brilliantly  written  in  every 
part,  contains  more  action  and  plot  than  most 
modern  high-class  plays,  and  holds  the  reader's 
attention  from  beginning  to  end. 

The  central  characters  are  Max  Freiherr 
von  Wittinghof  (brother  of  Karl,  Minister  of 
State)  and  Gerda  Hiibner,  his  natural  daugh- 
ter. The  relations  between  von  Wittinghof 
and  the  mother  of  Gerda  are  founded  on  real 
mutual  love,  and  he  is  determined  to  marry 
her  in  spite  of  the  family  opposition ;  but  such 
enormous  pressure  is  brought  to  bear  upon  him 
that  he  finds  himself  powerless  to  resist.  He 
becomes  the  victim  of  physical  and  mental 
prostration  and  is  all  but  forced  to  contract  a 
so-called  "proper"  marriage.  He  then  goes  to 
America  as  ambassador,  and  leads  a  cheerless 
existence  with  his  wife  and  sickly  child.  After 
the  death  of  both  of  these  he  returns  to  Berlin. 
Hb  daughter  Gerda  consistently  refuses  to 
have  anything  to  do  with  him,  as  she  has  re- 
fused before  all  his  offers  of  financial  assist- 
ance. Her  mother  had  been  left  under  the 
impression  created  by  the  family  that  he  aban- 
doned her  of  his  own  free  will,  and  Gerda 
naturally  cherishes  a  strong  resentment  against 
the  man  who  has  ruined  her  mother's  life  and 
left  her  to  the  humiliation  attaching  to  an 
illegal  child 

Finally  he  succeeds  in  gaining  admission  to 
her,  and  Gerda  is  somewhat  reconciled  when 
she  hears  the  story  from  his  own  lips,  and 
when  he  tells  her  of  his  intention  immediately 
to  make  her  his  legal  child.  She  then  informs 
him:  **I  am  not  what  you  consider  me  to  be. 
I  am  not  worthy  in  your  eyes.  I  have  a  lover." 
The  father  is  shocked.  "This  I  truly  have  not 
suspected !"  he  exclaims.  "Now  you  know  all," 
Gerda  continues.  "I  have  been  honest  with 
you  as  you  with  me,  and  now  we  are  even. 
Forget  me  and  let  everything  be  as  before." 
And  as  she  bursts  into  tears,  the  father 
soothes  her:  "Poor  child  I  poor  child!  Calm 
yourself!    I  am  with  you;  I  shall  not  go.    Did 


you  really  think  that  I  would  now  don  the 
mantle  of  virtue  and  abandon  you?"  Then 
follows  this  dialogue: 

Gerda:  After  you  have  heard  what  has  hap- 
pened to  me? 

Father:  Nothing  better  and  nothing  worse 
than  what  happened  to  your  mother  through 
me.  And  for  this  also  I  am  to  blame.  For  I 
am  your  father  and  have  not  protected  you. 

Gerda:  No,  no,  no!  I  should  have  protected 
myself. 

Father:  Well,  that  would  surely  have  been 
wiser.  And  it  would  be  pleasanter  to  me  for 
your  sake. 

Gerda:    Now  you  sec  that 

Father:  I  see  that  circumstances  are  some- 
what different  from  what  I  have  imagined.  But 
that  I  am  not  concerned  in  this  matter  any  more 
I  cannot  see.  On  the  contrary.  And  at  any  rate 
I  should  be  the  last  to  cast  a  stone  at  you;  nor 
have  I  the  least  desire  to  do  so. 

Gerda:  This  is — ^this  is  indeed  a  miracle! 
Do  miracles  still  happen? 

Father:  Yes,  child,  that  is  the  way  it  is  in 
this  foolish  world.  The  most  natural  thing  al- 
ways seems  to  be  the  most  wonderful.  But  we 
will  not  philosophize  any  more  about  that  which 
carmot  be  changed ;  we  will  consider  together  how 
to  proceed  further  in  this  matter.  Come,  sit 
down  beside  me  and  you  will  tell  me  everything, 
will  you  not?    {Gerda  nods  assent,) 

Father:    You  love  him  very  much? 

Gerda  (softly)  :    Yes. 

Father:    And  he  you  also? 

Gerda:  He  has  avowed  it  to  me  a  hundred 
times. 

Father:  Did  he  ever  speak  to  you  of  mar- 
riage ? 

Gerda:  There  never  was  any  talk  about  that 
between  us. 

Father:  What  is  his  idea  about  that,  do  you 
think? 

Gerda:    There   are   very   great   obstacles. 

Father:  You  think  this  is  all  that  keeps 
him ? 

Gerda:    Yes,  I  do.    I  must  think  so. 

Father:  And  what  is  the  nature  of  these 
obstacles  ? 

Gerda:    He  is  a  government  official. 

Father:    So,  so? 

Gerda :  And,  above  all,  his  parents. 

Father:    Who  is  he? 

Gerda :  He  is  the  son  of  the  Privy  Councillor 
Schellhorn. 

Father:    Schellhorn?    Well,  I  do  declare! 

Gerda:    Do  you  know  him? 

Father:  The  father,  yes,  very  well.  We  were 
classmates  at  the  university.  He  is  a  mighty 
career-hunter  before  the  Lord.  Too  respectable 
for  my  tastes.  That's  why  T  have  gradually 
dropped  all  connections  with  him.  To  his  great 
sorrow,  my  brother  is  his  chief.  He  will  be 
overjoyed. 

Gerda:    How  do  you  mean? 

Fathers:  Now  the  matter  has  assumed  a  prac- 
tical aspect.  Now  I  am  in  a  position  to  clear  the 
way  for  two  lovers. 


304 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


Gerda:    How  so? 

Father:  When  you  become  Frauldn  von  Wit- 
tinghof,  then  the  young  man  has  no  choice;  then 
he  must  marry  you. 

Gerda:  No,  it  must  not  be  carried  to  that 
point,  under  any  circumstances!  You  must  ex- 
ercise no  restraint  over  him.  Besides  there  is 
no  cause  for  such  a  thing.  He  loves  me.  He 
must  be  given  perfect  freedom  to  decide  what  he 
considers   proper. 

Von  Wittinghof  visits  the  Privy  Councillor, 
tells  him  that  he  has  a  daughter  who  has  al- 
ways lived  in  Berlin,  and  who  is  acquainted 
witii  his  son,  and  invites  them  to  his  house  for 
the  next  day.  The  son  knows  nothing  of  the 
significance  of  the  invitation,  but  his  father 
interprets  the  unexpected  visit  aright:  the 
daughter  of  von  Wittinghof  must  have  fallen 
in  love  with  his  son  Edmund,  the  government 
assessor,  and  he  congratulates  him  on  his  good 
fortune  in  being  able  to  make  such  a  brilliant 
match.  Then  the  son  tells  him  of  his  love-af- 
fair with  Gerda,  which  he  represents  as  more 
serious  than  the  ordinary  affairs  of  that  sort, 
for  the  reason  that  she  is  a  good,  honest  girl 
who  loves  him  truly.  "You  don't  mean  to  say 
that  you  have  deceived  a  girl  of  good  family?" 
exclaims  his  father  in  fright,  and  when  Ed- 
mund tells  him  that  she  is  an  illegitimate  child, 
"Oh  I"  he  says,  "such  a  creature,  such  a  piece 
of  womanhood  1"  and  he  laughs  away  his  son's 
scruples,  and  bids  him  write  to  her,  breaking 
off  sdl  relations  with  her.  Edmund  offers  some 
opposition,  but  finally  complies.  Gerda  comes 
to  live  with  her  father,  and  Edmund's  letter  is 
brought  to  her  from  her  former  quarters  just 
as  Schellhorn  and  his  wife  are  visiting  them. 
Von  Wittinghof  sends  her  into  her  room  to 
read  the  letter,  telling  her  that  he  will  have 
disclosed  everything  to  the  Privy  Councillor  be- 
fore calling  her  back.  In  the  meantime  Ed- 
mund enters.  Soon  Gerda  rushes  into  their 
presence  in  a  state  of  extreme  excitement: 

Gerda:  No  more!  'Tis  no  longer  necessary! 
The  hide-and-seek  game  is  over!    All  is  over  I 

Von  Wittinghof:  Child,  for  God's  sake!  (Runs 
up  to  her.) 

Privy  Councillor  (perplexed) :  What  is  the 
matter  with  the  baroness? 

Edmund  (with  staring  eyes)  :  Gerda ! 

Gerda  (with  a  wild  burst  of  laughter)  :  Ha ! 
ha!  he  has  arranged  it  finely;  he  has  arranged  it 
in  an  extremely  fine  fashion,  the  young  man  of 
good  family!  Hfi  must  marry  rich;  papa  wants 
it  so.  And  that  is  why  he  thrusts  me  aside  like 
a  dog.    These  are  his  own  statements. 

Privy  Councillor:  The  Baroness  is  sick!  She 
is  raving. 

Edmund  (seising  himself  by  the  hair)  :  Where 
am  I? 

Gerda:  These  are  his  vows!  These  are  his 
kisses ! 


Von  Wittinghof:  Child,  you  are  beside  your- 
self; consider 

Gerda  (to  von  Wittinghof)  :  And  do  you  know 
for  whom  he  flings  me  aside?  Do  you  know  who 
is  the  brilliant  party  for  whom  he  betrays  zne 
and  sells  me?  It  is  your  daughter,  to  whom  they 
have  just  paid  their  court,  according  to  the  ac- 
cepted formula,  in  order  to  catch  her  for  their 
dear  son!    Do  you  understand? 

Privy  Councillor:  Am  I  mad?  Are  we  all  of 
us  mad  together? 

Edmund:  Gerda 

Gerda  (giving  the  letter  to  her  father) :  There 
— read  it,  read  it!  And  you  will  laugh  as  I  di<L 
Oh,  it  is  grand !  He  must  give  me  the  slip  on  the 
same  day  when,  rigged  out  in  his  best  frock  coat, 
he  comes  here  as  matrimonial  candidate  1  Do  you 
understand?  He  first  had  to  clear  the  field. 
Papa  wanted  it  so ! 

Edmund:   Gerda,  if  I  tell  you 

Privy  Councillor:  You  call  her  Gerda?  What 
does  that  mean?  What  does  that  mean?  Will 
you  tell  me  at  once,  or  am  I  to  lose  my  senses? 

Edmund:  It  is  you  who  have  cooked  this  dish 
fof  me,  papa!  It  is  you  I  have  to  thank  for 
this! 

Privy  Councillor:  What  does  this  mean?  What 
does  this  mean? 

Von  Wittinghof  (after  glancing  over  the  let- 
ter) :     That  is  strong ! 

Gerda:  Sorry  for  your  shrewd  scheme,  Mr. 
Government  Assessor!  Sorry  that  vou  did  not 
find  the  Baroness  whom  you  were  looking  for! 
Awfully  sorry  that  your  beloved  Gerda,  in  the 
meantime,  is  not  tearing  her  hair  out  in  despair 
in  her  room,  without  so  much  as  a  cock  crowing 
for  her!  That's  how  you  have  imagined  it,  is  it 
not  so?    This  is  what  you  wanted,  eh? 

Privy  Councillor:  Your  Excellency!  I  beg  of 
you,  your  Excellency,  who  is  this?  What  does 
this  mean? 

Von  Wittinghof:  This  scene  was  not  meant  to 
be  in  the  play.    You  were  in  too  great  a  hurry. 

Gerda :  Yes,  gentlemen !  Yes,  my  noble,  worthy, 
highly  respectable  gentlemen!  I  am  only  a  poor 
girl,  a  misled,  deceived,  lost  girl!  But  shame 
upon  you !  You  should  be  ashamed  to  stand  here 
in  front  of  me,  ashamed  down  to  the  marrow  of 
your  bones !  Not  for  all  the  glory  in  the  world 
would  I  stand  before  you  as  you  now  stand  be- 
fore me! 

Privy  Councillor:  Your  Excellency!  Your  Ex- 
cellency! Is  not  this  the  Baroness?  Is  not  this 
your  daughter? 

Von  Wttinghof  (drawing  Gerda  to  his  breast)  : 
Yes,  it  is  my  daughter,  rrivy  Councillor.  It  is 
my  dear,  poor  child. 

Privy  Councillor:  But  all-merciful  God,  how 
am  I  to  explain 

Von  Wittinghof:  You  see  that  my  child  needs 
to  be  spared  now.  Your  son  will  explain  to  you 
all  the  rest 

On  the  next  day  the  following  scene  takes 
place  between  Gerda  and  Edmund : 

Edmund :    Gerda ! 

Gerda:    What  do  you  want  of  me  now? 
Edmund:    Can  you  pardon  me? 
Gerda :    No. 

Edmund :  Gerda,  do  you  know  why  I  am  here 
now?    Has  not  my  mother  spoken  to  you? 


MUSIC  AND  THE  DRAMA 


flos 


Gerda :  It  is  for  her  sake  I  have  accepted  your 
visit.  You  can  see  from  this  how  great  a  regard 
I  hare  for  her.  She  could  not  have  asked  me  for 
anything  that  would  have  meant  a  greater  sac- 
rifice. 

EdmMud :    I  am  here  to  ask  you 

Gerda:  What?  (She  sees  the  Howers  which 
he  holds  in  his  hands,)  Ah,  so  I  First  the  thorns 
and  then  the  roses  1  (Takes  the  flowers  and 
throws  them  on  a  chair.) 

Edmund:  I  am  here  to  ask  you  if  you  want 
to  become  my  wife.  I — ^hm — I  ask  you  herewith 
for  your  hand. 

Gerda  (mockingly)  :    Much  obliged ! 

Edmmnd:  I  ask  for  your  hand  with  the  con- 
sent of  your  parents  and  in  altogether  official 
fashion. 

Gerda:  You  have  a  wonderful  capacity  for 
adapting  yourself  to  conditions,  my  friend;  I 
must  admit  that.  You  are  an  artist  of  the  first 
water.  Three  days  ago  you  swore  to  me  'that 
yon  k>ved  me,  that  I  could  always  depend  on  your 
tove.  Yesterday  you  sent  me  your  parting  letter. 
To-day  you  make  an  offer  of  marriage  to  me. 
Speed  works  no  magic. 

Edmund:  Gerda,  you  have  not  the  least  ink- 
ling of  what  I  have  passed  through  since  yester- 
day. 

Gerda:  So?  Have  I  overestimated  vour  elas- 
ticity? Did  you  have  to  give  yourself  a  thrust 
each  time?  And  is  that  to  be  the  end  of  it? 
Or  what  event  is  to  come  to-morrow  and  the 
day  after  to-morrow  ? 

Edmund:  I  pray  you,  stop  this  mocking  I  I 
have  been  punished  severely  enough.  You  have 
not  gone  through  what  I  have  been  through  with 
my  father ;  you  can  have  no  idea.  I  made  it  hard 
for  him  before  he  won  me  over,  I  assure  you.  We 
abnost  had  a  fight    I  fought  for  you 

Gerda:    Like  a  lion. 

Edmund:  Until  loss  of  consciousness.  It 
is  an  absolute  puzzle  to  me  how  he  managed  to 
get  me  after  all.  He  took  advantage  of  my  mo- 
mentary confusion;  he  forced  that  letter  from 
D2C,  got' it  from  me  by  trickery. 

Gerda:  But  vou  wrote  it  with  your  own  hand. 

Edmund :  And  when  I  was  through  with  it  I 
bowled  like  a  dog. 

Gerda:    It  is  heart-rending. 

Edmund:  When  it  was  sent  away  I  had  to 
sommon  all  my  resolution  to  keep  from  sending 
a  bullet  through  my  head. 

Gerda:  And  then  you  stunmoned  all  your 
resolution  again,  swallowed  your  grief,  and  came 
here  to  catdi  the  goldfish. 

Edmund:  But  in  what  a  condition,  Gerda  1  It 
was  a  kind  of  hypnotic  state.  Yes,  upon  my 
honor  1  But  when  I  came  back  to  my  senses, 
when  I  awoke  as  if  from  a  nightmare 

Gerda:    Aroused  by  met 

Edmund:  My  suffering,  how  shall  I  describe 
it  to  you?  My  regrets,  my  feeling  of  utter 
annihilation,  my  self-reproach — ^it  was  simply 
horrible!  And  yet  I  said  to  myself  over  and 
over  again :  It  is  unthinkable,  positively  unthink- 
able that  one  weak  hour  should  destroy  and 
Jwccp  away  what  we  have  shared  with  each 
other!  'An  hour  against  five  blissful  months  I 
Gerda,  were  we  not  like  angels  in  the  seventh 
heaven?    Was  I  not  your  Edmund?    Were  you 


not  my  sweet  little  mousie?  And  all  this  shall  be 
as  if  it  were  not?  Gerda,  if  you  ever  loved 
me 

Gerda:  Yes,  I  loved  you  with  a  love  that  you 
did  not  deserve  and  did  not  understand.  I  loved 
you,  because  I  saw  in  you  something  which  you 
do  not  possess,  and  which  you  can  never  a^aln 
have  in  mjr  eyes.  I  gave  you  all  I  had  to  f^ve; 
you  took  it  with  the  promise  to  guard  it  as 
something  sacred,  but  with  the  secret  thought 
that  it  could  never  be  anything  else  than  an 
amusement  for  a  while.  You  were  dishonest 
toward  me  from  the  first  moment;  that  your 
letter  has  proved.  From  this  letter  I  came  to 
recognize  you,  and  I  shiver  down  to  the  marrow 
of  my  bones  at  the  thought  of  having  thrown 
myself  away  in  that  manner.  Five  months  long 
I  have  been  your  mistress;  but  it  is  only  since 
yesterday  that  you  have  dishonored  me.  (Bursts 
into  tears,) 

Edmund:  Deary,  dear  little  mousie!  Think 
of  me  what  you  will;  only  don't  think  that  I 
have  ceased  to  love  you.  Quite  the  contrary. 
Only  now  I  have  come  to  know  clearly  what 
you  are  to  me— now  that  I  was  about  to  lose 
you !  -Gerda,  I  love  you  more  than  ever.  Come, 
take  out  that  ill-fated  letter,  and  we  will  tear  it 
into  a  thousand  pieces— and  everything  will  be 
again  as  it  was  before;  no,  a  hundred  thousand 
times  more  beautiful.  Yes,  when  you  will  be  my 
dear  little  bride,  and  then  my  adored  little 
wife 

Gerda:  (has  dried  her  tears,  again  in  a  com- 
posed voice)  :  In  truth,  my  friend,  this  is  a  solu- 
tion with  which  you  ought  to  be  satisfied.  You 
kill  two  birds  with  one  stone.  You  can  make 
good  your  broken  pledge  and  get  a  large  fortune, 
besides.  The  sweet  mousie  and  the  good  party 
in  one  person — ^my  deary,  what  else  do  you  want? 

Edmund:  I  want  only  you.  All  else  is  Of  no 
importance  to  me. 

Gerda:  And  if  I  had  not  happened  to  find  a 
rich,  noble  father,  what  then? 

Edmund:  What  is  the  use  of  thinking  about 
it?       Fortunately  you  did  find  him. 

Gerda:  If  I  had  remained  the  lonely,  poor 
girl  that  I  was,  what  then,  I  ask  you?  Would 
you  have  kept  on  loving  me  then?  Would  you 
nave  come  to  me  then  to  recall  your  letter? 

Edmund:    Yes,  I  would. 

Gerda:  Yes?  Really?  And  you  would  have 
asked  me  to  become  your  wife? 

Edmund:  What  I  would  have  done  in  that 
case,  I  cannot  tell  you  exactly  at  this  moment 
But  one  thing  you  ought  to  believe  uncondi- 
tionally: I  should  never  have  been  able  to  leave 
youl  I  could  not  have  lived  without  you.  I 
should  have  returned  to  you  under  any  circum- 
stances. 

Gerda :  Yes,  after  the  marriage  with  your  gold- 
fish was  over.  There  are  married  men  who 
don't  object  to  a  thing  of  that  kind. 

Edmund :  No !  on  my  word  of  honor,  I  should 
not  have  married  that  way.  Ten  horses  could  not 
have  dragged  me  to  do  a  thing  of  that  kind. 
I  should  have  belabored  my  father,  day  and 
night,  until  he  gave  in,  and  if  it  came  to  the 
worst,  I  should  rather  have  let  him  go  and  the 
whole  rigmarole  of  position  and  career  than 
have   let  you  go. 


2o6 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


Gerda  {apparently  conquered)  :  If  that  is 
the  case,  Edmund,  then  we  will  tear  up  the  letter. 

Edmund      (approaches  her)  :    Well,  then? 

Gerda  (drawing  back)  :  But  how  am  I  to 
know  that  you  speak  the  truth  this  time? 

Edmund:^  What  would  I  not  do  to  be  able 
to  prove  to  you 

Cerda:    You  can  prove  it  to  me  on  the  spot. 

Edmund:    In  what  way? 

Gerda:  Because  I  have  resolved  not  to  ac- 
cept the  generous  offer  of  my  father. 

Edmund:    What? 

Gerda:  I  do  not  want  to  accept  a  position  in 
life  to  which  I  have  not  been  trained.  I  do  not 
want  to  live  on  the  beneficence  of  a  man  who 
has  so  long  denied  me.  I  decline  to  become  legit- 
imized, and  I  remain  the  same  Gerda  Hiibner 
whom  you  knew  when  you  first  fell  in  love  with 
me. 

Edmund:    Are  you  in  real  earnest? 

Gerda :    Absolutely. 

Edmund:  And  your  father,  what  does  he  say 
to  it? 

Gerda:    He  cannot  keep  me  against  my  will. 

Edmund:  Gerda,  are  you  completely  out  of 
your  mind? 

Gerda:    I  think  not. 

Edmund:  You  are  not  going  to  throw  away 
such  a  colossal,  such  a  fabulous  fortune,  for  a 
caprice,  a  phantom? 

Gerda:  Do  I  not  have  you,  my  future  hus- 
band?      You  will  be  my  fortune. 

Edmund:  Gerda,  you  will  not  do  it!  You 
will  not  commit  such  a  colossal,  such  a  stupen- 
dous, such  a  crying  absurdity! 

Gerda:  Are  you  going  to  prevent  me? 

Edmund:    Yes,   I  certainly  will. 

Gerda:    By   what   right? 

Edmund:  Well,  it  seetns  to  me  that  as  your 
future  husband,  I  shall  also  have  a  word  to  say 
about   it. 

Gerda :    Aha ! 

Edmund:  As  you  intended,  I  have  the  right 
to  exert  myself  to  the  utmost  to  keep  you  from 
such  a  frivolous  step. 

Gerda:    Frivolous? 

Edmund:  Yes,  frivolous!  I  can  find  no  other 
word  for  it.  Now,  when  such  good  luck  has 
befallen  both  of  us,  now,  when  it  becomes 
a  social  possibility  for  us  to  unite,  and  all  ob- 
stacles are  removed 

Gerda     (pointing   to   the  door)  :    Go ! 

Edmund:    What  does  that  mean? 

Gerda:    Go!     I  despise  you! 

Edmund  (in  a  rage) :  Gerda — ^that  word — 
you  will  take  back! 

Gerda:    Go,  I  tell  you. 

Edmund:  I  am  an  officer.  I  must  not  take 
this  even  from  a  woman  I 

Gerda:  Go,  or  I  will  repeat  it  in  the  presence 
of  my  father. 

Edmund:    Calm  yourself!     Consider 

Gerda:  Don't  you  believe  me?  (Rings  the 
hell.) 

Edmund:  You  are  going  to  carry  this  mad 
caprice    so    far 

Gerda:  (to  the  servant  who  ansivcrs  the 
bell) :  Tell  my  father  to  please  come  in  here. 
(Servant  goes.) 

Edmund:  Once  more,  take  that  word  back  be- 
fore it  is  too  late! 


Gerda:    It  is  too  late. 

Edmund  (as  if  petrified):  Gerda! — (Thewm 
ivith  resolve)  :  You  will  yet  regret  it.  (Leaves 
quickly.     Von  Wittinghof  enters,) 

Von  IVittinghof:    What  was  it?    Is  he  gone? 

Gerda:  Forever.  I  have  given  him  his  walk- 
ing   papers. 

Von  mttinghof:    So?     After  all? 

Gerda:  It  is  now  only  that  he  has  completely 
revealed  himself  to  me.  Excuse  me;  I  cannot 
marry  a  man  whom  I  no  longer  respect. 

Von  IVittinghof:  Do  you  understand  the  sig- 
nificance  of  Siis? 

Gerda:  Oh,  yes.  I  have  upset  the  plan  whicli 
you  have  made  for  me  with  so  much  devotion. 
In  return  for  all  yrour  good  will,  I  have  put  you 
in  a  painrul  situation.  And  therefore,  I  beg  you, 
let  me  bear  all  the  consequences  myself.  What 
I  have  said  to  him  in  order  to  put  him  to  the 
test  I  repeat  to  you  as  my  honest  wish:  Re- 
nounce your  noble  purpose !  I  treat  ft  as  if  ac- 
cepted and  will  always  preserve  a  grateful,  loving 
remembrance  of  you.  But  permit  me  to  remain 
what  I  was  and  let  me  go  my  own  way.  Don't 
charge  yourself  with  my  fate.  You  have  better 
things  to  do. 

Von  IVittinghof :  Bravo,  my  child !  Bravo ! 
I  also  have  i)ut  you  to  the  test,  and  you  have 
stood  it  brilliantly.  You  are  not  hypocritical ; 
you  do  not  speculate;  you  do  not  play  a  double 
game.  In  you  I  already  perceive  the  new  day 
which  I  wish  had  dawned  upon  the  entire  land. 
You  are  my  genuine  daughter;  by  my  poor  soul, 
I  am  proud  of  you! 

Gerda :    But 

Von  IVittinghof :  And  do  you  think  that  I  can 
now  let  ycu  go  from  me? 

Gerda:  The  world  in  which  you  live,  your  so- 
ciety  

Von  IVittinghof :  I  care  not  a  rush  for  socicty. 
What  has  it  offered  me  thus  far,  what  can  it 
offer  in  the  future  to  outbalance  you?  And 
if  the  ground  here  should  grow  too  hot  under 
my  feet — God's  house  has  many  habitations. 

Gerda:  No  matter  where  you  may  take  me, 
my  life  is  ruined. 

Von  IVittinghof:  Child,  you  are  young,  and 
the  possibihies  of  life  are  infinite.  You  need  not 
mourn  for  that  man.  And  if  you  only  wish  to. 
you  can  have  someone  who  belongs  to  you.  I 
think  I  shall  last  yet  for  some  time  at  least. 
Gerda,  do  you  wish  to  remain  with  me? 

Gerda  (falling  on  his  breast)  :  Yes;  for  I  love 
you! 

(The  Privy  Councillor  enters.) 

Gerda  (drawing  back  from  her  father  in 
fright)  :    I  will  go. 

Von  IVittinghof:  No,  stay  here!  We  owe 
ourselves  this  satisfaction. 

Privy  Councillor:  May  I  congratulate  you? — 
But  where  is  Edmund? 

Von  IVittinghof :  1  am  sorry,  but  my  daughter 
must  decline. 

Privy   Councillor:    What? 

Von  Wittinghof:  She  declines  the  honorable 
offer  of  your  son  with  thanks. 

Privy   Councillor :     Why  ? 

Von  hittinghof:  Because  he  was  not  capable 
of  inspiring  her  with  the  confidence  necessary  for 
a  permanent  union. 

Privy   Councillor :    That   donkey ! 


Persons   in   the   Foreground 


THE  MAN  OF  THE  RISING  INFLECTION 


The  deadly  power  of  an  interrogation  mark 
was  probably  never  more  clearly  shown  than 
in  the  questions  which,  during  a  series  of 
eventful  weeks,  Charles  Evans  Hughes  has 
been  putting  courteously  but  pitilessly  to  life 
insurance  officials.  The  object  of  the  ques- 
tions was  to  secure  a  basis  for  legislative  re- 
forms; but  even  before  a  single  recommenda- 
tion for  such  reforms  had  been  made  by  the 
committee  of  investigation  or  a  legislative 
step  taken,  and  before  any  criminal  proceedings 
had  been  instituted,  the  questions  themselves 
and  the  facts  they  elicited  from  unwilling  wit- 
nesses had  driven  from  their  financial  thrones 
the  presidents  of  the  three  mammoth  insurance 
societies,  forced  the  resignations  of  numerous 
lesser  officials  and  exerted  an  influence  which 
has  been  almost  unparalleled  in  the  toning  up 
of  financial  institutions  and  the  elevation  of 
financial  standards  throughout  the  country. 

It  is  said  that  a  man  with  a  fiddle  having  but 
one  string  can,  if  the  string  produces  just  the 
right  note,  fiddle  a  bridge  into  collapse.  Mr. 
Hughes's  rising  inflection  has  had 
something  like  that  power  upon 
some  features  of  the  system  of 
"high  finance."  He  had  practised 
the  use  of  that  rising  inflection 
before  he  took  hold  of  the  insur- 
ance societies.  For  two  years  he 
conducted  night  quizzes  at  the 
Columbia  Law  School,  which  are 
still  remembered,  so  a  writer  in 
Success  Magazine  (J.  Herbert 
Welch)  tells  us,  for  their  "brisk 
tirilliancy"  and  thoroughness.  And 
when,  nearly  a  year  ago,  the  New 
Vork  Legislature  undertook  an 
investigation  of  the  gas  companies 
in  the  metropolis,  Mr.  Hughes, 
then  almost  unknown  to  the  gen- 
eral public,  was  chosen  to  ask 
questions,  which  he  did  with  the 
same  brilliancy  and  thoroughness. 
His  success  in  eliciting  informa- 
tion then  led  to  his  appointment 
in  the  life  insurance  inquisition 
later  on,  with  results  that  all  the 
world  knows  about. 

It  was  Mark  Twain,  we  believe, 
who  began   an   autobiographical 


THE  HUGHES  HOME 
(West  End  Avenue.) 


sketch  by  saying  that  he  was  born  young.  It 
would  not  quite  do  to  say  that  of  Charles  E. 
Hughes.  He  seems  to  have  been  born  rather 
old.  At  the  age  of  eight  one  of  his  Christmas 
presents  was  a  copy  of  the  Bible  printed  in 
Greek,  and  he  recalls  with  a  laugh  that  he 
spent  considerable  time  after  breakfast  poring 
over  the  book.  When  he  was  ten  he  was  not 
only  studying  the  classic  languages  but  read- 
ing theology  as  well.  When  he  graduated  from 
the  public  school  in  New  York  city  he  was 
but  thirteen  years  of  age,  but  he  had  already 
been  handling  in  his  essays  such  subjects  as 
"The  Limitation  of  the  Human  Mind"  and 
"The  Evils  of  Light  Literature."  He  insists 
now  that  these  signs  of  precocity  were  not  due 
to  any  priggishness,  but  to  the  fact  that  in  his 
childhood  he  was  too  delicate  to  engage  in 
rough  romps  with  other  children,  and  the 
scholarly  tastes  of  his  father,  the  Rev.  Dr.  D. 
C.  Hughes — a  well-known  Baptist  clergyman 
and  author — gave  direction  to  the  boy's  mind. 
In  spite  of  these  indications  of  premature  age, 

Mr.  Hughes  is  now,  at  the  age  of 

forty-three,  a  man  with  "a  very 
spontaneous  and  rather  boyish 
laugh"  and  so  strong  a  sense  of 
humor  that  "now  and  then  he 
feels  obliged  to  rein  it  in."  And, 
moreover,  he  makes  this  unblush- 
ing confession  to  a  New  York 
Herald  reporter: 

"We  are  all  incorrigible  hypo- 
crites, especially  are  we  hypocrites 
about  the  things  we  like  to  read, 
or  that  we  think  we  like  to  read 
or  ought  to  like  to  read.  Now 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  being  only  a 
mere  man,  I  must  confess  to  a 
number  of  literary  weaknesses  that 
are  not  at  all  orthodox.  I  must 
confess  that  I  like  a  good  blood-and- 
thunder,  swash-buckling  romance 
better  than  almost  anything  else  you 
can  give  rae  printed  in  black  and 
white.  I  don't  care  very  much  who 
wrote  it,  and  I  don't  care  very 
much  whether  it  is  written  by  -a 
stylist  or  not,  just  as  long  as  it  has 
a  rattling  good  story  between  its 
covers,  and  the  hero  and  the  hero- 
ine manage  to  keep  each  other  in 
the  prescribed  state  of  suspense. 
And  next  to  a  good  thriller  of  this 
sort  I  must  say  I  lean  pretty  strong- 


2o8 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


AT  THE  AGE  OF  FOURTEEN 

Mr  Huffbes  at  this  age  had  delivered  his  essay  on 
*'  The  Limitation  of  Human  Knowledge,*'  in  the  public 
school  and  had  entered  Colgate  University. 

ly  to  the  old  fashioned  detective  story.  There 
is  nothing  like  a  good  detective  story  for  a  weary 
brain  and  a  tired  back,  nothing  like  it  in  the 
world." 

When  young  Charles,  at  the  age  of  four- 
teen, entered  Colgate  University,  he  was  slight, 
delicate,  and  short  of  stature.  Two  years  later, 
at  Brown  University,  he  quickly  acquired  the 
reputation  of  being  "a  chap  who  managed  to 
carry  off  the  plums  of  scholarship  without 
study,"  but  that  was  because  his  previous  hard 
work  had  placed  him  well  ahead  of  his  class. 
When  he  graduated  he  received  one  of  the 
Carpenter  prizes  given  to  the  two  students 
who  show  the  best  all-round  promise.  At  the 
age  of  nineteen  he  was  devoting  half  his  time 
to  the  teaching  of  Greek  and  mathematics  in 
Delaware  Academy,  Delhi,  N.  Y.,  and  the 
other  half  to  the  reading  of  law.  A  little  later 
he  attended  Columbia  Law  School,  where  he 
was  pronounced  by  Prof.  George  Chase  to  be 
one  of  the  two  ablest  students  the  school  had 
ever  had  up  to  that  time.  The  other  of  the  two 
was  William  M.  Hornblower.  In  three  years 
after  graduating  from  the  law  school  he  be- 
came a  junior  partner  in  the  firm  of  Chamber- 
lain, Carter  &  Hornblower.  At  the  age  of 
twenty-seven  he  was  arguing  cases  before  the 
Court  of  Appeals.    By  the  time  he  was  thirty. 


his  printed  briefs  filled  up  eight  bound  volumes 
in  his  law  library.  All  this  meant  the  hardest 
kind  of  work.  Many  a  night  he  went  to  his 
office  after  dinner  and  did  not  leave  his  desk 
until  after  daylight  the  next  day.  The  restilt 
was  that  at  the  age  of  twenty-nine  he  had  to 
take  a  long  "rest."  The  way  he  got  it  was  by 
accepting  a  chair  of  law  in  Cornell  Univer- 
sity and  staying  there  two  years — ^two  of  the 
happiest  years  of  his  life.  In  the  meantime  he 
had  already  used  the  rising  inflection  to  such 
purpose  that  it  had  elicited  from  the  daughter 
of  the  head  of  the  law  firm,  Miss  Carter,  the 
right  kind  of  an  answer,  and  the  home  life 
of  the  two,  with  their  three  children,  at  West 
End  Avenue  New  York,  is  described  as  one 
of  idyllic  beauty.  One  of  his  children,  Charles, 
is  now  old  enough  to  accompany  his  father 
on  his  yearly  trip  into  the  Maine  woods,  one 
of  the  latter's  favorite  forms  of  recreation 
being  the  whipping  of  the  trout  streams  and 
lakes  of  that  region.    For  thirteen  years  he  has 


AT  THE  AGE  OF  TWENTY 

Having  graduated  with  high  honors  at  the  age  of  nine- 
teen, from  Brown  University,  young  Hughes  was  now 
devoting  half  his  time  to  the  teaching  of  Greek  and 
mathematics  and  half  to  the  study  of  law 


LATEST  PHOTOGRAPH  OF  CHARLES  EVANS  HUGHES 

"  What  we  need  is  a  revival  of  the  sense  of  honor.     We  want  to  hear  less  of  the  man  who  began  poor  and  amassed 
riches,  and  more  about  the  man  who  lived  unsullied,  though  he  dies  poor.  ' 


3IO 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


not  missed  his  yearly  tour  to  Switzerland, 
where  he  climbs  mountains  with  the  passionate 
delight  of  Dr.  Parkhurst  himself. 

Here  is  a  pen-picture  of  Mr.  Hughes  as  he 
appears  to  a  reporter  who  has  watched  him  at 
the  life  insurance  investigations : 

"In  appearance  Mr.  Hughe*  is  not  a  robust 
man.  He  is  about  five  feet  ten  inches  in  height, 
with  a  slight  but  well  proportioned  figure.  His 
brown  hair,  which  was  once  luxuriant,  is  becom- 
ing thin  on  top,  and  his  forehead,  which  is  high 
and  rather  narrow,  indicates  intellectuality  in 
a  high  degree.  His  blue  eyes  are  wide  apart 
and  deep  set.  He  has  a  trick  of  allowing  the 
lids  to  drop  until  they  half  cover  the  eyeball, 
which  gives  him  an  expression  ef  anything  but 
alertness.  At  the  same  time  he  devitalizes  his 
features  in  the  same  manner  adopted  by  a  poker 
player  who  wishes  to  hide  his  emotions.  His 
mouth  is  large  and  his  lips  are  full  and  behind 
them  are  large,  regular,  white  teeth,  shaded  by 
a  heavy  brown  mustache  and  short,  thick  brown 
beard,  in  which  a  few  gray  hairs  have  begun  to 
appear.  The  immobility  of  his  countenance 
changes  to  an  expression  of  animation  the  instant 
Mr.  Hughes  becomes  interested  in  any  subject. 
His  eyes  open  wide,  a  keen  light  comes  into  them, 
and  if  the  science  of  physiognomy  tells  anything 
Charles  £.  Hughes  is  a  strong  man,  who  has 
confidence  in  his  own  powers  and  possesses  the 
ability  to  put  them  to  use." 

A  lady  reporter  who  interviewed  Mr. 
Hughes  at  his  home  recently  gives  us  an  at- 
tractive sketch  of  the  man's  personality.  He 
can,  it  seems,  not  only  ask  questions  but  an- 
swer them.  One  question  about  his  views  of 
George  Bernard  Shaw  elicited  a  merry  burst 
of  laughter  and  the  following  response  re- 
garding not  only  Shaw  but  Ibsen,  Hardy  and 
James : 

"We  went  to  sec  one  Shaw  play,  my  wife  and 
I.  We  went  to  see  'Candida,'  and  we  sat  through 
the  most  boresome  performance  either  of  us  ever 
witnessed.  My  wife  and  I  made  up  our  minds, 
after  we  had  sat  through  'Candida,*  that  we  never 
wanted  to  see  another  Shaw  play,  and  that  we 
never  wanted  to  read  any  Shaw  books,  and  we 
have  not  changed  our  minds  since  that  episode. 
The  Shaw  cult  is  only  temporary.  As  a  matter 
of  fact  he  is  bound  to  die,  and  die  mighty  soon, 
though  to  say  so  is  rash  and  stamps  one  irre- 
trievably as  a  Philistine. 

"Married  men  and  women  discontented  with 
themselves  and  disgusted  with  each  other,  of  an 
intellectual  temperament ;  young  fellows  who  have 
gone  the  pace  too  fast  and  over-intellectualized 
young  women  who  have  specialized  in  the  analysis 
of  that  which  they  in  fact  know  nothing  about  in 
actual  experience,  all  that  small  minority  of  the 
half-cultured  among  our  theatregoing  population 
who  have  a  grudge  against  themselves  and  each 
other  because  they  have  not  succeeded  in  getting 
out  of  love  and  marriage  as  much  as  they  think 
they  should  have  got— I  suppose  that  these  wrong- 
headed  people  do  find  some  surcease  from  sorrow 
in  watching  Shaw  hold  up  the  mirror  to  them- 


selves. But  those  people  are  the  exception,  not- 
withstanding all  our  problem  novelists'  evidence 
to  the  contrary.  One  would  think  to  read  that 
aggregation  there  in  the  corner"— he  turned 
around  in  his  chair  and  peered  into  the  dimness 
of  a  corner  of  the  library  that  had  not  yet  been 
explored  by  the  visitor's  eye — ^"one  would  think 
to  read  what  those  men,  and  particularly  those 
women,  have  to  say  about  love  and  marriage  and 
the  relation  of  the  sexes  in  general,  that  it  was 
the  most  absorbing  business  of  the  world." 

"And  isn't  it?"  was  asked. 

"Not  at  all.  Important  it  is,  to  be  sure.  And 
necessary  business  it  undoubtedly  is,  but  it  does 
not  occupy  men's  and  women's  minds  in  real 
life  to  anything  like  the  extent  it  does  in  novels. 
There,  for  instance,  on  that  top  shelf  arc  some 
of  Mr.  Thomas  Hardy's  books.  Mr.  Hardy  is 
an  admirable  artist,  but  does  he  not  present  the 
tragedy  of  love  in  proportions  entirely  out  of 
keeping  with  the  perspective  of  his  characters* 
lives  as  a  whole?  And  right  there,  it  seems  to 
me,  is  where  Charles  Dickens'  chief  greatness  lies. 
Dickens'  people  are  never  so  thoroughly  saturated 
with  the  essence  of  tragedy  but  they  can  switch 
oflF,  at  certain  prescribed  moments,  to  eat  their 
dinner,  to  curl  their  hair,  to  listen  to  a  good 
joke.  Really  life  is  not  nearly  so  dismal  as  Ibsen 
tries  to  make  it,  nor  is  it  nearly  so  complex  as 
Henry  James  has  almost  persuaded  us  that  it  is. 
'  "I  read  Ibsen  occasionally,  and  with  larg:e 
grains  of  salt.  He  is  a  consummate  artist.  No 
lawyer  could  possibly  fail  to  be  fascinated  with 
his  superb  method  of  presenting  his  evidence, 
so  to  speak.  He  unfolds  his  drama  with  mathe- 
matical precision,  there  are  no  wasted  words; 
he  makes  one  see  things  and  see  them  quickly, 
and  in  a  few  minutes  after  the  curtain  goes  up 
you  are  in  possession  of  the  heart  secrets  of 
every  man  and  woman  on  the  stage,  you  know 
all  their  past,  all  the  deadly  and  guilty  secrets 
with  which  their  souls  are  burdened,  and  yet 
neither  they  nor  Ibsen  has  told,  nor  even  hinted 
at  any  of  these  things.  There  is  something^  un- 
canny about  Ibsen's  power,  and  the  trained  judi- 
cial mind  cannot  help  standing  uncovered  before 
it.  And  yet,  after  all,  it  is  hardly  worth  while. 
Does  Ibsen  make  men  any  happier  or  better  for 
the  reading  of  him? 

"Henry  James!"  Mr.  Hughes  repeated  the 
name  with  a  chuckle.  "Well,  I  must  confess  that 
I  like  to  read  Henry  James.  It's  hard  work, 
mighty  hard  work,  but  it's  good  fun,  too.  Just 
like  chess,  it  keeps  your  mind  active.  One  con- 
stantly marvels  while  reading  him  not  so  much 
that  he  is  doing  his  particular  literary  trick  well, 
but  that  he  can  do  it  at  all.  And  yet,  for  myself, 
I  always  read  with  a  lingering  suspicion  that 
Mr.  James  is  having  fun  at  my  expense." 

Mr.  Hughes  has  liberal  views  about  "the 
rights  of  woman."  He  likes  the  "new  woman" 
better  than  he  thinks  he  would  have  liked  the 
"old  woman,"  and  he  believes  in  higher  edu- 
cation for  woman,  and  in  leaving  her  free  and 
untrammeled  to  practise  law,  medicine  or  any- 
thing else  she  wishes  to  do  to  earn  a  living  and 
make  a  career;  but  he  is  also  glad  to  believe 
that  very  few  women  really  wish  to  do  any  of 
these   things. 


PERSONS  IN  THE  FOREGROUND 


211 


THE  CONFESSIONS  OF  A  GREAT  SCIENTIST 


Alfred  Russell  Wallace,  one  of  the  greatest 
living  biologists  of  the  world,  is  very  frank 
about  his  own  defects  and  deficiencies.  He 
lacks  physical  courage,  for  one  thing.  He  is 
disinclined  to  much  exertion,  either  mental  or 
physical,  for  another  thing.  He  has  difficulty 
in  finding  the  words  he  wants  to  use  in  verbal 
argument  or  conversation.  He  is  shy,  reti- 
cent, delicate,  and  lacking  in  self-confidence. 
All  these  things  and  a  great  many  more  he 
tells  us  very  simply  and  very  frankly  in  his 
autobiography,  just  published.*  The  secret  of 
his  success  in  life,  achieved  despite  these  and 
other  defects,  is,  he  thinks,  his  facility  for  cor- 
rect reasoning.  In  reasoning  upon  the  phe- 
nomena of  nature  he  has  felt  able  to  hold  his 
owTi  with  Lyell,  Huxley,  and  Darwin,  despite 
his  inferiority  to  them  in  knowledge  and  in  the 
powers  of  concentration.  This  power  of  cor- 
rect reasoning  and  of 
drawing  independent 
conclusions  was,  he 
thinks,  somewhat 
marked  even  at  the 
early  age  of  five,  when 
the  shape  of  his  head 
showed  but  a  moder- 
ate development  of 
the  faculties  of  form 
and  individuality, 
while  locality,  ideal- 
ity, color,  and  com- 
parison were  decided- 
ly stronger. 

Wallace's  father 
seems,  from  his  son's 
account,  to  have  been 
a  thriftless  gentleman 
of  the  old  school,  im- 
providently  married, 
and  the  educational  advantages  of  the  future 
scientist  were  relatively  limited.  He  was  flogged 
to  some  extent  into  a  rudimentary  knowledge 
of  Latin,  but  he  never  could  learn  Greek  and 
there  was  not  even  a  pretense  of  instilling 
into  him  that  which  in  this  century  would  be 
recognized  as  true  science  in  any  shape  or 
form.  Wallace  leaves  us  with  rather  painful 
impressions  of  his  school  experience : 

"Next  to  Latin  grammar  the  most  painful  sub- 
ject I  learned  was  geography,  which  ought  to 
have  been  the  most  interesting.  It  consisted  al- 
most entirely  in  learning  by  heart  the  names  of 

•My  UPE.    By   Alfred  RuasellJWallace.^In  two  vol- 
ameft.     Dodd,  Mead  A  Company. 


QapTTiftthf  Dodd.  MMd  L  Co. 
IN  1848 

This  was  the  year  dur- 
ing which  Alfred  Russell 
Wallace  sailed  on  the  voy- 
age to  the  Amazon  from 
which  results  of  such 
great  importance  to  science 
were  achieved. 


the  chief  towns,   rivers,   and   mountains  of  the 
various  countries  from,  I  think,  Pinnacle's  'School 
Geography/  which  gave  the  minimum  of  useful 
or  interestmg  information.    It  was  something  like 
learning  the  multiplication  table  both  in  the  pain- 
fulness  of  the  process  and  the  permanence  of  the 
results.    The  incessant  grinding  in  both,  week 
after  week  and  year  after  year,  resulted  in  my 
knowing  both  the  product  of  any  two  numbers 
up  to  twelve,  and  the  chief  towns  of  any  English 
county  so  thoroughly  that  the  result  was  auto- 
matic,  and  the   name   of   Staffordshire   brought 
into   my  memory   Stafford,   Litchfield,   Leek,   as 
surely  and  rapidly  as  eight  times  seven  brought 
fifty-six.    The  labor  and  mental  effort  to  one  who 
like  myself  had  little  verbal  memory  was  very 
painful,  and  though  the  result  has  been  a  some- 
what useful  acquisition  during  life,  I  can  not  think 
but  that  the   same   amount   of   mental   exertion 
wisely  directed  might  have  produced  far  greater 
and  more  generally  useful  results.    When  I  had 
to   learn   the  chief   towns  of  the   provinces   of 
Poland,    Russia,    Asia    Minor,    and    other    parts 
of  Western  Asia,  with  their  almost  unpronounce- 
able names,  I  dreaded 
the   approaching   hour, 
as    I    was    sure   to   be 
kept  in  for  inability  to 
repeat  them,  and  it  was 
sometimes  only  by  sev- 
eral  repetitions  that   I 
could    attain    even    an 
approximate  knowledge 
of  them.     No  interest- 
ing   facts     were    ever 
given    in    connection 
with    these   names,    no 
accounts  of  the  country 
by  travelers  were  ever 
read,    no    good    maps 
ever  given  us.  nothing 
but  the  horrid  stream 
of  unintelligible  place- 
names,  to  be  learned  in 
their  due  order  as  be- 
longing   to    a    certain 
country. 

"History  was  very  lit- 
tle better,  being  largely 

a  matter  of  learning  by  heart  names  and  dates,  and 
reading  the  very  baldest  account  of  the  doings 
of  kings  and  queens,  of  wars,  rebellions  and  con- 
quests. Whatever  little  knowledge  of  history  I 
have  ever  acquired  has  been  derived  more  from 
Shakespeare's  plays  and  from  good  historical 
novels  than  from  anything  I  learned  at  school." 

Necessity  drove  Wallace  into  the  profession 
of  surveying,  at  which  he  did  fairly  well,  but 
he  disliked  the  devious  business  methods  he 
found  in  vogue.  He  was  then  a  well-grown 
youth,  practically  a  young  man,  roving  about 
England  and  Wales  in  the  practice  of  his  pro- 
fession. He  would  have  enjoyed  the  society 
of  the  people  he  met  but  for  his  excessive 
shyness.    Then,  too,  his  clothes,  besides  being 


Cnpyrlgbt  by  Dodd,  Mead  k.  Co. 
IN  1869 

At  this  time  Wallace 
was  achieving  new  fame 
by  his  work  in  bionomics, 
or  the  relation  of  animal 
life  to  the  world  around  it 


312 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


shabby,  were  rather  too  small  for  him — elo- 
quent evidence  of  the  poverty  that  pinched 
him  all  through  life  until  a  government  pen- 
sion late  in  his  career  removed  all  occasion  for 
financial  anxiety. 

The  event  which  formed  a  turning-point  in 
the  life  of  Wallace  was  the  formation  of  an 
acquaintance  through  which  he  derived  a  taste 
for  the  wonders  of  insect  life,  opening  up  to 
him  a  new  aspect  of  nature.  That  led  him  to 
a  journey  along  the  Amazon,  which  proved 
the  foundation  of  his  scientific  career.  In  that 
career,  as  we  have  already  seen,  the  chief  fac- 
tor of  success  was  his  quickness  in  detecting 
false  reasoning,  a  faculty  to  which  Huxley 
paid  tribute.  But  the  two  qualities  which  de- 
termined the  use  to  which  he  has  put  his 
powers  of  reasoning  are  those  which  arc  usu- 
ally termed  emotional  or  moral — namely,  in- 
tense appreciation  of  the  beauty,  harmony  and 
variety  in  nature  and  in  all  natural  phenom- 
ena, and  an  equally  strong  passion  for  justice 
as  between  man  and  man.  To  this  latter  pas- 
sion is  to  be  attributed  the  fact  that'  in  addi- 
tion to  being  one  of  the  half-dozen  most  emi- 
nent scientists  of  Europe,  he  is  to-day  a 
Socialist,  an  anti-vaccinator,  and,  to  a  con- 
siderable degree,  a  philosophical  anarchist. 
He  is  also  a  warm  admirer  of  Byron,  because, 
as  he  thinks,  "Byron  fought  only  for  freedom 
and  felt  scorn  and  contempt  for  the  majority 
of  English  landlords,  who  subordinated  all 
ideas  of  justice  or  humanity  to  the  keeping  up 
of  their  rents." 

Continuing  his  own  portrait,  Wallace  tells 
us  that  he  lacks  an  ear  for  music,  though  he  is 
deeply  affected  by  grand,  pathetic,  or  religious 
music.    He  says  further: 

"Another  and  more  serious  defect  is  in  verbal 
memory,  which,  combined  with  the  inability  to 
reproduce  vocal  sounds,  has  rendered  the  acquire- 
ment of  all  foreign  languapres  very  diflicult  and 
distasteful.  This,  with  my  very  imperfect  school 
training,  added  to  my  shyness  and  want  of  con- 
fidence, must  have  caused  me  to  appear  a  very 
dull,  ignorant,  and  uneducated  person  to  numbers 
of  chance  acquaintances.  This  deficiency  has 
also  put  me  at  a  great  disadvantage  as  a  public 
speaker.  I  can  rarely  find  the  right  word  or 
expression  to  enforce  or  illustrate  my  argument, 
and  constantly  feel  the  same  difficulty  in  private 
conversation.  In  writing  it  is  not  so  injurious, 
for  when  I  have  time  for  deliberate  thought  I 
can  generally  express  myself  with  tolerable  clear- 
ness and  accuracy.  I  think,  too,  that  the  absence 
of  the  flow  of  words  which  so  many  writers  pos- 
sess has  caused  me  to  avoid  that  extreme  diffuse- 
ness  and  verbosity  which  is  so  great  a  fault  in 
many  scientific  and  philosophical  works. 

"Another  important  defect  is  in  the  power  of 
rapidly  seeing  analogies  or  hidden  resemblances 


and  incongruities,  a  deficiency  which,  in  com- 
bination with  that  of  language,  has  produced  the 
total  absence  of  wit  or  humor,  paradox  or 
brilliancy,  in  my  writings,  although  no  one  can 
enjoy  and  admire  these  qualities  more  than  I  do. 
The  rhythm  and  pathos,  as  well  as  the  inimita- 
ble puns  of  Hood,  were  the  delight  of  my  youth, 
as  are  the  more  recondite  and  fantastic  humour 
of  Mark  Twain  and  Lewis  Carroll  in  my  old 
age.  The  faculty  which  gives  to  its  possessor 
wit  or  humour  is  also  essential  to  the  high  mathe- 
matician, who  is  almost  always  witty  or  poetical 
as  well ;  and  t  was  therefore  debarred  from  any 
hope  of  success  in  this  direction;  while  my  very 
limited  power  of  drawing  or  perception  of  the 
intricacies  of  form  were  equally  antagonistic  to 
much  progress  as  an  artist  or  a  geometrician. 

"Other  deficiencies  of  great  influence  in  my 
life  have  been  my  want  of  assertiveness  and  of 
physical  courage,  which,  combined  with  delicacy 
of  the  nervous  system  and  of  bodily  constitution, 
and  a  general  disinclination  to  much  exertion, 
physical  or  mental,  have  caused  that  shjmess, 
reticence,  and  love  of  solitude  which,  though 
often  misunderstood  and  leading  to  unpleasant 
results,  have,  perhaps,  on  the  whole^  been  bene- 
ficial to  me.  They  have  helped  to  give  me  those 
long  periods,  botn  at  home  and  n broad,  when, 
alone  and  surrounded  only  by  wild  nature  and 
uncultured  man,  I  could  ponder  at  leisure  on  the 
various  matters  that  interested  me." 

Wallace  is  one  of  the  three  great  English 
scientists — Sir  Oliver  Lodge  and  Sir  William 
Crookes  being  the  other  two — ^to  whom  spirit- 
ualists point  as  giving  scientific  indorsement 
to  the  claims  made  regarding  the  reality  of 
psychic  or  spiritistic  phenomena.  In  his 
autobiography.  Dr.  Wallace  devotes  consider- 
able space  to  his  experiences  with  "ghosts." 
He  was  one  of  the  scientists  who  attended  that 
series  of  seances  presided  over  by  Miss  Kate 
Cook,  sister  of  a  medium  through  whom  Sir 
William  Crookes  obtained  such  striking  re- 
sults. 

More  interesting,  however,  than  Miss 
Cook's  stances  were  those  with  Mr.  .Haxby, 
a  young  man  employed  in  the  post-office  and 
pronounced  by  Dr.  Wallace  a  remarkable  me- 
dium for  materializations : 

"He  was  a  small  man,  and  sat  in  a  small  draw- 
ing room  on  the  first  floor,  separated  by  cur- 
tains from  a  larger  one,  where  the  visitors  sat 
in  a  subdued  light.  After  a  few  minutes,  from 
between  the  curtains  would  come  a  tall  and 
stately  East  Indian  figure  in  white  robes,  a  rich 
waist  band,  sandals,  and  large  turban,  snowy 
white,  and  disposed  with  perfect  elegance.  Some- 
times this  fi^re  would  walk  round  the  room, 
outside  the  circle,  would  lift  up  a  large  and  very 
heavy  musical  box,  which  he  would  wind  up  and 
swing  round  his  head  with  one  hand.  He  would 
often  come  to  each  of  us  in  succession,  bow,  and 
allow  us  to  feel  his  hands  and  examine  his  robes. 
We  asked  him  to  stand  against  the  door  post  and 
marked   his   height,   and   on   one  occasion   Mr. 


PERSONS  IN  THE  FOREGROUND 


213 


Hensleigh  Wedgwood  brought  with 
him  a  shoemaker's  measuring  rule, 
and  at  our  request  Abdullah,  as  he 
gave  his  name,  took  off  his  sandals, 
placed  his  foot  on  a  chair  and  al- 
lowed it  to  be  accurately  measured 
with  the  sliding  rule.  After  the 
seance,  Mr.  Haxby  removed  his 
boot  and  had  his  foot  measured  by 
the  same  rule,  when  that  of  the  fig- 
ure was  found  to  be  one  full  inch 
and  a  quarter  the  longer,  whije  in 
height  it  was  about  half  a  foot  tall- 
er. A  minute  or  two  after  Abdul- 
lah had  retired  into  the  small  room, 
Haxby  was  found  in  a  trance  in  his 
chair,  while  no  trace  of  the  white- 
robed  stranger  was  to  be  seen.  The 
door  and  window  of  the  back  room 
were  securely  fastened  and  often 
secured  with  gummed  pa*^**- .  which 
was  found  intact." 

On  another  occasion  Dr.  Wal- 
lace was  present  in  a  private 
house  when  a  very  similar  figure 
appeared  with  a  medium  known 
as  Eglinton  before  a  large  party 
of  spiritualists  and  inquirers : 

*'In  this  case  the  conditions  were 
even  more  stringent  and  the  result 
absolutely  conclusive.  A  comer  of 
the  room  had  a  curtain  hung  across 
it  enclosing  a  space  just  large 
enough  to  hold  a  chair  for  the  me- 
dium. I  and  others  examined  this 
comer  and  found  the  walls  solid 
and  the  carpet  nailed  down.  The 
medium  on  arrival  came  at  once 
into  the  room,  and  after  a  short 
:>eriod  of  introductions  seated  him- 
self in  the  comer.  There  was  a 
lighted  gas-chandelier  in  the  room, 
which  was  turned  down  so»as  just 
to  permit  us  to  see  each  other.  The 
%ure.  beautifully  robed,  passed 
round  the  room,  allowed  himself  to 
be  toudhed,  his  robes,  hands  and 
feet  examined  closely  by  all  present 
—I  think  sixteen  or  eighteen  persons.  Every  one 
was  delighted,  but  to  make  the  seance  a  test  one, 
""^veral  of  the  medium's  friends  begged  him  to  al- 
low himself  to  be  searched  so  that  the  result  might 
be  published.  After  some  difficulty  he  was  per- 
stiaded,  and  four  persons  were  appointed  to  make 
the  examination.  Immediately  two  of  these  led 
him  into  a  bedroom,  while  I  and  a  friend  who  had 
come  with  me  closely  examined  the  chair,  floor, 
and  walls,  and  were  able  to  declare  that  nothing 
so  large  as  a  glove  had  been  left.  We  then  joined 
the  oSier  two  in  the  bedroom,  and  as  Eglinton 
took  off  his  clothes  each  article  was  passed  through 
our  hands,  down  to  underclothing  and  socks,  so 
that  we  could  positively  declare  that  not  a  single 
article  besides  his  own  clothes  was  found  upon 
him." 

Yet  one  more  case  of  what  he  calls  "materi- 
alization** is  given  by  Dr.  Wallace.     It  was 


even  more  remarkable  in  some  respects  than 
those  already  recorded.  It  seems  that  a  Mr. 
Monk,  a  clergyman  of  some  evangelical  de- 
nomination, was  a  remarkable  medium,  and  in 
order  to  be  able  to  examine  the  phenomena 
carefully  and  to  preserve  the  medium  from  the 
injury  often  caused  by  repeated  miscellaneous 
seances,  four  gentlemen  secured  his  exclusive 
services  for  a  year.  In  view  of  his  eminence 
as  a  biologist  and  on  account  of  the  weight 
his  evidence  would  carry  with  a  skeptical  pub- 
lic, Dr.  Wallace  was  invited  to  attend  a  seance 
and  note  the  phenomena.  He  tells  us  this  of 
what  he  saw: 

"It  was  a  bright  summer  afternoon,  and  every- 
thing happened  in  the  full  light  of  day.    After  a 


ai4 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


little  conversation,  Monk,  who  was  dressed  in 
the  usual  clerical  blade,  appeared  to  go  into  a 
trance;  then  stood  up  a  few  feet  in  front  of  us, 
and  after  a  little  while  pointed  to  his  side,  say- 
ing, 'Look/  We  saw  there  a  faint  white  patch 
on  his  coat  on  the  left  side.  This  grew  brighter, 
then  seemed  to  flicker,  and  extended  both  up- 
wards and  downwards,  till  very  gradually  it 
formed  a  cloudy  pillar  extending  from  his  shoul- 
der to  his  feet  and  close  to  his  body.  Then  he 
shifted  himself  a  little  sideways,  the  cloudy  figure 
standing  still,  but  appearing  joined  to  him  by  a 
cloudy  band  at  the  height  at  which  it  had  first 
begun  to  form.  Then,  after  a  few  minutes  more, 
Monk  again  said  'Look,'  and  passed  his  hand 
through  the  connecting  band,  severing  it.  He 
and  the  figure  then  moved  away  from  each  other 
till  they  were  about  five  or  six  feet  apart.  The 
figure  had  now  assumed  the  appearance  of  a 
thickly  draped  female  form,  with  arms  and  hands 
just  visible.    Monk  looked  towards  it  and  again 


said  to  us  'Look,'  and  then  clapped  his  hands. 
On  which  the  figure  put  out  her  hands,  clapped 
them  as  he  had  done,  and  we  all  distinctly  heard 
her  clap  following  his,  but  fainter.  The  figure 
then  moved  slowly  back  to  him,  grew  fainter 
and  shorter,  and  was  apparently  absorbed  into 
his  body  as  it  had  grown  out  of  it." 

Such  a  narration  as  this,  Dr.  Wallace  ad- 
mits, must  seem  to  those  who  know  nothing  of 
the  phenomena  that  gradually  led  up  to  it 
mere  midsummer  madness.  "But  to  those  who 
have  for  years  obtained  positive  knowledge 
of  a  great  variety  of  facts  equally  strange,  this 
is  only  the  culminating  point  of  a  long  series 
of  phenomena,  all  antecedently  incredible  to 
the  people  who  talk  so  confidently  of  the  laws 
of  nature." 


"THE  MOST  POPULAR  MAN  IN  IRELAND" 


W^hen  a  city  like  Dublin  suspends  business 
and  50,000  of  its  inhabitants,  headed  by  their 
Lord  Mayor,  march  in  procession  to  accom- 
pany a  man  to  his  train — a  man  who  holds  no 
public  position  and  is  not  a  politician — it  is 
time  we  knew  something  about  the  man  and 
what  he  is  doing.  The  man  in  this  case  was 
Dr.  Douglas  Hyde,  president  of  the  Gaelic 
League.  When  he  went  to  the  train  in  Dublin 
with  nearly  all  Dublin  for  an  escort  it  was  the 
beginning  of  his  recent  journey  to  America. 
We  have  in  times  past  seen  many  Irish  agi- 
tators coming  to  America  with  words  of  elo- 
quent vituperation  on  their  lips  and  passion- 
ate hatred  in  their  hearts,  to  raise  funds  for 
revolutionary  purposes.  This  man,  Douglas 
Hyde,  has  had  a  different  purpose  and  has 
manifested  a  different  spirit.  He  has  come, 
indeed,  to  tell  of  another  Irish  revolution,  but 
this  time  it  is  an  intellectual  rather  than  a 
political  revolution.  In  his  own  words,  "this 
revolution  aims  at  the  intellectual  independ- 
ence of  Ireland.  In  the  last  few  years  it  has 
accomplished  a  victory  beyond  our  utmost 
dreams.  Slowly,  but  surely,  we  are  reaching 
our  goal.  Ireland  no  longer  imitates  Eng- 
land. We  have  become  a  self-reliant  nation. 
In  a  short  time  we  will  have  our  own  books, 
our,  own  songs,  our  own  music,  our  own 
drama,  our  own  everything."  That  sounds 
as  if  the  "revolution"  were  limited  to  mat- 
ters literary  and  artistic.  But  it  is  not.  In 
consequence  of  the  work  of  the  Gaelic  League 
to  recreate  "an  Ireland  that  shall  be  Irish  all 


out,"  the  output  of  the  Irish  mills  is  said  to 
have  nearly  doubled  in  the  last  three  years. 
Why  and  how  appears  from  the  following  in- 
cident narrated  in  the  New  York  Freeman's 
Journal  of  an  Irish-American  recently  visiting 
in  Dublin: 

"A  warm  patriot  and  an  enthusiastic  Gaelic 
League  man,  he  took  care  to  be  Irish-made  in 
clothes.  His  exterior  was  O.  K.,  but  in  a  Dublin 
club  room  he  offered  a  friend  a  cigar  and  then  a 
match.    The   friend   scorned  the  light. 

"That's  an  English  match  and  not  for  me,"  he 
said,  and  he  used  one  of  his  own  of  Irish  make. 

"That  match,"  he  said,  pointing  to  the  burned 
wood,  "was  made  here.  The  man  who  makes 
them  had  a  little  place  in  an  alley,  but  since  the 
Gaelic  League  awakened  the  nation  his  place  has 
grown  until  he  now  employs  800  people  and  makes 
the  finest  matches  in  the  world." 

A  literary  movement  that  can  double  a  coun- 
try's manufacturing  output  in  three  years  is 
something  even  the  most  incorrigible  materi- 
alist may  take  an  interest  in  without  apologiz- 
ing to  himself. 

Twelve  years  ago  this  "Gaelic  movement" 
or  "Irish  movement"  began,  and  Dr.  Hyde  has 
been  its  foremost  apostle.  He  was  then  thirty- 
three  years  of  age,  having  been  bom  in  North 
Connacht,  the  son  of  a  Protestant  clergyman. 
He  had  had  a  brilliant  career  in  Trinity  Col- 
lege, winning  half  a  dozen  gold  medals  and 
various  degrees,  and  had  settled  down  to  the 
study  of  the  Gaelic  language  and  literature. 
He  became  an  enthusiast.  "Up  to  the  seven- 
teenth century,"  he  says,  "the  Gaelic  language 


PERSONS  IN  THE  FOREGROUND 


aiS 


was  as  cultivated  as  any  in  the  world.  It  is 
capable  of  revival  and  fitted  for  all  purposes." 
He  published  selections  of  Gaelic  folk-tales  and 
poetry,  wrote  original  poetry  in  the  same  lan- 
guage and  composed  Irish  dramas.  His  Irish 
compatriots  are  enthusiastic  in  praise  of  his 
literary  work  in  these  lines,  Mr.  W.  B.  Yeats 
speaking  of  it  as  "the  coming  of  a  new  power 
into  literature/'  and  expressing  the  belief  that 
if  Dr^Hyde  would  write  more  and  engage  less 
arduously  in  the  work  of  propaganda  "he 
might  become  to  modern  Irish  what  Mistral 
was  to  modern  Provencal."  His  magnum  opus, 
however,  is  his  "Literary  History  of  Ireland," 
a  voltune  of  650  pages,  by  which  he  is  best 
known  to  America.  But  he  was  not  satisfied 
with  historical  and  creative  work.  He  began 
the  work  of  propaganda  and  organization  to 
save  his  dear  Gaelic  language  from  becoming 
or  remaining  one  of  the  dead  languages.  Even 
as  a  lad  in  North  Connacht  he  had  been  drawn 
to  the  firesides  of  the  Irish  peasantry,  listen- 
ing to  their  folk-tales,  and  earning  the  nick- 
name of  an  Kreeveen  Eeven  (an  Craoibhin 
Aoibhinn — ^the  delightful  little  branch),  which 
he  afterward  adopted  as  a  literary  pen-name. 
When,  twelve  years  ago,  he  started  his  work 
of  propaganda  he  again  went  among  the  peo- 
ple, played  cards,  smoked  by  the  turf-fires, 
talked  Gaelic  and  appealed  to  the  O's  and  Macs 
in  a  way  that  rekindled  their  patriotic  fervor 
as  nothing  in  two  hundred  years  had  been  able 
to  rekindle  it.  He  traveled  from  village  to  vil- 
lage, winning  allies  everywhere.  What  he 
said  to  them  may  be  inferred  from  what  he 
said  to  the  world  in  general  in  one  of  his 
books.  Speaking  of  the  scholars  in  the  so- 
called  "national  schools"  of  Ireland,  he  said  (in 
1899): 

"They  never  sing  an  Irish  song  or  repeat  an 
Irish  poem — the  schoolmaster  does  not;  they 
forget  all  about  their  own  country  that  their 
parents  told  them — ^the  schoolmaster  is  not  al- 
lowed to  teach  Irish  history;  they  translate  their 
names  into  English — ^probably  the  schoolmaster 
has  done  the  same ;  and  what  is  the  use  of  having 
an  Irish  name  now  that  they  are  not  allowed  to 
speak  Irish?  Worst  of  all  they  are  becoming 
ashamed  of  the  patron  saints  of  their  own  people, 
the  names  even  of  Patrick  and  Brigit.  This  is 
the  direct  result  of  the  system  pursued  by  the 
National  Board,  which  refuses  to  teach  the  chil- 
dren anything  about  Patrick  and  Brigit,  but 
which  is  never  tired  of  putting^  second-hand 
English  models  before  them.  Archbishop  Whately, 
that  able  and  unconventional  Englishman,  who 
had  80  much  to  do  with  molding  the  system, 
deqnte  his  undoubted  sense  of  humor,  saw  noth- 
'      "^  in  making  the  childrea  (in  the 


Trish   National'   schools)    learn  to   repeat   such 
verses  as: 

"  T  thank  the  goodness  and  the  ^ace 
Which  on  my  birth  have  smiled, 
And  made  me  in  these  Christian  days 
A  happy  English  child.' " 

Now  Gaelic  is  taught  in  the  schools  of  Ire- 
land wherever  school  managers,  parents  and 
children  are  unanimous  in  desiring  it,  and  it 
is  claimed  that  800,000  persons  "are  speaking 
the  Gaelic  language  exclusively  or  in  part" 
Special  schools  have  been  established  for 
,  teaching  it,  and  "Irish  classes  have  been 
formed  in  nearly  every  town  and  parish 
throughout  the  country."  This  era,  Mr.  Yeats 
says,  will  be  known  in  Ireland  as  the  era  of 
Douglas  Hyde.  Another  writer,  in  an  anony- 
mous pamphlet  distributed  in  connection  with 
Dr.  Hyde's  trip  to  this  country,  says : 

"He  has  literally  thrilled  the  country.  His 
movement  has  become  more  than  a  mere  lan- 
guage movement.  He  aims  at  a  rebirth  of  the 
imaginative  and  aesthetic  life  of  Ireland,  the 
moulding  anew  of  Irish  national  ideals,  and  the 
stamping  out  of  the  cheap  vulgar  books  and 
vulgarer  songs  that  were  coming  to  Ireland  from 
England.  There  is  a  new  intellectual  life  in 
Ireland  and  the  fame  of  Douglas  Hyde's  great 
work  has  gone  abroad  and  has  attracted  the 
attention  of  scholars  a^d  has  stirred  the  hearts 
of  Irishmen  in  many  distant  lands.  His  devotion 
to  his  ideals  has  been  an  inspiring  spectacle  in 
an  age  that  seems  to  worship  only  money  and 
material  success." 

One  of  the  comments  elicited  by  his  recent 
lecturing  tour  in  the  United  States  is  the  fol- 
lowing from  a  rather  pro-English  journal,  the 
New  York  Times,   It  says  editorially : 

"In  Ireland  it  is  not  a  question  of  using  a  lan- 
guage for  purposes  of  separation,  but  putting  a 
stop  to  the  disappearance  of  a  language  for  the 
good  of  education.  Irish  can  never  oust  English, 
nor  is  there  any  sane  Irishman  who  would  wish 
it.  But  the  knowledge  of  Irish  as  a  second  tongue 
helps  education  and  encourages  that  local  pa- 
triotism the  absence  of  which  has  done  so  much 
to  deliver  Ireland  over  to  the  encroachments  of 
the  British  on  her  freedom,  her  industries,  her 
commerce,  and  her  self-respect.  Even  to-day 
Ireland  suffers  from  the  effects  of  religious  quar- 
rels, in  so  far,  at  least,  as  to  offer  examples  of 
discrimination  against  Catholics.  A  shiftmg  of 
the  ground  from  the  wretched  religious  differ- 
ences to  a  field  on  which  Protestant  and  Catholic 
can  meet  without  bitterness,  brought  together 
by  the  bond  of  admiration  for  an  ancient  litera- 
ture and  a  tongue  that  still  produces  works  of 
high  literary  merit,  is  a  godsend  for  which  every 
one  should  be  thankful.  To  Dr.  Douglas  Hyde, 
more  than  to  any  other  living  Irishman,  con- 
gratulations are  due  for  his  efforts  to  provide  a 
cause  which  may  unite  Irishmen  of  every  rank 
and  every  denomination." 


3l6 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


THE  RIGHT  HONORABLE  JOHN  BURNS 


When,  a  few  days  ago,  John  Burns,  clad  in 
his  dark-blue  reefer  serge  suit,  a  black  derby 
hat,  his  hands  ungloved,  stood  before  King 
Edward  VII  in  Buckingham  Palace  to  be 
sworn  in  as  member  of  the  new  British  Cab- 
inet, the  event,  according  to  one  British  paper, 
marked  a  "revolution  in  British  politics."  It 
was,  to  quote  another  British  paper,  "the  most 
remarkable  testimony  to  the  growth  of  the  defi- 
nite labor  power  in  politics  that  has  ever  yet 
occurred  in  Great  Britain."  When  Burns 
kissed  the  royal  hand  the  King  told  him  very 
cordially  that  he  hoped  his  objection  to  wear- 
ing court  costume  would  not  prevent  his  at- 
tending court  entertainments.  That  evening 
the  new  Prime  Minister  gave  a  dinner,  and 
Bums,  who  never  possessed,  and  never  ex- 
pects to  possess,  a  dress  suit,  sat  down  to  the 
table  in  the  same  serge  reefer  suit,  and  prob- 
ably rode  to  the  building  on  his  bicycle.  Here 
is  the  way  The  Labour  Leader,  a  London  So- 
cialist paper,  comments  on  the  occasion : 

"John  Burns,  the  *man  of  the  red  flag,'  the 
'working  engineer,'  is  now  the  Right  Honourable 
John  Burns,  P.C.,  M.P.,  President  of  the  Local 
Government  Board.  He  has  a  salary  of  £2,000 
a  year,  and  after  five  years'  service  is  entitled 
to  an  old  age  pension  of  ii,200  a  year.  That 
should  almost  take  honest  John's  breath  away. 
'Our  own  Jack  Burns,'  as  he  was  enthusiastically 
called  in  the  old  Trafalgar  Square  days,  when 
he  led  the  ragged  and  hungry  unemployed  to 
and  fro,  will  now  be  the  constant  assoaate  of 
rich  and  titled  people,  dining  at  tables  which 
would  have  made  his  heart  quake  twenty  years 
ago." 

♦John  Burns  is  but  forty-seven  years  of  age, 
and  a  man  of  astonishing  physical  strength; 
but  his  hair  is  white  and  has  been  ever  since 
the  famous  dock  strike,  the  leadership  of  which 
made  him  known  all  over  the  world.  He  was 
bom  within  a  stone's  throw  of  the  district 
(Battersea)  he  represents  in  Parliament.  His 
father  had  been  a  Scotch  agricultural  laborer 
with  a  turn  for  machinery,  who  removed  to 
London  and  finally  secured  a  position  in  a 
mathine  shop.  Young  John's  schooling  ceased 
when  he  was  ten,  when  he  secured  employment 
in  a  candle  factory,  rising  at  the  age  of  eleven 
to  the  post  of  rivet  boy  in  an  engine  house. 
Then  he  was  apprenticed  to  a  mechanical  en- 
gineer, for  whom  he  worked  until  he  was 
twenty-one.  There  is  a  kind  of  ponderosity 
in  the  account  of  him  provided  in  Men  and 
Women  of  the  Time,  indicating  that  he  was 


a  type  never  before  handled  in  the  pages  of 
that  select  British  -publication : 

"Throughout  his  earlier  years  he  had  read 
omnivorously,  and  imbibed  Socialistic  theories 
from  a  fellow-workman,  a  Frenchman,  who  had 
fled  from  Paris  after  the  Commune.  On  coming 
of  age  he  worked  for  a  year  as  foreman  engineer 
on  the  Niger,  and  on  his  return  from  West 
Africa  spent  his  savings  in  a  six  months'  tour 
of  Europe.  As  a  boy  he  had  got  into  trouble 
with  his  employers  for  delivering  an  open-air 
address,  but  he  did  not  come  into  public  notice 
as  a  speaker  until  at  an  Industrial  Remuneration 
Conference  in  London  he  delivered  certain 
speeches  on  Socialism  which  attracted  attention* 
Since  that  time  he  has  constantly  addressed  work- 
man audiences.  Becoming  prominent  in  his  own 
union— the  Amalgamated  Engineers— he  stood 
as  a  Socialist  candidate  for  the  western  division 
of  Nottingham  at  the  General  Election  of  iSSs, 
but  obtained  only  598  votes.  In  1886  he  took 
a  leading  part  in  the  unemployed  agitation,  and 
was  one  of  the  heads  of  the  crowd  which  broke 
from  its  leaders  and  caused  a  riot  in  the  West 
End  on  Feb.  8,  1887.  Subsequently  he  contested 
the  right  of  public  meeting  in  Trafalgar  Square, 
and  underwent  a  short  term  of  imprisonment 
(six  weeks)  for  resisting  the  police.    .    .    . 

"He  adressed  dockers'  meetings  in  the  East 
End  every  day  for  weeks,  walking  from  Battersea 
every  morning  and  returning  on  foot  at  night. 
His  main  contention  was  that  the  docker  deserved 
six-pence  (a  'tanner')  more  a  day  than  he  had 
hitherto  been  paid,  but  he  was  also  indefatigable 
as  an  organiser  and  strike  manager.  When  the 
dock  laborers  finally  won  a  great  victory  in 
their  long  struggle  for  higher  wages  Bums's 
reputation  as  the  first  of  labor  organisers  was 
made.  He  was  regarded  as  an  authority  on 
labor." 

Everything  interests  him  in  the  outer  show 
of  our  existence,  says  the  London  Speaker — 
soldiers,  books,  pictures,  fine  buildings,  the 
drama,  travel,  the  problems  of  practical  sci- 
ence and  workmanship.  He  has  never  broken 
a  resolution  formed  in  early  life  not  to  smoke 
and  never  to  imbibe  an  intoxicant.  As  an 
orator  he  is  deemed  singularly  florid  for  so 
direct,  and  in  a  sense  so  rude,  a  type.  He  runs 
to  metaphors,  vivid  denunciations  of  existing 
institutions  and  rare  expletives.  But  he  does 
not  swear  on  the  platform  as  some  English 
labor  leaders  do.  In  diet  he  is  highly  abste- 
mious. Plain  roast  beef  and  potatoes  make  up 
his  dinner.  If  he  adds  a  dessert,  it  is  seldom 
anything  but  fruit.  He  is  said  to  have  tried 
vegetarianism  and  to  have  pronounced  it  a 
failure  in  his  own  case.  He  is  Scotch  from 
birth,  breeding,  temperament. 

"What  would  you  do  with  me  if  you  had 
me  in  your  power?"  Cecil  Rhodes  once  asked 


PERSONS  IN  THE  FOREGROUND 


ai7 


him.  Burns's  reply  was,  "Put  you  with  your 
back  against  a  wall  and  fill  you  full  of  lead." 
His  opposition  to  Great  Britain's  part  in  the 
Boer  War  was  intense,  and  intensely  was  it 
resented.  Writing  in  the  Boston  Transcript, 
Kellogg  Durland  says : 

"When  a  mob  of  ten  thousand  men  and  women 
Tjsitcd  his  home  on  Lavender  Hill,  and  stoned 
his  door  and  broke  his  windows  because  of  his 
opposition  to  the  Boer  War,  he  held  his  own 
for  days,  armed  only  with  a  cricket  bat.  And  he 
had  the  satisfaction  some  weeks  later  of  seeing 
those  same  constituents  of  his  turn  from  their 
angry  mood  to  unstinted  loyalty  to  him,  and  as 
if  to  compensate  for  the  insults  heaped  upon 
him  when  anger  swayed  them,  Burns,  their  leader, 
was  carried  in  triumph  on  the  shoulders  of  the 
crowd  through  the  streets  of  London,  amid  scenes 
of  unparalleled  enthusiasm.  The  life  of  John 
Burns  has  been  full'  of  incidents  like  this.  The 
roar  of  the  mob  has  never  swayed  him  one  inch 
and  never  will.  Burns  sees  clearly,  thinks 
strongly  and  directly  and  he  has  never  learned 
how  to  hedge." 

In  the  lobby  of  the  House  of  Commons  one 
night,  on  the  eve  of  an  important  vote  in 
which  Bums  was  deeply  interested,  he  said: 
"Remember  this,  Durland.  Remember  Socra- 
tes and  the  hemlock,  Bruno  and  Savonarola  at 
the  stake ;  that  was  success.  Christ,  crucified — 
that  was  triumph.  And  unless  you  are  pre- 
pared to  follow  them,  keep  out  of  public  life." 

A  few  weeks  ago  Durland  found  Burns 
"prowling  about  the  East  Side  of  New  York." 
Durland  saluted  him  in  surprise,  and  was  told 
that  he  had  been  for  eight  weeks  traveling  in- 
cognito in  America  without  having  been  rec- 
ognized by  a  soul.  He  was  investigating  labor 
conditions,  and  he  did  not  want  public  recog- 
nition. When  asked  where  he  had  been  and 
what  he  had  seen,  he  said:  *T.  traveled  sixteen 
hundred  miles  out  of  my  way  to  meet  again 
the  only  saint  America  has  produced  —  Jane 
Addams."  But  Jane  Addams,  of  Hull  House, 
Chicago,  was  not  all  he  had  seen  even  in  Chi- 
cago. He  is  deeply  interested  in  the  principle 
of  municipal  ownership  and  Chicago's  attempts 
to  apply  the  principle  on  a  larger  scale  was 
one  object  of  his  investigations  here.  When 
Durland  began  to  speak  to  him  about  East 
Side  tenements  in  New  York  ^urns  said : 

'*Why,  I  have  even  been  into  your  tenements 
here.  I  march  upstairs,  and  when  a  good  woman 
opens  the  door  to  find  out  who  the  prowler  may 
b^  I  politely  take  off  my  hat  and  I  say,  *Madam, 
do  you  live  here?*  And  while  she  is  making  some 
answer  I  step  into  her  little  home,  and  before 
you  can  say  Jack  Robinson  I  have  engaged  her 
in  pleasant  conversation." 

That  is  the  way  in  which  this  present  mem- 
ber of  the  British  Cabinet  spent  most  of  his 


ONCE 


•THE    MAN   OP   .THE  RED   FLAG' 
A  BRITISH  CABINET  OFFICIAL 


-NOW 


•*  Remember  Socrates  and  the  hemlock,  Bruno  and 
Savanarola  at  the  stake ;  that  was  success.  Christ, 
crucified — that  was  triumph.  Unless  you  are  prepared 
to  follow  them,  keep  out  of  "public  life/' 

time  here.  He  is  going  to  write  a  book  about 
his  trip,'  and  his  conclusibns  about  us  are  fore- 
shadowed in  his  conversation  with  Mr. Durland: 

"One  thing  Mr.  Burns  deplores — ^the  lack  of 
decision  on  the  part  of  the  young  men  in  this 
country  toward  any  of  the  important  issues  of 
the  day.  It  is  rare  to  find  a  young  man  who 
has  really  made  up  his  mind  on  which  side  of  the 
fence  he  is.  The  people  who  should  be  bearing 
the  heat  and  burden  of  the  day  are  inclined  to 
shirk  the  responsibilities  of  public  office  and  to 
stand  apart  as  mere  observers,  or  to  follow  an- 
other alternative,  which  is  yet  more  deplorable — 
to  give  themselves  so  absolutely  to  mere  money- 
making  that  all  of  their  civic  responsibilities  are 
crowded  from  their  thoughts  and  their  days  are 
so  full  with  the.  routine  of  business  or  pleasure 
that  there  is  no  time  left  for  the  civic  duties. 

"Three  years  ago,  when  I  talked  with  Mr. 
Bums  in  London,  he  was  far  less  hopeful  and 
optimistic  of  America  than  he  is  today.  It  is  a 
matter^  therefore,  of  some  significance  that  after 
his  brief  yet  intense  sojourn  among  us,  he  has 
received  impressions  which  have  so  largely  tended 
to  make  rosy  his  view  of  us  and  our  life.  For 
the  attitude  which  he  now  holds  toward  America 
is  one  of  distinct  optimism." 


Recent    Poetry 


The  sensation  of  the  day  in  poetical  circles  con- 
tinues to  be  the  revelation  concerning  the  identity 
of  "Fiona  Macleod/'  mentioned  in  our  columns 
last  month.  There  are  some  who  refuse  to  accept 
the  revelation  as  trustworthy,  insisting  that  no 
man  could  have  written  the  poems  that  have  been 
published  under  the  pen-name  of  Fiona  Macleod, 
and  that  William  Sharp  never  displayed  the  tal- 
ents requisite  for  such  a  high  order  of  work. 
This,  obviously,  is  a  begging  of  the  question.  Up 
to  the  present  no  facts  have  come  to  light  to  throw 
discredit  on  the  circumstantial  statement  made 
by  Mr.  Sharp's  widow.  His  literary  skill,  not  only 
in  criticism  and  in  essay,  but  in  poetry  as  well, 
has  been  known  and  conceded  for.  years,  some  of 
the  verses  under  his  own  name  having  marked 
lyrical  quality,  though  not  ranking  as  high  as  the 
best  of  that  printed  under  the  notn  de  plume. 
If  "Fiona  Macleod"  did  not  die  a  few  weeks  ago 
when  William  Sharp  died,  it  should  be  a  very 
simple  thing  for  her  to  prove  the  falsity  of  the 
statement  made  by  Mrs.  Sharp.  All  "she"  has  to 
do  is  to  keep  on  writing  poetry.  One  poem  with 
"her"  name  affixed  has  appeared  in  the  London 
Academy  since  Mr.  Sharp's  death,  but  of  course 
a  number  of  posthumous  poems  are  to  be  ex- 
pected.   It  is  as  follows: 

TIME 
By  Fiona  Macleod 

I  saw  a  happy  spirit 

That  wandered  among  flowers : 
Her  crown  was  a  rainbow. 

Her  gown  was  wove  of  hours. 

She  turned  with  sudden  laughter, 

/  waSf  hut  am  not  now! 
And  as  I  followed  after 

Time  smote  me  on  the  brow. 

,  Probably  "Fiona  Macleod"  never  wrote  any- 
thing more  striking,  certainly  nothing  more  strik- 
ing viewed  as  the  product  of  a  man's  mind,  than 
the  following: 

THE   PRAYER  OF  WOMEN 
By  Fiona  Macleod 

O  spirit  that  broods  upon  the  hills 

And  moves  upon  the  face  of  the  deep. 

And  is  heard  in  the  wind, 

Save  us  from  the  desire  of  men's  eyes, 

And  the  cruel  lust  of  them. 

Save  us  from  the  springing  of  the  cruel  seed 

In  that  narrow  house  which  is  as  the  grave 

For  darkness  and  loneliness    .    .    . 


That  women  carry  with  them  with  shame,  and 
weariness,  and  long  pain. 

Only  for  the  laughter  of  man's  heart. 

And  for  the  joy  that  triumphs  therein. 

And  the  sport  that  is  in  his  heart, 

Wherewith  he  mocketh  us. 

Wherewith  he  playeth  with  us, 

Wherewith  he  trampleth  upon  us    .    .    . 

Us,  who  conceive  and  bear  him ; 

Us,  who  bring  him  forth ; 

Who  feed  him  in  the  womb,  and  at  the  breast, 
and  at  the  knee: 

Whom  he  calleth  mother  and  wife. 

And  mother  again  of  his  children  and  his  chil- 
dren's children. 

Ah,  hour  of  the  hours, 

When  he  looks  at  our  hair  and  sees  it  is  grey ; 

And  at  our  eyes  and  sees  they  are  dim ; 

And  at  our  lips  straightened  out  with  long  pain ; 

And  at  our  breasts,  fallen  and  seared  as  a  barren 
hill; 

And  at  our  hands,  worn  with  toil  1 

Ah,  hour  of  the  hours. 

When,  seeing,  he  seeth  all  the  bitter  ruin  and 
wreck  of  us — 

All  save  the  violated  womb  that  curses  him — 

All  save  the  heart  that  forbeareth    .    .    .     for 

pity- 
All  save  the  living  brain  that  condemneth  him — 

All  save  the  spirit  that  «hall  not  mate  with  him — 

All  save  the  soul  he  shall  never  see 

Till  he  be  one  with  it,  and  equal; 

He  who  hath  the  bridle,  but  guideth  not; 

He  who  hath  the  whip,  yet  is  driven ; 

He  who  as  a  shepherd  calleth  upon  us, 

But  is  himself  a  lost  sheep,  crying  among  the 

hills  1 
O  Spirit,  and  the  Nine  Angels  who  watch  us, 
And  Thou,  white  Christ,  and  Mary  Mother  of 

Sorrow, 
Heal  us  of  the  wrong  of  man : 
We  whose  breasts  are  weary  of  milk. 
Cry,  cry  to  Thee,  O  Compassionate! 

John  Vance  Cheney,  who  has  long  been  one  of 
the  more  frequent  contributors  to  our  periodicals 
and  who  won  a  prize  contributed  a  few  years 
ago  by  Collis  P.  Huntington  for  the  best  answer, 
in  verse,  to  Edwin  Markham's  "The  Man  With 
the  Hoe,"  has  collected  his  poems  and  published 
them  in  a  volume  (Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Com- 
pany) bearing  the  simple  title  "Poems."  Nothing 
more  noteworthy  has  been  done  by  him,  perhaps, 
than  that  fatalistic  reply  to  Markham,  the  philos- 
ophy of  which  is  that  the  peasant  toiler  is  fulfill- 
ing his  destiny;  let  him  alone: 

Need  was,  need  is,  and  need  will  ever  be 
For  him  and  such  as  he. 

Cast  for  the  gap,  with  gnarled  arm  and  liml: 
The  Mother  moulded  him. 


RECENT  POETRY 


aig 


The  poem  is  rather  too  well  known  to  be  quoted 
here  at  fnll  length.  Instead,  we  reprint  several 
ether  of  his  poems,  not  more  noteworthy  but  more 
representative  of  the  general  character  of  Mr. 
Chene/s  muse,  which  treats  of  external  Nature 
for  the  most  part  and  possesses  an  optimistic 
philosophy  that  may  be  roughly  defined  as  nat- 
ural religion.  Here  is  the  initial  poem  of  the 
volume : 

MY   FAITH 
By  John  Vance  Cheney 

I  tmst  in  what  the  love-mad  mavis  sings, 
In  what  the  whiteweed  says  whereso  it  blows, 
And  the  red  sorrel  and  the  redder  rose; 

I  trust  the  power  that  puts  the  bee  on  wings, 

And  in  the  socket  sets  the  rock,  and  rings 
The  hill  with  mist,  and  gilds  the  brook,  and 
sows 

The  dusk ;  is  on  the  wind  whidi  comes  and  goes, 

Tne  voice  in  thunders  and  leaf-murmurings; 

I  trust  the  might  that  makes  the  lichen  strong. 
That  leads  tihe  rabbit  from  her  burrow  forth. 
That  in  the  shadow  hides,  in  sunlight  shii^es ; 

I  trust  what  gives  the  one  lone  cricket  song, 
What  points  the  clamorous  wild-goose  harrow 

north. 
And  sifts  the  white  calm  on  the  winter  pines. 

The  poem  below  is  in  a  contrasting  vein,  and 
m  it  the  poet's  "trust  in  the  power  that  puts  the 
bee  on  wings,"  etc.,  is  not  so  evident : 

THE  DRAWING  OF  THE  LOT 
By  John  Vance  Cheney 

One  comes  with  kind,  capacious  hold, 
But  through  his  fingers  slips  the  gold ; 
He  with  the  talons,  his  the  hands 
That  rake  up  riches  as  the  sands. 

One  fats  as  does  the  ox  unbroke : 

Never  on  his  red  neck  the  yoke. 

The  pale,  stooped  thing,  with  heart  and  brain. 

On  hm  the  weight  of  toil  and  pain. 

One  longs, — she  with  the  full  warm  breast. 
Bat  no  babe's  head  does  on  it  rest ; 
On  some  starved  slant  a  fool  thought  fair 
Love's  boon  is  thrust,  and  suckled  there. 


Several  of  our  older  poets  have  been  heard  from 
during  the  last  few  weeks,  though  not  in  a  way 
to  add  anything  to  their  laurels.  We  fin  dthis  in 
Th€  Pall  Mall  Magazine: 

A  NEW   YEAR'S  THOUGHT 

By  Austin  Dobson 

Yet  once  again  in  wintry  ways 
The  gray  world  rolls  its  tale  of  days ; 
And  though  its  breast  be  chill  and  frore. 
Still  holds  the  songs  of  Spring  in  store, 
The  Autumn  rains,  the  Summer  blaze. 


Season  to  season,  phase  to  phase 
Succeed,  and  pass:  what  seems  a  maze 
Is  but  Life's  ordered  course  run  o'er 
Yet  once  again. 

So,  through  this  drear  December  haze. 
We,  fearless,  turn  our  forward  gaze. 
As  those  who  know,  from  days  before. 
What  has  been  once  will  be  once  more. — 
Good  Hap  or  ill,  and  Blame,  and  Praise, 
Yet  once  again! 

The  little  poem  below  has  made  some  newspa- 
per talk  because  of  the  journal  (Town  Topics)  in 
which  it  was  published,  the  editor  of  which  has 
secured  considerable  undesirable  notoriety  for  his 
connection  with  the  "Fads  and  Fancies"  project. 
Mr.  Aldrich  has  explained  that  the  poem  was 
written  forty  years  ago  and  was  placed  with  Town 
Topics  by  a  friend  in  whose  possession  it  hap- 
pened to  come : 

A   BALLADE 

A.D.   1400 

By  Thomas  Bailey  Aldxich 

Is  it  a  mermaiden 

From  caverns  in  the  deep? 
Or  is't  some  tawny*  forest-girl 

That  will  not  let  me  sleep  ? 

O,  if  it  is  a  mermaid. 

Go,  get  thee  to  the  sea ! 
An'  if  'tis  some  wild  woodland-girl. 

No  Dryad  captures  met 

But  if  'tis  Grace  of  Devon 

That  haunts  me  night  an'  day, 
Why, — then, — come  here,  thou  pale  sweet  Ghost, 

All'  thou  shalt  have  thy  way  I 

The  insurance  investigation  has  evidently  in- 
spired the  following,  which  was  first  published 
in  The  Evening  Post  (New  York)  : 

THE  WHISPERERS 

NEW  YORK — 1905 

By  Richard  Watson  Gilder 

In  the  House  of  State  at  Albany — in  shadowy 
corridors  and  comers — the  whisperers  whispered 
together. 

In  sumptuous  palaces  in  the  big  city  men  talked 
intently,  with  mouth  to  ear. 

YeaV  in  and  year  out  they  whispered,  and  talked, 
and  no  one  heard  save  those  who  listened  close. 

Now  in  the  Hall  of  the  City  the  whisperers 
again  are  whispering,  the  talkers  are  talking. 

They  who  once  conversed  so  quietly,  secretly, 
with  shrugs  and  winks  and  finger  laid  beside  nose 
—what  has  happened  to  their  throats? 

For  speak  they  never  s6  low,  their  voices  are 
as  the  voices  of  trumpets;  whisper  they  never  so 
close,  their  words  are  like  alarm  bells  rtmg  in  the 
night. 


aao 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


Every  whisper  is  a  shout,  and  the  noise  of  their 
speech  goes  forth  like  thunders. 

They  cry  as  from  the  housetops — their  voices 
resound  up  and  down  the  streets ;  they  echo  from 
city  to  city  and  from  village  to  village. 

Over  prairies  and  mountains  and  across  the  salt 
sea  their  whispers  ^o  hissing  and  shouting. 

They  say  the  thmg  they  would  not  say,  and 

?[ui<^ly  the  shameful  thing  clamors  back  and 
orth  over  the  round  world; 

And  when  they  would  fain  cease  their  saving, 
they  may  not,  for  a  clear-voiced  questioner  is  as 
the  finger  of  fate  and  the  crack  of  doom. 

What  they  would  hide  they  reveal,  what  they 
would  cover  they  make  plain ; 

What  they  feared  to  speak  aloud  to  one  another, 
unwillingly  they  publish  to  all  mankind; 

And  the  people  listen  with  bowed  heads,  won- 
dering and  m  grief ; 

And  wise  men,  and  they  who  love  their  coun- 
try, turn  pale  and  ask:  "What  new  shame  will 
come  upon  us?" 

And  again  they  ask,  "Are  these  they  in  whose 
keep  are  the  substance  and  hope  of  the  widow  and 
the  fatherless?" 

And  the  poor  man,  plodding  home  with  his 
scant  earnings  from  his  hard  week's  work,  hears 
the  voices,  with  bitterness  in  his  soul. 

And  thieves,  lurking  in  dark  places  and  fur- 
tively seizing  that  which  is  not  their  own;  and 
the  petty  and  cowardly  briber,  and  he  who  is 
bribed,  nudge  one  another ; 

And  the  anarch  and  the  thrower  of  bombs  clap 
hands  together,  and  cry  out:  "Behold  these  our 
allies  r 

The  life  and  character  of  Josephine  Shaw 
Lowell  were  the  subject  of  a  sketch  in  another 
department  of  this  magazine  last  month.  Several 
poetical  tributes  have  since  appeared,  one  of  which 
we  give  below: 

A   CITY'S   SAINT 
josephine  shaw  lowell 
By  Joseph  Dana  Miller 

"A  woman  lived  and  now  a  woman  dies  ;*' 
If  that  were  all,  this  line  were  ipuch  too  long ; 

But  with  her  went  from  out  our  social  skies 
A  light,  and  voice  like  a  remembered  song. 

Some  saints  have  lived  who  on  the  ensanguined 

V  field  . 
Walked  with  the  balm  of  healing  in  their  hands ; 
And  not  until  the  eye  of  God  is  sealed 
Fadeth  the  glory  where  some  woman  stands. 

Shedding  strange  radiance  from  her  tender  eyes; 

Now  in  the  town,  and  now  in  court  or  camp — 
Some  woman  with  her  deed  of  sacrifice, 

Lighting  the  world  like  an  eternal  lamp. 

'.    '  ■         -     . 
And  she  to  whom  War's  tragedy  o^:pain 
Had  brought  its  tears — whose  ht»band,  brother, 
friend 
Passed  in  the  cannonading  to  the  slam-^ 
Walked  with  her  lonely  sorrow  to  the  end. 


But  in  that  sorrow's  self-for{^et fulness 
She  wrought  whose  splendid  task  is  done  too 
soon; 

Because  she  lived,  the  evil  days  are  less 
Bridging  these  civic  nights  to  highest  noon. . 

And  mid  the  populous  town,  its  walls  that  rise. 
Its  massive  structures  wrought  of  myriad  hands. 

This  story  of  a  woman's  sacrifice 
Shines  like  a  beacon  where  the  city  stands. 

This  shall  outlive  its  mortar  and  its  stone. 
This  shall  be  told  where  cities  rise  and  fall ; 

A  woman  working  in  its  ways  alone 
With  loving  hands  built  bastions  round  its  wall. 

Mr.  Alexander  Jessup,  a  critic,  a  compiler,  and 
a  poet,  calls  attention  in  the  New  York  Times 
to  the  lyrical  work  of  Robert  Clarkson  Tongue, 
an  Episcopal  clergyman  in  Connecticut,  who  died 
in  1904,  and  whose  poetry  has  just  been  published 
by  his  widow  in  a  memorial  volume.  Mr.  Jessup 
quotes  and  rightly  praises  this: 

THE   SILENT   POET 

By  Robert  Clarkson  Tongue 

Do  you  think  there  are  none  but  you,  O  poeU 
friend  of  my  heart, 
Who  look  through  the  veil  and  the  bar  deep 
into  the  soul  of  things ; 
Do  you  think  that  to  you  alone,  who  live  for  the 
subtle  art 
Of  molding  beauty  to  words,  the  soul  of  the 
beautiful  sings? 

And  the  sky-glow  and  the  stars,  and  the  glory 
of  sea  and  earth — 
Are  they  meant  for  Him  alone  who  can  utter 
them  back  again? 
And  is  there  no  message  sent  to  the  one  of  a 
common  birth 
Who  inarticulate  utters  his  cry  of  rapture  or 
pain  ? 

Never  a  song  have  I  wrought,  yet  I  share  in  the 
mystery 
Of  night,  and  the  natal  joy  of  life  when   the 
night  is  past. 
Never  a  song  have  I  wrought,  yet  I  am  akin  to 
the  sea, 
And  I  hear  the  voices  calling  ever  out  of  the 
vast. 

And  the  burden  of  all  your  songs  is  only  an  echo, 
blent 
Of  things  that  I  loved  before,  and  of  measures 
I  sometimes  heard, 
And  held,  unknown  to  myself,  in  the  depth  of 
my  being  pent. 
Till  a  mightier  one  than  I  had  quickened  them 
at  a  word. 

And  the  passion  that  fell  to  earth  and  beat  like 
a  wounded  bird, 
And  the  fledgling  song  of  a  soul  that  never  was 
plumed  to  flight, 


RECENT  POETRY 


221 


Utter  themselves  in  you,  when  the  voice  of  your 
soul  is  heard, 
And  winged  by  your  master-song,  ascend  to 
the  sun-crowned  height 

Here  is  a  graceful  little  love-poem  (in  The 
Metropolitan)  from  an  always  graceful  bard : 

A   LOVER 
By  Cunton  Scollaro 

First  her  eyes  I — I  can't  express 

All  the  wonder  of  her  eyes; 
Truth  and  trust  and  tenderness 

Dwell  there  ever,  vernal-wise. 

Next  her  smile  1 — I  cannot  tell 

All  the  marvel  of  her  smile; 
Tis  a  golden  miracle 

To  enrapture  and  beguile. 

Then  her  voice  I — I  cannot  say 
What  most  charms  me  in  her  voice ; 

Melody  to  trance  the  day. 
Notes  to  bid  the  night  rejoice. 

Last  her  heart! — and  when  I  think 

That  it  quickens  but  for  me, 
I  am  mute  upon  the  brink 

Of  amaze — and  ecstasy. 

A  little  volume,  entitled  "Songs  of  the  Desert," 
comes  to  us  from  "The  Lloyd  Group  of  Authors 
and  Publishers,"  Westficld,  New  Jersey.  It  is  a 
product  of  Arizona,  and  though  the  author,  J. 
William  Lloyd,  has  not  exactly  "arrived"  as  yet, 
he  has  feet  on  the  rungs  of  the  ladder,  as  the 
following  will  show: 

MY  ARIZONA  BEDROOM 

By  J.  William  Lloyd 

O  my  Arizona  bedroom 
Is  beneath  the  Milker  Way 

And  the  moon  is  m  its  ceiling. 
And  the  star  that  tells  of  day. 

And  the  mountains  lift  the  comers. 
And  the  desert  lays  the  floor. 

Of  my  Arizona  bedroom. 
Which  is  large  as  all  outdoor. 

O  my  Arizona  bedroom 
Is  ventilated  nght, 

Every  wind  that's  under  heaven 
Comes  to  me  with  blithe  good-night, 

G>mes  to  me  with  touch  of  blessing 
And  of  ozone  one  drink  more, 

In  my  Arizona  bedroom. 
Which  is  large  as  all  outdoor. 

O  my  Arizona  bedroom 
Has  the  lightnmg  on  its  wall, 

And  the  thunders  rap  the  panels 
And  their  heavy  voices  call ; 

And  the  night  birds  wing  above  me 
And  the  owl  hoots  galore 

Through  my  Arizona  bedroom, 
Which  is  large  as  all  outdoor. 


O  my  Arizona  bedstead. 
It  sometimes  seems  to  me, 

Is  afloat  in  middle  heaven 
With  each  star  an  argosy: 

And  the  tide  that  turns  at  midnight 
Drifts  us  down  to  morning's  shore, 

Floats  us,  stars  and  bed  and  bedstead. 
On  the  ocean  of  outdoor. 

O  my  Arizona  bedroom 
Is  beneath  the  splendid  stars. 

And  the  clouds  roll  up  the  curtains 
And  the  windows  have  no  bars, 

And  I  see  my  God  in  heaven 
As  the  andents  did  of  yore. 

In  my  Arizona  bedroom 
Which  is  large  as  all  outdoor. 

Here  is  a  newspaper  poem,  with  a  ring  of  sin- 
cerity in  it  and  timeliness  that  make  it  impress- 
ive. It  was  sent  to  the  New  York  Times  and 
published  by  it  in  an  editorial  column  with  re- 
spectful coqmient: 

THE  CHOSEN   PEOPLE 
By  M.  W.  p. 

Tlw  chosen  people.  Lord  I    Ay,  and  for  what? 

Chosen  to  bear  the  world's  contempt  and  scorn ; 
Chosen  to  cringe  and  fawn,  contrive  and  plot. 

Only  to  win  the  right  to  live,  being  bom ; 
Chosen  to  bow  the  neck  and  bend  the  knee. 

To  hold  the  tongue  when  other  tongues  revile, 
To  bear  the  burdens,  bond-slaves  e'en  when  free; 

Give  cheerfully,  be  spit  upon  and  smile; 
Chosen  for  death,  for  torture  and  the  screws. 

While  the  slow  centuries  move,  they  say,  toward 
light  1 

Lord,  from  the  horrors  of  this  endless  night 
Let  us  go  freel — another  people  choose  1 

We  find  ourselves  printing  something  of  Theo- 
dosia  Garrison's  in  this  department  nearly  every 
month.  But  she  is  to  blame  for  that,  not  we! 
The  following  is  from  Scribner^s: 

•  BALLAD  OF  EVE'S  RETURN 
By  Theodosia  Garrison 

'Twas  Eve  came  back  to  Paradise 

And  paused  without  the  gate; 
The  angels  with  the  flaming  swords 

Stood  each  beside  the  grate— 
And  clean-white  was  one  sword  like  love, 

And  one  was  red  like  hate. 

The  chaste  hosts  leaned  from  heaven  to  see 

The  woman  of  first  sin; 
Above  her  head  the  burning  blades 

Crossed,  menacin£[  and  thin. 
And  lo!   a  great  voice  spake  through  space, 

"My  people,  let  her  in!" 

Down  dropped  the  swords  on  either  side, 
The  thrice-barred  gate  swung  free; 

Blossomed  and  bright  and  beckoning 
Stirred  sun-filled  flower  and  tree, 

But  Eve  stood  still  without  the  gate 
Nor  wistfully  spake  she: 


aaa 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


"Afar  my  strong  man  breaks  the  soil, 

And  as  he  toils  he  sings 
That  I  ma>r  know  that  still  his  love 

Grows  with  earth's  growing  things. 
An  I  came  in,  who  else  might  lean 

To  greet  his  home-comings  ? 

"And  what  to  me  were  Paradise 

And  languid  days  of  ease, 
Seeing  the  peace  that  springs  from  toil 

Is  lovelier  than  these, 
What  time  at  evenfall  we  two 

Rest  'neath  our  new-grown  trees  ? 

"And  what  to  me  were  Paradise, 

Since  I  have  known  the  best — 
My  true  mate's  eyes  within  my  eyes, 

The  man-child  at  my  breast. 
Their  exquisite,  dear  need  of  me 

That  makes  me  wholly  blest?" 

The  thrice-barred  gate  swung  free  and  wide 

To  show 'the  sun-filled  way; 
The  blossomed  heights  of  Paradise 

Lured  her  as  live  things  may. 
'Twas  Eve  who  stood  without  the  gate 

And  laughed  and  turned  away. 

A^ast,  amazed,  the  hosts  of  Heaven 

Broke  forth  in  wildered  cries, 
"Where,  then,  is  that  her  punishment 

Thou  didst  devise,  Most  Wise, 
What  time  Thy  vengeance  drove  her  forth 

Outcast  from  Paradise?" 

Beneath  the  answering  voice  they  bent 

As  wind-swayed  forests  move. 
"My  people,  of  this  woman's  word 

Take  ye  the  truth  thereof ; 
Learn  ye  thus  late  her  punishment 

Came  not  of  hate,  but  love  1 

"Wiser  than  ye  is  she  who  guessed 

My  meaning  overlong; 
Love  cast  her  forth  from  Paradise — 

Now  when  hath  love  wrought  wrong?" 

And  suddenly  the  courts  of  Heaven 
Thrilled  with  adoring  song. 

Here  is  a  poem  with  music  and  good  Irish  cheer 
in  it    It  is  taken  from  McClure's: 

THE  OULD   TUNES 

By  Moira  O'Neill 

A  hoy  we  had  belongin'  us,  an'  och,  but  he  was 

gay, 
An*  we'd  sooner  hear  him  singin'  than  we'd  hear 

the  birds  in  May ; 
For  a  bullfinch  was  a  fool  to  him,  an'  all  ye  had 

to  do, 
Only  name  the  song  ye  wanted  an'  he'd  sing  it  for 
ye  through 
Wid  his  "Up  now  there  1"  an'  his  "Look  about 

an'  thry  for  it," 
Faith,  he  had  the  quarest  songs  of  any  ye 
could  find — 


"Poppies  in  the  Com"  too,  an'  "Mollic,  never 

cry  for  it!" 
"The   pretty   girl    I   courted,"   an'    "There's 

trouble  in  the  wind." 

Music  is  deludherin',  ye'll  hear  the  people  say, 
The  more  they  be  deludhered  then  the  better  is 

their  case; 
I  would  sooner  miss  my  dhrink  than  never  hear  a 

fiddle  play 
An'  since  Hughie  up  an'  left  us  this  has  been 
another  place. 
Arrah,  Come  back,  ladl  an'  we'll  love  you 

when  you  sing  for  us — 
Sure  we're  gettin'  oulder  an'  yc'U  maybe  come 

too  late — 
Sing  "Girl  Dearl"  an'  "The  Bees  among  the 

Ling"  for  us. 
Still  I'd  shake  a  foot  to  hear  "The  Pigeon 
on  the  Gate." 

Oh  Hughie  had  the  music,  but  there  come  on  him 

a  change. 
He  should  ha'  stayed  the  boy  he  was  an'  never 

grown  a  man ; 
I  seen  the  shadow  on  his  face  before  his  time 

to  range. 
An'   I   knew   he   sung   for   sorrow   as  a  winter 
robin  can. 
But  thafs  not  the  way  I — oh,  I'd  feel  my  heart 

grow  light  again, 
Hughie,   if  I'd  hear  you   at   the  "Pleasant 

Summer  Rain." 
Ould  sweet  tunes,   sure  my  wrong  'ud   all 
come  right  again, 
Listenin'  for  an  hour,  I'd  forget  the  feel  o'  pain. 

Arthur  Guiterman  gives  us  in  verse  more  of 
the  wise  and  otherwise  sayings  of  the  Far  East. 
We  take  these  from  the  New  York  Times: 

SAYINGS  OF  IND. 
By  Arthur  Guiterman 

"O  Crocodile,  why  do  xou  weep 

When  Gunga  in  freshet  is  brown?" 

"Alas  1  for  the  river  is  deep  I 

Alas  I  for  the  people  will  drown  1" 

Can  Love  devise 

That  Love  shall  not  be  seen? 
Nay.    Eyes  meet  Eyes, 

And  Love  slips  out  between. 

"My  cage  of  gold  is  hung  with  silk; 

The'  King  and  Court  delight  in  me ; 
My  food  is  fruit,  my  drink  is  milk— 
I  want  my  nest  and  hollow  tree  1" 

"My  wisdom  aids  the  world  I"    How  sweet 
That  secret  thought  of  great  and  small  I 
The  seagull  sleeps  with  upturned  feet 
To  catch  the  sky,  if  that  should  fall. 

The  scimitar  smites 
Where  the  buckler  is  weak. 

The  Fish  has  no  rights 
In  the  Cormorant  s  beak. 


Recent    Fiction    and    the   Critics 


A  very  interesting  analysis  of  the  novels  of  1905 
is  given  in  The  Bookman  (January).  It  appears 
that  29  different  novels  secured  a  place  once  or 
oftener  in  the  lists  of  six  best  selling  novels  pub- 
lished each  month  during  that  year.  Of  these 
29  best  sellers,  13  were  written  by  men  and  11 
by  women;  three  were  the  results  of  collabora- 
tion by  husband  and  wife;  one  a  result  of  collab- 
oration by  three  women;  and  of  one  novel  the 
sex  of  the  author  is  not  revealed.  Of  the  authors 
of  these  29  novels,  moreover,  an  unusually  large 
number — ten — were  British,  one  a  Canadian,  and 
three  of  those  written  by  collaboration  had  one 
American  and  one  Britisher  in  the  joiijt  author- 
ship. The  six  books  which  led  the  list  for  the 
year  in  point  of  popularity  are  divided  equally 
between  men  and  women  and  between  Americans 
and  British  authors. 

Gertrude    Atherton,    in    her   new   novel,*   has 

pleased    the   British   critics   more   than    she   has 

— -^  pleased  the  American.  Her  Ameri- 

TrAveliinff  *^"  heroine  and  her  other  Ameri- 
.---.  can  characters  are  applauded  there 

and  disapproved  here.  For  in- 
stance, speaking  of  this  heroine,  Catalina,  a  Cali- 
fornia girl,  the  London  Athenaeum  says  she  is 
"thoroughly  lovable,"  and  Mrs.  Atherton  has 
never  done  anything  better;  while  our  own 
Reader  Magazine  thinks  she  "is  not  a  winning 
heroine,  being  much  too  self-sure,  too  disdainful, 
too  well  pleased." 

The  novel  is  the  story  of  a  party  of  Americans 
who  ^do**  Spain  in  third-class  railway  carriages, 
and  who  have  some  picturesque  adventures,  in- 
cluding two  love  stories,  the  abduction  of  the 
heroine  by  a  Spanish  brigand,  and  a  physical 
enconnter  between  him  and  the  heroine  in  which 
he  is  badly  worsted  and  very  much  surprised. 
She  not  only  scratched  and  clawed  in  true  woman 
tadiion,  but  leaped  on  his  back,  on  the  edge 
of  a  precipice  too,  and — 

'*She  pressed  her  knees  into  his  sides,  dragged 
his  head  back  with  one  arm,  while  with  the 
other  she  pounded  his  unprotected  face.  He  gave 
a  mighty  shake,  but  he  might  as  well  have  at- 
tempted to  throw  off  a  wild  cat  of  her  own 
forests." 

The  Athenaeum,  having  expressed  its  admira- 
tion of  Catalina,  with  the  exception  of  this  "gro- 
tesque" incident,  goes  on  to  say: 

"Of  the  other  characters  in  the  book,  a  pro- 
fes^onal  invalid  and  her  two  daughters  will  be 

•The  Travelling  Thirds.      By  Gertrude  Atherton 
AB^rper  ft  Brotbero. 


recognized  as  faithful  portraits  by  all  who  are 
familiar  with  the  various  types  of  American 
tourists.  The  hero,  a  British  guardsman,  cannot 
be  said  to  be  a  success.  It  is  odd  that  Mrs. 
Atherton,  with  her  evident  dislike  of  the  conven- 
tional, should  have  drawn  so  conventional  and 
artificial  a  portrait  as  that  of  Capt.  Over." 

The  London  Times  thinks  the  author  "has  hit 
upon  a  happy  device  whereby  to  show  glimpses  of 
a  fine  people  in  a  fine  landscape";  and  the  love- 
story  between  Catalina  and  Captain  Over  "is 
worked  up  to  a  fine  if  somewhat  fantastic  climax, 
and  escapes  triviality  by  virtue  of  the  cleverly- 
drawn  figure  of  a  difficult,  complex  heroine  stand- 
ing out  against  a  background  filled  with  pictur- 
esque colour  and  light." 

The  San  Francisco  Argonaut,  however,  thinks 
that  the  novel  is  in  the  main  "trivial,  a  mere  pot- 
boiler." The  Bookman  pays  extended  attention 
to  its  "fearful  and  wonderful  phrases,"  some  of 
those  which  especitally  amuse  it,  being  the  follow- 
ing: 

"...  moved  her  head  slowly  on  the  long 
column  of  her  throat." 

"Her  claim  to  distinction  was  in  her  grooming, 
her  beauty  mien." 

"After  they  had  rambled  in  silence  for  an  hour 
[one  of  the  characters]  emerged  from  her 
centres." 

"A   rich   brown   silence." 

"A  pale  blue  gaze." 

The  Reader  Magasine  says  of  the  work  as  a 
whole : 

"What  has  become  of  the  brilliant  imagination 
of  The  Conqueror'  and  'Rulers  of  Kings'?  And 
where  is  that  imperious  style  with  its  splendidly 
large  figures  and  its  energy  of  movement  that 
have  made  this  author's  pages  swift  and  strong 
and  sumptuous?  Only  faint  traces  and  distant 
echoes  of  these  qualities  are  to  be  found  in  'The 
Travelling  Thirds.'  The  book  possesses  its  au- 
thor's characteristic  faults  of  hardness  and  exag- 
geration; it  is  almost  destitute  of  sympathy  and 
moderation,  while  of  the  unusual  virtues  of  bold 
plot  and  suspended  creation  that  we  have  come 
to  associate  with  Mrs.  Atherton's  name,  it  has 
scant  measure." 

Mrs.  Craigie  ("John  Oliver  Hobbes"),  in  her 
present  lecture  tour  in  America,  is  not  Ijkely  to 
be  unduly  exhilarated  by  what  the  reviewers 
here  say  of  her  latest  novel.*  Most 
of  the  critics  admit  that  she  is 
still  incapable  of  being  dull,  but 
they  variously  stigmatize  this 
work  as  "trivial,"  "silly"  and  "stagey."  The 
Sun    (New    York),    however,    regards    it   as    "a 

♦  The  Flute  of  Pan.      By  John]  Oliver  |Hobbes.1D 

Appleton  &  Company.  ^ 


The 

Flute  of 

Pan. 


334 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


comedy  of  much  ingenuity  and  interest,"  and  The 
Times  (New  York)  thinks  "she  has  provided  a 
good  story  as  well  as  a  deal  of  clever  talk  and 
some  rather  uncannily  acute  analysis."  But  The 
Dial  (Chicago)  dubs  it  "a  trifling  performance," 
and  the  Boston  Transcript  calls  it  "a  silly  love- 
story  laid  in  a  silly  and  impossible  little  German 
state  full  of  'hereditary  princesses/  etc" 

The  title  of  the  book  is  explained  in  the 
;)uthor's  foreword  as  follows: 

"Pan  was  a  heathen  god,  who  could  guide  lost 
travelers  and  calm  all  storms  by  the  magic  of  his 
flute.  I  am  showing  him  leading  some  pilgrims 
who  have  lost  their  way.  They  hear  him  piping 
and  are  encouraged.  It  is  a  parable  of  modern 
life.  We  torment  ourselves  with  boredom  and 
scruples,  whereas  all  we  need,  is  more  music, 
more  joy !  We  must  listen  to  the  flute  of  Pan.  It 
is  always  plaving,  but  we  drown  it  with  our 
wretched  bubble  of  philosophies,  the  noise  of 
machinery,  the  turmoil  of  money  making." 

The  hero  of  the  story  is  an  eccentric  English- 
man of  title  and  wealth  and  Tolstoyan  ideas,  who 
renounces  vanity  and  espouses  art,  taking  lodg- 
ings in  Venice  to  paint  "A  Flute  of  Pan"  and 
other  things.  "It  was  clear  to  the  thoughtful  that 
he  disliked  most  people  because  he  disliked  him- 
self. If  a  man  cannot  love  himself,  whom  he 
can  justify  as  a  rule,  how  can  he  love  the 
stranger,  whom  he  does  not  understand  in  the 
least?"  The  heroine,  a  princess  of  Siluria,  finds 
him  in  Venice,  and,  needing  a  husband  in  her 
business — ruling  a  disturbed  realm — ^proposes 
marriage  for  reasons  of  state,  which  reasons, 
however,  coincide  with  the  state  of  her  heart 
as  well.  He  accepts  on  condition  that  when 
order  is  restored  to  her  realm  she  will  abdicate 
and  return  to  Venice  to  live  with  him  in  his  life 
of  renunciation.  Suspicions  and  misunderstand- 
ings harry  them  for  long,  and  keep  them  at  cross- 
purposes.  When  all  these  are  cleared  away,  and 
they  return  to  Venice,  new  difficulties  arise  that 
compel  them  to  take  up  again  the  burden  of 
rule. 

So  much  of  the  book,  says  The  Evening  Post 
(New  York),  "is  clearly  stage  dialogue,  and  so 
much  the  elaboration  of  stage  directions  that  one 
wishes  that  the  comedy  had  never  been  written." 
Most  severe  of  all  the  reviewers  is  the  one  who 
writes  in  The  Tribune  (New  York)  : 

"Shades  of  Ouida  at  her  worst  I  We  say  'at  her 
worst'  because  Ouida  at  her  best  would  never 
dream  of  piling  on  the  agony  in  this  Corinthian 
fashion.  Mrs  Cragie  is  still  enormously  clever 
and  'The  Flute  of  Pan'  is  indubitably  a  readable 
book,  but  there  is  something  about  it  so  forced 
and  unnatural  that,  in  view  of  what  the  author 
has  done  in  the  past,  it  is  actually  painful.  Her 
hero  hasn't  even  the  smallest  relation  to  human 


nature,  and  the  heroine — ^an  amazing  young  j>er- 
son  fetched  from  a  kind  of  opera  bouffe  princi- 
pality d  la  Anthony  Hope — is  not  one  whit  more 
credible." 


The  Lake. 


In  what  has  come  to  be  called  the  Gaelic  school 
of  literature — one  of  the  most  interesting  literary 
developments  of  recent  years — Mr.  George  Moore 
must  be  accorded  an  important 
place.  His  new  novel*  portrays 
the  clash  between  Irish  ideas,  as 
represented  in  a  Connaught  priest. 
Father  (jogarty,  and  pagan  ideas,  as  represented 
in  a  girl,  Rose  Leicester,  the  mistress  of  a  scholar. 
She  has  been  driven  from  his  parish  by  the  priest, 
because  of  her  lapse  in  virtue,  and  the  revenge 
she  takes,  knowing  that  he  is  really  in  love  with 
her,  is  to  write  letters  to  him  from  the  Continent, 
telling  him  of  art  and  life  and  "higher  criticism,'' 
until  she  shakes  his  faith,  and,  determined  to 
taste  the  life  of  the  world,  he  abandons  his  parish 
and  comes  to  New  York  to  earn  a  living  and  see 
life  as  a  journalist.  Rose  Leicester,  it  is  gener* 
ally  thought  by  the  critics,  is  unreal  and  impos- 
sible ;  but  Father  Gogarty  is  a  hero  of  charm  and 
emotional  power,  and  the  setting  in  which  he  is 
placed  is  of  the  true  Celtic  quality,  winsome  and 
mystical.  Here  is  the  London  Academy's  com- 
ment: 

"We  can  take  no  interest  in  the  young  woman 
and  her  chatter.  She  and  it  are  cheap  and  vulgar 
compared  with  the  young  priest  and  the  woods 
in  which  he  wanders,  his  mind  a  field  of  battle 
between  the  old  and  the  still  older,  between 
law  and  'liberty.*  He  deserts  his  woods;  slips 
away  by  night  to  go  and  be  a  journalist  in  New 
York.  But  he  leaves  us  behind,  leaves  us  to 
choose  the  better  part  he  has  rejected  and  to 
dream  time  away  in  the  woods  which  Mr.  (jeorge 
Moore  has  described  in  such  beautiful  sensitive 
and  musical  language.  He  has  never  shown  him- 
self a  more  finished  artist  in  words  than  in  this 
book.  The  contrasting  vulgarity  only  throws 
up  the  exquisite  poetry  of  the  soul  of  the  priest 
and  the  mournful  sweetness  of  his  country." 

It  is  the  same  strain  in  the  book  that  haunts 
the  London  Outlook's  reviewer — the  descriptions 
of  the  gray-limestone  lake,  by  which  Father 
Gogarty  lives,  y^ith  its  ruined  castles  and  island 
hermitages  and  ancient  thickets  holding  Druidic 
stones.  "Viewed  as  a  story  in  which  things  hap- 
pen," says  this  same  reviewer,  "'The  Lake'  is  a 
Celtic  coracle  in  an  age  of  Cunarders;  yet  it  is 
full  of  haunting  and  pathetic  charm,  and  every 
page  bears  the  stamp  of  a  true  literary  artist." 

The  London  Times  notes  the  sharp  contrast 
between  Moore's  earlier  style,  learned  from 
Flaubert,  and  his  present  Celtic  strain.  The  story 
♦The  Lake.     By  George  Moore.     Heinemannf  London. 


RECENT  FICTION  AND   THE  CRITICS 


225 


in  the  present  case,  it  thinks,  is  so  slight  that  it 
>an  hardly  be  called  a  story,  but  is  so  finely 
written  that  one  must  class  it  with  prose  poems. 
The  Tintes  adds :  "The  interest  is  in  the  play  of 
mmd  and  the  charm  in  the  poetical  presentaton 
^f  the  picture.  We  have  seldom  seen  Irish 
-cenery  better  realized  and  rendered,  nor  do  we 
!<cnow  any  modem  novelist  better  skilled  than  Mr. 
Moore  in  gating  fresh  harmonious  effects  out  of 
the  lan^ua^e." 


lot  of  Sir  Raoul.    ...    A  story  as  robust  in 
invention  as  it  is  ingenious  in  plot." 


"A  monumental  romance  with  a  colossal  theme" 
15  the   way   in  which  the  New  York  Sun  char- 
acterizes   Dr.   James   M.   Ludlow's  new   histori- 
cal novel.*     Dr.  Ludlow  is  best 
Sir  known  (in  a  literary  way)  by  his 

Raoul.         "Captain  of  the  Janizaries/'  writ- 
ten twenty  years  ago  and  still  in 
moderate  demand.     The  present  work  treats  of 
the    fourth    crusade   in    the    thirteenth    century, 
and  its   diversion  by  Venetian  intrigues  into  a 
raid    upon    Constantinople,   which   resulted   in   a 
t-imporary    union    of    the    Greek    and    Roman 
Churches    and    the   establishment   of   the   Latin 
Caurch  under  Baldwin.    The  hero  of  the  story, 
Sir   Raoul,    is   a  youthful   knight   of  the   Black 
Forest,   who  is  early  disgraced  in  a  tourney,  is 
thought  to  be  dead,  but  under  an  assumed  name 
becomes   a    member  of  a  robber  band,  goes  to 
Venice  and  Constantinople  as  an  adventurer,  saves 
the  life  of  the  beautiful  Renee,  an  emperor's  niece, 
whom  he  had  played  with  and  loved  as  a  girl, 
and  returns  home  to  win  back  fame,  honor,  and 
the  hand  of  the  heroine.     "The  story  goes  for- 
ward," says  the  Book  News,  "with  swiftness  and 
dramatic  intensity  of  movement."    The  chief  fault 
of  the  book,  says  the  Chicago  Dial,  is  due  to  the 
abundant  and   rich  historical  material  available, 
hj  reason   of  which   the   author  "huddles   one 
event  upon  another  to  confusing  effect."    But  the 
interest,    it   adds,   is   sustained   at   a  high   pitch 
throughout,  and  it  pays  admiring  tribute  to  Dr. 
LcdIoVs  knowledge,  both  of  the  broad  historical 
issues  and  the  matters  of  detail  of  the  period. 
The  Sun  sees  this  same  fault  of  overcrowding 
and  overelaboration,  but  says:    "It  is  a  vigor- 
oa«  story  resounding  in  the  clash  of  arms,  the 
thunder   of  horses'   hoofs,  the  din  of  opposing 
annieSy  and  shows  evidences  of  great  care  and 
sincerity   in   treatment,  wide  historical  research 
and  excellent  craftsmanship  in  the  working  out 
of  an  intricate  and  elaborate  plot."     "King  Ar^ 
thur  and  all  his  knights,"  observes  The  Evening 
Post  (New  York),  "rolled  into  one,  had  no  more 
exciting  experiences"  than  those  which  fell  to  the 

•5ia   Raoul.       By  James   M.    Ludlow.       FlemingfH. 
Rerell  Company. 


What  one  critic  calls  a  "work  of  genius"  and 
another  calls  "the  veriest  trash"  appears  from  the 
pen  of  the  anonymous  author  of  "The  Martyrdom 
of  an  Empress"  and  "The  Tribu- 
The  Trident  lations  of  a  Princess."  The  new 
and  the  Net.  work,*  however,  is  not  biography 
but.  fiction,  and  the  verdict  of  the 
critics  is,  for  the  most  part,  decidedly  favorable. 
It  is  in  the  Philadelphia  Ledger  that  the  novel  is 
declared  to  be  "the  veriest  trash"  and  "a  ranting 
kind  of  melodrama  given  with  a  wealth  of  detail 
that  is  invariably  of  a  rank  luxuriance,  and  coarse 
shadows  apparently  painted  into  the  picture  by 
means  of  a  broom."  The  Chicago  Dial  also  speaks 
of  the  work,  after  the  early  chapters  are  passed,  as 
"unreal  melodrama"  in  which  no  constructive  art 
is  manifested.  And  the  Springfield  Republican 
thinks  the  novel  is  "very  long  and  very  tedious." 
But  a  still  larger  array  of  respectable  reviewers 
can  be  cited  in  praise  that  becomes  at  times  super- 
lative. The  Times  (New  York)  thinks  the  story 
is  told  "with  only  too  great  eloquence,"  and  the 
tragedy  of  it  all  "does  not  lose  its  clutch  upon 
one's  heart  until  long  after  the  inevitable  end  is 
reached."  The  Boston  Herald  also  finds  that  the 
story  "holds  the  reader  almost  too  strongly  in  its 
grasp."  And  the  Boston  Transcript,  the  New 
York  Evening  Post  and  the  New  York  Tribune 
all  speak  of  it  as  a  work  of  power  and  dramatic 
force. 

The  story  opens  in  Brittany,  and  the  early  chap- 
ters descriptive  of  life  there  are  praised  unstint- 
edly even  by  those  who  find  the  rest  of  the  novel 
tedious.  The  hero,  Loic,  who  becomes  Marquise 
de  Kergoat,  has  a  mother  of  gtisty  temper  and 
variable  moods,  who  does  all  that  a  mother  can 
to  ruin  her  son's  character  by  her  excessive  in- 
dulgence one  moment  and  excessive  exactions 
the  next.  She  is  one  of  his  bad  angels,  against 
whom  he  struggles  manfully,  with  the  aid  of 
his  sister  Gaidik,  who  is  his  good  angel.  But  the 
good  angel  becomes  married  and  leaves  him  to 
struggle  unaided.  Then  comes  Rose,  a  young 
woman  of  low  rank,  and  also  a  bad  angel,  with 
whom  he  finally  goes  to  New  York,  where  he 
earns  his  living  as  a  teacher  in  a  riding  academy, 
dying  at  last  under  tragic  and  sordid  circum- 
stances. The  title,  of  course,  is  derived  from  the 
days  of  gladiatorial  Rome,  when  the  net  was  used 
to  render  an  opponent  helpless  and  the  trident 
was  used  to  despatch  him. 

•  The  Trident  and  the  Net.     By  the  author  of  "  The 
Martyrdom  of  an  Express."     Harper  &  Brothers. 


Prince  Ghika — By  Isolde  Kurz 


The  author  of  this  story  (which  is  translated  from  the  German,  for  Current  Literature,  by 
Felix  Waring)  is  the  daughter  of  a  father  distinguished  in  Germany  as  a  Shakespearean  scolar, 
as  translator  of  Byron  and  Moore,  and  as  a  publicist,  editor,  novelist  and  poet — the  late  Hermann 
Kurz,  of  Tubingen.  The  daughter  has  already  achieved  fame  for  her  literary  work  in  prose  and 
verse.  She  is  one  of  the  coming  German  writers,  and  this  story  well  represents  her  high-bred  fan- 
ciful humor  and  fine  literary  style.  We  have  abridged  the  story  somewhat  by  eliminating  some 
of  the  descriptive  passages. 


The  Palace  Hotel,  Maloggia,  Aug.  8th,  1903. 

Dearest  Clothilde:  It's  just  a  week  ago  to- 
night that  we  reached  the  end  of  that  wind* 
swept  Maloggia  Pass.  To  me  the  week  seems  like 
an  age,  for  here  the  days  contain  twice  as  many 
hours  as  in  Heidelberg.  "Why  should  they?" 
Why,  one's  sole  occupation  is  waiting  for  the 
mail,  which  comes  twice  a  day  and  is  just  now  in 
duty  bound  to  bring  me  tidings  of  my  Arnold's 
speedy  coming.  During  all  our  engagement  we 
have  never  been  separated  longer  than  twenty- 
four  hours,  until  now,  and  this  everlasting  watcn- 
ing  and  waiting  is  getting  on  my  nerves.  As  I 
understand  it,  he  should  have  been  here  yester- 
day. He  had  only  your  father's  lectures  on 
common  law  to  attend  and  his  course  was  fin- 
ished,—^r  so  I  understood  him  to  say  when  he 
bade  me  good-by  and  au  revoir  on  the  station 
platform. 

"But  the  world  is  wide  and  wondrous  and 
you're  perched  on  its  highest  peaks,"  I  hear  you 
reply;  "then  look  for  new  mterests  in  life!" 
An,  dearest  Qotho,  for  a  ^rl  once  engaged,  and 
in  love  into  the  bargain,  life  holds  no  other  in- 
terests. And,  indeed,  it  ought  not  to,  either  for 
her  or  for  him,  and  if  I  thought  that  Arnold  had 

found   other   interests   meanwhile,    I'd !      If 

you  knew  how  indifferent  and  unconcerned  I  am, 
so  long  as  he  is  absent.  I  simply  sit  and  stare 
at  this  mob  of  polished  and  varnished  figures 
about  me,  so  stiff  with  varnish  that  they  can 
scarcely  move  without  cracking,  sitting  at  table 
as  solemnly  as  if  it  were  a  funeral  banquet, 
their  weightiest  topic  of  conversation  as  to 
whether  the  brook  trout  is  better  this  season  than 
the  mackerel  or  vice-versa.  If  I  hadn't  sworn  to 
you  that  I'd  keep  my  eyes  open  for  interesting 
human  creatures,  in  order  to  forward  them  to 
you,  well  pressed  and  packed  in  this  "Herbarium," 
as  ^ou  once  styled  our  correspondence,  I  don't 
believe  I  should  once  lift  my  eyes  from  my  plate 
at  the  hotel  table  d'hote.  Besides,  you're  so  hard 
to  please!  The  two  charming  Boer  girls  I  wrote 
you  about  in  my  last  letter  don't  interest  you  at 
all  apparently.  Perhaps  in  my  next  I  may  be 
able  to  serve  up  something  more  to  your  liking,  as 
I've  had  a  new  neighbor  at  table  ever  since 
yesterday's  dinner,  a  jolly  young  lawyer  from 
Bologna,  who  surprised  me  by  his  excellent  Ger- 
man, but  who,  as  he  confessed  to  me  in  the  first 
few  moments,  despite  his  exhaustless  eloquence, 
has  as  yet  to  plead  his  first  case.  His  name  is 
Benivieni ;  he's  good-looking,  as  most  Italians  are, 
only,  unfortunately,  a  trifle  short — at  least  he'd 
seem  so  when  compared  to  such  a  Juno-like  crea- 
ture as  my  majestic  Coz.  Also  there  is  a  Prince 
Ghika  avec  suite,  from  Rumania,  registered  among 


to-day's  arrivals,  but  not  as  yet  visible  to  mor- 
tal ken. 

Now  I  must  get  ready  for  our  walk. 

Two  hours  later.  Once  more  the  mail  has  been 
distributed  and  not  a  line  from  him!  1  am  be- 
ginning to  get  seriously  anxious.  Papa  tries  to 
convince  me  that  his  letter  has  gone  astray,  but 
such  consolation  won't  do  for  me. 

Do,  dearest  Cloe,  do  please  discover  what  he  is 
up  to,  and  write  at  once  to  the  poor  things, 
plagued  with  a  thousand  wretched  premonitions, 
whom  you  once  called 

Your  loving  cousin, 

Ilka. 

August  gth,  '03. 

Best  of  Cousins:  Your  letter  received  to-day- 
must  have  crossed  mine  of  yesterday.  Thanks 
awfully  for  the  glad  tidings.  Now  I  know,  at 
least,  that  Arnold  is  alive  and  well.  The  il- 
lumination of  the  castle,  with  which  the  good  city 
of  Heidelberg  bade  Godspeed  to  the  departing: 
Prince  August,  must  have  offered  "a  wildly  fan- 
tastical spectacle,"  as  you  say.  And  to  think  that 
with  my  passion  for  the  fantastic,  I  should  have 
been  doomed  to  miss  it!  The  castle  in  flames, 
towers  and  ruins  wrapt  in  a  rosy  glow,  the  trees 
along  the  banks  filled  with  bengal  lights,— you  sec 
I  know  all  the  details.  Then  the  music  on  the 
riverside  and,  on  its  glittering  waters,  the  bc- 
flagged  and  belanterned  boats  with  their  gaily 
dressed  occupants, — and  in  one  of  these  boats  (of 
course,  accompanied  by  her  stem  parent)  my 
beautiful  cousin  and  my  affianced!  For  you  sec 
I  know  all  about  that,  too,  though  in  your  de- 
scription of  the  heavenly  evening,  you  hardly 
hinted  at  your  companions,  while  Arnold  has  not 
yet  broken  his  golden  silence.  All  my  girl  friends 
have  not  forgotten  me,  however !  Clotho,  Clotho, 
what  does  all  this  secrecy  mean  ?  I  only  hope  that 
you  are  not  playing  any  of  your  mischievous 
tricks  on  me. 

But,  joking  aside,  it  was  awfully  dear  of  you 
to  write  me  so  soon  again,  and,  to  show  my  grati- 
tude, I'll  continue  my  catalogue  of  the  hotel 
guests;  perhaps  some  one  of  them  may  be  for- 
tunate enough  to  arouse  your  interest.  The  Boer 
girls  you  are  kind  enough  to  inquire  after  have 
left  us,  I  am  grieved  to  relate.  Their  seats  at 
table  are  occupied  now  by  an  heiress  from  Berlin 
^ith  her  very  stout  and  very  stolid  father,  who 
seems  to  be  afflicted  with  fatty  degeneration  of 
the  heart.  I  mention  her  first,  as  she  is  the  prin- 
cipal personage  in  the  ^family.  She  has  red  hair, 
watery  blue  eyes,  a  skinny  figure,  is  named  Spar- 
row and  chirps  like  one.  She  is  far  from  being 
as  attractive  as  were  my  pretty  sisters  from  the 


PRINCE  GHIKA 


227 


Orange  State,  but  far  more  communicative.  This 
is  the  third  summer  she  has  come  to  Maloggia 
with  the  idea  of  finding  a  better  half  here;  for, 
to  her  thinking,  this  highly  rarefied  air  is  just 
the  dimate  for  husky  fellows,  mountain  climbers 
and  eligible  bachelors.  Just  now  she  seems 
to  have  her  eye  on  our  Italian  friend,  though 
I  must  say  this  much .  for  her,  that,  in  spite  of 
her  frankly  expressed  designs  on  them,  she  be- 
haves herself  in  a  most  modest  and  retiring  man- 
ner when  in  men's  company. 

Ill  have  to  stop,  the  mail  has  arrived.    .    .    . 

At  last  a  letter  from  Arnold,  but  such  an  ex- 
traordinary production  1  Curt,  confused,  as  if  he 
could  not  look  me  straight  in  the  eyes!  Not  one 
word  in  r^ard  to  the  festival  illuminations,  about 
which  the  papers  are  full  And  still  nothing 
definite  about  his  departure,  only  hints  as  to 
thixigs  that  hinder  his  leaviiu:.  Lots  about  social 
duties  and  engagements.  Social  duties  during 
the  long  vacation,  I  declare  1  Then  there's  his 
doctoral  thesis  to  polish  up!  Really,  I  am 
amazed.  In  a  postscript,  tucked  up  shyly  in  one 
comer,  there's  a  little  line  about  your  next 
rehearsal  of  somebody[s ^ trio  in  b  fiat;  how  in- 
dis|>ensable  his  violin  is  on  that  momentous  oc- 
casion; how  he  has  to  practise  daily  in  order  not 
to  cut  too  poor  a  figure  in  company  with  you  and 
your  talented  father.  Good  gracious,  are  these 
triangular  exercises  never  to  end?  Of  course,  I 
am  well  aware  that  classical  music  is  the  only 
port  of  entry  to  your  austere  parent's  soul.  But 
must  Arnold  fiddle  his  way  into  the  land  of  law? 
And  that,  too,  with  the  thermometer  at  90  degrees 
in  the  shade?  I  can  see  you  under  the  pergola, 
you  enticing  Lorelei  of  the  golden  locks,  the 
cello  at  your  knees,  the  marvelous  white  arm, 
its  perfect  curves  unhampered  by  the  Grecian 
sleeve  which  leaves  its  beauty  bare,  wielding  the 
graceful  bow, — a  worshipful  picture,  my  masters  1 
And  Arnold  defenseless  by  your  side,  helplessly 
wafted  on  the  waves  of  music  that  bid  fair  to 
close  over  him  and  the  fateful  water  nymph  1 

Clotho,  lef  s  have  a  moment's  heart  to  heart 
talk  together!  Look,  dear,  all  your  girl  friends, 
including  me,  your  poorest  of  cousins,  have  al- 
ways gladly  taken  a  back  seat  in  your  regal 
presence.  None  ever  dared  dispute  the  crown 
with  your  beautyship,  while  your  gowns  were  the 
finest,  your  jewels  the  choicest  besides.  That  at 
every  dinner  the  best  partner  should  be  yours  was 
a  matter  of  course;  your  father's  position  as 
Germany's  greatest  legal  luminary  would  alone 
have  assured  you  that  Poor  me  I  I  have  always, 
as  the  modest  daughter  of  the  Geological  Faculty, 
kept  toy  proper  place  in  the  second  ranks  and 
rejoiced  in  vour  triumphs  with  all  my  heart.  But 
when  you  lay  that  lovely  hand  of  yours  on  my 
little  all,  what  to  me  is  more  precious  than  every 
one  of  your  prerogatives  and  conquests,  then. 
Mademoiselle  Clothilde,  beware!  "Wise  as  a  ser- 
pent and  gentle  as  a  dove,"  you  used  to  say  of  me. 
Take  care,  the  serpent  can  hite  and  the  dove  can 
use  its  bill  to  peck! 

Now,  don't  be  angry,  coz  dear;  I'm  only 
joking,  just  as  you  are  only  joking,  of  course. 
Oh,  I  know  all  your  flirtations  are  only  in  jest, 
only  a  little  intrigue  to  drive  dull  care  away. 
What  need  have  you  of  further  witnesses  to 
prove  your  power  over  the  heart  of  man? 


There  goes  the  bell,  and  I  must  jump  into  my 
dinner  gown.  Adieu,  my  beautiful,  haughty 
princess,  forgive  me  if  any  word  of  mine  mis- 
pleases  thee.  And  by  the  bye,  speaking  of  royalty* 
reminds  me  that  the  Prince  is  to  appear  to-night 
at  the  table  d'hote.  Of  course,  you  remember  that 
Rumanian  Prince  of  whom  I  must  have  written 
you.  I  saw  him  this  morning  out  rowing.  From 
the  distance  he  looked  as  if  he  were  neither  old 
nor  ugly,  at  all  events  a  very  distinguished  car- 
riage. The  servants  salaam  to  the  ground 
whithersoever  he  ^oes,  and  announce  "Son 
Altesse  le  Prince  Ghika!"  at  every  opportunity. 

I  wonder  whether  he'll  be  seated  near  enough 
to  me  so  that  I  can  get  a  good  look  at  him? 

Ilka. 

August  the  I2th. 

Why,  my  dearest,  sweetest  Clotho,  how  could 
you  so  misunderstand  me?  Beneath  my  jesting 
manner,  3rou  write,  I  am  making  a  poor  attempt 
to  conceal  the  pangs  of  jealousy.  I,  jealous! 
Don't  you  know  your  madcap  cousin  any  better 
than  that?  Can't  you  see  that  with  my  assumed 
heroics  I  am  only  trying  to  make  you  and  myself 
forget  the  emptiness  of  these  interminable  sum- 
mer days?  Could  there  be  anything  more  rea- 
sonable than  that  the  rigorous  Dean  of  the  Law 
Faculty,  who  next  autumn  is  to  examine  my 
poor  law  student,  examine  him  body  and  bones, 
examine  him  with  that  eagle  eye,  for  which  my 
famous  uncle  is  so  feared, — ^is  there  anything 
more  natural,  I  say,  than  that  my  luckless  limb 
of  the  law  should  strive  by  any  hook  or  crook  to 
get  into  his  good  graces?  And  if,  just  as  a  side 
issue,  he  has  to  pay  his  court  to  the  daughter, 
my  fair  coz,  why.  If  it  does  no  good,  'twill  do 
no  harm/'  thinks  the  scamp,  doubtless. 

Think  of  it;  we've  got  the  Prince  at  our  table, 
and  the  other  tables  are  green  with  enw.  The 
first  day  he  sat  between  papa  and  Mr.  rindley; 
he  chose  this  seat  himself,  he  said,  because  these 
two  gentlemen, — ^pardon  my  pride  for  our  poor 
part, — struck  him  as  being  the  most  distinguished 
looking  personages  in  the  hotel.  At  first  he 
struck  us  as  being  most  reserved  in  his  manner. 
Later  we  discovered  that  he  was  completely  over- 
whelmed by  the  shocking  occurrences  in  Servia, 
with  which  the  daily  papers  are  full  just  at  pres- 
ent. 

He  considers  himself  a  mere  civilian,  he  told 
papa,  and  busies  himself  with  science,  with  no 
liking  and  no  longing  for  political  renown.  Any- 
thing the  European  powers  see  fit  to  do  is  all 
one  to  him,  if  only  they  do  not  disturb  his  studies. 

You  should  have  heard  his  voice  when  he  said 
that!  I  can't  fancy  anyone  at  our  table  having 
the  assurance  to  catechize  him  on  the  Balkan 
question;  young  as  he  is  and  in  spite  of  his  de- 
liciously  formal  politeness,  the  man  has  something 
about  him  which  makes  people  keep  their  dis- 
tance. Counselor  Benivieni,  whqse  strong  point 
is  not  shyness,  tried  just  once  to  overstep  that 
line;  he  won't  venture  it  a  second  time,  I  wager, 
though  he  perish  of  sheer  curiosity. 

You'll  want  to  know  whether  Ghika  is  really  as 
good  looking  as  I  fancied.  Yes,  Clo,  dear,  he's 
really  handsome,  so  handsome  that  I  know  no 
one  to  compare  with  him ;  not  mere  physical  good 
looks,  I  shouldn't  consider  them  worth  dwelling 
on  so  emphatically;  rather,  in  his  case,  it  would 


228 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


seem  that  through  and  along  with  the  aristocracy 
of  blood  an  aristocracy  of  mind  and  soul  were 
actually  visible.  Till  now  Fve  always  considered 
Arnold  the  best  looking,  as  he  is  the  best  built 
man  among  all  our  acquaintances.  But  here 
there's  something  else, — ages  of  birth  and  breed- 
ing. I  must  try  to  explain  the  difference  to  you, 
as  I  conceive  it.  When  a  countryman  of  ours 
strikes  us  as  good  looking,  it's  as  an  individual 
specimen,  and  involves  his  own  personality  alone ; 
his  brothers  or  sisters  you  may  fancy,  if  you  will, 
as  being  homely  as  hedgehogs,  and  indeed  they 
often  are.  He  has  risen  above  the  masses  by  his 
own  merits,  so  to  speak;  he's  a  self-made  beauty. 
In  old  Southern  families  it's  just  the  reverse; 
with  them  good  looks  are  inherited,  an  inalien- 
able bequest  of  the  ages.  Anyone  who  sees  Ghika 
must  feel  that  he  springs  from  ancestors  who  have 
been,  each  in  his  or  her  own  way,  physically  per- 
fect His  sisters  must  be  the  acme  of  loveliness. 
As  for  his  brothers  or  cousins,  if  he  has  any,  no 
one  could  possibly  dream  of  their  being  in  the 
least  homely. 

You  are  "surprised  that  people  entitle  him  Your 
Highness"?  A  mere  Rumanian  or  Italian  Prince 
or  Serenity,  you  write,  ought  not  by  any  means 
to  be  confounded  with  a  genuine  Prince  of  the 
blood.  You  may  be  right  about  it,  but  "His  High- 
ness" he  remains  just  the  same.  I  have  no  notion 
how  Gotha  decides  this  moot  question;  anyway, 
hotel  proprietors  aren't  quite  so  strict  ks  the 
Almanack.  On  the  other  hand,  he  has  this  one 
decided  advantage  over  your  genuine  European 
princes  of  the  blood:  he  can  marry  whom  he 
pleases.  His  cousin,  Milan  Obrenovitch,  for  in- 
stance, made  the  daughter  of  a  Russian  colonel 
his  queen,  not  to  mention  his  son  and  successor 
of  bloody  memory.  Who  would  dare  fetter  the 
fancies  of  even  a  mere  prince  of  this  lineage? 
Anywayj  I'm  heartily  glad  that  our  Prince  has 
no  political  ambitions,  but  finds  his  chief  delight 
in  the  reading  of  law  and  i>olitical  economy.  He 
has  studied  at  Oxford  and  in  Paris;  next  winter 
he  expects  to  spend  at  a  German  university;  and, 
only  fancy,  Clo,  father  is  so  charmed  with  him 
that  he  is  trying  his  best  to  get  him  to  decide 
on  giving  our  dear  old  Heidelberg  the  preference. 
As  his  own  only  daughter  is  disposed  of,  he  may 
surely  display  his  kindly  feelings  toward  any 
young  man,  without  fear  of  misconstructions. 
The  two  are  in  a  fair  way  to  become  intimates, 
for  we  have  made  the  delightful  discovery  that 
Ghika  is  enthusiastically  interested,  not  only  in 
jurisprudence,  but  in  geology,  since  whidi  time 
he  accompanies  us  on  otir  rambles  up  the  Chemin 
des  Artistes.  Must  I  confess  it? — these  geological 
marvels  make  a  far  deeper  impression  on  me 
since  I  noticed  how  deeply  they  interested  His 
Highness. 

For  a  change,  however,  we  went  to-day  to  Cav- 
loccia  Lake,  which  the  Prince  had  not  seen.  You 
may  recall  my  description  of  the  big  and  little 
rocks,  fallen  from  the  precipices  above  into  its 
dark  waters,  and  lying  scattered  about  like  tiny 
islands,  covered,  as  are  the  steep  banks,  with  the 
loveliest  of  flowers.  I've  been  there  often  with 
papa  alone,  but  really  you  hav%  no  idea  how 
much  more  I  sensed  the  beauty  of  it  all  now  that 
the  Prince  was  with  us.  I  don't  know  how  to 
explain  it,  but  everything  strikes  me  as  more 
beautiful  when  he  is  in  our  company ! 


Besides,  I  had  quite  an  adventure. 

Papa  was  hammering  away  at  the  rocks  as 
though  he  were  bent  on  discovering  some  secret 
passage  into  the  great  mountain.  The  Prince  was 
deeply  interested  in  his  burglarious  attempts. 
As  no  one  paid  any  attention  to  your  sweet  ooz, 
she  began  hopping  from  one  stone  to  another, 
gathering  her  pretty  posies,  when  just  as  I  reached 
out  to  pick  a  gorgeous  yellow  anemone,  my  foot 
slipped,  and  I  after  it,  into  the  water.  Papa 
shrieks,  the  Prince  gives  a  quick  spring,  but  be- 
fore he  can  reach  me,  I  am  on  my  feet  The 
water  was  only  up  to  my  knees  and  it  was  purely 
politeness  which  made  me  accept  the  Prince's 
hand  to  haul  me  ashore.  But  you  can  form  no 
notion  of  how  cold  the  water  is  m  these  mountain 
.  lakes.  Of  course,  they  are  fed  by  tlte- glaciers, 
while  never  a  ray  of  sunshine  can  reach  where 
the  overhanging  precipices  overshadow  them.  The 
cold  crept  up  through  my  whole  body.  Papa  got 
so  tremendously  excited  at  the  idea  that  I  might 
catch  a  cold  or  anything  else,  that  he  began  to 
scold,  which  was  doubly  distressing  to  me  on  the 
Prince's  account.  Naturally,  there  was  nothingr 
to  do  but  start  back  at  once;  so  I  had  the 
added  misery  of  feeling  that  I  had  been  a  perfect 
spoil-sport  for  the  others.  The  Prince,  who  was 
most  sympathetic,  kept  repeating  again  and  again : 
"Faut  marcher  plus  vite,  plus  vitel"  (He  speaks 
German  fluently,  but  whenever  he  is  excited  he 
breaks  out  in  French.)  Finally  we  fairly  ran,  so 
that  my  dear,  stout  papa  could  no  longer  keep 
pace  with  us,  accordingly  threw  up  the  race  and 
merely  motioned  us  to  keep  it  up,  as  he  saw  that 
the  Prince  was  taking  the  best  of  care  of  me.  I 
don't  think  I  ever  knew  the  way  could  be  so 
short.  The  Prince's  agility  seemed  to  lend  me 
wings;  my  shoes  were  dry  and  my  feet  were 
burning  long  before  we  reached  the  hotel.  The 
very  presence  of  this  splendid  high-bred  man 
actually  seems  electrifying  at  times;  it  was  the 
first  opportunity  I  had  had  to  really  have  any 
conversation  with  him,  but  now  I  perfectly  com- 
prehend why  the  others  are  bewitched  by  him. 

Here  I  am  sittinpr  in  my  hotel  bedchamber  with 
a  cup  of  hot  tea  m  one  hand,  my  legs  .swathed 
in  heavy  woolen  stockings,  all  of  which  is  pai>a's 
doings — and  my  penance— the  while  I  am  making 
a  full  confession  to  my  dear  coz,  as  of  old  I 
always  did.  But  I  shan't  seal  this  letter  yet,  as 
the  last  mail  is  closed  and  who  can  tell  what 
postscript  the  morrow  may  bring  forth.  Good 
night,  sweetest  Cloel 

There  actually  is  a  postscript,  but  one  I  should 
never  have  dreamed  of.  My  watery  exploit  has 
had  its  sequel  in  a  slight  attack  of  tonsilitis, 
wherefore  papa  has  sentenced  me  to  stay  in  bed. 
You  know  how  easily  alarmed  he  is,  and  I  simphr 
have  to  humor  him.  But  to-day  of  all  days!^  It 
is  too  provoking.  Out  of  doors,  the  sun  shines 
so  gaily  over  the  sparkling  blue  Lake  Maloggia^ 
where  the  young  folks  are  rowing  about  in  Bieir 
light  summer  gowns;  sounds  of  singing  and 
laughter  come  up  through  my  windows,  while  I, 
forsooth,  must  amuse  myself  with  scribbling^. 
One  little  surprise,  however,  I  have  to  set  down 
to  the  credit  of  my  slight  indisposition.  An  hoar 
ago.  Prince  Ghika  sent  up  the  most  charminff 
arrangement  of  Alpine  flowers.  Among  the  hotd 
guests  here  it  is  quite  the  thing  to  purchase  such 
bouquets  and  send  them  to  one  another;  only 


PRINCE  GHIKA 


229 


ye^erday  we  were  speaking  of  this  citified,  con- 
ventional castom,  and  we  both  agreed  in  stamp- 
ing it  as  utterly  inappropriate  to  our  wild  sur- 
roundings. Consequently,  the  Prince  took  pains 
to  let  me  know  that  these*  flowers  were  plucked 
by  his  own  hands;  the  combination  alone  would 
have  told  me  that.  Alpine  roses  form  only  the 
framework;  for  there  are  few  buds  left  now  and 
these  are  already  beginning  to  wilt.  But  there 
are  m^  darling  daphnes,  wil£  their  faint  fragrance 
of  syringa,  and  deep  metallic-blue  gentians,  while 
in  the  very  center  is  a  cluster  of  those  very 
moimtain  anemones  which  were  the  cause  of  my 
coming  to  grief  yesterday.  Isn't  that  a  gracefm 
bit  of  courtesy?  Oh,  if  I  weren't  so  foolishly 
in  love  with  Arnold —  Why!  what  silly,  silly 
thoughts  do  come  into  one's  head ! 

After  luncheon,  which  I  was  at  some  pains  to 
swallow  in  my  loneliness.  Miss  Sparrow,  from 
Berlin,  made  me  quite  a  long  call  She  greatly 
admired  the  Prince's  thoughtful  remembrance, 
and  regarded  the  arrangement  as  a  notable  dis- 
play of  good  taste  and  gallantry.  Naturally,  she 
'dotes  oci"  the  Prince,  but  in  most  unselfish 
fashion,  as  her  hopes  could  never  soar  so  high. 
She  confided  further  in  me  and  implored  me  to 
"pnt  a  flea  in  Benivieni's  ear." 

From  Miss  Sparrow  I  learned  furthermore  that 
our  "Palace  Hotel"  is  richer  since  last  evening 
by  another  sdon  of  royalty,  a  Russian,  Princess 
Wjaesemsky  (accent  on  the  first  syllable,  please, 
if  yon  venture  to  pronounce  it  at  all).  A  very 
great  lady,  no  longer  in  the  first  bloom  of  youth, 
bat  very,  very  b^utiful  and,  rumor  says,  im- 
patiently awaiting  a  divorce  decree  from  her 
present  lord.  She  has  been  coming  here  for 
several  summers  and  Miss  Sparrow  knows  her, 
though  naturally  not  admitted  to  her  extremely 
select  circle.  My  caller  tells  me  it  was  like  a 
scene  in  a  play  when  she  and  the  Prince  caught 
sight  of  one  another  for  the  first  time  in  the 
reading  room  last  night.  As  two  magnets  attract 
each  other,  without  anyone  being  able  to  say 
which  is  drawing  the  other,  only  suddenly  thev 
come  together,  so.  Sparrow  says,  it  was  with 
these  two.  That  evemng  they  walked  together  a 
long  time  in  the  hotel  gardens,  talking  very 
animatedly  in  French. 

I  must  stop;  the  chambermaid  has  come  to  get 
my  letters  for  the  post. 

Thy  Ilka. 

Given  at  Maloggia,  this  thirteenth  day  of  Au- 
gust, in  solitary  confinement. 

Morning  of  August  i6th. 

In  the  Hotel  Reading  Room. 

Sweet  Cloe:  You've  put  such  a  lot  of  ques- 
tions to  me  in  to-day's  letter  that  I  don't  laiow 
how  I  shall  manage  to  find  time  to  answer  them 
all  Krst,  I  must  allay  your  cousinly  fears  for 
my  health.  In  fact,  the  sore  throat  wasn't  so 
trilling  a  matter  as  I  imagined  at  first,  and  I  had 
to  have  the  doctor  over  from  Saint  Moritz  tp 
paint  and  sprav  it,  but  now  the  trouble  has  quite 
disappeared.  Yesterday  I  was  released  from  my 
mattress-prison,  and  Uy^y  I  occupied  my  old 
seat  at  the  table  d'hote. 

Owing  to  the  departure  of  Mr.  Findley,  there 
have  bMi  several  changes  at  our  table.  This 
opportunity  my  Berlin  heiress  was  clever  enough 


to  seize,  and  arranged  things  so  that  her  place 
was  set  next  to  that  of  the  Italian  counselor-at- 
law,  thus  making  their  conversation  much  pleas- 
anter  than  when  carried  on  across  the  board; 
naturally  her  father  has  migrated  with  her  to  the 
other  side.  Thus  two  seats  were  left  vacant  next 
me,  which  have  been  taken  by  my  father  and  the 
Prince,  so  that  now  I  am  seated  between  them. 
Who  arranged  this  is  more  than  I  can  tell,  I'm 
sure.  Anyway,  the  Prince  seems  far  from  dis- 
pleased at  the  change,  and,  so  far  as  I  am  con- 
cerned, I'm  more  than  glad  to  have  him  on  my 
left,  if  only  because,  as  you  know,  dear,  my  profile 
is  best  viewed  from  the  left.  You'll  not  begrudge 
me  just  a  bit  of  foolish  vanity  in  your  absence, 
will  you? 

You  are  amazed  that  a  Rumanian  prince  should 
want  to  study  law  in  Germany.  Of  course,  I  can 
give  you  no  detailed  information  as  to  the  scope 
of  his  plans.  But  isn't  there  such  a  thing  as  in- 
ternational law?  I  should  fancy  that  princes 
would  have  to  study  it,  if  there  is.  If  I  am  mis- 
taken, vou'll  have  to  forgive  me,  because  it's 
more  than  likely  I  misunderstood  some  of  his 
confidences,  owing  to  his  delightfully  broken 
speech.  The  future  wife  of  a  barrister-at-law 
ought,  indeed,  to  be  better  posted  in  such  matters, 
but  you  can't  blame  me, — Arnold's  conversations 
with  me  were  about  everything  else  under  the 
sun  except  jurisprudence. 
Ten  delightful  hours  later,  in  my  own  room, 
Qoel  Qoel  Come  dance  with  me!  As  a 
recompense  for  my  enforced  confinement  of  the 
last  few  days,  papa  has  promised  to  take  me  on 
an  excursion  to  the  Fex  glacier  on  the  first  fine 
day.  The  Prince  is  to  be  one  of  the  party.  I 
am  madly  happy.  It  is  the  first  glacier  I  shall 
have  ever  seen,  except  from  a  distance,  for  both 
our  projected  visits  to  the  Fomo  glacier  had  to 
be  canceled  on  account  of  rain.  May  the  heavens 
smile  propitiously  on  this  plan!  Herr  Sparrow 
besought  papa  to  take  his  own  nestling  under  his 
—papa's — ^wmg,  as  his  own  weight  precluded  all 
idea  oi  attempting  so  high  a  flight  Naturally  her 
Romeo  begged  to  be  allowed  to  assist  papa,  for, 
during  the  last  few  days  th^  have  been  insep- 
arable, and  I  feel  assured  that  they  will  soon 
arrive  at  a  happy  consummation  of  their  mutual 
ambitions.  Signor  Benivieni  has  made  any  at- 
tempts on  my  part  to  turn  his  bonnet  into  a  bee- 
hive quite  superfluous.  With  astounding  open- 
heartedness,  and  as  if  I  were  his  oldest  friend,  he 
has  confessed  to  me  that  he  too  is  a  candidate  for 
the  holy  estate  of  matrimony,  and  that  despite— 
or  rather,  I  should  say,  on  account  of, — ^his  cir- 
cumscribed pecuniary  situation,  he^  had  ventured 
to  incur  the  enormous  expense  incident  to  a  stay 
at  our  "Palace  Hotel,"  because  only  at  these 
fashionable  resorts  were  maidens  to^  be  met  with 
such  dowries  as  he  considered  indispensable. 
"What  a  shameless  fortune-hunter!"  I  can  hear 
you  say.^  But  if  you  could  have  heard  not  only 
the  big  words  but  the  tone  of  perfect  simplicity 
and  innocence  in  which  these  utterly  prosaic  sen- 
timents fell  from  his  usually  fanciful  lips,  you 
would,  like  myself,  have  been  filled  first  with 
amazement  and  then  with  half-amused  forbear- 
ance; and  as  Banker  Sparrow  is  reported  to  be 
one  of  the  solidest  propositions  in  the  financial 
world  we  may  look  for  a  speedy  union  of  two 
candid  souls. 


230 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


In  order  to  prevent  my  letter  leaving  such  a 
prosaic  aftertaste  in  your  mouth — ^never  mind  the* 
metaphor,  I've  a  soul  above  'em — I  must  tell  you 
about  a  Rumanian  ballad  which  the  Prince  sang 
for  me  this  evening  while  out  on  the  lake.  In 
its  melody  it  was  melancholy,  well-nigh  monoto- 
nous, but  with  a  strangely  savage  charm  peculiarly 
its  own.  I  managed  to  get  a  translation  of  the 
words,  which  are  in  themselves  wild  and  peculiar 
enough.  A  maiden  steals  down  the  mountain- 
side every  evening  to  the  churchyard  in  the  valley, 
there  to  meet  her  dead  lover.  In  the  moonlight 
and  in  the  dark  the  dead  man  evermore  keeps  the 
cross  on  his  tombstone  between  her  and  him,  lest 
bjT  any  mischance  she  should  touch  his  corpse. 
Finally  the  father  appears  and  forever  unites  the 
lovers  by  mercifully  slaying  his  child.  There  was 
something  unspeakably  pathetic  and  tender  un- 
derl3ring  the  strange  tragedy.  And  his  voice, 
with  its  deep,  rich,  ringing  tones,  as  he  sang!  I 
can  close  my  eyes  and  ears  and  fancy  I  hear  it, 
wherever  I  am,  wherever  I  go.  How  it  rings! 
how  it  rings! 

You  (strange  creature  that  you  are)  tell  me 
that  it's  my  duty  to  inform  the  Prince  of  my  en- 
gagement. But  how  in  the  world  am  I  to  ap- 
proach the  subject?  He  has  never  asked  me 
whether  I  were  fancy  free,  and  why  should  I 
suppose  that  the  question  is  of  any  interest  to 
him? 

Put  up  with  this  hasty  scrawl  for  to-day.  I 
have  still  a  few  lines  which  I  suppose  I  must 
write  to  Arnold.  Of  course,  I  understand  per- 
fectly the  force  of  circumstances  which  keep  him 
bound  in  Heidelberg,  and  that  he  can't  break  his 
bonds  at  a  moment's  notice.  Try  and  convince 
him  that  I  am  neither  impatient  nor  unhappy  in 
his  absence. 


Yours  devotedly, 


Ilka. 


August  the  i8th. 

Just  returned  from  the  Fex  glacier.  Here  in 
my  little  room  I  am  dreaming  over  again  ;the 
wondrous  day  and  you  shall  share  its  marvels 
with  me,  coz,  dear. 

Promptly  at  eight  o'clock  our  comfortable  drag 
tooled  away  merrily  toward  Si  Is  Maria.  The 
drive  was  charming  along  Lake  Maloggia,  which 
our  brave  River  Inn  crosses  like  a  fearless  young 
swimmer.  Across  its  waters  snow-capped  peaks 
beckoned  us  welcomingly,  while  on  this  side  rises 
Mount  Julier,  mantled  in  white  almost  down  to 
the  green  hedges  of  the  valley,  where  the  larks 
sing.  We  could  see  the  Julier  post-road,  over 
which  I  have  looked  to  see  Arnold  coming  long 
since. 

Well,  at  Sils  Maria  we  left  the  horses  and 
began  mounting  up  the  lovely,  lonely  ravine,  with 
an  occasional  chalet  in  sight,  seeming  so  fragile, 
but  brave  with  flags,  bidding  the  wanderer  halt. 
At  last  we  are  in  the  Fexthal ;  and  a  lad  from  Sils 
Maria  awaits  us  with  the  commissary  stores. 

"This  is  the  home  of  Spring,"  the  Prince  cried 
delightedly,  as  our  feet  sank  in  the  soft  carpet 
of  grass.  Despite  the  altitude  a  gentle  breeze 
greeted  us,  for  the  long  valley  with  its  tender 
slopes  was  all  flooded  with  bright,  warm  sunshine. 
Along  the  heights  were  all  sorts  and  conditions 
of  mankind   climbing   about   in   search    of   edel- 


weis,  and  in  the  distance  the  girl's  gay  dresses 
gleamed  like  great  flowers  against  the  soft  green 
background.  Fresh  from  the  rugged  landscape 
of  Maloggia,  one  felt  as  if  transported  to  a  dainty 
midsummer  day's  dream. 

"An  eagle!"  exclaimed  papa  and  the  Prince,  as 
with  one  voice.  It  gave  me  a  strange  sensation 
when,  after,  a  moment's  pause,  the  Prince  said 
gravely:  "That  was  the  eagle  of  Zarathustra. 
Here,  as  I  am  told,  that  enigmatic  book  was 
written,  here  where  the  wildest  of  flowers  gro'w, 
where  eagles  soar  aloft  Where  else  but  here 
could  those  wonderful  lines  have  been  inspired : 

"Warm  is  the  breath  of  the  rockbound  heights. 
Here   Happiness  has   laid   his  weary   head   on 

their  breast." 
"Yes,  here  or  nowhere  must  Happiness  find  his 
true  home.  Oh,  if  but  someone  would  show  me 
on  which  of  these  moss-grown  plinths  he  has  but 
recently  been  reposing,  how  gladly  would  I  hasten 
thither  to  still  the  beatings  of  a  heart  torn  with 
a  thousand  uncertainties  against  that  warm  stont;, 
and  thereby  win  a  space  of  rest!" 

AVe  were  following  the  others,  in  the  mean- 
while, along  a  little  brook,  over  rubble  stone,  thick 
Alpine  turf  and  huge  shelves  of  rock.  Not  far 
from  the  glacier  itself  we  came  upon  a  flat  boul- 
der, for  all  the  world  like  a  table  set  before  us  in 
the  wilderness,  and  the  servants  proceeded  to 
unpack  our  hampers  so  busily  that  our  luncheon 
was  ready  for  us  almost  instantly.  But  the  Prince 
and  I  had  little  appetite,  while  papa  was  so 
anxious  to  begin  his  investigations  that  he  pleaded 
for  haste.  Our  pair  of  turtle  doves,  however, 
after  keeping  to  themselves  all  the  way  thus  far, 
now  declared  they  could  go  no  farther.  My  poor 
little  Sparrow  had  twisted  her  wing — I  mean  her 
ankle  (Se  non  i  vero  i  ben  trovato!)  and 
wouldn't  venture  on  that  slippery  rubble,  while 
the  legal  luminary  preferred  the  view  of  the 
glacier  as  seen  from  his  mossy  couch.  Accord- 
ingly the  guide  started  off  with  just  us  three. 

Though  you  have  as  yet  seen  no  glacier,  I  know 
you  won't  expect  me  to  describe  the  weird,  un- 
canny landscape  before  us.  Papa,  whose  atten- 
tion was  absorbed  in  a  study  of  the  glacial  move- 
ment, remained  below,  hammering  and  measuring 
away,  and  taking  copious  notes.  The  Prince  and 
I  climbed  still  higher  and  higher,  over  snow-fields 
and  boulders,  to  where  we  could  get  a  good  view 
of  this  fantastic  realm  of  the  Ice  King,  with  its 
mimic  towers  and  peaks,  its  green  grottos  and 
shimmering  portals.  Silently  we  stood  there  to- 
gether, looking  and  listening,  for  the  glacier  is 
no  dead  thing;  always  a  rustling  or  a  rumbling 
sound,  with  now  and  then  the  crash  of  falling 
masses  of  ice  or  stone,  awakening  tremendous 
echoes.  When  an  avalanche  comes  sweeping  down 
in  the  far  distance,  it  thunders  athwart  the  glacier 
like  some  giant  express  train.  Silently  we  stood 
there,  overwhelmed  by  the  immensity  of  Nature's 
powers, — it  seemed  as  if  our  very  souls  were  sink- 
ing together  deep  down  through  those  blue  green 
ravines  into  some  icy  dreamland  or  inferno.  A 
shrill  whistle  from  below  broke  the  spell  of  en- 
chantment. Papa  was  beckoning  to  us  and  hold- 
ing up  his  watch  as  a  reminder  that  neither  time 
nor  glaciers  wait  on  dreamers.  We  descended 
very  carefully,  the  Prince  holding  me  by  the  el- 


Continued  on  second  page  ^ollowinf^. 


CURRENT  UTBRATVRB  FOR  FEBRUARY,  1906 


Will  You  Try  the  Battle 
Creek  Lifefor  30  Days? 

Will  You  Eat  the  Foods  and  Live 
the  Life  Our  Experts  Recommend? 

Do  You  Really  Want  to  Bo  Porfect?if  Woll? 

Tell  us  then  if  you  are  ailing,  or  if  in  good 
health  that  you  wish  to  remain  so. 

Let  us  send  you  our  book.  It  is  very  inter- 
esting. The  life  it  recommends  you  can  live  m 
j'our  own  home.     You  ought  to  read  about  it. 

Nowhere  else  are  so  many  specialists  study- 
ing this  one  thing  alone— how  to  get  well  and 
how  to  stay  well.  No  organization  anywhere 
has  been  so  successful.  None  other  is  so  near 
the  truth.  And  the  basis  of  all  this  is  right 
food — right  living— keeping  the  stomach  right. 

All  this  we  explain  in  our  book.  Explain 
clearly— logically— interestingly  so  that  you  may 
understand.  Isn't  it  worth  the  mere  effort  of 
writ:ne  us  simply  to  know  ?  Won't  you  ask  for 
our  book  to-^y?  Address  The  Battle  Creek 
Sanitarium  Co..  Ltd.,  Dept.  A  127,  Battle  Creek, 
Michigan. 


Within 
this  jar 

I  there  is  more  of  the 
real  substance  of  Beef 
— and  a  higher  qual- 
I  ity  of  Beef^ — than  in 
lany  other  Meat  Ex- 
I  tract  jar  of  equal  size* 


II  MUST  have  THIS  signature 
In  t>lu«,  or  It's  not  genuine. 


LIEBIGCOMPANTfS 

Extract  of  Beef 


A  CHAIN  of  testimonials  from  dentists  in 
practice  attests  the  unequalled  excel- 
lence of  Dentacura  Tooth  Paste.  It 
cleans  the  teeth,  destroys  bacteria,  prevents 
decay.  It  is  applied  to  the  brush  without  the 
waste  attending  the  use  of  powder.  That  you 
may  know  by  experience  its  value  we  will 
send  you  free  a  sample  tube  of  Dentacura  and 
our  booklet,  ''Taking  Care  of  the  Teeth.** 
Write  at  once.  Offer  expires  March  ist, 
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counters.  Price  25c.  If  your  dealer  does  not 
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DENTACURA  CO.,     74  Ailing  St..  Newark.  N.  J. 


IE  ANY  DEALER 

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INStSTONHAVIKG THE  GENUINE 

OVER  TWO  HUNDRED  STYLES 
WORN  ALL  OVER  THE  WORLD 

I  (liW  rOftTHE  HAfMEANDTlie 
LUUK  MaULDCD  RUBBER  BUTTOH 

OBOflOB  FnOST  00..  MAKKf 


Please  mention  Current  Literature  when  you  write  to  advertisers 


PRINCE  GHIKA 


bows  whenever  I  began  to  slip,  for  my  shoes  were 
not  the  proper,  heavy-pegged  sort,  and  as  I  am  a 
novice  at  mountain  climbing,  I  can  accept  as- 
sistance without  any  compunction. 

As  we  reached  our  halting-place,  we  noticed 
that  £ma  was  still  seated  on  her  mossy  couch, 
while  the  Italian  stood  before  her,  gesticulating 
like  the  typical  Southron  that  he  is.  The  Prince 
and  I  exchanged  a  meaning  smile,  as  much  as  to 
say  that  the  world  was  to  be  congratulated  on 
another  happv  couple.  But  as  we  drew  nearer 
I  remarked  that  Ema's  wings, — arms,  I  mean, — 
hung  as  lifeless  by  her  side  as  any  sick  birds'. 
Evidently  our  bri^ess  barrister  had  wasted  the 
excellent  opportunity  especially  arranged  for  him, 
and  despite  our  pains  the  pair  were  not  yet  united. 

To  your  sympathetic  soul  I  may  add,  without 
breach  of  confidence,  that  in  the  course  of  the 
day  Benivieni  made  up  for  lost  time.  On  the 
way  back  he  wore  a  judicial  demeanor  and  when 
we  stopped  for  rest  and  a  cup  of  tea  at  one  of 
the  little  chalets  along  the  Fexthal,'upon  Ema's 
excusing  herself  on  the  plea  of  looking  for  edel- 
weis,  he  followed  after;  and  when  they  reap- 
peared you  should  have  seen  their  faces.  Ema 
winked  at  me  with  both  eyes  as  much  as  to  say: 
"It's  all  right!"  During  the  rest  of  the  walk 
they  made  no  secret  of  their  happiness ;  she  took 
his  arm,  and  Benivieni  sang,  with  enthusiastic 
emphasis,  one  Italian  love  song  after  another. 
This  excellent  yotmg  man  has  the  most  mar- 
velous genius  for  accommodating  his  ideals  to 
his  practical  common  sense,  and  makes  me  think 
of  that  old  but  ever  true  tale  of  the  matrimonial 
agency:  "Love-matches?  Oh,  certainly,  we  keep 
them  in  stock,  too." 

Dare  I  confide  to  your  cousinly  confidence  the 
last  scene  of  this  day  so  fraught  with  significance 
to  us  aU?  At  Sils  Maria  tne  Inn  issues  from 
Lake  Malo^gia  and  forms  a  pretty  little  cove 
bordered  with  rushes;  then  hastens  on  his  way 
toward  Silvaplana.  On  the  bridge  which  spans 
the  youthful  stream  at  this  point,  we  stopped  and 
waited  for  the  others  to  overtake  us.  Going 
through  the  ravine,  the  Prince  had  cut  a  branch 
and  had  busied  himself  carving  letters  on  a  short 
stick  as  we  walked.  Now  he  let  me  see  it. 
There  was  an  S  and  an  I  intertwined,  the  initials 
of  his  name  and  mine,  Stephan  and  Ilka.  Then 
he  tossed  the  reed  far  out  on  the  swift-running^ 
waters  and  exclaimed:  "Inn,  bear  this  to  the 
Danube  1  Danube,  do  thou  tell  my  Black  Sea 
what  this  message  means  V* 

Suddenly  he  seized  my  hand  and  pressed  a 
burning  kiss  upon  it,  just  as  the  others  came  up. 

Now  I  am  sitting  alone  in  my  room  watching 
and  watching  this  day's  scenes  pass  by.  Unutter- 
able thoughts,  possibilities  that  make  me  blind 
and  dizzy,  return  again  and  again.  I  feel  abso- 
lutely incapable  of  even  thinking  for  myself,  while 
those  two  deep,  dark  eyes  seem  to  encompass  me 
in  their  passionate  gaze.  It  is  high  time  that 
Arnold — ^never  mind,  let  whatever  is  to  be,  come 
in  God's  name,  and  may  Providence  provide  some 
remedy.     Kismet. 

Your  Cousin  Ilka. 

August  20th. 

Traitress!    what  have  you  done?     You  have 

shown  my  letters  about  the  Prince  to  Arnold! 


He  has  telegraphed  that  he  is  coming  imme- 
diately,— raging,  beside  himself,  I  dare  say,  and 
sure  to  challenge  His  Highness!  Clothilde,  what 
will  become  of  us?  You  are  to  blame  if  some- 
thing terrible  occurs. 

And  you  accuse  me  of  flirting  and  makinj: 
men's  hearts  the  plaything  of  my  existence.  You 
accuse  mef  And  has  your  own  conscience  noth- 
ing to  accuse  you  of?  Or  is  it  your  creed  that 
all  interesting  male  creatures  are  your  lawful 
property?  First  you  practise  your  arts  on  my 
future  husband  that  was  to  be,  and  now  you  act 
as  if  the  Prince  were  your  property,  too.  Wait 
till  you  see  how  much  there  will  be  left  of  that 
noble,  handsome  man  when  Arnold's  rage  has 
cooled.  My  hand  trembles  so,  I  can  write  no 
more. 

Ilka. 

August  31st. 

He  is  here,  his  arm  is  around  me  as  I  write. 
All  is  explained  and  we  are,  oh,  so  happy  1 

"Do  you  still  love  me?" — ^"And  how  about 
you?"  Those  were  our  only  words;  then,  I  think; 
we  both  shed  a  few  sweetly  silly  tears  on  one 
another's  shoulders. 

Afterward  Arnold  made  his  little  confession 
to  me  and  I  to  him,  and  in  the  mutual  absolutions 
your  sins,  too,  lovely  Qoe,  were  all  included.  In 
your  sweet  self,  he  says,  he  saw  only  his  absent 
love  incarnate,  as  he  worshiped  at  your  shrine. 
And  now  truth  for  truth:  the  Prince  must  dis- 
appear for  good  and  all  from  mv  mimic  scene. 
I  can  not  rescue  him,  poor  Princeling,  since  I 
have  been  forced  to  confess  that  he  is  altogether 
the  creation  of  my  own  poor  mother-wit  Not 
one  word  of  all  my  maunderings  is  true,  except 
his  name,  which  you  will  find  in  the  hotel  register 
under  date  of  Augiist  8th.  I  never  even  saw  him 
or  his  suite,  as  he  only  stayed  over  one  night  in 
the  hotel.  Indeed,  I  took  good  care  not  even  to 
ask  any  questions  about  his  personal  appearance, 
for  had  I  been  told  that  he  was  old  and  bald,  it 
misdoubts  me  whether  I  should  have  had  the 
courage  to  weave  my  little  romance  around  so 
tminspiring  a  hero.  Blessings  on  thee,  noble  son 
of  Rumania,  or  young  or  old,  who  by  the  mere 
magic  of  thy  name  hast  enabled  me  to  recover 
my  heart's,  happiness.  The  newspapers  and  a 
"History  of  the  Balkans,"  which  I  found  in  the 
reading  room  furnished  me  with  the  rest  of  my 
material 

On  the  other  hand  the  briefless  barrister  of 
Bologna  and  the  little  gold  bird  from  Berlin  are 
real,  solid  flesh  and  blood  personages.  They  are 
to  be  married  in  a  few  weeks  and  have  invited  us 
to  visit  them  when  we  pass  through  Milan  on  our 
wedding  journey. 

Now,  don't  be  vexed  and  cross,  sweetoat  coz. 
If  ever  I  do  meet  a  real  live  prince,  I  give  you 
my  word  Til  drag  him  in  fetters  to  your  feet 

As  for  Arnold,  whose  bonds  I  have  made  fast 
this  time,  so  tight  that  neither  nymph  nor  goddess 
may  loose  them,  the  poor  penitent  is  condemned 
to  learn  by  heart  this  sage  quatrain: 

"Let  not  loved  from  lover  stray, 

Longer, — hither,  thither— 
Than  the  rose  she  gives  him  may 
Bloom  and  yet  not  wither." 


A 
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DOLLARS 
For  a  Stomach 

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t>t  ati  American  mil- 
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It  '8  a  very  small  price, 
ccnisidtring   the  value  of 
this    organ    to    the    human 
body.    13ut  you  can't  buy  a  new 
stomach — you  wont  need  one  if 
you   eat   a    natural    food    that   strength- 
ens the  stomach  by  inaking  it  do  its  work. 
Such   a  iood   is 

Shredded  Whole  Wheat 

It  is  made  of  the  finest  wheat  that  grows,  cleaned, 
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Stomach    Stuffing    means   Stt>macb    Suffering. 
Satisfiction   means   Sunshine   and   Success. 


Stomach 


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Shradded  Wli«at  Is  made  In  two  forms,  BISCUIT  and  TRISCUIT.  The 
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Delidons  as  a  toast  with  beTeta|{es  or  with  cheese  or  preserves. 


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Current 
literature 


For  Complet*    Table  of  Contents  see  inelde  page 


A  Review  of  the  World 


The  United  States  Senate  Under  Fire 
Evolution  of  Our  Foreign  Policy 
Are  We  Going  to  Regulate  Railroad  Rates  ? 
Vhat  WUl  the  New  Parliament  Do  ? 


Literature  and  Art 


Science  and  Discovery 

General  Decline  of  Human  Fertility 
The  Doom  of  the  Atom 
The  Will  as  a  Means  of  Prolonging  Life 
Present  Position  of  the  Cancer  Problem 


Music  and  the  Drama 


Nordau*s  New  Onslaught  on  Noted  Artists 

The  First  of  Living  Poets 

The  Wittiest  Man  That  Ever  Lived 

Is  Journalism  the  Destroyer  of  Literature  ? 


Religion  and  Ethics 

Most  Revolutionary  of  all  Philosophies 

Have  We  a  Muzzled  Pulpit  ? 

Walt  Whitman's  Religion 

The  Future  of  Christian  Theology 


Recent  Poetry 


Stfauss*s  Great  Musical  Sensation 
The  Play  of  the  Year  in  Paris 
How  to  Write  Successful  Plays 
Tchaikovsky's  Melancholy  Self-Portrayal 


Persons  in  the  Foreground 

Miss  Alice  l^oosevelt  That  Was 
'*  Best  Mayor  of  Our  Best  Governed  City" 
The  German  Emperor's  Family  Circle 
The  New  French  President 


Recent  Fiction  and  the  Critics 


The  Story  of  the  Lost  Conscience 


THE   CURRENT    LITERATURE   PUBLISHING    CO. 
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DON'T  INFER  that  the  patient  ate  a  horse  because  you 
saw  a  saddle  under  the  bed*  HAND  SAPOLIO  is  relatea  to 
Sapolio  only  because  it  is  made  by  the  same  company,  but  it 
is  delicate,  smooth,  dainty,  soothing,  and  healing  to  the  most 
tender  skin*     Don't  argue.  Don't  infer.  Try  it  1 


HAND  SAPOLIO  SAVES  doctors'  bills,  because  proper 
care  of  the  skin  promotes  healthy  circulation  and  helps 
every  function  of  the  body,  from  the  action  of  the  muscles 
to  the  digestion  of  the  food*  The  safest  soap  in  existence* 
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I  HE   BEST  MAYOR  OF  THE  BEST  GOVERNED  CITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATFS'' 

Tom  L.  T«'^ins(vn,  of  Cl«*veland.  Ohio,  thus  characterized  by  Lincoln  Stiffens,  bexr:  n  life  in  penury  and  be- 
<-ame  a  millinnaire  before  he  was  thirty-tive.  He  said  in  ('on>rress  :  "As  a  business  man  1  a!ii  willing  to  take 
advantavce  ot  all  the  monopoly  laws  vou  pass,  but  as  a  member  of  Congress  1  will  not  beb:)  vou  to  pass  t^eiu 
■auJ  I  will  try  to  f.-rce  you  to  repeal'thtm."  '     ' 


Currenttiterature 


?0L  XI^  Ni.  3 


Edward  J.  Wheeler,  Editor 
Associate  Editors:  Leonard  D.  Abbott,  Alexander  Harvey 


MARCH,  1906 


A  Review  of  the  World 


IF  CRITICISM  of  the  President  was  the 
order  of  the  day  in  Washington  one 
month  ago,  criticism  of  the  Senate  is  the  order 
of  the  day  now,  not  in  Washington  but  in 
the  country  at  large.  This  may  be  looked  upon, 
in  part,  as  the  response  of  the  country  to  the 
attacks  upon  the  President,  which  have  been 
interpreted  by  Democratic  and  Republican 
journals  alike  as  the  result  of  a  coalition  be- 
tween affronted  newspaper  correspondents. 
Congressmen  disappointed  in  matters  of 
patronag^e  and  opponents  of  the  measures 
which  the  President  is  especially  desirous  to 
see  enacted.  In  the  lower  house  of  Congress 
this  antagonism  has  produced  small  ^  results. 
The  Philippine  tariff  bill,  the  statehood  bill, 
and  the  rate-regulation  bill  have  all  been  passed 
hy  large  majorities  (the  last  named  having 
but  seven  votes  in  opposition) ,  and  all  in  about 
the  shai>e  the  President  was  supposed  to  de- 
sire. Everything  of  special  importance,  there- 
fore, is  now  "up  to"  the  Senate,  and  upon 
that  small  body  of  ninety  men  the  whole 
attention  of  the  country  is  at  this  time 
concentered. 

WHAT  the  New  York  Sun  calls  an  "epi- 
demic of  Congress-baiting"  has  broken 
out  in  consequence,  nearly  all  of  it  directed  at 
the  upper  house.  So  perturbed  are  the  Sen- 
ators represented  to  be,  more  especially  be- 
cause of  the  magazine  articles  appearing  or 
promised,  that  the  suggestion  has  been  con- 
sidered hy  them  of  selecting  one  of  their  ablest 
spokesmen  to  deliver  a  carefully  prepared  re- 
sponse. "The  Treason  of  the  Senate"  is  the 
title  of  one  series  of  these  magazine  articles. 
It  is  to  run  well  through  the  year  in  Mr. 
Hearst's  Cosmopolitan,  and  is  written  by  the 
novelist  David  Graham  Phillips.  The  editorial 
announcement  of  the  series  is  sufficiently  lurid. 
For    instance;   "A  searching  and  unsparing 


spot-light,  directed  by  the  masterly  hand  of 
Mr.  Phillips,  will  be  turned  upon  each  of  the 
iniquitous  figures  that  walk  the  Senate  stage 
at  the  national  Capitol."  The  first  of  the  series 
appears  in  the  March  number.  Nearly  all  of 
it  is  devoted  to  the  career  of  Senator  Depew, 
whose  joviality  and  popularity  are  said  by  the 
writer  to  have  cost  the  American  people  at 
least  one  billion  dollars.  Another  "artist  in 
exposure"  is  in  Washington — Mr.  Lincoln 
bteffens — ^who  begins  by  finding  the  lower 
house  "frightened,"  "factional"  and  *'cow- 
ardly."  Pitching  into  public  men,  The  Sun 
remarks,  "is  now  a  regular  and  lucrative 
branch  of  magazine  literature." 

ANOTHER  magazine  article,  severe  but  not 
sensational,  appears  in  The  Atlantic 
Monthly  from  the  pen  of  Dr.  William  Everett. 
It  is  directed  entirely  at  the  Senate,  about 
which,  the  writer  thinks,  most  Americans  en- 
tertain an  uneasy  feeling — a  feeling  that  all  is 
not  well  with  that  branch  of  our  Government. 
Dr.  Everett's  article  is  not  likely  to  allay  this 
uneasiness.  "Less  by  usurpation  than  by 
growth,"  he  finds,  "it  [the  Senate]  has  come 
to  hold  the  President  and  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives by  the  throat,  and  almost  dictate  to 
them  whatever  appointments  and  measures  it 
sees  fit."  The  development  of  this  power  he 
traces  historically  to  the  nameless  fear  of  a 
monarchy  that  prevailed  in  the  convention  of 
1787.  The  Senate  was  entrusted  with  a  share 
in  all  three  departments  of  Government— ex- 
ecutive, legislative  and  judicial.  It  has  had 
its  ups  and  downs,  but  after  every  period  of 
disfavor  it  has  reasserted  itself  and  gained 
ground  every  time.  It  assumes  now  to  reject 
nominations  on  account  of  personal  pique,  or 
to  hold  them  up  indefinitely.  The  power  to 
amend  revenue  bills  has  been  stretched,  es- 
pecially in  the  case  of  tariff  bills,  to  an  indefi- 


«3* 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


HAS  FOUND  HIS   PITCHFORK  AGAIN 

Senator  Tillman  has  lately  renewed  all  the  violence  of 
Invective  of  his  earlier  days.  He  thinks  the  President  is 
guilty  of  "usurpation"  in  the  Santo  Domingo  matter. 

nite  extent,  even  that  of  substituting  a  wholly 
different  bill  with  a  different  preamble.  If  the 
Senate  has  not  actually  usurped  any  ungranted 
powers.  Dr.  Everett  repeats,  it  "has  so  inflated 
those  it  has  as  almost  to  burst  their  constitu- 
tional limits,  and  it  has  done  so  with  an  assur- 
ance, an  arrogance,  an  air  of  'what  are  you 
going  to  do  about  it?'  that  has  had  no  prece- 
dent in  Parliamentary  history  for  centuries." 
It  has  succeeded  in  thus  inflating  its  powers 
by  reason  of  four  facts:  (l)  the  long  term  of 
office  (six  years)  ;  (2)  the  continuous  char- 
acter of  the  senatorial  body;  (3)  its  compara- 
tively small  size;  and  (4)  the  social  character 
that  has  developed  and  made  of  the  Senate  "a 
luxurious  club."    Dr.  Everett  writes : 

"If  the  long  tenure,  the  small  numbers,  the  con- 
tinuity and  the  sociality  of  the  Senate  increase  its 
complacency  and  tempt  it  to  defy  the  other  de- 
partments of  government,  still  more  do  they  lead 
to  its  being  extolled  and  courted  in  outside  opin- 
ion. When  an  entire  body  consists  of  ninety  and 
can  always  be  controlled  by  less  than  fifty  men, 
yet  has  its  hand  on  the  throttle  valve  of  the  ma- 
chine of  government,  what  wonder  that  its  mem- 
bers are  approached  by  every  species  of  persua- 
sion, personal,  political,  and  social,  and  absolutely 
made  to  feel,  if  they  did  not  feel  so  themselves, 
that  they  are  the  nation's  rulers." 


But  Dr.  Everett  has  no  faith  in  any  proposed 
amendment  to  the  Constitution  for  the  purpose 
of  securing  election  of  the  Senators  by  direct 
vote  of  the  people.  His  advice  is:  Let  the 
President  and  the  House  of  Representatives 
stand  on  their  rights.  "Let  the  President 
break  away  once  for  all  from  the  stupidity, 
and  as  I  believe  the  illegality,  of  the  congres- 
sional spoils  system,  and  absolutely  refuse  to 
listen  to  Senators'  recommendations  for  office ; 
let  the  House  of  Representatives  risk  the  loss 
of  revenue  rather  than  let  the  Senate  dictate 
its  bills." 

DEFENDERS  of  the  Senate  at  this  junc- 
ture are  not  lacking.  Most  conspicuous 
among  the  newspapers  that  take  up  the  cudg- 
els in  its  behalf  are  the  New  York  5*1411  and 
the  Boston  Herald,  The  former  decries  what 
it  considers  intemperate  criticism  of  both 
branches  of  Congress.  Patriotism  and  fidelity 
to  American  institutions  demand  that  we  re- 
spect our  national  legislature.  "Without  con- 
fidence in  lawmakers  there  can  be  no  respect 
for  law.  Those  who  seek  to  undermine  that 
confidence  and  to  destroy  respect  are  playing 
wkh  matches  in  dangerous  proximity  to  a 
powder  magazine."  The  same  paper  main- 
tains that  a  study  of  The  Congressional  Rec- 
ord shows  intimate  knowledge  on  the  part  of 
Congressmen,  high  intelligence  and  a  laudable 
grasp  of  principles  and  details.  The  Boston 
Herald  thinks  the  country  is  to  be  congrat- 
ulated that  the  Senate  acts  as  a  check  upon  the 
half-baked  and  demagogic  bills  passed  by  the 
lower  house  at  the  dictates  of  its  speaker,  and 
upon  the  "hurry"  recommendations  "of  an 
impetuous  and  impatient  President  who  too 
often  applies  to  grave  matters  of  diplomacy  or 
statesmanship  the  *hair  trigger'  practice  that 
he  uses  in  hunting  *big  game.' "  Another  in- 
fluential and  independent  journal,  the  New 
York  Journal  of  Commerce,  is  "on  the  fence.*' 
It  maintains  that  so  far  as  present  policies  are 
concerned,  the  Senate  "is  fighting  the  popular 
battle  against  the  executive."  In  the  Presi- 
dent's foreign  policy  it  sees  a  uniform  element 
of  danger,  namely,  the  tendency  toward  cen- 
tralization. At  the  same  time  it  is  convinced 
that  the  Senate's  growth  of  power  and  decline 
in  character  present  another  serious  menace, 
and  of  the  two  perils,  senatorial  aggrandize- 
ment and  the  centralization  of  power,  it  knows 
not  which  is  more  to  be  feared.  It  also,  with 
Dr.  Everett,  calls  upon  the  lower  house  to  re- 
assert its  rights  and  re-establish  itself  in  public 
confidence  by  greater  care  and  deliberation  in 


BITTER  CRITICISM  OF  THE  SENATE 


233 


its  enactment  of  legislation.  Ever  since  the 
"Reed  rules"  were  enacted,  another  writer, 
Henry  Loomis  Nelson,  tells  us,  the  lower  house 
has  declined  in  importance.  It  has  come  more 
and  more  under  the  autocratic  control  of  the 
speaker,  and  all  that  is  necessary  now  for  tlie 
President  to  control  its  action  is  a  compact 
with  one  man.  This  call  upon  the  lower  house 
to  defend  its  rights  more  vigorously  and  to 
resist  the  aggressions  both  of  the  Senate  and 
the  President  is  heard  more  and  more  fre- 
quently ot  late. 

WHEN  we  get  away  from  the  Eastern 
States,  the  expressions  of  opinion  con- 
cerning the  Senate  grow  more  positive  and  bit- 
ter, not  because  of  what  the  Senate  has  or  has 
not  done  this  session,  but  because  of  what  it 
is  expected  to  do.  Here  is  an  extract  from 
one  of  the  leading  Democratic  dailies  of  Ohio, 
the  Qeveland  Plain  Dealer,  taken  from  a  long 
editorial  on  "The  President  and  the  Politi- 
cians" : 

"There  is  no  secret  as  to  the  real  character 
of  the  contest  at  Washington.  Behind  the  poli- 
ticians in  congress  are  crouched  the  great  rail- 
road interests,  the  trusts  that  have  fattened  on 
special  privileges,  the  giant  corporations  that 
have  dictated  laws  in  their  interest  and  disre- 
garded laws  conflicting  with  the  success  of  their 
schemes.  These  corporations  have  their  agents 
and  servants  in  the  house.  They  are  strongly 
entrenched  in  the  Senate.  They  are  determined 
there  shall  be  no  'square  deal.'    .    .    . 

'The  plan  of  campaign  in  the  Senate  is  already 
developing.  It  is  to  be  one  of  delays  and  petti- 
fogging attacks  on  the  President  that,  it  is  hoped, 
will  divert  attention  from  the  main  issues.  The 
management  of  Psuiama  canal  affairs,  the  Santo 
Domingo  complications,  the  Philippines,  the  state- 
hood controversy,  everything  that  can  be  made 
use  of  for  delay  and  everything  that  can  by  per- 
verse ingenuity  be  twisted  to  the  discredit  of  the 
President,  or  to  impeachment  of  his  judgment, 
will  be  taken  advantage  of  by  his  pretended 
friends  but  secret  enemies  in  his  own  party.  It 
is  hardly  possible  that  these  tactics  will  prevail 
to  shake  the  faith  of  the  people  in  President 
Roosevelt,  even  if  they  are  successful  in  staving 
off  for  a  while  legislation  the  public  have  de- 
manded and  the  President  urged." 

In  many  other  Democratic  papers,  as  well 
as  Republican,  the  same  bitter  tone  is  main- 
tained Here  is  a  similar  representative  ut- 
terance from  the  South,  from  the  Memphis 
Commercial-Appeal  (Dem.)  : 

"The  Senate  has  become  an  appendix  to  the 
trusts  and  the  protected  interests.  It  represents 
the  people  no  longer.  There  are  some  men  in  it, 
of  course,  who  do  look  out  for  the  popular  will, 
but  the  Senate  as  a  whole,  and  under  Republican 
auspices,  is  a  mere  instrument  of  Republican  cor- 
ruption." 


THE  APOSTOLIC  SENATOR 

Reed  Smoot.  the  Mormon,  is  still  fiehting  for  a  right  to 
represent  Utah  in  the  Senate.  It  is  charged  that  his 
vows  as  an  Apostle  are  at  variance  with  his  professed 
fealty  to  the  flag. 

The  antagonism  to  the  President  is  resented 
by  the  Indianapolis  News  (Rep.)  with  equal 
fervor.  The  fight  against  him  is  in  reality, 
so  The  News  thinks,  a  fight  against  the  people, 
and  it  says: 

"We  should  remember  that  the  professional 
politicians  have  always  been  hostile  to  Theodore 
Koosevelt,  and  that  the  whole  monopolistic  in- 
fluence is  bitterly  antagonistic  to  him  to-day. 
And  now  that  the  President  has  on  his  hands  the 
biggest  fight  he  ever  had,  these  old  enemies  feel 
that  they  can'  pool  issues,  defeat  the  legislation 
asked  for  by  both  the  President  and  the  people, 
and  show  at  the  same  time  that  the  President  is 
not  after  all  a  formidable  figure.  We  believe  that 
that  is  the  game  now  on  foot.  He  is  as  unpopu- 
lar with  the  Aldriches  and  Platts  and  Depews  as 
he  always  was,  and  he  is  quite  as  popular  with 
the  masses  as  he  was  a  year  ago." 

OUR  foreign  policy  and  the  modifications 
which  it  is  thought  to  be  undergoing  at 
the  present  time  furnish  a  topic  which  has 
elicited  several  notable  addresses  in  the  Sen- 
ate and  a  vigorous  discussion  by  the  press  in 
all  sections  of  the  country.  The  discussion  has 
assumed  various  phases.  The  arrangement 
made  by  the  President  for  the  collection  of 
customs  duties  in  Santo  Domingo  is  one  and 
perhaps  the  most  acute  phase.  The  sending 
of  delegates  to  the  Morocco   Conference  is 


»34 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


MAY    SUPPLANT  GORMAN  AS  DEMOCRATIC 
LEADER 

It  was  while  Senator  Gorman  was  away  that  the  cau- 
cus of  Democratic  Senators  w«s  held,  under  the  leader- 
ship of  Senator  Bailey  of  Texas.     He  is  but  42. 

another.  These  two  events  and  some  recent 
interpretations  of  the  Monroe  doctrine  as 
ma3e  by  President  Roosevelt  and  Secretary 
Taft  have  brought  that  historic  policy  again  to 
the  front.  The  powers  of  the  President  in  for- 
eign matters  and  the  constitutional  powers  of 
the  Senate  have  been  involved  in  the  discus- 
sion. And,  finally,  the  decision  of  the  Demo- 
cratic Senators  to  take  caucus  action  against 
the  Santo  Domingo  treaty,  and  the  revolt  from 
the  caucus  of  Senator  Patterson,  of  Colorado, 
have  created  something  like  a  political  sensa- 
tion. 


THE  Santo  Domingo  treaty  was  nego- 
tiated by  the  President  and  placed 
before  the  Senate  last  year.  That  body 
adjourned  without  action  and  the  treaty, 
therefore,  remained  pending.  Shortly 
after  the  adjournment  of  the  Senate,  the 
President  received  a  cablegram  which 
may  become  historic.  In  the  usual  eco- 
nomical verbiage  of  cablegrams,  it  in- 
formed the  President  that  the  Santo 
Domingo  Government,  under  the  pres- 
sure of  foreign  creditors  and  of  domes- 
tic peril,  offered  to  place  in  charge  of 
the  custom-houses  in  its  Southern  ports 


and  in  four  Northern  ports  a  citizen  of  the 
United  States,  under  whose  administration  of 
the  customs  45  per  cent  of  the  money  was  to 
go  to  the  Dominican  Government  and  55  per 
cent,  to  be  deposited  in  New  York  for  distribu- 
tion among  the  nation's  creditors  after  ratifica- 
tion of  the  pending  treaty.  The  creditors  were 
all  or  practically  all  willing  to  accept  such  an 
arrangement.  It  was  made.  President  Roose- 
velt "nominated"  for  receiver  of  the  duties 
Colonel  George  R.  Colton,  a  retired  officer  of 
the  United  States  army.  He  was  appointed 
by  President  Morales,  and  he  entered  upon  his 
duties.  The  arrangement  is  one  somewhat 
similar  to  that  provided  for  in  the  pending 
treaty,  but  there  are  differences.  Senator 
Spooner  thinks  the  differences  are  important. 
Senator  Tillman  thinks  they  are  unimpoitant 
and  charges  the  President  with  usurpation  of 
power  in  making  such  an  arrangement  when 
the  treaty  was  still  pending. 

UNDER  the  treaty  when  it  shall  have  been 
ratified,  the  United  States  will  take 
charge  of  Dominican  custom-houses,  and  col- 
lect and  have  charge  of  all  receipts.  It  is  also 
to  appoint  a  commission  for  the  purpose  of  ad- 
justing the  debts  of  the  republic,  amoimting 
nominally  to  about  thirty-three  million  dollars. 
Under  the  present  arrangement  no  such  direct 
responsibility  is  incurred  by  our  Government 
Colonel  Colton,  though  nominated  by  President 
Roosevelt,  was  appointed  by  Morales,  his  sal- 
ary is  paid  by  the  Dominican  Government,  he 
collects  revenues  and  deposits  or  pays  them  out 
under  a  decree  of  the  same  government,  acting 
"solely  under  the  atrthority  of  that  govern- 
ment" Such  was  Colonel  Colton's  own  testi- 
mony before  the  Senate  committee,  and  its  ac- 
curacy has  not  been  challenged.  In  eight 
months,  ending  November  30  last.  Colonel  Col- 


TOO  MUCH  ROOSBVELT 

— Donophy  in  CleveUmd  JWn  Deahr, 


EVOLUTION  OF  OUR  FOREIGN  POLICY 


ajS 


ton  had  collected  $1^5,000,  turning  oyer  45 
per  cent  (less  costs  of  administration),  or 
$550,000,  to  the  Dominican  Government,  a  sum 
in  excess  of  the  entire  amount  hitherto  col- 
lected by  Dominican  officials.  The  remainder 
of  the  sum  collected  has  been  deposited  in  the 
National  City  Bank  of  New  York,  awaiting 
the  ratification  of  the  treaty  and  the  adjust- 
ment of  the  Dominican  debts  before  being  dis- 
tributed to  the  creditors.  This  seems  to  be  all 
there  is  in  the  situation  at  present,  despite  the 
language  of  the  President  in  a  speech  at 
dautauqua  last  August  in  which  he  seemed 
to  imply  that  the  United  States  itself  is  re- 
sponsible for  Colonel  Colton's  acts.  "Under 
this  arrangement,"  he  said,  "we  sec  to  the 
honest  administration  of  the  custom-houses"; 
"we  are  protecting  the  custom-houses";  and 
"the  Government  is  actually  getting  more  from 
the  45  per  cent,  that  we  turn  over  to  it  than 
it  got  formerly  when  it  took  the  entire  rev- 
enue." Senator  Spooner,  after  a  long  and  bril- 
liant defense  of  the  President's  course,  was  in- 
terrogated by  Senator  Culberson  concerning 
this  speech.  He  did  not  attempt  any  explana- 
tion. He  had  defended  the  President's  official 
acts;  perhaps  he  thought  that  explanation  of 
the  President's  unofficial  utterances  was  not 
a  part  of  his  duties. 

WHETHER  or  not  the  President  has  ex- 
ceeded the  constitutional  limits  of  his 
power  in  the  arrangement  with  Santo  Domingo 
is  a  somewhat  technical  question  that  pales 
into  comparative  unimportance  before  the 
question  raised  by  the  treaty  itself.    The  pres- 


A  RULE  THAT  WORKS  ONLY  ONE  WAY 

— Maybell  in  Brooklyn  £a^/e. 


Copyright  1902  by  J.  K.  Purdy,  Bofton. 

HE  BOLTED  THE  CAUCUS 

Senator  Patterson,  of  Colorado,  claims  that  the  caucus 
of  Democratic  Senators  on  the  Santo  DonrinRo  treaty  was 
a  violation  of  the  Federal  Constitution.  He  has  intro- 
duced a  resolution  saying  so. 

ent  arrangement  is  a  temporary  device  le- 
gally binding  the  United  States  as  a  nation  to 
nothing.  The  treaty,  if  ratified,  will  be  per- 
manent and  will  bring  the  nation  into  new  in- 
ternational relations  that  may  constitute  a 
very  important  precedent.  Already  it  is  re- 
ported that  the  Italian  Government  has  made 
inquiry  as  to  the  likelihood  of  our  entering 
into  a  similar  arrangement  with  Haiti.  There 
are  many  other  countries  in  Central  America 
and  South  America  which  are  in  a  chronic 
condition  of  financial  trouble  similar  to  that 
of  Santo  Domingo.  If  this  treaty  is  to  be  rati- 
fied, where  will  this  course  lead  us?  Are  we 
to  assume  a  protectorate  over  the  rest  of  these 
shaky  republics  whenever  a  European  nation 
threatens  to  collect  debts  at  the  cannon's 
mouth?  Is  the  Monroe  doctrine  to  receive  a 
new  and  startling  extension,  such  as  may  con- 
stitute us  a  sort  of  receiver  for  any  bankrupt 
country  in  this  hemisphere  ?  Such  questions  as 
these  are  asked  by  the  enemies  of  the  treaty. 
The  answer  made  is  that  this  treaty,  if  ratified, 
commits  us  to  nothing  further.  It  will  consti- 
tute a  special  arrangement  made  under  excep- 
tional circumstances,  with  a  nation  but  ninety 


^3* 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


DIDN'T  WANT  US  TO  GO  TO  ALGECIRAS 

"  To  save  the  country  from  a  violation  of  the  policy 
laid  down  in  Washington's  farewell  address,"  Senator 
Bacon,  of  Georg^ia,  protested  against  our  participation 
in  the  Morocco  conference. 

miles  distant  from  our  possessions  in  Porto 
Rico.  And,  moreover,  it  will  be  an  arrange- 
ment effected*  as  the  result  of  an  appeal  from 
Santo  Domingo  itself. 

AVERY  eloquent  speech  on  this  subject  of 
our  foreign  relations,  particularly  the 
Santo  Domingo  affair,  was  made  several  weeks 
ago  by  the  new  Senator  from  Maryland,  Sen- 
ator Rayner.    In  the  course  of  this,  his  maiden 


speech,  the  Senator  paid  high  tribute,  both  to 
President  Roosevelt  and  Secretary  Taft;  but 
he  rejected  emphatically  what  he  called  the 
"Roosevelt  corollary"  to  the  Monroe  doctrine, 
and  included  in  his  rejection  the  policy  of 
President  Cleveland  in  the  Venezuela  contro- 
versy. He  stood  for  the  Monroe  doctrine  as 
it  was  originally  promulgated,  but  not  as  it 
has  been  expanded  of  late  years.  He  under- 
took to  establish  these  two  propositions : 

"First — ^That  the  President  is  in  error  when  he 
states  that  'we  are  within  our  rights  and  other 
governments  are  within  their  rights  when  they 
actively  intervene  in  support  of  the  contractual 
claims  of  their  citizens.' 

"Second — ^That  he  is  equally  in  error  if  we  are 
tp  be  governed  by  precedent  when  he  states  that 
'upon  the  seizure  of  a  custom  house  to  enforce 
claims  recognized  by  international  law  in  south  or 
Central  America  we  become  a  party  in  interest 
under  the  Monroe  doctrine  and  must  prevent 
this  action  upon  the  part  of  foreign  govern- 
ments.' " 

Intervention  in  the  case  of  Santo  Domingo, 
he  held,  is  not  to  preserve  political  liberty  (the 
purpose  of  the  Monroe  doctrine),  but  to  col- 
lect the  debts  of  usurious  bondholders.  One 
of  these  bonded  debts  he  explains  in  some  de- 
tail. It  amounts  to  £750,700,  on  which  Santo 
Domingo  is  bound  to  pay,  for  interest  and 
sinking  fund,  the  sum  of  £58,900  annually. 
And  all  the  actual  money  Santo  Domingo  ever 
received  for  this  was  £38,000,  or  £20,000  less 
even  than  the  annual  payment  required.  Said 
Senator  Rayner: 

"We  must  realize  that  this  new  Monroe  doc- 
trine is  strictly  a  financial  doctrine.  The  tragic 
figures  of  Bolivar  and  Miranda  and  a  hundred 
other  heroes,  who  swept  up  and  down  the  Spanish 
main,  have  disappeared  from  view,  and  the  Santo 


THE  SKY-LINE  OF  SANTO  DOMINGO'S  CAPITAL 

Effective  naval  action  off  this  port  is  not  easy.  The  mouth  of  the  Ozama  River  debouches  here  and  is  acces- 
sible beyond  this  point  only  to  small  vessels.  The  roadstead  is  danfi^erous  to  battleships,  which  must  be  cau- 
tiously piloted. 


WE  AND  SANTO^DOMINGO 


m 


A  LEADING  THOROUGHFARE  IN  SANTO  DOMINGO 

More  than'one  regimeDt  of  foreifirn  troops  has  policed  this  street  in  the  course  of  recent  crises.     A  German  force 
heldthe  town  on  one  occasion  and  camped  here  in  the  open. 


Domingo  Improvement  Company  and  the  West- 
emdorps,  of  Amsterdam,  and  Messrs.  Bichoff- 
schein  and  Goldschmidt  now  appear  upon  the 
scene.  Arma  virumque  cano  is  an  epic  dream. 
The  theme  is  money,  the  legend  is  cash  and  the 
foreign  hordes  who  are  advancing  into  the  State 
Department  are  a  syndicate  of  relentless  merce- 
naries and  money-lenders,  who  traffic  in  calamity, 
look  upon  national  misfortune  as  so  much  mer- 
chandise and  who  for  a  venal  profit  would  call 
a  vendue  and  auction  to  the  highest  bidder  the 
liberties  of  mankind." 

CENATOR  SPOONER'S  speech  in  the 
*^  Senate,  January  23,  was  not  delivered 
as  a  reply  to  Senator  Rayner's.  The  Wis- 
consin Senator's  purpose  was  not  to  discuss 
the  treaty  with  Santo  Domingo,  but  to  defend 
the  President's  temporary  arrangement  while 
the  treaty  is  pending.  And  he  expressly  dis- 
claimed any  intention  to  become  involved  in 
an  attempt  to  sustain  any  amendment  or 
alleged  corollary  to  the  Monroe  doctrine.  But 
he  insisted,  as  Senator  Lodge  had  also  insisted, 
that  Santo  Domingo  presents  an  exceptional 
case,  agreeing  with  other  Senators  that  the 
United  States  has  no  general  call  to  become 
the  receiver  of  bankrupt  nations  to  the  south 
of  us.  For  a  hundred  years  Santo  Domingo  has 
had  "an  irredeemably  bad  history  from  almost 
every  standpoint."  The  people  have  been  "the 
prey  of  foreign  usurers  and  of  domestic  black- 
mailers and  revolutionists."  Senator  Spooner 
took  no  exceptions  to  Senator  Rayner's  de- 


scriptions of  the  usurious  character  of  the 
nation^s  debts.  He  concluded  his  •speech  as 
follows,  speaking  of  the  pending  treaty: 

"It  is  believed  that  their  honest  debt,  instead  of 
being  $33,000,000,  is  less  than  $10,000,000.  Every 
year  has  been  a  year  of  horror,  and  it  is  now 


WANTS  TO  ANNEX  SANTO  DOMINGO 

Senator  Heybum,  of  Idaho,  has  a  bill  reviving  General 
Grant's  pet  project. 


438 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


within  sight  of  our  flag.  That  is  one  thing  which 
distinguishes  the  case  from  all  the  rest.  It  is 
90  miles  from  Porto  Rico. 

"Nor,  Mr.  President,  is  that  all.  There  is 
another  element  in  it  which  appeals  to  every  man, 
I  think,  who  stops  to  consider  it,  which  will  dis- 
tinguish it  probably  from  all  to  the  southward. 
Santo  Domingo  asks  the  United  States  to  do  this 
thing.  What?  To  help  her  to  face  the  sunrise.  To 
help  her  work  her  way  out  of  the  darkness.  She 
wants  to  pay  her  debts.  She  can  never  rehabili- 
tate herself  until  some  one  stronger  than  she  in- 
vestigates these  claims,  and,  having  influence  with 
the  creditor  nations,  scales  them  down  to  what  is 
honest  and  ri^ht.  All  they  want  is  to  be  protected 
from  revolution  by  an  honest  collection  of  rev- 
enues until  their  debt  is  paid,  and  they  believe 
that  during  that  period  of  time  the  contrast  be- 
tween prosperity  and  anarchy,  between  law  and 
peace  and  bloodshed  and  violence  will  teach  that 
people  to  prefer  the  improved  condition.  To 
whom  else  could  she  apply?  We  gave  her  war- 
rant to  apply  to  us.  How?  When?  Where? 
When  we  went  to  war  to  free  Cuba,  and,  after 
we  had  freed  her,  taught  her  people  by  an  object 
lesson  in  their  midst  the  true  theory  of  govern- 
ment, organized  a  government  and  left  her,  under 
the  resolution  of  which  my  friend  the  Senator 
from  Colorado  [Mr.  Teller]  has  a  right  always 
to  be  proud,  to  her  people.  What  other  nation  has 
done  that?  And  to  us,  her  neighbor,  known  all 
over  the  world  as  not  only  a  powerful  and  rich, 
but  just  and  generous  and  liberty  loving  nation — 
little  Santo  Domingo  appeals  to  give  her  a  chance 
— ^that  is  all — for  life  and  peace;  not  to  compel 
her  to  pay  usurious  interest  to  rascals,  not  to  force 
her  to  pay  what  she  does  not  owe,  but  to  give 
her  a  chance.  Is  there  any  other  case  like  it? 
She  is  a  derelict  little  nation  out  in  the  near  by 
sea.  Any  nation  has  the  right  to  clear  the  sea 
of  a  derelict.  It  is  a  danger.  Is  it  not  on  the 
whole  safer  and  better  to  extend  to  her  our  aid 
than  to  turn  away  from  her  appeal,  with  the  com- 
plications certain  to  follow?" 

THE  Santo  Domingo  question  has  now  be- 
come a  partizan  one.  The  fact  is 
generally  deplored,  for  it  is  commonly  ad- 
mitted that  in  dealing  with  foreign  nations 
we  should  present  a  nonpartizan  front — a  line 
of  conduct,  by  the  way,  which  all  nations 
profess  to  desire  but  seldom  achieve.  For 
the  partizan  developments  in  this  case  Demo- 
crats blame  Republicans  and  Republicans 
blame  Democrats.  The  overt  act  which 
advertised  the  partizanship  phase  of  the  ques- 
tion was  the  action  of  the  Democratic  Senators 
in  holding  a  caucus  and  acting  upon  two  reso- 
lutions, one  opposing  the  Santo  Domingo 
treaty,  the  other  declaring  it  the  duty  of  every 
Democratic  Senator  to  vote  against  ratification 
of  the  treaty  if  the  resolution  opposing  it  were 
adopted  by  a  two-thirds  vote  of  the  caucus. 
Both  resolutions  were  adopted  and  Senator 
Bailey  then  gave  notice  that  any  Senator  not 
abiding  by  the  action  of  the  caucus  should  be 


excluded  from  all  future  participation  in 
caucus  meetings.  The  next  morning  an 
editorial  appeared  in  the  New  York  Sun  to 
which  is  credited,  rightly  or  wrongly,  an  im- 
portant influence  on  subsequent  events.  The 
editorial,  entitled  "Caucusing  Against  the  Con- 
stitution," began  as  follows: 

"It  seems  to  us  that  no  deeper  disgrace  ever 
yawned  before  a  minority  than  that  to  which  the 
Democrats  of  the  Senate  are  invited  by  the  pro- 
moters of  the  caucus  plan  of  disposing  of  the 
Santo  Domingo  treaty.  What  are  these  Demo- 
cratic Senators  thinking  of?  Arc  they  blind  to 
the  significance  of  the  proposed  application  of 
caucus  rule  to  their  part  in  the  making  of 
treaties?" 

The  editorial  proceeded  to  set  forth  the 
individual  responsibility  of  Senators,  under 
the  Constitution,  in  the  matter  of  treaties.  It 
held  that  never  before  in  all  the  history  of  the 
Government  had  the  caucus  method  been 
applied  to  treaty-making.  It  means  that  in  a 
full  Senate  of  ninety  members,  twenty-one 
Senators  can  by  caucus  method  defeat  a  treaty. 
It  added : 

"It  has  been  the  glory  of  all  great  parties  since 
our  Government  was  instituted  that  in  matters  of 
foreign  policy,  and  particularly  in  the  performance 
of  the  Senate's  high  function  as  a  part  of  the 
treaty-making  power,  the  party  whip  has  Deen 
.  absent,  or  at  least  invisible.  The  present  proposal 
to  produce  the  whip  and  to  apply  it  publicly  for 
the  suppression  of  the  advice  and  consent  of  the 
Senators  subjected  to  party  dictation,  merits,  in 
our  opinion,  the  serious  attention  of  patriotic 
Americans. 

"Considerably  more  important,  we  should  say, 
than  the  failure  or  success  of  this  particular 
treaty  are  the  questions  whether  the  power  of  the 
United  States  uovernment  to  do  business  with  for- 
eign nations  by  means  of  treaties  shall  continue 
to  be  exercised  according  to  the  mathematical 
formula  which  the  Constitution  prescribes,  and 
whether  the  decision  of  the  fate  of  treaties  shall 
be  transferred  from  executive  session  to  party 
caucus." 

SENATOR  PATTERSON,  of  Colorado,  a 
Democrat,  evidently  took  the  same  view. 
He  had  left  the  caucus  before  a  vote  on  the 
resolutions  was  taken.  He  now  proceeded  to 
introduce  in  the  Senate  a  resolution  to  the 
effect  that  caucus  action  on  a  treaty  is  "in 
plain  violation  of  the  spirit  and  intent  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,"  speaking 
to  his  resolution  on  much  the  same  line  as 
that  presented  in  The  Sun  editorial,  and  pay- 
ing tribute  to  the  President  as  one  who  "in  his 
great  struggle  against  railroads  and  trusts  is 
doing  a  greater  work  than  any  President  since 
Andrew  Jackson."  Senator  Bailey  took  him 
sharply  to  task  and  defended  caucus  action 


THE  CAUCUS  AND  THE  CONSTITUTION 


239 


on  the  grotind  that  the  President,  by  parttzan 
considerations  and  the  use  of  patronage,  had 
whipped  the  Republican  Senators  all  into  line 
in  support  of  the  treaty,  and  the  Democrats 
were  justified  in  meeting  such  tactics  with 
caucus  rule.  This  is  the  line  of  defense  fol- 
lowed by  the  Democratic  press.  The  Detroit 
News  (Ind.)  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  the 
caucus  is  a  "purely  voluntary  meeting"  of  no 
oflkial  character,  and  if  the  argument  against 
it  were  carried  to  its  logical  extreme  "a 
Senator  would  be  debarred  from  consulting 
with  any  of  his  colleagues,  or  even  with  the 
President  himself,  lest  the  result  of  the  con- 
sultation should  influence  him  to  substitute 
the  judgment  of  the  other  for  his  own."  It 
refers  to  the  "steering  committee"  of  the 
Republican  Senators  as  ''a  less  formal  sub- 
stitute for  the  caucus."  The  Atlanta  Consti- 
tution thinks  that  "from  a  party  standpoint" 
the  effort  of  the  Democratic  Senators  to  get 
together  and  present  something  like  har- 
mony of  action  after  several  years  of  division 
is  to  be  commended.  This  aspect  also  strikes 
the  Philadelphia  Bulletin  (Rep.)  forcibly, 
which  thinks  the  fact  that  the  Democrats  are 
again  getting  "into  shape  as  a  fighting  opposi- 
tion" is  the  most  important  phase  of  the  ques- 
tion. The  Philadelphia  Ledger  (Ind.)  thinks, 
on  the  other  hand,  that  "a  strict  and  servile 
obedience  to  a  party  caucus  lash"  cannot  be 
justified  either  in  case  of  a  treaty  or 
in  case  of  any  ordinary  legislative  meas- 
ure, on  which  also  a  memb^  of  either 
bouse  is  bound  to  act  according  to  his 
own  convictions.  The  Pittsburg  Dispatch 
(Rep.)  is  opposed  to  the  Santo  Domingo 
treaty,  but  it  holds  that  Senator  Patterson  is 
"unquestionably  correct"  in  his  opposition  to 
caucus  rule.     It  argues  as  follows: 

''It  is  establishing  a  boss  in  the  form  of  a  party 
majority.  This  power  when  exerted  is  generally 
a  minority  of  the  whole  legislative  body,  because 
if  there  is  a  majority  of  the  body  in  favor  of  a 
given  action  the  attempt  to  dragoon  dissidents 
into  line  by  party  authority  is  unnecessary.  So 
that  caucus  authority,  besides  destroying  individ- 
ual freedom  of  action,  is,  if  successful,  a  means  of 
securing  what  is  really  desired  and  approved  by 
no  more  than  a  minority  of  the  members." 


N 


EARLY  all  the  opposition  to  the  Santo 
Domingo  treaty  in  the  press  is  due  to  a 
belief  that  it  is  likely  to  impClate  us  in  similar 
relations  with  numerous  other  countries.  "We 
know  of  no  single  argument  advanced  for  our 
JDtervention  in  Santo  Domingo,"  says  the  New 
York  Evening  Post,  "which  does  not  apply,  or 
coald  not  be  made  to  apply,  to  all  other  re- 


publics in  arrears  and  in  difficulty  between 
us  and  Cape  Horn.  And  the  greater  part  of 
their  debts,  like  those  of  Santo  Domingo,  is 
practically  of  the  nature  of  gambling  debts. 
Speculators  have  simply  taken  chances,  as 
in  a  lottery,  and  now  we  are  to  guarantee  the 
lottery."  In  another  editorial  on  "Uncle  Sam 
as  Pan-American  Receiver,"  it  sets  forth  the 
size  of  the  job  it  thinks  we  would  be  shoulder- 
ing by  ratifying  the  treaty.     It  says: 

"Santo  Domingo  first  placed  a  loan  with  for- 
eigners in  1869.  On  it  she  has  been  in  default  for 
more  than  twenty  years.  Colombia  has  had  a 
foreign  debt  for  some  83  years,  during  about  47 
of  which  no  interest  was  paid.  The  corresponding 
figures  for  Guatemala,  lionduras,  and  Venezuela 
are,  respectively,  78  and  48,  78  and  72,  83  and  41. 
Costa  Rica  and  Nicaragua  have  been  in  default 
for  more  than  half  the  time.  Salvador  has  repu- 
diated a  part  of  her  foreign  debt.  Thus  it  ap- 
pears that,  if  Uncle  Sam  is  going  to  set  himself 
up  in  the. business  of  liquidating  all  outstanding 
Pan-American  debts,  he  will  not  lack  for  occupa- 
tion!" 


LOVE  kept  such  a  fiery  vigil  in  the  bosom 
of  Alfonso  XIII  last  month  and  the 
tender  passion  has  taken  such  possession  of 
the  whole  soul  of  Princess  Ena  of  Batten- 
berg  that  the  Madrid  Epoca  is  led  to  conjecture 
that  this  radiant  pair  will  wed  prior  to  the  date 
in  May  now  tentatively  fixed.  But  the  many 
entanglements,  social  and  political,  that  must 
ensue  if  this  marriage  be  made  suggest  them- 
selves to  a  correspondent  of  the  London 
Times.  As  Queen  of  Spain,  Ena  will  be  "most 
Catholic,"  althoiigh  she  was  reared  as  a 
Protestant.  When  she  comes  on  a  visit  to 
England  it  will  be  in  Westminster  Cathedral 
that  she  will  worship  while  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic ecclesiastics  will  receive  her  and  she  will 
take  her  confessor  to  Buckingham  Palace. 
The  nonconformist  conscience  is  described  as 
in  a  state  of  revolt,  and  high  churchmen  can 
not  enjoy  the  perfume  of  the  full-blown  rose 
of  Princess  Ena's  passion  for  a  king  who  has 
made  her  a  Roman  Catholic.  Even  the  clerical 
Volkszeitung  of  Cologne  is  in  a  state  of  dis- 
edification.  A  political  conversion  to  the  faith, 
says  this  Roman  Catholic  organ,  can  please 
nobody.  So  the  aching  adieu  of  Alfonso  to 
Ena  at  Biarritz  three  weeks  ago  really 
initiated  a  struggle  of  their  linked  destinies 
against  a  too  ecclesiastical  world.  She  handed 
him  two  exquisite  roses  which  she  took  from 
a  vase,  avers  the  London  Mail.  The  King 
kissed  them  tenderly  and  placed  them  inside 
the  left  breast  of  his  coat  next  to  his  heart 
And  so  they  parted. 


THE  RELIGION  OF  PRINCESS  EN  A 


241 


THE  SPANISH    KING  WITH  THE  AUSTRIAN   LIP 

This  physiosnomical  characteristic  is  not  pleasine  to 
Spaniards,  reminding  them  of  Austrian  influence,  lone 
dominant  at  Madrid.  The  Spaniards  call  their  King^ 
mother  '*that  Austrian  woman." 

THEY  are  in  love.  They  are  young.  Let 
the  Vatican  think  only  of  that,  pleads 
the  Correspondencia  de  EspaHa  (Madrid),  a 
liberally  disposed  organ,  transported  by  its 
own  admiration  for  an  English  princess  with 
a  boundless  capacity  for  love  and  overjoyed 
by  the  defeat  of  an  Austrian  "candidate"  for 
the  glories  that  will  be  Ena's.  But  the 
Universo  (Madrid),  organ  of  the  hierarchy  in 
Spain,  remains  significantly  unmoved.  Spain's 
ambassador  at  the  Vatican,  it  observes,  has 
arranged  a  visit  from  the  princess  to  the 
Pope.  "Her  Highness  will  then  abjure  the 
errors  of  Protestantism,"  we  read,  "and  be 
received  into  fhe  one  true  faith."  Carlist 
organs,  nevertheless,  openly  deplore  in  the 
King  an  attachment  based,  as  they  contend,  not 
upon  strength  of  character  but  upon  strength 
of  passion.  They  reproduce  German  insinu- 
ations that  Princess  Ena's  temper  is  a  hot 
one.  They  are  impressed  by  no  English 
newspaper  notions  of  her  perfect  loveliness. 
They  praise,  instead,  the  fascination  of  an 
unnamed  German  royal  maiden  whom  the 
King  saw  while  visiting  Emperor  William. 


TO  MARRY  THE  KING  OF  SPAIN 

Princess  Bna  of  Battenbere  is  the  cause  of  much 
aaritation  on  account  of  her  religion,  whiqh  is  Protestant. 
Her  intended,  Alfonso  XIII,  discovered  in  her  a  warm 
sympathy  with  Roman  Catholicism.  The  Vatican  is 
now  investigatingf. 


WHEN  the  Hepburn  rate  bill  passed  in 
the  House  of  Representatives,  on  Feb- 
ruary 8,  the  most  important  policy  advocated 
by  the  President  since  he  entered  the  White 
House  was  supposed  to  have  made  an  im- 
portant advance.  The  bill  is  a  sort  of  com- 
posite photograph,  so  to  speak,  of  nineteen 
other  bills  for  the  regulation  of  railroad  rates, 
which  had  been  submitted  by  different  Con- 
gressmen and  referred  to  the  Committee  on 
Interstate  and  Foreign  Commerce,  of  which 
Mr.  Hepburn  is  chairman.  "In  the  preparation 
of  this  [Hepburn]  bill,"  says  the  report  ac- 
companying the  bill,  "the  committee  has  been 
aided  by  their  study  of  all  the  bills  and 
probably  has  borrowed  something  from  each 
one."  That  was  diplomatic,  and  one  result  of 
the  diplomacy  was  the  unanimous  support  of 
the  bill  by  the  Democratic  and  Republican 
members  of  the  committee,  and  almost  unani- 
mous support  by  the  House  itself.  All  amend- 
ments were  voted  down  and  the  bill  was  adopt- 
ed with  but  seven  votes  in  the  negative.  The 
bill  passed  on  to  the  Senate  and  consideration 


943 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


1 

TRUST  rKFUf  ME} 

^il«&ys 

ffl^n^^l 

S^^^"^     ff 

m 

r 

1 

i^mI^BEWIk] 

TRYING  TO  BLOCK  THE  WAY 

— Smith  in  Indianapolis  Sen/me/. 

of  it  began  the  very  next  day  in  the  Senate 
committee. 

SEVERAL  surprises  came  in  the  House 
discussion.  Congressman  Littlefield,  of 
Maine,  who  one  year  ago  was  especially  prom- 
inent as  a  champion  of  Federal  control  of 
corporations,  and  was  considered  a  spokesman 
of  the  President,  voted  "No"  after  a  vigorous 
attack  on  the  bill.  At  the  rate  of  200  words 
a  minute  for  two  hours  he  assailed  the  bill 


x^-^  ^:^ 


Engineer  Roosevelt— "Let  me  out  on  the  main 
line!" 

— DeMar  In  Philadelphia  /Record. 


and  belittled  the  Interstate  Commerce  Com- 
mission, whose  "utter  incapacity"  to  adjust 
rates  as  proposed  in  the  bill  he  endeavored 
to  establish  by  court  records,  showing    that 
in    thirty-two   cases    in    which    the    commis- 
sion has  passed  upon  charges  of  unjust   dis- 
crimination,  the   courts   in   their   review    of 
its   decisions   have   overruled   it   twenty-four 
times.  Mr.  Littlefield  is  a  fine  orator  and   he 
addressed  not  only  a  full  House,  but  many 
members  of  the  Senate,  who  were  present  to 
hear  him.     Speaking  further  of  the  commis- 
sion,   he    said:    "They    know    nothing   about 
either  the  railroad  business  or  the  other  great 
business  interests  of  the  country.    If  you  turn 
over  the  railroad  business  to  such  hands  you 
will  not  only  ruin  the  railroads,  but  all  those 
other  enormous  business  interests  which  have 
been  developed  and  made  possible  by  the  rail- 
roads."   Still  more  important  was  his  positive 
statement   that   the   bill    does   not   meet    the 
President's  views.     "In  the  zeal  with  which 
both  political  parties  are  runnings  a  race,"  he 
said,  "they  have  gone  far  beyond  the  Presi- 
dent's desires."  Every  Democrat  in  the  House 
voted    for   the   bill,   and    there    were    many 
radiant  flights  of  glowing  oratory.    Here  was 
one  by  Congressman  Heflin: 

"When  the  Democrats  get  back  in  power  and 
regulate  these  economic  institutions  and  arrange- 
ments in  the  interest  of  the  great  mass  of  the 
people  and  strike  off  the  hand  that  holds  up  the 
producer  and  the  hand  that  robs  the  consumer, 
we  will  exclaim:  Land  of  our  fathers,  through 
thy  length  and  breadth  a  tremor  passes.  Look! 
The  dark  is  done,  and  on  thy  proud  form  shall 
shine  the  splendor  of  the  sun.  Thine  own  chil- 
dren, with  heads  erect  and  lifi^it  on  all  their  faces, 
are  happy  in  the  triumph  of  Democracy's  creed !" 

"We  like  to  see  Mr.  Heflin's  countenance 
illuminated,"  commented  The  Sun  (New* 
York) ;  "but  what  Democracy's  creed  is  no- 
body knows."  And  The  World  (New  York), 
after  reading  this  and  other  similar  speeches, 
observed:  "The  Hepburn  bill  is  more  than 
legislation;  it  is  a  prose-poem.  It  mounts  to 
the  Senate  on  wings  of  song." 

WHETHER  the  President's  approval  has 
been  given  to  this  Hepburn  bill  or  not 
is  manifestly  important.  Mr.  Littlefield's 
statement  is  re-enforced  by  the  utterances  of 
Senator  Lodge,  who  is  supposedly  very  close 
to  the  President.  The  Senator's  speech  on  the 
bill,  February  12,  reviewed  the  whole  subject 
of  rate  legislation.  He  has  reached  two  con- 
clusions as  a  result  of  his  study.  One  is  that 
the  matter  cannot  be  dealt  with  as  a  simple 


THE  PRESIDENT  AND  THE  HEPBURN  BILL 


U3 


question  of  right  or  wrong.  "Success  depends 
absoltttely  on  the  manner,  the  measure  and  the 
form  of  the  legislation."  The  other  conclu- 
sion is  that  a  mistake  in  this  matter  "will  not 
only  cause  commercial  and  financial  disaster 
of  a  magnitude  almost  beyond  computation, 
but  will  involve  possibilities  of  political  change 
and  alterations  in  our  form  of  government  the 
gravity  of  which  cannot  be  overestimated." 
He  classified  the  evils  complained  of  in  rail- 
road administration  into  three  classes:  (i) 
Discriminations  between  persons;  (2)  Exces- 
sive rates;  (3)  Discriminat^ns  between  locali- 
ties. The  first  of  these  evils  seem  to  him 
so  serious  that  he  does  not  think  it  would  be 
possible  to  draft  legislation  too  drastic  to  pre- 
vent them.  The  present  law  has  largely 
checked  the  system  of  rebates,  but  it  should  be 
amended  to  make  violation  or  secret  evasion 
punishable  by  imprisonment  Another  amend- 
ment should  give  the  proper  authorities  power 
to  examine  the  books  of  railroad  companies 
whenever  rebates  are  suspected.  Rebates  have 
been  practically  eradicated  in  England,  said 
the  Senator,  and  can  be  here;  but  government 
rate-making  of  itself  furnishes  no  remedy  for 
this  class  of  evils.  Nor  does  it  furnish  a 
remedy  for  excessive  rates,  says  Mr.  Lodge. 
He  reviews  the  effect  of  government  rate- 
making  in  the  various  nations  of  the  Old 
World,  and  finds  that  it  has  invariably  tended 
to  prevent  reduction  in  rates  and  to  make  them 
inelastic.  "No  railroad  dares  to  lower  a  rate," 
be  says,  "if  it  can  possibly  be  avoided,  because 
of  the  restrictions  imposed  by  law  on  increas- 
ing the  rate  when  it  becomes  necessary.  .  .  . 
On  the  continent  of  Europe,  generally,  rates 
are  50  per  cent  higher  than  ours,  and  show 
the  same  quality  of  inflexibility  and  the  same 
lack  of  adaptation  to  changing  conditions 
which  we  find  in  England."  As  to  the  third 
class  of  evils,  discriminations  between  places, 
Senator  Lodge  says: 

The  experience  of  other  nations  shows  that 
govemment  rate-making  has  not  stopped  discrim- 
inations in  the  slightest  degree.  It  has  substituted 
discriminations  made  by  tne  government  for  the 
discriminations  which  are  brought  about  by 
economic  forces,  the  competition  of  markets  and 
the  action  of  business  interests.  It  hardly,  I  think, 
needs  argument  to  show  that  discriminations 
forced  in  this  way  through  oolitical  action  would 
be  peculiarly  unfortunate  in  the  United  States." 

NEVERTHELESS,  Senator  Lodge  will 
vote  for  a  rate-regulation  bill,  but 
it  must  furnish  "the  most  absolute  protection 
a^nst  hasty  or  prejudiced  action  through 
provision  for  an  appeal  to  the  courts  of  the 


THE  NEW  RATE-REGULATION  BILL  BEARS 
HIS  NAME 

Col.  William  Peters  Hepburn,  of  Iowa,  is  serving:  his 
tenth  term  in  Congress.  He  was  bom  in  Ohio  seventy- 
three  years  ago. 

country."  Anything  that  strikes  at  free  access 
to  the  courts  "strikes  at  the  very  heart  of  the 
measure"  which  has  been  urged  by  President 


THEIRATE  BILL  IS  IN  HIS  HANDS 


Reports  from  Washingrton  are  that  the' President  is 

gretty  sure  to  accept  whatever  changes  in  the  rate  bill 
enator  Knox,  of  Pennsylvania,  advises. 


^44 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


Roosevelt,  so  the  Senator  maintains.  He 
quotes  not  only  the  President's  message  of  last 
December,  but  recent  utterances  by  Secretary 
Taft  and  ex-Secretary  (now  Senator)  Knox, 
and  the  provisions  of  the  Esch-Townsend  bill 
passed  a  year  ago,  to  prove  that  review  by  the 
courts  has  been  all  along  maintained  as  an 
indispensable  feature  of  rate  legislation.  The 
emphasis  the  Senator  laid  on  this  point  im- 
plies that  he  will  not  support  and  does  not 
believe  the  President  will  support  the  Hep- 
burn bill  without  change,  for  that  bill  is 
criticized  for  its  uncertain  utterance  on  this 
phase  of  the  question,  in  marked  contrast  to 
the  Esch-Townsend  bill.  The  important  sec- 
tion of  the  Hepburn^  bill,  and  the  one  contain- 
ing the  only  reference  to  review  by  the  courts, 
is  as  follows: 

"Sec.  15.  That  the  Commission  is  authorized 
and  empowered,  and  it  shall  be  its  duty,  whenever, 
after  full  hearing  upon  a  complaint  made  as  pro- 
vided in  section  thirteen  of  this  Act,  or  upon 
complaint  of  any  common  carrier,  it  shall  be  of 
the  opinion  that  any  of  the  rates,  or  charges  what- 
soever, demanded,  charged,  or  collected  by  any 
common  carrier  or  carriers,  subject  to  the  pro- 
visions of  this  Act,  for  the  transportation  of  per- 
sons or  property  as  defined  in  the  first  section  of 
this  Act,  or  that  any  regulations  or  practices 
whatsoever  of  such  carrier  or  carriers  affecting 
such  rates,  are  unjust  or  unreasonable,  or  unjustly 
discriminatory,  or  unduly  preferential  or  prejudi- 
cial, or  otherwise  in  violation  of  any  of  the  pro- 
visions of  this  Act,  to  determine  and  prescribe 
what  will,  in  its  judgment,  be  the  just  and  reason- 
able and  fairly  remunerative  rate  or  rates,  charge 
or  charges,  to  be  thereafter  observed  in  such  case 
as  the  maximum  to  be  charged;  and  what  regula- 
tion or  practice  in  respect  to  such  transportation  is 
jlist,  fair,  and  reasonable  to  be  thereafter  fol- 
lowed; and  to  make  an  order  that  the  carrier 
shall  cease  and  desist  from  such  violation,  to  the 
extent  to  which  the  Commission  find  the  same  to 
exist,  and  shall  not  thereafter  publish,  demand,  or 
collect  any  rate  or  charge  for  such  transportation 
in  excess  of  the  maximum  rate  or  charge  so  pre- 
scribed, and  shall  conform  to  the  regulation  or 
practice  so  prescribed.  Such  order  shall  go  into 
effect  thirty  days  after  notice  to  the  carrier  and 
shall  remain  in  force  and  be  observed  by  the 
carrier  unless  the  same  shall  be  suspended  or 
'modified  or  set  aside  by  the  Commission  or  be 
suspended  or  set  aside  by  a  court  of  competent 
jurisdiction." 

The  last  twelve  words  above  give  all  the  bill 
has  to  say  about  review  by  the  courts.  The 
Esch-Townsend  bill  contained  150  lines  on  the 
subject,  drafted  by  Attorney-General  Moody. 
And  the  Elkins  bill,  introduced  in  the  Senate 
February  13,  devotes  an  entire  section  to  re- 
view by  the  courts,  giving  to  them  authority 
to  suspend  the  rates  ordered  by  the  commis- 
sion by  means  of  injunction. 


HAS  p6pular  interest  in  the  subject  of  rate 
regulation  subsided  of  late?    The  asser- 
tion that  it  has  is  made  by  the  New   York 
Sun,  which  points  in  proof  to  the  very  small 
number  of  petitions  on  the  subject  sent    to 
Congress  while  the  Hepburn  bill  was  pending 
in    the   lower    house.     On    February   2,     for 
instance,  it  observes,  when  one  speaker    re- 
ferred to  petitions  "just  literally  flooding  this 
house,"  three  pages  and  a  half  of  The  Con- 
gressional  Record  were  filled  with  the  titles 
of  petitions  presented  to   Congress;   but    of 
these  htmdreds  of  petitions  only  three  were 
abottt  rate  regulation.    The  Washington  cor- 
respondent of  the  New  York  Journal  of  Com- 
merce says:   "There   is   no   question   among 
members  but  that  the  whole  rate  agitation  is 
the  President's  work.    Men  from  all  parts  of 
the   country    say   that    it   never   would    have 
sprung  up  at  this  time  had  it  not  been   for 
his  efforts."    This  view  seems  to  the  Spring- 
field Republican  "supremely  ridiculous."     The 
agitation  for  rate  regulation,  it  says,  "grows 
out  of  a  popular  agitation  which  dates  back 
20  years  or  more,  which  has  found  repeated 
expression  in   many    state    enactments,    was 
supposed   to   have   found  satisfaction   in   the 
federal  act  of  1887  and  was  renewed  when 
it  appeared  that  the  courts  had  devitalized  the 
act  of  1887."    And  the  St.  Couis  Globe-Demo- 
crat thinks  that  the  vote  in  the  lower  house 
admits  of  no  other  interpretation  than  that 
the    country    at    large    "demands^    adequate 
governmental  supervision  of  railway  freight 
charges." 

WHETHER  or  not  this  is  a  correct  inter- 
pretation of  public  sentiment,  the  press 
of  the  country  indicate  no  subsidence  of  public 
interest  in  the  subject.  No  subject,  in  fact,  is 
more  widely  discussed  at  the  present  time,  and 
the  opposition  to  the  present  form  of  rate- 
making,  as  exemplified  in  the  Hepburn  bill, 
seems  to  us  to  be  fully  as  vigorous  and  fre- 
quent as  the  support.  This  is  particularly 
evident  in  the  Eastern  papers,  and  not  only 
in  those  usually  classed  among  the  more  con- 
servative journals.  In  New  York  City,  for 
instance,  The  Journal  of  Commerce,  The 
Evening  Post,  The  Times  and  The  Sun  are 
not  alone  in  opposition  to  the  bill.  Journals 
such  as  The  World  and  The  Press  that  appeal 
to  a  more  radical  class  of  readers  are  equally 
vigorous  in  their  hostility.  The  World  (Dem.) 
calls  the  bill  "a  half-baked  hodge-podge  of  un- 
certain phrases,"  and  comes  out  against  rate 
regulation   in   general  on    the    ground    that 


WHAT  ANOTHER  COAL  STRIKE  WOULD  MEAN 


HS 


Federal  control  of  railroads  will  make  them 
redouble  their  political  activity  and  increase 
the  corruption  of  national  politics.  The  Press 
(Rep.)  calls  the  Hepburn  bill  a  "bunco"  bill 
that  "gives  the  railroads  every  possible  ad- 
vantage that  can  be  taken  by  means  of  the 
law's  delays/'  and  says  that  the  President 
does  not  indorse  it,  and  its  passage  in  the 
lower  house  means  that  he  has  been  beaten 
there  and  "that  is  all  there  is  to  it."  Some  of 
the  strong  conservative  journals  in  the  East, 
sach  as  the  Boston  Transcript  and  the  Phil- 
adelphia Press  and  Ledger,  lean  in  the  direc- 
tion of  rate  regulation,  but  cannot  be  quoted 
emphatically  on  one  side  or  the  other.  Even 
in  the  South  and  West  protests  against  the 
Hepburn  bill  are  not  infrequent.  The  Kansas 
City  Star  criticizes  it  because  it  does  not  con- 
fer on  the  commission  power  to  reclassify 
freight,  an  omission  that  would  "largely 
neutralize"  the  usefulness  of  the  bill.  The 
Columbia,  S.  C,  State  thinks  the  bill  is  about 
what  the  President  wishes,  but  has  no  doubt 
that  the  Supreme  Court  will  declare  it  un- 
constitutional. The  Richmond  Times  asks  for 
serious  consideration  of  objections  advanced 
by  a  contributor.  It  sums  up  these  objections 
as  follows: 

'The  commission  is  composed  in  the  main  of 
Northern  and  Western  men.  The  North  and 
West  are  allies  against  the  South.  In  all  cases  of 
discrimination  in  favor  of  the  South,  what  will 
the  decision  be?  Give  this  power  to  the  Federal 
government  and  no  Southern  man  will  ever  be 
elected  to  the  presidency.  The  North  and  West 
will  see  to  that.  Our  cities  and  ports  will  soon 
have  passed  the  zenith  of  their  greatness,  and  will 
decline.  The  factories,  foundries  and  mines  and 
all  our  infant  industries  will  be  closed." 

AMONG  the  stanchest  advocates  of  rate 
regulation  in  general  is  the  Springfield 
Republican  (Ind.).  The  sole  question  at  issue, 
it  thinks,  is  whether  the  immense  power  that 
attaches  to  the  making  of  rates  should  be 
left  in  private  hands.  If  it  is  so  left,  the 
country  must  remain  "subject  to  the  arbitrary 
will  of  a  great  private  monopoly  whose  oper- 
atio^s  affect  profoundly  every  citizen  and 
every  community  and  every  industry  in  the 
broad  land."  The  Chicago  Tribune  (Rep.) 
thinks  that  the  argument  is  "irrefutable,"  as 
advanced  by  Bourke  Cockran,  Senator  Clay 
and  others,  that  the  alternative  of  rate  regu- 
lation is  public  ownership  of  railroads.  The 
Pittsburg  Dispatch  (Rep.)  thinks  the  propo- 
sition involved  in  rate-making  is  very  simple: 

"From  the  construction,  more  than  the  actual 
enactments  of  the  law  of  1887,  that  measure  was 


held  to  give  no  authority  to  the  commission  for 
an  effective  remedy  in  cases  typified  by  the  Kan- 
sas oil  rate,  th(i  refined  oil  rates  northward  from 
New  Orleans  as  compared  with  those  going  in 
the  opposite  direction,  and  the  practice  of  charg- 
ing 50  per  cent,  more  freight  to  Denver  than  on 
the  same  freight  that  passes  through  Denver  sev- 
eral hundred  miles  farther  to  San  Francisco.  The 
bill  proposes  merely  to  give  it  power  to  make 
the  remedies  effective.  All  the  attempts  of  the 
corporate  advocates  to  becloud  that  fact  failed  of 
their  purpose." 

One  of  the  utterances  widely  quoted  in  favor 
of  rate  regulation  is  that  by  President  A.  B. 
Stickney,  of  the  Chicago  Great  Western  rail- 
way.    He  says: 

"It  is  my  conclusion  that,  because  the  railways 
have  assumed  the  common  law  obligation  of  com- 
mon carriers,  and  because  they  are  public  high- 
ways, it  is  fair  and  right  to  control  their  rates  by 
law,  and  that,  because  railways  are  monopolies, 
the  law  of  self-preservation,  as  well  as  of  fairness 
and  justice,  demands  that  the  people,  through  the 
government,  should  control  railway  rates  by  law." 


WHEN  the  first  day  of  April  dawns,  the 
agreement  which  President  Roosevelt's 
Coal  Strike  Commission  secured  between  the 
strikers  and  the  operators  over  three  years  ago 
will  have  come  to  an  end.  After  that,  what? 
The  question  has  been  hanging  over  industry 
all  winter,  and  as  we  go  to  press  it  is  still  un- 
answered. The  coal  miners  both  in  the  an- 
thracite and  bituminous  fields  are  demanding 
an  eight-hour  day,  a  ten  per  cent,  increase  of 
wages,  and  "a  trade  agreement  between  the 
operators  and  the  unions  which  will  be  a  full 
and  complete  recognition  of  the  union."  The 
operators  demand  a  continuance  of  the  present 
scale  of  wages  and  hours,  as  established  by 
the  commission  three  years  ago,  and  which 
gave  the  miners  at  that  time  a  ten  per  cent,  ad- 
vance. Efforts  to  "get  together"'  have  been 
made,  but  so  far  in  vain,  and  it  is  not  using  too 
strong  language  to  say  that  the  country  stands 
aghast  at  the  prospects  if  an  agreement  is  not 
reached.  The  strike,  if  ,it  comes,  will  be  more 
extensive  and  pfobably  more  prolonged  than 
it  was  before.  The  men,  organized  and  unor- 
ganized, who  will  be  directly  involved  will 
number  over  half  a  million.  The  unions  re- 
port in  their  treasuries  a  surplus  of  $2,679,- 
134.43,  and  a  special  tax  of  $1.00  per  week 
per  member  has  been  levied  which  is  counted 
on  to  increase  this  surplus  by  April  to  over 
five  million  dollars.  The  operators,  on  the 
other  hand,  report  a  large  supply  of  anthracite 
coal  on  hand.  If  the  miners  win  their  fight, 
the  result  will  almost  certainly  be  a  further  ad- 
vance in  the  price  of  coal.    If  a  strike  comes. 


346 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


From  stcreograpb,  copyright  1906,  Underwood  *  Underwood. 

SOME  OF  THE    WIVES   OF   MOROCCO'S   SULTAN 

This  is  a  photograph  taken  by  the  Sultan  himself. 
Authoritative  interpreters  of  the  Koran  at  Fez  do  not 
agree  regarding  the  precise  number  of  wives  allowable 
to  Adbul-Aziz.  Ordmarily  a  Mohammedan  may  have 
but  four.  Some  authorities  report  that  his  palaces  con- 
tain a  much  larger  number  of  wives  (includmg  the  lady 
on  the  wheel)  than  this  picture  indicates.  ^ 

the  loss  to  the  public  will  be  tremendous,  for 
it  will  involve  all  sorts  of  industries.  There 
will  be  no  "soft  coal"  this  time  to  use  as  a 
substitute. 

WHAT  the  public  will  be  "up  against"  in 
the  event  of  a  strike  is  thus  set  forth  by 
the  New  York  Tribune : 

"It  is  reported  that  there  is  only  a  two  weeks 
supply  of  soft  coal  in  stock.  The  twenty-five  or 
thirty  millions  of  tons  of  anthracite  expected  to 
be  accumulated  by  April  i  would  carry  the  indus- 
tries of  the  country  only  a  short  way.  Produc- 
tion would  be  limited  to  the  non-union  mines  of 
West  Virginia  and  to  districts  where  the  strike 
order  was  imperfectly  effective.  The  price  of  such 
coal  as  reached  the  market  would  be  well-nigh 
prohibitive.  The  threatened  strike  would  dwarf 
by  comparison  that  of  four  years  ago,  which  will 
be  long  remembered  for  the  losses  and  suffering 
it  caused.  At  that  time  bituminous  coal  was  be- 
ing produced  abundantly,  and  industries  con- 
tinued in  operation,  though  the  people  suffered 
from  want  of  domestic  fuel.  Now  industrial  coal 
is  to  be  cut  off,  too,  and  in  a  few  weeks,  such  is 
the  threat,  railroads  must  cease  running,  machin- 
ery must  stop  turning  and  industries  must  come 
to  a  standstill.  In  a  word,  we  are  brought  un- 
pleasantly face  to  face  in  all  its  essential  details 
with  the  menace  of  a  general  strike.  In  the  hands 
of  the  workmen  of  one  industry  is  the  means  to 
tie  up  all." 

A  result  still  more  fateful,  in  the  judgment 
of  the  Providence  Journal,  may  ensue,  namely, 
a  long  step  toward  socialism.    It  says: 


"Something  will  have  to  be  done  to  avert  the 
suffering  that  a  second  prolonged  strike  would 
entail.  The  country  is  not  ready  for  socialism, 
nor  has  it  accepted  the  familiar  theories  of  those 
who  believe  in  Government  ownership;  but  even 
conservative  citizens  may  be  pardoned  if  they  feel 
that  the  quarrels  of  capital  and  labor  in  Penn- 
sylvania and  the  States  of  the  adjacent  West 
cannot  be  permitted  to  inconvenience  the  public 
as  they  inconvenienced  it  three  years  ago.  Coal 
is  a  prime  necessity  in  this  day  and  generation. 
We  require  it  for  the  most  ordmary  functions  of 
our  social  and  industrial  establishment.  David  B. 
Hill's  retirement  from  politics  may  be  said  to 
date  from  his  introduction  into  the  Democratic 
platform  in  New  York  State  of  a  plank  for  Gov- 
ernment ownership  of  the  mines.  .  .  .  Yet  if 
another  strike  takes  place  we  may  see  identical 
resolutions  offered  in  conventions  of  both  parties 
by  men  who  have  never  hitherto  regarded  them- 
selves as  political  radicals." 


CERTAIN  European  organs,  searching  for 
a  scapegoat  for  the  Morocco  conference, 
have  precipitately  raised  President  Roosevelt 
to  that  bad  eminence.  He  was  impetuous 
enough,  complain  some  French  dailies,  to  de- 
spatch two  envoys  to  Algeciras  before  dis- 
covering that  the  Morocco  conference  must 
necessarily  discuss  one  set  of  questions  dis- 
guised in  the  form  of  another  set.  He 
blundered  thus  fatuously,  if  the  London 
National  Review  is  to  be  credited,  because  the 
German  ambassador  had  previously  ionized 
the  diplomatic  air  of  Washington  so  as  to  make 
it  a  conductor  of  the  dynastic  electricity  from 
Berlin.  Emanations  from  the  presidential 
mind  reveal  a  Roosevelt  still  convinced  that 
the  Morocco  conference  was  called  to  settle 
the  affairs  of  Morocco.  How  devoutly  the 
Depeche  de  Toulouse  wishes  the  President  did 
not  err!  His  administration  is  unwittingly 
partizan  in  aiding  Germany  to  undo  the  pact 
between  France  and  Great  Britain,  a  pact  upon 
which  the  foundations  of  world  politics,  from  a 
European  standpoint,  have  been  made  to  rest. 
'*Wc  see  America,"  laments  also  the  London 
Outlook,  "sitting  and  voting  on  a  purely 
European  question."  It  leaves  out  of  account 
one  fact  for  which  Senator  Spooner  vouched 
last  month  in  the  Senate,  namely,  that  two 
great  powers  declined  to  go  into  a  Morocco 
conference  unless  the  United  States,  as  one  of 
the  signatories  to  the  Madrid  convention,  sent 
.  delegates  with  the  rest.  The  inference  is  that 
had  this  country  stayed  out,  no  conference 
could  l>ave  been  held. 

THIS  British  weekly's  indictment  of  our 
Executive  is  very  emphatic.  Mr.  Henry 
White  temporarily  quitted  Rome,  where  he 
is  United  States  ambassador,  to  advocate  at 


AMERICA'S, ^PRESENCE  AT  MOROCCO  RESENTED 


247 


Algedras   such   things   as   the 
open  door,  an  international  po- 
lice and  the  better  treatment  of 
Jews.     True,   Mr.   White   and 
his  colleague  are  delegates,  not 
plenipotentiaries.      They    have 
no  authority  to  sign  any  treaty 
without   instructions    from    the 
Department  of  State,  and  any 
treaty  they  do  sign  must  go  to 
the  Senate  for  ratification.    The 
London  Outlook  refrains  from 
comment  on  the  form  of  these 
instructions,    but    their   limita- 
tions throw  upon   Mr.   Roose- 
velt, it  notes,  a  wide  and  active 
responsibility.     For  some  time 
yet,    perhaps,    Mr.      Roosevelt 
will   be   as   much   preoccupied 
with    all     that    underlies     the 
Morocco    question    as    Prince 
BQlow  or  Premier  Rouvier,  to 
say  nothing  of  the  London  For- 
eign Office.    Even  that,  we  are 
told,   is  a  matter   of  less   im- 
portance than  the  policy  which, 
between  them,  Messrs.  Roose- 
velt and  Root  have  annotmced. 
It  is  a  policy  which  to  various 
organs   of   British    imperialism 
seems     ostentatiously     meddle- 
some with  interests  exclusively 
European — interests    dynastic 
and  political  at  that     It  is  no- 
torious, we  read,  that  one  of  the 
controversial    matters    between 
Germany  and  France  at  Algeci- 
ras  concerns  the  army  of  con- 
trol, or,  to  employ  the  current  euphemism, 
the    "police."      On    this    question,    says    the 
London  Outlook,  the  United  States  has  already 
declared  its  mind.     Mr.  White  and  his  col- 
league are  in  the  conference,  therefore,  not  to 
harmonize,  but  to  take  sides.     Mr.  Roosevelt 
interposes  in  a  matter  which  within  the  past 
few  months  has  brought  the  two  leading  powers 
of  Continental  Europe  to  the  verge  of  war.  He 
can,  he  apparently  desires  to,  throw  his  weight 
on  the  side  of  one  and  against   the  other. 
Simultaneously  he  warns  Europe  away  from 
South  America  in  the  name  of  the  Monroe 
doctrine.      That    is    an    attitude    which    the 
London  Outlook  thinks  must  in  the  end  prove 
quite  untenable.    And  its  view  finds  some  sup- 
port in  the  press  of  the  United  States,  where 
criticism  of  the  same  sort  appears,  but  less  fre- 
quently than  a  month  ago. 


Copvitglit  by  J.  £.  Purdy.  Bostou. 

THE  VOICE  OF  AMERICA  AT  THE  MOROCCO  CONFERENCE. 

Mr.  Henry  White,  ambassador  to  Italy,  represents  the  Roosevelt  pol- 
icy at  Alf^eciras.  He  was  pursued  last  month  by  correspondents  eager  to 
know  what  the  President  meant  to  do  as  between  France  and  Germany. 

HAD  President  Roosevelt  realized  how  de- 
liberately Emperor  William  thrust  the 
police  question  into  the  forefront  at  the 
Morocco  meeting,  he  and  his  Secretary  of 
State,  insinuates  a  writer  in  the  Paris  Aurore, 
might  have  been  more  circumspect  in  publish- 
ing instructions  to  Mr.  White.  Emperor 
William's  object,  say  London  organs  like  The 
Times  and  The  Mail,  was  to  disrupt  the  unity 
of  French  relations  with  British  world  policy. 
England's  trump  card  in  winning  the  amity 
of  France  is  a  free  hand  for  the  Paris  govern- 
ment in  Morocco.  William  II  is  determined 
that  England  shall  not  play  that  trump  card. 
He  leads  into  a  new  suit  by  playing  the  police 
at  Algeciras.  His  delegates  insist  that  the 
armed  forces  maintaining  order  in  Morocco 
shall  not  be  those  of  the  republic,  but  that 
French  soldiers  may  preserve  order  only  on 


«48- 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


Prom  liereogrmpo,  copj  rlgbt,  IWfl,  Underwood  A  ITndcrwtKxI. 

MOROCCO'S  SULTAN  DRESSED  IN   TURKISH 
UNIFORM 

This  portrait  is  an  anomaly  inasmuch  as  the  Sultan  of 
Morocco  should,  in  the  eyes  of  his  orthodox  subjects,  re- 
pudiate all  the  dogmas  expounded  on  the  sacred  authority 
of  the  Saltan  in  Constantinople.  A  Turkish  uniform 
worn  by  their  Sultan  would  scandalize  the  more  pious 
among  the  Mohammedan  faithful. 


the    frontier    toward    Algiers.     The    London 
Standard    specifies    the    objections    to     this 
scheme.     International  forces  have  failed   to 
maintain    order    in    Macedonia,   in    Crete,    in 
Egypt.     An  alternative  is  to  place  Morocco 
under     the   control  of  one  neutral   and  dis- 
interested power.     But  it  would  be  difficult  to 
choose  a  neutral  power.    Even  if  a  nation  like 
Denmark  or  Switzerland  were  willing  to  un- 
dertake the  task,  the  necessary  authority  would 
be  lacking.     On  the  other  hand,  if  Italy  or 
Austria    were    suggested,    France    would    be 
affronted.     Italy   is  a   Mediterranean   power, 
like  France.    Why,  inquires  the  British  daily, 
should  Italy  be  asked  to  step  into  Morocco 
and  perform  a  task  which  Emperor  William 
thinks     France     cannot     undertake     without 
menace  to  the  interests  of  Europe?    Possibly 
the  German  Emperor  has  "spheres  of  influ- 
ence"   in    his    mind.      He    has    applied    that 
principle  to  China  and  he  is,  according  to  his 
English   critics,   eager   to   apply   it   in    South 
America.    Meanwhile,  we  are  assured,  Presi- 
dent Roosevelt  helps  to  apply  it  in  Morocco. 

PRESIDENT  ROOSEVELT  has  no  partner 
in   the   game   at  Algeciras,  as   German 
officially  inspired  organs  see  the  play.     The 
Berlin   Kreuz  Zeitung  is  inclined  to  admire 
Mr.   Roosevelt's  indifference  to  the  influence 
which  his  own  hand  may  have  on  that  of  any 
other  player.    This  daily  does  not  understand 
that  the  United  States  has  taken  sides,  at  any 
rate  to  the  extent  that  London  opinion  seems 
half  inclined   to    dread.     When    the    London 
Morning  Post  asserts  that  the  United  States 
Government  favors  the  idea  of  an  international 
agreement  for  the  policing  of  Morocco  outside 
the  border  region,  the  Berlin  Post  observes 
that  this  does  not  mean  veiy  much  and  the 
London   Times  replies  that  it  means,   if  put 
into  practice,  a  severe  blow  to  the  friendship 
between  France  and  Germany.     "More  than 
ever,"  it  adds,  "the  conviction  is  general  abroad 
that  the  Moroccan  difficulty  retains  its  original 
character  as  part  of  a  policy  directed  by  Ger- 
many against  the  Anglo-French  entente,  and 
in  watching  the  progress  of  the  business  at 
the  conference  it  is  important  to  bear  this  in 
mind."    The    whole    system    of    international 
poh'cy,  from  Emperor  William's  point  of  view, 
is  based  on  maintenance  of  bitter  rivalry  be- 
tween France  and  Great  Britain.    His  imme- 
diate aim,  our  British  informant  continues,  is 
to   have   a   makeshift   arrangement   put    into 
shape   at   Algeciras.     France   must  thus   see 
that  British  friendship  has  no  practical  value. 


WHAT  WILL  FRANCE  DO  TO  VENEZUELA  t 


^49 


WAR  between  France  and 
Venezuela  dragged  out  a 
technical  existence  all  last 
month,  with  President  Castro  on 
the  offensive.  That  statesman 
committed  an  act  of  war,  ex- 
plains the  Temps,  when  he  re- 
fused to  let  a  French  diplomatist 
return  to  the  Venezuelan  shore 
after  boarding  a  French  steamer. 
The  diplomatist  wanted  his  of- 
ficial correspondence  before 
Castro  had  a  chance  to  intercept 
it.  Venezuelan  statutes,  it 
should  be  explained,  permit  Cas- 
tro to  open  and  read  anybody's 
correspondence.  He  has  been 
reading  even  the  American  min- 
isters correspondence,  it  is  said, 
and  seems  to  be  incensed  by 
what  he  found  in  some  confiden- 
tial commtmications  from  the 
Department  of  State  to  our  rep- 
resentative at  Caracas.  The 
V^enezuelan  President  regards 
as  personally  offensive  Minis- 
ter Russell's  efforts,  made  under 
instructions  from  Washington, 
to  assist  in  the  peaceful  settle- 
ment of  the  Franco- Venezuelan 
dispute.  But  Castro  subse- 
quently consented  to  be  molli- 
fied. He  tolerates  Mr.  Russell 
for  the  time  being,  but  he  will 
transact  no  official  business  with 
French  diplomatists.  The  Paris 
government  was  supposed  to  be 
preparing  a  bombardment  of 
Venezuelan  ports.  Suddenly 
everything  was  halted. 


MANY  French  statesmen 
rightly  or  wrongly  suspect 
that  Germany  is  behind  Ven- 
ezuela at  this  juncture,  declares  the  London 
Telegraph,  It  is  possible,  explains  the  Matin, 
that  France  might  discover  Germany  in 
Venezuela  just  as  she  finds  her  in  Morocco, 
hampering  her  movements,  delaying  agree- 
ments and  skilfully  raising  objections.  Ger- 
many, we  read,  does  not  want  war.  But  she  is 
trying  to  give  France  embarrassment.  Hence 
the  dispute  with  Castro  may  be  productive  of 
more  complications  in  Europe  than  the  pub- 
lished facts  imply.  Here,  contends  the  Berlin 
Kreuz  Zeitung,  we  have  a  tissue  of  English 
fabrications  of  a  kind  to  which  the  London 


Coartecy  of  The  World's  Wifrk. 

"THE  RESTORER  OF  VENEZUELA" 

This  is  the  title  by  which  Castro  hopes  to  become  known  in  the^pages 
of  his  country's  history.    3oIivar  is  the  model  whom  he   has  taken  lor 
imitation  in  all  things,  say  officially  inspired  Caracas  dailies, 
injf  was  executed  at  the  request  of  the  Venezuelan  Congress. 


This  paint- 


Times  is  prone.  Anyhow,  it  does  not  suit 
France,  evidently,  to  re-enforce  her  naval  di- 
vision in  the  West  Indies  to  any  considerable 
extent.  Even  if  she  went  to  the  length  of 
threatening,  and  even  bombarding  some  port, 
argues  the  London  Telegraph,  France  would 
incur  the  risk  of  killing  her  own  citizens,  her 
own  friends.  The  Monroe  doctrine  stands  in 
the  way  of  territorial  occupation.  There  is 
the  middle  course  of  blockading  one  or  more 
ports  and  seizing  the  revenues,  as  has  been 
done  on  various  occasions  with  Turkey.  But 
other  European  powers  have  claims  on  the 


*s° 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


Copyright  by  H  C.  WbiteCo. 

THE  FLOWER  OF  CASTRO'S  ARMY 

It  is  rumored  that  there  is  disaffection  in  these  ranks, 
preluding  the  decline  and  fall  of  the  present  Venezuelan 
empire. 

customs.     France  is  thus  on  the  horns  of  a 
dilemma.    She  will  play  a  waiting  game. 

CASTRO  now  has  on  his  mind  something 
far  weightier  than  his  latest  war  with  a 
great  European  power,  says  the  London  Morn- 
ing Post,  He  is  maturing  plans  to  make  him- 
self dictator  of  Colombia  and  Ecuador  in 
addition  to  Venezuela.  That  and  resistance 
to  the  United  States,  with  a  determination  to 
keep  Venezuela  for  the  Venezuelans,  sum 
up  his  program  as  our  contemporary  outlines 
it.  Castro  talks  of  himself  as  a  second  Bolivar, 
another  Qesar,  a  Washington  returned  to 
earth.  His  public  addresses  and  the  replies 
to  them  from  Congress  and  the  censored  press 
are  compared  with  Nero's  panegyrics  of  him- 
self. Castro  is  "the  restorer  of  Venezuela"  and 
his  heart  is  "inspired  by  ideals  sublime  and 
grandiose"  while  the  blessings  he  has  bestowed 
upon  his  country  are  "as  refulgent  as  the  light 
of  the  king  star  as  it  shines  in  the  zenith." 
Such  are  the  eulogies  with  which  the  halls  of 
Congress  at  Caracas  are  made  to  echo.  Ven- 
ezuelans of  the  Andine  province  from  which 
Castro  hails  take  him  at  his  own  valuation. 
They  are  proud  to  learn  that  the  annual  meet- 
ing of  Venezuela's  Congress  has  been  changed 
to  take  place  on  the  anniversary  of  the  date  on 
which  Castro  set  out  from  the  inland  moun- 
tains to  overthrow  his  predecessor  in  the 
dictatorship.  His  journeys  through  the  land 
are  now  marked  with  the  pomp,  the  extrava- 


Copy light  by  H.  C.  Wttlte  Co. 

"MIRAFLOR^S" 

This  is  the  palace  at  Caracas  in  which  Castro  and  his 
boon  companions  are  accused  of  re-enacting:  tl»e  infamies 
of  the  imperial  palace  in  the  time  of  Nero. 

gance,  the  adulations  and  the  revelries  of  a 
Roman  emperor.  One  of  the  dates  of 
Venezuelan  independence  has  been  altered  on 
the  national  escutcheon  to  the  anniversary  of 
Castro's  birth.  His  bust  is  now  replacing  that 
of  Bolivar  on  the  latest  issue  of  Venezuelan 
postage-stamps.  Such  facts,  set  forth  and 
vouched  for  by  the  London  Morning  Post,  give 
us,  it  thinks,  the  measure  of  the  man  to-day. 


Copyright  by  H.  C.  White  Co. 

IN  CASTRO'S  CAPITAL 

This  is  the  main  street  in  Caracas.     On  one  side  is  the 
University,  on  the  other  the  Government  buildhif. 


CONFLICTING  VIEWS  OF  CASTRO 


251 


Co^frtftit  by  a  C.  White  Co. 

CORRIDOR  OP  THE  PRESIDENTIAL 
PALACE  AT  CARACAS 

The  aide-de-^amp  to  President  Castro  is  in   coDver- 
flition  with  one  ot  the  executive  secretaries. 

CASTRO  has  now  annulled  the  American 
asphalt  concession,  the  Italian  mining 
concession,  the  Belgian  waterworks  concession, 
the  French  cable  concession,  all  under  due 
process  of  Venezuelan  law.  He-  is  devoted 
to  the  constitution  as  authoritatively  in- 
teipretcd  by  the  supreme  court  of  the  republic. 
TTiat  tribunal  is  absolutely  his  instrument,  it 


Copyil^^t  by  H.  C.  Wblte  Co. 

CASTRO'S  MAN-OF-WAR 

It  is  an  antiqtiatedlcraft,  the  basis,  presumably,  of 
President  Castro's  allusions  to  ''  the  naval  forces  ot  the 
rqmbUc,"  now  b^ing  put  **iq  a  state  of  efficiency." 


Copyright  by  H.  C.  White  Ck). 
CASTRO    WAS   BORN    IN    A   VENEZUELAN    HUT 
LIKE  THIS 

It  stands  in  a  mountain  villag^e  near  the  place  of 
Castro's  reputed  birth  in  one  of  the  Andine  provinces  of 
Venezuela.  Castro  himself  is  proud  of  his  humble 
orifcin,  attesting,  he  thinks,  the  possibilities  of  Venez- 
uelan institutions. 

is  charged  in  British  dailies.  A  chief  justice 
who  was  chief  justice  in  fact,  as  well  as  in 
name,  we  are  told,  disappeared  when  he  had 
the  tactlessness  to  discover  over  a  hundred  men 
in  prison  at  Caracas,  thrown  there  by  execu- 
tive order.  Salt,  coal,  pearl  fisheries,  matches, 
coffee,  rum,  sugar,  coco,  gold  mining,  banks 
and  railroads  are  all  laid  under  contribution 
by  Castro.  Every  business  and  all  undertak- 
ings of  whatsoever  kind  exist  on  sufferance. 
They  must  pay  for  the  privilege  of  being  pro- 
tected. Nor  is  this  analysis  of  the  situation, 
drawn  from  British  sources,  unsupported  by 
the  press  of  other  European  countries. 
Foreign  dailies  are  filled  with  accounts  of 
Caracas  in  turmoil  and  of  Castro  feasting  in 
his  palace  at  Miraflores  or  at  some  inland 
retreat,  guarded  by  his  troops  and  surrounded 
by  his  partizans,  mostly  discredited  men  and 
women.  Yet  Castro,  according  to  the  London 
Post,  is  to  all  appearances  secure.  He  has  per- 
fected his  defensive  machinery.  His  army, 
his.  telegraphs,  his  closely  woven  mesh  of 
espionage,  his  censorship  over  the  press,  over 
foreign  despatches,  even  over  private  letters, 
would  appear  to  keep  him  informed  of  all  that 
happens.  He  could  crush  a  rising  instantly. 
That  is  not  the  understanding  of  the  Paris 
Temps  and  a  few  of  its  Continental  contem- 
poraries.   They  hear  that  Castro's  fall  cannot 


252 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


be  long  postponed.  All  classes  of  Venezuelans, 
except  the  native  mountaineers,  want  relief 
from  Castro's,  exactions.  A  plot  is  maturing. 
Venezuela  may  have  a  new  President  before 
long. 

BUT  President  Roosevelt  ought  to  deal 
summarily  with  Castro  at  once,  urges  the 
Paris  Temps,  inspired  by  the  French  Foreign 
Office.  It  suggests  that  the  United  States  as- 
sume financial  control  of  Venezuela,  thus  as- 
suring all  nations  of  the  reparation  and  satis- 
faction due  them.  Did  the  Temps,  retorts  the 
London  Times,  ever  hear  of  Santo  Domingo? 
Does  it  know  that  between  the  President  and 
the  Senate  there  is  an  open  conflict  because 
Mr.  Roosevelt  proposed  to  do  by  treaty  what  he 
is  now  invited  to  do  in  respect  of  Venezuela? 
There  is  no  reason  to  believe,  thinks  the 
London  Times,  that  the  United  States  Senate 
would  look  favorably  on  any  such  treaty  with 
Venezuela,  still  less  on  any  interposition  by 
Mr.  Roosevelt  without  a  treaty.  The  President 
of  the  United  States  has  repeatedly  declared 
his  intention  of  remitting  the  whole  subject 
to  Congress  at  the  proper  moment.     In  the 


meantime  the  French  ambassador  and  Mr. 
Roosevelt  are  in  friendly  conference.  Mr. 
Roosevelt  has  the  benefit  of  the  report  made 
by  Judge  Calhoun,  who  went  to  Caracas  for 
first-hand  information.  So  sensational  are  the 
revelations  in  this  report,  according  to  in- 
sinuations in  French  dailies,  that,  if  made 
public  at  all,  it  will  have  to  be  edited.  The 
next  move  is  with  France,  asserts  the  London 
Times,  adding  that,  though  it  may  be  post- 
poned, it  will  doubtless  be  taken,  and  taken 
with  effect. 


EXCITEMENT  in  France  grows  intense  as 
the  time  for  the  national  election  draws 
near.  That  event  has  been  fixed  for  the  coming 
April.  The  date  may  be  advanced  or  retarded 
a  little  even  at  the  eleventh  hour,  for  the 
ministry  has  power  to  fix  the  precise  day  to  suit 
itself.  But  the  new  President,  Mr.  Fallieres. 
who  duly  succeeded  M.  Loubet  last  month, 
turns  out  something  of  a  stickler  for  con- 
stitutional observances,  and  no  election  can 
legally  be  held,  he  thinks,  earlier  than  next 
month,  unless  the  machinery  of  dissolution  be 
brought  into  play.     Prime  Minister  Rouvier 


THE  VENEZUELA  CIRCUS 

William  II :  *'  Decidedly,  I  begin  to  understand  my  sympathy  with  the  turbulent  Moroccans.     Don't  talk  to  me  about 
theirJapanese  trick  dancers  or  the  negro  clowns.     President  Castro,  of  Venezuela,  can  give  lessons  to  us  all." 

— Paris  Ar«W. 


COMING  ELECTIONS  IN  FRANCE 


«S3 


considers  that  the  machinery  of  dissolution  is 
virtually  in  abeyance.  It  has  only  once  been 
brought  into  operation  since  1877.  A  newly 
chosen  parliament  is  hardly  in  full  working 
order  till  its  second  year,  and  it  must  expire, 
in  any  event,  by  the  end  of  its  fourth.  To 
shorten  this  period  by  dissolution  would  be 
to  doom  the  legislative  apparatus  to  impotence. 
A  French  Chamber  of  Deputies,  therefore,  is 
always  permitted  to  live  out  its  full  term. 
The  executive  is  thus  deprived,  according  to 
the  Temps,  of  a  resource  which  is  essential 
to  the  proper  working  of  a  parliamentary  con- 
stitution. Yet  were  Rouvier  to  bring  about  a 
dissolution  in  the  full  constitutional  sense  of 
the  term — for  the  word  is  employed  a  little 
loosely  in  French  politics — the  episode  would 
be  extraordinary.  But  there  have  been  hints 
of  it,  although  the  Chamber  has  almost  ex- 
pired as  it  is.  The  deputies,  during  this 
closing  session,  were  more  occupied  in  securing 
their  own  return,  says  the  Gaulois,  than  in 
attending  to  the  public  business. 

THE  ministry  which  is  now  to  appeal  to 
the  French  electorate  for  a  fresh  lease 
of  power  is  providing  the  people  with  their 
first  opportunity  to  pass  judgment  upon  the 
separation  of  Church  and  State.  It  is  Premier 
Rouvier's  misfortune,  say  extreme  Socialist 
organs  like  the  Lanterne,  to  have  failed  to 
rally  to  himself  many  of  the  strongest  elements 
in  ^e  combination  that  sustained  his  anticler- 
ical predecessor.  Combes,  foe  of  all  clericals, 
boldly  admitted  not  merely  radicals  but 
socialists  to  full  membership  in  the  ministerial 
combination.  Under  Rouvier  the  extreme 
socialists  and  some  moderate  ones  have  de- 
clined to  be  conciliated  even  by  the  appointment 
of  ministers  of  their  own  school  of  thought. 
But  Premier  Rouvier's  political  life  has  been 
one  continued  fight  against  adverse  circum- 
stances. This  is  not  the  first  time,  observes  the 
Figaro,  that  he  has  hdd  to  complain  of  the 
cowardice  which  has  allowed  colleagues  to 
throw  him  to  the  wolves.  The  fact  is  largely 
responsible  for  the  cynicism  with  which  he  is 
declared  to  be  awaiting  the  issue.  His  gov- 
ernment began  last  month  to  enforce  that  pro- 
vision of  the  law  separating  Church  and  State 
which  calls  for  inventories  of  ecclesiastical 
property.  Certain  prelates  and  priests  as- 
sumed an  attitude  of  defiance.  The  Gaulois 
declared  that  atheistic  officials  had  deliberately 
profaned  vessels  of  the .  sanctuary,  even  at- 
tempting, in  some  instances,  to  violate  taber- 
nacles.    The  result  was  a  series  of  riotous 


BOYCOTTED 
CASTRO 

This  is  the  former  secretary  of  the  French  Legation  at 
Caracas,  M.  Taigny.  He  went  aboard  a  steamer  to  get 
his  letters,  and  was  not  allowed  to  return  to  shore.  He 
went  to  Washington  last  month  for  a  conference  with 
the  Department  of  State. 


254 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


radicals  and  out-and-out  socialists  would 
make  short  work  of  the  financier  Rou- 
vicr.  The  expectation  of  many  English 
dailies  is  that  Rouvier  will  give  way 
before  very  long  to  a  Prime  Minister  of 
more  sternly  anticlerical  mood.  Btrt,  if 
the  unexpected  happens,  if  the  parlia- 
mentary elections  result  in  the  return  of 
a  clerically  inclined  majority,  there  must 
ensue  a  fundamental  revolution.  There 
would  be  a  presidential  crisis,  predicts 
the  Lanteme,  and  a  papal  nuncio  would 
once  more  head  the  diplomatic  corps. 
That  separation  of  Church  and  State 
which  now  plunges  so  many  clerical 
souls  in  anguish  would  then  be  undone 
by  the  forces  of  reaction.  The  surprises 
of  universal  suffrage  are  illimitable  to 
the  London  Standard,  which  says  it 
would  be  rash  indeed  to  predict  precisely 
what  the  voting  urns  may  have  in  store 
for  France. 


JAPAN'S  GALLICIZED  PRIME  MINISTER 

The  MarqulB  Saion-ji  cordially  indorses  the  saying:  that  every 
good  man  has  two  countries — ^his  own  and^France. 

scenes  in  some  of  the  celebrated  houses  of 
worship  in  France.  The  Pope  appeased  the 
fury  to  some  extent.  He  enjoined  prelates, 
priests  and  people  to  obey  the  law.  The 
government,  on  its  side,  abated  the  zeal  of 
officials.  They  were  bidden  not  to  invade  tab- 
ernacles, since  in  them  the  sacred  elements 
are  kept.  The  Rouvier  ministry  fears,  never- 
theless, says  the  Matin,  that  renewed  scenes 
of  turbulence  may  yet  impart  an  air  of  martyr- 
dom to  the  clericals.  The  Premier  is  in  a 
hurry  to  have  the  elections  out  of  the  way. 

THE  result  will  completely  vindicate  the 
anticlerical  policy  initiated  by  Waldeck- 
Rousseau  advanced  by  Combes  and  consum- 
mated by  Rouvier.  That  is  the  prophecy  of 
those  who  study  the  situation  dispassionately 
in  England  and  in  Germany.  But  Rouvier 
himself  is  believed  to  be  in  imminent  danger 
of  a  fall.  His  one  chance  of  surviving  is 
thought  to  be  the  possible  election  of  a 
moderately  inclined  radical  and  republican 
majority.     A   Chamber   filled  with   extreme 


I  N  sending  an  American  fresh  from  the 
*      imposing  office  of  Governor-General 
of    the    Philippines    as    ambassador    to 
Japan's  Emperor,  President  Roosevelt  is 
supposed  by  French  organs  to  have  had 
in  mind  Tokyo's  ambition  to  purchase  the 
archipelago  won  by  this  country  from 
Spain.     Gen.  Luke  E.  Wright  is  even 
said  to  have  been  instructed  regarding 
his  attitude  in  the  event  of  the  rumored 
negotiations  assuming  definite  shape.    Often  as 
the  United  States  Government  has  repudiated 
any  intention  to  sell  the  Philippines  to  Japan, 
the  rumor  is  revived  in  papers  like  the  London 
Times  and  the  Paris  Journal  des  DSbats.    The 
transaction  would  be  little  less  than  an  act 
of  irgason   to  the   whole  white__j:acc^thinks 
a  writer  {rTihe^trWil^ssiscKeZeitung.    The 
Figaro  intimates  that  if  the  archipelago  is  ever 
put   into   the   market  William   II    might   bid 
animatedly     against    Mutsuhito.      The    new 
Japanese  prime  minister,  the  Marquis  Saion-ji, 
is  a  Jingo,  say  the  Europeans,  and  he  would  be 
very    happy    to    negotiate    with    Ambassador 
Wright   on   a   cash   basis.     Meantime   he  is 
strengthening  the  forces  of  Japan.    The  Diet 
at  Tokyo  contains  members  with  a  propensity 
to  ask  what  Great  Britain  is  doing  to  render 
her  own  armed  forces  adequate  to  the  am- 
bitious position  implied  in  the  terms  of  the 
Anglo- Japanese  alliance.    Some  London  dailies 
resent  such  curiosity.    Others  find  it  legitimate. 
The  Asahi  Shimbun  observes  that  the  spirit 
of  such  inquiries  will  not  be  misunderstood 


JAPAN  I2 A  f lost  OP  cum  A 


^SS 


by  Japan's  ally.  They  might  be  out  of  place 
were  a  less  soldierly  statesman  than  General 
Terauchi  in  the  Saion-ji  ministry.  He  wants 
a  strong  England  to  stand  by  the  side  of  a 
strong  Japan. 

IN  forming  his  ministry,  Marquis  Saion-ji 
was  forced,  seemingly  to  his  regret,  to  retain 
a  few  of  the  colleagues  of  his  predecessor. 
Our  old  friend.  Baron  Komura,  had  to  go,  his 
post  as  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  being  as- 
sumed by  Count  Kato,  one  of  the  original 
advocates  of  an  Anglo  -  Japanese  alliance, 
who  must  not  be  confused  with  the  Mr.  Kato 
who  was  long  Japanese  adviser  to  the  Korean 
Government.  Count  Kato  is  said  in  German 
organs  to  owe  his  influence  to  pressure  exerted 
from  London,  where  he  was  once  the  Mikado's 
minister.  The  most  significant  thing  to  Ber- 
lin is  that  the  new  Prime  Minister  retains  the 
old  Minister  of  War  and  the  Minister  of  Ma- 
rine. These  two  statesmen  saw  Japan  through 
her  war  with  Russia.  They  are  equally  commit- 
ted to  a  policy  of  military  and  naval  expansion. 
General  Terauchi  wants  his  country's  army  to 
be  as  strong  as  that  of  Germany,  and  it  is  the 
determination  of  Vice-Admiral  Saito  to  make 
Japan  the  third  naval  power  of  the  world. 
Holding  respectively  the  portfolios  of  War  and 
the  Navy,  these  Cabinet  ministers  are  said  by 
the  Jiji  Shitnpo  to  have  prepared  the  appro- 
priation bills  so  staggering  to  the  Diet  some 
weeks  ago.  Terauchi  likewise  promised  the 
Diet  to  make  inquiries  into  the  state  of  Eng- 
land's army.    The  London  News  says  "Well !" 

IT  MAY  surprise  students  of  the  Russo-Jap- 
anese war  to  learn  that  Japan  will  soon 
commence  the  building  of  battleships  in  her 
own  yards.  Her  ability  to  attempt  the  feat  is 
due  to  the  energy  of  the  Minister  of  Marine. 
He  amazed  the  Mikado  by  exhibiting  a  squad- 
ron of  new  submarines  at  a  recent  navaJ  re- 
view. Many  vessels  of  this  type  are  under- 
stood to  be  now  building  under  the  supervision 
of  Vice-Admiral  Saito,  who  superintended 
the  launching  of  the  armored  cruiser  Tsukuba 
at  Kure  last  month.  The  event  was  a  mem- 
orable one,  European  military  organs  taking  a 
lively  interest  in  the  forthcoming  tests  of  this 
product  of  Japanese  naval  architecture.  With 
the  new  Japanese  battleships  and  cruisers  ap- 
proaching completion  in  Europe  and  the  addi- 
tions to  the  Mikado's  navy  gained  through  the 
recent  war,  Japan's  rank  as  a  sea  power  makes 
her,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Berlin  Kreug  Zeitung, 
I  menace  to  the  United  States.    Japan,  more- 


OUR  FIRST  AMBASSADOR  TO  JAPAN 


Governor-General  Luke  B.  Wrieht,  LLD.,  has  been 
transferred  from  the  Philippines  to  Tokyo.  He  was  once 
Attorney -General  of  Tennessee  and  his  father  was  Chief 
Justice  of  that  State.     He  will  be  sixty  next  year. 

over,  has  just  completed  her  new  ordnance 
factory  near  Tokyo,  covering  over  eighty  acres 
of  ground  and  comprising  a  plant  fitted  to 
equip  the  largest  of  her  battleships  with  the 
most  formidable  batteries.  "The  Jingoes,"  ob- 
jerves  the  Paris  Figaro,  "are  stronger  than 
^ever  in  Japan."  But  the  organ  of  the  new 
Prime  Minister  explains  that  Japan  is  doing 
no  more  than  her  duty  to  her  self  as  one  of  the 
great  powers  of  the  world. 

IN  the  fulfilment  of  such  a  mission  as  the 
uplifting  of  China — a  land  believed  to  con- 
template a  general  massacre  of  all  resident 
foreigners — ^Japan  finds  herself,  thinks  the 
Berlin  Kreuz  Zeitung,  in  a  position  not  unlike 
that  of  an  intelligept  teacher  who  knows  very 
little  more  than  his  pupils.  Japan  must 
often  study  the  day's  lessons  with  much 
diligence  the  night  before.  She  has 
gone  to  work  with  all  the  fond  en- 
thusiasm of  a  dutiful  elder  sister.  The  prog- 
ress already  made  is  certainly  startling.  We 
see  Japan  still  somewhat  uncertain  on  her 
feet,  teaching  a  huge  and  unwieldy  China  how 
to  walk.  Many  of  the  circumstances  are 
wholly  encouraging.     China  and  Japan  have 


aS6 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


WANTS  JAPAN'S  NAVY    MADE  BIGGER 
THAN  OURS 

He  Is  Marquis  Saito.  who  last  month,  as  Minister  of 
Marine,  supervised  the  launching  of  the  first  battleship 
laid  down  in  a  Japanese  yard,  and  surprised  the  Mikado 
•with  a  submarine  fleet. 


THE  MIKADO'S  MINISTER  OF  E  DUCATION 

Mr.  S.  Makino  was  recalled  from  his  post  as  minister 
in  Vienna  to  enter  the  cabinet  of  the  Marquis  Salon- ji. 


practically  the  same  written  language,  al- 
though the  spoken  tongues  are  not  identical. 
Japan  is  at  home  in  the  Chinese  classics,  the 
foundations  of  her  own  ancient  but  now  dis- 
carded culture.  Tokyo  can  think  in  Peking^ 
terms._  Baron  Komura  is  even  credited  with 
the  remark  that  between  Japan  and  China 
exists  an  affinity  suggesting  that  which  hais 
made  all  the  English-speaking  peoples  alike 
subjects  of  King  Shakespeare.  Intellectually, 
socially  and  morally,  the  influence  which  Japan 
can  bring  to  bear  upon  China  is  incalculably 
great  The  native  newspapers  in  China  are  in 
many  cases  Japanese  enterprises.  The  na- 
tional universities  and  schools  are  subject  to 
influences  exerted  from  Tokyo.  Japanese 
^prodycts^  invade  the  Chinese,  inarkfit  in.,  ever 
increasing  guantHy."  China's  army  is  slowly 
reforming  itseiriinder  the  supervision,  if  not 
the  control,  of  Japanese  military  experts. 
Even  the  police  of  Peking  are  officered  by  sub- 
jects of  the  Mikado. 

HOW  vast  a  transformation  Tokyo  aims  at 
in  China  becomes  apparent  to  the  Berlin 
Post  from  the  fact  that  the  traditional  attitude 
of  China  toward  Japan  has  always  been  one 
of  disdain.  Peking  has  looked  down  upon 
Tokyo  as  a  thing  immeasurably  beneath  con- 
tempt. The  Japanese  have  been  regarded  as 
borrowers  of  their  best  from  the  storehouse 
of  Chinese  civilization.  This  conception  was 
based  upon  reality.  The  old  civilization  of 
Japan  had  an  origin  exclusively  Chinese,  and 
one  result  of  this  circumstance  is  the  detesta- 
tion felt  by  the  aristocracy  of  China  for 
Japanese  ways  and  Japanese  ideas.  But  this 
sentiment,  as  the  European  press  agrees,  is  not 
shared  to-day  by  the  masses  of  the  Chinese 
people.  They  are  more  and  more  coming  to 
regard  the  Japanese  as  the  saviors  of  their 
country  from  the  hated  foreigner.  Only  in 
the  wholly  benighted  provinces  does  the  tra- 
ditional hatred  of  all  things  Japanese  yet 
linger.  Nor  is  the  traditional  conserva- 
tism of  the  old  school  of  Chinese  cul- 
ture quite  impervious  to  the  influences 
so  persuasively  brought  to  bear  by  the 
Japanese.  That  much  is  plain  to  the  Journal 
des  Debats  (Paris).  The  schools  in  Tokyo 
and  in  the  provincial  island  cities  are  resorted 
to  in  ever  increasing  numbers  by  the  flower  of 
the  Chinese  youth.  Manual  laborers  from  the 
provinces  ruled  by  the  dynasty  of  Peking  ac- 
quire their  skill  and  a  mastery  of  new  handi- 
crafts in  the  factories  and  workshops  of  the 
Mikado's  subjects.    Even  the  officials  who  rule 


OPENING  OF  ENGLAND'S  MOTLEY  PARLIAMENT 


m 


by  the  grace  of  the  Son  of  Heaven  are  some- 
times bronght  to  perceive  the  enormous  ad- 
^-^tages  to  be  derived  from  an  acquaintance 
at  first  hand  with  the  lore  of  which  Japan  is 
accumulating  such  quantities.  Revolutionized, 
truly,  are  the  conditions  which  in  days  long 
past  made  China's  literature  and  Buddha's 
creed  sources  of  the  best  and  brightest  in 
Japan's  national  life,  when  the  government  of 
the  Mikado  imitated  with  provincial  servility 
the  administrative  system  devised  by  the  Man- 
darins, and  when  the  ambitious  youth  of  Japan 
str^med  for  light  and  learning  to  that  Peking 
which  was  the  intellectual  capital  of  the  world 
they  knew.  Japan  must  now  exert  the  domi- 
nant influence  in  the  great  Chinese  upheaval 
for  which  the  powers  are  preparing. 


IX  TRAILING  robes  of  scarlet  and  ermine, 
five  titled  representatives  of  King  Edward 
VII  conducted  the  medieval  ceremonies  incident 
to  the  first  gathering  of  the  newly  elected 
House  of  Commons  on  the  13th  of  the 
laonth  just  past.  Never  did  the  Lord  Chan- 
cellor command  the  Usher  of  the  Black  Rod 
to  desire  the  immediate  attendance  in  the 
House  of  Lords  of  a  more  motley  gathering. 
The  eighty  odd  home  rulers  were  a  familiar 
enough  sight;  but  some  hundred  and  fifty 
unionists  were  all  that  had  survived  of  that 
splendid  majority  with  which  Arthur  James 
Balfour  had  passed  the  Chinese  Labor  Act  and 
the  Education  Act  A  sea  of  unfamiliar  faces 
represented  the  majority  of  more  than  four- 
score over  all  other  factions  combined  with 
which  the  people  of  Great  Britain  have 
equipped  Sir  Henry  Campbell-Bannerman. 
More  impressive  than  all  the  rest  of  the  com- 
moners, as  the  presage  of  social  changes  to 
come,  were  nearly  three-score  wage-earners  re- 
turned to  this  Parliament  as  a  result  of  what 
the  London  Mail  deems  "the  revolution  of  1906." 
In  this  more  or  less  cohesive  group  were  two 
factory  hands,  two  compositors,  a  gas  house 
laborer,  a  navvy,  a  shipwright,  a  railroad  con- 
ductor and  representatives  of  callings  even 
humbler.  Many  have  to  be  supported  out  of 
the  funds  of  the  trade-unions  which  fought 
for  their  seats  in  the  house.  The  labor  mem- 
bers are  a  political  phenomenon  which,  to  quote 
the  London  Mail  once  more,  has  never  hitherto 
been  witnessed  in  that  august  assembly.  Gone 
is  the  "first  club  in  Europe."  "Gone,  too," 
adds  our  contemporary,  "is  the  lustre  of  the 
letters  *M.P.'  on  the  prospectus  of  a  company." 
The  inevitable  result  of  the  great  change,  it 


JAPAN^S  MILLIONAIRE  POLITICIAN,  KEI  HARA   5^, 

He  has  entered  the  new  ministry  at  Tokyo  to  manage   / 
internal  affairs.    His  wealth  is  estimated  at  17,500,00a         ''  ^  v 


THE  FIGHTER  OF  FAMINE  IN  JAPAN 

Mr.  Matsuda  enters  the  Saion-ji  ministrv  owing  to  his 
intimate  acquaintance  with  Japanese  and  Korean  agri- 
culture.    He  predicted  the  Japanese  famine  last  year. 


^S8 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


MR.  BALFOUR,  WHO  HAS  JUST  ESPOUSED 
PROTECTION  IN  CHAMBERLAIN  FORM. 

**The  establishment  of  a  moderate  general  tariff  on 
manufactured  goods,  not  imposed  for  the  purpose  of 
raising  prices  or  giving  artificial  protection  against  legit- 
imate competition,  and  the  imposition  of  a  small  duty 
on  foreign  corn  are  not  in  principle  objectionable." 

predicts,  must  be  a  formidable  attack  on  the 
most  solidly  entrenched  vested  interests  in 
England  and  a  clamor  for  the  abolition  of  the 
HouSe  of  Lords.  But  the  London  Saturday 
Review,  despising  popular  government,  ex- 
claims: "Thank  God,  we  have  a  House  of 
Lords  I" 

AS  a  preliminary  to  the  spectacular  event 
of  the  19th,  when  the  King  opened 
this  amazing  Parliament  in  state,  the  Commons 
proceeded  to  the  election  of  a  Speaker.  The 
result  heralded  none  of  the  revolutions  antici- 
pated by  despairing  Conservatives.  The  honor 
was  bestowed,  by  the  Prime  Minister's  motion, 
upon  the  Right  Honorable  James  William 
Lowther.  This  gentleman,  in  his  official 
capacity,  theoretically  knows  every  member, 
but  practically  he  is  believed  by  the  London 
Standard  to  devote  half  his  time  to  studying 
the  photographs  of  new  members  in  the  six- 
penny weeklies,  and  trying  to  identify  the 
originals  on  the  crowded  benches  before  him. 
Mr.  Lowther  has  been  Speaker  in  the  past,  but 


to-day  he  is  likened  to  a  new  master   in    a 
strange  school.     His  right  honorable  friend 
Mr.   Balfour,  was  not  visible.     The  former 
Prime  Minister  has  found  a  safe  seat — a  Con- 
servative  stronghold    in   London   with    more 
voters  than  residents ;  but  he  could  not  be  made 
an  "M.  P."  in  time  for  the  opening  session  of 
the  House.     Missing,  too,  were  all  but  three 
members  of  the  Balfour  ministry,  defeated,  one 
after  another,  in  constituencies  supposed  to  be 
Conservative.     "In  such  a  battue  of  the  big 
game,"  laments  the  London  Saturday  Review, 
"the  fate  of  lesser  ministers  has  really  almost 
been  unheeded  by  the  public.    Yet  several  of 
the  brightest  of  the  younger  men  who  held 
office  under  the  last  government  have  lost  their 
seats."     The  only  consolation  to  his  beaten 
supporters  thjit  suggests  itself  to  Mr.  Balfour, 
takes  the  form  of  prophecy.     He  assures  his 
countrymen  that  they  will  yet  vote  his  party 
into    power.      He    refrains,    however,    from 
specifying  the  date. 

AVERY  conspicuous  figure  was  Mr.  Joseph 
Chamberlain.  His  faithful  Birmingham 
has  returned  to  the  House  a  solid  phalanx  of 
seven     Unionists,     headed    by    himself.     Mr. 


A  BRITISH  LABOR  LEADER  WHOM  THE 
COUNTESS  OP  WARWICK  INDORSES. 

Mr.  Will  Crookes  has  been  elected  to  the  House  of 
Commons  on  a  very  socialistic  platform,  but  it  is  not 
socialistic  enough  for  the  countess. 


POLITICAL  METHODS  OF  JOSEPH  CHAMBERLAIN 


259 


Giamberlain  himself  was  returned  by  a  ma- 
jority of  over  5,000 — a  significant  figure  in  the 
general  shrinkage  of  Unionist  numbers.  The 
triumph  is  personal,  says  the  London  Times, 
but  Mr.  Chamberlain's  foes  attribute  it  to  his 
careful  imitation  of  American  methods  of 
organization.  His  managers  have  a  card  index 
of  every  voter  in  Birmingham.  The  electors 
are  regularly  visited.  Favors  are  granted  x 
on  Tammany  principles.  The  factories  are 
filled  with  men  who  owe  their  places  to  the 
Chamberlain  influence.  Every  new  arrival  in 
the  constituency  receives  a  call  from  the  rep- 
r^entative  of  "the  great  Joe."  Such  facts, 
according  to  the  free-trade  organs,  are  an  in- 
forming commentary  upon  the  London  Times' 
(Ascription  of  Mr.  Chamberlain  as  "a  clear 
thinking;  painstaking  and  well  informed  man 
dealing  with  an  electorate  which  has  been 
taught  very  largely  by  himself  to  appreciate 
sound  arguments."  The  London  Spectator  is 
alarmed  by  Mr.  Chamberlain's  political  tactics. 
''He  has  begun  to  coquet  openly  with  the  labor 


BRITISH  I^ABOR'S  ORGANIZER  OF  VICTORY 

J.  Ramsay  Macdonald  is  credited  with  the  preliminary 
work  upon  which  the  success  of  the  labor  campaign 
in  Rnglly'"'^  was  founded.  For  generations  his  ancestors 
have  been  vilUtee  fishermen  and  blacksmiths.  He  is 
now  secretary  of  the  "labor  rejiresentation  committee" 
which  el«rted.^»9  of <''theJ54  k"  straight"  laborites  in  the 
Hoose  of  Commons.l 


THE  LEADER  OP  THE  BIGGEST  LABOR  GROUP 
IN  PARLIAMENT 

Keir  Hardie  was  last  month  chosen  chairman  of  the 
"L.  R.  C. "  labor  group,  which  repudiates  John  Burns 
as  not  a  "straight "  laborite.  Mr.  Bums  (unlike  Hardie) 
does  not  lead  an  integral  labor  party. 

party,"  it  declares,  "and  he  has  made  the 
sinister  and  significant  remark  that  the  Irish 
are  of  necessity  protectionists."  Mr.  Cham- 
berlain wants,  in  other  words,  to  ally  the  rem- 
nant of  the  Unionists  with  the  home  rulers 
and  with  the  labor  members  in  order  to  carry 
a  protection  measure  through  the  House  of 
Commons.  A  free-trade  landslide  has  left 
him  as  incorrigible  as  ever. 

BUT  Mr.  Chamberlain  has  already  sustained 
a  rebuff  in  his  efforts  to  come  to  terms 
with  the  forces  of  labor.  These  members  fall 
into  three  groups  in  the  House  of  Commons. 
Far  the  most  powerful,  as  the  London  Tele- 
graph explains,  are  the  delegates  of  the  "labor 
representation  committee,"  about  thirty  in 
number.  Well  drilled  and  disciplined,  they  are 
already  marching  as  a  single  regiment  through 
the  arena  of  parliamentary  war.  Keir  Hardie 
is  the  best  known  fighter  in  these  ranks,  John 
Burns  being  in  another  category  altogether. 
So  great  has  been  the  success  of  Keir  Hardie 
and  his  fellows  at  the  polls  that  the  trade- 
unions  are  already  embarrassed,  according  to 
the  London  News,  by  the  necessity  of  financing 


26o 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


HE  IS  PHOTOGRAPHED  NEARLY  EVERY  DAY 

This  is  his  latest,  and  he  looks  even  younger  than  it 
indicates  him  to  be,  although  he  is  seventy  or  so.  It 
is  superfluous  to  say  that  this  is  Joseph  Chamberlain. 

SO  many  members  of  Parliament,  who,  unlike 
our  own  members  of  Congress,  do  not  receive 
any  official  salary.  Next  in  importance  to  these 
thirty,  must  be  reckoned  the  band  of  eleven 
miners  who  constitute  an  integral  labor  group 
of  their  own.  Finally  we  have  a  disorganized 
crowd  of  some  fifteen  independent  laborites, 
John  Bums  being  the  only  international  per- 
sonality among  them.  To  Mr.  Chamberlain 
has  been  attributed  a  wily  scheme  for  the  uni- 
fication of  these  broken  political  pieces  by 
the  paste  of  preferential  tariff.  He  has  been 
foiled  by  John  Burns,  who  has  a  different  kind 
of  cement.  It  is  derived  from  a  promise  to 
negative  the  principle  established  by  the  Taff 
Vale  decision. 

THIS  Taff  Vale  decision  is  to  British  labor 
what  the  Dred  Scott  decision  once  seemed 
to  the  American  abolitionist.  The  labor  unions 
want  the  right  to  strike  without  legal  liability 
to  damages  for  the  consequences  of  the  strike. 
They  writhe  beneath  the  effects  of  a  judgment 
by  a  high  judicial  authority  to  the  effect  that  a 
trade-union,  although  not  a  corporate  body,  can 
be  sued  as  a  legal  entity  and  that  its  property 
— meaning  strike  funds — is  liable  for  the  illegal 
acts  of  its  agents  or  officers  acting  under  its 
authority.  It  is  this  principle,  we  read  in 
the  London  Telegraph,  which  has  acted  as  a 


centripetal  force  among  the  trade-unions  oi 
Great  Britain,  drawing  them  into  something 
like  political  affiliation  and  bringing  them  in 
unprecedented  thousands  to  the  pollings  booths 
to  vote  for  the  Keir  Hardies  and  the  Will 
Thornes.  The  mere  suspicion  of  being-  favor- 
able to  the  principle  of  the  Taff  Vale  decision 
has  been  fatal  to  the  prospects  of  any  candidate 
for  parliament  in  a  constituency  dominated 
by  labor.  Yet  Mr.  Asquith,  right-hand  man 
of  the  Prime  Minister  and  Chancellor  of  the 
Exchequer,  could  not  develop  in  himself  any 
hostility  to  the  Taff  Vale  decision  until  his 
right  honorable  friend  and  colleague,  Mr.  John 
Burns,  had  transmitted  vibratory  impulses 
from  a  proletariat  in  agitation  to  the  seat  of 
the  Chancellor's  official  consciousness.  So 
magical  was  the  effect  that  a  plea  for  labor 
legislation  found  its  way  into  the  speech  from 
the  throne  read  aloud  by  King  Edward  to  an 
aristocracy  of  birth  and  intellect 

THAT  aristocracy,  if  we  may  infer  anything 
from  the  London  Times,  was  perturbed. 
Dozens  of  peers  have  a  vested  interest  in  the 
decision  on  the  reversal  of  which  the  labor 


JAMES   BRYCE,   THE   NEW   SECRETARY 
OF    IRELAND 

"  Is  it  correct  to  say  Ochone  or  Begorra  in  these 
circumstances  ?  *' 

t— Punch  {.London). 


LEGISLATIVE  SPECTERS  IN  GREAT  BRITAIN 


261 


members  have  begun  to  concentrate  their 
energies  in  the  Commons.  Picketing  is  to  be 
made  legal,  if  John  Bums  and  Keir  Hardie 
can  accomplish  so  much  by  reconciling  their 
long-standing  differences.  Many  another 
rusty  weapon  in  the  trade-union  arsenal  will 
be  given  a  legislative  burnishing.  That  is  the 
meaning  of  the  alliance  between  labor  and 
liberalism  which  Mr.  Chamberlain  thinks  he 
can  disintegrate.  But  Sir  Henry  Campbell- 
Bannerman  has  given  a  definite  pledge  and 
John  Bums  has  guaranteed.  The  labor  bill 
soon  to  be  introduced  is  pronounced  revolution- 
ary by  those  who  profess  to  have  knowledge  of 
it  Nor  can  any  British  court  pro- 
nounce an  act  of  Parliament  null  and  void 
after  the  fashion  of  the  United  States  Federal 
courts  in  dealing  with  the  Washington  law- 
makers. The  London  Standard  is  in  something 
of  a  panic  at  the  prospect.  Its  information  is 
that  the  labor  members  will  also  support  the 
Prime  Minister's  bill  to  undo  the  Education 
Act.  Once  that  abomination  to  the  noncon- 
formist conscience  has  been  ended,  there  is  to 
ensue  so  drastic  a  revision  of  the  taxes  on  land 
that  country  squires  and  territorial  aristocrats 
have  already  raised  a  cry  of  confiscation.  If 
we  conceive  Germany's  Social-Democratic 
party  transplanted  from  the  Reichstag  to  the 
Commons,  we  may  then,  according  to  the 
London  Morning  Post,  get  an  idea  of  the  legis- 
lative nightmares  that  are  sure  to  make  their 
appearance  in  this  Parliament.  But  the  House 
of  Lords  still  endures  and  can  be  depended 
upon  to  stand  by  the  "vested  interests"  to  the 
last  gasp,  as  it  has  done  so  often  before. 


A  POLITICAL  PARTY 

— London  Evening  Standard. 


THE  AMERICAN  WIPE  OF  JOSEPH 
CHAMBERLAIN 

She  was  Miss  Mary  Crowninshield  Endicott,  daughter 
of  Grover  Cleveland's  Secretary  of  War.  She  married 
Mr.  Chamberlain  in  1888,  being  nis  second  wife. 


IN  ADDITION  to  these  socialistic  night- 
I  mares  the  eye  of  Mr.  Balfour  discerns  that 
of  home'  rule,  which  was  almost  forgotten  by 
students  of  the  election  returns  in  England 
until  Mr.  John  Redmond  and  the  Freeman's 
Journal  began  to  conjure  it  forth  again.  Then 
Mr.  Balfour  announced  a  bargain  between  the 
home  rulers  and  Sir  Henry  Campbell-Ban- 
nerman.  "He  has  made,"  said 
the  former  Prime  Minister  of 
the  present  Prime  Minister, 
"some  sort  of  a  bargain  with 
Mr.  Redmond.  He  concealed 
that  transaction.  But  no  one 
doubts  that  there  is  such  an  ar- 
rangement, though  the  terms 
may  be  a  perplexity  to  most  of 
us  and  are  unquestionably  a 
perplexity  to  me."  Again  Mr. 
Balfour  asked:  "What  is  the  in- 
stalment of  reform  leading 
toward  that  state  of  things 
which  the  Prime  Minister  has 
promised  Mr.  Redmond,  and  for 
which  Mr.  Redmond  has  prom- 
ised the  support  of  the  Nation- 
alist party  in  Ireland?"  If  this 
had  been  meant  to  "draw"  Sir 
Henry  Campbell-Banncrman,  it; 


d62 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


succeeded.  "There  is  no  foundation  from  be- 
ginning to  end  for  the  whole  story,"  he  cried. 
It  was  "pot  house  babble''  scandalous  as 
evidence  of  the  depths  to  which  a  Balfour 
could  sink.  "There  are  solid  grounds  of  agree- 
ment between  the  Liberals  and  the  Irish 
Nationalists,"  admitted  Sir  Henry,  and  he 
named  three  of  them.  First  was  an  intense 
longing  to  be  rid  of  Mr.  Balfour  and  his 
ministry.  Next  was  an  equally  earnest  desire 
to  improve  the  administration  of  Ireland.  "And 
the  third  is  the  belief  that  in  Ireland  self 
government  is  the  best  and  safest  and  healthiest 
basis  on  which  a  community  can  rest."  This 
only  means,  says  the  London  Standard,  that  a 
home-rule  bill  on  Gladstonian  lines  will  not  be 
introduced  because  the  House  of  Lords  would 
reject  it.  The  necessity  of  the  situation  com- 
pels an  attempt  to  circumvent  the  House  of 
Lords.  It  means  "Home  Rule  on  the  sly," 
says  the  London  Times.  Mr.  Redmond  mean- 
while is  holding  conferences  with  labor  leaders. 

MR.  CHAMBERLAIN  is  also  having  his 
conferences  with  labor  leaders,  but  most 
of  his  time  is  spent  in  an  attempt  to  bring  to- 
gether the  fractured  parts  of  the  Unionist 
party.    That  body,  however,  is  still  unable  to 


stand  at  ease  upon  the  Chamberlain  platform , 
nor  does  it  appear  more  comfortable  upon  the 
^Balfourian  retaliation  plank.  "The  crisis 
ended,"  "a  united  party,"  and  similar  heading^s 
in  organs  like  the  London  Times,  Mail  and 
Standard  imply,  however,  far  more  harmony 
between  the  standpoints  of  Balfour  and  Cham- 
berlain than  the  persistent  rivalry  between 
their  followers  for  control  of  the  Unionist 
organization  would  indicate.  Mr.  Chamberlain 
declares  that  he  and  his  "tariff  reformers"  are 
ready  to  accept  Mr.  Balfour's  leadership.  That 
statesman  no  longer  clings  to  the  plank  of  re- 
taliation as  he  drifts  down  the  stream  of  de- 
feat. He  consents  to  don  the  life-belt  of 
protection,  but,  as  Mr.  Chamberlain  implies,  he 
does  not  know  how  to  put  it  on.  The  former 
Prime  Minister  is  now  undergoing  a  process 
of  instruction  and  gentle  suasion.  Or  it  may 
be  that  the  London  Chronicle  is  nearest  the 
truth  in  its  intimation  that  Mr.  Chamberlain 
abandoned  the  frontal  attack  on  Mr.  Balfour 
in  favor  of  an  enveloping  movement.  And 
if  Balfour  and  Chamberlain  between  them  win 
the  day  at  the  next  election,  predicts  the  Lon- 
don Morning  Post,  a  staggering  blow  will  have 
been  dealt  to  the  economic  structure  of  the 
United  States. 


Mr.  John  Redmond:    "Well,  my  weight  doesn't  seem  to  matter  much  now.** 


—London  Punchy 


Literature  and  Art 


NORDAU'S  NEW  ONSLAUGHT  ON  NOTED  MODERN  ARTISTS 


Since  the  publication  of  "Degeneration" 
Xordau  has  written  nothing  of  so  radical  a 
character  and  of  so  far-reaching  importance  as 
his  latest  book  "On  Art  and  Artists."*  While  it 
contains  favorable  appreci^ions  of  some  of  the 
great  modern  artists  it  deals  rudely  with 
the  reputations  of  a  number  of  others  who 
have  long  been  set  up  as  idols  and  generally 
regarded  as  the  highest  interpreters  of  the 
modern  artistic  spirit.  Undaunted  by  the  fact 
that  the  world  does  not  seem  to  have  ))ecn  in 
any  hurry  to  accept  his  verdict  on  Tolstoy, 
Ibsen,  Maeterlinck  and  Oscar  Wilde,  as  for- 
mulated in  "Degeneration,"  Nordau  sallies 
forth  again  to  do  battle  against  a  later  school 
of  "degenerates."  Rodin  in  especial  excites  his 
wrath  and  Bouguereau,  John  W.  Alexander 
and  Whistler,  all  fall  under  the  ban  of  his 
condemnation.  In  justification  of  his  uncom- 
promising attitude,  he  says : 

"There  is  scarcely  anything  I  hate  so  much  as 
opportunistic  criticism  which  does  not  take  sides 
honestly  for  or  against  those  manifestations  in 
art  that  come  with  noisy,  pretentious  claims  to 
modernity  and  progress,  but  which,  with  the 
shrewd  circumspection  of  the  bat  in  the  fable, 
seeks  to  have  an  understanding  with  the  hostile 
camps  of  the  birds  as  well  as  of  the  mice.  .  .  . 
Intolerable  are  those  clever  fellows,  the  ever- 
smiling,  smvi^,  obliging,  intangible  eclectics,  who 
praise,  but  with  reserve;  who  blame,  but  with  re- 
straint; who  bandy  about  such  well-known  and 
harmless  phrases  as,  *of  course  there  is  some 
exaggeration  here,  but  a  peculiar  individuality 
cannot  be  denied;  and  'it  is  certainly  not  a 
perfect  creation,  but  the  work  has  a  certain  prom- 
ise' These  people,  who  speak  so  sweetly,  are  the 
real  poisoners  of  the  public  taste.  It  is  because 
of  their  efforts  that  tendencies  that  would  other- 
wise lie  outside  the  limits  of  the  law  enjoy  a  sort 
of  'equal  rights,'  granted  them,  so  to  speak,  by  an 
aesthetico-historical  tribunal." 

That  Nordau's  own  method  continues  to  be 
diametrically  opposite  to  that  of  the  critics 
thus  described  by  him  the  book  affords  ample 
evidence.  In  no  uncertain  tones  he  accuses 
Rodin  of  "hysterical  epilepsy,"  of  appeal in;j;  to 
"the  morbid  impulses  of  his  neurotic 
followers,"  and  of  adopting  a  technique  v/hich 
"breaks  with  tradition  and  indulges  in  childish 
eccentricities."     He  says  further: 

•Vox   KUXST    UNO   KUNSTLER.     By    Max    Nordau.     B. 
Elischer,  Leipsic.   • 


"Rodin's  unpardonable  sin  is  his  adherence  to 
an  aesthetic  principle  which  is  confessedly  im- 
pressionistic. The  only  thing  that  interests  him 
in  a  figure  or  a  group  is  the  line  of  motion.  His 
work  retains  that  line  of  motion  with  persuasive 
veracity,  but  with  an  accentuation  so  exaggerated 
that  it  almost  reaches  the  point  of  caricature. 
Meanwhile  he  neglects  everything  that  does  not 
contribute  to  the  expression  of  that  line.  Now 
sculpture  is  an  art  wholly  incompatible  with  im- 
pressionism. In  the  nature  of  things  it  demands 
'an  unfailing  and  unswerving  candor  in  its  re- 
production of  nature.  .  .  .  Rodin  halts  in  his 
work  just  when  he  has  arrived  at  what  We  may 
call  a  promise.  His  work  is  never  a  fulfilment. 
He  is  a  sculptor  working  with  the  eye  and  the 
hand  of  a  painter,  and  he  applies  the  painter's 
methods  to  the  execution  of  works  which  must 
be  looked  at  from  a  thousand  different  angles. 

"Rodin  overstepped  the  outermost  limits  of 
his  folly  when  he  made  his  monument  of  Balzac, 
which  Gogo,  who  accepts  many  humbugs,  couldn't 
quite  swallow.  .  .  .  *Le  Penseur,*  a  colossal 
statue  exhibited  in  1904,  is  almost  as  disastrous 
as  the  Balzac,  .  .  .  but  he's  much  less  com- 
ical, for  he  isn't  clad  in  a  meal-sack.  The  figure 
is  nude  and  so  ill-wrought  that  no  one  can  see 
it  without  a  sensation  bordering  on  horror,  unless, 
of  course,  he  has  a  Hking  for  depraved  art.    .    .    . 

"All  this  is  most  lamentable,  for  Rodin  was 
originally  a  highly  gifted  artist." 

Bouguereau  is  "slaughtered"  with  equal 
heartlessness.  The  "contempt  for  Bouguereau" 
expressed  by  the  modern  artist  Nordau  him- 
self shares  and  intensifies.     He  says: 

"Bouguereau  pleases  the  inadequately  trained 
eye  because  he  paints  prettily.  But  in  art  the 
pretty  thing  is  the  very  contrary  of  the  beautiful, 
for  it  is  the  untrue.  The  naturally  fine  feeling 
or  the  happily  educated  conscience  perceive  as 
beautiful  only  that  which  is  true.  What  is  pretty 
is  necessarily  untrue,  for  it  represents  something 
which  is  gotfen  without  pain;  which  does  not 
arouse  contradiction,  does  not  compel  any  exer- 
tion on  the  observer's  part,  and  does  not  make 
any  demands  upon  him  to  adapt  himself  to  the 
peculiarity  of  the  artist.  .  .  .  The  artist  who 
aims  at  the  pretty  thing  does  not  seek  truth.  He 
is  only  thinking  of  the  multitude  whom  he  wishes 
to  please.  He  does  not  represent  what  he  sees 
and  what  makes  an  impression  upon  him,  but  only 
what  corresponds  to  the  faint,  inaccurate  concep- 
tion of  things  that  the  majority  of  people  have. 
He  is  the  crowd's  courtier.  He  flatters  their  shal- 
lowness and  incapacity.  He  wants  them  to  say 
with  a  self-satisfied  smile:  This  man  is  a  great 
artist,  for  he  has  the  same  views  as  I 
have !' " 

The  two  American  painters  dealt  with,  John 


964 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


MAX  NORDAU 
(From  a  drawing  by  E.  M.  Lilien.) 


W.  Alexander  and  Whistler,  fare  no  better 
than  Rodin  and  Boug^ereau.  Alexander,  in 
Nordau's  eyes,  is  "the  inventor  of  acrobatism 
in  portraiture."     To  quote: 

"He  is  an  American  who  possesses  enviable 
cleverness  and  security.  He  is  master  of  the 
instruments  of  expression  in  his  art  and  has  a 
sure  feeling  for  the  harmony  of  those  soft,  toned- 
down  colors  which  in  France  are  known  as  'Lib- 
erty* shades,  after  the  name  of  an  American  busi- 
ness man  in  the  Avenue  de  TOpera  who  first 
brought  into  fashion  dress,  furniture  and  wall- 
stuffs  of  those  peculiar,  bloodless  and,  as  it  were, 
chlorotic  colors.  With  his  skilful*  drawing  and 
his  charming  harmonies  of  cool,  pale-blue,  gen- 
tle-green, pale  white-yellow  and  tender  rose,  he 
might,  perhaps,  have  pleased  some  connoisseurs, 
but  would  scarcely  have  attained  world-wide 
fame.  So  he  hit  upon  the  idea  of  painting  women 
in  the  most  startling  positions.  He  became  the 
inventor  of  acrobatism  in  portraiture.  His  women 
lie  in  orgiastic  torsions  on  the  ground  or  on 
sofas,  with  their  feet  up  in  the  air  and  their 
heads  hanging  over  the  edge;  or  their  figures  are 
doubled  in  curves,  like  screws,  or  coiled  up  like 
sleeping  dogs,  staggering  the  harmless  observer, 
and  suggesting  to  the  corrupt  imagination  certain 
lustful  pictures." 

On    much    the    same    grounds    Whistler    is 


condemned.  His  method  of  portraying  women, 
we  are  told,  is  the  resuh  of  a  "hypcraesthesia" 
which  is  "a  decided  state  of  disease."  Says 
Nordau : 

"The  violence  with  which  he  treats  young,  high- 
bred, nervous  women  has  an  uncannv  effect  upon 
me.  I  am  thinking  of  his  *Lady  Meux,*  and  of 
other  capricious  specimens  of  femininity  exhibited 
in  the  Paris  and  London  salons  during  the  past 
five  years.  He  plants  his  model  before  us  in 
some  strange  position.  Sometimes  she  stands 
with  her  back  turned  toward  us,  but  as  if  with 
a  sudden  caprice  wheels  her  head  around ;  another 
time  she  shows  the  full  face  and  looks  at  us 
fascinatingly  with  mouth  screwed  up  and  agitated, 
penetrating  eyes.  These  spoiled,  capricious  beau- 
ties are  arrayed  in  remarkable  toilets;  often  not 
a  finger's  breadth  of  skin  is  left  bare,  beside  the 
face  and  hands;  and  yet  they  cry  aloud  of  sen- 
suality. They  are  bundles  of  sick  nerves  that 
seem  to  tremble  in  excitement  from  the  crown 
of  their  heads  to  their  finger-tips.  It  is  as  if 
they  wished  to  incite  the  men  to  wild  dare-devil- 
try, and  at  the  same  time  held  their  claws  ready 
to  tear  their  victims  to  pieces  with  a  loud  cry 
of  joy.  All  the  mad  bacchanalianism,  all  the 
sphinx-like  relentle^sness  that  Ibsen  was  unable 
to  embody  with  verisimilitude  in  his  'Hedda 
Gabler,'  speaks  distinctly  from  the  pictures  of 
Whistler's  women." 


LITERATURE  AND  ART 


265 


SHAKESPEAREAN    SCENES  IN  BAS-RELIEF 


The  scenes  and  characters  of  Shakespeare 
have,  of  course,  inspired  the  efforts  of  in- 
numerable pictorial  artists;  and  certain  de- 
tached figures  from  his  plays  have  been 
embodied  over  and  over  again  in  marble  and 
bronze;  but  there  is  something  unique  in  the 
way  in  which  a  New  York  sculptor,  Mr. 
R-  Hinton  Perry,  has  embodied  in  bas-relief 
representative  Shakespearean  scenes,  each  one 
including  numerous  characters,  and  telling  the 
main  story  of  a  play.  In  large  panels,  nine 
feet  by  four,  he  has  embodied  his  conceptions, 
the  series  forming  a  frieze  to  which  the  news- 
paper and  magazine  writers  still  call  attention. 
The  New  Amsterdam  Theatre,  in  which  these 
bas-relief  representations  of  Shakespearean 
drama  and  comedy  appear,  is  thought  to  sur- 
pass all  other  buildings  of  like  character  in 
the  beauty  of  its  interior  decoration.  The 
"Art  Nouveau"  has  here  found  its  first  large 
expression  in  this  country.  Representations 
of  the  human  figure,  of  animals,  birds,  flowers 
and  foliage,  follow  the  structural  lines  of  the 
building,  and  furnish  a  setting  for  the  work 
of  eminent  American  painters  and  sculptors. 
In  the  lobby  of  the  theatre  are  Mr.  Perry's 
^eat  bas-reliefs,  ten  in  number,  five  of  them 
on  Wagnerian  subjects  and  five  on  Shake- 
spearean. In  finish  and  composition,  in  grasp 
and  in  detail,  they  form  a  tribute  such  as  the 
sculptor's  art  has  perhaps  never  before  at- 
tempted to  pay  to  the  great  myriad-minded 
dramatist  and  to  the  Shakespeare  of  music. 

The      Shakespearean     scenes     reproduced 


herewith   are  selected  from  three  tragedies — 
"Hamlet,"  "Macbeth"  and  "Richard  III"— and 


ROLAND  HINTON  PERRY 

Whose  bas-relief  representations  of  Shakespearean 
subjects,  in  the  New  Amsterdam  Theatre,  New  York, 
form  a  tribute  such  as  a  sculptor  has  probably  never 
before  attempted j^to  pay   to  the  great  dramatist. 

two   comedies — "As   You   Like   It"    and   "A 
Midsummer    Night's    Dream."     The   greatest 


"HAMLET" 
(By  Roland  Hinton  Perry,  i 


266 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


!(.  ^    ^  ^ 


'A  MIDSUMMER  NIGHT'S  DREAM/ 
(By  Roland  Hinton  Perry.) 


of  Shakespeare's  plays  are  thus  represented, 
and  though,  by  reason  of  the  rich  coloring  of 
the  medieval  costumes,  such  subjects  may  be 
felt  iif  lend  themselves  more  readily  to  paint- 
ing^*'than  to  sculpture,  Mr.  Perry  has  been 
able  to  achieve  notable  effects  of  expression. 
In  each  theme  it  has  been  his  aim  to  give  the 
keynote  of  the  play,  to  condense  the  whole 
situation  into  a  single,  suggestive  phase.  He 
shows  Hamlet,  for  instance,  the  man  of  morbid 
temperament,  inclined  to  introspection  and 
melancholy,  at  the  moment  when  the  ghost 
appears,  walking  the  ramparts  of  the  castle  of 
Elsinore.  In  the  same  way,  "Macbeth  and  the 
Witches"  and  "The  Battle  of  Bosworth  Field  " 
catch  moments  pregnant  with  dramatic  interest 
and  significance.     The   last-named   panel   has 


gained  the  illusion  of  motion,  of  atmosphere, 
of  elaborate  detail.  It  is  a  tour  de  force  in  the 
inflexible  material  which  is  the  sculptor's 
medium.  The  effect  is  that  of  a  Gobelin 
tapestry.  By  a  skilful  manipulation  of  the 
space,  crowding  it  with  detail,  yet  using  as 
few  lines  of  indication  as  possible,  Mr.  Perry 
has  succeeded  suggestively  in  telling  the  whole 
story,  when,  literally,  he  could  not  have  told 
the  whole  story.  The  subordination  of  detail 
alone  makes  of  this  panel  a  lesson  to  the  spec- 
tator. Every  accessory  is  studied  and  au- 
thentic. Spears,  armor,  the  accoutrement  of 
the  horses,  anatomical  truth,  the  manner  and 
attitude  of  attack,  were  all  the  subjects  of  re- 
search, and  the  handling  of  the  theme  is  heroic. 
An   original   note   appears   in   Mr.    Perry's 


'MACBETH  AND  THE  WITCHES" 
(By  Roland  Hinton  Perry.) 


LITERATURE  AND  ART 


267 


♦IN  THE  FOREST  OF  ARDEN ' 
(By  Roland  Hinton  Perry.) 


presentation  of  Shakespearean  heroines.  In  the 
panel  representing  Rosalind  in  the  Forest  of 
Arden,  the  figure  of  Orlando,  carving  the  name 
on  a  tree,  stands  out  most  strongly.  But  while 
the  figure  of  Rosalind  is  gently  subordinated, 
she  remains  the  central  personality  of  the 
scene. 

Plaster  copies  of  the  Shakespearean  bas- 
reliefs  hang  on  the  facades  of  the  sculptor's 
studio,  which  is  the  scene  of  varied  artistic 
activity.  Mr.  Perry's  best  known  work  is 
probably  the  "Court  of  Neptune"  fountain,  be- 
fore the  entrance  of  the  Congressional  Library 
at  Washington.  During  the  past  year  he  has 
created  nothing  more  beautiful  than  a  bust 
of  his  own  little  daughter.  A  solid  noble 
breadth   is  the  basis  of  this  work.   Upon   it 


the  sculptor  has  known  how  to  throw  the  most 
ephemeral,  sprite-like  gleams.  Mischief  and 
wonder  are  expressed  in  the  tilted  head  and 
the  arrested  gaze.  The  hair  is  treated  simply, 
but  with  great  skill,  and  the  neck  is  a  combina- 
tion of  child-like  force  and  frailty.  .  The  fea- 
tures, modeled  with  sincerity,  are  flashing  with 
life.  This  beautiful  work,  in  which  the  sculp- 
tor and  father  has  perpetuated  the  sotil  of  his 
own  child,  is  in  purest  marble.  A  still  more 
recent  work  is  a  life-size  bust  of  General  Sick- 
les. The  subject  is  a  magnificent  one,  for  the 
features  are  almost  Bismarckian  in  their  em- 
bodiment of  force  and  resolution ;  but  of  a  Bis- 
marck turned  into  a  gentleman,  with  a  capacity 
for  tenderness  as  well  as  dogged  leadership. 
One  art  critic  recently  pronounced  this  bust 


'THE  BATTLE  OF  BOSWORTH  FIELD* 
(By  Roland  Hinton  Perry.) 


268 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


MRS.  ROLAND  HINTON  PERRY 
Painted  by  her  husband. 

of  the  General  the  finest  piece  of  sculpture 
he   has   yet   seen    by    an    American    artist. 


Another  and  more  conventional  work  on  which 
Mr.  Perry  has  been  engaged  is  a  group  of  two 
figures  for  the  Chickamauga  battle-field.  The 
figures  represent  a  Confederate  and  Union 
soldier  clasping  hands  in  token  of  a  reunited 
country. 

Mr.  Perry  is  a  painter  as  well  as  a  sculptor, 
and  his  first  studies  were  in  the  pictorial  line ; 
but  the  "pinching  of  clay"  had  a  fascination 
which  he  could  not  resist.  He  still  paints  at 
intervals,  and  the  portrait  which  we  reproduce 
is  not  only  of  interest  as  a  specimen  of  his 
skill  upon  canvas,  but  has  an  additional  in- 
terest just  now,  in  that  it  is  the  likeness  of 
the  lady  (Mrs.  May  Hanbury  Fisher)  whom 
he  recently  made  his  wife. 

Three  other  notable  works  by  Mr.  Perry 
are  his  "Circe,"  his  "Primitive  Man  and 
Serpent,"  and  the  "Golden  Girl"  which  he 
made  to  crown  the  dome  of  the  Pennsylvania 
State  Capitol,  in  Harrisburg.  -The  first  two 
are  elemental  and  barbaric  in  feeling.  The 
last  has  something  of  the  Grecian  spirit  The 
woman  figure  stands,  one  hand  holding  a  long, 
lithe  wand,  the  other  outstretched.  Her  face 
has  intensity  of  vision,  firmness  of  chin, 
nobility  of  profile. 

Roland  Hinton  Perry  is  still  comparatively 
young,  having  just  rounded  his  thirty-sixth  year. 


THE  FIRST  OF  LIVING  POETvS 


This  proud  title.,  undoubtedly  belongs  to  Al- 
gernon Charles  Swinburne,  and  has  been 
freely  accorded  to  him  by  critical  commenta- 
tors in  many  countries.  "His  best  lyrics," 
says  a  writer  in  the  London  Speaker,  "have  a 
perfection  and  variety  of  rhythm  which  were 
not  only  never  achieved  before,  but  seem  never 
to  have  been  contemplated  as  possible  of 
achievement  in  English  poetry";  and  George 
Barlow,  the  author  of  an  article  in  The  Con- 
temporary Review  (London)  which  deals  with 
the  spiritual  passion,  rather  than  the  lyrical 
gifts,  of  Swinburne,  goes  so  far  as  to 
make  this  statement:  "No  poet  that  has  ever 
lived,  no  poet  ever  likely  to  arise,  has  sur- 
passed, or  will  surpass,  Mr.  Swinburne  in  the 
rare  and  priceless  gift  of  spiritual  sublimity." 
These  glowing  estimates  are  a  part  of  the 
current  criticism  evoked  by  the  recent  pub- 
lication of  Swinburne's  collected  poems  and 
dramas.  They  are  typical  of  the  spirit  in 
which  his  English  admirers  pay  him  homage. 


Swinburne  also  has  his  enthusiastic  devo- 
tees in  this  country;  but  of  three  critical 
estimates  lately  printed,  only  one — ^that  of 
Prof.  George  E.  Woodberry — is  in  the  nature 
of  panegyric.  The  other  two — ^by  Paul  Elmer 
More,  of  the  New  York  Evening  Post,  and 
William  Morton  Payne,  of  the  Chicago  Dial 
— evidently  represent  eflforts  to  pass  judgment 
uninfluenced  by  glamor  or  sentiment.  Mr. 
More's  verdict  is  the  least  favorable  of  the 
three.  Writing  in  the  third  volume  of  his 
"Shelburne  Essays,"*  he  confesses  to  a  feeling 
akin  to  "personal  repulsion"  in  contemplating 
Swinburne.    He  says  in  part: 

"The  reader  of  Swinburne  feels  constantly  as 
if  his  feet  were  swept  away  from  the  earth  and 
he  were  carried  into  a  misty  mid-region  where 
blind  currents  of  air  beat  hither  and  thither;  he 
longs  for  some  anchor  to  reality.  In  the  later 
books  this  sensation  becomes  almost  painful." 

"The  satiety  of  the  flesh  hangs  like  a  fatal  web 

•  Shelburne  Essays.     Third   Series,     By   Paul  Elmer 
More.     G.  P.  Putnam  &  Son. 


LITERATURE  AND  ART 


369 


aboot  the  'Laus  Veneris';  the  satiety  of  disap- 
pcnntment  clings  'with  sullen  savor  of  poisonous 
pain*  to  *Thc  Triumph  of  Time' ;  satiety  speaks  in 
the  •Hymn  to  Proserpine,'  with  its  regret  for  the 
passing  of  the  old  heathen  gods;  it  seeks  relief 
m  the  unnatural  passion  of  'Anactoria';  turns  to 
the  abominations  of  cruelty  in  'Faustine.'  .  .  . 
Now  the  acquiescence  of  weariness  may  have  its 
inner  compensations,  even  its  sacred  joys;  but 
satiety,  with  its  torturing  impotence  and  its  hun- 
gering for  forbidden  fruit,  is  perhaps  the  most 
unmoral  word  in  the  language;  its  unashamed 
display  causes  a  kind  of  revulsion  in  any  whole- 
some mind." 

*To  Swinburne  the  sotmd  of  liberty  was  a 
charm  to  cast  him  into  a  kind  of  frothing  mania. 
It  is  true  that  one  or  two  of  the  poems  on  this 
theme  are  lifted  up  with  a  superb  and  genuine 
l)Tic  enthusiasm." 

*The  rhythmic  grace  of  his  metre  is  like  a 
bubble  blown  into  the  air,  floating  before  our 
eyes  with  gorgeous  iridescence — ^but  when  it 
touches  earth  it  bursts.  There  lies  the  fatal  weak- 
ness of  all  this  frenzy  over  liberty  and  this  hy- 
meneal chanting  of  sky  and  ocean;  it  has  no 
basis  in  the  homely  facts  of  the  heart." 

•'No  inconsiderable  portion  of  Swinburne's 
work  is  made  up  of  a  stream  of  half-visualized 
abstractions  that  crowd  upon  one  another  with 
the  motion  of  clouds  driven  below  the  moon.  He 
is  more  like  Walt  Whitman  in  this  respect  than 
any  other  poet  in  the  language."      ^ 

A  true  poet  who  respects  the  sacredness  of 
noble  ideas,  who  cherishes  some  awe  for  the 
mysteries,  does  not  buffet  them  about  as  a  shut- 
tlecock; he  uses  them  sparingly  and  onlv  when 
the  thought  rises  of  necessi^  to  those  heights. 
There  is  a  lack  of  emotional  breeding,  almost  an 
indecency,  in  Swinburne's  easy  familiarity  with 
these  great  things  of  the  spirit^' 

William  Morton  Payne's  estimate  appears 
in  the  introduction  to  a  newly  issued  volume 
of  selections  of  Swinburne's  poetry.*  He 
finds  Swinburne's  greatest  strength  in  the  sum 
total  of  his  achievement: 

"When  the  comparative  claims  made  for  the 
greater  poets  of  the  nineteenth  century  shall 
receive  their  final  adjudication  at  the  tribunal 
of  criticism,  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  to 
Shelley,  Wordsworth,  and  Tennyson,  in  this 
ultimate  reckoning,  there  will  be  conceded  a 
higher  place  than  that  allowed  to  Swinburne. 
Keats  and  Coleridge,  by  virtue  of  a  few  perfect 
poems;  Browning  and  Arnold,  by  virtue  of  a 
special  appeal  to  the  intellectual  rather  than  the 
strictly  aesthetic  element  in  appreciation,  may 
also  be  cherished  by  many  with  a  deeper  affec- 
tion. Some  may  discover  in  Byron's  'superb 
energy  of  sincerity  and  strength,'  a  more  positive 
inspiration;  some  may  recognize  in  Landor's 
superb  yet  wistful  restraint  a  fmer  example ;  some 
may  even  find  in  the  artistic  passion  of  Rossetti 
or  in  the  golden  haze  of  Morris  a  surer  stimulus 
to  the  deeper  sensibilities — ^but  with  all  at  least, 
Swinburne  will  be  found  fairly  comparable  in  the 
impressiveness  of  his  achievement  as  a  whole. 
The  rich  diversity  of  that  achievement,  the  splen- 
did artistry  of  its  performance,  and  the  high  and 

♦Selected  Poems ofSwinburne.    D.  C.  Heath  &  Co. 


MR.  PERRY'S  BUST  OF  HIS  DAUGHTER 
GWENDOLEN 

austere  idealism  which  informs  it,  are  qualities 
that  may  safely  be  trusted  to  save  it  from  the 
oblivion  in  which  the  work  of  all  but  the  greater 
poets  becomes  engulfed  soon  after  they  have 
passed  away  from  among  men." 

Professor  Woodberry's  new  volume  on 
Swinburne*  is,  in  a  certain  sense,  a  vindica- 
tion of  the  poet — a  moving  plea  for  the  ftdl 
and  unstinted  recognition  of  his  genius.  He 
says  he  supposes  that  "no  English  poet  has 
ever  had  so  wide  and  familiar  acquaintance 
with  the  poetry  of  foreign  climes.  ...  He 
achieved  such  familiarity  with  past  literature 
that  his  mind  became  capable  of  an  attitude  of 
contemporaneity  toward  it.'.'     Moreover: 

"The  truth  about  Swinburne  is  the  exact  op- 
posite of  what  has  been  widely  and  popularly 
thought — weakness,  affectation,  exotic  foreign- 
ness.  The  traits  of  aestheticism  in  the  debased 
sense  of  that  word  are  far  from  him.  He  is 
strong ;  he  is  genuine ;  he  is  English  bred,  with  a 
European  mind,  it  is  true,  like  Shelley,  like  Gray 
and  Milton,  but  in  his  own  genius,  temperament, 
and  the  paths  of  his  flight,  charged  with  the 
Strength  of  England.  In  his  nature-verse  there 
is  sympathy  with  power,  grandeur,  energy,  mark- 
ing the  verse  unmistakably  as  that  of  a  strong 
soul;  in  his  social  verse  of  all  kinds,  political 
and  religious,  there  is  the  same  sympathy  mark- 
ing it,  making   it  clarion-like,  to  use  his.  own 

♦Swinburne.  By  George  Edward  Woodberry.  Mc- 
Clure,  Phillips  &  Co. 


270 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


metaphor,  for  liberty,  progress,  man,  for  the 
truth  and  love  of  the  Revolution,  for  the  ideal  of 
the  Republic  as  the  great  and  single  aim  of  the 
race.  In  his  passion-verse  there  is  the  same 
breath  of  the  power  of  life;  and  that  fare- 
well to  life  in  which  the  pagan  mood  ends, 
by  its  insistency,  its  poignancy,  its  plangency,  the 
sweetness  of  its  regret,  the  bitterness  of  its  de- 
spair, is  the  death-recoil  of  a  great  power  of  life, 
of  joy  and  dream  and  aspiration  in  youth,  of  a 
power  to  seize  the  things  of  nature  and  of  the 
spirit,  to  live  over  again  the  experience,  to  think 
over  again  the  thoughts  of  man,  to  have  man's 
life.  .... 

"Liberty,  melody,  passion,  faith,  nature,  love, 
and  fame  are  the  seven  chords  which  the  poet's 
hand,  from  his  first,  almost  boyhood,  touch  upon 
the  lyre,  has  swept  now  for  two-score  years  with 
music  that  has  been  blown  through  the  world." 

On  the  continent  of  Europe,  Swinburne's 
reputation  is  steadily  growing.  To  the 
French  people  he  was  long  ago  introduced, 
most  fittingly,  by  Victor  Hugo,  the  master 
whose  praise  he  was  never  tired  of  singing. 
The  Parnassians  and  Symbolists  received  with 
great  enthusiasm  the  English  poet  in  whose 
song  they  found  traces  of  their  own  idols, 
Gautier  and  Baudelaire.  Until  the  South 
African  War  there  existed  in  Paris  a  Swin- 
burne Qub.  At  that  time  the  poet  printed  the 
well-known  sonnet  in  which  he  defended  the 
English  policy  with  more  patriotism  than  good 
taste.  The  Frenchmen  of  those  days  were 
very  hbt-headed  and  fervent  sympathizers  with 
the  Boers.     So  they  decided  that  a  man  who 


could  write  in  defence  of  "British  tyranny" 
was  unworthy  of  their  admiration,  and  the 
Swinburne  Club  came  to  an  untimely  and  ig- 
nominious end. 

The  tide  of  Swinburne  enthusiasm  has 
reached  Germany.  It  was  through  Max  Nor- 
dau  that  he  was  first  brought  to  the  notice  of 
the  German  reading  public.  Nordau,  it  will 
be  remembered,  was  kind  enough  to  Swin- 
burne to  reckon  him  among  "the  higher  de- 
generates whose  language  was  at  least  clear 
and  whose  thought  coherent."  But  until  re- 
cently Swinburne  was  only  known  to  a  limited 
circle.  Now,  a  number  of  his  best  poems  have 
been  translated  and  issued  in  book  form  by 
Otto  Hauser;  himself  no  mean  poet,  and  for 
that  reason  well  qualified  to  interpret  Swin- 
burne's work  to  his  compatriots.  Of  his 
book  the  literary  critic  of  the  Berliner  Tuge- 
blatt  writes  as  follows:  "For  the  first  time 
there  appears  in  German  translation  an  Eng- 
lish lyrist,  whom  his  own  land  reckons  among 
the  poets  of  the  first  order  and  who  with  us, 
too,  will,  perhaps,  soon  be  assigned  an  un- 
alterable position  among  the  poets  of  the 
world's  literature.  We  speak  of  Algernon 
Charles  Swinburne,  of  all  lyric  poets  one  of 
the  most  peculiar.  He  was  a  symbolist  before 
symbolism,  and  thought  and  wrought  realistic- 
ally before  the  coming  of  the  naturalistic 
clique, — in  short,  a  potent  personality,  of  Pro- 
methean independence." 


THE  EXTINCTION   OF  FICTION  WORSHIP 


We  read  the  novels  of  to-day  and  after  a 
fashion  we  discuss  them,  declares  the  Rev.  W. 
J.  Dawson  in  his  striking  study  of  English 
prose  fiction  recently  published.*  But  who,  he 
asks,  now  waits  for  the  appearance  of  any 
novel  "in  a  fever  of  expectation"?  Who 
"weeps  and  laughs"  over  new  novels,  who  is 
kindled  into  "vigorous  love  or  hatred"  of  their 
characters?  In  fact,  if  the  circumstances  are 
soundly  viewed  by  Mr.  Dawson,  it  must  be 
that  for  some  century  and  a  half  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  race  was  prone  to  an  excessive  fiction 
worship.  The  cult,  in  its  true  form,  died  out 
with  Dickens.  "He  peopled  the  imagination 
of  his  countrymen  with  the  creatures  of  his 
art.  He  created  a  personal  bond  between  him- 
self and  his  reader  unique  in  the  entire  history 
of  literature.    When  in  later  life  he  appeared 

♦The  Makers  of  English  Fiction.      By  W.  J.  Daw- 
son.    Fleming  H.  Revell  Co 


as  the  pubHc  interpreter  of  his  own  books,  he 
was  received  with  the  most  frantic  demon- 
strations of  affection.  Never  had  any  writer 
such  a  hold  upon  his  readers — never  again 
can  such  a  phenomenon  be  anticipated."  But 
the  reading  world  of  our  day  has  traveled  so 
far  beyond  "a  cult,  a  passion,  an  adoration,  a 
fanaticism,"  as  Mr.  Dawson  calls  it,  for  any 
display  of  genius  in  the  art  of  writing  fiction 
that  "it  is  impossible  for  us  to-day  to  under- 
stand the  kind  of  feeling  with  which  Dickehs 
was  regarded  by  his  contemporaries."  In 
seeming  conflict  with  some  critics  of  the  pub- 
lic taste  who  speak  of  "fiction  frenzy"  as  ram- 
ps^nt  to-day,  Mr.  Dawson  thinks  our  emotions 
have  been  rendered  practically  immune  by 
long  subjection  to  the  contagion.  He  brings 
the  point  out  most  clearjy,  perhaps,  in  what 
he  has  to  say  of  Richardson :  ' 
"By  what  strange  power  or  virtue  did  a  man 


LITERATURE  AND  ART 


271 


so  essentially  homely  achieve  this  prodigious 
^xne?  The  secret  is,  after  all,  quite  simple. 
He  was  the  originator  of  the  novel  of  sentiment. 
The  charge  which  Dickens  brings  against  Defoe 
of  an  entire  lack  of  tenderness  and  sentiment  in 
his  death  of  Friday  is  a  charge  which  lies  against 
an  Defoe's  work.  Defoe  never  thinks  of  touch- 
ing the  fountain  ot  tears,  and  probably  could 
not  have  dcme  so  had  he  wished.  The  lack  of 
sentiment  is  even  more  marked  in  Swift,  for 
he  takes  a  cruel  pleasure  in  exposing  htunan 
frailty  and  has  no  tears  even  for  the  most  pitiable 
of  human  miseries.  Richardson  strikes  a  new 
note.  He  introduces  S3rmpathy  and  pathos  into 
English  fiction.  He  investigates  the  human  heart 
not  to  sneer  at  its  emotions  but  to  digni  hr  them. 
His  sympathy  with  women  is  remarkable.  He 
understands  them  perfectly,  he  reverences  them, 
and  he  applies  to  them  an  analysis  whicl;i  is  as 
delicate  as  it  is  acute.  No  wonder  he  found  him- 
self the  idol  of  female  coteries:  he  was  the 
anointed  Prophet  of  the  Feminine.  Women  read 
his  books  with  a  kind  of  breathless  interest 
which  the  sentimental  tales  of  Dickens  excited  in 
our  own  da^,  and  wrote  him  passionate  letters, 
imploring  him  not  to  kill  his  heroine  or  to  save 
the  soul  of  his  hero,  much  as  the  early  readers 
of  Dickens  implored  him  not  to  kill  Little  Nell. 
One  of  his  favorite  correspondents.  Lady  Brads- 
haigfa,  has  vividly  described  her  emotions  over 
'Clarissa  Harlowe.'  She  wept  copiously  over  the 
book,  laid  it  down  unable  t«  command  her  feel- 
ings, could  not  sleep  at  night  for  thinking,  of  it, 
and  needed  all  her  fortitude  and  the  active  sym- 
pathy of  her  husband  to  enable  her  to  persist  in 
the  agonizing  task. 

"There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  the  sincerity  of 
her  confession.  We  have  become  inured  to  the 
sentimental  novelist  and  are  on  our  guard  against 
him.  Our  feelings  have  been  outraged  so  often 
that  if  we  3rield  ourselves  to  his  spell  it  is  with 
deliberation  and  with  a  due  regard  to  the  con- 
sequences of  our  weakness.  But  Richardson 
dealt  with  unsophisticated  readers,  rich  in  virgin 
emotions." 

From  this  standpoint,  it  is  a  step  to  the 
conclusion  that  many  well-known  phenomena 
of  fiction  worship  are  unthinkable  to-day. 
"Every  one  recalls  the  story  of  the  old  gentle- 
man on  his  death-bed  who  thanked  God  for 
the  likelihood  of  living  till  the  next  number  of 
'Pickwick*  came  out.  Not  so  familiar,  but 
equally  significant,  is  the  story  of  the  man  who 
rode  several  miles  at  midnight  that  he  might 
awaken  his  friend  with  the  great  and  welcome 
news:  'Carter's  dead!'"  Things  like  that  do 
not  happen  now,  or  if  they  do  they  are  ex- 
ceptional. The  novel-reading  mind  has  grown 
fastidious,  even  among  the  masses.  Atid  the 
literary  palate  is  jaded  when  the  viands  are 
on  the  whole  more  appetizing  than  ever  be- 
fore: 

"In  one  respect  the  modem  novel  shows  a 
great  advance  on  its  predecessors — ^viz. :  in  its 
technical  perfection.  Its  art  may  be  thin  and 
poor,   but  its   craftsmanship   is   excellent.     The 


THE   REV.    WILLIAM  J.   DAWSON 

For  a  century  and  a  half,  he  thinks,  the  Anglo-Saxon 
race  was  prone  to  an  excessive  fiction  worship ;  but  the 
cult,  in  its  true  form,  died  out  with  Dickens. 

Story  is  usually  told  with  vivacity  and  clearness, 
the  plot  is  skilfully  contrived,  the  interest  is  sus- 
tained and  the  writing  often  has  a  real  grace  of 
style.  The  average  of  sound  literary  craftsman- 
ship is  to-day  much  higher  than  it  ever  was. 
If  we  take  at  random  any  half-dozen  novels  of 
the  present  season  and  compare  them  with  the 
novels  produced  by  writers  not  of  the  first  rank 
fifty  years  ago,  We  are  struck  at  once  by  the 
great  advande  in  technique.  It  is  scarcely  an 
exaggeration  to  say  that  every  season  there  is 
published  one  or  more  novels  which  would  have 
made  a  great  reputation  fifty  years  ago.  The 
average  of  good  craftsmanship  in  fiction  has  risen 
in  the  ratio  of  increased  literary  perception  and 
education  among  the  people." 

Potent,  likewise,  among  the  forces  making 
for  the  extinction  of  fiction  worship  is  the 
popular  knowledge  of  the  secrets  of  the  craft 
When  a  brilliant  novel  appears  from  a  new 
pen,  readers  no  longer  leap  to  the  conclusion 
that  a  fresh  genuine  genius  has  emerged.  Too 
many  disappointments  make  us  wary.  "Every 
season  brings  us  some  new  novel  which 
achieves  distinction.  .  .  .  The  author 
strikes  a  vein  of  observation  which  is  fresh 
and  original  — he  pictures  something  he  knows, 
and  the  result  is  that  his  work  receives  an 
applause  which  even  a  Thackeray  or  a  Dickens 
would  have  regarded  as  unstinted."  Nor  can 
we  forget  that  literary  history  is  to-day  so 


272 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


well  known  that  novel  readers  are  familiar 
with  the.  mistaken  judgments  of  their  novel- 
reading  fathers  and  grandfathers.  Not  that 
the  novel  is  destined  to  lose  its  hold.  Far 
from  it.  It  is  likely  to  evolve  steadily.  "It 
seems  yet  more  likely  that  the  time  will  come 
when  every  man  who  has  anything  to  say  on 
art  or  science  or  religion  or  sociology  will 
seek  to  say  it  in  fiction.  These  tendencies  will 
inevitably  produce  a  more  general  perception 


of  fiction  as  a  serious  form  of  literature.  We 
shall  regard  it  less  as  a  means  of  amusement 
than  of  instruction."  Finally,  the  novelist  is 
not  to  blame,  if  he  find  himself  no  longer  the 
object  of  a  cult  or  a  worship.  "All  the  love 
stories  have  been  told;  every  possible  situa- 
tion in  which  lovers  find  themselves  has  been 
exhausted.  .  .  .  No  doubt  it  is  much  more 
difficult  to  write  a  great  novel  to-day  than  a 
century  ago." 


IS  JOURNALISM  THE  DESTROYER  OF  LITERATURE  ? 


According  to  Julian  Hawthorne,  the  well- 
known  novelist  and  newspaper  writer,  jour- 
nalism is  antagonistic,  by  the  very  law  of  its 
being,  to  pure  literature.  "What  lives  in  lit- 
erature," he  says,  "dies  in  journalism."  The 
daily  paper,  as  he  admits,  is  the  character- 
istic voice  of  the  age,  and  never  exerted  a 
■wider  influence  than  at  the  present  time. 
Moreover,  it  is  often  "splendidly  officered, 
sagaciously  managed,  admirably  done."  But 
the  fact  remains  that  its  "mode  of  speech 
is  of  the  material  plane";  it  "involves  no  ap- 
peal to  the  spiritual  affiliations  of  men."  On  a 
newspaper  diet  "heart  and  soul  are  atrophied," 
and  literature,  "the  characteristic  utterance  of 
the  spiritual  plane,"  languishes.  Mr.  Haw- 
thorne's utterances  on  the  subject  come  with 
additional  force  oWing  to  the  fact  that,  after 
achieving  no  inconsiderable*  success  in  the 
realms  of  purely  creative  fiction,  he  has  of 
late  years  devoted  the  major  part  of  his  time 
to  journalistic  work  of  various  kinds.  Few 
men  are  better  qualified  than  he  to  discourse 
intelligently  on  the  relations  of  literature  to 
journalism.  One  seems  to  detect  the  note  of 
personal  resentment  toward  the  work  of 
his  later  years. 

Perhaps  it  will  be  asked:  Is  not  the  news- 
paper an  educational  force?  Does  it  not 
broaden  a  man,  remove  his  prejudice  and  abate 
his  provincinalism  ?  Is  it  not  a  sort  of  uni- 
versity of  general  knowledge?  Even  to  these 
questions  Mr.  Hawthorne  refuses  to  give  an 
affirmative  reply.  He  says  (in  The  Critic, 
February) : 

"If  we  catechize  a  graduate  of  this  university, 
the  result  is  not  reassuring.  The  area  of  his 
available  information  is,  indeed,  unrestricted;  but 
he  is  also  free  to  select  from  it  only  what  he 
fancies,  and  these  are  items  which  tend  to  in- 
flame, rather  than  to  dissipate,  his  provincialism 


and  prejudices.  Finding,  too,  so  many  things  ap- 
parently incompatible  offered  for  his  belief,  he 
ends  by  drifting  into  scepticism;  while  his  sym- 
pathies are  bankrupted  by  the  very  multitude  of 
the  appeals  to  them.  Thus  he  acquires  an  in- 
different ism  which  is  rather  that  of  impotence 
than  of  philosophy;  for  the  indifference  of  the 
philosopher  is  due  either  to  faith  in  a  state  of 
being  purer  than  the  earthly,  or  else  to  a  noble 
superiority  to  destiny;  whereas  the  mind  of  the 
newspaper  graduate  has  simply  lost  virility.  In- 
stead of  mastery  of  marshalled  truths,  he  exhibits 
a  dim  agglomeration  of  half-remembered  or  mis- 
remembered  facts;  and  because  the  things  he 
cares  to  read  in  his  newspaper  are  few  compared 
with  those  he  skips,  he  has  lost  the  faculty  of 
fixing  his  full  attention  upon  anything.  His 
moral  stamina  has  been  assailed  by  the  endless 
procession  of  crimes  and  criminals  that  deploys 
before  him,  often  in  attractive  guise;  and  as  for 
ideals,  he  may  choose  between  those  of  the  stock 
exchange  and  of  State  legislatures." 

There  is  a  sense,  continues  Mr.  Haw- 
thorne, in  which  the  very  technical  excellence 
of  a  newspaper  constitutes  its  chief  danger  to 
the  public.  Its  stories  are  well  written — 
terse,  clear,  strong,  and  to  the  point.  In  two 
recent  instances  at  least  a  journalist  has  risen 
to  the  highest  rank  in  literature.  Men  of 
established  literary  standing  contribute  special 
articles  to  newspapers.  War  correspondents 
have  won  a  niche  in  the  temple  of  fame.  "But 
if,  by  such  means,  waifs  of  literature  be 
occasionally  dragged  neck-and-heels  into  a 
place  where  they  do  not  belong,  so  much  the 
worse  for  literature,  and  for  the  community 
thereby  led  to  accept  this  abnormal  mis- 
cegenation for  a  legitimate  marriage."  Mr. 
Hawthorne  proceeds  to  describe  more  fully 
what  he  means  by  "literature": 

"Consider  for  a  moment  that  literature  is  wri- 
ting which  is  as  readable  and  valuable  to-day  as 
it  was  a  hundred  or  a  thousand  years  ago, — ^a 
longevity  which   it  owes  to   a  quality  just  the 


LITERATURE  AND  ART 


273 


r>pposite  of  that  essential  to  joumaliam;  that  is, 
It  lives  not  by  reason  of  what  is  says^  so  much  as 
of  the  manner  of  the  sa3ring.    It  is  nature  and 
life  passed  through  a  human  mind  and  tinged 
with  his  mood  and  personality.    It  is  warmed  by 
his  emotion  and  modified  by  his  limitations.    .    .    . 
*Thc  highest  literature  is  that  of  imagination, 
thou^  much  true  literature  is  not  strictly  im- 
aginative,— Aristotle  and  Huxley,  though  not  on 
Homer's  or  Shakespeare's  level,  wrote  literature. 
Imagixijation  is  of  all  gifts  the  most  human  and 
mysterious;  being  in  touch  with  the  infinite^  in 
tinite  man,  it  is  creative.     Fact  is  transfigured 
by  it,  and  truth  humanized;  though  it  is  not  so 
much  as  based  upon  invention,  fancy  may  be  its 
forerunner.    Like  all  creative  impulses,  it  is  suf- 
fused   with    emotion, — ^with    passion    even, — ^but 
under  control;  the  soul  is  at  the  helm.    Imagina- 
tion moulds  and  launches  a  new  world,  but  its 
laws  are  the  same  as  those  of  the  world  we  know ; 
it  presents  scenes  of  enchantment  earth  cannot 
rival,  but  laid  in  truth  and  wrought  in  reason, — 
transcending,  but  not  contradicting  what  we  call 
reality.    .    .    .    Literature  has  its  play-grounds, 
too,  where  it  disports  itself  lightsomely  as  a  child, 
but  a  child  whose  eyes  sparkle  with  divinity  that 
may  at  any  moment  bring  to  our  own  tears  as 
weU  as  laughter.     Or  it  may  seem  preoccupied 
with  sober  descriptions  of  people  and  things;  but 
in  the  midst  of  them  we  find  ourselves  subtly 
drawn  toward  magic  casements,  wherefrom,  be- 
yond boundaries  of  mortal  vision,  we  behold  the 
lights  and  shadows,  the  music  and  the  mystery 
of  fairy-land." 

In  all  this,  what  is  there  congenial,  asks 
Mr.  Hawthorne,  with  bright,  hard,  im- 
personal, business-like,  matter-of-fact  jour- 
nalism? Of  course  it  is  possible  to  print  in  a 
newspaper  Keats's  "Ode  to  a  Nightingale,"  or 
Kiplingps  "They,"  but  this  does  not  make  the 
newspaper  a  literary  medium.  We  may  go 
through  the  motions  of  harnessing  Pegasus  to 
a  market-garden  cart,  but  Pegasus  will  not 
stay  harnessed.  He  does  not  belong  on  the 
market-garden  plane,  and  was  not  really  there 
even  when  yve  were  fastening  the  traces. 
"Keats's  Nightingale  cannot  be  made  to  sing 
check  by  jowl  with  a  soap  advertisement,  in 
the  gas-light  glare  of  Miss  Makeup's  Advice  to 
the  Love-lorn."  What  lives  in  literature — 
the  individual  touch,  the  deeps  of  feeling,  the 
second  sight — dies  in  journalism. 

The  influence  of  the  magazines,  adds  Mr. 
Hawthorne,  is  just  as  deplorable  as  that  of 
the  newspapers.    To  quote  again : 

'The  newspaper  is  the  characteristic  voice  of 
the  age ;  and  the  age  cannot  have  two  character- 
istic voices.  And  the  success  of  the  newspaper, 
its  enterprise,  its  dashing  invasion  of  fields  be- 
yond its  legitimate  sphere,  have  compelled  the 
magazines,  each  in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  so  to 
modify  their  contents  as  to  meet  this  novel  rivalry. 
They  try  to  handle  'timely*  subjects,  to  treat 
topics  of  the  day,  to  discuss  burning  questions. 


Pboto.  by  Vamler  Weydc 

JULIAN  HAWTHORNE 
*  What  lives  in  literature, 


\  in  literature."  he  says,  "dies  in  joum 
Keats's  '  Nightingale^  cannot  be  made 


lism  .  .  .  Keats's  '  Nightingale^  cannot  be  made  to 
sing  cheek  by  jowl  with  a  soap  advertisement,  in  the 
^as-light  glare  of  Miss  Makeup^s  Advice  to  the  Love- 
om.'*^ 


Ic 


Such  things  are  impossible  to  the  literary  spirit; 
but  writers  are  not  lacking,  and  their  work  is 
often  masterly— on  its  own  plane — ^which  is  that 
of  the  newspaper.  Important  uses  are  served; 
but  they  are  not  literary  uses.  Fiction  does  not 
escape  the  infection;  the  class  of  stories  which 
is  upon  the  whole  most  acceptable  in  magazines 
has  to  do  with  current  domestic  and  social  prob- 
lems, and  with  the  dramas  and  intrigues  of  busi- 
ness. The  interest  is  sustained,  the  detail  is 
vividly  realistic,  the  characters  are  such  as  you 
meet  everjrwhere,  the  whole  handling  is  alert, 
smart,  telling,  up-to-date; — ^but  where  are  the  , 
personal .  touch,  the  atmosphere,  the  deep  beneath 
deep  of  feeling,  the  second  sight,  the  light  that 
never  was  on  sea  or  land,  the  consecration  and  the 
poet's  dream?  What  has  hterature  to  do  with 
these  clever  stories?  You  may  read  the  entire 
contents  of  a  magazine,  and  all  the  articles  seem 
to  have  been  the  work  of  the  same  hand,  with 
slight  variations  of  mood;  and  next  weel^  how 
many  of  them  all  remain  distinct  in  your 
memory?" 

In  spite,  however,  of  all  these  depressing 
signs,  Mr.  Hawthorne  takes  a  hopeful  view 
of  the  future.  While  literary  geniuses  never 
before  had  such  difficulty  in  getting  a  hearing, 
he  thinks  our  need  for  real  literature  remains, 
and  the  inevitable  swing  of  the  pendulum  will 


274 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


bring  it  back  in  due  season.  The  newspaper 
spirit  has  closed  above  us  the  gates  of  the 
spiritual  plane,  but  he  sees  signs  of  hope: 

"There  are  already  symptoms,  if  one  will  give 
heed  to  them,  of  discontent  with  the  dollar  as 
the  arbiter  of  human  life,  of  weariness  of  wars  of 
traders,  both  on  the  floor  of  'change,  where  the 
dead  are  suicides,  and  on  the  field  of  battle,  where 
Japanese  and  Russian  peasants  kill  one  another 
in  behalf  of  rival  pawnbrokers.  There  is  a  long- 
ing to  re-establish  humanity  among  human  beings, 
b0th  in  their  private  and  their  public  relations; 
to  turn  from  the  illusion  of  frescoed  and  electric- 
lighted  palm- rooms,  and  to  open  our  eyes  again 
to  the  Delectable  Mountains,  with  their  sun  and 


moon  and  stars.  The  premonitions  of  such  a 
change  are  perceptible;  and,  along  with  them, 
a  timid  putting  forth,  here  and  there,  like  early 
spring  buds  upon  the  bare  boughs  of  winter,  of 
essays,  sometimes,  in  fiction,  sometimes  other- 
wise,  which  possess  quite  a  fresh  aroma  of  the 
spiritual  genius.  Some  of  them  arrive  from  over 
seas,  some  are  of  native  culture.  They  are  at  the 
polar  extreme  from  the  newspaper  fashion,  and 
for  that  reason  the  more  sigmficant  They  have 
a  strange,  gentle  power,  which  many  feel  without 
understanding  it,  and  love  they  know  not  why. 
These  may  be  the  harbingers  of  a  new  and  pure 
literature,  free  and  imprecedented,  emancipated 
both  from  the  traditions  of  the  past  and  from  the 
imprisonment  of  the  present.  Man  cannot  help 
himself,  but  is  succored  from  above." 


WHO*  WAS  THE  REAL  LEADER  OF  THE  PRE-RAPHAELITES  ? 


After  these  many  years  of  reading  and 
writing  concerning  the  Pre-Raphaelite  move- 
ment, of  explication,  implication  and  mysti- 
fication, the  history,  we  are  told,  must  all  be 
rewritten,    in   order   to   make   it  conform   to 


the  facts.  For  neither  Rossetti  (as  many  have 
maintained),  nor  his  whilom  teacher,  Ford 
Madox  Brown  as  others  have  maintained,  was 
the  leader  and  inspirer  of  the  movement  Hol- 
man  Hunt  was  the  real  prophet,  the  one  who 


"LORENZO  AND  ISABELLA" 
(By  J.  E.  Millais.^ 

Pronounced  by  Holman  Hunt  "  the  most  wonderful  painting  that  any  youth  under  twenty 
years  of  age  ever  painted." 


UTERATURE  AND  ART 


275 


''RIENZI" 
Holman  Hunt's  first  important  pointing 


first,  last  and  all  the  time  stood  for  the  prin- 
ciples of  Pre-Raphaelite  art.  He  tells  us  so 
himself,  in  a  new  work*  that  has  impressive 
claims  to  be  considered  the  most  authoritative 
history  of  the  movement  yet  written. 

Ruskin,  it  seems,  while  rescuing  the  young 
painters  from  the  clutches  of  angry  art  critics 
at  a  time  when  their  early  works  were  being 
exhibited,  conceived  a  higher  interest  in 
Rossctti  than  in  Hunt  or  John  Millais,  and  in 
his  estimates  of  the  work  of  the  brotherhood, 
spoke  of  Millais  and  Hunt  as  quite  secondary 
in  comparison  with  his  newer  protege.  On 
this  verdict  Holman  Hunt  now  comments : 

"Millais  and  I  had  no  leisure  to  read  every 
pronouncement  on  our  work  that  was  published; 
we  therefore  did  not  heed  the  terms  in  which 
Ruskin  compared  thfe  different  members  of  our 
school.  It  is  needful  to  point  this  out  or  it  might 
be  asked  why  w  did  not  at  the  time  challenge 
the  statement  of  Rossetti's  leadership.  For  my 
part,  not  then  contemplating  the  duty  of  historian 
of  the  Brotherhood,  I  did  not  feel  called  upon  to 
heed  Ruskin's  verdict.  Indeed,  I  shall  never 
argue  the  point,  for  it  is  a  matter  of  small  im- 
portance which  of  the  three  was  orieinator  of 
our  movement,  provided  that  the  desired  object 

♦PRE-RAPH  A  ELITISM  AND  THE  PRE-RAPHAEUTE 
Brotherhood.  By  W.  Holman  Hunt.  The  Macmillan 
Company. 


was  attained.  But  what  makes  the  question  vital 
is  whether  Rossetti's  inspiration  of  ideals  and 
manner  of  work  did  represent  the  original  pur- 
pose of  Pre-Raphaelitism?" 

In  defining  Pre-Raphaelitism,  Hunt  de- 
clares :  "Not  alone  was  the  work  that  we  were 
bent  on  producing  to.be  more  persistently  de- 
rived from  Nature  than  any  having  a  dramatic 
significance  yet  done  in  the  world;  not  simply 
were  our  productions  to  establish  a  more  frank 
study  of  creation  as  their  initial  intention,  but 
the  name  adopted  by  us  negatived  the  sus- 
picion of  any  servile  antiquarianism."  Pre- 
Raphaelitism  is  not  Pre-Raphaelism,  he  con- 
tinues; it  involves  no  such  repudiation  of 
Raphael  as  was  understood  and  denounced  by 
the  critics  when  the  mystic  signature  "P.  R. 
B."  was  first  explained.  The  Raphaelites  were 
those  who  "servilely  travestied"  this  prince 
of  painters,  and  their  kind,  it  would 
seem  from  the  following,  had  not  become  ex- 
tinct, even  down  to  Holman  Hunt's  own  day. 
He  writes: 

"Although  certain  rare  geniuses  since  then  have 
dared  to  burst  the  fetters  forged  in  Raphael's 
decline,  I  here  venture  to  repeat  what  we  said 
in  the  days  of  our  youth,  that  the  traditions 
that   went  on   through  the   Bolognese   Academy, 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


arose  in  Germany  prior  to  the  English  Pre- 
Raphaelites.  Madox  Brown  had  caught  from 
its  representative,  Overbcck,  this  reprehensible 
note  and  had  conveyed  it  to  his  early  pupil, 
Rossetti.  It  is  more  because  this  trait  of 
Rossetti's  early  work  has  become  identified 
with  Pre-Raphaelitism  than  because  Rossetti 
has  been  unjustly  accorded  the  position  of 
leadership,  that  Holman  Hunt  now  utters  his 
protest  Referring  to  earlier  appreciative 
words  applied  to  Rossetti,  Hunt  now  writes : 

"My  tributes  to  his  honor  have  been  too  often 
interpreted  as  an  acknowledgment  of  his  'leader- 
ship,* and  though  this  was  very  far  from  my  in- 
tention, yet  as  my  words  were  strictly  accurate, 
I  have  no  compunction  in  reprinting  them.  In 
some  cases,  to  avoid  what  would  have  seemed 
like  egoism,  I  made  reports  of  his  talk  without 
mention  of  the  initiatory  programme  which  had 
called  forth  his  amplification  of  the  idea.  Re- 
peating my  tribute  I  now  add  other  facts  which 
prove  to  be  essential  to  the  correct  balance  of 
the  story ;  this  would  be  but  of  trivial  importance 
if  the  issue  were  merely  a  personal  one,  to  de- 
termine whether  Millais,  Rossetti,  or  I,  most 
had  the  responsibility  of  Pre-Raphaelitism,  but 
it  involves  the  question  as  to  the  exact  purpose 
of  Pre-Raphaelitism.  This  is  so  vital  in  my  eyes 
that  if  it  were  decided  to  mean  what  the  Brown- 
Rossetti  circle  and  all  the  critics,  native  and  for- 
eign, inspired  by  them,  continually  ascribe  to  it, 
Pre-Rapnaelitism  should  certainly  not  engage  my 
unprofessional  pen." 


HOLMAN  HUNT 
(From  a  portrait  by  Ralph  Peacock.) 
Mr.  Hunt  is  the  sole  survivor  of  the  early  days  of  Pre- 
Raphaelitism,  and  claims  to  have  been  its  real  prophet— 
the   one  who   first,   last  ilnd  all  the  time  stood  for  the 
principles  of  Pre-Raphaelite  art. 

which  were  introduced  at  the  foundation  of  all 
later  schools  and  enforced  by  Le  Brun,  Du  Fres- 
noy,  Raphael  Mengs,  and  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds, 
to  our  own  time  were  lethal  in  their  influence, 
tending  to  stifle  the  breath  of  design.  The  name 
Pre-Raphaelite  excludes  the  influence  of  such 
corrupters  of  perfection,  even  though  Raphael, 
by  reason  of  some  of  his  works,  be  in  the  list, 
while  it  accepts  that  of  his  more  sincere  fore- 
runners." 

The  phrase  "servile  antiquarianism "  in- 
dicates a  danger  that  the  Pre-Raphaelites 
sought  to  avoid  even  in  the  inspiration  derived 
from  Raphael's  forerunners.  And  herein,  it 
seems,  lies  the  quality  which  differentiates 
Rossetti  from  the  real  Pre-Raphaelite.  *An- 
tiquarianism"  was  the  note  of  a  school  that 


•  ^ 

...    r 

i\ 

/j^H 

'THE  GIRLHOOD  OF  THE  VIRGIN" 

(By  D.  G.  Rossetti.) 

The  first  picture  exhibited  by  the  Pre-Raphaelite 

Brotherhood. 


LITERATURE  AND  ART 


277 


The  pictures  first  exhibited  by  the  brother- 
hood as  such  were  the  ''Lorenzo  and  Isa- 
bella" by  Millais,  the  "Rienzi"  by  Hunt  and 
the  "Girlhood  of  Virgin  Mary"  by  Rossetti. 
The  two  former  showed  their  pictures  at  the 
Royal  Academy,  while  Rossetti  exhibited  his 
at  a  gallery  in  Portland  Place.  The  fact  that 
ihe  latter  exhibition  was  opened  a  week  earlier 
than  the  Academy,  gave  to  Rossetti  a  certain 
priority  in  public  interest,  and  hence,  it  seems, 
came  the  inception  of  the  "legend"  of  Rossetti's 
leadership.  Hunt's  comment  on  the  event  is 
as  follows: 

"While  our  pictures  were  shut  up  for  another 
week  at  the  Royal  Academy,  Rossetti's  was  open 
to  public  sight,  and  we  heard  that  he  was 
^)oken  of  as  the  precursor  of  a  new  school;  this 
was  somewhat  trying.  In  fact,  when  Rossetti  had 
made  selection  from  his  three  designs  of  the 
subject  he  should  paint  under  me,  he  chose  that 
which  was  most  Overbeckian  in  manner.  This  I 
had  r^^ded  as  of  but  little  moment,  thinking 
the  painting  would  serve  as  a  simple  exercise, 
prol^ly  never  to  be  finished,  but  simply  to  pre- 
pare him  for  future  efforts.  It  turned  out,  how- 
ever, that  the  picture  was  completed  and  realized 
with  that  Pre-Raphaelite  thoroughness  which  it 
could  not  have  reached  under  Brown's  mediaeval 
supervision;  this  had  made  us  agree  to  its  ap- 
pearance with  our  monogram  P.  R.  B.  That 
Millais  and  I  did  not  exaggerate  the  danger  to 
our  cause  in  this  distortion  of  our  principles  is 
shown  t^  the  altogether  false  interpretation  of  the 


HENRICH  HEINE 

The  only  German  poet  who  is  much  and  steadily  read 
outside  of  Germany. 

term  Pre-Raphaelitism  which  originated  then  and 
is  current  to  this  day." 


THE  WITTIEST  MAN  THAT  EVER  LIVED 


As  a  poet  of  universal  fame  and  "the 
wittiest  man  of  modern  times,",  if  not  of  all 
time,  Heinrich  Heine  is  presented  by  George 
Brandes,  the  radical  Danish  critic.  The  one 
writer  of  genius  in  the  German  "opposition 
literature"  of  1820  to  1848,  says  Brandes 
in  a  recently  translated  volume,*  Heine 
is  also  the  only  German  poet  who  is  "much 
and  steadily  read"  outside  of  Germany.  In 
the  Fatherland  he  is  looked  upon  as  the 
"stinging  nettle  in  the  garden  of  literature." 
"He  stings  the  historians'  fingers  and  they 
curse  him,"  as  Brandes  remarks.  In  histories 
of  literature  and  magazine  articles  his  prose 
is  described  as  old-fashioned  and  his  poetry  as 
artificial.  Yet  his  works,  now  that  the  copy- 
right has  expired,  are  republished  in  innumer- 
able editions.     Furthermore: 

*MAI3f  CURREXTS  IN  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  LITERA- 
TURE. Vol.  VT,  Young  Germany.  By  George  Bran- 
des.   The  Macmlllan  Company. 


"Both  in  and  out  of  Germany  he  is  as  much 
sung  as  read.  His  poems  have  given  occasion  to 
more  than  3,000  musical  compositions.  In  1887 
the  solo-songs  alone  (leaving  out  of  account 
the  duets,  quartettes  and  choruses)  numbered 
2,500.  Hueflfer  has  counted  one  hundred  and 
sixty  settings  of  *Du  bist  wie  eine  Blume/  eighty- 
three  each  of  'Ich  hab'  im  Traum  geweinet'  and 
'Leise  zieht  durch  mein  Gemiith,'  seventy-six  of 
'Ein  Fichtenbaum  steht  einsam,'  and  thirty-seven 
of  'Ich  weiss  nicht  was  soil  es  bedeuten.' 
Amongst  these  compositions  are  many  of  the  most 
beautiful  songs  of  Schubert,  Mendelssohn,  Schu- 
mann, Brahms,  Robert  Franz,  and  Rubinstein, 
very  few  of  which  the  poet  himself  can  have 
heard.  Of  all  the  German  lyric  poets  Heine  is 
the  one  whose  songs  have  been  most  frequently 
set  to  music.  After  him,  with  his  3,000  composi- 
tions, comes  Goethe,  with  about  1,700;  the  others 
follow  far  behind." 

Out  of  Germany,  continues  Brandes,  Heine's 
fame  not  merely  lives  unassailed,  but  is 
steadily  growing  and  spreading: 

"In  France  he  occupies  men's  minds  as  if  he 


278 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


were  a  contemporary.  He  is  the  only  foreign  poet 
whom  Frenchmen  regard  as  one  of  their  own, 
one  of  their  greatest.  No  other  foreign  author 
is  so  frequently  mentioned  in  the  French  litera- 
ture of  our  own  day,  and  none  is  named  with 
greater  admiration,  not  even  Shelley  or  Poc. 
Edmond  de  Goncourt  makes  use  of  the  strong 
expression  that  all  modern  French  writers,  when 
compared  with  Heine,  remind  him  of  commercial 
travelers;  and  Thtephile  Gautier  said  that  the 
Philistines  sought  to  drag  the  stones  to  build  a 
pyramid  above  Heine's  grave. 

"A  question  that  is'^  constantly  cropping  up  in 
one  civilised  society  or  another  is:  What  works 
should  be  included  in  a  library  Qf  the  hundred 
best  books?  The  answers,  of  course.  Vary  very 
much.  But  in  all  Romanic  and  Slavonic  coun- 
tries, Heine's  name  is  sure  to  be  one  of  tlie  first 
on  the  lists.  .  .  .  No  small  astonishment  was 
expressed  in  Germany  a  few  years  ago  when  a 
great  number  of  English  lists  were  published  and 
Heine  was  found  in  them  all — a  distinction  shown 
to  no  other  German  author,  for  there  were  lists 
which  contained  no  book  by  Goethe." 

"This  universal  fame,"  adds  Brandes,  "is 
not,  however,  founded  on  Hdne's  merits  alone, 
but  also  on  the  fact  that  much  of  his  writing; 
demands  only  the  very  slightest  amount  of 
culture  for  its  comprehension,  and  of  refine- 
ment of  mind  for  its  enjoyment";  which  is 
rather  disconcerting  to  the  Heine  lover. 

Brandes  proceeds  to  register  his  conviction 
that  probably  Heine  is  the  wittiest  man  that 
ever  lived — "or  at  least  the  wittiest  man  of 
modern  times";  and  he  agrees  with  the  older 
critics  (and  with  Heine  himself)  that  "since 
the  days  of  ancient  Greece  there  has  been  no 
wit  so  nearly  akin  to  the  wit  of  Aristophanes 
as  Heinrich  Heine's." 

The  "Buch  der  Lieder,"  published  in  1827,  is 
the  most  popular  of  Heine's  books  to-day,  and 
Brandes  considers  the  volumes  of  prose  much 
below  the  level  of  his  verse — mere  journalism 
and  dilettante  at  that  I  But  perhaps  Brandes's 
most  striking  contribution  to  the  literature 
about  Heine  is  the  following  parallel  drawn 
between  his  poetry  and  Rembrandt's  pictures: 

"When  we  call  Heine  a  great  realistic  poet,  we 
make  an  assertion  of  the  same  qualified  truth  as 
when  we  call  Rembrandt  the  great  colorist. 
Rembrandt  cannot  be  said  to  be  one  of  the  great 
color-realists,  for  the  reason  that  several  paint- 
ers surpass  him  in  the  power  of  reproducing  local 
color  and  its  exact  value,  and  of  showing  the 
actual  form  and  color  of  an  object  seen  in  half 
darkness.  It  is  not  color  but  light  that  is  the 
main  thing  with  Rembrandt.  To  him  light  is  life; 
the  battle  of  life  is  the  battle  of  light,  and  the 
tragedy  of  life  is  the  tragedy  of  light,  struggling 
and  dying  in  damp  and  darkness.  .  .  .  He 
sometimes  sacrifices  drawing,  even  painting,  in  his 
eagerness  to  produce  some  effect  of  light.  Think, 
for  example,  of  the  badly  painted  corpse  in  the 
'Lesson   in   Anatomy.*     But   it   is   exactly   what 


makes  him  less  successful  than  the  realists  in  tasks 
requiring  absolute  truthfulness — the  painting^  of 
hands,  the  exact  reproduction  of  stuffs — ^tfiat 
makes  him  so  great  when  he  causes  light  to  ex- 
press what  it  alone  indicates  to  him,  the  inner  life» 
the  world  of  waking  visions. 

"Something  similar  to  this  is  the  case  ^vith 
Heine.  .  .  .  The  most  characteristic  doniain 
in  the  province  of  his  art  is  the  domain  of  chiar- 
oscuro, a  chiaroscuro  akin  to  Rembrandt's. 

"To  make  the  central  objects  stand  out  from 
the  shadow  or  half-darkness  in  which  they  are 
concealed;  to  make  light,  natural  light,  produce 
a  ghostly,  supernatural  effect  bv  conjuring:  it 
forth. from  a  sea  of  dark  shadow-waves,  bring^ingr 
it  flickering  or  flaring  out  of  half-darkness;  to 
make  darkness  penetrable,  half-darkness  trans- 
parent— ^this  is   Rembrandt's  art. 

"Heine's,  which  is  closely  related,  consists  in 
gradually,  imperceptibly,  conjuring  forth  out  of 
the  world  of  reality,  and  back  into  it  again,  a 
perfectly  modern  fantastic  dream-world." 

As  a  political  poet,  the  controversy  over 
Heine  seems  endless.  He  has  been  spoken 
of  with  the  utmost  contempt  by  German  his- 
torians of  literature,  historians  proper,  and 
literary  critics.  "Talented  but  characterless/' 
said  his  radical  contemporaries — a  phrase 
which  the  poet  ridiculed  without  mercy  in 
"Atta  Troll."  Yet  "Heine's  soul  was  in 
politics,"  declares  Brandes;  "and  in  politics  he 
was  honest,  even  in  cases  where  his  honesty 
was  misunderstood."    Moreover: 

"We  must  also  remember  that  in  Heine's  wri- 
tings there  is  an  absence  of  all  'pathetic  gesture.' 
He  was  too  proud  to  employ  it.  Germans  can- 
not understand  this.  But  grievous  wrong  is  done 
him.  The  pathos  was  in  his  soul.  His  whole 
soul  is  in  the  little  poem  'Enfant  Perdu,'  with 
which  one  of  the  divisions  of  'Romanzero'  con- 
cludes, and  which  he  wrote  when  he  was  no  - 
longer  young.  He  really  was  what  he  here  calls 
himself,  an  advanced  and  forgotten  outpost,  left 
to  be  shot  down.  And  when,  in  his  posthumous 
prose-hymn,  he  cries :  T  am  the  sword ;  I  am  the 
flame,'  it  is  but  the  truth.  The  li^ht  of  his  flame, 
the  sparks  of  his  sword-blows,  still  shine  bright. 
Many  still  warm  themselves  at  his  fire." 

Writing  of  the  last  eight  agonized  years  of 
Heinrich  Heine's  life  and  art,  Brandes  pays 
him  the  following  deep  tribute: 

"At  no  time  did  he  write  truer,  more  incisive, 
more  brilliant  verse  than  when  he  lay  nailed  to 
the  low,  broad  bed  of  torture  in  Paris.  And 
never,  so  far  as  we  know,  has  a  great  productive 
mind  borne  superhuman  sufferings  with  more 
undaunted  courage  and  endurance.  The  power 
of  the  soul  over  the  body  has  seldom  displayed 
itself  so  unmistakably.  To  bear  such  agonies  as 
his  in  close-lipped  silence  would  have  been  ad- 
mirable; but  to  create,  to  bubble  over  with 
sparkling,  whimsical  jest  and  mockery,  to  let  his 
spirit  wander  the  world  round  in  charming  and 
profoimd  reverie,  while  he  himself  lay  crippled, 
almost  lifeless,  on  his  couch — this  was  great." 


Religion  and  Ethics 


HAVE  WE  A  MUZZLED  PULPIT? 


This  question  has  come  into  more  or  less 
prominence  as  the  result  of  a  recent  contro- 
versy in  American  Jewry  between  Rabbi  S. 
S.  Wise,  of  Portland,  Oregon,  and  the  trustees 
of  Temple  Emanu-El,  New  York.  At  a  time 
when  the  representatives  of  this  influential 
Jewish  congregation  were  thinking  of  ex- 
tending a  call  to  Rabbi  Wise,  he  made  the 
stipulation:  "If  I  accept  a  call  to  Emanu-El's 
pulpit,  I  do  so  with  the  understanding  that  my 
pulpit  is  not  to  be  muzzled."  Whereupon  the 
trustees  replied:  "The  pulpit  shall  always  be 
under  the  control  of  the  board  of  trustees." 
Louis  Marshall,  one  of  the  board,  made  the 
further  explanation,  in  a  .newspaper  interview : 

Temple  Emanu-El  being  recognized  as  belong- 
ing to  the  conservative  reformed  wing  of  Judaism, 
it  would  become  a  source  of  serious  controversy 
if  its  rabbi  should  preach  orthodoxy,  radical  re- 
form, ethical  culture,  or  Zionism,  or  should  in- 
dulge in  sensational  preaching  on  political  or 
economical  subjects,  thus  converting  the  pulpit 
into  a  forum  of  a  character  entirely  foreign  to 
the  purpose  for  which  the  congregation  was  or- 
ganized." 

The  minister,  on  his  side,  elaborated  his  posi- 
tion in  a  public  statement  from  which  we  quote: 

"I  believe  that  a  question  of  super-eminent  im- 
portance has  been  raised,  the  question  whether 
the  pulpit  shall  be  free  or  whether  the  pulpit  shall 
not  be  free.  The  whole  question  of  the  churches 
is  involved  in  this  question.    .    .    . 

'The  chief  office  of  a  minister,  I  take  it,  is  not 
to  represent  the  views  of  the  congregation,  but 
to  proclaim  the  truth  as  he  sees  it.  How  can  he 
serve  a  congregation  as  a  teacher  save  as  he 
quickens  the  minds  of  the  hearers  by  the  vitality 
and  independence  of  his  utterances  ?  But  how  can 
a  man  be  vital  and  independent  and  helpful  if  he 
be  tethered  and  muzzled?  .  .  .  The  minister 
is  not  to  be  the  spokesman  of  the  congregation, 
not  the  message  bearer  of  the  congregation,  but 
the  bearer  of  a  message  to  the  congregation." 

As  a  result  of  the  debate.  Rabbi  Wise  de- 
cided to  remain  in  Portland,  and  the  issues 
at  stake  have  been  widely  discussed.  The 
American  Hebrew  (New  York)  finds  a  cer- 
tain truth  in  both  sides  of  the  argument.  It  says : 

"A  censored  pulpit  goes  against  the  Jewish 
grain;  asstuning  of  course  that  the  pulpit  is  con- 
fined to  its  legitimate  sphere,  the  exposition  of 
Judaism.  But  the  present  day  tendency  of  the 
pulpit  to  discuss  everything  else  under  the  sun 
but  Judaism,  to  make  of  it  a  public  forum  rather 
than  a  source  of  spiritual  upliftment  and  the 
spread  of  Jewish  prmciples,  justifies  the  restric- 


tion of  the  trustees.  Especially  in  the  case  of 
Dr.  Wise  is  this  true,  since  he  avowed  to  trustees 
and  prominent  members  of  Emanu-El  that  it  was 
his  purpose  to  discuss  in  the  pulpit  matters  which, 
to  many  people,  seem  foreign  thereto.  While  dis- 
approving of  limiting  the  rabbi's  utterances  so 
long  as  he  confines  himself  within  legitimate  lines, 
we  are  in  sympathy  with  the  trustees  in  their 
desire  to  maintain  the  pulpit  up  to  the  high  level 
of  its  province,  and  to  demand  that  it  be  Jewish 
in  spirit  and  in  atmosphere,  quite  as  much  as  in 
dogma." 

Max  Heller,  an  editorial  writer  in  The 
American  Israelite  (Cincinnati),  takes  much 
the  same  ground.  "Neither  congregations  nor 
ministers,"  he  says,  "are  always  infallibly  in 
the  right."     He  adds: 

"A  Luther  or  a  Savonarola  would  scorn  to 
submit  to  any  limitations.  They  have  their  power- 
ful individuality;  their  congregation  must  adapt 
itself  to  that  or  they  will  find  an  audience  that 
will  follow  willingly.  A  Henry  Ward  Beecher 
would  have  laughed  at  any  such  imputation.  Such 
men  are  the  kings  and  makers  of  their  congrega- 
tion; they  can  legitimately  say,  with  the  'grand 
monarch  :*  *the  state,  that  is  myself.'  But  where 
a  great  congregation,  proud  of  its  traditions,  is 
looking  for  a  minister  that  shall,  with  dignity  and 
ability,  represent  its  standpoint,  uphold  its  hon- 
ored customs,  stand  before  the  public  as  its 
trusted  dignitary  it  can  justly  ask,  especially  of  a 
young  man,  that  he  should  be  guided  by  the  ad- 
vice of  an  experienced  body  of  men;  they  do  not 
presume  to  prescribe  what  or  how  he  shall  preach ; 
they  wish  to  guard  against  the  chance  that  their 
congregation  might  be  exposed  to  misunder- 
standing and  derision." 

The  Church  Economist  (New  York),  an 
independent  monthly  thinks  that  **the  minister 
is  muzzled  no  more  and  no  less  than  the  rest 
of  the  community."     It  continues: 

"We  are  all  muzzled  by  civilization.  It  is  un- 
lawful to  speak  evil  of  our  neighbor.  To  refer 
to  his  conduct  or  business  injuriously  is  libelous. 
It  is  also  dangerous  socially.  The  newspapers  are 
muzzled;  they  cannot  print  'all  the  news,*  or  one 
per  cent,  of  the  news;  the  lawyers,  doctors,  poli- 
ticians, merchants,  housewives — all  are  muzzled. 
An  effective  cartoon  might  depict  a  muzzled 
clergyman  preaching  to  a  muzzled  congregation. 

"The  fact  is  that  civilization  is  a  compromise. 
We  waive  certain  natural  rights  for  security  in 
the  possession  of  other  rights.  Among  the  waived 
rights  is  the  right  of  free  speech.  You  can  say 
anything  you  like  on  a  desert  island ;  in  town,  you 
cannot.  And  upon  the  whole  most  of  us  prefer 
to  live  in  town,  muzzles  and  all. 

"What  shall  we  sa^r  then?  Shall  we  sacrifice 
truth  to  conventionality  and  prudence?  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  we  do  continually.    How  far  it  is 


28o 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


justifiable  to  suppress  or  color  religious  truth  (if 
we  divide  truth  into  sections)  in  order  to  main- 
tain the  modus  vivendi  rests  ultimately  on  the 
individual  conscience." 

Some  of  the  secular  papers  have  joined  in 
the  discussion.  The  New.  York  Times  regards 
the  action  of  the  Temple  Emanu-El  trustees 
as  "abundantly  justified."  The  New  York 
Evening  Post,  on  the  other  hand,  sympathizes 
with  Rabbi  Wise's  attitude.     It  says: 

"If  ministers  wish  to  keep  their  minds  forever 
open  to  new  truth,  to  say  with  Rabbi  Wise,  'My 
pulpit  is  not  to  be  muzzled,'  they  do  not  fit  into 
the  order  which  is  dominant  to-day.  There  are 
lawless  exceptions.  Phillips  Brooks  was  a  man 
whose  'churchmanship' — ^that  is,  his  fervor  for 
the  special  tenets  of  Episcopalianism — was  bitterly 


assailed,  yet  he  was  too  powerful  to  be  driven 
out.  Dr.  Charles  H.  Parkhurst  is  notoriously  de- 
ficient in  ardor  for  Calvinism;  he  too  commands 
a  loyal  following.  But  the  man  who  lacks  this 
unusual  force  must  tread  the  strait  and  narro>v 
path  of  the  sect  or  he  is  suspected  of  being  'dan- 
gerous,' and  he  is  quietly  side-tracked.  If  Rabbi 
Wise  wants  to  apply  the  principles  of  morals  to 
politics  and  finance,  to  speak  out  boldly,  no  mat- 
ter whose  feelings  are  hurt,  to  attempt  the  diffi- 
cult and  unpopular  task  of  bringing  religion  into 
contact  with  daily  life  and  thought,  he  must 
gather  an  independent  following,  which  has  con- 
fidence in  his  purposes  and  his  ideals.  So  must 
any  minister  who  wishes  to  be  absolutely  unmuz- 
zled. This  is  one  reason  why  strong  men — as  the 
churches  themselves  complain — refuse  the  minis- 
try as  a  career;  and  one  reason  why  the  churches 
lack  vitality." 


WALT  WHITMAN'S  RELIGION 


That  Walt  Whitman  was  "one  of  the  most 
essentially  religious  of  men"  and  that  his  re- 
ligibn  was  "based  upon  profound  personal 
experience"  is  the  contention  of  Henry  Bryan 
Binns,  a  young  English  poet,  whose  new  book 
on  Whitman*  is  hailed  as  "by  far  the  best 
life  of  the  man  that  has  yet  appeared."  Para- 
doxically enough,  the  very  element  in  Whit- 
man's character  which  is  often  felt  to  stamp 
his  work  as  irreligious,  if  not  immoral, 
furnishes  the  first  argument  in  support  of  Mr. 
Binns*s  contention.     Says  the  English  writer: 

"The  inner  mysteries  of  religion  and  of  sex  are 
hardly  to  be  separated.  They  are  different  phases 
of  the  one  supreme  passion  of  immanent,  expand- 
ing and  uniting  life;  mysterious  breakings  of 
barriers,  and  burstings  forth;  expressions  of  a 
power  which  seems  to  augment  continually  with 
the  store  of  the  world's  experience  in  this  world 
of  sense;  experience  received  and  hidden  beneath 
the  ground  of  our  consciousness.  To  feel  the 
passion  of  love  is  to  discover  something  of  that 
mystery  breaking,  in  its  orgasm,  through  the  nar- 
row completeness  and  separate  finality  of  that 
complacent  commonplace,  which  in  our  ignorance 
we  build  so  confidently  over  it,  and  creating  a 
new  life  of  communion.  To  feel  the  passion  of 
religion  is  to  discover  more. 

"The  relation  of  the  two  passions  was  so  evi- 
dent to  Whitman  that  we  may  believe  it  was  sug- 
gested to  his  mind  by  his  own  experience.  In 
some  lives  it  would  appear  that  the  one  passion 
takes  the  place  of  the  other,  so  that  the.  ascetics 
imagine  them  to  be  mutually  exclusive;  but  this 
was  certainly  not  Whitman's  case.     Whitman's 


♦A  Life  of  Walt  Whitman.     By  Henry  Bryan  Binns. 
E.  P.  Dutton  ft  Co. 


mysticism    was    well-rooted    in    the    life    of    the 
senses,  and  hence  its  indubitable  reality." 

The  "passion  of  religion,"  according  to  Mr. 
Binns's  theory,  burst  on  Whitman  quite 
definitely  and  dramatically  "one  memorable 
midsummer  morning  as  he  lay  in  the  fields 
breathing  the  lucid  air."  Suddenly  "the  mean- 
ing of  his  life  and  of  his  world  shone  clear 
within  him,  and,  arising,  spread  an  ineflfablc 
peace,  joy  and  knowledge  all  about  him."  The 
mood  was  thus  expressed  in  "Leaves  of 
Grass" : 


Swiftly  arose  and  spread  around  me  the  peace  and  knowl- 
edge that  pass  all  the  arjsrument  of  the  Earth. 
And  I   know  that   the  hand  of  God   is  the  promise  of 


mv  own, 


And  I  know  that  the  Spirit  of  God  is  the  brother  of 

my  own, 
And  that  all  the  men  ever  born  are  also  my  brothers, 

and  the  women  my  sisters  and  lovers, 
And  that  a  kelson  of  the  creation  is  love. 
And  limitless  are  leaves  stifT  or  drooping  in  the  fields. 
And  brown  ants  in  the  little  wells  beneath  them, 
And  mossy  scabs  of  the  worm  fence,  heap'd  stones,  elder, 

mullein  and  poke  weed. 

Whitman's  revelation,  continues  Mr.  Binns, 
was  in  the  nature  of  a  comprehension  of  the 
universe  "not  as  a  hypothetical  Whole,  but 
as  an  incarnate  purpose,  a  life  with  which 
he  was  able  to  hold  some  kind  of  communion." 
This  communion  related  him  to  the  universe 
on  its  spiritual  side  by  a  bond  of  actual  ex- 
perience. It  f;elated  him  to  the  ants  and  the 
weeds,  and  it  related  him  more  closely  still  to 
men  and  women  the  world  over.  "When 
Whitman  used  the  word  God,"  says  Mr.  Binns, 
"as  he  did  but  rarely  and  always  with  de- 
liberation, he  seems  to  have  meant  the  im- 
manent, conscious  Spirit  of  the  Whole."  To 
quote  further: 


RELIGION  AND  ETHICS 


281 


"It  seems  desirable  to  define  his  position  a  little 
fnrther,  though  we  find  ourselves  at  once  in  a 
dlcmma;  for  at  this  point  it  is  evident  that  he 
was  both — or  neither — ^a  Christian  nor  a  Pagan. 
He  is  difficult  to  place,  as  indeed  we  must  often 
feel  our  own  selves  to  be,  for  whom  ^le  idea  of 
2  suffering  God  is  no  more  completely  satisfying 
than  that  of  Unconscious  Impersonal  Cosmic 
Force  Again,  while  worship  was  a  purely  per- 
stToal  matter  for  him,  yet  the  need  of  fellowship 
was  so  profound  that  he  strove  to  create  some- 
thii^  that  may  not  improperly  be  described  as  a 
church,  a  world-wide  fellowship  of  comrades, 
•iirough  whose  devotion  the  salvation  Of  the 
world  should  be  accomplished. 

"In  a  profound  sense,  ' 
though  emphatically  not 
that  of  the  creeds,  Whit- 
nan  was  Christian,  be- 
cause he  believed  that 
the  supreme  Revelation 
of  God  is  to  be  sought, 
net  in  the  external  world, 
'^j:  in  the  soul  of  man; 
because  he  held,  though 
lot  in  the  orthodox  form, 
:he  doctrine  of  Incarna- 
tion; because  he  saw  in 
Love  the  Divine  Law 
ind  the  Divine  Liberty; 
md  because  it  was  his 
passionate  desire  to  give 
his  life  to  the  world.  In 
all  these  things  he  was 
Christian,  though  we  can 
hardly  call  him  'a  Chris- 
tian,' for  in  respect  of  all 
of  these  he  might  also  be 
cJaimed  by  other  world- 
religions." 

As  to  the  churches, 
^ys  Mr.  Binns,  Whit- 
nian  was  not  only  out- 
side them,  but  he  frank- 
ly disliked  them  all, 
with  the  exception  of 
the  Society  of  Friends. 


"We  may  say  that  he 
was  Unitarian  in  his 
view  of  Jesus;  but  we 
must  add  that  he  regard- 
ed  humanity    as    being 

Stilly  as  Divine  as  the  orthodox  consider  Jesus 
to  be;  while  his  full-blooded  religion  was  very 
far  from  the  Unitarianism  with  which  he  was 
aquainted;  and  his  faith  in  humanity  exalted 
the  passions  to  a  place  from  which  this  least 
emotional  of  religious  bodies  is  usually  the 
first  to  exclude  them.  In  fact,  he  took  neither 
an  intellectual  nor  an  ascetic  view  of  religion. 
He  had  the  supreme  sanity  of  holiness  in  its  best 
and  most  wholesome  sense;  but  whenever  it 
seemed  to  be  applied  to  him  in  later  years,  he 
properly  disclaimed  the  cognomen  of  saint,  less 
^om  humility,  though  he  also  was  hiunble,  than 
"«apse  he  knew  it  to  be  inapplicable.  In  con- 
ventional humility  and  Uie  other  negative  vir- 


create  sometning  that  may  not  improperly  b< 
scHbed  as  a  church — a  world-wide  fellowship  of  com- 
rades throueh  whose  devotion  the  salvation  of  the 
world  should  be  accomplished." 


tues,  renunciation,  remorse  and  self-denial,  he  saw 
more  evil  than  good.  His  message  was  one  rather 
of  self-assertion,  than  of  self-surrender.  One  re- 
gretfully recognises  that,  for  many  critics,  this 
alone  will  be  sufficient  to  place  him  outside  the 
pale." 

Whitman  is  described  as  having  been  "ap- 
parently without  the  sense  of  mystical  rela- 
tionship, save  that  of  sympathy,  with  Jesus 
as  a  present  Savior-God."  But  "none  the  less, 
he  had  communion  with  the  Deity  whose 
self-revealing  nature  is  not  merely  energy 
but  purpose.  And  his  God  was  a  God  not  only, 
of  perfect  and  ineffable 
purpose,  but  of  all-per- 
meating love."  Mr. 
Binns  adds: 

"The  final  test  of  re- 
ligions, however,  is  to  be 
found  in  their  fruits,  and 
the  boast  of  Christianity 
is  its  'passion  for  souls/ 
Now  Whitman  is  among 
the  great  examples  of 
this  passion,  and  his 
book  is  one  long  person- 
al appeal,  addressed, 
sometimes  almost  pain- 
fully, 'to  You.'" 

But  it  may  be  asked, 
"Did  Whitman  aim  at 
saving  souls  for  Christ  ?" 
Mr.  Binns  replies:  "If 
I  understand  this  very 
mystical  and  obscure 
question  and  its  ordi- 
nary use,  I  must  an- 
swer. No, — but  I  am 
not  sure  of  its  meaning. 
Whitman's  own  sal- 
vation urged  him  to 
save  men  and  women 
by  the  love  of  God 
for  the  glory  of  man- 
hood and  of  woman- 
hood and  for  the  serv- 
ice of  humanity."    Mr.  Binns  concludes: 

"Far  as  this  may  be  from  an  affirmative  reply 
to  the  question,  the  seer  who  has  glimpses  of  ulti- 
mate things  will  yet  recognise  Whitman  as  an 
evangelical.  For  he  brought  good  tidings  in 
his  very  face.  He  preached  Yourself,  as  God 
purposed  you,  and  will  help  and  have  you  to 
be.  Whether  this  is  Paganism  or  Christianity  let 
us  leave  the  others  to  decide;  sure  for  ourselves, 
at  least,  that  it  is  no  cold  code  of  ethical  pre- 
cepts and  impersonal  injunctions,  but  the  ut- 
terance of  a  personality  become  radiant,  impas- 
sioned and  procreative  by  the  potency  of  the 
divine  spirit  within." 


WALT  WHITMAN 

According  to  a  new  interpreter,  he  "  strove  to 

*      be  de- 


282 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


'THE  HOST    REVOLUTIONARY    SYSTEM    OF  THOUGHT  EVER 

PRESENTED  TO  MEN" 


Extraordinary  homage  is  being  paid  at  this 
time  in  France  to  Nietzsche,  the  latest  of  the 
line  of  German  metaphysicians  who  have 
undertaken  to  revolutionize  thought  Numer- 
ous French  translations  of  his  works  have  ap- 
peared and  are  being  sold  in  Paris  in  popular 
editions.  They  constitute  a  favorite  theme  of 
discussion  in  cultivated  circles  and  receive 
large    attention    from    the    literary    period- 


NIETZSCHE 
(From  a  bust  by  Klinge.r.) 


icals.  The  novel  and  startling  themes  of 
Nietzsche,  at  first  laughed  at,  then  angrily 
denounced  as  the  utterances  of  an  Antichrist, 
are  now  eagerly  championed  by  French  men 
of  learning.  Among  the  interesting  works 
which  have  recently  been  published  in  Paris 
is  a  critical  study*  of  Nietzsche's  philosophy 
by  M.  Jules  de  Gaultier. 

M.  de  Gaultier  pronounces  Nietzsche  a 
philosophical  thinker  of  the  first  originality. 
The  conception  of  Nietzsche,  he  writes,  as- 
signs to  philosophy  an  absolutely  new  aim. 
Philosophy  used  to  be  regarded  as  the  science 
of  wisdom ;  "it  seemed  that  wisdom  was  some- 
thing superior  to  life,  so  that  it  was  necessary 
to  discover  it  in  order  to  amend  life."  From 
Nietzsche's  view-point  "there  is  nothing  beyond 
or  outside  of  life,  and  life  invents  for  itself  its 
value,  its  aims  and  its  laws."  M.  de  Gaultier 
proceeds  as  follows: 

"According  to  Nietszche,  philosophy  is  the 
creation  of  values.  This  means  that  it  has  for 
its  object  the  invention  of  all  that  which  imparts 
to  life  worth  or  value.  Things  are  neither  good 
nor  bad  in  themselves;  they  become  so;  they 
acquire  a  certain  value  by  reason  of  the  desire  or 
repulsion  which  they  inspire.  Thus  philosophic 
virtue,  according  to  Nietzsche,  resides  in  the  taste, 
in  the  appetite  which  give  birth  to  the  desire, 
which  create  a  preference  for  a  determined  thing, 
and  assign  to  this  thing  its  rank  and  value.  Here 
is  a  race  of  men  full  of  activity  and  prone  to 
use  their  energy  in  acquiring  land,  in  appropriat- 
ing abundant  harvests,  in  creating  property. 
Here,  again,  is  a  wholly  different  type  of  race 
which  will  have  no  other  object  than  to  prove  its 
power  to  itself;  it  will  only  attack  an  adversary 
for  the  sake  of  conquering  him  and  of  satisfying 
its  own  pride  by  the  display  of  its  strength.  Now, 
consider  a  third  type  which  will  fieht  only  to 
attain  independence,  in  order  that  it  may  have 
leisure  to  carve  beautiful  forms  from  marble,  to 
make  words  vibrate  in  rhythm,  and  to  set  forth 
ideas  in  phrases.  Here,  then,  we  have  the  appe- 
tite for  wealth,  the  appetite  for  power  and  the 
appetite  for  art — the  primordial  though  diverse 
causes  of  the  objects  of  desire,  which  will  fix  the 
value  of  things  and  create,  according  to  the  phi- 
losopher's expression,  standards  of  value.  At  the 
same  time,  and  in  view  of  attaining  diverse  aims, 
these  differing  races  will  organize  their  power  and 
establish  it  in  hierarchical  form ;  they  will  honor 
certain  phases  of  existence  and  prescribe  others 
in  accordance  as  their  dominant  appetite,  which 
has  already  fixed  the  value  of  things — which  has 
caused  one  to  prefer  material  wealth;   another, 

♦  Nietzsche  et  la  r6forme  philosophioue.  By 
Tules  de  Gaultier.  Mercure  de  France,  Paris;  Bren- 
tano's,  New  York. 


RELIGION  AND  ETHICS 


283 


glory ;     another,    beauty — deter- 
mines the  value  of  action." 

Such,  in  brief,  is  the  essence 
of  the  Nietzschean  philosophy, 
and  this  conception,  developed 
and  elaborated  at  great  length 
and  with  remarkable  ingenuity, 
constitutes,  in  M.  de  Gaultier*s 
opinion,  not  merely  a  reform, 
but  a  complete  philosophical 
revolution.  Contrasting  Nietz- 
sche's view  with  that  of  the 
older  philosophers,  M.  de  Gaul- 
tier  goes  on  to  say : 

"The  ancient  interpretation  of 
philosophy  as  the  search  for 
truth  is  based  on  the  hypothesis 
that  truth  exists,  that  it  is  know- 
able,  and  that  once  determined 
it  will  reveal  that  which  is  good 
in  life  as  well  as  what  is  evil, 
what  is  good  in  itself,  and  what 
is  evil  in  itself.  The  idea  of 
truth  thus  enters  the  domain  of 
morality :  it  fixes  conduct,  it  as- 
:'gns  to  men  an  aim  toward 
which  they  should  direct  their 
activity.  Outside  of  life,  above 
life,  there  exists  something  su- 
perior to  life:  the  Divinity,  de- 
clare the  theologians;  the  world 
of  Reason  whose  laws  are  re- 
flected in  human  reason  and  re- 
veal to  us  the  truth,  declare  the 
philosophers.  ...  Since  it 
is  a  question  of  deciding  the 
most  serious  thing  in  life,  it  is 
important  to  find  out  whether  this  conception  of 
the  ancient  philosophers  is  beneficial  or  injurious 
for  life.  Now,  true  or  false,  a  conception,  in 
order  to  be  efficacious,  must  find  credit  in  the 
mind  of  man,  and  after  ages  of  effort  and  dispute 
it  does  not  appear  that  Plato's  conception  regard- 
ing truth  and  the  sovereign  good  have  been 
crowned  with  incontestable  authority." 

M.  Gaultier  next  shows  how  the  ancient 
philosophy,  at  first  under  the  protection  of 
theology,  became  in  turn  its  protector.  Met- 
aphysical rationalism  became  the  sword  and 
buckler  of  the  old  dogmas,  but  there  came  a 
fatal  day  when  it  was  laid  in  the  dust  by  the 
mighty  Kant.  The  effect  of  the  "Critique  of 
Pure  Reason"  was  to  make  it  apparent  that 
truth  has  no  meaning,  except  inasmuch  as  it 
concerns  the  modes  of  knowledge.  "With  the 
*Critiquc  of  Pure  Reason,' "  says  M.  de  Gaul- 
tier, "the  searph  for  universal  truth,  which  up  to 
then  had  been  the  chief  concern  of  philosophy, 
brought  about  the  conclusion  that,  outside  of 
the  principles  which  determine  our  means  of 
knowledge,  there  is  no  knowable  universal 
truth.    ...     It  may  be  said  of  Kant,  that 


FRIEDRICH  NIETZSCHE 

The  Dovel  and  startling:  theories  of  Nietxsche,  at  first  laughed  at,  then  angrily 
denounced,  are  now  eagerly  championed  by  French  men  of  learnint^. 


having  utterly  destroyed  the  edifice  under 
whose  roof  humanity  had  thought  to  find 
shelter,  he  wished  to  constrain  it  to  live  among 
these  ruins,  and  would  not  allow  it  to  seek 
another   asylum." 

To  erect,  then,  upon  the  ruins  left  by  the 
destructive  criticism  of  Kant  an  entirely  new 
edifice  of  philosophy  which  shall  respond  to 
human  needs  as  enlightened  by  modern 
science  is  the  task  which  Nietzsche  has  under- 
taken. 

One  sees  at  once  that  the  keynote  of  Nietz- 
sche's philosophy  is  optimism.  It  is  a  mighty 
protest  against  the  Schopenhauerian  pessi- 
mism, which  has  been  steadily  widening  its 
empire  in  Germany  since  its  great  author's 
death.  The  elaborate  theories  of  Schopen- 
hauer, as  embodied  in  his  chief  work,  "The 
World  as  Will  and  Idea,"  had  ended  in  an 
impasse  of  blank  despair.  Pain  and  evil  are 
the  mo^t  real  things  in  the  world,  happiness  is 
an  illusion,  annihilation  is  preferable  to  ex- 
istence— such  are  the  ultimate  conclusions  of 
the  greatest  German  intellect  since  Kant.    At- 


284 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


tracted  by  its  darker  side,  Schopenhauer  had 
extended  the  hand  of  friendship  to  Chris- 
tianity. The  creed  of  the  "Man  of  Sorrows" 
had  a  strong  attraction  for  him.  Nietzsche,  on 
the  contrary,  has  nothing  but  hatred  for  Chris- 
tianity and  for  its  forerunner,  Judaism.  Be- 
lieving that  pain  and  evil  are  not  absolute, 
but  that  they  constitute  the  stern  means  by 
which  humanity  may  rise  to  a  higher  estate, 
he  has  nothing  but  scorn  for  religion  that 
makes  humility  a  virtue.  "The  Jews,"  he  says, 
"a  people  born  for  slavery,  as  Tacitus  and 
the  whole  ancient  world  affirm,  a  people 
chosen  among  the  peoples,  as  they  themselves 
affirm  and  believe, — ^the  Jews  here  realized 
the  miracle  of  reversing  the  standard  of  values, 
thanks  to  which  life  upon  the  earth  for  some 
thousands  of  years  has  taken  on  a  new  and 
dangerous  attraction."  And  he  sees  in  them 
the  most  remarkable  people  in  universal  history 
because,  given  the  choice  of  being  and  non- 
being,  they  have  preferred,  with  a  clairvoyance 
that  is  disquieting,  being  at  all  cost.  On  this 
M.  de  Gaultier  comments: 

"What  then  have  the  Jews  accomplished  that 
they  should  .deserve  the  passionate  attention  that 
Nietzsche  bestows  upon  them?  This:  conquered 
in  a  political  sense,  reduced  to  slavery,  having 
shown  themselves  inferior  in  the  game  whose 
rules  decide  supremacy  among  nations,  they  have 
deliberately  condemned  the  rules  of  the  game, 
they  have  stigmatized  all  that  is  procured 
through  struggle  and  by  means  of  force,  and  set 
the  seal  of  approval  upon  what,  in  the  same  strug- 
gle, is  the  condition  of  weakness,  the  cause  of  de- 
feat and  humiliation.  They  have,  further,  identi- 
fied the  words  *rich*  and  'powerfuF  with  the 
words  'impious,'  *bad,'  Violent,'  'sensual';  the 
word  'poor'  has  become  for  them  the  synonym 
of  'holy.'  They  have  turned  defeat  into  a  badge, 
humiliation  into  glory,  and,  branding  all  that 
is  victorious  by  reason  of  natural  gifts,  beauty, 
strength,  intelligence,  fortuitous  circumstance, 
birth  or  riches,  'they  have  for  the  first  time  con- 
ceived the  world  in  the  likeness  of  shame.'  Un- 
able to  found  such  a  standard  of  things  upon  any 
positive  reality,  they  have  founded  it  upon  some- 
thing imaginary,  upon  that  elastic  basis  in  whicli 
desire,  strengthened  by  credulity,  leaps  all 
bounds.  It  is  God,  the  Jewish  God,  who  sanc- 
tions the  new  standard  of  value.  It  is  God  who 
exalts  the  humble  and  abases  the  proud." 

And  here  Nietzsche  alludes  to  the  interven- 
tion of  the  priest  who,  disposing  of  God,  ac- 
complishes the  universal  falsification  by  which 
the  Jewish  standard  will  triumph.  As  none  of 
%  the  facts  of  the  real  world  correspond  to  this 
standard  of  value,  it  became  necessary  to  in- 


vent imaginary  causes  to  explain  the  apparent 
lack  of  harmony.  Sin  was  invented.  The 
world,  as  Nietzsche  says,  loses  its  innocence. 
Misery  is  dishonored  by  calling  it  sin.  The 
downfall  of  the  Jewish  people  is  explained  as 
the  consequence  and  punishment  of  sin,  a  chas- 
tisement inflicted  by  Jehovah.  Further,  such 
a  chastisement  is  the  work  of  divine  favor. 
Through  expiation,  God  permits  His  people  to 
retrieve  itself  and  to  merit  a  better  destiny. 
Blessed  are  those  who  suffer  trials,  for  they 
shall  possess  the  kingdom  of  God  Hence,  the 
necessity  of  expiation,  of  obedience  to  the 
priest  who  is  charged  with  divine  secrets  and 
has  the  power  of  forgiveness.  Expiation  be- 
comes the  pledge  of  future  power,  of  revenge 
upon  the  world. 

Judaism,  then,  represents  the  effort  of  a 
people  vanquished  in  the  struggle  for  power  to 
"invent  a  means  of  nullifying  reality."  This 
means  does  not  appear  in  its  full  development, 
according  to  Nietzsche's  idea,  until  it  has  be- 
come generalized  and  universalized  under  the 
form  of  Christianity.  It  is  with  Christianity 
that  the  conduct  appropriate  for  a  small  con- 
quered people  will  become  the  policy  for  all 
the  conquered  and  all  the  weak,  and  a  sword 
of  vengeance  in  their  hands.  "With  the  Jew- 
ish people,"  he  says,  "began  the  insurrection  of 
slaves  in  the  moral  domain.  It  is  only  with 
the  appearance  of  Christianity  that  this  in- 
surrection of  weakness  against  force  will  be- 
come a  menace  to  the  ancient  standards  of 
value." 

Nietzsche,  then,  declares  war  6  outrance 
against  Christianity.  "In  the  Christian  sys- 
tem," he  says,  "neither  morality  nor  religion 
are  in  contact  with  reality.  There  is  nothing 
but  imaginery  causes:  'God,'  'the  soul,'  'the 
ego,'  'spirit,'  'free  will';  nothing  but  imaginary 
things:  'sin,'  'salvation,'  'grace,'  'inspiration,* 
'pardon  for  sins.'"  Together  with  Chris- 
tianity he  condemns  democracy,  which  he  re- 
gards as  its  daughter,  and  which  he  asserts 
to  be  in  direct  conflict  with  the  essential  nature 
of  things.  Never,  perhaps,  in  the  long  annals 
of  philosophy  has  a  more  original  or  revolu- 
tionary system  of  thought  been  offered  for  the 
acceptance  of  men.  Never  before  have  those 
things  which  are  held  as  the  dearest  posses- 
sions of  humanity  been  so  openly  flouted  by 
a  serious  thinker.  "The  philosophy  of  Nietz- 
sche," concludes  M.  de  Gaultier,  "is  in  fact 
the  most  murderous  weapon  that  has  ever 
been  aimed  against  the  moral  system  of 
Kant." 


Trsntlftted  for  Currskt  LiTBBATxmi 
from  the  volume  of  poctbamoat  poems  **  Ij 
DernUre    Gerbe  "  published  in  France. 


Finite  and  Infinite 
by  Victor  Hugo 


••  I  have  no  love  for  God!  '*  such  is  your  despairing  cry. 

Having  found  evil  at  the  bottom  of  all  things,  having  found 
bitterness  in  reality  and  man  the  prey  of  an  incomprehensible  and 
fatal  destiny,  you  cry  out,  ''  I  hate  the  god  who  has  made  such  a 
world  !  The  workman  must  be  judged  by  his  work.  Now  the  work 
is  bad,  therefore  the  author  is  bad,  and  I  hate  this  God !  '* 

Thereupon,  touched  with  remorse,  you  think  perhaps  I  am  mis- 
taken; perhaps  my  plummet  has  not  pierced  through  the  shadowy 
depths  to  God.  Perhaps,  O  vain  seeker  God  hath  escaped  thee. 
What  if  I  am  mistaken  ? 

But  you  are  not  mistaken.  Your  sounding-lead  has  touched 
the  bottom  of  the  abyss  of  the  infinite :  your  mind  has  compassed 
God.     Yes,  this  enormous  abyss  of  light  is  indeed  God. 

Dip  a  sponge  into  the  Ocean,  and  what  have  you  when  you 
withdraw  it  ?     A  cup  of  salt  water. 

How  much  does  it  contain  of  the  sea,  profound  and  terrible  ? 

How  much  of  that  immensity  of  foam  and  shock,  of  waves  in- 
cessantly born  and  destroyed  ? 

How  much  of  the  chaos  of  shock  and  tempest  and  waterspout, 
whose  somber  feasts  are  trumpeted  by  the  haggard-wild  hurricane  ? 

How  much  of  the  nameless  monsters  that  range  those  engulfed 
regions  ?  or  of  the  hidden  oases  and  Otaheites  where  are  enacted  idylls 
of  glorious  nudity;  of  the  fathomless  torment  of  the  clouds;  of  the 
shells  and  breakers  and  the  azure  bosom  of  the  sea ;  of  the  abyss 
whence  morning  is  born,  and  wherein  night  dips  its  robe  of  shadow 
and  its  mantle  of  stars  ? 

How  much  of  the  encounter  of  sail  and  blast,  of  that  infinite, 
now  dark,  now  dazzling  ? 

Do  you  believe  that  you  hold  all  this  in  your  hand  ? 

Now,  if  you  raise  this  glass  to  your  lips  and  taste  the  bitter 
water,  your  stomach  will  reject  it,  you  will  find  an  unpleasant  savor  in 
the  sublime  draught. 

But  will  you  dare  to  say  that  you  have  tasted  the  abyss,  that 
you  have  vomited  up  the  sea  and  spat  out  God?  » 


386 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


CHURCH  STATISTICS  FOR  1905 


The  valuable  statistical  summary  of  the 
churches  of  the  United  States,  compiled  by  the 
Rev.  Dr.  H.  K.  Carro'll,  of  Plainfield,  N.  J., 
and  published  every  January  in  The  Christian 
Advocate  (New  York),  shows  a  relatively 
slow  growth  in  church-membership  during 
the  past  year.  The  net  gain  of  all  the  churches 
was  but  519,155,  as  compared  with  898,857 
for  1904  and  889,734  for  1903.  Protestant 
communicants  in  this  country  now  total 
20,233,194,  and  the  eight  bodies  of  Catholics 
claim  10,915,251.  After  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church,  which  is  by  far  the  largest  single 
denomination,  comes  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  with  2,910,779  communicants.  The 
Roman  Catholic  gains  in  1905  were  192,122; 
the  Methodist  Episcopal,  62,847.  ^t  is  interest- 
ing to  note  that  in  spite  of  the  relatively  small 
number  of  the  Methodists,  their  itinerant  min- 
isters outnumber  Roman  Catholic  priests,  the 


figures  being  17,400  and  14,000.  There  is  an 
even  greater  disparity  in  the  number  of 
churches,  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  having 
about  11,500  and  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
27,300 — more  than  twice  as  many.  Methodists 
of  all  bodies  gained  nearly  102,000 ;  Baptists  of 
all  varieties,  72,667.  The  Presbyterian  Church 
reports  a  gain  of  26,174,  and  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  one  of  19,203.  The  Christian 
Scientists  request  that  their  figures  for  the 
previous  year  be  cut  down,  and  claim  a  gain 
of  ten  churches  and  7,441  members  for  1905. 
Their  total  membership  is  71,114.  "Did  ever 
so  small  a  body  succeed  in  attracting  so  much 
attention?"  asks  the  New  York  Churchman 
(  Protestant  Episcopal ) . 

Here  is  Dr.  Carroll's  table  showing  the 
various  denominational  families  of  the  United 
States,  their  present  status,  and  their  growth 
during  1905: 


DENOMINATIONS. 


SUMMARY  FOR  1905. 


MINISTERS. 


COMMUNI- 
CANTS. 


NET  GAINS  FOR  1905. 


MINISTERS. 


CHITRCHRS. 


COUMUNI 
CANIS. 


Adventists  (6  bodies) 

Baptists  (X3  bodies) 

Brethren  (River)  U  bodies) 

Brethren  (Plymouth)  (4  bodies) 

Catholics  (8  bodies) 

Catholic  Apostolic 

Chinese  Temples 

Christadelphians 

Christian  Connection 

Christian  Catholic  (Dowie) 

Christian  Missionary  Association 

Christian  Scientists 

Church  of  God  ( Winebrennarian) 

Church  of  the  New  Jerusalem 

Conununistic  Societies  (6  bodies) 

Congregationalists 

Disciples  of  Christ 

Dunkards  (4  bodies) 

Evangelical  (a  bodies) 

Friends  (4  bodies) 

Friends  ot  the  Temple 

German  Evangelical  Protestant 

German  Evangelical  Synod 

Jews  (a  bodies) 

Latter-Day  Saints  (a  bodies) 

Lutherans  (aa  bodies) 

Swedish  Evangelical  Mission  Covenant 

Mennonites  ( 1  a  bodies) 

Methodists  (17  bodies) 

Moravians 

Presbyterians  (i a  bodies) 

Protestant  Episcopal  (a  bodies) 

Reformed  (3  bodies) 

Salvation  Army 

Schwenkfeldians. 

Social  Brethren 

Society  for  Ethical  Culture 

Spiritualists 

Tneosophical  Society 

United  Brethren  (a  bodies) 

Unitarians 

Universalists 

Independent  Congregations 

Grand  total  for   1905 

Grand  total  for  1904 

»  __ 

d  Decrease 


X.56S 

37.06X 

157 


X4.104 
95 


1.348 

104 

10 

i.aaa 
475 
X33 


6,059 

6.475 

3.166 

1.4SI 

i,4za 

4 

100 

956 

301 

1,560 

7.585 

391 

I, an 

40,a78 

132 

ia,65o 

5.ao9 

1,970 

3.773 

3 

17 


a,z85 

547 

727 

54 


154.3  90| 
X5a.S75( 


a.499 

Sa.919 

85 

3M 

".637 

xo 

47 

63 

1.340 

XIO 

13 

6x1 

590 

X40 

aa 

S.938 

1X.033 

X.X38 

2.648 

X.075 

4 

155 

x,aai 

S70 

x,338 

X3.373 

307 

766 

58.659 

1x7 

X5.702 

7.224 

2,536 

983 

7 

90 

4 

334 

69 

4.407 

459 

965 

X56 


95.437 

4,974.047 

4.339 

6.66  z 

10,9x5, as  X 

X.49X 


x,277 

ioi,S97 

40,000 

754 

7X.XX4 

39.500 

8.067 

3.084 

687.042 

1.235.294 

zx6,3Zi 

X66.978 

xao,4X5 

340 

ao.ooo 

a  a  a, 003 

X  43 .000 

344.247 

1,84 1,346 

33.400 

61,048 

6,4a9,8x5 

z6,58a 

1.723,871 

8a7.X27 

405.0  a  a 
aS.soo 

600 
9x3 

X.500 
45.030 

2,663 

374.01  a 
71,000 
53.64X 
Z4.xa6 


X5 


<f9a! 

28 

^33 


xi| 

432 

a 

dS 

da4 
1.406 


rfx97 
dS 


aoi.608 


31.148,445 


1.8x5 


30,639,390 


3.136 


75 
X76 
da3 


279 


9 
535 
I 
d99 
ai9 
di 
963 


d»3 

3 
96 


X.636 


2,6  34 


3.019 

73.667 

734 


7.441 

1.500 

8S 


9. 117 
3.360 
3.3  SO 


997 
51.580 

95 

xo  1,893 

255 

•  t6.X74 

19.203 

4.021 

3.491 


232 

X.833 

^359 


519.155 


898.857 


RELIGION  AND  ETHICS 


287 


THE  RAlSiNG  OF  LAZARUS 

lUx  belonging^  to  tl 
detail  in  iiis  dramatic  portrayal  of  incidents  in  the  life  of  Christ. 


THE  SERMON  ON  THE  MOUNT 


Two  of  tbe  snuLll  tableaux  belonging  to  the  work  reproduced  below,  showing  M.  Channels  faithful  attention  to 
Hnliisr  •  •••      


"THE  WAY  OF  LIFE  "—A  SERMON  IN   PRECIOUS  STONES 

This  curious  example  of  the  goldsmith's  art,  recently  exhibited  in  London,  has  occupied  M.  Channet,  the  Pans 
ieweler,  for  thirty  years.  The  basis  of  the  work  is  marble,  and  around  it  runs  the  Klver  of  Life,  in  onyx.  The 
small  tableaux  all  represent  incidents  in  the  life  of  Christ,  from  Bethlehem  to  Calvary,  and  among  the  scenes  depic- 
ted are:  **Tbe  Sermon  on  the  Mount/'  "The  Marriage  at  Cana,"  "The  Raising  of  Lazarus,"  "The  Last  Supper," 
"The  Agony  in  Gethsemane/'  "The  Trial  cf  Jesus,"  and  "The  Crucifixion."  'The  figures  are  fashioned  in  ivory, 
meul  axMl  precious  stones,  and  above  all  is ,    symbol  of  the  Trinity. 


388 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


The  following  table  shows  the  order  of  the 
denominational  families  now  and  in  1890: 


DBN0MINA110NAL 

FAMILIES. 


Catholic 

Methodist 

Baptist 

Lutheran 

Presbyterian 

Episcopal 

Kefomied 

Latter- Day  Saints.. 
United  Brethren.... 
Rvancelical  Bodies. 

Jewish 

Friends 

Dunkards 

Adventists 

Mennonites 


RANK 

IN 
I90S. 

COMMUNI- 
CANTS. 

RANK 

IN 
1890. 

I 

xo.QXS.asi 

X 

9 

6,429,815 

9 

3 

4,974.047 
l;84  1,346 

3 

4 

5 

S 

ii7»3.87x 

4 

6 

897,127 

6 

7 

405.099 

7 

8 

344,247 

9 

9 

974.019 

8 

10 

X66.978 

XO 

IX 

143,000 

XX 

19 

X  90.4x5 

X9 

13 

1x6.3  IX 

13 

14 

95,437 

14 

IS 

61,048 

IS 

COMMUNI- 
CANTS. 


6.957.871 

4,589.a84 

3.717.969 

1.931,07  a 

1,378.369 

540,509 

309.458 

x66, xas 
995.981 
133.3x3 
130,406 
xo7,9o8 
73.795 
60.491 
4X.541 


In  the  eyes  of  the  Boston  Congregationalist, 
the  showing  of  the  above  statistics  is  "not  en- 
couraging," and  is  "difficult  to  reconcile  with 
the  evangelistic  propaganda  which  has  been 
under  way  in  so  many  denominations."  The 
Universalist  Leader  (Boston),  however,  re- 
fuses tp  be  discouraged  by  figures  which  make 
it*  evident  that  "the  forces  of  the  Christian 
church,  as  a  whole,  have  been  increased  by 
the  addition  of  over  half  a  million  new  mem- 
bers, that  is,  net  gain,  giving  an  aggregate  of 
31,148,445  church  members  in  the  United 
States."     It  continues: 

"This  membership  in  a  population  of  something 
over  80,000,000  reveals  the  great  fact  that  there  is 
but  need  of  the  union  of  all  Christian  forces  to 
control  the  country  for  righteousness.  And  there 
is  much  to  cheer  the  hearts  of  all  high-minded 
people  in  these  figures,  for  while  it  is  undoubtedly 
true  that  there  are  many  in  the  Christian  church 


who  are  unworthy  and  unfaithful,  the  great  ma- 
jority of  them  can  always  be  counted  on  the  side 
of  the  best  things." 

The  Chicago  Interior  (Presbyterian)  is  im- 
pressed by  the  fact  that  "not  a  single  non- 
evangelical  denomination  in  the  states  made 
any  distinct  gain  during  the  past  year."  It 
comments : 

"Dr.  Carroll's  latest  figures  emphasize  what  we 
have  said  before,  that  most  of  what  we  hear  about 
the  'one  hundred  and  fifty  kinds  of  religion  in 
the  United  States'  is  exaggerated  nonsense. 
Sixty-five  of  these  'denominations'  have  fewer 
than  100  ministers  each  and  twenty-one  others 
have  each  less  than  200.  ,And  these  little  ormii- 
zations  twinkle  in  and  tw'inkle  out  without  affect- 
ing the  general  situation  or  final  results  in  the 
slightest.  The  figures  show  that  not  a  single 
non-evangelical  denomination  in  the  states  made 
any  distinct  gain  during  the  past  year,  unless  it  be 
the  'Reorganized'  Church  of  the  Latter  Day 
Saints, — in  other  words,  the  non-polygamous 
Mormons,  an  insignificant  body  at  best.  The 
Utah  branch  is, still  'estimated'  at  the  figure  given 
us  twenty-five  years  ago  by  one  of  the  most  in- 
telligent and  reputable  'apostles*  in  Salt  Lake 
City. 

"The  work  of  the  Master  in  this  country  must 
be  done,  if  done  at  all,  by  the  churches  which  have 
shown  that  they  have  a  message  worthy  of  atten- 
tion. Toward  them  the  better  educated  in  the 
little  bodies  gravitate  by  an  inevitable  process. 
Petty  schisms  will  be  nursed  into  little  sects  by 
vociferous  leaders  in  the  future  as  in  the  past, 
but  most  of  such  bodies  are,  like  our  'boom' 
towns,  'biggest  when  born.'  A  church  which 
preaches  not  mint  and  anise  and  cummin  but 
judgment  and  mercy,  will  always  command  a 
hearing.  But  even  for  the  most  Christlike  church 
the  hour  of  rest  has  not  yet  come.  It  must  plant 
and  it  must  water,  and  to  God  it  must  lift  up 
prayer  for  the  increase.  The  present  situation 
should  make  us  sober  and  watchful  unto  prayer." 


THE  PROSPECTS  OF  JEWISH  "CONVERSION"  AS  VIEWED 

BY  A  CHRISTIAN 


The  ultimate  attitude  of  Jewish  religious 
thought  toward  Christianity  has  been  a  subject 
of  keen  speculation  ever  since  the  days  when 
Paul  expressed  the  confident  conviction  that 
Israel  as  a  nation  would  yet  accept  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  as  its  Messiah.  Sanguine  workers 
for  Jewish  advancement  in  our  own  day,  such 
as  the  German  theologian,  the  older  Delitzsch, 
and  many  others,  have  seen  in  the  Christian 
sympathies  of  the  late  Jewish  lawyer,  Rabino- 
witz,  of  Bessarabia,  and  in  other  phenomena 
of  this  character  in  the  Jewish  religious  world, 
the  first  fruits  of  the  promised  Pauline  harvest. 


pther  writers  and  workers,  however,  take  a 
rather  pessimistic  view  of  the  prospects  of 
Israel's  "conversion."  A  characteristic  ex- 
pression of  this  type  of  thought  is  found  in  an 
instructive  article  by  Pastor  R.  Bieling,  of  Ber- 
lin, in  the  Allgenieine  Missions-Zeitschrift 
(Berlin). 

It  is  impossible  to  determine  exactly  the 
number  of  Jews  on  the  globe,  says  the  German 
writer.  The  most  careful  compilation  has  been 
made  by  Professor  Dalman,  of  Leipsic,  in  a 
work  entitled  "Handbuch  fur  Mission  unter 
Israel"   (Handbook  for  Mission-work  among 


RELIGION  AND  ETHICS 


389 


the  Jews).  He  computes  that  in  1893  the  total 
number  of  Israelites  was  7404,250,  of  whom 
3^36,000  were  to  be  found  in  Russia.  The 
current  estimate  of  a  total  of  eleven  million 
Jews  he  regards  as  entirely  too  high. 

As  a  factor  in  the  religious  world  of  thought 
and  life,  argues  Pastor  Bieling,  these  millions, 
who  have  rejected  Christ,  are  a  constant  re- 
proach and  a  standing  danger  to  Christianity. 
For,  consciously  or  unconsciously,  the  develop- 
ment of  the  Jewish  nation  has  from  the  outset 
been  antagonistic  to  Christianity.  Unbelief 
has  active  missionary  agents  in  modern  times 
and  in  its  service  Judaism  equips  a  greater 
number  of  protagonists  with  tongue  and  pen 
than  is  furnished  by  other  communions.  Who- 
ever takes  the  trouble  to  read  the  Jewish  books, 
pamphlets  and  periodicals  of  the  day  finds  that 
they  are  filled  with  remarkable  self-confidence 
and  enthusiastic  belief  in  a  coming  victory  of 
the  Jewish  cause  and  creed.  An  outsider  is 
simply  amazed  at  what  he  finds  in  these  publi- 
cations. The  writers  already  predict  the  day 
when  faith  in  the  Only  One,  who  is  the  God- 
of  the  Synagogue,  will  be  the  only  prevailing 
belief.  One  factor  that  strengthens  Judaism 
in  this  conviction  is  the  radicalism  of  modern 
Protestant  theology,  especially  in  its  endeavors 
to  deprive  Christ  of  his  divine  character  and 
dignity  and  to  make  him  merely  a  brilliant 
Jew.  A  prominent  Jewish  periodical  recently 
printed  an  article  on  the  "J^^^^^ing"  of  Chris- 
tianity and  applauded  the  movement.  The 
same  journal  declares  that  this  is  "a  fruit  of 
Jewish  mission  work,  a  joyful  message  that 
the  Jewish  Messianic  hopes  are  not  a  decep- 
tion"; adding  its  conviction  that  "the  nations 
will  in  the  end  recognize  Israel  as  the  Servant 
of  God,  as  the  sorely  tried  messenger  of  the 
divine  truth."  Nobody,  says  Pastor  Bieling, 
should  be  deceived  by  the  friendly  utterances 
heard  in  Jewish  circles  concerning  Jesus.  All 
these  apply  to  him  as  a  human  personality,  but 
never  in  the  least  to  him  as  the  Savior  from 
sins.  Indeed,  if  nowadays  the  "great  Rabbi  of 
Nazareth"  is  honored  as  never  before  among 
the  Jews,  it  is  solely  because  thereby  the  great- 
ness of  the  Jewish  nation  is  increased.  "He 
honors  our  race,"  a  prominent  Jewish  writer 
has  said. 

An  examination  of  the  genius  and  character 
of  modern  Judaism,  continues  the  writer, 
shows  that  it  cannot  be  otherwise  than  hostile 
to  the  divine  claims  of  Christ  and  Christianity. 
There  is  no  common  creed  accepted  every- 
where by  the  Israelites ;  even  the  thirteen  arti- 
cles of  faith  in  their  prayer-book  arc  not  doc- 


trinally  binding.  The  nearest  approach  to  a 
general  confession  is  found  in  the  following 
exhortation,  constantly  recurring  in  the  Jewish 
services :  "Hear,  Israel,  the  Lord  thy  God  is  one 
God."  Hence  it  is  not  an  easy  matter  to  deter- 
mine exactly  what  the  essence  of  Judaism  is, 
Only  recently  a  leading  Jewish  society  in  Ber- 
lin offered  a  prize  for  a  pamphlet  on  "Das 
Wesen  des  Judentums"  (The  Essence  of  Juda- 
ism). This  action  was  probably  suggested  by  a 
recent  work  of  the  Jewish  writer.  Dr.  Levi  Bock, 
bearing  the  same  title.  He  finds  the  charac- 
teristic features  of  Judaism  in  its  moral  de- 
mands, and  acknowledges  that  Judaism  has  no 
real  doctrinal  creed,  or  at  any  rate  no  creed 
of  any  importance.  In  the  same  way  the  Rabbi 
Perles,  of  Konigsberg,  in  a  public  correspond- 
ence with  the  Christian  theologian  Borgius,  of 
the  same  city,  has  recently  stated :  "In  Judaism 
there  are  no  dogmas  in  the  Christian  sense  of 
the  term — that  is  to  say,, a  certain  number  of 
statements  which  must  be  believed,  or  even 
accepted,  with  an  oath."  He  also  argues  that 
the  real  difference  between  Christianity  and 
Judaism  lies  in  this — ^that  the  former  finds  its 
center  in  faith  and  the  latter  in  action.  The 
uncertainty  of  Judaism  in  regard  to  its  faith  is 
even  more  strikingly  illustrated  in  the  pub- 
lished utterance  of  another  leading  rabbi,  who 
not  long  ago  declared  to  a  convert :  "The  main 
purpose  of  a  Jew  at  present  is  not  to  become  a 
Christian." 

Modern  Judaism,  then,  differs  from  the  older 
type  of  Judaism  chiefly  in  this — ^that  whereas 
the  older  Judaism  was  as  antagonistic  to 
Christ  and  to  his  church  as  modern  Judaism 
is,  the  latter  is  willing  to  pass  a  more  friendly 
judgment  on  the  person  of  the  Nazarene.  The 
Jahrbuch  fur  jiidische  Geschichte  und  Litera- 
tur,  as  late  as  1903,  tried  by  a  unique  explana- 
tion of  the  words  of  Matthew  xxvii,  25  ("His 
blood  be  on  us  and  our  children")  to  show 
that  those  who  made  use  of  this  statement  had 
thereby  declared  that  they  did  not  desire  the 
death  of  Jesus,  and  intended  to  warn  the  Ro- 
mans against  the  proposed  judicial  murder 
of  the  Lord.  This  effort  at  a  new  exegesis  of 
this  incriminating  passage  is  very  significant 
of  the  attitude  of  modern  Judaism  toward 
Christ,  and  is  part  of  the  determined  protest 
found  everywhere  in  Jewish  literature  against 
making  the  Jews  responsible  for  Christ's  cruci- 
fixion. 

Notwithstanding  the  instinctive  hostility  of 
Judaism  to  Christianity,  says  Dr.  Bieling,  mis- 
sion work  among  the  Jews  has  been  reasonably 
successful.    First  of  all,  the  Jews  have  learned 


290 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


to  know  Christianity  better,  and  this  has 
brought  many  thousands  of  Jews  into  the 
Christian  Church.  It  is  impossible  to  compute 
the  full  number,  as  many  conversions  are  not 
published.  But  according  to  official  reports, 
17,250  Jews  became  Christians  during  the  past 
century  in  Germany  alone;  and  the  Berlin 
society  alone  reports  over  eight  hundred  bap- 
tisms of  the  Jews.    Signs  are  multiplying,  con- 


cludes the  writer,  to  show  that  Judaism  is 
now  at  the  parting  of  the  ways,  in  a  religious 
sense,  notwithstanding  its  loud  proclamation 
of  victory.  Zionism  is  an  evidence  of  this 
crisis,  although  it  is  not  clear  in  its  purposes 
or  ends.  The  possibility  of  important  changes 
cannot  be  ignored,  but  only  the  future  can  de- 
termine exactly  what  the  character  of  these 
changes  will  be. 


A  MOVEMENT  UNIQUE  IN  CHRISTIAN  HISTORY 


"A  tiny  seed,  a  great  tree:  from  one  society 
of  less  than  fifty  members  to  over  sixty-six 
thousand  societies  and  nearly  four  million 
members:  from  one  small  church  in  Portland, 
Maine,^  to  churches  in  every  Christian  com- 
munity and  at  most  of  the  missionary  stations 
the  world  round:  from  a  few  dollars  a  year, 
for  missionary  and  other  causes,  to  over  half 
a  million  dollars  last  year  from  less  than  one- 
sixth  of  the  whole  number  of  societies:  from 
obscurity  to  world-wide  fame  and  influence" — 
thus  is  summed  up  the  quarter-of-a-century 
story  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement. 
The  record  is  one  to  evoke  justifiable  pride,  and 
magazines  and  newspapers  all  over  the  world 
are  at  this  time  printing  eulogistic  articles  on 
the  movement.  Christian  Endeavorers  them- 
selves are  planning  a  permanent  memorial  of 
their  twenty-fifth  anniversary  in  the  form  of 
a  building  in  Boston,  which  is  to  serve  as  an 
international  headquarters  for  the  movement 
and  as  "a  loving  tribute**  to  its  founder,  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Francis  E.  Clark.  Dr.  Clark,  as 
we  are  reminded  by  Henry  B.  F.  Macfarland, 
President  of  the  Board  of  Commissioners 
of  the  District  of  Columbia,  is  still  a  compara- 
tively young  man.  "He  has  had  the  great 
good  fortune — almost  unique,"  says  Mr. 
Macfarland,  "to  start  a  perfectly  new  organi- 
zation, and  then  lead  it,  through  every  increase 
and  improvement  and  development,  always 
keeping  it  to  his  thought  for  it."  Sir  George 
Williams,  whose  experience  was  somewhat 
similar,  "did  not,  in  twice  the  time,  impress 
his  life  as  completely  on  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association  movement";  and  "even 
General  William  Booth,  with  autocratic  au- 
thority, is  not  more  intimately  related  to  the 
Salvation  Army  than  Dr.  Francis  E.  Clark  is 
to  the  Christian  Endeavor  societies,  over  which 
he  has  no  authority,  every  one  of  them  being 
absolutely    independent,    except    of    its    own 


church.  The  organizations  conceived  by  these 
three  men  are  characterized  by  Mr.  Macfar- 
land as  "the  most  important  of  modern  times," 
and,  taken  together  as  having  the  same  motive, 
inspiration  and  aspiration,  they  suggest  to  him 
the  thought  that  "this  should  be  called  the  Age 
of  Faith  rather  than  the  Age  of  Doubt."  He 
continues  (North  American  Revietv,  Feb- 
ruary) : 

"Simply  as  one  of  the  facts  of  life  in  our  day, 
the  rise  and  progress  of  the  Christian  Endeavor 
movement,  for  example,  is  sufficiently  importanl 
to  be  worthy  the  careful  consideration  of  any 
thoughtful  man,  regardless  of  his  views  of  re- 
ligion. If  a  new  political  party  had,  in  the  same 
time,  grown  to  such  proportions  and  was  showing 
the  same  virility  and  stability,  it  would  be  the  fre- 
quent theme  of  men  who,  perhaps,  do  not  know 
even  the  name  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society. 
If  four  million  people  were  keeping  a  pledge  to 
read  daily  the  plays  of  Shakespeare,  or  the  poems 
of  Dante,  or  the  dialogues  of  Plato — to  meditate 
upon  them,  to  bring  them  to  the  attention  of 
others  and  to  put  their  highest  teachings  into 
practical  living — ^that  fact  would  interest  im- 
mensely men  who  do  not  seem  to  know  that  the 
greatest  book  of  all  is  having  just  such  jplace 
and  power  in  the  lives  of  four  million  people.  The 
Kingdom  of  Heaven  cometh  in  all  of  its  phases 
without  observation,  however,  and  it  is  not  nec- 
essary, if  desirable,  that  this  particular  phase  of  it 
should  have  that  kind  of  observation.  The  vast 
majority  of  the  members  of  the  Christian  En- 
deavor Society  are  happily  unconscious  of  the  fact 
that  they  are  not  under  the  eyes  of  certain  critics, 
who,  because  they  do  not  know  that  this  and  simi- 
lar forms  of  religious  life  are  giving  Christianity 
new  progress  and  power,  write  of  it  as  if  it  were 
declining." 

No  philosopher  who  sees  life  whole,  adds 
Mr.  Macfarland,  can  ignore  the  immense  sig- 
nificance of  such  an  organization  as  the  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  Society.  Not  to  speak  of  its 
importance  to  the  individual  church,  or  to  the 
individual  State,  "its  value  as  an  interdenomi- 
national and  international  league,  binding  the 
churches  together  and  binding  the  states  to- 


RELIGION  AND  ETHICS 


391 


gether,  with  the  invisible  tics  of  affection, 
sympathy  and  a  good  purpose,  can  hardly  be 
overestimated."  Thus  it  has  become  a  great 
factor  in  the  encouragement  of  "patriotism,  ex- 
pressed in  good  citizenship,"  and  in  the 
promotion  of  "international  peace,  through 
international  justice."  And  yet  nothing  was 
further  from  the  mind  of  the  youthful  Con- 
gregational minister  of  the  Williston  Church  of 
Portland,  Me.,  when,  on  the  evening  of 
February  2,  1881,  he  organized  his  young 
parishioners  into  the  first  Christian  Endeavor 
Society,  than  that  it  would  figure  in  the  affairs 
of  the  nation,  much  less  in  the  affairs  of 
nations.  He  simply  saw  that  the  young  men 
and  women  of  his  church  needed  a  larger  op- 
portunity for  activity  and  expression  than 
that  provided  by  the  old-fashioned  types  of 
young  people's  societies.  Accordingly,  he  pre- 
pared a  constitution  for  a  "society  of  Christian 
Endeavor"  whose  object  should  be  "to  promote 
an  earnest  Christian  life  among  its  members, 
to  increase  their  mutual  acquaintance  and  to 
make  them  more  useful  servants  of  God."  He 
added  an  iron-clad  obligation:  "It  is  expected 
that  all  of  the  active  members  of  the  society 
will  be  present  at  every  meeting,  unless  de- 
tained by  some  absolute  necessity,  and  that 
each  one  will  take  some  part,  however  slight, 
in  every  meeting."  This  contained  Dr.  Clark's 
root  idea,  "that  the  young  Christian  must  be 
trained  into  strong  Christian  manhood,  as  by 
the  industrial  training-school,  which  teaches 
apprentices  how  to  work  by  working,  how  to 
use  tools  by  using  them,  how  to  exercise  hand 
and  foot  and  eye  and  brain  in  order  that  hand 
and  foot  and  eye  and  brain  may  become  ex- 
pert in  life's  vocation."  The  provisions  of 
the  constitution  were  **evidently  more  than  the 
young  people  had  bargained  for,"  wrote  Dr. 
Clark  afterward;  "they  had  not  been  accus- 
tomed to  take  their  religious  duties  se- 
riously. ...  It  seemed  as  though  the  society 
would  die  still-born.  .  .  .  But  God  ordered  it 
otherwise."  To  quote  again  from  Mr.  Macfar- 
land's  article: 

"As  the  news  of  the  new  organization  was 
spread  by  the  press,  it  was  gradually  introduced 
in  many  churches;  but  there  were  only  six  so- 
deties  when  the  first  convention  was  held  at  Wil- 
liston Church,  in  June,  1882.  There  were  fifty- 
three,  with  an  enrolled  membership  of  2,630,  when 
the  second  convention  was  held  the  next  year. 
Before  ten  years  passed,  5/xx)  delegates  were 
present  in  a  national  convention  held  in  Chicago, 
representing  thirty-three  States  and  Territories, 
societies  had  been  started  in  England,  and  Dr. 
Clark  had  been  induced  to  retire  from  the  pastor- 
ate to  become  the  President  of  the  United  society 


THE  REV.  FRANCIS  E.  CLARK,  D.D. 

Founder  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement,  which. 
In  twenty-five  years,  has  gjown  from  one  society  of  lebs 
than  fifty  .members  to  over  sixty-six  thousand  societies 
and  nearly  four  million  members. 

of  Christian  Endeavor,  and  Editor-in-Chief  of 
The  Golden  Rule,  the  Christian  Endeavor  organ, 
now  named  The  Christian  Endeavor  World.  'By 
the  time  the  national  convention  met  in  Philadel- 
phia in  July,  1899,  6,500  delegates  were  sent,  a 
number  of  foreign  countries  were  represented, 
and  the  President  of  the  United  States  sent  a 
telegram  of  greeting.  Prominent  clergymen  and 
other  public  speakers  were  glad  to  address  this 
convention.  These  conventions  have  become  an 
important  feature  in  the  life  of  the  movement. 
Not  even  the  political  conventions  have  com- 
manded such  an  attendance  or  shown  such  ear- 
nestness of  enthusiasm,  and  no  religious  gather- 
ings arc  comparable  with  them  in  numbers  or 
public  interest.  Twenty  thousand  delegates  from 
outside  of  the  convention  city,  and  an  attendance 
of  over  fifty  thousand,  are  the  astonishing  reports 
of  these  national  conventions.  They  have  been 
supplemented  by  State  and  local  conventions. 
.  .  .  Dr.  Clark  has  stated  that  'on  the 
average  for  ten  years  past,  nearly  two  hun- 
dred thousand  each  year  of  the  associate 
members  of  the  society  have  connected  them- 
selves with  some  branch  of  the  church  of 
God.'  Although  he  docs  not  claim  that  this 
is  due  wholly  to  the  society,  no  one  can  doubt  that 
it  is  largely  due  to  the  society.  He  has  also  stated 
that :  'It  is  far  below  the  actual  facts  to  say  that 
the  Endeavorcrs  annually  give,  through  their  own 
organizations,  in  addition  to  ail  that  they  give 
throujfh  other  channels  of  the  church,  not  less 
than    a    million    dollars    a   year    for    the    borne 


292 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


churches  and  for  missions  at  home  and  abroad/ 
and  he  justly  claims  that  very  much  of  this  is  an 
extra  asset,  additional  to  what  would  have  been 
given  otherwise,  as  shown  by  what  was  given  be- 
fore the  Christian  Endeavor  movement  began. 

"It  cannot  be  too  often  repeated  that  the  United 
Society,  which  is  the  international  headquarters, 
does  not  draw  for  its  support  one  dollar  from  the 
individual  societies,  but  is  maintained  by  the 
profits  of  its  own  publications.  Dr.  Clark  has 
supported  himself  by  his  own  writings.  Ten 
thousand  dollars  a  year  is  gathered  from  the 
societies  in  America  and  Great  Britain,  solely  to 
promote  the  cause  of  Christian  Endeavor  in  coun- 
tries where  the  English  language  is  not  spoken, 
on  the  invitation  of  the  church  missionaries." 

Dr.  Clark  has  so  put  his  life  into  the 
Christian  Endeavor  movement,  says  Mr. 
Macfarland,  in  concluding,  that  it  seems  like 
his  body.  "It  is  impossible  to  write  its  history 
without    seeming    to    write    his    biography." 


Through  his  writings  and  his  world  tours  he 
has  gained  a  personal  hold  upon  the  members 
of  the  societies,  and  now  each  Endeavorer  is 
to  contribute  a  small  sum — twenty-five  cents, 
if  no  more — toward  the  memorial  building  and 
headquarters.  On  this  project  Mr.  Macfarland 
comments  : 

"Sir  George  Williams  was  knighted  by  Queen 
Victoria  for  founding  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association,  celebrated  its  jubilee  in  Westminster 
Abbey,  and  was  made  a  freeman  of  the  City  of 
London,  and  similar  honors  might  have  been 
given  Dr.  Clark  if  he  had  done  his  work  from 
London.  Not  only  the  Endeavorers,  with  their 
personal  devotion  to  him,  but  all  of  those  who  can 
appreciate  the  value  of  his  services  to  society  and 
its  increasing  influence  upon  the  future,  will  feel 
that  to  give  Dr.  Clark  the  honor  that  is  proposed 
for  him,  and  which  he  will  appreciate  chiefly  be- 
cause it  will  be  of  lasting  benefit  to  his  life-work, 
is  not  too  great  for  this  benefactor  of  mankind." 


THE    STRUGGLE    FOR    "CHRISTIAN   POLITICS"    IN    HOLLAND 


The  most  remarkable  experiment  in  "Chris- 
tian politics"  known  to  modern  Europe  has 
suffered  a  severe  set-back,  owing  to  the  de- 
feat of  the  Kuyper  ministry  and  the  Christian 
party  in  Holland.  The  Kuyper  Christian 
party  has  been  called  by  one  of  its  leaders 
"the  Party  of  the  Living  God."  Its  program 
is  probably  best  expressed  in  "the  true  an-  * 
tithesis"  which  it  has  set  up  against  the  de- 
mands of  the  "revolutionary"  or  modern 
radical  party,  namely :  "Not  reason  or  scientific 
research,  not  the  interests  of  the  state,  or  the 
interests  of  particular  parties,  or  any  other 
matter,  but  Christ  alone,  our  King,  is  the 
center  of  our  public  life.  His  honor  demands 
that  politics  shall  be  under  the  direction  of  our 
religion."  This  program  has  commended  itself 
for  some  time  to  the  Dutch  people,  but  now 
seems  to  have  met  with  a  reverse.  In  the 
opinion  of  a  well-informed  writer  in  the 
Christliche  Welt  (Marburg),  however,  this  re- 
verse is  temporary,  not  permanent.  He  says, 
in  substance: 

It  is  more  than  evident  that  neither  the  party 
nor  its  chief  representative  and  exponent,  Pro- 
fessor Dr.  Kuyper,  the  great  Calvinistic  theo- 
logian of  Holland,  has  disappeared  from  the  hori- 
zon. Kuyper  himself  has  indeed  reached  the 
limit,  of  years  marked  out  by  the  Psalmist,  but 
such  is  his  vigor,  physical  and  mental,  that  he 
has  undertaken  a  vacation  trip  to  the  Orient, 
"the  cradle  of  mankind,"  for  observation  and 
study.    The  party  itself  has  not  the  slightest  idea 


of  giving  up  its  program,  but  regards  its  defeat 
as  only  a  temporary  set-back.  On  the  very  even- 
ing when  the  election  returns  showed  its  defeat, 
its  leaders,  assembled  in  Rotterdam,  buried  their 
sorrow,  and  amid  prayers,  united  in  sending  out 
a  statement  to  the  effect  that  this  trial  was  only 
intended  by  God  to  lead  them  to  a  more  thorough 
self-examination  and  to  spur  them  on  to  greater 
fidelity.  They  declared  that  "God  rules,"  and  that 
"His  work  must  be  carried  on  in  the  world  not- 
withstanding the  doings  of  men";  as  also  that 
"His  will  will  and  must  be  realized  in  the  political 
sphere,  even  if  not  a  single  Christian  remains  in 
the  Parliament."  They  expressed  the  further 
conviction  that  they  had  been  "called  to  fight  the 
fight  of  faith  by  God,"  and  to  "instruct  the  people 
from  day  to  day,  to  awaken  and  strengthen  in 
them  a  Christian  consciotfeness,  and  to  show  them 
how  to  apply  the  principles  of  the  Christian  re- 
ligion to  politics." 

There  are  manv  signs  which  would  seem  to  in- 
dicate that  the  "Christian"  party  will  soon  be  re- 
called to  political  power  in  Holland.  Several  of 
its  special  measures  the  present  government  has 
not  ventured  to  touch.  The  culmination  of 
the  Kuyper  regime  was  its  school  legislation, 
which  purposed  to  "Christianize"  the  entire  edu- 
cational system  of  the  country,  from  the  "Free 
University,"  of  which  Kuyper  was  the  rector,  to 
the  average  public  school.  The  new  liberal  gov- 
ernment has  not  changed  these  laws.  Moreover, 
it  has  openly  declared  that  it  will  not  touch  the 
"strike  laws"  instituted  by  Kuyper,  and  has  even 
publicly  recognized  the  wonderful  "working  abil- 
ity" of  the  veteran  theologian  and  statesman. 

Another  factor  that  will,  it  is  thought,  help  to 
put  the  Christian  party  again  in  power,  is  the 
growing  strength  of  the  Social  Democrats.  Be- 
tween the  years  1897  and  1905  this  revolutionary 
party  increased  its  votes  from  13,000  to  66,000  in 


RELIGION  AND  ETHICS 


293 


HoHand,  and  the  clearer  it  becomes  that  this 
party  is  a  party  of  radicals  and  free-thinkers — 
the  embodiment  of  all  that  is  non-Christian  and 
tmchtirchly — ^the  greater  will  be  the  power  of  at- 
traction exercised  by  the  Giristian  party  on  the 
conscnrative  and  thinking  classes.  The  Socialists 
have  already  declared  that  "they  will  sell  their 
lives  as  dearly  as  possible  as  soon  as  a  ministry 
needs  them,"  meaning  that  they  will  join  the  Lib- 
erals in  effecting  even  moderate  reforms  in  the 
hope  that  sooner  or  later  more  radical  measures 
can  be  passed.  This,  too,  it  is  thought,  will  drive 
men  into  the  camp  of  the  Christian  party.  One 
thing,  however,  it  is  evident,  the  Christian  leaders 
must  learn,  namely,  to  be  a  little  more  worldly- 
wise  in  the  methods  by  which  they  seek  to  build 


up  their  party.  Just  how  soon  the  problem  of 
Christian  politics  will  again  become  a  "burning 
question,"  only  a  prophet  or  a  prophet's  son  could 
predict;  but  it  seems  certain  that  a  second  min- 
istry of  the  party  could  be  organized  in  the  near 
future  only  by  Kuyper  himself.  As  far  as  can 
be  seen,  there  are  no  other  leaders  upon  whose 
shoulders  his  mantle  could  worthily  fall,  and  a 
strong  Christian  movement  is  possible  only  under 
the  inspiration  furnished  by  a  gifted,  enthusiastic 
and  inspiring  personality.  Such  Kuyper  has  been 
and  is.  The  partv  itself  is  as  full  of  life  as  ever 
and  entirely  confident  that  sooner  or  later  the 
spirit  of  the  Nazarene  will  be  the  all-controlling 
force  in  the  public  life  and  government  of 
Holland. 


WHAT  IS  TO  BE  THE  FUTURE  OF  CHRISTIAN  THEOLOGY? 


The  Rev.  Dr,  R.  Heber  Newton,  for  many 
years  rector  of  All  Soul's  Church,  New  York, 
and  well  known  throughout  the  country  as  a 
representative  of  "advanced"  theology,  has  lately 
ventured  to  formulate  his  idea  of  the  future 
of  Christianity.  He  writes  in  perfect  freedom 
and  independence,  and  expresses  himself  very 
frankly.  He  thinks  that  the  fundamental 
Christian  doctrines  have  already  undergone, 
and  arc  still  undergoing,  the  most  profound 
changes;  but  that  they  will  endure,  in  spite 
of  these  changes — perhaps  because  of  them. 
This  view  is  elaborated  in  an  article  in  The 
Hibhert  Journal  (London),  from  which  we 
quote: 

"The  theological  movement  of  our  own  age  is 
away  from  all  that  is  partial  and  narrow  and  arbi- 
trao'  and  mechanical  and  exceptional  and  irra- 
tional and  unethical  in  theology,  toward  that 
which  is  universal,  njecessary,  natural,  orderly,  ra- 
tional, free,  progressive,  ethical,  and  spiritual.  It 
leads  in  a  direction  diametrically  opposite  to  the 
conception  of  Christianity  as  the  one  true  religion, 
miraculous  in  its  birth,  extra-natural  in  its  insti- 
tutions, infallible  in  its  sacred  books,  fixed  and 
final  in  its  creeds,  imposing  an  external  authority 
from  which  no  appeal  can  be  taken  to  the  courts 
of  reason  and  conscience.  It  heads  straight  for 
the  conception  of  Christianity  which  finds  in  it 
one  among  the  religions  of  humanity,  although  the 
highest  of  them;  the  main  stem  of  the  religion 
which  roots  in  the  spiritual  nature  of  man  and  of 
the  cosmos,  and  which  sucks  up  into  itself  the 
ethical  forces  of  man  and  of  the  universe;  the 
flowering  forth  of  the  one  life  of  humanity,  which 
takes  on  differing  forms  in  the  varying  types  of 
ethnic  religions.  It  is  away  from  the  conception 
of  religion  as  a  something  separable  from  the  rest 
of  human  life,  growing  out  of  other  faculties  than 
those  which  manifest  themselves  in  the  activities 
of  earth,  creating  a  sphere  for  itself  other  than 
that  of  the  sacred  secularities  of  society.  It  is 
moving  toward  a  conception  which  finds  in  re- 


ligion the  burgeoning  and  blossoming  of  all  the 
faculties  of  man;  the  life  of  the  imagination,  the 
reason,  the  affections  and  the  conscience  at  their 
full;  taking  up  into  itself  and  expressing  the 
secrets  of  poetry  and  art  and  science  and  phi- 
losophy and  sociology,  as  knowledge  grows  trans- 
figured into  reverence,  as  beauty  exhales  in  wor- 
ship and  goodness  becomes  the  sacrament  of  the 
indwelling  Life  of  the  cosmos." 

More  specifically  Dr.  Newton  proceeds  to 
indicate  the  nature  of  that  "reconstruction  of 
the  supposedly  fundamental  principles  under- 
lying the  theology  of  the  churches,'^  which 
he  believes  to  be  inevitable.  Of  hitherto 
prevailing  conceptions  of  the  Bible  as 
"oracular  and  inerrant"  and  Of  the  church 
as  "miraculous  and  infallible,"  he  says : 

"These  conceptions  must  pass  away,  are  already 
passing  away,  have  even  now  nearly  parsed  com- 
pletely away  in  Protestant  circles.  The  book  will 
remain — ^the  source  of  spiritual  inspiration,  the 
expression  of  man's  highest  spiritual  conscious- 
ness, the  record  of  the  gradual  ntvelation  of  God 
in  the  growth  of  "a  race,  and  in  the  evolution  of 
the  universal  religion  in  which  that  race-life 
flowered;  a  real  and  true  authority  in  matters  of 
religion,  only  not  a  spiritual  czardom,  but  rather 
the  constitutional  head  in  the  republic  of  man. 
The  church  will  remain — an  institution  of  human- 
ity, the  highest  institute  of  humanity  and  the  most 
divine,  since  it  is  the  institute  of  the  spiritual  life 
of  mankind;  not  the  institute  of  the  spiritual  life 
merely  of  a  race  or  of  a  religion  drawn  around 
that  race,  but  the  institute  of  that  spiritual  life 
which  has  been  one  and  the  same  through  the 
various  races  of  mankind,  whose  sources  lie  far 
back  in  the  past,  in  the  nature  and  constitution  of 
man;  which  in  Paganism  has  developed  one  and 
the  same  religious  institutions  in  different  lands 
and  in  different  ages,  and  thus,  slowly,  reared  the 
cathedral  of  Christendom,  with  its  many  ethnical 
chapels  growing  around  its  sacred  choir;  an  in- 
stitute, therefore,  having  the  greatly  to  be  revered 
authority  which  such  a  history  claims,  every  pos- 


294 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


THE  REV.  K.   HEBER  NEWTON,  D.D. 

He  thinks  that  the  fundamental  Christian  doctrines 
have  undergone,  and  are  still  uodergoingf,  the  most  pro- 
found changes;  but  that  they  will  endure  m  spite  of  these 
changes — perhaps  because  of  them. 

sible  deference  short  of  tlie  abject  submission  of 
the  reason  and  conscience.  Such  a  historic  insti- 
tute must  be  plastic,  capable  of  growth,  changing 
ever  with  the  changing  needs  of  man,  adapting 
itself  to  the  new  conditions  which  new  times  are 
creating  ever. 

"But  the  thought-forms  which  these  two  great 
authorities  of  man  have  assumed  in  the  past — the 
thought  of  the  Book  and  the  Church,  as  excep- 
tional and  miraculous,  infallible,  fixed  and  final 
— these  will  never  again  be  found  in  the  new 
spaces  of  the  heavens  toward  which  the  movement 
of  our  mental  world  tends." 

Inspiration,  continues  Dr.  Newton,  *'is  com- 
ing to  be  seen  not  as  the  monopoly  of  a  race 
or  of  a  church,  but  as  the  experience 
of  mankind."  The  doctrine  of  the  Atonement 
"is  growing  out  of  the  form  in  which  it  has 
come  down  to  us,  as  an  act  of  one  man,  in  one 
moment  of  history,  into  the  conception  which 
is  already  blossoming  within  the  Christian 
consciousness;  the  conception  of  the  universal 
law  operative  in  all  ages,  among  all  men; 
wherein  the  holy  and  elect  souls  of  earth  bear 
the  suffering  and  sorrow  and  shame  of  their 
fellows  and  thus  save  them  from  their  sins." 
The  doctrine  of  hell  "is  casting  ofT  those 
abhorrent,  immoral,  impossible  forms  in  which 
it  has  come  down  to  us,  and  is  taking  on  a 
rational  aspect,  as  the  symbol  of  the  natural 
law  of  retribution,  acting  in  character,  if  with 


the  sternness  yet  with  the  sanity  of  Nature, 
the  justice  of  God."  And  the  doctrine  of  the 
Incarnation  is  seen  to  be  an  idea  "as  old  as 
man's  philosophy,  as  widespread  as  his  life  on 
earth,"  connoting  "not  alone  an  embodying 
of  the  Divine  Being  in  one  individual,  of  one 
epoch  of  history,  but  the  symbol  of  a  universal 
process,  whereby  and  wherein  the  universe  it- 
self is  the  body  of  the  Infinite  and  Eternal 
Spirit." 
Of  the  future  position  of  Christ,  we  read: 

"The  historic  Personality  who  is  at  the  heart 
of  the  Catholic  creeds  will  be  recognised  as  more 
truly  a  fact  than  our  fathers  ever  dared  to  believe. 
He  will  be  found  to  have  withstood  the  critical 
processes  which  threatened  to  resolve  His  sacred 
form  into  legend  and  myth,  and,  instead  of  issuing 
as  fable,  to  issue  as  fact,  having  the  solidity  of 
history — the  rock  which  thenceforth  never  more 
can  be  shaken.  The  man  Christ  Jesus,  in  the 
moral  miracle  of  His  perfect  character,  in  the  sac- 
ramental mystery  of  His  cosmic  consciousness, 
will  stand  forth  forever  as  the  sacred  shrine  of 
man's  hope  and  faith,  the  mercy  seat  of  the  lov- 
ing God.  In  Him  the  human  ideal  will  continue 
to  be  reverently  seen  embodied,  that  ideal  after 
which  our  Iruman  lives  are  to  pattern  themselves 
in  all  loving  loyalty.  In  His  mirroring  eyes  com- 
ing generations  will  read  the  secret  of  the  uni- 
verse, and  see  in  the  Power  in  which  'we  live  and 
move  and  have  our  being* — 'Our  Father  which  art 
in  Heaven.'"  . 

The  two  fundamental  doctrines  of  the 
Christian  creed,  the  doctrine  of  God  and  the 
doctrigje  of  immortality,  will  be  recognized, 
predicts  Dr.  Newton,  not  as  the  exclusive 
possession  of  Christendom,  but  as  the  common 
possession  of  mankind. 

"It  will  be  seen  that  every  great  religion  has 
issued  in  monotheism — the  doctrine  of  the  unity 
of  God,  His  spirituality,  His  character  as  a  just 
and  beneficent  being.  It  will  also  be  seen  that 
every  great  religion  has  issued  in  the  doctrine 
of  immortality,  the  belief  in  conscious,  continued 
life  after  death.  Such  exceptions  as  seem  to  pre- 
sent themselves  in  history,  notably  in  Judaism  and 
Buddhism,  will  be  seen  to  be  but  temporary  ex- 
ceptions. Israel,  as  we  now  see,  reached  through 
its  stages  of  agnosticism  concerning  the  hereafter, 
and  found  the  human  faith  in  immortality  com- 
ing forth  in  Judaism  before  Jesus  clear  and 
strong.  The  Nirvana  of  Buddhism  is  already 
being  recog^nised,  not  as  annihilation,  the  loss  of 
personal  being,  but  as  the  emergence  of  self-con- 
sciousness into  the  cosmic  consciousness  and  its 
perfect  bliss." 

In  brief,  "the  central  faiths  of  Christendom 
will  be  found  to  warrant  themselves  as  the 
universal  faiths  of  man,  standing  plumb  upon 
the  deep  bed-rock  of  the  human  reason  and 
conscience,  buttressing  on  our  new  knowledge 
in  science  and  philosophy  and  art  and  so- 
ciology." 


Science  and   Discovery 


GENERAL  DECLINE  OF  HUMAN  FERTILITY  IN 
WESTERN  NATIONS 


Among  the  physical  features  of  modern  civ- 
ilization none  calls  at  present  for  more  seri- 
ous attention,  asserts  the  London  Times,  than 
the  fact,  gradually  revealed  and  clearly  estab- 
lished by  official  records,  that  the  birth-rate 
is  progressively  declining  in  all  Western  na- 
tions for  which  regirtration  exists.  "It  seems," 
sa)rs  our  contemporary,  "to  be  one  of  those 
vast,  slow,  silent  movements  which  pass  almost 
nnpcrceived  at  the  time,  but  are  more  potent 
to  shape  the  destinies  of  mankind  than  war 
or  policies  which  look  so  much  more  impor- 
tant to  a  near  vision."  Deserving  cf  particular 
notice,  therefore,  it  thinks,  are  the  proceedings 
of  the  Royal  Statistical  Society,  which  has 
been  devoting  a  recent  series  of  London  meet- 
ings to  the  topic.  One  of  the  most  valuable 
contributions  yet  made  to  the  elucidation  of  the 
problem  is  a  paper  on  "the  decline  of  human 
fertility  in  the  United  Kingdom  and  other 
countries  as  shown  by  ccA'ected  birth-rates," 
the  authors  being  Dn  Arthur  Newsholme  and 
Dr.  T.  H.  C.  Stevenson.  This  paper  is  a  con- 
tmuation  of  others  by  the  same  authors  pub- 
lished in  The  Journal  of  Hygiene  (London). 
"But  statistical  studies,"  says  the  British  paper, 
"are  repellant  to  all  except  statisticians,  unless 
they  can  be  used  as  political  missiles  or  piquant 
tit-bits  of  promiscuous  information,  which  is 
very  seldom  the  c?ise  with  genuine  work ;  and 
these  elaborate  calculations  are  not  likely  to 
receive  the  attention  they  deserve."  For  the 
information  of  the  general  public  it  is  neces- 
sary to  extract  the  pith  of  them  and  present 
it  in  a  simple  form,  which  the  London  Times 
essays  to  do  as  follows: 

"About  the  main  facts  no  dispute  exists.  For 
some  thirty  years  or  so  a  general  and  progressive 
diminution  of  natality— that  is,  the  number  of 
children  born  in  proportion  to  population — has 
been  recorded  in  all  Western  nations  for  which 
records  are  available.  It  is  by  no  means  evenly 
distributed  or  proceeding  everywhere  at  the  same 
rate,  nor  is  it  shared  by  every  locality;  but  every 
country  as  a  whole  e>diibits  the  same  change  in 
some  degree.  The  following  figures,  showing  the 
fall  in  the  'birth-rate/  which  means  the  number 
of  births  to  i,ooo  of  the  population,  between  1876 
and  1901,  will  sufficiently  illustrate  the  movement : 


— ^United  Kingdom,  from  34.8  to  28.0;  England 
and  Wales,  36.3  to  28.5;  German  Empire,  40.9  to 
357;  Prussia,  40.7  to  36.2;  Sweden,  30.8  to  2^.8; 
Switzerland,  33.0  to  29.1;  Austria,  40.0  to  36.9; 
France,  26.2  to  22.0.  The  fall  appears  ^o  have  set 
in  as  a  general  and  progressive  movement  about 
the  year  1876,  which  forms  the  high-water  mark 
of  recorded  birth-rates  in  most  European  coun- 
tries. That  it  was  a  real  high-water  mark  of  na- 
tality cannot  be  positively  affirmed,  as  defective 
registration  in  earlier  years  may  be  a  source  of 
error.  It  is,  however,  certain  that,  whereas  the 
birth-rates  had  previously  fluctuated  in  an  irreg- 
ular manner,  from  that  time  onward  they  have 
been  falling  generally,  progressively  and  with 
singular  steadiness.  Fewer  and  fewer  children  in 
proportion  to  population  are  being  born  almost 
from  year  to  year.  The  difficulty  is  to  determine 
the  causes  of  this  remarkable  movement  and  to 
estimate  their  respective  shares  of  influence.  The 
difficulty  is  increased  by  the  failure  of  many  stu- 
dents of  the  subject — ^a  failure  conspicuously  il- 
lustrated at  the  Royal  Statistical  Society— to  dis- 
tinguish between  two  sets  of  causes,  the  direct  and 
the  indirect,  which  are  usually  jumbled  up  to- 
gether. The  birth  of  children  is  a  physical  fact 
which  depends  directly  upon  physical  conditions 
and  upon  them  only;  other  conditions  act  indi- 
rectly through  them,  and  unless  the  distinction  is 
realized  the  question  cannot  be  treated  in  a  log- 
ical or  scientific  manner.  The  physical  conditions 
governing  natality  are,  in  the  first  place,  age, 
sex,  and  conjugal  state.  In  other  words,  children 
can  only  be  born  to  women  of  a  certain  age,  and 
the  number  of  children  must  depend  on  the  num- 
ber of  such  women  in  any  population.  Marriage, 
of  course,  is  not  physically  necessary,  but  actually 
it  is;  the  proportion  of  illegitimate  children  is  so 
small  as  to  be  negligible  in  the  large  problem; 
and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  they  have  declined  even 
more  rapidly  than  the  legitimate.  Age,  sex,  and 
conjugal  state  are  conveniently  classed  together, 
because  they  are  the  subject  of  statistical  records 
and  can  be  ascertained  with  considerable  accuracy. 
A  second  set  of  physical  conditions  stands  on  a 
different  footing.  The  capacity  to  bear  children 
depends  not  only  upon  age,  but  upon  other  less 
obvious  physiological  factors,  which  may  vary  in- 
definitely both  by  nature  and  by  art.  There  are 
degrees  of  natural  fertility  or  sterility,  and  there 
is  also  an  artificial  sterility.  With  the  exception 
of  age  and  sex,  which  are  chiefly  determined  by 
chance  or  forces  beyond  our  knowledge  and  con- 
trol, all  these  physical  conditions  directly  govern- 
ing natality  are  themselves  affected  by  other  sec- 
ondary and  ascertainable  conditions.  Marriage, 
for  instance,  is  affected  by  economic  and  moral 
influences,  by  war  and  emigration;  fertility  is 
affected  by  habits  of  life  and  possibly  by  educa- 


296 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


tion  and  occupation.     All  these  become  indirect 
influences  acting  through  the  direct  ones." 

It  is  obvious  from  these  considerations  that 
the  problem  of  causation  is  intricate  and  must 
be  handled  methodically  if  it  is  to  be  lifted  out 
of  the  slough  of  conjecture,  impression  and 
prejudice.  This  is  the  service  that  Dr.  News- 
holme  and  Dr.  Stevenson,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
London  Times,  have  rendered.  By  a  laborious 
piece  of  statistical  work  they  have  eliminated 
the  age,  sex  and  marriage  factors  for  a  large 
number  of  countries  and  particular  communi- 
ties over  a  period  of  twenty  years,  and  have 
separated  out  the  true  fertility  from  a  variety 
of  disturbing  factors.  The  point  is  that  hypo- 
thetically  changes  in  the  age,  sex  and  conjugal 
constitution  of  the  populations  might  be  suffi- 
cient to  account  for  the  diminishing  birth-rates 
and  that  the  latter  might  hypothetically  be 
wholly  due  to  a  diminishing  proportion  of  mar- 
ried women  of  fertile  age.  There  have,  in  fact, 
been  material  changes  in  that  direction  in 
some  populations  through  postponemeht  of 
marriage  and  prolongation  of  mature  life  ac- 
companied by  a  constantly  high  infantile 
mortality.  In  some  countries  emigration  has 
appreciably  diminished  the  productive  popu- 
lation. But  it  has  now  been  shown  that  such 
changes  are  quite  inadequate  to  account  for 
the  falling  birth-rates.  Indeed,  in  some  com- 
munities where  a  rapid  fall  has  taken  place 
the  constitution  of  the  population  is  more 
favorable  to  productivity  than  it  wa  .  The  cal- 
culations leading  to  this  conclusion  are,  like 


all  other  statistics,  open  to  criticism.  They 
give  only  approximately  accurate  results 
which  cannot  be  used  for  minute  comparisons : 


"But  read  broadly,  with  a  due  margin  for  error, 
they  prove  the  existence  of  a  real  and  general 
decline  in  fertility.  Ireland  is  the  only  excep- 
tion; there  the  fertility  increased  between  1881 
and  1901,  though  the  natality  diminished. 
Further,  the  authors  reach  the  conclusion  that 
this  progressive  sterility  is  due  not  to  natural  but 
to  artificial  causes;  it  is  deliberately  practised  in 
order  to  secure  ease,  and  is  associated  with  a 
rising  standard  of  comfort.  This  agrees  with  the 
results  of  investigation  and  with  the  conclusions 
of  others;  but  it  has  not  previously  been  estab- 
lished on  the  same  statistical  basis.  The  ultimate 
bearing  of  the  movement  may  be  a  matter  of 
opinion.  Some  «4pplaud  it,  as  Mr.  Montague 
Crackanthorpe  has  recently  shown.  But  the 
doctrine  of  small  families  and  quality  versus 
quantity  is  very  superficial.  It  ignores  the  whole 
moral  side  of  the  question,  and  on  the  physical 
side  it  rests  upon  a  more  than  dubious  assumption. 
It  is  not  given  to  parents  to  arrange  the  quality 
of  the  selected  offspring  they  choose  to  have  out 
of  a  potential  number ;  nor  are  they  conspicuously 
successful  in  rearing  very  small  families.  The 
most  wholesome  environment  for  children  is 
plenty  of  brothers  and  sisters.  In  truth,  the  real 
motive  is  selfishness,  not  concern  for  non-existent 
children.  So  the  bachelor,  intent  on  his  own 
comfort,  pretends  regard  for  the  wife  he  has  not 
got.  But  Nature  is  not  mocked;  the  misuse  or 
perversion  of  natural  appetites,  which  is  the  es- 
sence of  vice,  brings  its  own  penalty,  and  Nature's 
answer  to  those  who  flout  her  laws  is  to  wipe 
them  out.  That  process  is  already  in  operation  in 
many  communities  both  in  the  Old  World  and  in 
the  New,  where  more  people  die  annually  than  are 
born." 


THE  PRESENT  POSITION  OF  THE  CANCER  PROBLEM 


Cancer  is  now  proved  to  be  neither  con- 
tagious nor  hereditary  and  to  be  the  result  of 
neither  bacillus  nor  germ,  if  we  may  accept  a 
summary  of  the  labors  of  the  scientists  inves- 
tigating the  problem  in  the  Royal  College  of 
Science  and  the  University  of  Liverpool.  The 
summary  has  been  prepared  by  Mr.  H.  B.  Mar- 
riott Watson,  eminent  as  a  man  of  letters  and 
at  the  same  time  a  competent  student  of  bi- 
ological problems.  Mr.  W^atson  was  authorized 
by  the  experts  in  cancer  research,  Professor 
Farmer  and  Messrs.  Moore  and  Walker,  to 
give  some  outlines  of  the  results  of  their  dis- 
coveries in  the  London  Mail.  As  an  introduc- 
tion to  the  topic  as  a  whole,  Mr.  Watson's  sum- 
mary reminds  us  that  every  living  organism, 
whether  plant  or  animal,  begins  as  a  single  cell. 


This  original  mother  cell  divides  into  two,  then 
each  of  the  resulting  cells  divides,  and  this 
process  continues  until  the  whole  body  of  the 
organism  is  built  up.  But  the  process  of  the 
division  is  by  no  means  simple.  When  the 
original  mother  cell  is  going  to  divide,  a  certain 
number  of  little  bodies  appears  within  it.  Each 
of  these  little  bodies,  which  are  called  chromo- 
somes, divides  into  two  equal  halves,  and  when 
the  whole  mass  of  the  mother  cell  separates 
into  two  daughter  cells,  half  of  each  chromo- 
some is  absorbed  into  each  daughter  cell.  This 
process  is  repeated  in  each  succeeding  cell  di- 
vision and  thus  the  number  of  chromosomes 
in  the  cells  of  the  same  body  remains  the  same 
as  it  was  in  the  original  mother  cell.  The 
number  of  chromosomes  in  the  cells  forming 


SCIENCE  AND  DISCOVERY 


297 


the  human  body  is  thirty-two,  and  this  number 
remains  constant — ^with  a  single  exception: 

"The  exception  is  the  group  of  cells  that  is  to 
undertake  the  future  function  of  reproduction. 
Observation  has  shown  that  in  these  cells  the  num- 
ber of  chromosomes  is  always  reduced  to  one- 
half,  in  the  human  being  therefore  to  sixteen. 
Now  here  comes  in  the  remarkable  discovery 
which  sheds  a  wholly  new  light  on  the  nature  of 
cancer.  The  collaborators  have  found  that  in 
cancerous  tissue  the  same  process  takes  place. 
The  exact  sequence  of  events  is  this.  Certain  cells 
of  the  blood,  known  as  leucocytes,  given  a  suit- 
able stimulus,  become  active.  They  unite  with 
the  ordinary  healthy  cells  of  the  tissue,  and  the 
result  is  the  first  stage  of  cancerous  growth.  The 
development  and  divisions  of  the  cells  then  pro- 
ceed in  a  manner  similar  to  that  occurring  in  the 
production  of  the  reproductive  cells  referred  to. 

**It  is  interesting  to  note  that  it  has  for  some 
time  been  known  to  science  that  reproductive  tis- 
sac  does,  in  the  case  of  some  plants,  normally 
act  in  a  manner  similar  to  cancer,  that  is  to  say, 
it  invades  the  tissue  forming  the  body  of  the 
parent  organism. 

"The  collaborators,  in  discovering  the  similarity 
that  exists  between  cancer  and  reproductive  tis- 
sue, have  incidentally  shown  that  certain  bodies 
that  have  been  constantly  taken  for  the  parasite 
causing  cancer  are  really  only  a  normal  part  of 
reproductive  fells.  These  bodies,  commonly 
known  as  Thmmer's'  or  'Cancer*  bodies,  had 
hitherto  been  supposed  to  exist  only  in  the  cells 
foraiing  cancerous  tissue.  They  are  now  proved 
to  constitute  a  normal  and  constant  part  of  re- 
productive cells.  Thus  the  resemblance  between 
the  two  tissues  is  carried  a  step  further  and  made 
more  striking,  to  say  nothing  of  the  fact  that  the 
numerous  speculations  as  to  the  nature  and  origin 
of  these  supposed  parasites  are  at  last  put  to 
rest" 

Equipped  with  this  preliminary  exposition, 
it  is  easier  to  master  Dr.  R.  T.  Hewlett's  analy- 
sis of  the  cancer  research  results  published  in 
Tondon  Nature.  From  this  it  seems  that  re- 
cent research  holds  out  as  yet  little  prospect 
of  the  discovery  of  a  curative  agent.  At  the 
moment,  almost  the  only  hope  of  cure  lies  in 
early  and  radical  operation.  In  superficial 
cancers  the  X-rays  and  radium  emanations 
seem  to  effect  a  cure  by  causing  a  retrogression 
(»r  a  necrosis  of  the  cancer  elements.  Cancer 
in  mice  occasionally  undergoes  retrogression 
and  cure,  and  the  same  thing  occurs,  although 
rarely,  in  human  cancer.  It  has  been  found 
that  the  blood  serum  of  the  mice  in  which 
this  spontaneous  cure  had  occurred  exerted  a 
marked  curative  action  on  other  mice  suffering 
from  the  disease.  This  suggests  the  possibility 
that  work  of  a  similar  nature  may  eventually 
lead  to  the  discovery  of  a  means  of  treating 
human  cancer,  but  the  probability  is  small  in 
Dr.  Hewitt's  opinion.  It  is  extremely  unlikely 
thaPthc  ser  im  of  any  animal  would  have  any 


effect  on  the  human  being.  A  spontaneously 
cured  human  being  would  almost  certainly  have 
to  provide  the  serum.     Further: 

"The  cancer  of  one  animal  is  inoculable  only 
into  another  animal  of  the  same  species,  and 
human  cancer,  therefore,  cannot  be  transmitted  to 
the  lower  animals.  All  attempts  to  isolate  ^ 
micro-parasite  have  proved  failures,  m  spite  of  ^ 
the  vast  amount  of  work  done  in  this  direction.  Jj 
The  alleged  organisms  of  cancer,  such,  for  ex- 
ample, as  certain  yeast  fungi,  have,  it  is  true,  been 
found  to  produce  tumor-like  growths,  but  these 
have,  on  critical  examination,  been  proved  to  be 
of  the  nature  of  granulomatous  growths,  and  not 
true  cancer.  A  point  of  which  a  good  deal  has 
been  made  by  the  supporters  of  the  par  sitic 
theory  is  that  the  so-called  'cancer  bodies,'  the 
alleged  parasites,  are  present  onlv  in  malignant 
growths,  and  not  in  normal  or  pathological  tissue 
nor  in  benign  tumors.  But  the  deduction  from 
this  fact,  that  these  bodies  are  therefore  parasitic, 
has  little  to  support  it  when  it  is  considered  that 
cancer  is  a  unique  tissue,  and  might  obviously 
contain  structures  not  found  elsewhere  and  not 
necessarily  parasitic." 

Nor  can  it  be  said  that  the  discovery,  or 
alleged  discovery,  of  the  microbe  of  cancer  has 
been  taken  seriously  by  the  medical  press  of 
Europe.  That  eminent  French  surgeon,  Dr. 
Doyen,  has  pronounced  the  microbe  called  "wi- 
crococcus  neo'formans"  to  be  that  of  cancer. 
Professor  Metchnikoff,  of  the  Pasteur  Insti- 
tute, is  quoted  in  Paris  Cosmos  as  saying  that 
in  a  series  of  tubes  in  which  were  placed  frag- 
ments of  cancerous  growth,  he  had  obtained  a 
microbe  identical  with  that  described  by  Dr. 
Doyen.  Professor  Metchnikoff  adds  that  all 
of  the  tubes — there  were  several — did  not  give 
this  result,  but  it  was  important  to  note  that 
two  specimens  of  cancerous  growth  obtained 
from  quite  another  source  did  yield  pure  cul- 
tures of  the  Doyen  microbe.  And  Professor 
Metchnikoff  says  that  he  has  had  opportunities 
of  observing  a  considerable  number  of  persons 
suffering  from  cancer  who  have  been  benefited 
by  injections  of  the  Doyen  serum.  The  report 
of  a  committee  of  scientists,  as  summarized  in 
the  Revue  Scientifiquc  (Paris),  is  not  decisive 
in  favor  of  the  Doyen  "discovery."  The  Brit- 
ish Medical  Journal  comments : 

"We  are  still,  therefore,  on  Professor  Metchni-       \ 
koff's  own  showing,  a  long  way  from  the  final        | 
elucidation  of  the  mystery  of  cancer.     We  are 
compelled  to  add  that  with  every  wish  to  believe 
that  a  cure  for  this  terrible  scourge  has  been  dis- 
covered, the  evidence,  so  far  as  it  has  been  dis- 
closed, appears  to  us  inadequate  to  warrant  any 
confident  hope  that  Dr.  Doyen's  serum  will  prove 
to  have  any  more  lasting  effec    than  the  various 
serums,  toxin  extracts  and  other  remedies  having 
some  kind  of  scientific  basis,  which  have  in  recent  ' 
years  been  tried  and  found  wanting." 


398 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


THE  DOOM  OF  THE  ATOM 


Among  the  many  and  fruitful  lines  of  re- 
search which  have  been  developed  during  the 
last  quarter  of  a  century,  asserts  that  able 
British  physicist,  Prof.  C.  Cuthbertson, 
none  possesses  so  great  a  fascination  or  so 
profound  an  interest  as  the  study  of  radium, 
not  only  on  account  of  the  great  delicacy  of  the 
experimental  methods  which  have  been  elabo- 
rated to  deal  with  it,  and  the  ingenuity,  skill 
and  originality  displayed  by  those  who  are 
engaged  in  the  investigation,  but  also  on  ac- 
count«of  the  far-reaching  effect  of  its  conclu- 
sions on  our  conception  of  the  nature  of  matter. 
To  appreciate  the  beauty  of  the  investigation, 
it  is  necessary,  in  Professor  Cuthbertson's 
opinion,  to  possess  a  technical  equipment  which 
is,  unfortunately,  not  common.  But  to  under- 
stand the  significance  of  the  results  obtained  is 
comparatively  a  simple  matter. 

The  first  great  advance  mide  by  chemistry 
during  the  seventeenth  century  was  the  dis- 
covery that  substances  which  had  appeared  to 
be  simple  were  really  compounds  of  different 
materials.  The  second  great  advance,  which 
occupied  the  whole  of  the  eighteenth  and  the 
early  part  of  the  nineteenth  centuries,  was  the 
analysis  of  such  compounds  and  the  study  of 
the  properties  of  the  materials  of  which  they 
were  composed  and  the  proportions  in  which 
they  were  combined.  Professor  Cuthbertson 
continues  (in  the  London  Outlook)  : 

"Out  of  the  great  mass  of  work  done  on  this 
subject  there  emerged  the  conviction  that  the 
atomic  theory  propounded  by  Dalton  was  a  true 
representation  of  the  facts  of  Nature,  and  that 
the  universe  was  built  up  from  a  number  (about 
seventy)  of  different  sorts  of  matter,  which  were 
called  elements.  No  one  had  ever  succeeded  in 
changing  one  sort  of  matter  into  another,  and 
the  doctrine  that  such  a  change  was  beyond  the 
bounds  of  possibilty  was,  until  lately,  the  most 
deeply  rooted  conviction  in  the  minds  of  chemists. 
But  during  the  last  twenty  years  evidence  has 
been  accumulating  which  has  shaken  this  belief  to 
its  foundations,  if,  indeed,  it  has  not  displaced  it 
for  ever.  The  first  important  step  was  taken  by 
Professor  J.  J.  Thomson,  of  the  Cavendish 
Laboratory,  when,  in  a  brilliant  series  of  re- 
searches, he  demonstrated  the  existence  of  por- 
tions of  matter  of  much  smaller  size  than  that 
which  has  been  assigned  to  the  atom  as  the  re- 
sult of  several  different  methods  of  calculation. 
Guided  and  supported  by  Professor  Thomson's 
results,  the  scientific  world  was  gradually  taught 
to  consider  seriously  the  possibility  that  even  the 
atom  was  in  reality  not  the  perfectly  hard,  elastic 
sphere  of  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
but  a  complicated  system  built  up  from  lesser 
units.     Not  only   was  this  theory  attractive  in 


itself,  from  its  boldness  and  originality,  but  it 
bore  in  its  train  the  possible  corollary  that  the 
various  kinds  of  matter  might  be  found  to  consist 
ultimately  of  a. single  primitive  material,  and  that 
the  difference  in  the  properties  of  the  elements 
might  be  due  to  differences  of  arrangement  of  the 
material  within  the  unit  we  call  an  atom,  just 
as  houses  of  very  different  appearance  can  be 
constructed  out  of  similar  bricks,  but  differently- 
arranged." 

The  possibility  of  such  an  explanation  of 
the  facts  of  chemistry  has  never  been  absent 
from  the  minds  of  philosophic  chemists  since 
the  days  of  Prout  at  the  beginning  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  But  for  want  of  experi- 
mental confirmation  it  has  never  gained  serious 
credence.  In  the  hands  of  Professor  Thomson 
it  took  a  new  lease  of  life  and  developed  from 
a  mere  hypothesis  to  a  theory  which  has  hith- 
erto withstood  all  attempts  to  break  it  down. 
To  quote  again: 

"While  matters  were  in  this  position  came  the 
astonishing  discovery  of  radium,  thorium,  actini- 
um, and  polonium,  supplemented  by  the  theory  of 
Professor  Rutherford  that  we  have  in  the  atoms 
of  these  substances  arrangements  of  the  primitive 
material  which  are  not  stable,  and  which  are  con- 
sequently breaking  down  before  our  very  eyes. 
The  triumphant  verification  of  this  theory  by 
means  of  researches  which  have  perhaps  never 
been  surpassed  in  brilliancy  has  given  to  the 
name  of  Professor  Rutherford  a  high  place  among 
English  scientific  men ;  and  Professor  Soddy,  who 
had  the  good  fortune  to  collaborate  with  him, 
shares  in  the  credit  of  an  achievement  of  which 
our  country  may  be  proud.  Briefly,  the  conclu- 
sions towards  which  our  present  knowledge  points 
are  as  follows:  The  notion  that  the  various 
elements — e.g.  hydrogen,  oxygen,  iron,  phos- 
phorus— consist  of  indivisible  and  immutable  par- 
ticles differing  fundamentally  from  each  other  is 
now  relegated  for  ever  to  the  lumber-room  of 
scfence.  Instead,  we  must  conceive  the  universe 
to  have  consisted  originally  of  myriads  of  entities, 
infinitesimal  in  size  even  in  comparison  with  the 
infinitesimal  atom,  and  possessing  only  one  known 
quality,  that  of  carrying,  or  perhaps  being  iden- 
tical with,  a  charge  of  negative  electricity." 

As  temperature  decreases,  or  other  condi- 
tions, of  which  we  have  no  knowledge,  change, 
these  ultimate  particles  or  electrons,  as  they 
are  called,  move  about .  under  the  influence 
of  two  sets  of  forces,  one  tending  to  bring  them 
together,  the  other  to  keep  them  apart.  A  de- 
crease in  the  latter  set  would  result  in  the 
formation  of  collocations  of  electrons  of  every 
conceivable  shape,  size  and  arrangement— just 
as  we  may  conceive,  in  the  stellar  tmiverse,  the 
evolution  of  an  infinite  number  of  possible  solar 
systems.    But  not  all  these  collocations  would 


SCIENCE  AND  DISCOVERY 


299 


be  permanent,  for  all  are  subject  to  the  clash 
of  opposing  forces  and  to  the  disintegrating 
effects  of  rapid  motion.  The  necessary  result 
would  be  that,  of  all  possible  configurations, 
only  a  few  would  survive  for  an  appreciable 
length  of  time.  Those  of  which  the  bulk  was 
too  large,  of  which  the  energy  was  too  great, 
or  in  which  the  conservative  and  the  destruc- 
tive forces  were  too  nearly  balanced,  would 
inevitably  break  up: 

"Only  a  few  forms  would  survive,  and  these 
would  represent  remarkably  stable  arrangements. 
This  is  exactly  what  we  find,  and  in  the  elements, 
as  we  sec  them  now,  we  must  undoubted V  recog- 
nise the  surviving  patterns  in  the  great  struggle 
for  life  which  is  thus  seen  to  pervade  the  inorganic 
as  well  as  the  organic  world.  But  this  is  not  all. 
If  such  a  hypothesis  were  true,  we  ought  to  ex- 
pect to  find  that  a  few  of  the  different  species 
of  atoms  at  present  known  to  us  are  in  an  unstable 
condition,  and  threaten  to  become  extinct.  Such 
elements  we  actually  find  in  radium,  thorium  and 
actinimn.  So  nicely  are  the  forces  balanced  within 
their  atoms  that  only  a  very  small  percentage  of 
ihc  atoms  break  down  per  second.  The  best  esti- 
mate at  present  is  that  a  given  weight  of  radium 
would  diminish  to  half  its  size  in  about  twelve 
hundred  years.  But,  slow  or  fast,  the  reality  of 
the  process  is  one  which  is  hardly  doubted  in  the 
scientific  world.    ... 

'it  may  be  inquired  whether  there  is  any  ex- 
perimental evidence  to  show  that  the  process  of 


disintegration  is  actually  going  on,  though  at  a 
slower  rate,  among  those  forms  of  matter,  such 
as  the  commoner  elements,  which  are  compara- 
tively stable.  Such  evidence  does  exist  in  the  case 
of  elements  so  widely  distributed  as  zinc,  sodium 
and  potassitun;  and  though  the  experiments  re- 
quired to  detect  it  are  of  extreme  delicacy,  it 
needs  no  optimist  to  feel  confident  ^at  within 
a  very  few  years  it  will  have  been  demonstrated 
with  as  great  certainty  as  is  now  felt  with  regard 
to  the  radio-active  elements." 

Those  who  think  most  deeply  will  l?e  the 
first  to  confess,  concludes  Professor  Cuthbert- 
son,  how  profound  an  effect  on  human  thought 
must  be  accomplished  by  this  new  conception 
of  matter.  Indeed,  to  our  authority,  there  are 
but  two  or  three  events  in  the  history  of  man- 
kind, such  as  the  discovery  of  America  and 
the  establishment  of  the  Copernican  system, 
which  are  worthy  to  rank  with  it  in  im- 
portance. Not  only  does  it  bring  within  the 
field  of  practical  chemistry  the  dream  of  the 
alchemist  in  the  transmutation  of  the  elements, 
but  it  opens  up  the  possibility  of  drawing  upon 
sources  of  energy,  locked  up  in  the  atom,  a 
million  times  more  potent  than  any  with  which 
we  have  hitherto  been  acquainted  and  a  mil- 
lion times  more  valuable  than  the  gold  or  other 
dross  which  might  result  as  by-products  of  the 
process. 


THEXWILL  AS  A  MEANS  OF  PROLONGING  LIFE 


The  properly  used  forces  of  our  mind  may 
render  us  important  services  with  regard  to 
the  prolongation  of  our  lives,  writes  Prof. 
Jean  Finot  in  The  Contemporary  Review 
(London).  There  is  no  doubt,  adds  this  dis- 
tinguished savant,  that  ill-directed  mental  sug- 
gestion shortens  life.  Arrived  at  a  certain  age, 
we  poison  ourselves  with  the  notion  of  an  ap- 
proaching end.  We  lose  faith  in  our  own 
strength  and  our  strength  leaves  us.  On  the 
pretext  that  age  is  weighing  heavily  on  our 
shoulders,  we  take  to  sedentary  habits  and 
cease  to  pursue  our  occupations  with  vigor. 
Little  by  little,  our  blood,  vitiated  by  idleness, 
and  our  feebly  renewed  tissues  open  the  door  to 
all  sorts  of  maladies.  Precocious  old  age  lays 
siege  to  us.  We  succumb  earlier  than  we  need 
have  done  as  a  result  of  injurious  auto-sug- 
gestion. 

Now,  asks  Professor  Finot,  why  should  we 
not  endeavor  to  live  by  auto-suggestion  in- 
stead of*dying  by  it?    The  power  of  auto-sug- 


gestion is  limitless  within  its  sphere.  We 
quote : 

"The  action  on  the  body  of  our  psychic  life 
manifests  itself  thus  in  all  forms.  The  discovery 
of  the  vaso-motor  nerves,  made  by  Claude  Ber- 
nard, has  enabled  us  to  introduce  a  little  order 
amongst  the  numerous  and  complicated  effects 
provoked  by  suggestion  both  fro  without  and 
from  within  (auto-suggestion).  We  now  know 
the  controlling  action  of  the  brain,  which  by 
means  of  the  vaso-motor  nerves  has  an  effect  on 
all  our  organs.  The  beating  of  the  heart  may  be- 
come slower,  quicker,  or  may  even  cease,  under 
the  stress  of  emotions  such  as  anger  or  fear.  A 
very  great  fright  may  even  cause  death  through 
syncope. 

"Intense  attention,  concentrated  on  any  portion 
of  our  body,  provokes  manifest  changes  there. 
Thus  redness  or  paleness  may  be  induced  in  the 
face,  or  swellings  on  different  parts  of  the  body. 
Certain  monks  were  found  with  the  red  marks 
of  flagellation  or  with  the  signs  of  Christ's  suf- 
fering, as  the  result  of  too  prolonged  or  too  often 
repeated  hours  of  ecstasy.  Charcot  relates  nu- 
merous cases  of  the  phenomena  of  burns  or  ecchy- 
moses  appearing  on  the  bodies  of  people  as  a  con- 
sequence of  suggestion   directed  to  that   end. 


300 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


"By  the  aid  of  simple  suggestion  we  can  thus 
diagnose  functional  troubles,  organic  injuries  and 
hemorrhages  as  well  as  curative  vaso-constric- 
tion.  The  cases  of  cure  by  suggestion  of  the 
expectoration  of  blood,  and  especially  of  bleeding 
from  the  nose  (epistaxis),  are  exceedingly  fre- 
quent. This  has  been  noticed  chiefly  i  connec- 
tion with  loss  of  blood  caused  by  wounds.  Punc- 
tures, however  deep,  in  the  hypnotic  state  are 
never  accompanied  by  a  flow  of  blood." 

If,  next,  we  consider  the  cases  of  nonage- 
narians or  centenarians,  we  realize  that  it  is 
the  suggestion  of  force,  the  innate  conviction 
that  resistance  is  possible,  together  with  the 
absence  of  depressing  ideas,  which  has  chiefly 
contributed  to  the  preservation  of  their  health 
and  their  prolonged  life.  Hence  we  can  see 
how  important  it  is  to  shut  the  door  of  one's 
heart,  or  rather  of  one's  brain,  to  all  injurious 
ideas  as  to  limits  of  life.  Nature,  who  cre- 
ated poisons,  also  created  their  antidotes. 
What,*  for  instance,  can  be  more  painful  to 
almost  all  mortals  than  the  mere  thought  of 
inevitable  old  age  ?  Nearly  as  many  tears  have 
been  shed  over  this  necessity  as  over  that  of 
death.  We  think  too  much  of  the  diseases  of 
our  organs,  of  the  using  up  of  our  tissue  and 
of  fatal  decrepitude.  We  distrust  our  physical 
and  intellectual  forces,  our  memory,  our  con- 
versational gifts  and  powers  of  work.  The  re- 
proach of  having  a  mind  or  a  consciousness 
which  is  either  senile  or  worn  out  creates  in 
us  a  feeling  of  revolt.  We  cannot  bear  to 
have  anyone  daring  to  doubt  our  strength  or 
our  youth.  Yet  how  many  there  are  who 
venture  to  animadvert  on  a  sentence  of  se- 
nility unjustly  passed  upon  them  ?  Indeed,  men 
who  have  reached  a  certain  age  bow  all  the 
more  before  such  a  reproach  and  do  their  best 
to  deserve  it.    Says  M.  Finot : 

"Our  superstitions  also  have  a  share  of  the 
responsibility  here  as  in  all  other  things.  Almost 
all  of  us  experience  that  of  pseudo-senility.  Thus 
we  imagine  that  at  sixty  years  of  age  or  even 
earlier  our  hour  of  retirement  has  sounded.  From 
this  moment  we  give  up  our  occupations,  our  ex- 
ercise, our  pleasures.  We  withdraw  from  life 
and  it  in  turn  withdraws  from  us.  Now  physi- 
ology is  there  to  demonstrate  to  us  that  our 
organism  may  yet  accomplish  all  the  physiological 
functions  of  the  preceding  periods.  And  if  our 
digestion  or  some  other  function  is  weak  or  par- 
alysed, we  have  not  our  years* to  thank,  but  the 
bad  use  to  which  we  have  put  them.  For,  what 
is  senility?  It  is  the  time  of  life  at  which  a  man, 
who  has  only  a  worn-out  organism  at  his  service, 
must  die  his  natural  death.  Now  this  limit,  which 
might  theoretically  be  put  at  150  or  200  years, 
exists  even  in  reality  much  further  off  than  we 
venture  to  believe. 

"For  a  proof  of  this  I  will  take  a  series  of 
curious  statistical  tables  of  deaths  from  old  age 


in  Paris  during  a  period  of  eleven  years,  which 
were  drawn  up  by  Dr.  A.  Block  (Bulletin  de  la 
Sociiti  d'Anthropologie  de  Paris,  1896).  The  re- 
sult shows  that  even  in  this  city  of  Paris  which 
has  such  an  unwholesome  effect  on  people's  health 
and  longevity,  senility,  such  as  we  have  just  de- 
fined it,  appears  frequently  at  the  age  of  from  80 
to  85,  and  even  some  years  later. 

"The  critical  period  for  an  old  man  in  Paris 
therefore  appears  to  be  between  80  and  85,  for 
in  these  five  years  there  are  the  most  numerous 
deaths  from  senility.  The  author,  in  comparing 
all  these  facts,  arrives  at  the  apparently  para- 
doxical conclusion  that  from  the  age  of  80  illness 
has  less  power  over  an  old  man  the  older  he  be- 
comes. In  other  words,  after  having  passed  this 
critical  age,  man  has  more  chance  of  dying  of 
a  natural  death — that  is  to  say,  of  crossing  the 
threshold  of  his  centenary.  What  is  the  reason 
of  this?  It  is  very  simple.  It  often  takes  a  man 
80  years  of  experience  to  know  how  to  direct  the 
capacities  of  his  organism  with  precision. 

"The  most  important  thing  for  us  is  that  death 
from  pneumonia,  heart  disease  and  cerebral  con- 
gestion or  hemorrhage,  is  hy  no  means  so  fre- 
quent after  the  age  of  60  as  is  ordinarily  believed. 
In  other  terms  the  respiratory  apparatus,  the  cir- 
culation and  even  the  digestive  organs  continue 
their  functions,  or  rather  they  have  no  special 
reason  for  not  continuing  their  functions.  In  any 
case,  it  is  not  senile  decay,  a  natural  cause,  which 
deprives  us  of  their  use,  but  all  sorts  of  accidental 
causes.  Which  of  us  has  not  met  men  who  have 
passed  the  age  of  80  ^nd  yet  digest  and  breathe 
very  well  and  are  still  enjoying  all  their  intel- 
lectual faculties? 

"Rational  economy  in  the  use  of  our  organs 
may  preserve  them  for  their  work  far  beyond  a 
century.  Often  all  that  is  required  is  that  we 
should  be  saturated  from  an  early  a^e  with  thi^ 
truth  in  order  to  enable  all  who  are  m  love  with 
life  to  pass  beyond  this  long  stage  of  the  journey." 

But  how  are  we  to  counteract  the  depressing 
influences  which  lie  in  wait  for  us  at  '^very 
moment  of  our  lives  ?  Often  it  is  quite  enough 
for  someone  to  tell  us  something  nice  and 
pleasant  to  produce  a  condition  of  peace  and 
serenity  in  our  minds;  and  often  in  the  grip 
of  analytical  melancholy  or  of  unlin«itcd  de- 
spair if  we  sit  down  to  think  over  our  case, 
we  find  it  by  no  means  so  exasperating  as  it 
seemed  and  unhappy  impressions  fade  away. 
But  those  who  feel  incapable  of  putting  this 
comforting  philosophy  into  practice  may  have 
recourse  to  a  surprisingly  simple  method. 
What  is  required  is  auto-suggestion  for  each 
given  case.    We  quote  again: 

"Does  not  psycho  herapeutics,  the  new  depar- 
ture in  medicine,  teach  us  that  certain  illnesses  dis- 
appear as  if  by  enchantment  as  the  result  of  con- 
stantly repeated  suggestions?  Dr.  F.  Regnault 
relates  that  in  treating  a  hypochondriac  he  ad- 
vised him  to  write  on  the  wall  every  evenin-^  tlie 
words  T  am  happy,'  and  to  go  off  t3  sleep  in  full 
view  of  them.    After  a  few  weeks  happiness  be- 


SCIENCE  AND  DISCOVERY 


301 


gan  to  steal  into  his  spirit.  Which  of  us,  in 
^»eaking  of  God,  does  not  instinctively  turn 
towards  the  sky?  Neither  science  nor  reason  can 
prevail  against  the  mechanical  repetition  of  the 
I^rase,  which  is  yet  so  contrary  to  the  most  ele- 
mentary notions  of  astronomy?  *Our  Father, 
which  art  in  Heaven.'  In  moments  of  distress, 
astronomers  themselves  may  be  found  seeking  for 
their  God  in  some  hidden  corner  of  the  universe ! 
*What  endless  resource  is  provided  in  this 
way  against  the  invading  years!     Let  us  accept 


them  with  confidence  and  look  on  them  with  the 
softness  which  befits  men  of  wisdom.  Let  us  ever 
keep  before  our  eyes  comforting  examples  of 
serene  old  age  and  probable  longevity.  Little  by 
little  our  optimistic  visions  will  become  a  guard 
of  honour.  They  will  be  on  the  watch  that  poi- 
sonous fears  do  not  take  possession  of  our  con- 
sciousness. Those  who  are  not  sensitive  to  this 
surrounding  atmosphere  of  reasoned  thought  may, 
on  the  other  hand,  have  recourse  to  direct  and 
repeated  suggestion." 


BITING  APPARATUS  OF  THE  MOSQUITO 


Just  how  the  mosquito  bites  a  human  being 
is  a  matter  of  some  controversy,  but  the  latest 
exposition  is  set  forth  by  Dr.  James  Scott  in 
London  Countryside,  He  agrees  that  the  male 
is  not  the  offender.  It  is  the  female  that  stings 
man.  She  has  a  long,  straight 
trunk,  terminating  in  two  lobes 
or  sucking  lips.  Within  this 
receptacle  are  five  lancets,  while 
a  slender  one  fits  into  a  groove 
or  slit,  which  divides  the  whole 
trunk  lengthwise  and  permits 
the  complete  set  of  lancets  to  be 
withdrawn.  When  the  mosquito 
is  about  to  set  to  work,  she  fits 
the  lips  of  the  trunk  against  the 
skin  and  literally  bores  a  hole 
into  the  flesh.  In  order  to  test 
her  ability  fully.  Dr.  Scott 
caught  an  insect  and  confined  it 
as  a  prisoner  inside  the  glass- 
topped  lid  from  a  circular  box 
tied  firmly  to  his  arm. 

As  the  six  lancets,  combined 
to  form  a  single  firm  tool,' were 
thrust  deeper  and  deeper  into 
the  arm,  the  trunk  became  bent 
in  a  backward  direction,  vibrat- 
ing like  a  gently  waving  leech 
in  its  act  of  suction.  The  slit 
was  tightly  closed  meanwhile. 
Its  -two  lips  were  firmly  com- 
pressed against  the  hole  from 
.which  the  blood  was  oozing,  and 
as  the  meal  progressed  it  was 
possible  to  see  plainly,  through 
the  thin  membrane  of  the  sides 
of  the  abdomen,  the  insect  swell- 
ing to  an  abnormal  extent  and 
turning  a  vivid  crimson. 

There  remains  the  mystery  of 
the   varying   intensity   of  mos- 


quito stings.  In  some  countries — notably  in 
Egypt — the  bite  of  the  insect  is  transmitted  to 
human  consciousness  in  one  quick  agony.  In 
the  northern  United  States  the  pain,  while  in- 
tense, grows  only  gradually  acute. 


London  Countr)/*i(U. 

THE  MOSQUITO'S  BITING  APPARATUS 


On  the  left  is  seen  a  much  magnified  picture  of  the  mosquito'8  trunk, 
....  .       ^  ,.       . 

^r c pi*  .-        ,■ 

flesh  and  in  the  lower  one  the  mosquito  has  thrust  its  sharp  piercer  right 


in  which  are  enclosed  the  piercers,  place< 
The  top  picture  on  the  right  shows^the 


firmly  against   a   human   arm. 
iercer   partly  embedded    in    the 


down  and  is  apparently  enjoying  its  meal. 


302 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


THE  MYSTERY  OF  MAN'S  CAPACITY  TO  ANSWER 
A  SIMPLE  QUESTION 


The  exact  course  which  those  nervous  im- 
pulses with  which  speech,  thought,  reasoning, 
deliberation,  etc.,  are  associated  take  in  pass- 
ing through  the  cerebral  tissues  is  a  mystery 
which  students  of  psychic  phenomena  are  try- 
ing to  shed  light  upon.  We  do  not  know,  for 
example,  the  exact  course  taken  by  the  nerv- 
ous impulses  concerned  in  the  production  of 
a  spoken  answer  to  the  simple  spoken  ques- 
tion? "Do  you  think  it  will  rain  to-day?"  So 
says  Dr.  Byron  Bramwell,  lecturer  on  clinical 


SPOKEN  ANSWER  TO 

A  SPOKfN  QUESTION 

/cc\ 

Unrelligence/ 

\wmy 

@ 

^M"-^ 

\ 

^v 

jj 

'^ 

4 

-«^ 

Vrom  lb«  London  Lancet 

FIGURE  I 
Diagrrammatic  representation  of  the  course  which  the 
nervous  impulses  concerned  in  the  production  of  a  spoken 
answer  to  a  spoken  question  take.  A.S.C.,  auditory 
speech  centre;  l.a.c.  and  I'.a'.c'.,  lower  auditory  centres 
on  the  left  and  right  sides  of  the  brain  respectively.  Vo. 
S.C.,  vocal  speech  centre;  l.vo.c.  and  T.vo'.c'.,  lower  vocal 
centres  in  the  left  and  right  sides  of  the  brain  respec- 
tively. C.C,  hypothetical  centre  representing  the  seat  of 
Consciousnes.s,  intelligence,  and  the  Will.  The  nervous 
impulses  concerned  in  a  spoken  answer  to  a  spoken  ques- 
tion enter,  so  to  speak,  through  the  ear  and  pass  to  the 
auditory  speech  centre  (A.S.C),  through  the  lower  audi- 
tory centres  (l.a.c.  and  I'.a'.c'.);  from  the  auditory  .speech 
centre  they  pass  to  the  ideational  centres  in  diflferent 
parts  of  the  cerebral  cortex,  in  the  diagram  hypotheti- 
cally  represented  as  a  special  centre  (C.C.)  the  seat  of 
Consciousness,  Intelligence,  and  the  Will.  After  a  judg- 
ment has  been  formed  and  the  answer  has  been  aeter- 
mined  upon,  the  nervous  impulse  passes  from  the  higher 
cerebral  centres  (C.C.)  to  the  auditory  speech  centre, 
where  it  is  put  into  concrete  speech  form ;  from  the  audi- 
tory speech  centre  it  passes  to  the  vocal  speech  centre 
(Vo.S.C.)  and  thence,  through  the  lower  vocal  centres 
(l.vo.c.  and  I'.vo'.c'.),  to  the  larynx,  tongue,  lips,  Ac, 
where  it  is  emitted  as  spoken  sounds. 


medicine  in  the  school  of  the  Royal  Colleges 
at  Edinburgh  and  regarded  as  the  highest  liv- 
ing authority  on  aphasia  ?nd  brain  structure. 
In  a  recent  lecture  to  the  Royal  College  of 
Physicians,  quoted  in  the  London  Lancet,  he 
goes  at  length  into  the  riddle  of  man's  ability 
to  answer  the  simplest  question.  We  know, 
declares  Dr.  Bramwell,  that  the  sound  vibra- 
tions representing  the  spoken  words,  "Do  you 
think  it  will  rain  to-day  ?"  which  enter  through 
the  ear  cause  nerve  vibrations,  which  ulti- 
mately excite  the  function  of  the  auditory 
speech  center  (see  Fig.  i).  We  know  that  the 
spoken  answer,  whatever  it  may  happen  to  be, 
is  emitted'  by  the  vocal  speech  center.  But 
we  are  not  absolutely  certain  of  the  exact 
course  which  the  nervous  impulses  take  (a) 
in  thfir  passage  from  the  ear  to  the  auditory 
speech  center;  (&)  in  their  passage  from  the 
vocal  speech  center  to  the  lips,  tongue,  etc. 
We  are  still  more  ignorant  of  the  exact  course 
which  the  nervous  impulses  take  in  passing 
through  the  higher  parts  of  the  cerebral  mech- 
anisms— ^that  is,  between  their  point  of  en- 
trance to  the  auditory  speech  center  and  their 
point  of  exit  from  the  vocal  speech  center. 

The  question:  "Do  you  think  it  will  rain 
to-day?"  after  reaching,  so  to  speak,  and  stim- 
ulating the  auditory  speech  center,  flows  over 
and  through  connecting  fibers  to  numerous  as- 
sociated centers  and  may  excite  a  vast  series 
of  cerebral  actions.  A  whole  string  of  asso- 
ciated memories,  ideas  and  impulses  may  be 
called  up  in  the  mind,  a  number  of  voluntary 
actions  may  be  produced  and  a  number  of  new 
ingoing  nervous  impulses  may  be  generated. 
Thus  (to  quote)  : 

"The  person  who  is  questioned  may  look  at  the 
sky,  at  the  barometer,  at  the  weather  report  in 
his  daily  paper,  he  may  note  the  direction  and 
velocity  of  the  wind,  the  temperature  of  the  air 
and  its  degree  of  moisture,  and  then,  after  get- 
ting as  much  information  as  he  can  from  the  out- 
side, he  may  fall  back  upon  and  compare  the  in- 
formation derived  in  this  way  with  his  own 
personal  experience  and  with  the  information 
(knowledge)  which  he  has  acquired  (stored  up 
in  the  nerve  cells  of  his  cerebral  cortex)  from 
other  persons  or  from  books.  Then,  after  due  de- 
liberation, a  judgment  or  conclusion  is  formed, 
an  answer  is  mentally  determined  upon,  and, 
finally,  that  answer  is  put  into  concrete  speech 
form  (probably,  so  far  as  our  present  knowledge 
enables  us  to  judge,  in  most  persons  in  the  audi- 
tory speech  centre)   and  is  emitted  through  the 


SCIENCE  AND  DISCOVERY 


303 


vocal  speech  centre.  In  order  that  this  process 
of  thought  and  reasoning  may  be  carried  out,  a 
vast  series  of  cerebral  mechanisms  and  actions, 
throughout  a  large  extent  of  the  cerebral  cortex 
(diagrammatically  represented  in  Fig.  i  as  a  cen- 
tre--C.C),  must  be  brought  into  play.  Conscious- 
ness»  Intelligence,  and  the  Will  are  actively  en- 
g^ged,  the  reasoning  processes  are  called  into  play, 
after  due  deliberation  a  judgment  is  formed,  and 
an  answer  is  determined  upon.  All  of  these 
psychical  phenomena  are,  it  is  needless  to  say,  as- 
sociated with  corresponding  physical  changes,  with 
definite  changes  of  a  physical  kind  in  nerve  (cell 
and  fibre)  mechanisms  in  the  different  parts  of 
the  cerebral  tissue  which  are  engaged  and  brought 
into  action.  Finally,  under  the  influence  of  the 
will,  of  a  fiat  of  the  will,  as  it  is  termed,  a  motor 
discharge,  which  is  represented  externally  by  the 
spoken 'answer  to  the  question,  is  emitted.  £ven 
the,  comparatively  speaking,  elementary  point — 
the  exact  course  which  the  nervous  impulses  take 
in  the  final  stage  of  the  i>rocess  after  the  answer 
has  been  mentally  determined  upon — ^is  ss  yet  un- 
certain. We  do  not  know,  after  a  judgment  has 
been  formed  and  an  answer  has  been  mentally  de- 
termined upon,  whether  the  nervous  impulses 
which  are  necessary  for  the  production  of  the  dis- 
charge of  the  vocal  speech  centre  (the  production 
of  the  spoken  answer  to  the  question)  must  pass 
(a)  through  the  auditory  speech  centre,  in  order 
to  act  upon  the  vocal  speech  centre  (as  is  repre- 
sented in  Fig.  i);  or  (b)  whether  the  higher 
parts  of  the  cerebral  mechanism  (C.C.)  in  which 
the  judgment  has  been  formed  and  the  answer 
determined  upon  can  play  directly  upon  the  vocal 
speech  centre  (Vo.S.C.)  (i.e.,  without  acting 
through  the  auditory  speech  centre)  .  .  .  and, 
if  so,  (c)  what  is  the  course  which  such  nervous 
impulses  take." 

It  would  appear,  so  far  as  our  present  knowl- 
edge and  information  enable  us  to  judge,  that 
in  most  normal  individuals,  at  all  events,  the 
action  is  through  the  auditory  speech  center 
(Fig.  i).  This  would  appear  to  be  the  case 
so  far  as  the  names  of  objects  and  many  ac- 
tions and  attributes  are  concerned.  -Whether 
the  same  statement  applies  to  the  other  parts 
of  speech  is  more  doubtful  in  Dr.  Bramwell's 
opinion.  Probably,  he  says,  the  auditory 
speech  center  is  first  stimulated,  and  then, 
under  stimulation  from  the  auditory  speech 
center,  the  vocal  speech  center  is  put  into 
action. 

Again,  the  answer  to  a  spoken  question  may 
be  emitted  or  discharged  by  the  graphic  speech 
center.  In  this  case  it  would  appear  that  after 
the  answer  has  been  mentally  determined  upon, 
it  is,  as  in  the  former  case,  first  put  into  con- 
crete speech  form  in  the  auditory  speech  cen- 
ter, from  which  the  nervous  impulses  pass  to 
the  visual  speech  center  (Fig.  2),  where  they 
are  translated  into  visual  speech  symbols ;  and 
then  from  the  visual  speech  center  they  pass  on 
to  and  out  by  the  graphic  center.     But  there 


WRITTEN  ANSWER  TO 

ASPOKEN  QUESTION 

ccA 

Vmrelligenoe/ 

J" 

W^^ 

W© 

"^ 

^  ^ 

From  the  London  Xoneei 

FIGURE  IT 

Diagrammatic  representation  of  the  course  which  ithe 
nervous  impulses  concerned  in  the  production  of  a  writ- 
ten answer  to  a  spoken  question  take.  A.S.C.,  auditory- 
speech  centre:  l.a.c.  and  I'.a'.c*.  lower  auditory  centres. 
Vi.S.C,  visual  speech  centre.  G.S.C.j  graphic  speech 
centre ;  l.g.s.  and  T-fc'-s'.,  lower  graphic  centres  on  the 
left  and  right  sides  of  the  brain  respectively.  The  spoken 
question  passes  in  by  the  ear  to  the  auditory  speech  centre 
(A.S.C.)f  t  through  the  lower  auditory  centres  0-a*c.  and 
r.a'.c'.) ;  from  the  auditory  speech  centre,  nervous  im- 
pulses pass  to  the  higher  "ideational"  centres,  diagram- 
matically represented  as  the  centre  C.  C.  After  the  answer 
has  been  determined  upon  the  nervous  impulse  passes 
from  C.C.  to  the  auditory  speech  centre  (A.S.C.)i  where 
it  is  put  into  concrete  speech  form ;  from  the  auditory 
speech  centre  (A.S.C.)  it  passes  to  the  visual  speech  centre 
(Vi.S.C),  where  it  is  translated  into  visual  speech  symbols; 
from  the  visual  speech  centre  (Vi.S.C.)  it  passes  to  the 
graphic  speech  centre  (G.S.C.),  thence  it  is  emitted 
through  the  lower  graphic  centres  (l.g.s.  ^and  tl'.g'.s'.) 
either  to  the  right  or  lert  hand.j 

is  reason  to  suppose  that  in  certain  circum- 
stances (probably  in  some  normal  radividuals 
and  certainly  in  some  cases  of  disease)  the 
"ideational"  centers  (C.C.)  can,  as  it  were, 
play  directly  upon  the  visual  speech  center  (Vi. 
S.  C).  In  some  cases,  for  example,  in  which 
the  auditory  speech  center  is  inactive  or  de- 
stroyed the  patient  is  still  able  to  write  spon- 
taneously. 

The  same  uncertainty  applies  to  the  course 
of  the  nervous  impulses  which  are  concerned  in 
the  production  of  a  spoken  and  written  answer 
to  a  written  question.  It  is  not  improbable 
that  a  solution  of  this  problem  would  carry 
with  it  an  explanation  of  the  vagaries  of 
human  testimony  conveyed  by  word  of  mouth 
and  in  writing. 


304 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


A  NEW  METHOD  OF  TREATING  RED  NOSES 


The  permanent  redness  of  a  human  nose  is 
due  to  pathologically  enlarged  blood-vessels 
and  may  be  consequent  upon  a  variety  of  pre- 
disposing circumstances,  according  to  The 
American  Inventor  (New  York).  Excessive 
drinking,  adds  this  paper,  is  far  more  seldom 
the  cause  of  the  anomaly  than  most  laymen 
suspect.  In  fact,  the  redness  is  most  commonly 
produced  by  an  extensive  though  very  slight 
freezing,  resulting  in  a  morbid  sensitiveness  of 
the  blood-vessels  as  to  variations  in  tempera- 
ture. 

An  efficient  means  of  remedying  abnormal 
redness  consists  in-scarifying  by  scratching  the 
extremities  of  the  small  veins  involved.  This 
process  is,  however,  rather  lengthy,  and,  more- 
over, is  liable  to  result  in  an  even  more  serious 
disfiguring  of  the  nose  than  the  original  color 
discrepancy  occasioned.  Treating  the  nose  by 
means  of  small  pins  is  a  process  which  may  be 
used  to  advantage,  though  its  duration  is  quite 
out  of  proportion  to  the  object  aimed  at.  Now 
Professor  Lassar,  of  Berlin,  has  esigned  an 
apparatus  for  this  purpose: 

"An  electromotor  is  made  to  drive  a  concussor 
(as  used  e.g.  in  filling  teeth).    The  latter  is  pro- 


vided with  a  stump  working  in  a  vertical  direc- 
tion and  to  the  centrifugal  end  of  which  a  bundle 
of  about  40  thin  gilded  platinum  points  has  been 
attached.     This  stamp  can  be  inserted  and   rc- 


Frora  nu  Amfrican  Inwntor. 

PRICKING  DEVICE 

moved  by  means  of  a  convenient  key  and  is  dis- 
infected carefully  before  each  treatment.  The 
nose  can  be  anaesthetized  by  chlorethyl  spray, 
though  most  patients  readily  endure  the  pricking 
treatment.  This  is  made  by  producing  a  very  full 
bleeding  of  the  skin  (cleaned  carefully  before- 
hand) by  a  vertical  application  of  the  needles  kept 
on  for  some  minutes.  The  bleeding  is  arrested  in- 
stantaneously by  compression. 

"Six  to  eight  sittings  (one  or  two  per  week)  are 
said  to  be  sufficient  in  most  cases  to  restore  even 
the  most  abnormal  nose  permanently  to  its  normal 
color,  without  leaving  any  scar,  by  the  superficial 
destruction  of  the  excessive  blood  vessels. 

"The  rapidly-repeated  pricking  may  be  com- 
bined with  the  use  of  galvano-caustical  or  elcc- 
trolytical  needles.  Dermatologists  have  been 
using  the  device  with  a  marked  degree  of  suc- 
cess. 


From  The  Amerlctm  Jnrmtor. 

RESTORING  A  RED  NOSK   TO  ITS  NORMAL  COLOR   BY   DESTROYING   THE.  SUPERFICIAL 

HLOOD- VESSELS 


SCIENCE  AND  DISCOVERY 


30s 


ANALYTICAL  CHEMISTRY  OF  MURDER 


Many  cases  of  poisoning  go  undetected  sim- 
ply because  suspicion  has  never  been  aroused, 
thinks  that  noted  English  chemist,  Dr.  Litton 
Forbes,  F.  R.  C.  S.  E.  But,  he  adds,  where 
suspicion  has  once  been  aroused,  and  where  the 
case  has  gone  to  a  point  at  which  chemical 
analysis  has  been  invoked,  the  guilty  prisoner 
in  the  present  day  has  very  little  chance  of 
escape.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  there  is 
now  no  known  poison  which,  if  administered 
in  a  sufficient  dose,  cannot  be  detected  after 
death. 

The  analytical  chemist  in  search  of  poison 
in  a  suspicious  case  has,  however,  some  pecul- 
iar difficulties  to  encounter;  The  inherent 
difficulty  of  some  of  these  cases  may  best  be 
illustrated  by  an  example  long  become  classical 
in  the  annals  of  poisoning.  Dr,  Forbes  nar- 
rates it  as  follows  (in  The  Grand  Magazine, 
of  London)  : 

**Onc  afternoon  in  the  month  of  March,  1882, 
Dr.  Lampson  called  on  his  brother-in-law,  a 
jouth  then  at  school.  He  brought  him  some 
cakes,  and  as  the  lad  was  not  feeling  well  sug- 
gested his  taking  a  little  medicine.  He  then 
handed  him  a  harmless-looking  capsule,  and 
twenty  minutes  later  took  his  departure.  A  quar- 
ter of  an  hour  after  he  had  gone,  the  boy,  whose 
name  was  Malcolm  John,  became  seriously  un- 
well. He  complained  of  heartburn,  of  sickness 
of  the  stomach,  of  difficulty  of  swallowing,  and 
eventually  became  delirious.  He  died  within 
three  and  a  half  hours,  apparently  of  paralysis  of 
the  heart! 

"A  post-mortem  examination,  as  often  happens, 
revealed  nothing  in  particular.  The  doctors  were 
at  fault.  The  symptoms  were  not  unlike  those  of 
hydrophobia,  and  the  immediate  cause  of  death 
seein«l  to  have  been,  as  in  that  disease,  paralysis 
of  the  heart.  But  this  supposition  was  untenable, 
for  the  illness  had  come  on  with  extreme  sudden- 
ness and  had  terminated  in  a  very  short  space 
of  time.  The  only  inference  perrais  *ble  was 
that  poison  had  been  administered.  This  being 
assumed,  the  poison,  it  was  clear,  could  only  have 
been  a  vegetable  one,  since  it  had  caused  so  little 
internal  changes.  It  was  probably  an  alkaloid, 
because  of  the  rapidity  of  its  action.  But  certain 
virulent  alkaloids,  such  as  strychnine,  atropine 
(belladonna),  and  morphia,  were  excluded,  be- 
cause there  were  neither  violent  spasms,  dilation 
of  the  pupils,  nor  a  tendency  to  sleep.  Such,  then, 
was  the  riddle  which  the  chemists  had  to  read. 

"They  went  to  work  very  systematically,  very 
patiently  and  very  skilfully.  They  had  practically 
to  pass  in  review  the  whole  group  of  vegetable 
poisons.  Their  first  step  in  the  analysis  was  to 
plunge  the  stomach  and  its 'contents  into  spirits 
of  wine  (alcohol),  and  leave  it  undisturbed  there 
for  two  days  and  nights.  Then  this  spirit  was 
carefully  poured  off  and  filtered,  and  both  it  and 
the  residue  so  obtained  were  set  aside  for  further 


examination.  This  residue  was  next  subjected  to 
the  action  of  warm  alcohol  and  tartaric  acid,  then 
allowed  to  cool,  and  once  more  filtered.  After 
further  treatment  a  clear  solution  was  finally 
obtained.  This  was  now  shaken  up  with  ether 
in  order  to  remove  various  fatty  and  other  mat- 
ters. Then  chloroform  and  ether  were  used,  but 
this  time  together.  They  would,  it  was  known, 
dissolve  out  all  alkaloids  present.  On  evaporation 
a  deposit  was  left  This  must  now  consist  of  one 
or  more  alkaloids.  It  only  remained  to  say  what 
the  alkaloid  was,  and  to  give  a  reasonable  esti- 
mate of  the  quantity  of  the  poison  oiginally  ad- 
ministered. 

"Now,  some  of  the  alkaloids  are  much  more 
easily  recognised  chemically  than  others.  In  a 
few  cases  chemical  tests  are  not  wholly  sufficient. 
They  must  be  supplemented  but  not  replaced  by 
others,  such  as  their  taste,  and  especially  their 
known  action  on  living  animals.  The  chemical 
tests  in  Lampson's  case  had  now  been  exhaust'^d. 
The  residue  above  mentioned  had  been  mixed 
with  a  preparation  of  gold,  and  a  further  deposit 
obtained.  This  had  been  weighed  and  then 
burned,  and  the  gold  left  had  then  been  care- 
fully weighed  again.  The  percentage  of  precious 
metal  found  remaining  gave  valuable  information 
indeed,  but  not  all  that  was  required. 

''Recourse  was  next  had  to  the  so-called  'physi- 
ological' tests  on  animals.  A  chemist  must  not 
be  too  nice  nor  squeamish.  The  mysterious  resi- 
due had  been  tested.  Though  the  quantity  so 
tried  was  infinitesimal  it  at  once  gave  that  peculiar 
tingling  sensation  to  the  tongue  which  is  abso- 
lutely characteristic  of  aconite,  and  which,  once 
experienced,  is  never  forgotten.  There  remained 
one  test  more.  The  quantity  available  was  very 
small,  and  therefore  very  small  animals  had  to 
be  employed.  A  portion  injected  under  the  skin 
of  a  mouse  caused  symptoms  of  poisoning  within 
two  minutes  and  death  within  thirty.  On  this  evi- 
dence, which,  be  it  remarked,  was  absolutely  con- 
clusive when  taken  as  a  whole,  and  which  could 
be  evidence  of  aconite  only,  Lampson  was 
hanged." 

This  case  has  been  related  in  some  detail  by 
Dr.  Forbes  because  it  exemplifies  the  methods 
adopted,  with  slight  variations,  in  the  detection 
of  all  vegetable  poisons. 

Aconite  (the  active  principle  in  wolf's-bane) 
belongs  to  the  same  class  of  vegetable  poisons 
as  Atropine.  Atropine  is  the  active  principle 
of  belladonna  or  the  plant  sometimes  known  as 
the  deadly  nightshade.  Criminal  poisonings 
by  atropine  ar&  somewhat  rare  in  civilized 
lands,  although  relatively  common  in  India. 
Atropine  impairs  the  mental  faculties  while 
not  destroying  life.  By  centuries  of  practice 
Hindu  ;  poisoners  have  gained  a  subtle  and 
deadly  skill  in  its  use.  It  is  said  that  personal 
enemies,  political  rivals  and  historical  person- 
ages have  not,  indeed,  been  killed  outright  by 


3o6 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


it,  but  rendered  idiotic  and  harmless  by  the  in- 
cessant administration  of  small  doses. 

Chemical  tests  for  atropine  are  numerous, 
but  the  physiological  test  is  at  once  the  most 
delicate  and  the  most  characteristic.  So  subtle 
and  so  potent  is  the  influence  of  the  drug  on 
the  eye  that  the  pupil  will  dilate  if  a  solution 
of  only  one  part  in  130,000  be  applied  under 
the  eyelid.  The  pupils  of  a  rat's  eyes  will 
slowly  dilate  if  only  the  animal's  forepaw  be 
placed  in  a  solution  of  atropine.  In  man,  a 
solution  of  the  strength  of  one  in  48,000  parts 
takes  only  about  an  hour  to  act.  This  reaction 
effectively  marks  off  belladonna  and  its  alka- 
loid from  all  other  known  poisons.  It  lasts 
long  after  death  and  cannot  be  interfered  with 
by  any  other  drug,  except  the  alkaloid  eserine. 
This,  however,  is  not  sufficiently  powerful  to 
interfere  with  it  for  long  or  completely  to  an- 
tagonize it. 

There  are  many  other  vegetable  alkaloids 
used  as  poisons,  but  the  general  way  in  which 
they  are  dealt  with  is  in  all  cases  the  same.  A 
solution  of  the  internal  organs  is  prepared  by 
soaking  in  alcohol  and  followed  up  by  other 
processes.  Advantage  is  taken  of  the  fact  that 
most,  if  not  all,  the  vegetable  poisonous  alka- 
loids are  soluble  in  ether  and  chloroform;  and 
that  they  can  be  "thrown  down"  from  this  so- 


lution by  a  gold  or  platinum  "salt"  or  com- 
pound.    Once  separated   from  the  suspected 
mixture  they  can  then  each  be  tested   sepa- 
rately.   When  thus  tested,  strychnine,  for  in- 
stance, gives  a  peculiar  reaction  with  chromate 
of  potash,  a  relatively  common  substance.      If 
a  small  particle  of  the  chromate  of  potash  be 
placed  in  contact  with  the  suspected  strychnine 
on  a  porcelain  plate,  and  a  drop  of  strong 
sulphuric  acid  added,  a  rich  blue  color  at.  once 
appears.    More  remarkable  still,  this  color  rap- 
idly changes  into  purple  and  then  red.     This 
reaction  is  incredibly  delicate  and  will  detect 
strychnine  with  unfailing  accuracy  in  any  mix- 
ture.    It  is  remarkable,  also,  that  strychnine, 
unlike  many  other  alkaloids,  is  a  most  stable 
substance  and  has  been  discovered  in  a  body 
exhumed  after  308  days.    It  is  also  recognized 
by  its  peculiar  and  searching  bitter  taste.    The 
chief  difficulty  in  its  chemical  analysis  arises 
from  the  small  quantity  in  which  strychnine  is 
generally  used. 

Of  metallic  poisons,  by  far  the  most  inter- 
esting and  important  is  arsenic.  In  France, 
out  of  a  total  of  793  accusations  of  poisoning-, 
287  were  of  poisoning  by  arsenic.  The  small- 
est fatal  dose  on  record  in  a  human  subject  was 
two  and  one-half  grains.  The  actual  mode  of 
action  of  the  drug  is  not  known. 


THE  NEW  ROCKEFELLER  INSTITUTE  OF  MEDICAL  RESEARCH,  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Music  and  the  Drama 


RICHARD  STRAUSS'S  "SALOME"— THE  MUSICAL  SENSATION 

OF  THE  WINTER 


"At  last  Wagner  has  been  surpassed/'  ex- 
claims an  enthusiastic  German  critic.  His 
words  are  evoked  by  the  extraordinary  quali- 
ties of  Richard  Strauss's  new  opera,  "Salome," 
and  find  an  echo  in  an  article  by  a  London 
Times  correspondent  who  speaks  of  "Salome" 
as  "epoch-making"  and  sets  it  above  Wagner's 
"Tristan  and  Isolde."  Strauss's 
opera  is  the  sensation  of  the 
musical  year,  and  is  exciting 
world-wide  controversy.  For- 
bidden by  the  censor  in  Vienna 
and  condemned  by  the  German 
Emperor,  it  was  given  its  initial 
performance  in  Dresden,  a  few 
weeks  ago,  before  an  audience 
of  musicians,  actors,  managers 
and  critics  from  every  civilized 
country.  The  spirit  of  acclama- 
tion in  which  it  was  received 
is  declared  to  have  been  un- 
paralleled in  the  annals  of  the 
theater.  Tumultuous  applause 
greeted  the  appearance  of  the 
composer  and  of  Ernest  von 
Schuch,  the  conductor.  "Dres- 
den has  gone  wild  over  'Sal- 
ome/ "  writes  a  correspondent 
of  The  Musical  Courier  (New 
York).  The  same  writer  adds 
his  conviction  that  the  opera  is 
"an  artistic  achievement  of  the 
most  stupendous  importance": 


"In  'Salome'  Strauss  has  suc- 
reed«d  splendidly  in  crystallizing 
his  maddest  dreams  and  imagin- 
ings. His  characteristic  tcchnic, 
full  of  startling  dynamics  and 
musical  epigrams,  his  rhythms 
hl>eratcd  from  scholastic  bounds, 
all  are  Oljrmpic.  Strauss's  great 
strength  is  his  pathos,  his  humor, 
and  the  fantastic  grandeur  of  his 
exotic  and  erotic  inspiration.  His 
treatment  of  the  themes,  their 
miraculous  structure  and  develop- 
ment, his  melodic  vein,  and  his 
orchestral  painting  bewilder  the 
listener  and  compel  limitless  ad- 
miration for  the  composer's  as- 
tounding art" 


The  theme  of  "Salome"  has  tempted  many 
painters  and  writers.  It  inspired  pictures  by 
Titian,  Rubens,  Diirer,  Carlo  Dolci,  Roger 
van  der  Weyden  and  Gustave  Moreau. 
Renan,  in  his  "Life  of  Jesus,"  suggests  a 
Salome  passionately  in  love  with  John  the 
Baptist  and   spurned  by  him.     The  idea   is 


RICHARD  STRAUSS 


Generally  conceded  to  be  the  sreatest  living  composer.     In  "  Salome,'    he 
has  succeeded  in  "  crystallizing  his  maddest  dreams  and  imaginations." 


3o8 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


SUGGESTION    FOR    A    QUITE    ORIGINAL    OR- 
CHESTRA FOk   RICHARD  STRAUSS'S 
NEXT  OPERA! 

—Jugend  (Munich). 


elaborated  in  Flaubert's  "Herodias"  and  Su- 
dermann's  "Johannes."  It  reaches  supreme  ex- 
pression in  Oscar  Wilde's  "Salome,"  written 
some  ten  years  ago,  and  performed  recently  in 
New  York  (see  Current  Literature^  Janu- 
ary). After  witnessing  a  performance  of 
Wilde's  drama  in  Berlin,  Strauss  was  so  deeply 
impressed  by  the  possibilities  of  the  work  from 
an  operatic  point  of  view  that  he  decided  to 
write  an  opera  along  the  same  lines.  He  has 
followed  Wilde's  text  faithfully.  The  opera 
has  but  one  act,  which  lasts  an  hour  and  forty 
minutes  and  takes  place  on  the  terrace  of 
Herod's  palace  at  Jerusalem.  The  story  can 
only  be  regarded  as  morbid  in  the  extreme. 
It  is  sultry  with  Oriental  passion.  All  the 
"objectionable"  features  of  the  drama  are  in- 
corporated <*nd  even  emphasized.  The  un- 
natural relations  existing  between  Herod, 
Ilerodias  and  Salome  (such  as  Sophocles 
drew  and  D'Annunzio  delights  in)  and  the 
neurotip  passion  of  the  young  princess  for  the 
ascetic  prophet  are  treated  in  the  most  vivid 
fashion.  The  critics  speak  of  "wild  crashings," 
"dismal  passages  of  great  length,"  "a  whirling 
chaos  of  instrumentation,"  "dissonances" 
whose  only  connection  with  what  formerly, 
at  least,  used  to  be  considered  music  was  that 
they  "came  from  musical  instruments."    Parts 


of  the  opera  re  said  to  have  filled  vtie  audi- 
ence with  horror,  foreboding,  and  affright. 
We  read  of  outbursts  that  "tormented,"  "made 
one  sweat."  Especially  prominent  in  this 
gruesome  depiction  is  the  scene  in  which 
Salome  sues  for  Johanaan's  love,  and  is  cursed 
by  him;  Salome's  dance,  the  wild  music  for 
which  is  called  "such  as  no  musician  has  ever 
yet  •written" ;  and  the  opera's  end,  where  the 
disordered  Salome,  after  uttering  her  inco- 
herent cries  of  passion,  kneels  and  kisses  the 
mouth  of  Johanaan's  severed  head  in  the  silver 
charger  on  the  floor  (a  scene  that  one  critic 
calls  "the  most  disgusting  ever  put  upon  the 
stage").  As  with  Wagner,  at  times,  while 
characters  are  on  the  stage,  no  action  for  quite 
a  while  occurs — the  play  of  thought  and  emo- 
tion the  sweep  of  the  drama's  development, 
and  the  final  outcome  of  the  situation  being 
conveyed  by  the  orchestra.  The  music,  as  a 
whole,  is  so  formless  that  a  leading  violinist, 
after  practising  his  part  for  more  than  three 
months,  confessed  that  he  could  not  whistle 
a  single  phrase  of  it  from  memory.  The  com- 
plexity of  "Salome,"  says  th  eminent  Danish 
critic,  George  Brandes,  in  the  Illustrirte  Zei- 
tung  (Leipsic),  "has  an  intoxicating  effect;  it 
bewilders,  too,  and  deludes.  It  martyrs  and 
irritates,  actually  breaks  in  pieces;  it  bru- 
talizes, and  keeps  on  the  stretch  to  exhaus- 
tion. .  .  .  Whether  this  collective  work- 
ing upon  the  nervous  force  of  the  hearers  is 
to  last,  must  be  left  to  further  experiences." 
Prof.  Oskar  Bie,  of  Charlottenburg,  subjects 
"Salome"  to  a  lengthy  analysis  in  the  Neu 
Freie  Presse  (Vienna).    He  says,  in  part: 

"Every  man  has  his  Salome,  and  now  Richard 
Strauss  has  made  one  of  his  own,  that  perhaps 
comes  the  nearest  to  the  malevolent,  voluptuous 
character  of  Moreau's  imagination. 

"Before  Oscar  Wilde's  text  sits  Strauss.  He 
is  no  dramatist,  no  lyric  poet,  no  composer,  no 
opera  maker,  but  an  orchestra  poet.  The  in- 
struments entice  him,  stimulate  him;  they  fill  his 
imagination  with  melodies.  The  wealth  of  the 
material,  the  inner,  tuneful,  dynamic,  rhythmic 
conceptions  press  in  upon  him,  ur^e  him,  in  the 
most  extravagant  manner,  to  form  and  to  fashion 
them.  .  .  .  More  than  in  the  semi-Wagnerian 
'Guntram/  more  than  in  the  dry  and  somewhat 
double-tongued  Teuersnot,'  it  seems  as  if  all  the 
latent  powers  of  his  nature  rose  up  in  one  long, 
mighty  response.  The  jewel  casket  is  thrown 
open;  it  plays  on  his  soul;  and  the  sounds  of  the 
harp  come  forth,  the  tones  of  the  flute  ring  out, 
the  soft  melodies  of  the  stringed  instruments 
soothe  the  senses;  the  reeds  lend  their  deep  col- 
oring; the  instruments  of  brass  call  forth  the 
passions;  the  big  kettledrums  and  the  cymbals 
convulse  the  world,  and  the  chorus  of  horns  finds 
itself  in  a  new  romanicism  centering  around  the 


MUSIC  AND  THE  DRAMA 


309 


ascetic  splendor  of  John  the  Baptist.  Is  it  still 
the  'Salome'  of  Wilde?  According  to  the  text 
she  remains  so,  with  a  few  unimportant  abbrevia- 
tions, but  according  to  the  character  she  has  been 
transplanted  from  Wilde  to  Strauss.  And  why 
not?  His  2^rathustra  is  not  Nietszche;  his 
Salome,  perhaps,  not  Wilde.  Wilde  only  charms 
hjm  as  Argenteuil  on  the  Seine  charmed  Monet. 
The  one  paints  a  picture  of  his  enchantress,  the 
other  embodies  her  in  a  musical  composition.  In 
reality,  however,  Richard  Strauss  sets  his  own 
soul  to  music,  while  Herod,  John,  Salome,  sing 
to  him  in  the  words  of  Wilde.  It  is  the  song 
of  songs  of  the  Dionysus  of  the  orchestra." 

Dr.  Paul  Pfitzner,  another  German  critic, 
concedes  the  enormous  power  back  of  "Sa- 
lome," but  thinks  it  is  power  wasted  and  per- 
verted. "The  music,"  he  says,  "reveals  the 
greatest  genius  in  those  very  episodes  where  it 
concerns  itself  chiefly  with  the  unnatural, 
criminal  elements  of  the  story."  He  comments 
further   (in  the  Musikalischer  Wochenblatt)  : 

"I  feel  impelled  to  point  out  that  it  is  a  sign  of 
the  most  dangerous  decadence  when  such  a  work 
(which  is  valuable  chiefly  as  a  psychological  docu- 
ment) is  able  to  achieve  a  success  so  complete 
and  so  unanimous.  And  also  it  seems  safe  to 
assume  that  Strauss  and  his  school  have  reached 
the  limit  of  their  kind  of  music  and  are  now  at 
the  parting  of  the  ways,  where  all  further  effort 
in  the  same  direction  must  end  in  the  destruction 
of  all  musical  law  and  order,  where  tonal  anarchy 
reigns  supreme,  where  the  future  looms  black  and 
forbidding,  where  cacophony,  ugliness  and  dis- 
sonance become  merely  a  matter  of  sport,  and 
the  medium  with  which  to  cause  astonishment  or 
shock — and  where,  on  the  other  hand,  everything 
must  be  left  behind  that  has  ever  been  considered 
beautiful,  true,  poetical,  legitimate  and  artistically 
satisfying  and  uplifting." 

Amo  Kleffel,  a  writer  in  the  Allgemeine 
Musik-Zeitung  (Munich),  comments  in  even 
more  caustic  terms,  branding  the  subject  of 
the  opera  as  "vicious"  and  "rotten  to  its  very 
roots."    He  says: 

"It  was  considered  almost  a  certainty  that  the 
intelligent  #nd  educated  Dresden  public,  accus- 
tomed as  it  is  to  the  best  in  art,  would  protest 
angrily  and  loudly  at  an  opera  whose  story  ex- 
cels in  gruesomeness  and  perverted  degeneracy 
anything  that  has  ever  been  offered  in  a  musical 
work  for  the  stage.  These  expectations  were  not 
realized,  for  the  opera  had  a  thunderous,  stormy 
and  unanimous  success.  At  the  close  of  the  per- 
formance the  three  chief  singers  [Frau  Wittich, 
Herr  Burrian  and  Herr  Perron]  were  called  out 
many  times,  but  the  public  would  not  rest  until 
the  composer  and  the  officiating  conductor  had 
also  come  out  before  the  curtain  and  bowed  their 
thanks  at  least  a  dozen  times.  This  proves,  then, 
that  the  most  perverted  vice,  the  most  degrading 
and  revolting  that  was  ever  conceived  by  human 
mind  and  put  into  an  art  form,  can  be  presented 
on  the  stage  today,  so  long  as  the  subject  is  new 


RICHARD  STRAUSS'S  WIFE 

Mme.  Pauline  Strauss-de  Ahna  was  the  heroine  of 
Strauss's  first  opera,  and  accompanied  him  on  his  recent 
concert-tour  of  this  country,  interpreting  his  songs. 

and  excites  the  listeners  with  unfamiliar  sensa- 
tions.   ... 

"Are  we  to  condemn  an  artist  for  following  the 
impulse  of  his  time  when  we  are  able  to  see 
all  about  us  that  on  the  stage— that  truthful  mir- 
ror of  our  period  and  our  customs — ^the  public  is 
regaled  with  the  most  depraved  pictures  and  its 
senses  stimulated  with  the  lowest  forms  of  de- 
generacy? Strauss  is  the  real  child  of  his  time. 
It  is  certainly  to  be  regretted  that  he,  one  of  the 
greatest  minds  we  have  ever  known,  and  certainly 
one  of  the  greatest  tone  painters  with  an  orches- 
tra, allowed  himself  to  be  attracted  and  inspired 
by  such  a  vicious  subject,  rotten  to  its  very 
roots." 

"Is  Strauss  played  out?"  asks  a  writer  in 
London  Truth,  perplexed  by  conflicting  com- 
ment on  "Salome."    He  continues: 

"As  is  usual  in  the  case  of  Strauss's  works, 
one  finds  plentiful  expressions  of  wonder  and 
amazement,  but  few  which  seem  indicative  of 
real  pleasure  or  genuine  admiration.  In  other 
words,  there  is  too  great  a  suggestion  of  mere 
eccentricity  and  cleverness  run  mad  about 
all  the  comments  which  the  work  has  so  far 
called  forth  to  encourage  the  hope  that  Strauss' 
has  presented  to  the  world  in  'Salome'  a  work 
really  worthy  of  his  powers — and  this  apart  alto- 


310 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


PAUL  HERVIEU 

The  leadine   contemporary  French 
new   play,  "X/e  R^veil,"  has   "intense* 
quivering  dramatic  vitality." 


plavwright.     His 
i,  tnrobbing   and 


gether  from  the  outrS  and  unpleasant  subject  of 
its  libretto.  ...  It  is  only  unfortunate  that 
Strauss  himself  seems  to  strive  so  hard  to  in- 


spire skepticism  as  to  his  real  endowments  by 
following  precisely  that  procedure  in  regard  to 
the  choice  and  treatment  of  his  themes  which 
would  commend  itself  to  one  who,  though  enor- 
mously clever,  is  conscious  that  real  genius  of  the 
highest  kind  has  been  denied  him.  .  .  .  Mean- 
while as  regards  'Salome/  if  it  should  prove  that 
the  work  is  merely  as  the  criticisms  would  seem 
to  stiggest,  a  success  of  eccentricity  and  tech- 
nique, one  can  only  regret  it  profoundly,  for  a 
new  opera  of  worth  is  badly  wanted  at  the  pres- 
ent time." 

The  next  presentation  of  "Salome"  will 
probably  be  given  in  Leipsic,  and  the  third  in 
Turin.  Mr.  Conried  is  also  reported  to  be  ne- 
gotiating for  a  production  in  New  York. 
Only  six  or  seven  opera-houses  in  the  world 
have  the  facilities  for  presenting  it  The 
Dresden  production  is  described  as  having 
been  well-nigh  perfect ;  the  orchestra,  of  course 
(in  Dresden),  was  peerless.  The  orchestra 
(to  make  more  room  for  which  a  row  of 
orchestra-chairs  and  part  of  the  side  casings 
of  the  proscenium-boxes  were  removed)  num- 
bered a  hundred  and  twenty  performers,  and 
contained  a  new  instrument  called  the  hackel- 
phone  (from  its  maker,  Hackel,  of  Mannheim) 
— a  species  of  bassoon.  German  wits  have 
suggested  that  four  locomotive  whistles,  a  fog- 
horn, two  steam  sirens,  and  a  battery  of  how- 
itzers be  added. 


THE  PLAY  OF  THE  YEAR  IN  PARIS 


The  theatrical  season  in  Paris  was  brought 
to  a  climax  last  month  by  the  production  of  a 
new  play  by  Paul  Hervieu  entitled  "Le 
Reveil"  (The  Awakening).  Ever  since  his 
abandonment  of  novel-writing  as  a  profession, 
about  twelve  years  ago,  Hervieu  has  applied 
himself  chiefly  to  dramatic  composition,  and 
/  has  given  us,  on  an  average,  a  drama  every 
/  two  years,  carefully  and  thoughtfully  studied 
1  out.  The  Paris  critics  and  the  public  eagerly 
anticipate  a  new  Hervieu  play,  and  the 
London  Times  sent  its  dramatic  critic,  the 
friend  and  quondam  collaborator  of  Bernard 
Shaw,  Mr.  A.  B.  Walkley,  to  Paris  to  witness 
and  review  the  initial  performance  of  **Le 
Reveil."  He  has  expressed  himself  with 
wonderful  enthusiasm  for  a  critic  as  cautious 
and  conservative  as  he  is  known  to  be,  calling 
the  play  "a  little  masterpiece  of  its  kind." 

"You  have  in  Hervieu,"  he  rhapsodically  ex- 
claims, "the  flower  of   a    theatrical    tradition 


which  has  been  the  steady  growth  of  centuries. 
Because  it  is  an  axiom  for  him,  as  it  were  of 
birthright,  that  the  first  and  last  duty  of 
drama  is  to  be  dramatic."  Mr.  Walkley  con- 
tinues : 

"Hervieu  has  the  master  quality  in  the  theatre/ 
— intense,  throbbing  and  quivering  dramatic  vi-/ 
tality.  The  mere  rapidity  of  *Le  Reveir  is  extra- 
ordinary. From  the  moment  the  curtain  is  up 
you  are  plunged  into  a  turmoil  of  emotion;  for 
a  couple  of  hours  you  are  whirled  breathlessly 
round  in  the  vortex ;  and,  when  the  curtain  comes 
down  again,  you  realize  that  the  dramatist  in 
that  brief  time  has  hurried  you  through  as  much 
life-history  as  would  furnish  forth  a  dozen  aver- 
age plays.  This  is  Panhard  or  Mercedes  drama : 
drama  which  laughs  at  speed-limits." 

The  plot  of  "Le  Reveil"  as  given  by  Mr. 
Walkley  in  the  London  Times,  may  be  con- 
densed as   follows: 

The  curtain  rises  upon  a  hurried  conversation 
between  a  couple  whose  names  do  not  matter, 


MUSIC  AND  THE  DRAMA 


3" 


for  we  see  them  only  for  five  minutes,  and  never 
agiin.  All  that  it  imports  us  to  know  is  that 
they  have  made  up  their  minds  against  a  match 
between  their  son  and  little  Rose  de  M^^,  be- 
caase  they  suspect  there  is  something  wrong  about 
Rose's  mother,  Thercse.  With  this  hint  they  de- 
part (we  are  in  the  drawing-room  of  the' Countess 
dc  Megee,  Rose's  grandmother),  and  what  is 
wrong  about  Thercse  leaks  out  in  a  conversation 
between  the  countess  herself  and  her  son  RaouL 
He  is  miserable,  and  cannot  conceal  it.  What  is 
tbe  matter?  He  fears  his  wife  no  longer  loves 
him.  Therese,  we  soon  find,  has  ceased  to  care 
for  her  rather  wooden  husband  and  has  fallen  in 
love  with  the  fascinating  Prince  Jean.  But  her 
better  instincts  have  saved  her  virtue,  and  she 
is  in  the  act  of  giving  Prince  Jean  his  final  congi 
when  their  conversation  is  interrupted  by  an  un- 
expected visitor,  Jean's  father.  Prince  Gr^goire — 
who,  it  seems,  has  made  a  wild  dash  for  Paris 
from  the  Sylvanian  frontier  on  business  of  the 
,niost  urgent  importance. 

What  that  business  is  he  confides  to  his  old 
friend  the  Countess  de  Megee.  The  moment  is 
ripe  for  him  to  wrest  the  throne  of  his  Sylvanian 
ancestors  from  the  assassin  who  now  occupies  it, 
and  he  has  come  to  Paris  to  stmimon  the  aid  of 
his  son  Jean — ^in  whose  favor,  when  once  the 
throne  has  been  regained,  he  intends  to  abdicate. 
But  Jean  flatly  declines  to  follow  his  father,  de- 
claring that  he  has  renounced  all  ambition  for  the 
sake  of  a  great  love.  The  father,  a  stern,  old  war- 
wol^  is  incredulous.  "Will  you  be  the  prince  that 
fails  in  his  sworn  duty,"  he  says,  '*the  knave 
prince,  the  coward  prince?"  In  the  upshot.  Prince 
Gregoire  gives  Jean  two  days  to  think  it  over, 
and  Jean  tells  Therese  that  the  issue  rests  with 
her.  He  will  stay — as  her  accepted- lover — or  will 
depart  to  Sylvania — and  almost  certain  assassina- 
tion. Terror  for  her  beloved's  life  gets  the  better 
of  Therese's  scruples,  and  she  makes  a  rendezvous 
with  him  for  the  morrow. 

Act  ii.  passes  in  the  house  appointed  for  the 
meeting.  But  Prince  Gregoire,  suspectitig  the 
lovers,  has  reached  there  first,  accompanied  by 
Keff,  an  emissary  from  the  Sylvanian  insurgents. 
The  pair  withdraw  into  the  next  room,  plotting 
to  catch  the  lovers  in  a  trap.  Enter  Jean  and 
Therese,  who  start  the  first  bars  of  a  love  duet. 
There  is  a  noise  in  the  next  room.  Jean  goes 
to  see  what  it  means,  raises  a  cry  which  is  quickly 
smothered  as  he  is  pulled  in,  and  the  door  is 
locked  in  Therese's  face.  She  beats  madly  against 
it,  and,  after  an  ominous  silence,  a  man  appears — 
Keff.  "Where  is  Jean?"  "On  the  floor  of  the 
next  room,  dead."  Half  dead  with  terror, 
Therese  totters  out.  When  she  is  safely  off  the 
premises,  Jean,  who  has  only  been  bound  and 
gagged,  is  let  loose.  "Where  is  Therese?"  "Gone 
back  to  her  home,  believing  you  dead."  Jean 
turns  in  a  frenzy  upon  his  father,  and  casts  off 
all  allegiance. 

Therese  returns  home  in  a  terrible  plight.  She 
has  tried  to  drown  herself  in  the  Bois,  been  inter- 
cepted and  brought  to  her  door  more  dead  than 
alive.  Her  hu^and  (a  worthy  dullard)  believes 
her  cock-and-bull  story  about  a  sudden  fainting 
fit,  and  will  not  T.'orry  her  for  details,  so  glad  is 
he  to  have  her  home  again.  His  display  of  honest 
— ahnost  canine— affection  touches  Therese.  You 
detect  the  beginning  of  a  change  in  her  mood,  a 


dawning  feeling  that  she  has  escaped  from  com- 
mitting a  great  wrong.  But  Jean  is  dead — let  her 
go  to  her  darkened  room  and  weep.  Not  so. 
There  is  her  daughter  to  think  of.  Absorbed  in 
her  own  passion  for  Jean  she  had  seen  nothing 
of  Rose's  poor  little  affair  of  the  heart.  An  out- 
burst of  grief  from  the  child  enlightens  her.  For- 
tunately there  is  vet  a  chance  of  bringing  off  the 
match;  but  for  this  it  is  necessary  that  Therese 
should  keep  her  old  engagement  to  dine  that 
evening  with  the  young  man's  parents.  And  so 
the  wretched  woman,  already  put  to  the  torture 
of  having  her  lover,  as  she  thinks,  killed  a*  nost 
before  her  eyes,  braces  herself  up  for  this  further 
martyrdom. 

Therese  then  puts  on  her  dinner  dress — ^and  is 
confronted  by  Jean!  He  had  hastened  to  her 
home  to  assure  her  of  his  safety.  He  had  half 
feared  she  had  committed  suicide.  Then  he  looks 
at  her  dress  and  starts  back  astounded,  while  she 
convulsively  clutches  her  cloak  around  her  bare 
shoulders.  "You  had  thought  me  dead,"  cries 
Jean,  "and  you  dress  yourself — ^like  thatl"  A.nd 
his  bitter  revulsion  of  feeling  drives  him  to 
taunts.  She  tells  him  he  knows  nothing  of  the 
chain  of  events  which  have  been  acting  upon 
her.  Poison  has  been  thrown  into  the  springs  of 
their  love.  They  bandy  to  and  fro  their  lost  illu- 
sions. In  Therese  Jean  had  pursued  the  Ideal,  the 
Absolute — ^and  has  suddenly  found  himself 
brought  up  sharply  against  material  limits.  A 
chill  has  fallen  on  his  enthusiasm.  Their  great 
love  lies  dead,  and  they  bid  one  another  farewell 
as  in  a  chamber  of  death,  noiselessly,  without  a 
gesture  or  a  word.  Thereupon  enters  Prince 
Gregoire  triumphant  "I  have  given  you,  Jean, 
the  superhuman  sensation  of  seeing  how  the  com- 
panion of  your  dreams  would  behave  at  your 
ftmeral."  Jean  has  nothing  for  it  but  to  be  off 
for  deeds  of  derring-do  in  Sylvania.  His  father 
kisses  his  hand,  murmuring  "My  kinglet,"  and 
the  curtain  falls. 

Not  all  of  the  writers  on  the  play  share  Mr. 
Walkley's  enthusiasm.  The  very  qualities 
that  stir  his  admiration  are  condemned  as 
faults  by  some  of  the  French  critics.  Thus 
Rene  Doumic,  writing  in  the  Revue  des  Deux 
Mondes,  says: 

"What  strikes  us  first  is  the  plethora  of  events 
that  follow  each  other  in  quick  succession.    The  •' 
complaint  has  already  been  made  that  a  tragedy  j 
is  too  constrained  in  the  space  of  twenty-four  | 
hours.    In  less  than  a  day  atid  a  half  the  multitude 
of  events  in  *Le  Reveil*  arise,  evolve,  and  reach 
their   culmination.      In    truth    she    [  i  herese    de 
Megee]    has   not   a   minute   to   lose.     Not   only 
are  the  events  numerous  and  hasty,  but  it  is  from 
their  combination  that  the  entire  drama  results. 
We  are  continually  obliged  to  make  all  sorts  of 
concessions  to  the  author,  and  to  allow  all  the  ^ 
arbitrary  arrangements  in  which   it  has  pleased  ' 
his  fancy  to  indulge,  and  without  which  the  very  / 
action  of  the  drama  would  become  impossible." 

Still  more  hostile  is  the  criticism  of  Marcel 
Mirtil,  a  writer  in  the  Grand  Revue,  who 
pretends   not    to   know   whether   to   call    the 


3" 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


play  "a  comedy,  a  drama  bordering  at  times  on 
vaudeville,  according  to  the  romantic  formula, 
a  piece  with  a  sentimental  theme,  or  a  simple 
melodrama."  He  concludes :  "  *Le  Reveil'  will 
not  add  another  jewel  to  the  theatrical  crown 
of  Paul  Hervieu." 
For  all  this  adverse  critcism,  it  is  safe  to 


predict  from  the  accounts  of  the  wild  en- 
thusiasm with  which  the  play  was  received  by 
the  public,  that  it  will  continue  for  a  long 
time  to  be  a  favorite  in  Paris;  and  it  is  pos- 
sible that  Olga  Nethersole  will  afford  us  an 
opportunity  to  see  it  next  year  on  the  Amer- 
ican stage. 


ANDREYEV'S  REVOLUTIONARY  DRAMA,  "  TO  THE  STARS  " 


All  the  storm  and  stress  of  the  last  fourteen 
months — the  revolutionary  struggle,  the  party 
dissensions,  the  defeats  of  the  radicals,  the 
danger  of  reaction — has  been  reflected  by 
Leonid  Andreyev  the  young  Russian  writer  of 
short  stories  and  impressionistic  sketches,  the 
author  of  the  unique  tale  "The  Red  Laugh- 
ter," in  a  new  play  which  he  has  just  finished, 
and  which  is  described  in  the  St.  Petersburg 
Molva.  It  is  to  be  produced  at  Moscow — if 
the  dramatic  censor  and  the  police  do  not  pro- 
hibit it.  The  drama  is  essentially  realistic,  but 
like  everything  the  author  has  written,  it  is  in 
a  sense  symbolical.  Like  Gorky's  last  play, 
it  deals  with  the  burning  question  of  the  rela- 
tion between  the  "intellectuals"  and  the  masses, 
and  deals  with  it  largely  in  the  same  spirit, 
though  the  treatment  of  the  subject  is  quite 
original.     The  plot  is  as  follows: 

A  Russian  scholar,  a  professor  of  astronomy, 
Ternovsky,  has  had  to  leave  Russia  on  account 
of  some  political  difficulty  in  which  he  was  im- 
plicated. Yet  he  is  not  a  revolutionist,  or  practi- 
cal agitator.  Science  is  everything  to  him ;  life — 
very  little.  He  has  settled  abroad  somewhere,  in 
a  secluded  spot,  in  the  hills,  on  the  top  of  one 
of  which  he  has  an  observatory.  With  him  are 
his  wife  Nina,  his  son  Pierre,  and  three  assistants 
— a  Russian,  a  Jew  and  a  German. 

Another  and  elder  son,  Nicholas,  has  been  with 
him,  as  well  as  the  latter's  sweetheart,  Mariusia, 
an  idealist,  humanist  and  revolutionary.  There 
is,  however,  a  revolution  raging  in  the  vicinity — 
not  the  Russian  revolution — and  Nicholas  is 
there,  fighting  for  freedom.  Mariusia  is  with 
him,  risking  her  life.  "It  is  not  our  revolution," 
says  the  Ternovsky  family,  but  still  a  struggle  for 
liberty  and  justice. 

The  professor  himself  takes  faint  interest  in 
the  agitation  of  his  household  or  its  cause.  He 
sees  the  earth,  with  her  affairs  and  movements, 
through  the  spectacles  of  eternity.  Why  should 
man  think  about  his  own  life  or  death  and  ex- 
aggerate his  importance?  How  little  he  matters 
in  the  universe  in  infinite  time  and  space! 

News  begins  to  reach  the  isolated  family  from 
the  center  of  the  revolution — ^bad,  alarming  news. 
Blood  is  flowing  in  torrents;  heroic  fighters  arc 
falling  by  thousands;  the  soldiers  (hypnotized 
victims,  who  are  put  into  many-hued  uniforms. 


alienated  from  their  own  and  induced  savagely 
to  kill  their  fathers,  brothers,  sisters)  are  firing  on 
the  revolutionists.  A  relative  of  the  family,  an 
engineer,  is  brought  in,  horribly  dianembered, 
with  both  legs  gone;  a  bomb  had  hit  him.  Other 
revolutionists  come  in,  wounded,  weary,  desperate. 
The  cause  is  lost;  the  government  has  triumphed 
again,  after  awful  slaughter. 

Mariusia  at  last  appears;  she  has  brought  the 
revolutionary  banner,  concealed  on  her  person, 
but  Nicholas  is  not  with  her.  He  had  been  taken 
by  the  troops  and  put  in  prison.  He  was  in  the 
thick  of  the  fight  and  would  not  save  himself. 

It  is  necessary  to  rescue  him.  A  plot  is  laid, 
Mariusia  must  impersonate  a  countess,  enter  the 
prison  and  effect  the  escape  of  her  beloved. 

The  plot  fails,  and  all  hope  is  abandoned. 
Nicholas  loses  his  mind  in  confinement.  Mariu- 
sia is  in  despair.  The  people  had  bitterly  disap- 
pointed her.  She  thought  they  would  storm  the 
prison,  sacrifice  themselves  cheerfully  to  save  their 
leader  and  friend.  But  they  are  indifferent, 
cowardly,  selfish.  Why  live?  The  best  perish, 
the  cause  is  defeated ;  the  masses  are  ignorant,  de- 
graded, hopeless.  "But  the  masses  have  always 
stoned  their  prophets,"  says  the  professor.  "Then 
how  can  we  live  among  those  who  stone  their 
prophets?"  asks  the  girl.  Ternovsky  answers  that 
life  is  full  of  such  tragedies.  Every  second  a 
man  dies — perhaps  a  world  is  destroyed  every 
second  in  the  infinite  universe.  If  we  could  know 
what  goes  on  in  the  universe,  we  might  die  of 
terror  or  be  consumed  by  ectasy.  We  are  igno- 
rant, but  what  we  do  know  is  that  over  all  worlds 
and  systems  there  reigns  an  eternal  spirit. 

But  Mariusia  is  of  the  earth,  and  the  things  of 
the  earth  alone  concern  her.  She  refuses  to  be 
reconciled.  She  is  bitter,  ironical,  scornful.  She 
talks  about  building  a  new  city,  putting  all  the 
traitors  and  murderers  in  it,  causing  the  houses 
to  fall  on  them,  ving  it  Judas  for  a  ruler  and 
calling  it  "To  the  Stars." 

Ternovsky  says  that  only  those  who  kill  die, 
while  those  who  suffer  for  the  ideal  live  eternally. 
Mariusia  finally  recovers  her  faith  and  courage 
and  wishes  to  go  out  into  the  world  and  fight 
again.  The  scientist  says,  approvingly:  "Yes, 
go ;  give  back  to  life  what  you  took  from  it.  You 
will  perish,  as  did  Nicholas ;  but  in  your  death  you 
will  achieve  true  immortality,  as  have  those  who, 
happy  in  their  devotion  and  sacrifice,  have  kept 
the  sacred  fire  burning." 

And  Mariusia  goes,  realizing  that  the  road  to 
the  stars  is  a  hard  and  dangerous  one,  full  of  pit- 
falls and  obstacles,  with  victims  and  human 
corpses  lying  in  heaps  all  over  it. 


MUSIC  AND  THE  DRAMA 


313 


"ALL  THE  WORLD'S  A  STAGE" 


In  the  opinion  of  Richard  Mansfield,  the 
distinguished  actor,  Shakespeare  "expressed 
the  conviction  of  every  intelligent  student  of 
humanity"  when  he  put  into  the  mouth  of  one 
of  his  characters  the  words: 

"I  hold  the  world  but  as  the  world,  Gratiano, 
A  stag^e  where  every  man  must  play  a  part." 

The  lines  quoted  serve  as  a  text  for  an 
informal  and  sprightly  address  on  "Man  and 
the  Actor,"  recently  delivered  by  Mr.  Mans- 
field in  Los  Angeles  and  in  Philadelphia, 
and  now  printed  verbatim  in  the  Boston 
Transcript,     He  observes: 

"Shakespeare  doesn't  say  'ma/  play  a  part  or 
'can'  play  a  part,  but  he  says  *must^  play  a  part; 
and  he  has  expressed  the  conviction  of  every 
intelligent  student  of  humanity  then  and  there- 
after, now  and  hereafter.  The  stage  cannot  be 
held  in  contempt  by  mankind;  because  all  man- 
kind is  acting  and  every  human  being  is  playing 
a  part  The  better  a  man  plays  his  part  the  bet- 
ter he  succeeds.  The  more  a  man  knows  of  the 
art  of  acting  the  greater  the  man;  for,  from  the 
king  on  his  throne  to  the  beggar  in  the  street, 
every  man  is  acting.  There  is  no  greater  come- 
dian or  tragedian  in  the  world  than  a  great  king. 
The  knowledge  of  the  art  of  acting  is  indispen- 
sable to  a  knowledge  of  mankind,  and  when  you 
are  able  to  pierce  the  disguise  in  which  every  man 
arrays  himself^  or  read  the  character  which  every 
man  assumes,  you  achieve  an  intimate  knowledge 
of  your  fellowmen,  and  you  are  able  to  cope  with 
the  man,  either  as  he  is  or  as  he  oretends  to  be. 
It  was  necessary  for  Shakespeare  to  be  an  actor 
in  order  to  know  men.  Without  his  knowledge 
of  the  stage  Shakespeare  could  never  have  been 
the  reader  of  men  that  he  was." 

Napoleon  and  Alexander,  continues  Mr. 
Mansfield,  were  both  great  actors — "Napoleon 
perhaps,  the  greatest  actor  the  world  has  ever 
seen."    To  quote  further: 

"Whether  on  the  bridge  of  Lodi,  or  in  his  camp 
at  Tilsit;  whether  addressing  his  soldiers  on  the 
plains  of  Egypt;  whether  throwing  open  his  old 
gray  coat  and  saying,  'Children,  will  vou  fire  on 
your  general?*;  whether  bidding  farewell  to  them 
at  Fontainebleau ;  whether  he  was  standing  on 
the  deck  of  the  Bellerophon  or  on  the  rocks  of 
St.  Helena,  he  was  always  an  actor.  Napoleon 
had  studied  the  art  of  acting,  and  he  knew  its 
value.  If  the  power  of  the  eye,  the  power  of  the 
voice,  the  power  of  that  all-commanding  gesture  of 
the  hand  failed  him  when  he  faced  the  regiment 
of  veterans  on  his  return  from  Elba,  he  was  lost. 
But  he  had  proved  and  compelled  his  audience  too 
often  for  his  art  to  fail  him  then.  The  levelled 
guns  felL  The  audience  was  his.  Another  crown 
had  fallen!  By  what?  A  trick  of  the  stage! 
Was  he  willing  to  die  then?  To  be  shot  by  his 
old  guard?  Not  he!  Did  he  doubt  for  one  mo- 
ment his  ability  as  an  actor?  Not  he!  If  he  had 
he  would  have  been  lost.     And  that  power  to 


control,  that  power  to  command,  once  'tis  pos- 
sessed by  a  man,  means  that  that  man  can  play 
his  part  anjrwhere  and  under  all  circumstances  and 
conditions.  Unconsciously  or  consciously  every 
great  man,  every  man  who  has  played  a  great 
part,  has  been  an  actor." 

We  are  apt  to  say,  "Be  natural";  but,  as 
a  matter  of  fact,  asks  Mr.  Mansfield,  is  a 
man  ever  natural?  For  instance,  the  brave 
soldier — is  he  natural?  Mr.  Mansfield  re- 
plies, No.  The  bravest  man  is  the  man  who, 
knowing  danger,  is  afraid  and  yet  faces  the 
danger.  He  acts  the  part,  in  short,  of  a 
brave  man.  If  he  were  entirely  natural, 
he  would  run  away.  Or  take  the  case  of 
Diogenes.  He  pretended  to  be  absolutely 
natural.  Yet  he  elected  to  live  in  a  tub. 
where  everybody  came  to  look  at  him.  It 
would  have  been  more  natural  to  live  in  ap 
ordinary,  comfortable  house.  But  Diogenes 
in  an  ordinary  house  would  not  have  been 
Diogenes.  "So  universal  is  the  habit  of 
acting,"  says  Mr.  Mansfield,  "that  when  a  man 
ceases  to  act  we  cease  to  believe  in  him,  and 
the  only  creature  who  can  be  said  to  be 
absolutely  natural  is  a  maniac."  To  quote 
again : 

"So  fond  are  the  people  of  this  world  of  seeing 
a  man  act  that  I  have  noted,  and  it  would  be  im- 
possible not  to  note,  the  grave  disappointment  if 
any  personage  behaves  as  an  ordinary  everyday 
child  at  any  public  function,  where  Le  is  not  called 
upon  for  the  exercise  of  his  profession.  This  fact 
is  well  known  probably  to  all  men  in  public  life, 
and  that  is  why  they  dare  not  indulge  in  the  un- 
veilment  of  themselves.  I  have  no  doubt  that  if 
I  had  appeared  before  you  today  with  a  thick 
black  curl  over  my  brow  and  the  rest  of  my  hair 
floating  over  my  collar,  with  a  long  pale  face  and 
brooding  eyes,  with  an  absent-minded  air  as  if 
I  were  communing  with  the  spirits  of  all  the  de- 
parted poets,  I  should  have  made  a  much  greater 
impression  upon  you  than  I  do  in  these  clothes 
which  convention  compels  me  to  wear,  and  with 
the  expression  on  my  face  of  a  child  that  is  badly 
scared — ^which  I  am. 

"If  I  had  my  way  I  would  ask  you  to  come 
with  me  into  the  country,  into  some  green  field, 
and  be  allowed  to  sit  on  a  fence  and  dangle  my 
legs  whilst  I  whittled  a  stick  or  pared  an  apple 
and  discussed  these  matters  with  you.  And  as 
you  would,  as  you  probably  now  are,  be  soon 
very  tired  of  this,  somebody  might  pipe  a  tune 
and  we  could  dance  and  sing  and  be  children ;  in- 
stead of  which  I  shall  ^  walk  home  with  terrific 
dignity  and  grow  old  in  my  bones  and  stiff  in 
my  joints  and  condemn  myself  to  an  early  grave 
by  dint  of  acting  not  only  on  the  stage  but  off." 

It  is  just  because  everybody  is  acting  in  pri- 
vate life,  concludes  Mr.  Mansfield,  that  every- 


314 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


one  thinks  he  can  act  upon  the  stage.  "There 
is  no  profession  that  has  so  many  critics  "  as 
the  actor's.  But  acting,  we  are  reminded, 
is  a  gift  It  cannot  be  taught  "You  can 
teach  people  how  to  act  acting,  but  you  can- 
not teach  them  to  act.  Acting  is  as  much 
an  inspiration  as  the  making  of  great  poetry 
and  g^eat  pictures.  What  is  commonly  called 
acting  is  acting  acting."    Mr.  Mansfield  adds: 

"Actors  on  the  stage  are  scarce;  actors  off  the 
stage,  as  I  have  demonstrated,  I  hope,  are  plenti- 
ful. Life  insurance  presidents — worthy  presidents, 
directors  and  trustees,  have  been  so  busy  acting 
their  several  parts  in  the  past — ^and  are  in  the 


present  so  busy  trying  to  unact  them — ^men 
are  so  occupied  from  their  childhood  with 
the  mighty  dollar;  the  race  for  wealth  is 
so  strenuous  and.  all  entrancing,  that  imag- 
ination is  dying  out;  and  imagination  is 
necessary  to  make  a  poet  or  an  actor.  The  art 
of  acting  is  the  crystallization  of  all  arts.  It  is  a 
diamond  in  the  facets  of  which  is  mirrored  every 
art  It  is,  therefore,  the  most  difficult  of  all  arts. 
The  education  of  a  king  is  barely  sufficient  for 
the  education  of  a  comprehending  and  compre- 
hensive actor.  If  he  is  to  satisfy  everyone  he 
should  possess  the  commanding  power  of  a  Caesar, 
the  wisdom  of  Solomon,  the  eloquence  of  Demos- 
thenes, the  patience  of  Job,  the  face  and  form  of 
Antinous,  and  the  strength  and  endurance  of 
Hercules." 


HOW. TO  WRITE  SUCCESSFUL  PLAYS 


Mr.  Channing  Pollock,  reader  for  the  the- 
atrical firm  of  Shubert,  and  Miss  Elizabeth 
Marbury,  the  well-known  dramatic  agent,  have 
been  offering  some  useful  advice  to  aspiring 
playwrights.  They  seem  to  agree  in  feeling 
that  lack  of  technique  is  the  main  difficulty 
with  young  dramatic  writers,  and  the  opinions 
of  both  are  reflected  in  Miss  Marbury's  state- 
ment: "It  is  not  that  American  playwrights 
cannot  master  technique,  but  either  they  think 
they  have  it  as  a  gift  needing  no  cultivation, 
or  that  it  is  not  worth  while." 


CHANNING  POLLOCK 

He  is  said  to  have  more  successful  plays  to  his  credit, 
in  proportion  to  his  years,  than  any  other  American 
writer  for  the  stage. 


Mr.  Pollock  admits  that  "it  is  very  diffi- 
cult to  squeeze  new  situations  from  the  man- 
ners and  moods  out  of  which  about  a  "hundred 
dramas  have  been  pressed  every  year  during 
the  past  half  century,"  and  that  "it  is  especially 
hard  to  devise  original  material  in  America, 
where  prudish  restrictions  hedge  about  the 
theater,  and  anything  which  is  deep  and  vital 
in  life  is  immediately  set  down  as  immoral." 
But  he  adds:  "Certainly  it  is  true  that  this 
great  country  is  full  of  material  waiting  for 
dramatization,  and  it  must  be  equally  true 
that  it  is  full  of  authors  capable  of  accomplish- 
ing the  work." 

In  certain  elemental  features,  says  Mr.  Pol- 
lock, all  plays  must  be  alike.  For  example, 
"every  play  must  have  what  is  known  as  the 
'dramatic  triangle,'  which  means  that  its  plot 
must  be  the  story  of  two  men  and  a  woman, 
or  of  two  women  and  a  man.  Every  play 
must  deal  with  that  one  great  emotion — ^love." 
Mr.  Pollock  continues  (in  Smith's  MagajBtne)  : 

"There  are  a  great  number  of  things,  however, 
which  are  so  hackneyed  and  conventional  that  it 
is  no  longer  possible  for  an  author  to  attempt 
them.  I  do  not  think  any  manager  would  buy 
another  play  in  which  the  crucial  situation  was 
the  concealment  of  the  heroine  in  the  apart- 
ments of  the  hero  or  the  villain.  From  time 
immemorial  this  has  been  the  stock  episode  for 
the  third-act  climax  in  a  four-act  play,  and  au- 
diences have  begun  to  expect  it,  as  they  expect 
supper  after  the  last  act.  Personally,  I  am  free 
to  confess  that  I  would  not  recommend  the  pur- 
chase of  any  drama  in  which  the  conclusion  of 
this  third  act  did  not  bring  a  surprise  calculated 
to  make  an  audience  sit  up  and  take  notice.  No 
author  of  to-day  would  dare  be^in  his  work  with 
a  conversation  between  a  maid  and  a  butler. 
Neither  would  he  care  to  conceal  one  of  his  char- 


MUSIC  AND  THE  DRAMA 


31S 


acters  behind  a  screen  or  to  conclude  his  play 
with  the  finding  of  a  bundle  of  papers.  The 
cigarette  is  still  the  hero  of  the  sode^  drama, 
and  it  is  still  true  on  the  stage  that  the  happy 
conclusion  of  the  love  affair  between  'juvenile' 
and  ingenue  is  coincident  with  the  same  con- 
clusion of  the  love-affair  between  'leading  man' 
and  'leading  woman,'  We  begin  to  have  heroes 
who  are  not  too  angelically  good,  however,  and 
villains  who  have  motives  more  human  than  the 
mere  desire  to  be  beastly  and  draw  fifty  dollars 
a  week  for  it.  Very  slowly  and  gradually,  the 
perfect  man,  the  high-hatted  knave,  the  wronged 
girl,  the  funny  Irishman,  the  naval  lieutenant  of 
comic  opera,  the  English  butler,  and  their  asso- 
ciates are  passing  from  our  midst.  Peace  to  their 
ashes!" 

If  the  American  dramatist  intends  to  keep 
abreast  with  the  times,  suggests  Mr.  Pollock, 
he  must  seek  motifs  for  his  plays  in  the  ex- 
traordinary mechanical  development  of  the 
country.  "The  telephone  and  the  motor  car," 
he  says,  "are  speedily  becoming  bulwarks  of 
the  stage  in  the  United  States."  Furthermore: 
"The  possibility  of  giving  subtle  and  original 
treatment  to  familiar  phases  of  life,  together 
with  the  attendant  opportunity  of  revealing 
human  nature  in  the  theatre  holds  forth  the 
chief  promise  along  this  line.  Clever  twisting 
and  turning  will  make  a  new  episode  from  an 
old  one,  as  is  best  demonstrated  in  what  Beau- 
mont and  Fletcher  did  with  Lope  de  Vega 
when  they  adapted  *Sancho  Ortez'  into  The 
Custom  of  the  Country,'  and  playwrights  are 
learning  to  turn  little  things  to  vital  account 
in  the  construction  of  their  works.  A  glance 
at  a  photograph  nowadays  is  made  to  convey 
all  that  was  indicated  in  a  five-minutes'  talk  be- 
tween butler  and  maid  ten  years  ago."  Mr. 
Pollock   concludes: 

"If  I  were  a  producing  manager,  I  should  keep 
in  touch  with  the  men  whose  first  efforts,  like 
those  of  Paul  Armstrong  and  William  C.  DeMille, 
indicate  the  possession  of  marked  ability.  I 
would  set  them  at  work,  not  at  the  dramatic 
tailor  task  of  cutting  plays  to  fit  personalities, 
but  at  realizing  their  ideals  and  their  ideas.  Cer- 
tainly it  is  true  that  this  great  country  is  full  of 
material  waiting  for  dramatization,  and  it  must  be 
equally  true  that  it  is  full  of  authors  capable  of 
accomplishing  the  work.  They  will  not  be  the 
illiterate  glory  hunters  who  deluge  theatrical 
offices  with  their  manuscripts,  nor  will  they  be 
the  celebrities  whose  brains  have  been  pressed 
dry.  It  were  wise  to  look  for  them  among  the 
people  whose  professions  draw  them  into  close 
touch  with  the  real  world  and  the  theater ;  among 
the  newspaper  men  and  the  enthusiastic  play- 
lovers;  among  those  who  are  trying  even  now 
to  know  more  about  the  writing  and  reading  of 
plays." 

Miss  Marbury  thinks  that  Americans  would 
do  well  to  follow  more  closely  the  methods  of 


MISS  ELIZABETH  MARBURY 

She  says :  *'  No  man  springs  from  heaven  a  full-born 
playwright.  He  must  serve  his  time,  be  it  for  one  year 
or  for  ten,  according  to  his  qualffications." 

the  French  playwright.  Rostand,  she  points 
out,  rewrites  his  plays  six  times;  and  she 
commends  the  adage:  "Plays  are  not  written, 
they  are  rewritten."  She  goes  on  to  say  (in 
Harper's   Weekly)  : 

"It  is  almost  pathetic  to  see  the  people—poor, 
struggling,  inconsequential,  sometimes  .  illiterate 
who  attempt  to  write  plays.  I  have  had 
plays  sent  to  me  in  four  acts  which  would 
not  require  over  half  an  hour  to  present  on  the 
stage,  and  again  I  have  had  manuscripts  which 
would  take  five  or  six  hours  to  be  acted.  I  have 
seen  plays  where  single  speeches  occupy  pages 
of  typewriting.  I  have  read  plays — well,  it  is 
fairly  impossible  to  describe  to  the  uninitiated 
how  impossible  these  pieces  are.  Under  no  cir- 
cumstances could  they  be  acted ;  they  are  imprac- 
tical. It  is  amazing  the  kind  of  people  who  write 
plays — commercial  travellers,  trained  nurses, 
bricklayers,  postmen,  switchmen,  engineers,  actors 
and  actresses — by  the  dozen — chorus  girls,  law- 
ycxs,  college  students,  society  women,  ministers, 
doctors,  the  rich  and  the  poor,  the  literate  and 
the  illiterate,  the  young  and  the  old. 

"No  man  springs  from  heaven  a  full-born  play- 
wright. He  must  serve  his  time,  be  it  for  one 
year  or  for  ten,  according  to  his  qualifications. 
Me  must  learn  the  principles  of  the  profession 
he  has  chosen.  He  should  study  the  technique 
and  constrftction,  play  upon  the  gamut  of  emo- 
tion, master  the  limitations  of  the  stage,  and 
recognize  his  inability  in  order  that  he  may  be- 
come able.  When  he  docs  this — and  he  has  al- 
ready gone  far  along  the  highway — the  American 
playwright  will  come  into  his  own — no  one  can 
keep  him  from  it." 


3i6 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


TCHAIKOVSKY'S  MELANCHOLY  SELF-PORTRAYAL 


Average  men  and  women  may  find  a  certain 
consolation  in  the  knowledge  that  supreme 
genius  is  almost  always  supremely  unhappy. 
The  greatest  men  are  the  men  who  suffer  the 
most.  Shelley  and  Wagner  were  tortured 
spirits,  and  Nietzsche  went  mad.  In  all  the 
august  company  of  genius  there  is  no  sadder 
figure  than  that  of  Peter  Ilich  Tchaikovsky. 
He  was  the  greatest  of  Russian  composers  and 
the  master  of  an  art  that  has  bewitched  and 
fascinated  the  world.  His  musical  reputation, 
which  is  steadily  growing,  may  be  said  to  have 
culminated  in  the  extraordinary  demonstra- 
tions evoked  in  New  York  this  winter  by 
Safonoff's  interpretations  of  his  works.  As  a 
musician,  Tchaikovsky  scaled  the  heights;  as 
a  man,  he  failed  pitifully.  His  newly  trans- 
lated "Letters"*  reveal  a  temperament  tortured 
by  every  kind  of  mental  and  physical  ailment. 
It  seems  as  though  the  very  living  of  life  was 
pain  to  him,  and  his  words  are  often  as  poig- 
nant as  the  strains  of  his  own  haunting  "Pa- 
thetic Symphony." 

"A  worm  continually  gnaws  in  secret  at  my 
heart,"  he  cries  in  one  of  his  letters  to  his 
friend,  Frau  von  Meek;  and  the  phrase  gives 
us  the  key  to  his  life.  Like  Goethe,  he  might 
have  said  that  he  never  knew  an  hour  of  con- 
tinuous happiness.  His  letters  are  burdened 
with  references  to  his  "queer,  morbid  soul," 
his  "restless  spirit,"  his  "wearying,  maddening 
depression."  "But  for  music,"  he  exclaims, 
'T  should  undoubtedly  have  gone  mad."  Life 
seemed  to  cheat  him  at  every  point,  and  each 
experience  left  him  with  a  sense  of  longing  un- 
fulfilled. When  he  was  living  in  the  city  as  a 
young  man,  he  craved  the  solitude  of  the  coun- 
try. He  knew  "no  greater  happiness  than  to 
spend  a  few  days  quite  alone  in  the  country." 
But  when,  in  1885,  he  was  able  to  make  his 
home  in  the  village  of  Maidanovo,  he  became 
so  tired  of  the  country  that  he  wrote  to  his 
brother:  "I  will  not  conceal  it;  all  the  poetry 
of  country  life  and  solitude  has  vanished.  I  do 
not  know  why.  Nowhere  do  I  feel  so  mis- 
erable as  at  home."  The  same  sense  of  dis- 
illusionment dogged  his  relation  to  humanity. 
In  one  mood,  he  hungered  for  friendship  and 
sympathy ;  in  another,  he  drew  back  into  him- 
self and  lived  the  life  of  a  hermit.  "I  hate 
mankind  in  the  mass,"  he  says,  "and  I  should 
be  delighted  to  retire  into  some  wilderness  with 

•  The  Life   and    Letters   of   Peter   Iuch   Tchai- 
kovsky.      Bv    Modesto    Tchaikovsky.       Edited    and 
'    translated  by*  Rosa  Newmarch.     John  Lane  Company. 


very  few  inhabitants."     A  further  expression 
of  his  misanthropy  appears  in  this  passage : 

"My  whole  life  long  I  have  been  a  martyr  to 
my  enforced  relations  with  society,  by  nature  I 
am  a  savage.  Every  new  acquaintance,  every 
fresh  contact  with  strangers,  has  been  the  source 
of  acute  moral  suffering.  It  is  difficult  to  say 
what  is  the  nature  of  this  suffering.  Perhaps  it 
springs  from  a  shyness  which  has  become  a  mania, 
perhaps  from  absolute  indifference  to  the  society 
of  my  fellows,  or  perhaps  the  difficulty  f  saying, 
without  effort,  things  about  oneself  that  one  does 
not  really  think  (for  social  intercourse  involves 
this) — in  short,  I  do  not  really  know 'what  it  is. 
So  long  as  I  was  not  in  a  position  to  avoid  such 
intercourse,  I  went  into  society,  nret ended  to 
enjoy  myself,  played  a  certain  part  (since  it  is 
absolutely  indispensable  to  social  existence),  and 
suffered  horribly  all  the  time." 

Sentiments  of  love  dominated  the  soul-life 
of  this  solitary  genius,  but  his  love-affairs,  like 
all  his  other  experiences,  were  unhappy. 
"Often  and  often,"  he  says,  "have  I  striven  to 
render  in  music  all  the  anguish  and  the  bliss 
of  love."  At  the  age  of  twenty-eight  he  was 
strongly  attracted  to  Desiree  Artot,  an  opera- 
singer  who  visited  Moscow.  He  went  to  see 
her  often,  and  dedicated  a  romance  for  piano- 
forte to  her.  But  his  friends  told  him  he  was 
"too  young"  to  marry  her,  and  that  if  married 
to  a  famous  singer  he  would  play  the  undesir- 
able part  of  "husband  to  his  wife."  He  halted 
and  vacillated,  and  finally  she  grew  weary  and 
married  somebody  else.  Tchaikovsky  bore  no 
grudge  against  the  faithless  lady,  and  they  re- 
mained life-long  friends. 

Tchaikovsky's  second  love-affair  was  at  once 
more  serious  and  more  pitiable.  He  tells  the 
whole  story  to  Frau  von  Meek  with  delicious 
naivete : 

"One  day  I  received  a  letter  from  a  girl  whom 
I  had  already  seen  and  met.  I  learned  from  this 
letter  that  for  a  long  time  past  she  had  honored 
me  with  her  love.  The  letter  was  so  warm  and 
sincere  that  I  decided  to  answer  it,  which  I  had 
always  carefully  avoided  doing  in  other  cases  of 
the  kind.  Without  going  into  the  details  of  this 
correspondence,  I  will  merely  say  that  I  ended  by 
accepting  her  invitation  to  visit  her.  Why  did  I 
do  this?  Now  it  seems  as  if  some  hidden  force 
drew  me  to  this  girl.  When  we  met  I  told  her 
that  I  could  only  offer  gratitude  and  sympathy  in 
exchange  for  her  love.  But  afterwards  I  began 
to  reflect  upon  the  folly  of  my  proceedings.  If 
I  did  not  care  for  her,  if  I  did  not  want  to  en- 
courage her  affections,  why  did  I  go  to  see  her, 
and  where  will  this  all  end?  From  the  letters 
which  followed,  I  came  to  the  conclusion  that, 
having  gone  so  far,  I  should  make  her  really 
unhappy  and  drive  her  to  some  tragic  end  were 


MUSIC  AND  THE  t>RAMA 


317 


I 


I  to  bring  about  a  sudden  rupture.  I  found 
myself  confronted  by  a  painful  dilemma: 
either  I  must  keep  my  freedom  at  the  ex- 
pense of  this  woman's  ruin  (this  is  no 
empty  word,  for  she  loved  me  intensely), 
or  I  must  marry.  I  could  but  choose  the 
!atter  course.  Therefore  I  went  one  even- 
ing to  my  future  wife  and  told  her  frankly 
that  I  could  not  love  her,  but  that  I  would 
be  a  devoted  and  grateful  friend;  I  de- 
scribed to  her  in  detail  my  character,  my 
irritability,  my  nervous  temperament,  my 
misanthropy — finally,  my  pecuniary  situ- 
ation. Then  I  asked  her  if  she  would  care 
to  be  my  wife.  Her  answer  was,  of  course, 
in  the  affirmative.  The  agonies  I  have  en- 
cured  since  that  evening  defy  description. 
It  is  very  natural.  To  live  thirty-seven 
years  with  an  innate  antipathy  to  matri- 
mony, and  then,  suddenly,  by  force  of  cir- 
cumstances, to  find  oneself  engaged  to  a 
woman,  with  whom  one  is  not  in  the  least 
in  love — is  very  painful." 

No  miraculous  power  of  imagination 
is  needed  to  predict  the  result  of  such 
a  union.  More  tragic  than  the  destiny 
of  Balzac,  who  waited  sixteen  years  for 
a  woman  only  to  find  at  last  that  love  had 
turned  to  ashes  in  his  hands,  was  that 
of  Tchaikovsky.  He  was  married  on 
July  6,  1877.  Twenty  days  later  he 
wrote  to  Frau  von  Meek :  *T  leave  in  an 
hour's  time.  A  few  days  longer,  and  I 
swear  I  should  have  gone  mad."  In  Oc- 
tober of  the  same  year  he  is  declared  to 
have  been  in  a  condition  actually  border- 
ing on  insanity,  and  he  parted  from  his 
wife  forever.  He  expressly  declared, 
however,  that  she  had  "always  behaved 
honorably  and  with  sincerity,"  had  never 
consciously  deceived  him,  and  was  "un- 
wittingly and  involuntarily"  the  cause  of 
his  misery. 

The  most  romantic  episode  in  Tchaikovsky's 
career  was  his  friendship,  extending  over  thir- 
teen years,  with  Frau  von  Meek.  She  was  the 
wealthy  widow  of  a  railroad  engineer,  and  the 
mother  of  eleven  children.  Starting  as  an 
ardent  admirer  of  Tchaikovsky's  musical  com- 
positions, she  ended  by  offering  him  an  annuity 
of  6,000  rubles  ($3,000)  with  the  understand- 
ing that  they  should  never  see  one  another. 
The  bargain  was  kept.  They  never  met  ex- 
cept by  accident,  and  then  only  as  strangers. 
More  than  once  Frau  von  Meek  opened  her 
home  to  Tchaikovsky  and  placed  her  servants 
at  his  disposal,  but  on  each  occasion  she  with- 
drew before  his  arrival.  This  remarkable 
friendship  was  a  potent  influence  in  Tchaikov- 
sky's life.     That  it  was  deeply  colored  by  his 


PETER^ILICH  TCHAIKOVSKY 

Whose  compositions  have  been  interpreted  in  New  York 
this  winter,  with  sij<nal  success,  by  Wassily  Safonoff,  the  Rus- 
sian conductor. 


all 


melancholy  goes  without  saying.  In  one  of 
his  first  letters  to  his  benefactress  he  finds  the 
chief  bond  between  them  in  the  fact  that  they 
both  suffer  from  the  same  malady.  "This 
malady,"  he  says,  "is  misanthropy ;  but  a  pecul- 
iar form  of  misanthropy,  which  certainly  does 
not  spring  from  hatred  or  contempt  for  man- 
kind. People  who  sufTer  from  this  complaint 
do  not  fear  the  evil  which  others  may  bring 
them,  so  much  as  the  disillusionment,  that  crav- 
ing for  the  ideal,  which  follows  upon  every  in- 
timacy." To  Frau  von  Meek  he  dedicated  his 
fourth  symphony.  It  was  in  large  part  inspired 
by  their  friendship,  and  is  the  subject  of  copi- 
ous comment  in  his  letters.  He  explains  to  her 
that  the  leading  idea  of  the  whole  work  is 
Fate — "that  inevitable  force  which  checks  our 
aspirations  towards  happiness  ere  they  reach 
the    goal,    which    watches    jealously    lest    our 


3i8 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


peace  and  bliss  should  be  complete  and  cloud- 
less— ^a  force  which,  like  the  sword  of 
Damocles,  hangs  perpetually  over  our  heads 
and  is  always  embittering  the  soul."  These 
words  might  be  applied  to  the  very  friendship 
that  evoked  them;  for  it  ended  in  disaster. 
Differences  in  regard  to  money  matters  arose; 
there  was  mutual  misunderstanding,  and  at 
last  a  definite  rupture. 

The  vein  of  pessimism  that  underlay  all 
Tchaikovsky's  thought  appears  in  his  musical 
judgments.  In  many  cases  they  seem  too  petu- 
lant and  exaggerated  to  be  taken  seriously.  To 
Brahms  he  once  referred  as  "a  self-conscious 
mediocrity";  Wagner  "deteriorated  after 
'Lohengrin/ "  and  his  "Parsifal"  was  "more 
suited  to  a  ballet  than  to  an  opera" ;  Bach  was 
"no  genius" ;  Handel  was  "fourth-rate  and  not 
even  interesting";  while  of  Richa  d  Strauss 
he  says:  "Such  an  astounding  lack  of  talent, 
united  to  such  pretentiousness,  never  before 
existed."  Mozart,  the  "Raphael  of  music," 
alone  has  his  unqualified  admiration.  "I 
not  only  like  Mozart,"  he  says,  " — I  idolize 
him.  To  me  the  most  beautiful  opera  ever 
written  is  'Don  Juan.'"     Of  Beethoven  he 


writes  differently  at  different  times.  In  one 
letter  he  says  that  he  "really  hates  Beethoven's 
last  period,  especially  the  latest  quartets.  They 
have  only  brilliancy,  nothing  more,"  Then 
again  he  pays  homage  to  Beethoven  "as  to  a 
god."  He  adds :  "I  think  Michael  Angelo  has 
a  spiritual  affinity  with  Beethoven.  The  same 
breadth  and  power,  the  same  daring  courag^e, 
which  sometimes  almost  oversteps  the  limits 
of  the  beautiful,  the  same  dark  and  troubled 
moods." 

Music,  in  the  largest  sense,  was  the  one 
consoling  and  abiding  influence  in  Tchaikov- 
sky's life.  "I  am  glad  you  apply  the  word 
divine  to  the  art  to  which  I  have  dedicated  my 
life,"  he  says  in  one  of  his  letters  to  Frau 
von  Meek.  In  another  letter  he  registers  his 
conviction : 

"Music  is  indeed  the  most  beautiful  of  all  Heav- 
en's gifts  to  humanity  wandering  in  the  darkness. 
Alone  it  calms,  enlightens  and  stil1«  our  souls. 
It  is  not  the  straw  to  which  the  drowning  man 
clings;  but  a  true  friend,  refuge  and  comforter, 
for  whose  sake  life  is  worth  living.  Perhaps 
there  will  be  no  music  in  Heaven.  Well,  let  us 
give  our  mortal  life  to  it  as  long  as  it  lasts." 


'A  CANADIAN"— HEYSE'S  LATEST  DRAMA 


Paul  Heyse,  the  author  of  the  play  "Mary 
ot  Magdala,"  renowned  in  the  New  World  as 
well  as  the  Old  (it  was  successfully  produced 
here  by  Mrs.  Fiske),  is  best  known  in  Ger- 
many as  an  exquisite  writer  of  short  stories, 
some  of  which,  notably  "L'Arrabiatta,"  are 
already  regarded  as  classics.  His  latest  drama 
shows,  as  so  much  of  European  literature  to- 
day shows,  the  extent  to  which  Nietszche's 
doctrines  are  engrossing  the  mind  in  literary 
and  artistic  circles.  Heyse  is  a  fierce  opponent 
of  these  doctrines  and  loses  no  opportunity  to 
combat  them.  This  tendency  to  discredit 
Nietszche's  philosophy  is  to  be  seen  in  his 
latest  drama. 

The  hero  of  "A  Canadian"  is  Anselm, 
brother  of  the  landowner,  Joachim  von  Drie- 
berg.  He  had  sacrificed  his  own  happiness 
for  the  sake  of  his  older  brother,  who,  like 
Miles  Standish,  was  too  timid  to  court  the 
girl  whom  he  loved,  and  with  whom  Anselm 
also  was  in  love.  Anselm  did  the  courting 
for  him,  but,  unlike  John  Alden,  failed  to 
speak  for  himself.  After  the  marriage  of  his 
brother  Joachim  with  Luise,  Ansc.m  went  to 


America,  where  he  lived  a  somewhat  primitive 
life  in  the  tropics  and  in  Canada,  following 
his  favorite  study  of  nature.  Four  years 
afterward  he  returns  to  his  brother'^  estate  and 
in  the  first  private  conversation  with  Joachim 
the  latter  p^-urs  out  his  gratitude  for  Anselni's 
act  of  renunciation,  and  tells  how  happy  he 
is  with  his  wife  Luise.  Everything  indicates 
a  perfectly  happy  unibn.  But  this  appearance 
of  felicity  is  suddenly  dispelled  in  the  following 
conversation  which  Anselm  has  with  Luise : 

Anselm  (to  Luise)  :  Come,  sit  down  for  a  while 
if  you  are  not  too  tired  and  do  not  wish  to  go  to 
bed  yet.  {Takes  her  to  the  sofa.)  I  would  like 
to  chatter  with  you  for  a  while  and,  above  all,  I 
wish  to  tell  you  how  thankful  I  am  to  you. 

Luise  {apathetically)'.    Thankful  to  me? 

Anselm:  Yes,  dear  sister,  because  you  have 
made  my  brother  as  happy  as  he  deserves  to  be, 
and  as  I  have  always  wished  him  to  be.  That 
he  is  happy  he  has  confessed  o  me  with  touching 
pathos  in  the  first  talk  I  have  had  with  him. 

Luise  {remains  silent), 

Anselm:  I  have  now  only  one  more  desire — 
to  hear  from  you  that  you  also  are  happy.  You 
can  tell  me  that,  I  suppose,  with  perfect  truth? 

Luise  {after  a  pause) :  Such  a  question  of  con- 
science!   Why  do  you  put  it  to  me? 


MUSIC  AND  THE  DRAMA 


31$ 


Anselm:  Does  that  surprise  you?  Am  I  not 
answerable  for  your  happiness,  since  I  was  in- 
strumental in  maicing  you  the  w'fe  of  Joachim? 

L»ise  (evasively):  Such  an  old  story!  Don't 
let  us  get  back  to  it, 

Anseim:  Indeed,  for  perfect  happiness  there 
is  one  thing  still  lacking  which,  to  you  women 
who  have  the  gift  of  motherhood,  often  seems  the 
main  thing.  But  if  you  will  let  time  take  its 
cx>urse 

Luise  (gloomily)  :  No  amount  of  time  can 
make  good  again  what  has  been  poiled  by  one 
single  inconsiderate  moment. 

Anselm  (frightened)  :  Luise,  are  you  in  ear- 
nest? 

Luise:  Oh,  yes.  One  does  not  joke  in  a 
qiiestion  of  life  and  death.  Happiness?  I  also 
imagined  once  that  there  was  such  a  thing  when 
I  was  yet  a  silly  young  child  and  knew  life  only 
from  novels.  Now — but  I  don't  want  to  spoil 
rour  first  night  at  home.  Sleep  well,  Anselm. 
{Rises  quickly.) 

Anselm  (holding  her  hack) :  No,  Luise,  you 
most  stay.  After  such  a  conversation  I  could  not 
think  of  sleep  anyway.  Is  it  possible?  Having  a 
husband  who  worships  you,  deifies  you,  who 
would  bring  down  the  blue  from  the  sky  for 

Luise  (bitterly)  :  What  I  require  for  my  hap- 
piness cannot  be  brought  down  from  heaven.  I 
luve  sought  it  on  earth  and  have  not  found  it. 

Anselm:     And  what  was  that? 

Luise:  Freedom  for  my  soul,  the  permission, 
as  the  old  word  says,  to  become  happy  or  unhappy 
in  my  own  way. 

Anselm:  And  in  this  Joachim  has  restrained 
you? 

Luise:  Since  we  are  on  this  subject  now,  I  am 
going  to  speak  to  you.  You  must  know  how  I 
lired  like  a  prisoner  in  the  house  of  my  parents. 
My  father,  a  crushed,  old,  pensioned  major, 
treated  me,  his  only  daughter,  as  he  once  did  his 
soldiers;  arid  the  meals  on  our  table  were  not 
much  better  than  the  food  of  the  barracks.  It  is 
true,  I  was  permitted  to  dance  at  the  balls  in  our 
little  town  and  to  show  my  shoulders  as  far  as 
the  Philistine  mothers  considered  respectable.  But 
I  did  not  catch  a  husband  thereby;  all  the  men 
who  danced  with  me  knew  that  the  pretty  girl  was 
as  poor  as  a  church-mouse.  And  I  had  such  a 
desire  to  spread  my  wings  and  to  fly  off  into  the 
large,  large  world,  to  see  all,  and  enjoy  all  that 
was  beautiful  and  sweet  and  fascinating,  and  with 
this  longing  I  grew  twenty-three  years  old,  and 
still  I  remained  in  my  cage.  Ihen  you  came  to 
me,  Anselm,  and  said  to  me  that  the  landowner 
Von  Drieberg  was  deadly  in  love  with  me.  And 
you  praised  your  brother  beyond  all  measure,  and 
told  me  that  he  would  put  all  that  he  possesses 
at  my  feet,  and  that  I  would  be  the  mistress,  and 
enjoy  unlimited  freedom — ^and  this  word  decided 
my  fate. 

Anselm:  But  have  I  deceived  you?  Did  he 
ever  tyrannize  over  you?  Is  he  not  the  best  of 
men? 

Luise :  Yes,  Anselm,  but  just  that  is  the  worst 
tyranny.  If  he  were  not  so  kind  and  amiable 
toward  me  I  could  muster  up  courage  to  stand 
up  against  him  and  to  carry  through  my  own  will. 
Bat  I  saw  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  him 


to  live  elsewhere,  that  he  is  a  countryman,  body 
and  soul.  So  I  renounced  my  own  desires  in 
despair,  and  have  languished  away  here  at  his 
side  for  four  endless  years  in  constant  danger  of 
choking  in  this  dreary  waste. 

Anselm  (after  a  pause)  :  He  wrote  to  me  that 
he  took  a  trip  with  you  on  the  Rhine  last  fall, 
and  that  every  winter  you  spend  three  or  four 
months  in  the  city. 

Luise:  In  the  city?  You  mean  to  say  in  the 
nest  where  I  but  exchange  one  kind  of  boredom 
for  another,  for  he  never  takes  me  to  Berlin,  he 
hates  the  cosmopolitan  city.  Oh,  Anselm,  why 
did  you  not  court  for  yourself  at  that  time,  since 
you  also  loved  me? 

Anselm  (moved)  :    How  do  you  know  it? 

Luise:  He  told  it  to  me  himself  when  he 
seemed  to  be  unable  to  find  words  enough  to 
describe  your  great  heart.  You  see,  I  should 
have  accepted  you  as  well  as  him,  although  I 
was  no  more  in  love  with  you  than  with  him. 
Because  he  was  richer  than  you  I  would  cer- 
tainly not  have  preferred  him.  I  would  have 
been  happier  with  you,  because  you  would  have 
taken  me  along  on  your  travels,  and  shown  me 
the  large  world  of  which  I  get  to  see  here  no 
more  than  of  the  starry  sky  when  I  look  at  it 
through  a  smoked  glass.  (Presses  her  hand- 
kerchief to  her  eyes,) 

Anselm  (after  a  pause)  :  That  is  very,  very 
sad.    And  suppose  you  were  to  have  a  child? 

Luise:  A  child?  Would  that  not  be  another 
tyrant  to  whom  I  should  have  to  sacrifice  what- 
ever liberty  I  still  possess?  I  know,  Anselm,  you 
do  not  understand  me.  Such  a  thing  no  man 
understands.  You  all  think  that  we  must  be 
supremely  fortunate  if  one  of  you,'  especially  if 
he  happen  to  be  a  good  man,  condescends  to  feed 
us,  to  fondle  us,  and  to  pay  our  dressmaker's 
bills.  That  one  may  feel  oneself  powerless  and 
fettered  in  -such  an  existence,  and-  never  be 
allowed  to  give  free  play  to  one's  heart 

Anselm  (with  emphasis)  :  Who  of  us  men 
may  do  so?  Who  is  it  that  knows  no  limits 
before  which  he  must  halt  reverently  and 
acknowledge  a  higher  law?  At  any  rate,  since 
this  summer  "your  house  has  not  been  so  lone- 
some. You  have  had  some  amusement.  This 
young  man.  Martens,  whom  Joachim  has  taken 
in  his  charge,  to  try  to  make  a  man  of  him,  if 
at  all  possible,  has  so  many  accomplishments. 
It  is  true  he  is  a  worthless  fellow,  and  does  not 
deserve  to  be  in  a  decent  family,  and  if  it  were 
not  for  his  father,  who  is  a  particular  friend  of 
Joachim 

Luise     (rises     excitedly) :       He? Good 

night,    Anselm.      I    am    very    tired.      (Joachim 
enters.) 

Joachim:  Are  you  together  yet?  Well, 
brother,  has  she  poured  out  her  heart  to  you 
about  the  old  cripple,  her  husband?  You  are 
so  nervous,  dear,  you  ought  to  qo  to  bed.  Take 
your  orangeade  and  go.  (Draws  her  to  him 
and  wants  to  kiss  her;  she  wards  him  off.) 

Luise:    Good  night,  Joachim.     (Exit.) 

Joachim  (following  her  with  his  eyes)  :  The 
dear  angel!  Did  you  notice,  brother,  that  she 
would  not  allow  herself  to  be  caressed  even  by 
her  own  brother-in-law?  It  is  now  four 
years  that  she  has  been  my  wife,  and  I  still  feel 
as  if  it  were  a  bride  that  I  held  in  my  arms. 


320 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


Now,  dear  son,  good  night.  Do  you  need  any- 
thing ? 

Anselm  {agitated) :     Nothing. 

Joachim:  Dorte  will  light  you  up  to  your 
room.  Sleep  well,  and  dream  good  dreams. 
(Taps  him  good-naturedly  on  his  back,  and  de- 
parts,) 

Anselm  (to  himself)  :  Good  dreams,  under  this 
roof! 

A  young  man,  Adalbert  von  Martens,  lives 
in  the  house  of  Joachim.  He  is  a  worthless 
scamp  and  roue,  who  had  been  destined  by  his 
father  for  a  diplomatic  career,  but  having 
failed  in  his  studies,  he  was,  at  the  urgent  re- 
quest of  his  father,  a  close  friend  of  Joachim, 
taken  into  the  house  of  the  latter  to  study  the 
management  of  an  estate.  He  is  an  accom- 
plished musician  and  singer,  and  of  a  rather 
attractive  personality.  All  sorts  of  ill  rumors 
float  about  as  to  the  relations  between  him  and 
Luise,  partly  due  to  the  utterances  of  Adalbert 
himself.  These  rumors  reach  the  ears  of  An- 
selm, who,  of  course,  pays  no  attention  to  them 
at  first.  By  chance  a  picture  of  Luise,  which 
the  servant  has  found  in  Adalbert's  room,  falls 
into  his  hands.  As  he  looks  at  it  in  surprise 
Luise  enters  the  room ; 

Luise :  Are  you  still  here,  brother  ?  You  must 
have  looked  around  the  garden  and  marveled  how 
everything  has   grown   up? 

Anselm :  Yes,  in  four  years  a  person  is  apt 
to  find  some  things  grown  up  way  above  his 
head. 

Luise:  I  guess  it  must  all  seem  to  you  small 
and  trivial  in  comparison  to  your  gardens  in  the 
tropics. 

Anselm:  Oh,  I  should  miss  nothing  if  I  had 
only  found  my  old  home  here. 

Luise  (regards  him  with  a  searching  look)  : 
What  picture  is  this  you  look  at  so  curiouslv? 

Anselm  (shows  it  to  her)  :  I  suppose  it  is  not 
altogether  strange  to  you. 

Luise  (paling) :  My  picture?  How  did  you 
happen  to  get  it?  I  missed  it — it  wao  in  my 
album. 

Anselm  (heaving  a  breath  of  relief) :  You 
missed  it?  So  *t  was  taken  out  without  your 
knowledge?  The  servant  said  at  once  that  you 
could  not  have  given  it  tn  him  yourself. 

Luise:     Th     servant? 

Anselm :  She  found  the  door  of  his  room  open, 
and  walked  in  to  clean  it  up  a  little.  She  found 
the  picture  on  his  desk  and  brought  it  to  me.  Of 
course  he  must  have  gotten  it  without  your  knowl- 
edge, she  said. 

Luise  (after  a  pause)  :  The  servant  is  mis- 
taken.    I  presented  it  to  him. 

Anselm:  That — that  man  Martens?  Excuse 
me,  sister,  I  have  no  right  to  reprimand  you  for 
your  doings,  that  is  Joachim's  place 

Luise:     He  knows  nothing  about  it. 

Anselm:  Then  I  take  the  liberty  to  tell  you 
that  I  do  not  find  it  quite  in  order  that  you  should, 
without  the  knowledge  of  your  husband,  give 
your  picture  to  a  young  man  in  his  charge,  and 


who,  unfortunately,  cannot  be  depended  upon  not 
to  abuse  a  thing  of  that  kind. 

Luise  (with  hesitation)  :  A  woman  may  well 
give  her  picture  to  the  man  to  whom  she  intends 
to  give  herself. 

Anselm  (staggered):    Luise! 

Luise :  Yes,  Anselm,  it  is  so.  I  know  that  you 
will  hate  me  now.  But  you  shall  not  despise  me. 
That  you  would  have  the  right  to  do  if  I  had  the 
face  to  lie.  Oh,  I  have  had  enough  of  lying!  It 
deprives  us  of  the  best  that  we  possess,  of  our- 
selves. That  must  cease.  I  want  to  regain  my- 
self, to  do  only  what  my  heart  tells  me  to  do,  to 
be  free,  free,  free  (extending  her  arms)  \  Oh,  to 
fly  away  from  all  the  bonds,  fetters  and  chains! 
(Sinks  down  on  the  garden  chair  near  which  she 
stood.) 

Anselm  (in  a  hollow  voice)  :  I  must  have  heard 
wrong.  This  is  what  your  heart  tells  you?  To 
go  away  from  here,  from  him  to  whom  you  are 
all  and  all,  whom  you  make  as  poor  as  a  beggar 
if  you  leave  him? 

Luise :  Have  I  ever  belonged  to  him  ?  When  I 
promised  that  I  would  belong  to  him,  did  I  know 
what  I  was  promising?  In  general,  does  one 
out  of  a  thousand  know  it  who  binds  her  life  to 
that  of  a  husband?  I  told  you  yesterday  why  I 
did  it,  and  how  terribly  mistaken  I  was.  But  a 
mistake  must  be  corrected,  and  not  allowed  to 
drag  after  us  our  whole  life  long,  and  debase 
us  by  a  lie. 

Anselm:    Debase  ourselves? That  we  can 

do,  only  by  selfishness. 

Luise:  A  big  word,  which  is  as  false  as  it 
sounds  noble.  But  suppose  it  were  true,  would 
it  not  also  condemn  Joadiim  as  well?  Would  it 
not  be  selfishness  to  wish  to  keep  me  even  if  he 
knows  that  thereby  my  soul  js  ruined  ?  I  have 
been  his,  now,  for  four  years.  He  has  at  least 
believed  that  I  have  made  him  happy  in  these  four 
years.  Now  it  is  my  turn.  I  want  to  achieve 
something  like  happiness.  Am  I  demanding  too 
much? 

Anselm :  No,  Luise,  I  would  not  begrudge  you 
that,  if  it  were  at  all  possible  for  you  to  be  happy 
after  doing  a  thing  of  that  kind.  But  you  deceive 
yourself  on  this  point.  You  will  not  be  happy. 
The  kind,  true  face  of  the  man  whose  life  you 
will  have  ruined— for  that  you  will  have  done 
when  you  leave  him — his  hearty  voice,  all  the  love 
and  kindness  that  you  have  ever  received  from 
him,  will  forever  follow  you,  and  embitter  every 
hour  in  which  you  hope  to  draw  joy  and  pleasure 
for  yourself  or  for  someone  else. 

Luise  (gloomily)  :  Yes,  that  is  h  w  it  will  be. 
It  is  the  punishment  for  having  given  him  my 
hand  without  having  been  able  to  give  him  my 
heart.  God  knows  how  it  grieves  me  to  pain  him ! 
I  will  at  least  do  it  sparing  him  as  much  as  I  can. 
I  will  go  to  my  mother,  and  from  there  I  will  ask 
him  to  leave  me  alone  for  a  while.  I  will  tell 
him  that  I  am  ill  and  that  I  must  be  left  all  alone, 
that  he  should  not  try  to  see  me  and  take  me 
back.  And  then,  after  some  time  has  passed — 
weeks— months— with  all  his  love  to  me— he  will 
wean  himself  away  from  me — especially  now. 

Anselm :    Now  ? 

Luise:  Since  he  has  you  again.  For  you  he 
loves  above  everybody.  It  is  because  you  are 
here  that  I  have  resolved  at  last  to  leave  him.  It 
is  in  vain  to  try  to  dissuade  me. 


MUSIC  AND  THE  DRAMA 


321 


Anselm:  And  yet,  Liiise,  I  will  stake  my  all 
to  keep  you  from  carrying  out  your  purpose. 

Luise  {looking  at  him  boldly) :  Do  you,  also, 
want  to  put  yourself  in  the  'vay  of  my  freedom, 
bind  me  hands  and  feet  and  put  **  gag  over  my 
mouth,  so  that  I  cannot  cry  out  aloud:  "I  must 
go  away  from  here?" 

Anselm:  If  a  perfect  stranger  entered  upon 
a  road  that  led  to  a  quagmire,  and  did  not  heed 
my  warning  call  I  should  take  the  liberty  to  seize 
him  by  the  collar  and  pull  him  back,  much  as  I 
might  respect  his  liberty  otherwise.  He  would 
be  thankful  to  me  later  when  he  came  to  his 
senses.  But  you,  Luise,  whom  I  loved  so  dearly, 
I  am  to  allow  to  follow  the  road  that  will  lead 
to  ruin  and  destruction  without  usin^  all  the 
means  to  keep  you  from  it?  And  even  if  it  were 
not  for  my  brother,  whose  whole  future  is  at 
stake,  I  should  fight  for  your  own  with  all  the 
weapons  at  the  command  of  a  firm  will 

Luise  I  What  do  you  know  about  what  will 
make  me  happy  or  unhappy? 

Anselm:  I  know  the  man  to  whom  you  want 
to  give  yourself;  that  is  enough. 

Luise:  You  know  him?  Really?  Since  yester- 
day? It  may  be  that  you  do  not  understand  how 
he  can  be  found  amiable?  I  also  have  not  fallen 
in  love  with  him  blindly  and  madly  in  a  day  or 
two.  It  began  with  a  sentiment  of  pity  almost 
a  motherly  feeling,  for  I  saw  how  heavily  his 
condition  weighed  upon  him — at  his  age  to  have 
to  start  again  from  the  very  bottom,  in  such  a 
se\'ere  school.  And  then,  when  I  came  to  know 
him  better 

Anselm  (bitterly)  :     His  past  a'«o? 

Luise:  Yes,  his  past  alsol  What  do  you  men 
understand  about  the  power  that  your  very  weak- 
nesses exercise  over  us?  His  have  their  origin 
in  this,  that  he  is  an  artist,  has  an  artistic  tem- 
perament, which  his  father  ignored  when  he  re- 
fused to  allow  him  to  develop  it. 

Anselm :  Poor  Pegasus  in  the  yoke !  And  that 
is  why  he  had  to  lead  a  wild  life,  gamble  and 
incur  debts?  But,  of  course,  you  are  of  opinion 
that  you  cannot  demand  that  an  artistic  tem- 
perament behave  decently  like  Philistines  such 
as  we. 

Luise:  Don't  sneer.  If  you  had  heard  him 
sing  you  would  believe  in  the  nobility  of  his  soul. 
But  whatever  may  he  behind  him,  I  know  that  I 
can  make  a  different  man  of  him,  have,  in  fact, 
already  done  so,  through  my  love.  That  love, 
however,  came  upon  me  without  any  question  as 
to  worth  or  worthiness.  You  are  such  a  sensible 
man,  Anselm.  Have  you  forgotten  that  love  is 
higher  than  reason,  and  do  you  want  to  preach 
reason  to  me? 

Anselm :  Preach  ?  No,  but  act,  and  prevent  the 
unreasonable.  If  I  looked  on  passively  while  this 
person — don't  be  afraid,  I  am  not  going  to  tell 
you  in  naked  words  what  I  think  of  him,  how 
far  below  you  I  regard  him ;  but  it  must  not  hap- 
pen that  I  shall  learn  how,  after  a  couple  of  years, 
he  has  abandoned  you  to  misery,  and  that  you 
have  recognized  too  late  that  you  gave  up  the 
noblest,  truest,  largest-hearted  man  for  a — for  a 
Martens. 

Luise:  And  how  do  you  propose  to  prevent 
that?     He  has  my  word  for  it..   He  will  never 

give  it  back  to  me,  and  I? Yes,  there  is  a 

way  to  keep  me  from  my  purpose.     Take  your 


revolver,  Anselm,  and  aim  it  at  this  breast  Per- 
haps you  will  do  me  a  service  by  it.  For  no  mat- 
ter what  happens  I  have  great  struggles  before 
me,  and  at  times  I  am  cowardly  and  wish  that 
it  all  may  be  spared  me. 

Anselm:  Yes,  you  will  be  spared  all  that,  but 
not  at  such  price.  I  still  have*  hopes  to  restore 
your  peace  of  mind  at  a  lesser  cost. 

Luise  {in  alarm) :    A  duel? 

Anselm:  In  order  to  make  a  noise  and  open 
Joachim's  eyes?  No,  Luise,  you  can  rest  assured 
that  I  am  past  all  such  nonsense.  But  another 
species  of  foolishness  is  too  deeply  rooted  in  my 
nature  for  me  to  be  able  ever  to  free  myself  from 
it:  the  passion  to  use  certain  precautions  to  pre- 
vent calamity  to  persons  whom  I  love.  That 
is  the  way  I  have  acted  with  Joachim;  it  has  not 
been  a  very  great  success.  Now  comes  your  turn. 
Believe  me,  if  that  supposed  "artist"  of  yours 
were  a  man  to  whom  a  woman's  happiness  could 
be  confidently  entrusted,  I  would  let  you  do  what 
you  cannot  help  doing,  without  a  murmur. 
Joachim  would  have  to  bear  his  fate  as  thousands 
of  men  do  whose  wives  prefer  others  to  them. 
But,  as  it  is,  for  such — such  a  man?  Never  I  I 
shall  have  to  speak  some  Canadian  to  him. 
Adieu,  Luise  1     (Exit,) 

Anselm  exerts  all  his  efforts  to  put  Martens 
out  of  the  way.  He  even  offers  him  half  his 
fortune  if  he  will  leave  Germany  and  go  to 
America ;  but  all  to  no  avail.  Luise  tells  Mar- 
tens that  she  will  go  to  live  with  her  mother, 
wait  until  he  establishes  himself,  and  then 
arrange  to  marry  him.  He  is  surprised  at 
this  radical  step,  as  he  had  never  thought  of 
the  matter  in  such  a  serious  way;  but  he  does 
not  deter  her  from  her  plan.  Anselm  finds 
Martens  in  the  forest,  where  he  is  waiting  to 
take  his  departure  from  Luise  on  her  way  to 
her  mother.  He  shoots  him  dead.  He  cannot 
give  himself  up  to  justice,  for  then  Joachim 
would  learn  of  ^the  whole  affair,  so  he  invents 
the  story  of  having  gone  out  hunting  and  killed 
Martens  accidentally.  Luise  comes  upon  the 
scene  just  as  the  shooting  occurs,  and  is  later 
brought  home  in  a  state  of  unconsciousness, 
having  fallen  from  her  horse.  Anselm 
and  Luise  remain  alone  in  the  room. 

Anselm  {goes  quickly  to  the  sofa,  takes  Luise's 
hand  and  speaks  into  her  ear)  :  Luise,  do  you 
hear  me ?    Luise !    (  H^ets  her  forehead,) 

Luise  {with  closed  eyes,  makes  a  feeble  move- 
ment) :     Oh  I 

Anselm :    You  are  alive  I    Luise,  wake  up  I 

Luise  {opens  her  eyes  languidly  and  looks  about 
drowsily)  :  Where — where  is  he?  I — ^want  to  go 
to  him!  Is  it  you?  Do  not  touch  me  I  You  are 
— his  murderer!  {'Sinks  back,  closes  her  eyes 
again.) 

Anselm:  Listen  to  me,  Luise  I  Can  you  hear 
me? 

Luise  {warding  him  off  with  her  hands)  :  You 
have — ^murdered  him.  Away  from  me!  The 
smell  of  blood  emanates  from  you. 


p^ 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


4fr  Anselm:  Murdered?  No — judged.  That  I  did 
it — was  compelled  to  do  it — let,  that  remain  be- 
tween me  and  the  Eternal  Judge.  Does  not  even 
earthly  justice  acquit  a  man  who  has  committed 
murder  in  self-defense?  And  self-defense  it  was 
— who  will  attempt  to  deny  it?  But,  by  God, 
the  All-knowing,  I  did  not  follow  him  to  shoot 
a  bullet  in  his  heart,  outright.  I  meant  to  speak 
once  more  to  his  conscience  before  I  broke  the 
staff  over  him.  But  then,  as  I  saw  you  galloping 
up,  and  knew  that  if  I  hesitated  you  would  throw 
yourself  away  on  him,  and  that  you  would  be  lost, 
and  my  brother  lost,  then  I  could  not  contain  my- 
self any  longer.  It  came  upon  me,  and  I  raised 
my  weapon  and  executed  judgment.  Who  will 
accuse  me,  unless  you  yourself,  who  must  hate 
me? 

Luise  (raising  herself  and  sitting  down  on  the 
sofa):  I?  No,  your  own  conscience.  It  is 
written:    "Judge   not   that   ye  be   not   judjged!" 

Anselm  (firmly)  :  The  Eternal  Judge  will  ac- 
quit me.  What  I  did,  I  did  out  of  love — ^to  you — 
and  to  my  brother! 

Luise:  Was  it  a  capital  crime  that  he  loved 
me,  and  wished  to  possess  me,  and  to  free  me? 
But  go,  go  I  I — I  must  go  to  see  him — ^his  last 
breath — his  last  glance — (attempts  to  rise;  he 
holds  her  back), 

Anselm:  Stay  here.  You  will  come  too  late. 
Don't  throw  your  life  away  after  him.  You  have 
not  strength  enough.  They  have  gone  with  the 
wagon  to  bring  him  here.  O,  Luise,  if  Joachim 
saw  how  you  broke  down  at  the  sight  of  him 

Luise :  So  much  the  better  I  Then  there  would 
have  been  an  end  to  my  life,  and  the  lie  of  my 
life.  But  no,  I  feel  it,  the  fall  was  not  fatal,  only 
my  senses  left  me,  not  my  life.  How  shall  I  bear 
this  life  hereafter?  I  cannot  imagine  it!  I 
know  only  one  thing;  if  I  should  be  condemned 
always  to  look  his  murderer  in  the  face,  the 
horror  of  it  would  stifle  me,  and  burst  my  heart 
asunder, 

Anselm  (gloomily)  :  Rest  assured,  that  will  be 
spared  you.  I  own  up  to  what  I  have  done,  but 
only  before  you  and  the  Judge  on  high,  not 
before  earthly  justice.  They  woul^  not  believe  me 
here  if  I  said  that  I  removed  him  from  the  world 
because  of  hatred,  since  yesterday  was  the  first 
time  I  ever  saw  him.  And  if  I  told  the  real  rea- 
son, that  I  did  it  out  of  love,  then  everything 
would  have  been  done  in  vain,  and  Joachim  would 
find  out  what  I  wanted  to  keep  from  him.  Oh, 
my  poor  woman,  believe  me,  there  are  conflicts 
in  which  action  and  inaction  are  equally  fateful; 
that  involve  us  in  crime  no  matter  what  we 
choose,  and  every  crime  is  avenged  on  earth. 
Mine  drives  me  away  from  this  place  where  the 
smell  of  the  blood  that  I  shed  ascends  to  heaven, 
away  from  all  that  is  dear  to  me,  from  my  home, 
for  which  I  yearned  so  passionately;  from  my 
brother;  from  you,  upon  whom  I  had  to  inflict 
such  great  pain.  I  shall  wander  again  through 
the  earth,  no  more  a  happy  wayfarer  as  of  old, 
but  a  restless  and  discontented  man,  who  flies 
from  the  shadow  of  his  past,  like  Cain  the  first 
murderer  of  his  brother — to  die  at  last  in  a 
strange  land,  without  the  touch  of  a  dear  hand. 
(His  voice  breaks.) 

Luise  (moved)  :  Unhappy  man!  And  there  is 
nothing,  nothing  to  extenuate  your  lot! 

Anselm:  Yes,  Luise,  one  thing,  and  that  lies 
within  your  power. 


Luise:     In  mine? 

Anselm:  If,  in  my  life-long  exile,  you  give 
me  the  consolation  of  knowing  that  the  terrible, 
unatonable  act  that  I  have  perpetrated  has  not 
been  in  vain;  that  it  will  redound  to  the  good  of 
those  for  whom  I  did  it!  Remain  with  my 
brother. 

Luise:  How  can  you  demand  it?  Have  you 
forgotten 

Anselm:  That  you  no  longer  want  to  lie?  O, 
Luise,  to  simulate  love  to  a  man  to  whom  we 
owe  gratitude  is  a  lie  that  turns  into  a  virtue,  and, 
finally,  into  truth.    You,  too,  will  live  to  see  that. 

Luise:  What  can  I  live  to  see  that  will  ex- 
tinguish the  recollection  of  this  hour?  Can  I 
continue  to  believe  in  a  divine  justice,  seeing  that 
it  visits  the  punishment  of  death  upon  those  who 
follow  the  inclinations  of  their  hearts? 

Anselm :  Ask  your  own  heart.  Will  it  acquit 
you  of  all  blame?  Did  you  not  desire  to  destroy 
a  life  that  was  devoted  wholly  to  you,  contemn  so 
infinite  a  love  as  was  rarely  ever  the  share  of 
woman,  and  break  the  pledge  given  to  the  noblest 
of  men  of  fidelity  unto  death?  O,  Luise,  if  the 
happiness  that  you  supposed  you  would  find  has 
been  taken  away  from  you,  one  thing  remains  as  a 
compensation:  the  consciousness  of  having  ful- 
filled a  duty,  an  onerous  duty,  Luise,  but  one 
which  in  time  will  turn  into  a  blessing  and  heal 
your  life-wound.  Can  you  persuade  yourself  to 
assume  this  penance? 

Luise  (after  a  pause)  :    I — shall  try! 

Anselm :  Thank  you !  (Extends  to  her  his 
hand,  which  she  does  not  take.)  You  are  right. 
You  must  have  a  horror  of  this  hand. 

(Enter  Joachim,) 

Anselm:  She  lives,  brother;  she  will  be  pre- 
served for  you. 

Joachim  (drops  on  his  knees  before  her,  seising 
her  hand)  :  Is  it  true — ^you  are  alive — ^you  are 
going  to  live?  Tell  it  to  me  yourself,  my  only, 
my  beloved  wife! 

Luise  (bending  down  to  him) :  Stand  up, 
Joachim!  Yes,  I  will  try  it — if  God  gives  me 
strength. 

Joachim:  Oh,  my  jewel,  my  greatest  treasure, 
am  I  worth  it? 

Luise:    My  poor  friend,  can  you  forgive  me? 

Joachim:  You  speak  as  in  a  fever.  I  forgive 
you,  because  you  went  out  horseback  riding  once 
without  my  knowledge? 

Luise:  No,  not  that^— everything,  everything  in 
which  I  ever  failed  you. 

Joachim  (to  Anselm) :  Do  you  know  what  she 
means?  What  harm  could  she  ever  have  done 
me?  My  dear  heart  I  that  God  has  mercifully 
averted  this  terrible  accident — (bends  down  and 
kisses  her  hair). 

Anselm:     Farewell,  brother. 

Joachim:       Do  you  want  to  go  away? 

Anselm :  I  want  to  give  myself  up  into  the 
hands  of  justice. 

Joachim:  They  will  let  you  go  again  soon. 
Accidental  manslaughter,  regrettable  as  it  is. 
Poor  young  man !  And  his  unhappy  father !  But 
stay  in  the  city  until  all  is  over,  Anselm.  It  will 
be  painful  for  you  to  be  here  now. 

Anselm:  You  are  right,  brother.  I  will  stay 
away  until  everything,  everything  is  over.  Fare- 
well! (Turns  to  go,  comes  back  once  more  and 
embraces  Joachim  with  profound  emotion,  then 
goes  out  with  an  imploring  look  at  Luise.) 


Persons  in  the  Foreground 


MISS  ALICE  ROOSEVELT  THAT  WAS 


Alice  Roosevelt  Is  no  more.  Four  years  ago 
she  made  her  debut  in  Washington,  and  now, 
at  the  age  of  twenty-two,  she  has  dropped  one 
of  the  oldest  and  most  honored  names  in 
American  history,  left  her  girlhood  forever  be- 
hind her,  and  become  the  helpmeet,  not  of  a 
titled  foreigner,  but  of  a  young  American  who 
has  already  begun  to  make  a  career  for  him- 
self. Probably  no  other  American  girl  ever 
received  such  an  amount  of  publicity  in  such  a 
short  period.  Most  of  it,  of  course,  has  been 
due  to  the  distinction  of  her  father ;  but  much 
of  it  has  been  due  to  her  own  personality  and 
the  way  in  which  she  has  carried  herself  in  the 
dazzling  limelight.  "The  renown  of  this 
young  American  girl,"  said  a  magazine  writer 
recently,  "is  such  that  one  hears  of  her  from 
end  to  end  of  the  civilized  world,  while  the 
names  of  English,  German, 
or  Russian  princesses  are 
mentioned  only  in  connec- 
tion with  diplomatic  events, 
possible  matches  that  may 
concern  them,  or  charity 
bazaars  that  they  may  con- 
sent to  patronize."  When 
she  traveled  in  Japan,  a 
postal  card  was  issued  in 
Tokyo  bearing  her  picture 
and  underneath  it  the  in- 
scription— "An  American 
Princess."  When  it  was 
rumored  that  she  was  going 
to  travel  in  Europe,  a  lead- 
ing French  paper  began  to 
discuss  the  titled  foreigner 
she  would  be  most  lively  to 
marry,  publishing  her  pic- 
ture in  the  middle  of  a  page 
surrounded  by  pictures  of 
such  eligible  young  princes 
as  Eitel  Fritz,  Adalbert  of 
Prussia,  Prince  George  of 
Greece,  the  Czar's  brothers 
and  various  other  sprigs  of 
royalty,  as  if  to  say  that 
she  could  take  her  choice. 
She  did  take  her  choice, 
and  she  chose  to  marry  no 


Young  America   is   good   enough   for 


Coarte»y  of  Munacy't  Magazine. 

ALICE    LEE    ROOSEVELT 
AGE   OF   TWO 


title, 
her. 

Alice  Lee  Roosevelt  was  three  days  old 
when  her  mother — Alice  Lee,  of  Boston — died ; 
three  years  old  when  her  father  married 
again;  eighteen  when  she  made  her  debut. 
She  was  born  to  social  position  and  would 
have  had  it  if  her  father  had  never  been  made 
President.  "She  might  have  met  just  as  many 
distinguished  people,"  we  are  told  by  a  writer 
in  Munsey's  Magazine,  "and  she  would  have 
danced  just  the  same  at  Mrs.  Astor's  great 
ball,  given  to  mark  the  social  debut  of  her 
granddaughter,  Helen  Roosevelt,  who  is 
Alice's  distant  cousin." 

This  same  writer,  Emma  B.  Kaufman,  de- 
scribes Alice  as  a  debutante  and  her  regard 
both  then  and  since  for  good  clothes : 

"The  privileged  ones 
among  us  saw  a  young,  slight 
girl  in  white  mousseline  with 
brown  hair,  a  retrousse  nose, 
laughing  eyes,  and  a  mouth 
whose  curves  inclined  by  na- 
ture upward.  The  combina- 
tion is  excellent  in  any 
woman,  for  it  means  amia- 
bility, the  capacity  to  get 
where  ambition  leads,  and 
the  desire  to  please.  With- 
out these  externals,  keynotes 
to  the  interior,  Alice  Roose- 
velt might  have  been  careless 
of  the  effect  she  makes  upon 
the  public.  STie  might  have 
believed,  as,  judging  from 
their  photographs,  manv  prin- 
cesses believe,  that  any  old 
thing,  without  any  hint  of 
slang  in  the  phrase,  would  do 
for  the  President's  daughter. 
There  was  discrimination,  if 
it  lacked  discretion,  in  M. 
Balzac's  remark:  'I  have 
never  seen  a  badly  dressed 
woman  who  was  agreeable 
and  good-humored.' 

"Alice  Roosevelt  takes  the 
trouble  to  please  the  eye,  and, 
having  taste,  wears  clothes 
that  are  neither  too  plain  nor 
too  gaudy.  She  has  not  the 
vanity  to  believe  that  she 
can  wear  anything.  Once, 
to  her  horror,  she  was 
sketched   in   a   hat   that   she 


AT    THE 


324 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


WITH  HER  SISTER-IN-LAW 

This  photojfraph  was  taken  when  Miss  Roosevelt  was  visiting:  the 
Longwortns  at  Cincinnati  last  summer.  Her  companion  in  the  picture  is 
Mrs.  Wallingford,  Nicholas  Longworth  s  sister. 


considered  old-fashioned.  She  grieved  thereat 
as  the  humblest  woman  might.  'Never,  never, 
never,'  she  cried,  'must  that  picture  be  published !' 

"'But  does  it  matter  so  much?'  asked  the 
President,  with  the  innocence  of  a  mere  man. 

"  'Really,  papa,'  answered  his  daughter  de- 
murely, 'I  should  have  believed  you  would  never 
question  the  importance  of  a  proper  hat  in  any 
one's  career'!" 

She  is  even  rated  as  at  times  "a  leader"  in 
fashion.  "She  was  the  first  woman,"  it  is 
said,  "to  set  upon  her  head  the  big,  broad- 
brimmed,  rough-and-ready  straw  sailor  hat, 
that  has  since  become  a  vogue." 

Her   father   is   proud   of  her   physical   en- 


ergy. He  once  said  of  her: 
"She  is  a  girl  who  does  not  stay- 
in  the  house  and  sit  in  a  rock- 
ing-chair. She  can  walk  as  far 
as  I  can,  and  she  often  takes 
a  tramp  of  several  miles  at  the 
pace  I  set  for  her.  She  cam 
ride,  drive,  skate,  and  shoot, 
though  she  doesn't  care  much 
for  the  shooting.  I  don't  mind 
that.  It  isn't  necessary  for  her 
health,  but  the  outdoor  exercise 
is,  and  she  has  plenty  of  it." 

She  is  a  true  Roosevelt,  too, 
we  are  told  by  those  who  know, 
in  her  love  of  adventure  and  her 
courage.  Before  her  father 
took  his  trip  in  a  submarine 
boat  she  had  accomplished  the 
feat  without  fear.  Various  in- 
cidents are  told  of  her  coolness 
in  moments  that  might  well 
have  been  deemed  perilous  by  a 
young  girl.  The  latest  incident 
is  that  of  her  climbing  up  a 
rope-ladder  last  month  to  the 
deck  of  the  great  ocean  liner,, 
the  Kaiser  Wilhelm  der  Grosse.. 
She  had  gone  down  the  bay  to* 
meet  her  fiance's  sister,  the 
Countess  de  Chambrun: 

"The  officers  on  the  steamship 
were  apprised  of  Miss  Roosevelt's 
coming,  and  there  was  much  ex- 
citement among  them.  Prepara- 
tions were  at  once  made  to  lower 
the  gangway,  a  task  requiring  no 
little  time  and  trouble,  but  Miss 
Roosevelt  would  have  none  of  it. 
Standing  upon  the  revenue  cut- 
ter's deck  and  making  a  mega- 
phone of  her  gloved  hands  she 
shouted  to  the  Kaiser's  first  offi- 
cer: 'The  ladder's  all  right. 
Never  mind  anything  else.'  The 
Manhattan  nosed  alongside  the  liner.  Miss 
Roosevelt  awaiting  the  moment  when  she 
could  grasp  the  ladder's  rungs.  Congressman 
Longworth  stood  beside  her,  protesting,  but  not 
persuading.  The  instant  she  was  able  to  reach 
the  ladder  she  drew  herself  up  and  started  her 
climb  of  some  25  feet.  There  was  no  great 
danger  about  the  undertaking,  but  it  required 
strength  and  coolness.  Miss  Roosevelt  climbed 
up  steadily,  rung  by  rung.  When  she  reached 
the  rail  and  was  lifted  to  the  deck  she  was 
cheered  by  the  passengers." 

This  love  of  adventure,  her  friends  assert, 
is  the  real  and  only  reason  for  her  being  on 
the  go  so  continually.  "She  wants  to  see,  to 
know,  to  do.     She  astounds  by  her  capacity 


PEkSONS  IN  THE  FOkEGkOVND 


iH 


for  life  and  living.  This  is  the  keynote  of 
her  personality,  a  personality  so  impressive 
that  it  cannot  be  displaced  or  overshadowed." 
In  a  general  way,  it  is  known  that  her 
Roosevelt  ancestry  has  figured  long  and  honor- 
ably in  American  history.  The  details  are 
given  by  Dexter  Marshall,  in  a  recent  news- 
paper study  of  the  family.  Alice  has  behind 
her  eight  generations  of  American  Roosevelts. 
The  first  of  the  line  was  Claes  Martenzen 
Van  Rosenvelt,  who  came  from  Holland  to 
Xcw  Amsterdam  in  1649,  one  year  before 
the  first  Vanderbilt  came  here.  The  published 
genealogy  of  the  family  now  includes  1,600 
numbered  names,  the  President's  being  num- 
bered 644.  The  New  York  Social  Register 
includes  4^  Roosevelts  and  only  ?7  Vander- 
bilts  and  eight  Astors.  It  was  in  the  fourth 
generation  that  the  prefix  Van  was  dropped 
and  the  name  changed  to  Roosevelt  — pro- 
nounced almost  as  if  the  name  were  spelled 
rosy-velt.  There  were  Roosevelts  who  were 
active  in  the  Revolution.     Jacobus  served  as 


commissary  of  the  Continental  Army  without 
a  cent  of  pay.  Isaac  was  a  member  of  the 
Provincial  Congress.  Nicholas  J.,  of  the  fifth 
generation,  was  a  very  distinguished  man.  He 
was  the  inventor  of  the  "vertical  paddle- 
wheel*'  that  made  Fulton's  first  steamboat  a 
success,  and  it  was  Nicholas  Roosevelt  who 
in  181 1  took  the  first  steamboat  down  the 
Ohio  River  (from  Pittsburg)  and  the  Mis* 
sissippi  to  New  Orleans.  He  and  his  wife 
were  the  only  passengers  and  the  trip  was  one 
that  made  the  country  talk,  and  the  excitement 
of  the  natives  along  the  banks  of  the  Missis- 
sippi as  the  boat  came  down  belching  fire  and 
steam  has  been  described  in  history. 

The  grandfather  of  Alice,  Theodore  Roose- 
velt the  first,  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
Union  League  in  New  York  City,  and  of  the 
Newsboys'  Home,  the  Children's  Aid  Society, 
the  Y.  M.  C.  Association,  and  the  Ortho- 
pedic Hospital.  The  love  of  outdoor  sports 
was  as  strong  in  him  as  in  the  President. 

The  family  of  Longworths,  into  which  Alice 


THE  FUTURE  HOME  OF  MRS.  NICHOLAS  LONGWORTH 

'*The  home  of  all  the  Longn^^orths  is  Rookwood.  No  matter  what  grand  palaces  they  may  build,  or  cottaRcs 
they  may  rear  by  the  seaside,  Rookwood,  the  jfreat  estate  at  Cincinnati,  will  be  '  home.'  For  three  generations 
the  jfreat,  rambling  srray  structure  has  been  the  center  of  Cincinnati  society,  and  Mrs.  '  Nick  '  Longworth  will  hold 
frjci^l  sway  over  the  city  as  the  women  of  the  Longworth  family  have  from  the  beginning." 


326 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


THE  BRIDEGROOM 

It  is  embarrassing,  says  Mr.  Longworth,  to  court  a 
girl  with  seventy  million  persons  lookmg  on.  He  is  de- 
scribed as  having  »'  httle  of  the  look  of  the  multimillion- 
aire and  less  the  look  of  the  society  man.  He  is  bald 
headed  and  jolly,  clever,  and  something  of  a  reformer, 
although  mixed  with  Republican  ring  politics  in  Cincin- 
nati for  years." 

Roosevelt  marries,  has  long  been  well  known 
in  southern  Ohio,  and  stories  of  the  wealth 
and  eccentricity  of  "Old  Nick"  Longworth, 
grandfather  of  the  present  Congressman,  have 
been  legends  of  the  State  for  decades.  One  of 
them  tells  of  his  sitting  on  a  dry-goods  box 
on  the  sidewalk,  in  Cincinnati,  looking  so 
poverty-stricken,  because  of  his  careless*attire, 
that  as  he  held  his  hat  out  with  one  hand, 
while  mopping  his  face  with  his  handkerchief 
in  the  other,  a  passer-by  kindly  dropped  a  coin 
in  the  hat  to  relieve  his  supposed  poverty. 
Another  of  the  legends  tells  of  visitors  to  his 
handsome  home  who,  meeting  inside  the  gate 
a  supposed  working  man,  asked  him  to  show 
them  the  grounds,  which  he  did  so  courteously 
that  he  received  (and  pocketed)  a  quarter 
or  more  for  his  pains.  The  working  man,  of 
course,  was  "Old   Nick." 

In  Cist's  "Cincinnati  in  185 1,"  Longworth 
was  said  to  be,  next  to  Astor,  of  New  York, 
the  largest  taxpayer  in  the  United  States. 
When  he  died,  "Old  Nick's"  property,  most 
of  it  made  in  real  estate,  was  estimated  at 
$15,000,000.  The  present  "Young  Nick,' 
whom  Miss  Roosevelt  marries,  is,  like  his 
bride,  of  Dutch  Knickerbocker  stock,  his  great 


grandmother  being  Apphia  Vanderpoel.  He 
is  thirty-six  years  old,  an  A.  B.  of  Harvard,  a 
lawyer,  and,  after  several  years'  service  in  the 
Ohio  State  legislature,  has  been  twice  elected 
to  the  national  House  of  Representatives, 

"Rookwood,"  the  new  home  of  "Nick"  Long^- 
worth's  bride,  has  for  three  generations  been 
the  center  of  Cincinnati  society.  The  Grandin 
road,  which  leads  to  it,  winds  it  way  slong  the 
bluff  overlooking  the  Ohio  River,  skirting 
precipices  and  deepening  into  shady  ravines. 
The  house  is  thus  described  by  a  recent  writer : 

"Rookwood  stands  almost  in  the  center  of 
extensive,  heavily  wooded  hilly  grounds.  The 
house  is  massive  in  construction,  the  style  ot 
architecture  being  adapted  from  an  old  English 
country  h6me.  It  rambles  over  a  great  space  of 
ground,  being  but  two  stories  high,  with  a  heavy 
square  tower.  The  house  faces  east,  with  the 
conservatories  and  greenhouse  extending  far  back 
towards  the  big  stables.  It  is  of  brick  and  stone 
and  now  is  gray  with  age,  and  its  wide  porches 
and  porticos  are  heavily  draped  in  ivy.  The 
windows  are  deep  set  and  wide.  At  the  front 
is  a  porch  extending  almost  the  width  of  the 
house  itself,  and  the  great  double  door?  at  the 
entrance  open  into  a  wide  hallway  with  huge, 
high  ceilinged  parlors  at  either  side.  .  .  .  The 
trees  around  Rookwood  stand  as  in  the  original 
forest,  and  from  a  distance  the  estate  appears 
like  an  unbroken  forest.  The  beeches  and  elms 
and  oaks  stand  as  they  did  when  the  white  men 
first  came  to  build  a  block  house  on  the  hillside 
to  the  west.  The  carriage  way,  winding  through 
valleys  and  over  hills,  runs  back  from  the 
Grandin  road  through  a  grove  of  elms  and  oaks 
to  the  clearing  where  the  house  stands  among 
its  greeneries  and  gardens." 

The  house  is  noted  for  its  collection  of  art 
treasures — paintings  by  American,  Dutch  and 
German  artists  (including  those  of  Achen-' 
bach,  Van  Dyck,  Rembrandt  and  Knaus)  and 
a  ceramic  collection  said  to  be  the  best  private 
collection  in  the  United  States  and  perhaps  in 
the  world.  It  was  "Nick"  Longworth's  aunt, 
Mrs.  Bellamy  Storer,  who  established  the  now 
famous  pottery  Rookwood,  and  it  was  she 
who  discovered  the  Rookwood  methods  of 
glazing  and  tinting  and  first  began  the  work. 

Rookwood  has  been  overhauled  for  its  new 
mistress,  the  living  rooms  redecorated  and  a 
separate  suite  prepared  for  the  bride.  There 
will  be,  it  is  said,  fetes  and  festivities  more 
gay  than  the  house  has  ever  before  witnessed. 
The  social  renown  of  the  family  has  from 
the  first  rested  on  the  women.  From  the  time 
of  Nicholas  the  first,  the  Longworth  men  have 
married  brilliant  and  beautiful  women,  and 
the  new  mistress  will  find  a  brilliant  social 
circle  awaiting  her  advent. 


PERSONS  IN  THE  FOREGROUND 


327 


THE   NEW   FRENCH   PRESIDENT 


So  one  could  be  more  devoted  to  billiards 
than   the  gentleman   who  assumed   the  chief 
magistracy  of  the  French  Republic  last  month. 
It  has  been  his  "vice,"  as  he  puts  it,  for  years, 
and    he    regrets    that    official    life    interferes 
vi-ith  his  propensity.        But  M.   Clement  Ar- 
mand    Fallieres,    to  give  him   his   full   name, 
never  smokes.       In  that  one  respect,  he  is  a 
contrast    to    his    immediate    predecessor,   M. 
Loubet,   who  smoked  a  pipe.        In  all   other 
ftersonal     traits,     the     resemblance 
Fallieres    and    Loubet    is    deemed    striking. 
Fallieres  never  omits  his  morning  walk,  which 
sometimes  lasts  two  hours.      The  object  of  so 
much  perambulation  is  to  correct  the  tendency 
to  obesity,  which  has  caused  some  alarm  to 
the   family   doctor.     M.    Fallieres  is  quite  ab- 
stemious in  the  use  of  wines.      Nearly  all  the 
alcoholic  beverage  of  his  consumption  is  the 
President's     own     vintage.       It 
comes    from    the    little    estate 
which  makes  up  the  President's 
whole  fortune,  estimated  to  be 
worth  about  $80,000,  his  prop- 
erty  being    in    real   estate   and 
mortgages.    One  of  the  rules  of 
his  life  is  to  avoid  the  purchase 
of  stocks,  bonds  and  government 
securities.     One  in  public  life, 
he  has  said,  cannot  always  es- 
cape    being     compromised     by 
speculative  investment. 

All  this  is  but  a  tithe  of  the 
detail  to  be  gleaned  from  co- 
pious sketches  of  Fallieres  in  the 
Gaulois,  Temps,  Figaro,  of  Paris, 
and  the  leading  dailies  of  Eu- 
rope. Not  one  unfriendly  notice 
of  the  man  has  been  printed  any- 
where, unless  we  take  into  ac- 
count the  purely  political  ani- 
madversions of  those  dailies 
which  deplore  the  mildness  of 
M.  Falliercs's  republicanism. 

Paris  is  already  regretting 
that  the  new  President  cares 
very  little  for  the  theater.  He 
seldom  or  never  spends  an  even- 
ing away  from  his  own  fireside. 
His  favorite  companions  are  his 
wife,  a  thoroughly  domestic 
woman  to  whom  he  was  wed  in 
1871.  his  son  Andre,  a  rising 
barrister,  and  his  daughter  Mile. 


Anne,  an  enthusiastic  grower  of  roses  and 
heliotropes.  This  taste  of  the  daughter  is 
shared  by  the  President.  One  of  the  young 
lady's  diversions  is  to  pelt  her  father  with 
azaleas  as  he  reclines  under  the  trees  upon 
his  little  property  at  Loupillon,  a  typical 
French  village  community. 

The  character  of  the  man  is  thought  to  be 
most  clearly  revealed  in  certain  phrases  of  his, 
to  which  the  Temps  has  been  giving  currency, 
between  ^  ** Noise,*'  he  is  made  to  say,  "docs  not  inter- 
fere with  achievement,  but  silence  promotes 
it."  This  suggests  M.  Loubet,  with  his  fond- 
ness for  quiet  ways  and  quiet  •  men.  But 
most  of  the  aphorisms  of  Fallieres,  like  the 
stories  about  the  man,  indicate  that  his 
salient  trait  is  sturdy  good  sense  and  straight- 
forwardness. Yet  he  can  be  sly,  after  a 
fashion.        He    has   been   known   among   his 


THE  QUIET  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  FRENCH  REPUBLIC 


M.  Fallieres  is  inclined  to  get  stout.  He  tries  to  keep  his  flesh  down 
bv  lonjf  two-hour  walks  in  the  streets  of  Paris.  The  officials  of  the 
Elys^e  are  in  dread  of  Anarchist  assaults  upon  the  new  President  unless 
his  exercise  be  restricted. 


328 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


constituents  for  years  as  a  man  of  the  kindest 
heart.  A  boy  who  had  been  convicted  of 
theft  came  to  Fallieres  for  aid.  ''I  am 
afraid,"  mused  the  statesman,  "that  you  have 
come  to  me  too  late.  I  might  have  done 
something  for  you  had  you  called  earlier. 
Now,  suppose  you  had  called  earlier,  that  is, 
before  you  had  committed  the  theft.  I  should 
have  had  an  excellent  piece  of  advice  to  give 
you — don't.  As  it  is,  all  I  can  say  is  that  you 
had  better  go  to  prison.  Next  time,  you  must 
come  to  me  before  you  steal."  Other  anec- 
dotes are  supplied  by  the  London  Telegraph: 
"He  has  three  nephews,  whom  he  has  practically  - 


NOT  RICHARD  HARDING  DAVIS 

But  the  second  son  of  the  German  Emperor — Prince 
Eitel — who  is  to  marry  the  twenty -seven  year  old  Grand- 
Duchess  Sophie.  He  is  the  most  papular  of  the  Em- 
peror's sons. 


brought  up.  One  of  them,  yearning  for  the  vio- 
let ribbon  of  the  Order  of  Public  Instruction,  ap- 
plied himself  to  the  Minister,  who,  perhaps,  out 
of  consideration  for  the  uncle,  then  President  of 
the  Senate,  duly  promised  the  decoration.  The 
list  of  names  came  before  M.  Fallieres,  who, 
seeing  his  nephew's,  called  the  young  man,  and 
said,  *So  you  asked  for  the  violet  ribbon,  my  boy, 
and  used  my  name  to  get  it?  I  will  not  have  it 
said  that  I  ask  favors  for  my  own  people.  I  have 
struck  out  your  name  from  the  list  myself.' 

"Not  long  ago  one  of  his  farm  hands' was  mar- 
ried, and  M.  Fallieres  sent  four  bottles  of  his  own 
cherished  brandy,  distilled  from  his  own  wine, 
to  the  bridegroom.  The  servant  was  walking 
round  with  the  present  when  M.  Fallieres  stopped 
him  and  told  him  to  go  first  to  the  excise  office 
and  pay  the  duty.  The  servant  expostulated,  and 
thought  that  the  President  of  the  Senate  need 
hardly  trouble  to  pay  on  four  bottles;  but  he  had 
to  pay  when  M.  Fallieres  said  that  if  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Senate  cheated  the  exciseman,  one 
could  not  expect  anyone  else  not  to  do  so." 

Down  in  the  Lot-et-Garonne,  the  native  soil 
of  M.  Fallieres,  stands  the  humble  shanty 
where  the  grandfather  of  the  President 
worked  as  a  blacksmith.  When  this  grand- 
father died,  he  left  a  snug  little  sum  to  his 
son,  who,  becoming  a  land  surveyor,  pros- 
pered. But  the  new  President  was  born  in 
an  annex  to  the  old  blacksmith  shop,  which 
he  still  owns,  and  where  he  resides  at  certain 
seasons  of  the  year.  The  village  is  called 
Mezin.  The  permanent  home  of  the  family 
of  Fallieres  is,  however,  at  Loupillon,  a  few 
miles  from  Mezin.  It  is  an  old  country  man- 
sion which  is  thus  described: 

"At  Loupillon,  M.  Fallieres  has  a  rustic  man- 
sion, which,  like  the  late  Emile  Zola's  house  at 
Medan,  outside  Paris,  was  enlarged  from  the 
small  cottage  of  a  peasant,  originally  bought  bv 
his  grandfather.  In  this  country  mansion  hos- 
pitality is  the  rule.  When  M.  and  Madame  Fal- 
lieres are  there  in  the  summer  they  practically 
keep  open  house.  Loupillon  is  about  an  hour's 
drive  from  Mezin,  and  is  situated  in  the  heart 
of  a  pleasant  country  dotted  with  thatched  farm- 
houses, surrounded  by  fields  full  of  oxen  and 
goats.  The  house  of  the  President  is  simply  fur- 
nished, and  contains  few  ornaments. 

"In  the  ground-floor  drawing-room  there  are 
oil  paintings,  a  few  engravings,  one  showing 
Rouget  de  Lisle  singing  the  'Marseillaise'  before 
the  Mayor  of  Strasburg,  and  on  the  mantelpiece 
there  is  a  bust  of  Gambetta.  The  dining-room 
has  a  table  for  twenty  guests,  and  the  kitchen  is 
of  a  thoroughly  homelike  sort,  with  its  large  rustic 
chimney,  its  rows  of  settles  or  seats,  and  its  well- 
burnished  copper  pots  and  pans.  The  bed-rooms 
have  only  the  most  ordinary  furniture.  A  little 
attempt  at  comfort,  if  not  luxury,  is  visible  in  the 
President's  study,  where  he  sits  long  over  his 
books  and  papers,  and  where  he  receives  his 
visitors.  Over  the  desk  is  a  black-and-white 
drawing  representing  M.  Fallieres  sitting,  clad 
as  a  peasant,  on  a  stone  seat  in  his  garden." 


PERSONS  IN  THE  FOREGROUND 


3^9 


EMPEROR  WILLIAM'S  FAMILY  CIRCLE 


Emperor  William  decided  that  on  the  twenty- 
fifth  anniversary  of  his  own  marriage,  his 
second  son,  Prince  Eitel,  should  espouse  a 
German  princess  some  years  the  senior  of  the 
youth.  His  Majesty,  according  to  foreign 
papers  reporting  court  gossip,  thus  shows  that 
after  a  quarter  of  a  century  of  domestic  life 
he  is  still  master  in  his  own  household.* 

The  household  is  reduced  now  to  seven. 
Prince  Eitel  goes  with  his  new  bride  to  make 
a  princely  home  of  his  .own.  The  Crown 
Prince,  whose  name  is  William,  has  been  mar- 
ried some  little  time.  There  remain  at  home 
wth  their  parents,  Prince  Adalbert,  the  widely 
traveled;  Prince  August,  a  robust  youth; 
Prince  Oscar,  of  whom  one  hears  very  little; 
Prince  Joachim,  now  nearly  sixteen,  and  Prin- 
cess Victoria,  the  Emperor's  only  daughter, 
the  idol  of  the  German  nation,  although  she  is 
but  thirteen.*  At  any  rate,  one  of  the  official 
organs  gives  her  the  title  of  "idol,"  adding  that 
she  is  enshrined  in  every  true  German  heart. 
The  Socialist  organs  take  a  different  cue.  The 
Crown  Prince  not  so  long  ago  denounced 
Sociahsts  and  Socialism,  whereupon  the  party 
organs  declared  that  the  imperial  children  are 
being  educated  in  an  anti-Socialistic  atmos- 
phere. 

They  are  really  educated  in  a  scientific  at- 
mosphere, according  to  the  Paris  Gaulois.  The 
Emperor  is  said  to  distrust  certain  tendencies 
in  German  education.  He  thinks  too  much  at- 
tention is  paid  to  the  classics  and  to  literature. 
He  has  had  his  own  children  taught  the  sci- 
ences, with  some  ambitious  courses  in  the  arts. 
Thus,  the  Crown  Prince,  although  trained  as 
a  military  man  first  of  all,  knows  a  good  deal 
about  chemistry.  Prince  Eitel  is  a  mathema- 
tician. His  younger  brothers  have  been  made 
to  acquire  a  knowledge  of  engineering.  The 
little  princess  takes  to  "domestic  science." 
The  Emperor  wants  no  dreaming  Germans  in 
his  family. 

But  the  arts  are  by  no  means  neglected. 
William  II  deems  himself  an  unusually  com- 
petent art  critic — some  Germans  profess 
amusement  at  his  taste — and  he  has  dabbled 
with  the  brush.  The  Crown  Prince  does  not 
^ve  much  time  to  pictures,  but  he  is  pro- 
nounced a  fine  performer  on  the  violin. 
Prince  Eitel  is  something  of  a  Wag^erite. 
His  brother  Adalbert  paints.  Information  re- 
garding the  tastes  of  the  younger  children 
is  not  forthcoming.    But  the  world  is  assured 


that  William  II  oversees  their  studies  with 
paternal  solicitude.  Every  three  months  he 
examines  the  princes  as  if  he  were  their  tutor. 
He  gives  them  subjects  for  essays,  criticizing 
the  productions  severely.  The  princess  is  left 
to  the  supervision  of  her  mother,  the  Empress. 
The  Empress,  says  the  London  Mail,  is 
first  and  foremost  a  housekeeper.  Her 
daughter  supervises  one  of  the  linen  closets  in 
the  Neues  Palais.     Neither  of  these  royalties 


ENGAGED  TO  A  MAN  YOUNGER  THAN  HERSELF 

She  is  the  Duchess  Sophie,  daughter  of  the  Grand 
Duke  of  Oldenburg.  The  German  Emperor's  second 
son.Vfour  years  her  junior,  has  been  accepted  as  her  fu- 
ture husband,  in  flat  defiance  of  Shakespeare's  "  Let  still 
the  woman  take  an  elder  than  herself." 


330 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


THE  DIPLOMATIST 

Prince  Adalbert  is  sent 
by  William  II  on  trips  to 
foreign  countries  when 
international  strains  re- 
()uire  much  social  solv- 
ing. 


THE  SAILOR  PRINCE 

Prince  Joachim  is  now 
nearly  sixteen  and  some- 
thing of  a  naval  engineer. 


THE  FIRST  BORN 

He  is  to  inherit  the 
two  thrones  of  his  father, 
William  II,  King  of  Prus- 
sia, German  Emperor,  if 
he  lives. 


can  be  deemed  beautiful,  if  the  English  daily 
be  not  too  ungallant.  The  Empress  has  beau- 
tiful arms  and  shoulders,  but  her  feet  and 
hands  are  too  large.  She  gains  flesh  on  the 
least  provocation  and  is  rather  unsuccessful  in 
her  efforts  to  lose  it.  Her  eyes  are  a  bluish 
gray,  not  particularly  brilliant.  Her  Maj- 
esty's brows  and  lashes  incline  to  scantiness. 
She  has  the  misfortune  to  be  unpopular  with 
the  people  of  Berlin,  who  are  said  to  consider 
her  Majesty  "near"  in  pecuniary  transactions. 
The  truth  is,  if  we  may  accept  the  statements 


POSSIBLE  KING 

This  Youth  is  thought 
of  as  a  future  King  of 
Hungary  by  Pan-Ger- 
mans, say  some  gossips. 
He  is  Pnnce  Oscar,  Em- 


William  ll's  daughter 
helps  her  mother  with 
the  housekeeping. 


SHE  IS  STOUTER  NOW 

The  German  Empress  is  unwilling  to  be  photographed 
in  consequence.     'Hiis  picture  dates  from  1902. 

of  the  official  German  press,  that  the  Empress, 
as  a  model  housekeeper,  practises  the  thrifty 
virtues.  She  is  said  by  English  observers  to 
be  much  in  awe  of  her  husband.  In  fact,  the 
entire  royal  family  of  Germany  look  up  to 
Emperor  William  as  the  supreme  arbiter  of 
German  destinies,  their  own  included.  Even 
the  Crown  Prince  did  not  dream,  it  is  said,  of 
going  to  the  Emperor's  shooting-box  called 
Hubertusstock,  to  show  the  Crown  Princess 
over  the  place,  without  first  securing  his 
Majesty's  permission.  When  William  H  is 
especially  pleased  with  one  of  his  sons,  he 
takes  him  out  for  a  day's  hunt. 


THE  HUNTER 

Prince  August  finds  his 
greatest  pleasure  in  pur- 
suing  with  gun  and  knife 
the  big  game  on  his  fath- 
er's "preserves." 


PERSONS  IN  THE  FOREGROUND 


331 


THE  BEST  MAYOR  OF  THE  BEST  GOVERNED  CITY  IN  THE 

UNITED  STATES 


The  city  is  Cleveland,  Ohio;  the  mayor  is 
Tom  L.  Johnson;  the  man  who  characterizes 
him  as  the  "best"  mayor  is  Lincoln  SteflFens. 
As  Tom  Johnson  began  life  in  penury,  became 
a  millionaire  before  he  was  thirty-five,  has 
been  a  Congressman,  mayor  of  Cleveland  sev- 
eral times,  candidate  for  governor  of  Ohio,  and 
is  always  mentioned  in  any  list  of  possible 
Democratic  candidates  for  the  presidency,  the 
sketch  of  the  man  which  Louis  F.  Post,  editor 
of  The  Public  (Chicago),  draws  of  him  in 
that  paper  is  of  political  as  well  as  human 
interest. 

Tom  Johnson  is  an  American  from  "way 
back."  It  was  his  grandfather's  great  grand- 
father that  began  the  family  career  here, 
coming  from  England  in  1714  to  the  colony  of 
Virginia.  The  line  of  lineage  since  then  in- 
cludes nearly  all  the  old  Virginia  families 
of  Kentucky.  By  marriage  or  direct  descent, 
Tom  is  related  to  "all  the  Kentucky  Johnsons 
and  some  of  the  Johnstons,  the  Paynes  and  the 
Floumoys,  the  Bu fords,  the  Colemans,  the 
Popes  and  the  Qays,  as  well  as  the  Sande- 
fords  and  the  Breckenridges."  The  list  in- 
cludes Richard  M.  Johnson,  who  (perhaps) 
slew  Tecumseh,  and  who  was  Vice-President 
from  1837  to  1841.  Tom's  father  was  a  cot- 
ton planter  with  100  slaves  in  Arkansas,  and 
served  on  the  staffs  of  John  C.  Breckenridge 
and  Jubal  A.  Early  in  the  Confederate  army. 
When  the  war  closed,  the  family  were  in 
Staunton,  Va.,  "absolutely  penniless."  Tom 
was  but  eleven,  but  he  started  in  to  retrieve 
the  family  fortune.  He  knew  a  railroad 
conductor — the  railroad  conductor,  rather — 
that  had  charge  of  the  one  and  only  train  that 
ran  to  Staunton  in  those  days.  Tom  obtained 
a  complete  monopoly  of  the  sale  of  newspapers 
on  that  train,  and  as  there  was  "something 
doing"  in  those  troublous  days,  he  charged  15 
cents  for  dailies  and  25  cents  for  picture 
papers,  reaping  a  harvest  of  real  silver  money 
to  the  extent  of  $88  in  five  weeks.  That  took 
the  whole  family  to  Louisville,  where  they 
were  able  to  borrow.  Tom  got  a  few  years 
schooling  and  his  mother  and  father  tutored 
him  when  he  couldn't  go  to  school.  He  cared 
nothing  for  literary  studies,  but  came  out 
strong  on  mathematics,  and  to  his  aptitude  in 
figures  he  attributes  in  great  measure  his  suc- 
cess in  life. 


It  was  a  cold  day  when  he  got  his  first 
steady  job.  The  day  was  cold  because  his 
mother  had  "nothing  fit  to  wear"  on  her  head 
but  a  crocheted  hood,  and  she  waited  for  a  cold 
day  in  order  that  she  might  wear  that  hood 
when  going  with  Tom  to  find  the  job.  It  was 
found  in  a  rolling-mill — the  job,  not  the  hood. 
Four  months  later  he  embarked  in  the  street- 
railway  business.  He  collected  and  counted 
the  money  which  the  passengers  dropped  in 
the  box  of  the  conductorless  cars.  He  soon 
became  secretary  of  the  company  and  his 
father  was  made  superintendent.  A  few  years 
later,  when  the  father  was  made  chief  of 
police  of  Louisville,  the  son  was  made  super- 
intendent of  the  road  at  about  the  age  of 
twenty.  He  kept  on  rising.  He  invented  a 
fare-box  that  has  since  netted  him  $30,000. 
He  borrowed  money  in  1876  to  buy  out  the  In- 
dianapolis street-car  system,  selling  it  out 
later  at  a  personal  profit  of  over  half  a  million 
dollars.  He  bought  a  small  line  in  Cleveland, 
made  it  a  big  line,  and  entered  upon  a  glorious 
running  fight  for  years  with  Mark  Hanna, 
who  was  in  control  of  the  opposing  system. 
The  fight  was  the  sensation  of  Cleveland  for  a 
time.  Sometimes  one  side  won,  sometimes  the 
other,  but  the  public  got  reduced  fares  as  a 
result.  Two  big  consolidations  were  formed, 
a  truce  was  declared,  and  when  Johnson  later 
disposed  of  his  interests  in  the  railways, 
Hanna's  company  gobbled  up  the  whole  sys- 
tem. His  street-railway  career  contains  other 
interesting  features,  notably  his  unsuccessful 
attempt,  in  connection  with  Governor  Pingree, 
of  Michigan,  to  bring  the  street-car  lines 
of  Detroit  under  municipal  ownership  and 
operation,  and  his  more  or  less  successful 
effort  to  reduce  car  fares  in  Cleveland  to  three 
cents,  in  consequence  whereof  he  has  been 
dubbed  by  the  New  York  Sun  in  one  of  its 
facetious  moods  "Three-Cent  Tom." 

Tom  Johnson's  entry  into  politics  was 
brought  about  by  a  book,  a  newsboy  and  a  car 
conductor.     Mr.  Post  narrates  as  follows: 

"While  interested  in  street  car  systems,  both  in 
Cleveland  and  Indianapolis,  Johnson  frequently 
rode  on  the  cars  between  those  cities.  On  one  of 
these  trips  a  newsboy  asked  him  to  buy  a  book 
called  'Social  Problems.'  It  was  Henry  George's 
second  book  on  the  industrial  question,  but  John- 
son supposed  it  to  be  a  work  on  the  social  evil. 
Saying  as  much,  and  adding  that  he  had  no  in- 


332 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


terest  in  that  subject,  he  refused  to  buy  the  book. 
The  train  conductor,  who  happened  to  be  within 
hearing,  happened  also  to  be  familiar  with 
George's  teachings,  and  knowing  Johnson  well 
he  told  him  he  was  mistaken  in  the  character  of 
the  book.  'It  will  interest  you  more,'  he  assured 
him,  'than  any  book  you  have  ever  read.'  Upon 
this  assurance  Johnson  reluctantly  invested  half 
a  dollar  in  the  book  and  read*  it.  A  new  world 
was  revealed  to  him,  and  he  promotly  bought  and 
read  George's  'Progress  and  Poverty.'  After 
reading  this,  he  challenged  his  lawyer,  L.  A.  Rus- 
sell, of  Cleveland,  and  his  partner,  Arthur  J. 
Moxham,  to  show  him  any  flaw  in  the  argument. 
Unable  to  comply,  they  objected  to  the  premises. 
But  Johnson  convinced  them  that  the  premises 
were  sound.  The  final  result  of  their  controversy 
was  the  complete  conversion  of  all  three  to 
George's  views." 

Johnson  soon  sought  out  Henry  George 
and  a  warm  friendship  ensued.  Mr.  George 
advised  him  to  go  into  politics.  "I  can't  make 
a  speech,"  said  Johnson.  "You  have  never 
tried,"  said  George ;  "if  you  put  your  mind  to 
it,  you  can  succeed  at  speaking  as  well  as  in 
business."  He  put  his  mind  to  it  and  made 
a  timid  speech  five  minutes  long  in  Cooper 
Union.  He  "probably  could  not  have  spoken 
ten  minutes  more  had  his  life  been  the  forfeit," 
so  Mr.  Post  tells  us.  But  that  was  enough  for 
a  start.  He  has  never  become  an  orator,  in  the 
usual  sense  of  the  word;  but  he  has  learned  to 
say  whjit  he  wants  to  say  in  a  direct,  forcible 
and  fetching  way.  He  made  a  free-trade 
campai]pi  for  Congress  in  a  Republican  dis- 
trict in  Ohio  and  was  beaten.  He  tried  again 
and  wen  by  3,000  plurality.  At  Washington 
he  was  "shelved" — so  they  thought — on  the 
District  of  Columbia  Committee.  He  didn't 
stay  shelved.  He  instituted  an  investigation 
into  thi  taxation  system  of  the  district,  and 
issued  what  the  single  taxers  still  call  "a 
classic  document  on  the  principles  of  taxation 
practically  applied."  His  feat  during  a  second 
term  in  Congress  (1892)  in  getting  "Progress 
and  Poverty"  printed  in  The  Congressional 
Record  is  still  famous.  Under  the  "leave  to 
print"  rules  of  Congress,  he  arranged  with 
six  other  free-traders,  each  of  whom,  secur- 
ing the  floor  on  one  pretext  or  another,  got 
"leave  to  print"  successive  chapters  of  the 
book.  They  were  then  put  together  in  a  public 
document  and  franked  through  the  mails  free, 
as  a  campaign  document,  to  the  extent  of  more 
than  a  million  copies. 

As  a  business  man,  Johnson  has  been  a 
monopolist  to  such  an  extent  that  he  once 
came  near  being  committed  for  contempt  of 
court  because,  when  asked  what  his  occupation 
was,  he  insisted  on  answering,  "A  monopolist" 


In  politics  he  has  been  an  active  foe  of 
monopolies.  Challenged  on  the  floor  of  Con- 
gress for  inconsistency,  he  replied :  "As  a  busi- 
ness man  I  am  willing  to  take  advantage  of  ail 
the  monopoly  laws  you  pass ;  but  as  a  member 
of  Congress,  I  will  not  help  you  to  pass  them 
and  I  will  try  to  force  you  t^  repeal  them."  He 
supported  Bryan,  though  he  regarded  "free 
silver"  as  a  mere  "accidental  slogan  of  a  more 
fundamental  democracy."  He  supported  Park- 
er "as  well  as  circumstances  permitted."  His 
record  as  mayor  is  highly  praised  by  Steffens, 
and  he  has  been  elected  three  times. 

According  to  Steffens,  he  closed  the  dives 
and  opened  the  parks  to  the  people  and  made 
playgrounds  for  the  children.  He  "equalized" 
taxation  by  raising  the  rates  on  railroads',  par- 
doned workhouse  prisoners  held  for  non- 
payment of  fines,  and  instructed  subordinates 
to  run  departments  on  business  principles 
regardless  of  politics.  The  legislature  de- 
prived him  of  most  of  his  power  of  appoint- 
ment, but  he  succeeded  in  getting  his  own 
men  elected  when  he  could  no  longer  appoint 
them.  In  the  following  pen-picture  Mr.  Post 
gives  what  he  thinks  suggests  the  secret  of 
his  leadership: 

"It  is  a  picture  of  a  low  green-leather  lounge, 
faced  and  flanked  with  easy  chairs  and  ottomans 
and  rambling  in  front  of  a  cheerful  hearth  fire  in 
a  room  of  mellowed  light  in  the  very  center  of 
Mayor  Johnson's  home.  Here  he  keeps  'open 
house.*  Not  'open  house'  for  drinking,  for  John- 
son neither  drinks  nor  invites  drinking.  Nor  a 
politician's  den  where  wires  are  pulled  and  com- 
binations made.  It  is  the  family  living  room  of 
ilie  mayor  of  an  American  city  who  takes  his 
official  responsibilities  seriously.  In  the  house  of 
a  rich  man,  this  room  is  expensively  as  well  as 
comfortably  furnished;  yet  the  social  atmosphere 
is  such  that  the  poorest  who  join  the  circle  there 
forget  all  distinctions  of  wealth.  Around  this 
fireside  for  the  past  five  years  the  civic  'conditions 
of  Cleveland  have  been  discussed — academically 
to  the  roots  and  practically  to  the  uttermost 
branches — by  those  who  are  responsible  officially 
and  by  those  who  are  interested  only  as  citizens, 
and  by  visitors  also  from  other  places." 

Another  of  the  secrets  of  his  success  is,  we 
are  told,  revealed  in  an  incident  of  his  baby- 
hood: 

"When  he  was  a  little  fellow  in  frocks  playing 
Noah's  ark  with  his  baby  cousin,  a  grown-up  ac- 
cidentally swept  over  the  array  of  animals  they 
had  set  on  the  floor.  The  little  cousin  gave  up  in 
despair.  But  the  future  mayor  of  Cleveland 
caught  sight  of  two  undisturbed  figures  of  their 
Noachian  array.  A  smile  broke  through  the  tears 
that  had  come,  and  he  exclaimed:  'Oh,  mamma, 
look!  two  of  'em  are  standing,  and  that's  enough 
to  begin  over  again  V  " 


Recent  Poetry 


From  Victor  Hugo's  posthumous  volume  of 
poetry  and  dramatic  fragments,  from  which  we 
have  already  quoted  in  this  department,  we  ex- 
tract another  poem,  weird  in  conception  and  ter- 
rible as  a  nightmare.  Surely  the  idea  of  the 
transmigration  of  souls  was  never  put  into  more 
striking  form: 

A  ROYAL  FUNERAL 

By  Victor  Hugo 

0  death!  O  judgment!  chastisement  1  reward! 
Bottomless  deep  whither  all  being  tends, 
Where  all  must  go  unaided  and  alone  I 
This  man,  but  yesterday  an  emperor, 
To-day  lies  dead. 

The  cannons'  thunder  and  the  brazen  peal 
Of  funeral  bells  re-echo  from  the  heavens. 
The  winds  are  sighing,  He  is  dead!    Alas! 
The  elect!  the  dread  and  sovereign  majesty! 
The  ruler  of  all,  the  shadow  of  God  himself! 
The  mighty  and  the  strong  is  with  the  blest! 
He  was  great  in  life,  he  is  greater  still  in  death  I 
And  mourning  crowds  rush  on  in  fevered  haste. 
And  the  great  lanterns  flare  up  in  the  streets, 
And  the  royal  convoy  passes. 

Twenty  proud  squadrons  head  the  mournful  line, 

And  heralded  by  trumpets  there  appears 

A  species  of  tomb — ^huge,  dazzling  and  superb, 

A  grand  sepulchral  throne  flooded  with  light, 

A  giant  cenotaph  with  waving  plumes 

Rolling  resplendent,  shedding  on  the  air 

Odorous  showers  of  myrrh  and  frankincense ; 

A  flare  of  gold,  light  purple  and  proud  banners. 

The  royal  hearse  seems  to  th'  amazed  crowd 

The  height  of  htmian  glory: 

An  imperial  robe,  a  sceptre  and  a  crown — 

A  corpse! 

And  the  great  city  wails  its  widowhood; 

While   the   whole   country   round,    the   hamlets, 

towns, 
Echo  the  sound  of  drum  and  martial  tread. 

But  hark! 

While  yet  the  air  is  echoing  to  the  shout: 
"Hail  King  and  Royal  Master!  sovereign  Lord, 
Whom  God  hath  aided  in  his  enterprise!" 
The  dread  and  sinister  spirit  suddenly  wakes 
In  yon  black  horse  yoked  in  the  funeral  team 
That  draws  the  car  of  triumph  to  the  shadows. 
Shuddering,  he  cries,  "Where  am  I?"  and  re- 
members. 
He  feels  his  corpse  behind  him  hurrying  on, 
He  sees  the  marble  portals  and  the  arch, 
He  hears  the  driver's  voice  urging  him  on. 
Fain  would  he  cry,  "  Tis  I,  the  master  of  all !" 
But  death  has  bound  him  in  its  terrible  knot. 
He  trembles  in  his  new  and  frightful  form; 
And,  while  he  traverses  in  thought  his  Louvre, 
His  Kremlin,  Windsor  or  Escurial, 
Blazoned  with  eagles  or  the  fleur-de-lis — 
Spain,  Savoy,  Austria,  Lorraine,  Bourgogne — 
He  feds  the  lash  and  draws  his  corpse  along. 
Wretch!  he  is  prisoned  in  a  lowly  beast. 


His  immortal  part  shuddering  in  punishment. 
His  immortality  drawing  his  corruption. 
Horror  on  horror!  while  his  far-flung  fame. 
Attested  by  his  standards  borne  aloft, 
Is  flaunted  from  his  walls  and  battlements; 
While  Saint- Denis,  august  and  beautiful, 
Opens  its  gates  to  the  imperial  pomp — 
As  to  the  sun  the  portals  of  the  night — 
A  vast  sarcophagus  lit  with  a  million  stars. 
As  though  the  night  had  put  on  mourning  robes, 
While  standards  bow  before  the  royal  bier. 
While  Bossuet  celebrates  the  heroic  dead — 
His  virtues,  glory,  justice  and  world  greatness — 
His  soul  writhing  beneath  the  driver's  lash 
Bears  his  anointed  body  to  the  worms. 

"I  would  much  rather,"  said  Alfieri  a  hundred 
years  ago,  "write,  so  to  say,  in  a  dead  language 
and  for  a  dead  people  than  write  in  those  deaf 
and  stammering  tongues,  French  and  English, 
notwithstanding  they  are  the  fashion,  with  their 
rules  and  exercises."  Dr.  Douglas  Hyde,  presi- 
dent of  the  Gaelic  League,  who  has  been  making 
a  lecture  tour  in  America  telling  us  about  the 
"Celtic  Revival,"  quotes  this  sentiment  and  makes 
it  his  own  in  the  preface  to  his  book  of  poems, 
"Ubbla  de're  Craoibh"  ("Apples  from  the 
Branch").  Fortunately  there  are  some  who  know 
the  Gaelic  and  are  not  too  averse  to  English  to 
turn  some  its  poems  into  verse  that  all  of  us  can 
read,  whether  or  not  we  can  understand.  Lady 
Gregory  in  her  volume  of  translations  and  studies 
from  the  Irish  ("Poets  and  Dreamers")  devotes 
a  chapter  to  "Au  Craoibhin's  Poems,"  some  of 
which,  in  the  original,  she  says,  a  friend  of  hers 
has  heard  sung  and  repeated  by  country  people  in 
many  parts  of  Ireland.  Here  is  one  which  she 
thinks  has  "as  distinct  a  quality  as  that  of  Villon 
or  Heine" : 

THE   DEVIL  THAT   IS   CALLED   LOVE 

By  Douglas  Hyde 

There  are  three  fine  devils  eating  my  heart — 
They  left  me,  my  grief!  without  a  thing: 
Sickness  wrought,  and  Love  wrought. 
And  an  empty  pocket,  my  ruin  and  my  woe. 
Poverty  left  me  without  a  shirt, 
Barefooted,  barelegged,  without  any  covering; 
Sickness  left  me  with  my  head  weak 
And  my  body  miserable,  an  ugly  thing. 
Love  left  me  like  a  coal  upon  the  floor. 
Like  a  half-burned  sod,  that  is  never  put  out. 
Worse   than   the   cough,   worse   than   the    fever 

itself, 
Worse  than  any  curse  at  all  under  the  sun. 
Worse  than  the  great  poverty 
Is  the  devil  that  is  called  "Love"  by  the  people. 
And  if  I  were  in  my  young  youth  again, 
I  would  not  take  or  give  or  ask  for  a  kiss! 


334 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


"It  is  better  to  be  quarreling  than  to  be  lone- 
some" is  an  Irish  proverb  that  strikes  us  as  de- 
liciously  Irish.  The  theme  of  lonesomeness  is 
common  in  Dr.  Hyde's  poems.  Here  is  one  that 
breathes  it  in  every  line: 

LONELINESS 

By  Douglas  Hyde 

Cold,  sharp  lamentation 
In  the  cold,  bitter  winds 
Ever  blowing  across  the  sky; 
Oh,  there  was  loneliness  with  me ! 

The  loud  sounding  of  the  waves 
Beating  against  the  shore. 
Their  vast,  rough,  heavy  outcry. 
Oh,  there  was  loneliness  with  me! 

The  light  sea-gulls  in  the  air, 
Crying  sharply  through  the  harbors. 
The  cries  and  screams  of  the  birds 
With    my    own    heart.      Oh!    that    was 
loneliness. 

The  voice  of  the  winds  and  the  tide, 

And  the  long  battle  of  the  mighty  war ; 

The  sea,  the  earth,  the  skies,  the  blow- 
ing of  the  winds. 

Oh,  there  was  loneliness  in  all  of  them 
together. 

Here  is  a  vision  of  a  battlefield—after  the  bat- 
tle.    It  weeps  in  every  line  of  it: 

AFTER  THE  BATTLE 

By   Douglas   Hyde 

The  time  I  think  of  the  cause  of  Ireland 
My  heart  is  torn  within  me. 

The  time  I  4hink  of  the  death  of  the  people 
Who  protected  Ireland  bravely  and  faithfully. 

They  are  stretched  on  the  side  of  the  mountain 
Very  low,  one  with  another. 

Hidden  under  grass,  or  under  tall  herbs, 
Far  from  friends  or  help  or  friendship. 

Not  a  child  or  a  wife  near  them; 

Not  a  priest  to  be  found  there  or  a  friar; 

But  the  mountain  eagle  and  the  white  eagle 
Moving   overhead   across   the   skies. 

Without  a  defence  against  the  sun  in  the  da>'time; 
Without  a  shelter  against  the  skies  at  night. 

It's  many  a  good  soldier,  joyful  and  pleasant, 
That  has  had  his  laughing  mouth  closed  there. 

There  is  many  a  voung  breast  with  a  hole  through 

it; 
The  little  black  hole  that  is  death  to  a  man. 


There  is  many  a  brave  man  stripped  there, 
His  body  naked,  without  vest  or  shirt. 

The  young  man  that  was  proud  and  beautiful  yes- 
terday, 

When  the  woman  he  loved  left  a  kiss  on  his 
mouth. 

There  is  many  a  married  woman,  with  the  child 

at  her  breast, 
Without  her  comrade,  without  a  father  for  her 

child  to-night. 

There's  many  a  castle  without  a  lord,  and  many 

a  lord  without  a  house; 
And  little  forsaken  cabins  with  no  one  in  them. 

I  saw  a  fox  leaving  its  den 

Asking  for  a  body  to  feed  its  hunger. 

There's  a  fierce  wolf  at  Carrig  O'Neill ; 
There  is  blood  on  his  tongue  and  blood  on  his 
mouth. 

I  saw  them,  and  I  heard  the  cries 
Of  kites  and  of  black  crows. 

Ochone!    Is  not  the  only  Son  of  God  angry? 
Ochone!     The   red  blood   that  was  poured  out 
yesterday ! 

Coming  to  less  somber  themes,  we  find  in  a 
new  volume  of  verse,  entitled,  "The  Shoes  That 
Danced  and  Other  Poems,"  the  following  that 
appeals  to  us.  The  author  has  shown  us  beauty  in 
a  rather  vulgar  spectacle,  and  that,  we  take  it,  is 
an  important  part  of  the  high  mission  of  the 
poet: 

TO  A  NEW  YORK  SHOP-GIRL  DRESSED 

FOR   SUNDAY 

By  Anna  Hempstead  Branch 

To-day  I  saw  the  shop-girl  go 

Down  gay  Broadway  to  meet  her  beau. 

Conspicuous,    splendid,    conscious,    sweet, 
She  spread  abroad  and  took  the  street. 

And  all  that  niceness  would  forbid, 
Superb,  she  smiled  upon  and  did. 

Let  other  girls,  whose  happier  days 
Preserve  the  perfume  of  their  ways, 

Go  modestly.    The  passing  hour 

Adds  splendor  to  their  opening  flower. 

But  from  this  child  too  swift  a  doom 
Must  steal  her  prettiness  and  bloom, 

Toil  and  weariness  hide  the  grace 
That  pleads  a  moment  from  her  face. 

So  blame  her  not  if  for -a  day 

She  flaunts  her  glories  while  she  may. 


RECENT  POETRY 


335 


She  half  perceives,  half  understands, 
Snatching  her  gifts  with  both  her  hands. 

The  little  strut  beneath  the  skirt 
That  lags  neglected  in  the  dirt, 

The  indolent  swagger  down  the  street — 
Who  can  condemn  such  happy  feet?       ^ 

Innocent!  vulgar — ^that's  the  truth! 
Yet  with  the  darling  wiles  of  youth ! 

The  bright,  self-conscious  eyes  that  stare 
With  such  hauteur,  beneath  such  hair! 
Perhaps  the  men  will  find  me  fair! 

Giarming  and  charmed,  flippant,  arrayed, 
Fluttered  and  foolish,  proud,  displayed. 
Infinite  pathos  of  parade! 

The  bangles  and  the  narrowed  waist — 
The  tinseled  boa — forgive  the  taste! 

Oh,  the  starved  nights  she  gave  for  that, 
And  bartered  bread  to  buy  her  hat! 

She  flows  before  the  reproachful  sage 
And  begs  her  woman's  heritage. 

Dear  child,  with  the  defiant  eyes. 
Insolent  with  the  half  surmise. 

We  do  not  quite  admire,  I  know 

How  foresight  frowns  on  this  vain  show! 

And  judgment,  wearily  sad,  may  see 
Xo  grace  in  such  frivolity. 

Yet  which  of  us  was  ever  bold 

To  worship  Beauty,  hungry  and  cold! 

Scorn  famine  down,  proudly  expressed 
Apostle  to  what  things  are  best. 

Let  him  who  starves  to  buy  the  food 
For  his  soul's  comfort  find  her  good, 

Nor  chide  the  frills  and  furbelows 
That  are  the  prettiest  things  she  knows. 

Poet  and  prophet  in  God's  eyes 
Make  no  more  perfect  sacrifice. 

Who  knows  before  what  inner  shrine 
She  eats  with  them  the  bread  and  wine? 

Poor  waif!     One  of  the  sacred  few 
That  madly  sought  the  best  they  knew! 

Dear — let  me  lean  my  cheek  to-night 
Close,  close  to  yours.     Ah,  that  is  right. 

How  warm  and  near!     At  last  I  see 
One  beauty  shines  for  thee  and  me. 

So  let  us  love  and  understand — 

Whose  hearts  are  hidden  in  God's  hand. 


And  we  will  cherish  your  brief  Spring 
And  all  its  fragile  flowering. 

God  loves  all  prettiness,  and  on  this 
Surely  His  angels  lay  their  kiss. 

Here  is  more  of  modernity  done  into  rhyme. 
The  writer  is  sometimes  obscure  but  never  banal. 
We  reprint  from  McClure*s: 

THE  RAILWAY  YARD 
By  Florence  Wilkinson 

Into  the  blackness  they  grind 

With  ever  slackening  speed, 

And  out  to  the  widening  light 

With  the  thunder  of  valves  that  are  freed. 

Myriad  headlights, 

Green  lights  and  red  lights, 

A  tangle  of  sparks  and  of  darks; 

A  thousand  lives  and  a  thousand  souls 

Poured  out  to  the  city's  blend; 

A  thousand  lives  and  a  thousand  souls 

Sped  forth  to  their  journey's  end. 
Oh,  neighbor,  what  is  the  end  you  seekf 
There   is   none    to    reply,   though    the    dead 
should  speak. 

Click  of  a  switch,  a  lever's  turn. 
The  clang  of  the  opened  gate. 
Has  the  hour  struck?    Will  the  train  be  late? 
One  prays  to  his  God  and  one  curses  his  fate. 
The  lover  smiles  as  he  touches  her  hand, — 
And  the  outgoing  passengers  wait. 
It  is  only  two  who  thread  the  throng. 
A  thousand  lives  and  a  thousand  souls ' 
Pass  by  and  hurry  along. 

There  are  some  who  stand  and  never  go 
When  the  porter  opens  the  gate; 
"Good-by,  good-by,  come  back  to  us  soon !" 
Their  heart  is  sick  with  the  merciless  tune ; 
Whoot,  whoot,  hough,  hough,  zig-zig  and  away, 
To-morrow  we  follow  but  never  to-day. 

A  thousand  lives  and  a  thousand  souls 

Who  have  cast  their  lot  together; 

And  some  set  out  for  a  whole  new  life 

And  some  for  a  change  of  weather. 

For  a  dance  or  for  death. 

Yet  they  sit  and  they  sleep. 

Or  they  stare  at  the  engine's  curling  breath; 

They  sigh  or  they  smile 

At   each   vanishing  mile. 

Oh,  soul,  give  your  neighbor  greeting! 
But  faces  are  clouds 
Like  the  flashing  trees 
And  the  dizzy  houses  retreating. 

They  are  running  a  race,  though  they  know  it 
not. 

With  a  thousand  lives  that  have  gone  before ; 

And  a  thousand  souls  with  a  thousand  goals 

Must  press  through  a  single  door. 
Oh  neighbor,  think,  as  the  drive-wheel  spins, 
Of  the  gutted  lamps  and  the  torch-like  sins, 
Of  the  babes  unborn  and  the  yawning  gins! 
What  is  the  Crozvn  and  IV ho  is  it  that  winsf 


336 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


We  like  the  simplicity  of  this  serenade,  which 
we  find  in  The  American  Illustrated  Magazine: 

A   SERENADE. 

By   Charles   Buxton   Gojng 

The  winds  of  the  South, 

AH  fragrant  with  blossom, 
Shall  fly  to  your  mouth 

And  steal  to  your  bosom; 
The  day  songs  of  meadows 

Around  you  shall  leap. 
And  melt  in  cool  shadows 

To  soothe  you  to  sleep. 

No  song  of  the  grove, 

No  birdling  at  nest. 
So  sweet  as  your  love — 

So  soft  as  your  breast. 
No  night-moth  that  flies. 

No  honey  it  sips, 
So  soft  as  your  eyesy- 

So  sweet  as  your  lips. 

The  winds  of  the  West, 

The  stars  without  number. 
Shall  lull  you  to  rest — 

Shall  soothe  you  to  slumber, 
The  summer  around  you. 

The  sunshine  above  you, 
With  gladness  surround  you — 

Dear  heart !  how  I  love  you ! 

Wallace  Irwin  is  gradually  working  his  way 
up  out  of  the  rank  of  mere  newspaper  poets.  He 
is  now  a  magazine  poet,  which  doesn't  mean  very 
much  necessarily ;  but  he  has  a  vein  of  originality, 
a  versatility  and  a  facility  that  may  carry  him 
high  as  they  have  already  carried  him  far.  This 
also  is  from  McClure's: 

SONG  FOR  A  CRACKED  VOICE 

By  Wallace  Irwin 

When   I   was  young  and   slender,  a  spender,   a 
lender. 
What  gentleman  adventurer  was  prankier  than 
I, 
Who  lustier  at  passes  with  glasses — and  lasses, 
How  pleasant  was  the  look  of  'em  as  I  came 

jaunting  by! 
(But  now  there's  none  to  sigh  at  me  as  I  come 
creaking  by.) 

Then    Pegasus   went    loping   'twixt   hoping   and 
toping, 
A  song  in  every  dicky-bird,  a  scent  in  every 
rose; 
What  moons  for  lovelorn  glances,  romances,  and 
dances. 
And  how  the  spirit  of  the  waltz  went  thrilling 

to  my  toes! 
(Egad,  it's  now  a  gouty  pang  goes  thrilling  to 
my  toes!) 

Was  I  that  lover  frantic,  romantic,  and  antic 
Who  found  the  lute  in  Molly's  voice,  the  heaven 
in  her  eyes. 


Who,  madder  than  a  hatter,  talked  patter?     No 

matter. 
Call  not  that  little,  youthful  ghost,  but  leave  it 

where  it  lies! 
(Dear,    dear,    how   many   winter    snows   have 

drifted  where  she  lies!) 

But  now  I'm  old  and  humble,  why  mumble  and 
grtamble 
At  all  the  posy-linked  rout  that  hurries  laugh- 
ing by  ? 
Framed  in  my  gold-rimmed  glasses  each  lass  is 
who  passes. 
And  Youth  is  still  a-twinkling  in  the  corner  of 

my  eye. 
(How  strange  you  cannot  see  it  in  the  cornrr 
of  my  eye!) 

There  is  a  difficult  meter  well  handled  in  the  fol- 
lowing poem  which  we  find  in  The  Independent : 

DARBY   AND  JOAN 

By  Henry  Austin 

Do  you  remember 
The  red  September, 
When,  like  an  ember  from  sunset  skies, 
The  orchard  olden 
Shone  rosy-golden 
Thru  violet  haze,  a  vain  disguise; 
And  I  belield  the  earth's  gay  beauty, 
Its  autumn  splendor,  full  and  fruity. 
Reflecting  deep  in  hazel  eyes? 

Do  you   remember 
The  gray  November, 
When,  brown  and  amber  from  hill  to  shore. 
With  pearl  tints  dimmer 
Was  all  the  shimmer 
The  languid  land  at  sunset  wore? 
Yet  then  thru  downcast  lids  Love  beckoned, 
And  you,  for  one  shy,  sudden  second, 
Looked  up,  a  woman — girl  no  more! 

Do  you  remember 
The  white  December, 
The  carven  chamber,  the  hearth's  faint  beams. 
Whereat  I   found  you. 
Soft  fragrance  'round  you. 
Low  singing  to  the  weird  gleams? 
Then  first  I  dared  to  stroke  your  tresses. 
And  you  sighed  back,  amid  caresses, 
"Love,  'tis  the  Christmas  of  my  dreams." 

Now,  red  September 
And  gray  November 
And  white  December,  a  double  score, 
Gliding  around  us. 
Like  dreams  have  found  us 
Lovers ;  yes,  lovers  more  and  more ; 
With  sweeter,  deeper,  holier  blisses 
In  all  our  glances,  all  our  kisses, 
Than  e'er  we  dreamed  in  youth  of  yore. 

And  we  have  pleasures 
Past  mortal  measures. 
Have  hidden  treasures  in  Faith's  calm  skies; 
So  might  we  care  not. 
Since  here  they  are  not, 


RECENT  POETRY 


337 


That  Life  no  longer  flows,  but  flies. 
And  I,  whose  day  now  dims  to  even. 
Am  glimpsing,  nay,  beholding.  Heaven, 

Reflected  deep  in  hazel  eyes. 

It  was  a  long  time  ago  that  Ella  Wheeler,  in 
her  country  home,  twelve  miles  from  Madison, 
Wis.,  began  at  the  age  of  thirteen  to  write 
for  publication.  She  has  not  added  to  the  world's 
classics  since  that  time,  but  she  has  held  her  popu- 
larity and,  in  an  age  when  poetry  is  rated  a  "drug 
on  the  market,"  her  poetry  has  a  message  to  many 
hearts  that  preserves  it  in  unnumbered  scrap- 
books.  The  poem  below,  fjom  Lippincott's,  is  a 
ver>'  characteristic  specimen: 

LOVE'S  CONFESSIONS 
By  Ella  Wheeler  Wilcox 

•     I 

How  shall  a  maid  make  answer  to  a  man 
Who  summons  her,  by  love's  supreme  decree, 
To  open  her  whole  heart,  that  he  may  see 
The  intricate  strange  ways  that  love  began? 

So  many  streams  from  that  great  fountain  ran, 
To  feed  the  river  that  now  rushes  free : 

So  deep  the  heart,  so  full  of  mystery. 
How  shall  a  maid  make  answer  to  a  man? 

If  I  turn  back  each  leaflet  of  my  heart 
And  let  your  eyes  scan  all  the  records  there, 

Of  dreams  of  love  that  came  before  I  knew. 
Though  in  those  dreams  you  had  no  place  or 
part, 

let,  know  that  each  emotion  was  a  stair 
\\Tiich  led  my  ripening  womanhood  to  you. 

Nay,  I  was  not  insensate  till  you  came; 

I  know  man  likes  to  think  a  woman  clay. 
Devoid  of  feeling  till  the  warming  ray 

Sent  from  his  heart,  lights  hers  with  sudden 
flame. 
You  asked  for  truth;  I  answer  without  shame; 

My  human  heart  pulsed  blood  by  night  and  day. 
And  I  believed  that  love  had  come  my  way 

Before  he  conquered  with  vour  face  and  name. 
I  do  not  know  when  first  I  felt  this  fire 

That  lends  such  lustre  to  my  hopes  and  fears. 
And  burns  a  pathway  to  you  with  each  thought. 

I  think  in  that  great  hour  when  God's  desire 
For  worlds  to  love  flung  forth  a  million  spheres. 

This  miracle  of  love  in  me  was  wrought. 

II 

An  open  door,  a  moonlit  sky, 

A  childlike  maid  with  musing  eye, 
A  manly  footstep  passing  by. 

Light  as  a  dew-drop  falls  from  space 
Upon  a  rose-bud's  folded  grace, 

A  kiss  fell  on  her  girlish  face. 

"Good-night,  Good-bye,"  and  he  was  gone. 

And  so  was  childhood;  it  was  dawn 
In  that  yotmg  heart  the  moon  shone  on. 

His  name?  his  face?    Dim  memories; 
I  only  know  in  that  first  kiss  ^ 

Was  prophesied  this  later  bliss. 


The  dreams  within  my  bosom  grew; 

Nay,  grieve  not  that  my  tale  is  true, 
Since  all  those  dreams  led  straight  to  you. 

Ill 

One   time   when   autumn   donned   her   robes   of 
splendor. 

And  rustled  down  the  year's  receding  track. 
As  I  passed  dreaming  by,  a  voice  all  tender 

Hailed  me  with  youth's  soft  call  to  linger  back. 
I  turned  and  listened  to  a  golden  story, 

A  wondrous  tale,  half  human,  half  divine — 
A  page  from  bright  September's  book  of  glory 

To  memorize  and  make  forever  mine. 
Strange  argosies  from  passion's  unknown  oceans 

Cruised  down  my  veins,  a  vague,  elusive  fleet. 
With  foreign  cargoes  of  unnamed  emotions. 

While  wafts  of  song  blew  shoreward,  dim  and 
sweet. 
And  sleeping  still  (because  unwaked  by  you) 

I    dreamed    and    dreamed,    and    thought    my 
visions  true. 
I  woke  when  all  the  crimson  color  faded 

And  wanton  Autumn's  lips  and  cheeks  were 
pale; 
And  when  the  sorrowing  year  had  slowly  waded. 
With    failing   footsteps,   through   the   snow-filled 

vale. 
I  woke  and  knew  the  glamour  of  a  season 

Had  lent  illusive  lustre  to  a  dream. 
And,  looking  in  the  clear,  calm  eyes  of  Reason, 

I   smiled  and   said,  "Farewell  to  things  that 
seem." 
'Twas  but  a  red  leaf  from  a  lush  September 

The  wind  of  dreams  across  my  pathway  blew; 
But  oh!  my  love!  the  whole  round  year,  remem- 
ber, 

With  all  its  seasons,  I  bestow  on  you. 
The  red  leaf  perished  in  the  first  cold  blast; 

The  full  year's  harvests  at  your  feet  I  cast. 

l'envoi 

Absolve  me,  Prince;  confession  is  all  over. 

But  listen  and  take  warning,  oh,  my  lover. 
You  put  to  rout  all  dreams  that  may  have  been; 

You  won  the  day,  but  'tis  not  all  to  win; 
Guard  well  the  fort,  lest  new  dreams  enter  in. 

We  borrow  from  The  Smart  Set  this  little  poem 
in  the  minor  strain : 

MIGHT  HAVE 
By  Edith  M.  Thomas 

I  have  lived  my  life,  and  I  face  the  end — 
But  that  other  life  I  might  have  led? 

Where  lay  the  road,  and  who  was  its  friend; 
And  what  was  the  goal,  when  the  years  were 
fled? 

Where  lay  the  road?    Did  I  miss  the  turn? 

The  friend  unknown  ?    Our  greetings  unsaid  ? 
And  the  goal  unsought?    Shall  I  never  learn 

What  was  that  life  I  might  have  led? 

As  the  spring's  last  look,  for  one  dear  day 
From  skies  autumnal  on  earth  may  bend, 

So  lures  me  that  other  life — ^but,  nayl 
I  have  lived  my  life,  and  I  face  the  end. 


Recent  Fiction  and  the  Critics 


The  dearth  of  new  novels  during  the  last  few 

months  is  a  very  striking  fact,  the  significance  of 

which  is  a  matter  for  discussion,     l^  may  mean 

temporary  decline  in  artistic  im- 

The  Wheel  pulse,  or  a  satiety  of  the  reading 
of  Life  public/  or  merely  a  business  policy 
on  the  part  of  publishers  of  hold- 
ing back  their  wares  for  certain  propitious  seasons 
of  the  year.  Whatever  the  reason,  Miss  Ellen 
Glasgow's  new  novel*  is  afforded  an  unusual 
prominence  thereby  and  receives  an  unusual 
amount  of  attention.  It  is  by  general  admission 
the  best  thing  she  has  done,  a  work  of  high  aim 
and  strong  execution.  "As  capably  executed  a 
story  as  we  have  read  in  a  long  time,"  says  The 
Sun's  critic.  Mr.  M.  Gordon  Pryor  Rice,  writing 
in  The  Times,  is  again  and  again  reminded  of 
"the  simple  convincing  directness  of  Tolstoy."  The 
author  belongs  to  the  few  writers,  he  thinks,  who 
succeed  in  representing  goodness  as  not  only  the 
right  and  beautiful  thing,  but  the  strongest  and 
manliest  thing.  "She  has  gone  down  into  the 
deep  places,  and  the  distinction,  the  lift  that  is 
all  its  own  is  that  in  the  last  analysis  it  is  the 
Apotheosis  of  Goodness." 

The  story  reminds  one  of  "The  House  of 
Mirth"  in  that  the  scenes  are  laid  in  New  York, 
and  the  "smart  set"  figure  largely.  The  barren- 
ness of  the  pursuit  of  pleasure  for  its  own  sake 
is  the  underlying  theme.  The  title  is  taken  from 
the  sacred  writings  of  the  East  and  is  meant  to 
indicate  the  stages  through  which  the  individual  is 
bound  to  pass.  These  are  four,  indicated  by  the 
subtitles  to  the  four  parts  into  which  the  book 
is  divided,  namely:  Impulse,  Illusion,  Disen- 
chantment, Reconciliation.  For  those  who  have 
seen  only  the  first  three  of  these  phases  of  Hfe 
there  remains  the  fourth,  more  beautiful  even 
than  the  second.  Roger  Adams,  the  hero,  passes 
through  acute  physical  and  mental  anguish  to 
find  this  out  at  last,  and  Laura  Wilde,  the  heroine, 
passes  through  the  valley  of  humiliation  to  reach 
a  realization  of  the  same  truth.  And  the  author, 
who  has  chosen  this  sort  of  a  theme  and  handled 
it  with  power,  is  a  young  lady  barely  over  thirty! 
The  Argonaut,  recalling  this  fact,  wonders  what 
she  will  do  when  she  has  matured  her  art.  It 
says  of  this  work: 

"This  remarkable  novel  deserves  consideration 
apart  from  its  form  and  content  and  interest.    It 

♦  The  Wheel  of  Life.     By  Ellen  Glasgow.     Double- 
day,  Page  &  Co. 


is  really  an  approach  by  Miss  Glasgow  to  mascu- 
line art — inspiration  carried  to  completion.  One 
may  criticise  her  style,  resent  her  constant  quali- 
fication of  the  verbs  'to  say,*  'to  smile/  and  *to 
address.'  Yet  it  has  its  effect.  The  style  is  cul- 
minative  and,  however  rough  the  method,  it  is 
powerful." 

The  Independent's  reviewer  stands  almost  alone 
in  thinking  the  work  inferior  to  Miss  Glasgow's 
previous  works — "The  Voice  of  the  People,"  "The 
Battle  Ground,"  "The  Deliverance" — and  sighs 
over  the  fact  that  "Life"  is  to  our  young  women 
novelists  so  sorry  a  business.    Says  this  reviewer : 

"We  are  unwilling  witnesses  at  the  death  of 
several  souls  and  the  birth  of  others,  and  which 
is  the  more  painful  of  the  two  it  would  be  hard 
to  say.  Perhaps  the  echoes  of  old  loves  and  sins 
never  sounded  more  harshly  thru  the  strains  of 
a  pure  love-idyl  than  in  the  crucial  chapter  of 
Laura's  heart-history;  but  the  suffering  seems 
so  useless  and  so  hopeless,  as  the  wheel  of  life 
turns  now  up,  now  down,  with  its  living  burden, 
and  we  sigh,  as  often  before,  for  some  fresh, 
sweet  and  happy  presentment  of  the  actual  joy 
of  living." 

The  Springfield  Republican  finds  that  Miss 
Glasgow  does  the  big  things  best.  Her  hand  still 
lacks  the  delicacy  necessary  for  the  finer  touches, 
and  she  is  weak  in  the  matter  of  reality:  "one 
gets  but  scantily  the  spontaneous  conviction  that 
these  are  real  people  speaking  in  their  natural 
voices." 


Another  business  novel  comes  to  us,  this  time 
from  the  pen'  of  Robert  Barr.     The  hero  of  his 
novel*  is,  in  the  first  chapter,  a  young  station- 
master,  and  in  the  last  chapter  he 

c         ■  ^1  is  on  the  way  to  wed  the  richest 

Speculations  .     ^^  . .      „  ^ 

of  John  ^eele  ^o"^^"  >o  the  world.  Between 
the  two  chapters  he  is  taken 
through  many  and  thrilling  experiences  in  the 
pursuit  of  wealth  and  the  contests  with  "the 
octopus"  of  monopoly.  His  adventures  in  the 
world  of  speculative  finance  are  characterized  by 
the  critics  as  "absorbing,"  "thrilling,"  etc.,  but 
the  feeling  is  pretty  general  that  when  Mr.  Barr 
undertakes  to  develop  the  sentimental  side  of 
his  hero  he  falls  down  wofully.  This  love  story, 
which,  however,  does  not  put  in  an  appearance 
until  the  eleventh  hour,  is,  according  to  the  Phil- 
adelphia Ledger,  "phenomenal  in  its  silliness," 
and,  according  to  the  Brooklyn  Eagle,  "worse 
everi  than  melodrama :  it  is  'yellow.' "     But  both 


♦The  Speculations   of  John   Steele. 
Barr.     Frederick  A.  Stokes  Company. 


By    Robert 


RECENT  FICTION  AND   THE  CRITICS 


339 


critics  admit  that  the  main  part  of  the  story  is 
well  worth  reading.    Says  The  Bookman : 

"A  well-known  author  has  called  the  speculator 
the  pirate  of  commerce,  and  Mr.  Barr's  book  is 
a  stoiy  of  adventures  as  interesting  as  those  of 
Captain  Kidd,  for  it  has  been  reserved  for  Amer- 
ica to  surround  the  business  of  money-getting 
with  the  varied  incidents  that  make  a  book  of 
this  type  as  thrilling  as  a  novel  of  adventure  and 
lifts  the  hustle  of  commercial  life  into  the  domain 
of  romance.  John  Steele  is  a  type,  not  a  char- 
acter, and  he  is  a  fair  example  of  that  class  of 
hustler  which  may  be  called  typically  American, 
m  that  no  other  country  produces  it." 

.\  reviewer  in  The  Record-Herald  (Chicago) 
is  enthusiastic  in  praise  of  Mr.  Barr*s  style.  For 
instance : 

"From  a  purely  dramatic  point  of  view  'The 
Speculations  of  John  Steele'  is  the  most  lively  and 
absorbing  series  of  episodes  that  I  have  read  for 
some  time.  Not  a  line,  not  a  word  has  the  author 
wasted.  If  Herbert  Spencer  had  only  met  it  be- 
fore he  wrote  *The  Philosophy  of  Style*  he  must 
have  set  it  down  as  a  superb  example  of  'economy 
of  the  reader's  attention.' " 

The  Churchman  (New  York)  is  equally  strong 
in  condemnatory  phrases.  It  calls  the  book  "a 
fantastic  tale  of  speculation  and  plunging,"  "a 
cold-blooded,  sordid  piece  of  work,"  in  which 
"one  finds  nothing  to  respect." 


The  author  of  "Elizabeth  and  Her  German 
Garden"  has  given  us  a  new  novel,*  which  is  an 
extravaganza,  but  a  most  delightful  one.  The 
princess,  who  is  the  heroine,  hails 
£«  "«!*?  from  one  of  those  kingdoms  in 
Fortnight  *^^  ^^^  V^ot\6.  which  exist  for 
the  sole  benefit  of  novelists  and 
their  readers.  Her  "fortnight"  is  spent  incog, 
in  a  rural  district  in  England  whither  she  flees 
to  escape  the  monotony  of  court  life  and  marriage 
with  a  prince  she  has  not  met.  She  takes  with  her 
her  maid  and  her  father's  old  librarian,  and  the 
way  in  which  the  inexperience  of  the  three  and 
the  beauty  and  charitable  impulses  of  the  prin- 
cess disturb  the  simple  life  of  the  place  is  told 
with  humor  and  with  a  skill  that  convinces  one 
even  of  the  most  impossible  things.  When  the 
money  gives  out,  Annalise,  the  maid,  reveals  the 
whcrcalx)uts  of  the  truants  and  the  prince  conies 
to  claim  his  own.  It  is,  the  Chicago  Dial  thinks, 
"the  most  charming  extravaganza  imaginable," 
and  the  fortnight  described  is  "all  too  brief  for' 
our  enjoyment."  The  critic  of  the  London 
Academy  confesses  that  he  has  been  "enchanted" 
against  his  reason.  The  author's  qualities  "lie 
outside  the  realm  of  sober  argument,"  and  when- 

*The  Princess  Priscilla*s  Fortnight.  By  the  au- 
thor of  "Elizabeth  and  Her  Oerman  Garden/'  Charles 
Scribner*s  Sons. 


ever  the  critic  was  torn  from  the  book  he  "thought 
with  pleasure  and  impatience  of  getting  back  to 
it."  The  London  Athenaeum  speaks  in  similar 
vein  of  the  author's  "ready  wit  and  light  hand- 
ling," of  the  "astonishing  adventures"  of  the  char- 
acters, and  sums  the  book  up  as  "pure  light- 
hearted  comedy  occasionally  over-stepping  the 
border-land  of  farce."  Says  the  New  York 
Nation : 

"The  characters,  though  overdrawn,  are  full  of 
interest,  especially  the  librarian,  the  princess,  the 
hopelessly  adoring  squire  and  his  mother,  and  the 
rescuing  prince,  while  the  description  of  the  kind 
old  vicar  is  the  best  passage  in  the  book.  As  a 
travesty  of  the  Simple  Life  the  story  is  amusing 
and  timely,  and  no  one  will  quarrel  with  the  moral 
as  expressed  towards  the  close." 

A  first  book  by  a  new  writer  is  apt  to  receive 
words  of  generous  praise,  if  at  all  worthy.  Mr. 
Lawrence  Mott  is  a  new  author,  with  a  love  for 
wild  life  and  with  the  means  (be- 
Jules  of  the  ing  the  scion  of  a  wealthy  family) 
Great  Heart  to  gratify  it.  His  first  novel*  has 
received  praise  of  the  superlative 
degree.  It  is  compared  favorably  even  with  the 
work  of  Jack  London  and  Gilbert  Parker.  But 
the  dialect  in  which  much  of  it  is  written  has 
given  the  critics  some  bad  moments,  being,  in 
the  opinion  of  The  Critic,  the  thorniest  dialect  he 
(or  she)  has  ever  had  to  cope  with.  The  story  is 
Canadian,  the  dialect  a  French- English  patois. 
The  hero,  Jules  Verbaux,  is  a  free  trapper  who 
fights  against  the  Hudson  Bay  monopoly,  and  be- 
comes "a  kind  of  cross  between  Robin  Hood  and 
Leatherstocking."  He  is  an  outlaw,  who  eludes 
his  pursuers  time  and  again.  His  mercy  to  his 
enemies  when  he  has  them  in  his  power  wins  him 
the  title  of  "Great  Heart."  Here  is  what  The 
Reader  Magasine  says  of  the  hero: 

"No  other  single  character  evolved  for  us  out 
of  the  vast  silences,  the  forest  twilight,  the  winter 
storms,  the  fleeting  summer  beauty  and  the  year- 
round  loneliness  and  mystery  of  the  great  Ca- 
nadian wilderness  knocks  at  our  hearts  so  unerr- 
ingly as  he.  The  atmosphere  of  the  stories  excites 
admiration ;  it  is  as  good  as  Gilbert  Parker's  best." 

The  Critic  calls  the  tale  "strong,  imaginative 
and  picturesque,"  and  Frederic  Taber  Cooper, 
writing  in  The  Bookman,  says: 

"The  sense  of  the  cold  and  loneliness  of  north- 
ern forests,  the  pitiless  cruehy  of  northern  storms, 
is  given  with  the  same  sort  of  strength  that  gave 
distinction  to  Jack  London's  early  Alaska  stories; 
and  there  is  in  addition  a  warm  human  quality,  a 
suggestion  of  kindliness  and  sympathetic  heart 
beats,  which  is  precisely  the  quality  that  has  al- 
ways been  missing  in  the  author  of  'The  Sea 
Wolf.' " 

♦  Jules  of  the  Great  Heart.    By  Lawrence  Mott- 
The  Century  Company. 


The  Story  of  the  Lost  Conscience 


This  allegorical  little  tale  is  by  "the  Juvenal  of  Russia"— M.  I.  Saltykov-Schedrin— and  is 
translated  for  Current  Literature  from  the  Russian.  The  writer  is  less  well  known  than 
some  of  his  contemporaries  outside  Russia,  but  there  he  has  created  types  some  of  which  are 
known  popularly  in  much  the  same  way  as  those  created  by  Dickens  are  known  here.  His 
literary  activity  began  in  the  fifties.  Toward  the  close  of  the  eighties,  the  rigor  of  the  censor 
made  it  necessary  for  him  to  master  the  style  in  which  one  thing  is  said  and  another  meant,  and 
his  health  broke  under  the  strain.  "Oh,  this  work  of  an  author!"  he  exclaims.  "It  is  not  only 
pain;  it  is  hell.  The  blood  of  the  writer  trickles  down  drop. by  drop.  What  have  they  not  done 
with  my  work  I     Cut  it,  distorted  it,  declared  publicly  that  I  am  a  dangerous  character !" 


Conscience  had  disappeared.  The  people  crowd- 
ed the  streets  and  theaters  as  before;  pursued 
their  occupations;  enriched  themselves;  and  no 
one  seemed  to  notice  that  anything  was  missing, 
that  one  instrument  in  the  concert  of  life  had 
grown  silent.  Many  felt  even  more  robust  and 
free,  held  their  heads  up  higher,  could  now  more 
readily  dig  pitfalls  for  their  fellows  and  were 
better  able  to  simulate,  to  flatter,  to  cringe,  de- 
ceive, slander  and  denounce.  All  remorse  van- 
ished as  if  blown  away  by  the  wind;  no  sad 
reflections  oppressed  them;  the  present  and  the 
future  stood  open  before  them.  The  loss  of  Con- 
science was  not   at   all   felt. 

It  had  disappeared  quite  suddenly.  But  yes- 
terday, that  boresome,  importunate  creature  waS' 
continually  bobbing  up  before  one's  eyes,  and 
harrassing  the  heated  imagination.  Now  it  was 
suddenly  gone,  and  with  it  the  moral  unrest,  the 
worrying  phantoms  that  always  accompany  the 
ever-censuring  and  damning  Conscience.  It  was 
now  possible  to  enjoy  God's  glorious  world  undis- 
turbed, and  the  clever  people  recognized  for  the 
first  time  that  they  were  freed  from  the  last  hin- 
drance in  the  way  of  their  ambitions.  Of  course 
they  did  not  fail  to  make  use  of  the  opportunity 
thus  offered  them.  People  went  amuck,  plunder- 
ing and  robbing  went  on,  right  and  left,  and  there 
was   devastation  everywhere. 

Poor,  bespattered,  torn  Conscience,  meantime, 
lay  in  the  street  trampled  upon  by  every  passer-by. 
It  was  pushed  aside  like  a  useless  rag,  and  those 
who  saw  it  wondered  why  such  a  nasty-looking 
thing  was  tolerated  on  the  most  frequented  street 
of  the  city — Heaven  knows  how  long  it  would 
have  lain  there  had  not  a  drunken  sot  happened 
along  who,  in  his  intoxication,  did  not  think  it 
beneath  his  dignity  to  pick  up  this  rag  for  which 
he  hoped  he  might,  perhaps,  get  a  glass  of 
whisky. 

Straightway  he  felt  something  like  an  electric 
current  pass  through  his  body.  He  looked  with  a 
sad  gaze  before  him;  as  the  alcoholic  vapors  that 


befogged  his  mind  disappeared,  the  bitter  recog- 
nition of  the  reality  gradually  asserted  itself. 
At  first  he  was  seized  with  a  dull  sense  of  terror 
that  made  him  fearful  of  some  impending  danger ; 
then  his  memory  began  to  stir  and  his  imagina- 
tion became  active.  From  out  the  darkness  of 
his  sinful  past  his  memory  unsparingly  dragged 
forth  the  recollection  of  his  misdeeds,  his  infi- 
delity and  his  indolence.  His  imagination  re- 
animated this  past,  and  the  judge  in  him  awoke. 

His  whole  life  now  seemed  to  him  like  an  un- 
broken chain  of  crime.  He  could  neither  justify 
nor  defend  himself.  He  was  so  greatly  oppressed 
by  the  overwhelming  evidence  of  his  depravity 
that  his  voluntary  self-condemnation  was  a  more 
painful  punishment  than  any  human  court  could 
have  imposed.  He  no  longer  solaced  himself  with 
the  thought  that  the  greater  part  of  this  past 
was  chargeable  not  to  himself,  a  poor,  wretched 
drunkard,  but  to  some  mysterious,  nebulous  power 
at  whose  mercy  he  was,  and  by  which  he  was 
tossed  about  like  a  frail  blade  of  grass  in  the 
whirlwind.  What,  in  fact,  constituted  his  past? 
What  was  it  that  had  made  it  his  own  and  not 
someone  else's  ?  Why  did  he  live  it  thus  and  not 
otherwise?  What  was  he  himself?  Questions 
without  end  came  which  he  faced  helplessly, 
knowing  no  answer. 

Alas!  Awakened  consciousness  brought  him 
neither  peace  nor  hope ;  the  tormenting  Conscience 
showed  him  but  one  outlet — that  of  fruitless  self- 
condemnation.  Heretofore  he  had  been  sur- 
rounded by  darkness;  that  same  darkness  still 
surrounded  him,  but  now  it  was  peopled  with  tor- 
turing specters.  Before,  heavy  chains  had  dangled 
at  his  wrists;  now  they  seemed  to  him  doubly 
heavy.  Futile  tears  ran  down  his  face,  and  people 
stopped  in  front  of  him  and  said  that  the  whisky 
had  squeezed  them  out. 

"Help!  I  cannot  bear  it  any  longer!"  ex- 
claimed the  poor  inebriate,  and  the  crowd  laughed 
and  jeered.  It  did  not  know  that  the  drunkard 
had  never  before  been  so  sober. 


THE  LOST  CONSCIENCE 


341 


-It  is  impossible  to  bear.  I  must  get  rid  of 
it  somewhere  or  I  shall  perish  like  a  dog!" 
tfacught  the  poor  drunkard,  and  he  was  about  to 
throw  Conscience  away  when  he  was  hindered 
by  a  clerk  of  the  court  who  had  just  then  come 
along. 

"WTiy,  friend,"  he  cried  threateningly,  "you 
vant  to  spread  about  contaminated  papers  1  Take 
care,  or  you  will  be  'pinched'  for  it." 

The  drunkard  hid  his  package  and  walked  off 
35  quickly  as  he  could.  He  looked  about  him 
carefully  and  edged  up  to  the  saloon  of  his  old 
friend  Prokhorich.  He  looked  carefully  through 
the  window  and  when  he  saw  the  saloon-keeper 
2II  ak>ne  napping  behind  the  bar,  he  opened  the 
door,  rushed  in,  and  before  Prokhorich  knew  it 
the  fateful  package  was  in  his  hands. 


The  saloon-keeper  stood  for  a  while  with  eyes 
wide  open,  then  he  began  to  perspire.  It  seemed 
to  him,  now,  as  if  he  was  running  a  speak-easy, 
that  he  had  no  legal  authority  to  keep  a  saloon ; 
hut  he  immediately  convinced  himself  that  he 
had  the  necessary  license.  Then  he  looked  at  the 
object  in  his  hands  and  recognized  it. 

"Ha !"  he  cried.    "That  is  the  very  same  sort  of 
thing  that  I  had  so  much  trouble  in  getting  rid 
of  before  arranging  my  payments  for  duty  and  , 
tor  license!" 

Xow  it  flashed  upon  him  that  he  himself  would 
be  compelled  to  bring  about  his  own  financial 
ruin. 

""It  is  an  unpardonable  meanness  to  drive  this 
drink  devil  down  poor  people's  throats!"  whis- 
pered Conscience  into  his  ear. 

"Arina  Ivanovna,  wife!"  he  called,  beside  him- 
s<.lf  with  fear. 

Arina  appeared,  and  as  she  perceived  Con- 
science she  screamed  at  the  top  of  her  voice: 
"Help!    Robbers!     Thieves!" 

"Why  must  I  now,  on  account  of  that  drunken 
scoundrel,  suddenly  lose  everything  that  I  have?" 
thought  Prokhorich. 

Presently  the  saloon  began  to  fill  with  people, 
but  Prokhorich,  instead  of  serving  his  customers 
with  his  usual  amiability,  not  only  hesitated  to 
give  them  whisky  but  tried  his  utmost  to  convince 
them  that  drink  is  the  source  of  the  ruin  of  the 
poor. 

"If  you  drank  but  one  little  glass,  that  might 
not  be  so  bad,"  said  he  with  tears  in  his  eyes; 
"but  you  would  rather  drink  a  whole  gallonful. 
And  what  is  the  consequence?  You  are  dragged 
to  the  police-station,  stripped  of  your  clothes  and 
given  a  whipping.  Now,  then,  brother,  think  of 
it;  is  it  worth  while  to  strive  for  a  thing  of  that 


kind,  and  pay  me,  an  old  fool,  money  for  it,  be- 
sides?" 

"What  ails  you,  Prokhorich?  You  are  clean 
daft,"  the  guests  retorted  in  astonishment. 

"If  you  had  fared  as  I  have  you  would  have 
lost  your  senses  also.  See  here,  what  a  treasure 
I  have!" 

Prokhorich  showed  everybody  the  conscience 
that  so  unexpectedly  came  into  his  possession  and 
asked  whether  anybody  wanted  to  have  it.  But 
when  they  saw  the  suspicious-looking  thing  no 
one  wanted  to  take  it ;  they  turned  away  and  drew 
back. 

"But  what  are  you  going  to  do  about  it,  Prok- 
horich?" asked  the  guests. 

"There  is  nothing  left  for  me  to  do  but  to 
die.  I  can  no  longer  deceive  and  cheat,  and  I 
do  not  wish  to  drown  the  poor  people  in  whisky. 
Hence,  I  must  die." 

"Quite  right!"  responded  the  guests  willi  a 
mocking  laugh. 

"I  should  like,"  continued  Prokhorich,  *to 
break  all  the  glasses  and  everything  here,  and 
let  the  whisky  run  out.  For  he  who  has  become 
virtuous  as  myself  can  no  longer  bear  the  smell 
of  alcohol;  it  fills  him  with  disgust." 

Although  Arina  steadfastly  refused  to  allow 
him  to  break  the  glasses  and  let  the  whisky  run 
out,  not  a  drop  of  spirits  was  sold  on  that  day. 
Toward  the  evening  Prokhorich  grew  even 
cheerful  and  said  to  his  weeping  wife: 

"Well,  my  dear,  although  we  have  made  no 
money  to-day,  yet  my  heart  feels  lighter  in  the 
possession  of  a  conscience."  And,  in  truth,  he 
did  actually  fall  so  fast  asleep  that  he  neither 
dreamed  nor  snored,  as  was  his  custom  when  he 
was  making  money. 

But  his  wife  was  occupied  with  her  thoughts. 
She  was  of  opinion  that  a  conscience  could  only 
result  in  loss  and  injury  to  a  saloon-keeper.  That 
uninvited  guest  had,  therefore,  to  be  got  rid  of 
at  all  hazards.  With  this  purpose  in  her  mind 
she  lay  awake  the  entire  night,  and  as  the  first 
ray  of  daylight  broke  through  the  dust-covered 
window-panes,  she  stole  Conscience  from  her 
sleeping  husband  and  ran  with  it  out  into  the 
street. 

It  happened  to  be  a  market-day.  The  peasants 
were  coming  with  their  carts  from  the  villages. 
Police-Officer  Lovetz  was  just  then  on  his  way 
to  the  market.  When  Arina  saw  him  she  was 
suddenly  struck  by  a  happy  idea.  She  ran  after 
the  policeman  and  succeeded  in  slipping  Con- 
science into  his  overcoat  pocket. 


Lovetz  was  not  the  worst  type  of  police  officer, 


THE  LOST  CONSCIENCE 


shall  not  be  able  to  make  good  in  a  whole  year/' 
he  entreated. 

His  wife,  too,  saw  that  it  was  a  matter  of  life 
and  death  with  her  husband.  She  undressed  him, 
put  him  to  bed,  and  gave  him  tea  to  drink.  Then 
she  walked  into  the  anteroom  and  thought  that 
she  would  search  his  overcoat  pockets;  per- 
haps she  would  find  a  few  pennies  there.  She 
looked  through  his  pockets  and  found  in  one 
the  empty  purse;  from  the  other  she  drew  forth 
the  package.  When  she  unwrapped  it  she  was 
dazed. 

"So?  These  are  the  kind  of  things  he  occupies 
himself  with!"  she  whispered.  "He  carries  Con- 
science along  with  him  in  his  pocket!" 

Now  she  deliberated  on  how  to  get  rid  of 
this  thing  in  such  a  manner  that  it  might  not 
cause  too  much  pain  and  trouble  to  the  recipient. 
Finally  she  decided  upon  the  former  whisky  rec- 
tifier, and  present  financier  and  railway  magnate, 
and  thought  that  that  was  the  best  place  to  dis- 
pose of  it. 

"He  has  a  strong  neck,  and  even  if  it  makes 
him  a  little  fidgety  it  will  not  hurt  him." 

She  carefully  put  Conscience  into  an  en- 
velope, wrote  the  financier's  address  upon  it  and 
placed  it  in  the  mail-box. 

"Now,  old  man,  you  can  be  at  rest  and  go  to 
the  market  again,"  she  said,  as  he  returned  to 
her  husband. 

The  financier  sat  at  the  dinner-  table  sur- 
rounded by  his  whole  family.  Near  him  sat  his 
ten-year-old  son,  occupied  with  the  solution  of 
a  financial  problem. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  financier  sat  a  younger 
son,  seven  years  old,  who  also  was  computing 
a  problem.  Then  came  two  others  who  were 
engaged  in  a  dispute  as  to  how  much  interest  they 
owed  each  other  for  borrowed  bonbons.  At  the 
other  end  of  the  table  sat  his  beautiful  wife  with 
her  baby  daughter  at  her  breast,  who  instinctively 
stretched  out  her  little  hands  after  mamma's 
costly  golden  bracelet. 

In  short,  the  financier  was  a  happy  pater- 
familias. He  was  just  about  to  pour  a  delicate 
sauce  over  his  roast  meat  when  his  servant 
brought  him  a  letter  on  a  silver  tray. 

He  had  scarcely  laid  his  hand  on  it  when  a 
fearful  unrest  came  upon  him.  He  turned  and 
twisted  like  an  eel  on  burning  coals. 

"What  is  this?  What  do  I  want  this  thing 
for?"  he  ejaculated,  trembling  all  over. 

The  anguish  that  the  financier  underwent  that 
day  baffles  all  description;  but  in  spite  of  the 
almost  incredible  torture  he  suffered,  he  could 
not  make  up  his  mind  to  sacrifice  even  as  much 
as  fifteen   kopeks. 

"It  will  not  hurt  me,  it  will  pass!     Only  hold 


me  fast,  Lizzie,"  he  said  to  his  wife,  while  he  was 
convulsed  with  desperate  paroxysms,  "and  if  I 
ask  for  my  purse,  don't  give  it  to  me;  let  me 
rather  die!" 

But  as  there  is  no  position  so  difficult  that 
a  way  out  of  it  cannot  be  found,  there  was 
found  one  this  time  also.  The  financier  remem- 
bered that  he  had  long  ago  promised  a  contribu- 
tion to  a  charitable  institution  at  the  head  of 
which  was  a  general  of  his  acquaintance,  but  that 
he  had  delayed  the  payment  of  it  from  one  day 
to  the  other.  Now  a  favorable  opportunity  pre- 
sented itself  to  carry  out  his  old  intention. 

And  so  he  did.  He  carefully  opened  the  en- 
velope he  had  received,  took  out  Conscience 
from  it  with  a  pair  of  pinchers,  put  it  into  an- 
other envelope,  added  to  it  a  check  for  a  hun- 
dred roubles,  sealed  it  and  went  with  it  to  his 
friend,  the  general. 

"Your  Excellency,  I  want  to  contribute  some- 
thing to  your  institute,"  he  said,  and  he  laid  the 
envelope  before  the  rejoiced  general. 

"That's  fine,  that's  laudable,"  returned  the  gen- 
eral. "I  knew  that  you  were  a  charitable  man. 
God  be  with  you!" 

The  financier  now  hurried  home  as  if  on  wings. 
That  same  evening  he  had  forgotten  all  the  agony 
he  had  gone  through  and  concluded  a  financial 
combine  which,  when  it  became  known  the  next 
day,  called  forth  universal  astonishment. 

Thus,  poor,  despised  Conscience  went  from  one 
man  to  the  other,  and  came  to  thousands  of  peo- 
ple; but  no  one  wanted  to  keep  it,  and  everyone 
sought  to  get  rid  of  it  even  through  deceit  and 
trickery.  Finally  the  poor  thing  grew  too  weary 
of  going  among  strangers  and  never  finding  a 
permanent  place  of  rest.  Therefore  it  said  to 
its  last  possessor,  a  poor  store-keeper  who  lived 
in  some  obscure,  dusty  corner,  and  who  never 
came  out  into  the  open  green  field : 

"Why  do  you  torment  me;  why  do  you  treat 
me  like  a  useless  rag?" 

"But  what  should  I  do  with  you  if  no  one 
wants  to  have  you?"  asked  the  poor  store-keeper. 

"I  will  tell  you,"  replied  Conscience.  "Find  some 
little  child,  open  its  pure  little  heart  and  conceal 
me  within  it.  The  innocent  creature  will  guard 
me,  tend  to  me  and  cherish  me;  it  will  grow  with 
me,  and  even  when  it  attains  power  and  reputa- 
tion it  will  not  be  ashamed  of  me." 

And  so  it  happened,  indeed.  The  store-keeper 
found  a  little  child,  opened  its  pure  heart  and 
locked  Conscience  within  it. 

Now  the  little  child  is  growing,  and  in  it.  Con- 
science. When  the  child  becomes  a  great 
man,  he  will  also  have  a  large  conscience.  False- 
hood, egoism,  cunning  and  brute  force  will  be 
vanquished,  for  Conscience  will  then  be  respected 
and  powerful  and  in  time  will  rule  the  world. 


CURRENT  LITERATURE  FOR  MARCH,  1906 


The  Prudential 

Advances  in  Security  and  Public  Confidence. 


THIRTIETH    ANNUAI.  STATEMENT,  JANUARY  1,  1906,  SHOWS 


Assets,  over 

Uabllities  (includinsr  Reserve  $88,000,000)    . 

Surplus,  over 

Increase  in  Assets,  over 

Paid  Policyholders  durinsr  1905,  over      . 

Total  Payments  to  Policyholders  to  ow.  31, 1905.  over 

Cash  Dividends  and  Other  Concessions  not  Stipulated 
in  Original  Contracts  and  Voluntarily  Given  to 
Holders  of  Old  Policies  to  Date,  over    • 

Numlier  of  Policies  in  Force,  nearly 

Increase  in  Numlier  of  Policies  in  Force,  over 

Net  Increase  in  Insurance  in  Force,  over 


107  Million 
91  Million 
16  Million 
18  Million 
14  Million 

107  Million 


6  Million 

6>^ 

113  Million 


Dollars 
Dollars 
Dollars 
Dollars 
Dollars 
Dollars 


Dollars 
Million 
Million 
Dollars 


Bringing  Total  Amount  of  Insurance  in  Force  to  over 

One  Billion  One  Hundred  and 
Seventy  Million  Dollars. 


PRUDENTIAL  t^-O 

HAS  TME      / 

STRENGTH  OF 
GIBRALTAR  'J 


ECONOMICAL  ADMINISTRATION. 

LOWER  EXPENSE  RATE  THAN  EVER 
BEFORE. 

CAREFUL  SELECTION  OF  RISKS. 

FAVORABLE  MORTALITY  EXPERIENCE. 


Dividends  Paid  to  Policyholders 
During  1905,  Over 

ONE    MILLION    DOLLARS 


THE    PRUDENTIAL    INSURANCE    CO. 

OF   AMERICA 

Incorporated  as  a  Stock  Company  by  the  State  of  New  Jersey 

JOHN  F.  DRYDEN,  President.  Home  Office,  NewarF 

Write  for  Information  of  Policies,  Dept  17 
Please  mention  Current  Literature  when  you  write  to  advertisers 


)<.  O      C    CrvA^^i^ 


The     Humor    of    Life 


Scrappy  :  Do  you  call  that  thing  on  your  head  a  hat  ? 
MRS.  Scrappy  :  Do  you  call  that  thing  in  your  hat  a 
head  ?  —Liff. 

ACCORDING  TO  AGREEMENT 

Hicks:  "You  don't  mean  to  say  you  got  thc» 
better  of  Gabbie  in  an  argument?" 

Wicks:  "Yes;  I  told  him  if  he'd  give  me  two 
minutes  to  present  my  side,  without  interruption, 
rd  let  him  talk  for  an  hour." 

Hicks:   "Well?" 

Wicks  :   "Well,  when  I  had  talked  through  my 
two  minutes  I  jumped  on  a  passing  trolley  car." 
— Catholic  Standard  and  Times. 


HAIR  RAISING 
Husband — I  feel  in  the  mood  for  reading  some- 
thing  sensational   and   startling — something  that 
will  fairly  make  my  hdr  stand  on  end. 
Wife — Well,  here  is  my  last  dressmaker's  bill. 
— Washington  Life. 


WITH  PLEASURE 

Officer  :  "If  you  haven't  a  license  you  will  have  to 
accompany  mc." 

Grinder:  "All  ri>?ht,  sir— what  will  you  sing?" 

— Leslie's  HWkiy. 


SELF-KNOWLEDGE 
First  Speculator-:  "What  are  you  in  the  s.i'-ect 
-a  bull  or  a  bear?" 

Second  Speculator:    "Neither;   I'm  an  ass.** 

—Judge, 


READY  TO  EXCHANGE 
A  man  in  Texas  is  anxious  to  exchange  his 
home  and  property  down  there  for  a  residence 
in  New  York  State.  We  are  his  man,  and  he  can 
have  ours  whenever  he  can  arrange  matters. — 
Star  of  Hope,  published  in  Sing  Sing. 


POOR  MAN 
Mrs.  Lectoor:   "Do  you  know  that  you  talk  in 
your  sleep?" 
Lectoor:  "Well,  it's  the  only  chance  I  get" 

— Lip  pine  otfs. 


WHY  NORAH  WAS  WORRIED 

My   maid   Norah   went   to  consult   a   fortune- 
teller and  returned 
wailing  dismally. 

"Did  she  predict 
some  great  trou- 
ble?" I  asked  sym- 
pathetically. 

"Och,  mem,  sich 
therrible  news!" 
moaned  Norah, 
rocking  back  and 
forth  wringing  her 
hands. 

*  *  T  e  1 1  me,  I 
said,  wishing  to 
comfort    the    girl. 

"She  tould  me 
thot  me  father 
wurks  hard  shov- 
elin'  coal  an'  'tind- 
in'  foires  fer  a 
livin'." 

"But  that's  no 
disgrace  nor  sor- 
row," I  said,  a  tri- 
fle vexed  at  such  affectation. 

"Och,  mem,  me  poor  father!"  sobbed  Norah. 
"He's  bin  dead  these  noine  years!" — Judge, 


A  JAPANESE  PRINT 

—Puck. 


'TESTIMONIAL 
"I  want  to  testify  to  the  efficacy  of  Dr.  Brown's 
Elixir,"   writes  a  grateful  correspondent.     "My 
rich  uncle  took  one  bottle  and  now  I  am  his  sole 
hejr." — Washington  Life. 


GETTING  EVEN 
"I  wouldn't  wed  the  smartest  man 

That  ever  lived,"  said  she. 
"You  couldn't,  madam,"  he  began; 
"I'm  married  now,"  said  he, 

— Joe  Cone  in  Judge. 


$3.00  a  Year 


April    1900 


Price  25  C« 


urtem 
Literature 


EtttMl   hr  WiVWARD  J.  MmrWlMR 


THE   CVRRENT    WTERATVRE   PVBLISHING     C« 
34  "West    26th  Street,  NewYorK 


Be  Fair  to  Your  Skin,  and  it  will 
be  Fair  to  You — ^and  to  Others 


yV  BEAUTIFUL  SKIN  can  only  be  secured  tbrougk  Nfature^s  work.  Gkafltly, 
'^  "^  korrid  imitations  oi  Beauty  are  made  by  cosmetics,  balms,  po'w^ders,  and  otker 
injurious  compounds.  Tbey  put  a  coat  over  the  already  clogged  pores  oi  the  skin, 
and  double  tne  injury. 

Now  tbat  tne  use  or  cosmetics  is  being  mveigned  against  from  tke  very  pulpits, 
tbe  importance  or  a  pure  soap  becomes  apparent.  Tne  constant  use  or  Hand  Sapolio 
produces  so  Iresli  and  rejuvenated  a  condition  of  tbe  skin  tbat  all  incentive  to  tbe  mse 
oi  cosmetics  is  lacking. 

HAND  SAPOLIO  is 

SO  PURE  tbat  it  can  be  Ireely  used  on  a  new-bom  baby. 
SO  SIMPLE  tbat  it  can  be  a  part  oi  tbe  invalids  supply  w^itb  beneficial  results. 
SO  EFFICACIOUS  as  to  bring  tbe  small  boy  almost  into  a  state  oi  ''surgical 
cleanliness"  and  keep  bim  tbere. 


The  pen  with 


the  Clip-Cap 


For    Easter-~- 
Rejoice 

Stop  doing  penance  by  unnecee- 
•ary  dipping  into  an  ink-bottle. 
Have  pen  and  ink  in  band  by  uiing 
Waterman*  •  Ideal  Fountain  Pen. 
If  you  enjoy  tbia  relief  yourtelf* 
\«rby  not    make    an   appropriate 

Easter  Gift 

€>i  one  of  our  Lily  design  pena  to 
some  friend  or  relative  wbo  would 
appreciate    a    like     convenience. 

Pena  may  be  bad  in  attractive 
Eaiter  boxes  on  request. 

Insist  on  tbe  **Ideal'*  pen  witb  tbe 
spoon-feed.  Tbe  Clip-Cap  i§  a 
pocket  convenience  identified  only 
writb  tbe  genuine. 

Pens  purcbased  anywbere  may 
be  excbanged  if  unsatisfactory 
at  any  of  our  addresses. 

L.  E.  WATBIMAN  CO. 
173  Broadway     New  York  !  ^ 

Baa  iTraoclico.  Chicago.  Boitoa.  MoatnaL 


stereograph  Copyright,  1900.  Underwood  Sl  Underwood.  New  York. 


THE  SPOKESMAN  OF  THE  ADMINISTRATION 

A  new  picture  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  who  has  twice  refused  an  appointment  to  the  Supreme  Court. 
*'Tafc  is  a  mighty  hustler,  but  there  is  nothing  *  strenuous/  as  that  word  has  been  defined  in  later  days, 

about  him. 
"  He  hustles  calmly.     He  disposes  of  immense  quantities  of  work  with  an  air  of  beneficent  leisure." 


Ctiment  Literature 


TJL  XL  No  4  Edwafd  J.  Wheeler,  Editor 

^  Associate  Editors:  Leonard  D.  Abbott,  Alexander  Harvey 


APRIL,  i906 


A  Review  of  the  WoWd'"'*  ^'  ""«  */ 


r'4; 


PR  a  "treasonable  body"  (see  vari- 
ous magazines  for  specifications)  the 
United  States  Senate  has  been  behav- 
ing very  well  of  late.  "It  has  done  the  Senate 
good  to  be  written  up  in  the  magazines/'  re- 
marks the  Omaha  World-Herald;  "the  critics 
have  had  a  tonic  influence  upon  that  ancient 
and  honorable  body."  Two  bills  the  Senate 
has  recently  disposed  of  in  a  way  to  elicit 
almost  unbroken  approbation  from  the  press  of 
the  country.  The  passage  of  the  Heyburn 
pure  food  bill,  by  a  vote  of  63  to  4,  comes 
after  a  struggle  of  fifteen  years  or  more,  and 
is  in  line  with  the  recommendations  of  the 
President.  It  is  the  first  administration  meas- 
ure to  run  the  gauntlet  of  the  upper  house 
in  safety.  It  prohibits  the  shipment  of  adul- 
terated foods  and  liquors  from  State  to  State, 
or  between  this  country  and  any  foreign  coun- 
try, and  prohibits  all  traffic  in  such  goods  in 
the  Territories  and  the  District  of  Columbia. 
Further  than  this  Congress  has,  probably,  no 
power  to  go.  The  bill  will  affect  industries  on 
which,  it  is  estimated,  the  people  spend  $400,- 
000,000  a  year,  and  the  recent  decision  of  the 
Supreme  Court  denying  to  corporations  the 
privilege  of  refusing  to  furnish  incriminating 
evidence  will  doubtless  make  the  pure  food 
bill,  if  passed  also  by  the  lower  house,  more 
effective  than  anyone  had  heretofore  dared  to 
hope.  The  passage  of  the  bill  by  an  almost 
unanimous  vote  is  regarded  as  a  notable  tri- 
umph of  public  sentiment.  Two  magazines  of 
large  circulation — Collier's  Weekly  and  The 
Ladie/  Home  Journal — have  been  making  a 
crusade  for  this  measure  and  have  reason  to 
congratulate  themselves. 


THE  second  bill  disposed  of  by  the  Senate  in 
apparent  harmony  with  public  opinion  in 
general  is  the  statehood  bill.  On  this  bill  the 
Senate  joined  h§^  ^iffa  the  Administrati^ji, 


<''DGE, 


VIN^ 


and,  strange  to  say,  for  once  public  sentiment 
has  supported  the  Senate  and  opposed  the  Ad- 
ministration. By  the  small  majority  of  two 
votes,  the  bill  as  it  had  come  from  the  lower 
house  was  amended  so  as  to  eliminate  Arizona 
and  New  Mexico  entirely.  As  it  stands  now, 
the  bill  makes  one  State  out  of  Oklahoma  and 
Indian  Territory;  but  the  lower  house  has 
again  to  act  on  the  amended  bill,  and  Speaker 
Cannon  is  reported  to  be  in  a  belligerent  mood 
on  the  subject.  We  fail  to  find  much  support 
in  the  press  for  any  belligerent  attitude  that 
the  Speaker  of  the  lower  house  may  feel  dis- 
posed to  take.  The  apparent  desire  of  the  in- 
habitants of  Arizona  to  remain  in  a  territorial 
condition  rather  than  be  yoked  up  with  New 
Mexico  has  had  a  determining  effect  upon  the 
views  of  the  country  at  large  as  voiced  in  the 
press,  and  the  effort  to  attribute  this  popular 
opposition  in  Arizona  to  corporate  jobbery  has 
not  been  very  effective.  The  action  in  amend- 
ing the  bill  was  a  victory  for  justice,  according 
to  the  Boston  Herald  (Ind.)  ;  it  was  the  right 
way  out,  according  to  the  Minneapolis  Journal 
(Ind.  Rep.)  ;  the  reasons  for  such  action  were 
convincing,  according  to  the  Louisville  Cou- 
rier-Journal  (Dem.) ;  the  Senate  has  acted 
wisely,  according  to  the  Boston  Transcript 
(Rep.)  and  the  New  York  Journal  of  Com- 
merce (Financial). 


ON  TWO  other  bills,  the  action  of  the  Sen- 
ate arouses  bitter  condemnation.  The 
refusal  of  the  Senate  Committee  on  the  Phil- 
ippines, by  a  vote  of  eight  to  five,  to  report  the 
Philippine  tariff  bill  either  favorably  or  un- 
favorably is  not  of  necessity  final,  as  the  com- 
mittee may  change  its  attitude  before  the  end 
of  the  session  or  the  Senate  may  possibly 
order  the  bill  reported.  It  is  the  general  opin- 
ion, however,  that  the  bill  is  desd  for  this 
session  and  the  protest  is  general  mS,  atrt- 


344 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


monious.  The  committee  that  has  strangled 
it  did  not  divide  on  party  lines.  Five  Repub- 
licans and  three  Democrats  voted  to  kill  it 
and  three  Republicans  and  two  Democrats 
voted  to  report  it.  The  chief  opposition  to 
the  bill  comes  from  the  sugar  and  tobacco  in- 
terests, including  planters,  farmers  and 
cigarmakers.  The  bill,  despite  the  hostility  of 
these  interests,  passed  the  lower  house  a  few 
weeks  ago  by  258  to  71.  The  New  York  Sun 
thinks  the  defeat  of  the  bill  will  make  little 
difference  economically  to  the  Filipinos: 

"The  day  of  judgment  is  not  blotted  from  the 
calendar.  It  is  only  shuffled  a  few  months  into 
the  future.  The  weary  grind  will  hive  to  be 
gone  all  over  again.  At  another  session  a  new 
bill  will  go  in,  more  witnesses  will  appear  before 
the  committees  with  the  same  often  repeated  as- 
sertions and  figures.  It  is  tedious  business,  but 
the  next  time  the  machine  gets  into  action  it 
should  start  from  the  only  proper  point  of  de- 
parture. That  would  provide  for  free  trade  be- 
tween the  Philippine  Islands  and  this  country." 


From  stereogiapb,  copyright  1006,  by  Underwood  k.  Underwood,  ^.  T. 

SENATOR    BY    UNANIMOUS    VOTE 

John  Tyler  Morean,  of  Alabama,  was  a  member  of  the 
State  convention  tnat  decreed  secession  for  his  State  in 
1861.  He  was  a  Confederate  brijfadier.  Is  serving  hisfifth 
term  as  United  States  Senator,  not  a  vote  beinsr  cast 
ag^ainst  him  in  the  Alabama  le{?islature  in  2900.  He  has 
been  called  "the  father  of  the  Panama  Canal,"  but  he 
disowns  his  child.     He  is  suspected  of  being  a  Democrat! 


I  N  PASSING  the  ship  subsidy  bill,  but  under 
1  a  much  more  euphonious  name  than  that, 
the  Senate  has  confirmed  the  charge  of 
subservience  to  corporate  interests,  in  the 
judgment  of  many,  and,  in  the  judgment  of 
many  more,  has  done  a  wise  deed  of  patriot- 
ism. The  bill  was  introduced  as  an  act  "to 
promote  the  national  defense,  to  create  a  force 
of  naval  volunteers,  to  establish  American 
ocean  mail  lines  to  foreign  markets,  to  pro- 
mote commerce,  and  to  provide  revenue  from 
tonnage."  It  was  passed  by  a  majority  of 
eleven,  party  lines  being  pretty  closely  drawn 
in  the  division.  It  contemplates  an  annual 
expenditure  running  from  three  to  eight 
millions  a  year,  and  aggregating  in  ten  years' 
time  about  forty  millions.  It  authorizes  thir- 
teen new  contract  mail  lines,  three  to  run  from 
Atlantic  ports  (to  South  America  and  South 
Africa),  six  from  ports  on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 
(to  Central  America,  Mexico,  Panama,  Brazil 
and  Cuba),  four  from  Pacific  ports  (to  Japan, 
China,  the  Philippines  and  to  Mexico,  Cen- 
tral America  and  Panama).  The  Democratic 
press  is  loud  in  opposition,  and  most  of  the 
independent  papers  stand  with  them.  Both  the 
principle  of  the  bill  and  its  methods  are  con- 
demned, and  it  is  charged  that  the  only  public 
sentiment  in  its  favor  has  been  worked  up  by 
the  Merchant  Marine  League  of  the  United 
States,  with  headquarters  at  Geveland.  Mr. 
Bryan's  paper.  The  Commoner,  says:  "It  is 
plain  that  the  ship  subsidy  schemers  arc  de- 
termine^ tp  rn^e  a  desperate  effort  to  push 


ADMINISTRATION  MEASURES  TN  THE  SENATE 


345 


,  li^iti  rJc.-ij..t  :LH.t,  bj:  Lih*Ji:rwu4id  4£.  CddfcJWiHj'J,  ^<"*  Y^ik. 

MAlCmQ  LAWS  FOR  EIGHTV  SlILLIONS  OF  PEOPLE 
This  IB  the  Honim  of  Rep res*Diflt Ives  Cu  flessios,  Speaker  CMnnon  in  the  chair. 


the  tnc^iiure  through  the  house  at  this  session, 
indmtfn  who,  regardless  of  political  prejudice, 
have  supported  Mr.  Roosevelt  In  the  matter  of 
nilwajf  rate  legislation  wiU  regret  to  leam 
tbt  this  oboDxious  measure  has  his  unquali- 
M  sttpfvort," 

The  argutnetits  for  and  against  the  bill  have 
been  too  often  thrashed  out  in  past  years  to 
ciaJce  it  necessary  to  repeat  them  here  at  this 
time.  They  go  back  pretty  far  and  down 
pretty  deep  into  the  theory  of  government 
aisd  political  economy* 

WHAT  will  the  Setiatc  do  about  railroad 
rates?    Thai,  after  all.  is  the  question 
jJait|tiE  arouses  the  greatest  amount  of  inter- 
it  conflicting  answers  are  sent  out 
fchrnglon   in  quick  succession.     One 
iWng  Is  rcasortably  clear,  that  the  Senate  does 
reilly  wish  to  do  much,  if  anything,  and 
ib^t  keeps   the  proposed  legislation 


alive  now  is  the  infiucnce  of  the  President 
and  the  belief  that  his  desires  represent  those 
of  the  people.  Senator  Foraker,  in  one  of 
the  most  notable  speeches  yet  made  on  the 
subject,  asserted  that  the  demand  for  railroad 
rate  legislation  had  no  place  in  campaign  dis- 
cussions in  1904,  and  * 'never  commanded  any 
serious  attention  until  the  President  mentioned 
it  in  his  annual  message/'  Then  *'his  popular- 
ity was  so  great  and  he  so  thoroughly  com- 
manded the  confidence  of  all  classes  of  people 
that  there  was  an  immediate  and  very  general 
acceptance  of  his  recommendation/'  This  re- 
fers not  to  rate  regulation  by  States,  which  is 
not  new  and  the  constitutionality  of  which  is 
not  doubtful,  but  to  rate  regulation  by  Con- 
gress. Whether  Senator  Foraker  is  right  or 
not,  any  action  the  Senate  may  take  will  have 
a  perfunctory  appearance.  The  debate,  so  far, 
has  been  rather  lopsided.  Senator*s  Dol liver's 
reply   to    Senator    Foraker's    legal    argument 


346 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


From  stereograph,  copyright  1900,  by  Underwood  A  Underwood,  N.  I. 

HE  HAS  CHARGE  OF  THE    RATE   BILL   IN    THE 
SENATE 

This  is  a  new  picture  of  Senator  Tillman,  of  whom  the 
Macon  Telegraph  says :  "  Whatever  his  errors  in  the  past 
or  his  mistakes  in  the  future.  Senator  Tillman  has  more 
genuine  'Rrit*  than  any  other  man  now  in  American 
public  life." 

against  the  Hepburn  bill  was  wholly  inade- 
quate, and  in  general  it  must  be  admitted  that 
both  in  and  out  of  the  Senate  the  advocates 
of  the  bill  have  failed  adequately  to  sustain 
their  side  of  the  case.  An  exception  should 
be  made  of  Senator  Raynor's  speech  in  favor 
of  the  bill,  which  was  vigorous  and  effective. 


ONE  signal  illustration  of  the  fact  that  the 
bill  is  one  whose  life  depends  almost 
wholly  upon  the  President's  favor,  is  seen  in 
the  article  which  President  Hadley,  of  Yale, 
contributes  to  the  discussion.  President  Had- 
ley is  a  specialist  on  the  subject,  having  been 
a  professor  of  political  science  before  he  be- 
came president.  His  article,  which  appeared 
in  the  Boston  Transcript,  is  a  clear  and  can- 
did argument  against  the  bill  and  then  an 
equally  clear  and  candid  appeal  for  its  passage ! 
He  rehearses  the  experience  in  Great  Britain 
along  this  line  and  the  attempt  there,  in  1873, 
to  regulate  rates  by  means  of  a  commission  not 
subject  to  court  review  except  in  a  very  lim- 
ited degree.  The  attempt  was  abandoned  "not 
because  it  hurt  the  railroads,  but  because  it 


failed  to  benefit  the  shippers."  The  attempt 
to  prevent  appeals  to  the  courts  proved  "a 
complete  failure,"  and  the  shipper  found  that 
the  route  to  a  final  adjudication  had  simply 
been  rendered  more  circuitous.  President 
Hadley  sums  up  his  views  of  the  Hepburn 
bill  as  follows: 

"The  Hepburn  bill  does  not  appear  likely  to 
accomplish  its  object.  The  history  of  English 
railroad  regulation  shows  that  a  similar  measure 
passed  under  closely  analogous  circtmistances 
failed  to  do  the  good  which  its  advocates  ex- 
pected. The  same  failure  is  likely  to  be  repeated 
in  the  .United  States,  when  an  act  provides  that 
a  commission  shall  be  at  once  an  advisory  body, 
a  prosecuting  body,  and  a  judicial  body.  The 
combination  of  these  three  functions  in  one  office 
is  repugnant  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  to  common  law,  and  to  the  American 
sense  of  fair  play.  And  the  bill  is  subject  to 
this  further  criticism,  that  by  investing  the  com- 
mission with  certain  judicial  duties  and  powers 
which  it  cannot  well  assume,  it  incapacitates  it 
for  the  most  important  administrative  functions 
which  properly  belong  to  it.  What  the  United 
States  needs  is  an  act  under  which  the  commis- 
sion will  take  part  in  the  making  of  tariffs  and 
give  effect  to  the  public  interest  in  the  general 
questions  of  railroad  management,  leaving  the 
specific  cases  of  violation  to  be  stopped  or  pun- 
ished by  the  courts.  The  arguments,  both  his- 
torical and  economic,  in  favor  of  a  bill  to  have  a 
commission  do  its  own  business  instead  of  re- 
lieving it  of  that  duty  in  order  that  it  may  do 
somebody's  else's  business,  are  very  strong  in- 
deed." 


II  OW,  then,  holding  such  views,  can  Presi- 
n  dent  Hadley  advise  the  passage  of  the 
bill?  The  answer  is,  in  brief,  because  Presi- 
dent Roosevelt  favors  it.    We  quote  again : 

"The  country  is  today  in  the  midst  of  a  great 


GETTING  THERE 

— Maybell  in  Brooklyn  Jiag/e. 


THE  FIGHT  FOR  RATE  REGULATION 


347 


wave  of  moral  sentiment.  This  has  been  aroused 
by  the  insurance  inquiry,  by  the  evidences  of 
political  corruption  in  cities,  and  by  various 
abases  of  corporate  power  which  have  come  to 
light  If  the  spirit  of  reform  is  allowed  to  have 
its  own  way  it  will  result  in  a  good  many  wise 
acts,  and  some  foolish  ones  also;  but  the  good 
is  pretty  sure  to  outweigh  the  evil.  If,  on  the 
other  hand,  this  sentiment  is  resisted,  every  case 
of  nnintelli^ent  resistance  will  give  rise  to  deep- 
seated  misunderstandings;  will  intensify  the  evils 
aiui  dangers  incident  to  the  movement;  will  make 
radicals  out  of  those  who  should  have  been  con- 
servatives; and  will  during  the  next  time  of 
commercial  crisis  leave  us  face  to  face  with  the 
danger  of   bitter  class  struggles. 

"Of  this  movement  of  public  sentiment  Presi- 
dent Roosevelt  is  the  recognized  leader.  .  .  . 
He  represents  a  sentiment  which  under  leader- 
ship like  his  is  most  salutary;  but  which,  should 
it  fall  under  the  direction  of  other  leaders,  might 
readily  become  hysterical  or  pernicious.  .The 
position  of  many  of  the  senators  and  rq)resenta- 
tives,  that  they  will  stand  for  a  bill  which  has  the 
approval  of  the  President  and  not  for  one  which 
fails  to  have  his  approval,  is  in  my  judgment  a 
wise  one.  And  though  I  cannot  concur  with  the 
President  in  believing  that  the  Interstate  Com- 
merce Commission  is  the  proper  body  for  judi- 
cial determination  of  rates,  I  believe  that  it  is 
better  to  acquiesce  in  a  measure  that  he  approves 
than  to  insist  upon  a  compromise  which  would  not 
satisfy  him  or  anyone  else." 


THE  latest  reports  on  the  situation  as  we 
go  to  press  indicate  that  Senator  Spoon- 
er's  provision  for  court  review  will  be  added 
to  the  Hepburn  bill  and  the  bill  then  passed. 
"The  lawyers  of  the  Senate  who  have  been 
taken  into  the  confidence  of  Senator  Spooncr," 
so  a  Washington  correspondent  states,  "have 
been  completely  won  over  to  the  plan  by  its 
completeness  and  sagacity."    It  provides  for  a 


RECOGNITION 


— WashlnFrton  Star, 


Proro  atcreograpb,  copyright  1906.  b\  (Judcrwood  ft  Uuderwood,  N.  Y. 
THE  MOST  OUTSPOKEN  FOE  OF  THE  HEPBURN 
RATE  BILL 

Of  Senator  Foraker's  speech  against  the  bill,  it  was 
said :  "That  speech  must  be  answered  or  the  bill  is  dead." 
He  was  bom  on  an  Ohio  farm,  served  through  the  Civil 
War,  being  but  nineteen  when  it  ended,  was  twice  Gov- 
ernor of  Ohio,  and  has  a  great  reputation  as  an  orator. 

court  review  of  the  commission's  decisions,  but 
requires  that' a  railway  company  that  appeals 
to  the  court  must  deposit  a  sum  of  money  suf- 
ficient to  cover  the  difference  in  rates  on  all 
traflfic  affected  by  the  decision.  If  the  rate  de- 
creed by  the  commission  is  sustained  by  the 
court,  the  shippers  receive  whatever  part  of 
this  deposit  is  necessary  to  reimburse  them  for 
the  loss  by  reason  of  the  delay  caused  by  the 
appeal.  The  Spooner  measure  would  require, 
moreover,  that  railroad  companies  make  a 
monthly  report  to  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Commission  of  all  goods  shipped  on  their  lines, 
the  names  of  shippers  and  the  rates  of  ship- 
ment But  why,  asks  the  Springfield  Repub- 
lican, all  this  perturbation  over  the  court  re- 
view section  of  the  bill?  It  calls  attention  to 
a  passage  in  the  speech  made  by  Senator  Knox, 
supposedly  with  the  President's  approval,  in 
Pittsburg  last  November.    Senator  Knox  said : 

"There  is  no  order  that  can  be  made  by  any 
commission  or  board  now  existing,  or  which  it  is 
proposed  to  create,  that  can  change  a  rate  or 
practice  that  is  unreasonable  or  unjust  without 
its  order  being  subject  to  review  in  a  judicial  pro- 
ceeding in  the  United  States  circuit  court  upon 
the  ground  of  the  unreasonableness  of  the  order 
of  the  commission,  and  there  is  no  law  that  does 
and  probably  no  law  could  be  enacted  that  could 
prevent  the  court,  if  satisfied  that  injustice  had 


348 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


Kroni  itcreograpb,  copyright  1906,  by  Undertiood  ft  Underwood,  N.  T. 

A  STRONG  SUPPORTER  OF  THE  PRESIDENT  IN 
RATE  REGULATION 

Senator  Dolliver's  term  of  office  expires  next  year, 
but  his  views  of  rate  regrulation  are  popular  with  his 
Iowa  constituents  and  will  help  him  to  a  re-election.  He 
figures  {prominently  among  the  senatorial  advocates  of 
the  President's  views. 


been  done  the  railroads,  from  staying  the  opera- 
tion of  the  order  upon  terms  until  the  court  had 
passed  upon  the  merits  of  the  controversy." 

If  that  is  the  case,  says  The  Republican, 
why  should  conservative  Senators  fight  the 
Hepburn  bill  to  the  last  ditch  because  it  lacks 
an  explicit  court  review  clause,  and  why,  on 
the  other  hand,  should  the  more  radical  Sen- 
ators oppose  an  amendment  which  merely 
grants  a  power  which  the  courts  already 
possess  and  of  which  they  cannot  be  deprived 
by  act  of  Congress? 


EFFORTS  to  curb  the  great  corporations 
go  merrily  forward,  and  the  year  1906 
promises  to  be  a  banner  year  in  this  re- 
spect.    The  great  insurance  companies  have 
been  reduced,  for  the  time  being  at  least,   to 
a  realizing  sense  of  their  true  relations  to  the 
public,  and  there  is  a  fair  prospect  that  legis- 
lation at  Albany  and  elsewhere  will  make  their 
conversion  lasting.     From  the  seat  of  war  in 
Washington  come  reports  of  progress  in   the 
enactment  of  legislation  to  put  a  bit.  in   the 
mouths  of  the  great  railroad  systems.     Rail- 
way rate  legislation  seems  likely  to  pass   in 
some  reasonable  shape,  and  though  it  will  not 
be  all  that  the  most  radical  demand,  it  will 
undoubtedly  bring  a  very  considerable  degree 
of   wholesome   restraint  with   it.     But   more 
sweeping  and  perhaps  more  effective  than  the 
proposed  legislation  either  at  Washington  or 
Albany  is  the  recent  action  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States.    This  body,  which 
political  agitators  a  few  years  ago  regarded 
with  the  greatest  hostility  as  a  body  of  reac- 
tionaries, has  rendered  a  decision  which  the 
late  Democratic  candidate  for  President,  Judge 
Parker,  terms  "one  of  the  events  of  American 
history." 


SENATORIAL  PERSUASION 

— Donahey  in  Cleveland  Plain  DeaUr, 


NOT  railroad  corporations  alone,  nor  in- 
surance corporations  alone,  but  all  cor- 
porations, big  and  little,  arc  affected  by  the 
decision  of  the  court.  It  was  delivered  by 
Judge  Brown,  whose  early  retirement  from  the 
bench  has  been  announced,  and  it  is  a  worthy 
valedictory.  The  cases  before  the  court  were 
the  tobacco  trust  and  paper  trust  cases,  in 
which  certain  information  had  been  refused  on 
the  ground  that  it  would  tend  to  incriminate 
the  corporation.  The  decision  is,  in 
effect,  that  the  constitutional  privilege 
of  refusing  to  g^ve  self-incriminating 
evidence  is  a  personal,  but  not 
a  corporation  privilege.  Says  Judge 
Brown,  in  giving  the  court's  decision  : 


"The  individual  may  stand  upon  his 
rights  as  a  citizen,  but  the  corporation 
is  a  creature  of  the  State.  It  is  pre- 
sumed to  be  incorporated  for  the  benefit 
of  the  public.  It  receives  certain  special 
privileges  and  franchises  and  holds  them 
subject  to  the  laws  of  the  State  and  the 
limitations  of  its  charter.  Its  rights  to 
act  as  a  corporation  are  only  preserved 
to  it  so  long  as  it  obeys  the  laws  of  its 
creation.  There  is  a  reserved  right  in 
the  Legislature  to  investigate  its  con- 
tract and  find  out  whether  it  has  ex- 
ceeded its  powers.   It  would  be  a  strange 


A  NOTABLE  SUPREME  COURT  DECISION 


349 


anomaly  to  hold  tliat  a  State,  having  char- 
tered a  corporation  to  make  use  of  certain 
franchises,  could  not  in  the  exercise  of 
its  sovereignty  inquire  how  those  fran- 
chises had  been  employed  and  whether  they 
had  b€«n  abused,  and  demand  the  produc- 
twn  of  the  corporate  books  and  papers  for 
that  purpose. 

"The  defense  amounts  to  this:  That  an 
officer  of  a  corporation  which  is  charged 
with  a  criminal  violation  of  the  stat- 
ntc  may  plead  the  criminality  of  such  cor- 
poration as  a  refusal  to  produce  its  books. 
To  state  this  proposition  is  to  answer  it. 
While  an  individual  may  lawfully  refuse  to 
answer  incriminating  questions,  unless  pro- 
tected by  an  immunity  statute,  it  does  not 
follow  that  a  corporation  vested  with  spe- 
cial privileges  and  franchises  may  refuse  to 
show  its  hand  when  charged  with  an  abuse 
of  such  privileges." 


THIS  reasoning  seems  almost  axio- 
matic, but  it  has  been  promptly  rec- 
ognized as  of  the  greatest  importance. 
Judge  Parker  calls  the  decision  "one  of 
the  most  important  and  far-reaching  that 
have  ever  been  delivered  from  the 
bench."     He  says  further: 

"By  this  action  the  Supreme  Court  has 
taken    away    the    last    loop    hole    through 
which  the  trusts  hoped  to  avoid  the  lime- 
light of  publicity  being  thrown  upon  their 
unlawful    methods   of    dealing    with    com- 
petitors.    It  opens  the  way  for  a  complete 
examination  of  their  affairs,  which  I  have 
no  doubt  will  be  immediately  probed  to  the 
bottom,  if  not  in  this  administration  at  least 
within    the    next    few   years.    .    .    .    This 
decision  means  that  their  last  resource  to 
avoid    the    law    has   been    exhausted,    and 
nothing  is  left  but  for  them  to  submit  to 
an  examination  which  in  most  cases  will  no 
doubt  result  in  a  prosecution  under  the  Sherman 
anti-trust  law.    This  will  generally  mean  a  con- 
viction, and  the  breaking  up  of  these  unlawful 
combinations.    Altogether  I  regard  Monday's  de- 
cision as  one  of  the  greatest  things  that  has  hap- 
pened for  the  welfare  of  the  American  people  in 
modem  years." 

The  decision,  says  Senator  Spooner,  "is  a 
powerful  weapon  to  put  in  the  hands  of  the 
Executive,  and  especially  at  this  time  when 
inquiry  into  the  affairs  of  corporations  is  be- 
ing urged. 


WANTS  THOROUGH    REFORM    IN    THE   MUTUAL  LIFE 


SIMILAR  views  are  expressed  by  Senators 
Lodge,  Cullom,  Foraker,  Tillman  and 
others,  and  the  newspaper  comment  is  pitched 
on  the  same  key.  The  Evening  Post  (New 
York)  regards  the  decision  as  a  vindication 
of  Judge  Parker's  position  in  the  campaign 
two  years  ago  when  he  made  the  assertion 


Stuy  vesant  Fish  resigned  from  a  committee  appointed  by  the 
trustees  and  will  head  an  international  policy-holders  com- 
mittee. The  subsequent  fiRht  by  Harriman  to  oust  him  from 
the  presidency  of  the  Illinois  Central  has  aroused  deep  mterest. 
His  father  was  Grant's  Secretary  of  State. 

(disputed  at  the  time  by  President  Roosevelt) 
that  the  common  law,  as  applied  by  our  courts, 
already  furnished  a  remedy  against  many  of 
the  evils  that  attach  to  trusts  and  that  it  had 
not  been  adequately  evoked.  The  effect  of  the 
decision  now  made  is  thus  interpreted  by  The 
Evening  Post : 

"What  the  decision  upholds  is,  essentially,  the 
inquisitorial  powers  of  grand  juries.  They  may 
make  dragnet  inquiries.  With  no  specific 
charge  before  them,  they  may  summon  the 
officers  and  agents  of  corporations,  and  compel 
them  to  produce  their  books  and  accounts,  as  also 
to  testify  to  matters  within  their  knowledge,  even 
though  the  result  be  to  show  the  corporation 
guilty  of  acts  in  violation  of  the  anti-Trust  law 
and  other  statutes  of  Congress.  'Of  what  use  is 
it,'  asks  the  court,  'for  the  legislature  to  declare 
these  combinations  unlawful,  if  the  judicial  power 
may  close  the  door  of  access  to  every  available 
source  of  information  upon  the  subject?*  The 
Supreme  Court  opens  the  door.    Of  course,  as  the 


3J0 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


THE  "YELLOW  DOG"   FACING  THE  MUSIC 

— W.  A.  Rogers  in  N.  Y.  Herald. 

decision  points  out,  corporations  like  individuals 
are  to  be  protected  against  'unreasonable 
searches';  but  a  search  made  by  the  officers  of 
the  law,  with  the  intent  to  show  the  commission 


of  a  crime,  cannot  hereafter  be  frustrated  by  any- 
hasty  slipping  on  and  off  of  masks. 

"It  is  a  wholesome  thing  thus  to  be  rcmindeci 
of  the  inherent  powers  of  judicial  process  at  a 
time  when  the  land  is  filled  with  the  cries  of  the 
panacea-peddlers.  .  .  .  Let  the  law  against 
combinations  be  rigorously  enforced,  in  the  way 
pointed  out  by  the  Supreme  Court,  and  nine- 
tenths  of  the  shifts  proposed,  with  all  of  tHe 
speeches  made,  would  be  seen  to  be  useless." 

This  power  of  compelling  the  production  of 
evidence  extends,  as  the  New  York  Times 
points  out,  to  the  State  governments  as  well 
as  the  Federal  Government,  and  one  of  the 
first  results,  it  thinks,  will  be  the  enactment, 
in  the  near  future,  of  a  g^eat  many  pure- food 
bills  and  of  bills  protecting  the  public  against 
"shoddy"  that  is  palmed  off  as  American 
woolen  goods,  and  against  other  forms  of  in- 
dustrial fraud;  for  "the  manufacturer's  books 
and  contracts  will  convict  him  if  he  continues 
his  career  of  vile  adulteration." 


WHAT  is  to  be  the  fate  of  our  vast 
insurance  societies?  One  person  out 
of  every  four  in  the  United  States  is 
directly  interested  in  that  question,  and  thou- 
sands of  policy-holders  in  every  continent  share 
in  that  interest.  In  the  capitals  of  the  Old 
World  policy-holders*  organizations  have  been 
formed  to  look  out  for  their  members  in  the 
midst  of  the  turmoil  that  was  precipitated  less 
than  one  year  ago,  and  the  recommendations 
of  the  Armstrong  Committee  may  be  said, 
therefore,  to  be  almost  an  international  affair. 
The  report  of  that  committee  would  fill  about 
150  pages  of  this  magazine.  In  addition  to  the 
report,  the  committee  has  drawn  up  twenty- 
five  bills  embodying  the  results  of  its  delib- 
erations, which  are  to  be  presented  to  the  leg- 
islature. Already  Ohio  and  Pennsylvania  pa- 
pers are  urging  their  legislatures  to  pass  the 
same  bills.  The  period  of  agitation  and  sen- 
sational revelations  is  apparently  about  over 
and  the  period  of  reconstruction  has  begun  in 
earnest.  •  The  latter  is  never  so  dramatic  as  the 
former,  but  it  is  what  really  counts. 


so  DIFFERENT 

— W-  A.  Rogers  in  N.  Y.  Herald. 


THIS  Armstrong  Committee  consists  of 
eight  members  of  the  State  legislature 
comparatively  unknown  to  fame.  Six  of  them 
are  up-State  lawyers^  one  of  the  others  is  a 
Tammany  politician  who  is  in  the  real-estate 
business,  and  another  has  no  reported  occupa- 
tion. Not  a  likely  lot  of  men,  at  first  thought, 
to  frame  a  new  structure  for  such  vast  inter- 
ests as  are  represented  in  the  insurance  system. 
And  yet  these  men,  with  the  assistance  of 


^ 


M 


Cj  ~  W  JL  C'  1^ 

e^S  ^  *  ^ 


sis^^ 


B  *^  S  £  S  S  * 


352 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


three  other  law'yers — Charles  E.  Hughes  and 
his  two  associates — and  an  actuary,  Mr.  Daw- 
son, who  is  admitted  to  stand  high  but  is 
charged  with  a  fondpess  for  "impracticable 
theories,"  have  evolved  a  report  and  a  series 
of  recommendations  which  have  elicited  a  cho- 
rus of  applause  from  conservatives  and  radicals 
alike,  such  as  no  other  similar  document  has 
perhaps  ever  elicited.  Of  course,  there  are 
criticisms,  especially  from  insurance  officials; 
but  even  they  almost  uniformly  treat  the  report 
with  respect,  and  are  careful  to  avert  any  im- 
pression that  they  are  opposed  to  it  as  a  whole. 
The  New  York  Times,  as  it  peruses  the  report, 
finds  reason  for  renewing  its  confidence  in 
popular  government.     It  says: 

"No  one  can  read  the  report  of  the  Armstrong 
Committee,  or  contemplate  the  transformation 
which  the  insurance  business  in  this  city  has  un- 
dergone during  the  past  year,  without  reaching 
the  deep  conviction  that  in  this  country  there 
are  no  great  wrongs  that  public  opinion  cannot 
right,  that  no  dangers  threaten  the  people  against 
which  they  have  not  in  their  own  hands  ample 
powers  of  defense.  The  immediate  consequence 
of  the  differences  that  arose  between  Mr.  Alex- 
ander and  Mr.  Hyde  a  little  over  a  year  ago  was 
the  disclosure  of  unsound  and  dangerous  condi- 
tions, of  unlawful  practices,  and  of  gross  abuses 
of  trust  in  the  great  insurance  companies.  For 
the  cure  of  these  evils  no  new  and  untried  reme- 
dies were  administered.  The  aid  of  no  swashbuck- 
ling crusader  in  the  work  of  reform  was  invoked. 
There  was  nothing  unusual,  nothing  at  all  out  of 
the  ordinary  in  the  methods  resorted  to  to  root 
out  evil  and  restore  wholesome  condiitions  in 
the  life  insurance  business.  .  .  .  These  re- 
forms have  been  wrought  by  public  opinion  made 
effective  through  use  of  the  ordinary  machinery 
by  which  the  interests  of  the  Commonwealth  are 
safeguarded." 


TPHE  above  is  from  a  conservative  paper. 
*  But  the  radical  and  conservative  press 
are  at  one  in  commending  the  report.  The 
World  (New  York)  trains  with  the  radicals, 
and  it  insists  that  "the  Armstrong  bills  should 
not  be  amended  to  the  extent  of  a  punctuation 
mark  without  the  consent  of  the  committee  and 
Charles  E.  Hughes,  whom  the  people  trust." 
Another  paper  of  a  distinctly  radical  character 
is  the  Philadelphia  North  American.    It  says: 

"The  report  of  the  legislative  committee  which 
investigated  the  three  corrupt  life  insurance  com- 
panies in  New  York  is  a  great  document,  which, 
not  improbably,  marks  the  beginning  of  the  re- 
moval of  all  the  abuses  from  which  American 
life  insurance  business  generally  has  suffered. 
.  .  .  It  is  quite  safe,  we  think,  to  say  that  all 
the  things  which  this  report  declares  should  be 
forbidden  to  life  insurance  companies  in  New 
York  State  should  be  prohibited  to  life  insurance 
companies  everywhere.     The  law  in  each  State 


should  narrow  down  their  opportunties  for  wrong- 
doing, just  as  It  has  done  in  the  cases  of  savings 
funds  and  ordinary  trust  funds." 

Nothing  less  than  the  superlative  degree 
contents  the  New  York  Sun  in  speaking  of  the 
report  and  of  the  debt  of  gratitude  which  the 
public  owes  to  Charles  E.  Hughes.  It  remarks : 

"In  thoroughness,  impartiality,  and  generally 
in  fearlessness  in  the  statement  of  facts  ascer- 
tained and  the  conclusions  therefrom,  the  report 
submitted  yesterday  to  the  Legislature  will  rank 
at  the  head  of  all  similar  documents  in  the  liter- 
ature of  investigation.  Perhaps  nothing  of  the 
sort  ever  published  before  contains  so  much  mat- 
ter of  vital  interest  to  so  many  people." 

And  The  Tribune  (New  York)  speaks  with 
almost  equal  enthusiasm: 

"The  all  but  universal  acceptance  by  public 
opinion  of  the  suggestions  of  the  Armstrong  com- 
mittee is  an  impressive  testimonial  not  merely  to 
the  zeal  and  ability  with  which  the  investigation 
was  conducted,  but  to  the  conservative  wisdom 
with  which  remedies  have  been  advised.  Senator 
Armstrong,  Mr.  Hughes,  Mr.  McKeen  and  their 
coworkers  have  done  what  even  the  most  san- 
guine would  not  have  dared  to  predict  six  months 
ago.  They  have  solved  the  problem  of  reforming 
abuses  without  disturbing  properties ;  of  satisfying 
a  critical  and  perhaps  somewhat  hysterical  public 
of  the  thoroughness  and  sufficiency  of  their 
measures  and  at  the  same  time  commending  them- 
selves to  the  good  opinion  of  the  judicious.  The 
most  radical  are  satisfied  and  the  most  conserva- 
tive find  little  or  nothing  of  which  they  can  justly 
complain." 

"It  is  conceded,"  says  the  Boston  Herald,  "to 
be  one  of  the  ablest,  most  comprehensive  and 
courageous  documents  that  ever  emanated 
from  an  investigating  committee  in  this  coun- 
try. There  is  not  a  streak  of  whitewash  in 
it." 


HOSTILE  criticism  of  the  report  as  a  whole 
is  almost  entirely  lacking;  but  there  are 
numerous  criticisms  of  specific  recommenda- 
tions. One  of  these  recommendations,  if  en- 
acted into  law,  will  make  it  illegal  for  any 
society  hereafter  doing  business  in  New  York 
State  to  write  more  than  $150,000,000  of  new 
insurance  in  any  one  year.  This  would  mean 
probably  a  positive  decline  in  the  size  of  the 
largest  companies.  In  the  three  largest  com- 
panies in  1904  the  amount  of  insurance  that 
expired  from  death,  lapses,  maturity  of  con- 
tracts, etc.,  was  an  average  for  each  of  $175,- 
000,000.  If  the  new  business  were,  therefore, 
limited  to  $150,000,000,  the  amount  of  the  out- 
standing insurance  of  these  companies  would 
contract  each  year — ^an  event  which  was  prob- 
ably foreseen  and  desired  by  the  committee. 


RECONSTRUCTING  THE  LIFE  INSURANCE  COMPANIES 


353 


This  provision,  together  with  other  provisions 
recommended  by  the '  committee,  to  abolish 
Ixmuses  to  agents  and  prizes  for  new  busi- 
ness and  renewal  commissions  after  a  certain 
period,  and  to  keep  expenses  for  getting  new 
business  within  the  amount  of  the  total  load- 
ings upon  the  premiums,  will,  it  is  thought, 
hit  a  large  number  of  the  agents  very  hard  and 
drive  many  out  of  the  business.  Two  com- 
panies, the  Mutual  Life  and  the  Equitable,  have 
5,000  agents  each  and  the  New  York  Life  has 
considerably  more.  On  this  subject  of  agents, 
a  British  expert,  Charles  D.  Higham,  ex-presi- 
dent of  the  Institute  of  Actuaries,  had  some 
interesting  things  to  say  recently  in  an  inter- 
view: 

"Fd  stop  hunting  for  new  business  if  I  were 
at  the  head  of  your  big  companies.  Fd  adopt  the 
method  we  follow  in  this  office.  If  a  man  wants 
to  be  insured  in  our  company  he  comes  here  and 
tells  us  so,  and  we  examine  him  carefully  to  see 
whether  we  shall  take  him  in  as  a  partner  in  our 
mutual  company.  We  do  not  pay  anybody  a 
farthing  to  get  us  new  business — not  a  farthing. 
I  would  establish  that  same  rule  in  the  New 
York  company. 

*Tt's  of  no  advantage  to  one  of  those  great  com- 
(»anies  to  get  in  millions  on  millions  of  new  busi- 
ness— ^if  the  company  is  to  be  managed  in  the  in- 
terests of  the  policy  holders.  The  very  best  thing 
that  could  happen  to  any  one  of  the  companies 
which  has  been  going  wrong  would  be  to  have 
its  management  announce  it  had  no  further  use 
for  agents,  and  would  sell  its  insurance  over  its 
own  counter,  and  be  extremely  careful  to  whom 
it  sold  it." 


mitted  to  hold  corporation  stocks  which 
carry  the  control  of  banks,  trust  companies 
and  railroads,  so  long  will  they  be  involved  in 
the  exploits  of  the  Street,  and  the  interests  of 
their  policy-holders  may  be  sacrificed  to  the 
ambitions  of  captains  of  industry  and  com- 
merce." 


ANOTHER  recommendation 
made  by  the  Armstrong 
Committee  is  to  deprive  insur- 
ance companies  of  the  right  to 
invest  their  funds  in  stocks  of 
any  kind,  and  requiring  them  to 
dispose  of  all  that  they  now 
have  by  the  end  of  five  years. 
The  main  purpose  of  this  is  to 
check  the  tendency  to  make  use 
of  the  big  insurance  companies 
and  their  vast  surplus  funds  to 
gain  control  of  other  corpora- 
tions, such  as  railroads  and 
trust  companies,  by  obtaining 
possession  of  the  stock.  This 
recommendation,  according  to 
the  New  York  Tribune,  "goes  to 
the  heart  of  all  speculation  in 
insurance  funds  and  the  misuse 
of  those  funds  to  serve  ulterior 
purposes.  ...  So  long  as 
insurance   companies   are   per- 


A  THIRD  recommendation  which  the  com- 
mittee makes  is  the  abolition  of  the  de- 
ferred dividend  policies,  a  recommendation  so 
important,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Toledo  Blade, 
that  even  if  all  the  other  recommendations  are 
rejected  and  this  one  alone  enacted  into  law, 
"the  result  will  be  well  worth  the  committee's 
efforts  and  a  monument  to  its  sound  judgment" 
Other  provisions  embodied  in  the  committee's 
report  are  for  the  standardization  of  policies, 
for  prohibiting  campaign  contributions,  for  a 
much  greater  degree  of  publicity  in  the  affairs 
of  the  companies,  for  the  mutualization  of  the 
stock  companies  and  a  clean  sweep  of  all  trus- 
tees now  holding  office,  policy-holders  to  elect 
entire  new  boards  November  15  next.  Two 
defects  the  Springfield  Republican  finds  in 
the  report:  it  would  achieve  nothing  directly 
and  certainly  in  the  way  of  reducing  the  cost 
of  insurance  to  where  it  ought  to  be;  and  "in 
confessing  an  utter  inability  to  meet  the  par- 
ticularly crying  evil  involved  in  so-called  indus- 
trial insurance,  the  committee  is  inferentially 
obliged  to  admit  a  failure  to  rise  to  the  full 
demands  of  this  whole  great  life  insurance 
problem." 


DOES  IT  PAY? 

— Philadelphia  NQr$h  American, 


354 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


HE  WILL  SPRINT  IN  THE  OLYMPIC  GAMES 

Archie   Hahn,   of   Milwaukee,   is  the   world's  amateur 
champion  for  one  hundred  yards. 

OTHER  events  in  the  insurance  world  of 
interest  secondary  to  that  of  the  Arm- 
strong Committee's  report  alone,  are:  the  in- 
dictment of  the  chief  officials  of  the  Mutual 
Reserve  Life  for  larceny  and  forgery;  the 
death  of  John  A.  McCall,  ex-president  of  the 
New  York  Life;  the  return  from  Europe 
of  "Judge"  Andrew  Hamilton,  his  friend  and 
the  chief  disperser  of  the  "yellow  dog  fund" 
used  by  the  large  insurance  societies  to  influ- 
ence legislation;  the  retirement  of  Stuyvesant 
Fish  from  the  investigating  committee  ap- 
pointed by  the  trustees  of  the  Mutual  Life,  on 
the  ground  that  the  management  refused  to 
co-operate  in  making  the  investigation  as  thor- 
ough and  complete  as  he  thought  desirable. 
The  first-named  of  these  events — the  indict- 
ment of  the  chief  officials  of  the  Mutual  Re- 
serve— is  thought  likely  to  herald  a  long  line 
of  such  indictments  that  may  result  in  placing 
behind  bars  some  of  the  men  who  have  been 
responsible  for  the  giving  of  trust  funds  to 
campaign  committees,  and  committed  other  of- 
fenses of  a  flagrant  sort.  Jerome  has  been 
fiercely  assailed  of  late  by  the  more  sensational 
journals,  such  as  The  Evening  Journal  and  The 
World,  for  his  apparent  failure  to  act  in  the 
direction  of  criminal  prosecutions.  If  he  has 
simply  been  making  thorough  preparations  for 
a  crusade  on  this  line,  it  is  quite  possible  that 
the  most  dramatic  events  in  the  insurance  rev- 
elations are  yet  to  come.  Hamilton's  return 
at  this  time  set  all  the  guessers  to  guess- 
ing. By  some  it  was  thought  that  Jerome  had 
secured  his  return  in  order  to  obtain  him  as 
a  witness ;  by  some  it  was  thought  that  he  had 


come  back  to  resume  his  service  to  the  com- 
panies in  the  usual  way  by  defeating  the 
Armstrong  Committee's  bills.  By  some  it  was 
thought  that  McCall's  dying  expression  of  con- 
fidence in  Hamilton  and  his  belief  that  the  lat- 
ter would  return  and  vindicate  his  (McCall's) 
name  have  brought  him  back.  The  latter  sur- 
mise seems  to  be  warranted  by  his  appearance 
before  the  Armstrong  Committee  a  few  days 
after  his  return  and  his  fierce  denunciation  of 
the  trustees  of  the  New  York  Life  as  "curs" 
and  "traitors."  He  asserted  that  they  all  knew 
of  his  work  and  his  vouchers  had  passed 
through  the  successive  auditing  committees 
without  protest.  Further  statements  are  prom- 
ised by  him. 

NOTHING  in  the  way  of  athletic  devel- 
opments has  for  many  years  equalled 
in  interest  the  attempt  being  made  to 
revive  the  old  Olympic  games  of  Greece  and 
make  them  truly  international  in  their  charac- 
ter. The  attempt  is  not  entirely  new,  but  it 
is  assuming  a  degree  of  success  this  year  that 
is  unprecedented.  King  George  is  the  honor- 
ary president  of  the  games  and  the  Crown 
Prince  of  Greece  has  had  active  charge  of  the 
arrangements.  All  the  leading  countries  will 
have  official  representatives  present  this  year, 
secured  through  the  negotiations  of  the  Greek 
diplomatic  representatives.  In  this  country, 
for  instance,  the  Greek  embassy  persuaded 
President  Roosevelt  to  accept  the  honorary 


WILL  SWIM  IN  THE  WORLD'S  CONTEST  IN 
ATHENS 

C.  M'  PanletSf  of  New  York,  is  the  champioq  aoiateur 
gwlmmer  of  the  world. 


AMERtCA'S  PART  IN  THE  OLYMPIC  GAMES 


3SS 


presidency  of  the  American  committee,  and 
be  has  selected  James  £.  Sullivan  to  act  as 
his  representative  at  Athens.  The  sum  of 
$14,000  has  been  subscribed  and  paid  for  ex- 
penses to  be  incurred  in  sending  American 
contestants,  and  twenty-nine  men  have  been 
selected  from  all  sections.  They  are  expected 
to  arrive  at  Athens  April  16,  and  one  week 
later  the  games  will  begin.  Emperor  William 
and  King  Edward  are  expected  to  be  present 
as  guests.  Our  delegation  of  athletes,  ama- 
teurs all  of  them,  is  said  to  be  the  largest  that 
any  nation  will  send,  and  they  are  expected 
to  give  a  good  account  of  themselves.  Our 
runners  especially,  so  experts  say,  seem  to  be 
far  ahead  of  those  of  any  other  coimtry,  and 
as  six  of  the  fifteen  contests  will  be  run- 
ning, we  may  hope  that  the  Stars  and  Stripes 
will  fly  high.  There  are  to  be  races  for  100 
meters,  400  meters,  800  meters,  1,500  meters, 
5  miles  and  42  kilometers  (from  Marathon 
to  Athens).  There  are  to  be  contests  also  in 
standing  broad  jump,  running  broad  jump, 
high  jump  and  hop,  skip  and  jump.  Our  ath- 
letes will  be  represented  in  all  these,  and  also 
in  the  swimming  contest,  the  pole  vault,  the 
putting  of  weights  and  the  pentathlon. 


SPEAKING  of  athletics,  the  evolution  of 
the  game  of  football  is  going  forward  with 
some  favorable  signs,  though  not  sufficiently 
favorable,  as  yet,  to  secure  any  expressions  of 
confidence  from  men  like  Presidents  Eliot  and 


WILL  LEAP  FOR  FAME  AT  ATHENS. 

Ray  Bwry  wUl  be  America's  contestant  in  the  standing 
broad  and  high  jump. 


THE  DISK-THROWER  WE  SEND  TO  THE  GREEK. 
GAMES 

Martin  J.  Sheridan  is  an  Irish-American  and  the  cham- 
pion disk-thrower  of  the  world. 

Butler.  The  Rules  Committee  has  agreed  upon 
numerous  changes  that  look  well  on  paper  and 
will,  it  is  hoped,  produce  the  "open  game"  that 
is  so  eagerly  sought  for.  The  ten-yard  rule 
has  been  adopted,  meaning  that  the  side  having 
the  ball  must  hereafter  gain  ten  yards  (instead 
of  five)  in  three  downs,  or  forfeit  the  ball. 
Various  devices  have  been  adopted  to  weaken 
the  defense  and  make  the  ten-yard  gain  possi- 
ble. One  of  these  devices  is  the  "forward 
pass"  which  used  to  add  so  greatly  to  the  spec- 
tacular interest  of  the  game.  Tackling  below 
the  knees  is  forbidden  except  for  the  four  men 
in  the  center  of  the  defensive  line.  Measures 
are  also  adopted  that  are  designed  to  eliminate 
mass-plays.    "As  matters  stand  now/'  says  the 


3S6 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


THE  OLYMPIC  RACE  FROM  MARATHON  TO  ATHENS 

This  picture  shows  the  Stadion.  in  Athens,  Greece,  where  the  Olympic 
Games  are  to  be  held  April  aa  to  May  a,  in  which  the  United  Sutes  will 
have  many  contestants.  The  picture  above  represents  the  scene  at  the  close 
of  the  last  race  from  Marathon  to  Athens  (more  than  ao  miles),  when  the 
winner  was  ending  his  run,  coming  down  the  track  between  the  two  lines 
of  cheering  athletes  at  a  good  pace.     The  Stadion  will  seat  60,000  and  is 

built  of  white  marble,  on  the  site  of  the  an 

Lykourgos. 


I  ancient  theater  built  330  B.  C.  by 


New  York  Sun,  commenting  on  the  niles, 
"there  is  not  the  least  doubt  that  football  will 
be  played  next  fall  nearly  as  usual;  that  new 
rules  and  new  government  will  enable  the  re- 
modelled game  to-^'make  good/  and  that  then 
people  will  begin  to  wonder — as  many  have 
wondered  all  the  time — what  all  the  fuss  was 
about,  anyway." 

In  addition  to  the  new  rules,  most  of  the  in- 
stitutions prominent  in  the  game,  both  East 
and  West,  and  including  Yale,  Harvard  and 
Princeton,  have  agreed  to  bar  from  their  uni- 
versity teams  hereafter  all  freshmen  and  all 
students  in  graduate  and  professional  schools. 
There  seems  to  be  no  difference  of  opinion  as 
to  the  advisability  of  this  action.  This  step, 
remarks  the  Cleveland  Plain  Dealer,  "will 
work  reform  in  two  directions  where  it 
is  sadly  needed.  It  will  put  an  end  to,  or  at 
least  discourage,  the  practice  of  recruiting 
from  preparatory  schools,  and  also  put  out  of 
business,  literally  speaking,  the  mature  and 
experienced  athlete  who  so  often  turns  in  in 
a  graduate  or  professional  school  and  takes 
his  departure  therefrom  after  the  season's 
schedule  has  been  completed.'' 


EVERAL  events  during 
the  last  few  weeks  have 
combined  to  force  the 
race  question  again  to  the  front. 
By  a  striking  coincidence,  Gen. 
J.  Warren  Keifer,  of  Springfield, 
Ohio,  introduced  in  Congress  a 
bill  to  provide  for  the  reduction 
of  the  representation  in  Con- 
gress of  eleven  Southern  States 
which  have  disfranchised  most 
of  their  negro  population,  on  the 
same  day  that  a  mob  in  his  own 
city  began  to  attack  the  resi- 
dence district  of  the  negroes  in 
the  endeavor  to  burn  down  their 
dwellings  and  to  drive  the  occu- 
pants from  the  city.  This  double 
incident,  the  one  in  Washington 
and  the  other  in  Ohio,  brought 
into  comparison  the  status  of 
the  negro  SoiJth  and  North,  and 
has  quickened  the  ceaseless  dis- 
cussion on  a  problem  which  Carl 
Schurz,  after  more  than  thirty 
years  of  study,  pronounces  ap- 
parently "insoluble,"  and  which 
gives  rise  to  what  the  paper 
founded  by  that  stem  old  aboli- 
tionist, Horace  Greeley,  is  now 
calling  "a  new  irrepressible  con- 
flict." In  addition  to  these  two  events,  agita- 
tion of  an  intense  sort  has  been  aroused  by 
Thomas  Dixon,  author  of  the  novel  and  the 
drama  entitled  "The  Qansman,"  who  has  been 
addressing  audiences  on  the  subject  of  his  play 
and  eliciting  heated  replies  from  many  sources. 


CIVIUZATION  IS  ONLY  SKIN  DEEP 

^Jamieson  in  Pittsburg  Dispatch, 


LIGHTS  AND  SHADOWS  IN  THE  RACE  QUESTION 


357 


OHIO  was  the  first  State  west  of  the  Alle- 
ghenies  to  establish  an  outright  abolition 
paper.  The  most  famous  line  of  "under- 
ground railway"  during  the  period  of  slavery 
ran  from  the  Ohio  River  to  Lake  Erie,  pass- 
ing, if  not  through  Springfield,  within  a  few 
miles  of  that  city.  Springfield  itself,  a  city 
of  40,000  inhabitants,  is  a  college  town,  and 
has  one  church,  it  is  said, '  for  about  every 
thousand  inhabitants.  Two  years  ago  a  fierce 
outbreak  against  the  negro  element  occurred, 
that  resulted  in  the  lynching  of  a  black  who 
had  killed  an  officer  of  the  law  and  the  de- 
struction of  considerable  property,  most  of  it 
used  for  low  negro  dives.  No  penalties  to 
amount  to  anything  were  inflicted  by  the 
courts  afterward.  The  recent  outbreak  was 
occasioned  by  the  shooting  of  a  white  man, 
a  brakeman,  by  two  negroes.  The  riot  that 
ensued  resuhed  in  the  burning  of  a  number 
of  shacks  in  what  is  called  the  "Jungle,"  the 
whole  loss  amounting  to  only  about  $15,000. 
But  the  danger  of  more  extensive  damage  was 
only  averted  by  the  speedy  despatch  to  the 
scene  of  turmoil  of  eight  companies  of  militia. 
Quick  trials  by  jury  resulted  in  convictions  of 
a  number  of  the  rioters,  and  nowhere.  North 
or  South,  is  any  defense  of  the  riot  itself  made 
audible.  "The  Odessa  of  Ohio"  is  the  way  in 
which  the  Cleveland  Plain  Dealer  speaks  of 
the  city  in  which  the  riot  occurred.  "If  mis- 
sionaries shall  be  forced  to  fly  from  China," 
says  the  same  paper,  "they  can  find  an  ample 
fidd  for  their  endeavors  in  the  'Jm^&^e*  of 
darkest  Ohio."  And  another  Ohio  daily,  the 
Toledo  Blade,  asserts  that  a  spirit  of  lawless- 


THE  CRADLE  OP  CRIME 

— McCutcheon  in  Chicago  Tribune. 


AN  AMERICAN  NEGRO  OF  DISTINCTION 

Prof.  W.  E.  B.  DuBois,  of  Atlanta  University,  and  a 
Ph.D.  of  Harvard,  protests  bitterly  against  the  treat- 
ment of  his  race  in  Georgia,  "  He  has  done  more  to  give 
scientific  accuracy  and  method  to  the  study  of  the  race 

Suestion  than  any  other  American  who  has  essayed  to 
eal  with  it,"  says  7hf  Voice  of  the  Negro.  He  is  gen- 
eral secretary  of  the  "Niagara  Movement/*  a  new  organ- 
ization of  negroes. 

ness  is  daily  gaining  strength  in  that  State: 
"Mayors  wantonly  ignore  their  sworn  duties, 
chiefs  of  police  shut  their  eyes  to  crime  and 
every  man  in  the  guise  of  personal  liberty  is 
assuming  to  be  a  law  unto  himself."  The 
Pittsburg  Dispatch  calls  attention  to  the  fact 
that  the  Urbana  lynching  a  number  of  years 
ago  was  in  the  next  county  to  Springfield  and 
that  race  riots  have  also  occurred  in  Oxford 
and  Washington  Court-House,  in  the  same 
section  of  the  State.  "What  is  there  in  this 
section,"  it  asks,  "that  starts  the  mob  to  burn 
and  slay?"  The  answer  to  this  question,  as 
made  in  Springfield  itself,  at  a  meeting  of  the 
Commercial  Club,  was:  "The  present  condi- 
tions are  due  to  politicians  catering  to  negroes 
and  low  whites,  and  to  the  lax  police  and  court 
methods." 

SIMILAR  causes,  remarks  the  New  York 
Evening  Post,  are  the  reason  for  nine- 
tenths  of  the  racial  outbreaks  the  country 
over.  It  calls  attention  also  to  the  conclusion 
reached  by  Professor  Royce,  of  Harvard,  after 
studying  the  negro  question  in  Jamaica,  which 
was  that  nine-tenths  or  more  of  the  whole 
negro  problem  is  simply  a  question  of  the  ad- 
ministration of  government.     Southern  papers 


35t 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


Photo  by.Vtndcr  Weydc 

HB  BELIEVES  IN  HARD  WORK  AS  THE  NEGRO'S 
SALVATION 


Booker  T.  Washington  is  a  Harvard  A.M.,  a  Dartmouth 
LL.D.,  and  the  foremost  leader  of  his  race  to-day.  He  was 
bom  in  slavery. 


have  some  interesting  remarks  to  make.  Thus 
The  Advertiser,  of  Montgomery,  Ala.,  things 
and  says  (seriously,  not  satirically)  that  some- 
thing should  be  done  to  secure  better  protec- 
tion of  the  negroes  in  the  North:  "They  are 
safe  nowhere,  it  seems,  north  of  Mason  and 
Dixon's  line,  and  are  apparently  regarded  as 
outlaws,  who  have  no  civil  rights  and  are  en- 
titled to  no  protection."  The  New  Orleans 
Times-Democrat  remarks  that  "the  advent 
of  any  large  proportion  of  negroes  to  a  North- 
cm  town  leads  to  the  same  result;  and  the 
emigration  of  Southern  negroes  to  the  North, 
from  which  much  was  expected  in  the  way  of 
the  relief  of  negro  congestion,  brings  only 
riot  and  disorder  to  the  towns  where  the 
blacks  make  their  homes.**  The  Louisville 
Courier- Journal  calls  attention  to  an  alleged 
difFerence  between  race  riots  North  and  South ; 
'*Jn    the    North,    as   demonstrated    twice    at 


Springfield,  and  in  numerous  other 
places,  it  is  not  so  much  an  ebullition  of 
temper  against  the  individual  negro  as  a 
racial  outbreak.  In  the  South,  however 
great  the  provocation,  the  violence  is 
usually  limited  to  the  guilty  party,  while 
other  colored  people  not  implicated  in  the 
crime  are  not  molested.**  The  Northern 
press  is  more  savage.  The  Philadelphia 
Ledger  says,  for  instance,  referring  to 
General  Keifer's  bill :  "It  would  be  amus- 
ing, but  not  impertinent,  if  the  Southern 
members  of  Congress  should  now  intro- 
duce a  resolution  of  inquiry  into  the  state 
of  civilization  in  Ohio  and  the  fitness  of 
the  electorate  at  Springfield  to  send  mem- 
bers to  Congress.*'  And  the  Times  (New 
York)  says:  "It  appears  that  Springfield 
in  particular  and  Ohio  in  general  are, 
in  an  important  particular  of  civilization, 
not  entitled  to  call  themselves  civilized 
communities."  The  New  York  Tribune 
thinks  that  neither  Pennsylvania,  nor 
New  York,  nor  various  other  Northern 
States  that  it  names,  can  gracefully  ad- 
monish Ohio  on  this  subject,  but  admits 
that  "the  Southern  States,  on  the  con- 
trary, and  especially  the  States  in  the 
*black  belt,'  may  naturally  be  tempted  to 
point  to  Northern  race  riots  as  a  suflS- 
cient  reply  to  Northern  criticisms  of 
Southern  outrages  of  a  similar  char- 
acter." It  goes  on  to  say : 


"The  not  infrequent  disclosure,  under 
similar  circumstances,  of  the  same  attitude 
North  and  South  toward  the  colored  race 
must  not  be  taken  as  an  excuse  for  mob 
law  in  any  section,  state  or  city  of  the  Union. 
In  the  words  of  Lincoln,  There  is  no  griev- 
ance that  is  a  fit  object  of  redress  by  mob 
law.'  Society  and  civilization  itself  are  founded 
upon  the  respect  of  the  individual  for  law.  Once 
allow  that  respect  to  be  diminished,  or,  worse  still, 
to  be  disregarded,  in  th^  case  of  the  negro,  and 
it  is  only  a  natural  and  logical  step  to  disregard 
it  in  the  case  of  the  Chinaman  and  the  Japanese, 
of  different  nationalities  of  the  white  race,  and 
finally  of  individuals,  thus  resolving  society  into 
its  elements,  with  chaos  as  the  result." 


ALL  THIS  does  not  bring  us  much  closer 
to  a  solution  of  the  race  problem.  Prac- 
tically the  same  things  have  been  said  over 
and  over  again  in  the  last  few  years,  though 
there  is  this  time  less  sectional  animosity  than 
usual  in  the  comments  made.  Nor  does  the 
remedy  which  is  being  championed  by  General 
Keifer  nor  that  agitated  by  Mr.  Dixon  seem 
to  inspire  much  hope.     General  Keifer's  bill 


THOMAS  ^iXOhl'S  '^WAV  OUT'' 


3S9 


to  reduce  the  congressional  representation  of 
Sonthern  States  is,  of  course,  based  upon  the 
mandatory  provision  in  the  Fourteenth 
Amendment  to  the  Constitution  (Section  II), 
and  is  apparently  in  direct  line  with  the  latest 
national  platform  of  the  Republican  party;  yet 
the  bill  has  called  forth  almost  no  sup- 
fK>rt  in  the  press  outside  New  England,  and 
but  little  there.  The  Boston  Transcript  and 
the  Lewiston  Journal  bring  out  anew  the  dis- 
crepancies in  the  voting  strength  represented 
by  Congressmen  in  some  Southern  and  some 
Northern  districts;  but  they  both  seem  to 
admit  that  it  will  take  something  more  than 
the  present  conjunction  of  circumstances  to 
move  either  Congress  or  the  country  on  the 
line  proposed  by  General  Keifer.  "If  a  Bour- 
bon President,"  says  the  Lewiston  paper, 
"should  ever  be  elected  because  of  the  South- 
cm  mutiny  against  the  Federal  Constitution, 
something  more  radical  than  evolution  might 
be  invoked."  And  The  Transcript  observes: 
"Let  a  tariff  law  injurious  to  the  industrial 
North  and  West  be  enacted  by  the  represent- 
atives of  the  disfranchising  South  as  the 
dominating  element  of  a  Democratic  majority, 
and  we  may  see  the  North  and  West  institute 
an  inquiry  as  to  how  their  withers  came  to 
be  so  painfully  wrung."  The  Washington 
Post  insists  that  the  first  thing  to  do  to  vin- 
dicate the  Fourteenth  Amendment  is  to  as- 
certain judicially  that  it  has  been  outraged. 
"Let  the  Southern  constitutions  be  fetched  be- 
fore the  Supreme  Court  before  we  jump  at 
conclusions  about  the  Fourteenth  Amend- 
ment" In  other  words,  there  seems  to  be  a 
general  disposition  to  "let  sleeping  dogs  lie," 


OF  THE  NEGRO,  BY  THE  NEGRO,  FOR  THE 
NEGRO 

Provident  Hospital  and  Training  School,  Chicaj^o,  is 
the  first  Institution  of  the  kind  established  in  this  country 
by  the  colored  people  for  their  own  race.  Its  founder  is 
Dr.  D.  H.  Williams,  and  one  hundred  graduates  have 
Blrtady  been  provided  with  diplomas. 


THE  WIFE  OF  BOOKER  T.  WASHINGTON 

She  was  Maggie  J.  Murray  and  she  became  Mrs.  Wash- 
ington in  1893. 

NOR  HAS  Thomas  Dixon's  "way  out" 
caused  any  considerable  body  of  citi- 
zens to  rise  up  and  call  him  blessed.  His 
play  "The  Clansman"  has  elicited  press  con- 
demnation in  the  South  as  well  as  the  North, 
though  it  has  drawn  large  audiences  in  both 
sections.  Mr.  Dixon's  remedy,  however,  is 
not  contained  in  his  play.  That  is  a  vindica- 
tion of  the  Ku  Klux  Klan,  and  it  applies  to 
conditions  that  prevailed  a  generation  ago. 
As  for  the  present  and  the  future,  the  solu- 
tion he  offers  is  the  one  Bishop  Turner  and 
a  few  other  blacks  have  been  urging  for  years 
— transportation.  "We  must  remove  the  negro, 
or  we  will  have  to  fight  him,"  says  Mr.  Dixon. 
Bishop  Turner  has  in  mind  deportation  to 
Liberia  or  some  adjacent  part  of  Africa,  and 
Mr.  Dixon's  eye  seems  to  be  on  the  same  coun- 
try, though  he  has  not  been  lavish  with  de- 
tails of  the  proposed  deportation  scheme.  He 
sees  the  negroes  in  this  country  numbering,  in 
half  a  century,  sixty  millions  instead  of  ten,  as 


36o 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


now.  "When  he  smashes  into  your  drawing- 
room  some  time  in  the  future  with  a  repeating- 
rifle  in  his  hand,"  says  the  gentleman  from 
North  Carolina,  "you  will  make  good  on  your 
protestations  of  equality  or  he  will  know  the 
reason  why,"    Further: 

"We  are  educating  the  negro,  and  are  placing 
in  his  hands  the  most  dangerous  of  all  weapons — 
a  trained  intellect.  But,  in  every  essential,  he 
remains  a  negro  still.  If  we  keep  on  and  make 
him  our  equal — ^what  then?  Time  has  demon- 
strated that  the  white  and  the  black  races  cannot 
amalgamate.  The  conflict  between  them  shows 
no  sign  of  abating.  Are  we  wise,  then,  as  white 
men,  to  arm  our  natural  enemies  against  us?" 

These  utterances,  and  especially  another  to 
the  effect  that  there  are  no  outrages  commit- 
ted upon  negro  women  by  white  men  for  the 
simple  reason  that  negro  women  do  not  know 
what  virtue  means,  have  elicited  passionate 
rejoinders,  especially  from  negro  speakers. 
At  a  largely  attended  meeting  in  Cooper 
Union,  held  under  the  auspices  of  the  newly 
formed  Constitutional  League,  Prof.  Kelly 
Miller,  of  Howard  University,  Washington, 
referred  to  Mr.  Dixon  as  follows: 

"Now  comes  Thomas  Dixon,  Jr.,  that  frenzied 
apostle  of  an  evil  propaganda,  who  would  deprive 
the  negro  of  his  rights  by  holding  up  the  grotesque 
and  repugnant  side  of  his  life  with  hideous  por- 
trayal. This  shameless  apostate  priest  of  God, 
with  undisguised  daring,  is  doing  the  work  of  the 
devil.  With  satanic  glee  he  stirs  the  fire  of  race 
wrath  and  inflames  the  evil  passions  of  men." 


UTTERANCES  less  impassioned,  but  voic- 
ing much  the  same  sentiment,  are  ex- 
pressed in  many  directions.  Incendiary 
speeches  like  Mr.  Dixon's,  says  the  Toledo 
Blade,  cause  more  trouble  than  even  the 
lynching  bees  of  the  South.  "  The  Clansman* 
should  be  suppressed,"  says  the  Indianapolis 
Sentinel,  "and  the  sooner  the  better."  The 
New  York  Sun  quotes  "a  distinguished  statis- 
tician"— Prof.  Walter  F.  Wilcox — to  show 
that  the  negroes,  instead  of  numbering  sixty 
millions  in  fifty  years,  are  not  likely  to  num- 
ber even  twenty-five  millions  in  another  cen- 
tury.   It  continues: 

"The  solution  of  the  negro  question  need  not 
be  forced,  and  cannot  be  forced  arbitrarily.  It 
will  come  of  itself.  The  now  relatively  thinly 
peopled  South  at  no  very  distant  period  will 
draw  to  it  so  great  an  accession  to  its  white  popu- 
lation, invited  by  universal  opportunities  of  pros- 
perity, that  proportionately  the  negro  race  will 
become  of  insignificance,  or  at  least  cease  to  be 
a  cause  of  alarm  in  the  most  timid  soul.  Just 
now,  instead  of  discussing  means  of  getting  rid 
of  the  negroes,  the  South  needs  them  and  all 
the  other  labor  it  can  get  in  order  to  develop  the 


wonderfully  rich  natural  resources  with  which  it 
is  endowed.  If  Mr.  Thomas  Dixon  should  go 
down  into  some  Southern  State  where  the  negroes 
are  numerous  and  start  a  scheme  to  take  them 
away  and  send  them  elsewhere  by  wholesale,  he 
would  be  likely  to  wear  a  coat  of  tar  and  feath- 
ers before  he  had  gone  very  far. 

Other  papers  quote  approvingly  Booker  T. 
Washington's  recent  assertion:  "One  point 
about  the  negro  may  be  considered  as  settled. 
We  are  through  experimenting  as  to  where  the 
10,000,000  of  black  people  are  to  live.  We 
have  reached  the  unalterable  determination 
that  we  are  going  to  remain  here  in  America, 
and  the  greater  part  of  us  are  going  to  remain 
for  all  time  in  the  Southern  States." 


aUICK  alternations  of  light  and  shade  ap- 
^  pear  in  the  picture  presented  by  the 
country  at  large  of  the  condition  of  the  ne- 
groes and  of  their  prospects  as  a  race.  The 
gloomiest  predictions  and  the  most  positive  in- 
dications of  retrogression  come  at  present  from 
the  North.  On  the  subject  of  lynching,  how- 
ever, a  distinct  improvement  is  indicated  by 
such  statistics  as  are  available.  The  record  for 
1905  is  the  most  encouraging  one  for  the  last 
twenty  years.  In  1892  there  were  235  lynch- 
ings,  the  highest  figure  ever  reached.  In  1901 
there  were  135,  and  since  then  there  has  been 
a  steady  decline  to  66  last  year — ^the  lowest  fig- 
ure since  1885.  Says  the  Springfield  Repub- 
lican : 

"The  persons  lynched  the  past  year  were,  as 
in  the  previous  years,  for  the  most  part  negroes, 
65  of  the  66  being  of  the  colored  race.  Yet  only 
15  lynchings  in  1905  are  charged  up  to  the  unmen- 
tionable crime,  34  being  for  simple  murder  and 
15  for  'miscellaneous'  reasons.  In  1904,  39  lynch- 
ings were  for  assaults  on  women  and  36  for 
murder.  The  colored  race,  consequently,  the  past 
year  furnished  far  less  of  that  special  provoca- 
tion which  the  whites  have  always  presented  as 
their  justification  for  the  resort  to  mob  law  and 
savagery.  From  the  viewpoint  of  both  races,  the 
decreasing  number  of  lynchings  must  be  a  source 
of  deep  and  unmitigated  satisfaction.  It  may  be 
fairly  argued  that  both  races  are  gaining  in  self- 
control.  In  the  case  of  the  whites,  this  result  is 
doubtless  due  to  the  creation  in  recent  years  of 
a  powerful  public  sentiment  against  the  lynching 
evil  rather  than  to  such  legislation  as  has  been  at- 
tempted in  a  number  of  states.  In  the  develop- 
ment of  the  sentiment  the  best  people  of  the 
South  have  been  potent,  and  the  gradually  en- 
larging triumph  over  the  terrible  scourge  of  law- 
lessness is  peculiarly  their  triumph.  The  whole 
South  is  to  be  heartily  congratulated  upon  its 
success  in  making  such  visible  headway  against 
the  worst  crime  of  American  civilization." 

In  Alabama  last  year  there  was  not  one  as- 
sault by  a  negro  upon  a  white  woman  reported 


THE  CONDITION  OP  THE  NEGRO  TO-DAY 


361 


(according  to  the  Columbus,  S.  C,  State), 
and  no  lynching  for  that  crime  in  South  Caro- 
lina. 


AS  FOR  the  color  line  in  industrial  occu- 
pations, it  is  less  visible,  according  to  the 
Southern  press,  in  the  Soiith  than  in  the  North. 
Says  the  Macon  (Ga.)  Telegraph: 

"At  the  recent  meeting  of  the  Southern  Cotton 
Association  there  was  present  a  delegation  of 
negro  cotton  growers  from  Hinds  county,  Miss., 
and  in  explanation  of  their  presence  the  secre- 
tary of  the  Mississippi  division  said:  'We  do  not 
have  any  separate  organization  for  the  negroes 
of  our  state.  We  must  have  every  negro  farmer 
enrolled  under  our  banner  and  we  want  co-opera- 
tion such  that  separate  associations  for  negroes 
would  not  answer  our  purpose.  Therefore  the 
negro  branches  have  all  been  discontinued  and 
the  white  and  colored  farmers  belong  to  the  same 
organizations.'  That's  Mississippi,  mind  you  I 
...  It  is  another  demonstration  of  the  fact 
that  here  in  the  South  negroes  have  every  prop- 
erty right  and  that  they  have  as  much  opportunity 
to  gain  wealth  as  the  white  man." 

The  Advertiser,  of  Montgomery,  Ala.,  says 
there  is  hardly  an  industry  in  that  city  in 
which  negroes  and  whites  are  not  working 
peacefully  side  by  side,  and  the  Richmond 
Times-Dispatch  says  that  that  is  the  condi- 
tion also  in  that  city.  The  president  of  Fisk 
University  gave  recently  a  sweeping  testimony 
to  the  good  behavior  of  the  negro  graduates 
of  that  institution.  He  said:  "Fisk  university 
has  e^ablished  a  thousand  foci  of  civilization. 
A  map  starred  with  the  location  of  its  alumni 
reveals  points  of  illumination  from  the  state  of 
Washington  to  Florida,  and  from  Boston  to 
San  Antonio.  I  defy  you  to  point  out  a  loafer 
among  them.  Criminality  is  practically  un- 
known in  their  ranks.  They  are  property  own- 
ers, home  makers,  leaders  in  their  community." 
The  same  sort  of  thing  is  said  of  the  alumni 
of  Tnskegee,  Hampton,  and  Atlanta  Universi- 
ties. 


WRITING  in  The  Outlook  recently,  Booker 
T.  Washington  tells  of  the  progress  of 
his  race  in  one  county  of  the  South — Glouces- 
ter, Virginia,  one  of  the  counties  that  has  been 
longest  under  the  influence  of  Hampton  Uni- 
versity. The  blacks  number  a  little  over  one- 
half  of  the  population  of  this  county,  which 
has  a  total  of  12,832.  Here  are  some  of  the 
statistics  Mr.  Washington  gives: 

"According  to  the  public  records,  the  total  as- 
sessed value  of  the  land  in  Gloucester  County  is 
$66^132.33.    Of  the  toUl  value  of  the  land,  the 


colored  people  own  $87,953.55.  The  buildings  in 
the  county  have  an  assessed  valuation  of  $466,- 
127.05.  The  colored  people  pay  taxes  upon  $79.- 
387  of  this  amount  To  state  it  differently:  the 
negroes  of  Gloucester  County,  beginning  about 
forty  years  ago  in  poverty,  have  reached  the  point 
where  they  now  own  and  pay  taxes  upon  one-sixth 
of  the  real  estate  in  this  county.  This  prosperity 
is  very  largely  in  the  shape  of  small  farms,  vary- 
ing in  size  from  ten  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  acres. 
A  large  proportion  of  the  farms  contain  alx>ut  ten 
acres." 

There  is,  Mr.  Washington  goes  on  to  state, 
little  evidence  of  immoral  relations  between 
the  two  races,  and  there  was  but  one  case  of 
bastardy,  in  1904,  within  a  radius  of  ten  miles 
of  the  court-house.  In  the  same  year  there 
were  but  fifteen  arrests  for  misdemeanors,  but 
one  of  them  of  a  negro,  and  seven  arrests  for 
felonies,  five  of  these  being  of  negroes.  And 
this  most  optimistic  of  all  the  negro  leaders 
concludes  by  saying:  "In  the  great  majority  of 
counties  in  the  South  the  conditions  as  to  edu- 
cation, economic  life,  and  morality  are  very, 
very  far  below  Gloucester  County,  but  what 
has  been  done  in  this  county  can  be  equaled 
or  surpassed  in  the  near  future  if  all  of  us. 
North  and  South,  black  and  white,  will  do  our 
whole  duty." 


IN  SHARP  contrast  with  this  come  the  ut- 
terances of  others  of  Mr.  Washington's 
race.  His  note  of  optimism  is  not  just  now  the 
prevailing  note  with  the  blacks.  An  organiza- 
tion called  the  Georgia  Equal  Rights  Associa- 
tion has  recently  been  formed  by  negroes  at  a 
convention  in  which  every  congressional  dis- 
trict of  the  State  was  represented.  It  issues 
an  address  signed  by  many  of  the  best  known 
colored  leaders,  including  Bishop  Turner, 
Prof.  W.  E.  B.  DuBois,  and  many  others.  It 
charges  against  the  whites  unjust  discrimina- 
tion against  the  blacks,  not  only  politically,  but 
educationally  and  economically.  While  the 
school  population  is  divided  nearly  equally,  it 
is  asserted,  between  black  and  white  children, 
four-fifths  of  the  public  money  for  education 
goes  to  the  white  children.  The  negro  farm- 
ers have  received  but  $264,000  out  of  the 
more  than  $1,000,000  which  is  contributed  to 
the  State  by  the  Federal  Government  for  agri- 
cultural training.     The  address  says  further; 

"The  laws  that  govern  our  economic  life  and 
the  rules  of  their  administration  are  cunning  with 
injustice  toward  us.  Especially  true  is  this  in 
the  freedom  of  labor  contracts;  so  much  so  that 
farm  labor  is  almost  reduced  to  slavery  in  many 
parts  of  the  state.  The  ignorant  laborer  is  held 
in  a  network  of  debt  and  petty  crime,  compelled 


3^^ 


CVkRENT  LifERATURS, 


to  work  like  a  slave,  unable  to  leave  his  master 
or  to  demand  decent  wages. 

Even  in  cities  and  in  the  more  enlightened  parts 
of  the  state  the  effort  is  continually  making  to 
force  down  the  wages  of  black  laborers,  bar  them 
out  of  all  but  a  few  trades,  and  to  give  to  no 
black  man,  however  competent  or  deserving,  any 
work  or  wages  that  the  meanest  white  man  may 
demand.    .    .    . 

"We  do  not  desire  association  with  any  one 
who  does  not  wish  our  company,  but  we  do  ex- 
pect, in  a  Christian  civilized  land,  to  live  under 
a  system  of  law  and  order,  to  be  secure  in  life 
and  limb  and  property,  to  travel  in  comfort  and 
decency  and  to  receive  a  just  equivalent  for  our 
money;  and  yet  we  are  the  victims  of  the  most 
unreasoning  sorts  of  caste  legislation;  we  pay 
first-class  railway  fares  for  second-class  accommo- 
dations; we  are  denied  access  to  first-class  cars 
and  to  sleeping  cars;  we  are  segregated,  mis- 
treated and  harassed  on  street  cars;  and  in  all 
cases  not  only  is  a  separation  contrary  to  common 
sense  enforced,  but  the  law  is  interpreted  and  ad- 
ministered so  as  to  let  white  men  go  where  they 
please  and  do  as  they  please,  and  so  as  to  restrict 
colored  people  to  the  most  uncomfortable  places." 


STILL  a  difTerent  note  is  sounded  by  another 
negro,  the  Rev.  T.  W.  Thurston,  the  su- 
perintendent of  the  Ashley-Bailey  silk  mills, 
at  Fayetteville,  N.  C,  which  employs  more 
than  600  negroes.  He  also  speaks  in  a  somber 
tone,  but  it  is  the  negro  himself,  not  the 
Southern  white  man,  that  makes  him  serious. 
He  sees  the  negro  youth  rapidly  "sinking  to 
the  depths  of  uselessness,  insolence  and  vi- 
ciousness,"  and  he  goes  on  to  address  his  peo- 
pie  as  follows : 

"The  best  people  of  the  whole  Southland  looked 
upon  our  progress  with  pleasure  and  pride.  They 
share  our  sorrow  in  our  suffering,  but  the  stub- 
born facts  still  face  us.  There  are  millions  who 
are  practically  dead  to  every  sense  of  usefulness 
in  their  community,  their  county  or  their  State. 
Indolence  and  idleness  can  no  more  survive  the 
industrial  awakening  than  night  can  outlive  sun- 
shine. For  one  to  continually  call  attention  to 
grievances,  real  or  imaginary,  past  or  present,  will 
not  give  strength  for  life's  struggles.  Remember 
that  every  lawful  thing  is  a  step  somewhere  in 
the  stairway  up  to  greatness  and  to  God.  That 
spirit  of  kindness,  loyalty  and  devotion  that  en- 
throned-the  mothers  and  fathers  in  the  hearts  of 
many  of  the  noblest  sons  and  daughters  of  this 
mighty  Southland  will  at  least  make  for  us 
friends.  The  great  majority  of  the  race 
will  never  be  able  to  do  more  than  to  go 
hand  in  hand  with  the  sturdy  army  of  bread-win- 
ners, acquire  a  modest  home  and  surround  them- 
selves with  simple  comforts;  and  not  that  if  the 
opportunity  that  is  now  before  them  is  not  seen, 
seized  and  improved.  To  the  moles  and  bats 
with  this  ceaseless  agitation  of  the  separate  cars 
and  the  late  constitutional  amendment.  They  are 
not  the  most  important  things  that  hinder  our 
backward  race.  We  have  got  to  start  our  struc- 
tures where  our  civilization  finds  us,  and  build 


from  the  granite  upward,  and  make  ourselves  the 
people  wanted  upon  the  farms  and  in  the  homes, 
the  shops  and  factories  of  the  South.  Rest  you 
assured  the  people  who  do  the  most  and  the  best 
for  the  least,  will  get  the  most  to  do,  whether  they 
be  negro,  Italian  or  any  other  class  of  the  human 
family." 

WILLIAM  H's  imperial  Chancellor. 
Prince  Btilow,  told  some  Reichstag 
leaders  in  the  strictest  confidence  a 
month  back  that  Germany  would  be  justified 
if  she  began  a  tariff  war  against  the  United 
States.  She  had  threatened  one  for  some  little 
time;  but,  as  all  the  world  knows,  she  yielded 
when  the  ist  of  March  was  drawing  near. 
The  event  was  far  less  important  to  this  coun- 
try than  Billow's  subsequent  explanation  of  it, 
as  some  European  dailies  interpret  that  ex- 
planation. What  Germany  most  needs  at  pres- 
ent, said  Prince  Biilow,  according  to  the  sev- 
eral versions  of  his  remarks,  Is  the  support  of 
President  Roosevelt  in  world  politics.  If  the 
President's  support  is  not  to  be  had  all  the 
time  his  benevolent  neutrality  must  not,  at  any 
rate,  be  forfeited.  "We  wish,"  Prince  Bulow 
is  quoted  in  the  Kolnische  Volkszeitung  as 
having  said,  "to  avoid  a  splendid  isolation.  We 
want  President  Roosevelt's  republic  as  a  rear- 
guard whenever  Great  Britain  and  France 
unite  for  an  assault  upon  us.  Hence  the  inter- 
change of  professors  arranged  through  the 
German  Emperor  between  American  universi- 
ties and  German  universities.  Hence,  also, 
the  amiability  of  the  Emperor  to  the  United 
States.  Hence,  as  well,  our  compliance  with 
the  wish  of  ihe  United  States  Government  that 
the  provisional  tariff  be  extended  until  next 
year."  In  commenting  upon  the  remarks  at- 
tributed to  the  imperial  Chancellor,  a  writer 
in  the  organ  of  the  Lutheran  denomination  in 
Germany  admits  that  the  time  may  come  when 
the  empire  will  need  the  American  friendship 
for  which  the  Emperor  strives.  "A  menace 
to  Canada  on  the  part  of  the  United  States," 
we  read,  "would  then  be  as  serviceable  to  us 
Germans  as  the  march  of  ten  thousand  South- 
west Africans  on  Cape  Town.  Great  Britain 
can  be  struck  only  at  her  periphery,"  So 
much  for  the  Bulow  diplomacy. 


NOTHING  is  gained  by  the  assertion  that 
the  Chancellor's  confidential  lecture  on 
the  Emperor's  American  policy  has  been  inac- 
curately reported,  declares  the  London  Post, 
Somebody  has  let  the  cat  out  of  the  bag,  and 
it  does  not  doubt  that  Btilow  indulged  in  these 
confidences.  "The  German  people  mu^  be  kept 


WHY  GERMANY  IS  COURTING  AMERICAN  FAVOR 


363 


in  touch  with  the  thoughts  of  the  statesmen 
who  control  their  destinies."  Yet  so  little  docs 
Bulow  now  control  those  destinies,  according 
to  the  Socialist  Vorwdrts  (Berlin),  that  this 
indiscretion  of  his  may  cost  him  his  post.  In 
any  event  he  is  not  the  imperial  chancellor  he 
ought  to  be.  The  prince's  own  idea  of  what 
an  imperial  chancellor  ought  to  be  was  im- 
parted to  the  Reichstag  in  a  burst  of  frank- 
ness when  the  American  tariff  was  under  con- 
sideration. No  chancellor,  declared  the  prince, 
should  dream  of  curtailing  the  Emperor's  right 
of  personal  initiative,  a  right  but  for  which 
a  tariff  war  would  even  now  be  raging  be- 
tween our  republic  and  William's  realm.  The 
German  people,  Btilow  assured  the  deputies, 
desire  not  a  shadow  but  a  man  of  flesh  and 
blood  for  an  emperor.  An  imperial  chancellor 
who  deserves  the  name  and  who  is  not  an 
old  woman  will  not  countersign  anything  for 
which  he  cannot  conscientiously  answer.  It 
docs  not,  however,  follow  that  the  imperial 
chancellor  should  resign  the  moment,  in  any 
affair  whatsoever,  he  differs  in  view  from  his 
sovereign.  If  that  were  the  case,  said  the 
prince,  his  predecessors  would  have  resigned 
on  more  than  one  occasion.  "The  first  qual- 
ity which  an  imperial  chancellor  must  possess 
is  judgment."  He  can  then  distinguish  be- 
tween great  political  questions  like  that  in- 
volved in  a  tariff  war  and  affairs  of  less  im- 
portance. Btilow,  as  imperial  Chancellor,  is 
not,  he  himself  thinks,  a  purely  executive 
organ,  a  mere  instrument.  That  would  be  a 
conception  of  his  office  adequate  neither  to 
the  interests  of  the  nation  nor  to  the  wishes 
of  the  Emperor  himself.  "I  wish  you  were  as 
little  prejudiced  as  his  Majesty,"  concluded  the 
prince,  amid  the  laughter  of  his  hearers. 


IN  SUCH  rich  tints  did  Prince  Biilow  paint  a 
full-length  portrait  of  his  official  self.  He 
manifested,  in  his  interpretation  of  the  Em- 
peror's American  policy,  all  that  old-time  prej- 
udice in  favor  of  studio  half-lights  which  is 
so  characteristic  of  his  well-known  taste  in 
French  and  Italian  art  Thus  a  caustic  critic 
in  the  Independance  Beige  (Brussels).  Ger- 
man criticisms  of  the  prince's  self-portraiture 
•suggest  the  work  of  those  marine  artists  whose 
tempests  are  a  little  too  appalling  and  whose 
shipwrecks  are  a  little  too  theatrical.  Surely, 
says  the  Kreuz  Zeitung,  the  nation  which  de- 
feated the  French  at  Sedan  need  not  have 
been  wiped  out  by  a  tariff  war  with  America. 
Moreover,  as  one  newspaper  organ  in  Berlin 
has  repeatedly  declared,  the  Reichstag,  in  the 


tariff  controversy  with  America,  is  yielding 
less  to  Roosevelt  than  to  a  Chancellor  who  does 
not  understand  the  vital  conditions  of  a  par- 
liamentary organism,  a  Chancellor  who  is  seri- 
ously deficient  in  the  knowledge  essential  to 
negotiation  with  a  democratic  government. 
His  previous  long  career  in  the  diplomatic 
service,  we  are  told,  and  his  want  of  oppor- 
tunity to  behold  the  inner  workings  of  a  par- 
liamentary organism  render  his  conduct  of 
the  dispute  with  Mr.  Roosevelt  amateurish. 
True  to  the  instincts  of  a  diplomatist,  he  re- 
fuses to  see  that  in  domestic  politics  involv- 
ing tariff  disputes — ^and  American  politics  is 
all  tariff — it  is  essential  for  success  to  show 
one's  colors.  The  Americans  do  not  under- 
stand a  tariff  dispute  when  approached  from 
the  Btilow  standpoint  of  pure  diplomacy.  Re- 
fusing to  sit  upon  any  particular  chair,  con- 
cludes this  candid  critic,  Btilow  landed  upon 
the  floor. 


IN  REALITY,  Btilow  won  a  great  success, 
viewing  the  matter  from  the  official  press 
standpoint,  when  he  averted  the  tariff  war 
with  this  country.  The  prince  is  believed  to 
be  now  high  in  favor  with  the  Washington 
Government.  Talk  of  his  dismissal  by  Em- 
peror William  must  always  be  nonsensical  as 
long  as  he  retains  that  favor.  The  idea  of 
exchanging  university  professors  between  the 
two  nations  was  really  his.  Biilow  will,  there- 
fore, continue  indefinitely  as  imperial  Chancel- 
lor, to  resolve  all  debate  in  the  Reichstag,  be 
its  subject  what  it  may,  into  a  series  of  quota- 
tion from  the  poets — tariff  wars,  Polish  unrest, 
Monroe  doctrine,  what  you  will.  He  has 
transformed  Germany  into  a  land  of  govern- 
ment by  classical  allusion  in  a  sense  far  more 
literal  than  that  indulged  in  when  France  was 
termed  a  despotism  tempered  by  epigrams. 
Nor  did  the  prince  drag  Schiller,  Goethe, 
Homer  or  Shakespeare  in  by  the  neck  and 
heels  when  he  discussed  the  tariff.  He  caused 
them  to  rise  as  gracefully  from  a  commercial 
treaty  as  did  Venus  from  the  sea.  No  other 
living  statesman  thus  assuages  "the  insolence 
of  office" — German  Socialists  pronounce  that 
insolence  flagrant  in  the  prince's  case  —  by 
charging  the  atmosphere  of  a  representative 
body  with  the  world's  best  literature. 


I  N  HIS  equipment  for  this  exquisite  labor 
*^  the  prince  would  come  well  out  of  a  com- 
parison with  the  courtliest  bookworms  of 
Queen  Elizabeth's  prime.  English  he  speaks 
fluently,  as  the  London  journalists  to  whose 


364 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


THE  WIT  WHO  SWAYS  THE  REICHSTAG 

Prince  BQlow  persuaded  a  reluctant  German  Reichstaflr 
to  avert  a  tariff  war  with  America,  and  then  explained 
his  course  in  a  confidential  talk  that  has  made  a  diplo- 
matic sensation. 

interviews  he  has  been  submitting  so  urbanely 
•  of  late  testify.  Shakespeare  seems  almost  as 
dear  to  him  as  Goethe,  and  Goethe  is  perhaps 
the  poet  he  quoted  most  frequently  in  the 
Reichstag  during  the  tariff  debate.  Bulow's 
fluency  in  French  goes  without  saying,  since 
he  was  trained  for  the  diplomatic  service.  The 
six  years  he  spent  in  Paris  on  the  staff  of  the 
German  ambassador  there  are  understood  to 
have  enabled  him  to  gain  that  peculiarly  inti- 
mate knowledge  of  French  institutions  which 
he  exploited  to  such  advantage  when  he  drove 
the  Foreign  Minister  of  the  Republic — Del- 
casse — from  his  office  and  brought  about  a  Mo- 
rocco conference  in  spite  of  the  real  wish  of 
France.  But  Italy,  next  to  his  native  Ger- 
many, seems  to  be  the  land  which  has  done 
most  for  Prince  Biilow  in  the  diplomatic  sense 
during  the  last  few  months.  He  and  his  Ital- 
ian wife — she  was  a  Countess  Donhoff,  bom 
Princess  of  Camporeale,  and  daughter  of  that 
Donna  Laura  Minghetti  who  was  so  celebrated 
in  Roman  society  years  ago — have  in  common 
a  passion  for  Italy.  It  was  to  Italy,  according 
to  his  own  official  organ,  that  the  prince 
looked  for  most  effective  support  of  German 
policy  at  Algeciras.  It  was  not  forthcoming, 
say  the  French  dailies.  The  German  dailies 
say  it  was.  The  Rome  Tribuna  says  Italy 
sent  the  Marquis  Visconti-Venosta  to  Alge- 


ciras to  keep  her  from  taking  sides.  However, 
it  is  to  Italy  once  more  that  Prince  Biilow  is 
going  for  his  spring  vacation.  He  is  to  see 
the  Italian  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs.  When 
he  abandoned  the  Roman  embassy  to  take 
charge  of  the  Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs  in 
Berlin,  he  felt,  said  Biilow  at  the  time,  like 
Ulysses.  When  he  reaches  Rome  this  year, 
remarks  the  Berlin  Vorwdrts,  he  ought  to 
feel  like  Sancho  Panza. 


WILLIAM  IPs  real  opinion  of  this  poet- 
ical cast  of  statesmanship  is  now  a 
matter  of  keener  speculation  than  ever.  The 
way  the  Morocco  conference  has  gone  brings 
no  credit  to  Biilow.  When  the  prettiness  of 
the  prince's  metaphors  grows  fly-blown,  when 
the  play  of  his  sarcasm,  sporting  with  the 
ideals  which  German  socialism  would  fain 
pluck  from  the  pale-faced  moon — this  expres- 
sion is  the  prince's  own — ^precipitated  the 
scolding  match  of  the  last  month  in  the  Reich- 
stag, the  Emperor  is  surmised  to  have  won- 
dered what  wisdom  there  may  have  been  in 
all  that  wit.  But  from  what  precise  feature 
of  the  present  situation  is  born  the  rumor  of 
the  prince's  possible  retirement  in  the  near 
future  no  one  knows.     The   rumor   has   re- 


WILLIAM  II'S  GREATEST   MILITARY    MAGNATE 

Lieutenant-General  von  Moltke,  son  of  the  grreat  field- 
marshal,  has  recently  been  made  chief  of  the  general 
staff  in  Berlin.  This  is  the  highest  distinction  open  to  a 
member  of  the  military  profession  in  Germany.  The 
general  staff  is  admitted  by  experts  to  be  the  most  finely 
eouipped  bureau  of  military  intelligence,  of  strategy  and 
ot  tactics  that  has  ever  existed. 


THE  DUEL  OF  POWERS  AT  ALGECIRAS 


365 


curred  periodically.  To  one  report  of  the 
kind  his  Majesty  himself  gave  the  lie  direct, 
not  in  words,  to  be  sure,  but  in  deeds.  He 
went  with  the  Empress  to  the  chancellery 
and  dined  there  with  the  prince.  William  II. 
often  invites  himself  to  dine  with  those  among 
his  ministers  who  chance  to  enjoy  his  special 
favor.  But  never  before  had  the.  Empress  ac- 
companied him  on  such  an  occasion.  The 
truth  seems  to  be  that  Biilow  has  a  powerful 
ally  at  court  in  William  IPs  liking  for  a  chan- 
cellor who  has  nothing  in  common  with  Riche- 
lieu save  a  taste  for  poetry.  The  Emperor, 
like  Napoleon,  has  no  use  for  any  genius  that 
dwarfs  his  own.  His  spirit  could  not  brook 
a  Bismarckian  Chancellor  riding  the  German 

world  as  if  it  were  not  William  IPs  own  horse. 

* 

*  * 
'T^HAT    duel    between    Emperor    William 

I  and  republican  France  which  has  been 
fought  so  furiously  at  Algeciras  be- 
neath the  minuet-like  formalities  of  a  Mo- 
rocco conference  has  just  left  the  figures  of 
the  combatants  in  a  state  of  readiness  to  leap 
forward  or  to  withdraw.  France  fenced  to 
^eat  disadvantage  until  she  had  maneuvered 
Emperor  William's  chief  delegate,  Herr  von 
Radowitz,  into  a  discussion  of  his  master's 
plans  before  the  full  conference.  That  hap- 
pened in   the    second  week  of  March,   when 


EMPEROR  WILLIAM'S  "OBSTRUCTOR" 

HeiT  von  Radowitz,  German  delegate  at  Alfifeciras,  is 
accused  of  havingr  "held  up**  the  Morocco  conference  for 
six  weeks.  When  that  no  longer  served  the  purpose, 
says  the  parte  TempSy  Von  Radowitz  be^an  to  "bluff.** 


THE  SPHINX  OP    THE   MOROCCO   CONFERENCE 

"The  impenetrable  features  of  the  Berlin  sphinx,"  says 
the  London  Times  correspondent,  "  remain  as  inscrutable 
as  ever." 

"As  to  the  attitude  of  Germany,  it  is  not  even  a  fog," 
says  the  Paris  Matin^  "it  it*  a  Chmese  wall  that  faces  us 
in  darkness." 


Berlin  laid  aside  the  affectation  of  regarding 
Morocco  as  a  clean  slate  upon  which  France 
had  no  more  right  to  lay  a  pencil  than  Bel- 
gium, Sweden  or  Holland  had.  When  the 
Emperor  allowed  Herr  von  Radowitz,  Ger- 
many's most  brilliant  diplomatist,  to  consent 
to  a  Franco-Spanish  soldiery  in  the  Moroccan 
dominions,  Europe's  press  declared  that  the 
Hohenzollern's  sword  arm  had  been  struck. 
But  it  turned  out  that  William  H  had  merely 
guided  away  the  edge  of  his  adversary's  weap- 


366 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


From  ■tereograpb,  copy  right  1908,^  by  Underwood  A  Underwood. 

A  REVIEW  OF  THE  ARMED  FORCES  OF  THE  SULTAN  OP  MOROCCO 

This  is  averred  to  be  a  mobilization  of  the  country's  entire  armv,  but  it  must  be  pointed  out  that  nei'  her  artillery 
nor  cavalry  is  in  evidence,  unless,  indeed,  those  arms  of  tne  service  are  concealed  behind  the  infantry. 


on.  His  purpose  was  to  secure  a  German  foot- 
ing in  Morocco  through  the  "open  door."  Now, 
what  is  an  open  door?  A  thing  with  a  latch, 
replies  the  Frankfurter  Zeitung  in  an  article 
palpably  inspired  by  the  German  Imperial 
Chancellor,  Prince  Biilow.  And  the  latch 
of  any  door  in  Morocco,  we  are  told  next,  will 
be  held  by  the  regiments  policing  that  inde- 
pendent   nation.      Those    regiments    must    be 


inspected.  The  inspector  must  be  neutral — 
neither  French,  Spanish,  German  nor  British. 
Thus  the  conference  sinks  from  a  dispute  over 
a  principle  to  one  over  technicalities. 


AN  IMPENDING  ACCIDENT 
' Hold  firm!  We'll  get  it  together  again." 

—Berlin  Kdidderaaafs^H 


IT  IS  now  a  conference  that  has  ceased 
to  exist  for  any  practical  purpose.  So  or- 
gans of  the  highest  authority  in  Europe  tell 
us  and  they  speculate  anxiously  as  to  what 
will  happen  next.  The  London  Spectator 
fears  that  Emperor  William  will  proceed  to 
strengthen  his  influence  over  Sultan  Abdul- 
Aziz.  What  the  German  autocrat  is  alleged 
to  have  been  for  ten  years  in  Constantinople 
— a  fisher  in  troubled  waters  and  a  fomenter  of 
discord — that,  we  are  told,  will  he  become  at 
Fez.  Abdul-Aziz  is  to  be  assured  that  he  can 
safely  try  the  patience  of  the  French,  if  not 
openly  defy  them.  The  result  of  such  inter- 
ference will  be  that  the  whole  Moroccan  coun- 
try will  relapse  into  anarchy.  Attacks  upon 
the  foreign  population,  riots  in  the  coast  towns 
and  general  insecurity  of  trade  will  almost 
necessarily  involve  intervention  by  some  power 
aggn"ieved.  That  power  is  as  likely  as  not  to 
be  France  herself,  for  her  long  frontier 
toward  Algeria  makes  her  the  Mohammedan's 
neighbor.  In  that  probable  event  Germany 
may  forbid  French  intervention  and  tell  France 
once  again,  as  she  in  effect  told  her  last  sum- 
mer, that  if  the  French  troops  move  across  the 
Algerian  frontier,  German  troops  will  have 
to  move  across  the  Rhine.  Thus,  infers  the 
Spectator,  while  the  failure  of  the  conference 
does  not  mean  immediate  war,  it  does  mean 
that  the  condition  of  Europe  has  become  one 
of  unstable  equilibrium. 


IF  WAR  WERE  TO  ENSUE  BETWEEN  GERMANY  AND  FRANCE      367 


MOROCCO  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  re- 
cent minute  to  the  German  Emperor 
from  the  general  staff  in  Berlin,  apprising  his 
Majesty  that  Germany  can  mobilize  ahead  of 
any  other  power,  defeat  any  force  on  her  fron- 
tier before  an  enemy's  concentration  is  com- 
plete and  capture  every  accessible  fortress  in 
a  few  hours.  This  minute  was  a  secret  official 
document,  it  seems,  prepared  as  a  matter  of 
routine  by  the  new  chief  of  the  general  staff, 
Lieutenant-General  von  Moltke.  This  Count 
Moltke  is  the  son  of  the  great  field-marshal, 
and  upon  him  would  devolve  the  real  leader- 
ship of  the  forces  in  the  event  of  that  war 
with  France  over  Morocco  which  the  Alge- 
ciras  conference  has  postponed.  Now,  Count 
Moltke  must  have  known,  says  the  military  ex- 
pert of  the  London  Times,  that  if  hostilities 
had  come,  the  French  armies  would  have  been 
ready  fully  forty-eight  hours  before  their 
neighbors  across  the  Vosges.  Germany  could 
have  relied  upon  the  arrival  of  some  500 
troop  trains  a  day  on  the  left  bank  of  the 
Rhine  in  the  probable  zone  of  strategic  con- 
centration. If  Emperor  William  had  sent  a 
million  and  a  half  of  men  to  the  front  for  the 
first  onset,  some  4,000  trains  would  have  been 
required,  taking  at  least  eight  days'  time  ex- 
clusive of  that  taken  for  mobilization.  The 
belief  in  France  is  that  a  general  advance 
could  not  begin  before  the  twelfth  day  at  the 
earliest.  The  French  armies  would,  if  all 
went  well,  be  concentrated  on  the  frontier  as 
soon,  if  not  sooner,  nor  would  they  be  inferior 
in  numbers.  Germany  has  not,  just  now,  ac- 
cording to  British  military  experts,  any  marked 
superiority  in  numbers  of  trained  men  or  in 
facilities  for  their  assembly.  She  is  even  said 
to  be  inferior  to  the  French  in  means  for  rapid 
concentration*  She  is  certainly  inferior  in 
field  artillery.  Only  war  itself  could  prove, 
concludes  the  London  expert,  whether  France 
possesses  superiority  in  command,  in  efficiency 
and  in  prowess.  Colonel  Picquart  in  the 
Aurore,  General  Canonge  and  General  Zur- 
linden  in  the  Gaulois  and  General  Langlois 
in  the  Temps  agree  that  the  third  republic 
can  place  4,000,000  trained  men  under  arms 
to  meet  any  attack.  Paris  dailies  no  longer 
contemplate  war  in  a  spirit  of  panic. 


ROUVIER'S  anticlerical  ministry  came  to 
an  end  last  month  in  France  just 
three  weeks  after  separation  of  church 
and  state  had  been  condemned  in  principle  and 
in  practice  by  Pius  X.   The  pontifical  anathema 


THE  WINNER  OF  THE  GREATEST  VICTORy  AT 
ALGECIRAS 
Sir  Arthur  Nicolson  represents  Great  Brirain  in  the 
Morocco  conference.  His  task  was  not  only  to  support 
the  demands  of  France  but  to  prevent  William  II  from 
acquiring  a  port  on  the  Atlantic. 


AMERICA  AT  THE  MOROCCO  CONFERENCE 

Teddy  rides  his  Monroe  doctrine  horse  all  around  the 
table  at  Algeciras  without  breaking  a  dish. 

—Berlin  ICiadderadatsch 


368 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


rightful  place  to  religion,  that  supreme  rule 
and  sovereign  mistress  in  all  that  pertains  to 
the  rights  and  duties  of  men.  Hence  the 
Roman  pontiffs,  adds  the  Pope,  have  never 
ceased  to  refute  and  to  condemn  the  doctrine 
of  separation  of  church  and  state. 


PIUS  X 

The  Roman  pontiff  declares,  in  the  course  of  an  encyc- 
lical to  the  French  nation,  that  the  Popes  have  always 
condemned  separation  of  church  and  state.  The  present 
occupant  of  the  chair  of  St  Peter    condemns  it  as  well. 

was  thundered  against  the  third  French  re- 
public in  a  spirit  described  by  the  Paris  Temps 
as  Platonic.  Separation  of  church  and  state, 
declared  the  Pope,  is  not  merely  absolutely 
false  in  principle;  it  is  a  pernicious  error, 
based  upon  the  view  that  the  state  should  not 
recognize  any  religious  cult.  The  affront  to 
the  Deity  involved  therein  is  pronounced  very 
gp"ave.  Man  owes  to  the  Deity  not  only  pri- 
vate worship  but  public  worship  likewise.  And 
the  principle  of  separation  of  church  and  state 
is  to  the  Pope  a  clear  negation  of  the  super- 
natural order  of  things.  It  restricts  the  ac- 
tivity of  the  state  to  the  mere  pursuit  of  the 
public  prosperity  during  this  life.  That  eternal 
happiness  reserved  for  mankind  when  the 
brief  period  of  earthly  existence  has  termi- 
nated is  thus  completely  ignored  by  the  gov- 
ernment. Separation  of  church  and  state  fur- 
ther overturns  the  order  of  things  very  wisely 
ordained  by  God  in  the  world — an  order  re- 
quiring harmony  between  civil  society  and  re- 
ligious society.  Finally,  separation  of  church 
and  state  inflicts  serious  injury  upon  civil  so- 
ciety itself.  Civil  society  can  neither  prosper 
nor  long  endure  when  it  does  not  give  its 


ANTICLERICAL  France,  drilling  for  a  bat- 
tle at  the  polls  now  only  a  few  weeks 
away,  immediately  equipped  its  electoral  ar- 
tillery with  ammunition  supplied  by  this  pon- 
tifical outburst.  "Victory,"  says  the  Paris 
Lanterne,  hater  of  all  hierarchies,  "has  been 
won  for  us  by  the  Vatican !"  But  the  Vatican 
gave  no  thought  to  pending  elections,  it  would 
appear  from  well-informed  dailies  like  the 
Temps,  The  ostentatious  authoritativeness  of 
the  pontifical  encyclical  was  only  a  form  of 
reproof  addressed  to  those  of  the  faithful 
whose  defiance  of  the  police  had  littered  the 
floors  of  sanctuaries  with  smashed  umbrellas 
and  crushed  hats.  Pious  Roman  Catholics 
have  been  warned  by  many  pastors  and  some 
prelates  to  obey  the  law.  Other  clerics  pre- 
ferred, instead,  to  rise  in  bloody  insurrection 
against  the  constituted  authorities  engaged  in 
making  lists  of  church  effects.  It  was  with 
poignant  distress,  says  the  Matin,  that  Pius  X 
received  bulletins  from  the  seat  of  war.  Forays 
of  the  faithful  from  a  besieged  church  upon 
advance-guards  of  police  and  cavalry  did  not 
commend  themselves  to  the  sovereign  pontiff 
as  Christian  tactics.  Still  less  was  he  edified 
by  news  that  troops  were  arriving  in  front  of 
sacred  edifices  at  a  gallop,  and  that  as  a  last 
resort  the  firemen  had  been  appealed  to.  Pow- 
erful jets  of  water  were  directed  against  all 
ranks  of  the  faithful — counts,  vicomtes,  dukes, 
persons  of  the  highest  consequence  on  the  Fau- 
bourg St.  Antoine.  "The  effect,"  asserts  the 
anticlerical  Action,  "was  splendid."  All  in 
front,  drenched  to  the  skin,  turned  to  flee. 
The  serried  ranks  in  the  rear  held  firm.  Water 
was  accordingly  turned  upon  the  remoter  units 
of  the  mob.  In  a  very  few  moments  the  only 
demonstrators  left  were  those  whose  injuries 
made  it  impossible  for  them  to  rise  and  flee. 

PIUS  X  at  once  intervened  with  his  encyc- 
lical. There  is  an  eloquent  severity  in  the 
whole  composition,  sustained  throughout  by 
the  stateliness  of  the  diction,  which  proves 
how  displeased  the  Pope  is  with  the  militant 
faithful  who  brought  the  soldiers  to  the  sanc- 
tuary. The  Journal  des  Dihats  thinks  so,  at 
any  rate.  The  Scriptures  teach  us  and  the  tra- 
dition of  the  fathers  confirms  the  fact,  ob- 


THE  CHANGE  OF  MINISTRY  IN  FRANCE 


Ptratogrspb  by  Underwood  it  Uudenrood. 

CONSECRATION  OF  FOURTEEN  FRENCH  BISHOPS  IN  THE  VATICAN 

The  Pope  himself  officiated  at  the  ceremonies.  They  resulted  in  the  filling  of  fourteen  sees  long  vacant  in  the 
French  Republic  owing  to  disputes  between  Paris  and  the  Vatican.  Separation  of  church  and  state  left  the  Pope 
free  to  appoint  whomsoever  he  pleased,  so  far,  at  least,  as  the  French  Government  is  concerned. 


serves  the  Pope,  that  the  church  is  the  mysti- 
cal body  of  Christ.  This  body  is  ruled  by  pas- 
tors. We  thus  find  a  human  society  of  which 
the  heads  have  full  and  absolute  power  to 
govern,  teach  and  judge.  It  results  that  the 
church  of  Christ  is  essentially  an  unequal  so- 
ciety. It  is  a  society,  that  is  to  say,  compris- 
ing two  sorts  of  persons.  There  are  first  of 
all  the  pastors,  those  who  occupy  some  rank  in 
the  various  grades  of  the  hierarchy.  After 
them  come  the  multitude  of  the  faithful.  Now 
so  greatly  do  these  two  sorts  of  persons  differ, 
proceeds  the  Pope,  that  in  the  pastoral  body 
alone  resides  any  authority.  As  for  the  mul- 
titude, they  have  no  other  duty,  says  the  en- 
cyclical, than  that  of  letting  themselves  be  led. 
Like  a  docile  flock,  they  are  to  follow  their 
pastors.  To  the  Paris  Temps  this  "bit,"  as 
it  calls  it,  is  very  interesting  from  a  literary 
point  of  view.  "One  would  suppose  oneself 
reading  the  anathema  of  a  medieval  council 
against  some  heresy."  But  the  pontifical  rhet- 
oric, as  it  flows  along  the  theme  of  separation, 
resounds  rather,  thinks  the  Journal  des  Dihats, 
with  the  clang  of  fire-engines  as  the  hose  is 
turned  upon  French  counts.  Refusing  to  fol- 
low their  pastors,  the  flocks  got  wet    By  order 


of  the  Cardinal  Archbishop  of  Paris,  the  mis- 
erere was  chanted  on  all  available  altars  as  a 
penitential  expiation  of  the  impiety  of  the 
ministry.  But  the  ministry  had  already  expi- 
ated, by  its  unexpected  defeat  in  the  Chamber, 
Rouvier's  absolute  failure  to  inspire  confidence 
in  clericals  and  anticlericals  alike. 


IF  THE  first  ballots  in  the  French  general 
election  were  not  to  take  place  in  a  very 
few  weeks,  it  is  almost  a  certainty  that  Jean 
Sarrien  would  not,  last  month,  have  been  made 
Premier  of  the  republic.  Anticlericalism  got 
rid  of  Rouvier  on  the  eve  of  the  voting  from 
the  motive  prompting  Shakespeare  to  let  Shy- 
lock  disappear  at  the  end  of  the  fourth  act — 
the  harmony  of  the  grand  conclusion  must  be 
absolute.  So  the  leaders  of  the  several  Re- 
publican groups  looked  on  indifferently  when, 
through  a  casual  combination  of  Socialists 
with  the  clerically  inclined,  Rouvier  fell  into 
an  abyss  deeply  excavated  to  receive  him.  The 
psychological  moment  at  Algeciras  had  passed. 
The  struggle  at  the  polls  is  to  come.  And  in 
France  everything  depends  upon  who  "makes 
the  elections,"  as  they  say  in  Paris  idiom. 
Sarrien,  the  Radical  representative  of  the  sec- 


370 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


THE  WORLD  GENIUS  OF  THE  SOCIALIST 
MOVEMENT 

J[ean  Jaurfes  deserves  this  appellation,  according  to  a 
writer  m  the  Berlin  VorwHrts.  He  has  great  eloquence, 
ability  to  orfi^anize,  and  parliamentary  skill  of  the  highest 
order.     He  is  leading  the  fight  of  French  Socialism. 

ond  "circonscription"  of  Charolles  —  in  the 
Saone  -  et  -  Loire — assumed  the  premiership 
solely  to  make  the  elections  as  comfortless  to 


A  CONCILIATOR  BETWEEN  THE  VATICAN  AND 
THE  REPUBLIC   • 

M.  Ribot  leads  the  moderate  element  in  the  French 
national  political  contest.  He  deprecates  the  violence 
of  anticlericalism  and  favors  a  return  to  the.'policy  of 
the  concordat. 

out-and-out  Socialists  as  elections  can  be. 
About  2,500  candidates  have  come  forward  to 
contest  the  600  or  so  seats  in  the  Chamber 
of  Deputies.  The  opponents  of  the  ministry 
say,  in  the  Paris  Gaulois,  that  Sarrien  will  not 
get  credit  for  having  separated  church  and 
state  among  the  supporters  of  that  step.  The 
clericals,  none  the  less,  will  hold  him  respon- 
sible for  all  of  it.  It  was  to  escape  the  perils 
of  this  situation  that  Bourgeois,  the  most  influ- 
ential politician  in  France  to-day;  Qemenceau, 
the  most  eloquent  and  the  wittiest  of  anticleri- 
cals;  and  Poincare,  who  detests  socialism  of 
the  Jean  Jaures  type,  resolved  to  stand  or  fall 
with  Sarrien.  Atheism,  as  one  sarcastic  cleri- 
cal organ  says,  thinks  it  can  dispense  with  the 
aid  of  revolutionary  socialism  in  making  a 
mockery  of  God. 


MAKES  TWO  BLADES  OF  GRASS  GROW  WHERE 

ONE  GREW  BEFORE 
^M.  Ruau  is  such  a  srood  Minister  of  Agjicultnre  that 
he  has  been  taken  over  by  the  new  French  ministry  from 
he  old.         t 


MORE  than  11,300,000  voters  are  entitled 
to  pass  judgment  upon  the  great  issue 
raised  in  France  by  the  struggle  with  the  Vat- 
ican. It  is  not  likely,  however,  that  much  over 
9,000,000  of  these  will  take  the  trouble  to  go 
to  the  urns.  The  Sarrien  ministry  rests  upon 
the  support  of  political  groups  controlling  in 
all  fully  5,000,000  votes  in  the  country  at  large. 
That  is  why  the  antiministerial  Republicans, 
the  extreme  Socialists,  the  Nationalists  and  the 


MEN  AND  ISSUES  IN  THE  FRENCH  ELECTION 


371 


HIS  MOTTO  IS:  "FRANCE  MUST  BE 
DECLERICALIZED  I" 

This  is  the  cry  of  M.  Doumereue,  the  Minister  of 
Commerce  in  the  new  French  ministry.  He  played  a 
leading  part  in  having  cmcifixes  and  images  removed 
from  courts  of  law  and  public  places  throughout  France. 


HE  IS  REGARDED  AS  THE  PILLAR  OF  AN 
"ATHEIST"  GOVERNMENT 

When  the  Pope  learned  that  this  statesman,  Senator 
CKmenceau,  was  to  be  in  the  new  French  ministry,  his 
Holiness  is  said  to  have  exclaimed,  "  Then  Heaven  help 
the  church ! " 


reactionaries  will  fail  to  dislodge  Sarrien  and 
his  anticlericalism.  So  run  the  arguments 
of  Bourgeois  organs.  Qerical  dailies  reply 
that  the  voting  will  be  exceptionally  heavy. 
For  the  first  time  in  years  the  citizens  of  the 
republic  will  have  a  perfectly  clear  issue  placed 
before  them.  The  interest  they  showed  at  the 
beginning  of  the  year  in  seeing  that  their 
names  were  put  on  the  register  has  been  taken 
by  the  London  Times  as  an  indication  that  on 
this  occasion  the  number  of  abstentions  will  be 
relatively  small.  The  people,  it  is  hoped,  will 
speak  out,  and  decisively.  The  situation  has 
been  explained  and  discussed  before  them  from 
every  point  of  view  with  a  thoroughness  rare 
in  French  electoral  contests.  They  have  to 
decide  "y^"  or  "no"  for  or  against  a  ministry 
which  stands  before  their  eyes  as  a  symbol  of 
the  state  separated  from  the  church,  and  as 
an  embodiment  of  that  hostility  to  collectivism, 
pure  and  simple,  for  which  Bourgeois  more 
particularly  stands. 


PERHAPS  not  more  than  one-third  of  the 
Chamber,  and  certainly  not  more  than 
two-thirds,  will  be  definitely  chosen  at  the  first 
ballots.  The  real  trial  of  strength  may  not 
come  until  the  series  of  second  contests,  when 
the  candidates  often  emerge  in  an  order  very 


different  from  that  in  which  they  stood  on  the 
earlier  scrutiny.  The  weaklings,  the  faddists 
and  the  fancy  candidates  are  eliminated,  ex- 


KNOWN  AS  "THE  POLITEST  MAN  IN  PARIS" 
Paul   Deschanel  is  nevertheless  a  sincere   mait,  now 
playing  a  conspicuous  part  in  the  warm  political  cam- 
paign throughout  France. 


372 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


plains  the  London  Times,  compromises  and 
combinations  are  effected  and  the  battle  is 
fought  out  between  the  two  or  three  politicians 
in  each  constituency  who  have  serious  claims 
of  one  sort  or  another  upon  the  suffrages  of 
the  people.  Accordingly  it  by  no  means  fol- 
lows that  parties  in  the  new  Chamber  will 
muster  in  the  proportions  suggested  by  their 
mere  numerical  strength.  A  great  deal  will 
depend  upon  the  second  ballots.  Where  reac- 
tionaries retire  in  favor  of  Nationalists,  or 
Nationalists  retire  in  favor  of  reactionaries, 
most  of  the  supporters  of  the  retiring  candi- 
date may  be  trusted  to  vote  against  the  Sar- 
rien  ministry  even  if  they  cannot  vote  for  the 
man  of  their  choice.  This  principle  cannot  be 
applied  with  equal  confidence  to  the  supporters 
of  rival  Republicans  of  different  shades.  It 
is  very  much  less  certain,  for  instance,  to  the 
London  Times  that  a  Moderate  will  vote  for 
a  Radical  or  for  a  Ministerial  Socialist  of  the 
Bourgeois  school  of  human  solidarity.  At  the 
second  ballots  a  certain  number  of  electors 
who  voted  for  their  own  man  on  the  first  bal- 
lots will  abstain.  On  the  other  hand,  a  certain 
number  who  stood  aloof  during  the  confused 
fighting  of  the  first  struggle  come  to  the  poll 
to  decide  at  the  second  a  definite  issue  between 
two  candidates  which  they  know  a  narrow 
majority  may  settle. 


OBVIOUSLY,  much  depends  in  these  deli- 
cate adjustments  upon  who'  "makes  the 
elections."  Rouvier,  as  Premier,  was  not 
trusted  by  those  anticlericals  who  look  to 
Bourgeois  and  now  fight  behind  Sarrien.  Rou- 
vier would  have  swung  the  official  influence 
toward  the  Vatican;  Bourgeois  would  die  be- 
fore doing  that.  And  yet  the  London  Outlook 
vouches  for  his  horror  of  what  is  known  as 
Combesism— the  extreme  radical  theories  of  the 
now  disintegrated  combination  that  separated 
church  from  state.  Bourgeois  claims  that 
radicalism  is  really  a  hindrance  to  collectivism 
and  provides  a  defense  of  the  principle  of  pri- 
vate property.  It  should  be  stated  that  such 
radical  Socialists  as  support  Bourgeois  do  not 
form  a  unit  in  the  regular  Socialist  organiza- 
tion. Bourgeois's  followers  are  of  a  consider- 
ably less  advanced  school  than  are  the  follow- 
ers of  Jean  Jaures.  A  solution  of  the  present 
crisis,  says  Bourgeois,  can  be  found  only  in  a 
union  of  all  the  democratic  forces  against  Vat- 
icanism and  reaction.  A  majority  for  Sarrien 
is  not  more  important  than  the  prevention  of  a 
split  in  that  majority.  Otherwise  there  can 
only  be  noisy  and  useless  manifestations  in 


the  Chamber  when  it  convenes  after  the  elec- 
tions, the  upshot  being  postponement  of  all 
practical  and  genuine  improvement  in  the  con- 
dition of  France.  So  soundly  does  Bourgeois 
interpret  the  situation,  think  German  dailies 
of  the  liberal  type,  that  unless  Sarrien's  min- 
istry is  strongly  sustained  at  every  stage  of 
the  voting,  the  separation  of  church  and  state 
may  be  undone,  if  not  legislatively  then  ad- 
ministratively. 


ALL  independent  constituencies  have  been 
thrown  into  a  state  of  ferment,  writes  the 
well-informed  correspondent  of  the  London 
Times  in  Paris,  by  the  attitude  of  what  may 
be  called  the  left  wing  of  the  Socialist  party. 
Ever  since  anticlericalism  gained  control  of 
the  Government,  the  Socialists  proper  have 
been  standing  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  the 
Radicals.  It  was  this  combination  which  went 
by  the  name  of  the  "block."  It  was  due  to 
this  discipline  that  Nationalist  and  Moderate 
Republican  opposition  to  the  bill  separating 
church  and  state  was  stultified.  Throughout 
this  period,  the  Socialist  leaders  in  the  Cham- 
ber, and  especially  Jaures,  voted  with  Radicals 
of  all  republican  shades.  The  collapse  of  the 
stalwart  clericalism  of  former  Premier  Combes 
released  the  party  of  Jaures  from  pledges 
which  the  pressure  of  doctrinaire  leaders  of 
international  socialism — ^the  Bebels  and  the 
Guesdes,  who  have  to  be  reckoned  with — ^had 
rendered  compromising.  In  view  of  the  ap- 
proaching elections,  Jaur^  and  his  supporters 
convinced  themselves  that  their  political  inter- 
ests required  their  separation  from  the  "block." 
They  have  adopted  for  the  campaign  certain 
tactics,  which  consist  in  putting  forward  in  a 
great  number  of  constituencies  candidates  so 
thoroughly  Socialist  that  Radical  groups  repre- 
sented in  the  Sarrien  ministry  will  be  unable 
to  vote  for  them.  Socialist  votes,  on  the 
other  hand,  will  in  many  cases  be  diverted 
from  candidates  supporting  the  ministry  of 
Sarrien.  The  outcome  can  only  be  beneficial 
to  those  who  have  fought  separation  of  church 
and  state.  The  general  disorder  in  the  polit- 
ical world  renders  almost  any  surprise  a  possi- 
bility. From  a  Vatican  point  of  view,  the 
Pope's  denunciation  of  the  bill  separating 
church  and  State  was  happily  timed. 


THROUGHOUT  the  six  weeks  that  have 
elapsed    since    the    troops    of    Francis 
Joseph  dissolved  the  Hungarian  Parlia- 
ment at  the  point  of  the  bayonet,  the  city  of 


THE  DEADLOCK  IN  AUSTRIA-HUNGARY 


373- 


Budapest  has  been  transformed  into  the  capi- 
tal of  an  absolute  despot.  Treaties  with  for- 
eign powers  were  last  month  made  effective 
in  defiance  of  explicit  provisions  of  the  law. 
Recruits  who,  advised  by  lawyers,  refused  to 
present  themselves  for  enrolment  in  the  array, 
were  dragged  from  their  homes  by  the  troops 
of  him  whom  they  repudiate  as  their  King. 
High  sheriffs,  coming  from  Budapest  with  the 
commission  of  Francis  Joseph,  have  broken 
open  the  doors  of  court-houses  closed  against 
them.  Passive  resistance  and  the  boycott,  or- 
ganized by  the  coalition  of  political  leaders 
who  insist  that  Francis  Joseph  ceased  last 
month  to  reign  constitutionally  in  Hungary, 
provided  various  counties  of  the  land  with 
two  sets  of  officials  whose  authority  is  rec- 
ognized only  by  their  partizans.  Count  Al- 
bert Apponyi,  whose  aspiring  ambitions  are 
held  answerable  for  everything  by  Austrian 
organs,  insists  that  the  dual  monarchy  of 
Austria-Hungary  has  given  up  its  constitu- 
tional ghost.  If  Francis  Kossuth,  leader  of 
the  Hungarian  coalition,  refrains  this  month 
from  disorganizing  that  ill-assorted  combina- 
tion, Francis  Joseph  will  be  met  by  an  open 
resistance  with  which  his  Austrian  troops, 
according  to  the  Independance  Beige  (Brus- 
sels), will  be  wholly  unable  to  cope. 

CRANCIS  JOSEPH  remained  in  his  Aus- 
»  trian  capital  during  the  month's  Hunga- 
rian turbulence  and  reiterated  his  innumerable 
refusals  to  allow  German  words  of  command 
to  be  replaced  by  Magyar  words  of  com- 
mand in  the  regiments  recruited  from  Hun- 
gary. And  that  is  the  issue  out  of  which  this 
initial  phase  of  civil  war  has  evolved.  In 
contrast  with  the  Magyar  repudiation  of  an 
Austrian  empire  supposed  to  contain  Hungary 
comes  last  month's  declaration  in  the  Vienna 
Neue  Freie  Presse  that  when  Francis  Joseph 
was  crowned  as  King  in  Budapest  he  made  a 
pact  with  the  Parliament  there  and  has  ob- 
served that  pact  The  Budapest  Parliament 
agreed  to  recognize  and  to  confirm  Francis 
Joseph  in  his  exercise  of  military  prerogatives. 
They  were  the  same  prerogatives  which  as 
uncrowned  but  hereditary  King  of  Hungary 
and  as  Austrian  Emperor  he  had  exercised, 
without  providing  Magyar  patriots  with  polit- 
ical grievances.  The  prerogatives  left  him 
free  to  arrange  the  command  and  inner  organ- 
ization of  the  whole  Austro-Hungarian  army. 
Of  that  army  the  Hungarian  army,  as  the 
Magyar  politicians  term  it,  forms  but  a  part. 
The  Hungarian  army,  as  Francis  Joseph  de- 


fined it  last  month  in  his  official  rescript,  means 
merely  those  regiments  of  the  Austro-Hun- 
garian army  which  draw  their  recruits  from 
Hungary.  At  his  coronation,  the  King's  con- 
stitutional right  to  organize  the  army  as  he 
wished  was  recognized  by  Parliament  in  ses- 
sion at  Budapest.  Not  once  was  it  called  in 
question  until  the  coalition  of  Magyar  politi- 
cians was  formed.  Francis  Joseph  declares 
that  he  asked  this  coalition  to  take  office  last 
March.  The  coalition  told  him  that  if  he 
would  grant  the  Magyar  language  of  com- 
mand for  "the  Hungarian  army,"  Kossuth, 
Andrassy  and  the  rest  would  undertake  the 
government  of  the  kingdom.  This  condition, 
Francis  Joseph  now  tells  the  world,  was  a 
violation  of  the  pact  between  himself  and  the 
nation.  The  result  is  this  open  breach  be- 
tween the  great  units  of  the  dual  monarchy, 
assuming  aspects  so  serious  as  fully  to  account, 
as  many  great  European  dailies  declare,  for 
Emperor  William's  expeditious  modification  of 
policy  at  Algeciras.  If  the  House  of  Haps- 
burg  is  going  into  liquidation,  the  House  of 
Hohenzollern  will  be  represented  at  the  meet- 
ing of  creditors  in  the  capacity  of  assignee. 
• 

WITTE  spent  the  month  in  baffling  a 
St.  Petersburg  court  conspiracy  to 
bring  about  a  counter-revolution. 
General  Trepoff,  the  Czar's  personal  confidant, 
and  General  Ignatieff,  the  mouthpiece  of 
grand  ducal  reaction,  want  Muscovite  govern- 
ment put  back  upon  an  autocratic  basis.  They 
planned,  accordingly,  a  popular  upheaval. 
This  they  meant  to  suppress  with  Cossack 
whip  and  Maxim  gun.  Countless  inconsistent 
despatches  from  centers  of  disturbance  in  Rus- 
sia indicate  that  within  the  past  four  months 
(i)  the  Czar  has  granted  a  constituent  assem- 
bly with  universal  suffrage;  (2)  he  has  done 
nothing  of  the  kind;  (3)  he  is  going  to;  (4) 
never.  The  elections  for  what  is  now  styled 
a  national  assembly  have  been  fixed  and  put 
off  five  times.  This  body  is  to  convene  about 
May  10,  unless  one  more  of  bureaucracy's  in- 
numerable changes  of  plan  be  made  at  the  last 
moment.  The  censorship  has  been  disorgan- 
ized, says  the  London  Post,  although  "relaxed" 
is  Witte's  word.  The  Novoye  Vremya  com- 
plains of  "unbridled  license"  on  the  part  of 
sheets  which  it  considers  incendiary.  This  lan- 
guage is  construed  to  hint  at  a  restor- 
ation of  censorship  in  certain  disturbed  por- 
tions of  the  empire.  Bureaucracy  seems  to 
hav^  come  together  for  a  crusade  against  for- 


374 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


eign  newspaper  correspondents.  It  is  alleged 
to  be  impossible  to  telegraph  beyond  the  fron- 
tier a  truthful  account  of  the  horrors  of 
repression.  If  Moscow  ever  rose  in  bloody 
insurrection  against  the  Czar  and  holy  Rus- 
sia, as  the  bureaucratic  jargon  runs,  official 
St.  Petersburg  must  be  in  a  poppy  dream,  for 
all  it  professes  to  know  is  that  there  were  some 
disturbances  in  the  Kremlin  which  were  ex- 
aggerated. Orderly  municipal  life  was  inter- 
rupted only  by  irresponsible  mobs  easily  dis- 
persed. Nicholas  II,  who  has  always  been  a 
sort  of  poet,  is  devoting  himself  to  versifi- 
cation ! 


SO  tangled  a  skein  cannot  be  woven  into 
any  orderly  pattern  by  European  dailies. 
The  Kreu3  Zeitung  is  reminded  of  sensational 
despatches  emanating  from  this  country  of 
ours  when  orderly  government  in  the  United 
States  was  made  to  seem  at  an  end  and  the 
American  Republic  had  collapsed.  The  Ber- 
lin daily  conjectures  that  autocracy  in  Russia 
knows  its  mujiks  and  its  hooligans  and  needs 
no  Western  newspaper  advice  in  managing 
them.  The  old  order  has  gone  for  good  in  the 
realm  of  the  Romanoffs,  but  we  must  not 
impetuously  decide  that  collapse  has  come. 
Official  Russia  is  understood  to  be  more  con- 
cerned, for  the  moment,  with  foreign  than  do- 
mestic affairs.  Count  Cassini  was  sent  into 
the  Morocco  conference  to  help  France.     If 


the  count  succeeds  at  Algeciras,  the  dual 
alliance  will  be  rehabilitated,  and  Russia's 
prestige  as  a  great  power  will  revive. 

# 

WHITELAW  REID  declined  to  put  on 
court  costume  for  the  state  openings 
of  Parliament  in  London.  The  ac- 
tion of  the  American  ambassador  has  been 
noted  in  the  British  press,  but  not  in  a  spirit 
of  criticism.  Ambassador  Reid,  attired  in  or- 
dinary dress  suit,  with  white  shirt,  white  col- 
lar and  white  cuffs,  sat  on  the  right  of  the 
royal  dais  in  the  House  of  Lords.  He  was  be- 
side Viscount  Hayashi.  The  contrast  between 
Mr.  Reid  and  the  diplomatists  who  had  ar- 
rayed themselves  in  green  sashes,  crimson 
coats  or  gold  belts  was  pointed  out  in  all  the 
London  dailies.  Some  of  them  had  understood 
that  the  American  ambassador  was  to  wear  a 
uniform  of  gold  and  blue  brought  by  himself 
from  the  United  States  for  the  very  purpose. 
As  things  turned  out,  only  black  silk  knee- 
breeches  distinguished  Mr.  Reid's  garb  from 
that  of  the  wearer  of  evening  dress  in  this 
country.  The  concession  involved  buckle 
shoes  necessarily.  All  around  him  Whitelaw 
Reid  was  outshone  by  peeresses,  even  though 
they  wore  the  black  commanded  by  his  Maj- 
esty. The  King  was  in  mourning,  as  was  his 
absent  Queen,  for  the  death  of  the  late  King 
of  Denmark. 


TWO  WARRIORS  WHO  HAVE  GONE  TO  REST 


Gen.  John  M.  Schofield  was  the  last  of  the  Union  officers 
who  had  command  of  an  independent  army. 


Miss  Susan  B.  Anthony  was,  next  to  Mrs.  Stanton,  the 
foremost  champion  of  equal  rights  for  women. 


Persons  in  the  Foreground 


THE  BUSIEST  MAN  OF  A  BUSY  GOVERNMENT 


The  story  is  not  new,  but  it  keeps  going  the 
rounds,  of  the  exchange  of  cablegrams  once 
upon  a  time  between  Taft  and  Root.  It  was 
when  Taft  was  Governor-General  of  the  Phil- 
ippines and  Root  was  head  of  the  War  De- 
partment. 

"Rode  forty  miles  on  horseback.  Feeling 
£ne."     So  cabled  Taft. 

"Glad  you  are  feeling  fine,"  was  Root's  re- 
sponse ;  "how  is  the  horse !" 

The  story  is  illustrative,  for  the  first  thing 
one  notes  in  William  Howard  Taft  is  his  size, 
and  the  next  thing  one  notes  is  his  activity. 
"He  walks  erectly  and  sturdily,"  writes  the 
Washington  correspondent  of  the  New  York 
Times,  "as  little  bothered  by  his  great  weight 
as  if  he  were  a  schoolgirl  in  a  gymnasium." 
Speaker  Reed,  when  asked  his  weight  by  a 
ctirious  friend,  replied  that  no  true  gentleman 
would  think  of  weighing  more  than  two  hun- 
dred pounds.  Secretary  Taft  says  he  has 
amended  that  statement  and  made  the  limit 
three  hundred  pounds.  Rumor  says,  however, 
that  it  is  only  within  the  last  few  weeks  that 
he  could  qualify  as  a  "true  gentleman"  even 
according  to  the  amended  standard.  Here  is 
a  further  little  pen  picture  of  him: 

"When  Secretary  Taft  speaks,  he  speaks  in  a 
sunshiny  roar.  When  he  laughs,  the  surrounding 
furniture  shakes  and  rumbles.  When  he  goes 
forth,  the  room  trembles.  Yet  he  is  as  light  on 
his  feet  as  the  frisky  Bcveridge.  You  expect  to 
sec  his  horse  sag  in  the  middle  when  Taft  mounts, 
accompanied  by  his  slender,  lath-like  companion. 
Col.  Edwards,  but  Taft  sits  erect  as  an  arrow 
and  gallops  around  like  a  West  Point  graduate." 

Secretary  Taft's  importance  in  the  present 
administration  seems  to  be  second  to  that  of 
the  President  alone,  which  is  saying  a  g^reat 
deal,  considering  that  Elihu  Root  is  also  a 
member  of  the  administration.  It  was  Taft 
who  "sat  on  the  lid"  when  the  President  went 
bear  hunting.  The  measure  closest  to  the 
President's  heart  is,  according  to  general  re- 
port, the  regulation  of  railway  rates.  That 
has  nothing  especial  to  do  with  the  War  De- 
partment over  which  Taft  presides.  Yet,  when 
Senator  Foraker  opened  the  late  Ohio  State 
campaign  with  an  attack  on  the  rate-regulation 
program,  it  was  Taft  who  was  pent  out  there 


to  reply  for  the  administration.  He  did  it 
effectively,  and,  in  addition,  with  a  side-sweep 
of  his  huge  hand,  so  to  speak,  incidentally 
ended  the  political  career  of  the  Hamilton 
County  boss,  George  B.  Cox.  It  was  Taft, 
again,  who  was  made  chiefly  responsible  for 
the  Philippine  tariff  bill,  and  who,  to 
achieve  results,  organized  the  congressional 
trip  to  Manila  that  converted  to  his  way  of 
thinking  such  unbending  protectionists  as 
Grosvenor  and  Dalzell,  changed  Bourke  Cock- 
ran's  views  very  materially  as  to  the  question 
of  independence,  immediate  and  unconditional, 
for  the  Filipinos,  and  gave  young  Longworth 
a  chance  to  bring  matters  to  a  definite  and 
delightful  understanding  with  Alice  Roosevelt. 
And,  again,  it  was  Taft  upon  whom  has  been 
loaded  the  biggest  constructive  work  our  Gov- 
ernment has  ever  undertaken — ^the  building  of 
the  Panama  Canal.  Undaunted  by  distances 
and  tropical  heat,  his  first  move,  when  the 
canal  was  turned  over  to  him,  was  to  transpose 
his  three  hundred  pounds  of  avoirdupois  to 
the  scene  of  operations  at  Panama,  to  study 
the  problem  on  the  ground.  He  is,  in  other 
words,  Secretary  of  War,  Colonial  Secretary, 
and  the  President's  political  spokesman.  Yet, 
according  to  the  same  newspaper  correspond- 
ent already  quoted,  he  never  seems  to  be  in 
a  hurry.  "Taft  is  a  mighty  hustler,  but  there 
is  nothing  'strenuous,*  as  that  word  has  been 
defined  in  later  days,  about  him.  He  hustles 
calmly.  He  disposes  of  immense  quantities  of 
work  with  an  air  of  beneficent  leisure.  He 
goes  riding,  and  wears  a  riding  costume  even 
more  wonderful  than  his  Chief's,  but  no  one 
prints  pieces  about  it,  although  the  spectacle 
of  his  immense  legs  athwart  a  heroically  re- 
signed horse  is  really  more  worthy  of  preser- 
vation than  the  black  slouch  hat  and  combina- 
tion of  statesman's  coat  and  weird  breeches 
which  distinguished  the  President." 

The  father  of  Secretary  Taft  was  attorney- 
general  in  President  Grant's  Cabinet.  The 
present  Secretary  of  War  was  naturally,  there- 
fore, interested  in  political  matters  at  an  early 
age.  That  goes  without  saying,  indeed,  when 
we  remember  that  he  is  an  Ohio  man.  One  of 
the  stories  of  his  early  activity  is  pf  a  thrasl^- 


376 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


ing  he  administered  to  the  editor  of  a  sort  of 
Town  Topics  paper  in  Cincinnati  for  libeling 
his  father.    Here  is  the  story : 

"When  he  was  young  he  was  a  reporter.  There 
was  an  alleged  society  publication  in  the  town  of 
Cincinnati  whose  principal  function  was  to  print 
infamous  libels  on  everybody  who  was  prominent 
in  Cincinnati.  There  was  no  use  in  suing  it  for 
libel,  and  the  only  remedy  was  to  thrash  the  edi- 
tor whenever  he  was  to  be  reached.  This  remedy 
had  been  tried  by  numerous  aggrieved  and  mus- 
cular citizens  without  producing  the  least  effect. 
Finally  the  sheet  published  a  libel  on  Judge  Al- 
phonso  Taft,  the  young  reporter's  father,  who 
had  been  a  member  of  Grant's  Cabinet.  Taft,  Jr., 
saw  it  and  did  not  like  it.  He  hunted  up  the  edi- 
tor and  asked  if  he  were  the  editor.  That  person 
admitted  it. 

"  'My  name  is  Taft,'  said  the  large  young  re- 
porter, *and  my  purpose  is  to  whip  you.*  Where- 
with he  drubbed  the  libelous  editor.  That  person 
had  been  drubbed  before,  as  already  narrated ;  but 
the  drubbing  administered  by  Taft  was  so  monu- 
mental, cataclysmic,  cosmic,  and  complete  that  on 
the  following  day  the  editor  suspended  publica- 
tion and  took  himself  thence.  Cincinnati  saw  him 
no  more. 

"As  for  Taft,  after  thus  purging  the  community, 
he  washed  his  hands,  and  went  down  to  the  City 
Hall  after  an  item  for  his  paper." 

There  may  be  objections  to  this  sort  of  sum- 
mary proceeding  as  an  established  method  of 
action,  but  the  regret  seems  to  be  widespread 
that  polite  society  in  New  York,  Newport,  etc., 
has  not  developed  a  few  young  fellows  of  like 
robust  temperament  to  teach  a  few  lessons  to 
the  editor  of  Town  Topics. 

Secretary  Taft  can  strike  as  hard  now  as 
when  he  was  a  young  reporter  just  out  of  col- 
lege. (He  graduated  from  Yale  in  1878, 
standing  second  in  a  class  of  121  members.) 
His  letter  to  Wallace  accepting  the  latter's 
resignation  from  the  post  of  chief  engi- 
neer to  the  Panama  Canal  Commission,  his 
finding  in  the  Bowen-Loomis  controversy,  his 
answer  to  Poultney  Bigelow's  charges,  all  at- 
test his  hard-hitting  ability.  But,  if  the  cor- 
respondent of  The  Times  is  to  be  believed,  he 
does  not  get  any  enjoyment  out  of  this  sort 
of  thing.    We  quote  that  correspondent  again: 

"With  all  the  swiftness  and  finality  of  Taft's 
proceedings,  the  human  side  of  him  comes  to  the 
front  in  Uiem  more  than  it  does  with  any  other 
man  of  his  kind  in  public  life.  When  he  drove 
Minister  Bowen  from  the  State  Department,  for 
instance,  his  action  was  as  remorseless  and  com- 
plete as  Roosevelt's.  But  having  to  do  it  grieved 
him.  He  struck  the  blow  with  a  sigh.  He  firmly 
believed  he  was  right,  but  the  hardship  of  infiict- 
ing  pain,  of  terminating  an  honorable  career,  was 
fully  as  present  in  Taft's  mind  as  the  necessity 
of  punishing  a  man  who  he  believed  deserved  it 


Of  Roosevelt,   with   all   his   fine  qualities,   that 
would  be  difficult  to  imagine. 

"This  human  side  of  Taft  is  the  one  which  en- 
dears him  most  to  those  who  meet  him.  It  docs 
not  detract  in  any  degree  from  the  great  respect 
which  is  paid  to  his  fine  abilities  and  to  his  great 
force  of  character.  In  Washington  folks  are 
skeptical  and  cynical  about  public  men,  and  even 
those  who  are  admired  are  admired  with  limita- 
tions. Close  contact  rubs  off  a  good  deal  of  the 
illusion.  But  there  are  no  limitations  as  to  Taft, 
and  with  the  respect  that  is  accorded  him  by 
all  those  who  come  in  contact  with  him  there  is 
mingled  real  affection." 

That,  coming  from  a  leading  Democratic 
paper,  does  not  arouse  any  suspicion  that  it 
is  published  for  political  purposes.  The  col- 
umns of  The  Congressional  Record  of  late 
show,  indeed,  more  than  one  tribute  of  per- 
sonal esteem  which  Democratic  Senators  and 
Congressmen  have  paid  to  the  Secretary  in  the 
midst  of  warm  debates  on  administration  meas- 
ures. Yet  in  doing  this  they  are  quite  pos- 
sibly adding  to  the  popularity  of  a  man  who 
may  carry  the  banner  in  the  opposing  ranks  in 
the  next  presidential  contest.  While  Taft  has 
declared  in  positive  terms  that  he  is  not  a 
candidate  for  the  presidential  nomination,  it 
will  take  more  than  such  a  declaration  to  end 
the  talk  about  him  in  that  connection.  The 
friends  of  other  aspirants  insist  that  the  proper 
line  of  promotion  for  Taft  is  to  the  Supreme 
Court ;  but  the  politically  weather-wise  foresee 
in  the  next  Republican  national  convention  a 
contest  between  conservatives,  with  Vice-Pres- 
ident Fairbanks  as  their  candidate,  and  pro- 
gressives of  the  Roosevelt  stripe,  with  Taft  as 
a  candidate.  "He  stands  four-square,"  it  is 
said,  "on  every  plank  of  the  Roosevelt  plat- 
form," representing  much  the  same  curious 
compound  of  conservatism  iatid  radicalism  as 
that  found  in  the  President. 

The  retirement  in  the  near  future  of  Judge 
Brown  from  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  by  reason  of  advanced  age,  has  re- 
vived the  rumor  that  Mr.  Taft  is  to  be  given 
a  seat  on  the  highest  bench  of  the  land.  Re- 
ports from  the  Washington  correspondents  are 
to  the  effect  that  the  President  has  again  posi- 
tively offered  him  the  seat,  and  that  he  is 
now  considering  the  acceptance  of  it.  Even 
if  he  should  accept,  that  would  not  necessarily 
remove  him  from  the  list  of  possible  presiden- 
tial candidates,  though  it  would  be  likely  to 
make  him  a  less  probable  candidate.  And  if 
he  goes  on  the  bench  it  is  accepted  as  "mani- 
fest destiny"  that  he  will  be  ihade  Chief  Jus- 
tice when  Judge  Fuller,  now  in  his  seventy- 
fourth  year,  retires. 


PERSONS  IN  THE  FOREGROUND 


377 


"THE  ONLY  SAINT  AMERICA  HAS  PRODUCED" 


This  is  the  title  that  has  been  conferred  by 
John  Bums,  M.P.,  upon  Jane  Addams,  of  the 
Hull  House,  Chicago.  There  is  no  need  to 
quarrel  with  it  as  extravagant  and  unfair,  since 
it  was  conferred  by  him  in  informal  conver- 
sation and  represents,  of  course,  not  a  criti- 
cal judgment  but  a  burst  of  glorious  enthusi- 
asm. The  enthusiasm  is  not  peculiar  to  Burns. 
Wherever  social  reformers  congregate  the 
name  of  Jane  Addams  elicits  a  feeling  that 
has  a  touch  or  something  more  than  a  touch 
of  the  adoration  which  the  devout  Catholic 
bestows  upon  the  name  of  a  saint. 

It  was  a  Spanish  bull-fight  that  put  the  fin- 
ishing touches  to  the  process  that  evolved 
Jane  Addams  as  she  is  now  known.  That 
bull-fight  transformed  her  from  a  dreamer  to 
a  doer.  She  tells  about  it  and  about  other  ex- 
periences leading  up  to  it  in  The  Ladie/  Home 
Journal. 

It  may  be  said  that  she  began  her  social  set- 
tlement work,  not  fifteen  years  ago,  as  is  gen- 
erally said,  but  when  she  was  only  six  years 
old.  Then  she  obtained  her  first  sight  of  the 
poor  section  of  a  town  of  ten  thousand,  and 
her  surprise  at  the  fact  that  people  were  will- 
ing to  live  in  such  horrid  little  houses  led  to 
questions,  and  the  questions  led  to  a  deter- 
mination that  when  she  was  grown  up  she 
would  live  in  a  handsome  big  house,  but  would 
build  it  right  in  the  midst  of  just  such  hor- 
rid little  houses.  That  little  seed-thought  fell 
upon  good  ground,  and  she  had  a  father  whose 
wise  words  from  time  to  time  helped  it  to 
grow.  She  remembers  his  advice  to  her  when 
she  was  but  eight  that  she  refrain  from  wear- 
ing her  pretty  new  cloak  to  Sunday-school 
because  it  would  make  the  other  little  girls 
w^ithout  pretty  cloaks  feel  so  badly.  She  rumi- 
nated over  that  idea,  too,  and  got  out  of  it  a 
wondering  consciousness  of  the  apparent  in- 
equalities of  mankind.  When  she  was  twelve 
she  found  her  father  with  a  paper  in  his  hand 
solemnly  and  sadly  reflecting  over  the  news 
of  the  death  of  Mazzini.  As  she  had  never 
heard  of  him  and  her  father  did  not  know 
him  personally,  she  was  puzzled  and  asked 
questions,  receiving  what  she  has  ever  since 
regarded  as  a  valuable  possession,  namely,  "a 
sense  of  the  genuine  relationship  which  may 
exist  between  men  yho  share  large  hopes  and 
like  desires,  even  thi>  gh  they  differ  in  nation- 
ality, language  and  cf,  -d."    She  never  thinks 


of  this  little  conversation  about  Mazzini  with- 
out recalling  Mrs.  Browning's  lines : 

"He  wrapt  his  little  daughter  in  his  large 
Man's  doublet,  careless  did  it  fit  or  no." 

But  a  more  powerful  experience  came  to 
her  as  a  young  lady  traveling  in  London.  She 
saw  for  the  first  time  the  overcrowded  district 
of  a  great  city  at  midnight.  Here  is  the  pic- 
ture as  she  tells  it : 

"On  Mile  End  Road,  from  the  top  of  an  omni- 
bus which  paused  at  the  end  of  a  dingy  street 
lighted  by  only  occasional  flares  of  gas,  we  saw 
two  huge  masses  of  ill-clad  people  clamoring 
around  two  hucksters'  carts.  They  were  bidding 
their  farthings  and  ha'-pennies  for  a  vegetable 
held  up  by  the  auctioneer,  which  he  at  last  scorn- 
fully flung,  with  a  gibe  for  its  cheapness,  to  the 
successful  bidder.  In  the  momentary  pause  only 
one  man  detached  himself  from  the  groups.  He 
had  bidden  in  a  cabbage,  and  when  it  struck  his 
hand,  he  instantly  sat  down  on  the  curb,  tore  it 
with  his  teeth  and  hastily  devoured  it,  unwashed 
and  uncooked  as  it  was.  He  and  his  fellows  were 
types  of  the  'submerged  tenth,'  as  our  missionary 
guide  told  us,  with  some  little  satisfaction  in  the 
then  new  phrase,  and  he  further  added  that  so 
many  of  them  could  scarcely  be  seen  in  one  spot 
save  at  this  Saturday  night  auction,  the  desire  for 
cheap  food  being  apparently  the  one  thing  which 
could  move  them  simultaneously.  They  were 
huddled  into  ill-fitting,  cast-off  clothing,  Ae 
ragged  finery  which  one  sees  only  in  East  Lon- 
don. Their  pale  faces  were  dominated  by  that 
most  unlovely  of  human  expressions,  the  cun- 
ning and  shrewdness  of  the  bargain-hunter  who 
starves  if  he  cannot  make  a  successful  trade,  and 
yet  the  final  impression  was  not  of  ragged,  tawdry 
clothing  nor  of  pinched  and  sallow  faces,  but  of 
myriads  of  hands,  empty,  pathetic,  nerveless  and 
workworn,  showing  white  in  the  uncertain  light 
of  the  street,  and  clutching  forward  for  food 
which  was  already  unfit  to  eat." 

That  picture  of  the  myriad  hands  groping 
upward  always  clutches  at  Miss  Addams's 
heart  to  this  day  whenever  she  sees  a  num- 
ber of  human  hands  held  up,  even  if  they 
are  the  chubby  hands  of  children  raised  in  re- 
sponse to  a  teacher's  inquiry.  One  is  reminded 
by  it,  too,  of  the  picture  (see  Current  Lit- 
erature for  August,  1905)  by  Leempoels,  enti- 
tled "Destiny  and  Humanity." 

At  that  time  she  was  fresh  from  college  and 
more  or  less  of  an  invalid.  A  spinal  difficulty 
had  developed  (interrupting  a  course  in  medi- 
cine which  she  was  taking),  and  to  the  nerv- 
ous depression  resulting  she  attributes  in  part 
the  "preposterous  conclusions"  which  she  drew 
from  this  vision  of  squalor  and  sin.  "It  was," 
she  says,  "a  most  fragmentary  and  lurid  view 


378 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


THE    ••ONLY    SAINT"   JOHN    BURNS    FOUND  IN 
AMERICA 

The  decisive  experience  in  the  life  of  Jane  Addams, 
of  Hull  House,  ChicaRo,  was  the  witnessing:  ot  a  Spanish 
bull-figrht,  and  the  shame  that  came  of  her  keen  enjoy- 
ment  of_the^8pectacle. 

of  the  poverty  of  East  London,  quite  as  unfair, 
within  its  limits,  as  that  recently  presented  by 
Jack  London  in  his  'Children  of  the  Abyss/ 
I  should  have  been  told  either  less  or  more." 
At  the  very  moment  when  she  witnessed  this 
spectacle  she  was  reminded  of  De  Quincey's 
"Vision  of  Sudden  Death,"  in  which  he  tells 
of  seeing  two  absorbed  lovers  step  out  sud- 
denly in  the  direct  path  of  a  huge  mail-coach 
on  which  he  was  riding.  He  tried  to  cry  out 
in  warning,  but  could  not  make  a  sound  be- 
cause his  mind  became  entangled  at  once  in 
an  endeavor  to  recall  the  exact  lines  of  the 
Iliad  in  which  Achilles  alarmed  all  militant 
Asia.  Not  until  he  could  recall  the  lines  was 
the  temporary  paralysis  of  his  will  removed, 
the  shout  given,  the  calamity  averted.  Some- 
thing like  this  experience  of  De  Quincey's 
entered  into  Miss  Addams's  life  at  this  point: 

"For  two  years  in  the  midst  of  my  distress  over 
the  poverty  which,  thus  suddenly  driven  into  my 
consciousness,  had  become  to  me  the  'fVelt- 
schmers'  as  it  were,  there  was  mingled  a  sense  of 
futility,  of  misdirected  energy,  the  belief  that  the 
pursuit  of  cultivation  would  not  in  Uic  wd  bring 


either  solace  or  relief.  I  gradually  reached  a 
conviction  that  the  first  generation  of  college 
women  had  taken  their  learning  too  quickly,  had 
departed  too  suddenly  from  the  active,  emotional 
life  led  by  their  grandmothers  and  great-grand- 
mothers; that  they  had  developed  too  exclusively 
the  power  of  acquiring  knowledge  and  of  merely 
receiving  impressions ;  that  somewhere  in  the  pro- 
cess of  'being  educated'  they  had  lost  that  simple 
and  almost  automatic  response  to  the  human  ap- 
peal, that  old  healthful  reaction  which  results  in 
activity  from  the  mere  presence  of  suffering  or 
of  helplessness;  that  educators  have  neglected 
what  even  the  greatest  modern  apostle  of  culture 
admitted,  that  'Conduct  and  not  culture  is  three* 
fourths  of  human  life.'" 

The  idea  of  a  social  settlement  began  then 
to  assume  definite  shape.  She  recalled  the 
lines  of  Tomlinson: 

"Ye  have  read,  ye  have  heard,  ye  have  thought, 
.    .    .    give  answer, — what  ha'  ye  done?" 

For  five  years  she  went  about  dreaming 
about  her  plan,  filling  note-books  with  quota- 
tions and  conversations  and  reflections,  but 
doing  nothing. 

And  then  came  that  Spanish  bull-fight: 

"I  was  in  Madrid  with  a  little  party  of  old 
school  friends,  including  Miss  Ellen  G.  Starr. 
We  had  been  to  see  a  bull-fight  rendered  in  the 
most  magnificent  Spanish  style,  where,  greatly  to 
my  surprise  and  horror,  I  found  myself  so  swept 
away  in  a  spirit  of  adventure  and  contest  that  I 
had  seen  five  bulls  and  many  more  horses  killed 
with  comparative  indifference.  The  sense  that 
this  was  the  last  survival  of  all  the  glories  of  the 
amphitheatre,  the  illusion  that  the  riders  on  the 
caparisoned  horses  might  have  been  knights  of 
a  tournament,  or  the  slightly-armed  matadore  a 
gladiator  facing  his  martyrdom,  and  all  the  rest 
of  the  obscure  yet  vivid  association  which  an  his- 
toric survival  always  produces,  had  carried  me 
beyond  the  endurance  of  any  of  the  rest  of  the 
party.  I  finally  met  them  in  the  foyer,  stem  and 
pale  with  disapproval  of  my  brutal  endurance, 
and  but  partially  recovered  from  the  faintness 
and  disgust  which  the  spectacle  itself  had  pro- 
duced upon  them.  I  had  no  defense  to  offer  to 
their  reproaches  save  that  I  had  not  thought 
much  about  the  bloodshed ;  but  in  the  evening  the 
natural  and  inevitable  reaction  came,  and  in  deep 
chagrin  I  felt  myself  tried  and  condemned  by  the 
whole  situation  as  it  had  been  revealed  by  this 
disgusting  experience.  It  was  suddenly  made 
quite  clear  to  me  that  I  had  lulled  my  conscience 
for  years  by  a  dreamer's  scheme,  that  a  mere 
paper  reform  had  become  a  defense  for  continued 
idleness,  and  that  I  had  made  it  a  raison  d'etre  for 
going  on  indefinitely  with  study  and  travel.  The 
possession  of  this  plan  had  given  me.  an  excuse 
to  seek  relief  from  the  cathedrals  and  churches 
in  order  to  visit  an  occasiona'.  hospital  or  orphan- 
age. It  had  made  it  seem  n  2cessary  to  study  the 
beginning  of  early  Christi^in  Charity,  and  the 
changed  attitude  toward  th.e  slave  and  the  poor 
which  that  wonderful  gr.  jup  of  Early  Roman 
Christians  represented,  ^  i  in  reality  it  made  an 
e3??9llent  excuse  for  cnj/^ng  an  archaeologist  tg 


PERSONS  IN  THE  FOREGROUND 


379 


interpret  the  catacombs  day  after  day,  and  it 
afforded  me  an  opportunity  to  travel  to  Ravenna 
with  the  sense  of  an  important  commission.  I 
had  persuaded  myself  that  I  was  studying  the 
galleries  in  Italy  and  Germany  to  trace  the  inti- 
mation of  the  coming  social  change  as  it  was  set 
forth  by  Botticelli  and  Durer,  their  canvases  sur- 
charged with  pity  for  the  downtrodden,  and  with 
longing  for  fuller  human  relations,  while  in  real- 
ity I  enjoyed  the  picture-galleries  for  themselves 
and  for  all  they  suggested.  In  short,  I  had  be- 
come a  dupe  of  a  deferred  purpose  of 

"The  will  that  cannot  itself  awaken, 

From  the  promise  the  future  can  never  keep.' 

"I  had  fallen  into  the  meanest  type  of  self-de- 
ception in  making  myself  believe  that  all  this  was 
in  preparation  of  great  things  to  come,  and  noth- 
ing less  than  the  moral  reaction  following  the  ex- 
perience at  a  bull-fight  had  been  able  to  reve;il  to 
mc  that  so  far  from  following  in  the  wake  of  a 
chariot  of  philanthropic  fire,  I  had  been  tied  to  the 


tail  of  the  veriest  ox-cart  of  self-seeking.  I  re- 
member repeating  to  myself  the  scathing  words  of 
Fader, 

"  'I  use  my  love  of  others  for  a  gilding 
To  make  myself  more  fair.' " 

The  next  January  found  her  and  Miss  Starr 
in  Chicago  searching  for  a  building  in  which 
to  start  their  social  settlement.  For  fifteen 
years  now  Hull  House  has  been  a  rendezvous 
for  those  who  do  as  well  as  dream,  and  a 
beacon-light  to  the  poor  and  oppressed  who 
would  strive  upward.  Its  object,  as  stated  in 
its  articles  of  incorporation,  is:  "To  provide 
a  center  for  a  higher  civic  and  social  life;  to 
institute  and  maintain  educational  and  philan- 
thropic enterprises,  and  to  investigate  and 
improve  the  conditions  in  the  industrial  dis- 
tricts of  Chicago." 


THE   SUNNY   PERSONALITY  OF  ENRICO  CARUSO 


How  strictly  the  parents  of  Caruso,  the 
greatest  of  living  tenors,  observed  the  deca- 
logue we  do  not  know;  but  it  is  certain  that 
they  were  zealous  observers  of  another  com- 
mand that  far  outdates  the  ten  command- 
ments, that  was,  in  fact,  the  first  of  all  injunc- 
tions laid  upon  mankind :  "Be  fruitful  and  mul- 
tiply." There  was  a  baker's  dozen  of  young- 
sters in  the  family  ahead  of  Enrico,  and  ten 
more  came  to  share  the  ftm  afterward,  making 
twenty-four  in  all.  The  family  lived  in  or  near 
Naples  and  belonged  to  the  peasant  class. 
They  lived,  for  the  most  part,  out  in  the  sun- 
shine, and  the  personality  as  well  as  the  voice 
of  Enrico  seems  to  have  retained  a  sunny  qual- 
ity through  all  these  thirty-two  years  of  his 


existence.  He  is  full  of  jollity  and  dearly 
loves  to  joke,  and  one  of  his  entertainments 
is  the  drawing  of  caricatures  of  his  associates, 
Conried,  Blass,  Scotti,  Hertz,  Planqon,  and 
the  rest;  and  of  many  of  his  humorous  car- 
toons he  is  himself  the  subject 

He  sang  at  the  age  of  ten,  when  playing 
about  the  streets  of  Naples,  as  the  birds  sing, 
because  he  couldn't  help  it.  Nobody  ever 
thought  much  about  his  singing  then  except 
his  mother.  She  used  to  stop  her  work  to 
listen  to  him,  and  she  was  sure  he  would  be 
great.  No  musicians,  so  far  as  he  knows, 
were  in  the  family  before  him,  and  his  father 
positively  disliked  music  of  all  sorts;  so  the 
mother's  belief  was  laughed  at,  especially  by 


CARUSO  AS  A  CARICATURIST 
His  sketches>f  Alfred  Hertz,  the  Wagnerian  conductor,  in  full  action. 


38o 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


ONE  OF  A  FAMILY  OP  TWENTY-FOUR 
CHILDREN 

'*  If  the  time  ever  comes,"  says  Enrico  Caruso,  the 
S^reat  tenor.  **  when  I  am  convinced  that  I  am  extraordi- 
nary, it  will  be  a  danger  sigrnal.  My  art  will  decline.  I 
will  say  to  myself,  '  Caruso  can  do  no  wrong,*  and  the 
belief  will  be  fatal." 

the  father,  who  doesn't  believe,  or  professes 
not  to  believe,  even  to  this  day,  that  his 
son's  voice  is  anything  extraordinary,  though, 
Enrico  says,  "by  sending  him  money  I  try  to 
prove  it." 

"I  had  no  teacher,"  says  Caruso;  "I  taught 
myself.  I  sang  as  I  breathed — I  breathed  as 
I  walked.  Song  was  in  the  air  about  me." 
When  he  was  fifteen  he  had  quite  a  local  rep- 
utation, gained  from  singing  in  the  churches 
of  Naples;  but  he  had  to  go  to  work  as  a 
mechanic  to  help  earn  a  living  for  the  fam- 
ily. He  went  into  a  factory  where  they  made 
chemical  products,  and  instead  of  sulking  and 
mooning,  he  took  a  real  interest  in  his  work 
and  kept  his  job.  Three  years  later  he  met 
a  distinguished  baritone  singer  who  reproached 
him  for  not  properly  cultivating  his  voice  and 
took  him  to  Maestro  Vergine,  who  offered  to 
teach  him  for  three  years  and  take  twenty-five 
per  cent,  of  his  earnings  for  the  first  five  years 
after  he  made  his  debut.  But  friction  came 
almost  at  once  between  pupil  and  teacher  be- 
cause Caruso  insisted  on  singing  outside  of 
school  to  earn  a  little  money.  At  twenty  he 
enlisted  in  the  army,  and  his  colonel  became  so 
interested  that  he  relieved  Caruso  from  all 
hard  work  and  found  him  a  teacher  with  whem 
to  study.  After  a  year  and  a  half,  one  of  ^his 
brothers  became  his  substitute  and  Enrico  was 
exempted  from  further  service  that  he  might 


go  back  to  Vergine.  Six  months  later,  in  1894, 
at  the  age  of  twenty-three,  he  made  his  debut 
in  Naples  in  "L'Amico  Francesco."  The  debut 
was  a  brilliant  success.  Speaking  of  it,  in 
Munsey's  Magazine,  Emma  B.  Kaufman  says : 
"The  father  remembers  the  day  of  his  son's 
first  public  appearance.  So  does  half  of  Na- 
ples. It  was  in  the  Teatro  Nuovo,  and — won- 
der of  wonders ! — ^young  Caruso  was  to  receive 
forty  francs  a  month  for  singing — ^just  for 
singing  I  All  day  long  the  father  went  about 
chuckling  to  himself.  They  were  going  to 
pay  Enrico  to  sing !  He  was  to  sing  in  'Amico 
Francesco,'  an  opera  by  Signor  Morelli,  and 
people  would  give  up  lire  to  hear  him !"  Now 
Enrico  receives  $1,200  a  night,  and  he  has  to 
spend  10,000  francs  in  a  single  season  on  the 
clothes  which  he  wears  when  off  the  stage  be- 
cause, he  says  complainingly,  they  tell  him 
he  must  dress  better  in  order  to  be  appreci- 
ated. 

Dignity  does  not  weigh  very  heavily  upon 
the  great  tenor.  He  is  said  to  turn  hand- 
springs occasionally  behind  the  scenes,  and  he 
loves  to  trifle  with  his  more  dignified  asso- 
ciates. Here,  for  instance,  is  a  story  Miss 
Kaufman  tells  of  a  practical  joke  played  by 
Caruso  upon  another  Italian  opera-singer, 
Giraldoni : 

"Caruso  is  singing  divinely  one  of  his  most  fa- 
mous parts — Enso  in  T-a  Gioconda.'  His  friend 
Giraldoni  meets  him  in  the  center  of  the  stage. 
They  bow  with  dignity,  they  shake  hands  with 
empressement.  So  it  appears  to  the  splendid,  ex- 
pensive audience  that  fills  the  auditorium;  but 
Giraldoni  feels  something  in  his  hand,  something 
soft  and  smooth.  He  clutches  it  while  Caruso 
whispers  'Beware!*  Furtively  Giraldoni  looks 
down.  He  has  in  his  hand  an  tgg.  'Beware,  be- 
ware!' He  tries  to  give  the  egg  to  the  chorus, 
but  the  men  of  the  chorus  adore  Caruso,  and  will 
not  spoil  his  joke.  For  the  rest  of  that  scene 
Giraldoni  breathes  forth  melody  gesticulating 
with  one  clenched  hand  in  which  he  clutches  an 

Here  is  another  little  incident  as  related  by 
Caruso  to  Miss  Kaufman  of  a  joke  played  by 
Caruso  upon  Conried : 

"At  mention  of  his  comrades,  Signor  Caruso's 
face  is  wreathed  in  reminiscent  smiles.  'Wait, 
wait !'  he  cries,  and  flies  from  the  room  in  a  most 
un-tenor-like  way.  He. rushes  up-stairs,  two  steps 
at  a  time.  He  returns  breathless,  his  arms  full 
of  caricatures,  his  eyes  twinkling  at  the  prospect 
of  showing  them. 

"'Here — ^here  is  Conried  as  a  type  of  your 
America !' 


PERSONS  IN  THE  FOREGROUND 


381 


"He  turas  a  paper  on  wnich  he  has  caricatured 
the  herr  direktor  with  a  telephone  pressed  to  his 
ear.  'That  is  the  way  you  find  him — busy  al- 
ways—eternally busy,  even  when  he  is  resting. 
This  is  the  way  he  gives  us  his  attention.  I  seek 
him  fall  of  trouble.  He  declares  himself  at  my 
disposal  Instantly  the  telephone  clangs.  Some 
one  at  the  other  end  of  the  wire  claims  one  ear — 
only  one  is  left  to  me.  I  determine  to  have  both. 
I  whisper.  That  night  is  the  premiere  of  *"La 
Favorita."  Instantly  Conried  drops  the  telephone. 
He  is  alarmed— excited. 

'''"What  is  it?"  he  cries.  "Are  you  hoarse? 
Caruso,  speak  1" 

'*  The  telephone  rings  in  vain  now.  I  have  not 
only  his  two  ears,  but  also  his  two  eyes.  I  keep 
him   in  suspense,  still  whispering. 

"  *  "Are  you  hoarse?"  he  cries  again. 

"  'At  last  I  answer.    I  whisper : 

"  *  "I  do  not  know,  because  I  have  not  tried  to 
speak  aloud." ' " 

Caruso  has  his  little  superstitions.  "Let 
me  meet  hay  in  the  street,"  he  says,  ''a  bale  of 
hay,   and    I    will   dare   any   high    note   ever 


reached  for  by  a  tenor.  Hay  represents  in- 
fallible good  fortune,  just  as  passing  under  a 
rope  or  a  scaffolding  foretells  sure  disaster." 

Physically,  he  is  five  feet  nine  inches  high, 
but  his  rounded  shoulders  and  thick  neck  give 
him  a  short,  stocky  appearance.  His  chest 
girth,  in  repose,  measures  forty-nine  inches, 
and  he  can  expand  it  to  fifty-four  inches. 
"His  face  is  as  unlined  as  a  boy's  and  his 
cheeks  glow  with  health."  He  has  no  con- 
cern with  the  scientific  study  of  music,  and  his 
first  attempt  to  sing  in  anything  but  Italian 
was  his  recent  essay  of  the  title  role  in 
"Faust,"  in  French.  He  refuses  to  worship 
himself,  and  he  says:  "Extraordinary  people 
are  uncomfortable,  are  they  not?  I  am  not 
of  their  class.  If  the  time  ever  comes  when 
I  am  convinced  that  I  am  extraordinary,  it 
will  be  a  danger  signal.  My  art  will  decline. 
I  shall  say  to  myself:  'Caruso  can  do  no 
wrong,'  and  the  belief  will  be  fatal." 


THE  LOVE  STORY  OF  A  FAMOUS  STATESMAN  TOLD 
BY  HIS  FAMOUS  SON 


No  more  romantic  career  has  been  seen  in 
British  politics  since  the  days  of  Canning  than 
that  of  Lord  Ran- 
dolph Churchill,  who, 
famous  at  thirty  and 
the  virtual  leader  of 
his  party  at  thirty- 
seven,  was  a  broken 
and  dying  man  at 
forty.  He  was  espe- 
cially familiar  to 
Americans  as  the 
Briton  who,  by  mar- 
rying Miss  Jennie 
Jerome,  of  New  York, 
practically  inaugu- 
rated that  series 
of  trans-A  1 1  a  n  t  i  c 
matches  which  is  now 
said  to  be  modifying 
the  tone  of  the  House 
of  Lords.  Now  the 
son  of  Lord  Randolph 
Churchill,  the  Win- 
ston Churchill  who  is 
himself  so  conspicu- 
ous a  figure  in  the 
Commons,    has    writ- 


11  AcmtllAn  Co. 


KTON 

Lord  Randolph  Churchill 
gave  his  parents  much  food 
for  thoufifnt  "by  his  peculiar- 
itietat  tSdft  time. 


ten  a  life  of  his  father*  and  in  doing  so,  has 
revealed,   as  the  London  Post  thinks,   what 
manner  of  man  he  is 
himself. 

For  it  is  thought 
not  improbable  that 
the  lesson  of  his 
father's  life  has  sunk 
deeply  into  the  son's 
mind  and  that  the 
tragedy  and  failure  of 
it  led  Winston 
Churchill  to  abandon 
the  Conservatives  and 
go  over  to  Sir  Henry 
Campbell-Bannerman, 
who  has  just  be- 
stowed office  upon 
him.  Be  that  as  it 
may,  the  son  is  cen- 
sured by  the  London 
Telegraph  for  telling 
the  story  of  his  fa- 
ther's courtship  with  copyright  by  The  MacmnknCo. 
OXFORD 

♦Lord  Randolph   Chur-  His  studies  were  not  se- 

CHILL.      By  Winston  vere,   but     Lord    Randolph 

Spencer  Churchill,   M.P.  stuck  to  them,  complaining 

In    two   volumes.      The  in  after  years,  that  tney  did 

Macmillan  Company.  not  stick  to  him. 


382 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


Ck>pyrtght  by  the  MBcmlllan  Co. 

THE    MOST    BRILLIANT    FAILURE    IN    ENGLISH 
POLITICS 

Lord  Randolph  Churchill,  whose  resignation  from  the 
Salisbury  ministry  was  accepted  to  make  room,  it  is  said, 
for  Arthur  Balfour  in  political  life. 

"a  freedom  from  reserve"  not  common  in 
England.  The  human  interest  of  the  nar- 
rative at  this  point  is  certainly  intense  and 
the  young  American  girl  most  concerned  was 
beautiful  enough  to  warrant  an  even  greater 
wealth  of  detail.  Here  is  how  the  son  offends 
against  good  taste  in  the  opinion  of  a  great 
British  newspaper: 

"In  August  of  1873  Lord  Randolph  went  to 
Cowes  upon  what  proved  to  him  a  memorable 
visit.  In  honor  of  the  arrival  of  the  Czarevitch 
and  the  Czarevna  the  officers  of  the  cruiser 
Ariadne,  then  lying  as  guard  ship  in  the  Roads, 
gave  a  ball,  to  which  all  the  pleasure  seekers  who 
frequent  the  Solent  at  this  season  of  the  year 
made  haste  to  go  in  boats  and  launches  from  the 
shore  and  from  the  pleasure  fleet.  Here,  for  the 
first  time,  he  met  Miss  Jerome,  an  American  girl 
whose  singular  beauty  and  gifted  vivacity  had 
excited  general  attention.  He  was  presented  to 
her  by  a  common  friend.  Waltzing  made  him 
giddy  and  he  detested  dancing  of  all  kinds;  so 
that  after  a  formal  quadrille  they  sat  and  talked. 
She  was  living  with  her  mother  and  eldest  sister 
at  Rosetta  Cottage,  a  small  house  which  thev  had 
taken  for  the  summer,  with  a  tiny  garden  facing 
.the  sea.  Thither  the  next  night,  duly  bidden,  he 
repaired  to  dine.  The  dinner  was  good,  the 
company  gay  and  attractive  and  with  the  two 


yotmg  ladies  chatting  and  playine  duets  at  the 
piano  the  evening  passed  very  pleasantly.  She 
was  nineteen  and  he  scarcely  twenty-four;  and 
if  Montaigne  is  to  be  believed,  this  period  of 
extreme  youth  is  love's  golden  moment.  That 
very  night  Miss  Jerome  told  her  laughing  and 
incredulous  sister  that  their  new  friend  was  the 
man  she  would  marry;  and  Lord  Randolph  con- 
fided to  Colonel  Edgecumbe,  who  was  of  the 
party,  that  he  admired  the  two  sisters  and  meant, 
if  he  could,  to  make  the  *dark  one'  his  wife. 

"Next  day  they  met  again  *by  accident' — so  runs 
the  account  I  have  received — and  went  for  a 
walk.  That  evening  he  was  once  more  a  guest 
at  Rosetta  Cottage.  Thai  night — ^the  third  of 
their  acquaintance — ^was  a  beautiful  night,  warm 
and  still,  with  the  lights  of  the  yachts  shining  on 
the  water  and  the  sky  bright  with  stars.  After 
dinner  they  found  themselves  alone  together  in 
the  garden  and — ^brief  courtship  notwithstanding — 
he  proposed  and  was  accepted. 

"So  far  as  the  principals  were  concerned,  every- 
thing was  thus  easily  and  swiftly  settled,  and  the 
matter  having  become  so  earnest  all  further  meet- 
ings were  suspended  until  the'  Duke  of  Marl- 
borough and  Mr.  Jerome,  who  was  in  America, 
had  been  consulted.  Lord  Randolph  returned  to 
Blenheim  (seat  of  the  Duke,  his  father)  shaken 
by  alternating  emotions  of  joy  and  despondency. 
He  had  never  been  in  love  before  and  the  force 
and  volume  of  the  tide  swept  him  altogether  off 
his  feet.  At  one  moment  he  could  scarcely  be- 
lieve that  one  so  unworthy  as  he  could  have  been 
preferred ;  the  next  he  trembled  lest  all  his  hopes 
should  be  shattered  by  circumstances  unforeseen." 

Nor,  indeed,  was  his  anxiety  without  reason. 
Many  and  serious  obstacles  had  to  be  en- 
countered. The  duke  could  not  understand 
how  so  deep  an  attachment  could  spring  up  be- 
tween young  people  after  an  acquaintance 
begun  but  three  days  previously.  Mr.  Jerome, 
from  the  remoteness  of  New  York,  was  not 
very  approachable  on  the  subject  of  marriage 
settlements.  Lord  Randolph  Churchill  angrily 
declared  that  he  would  take  Miss  Jerome 
without  settlements  of  any  kind.  Mr.  Jerome 
at  last  made  settlements  that  were  handsome 
enough,  and  the  match  was  made.  It  proved 
very  happy. 

Had  Lord  Randolph  consulted  his  wife,  he 
would  certainly  have  avoided  the  fatal  mistake 
of  his  career.  That  much  seems  clear  from 
the  narrative  of  his  son.  Lord  Randolph  was 
a  man  with  whom  it  was  very  hard  to  "get 
along."  He  was  not  adapted  for  team  work. 
Brilliant,  eloquent,  widely  read,  generous, 
there  was  that  fatal  imperiousness  in  his 
nature  which  made  him  chafe  under  tutelage. 
So,  at  the  climax  of  his  political  career,  he 
threw  up  his  office  of  Chancellor  of  the  Ex- 
chequer in  a  pet.  English  dailies  reviewing 
this  biography  take  occasion  to  compare  the 
son  and  the  father.      Winston  is  told  that  he 


PERSONS  IN  THE  FOREGROUND 


383 


possesses  his  father's  impatience  and  im- 
perioasness  and  he  is  warned  against  those 
fatal  qualities.  Here  is  a  paragraph  from  the 
biography  which,  we  are  assured,  may  turn 
out  prophecy  if  this  biographer  of  his  famous 
father  does  not  beware: 


"Lord  Randolph  seemed  at  this  time  (ifi 
to  have  been  separated  only  by  a  single  step  from 
a  career  of  dazzling  prosperity  and  fame.  With 
a  swiftness  which  in  modem  parliamentary  his- 
tory had  been  excelled  only  by  the  younger  Pitt, 
he  had  risen  by  no  man's  leave  or  monarch's  favor 
from  the  station  of  a  private  gentleman  to  almost 
ihc  first  position  under  the  crown.  Upon  the  con- 
tinent he  was  already  regarded  as  the  tuture  mas- 
ter of  Elnglish  politics.  His  popularity  among  the 
people  was  unsurpassed.  He  was  steadily  gain- 
ing the  confidence  of  the  sovereign  and  the  re- 
spect and  admiration  of  the  most  serious  and  en- 
lightened men  of  his  day.  His  natural  gifts  were 
still  ripening  and  his  mind  expanding.  TTie  House 
of  Gumnons  had  responded  instinctively  to  the 
leadership  of  'a  great  man  of  Parliament' 
Alike  in  the  glare  and  clatter  of  the  platform  and 
in  the  silent  diligence  of  a  public  department  he 
was  found  equal  to  all  the  varied  tasks  which  are 
laid  upon  an  English  Minister.  If  he  were  thus 
armed  and  equipped  at  thirty-seven,  what  would 
he  be  at  fifty  ?  Who  could  have  guessed  that  ruin, 
utter  and  irretrievable,  was  marching  swiftly  upon 
this  triumphant  figure ;  that  the  great  party  which 
had  followed  his  lead  so  blithely  would,  in  a  few 
brief  months,  turn  upon  him  in  abiding  dis- 
pleasure; and  that  the  Parliament  which  had  as- 
sembled to  find  him  so  powerful  and  to  accept 
his  guidance  would  watch  him  creep  away  in  sad- 
ness and  alone?" 

Queen  Victoria  was  among  those  who  re- 
garded Lord  Randolph  at  this  time  with  keen 
displeasure.  True,  he  had  received  from  her 
Majesty  the  most  complimentary  of  personal 
letters  not  long  before  his  sensational  resigna- 
tion ;  but  after  that  event  she  conveyed  to  him, 
through    her    secretary,    the   knowledge    that 


Copyiighi  by  the  Macmllian  Co. 

THE  FASCINATING  MISS  JEROME 

She  received  a  proposal  from  Lord  Randolph  after  a 
three  days'  acquaintance  and  accepted  bim. 

he  had  fallen  into  disgrace  with  her.  What 
he  did  was  to  tell  the  London  Times  of  his 
resignation  before  he  had  informed  the  Queen, 
or,  to  be  more  accurate,  before  the  Prime 
Minister  had  been  given  an  opportunity  to 
transmit  the  news.  Her  Majesty  seems  not 
to  have  had  the  remotest  notion  that  Lord 
Randolph  had  quitted  the  ministry  until  she 
saw  the  announcement  in  the  great  London 
daily. 


THE  MOST  FAMOUS  OF  LIVING  IRISHMEN 


John  Edward  Redmond  embodies  in  his  own 
person  the  antithesis  of  all  the  qualities  com- 
monly associated  with  the  English  idea  of  a 
home-ruler,  says  the  London  Mail,  The  Mail 
is  Mr.  Redmond's  inveterate  enemy  politically, 
but  it  makes  no  secret  of  its  liking  and  admira- 
tion of  the  Irish  leader  in  his  human  aspect. 
That  aspect,  says  the  London  daily,  is  simply 
delightful.  In  demeanor,  it  is  true,  Mr.  John 
Edward  Redmond — not  to  be  confused  with 
his  brother  Will — is  as  solemn  and  as  grandly 


dignified  as  a  foreign  ambassador  in  court  cos- 
tume. He  dresses  like  a  member  of  the  royal 
family,  but  his  head  betokens  an  intellect  sug- 
gesting Aristotle's.  Then  there  is  that  melo- 
dious voice.  There  is  something  in  the  plain- 
tiveness  of  it  that  makes  women  weep  when- 
ever Mr.  Redmond  describes  an  Irish  eviction. 
There  is  a  buoyancy  in  the  man's  laughter  at 
unionism  that  is  contagious.  Mr.  Redmond  is 
the  only  member  of  the  House  of  Commons 
known  to  have  made  Arthur  Balfour  laugh 


384 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


THE  SUCCESSOR  OF  PARNELL 

John  Edward  Redmond  was  one  of  the  minority  which 
siaed  with  Parnell  when  that  uncrowned  Kingf  of  Ireland 
lost  his  grip  upon  the  Home  Rule  party. 

heartily.  With  no  trace  of  Hibernian  accent, 
^Mr.  Redmond  has  so  rare  an  elocutionary  gift 
that  labor  members  have  begun  to  study  his 
oratorical  style  in  the  house.  He  is  the  best 
speaker  there  to-day;  but  that  is  not  saying 
much  for  him,  adds  The  Mail.  Many  of  the 
best  speakers  lost  their  seats  in  the  recent 
landslide. 

Mr.  Redmond  is  noted  for  a  facial  resem- 
blance to  one  or  two  great  men  in  the  past — 
Napoleon  especially.  He  is  of  the  middle 
height,  with  a  short,  thick  neck  encircled  with 
the  old-fashioned  collar.  The  rotundity  of  the 
figure,  now  that  he  has  attained  the  age  of 
fifty,  is  increasing  visibly.    Further: 

"Mr.  John  Redmond  is  the  son  of  an  Irish 
member;  he  was  a  barrister  in  England  before 
he  was  called  to  the  bar  in  Ireland,  and  he  was  a 
clerk  at  the  vote  office  of  the  House  of  Commons, 
aged  twenty-five,  when  Mr.  Parnell  'discovered' 
him.  He  created  a  record  the  first  day  he  was  a 
member  of  Parliament.  Hurrying  from  his  con- 
stituency of  New  Ross  to  Westminster,  he  took 
his  seat,  made  his  maiden  speech,  got  up  *a  scene,' 
and  was  suspended  before  the  clock  struck  twelve. 

"That  achievement  stood  him  in  good  stead,  for 
it  saved  him  from  going  to  prison  for  a  certificate 
of  character.  His  brother  'Willie'  goes  to  prison 
occasionally,  and  the  glory  of  it  is  shared  by  the 
family.  Mr.  Redmond  has  a  superb  gift  of  si- 
lence; 'Willie'  is  vocal  on  the  slightest  provoca- 
tion. Mr.  Redmond  is  dignified  in  the  highest 
degree;  'Willie'  plays  the  buffoon  with  zest  and 


WIFE  OF  THE  IRISH  HOME  RULE  LEADER 

Mrs.  John  E.  Redmond  is  admired  for  the  tact  with 
which*  she  dispenses  the  hospitality  of  her  London  resi- 
dence to  Home  Ruler  and  Unionist  alike. 

a    frank   impudence   that   make    him    a   general 
favourite." 

If  fault  may  be  hinted  at,  Mr.  John — ^unlike 
Willie  again — ^never  can  free  himself  from  a 
tendency  to  pomposity.  He  tries  hard,  but  he 
fails.  The  pomposity,  however,  is  not  offen- 
sive. Indeed,  it  delights  his  friends,  and  op- 
ponents make  allowance  for  it.  It  actually 
completes  the  man  and  gives  his  leadership 
tone.    To  conclude: 

"He  possesses  undoubted  ability  and  consider- 
able parliamentary  talent.  If  he  were  a  member 
of  an  English  party  he  would  perhaps  receive  a 
minor  Cabinet  office.  In  the  full  flight  of  his 
oration  his  importance  and  his  figure  seem  to 
swell  out  and  overshadow  the  clamorous  throng 
at  his  feet  The  eagle  eye  beams  at  the  ringing 
cheers,  or  becomes  stern  and  fierce  as  he  hurls 
anathema  at  Mr.  Wyndham.  The  tragic  manner 
of  Roscius  alternates  with  the  soul-thrilling  de- 
meanour of  the  thunder-compelling  Jove,  and 
the  right  hand  slips  into  the  close-buttoned  frock 
coat,  bringing  the  shadow  of  Napoleon  into  the 
picture. 

"It  is  all  very  splendid,  very  imposing,  and  it  is 
highly  gratifying  to  the  gentlemen  from  Ireland 
to  feel  that  they  possess  the  best  orator  on  the 
Opposition  side.  If  Mr.  Healy  is  absent,  Mr. 
Redmond  is  safe.  If  Mr.  Healy  is  present,  he 
feels  as  if  a  mine  of  satire  were  ready  to  explode 
at  his  feet.  Mr.  Healy  does  not  like  Mr.  Red- 
mond, and  makes  game  of  this  enemy  of  landlords 
for  being  a  landlord  himself  and  selling  his  farms 
at  twenty-one  years'  purchase.  That  is  a  sore 
point,  which  Mr.  Healy  never  tires  of  nibbing." 


Literature  and  Art 


A  ROMANCE  IN  THE  LIFE  OF  CHARLES  DICKENS 


The  London  Tribune,  a  new  English  daily 
founded  under  Liberal  auspices,  has  recently 
printed  a  series  of  letters,  hitherto  unpub- 
lished, which  illuminate,  in  a  peculiarly  inti- 
mate way,  the  emotion  and  temperament  of 
Charles  Dickens,  the  famous  English  novelist. 
It  appears  from  these  letters,  which  have 
caused  a  sensation  in  the  literary  world  and 
have  evoked  a  spirited  protest  from  the  novel- 
ist's son,  Mr.  Henry  F.  Dickens,  that  there 
was  a  Weller  in  real  life — a  woman,  not  a  man 
— ^who  deeply  influenced  the  author  of  the  im- 
mortal "Pickwick  Papers." 

In  February,  1844,  Charles  Dickens  went  to 
Liverpool  to  give  an  address  at  the  Mechanics' 
Institution.  He  was  then  thirty-two  and  in 
the  full  flush  of  his  fame.  He  had  been  eight 
years  married,  and  had  three  children.  His 
marriage,  as  his  intimate  friends  were  aware, 
was  not  entirely  happy,  and  later  he  and  his 
wife  separated,  but  "without  a  breath  of  seri- 
ous scandal  on  either  side." 

At  Liverpool  he  was  lionized,  and  after  the 
address  a  musical  entertainment  followed.  A 
Miss  Christiana  Weller  played  on  the  piano- 
forte and  elicited  tremendous  applause.  When 
the  creator  of  Samuel  Weller  was  introduced 
to  Miss  Weller  there  was  "considerable  mer- 
riment." 

It  is  evident  that  Miss  Weller  was  the  girl 
to  whom  the  owner  of  the  letters  now  refers 
as  "a  yoiuig  creature  who,  though  in  her 
early  teens,  was  already  a  fine  musician,  whom 
Thalberg's  praise  had  half  persuaded  to  think 
of  music  as  a  possible  profession."  During  the 
evening,  it  seems,  Dickens  could  hardly  take 
his  eyes  from  her  face.  He  was  introduced, 
and  he  asked  permission  to  call  on  her,  which 
he  did.    He  wrote  to  her  impetuously : 

"Let  me  congratulate  you  with  my  whole  heart 
on  your  brilliant  achievements  last  night  Noth- 
ing could  have  been  more  successful,  graceful, 
charming — ^triumphant  in  every  particular.  I  felt 
a  pride  in  you  which  I  cannot  express.  I  do  not 
write  to  you  therefore  with  the  view  of  express- 
ing it,  or  giving  language  to  my  great  delight; 
but  merely  to  say  that  I  can't  do  either." 

Here  was  plainly  a  case  of  romantic  friend- 
ship— ^"that  ambiguous  force  in  the  lives  of 
all  men  of  genius."    The  second  letter  con- 


tained verses  and  was  followed  by  a  gift  of 
Tennyson's  poems — a  presentation  copy  to 
Dickens  from  the  poet  himself.  But  he  gave 
her  more  than  this — and  now  comes  the 
strangest  part  of  the  story.  He  introduced  to 
her  a  friend  who  had  come  from  London  to 
hear  his  address,  and  who  promptly  fell  in  love 
with  her  I  Dickens  found  himself  in  a  strange 
conflict  of  emotion.  From  Birmingham  he 
wrote  to  his  friend:  "Good  God!  What  a 
madman  I  should  seem  if  the  incredible  feel- 
ing I  have  conceived  for  that  girl  could  be 
made  plain  to  anyone."  Later  he  expressed 
himself  with  even  greater  intensity: 

"My  Dear, 

"I  swear  that  when  I  opened  and  read  your 
letter  this  morning  (I  laid  down  my  pen  to 
break  the  seal,  being  just  shut  up  in  my  own 
room)  I  felt  the  blood  go  from  my  face  to  I 
don't  know  where,  and  my  very  lips  turn  white. 
I  never  in  my  life  was  so  surprised,  or  had  die 
whole  current  of  my  life  so  stopped,  for  the  in- 
stant, as  when  I  felt,  at  a  glance,  what  your  letter 
said,  which  I  did  correctly.  For  when  I  came  to 
read  it  attentively,  and  several  dmes  over,  I 
found  nothing  new  in  it.  This  was  not  because 
it  contained  a  word  to  astonish  me,  but  because 
I  never  had  imagined  your  remaining  in  Liver- 
pool; or  seriously  admiring  her.  ...  I  ex- 
pected you  in  town  any  day — ^and  have  often  won- 
dered within  myself  whether  you  would  still  have 
an  interest  in  recalling,  with  me,  her  uncommon 
character  and  wonderful  endowments.  I  know 
that  in  many  points  I  am  an  excitable  and  head- 
strong man.  and  ride — Oh,  God,  what  prancing 
hobbies!— and  although  I  knew  that  the  impres- 
sion she  had  made  on  me  was  a  true,  deep,  honest, 
pure-spirited  thing.  I  thought  my  nature  might 
have  been  prepared  to  receive  it,  and  to  exagger- 
ate it  unconsciously,  and  to  keep  it  green  long 
after  such  a  fancy  as  I  deemed  it  probable  you 
might  have  conceived,  had  withered.  So  much  for 
my  injustice,  which  I  must  release  myself  of,  in 
the  first  instance. 

"You  ask  me  to  write,  and  I  think  you  want 
me  to  write  freely.  I  will  tell  you  what  I  would 
do  myself  if  I  were  in  your  case,  and  I  will 
tell  you  without  the  least  reserve. 

"If  I  had  all  your  independent  means,  and 
twenty  times  my  own  reputation  and  fame — and 
felt  as  irresistibly  impelled  toward  her  as  I  should 
if  I  were  in  your  place,  and  as  you  do — I  would 
not  hesitate,  or  do  that  slight  to  the  resolution 
of  my  own  heart  which  hesitation  would  imply; 
but  would  win  her  if  I  could.  I  would  answer 
it  to  myself,  if  any  world's  breath  whispered  me 
that  I  had  known  her  but  a  few  days,  that  hours 
of  hers  are  years  in  the  lives  of  common  women. 


386 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


A  NEW  DICKENS  TABLET 

Erected  on  the  side  of  Bleak  House,  Broadstairs,  Lon- 
don. Dickens  lived  in  Bleak  House  many  years  and 
wrote  some  of  his  greatest  works  there. 


That  it  is  in  such  a  face  and  such  a  spirit,  as  a 
part  of  its  high  nature,  to  do  at  once  what  less 
ethereal  creatures  must  be  long  in  doing.  That 
as  no  man  ever  saw  a  soul  or  caught  it  in  its 
flight,  no  man  can  measure  it  by  rule  and  rod. 
And  that  it  has  a  right,  in  such  lofty  development, 
to  pitch  all  forms  laid  down  by  bodies  to  the 
Devil — ^the  only  Being,  as  far  as  I  know,  who  was 
never  in  love  himself,  or  inspired  it  in  others. 

"And  to  the  father  I  would  point  out,  in  very 
tenderness  and  sorrow  for  this  gentle  creature, 
who  otherwise  is  lost  to  this  sad  world,  which 
needs  another.  Heaven  knows,  to  set  it  right — 
lost  in  her  youth,  as  surely  as  she  lives — ^that  the 
course  to  which  he  is  devoting  her  should  not 
be  called  her  life,  but  Death:  for  its  speedy  end 
is  certain.  I  saw  an  angel's  message  in  her  face 
that  day,  that  smote  me  to  the  heart.  He  may 
not  know  this,  being  always  with  her;  it  is  very 
likely  he  does  not;  and  I  would  tell  it  him.  Re- 
pose, change,  a  mind  at  rest,  a  foreign  climate, 
would  be,  in  a  springtime  like  hers,  the  dawning 
of  a  new  existence.  I  believe,  I  do  believe  and 
hope,  that  this  would  save  her;  and  that  many 
happy  years  hence  she  would  be  strong  and  hardy. 
But  at  the  worst,  contemplating  the  chance,  the 
distant  chance  in  such  a  case,  of  what  is  so  dread- 
ful, I  could  say  in  solemn  and  religious  earnest- 
ness that  I  could  bear  better  her  passing  from 
my  arms  to  Heaven,  than  I  could  endure  the 
thought  of  coldly  turning  off  into  the  world  again 
to  see  her  no  more.    .    .    . 

"As  I  live,  I  write  the  Truth,  and  feel  it. 

"So  many  ideas  spring  up  within  me,  of  the 
quiet  happiness  we  might  enjoy  abroad,  all  of 
us  together,  in  some  delicious  nook,  where  we 
should  make  merry  over  all  this  that  I  don't 
know  whether  to  be  glad  or  sorry  at  my  own 
hopefulness.    Such  Italian  castles,  bright  in  sunny 


days,  and  pale  in  moonlight  nights,  as  I  am  build- 
ing in  the  air!    .    .    . 

"I  never  was  more  in  earnest,  my  dear ,  in 

my  life. — Always  faithfully  your  friend, 

"CHARLES  DICKENS. 
"P.S. — I  don't  seem  to  have  said  half  enough/* 
In  two  succeeding  letters  Dickens  encour- 
aged the  suit  of  this  rather  diffident  aspirant 
for  the  lady's  hand.  "At  the  father,"  he  says, 
"I  snap  my  fingers.  I  would  leap  over  the 
head  of  the  tallest  father  in  Europe  if  his 
daughter's  heart  lay  on  the  other  side  and  were 
worth  having."  Then,  in  the  next  letter:  "I 
congratulate  you  with  all  my  heart  and  soul 
a  million  times.  It  is  a  noble  prize  you  have 
won."  A  third  letter,  addressed  to  the  young 
lady  herself,  tells  its  own  story.     We  quote : 

"To  my  amazement  I  have  found  one  friend  of 
mine  very  much  the  worse  for  a  visit  to  your 
town.  Something  comes  over  the  paper  like  the 
light  of  a  blush  from  you;  I  don't  know  what 
is  the  cause  of  the  effect,  but  it  is  very  red.  I 
mention  it  on  account  of  its  singularity — and 
losing  the  thread  of  my  discourse  in  doing  so  (it 
is  so  very  slight  that  it  is  hard  to  find)  I  must 
turn  over  leaf  and  look  back. 

"Oh !  My  friend  I  I  recollect.  Yes.  He  went 
to  Liverpool,  and  fell  desperately,  madly,  irre- 
trievably in  Love  there,  which  was  so  perfectly 
natural  (the  circumstances  of  his  case  being  quite 
uncommon,  and  his  provocation  enormous)  that  I 
could  not  find  it  in  my  heart  to  remonstrate  with 
him  for  his  folly.  Indeed,  I  rather  encouraged 
him  in  it  than  otherwise:  for. I  had  that  amount 
of  sympathy  with  his  condition,  which — ^but  that 
I  am  beyond  the  reach,  the  lawful  reach,  of  the 
Wings  that  fanned  his  fire — ^would  have  ren- 
dered it  the  greatest  happiness  and  pleasure  of 
my  life  to  have  run  him  through  the  body.  In 
no  poetical  or  tender  sense,  I  assure  you,  but  with 
good  sharp  steel.  He  fell  in  Love,  this  man,  and 
after  divers  misgivings  and  hesitations  and  de- 
liberations, and  all  that,  mentioned  the  fact — 
first  to  the  winds,  and  to  the  gentle  airs  that 
blow  in  Mr.  Radley's  bedchamber;  and  after- 
wards to — ^to  Her.  Well.  He  thought  he  was 
getting  on  hopefully,  gently,  reasonably,  smoothly, 
and  wrote  as  much  to  me  in  London.  I  immedi- 
ately threw  up  a  small  cap  (sky  blue),  which  I 
keep  on  a  peg  in  my  study  for  such  joyful  occa- 
sions as  very  seldom  happen;  and  remained  for 
some  days  perpetually  casting  it  into  the  air  and 
catching  it  again,  in  a  transport  of  delight. 

"In  the  midst  of  this  enthusiasm  I  was  sum- 
moned down  here  (he  visits  hereabouts)  to  at- 
tend a  funeral;  and  at  this  funeral  I  found  him, 
to  my  great  amazement,  acting  as  chief  mourner 
to  his  own  hopes,  and  attending  them  to  an  early 
grave  with  the  longest  hatband  and  usefulest 
pocket  handkerchief  I  ever  saw  in  my  life.  At 
this  I  was  very  much  surprised,  and  very  sorry,  as 
you  will  believe;  and  the  sky  blue  cap  (still  in  the 
air)  fell  down  upon  my  head  with  the  weight  and 
velocity  of  a  cannon-ball. 

"For  I  found  out.  when  I  came  to  talk  to  him, 
that  the  one  wretchedness  coming  upon  the  head 


LITERATURE  AND  ART 


387 


of  another — ^thcy  always  make  a 
p>Tamid ;  God  knows  why — he  had 
heard,  in  the  very  height  of  an- 
other distress,  from  her;  and  she 
had  told  him  that  he  had  been  a 
Utile  premature — and  that  there 
were  other  footprints  in  the  field 
—and  so  forth. 

^'But  by  little  and  little,  I  got 
the  cap  up  again — not  very  high, 
but  up — and  there  it  is  now,  over 
rny  head,  as  I  write.  For  I  told 
him  that  as  to  other  footmarks  be- 
ing in  that  course,  there  might  be 
a  host,  and  yet  the  best  flowers 
might  grow  up  at  last  in  the  steps 
of  the  last  man,  if  he  were  True, 
Unselfish,  Manly,  Honourable,  Pa- 
tient, and  Deserving.  I  told  him 
that  I  bad  faith  in  such  strong 
qualities  never  being  inspired  in 
a  man's  heart  for  failing  pur- 
p'Dses — that  I  had  a  Faith  in  his 
p3ssessing  them,  and  carrying 
them  gallantly  into  his  attachment 
— and  that  I  had  as  high  and  con- 
fident a  Faith  (oh.  Heaven!  what 
a  boundless  Faith  it  is!)  in  Her." 

The  sequel  was  idyllic,  says 
the  unnamed  hpldder  of  the  let- 
ters. It  was  a  love  story  that 
Dickens  might  have  "put  in  a 
book."  The  girl  gave  her  heart 
to  the  friend  who  had  so  good  a  second  in 
this  duel  of  the  affections.    Further: 

•'These  letters  remain  to  show  the  glowing 
heart  of  a  man  of  letters  with  a  genius  for  friend- 
ship. How  far  the  lady  felt  the  secondary  influ- 
ence one  can  only  guess;  but  her  marriage  with 


THE  DICKENS  STATUE  IN  PHILADELPHIA 

This  was  the  first  statue  to  Dickens  erected  in  America.     The  novelist  is 
shown  looking  down  at  a  figure  of  Little  Nell. 


the  principal,  which  was  celebrated  after  a  delay 
of  some  years,  proved  to  be  of  the  happiest,  and 
the  couple  had  two  children  whose  careers,  had 
Dickens  lived  to  follow  them,  might  have  re- 
warded him  afresh  for  the  generous  pains  and 
risks  of  a  third  person's  intervention  in  an  affair 
of  the  heart." 


THE  FIFTIETH  ANNIVERSARY  OF  HEINE'S  DEATH 


"You  men  and  women  who  wish  to  deal  a 
death-blow  to  the  Philistines,  gather  yourselves 
together:  an  example  is  to  be  set;  a  crime  is 
to  be  removed;  a  deed  is  to  be  done. 

"A  universal  singer  must  be  greeted;  a  sol- 
dier must  be  honored;  a  laughter  must  be 
crowned. 

"On  this  seventeenth  of  February,  half  a 
century  ago,  he  died  in  pain. 

"He  has  a  burial  monument  in  Paris.  He 
has  a  monument  in  New  York.  He  has  a 
monument  in  Corcyra  or  Corfu.  He  has  no 
monument  in  Germany." 

With  these  ringing  words,  Alfred  Kerr,  in 
an  article  in  Der  Floh  (Vienna),  summons  the 
German  admirers  of  one  of  the  greatest  poets 
of  the  world  to  right  the  wrong  which  official 


Germany  has  for  decades  persisted  in  heaping 
upon  Heine.  "Let  it  become  a  monument  of 
spite !"  he  continues.  "It  will  pay  the  dead  his 
due,  and  bring  good  cheer  to  many  a  living 
one.  ...  I  shall  not  rest  until  the  veil 
has  fallen  and  the  marble  picture  stands  in 
the  sun !  .  .  .  Onward  against  the  Philis- 
tines !" 

This  call  has  found  a  friendly  response  even 
in  the  conservative  press  of  Germany;  while 
the  liberal  organs,  such  as  the  Jugend,  Sim- 
plicissimus  and  Der  Floh,  devote  one  or  more 
whole  numbers  profusely  illustrated  to  the  com- 
memoration of  the  semicentenary  of  the  poet 
"Will  it  find  an  echo  also  among  the  German 
people?"  asks  the  editor  of  Die  Neue  Besells- 
chaft,    "Would  it  were  sol     For  thereby  it 


388 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


HEINRICH  HEINE 
Prom  a  sketch  by  Richard  Pfeiflfer  in  Munich  Jugend.) 
Heine's   "unique  and   unparalleled   position    in    the 
world's  literature"  is  being  celebrated  in  many  coun- 
tries at  this  time. 

would  set  up  a  monument  not  only  to  the  poet 
but  also  to  itself." 

This  official  enmity  to  Heine  is  considered 
the  more  astonishing  because  of  the  fact  that 
he  is  probably  the  most  widely  read,  as  well  as 
the  most  widely  sung,  of  German  poets,  and 
that  his  popularity  in  this  regard  seems  to  be 
ever  on  the  increase.  (See  article  in  Current 
Literature,  March.)  This  attitude  toward 
Heine  is  an  indirect  tribute  to  the  enduring 
power  o£  his  satire,  for  which  he  brought 
down  upon  himself  the  hatred  of  contemporary 
Philistines  —  a  hatred  which  seems  so  have 
been  so  deep-set  as  to  have  been  transmitted 
as  an  instinct  to  their  modern  successors.  All 
the  admirers  of  Heine  pay  their  disrespect  to 
"the  Philistines."  "Heine  would  not  be 
Heine,"  says  Franz  Mehring  in  Die  Neue  Zeit, 
"if  the  Philistines  had  not  endless  fault  to  find 
with  him.  Nor  will  this  ever  change  so  long 
as  there  are  Philistines  in  the  world."  Com- 
menting further  on  the  causes  of  this  hostility, 
the  same  writer  remarks: 

"All  in  all,  posterity  still  owes  the  genius  of 
Heine  everything  for  which  his  contemporaries 
remained  indebted  to  him,  and  posterity  has  not 
so  much  to  excuse  it  as  had  the  contemporary 
world  of  Heine.  The  cause  of  this  lies  in  the 
fact  that  Heine  occupies  quite  a  unique  and  un- 
paralleled position  in  the  world's  literature;  there 


is  no  other  poet  in  whose  works  the  colors  and 
forms  of  the  three  great  conceptions  of  the  uni- 
verse that  developed  in  the  course  of  a  century 
play  so  harmoniously  into  one  another,  bound  to- 
gether in  the  unity  of  his  artistic  individuality- 
Heine  called  himself  the  last  fabulous  kin^ 
of  romanticism;  but  he  also  prided  himself 
upon  being  a  fighter  for  the  ideas  of  bourgeois 
liberty,  and  he  took  not  a  little  credit  to  himself 
as  having  discovered  communism  in  its  corporeal 
reality  and  as  having  been  its  prophet.  Nor  was 
he  one  thing  after  the  other,  but  everything  at 
the  same  time,  and  he  who  regards  him  only  from 
one  of  these  points  of  view,  from  the  romantic 
or  from  the  bourgeois  or  from  the  proletarian, 
will  always  find  him  full  of  shortcomings  and 
contradictions." 

Of  course  Max  Nordau  has  a  word  to  say 
on  this'  subject,  and  he  says  it  in  his  character- 
istically forceful  manner  in  the  London  Out- 
look, Heine's  world-wide  reputation,  he  says, 
appears  to  be  taken  as  a  personal  insult  by  the 
German  Antisemites : 

"Let  them  rant !  It  is  not  in  the  power  of  such 
to  detract  the  veriest  atom  from  his  undying 
fame ;  does  not  their  impotent  rage  beating  against 
that  rocky  eminence  in  the  Rhine  echo  back  in 
tumults  of  reverberating  scorn  to  the  haunting 
metre  of  the  wondrous  'Lorelei'?  Heine's  mild 
and  kingly  'revenge'  has  been  his  marvelous  and 
unconquerable  dominion  over  the  spirit  of  all  the 
German-speaking  people.  What  German  youth 
or  maiden  can  tell  the  first  throbs  of  their  quick- 
ening love  but  in  the  simple  eloquence  of  words 
Heine  has  given  them?  What  German,  when  his 
heart  is  brimming  with  emotion,  but  will  find  the 
surest  vent  for  his  pent-up  feelings  in  Heine's 
verses — nay,  we  might  even  say  that  no  German 
can  now  write  poetry  without  some  faint  rever- 
beration of  Heinrich  Heine's  incomparable  music- 
clinging  to  it  in  form  or  rhyme.  Heine  has 
stamped  his  own  individuality  upon  Germany's 
lyric  poetry.  His  touch  is  not  to  be  lightly 
brushed  aside.  She  still  speaks  the  language  he 
taught  her,  now  more  than  two  generations  since ; 
the  'Jewish  taint,'  if  such  it  is,  is  therefore,  it  will 
be  seen,  ineradicable,  and  even  the  poets  must 
'come  to  heel'  would  they  express  themselves  in 
verse." 

Continuing,  Nordau  points  out  that,  with  the 
exception  of  Goethe  and  Schiller,  "no  other 
has  done  a  tithe  of  what  Heine  has  done  to- 
ward spreading  the  knowledge  of  Germany's 
literature  beyond  her  frontiers.  His  position 
indeed  is  that  of  a  German  ambassador  to  the 
nations  of  foreign  lands,  yet  his  own  country 
disowns  him  I  Not  the  people,  be  it  said :  they 
read  him,  buy  him,  laud  him  as  no  other  poet 
has  been  lauded;  but  'official*  Germany — ^that 
gang  so  incurably  smitten  with  folie  de  grand- 
eur —  which,  swarming  here,  there  and  every- 
where, penetrates  into  the  universities  and 
lecture-rooms  and  permeates  the  press,  the  his- 
tories of  literature,  the  very  encyclopaedia," 


LITERATURE  AND. ART 


389 


It  is  to  these  fanatic  elements  that  Nordau 
attributes  the  fact  that  Germany  has  thus  far 
failed  to  put  up  a  monument  to  his  name. 
Seven  Greek  towns,  he  reminds  us,  dispute  to 
this  day  the  honor  of  having  been  the  birth- 
place of  Homer ;  and  now  some  seven  German 
cities — ^among  them  Berlin,  Diisseldorf,  Col- 
ogne and  Frankfort-on-the-Main — ^are  each 
\Ting  for  the  honor  of  being  known  as  the  one 
that  has  refused  to  permit  the  erection  of  a 
statue  within  her  walls  to  the  memory  of 
Heinrich  Heine,  although  his  admirers  have 
promised  to  furnish  the  site. 

England,  France,  America  and  almost  every 
civilized  country  joins  in  celebrating  the  anni- 
versary of  Heine.  The  London  Bookman  has 
issued  a  "Heine  number"  with  portraits  and 
articles.  The  popularity  of  Heine  is  deemed 
particularly  astounding  when  we  come  to 
consider  the  marked  individualistic  style  of 
his  poetry,  which  renders  it  exceptionally  dif- 
ficult of  translation — a  style  so  full  of  subtle 
beauty  and  meaning  that  it  defies  analysis,  and 
therefore  is  impossible  to  reproduce.  It  is 
conceded  that  the  best  translation  of  the  poems 
of  Heine  is  that  by  an  American,  Charles 
Leland,  of  "Hans  Breitmann's  Ballads"  fame. 

Paul  Bourget,  the  eminent  French  novelist, 
pays  higli  tribute  to  Heine.  He  recalls  his 
lonely  "mattress-grave,"  and  the  witty  remark 
with  which  he  received  Berlioz:  "You  visit 
me?  You  are  always  original!"  Among  his 
intimate    friends    in    Paris    were    Th6ophile 


Gautier  and  Honor^  de  Balzac.  Bourget  men- 
tions Gautier's  touching  account  of  Heine's 
burial  in  the  cemetery  of  the  Montmartre: 

"The  weather  was  gloomy  and  cold.  Only  a 
few  men  followed  the  hearse,  and  a  short  time 
afterward  the  only  French  poet  who  could  be 
compared  with  Heine,  for  his  thrilling  passion, 
eloquence  and  irony,  for  his  graceful,  glowing  and 
mad  imagination — Alfred  de  Musset — was  also 
to  follow  him  without  honors,  almost  without 
friends.  Where  is  there  a  more  touching  pic- 
ture to  be  found  of  human  detachment  and  es- 
trangement than  that  connected  with  these  two 
geniuses  of  absolute  honesty  even  in  the  midst 
of  their  most  brilliant  fame!" 

Dr.  Isidor  Singer,  managing  editor  of  the 
Jewish  Encyclopaedia,  recently  published  in 
this  country,  gives  (in  the  New  York  Sun) 
the  following  striking  passage  from  Heine's 
will  which,  if  authentic,  reveals  the  poet  in  a 
more  evenly  religious  mood  than  those  who 
know  Heine  are  wont  to  credit  him  with  even 
in  the  most  solemn  moments : 

"For  four  years  past  I  have  abdicated  every 
sort  of  philosophical  pride  and  have  returned  to 
religious  ideas  and  feelings.  I  die  believing  in 
the  One  and  Eternal  God,  Creator  of  the  world, 
whose  mercy  I  beseech  for  my  immortal  soul. 
I  regret  having  sometimes  spoken  in  my  writings 
of  sacred  things  without  the  reverence  which  is 
their  due,  but  I  was  drawn  aside  rather  by  the 
spirit  of  my  epoch  than  by  my  individual  leaning. 
If,  unknown  to  me,  I  have  offended  against  right- 
eous custom  and  morality,  which  is  the  true  es- 
sence of  all  monotheistic  beliefs,  I  ask  pardon 
therefor  of  God  and  mankind." 


The  Clericals 


HEINE  AS  HE  APPEARS  TO— 
The  Sentimental  Girl 


The  German  Censor 

-^D^r  Floh  (Vienna. 


390 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


NEW  YORK'S  ARTISTIC  CUSTOM-HOUSE 


The  Custom-House  now  in  process  of  con- 
struction in  New  York  city  is  probably  the 
most  beautiful  of  its  kind  in  the  world.  Archi- 
tecturally, it  is  the  creation  of  Mr.  Cass  Gil- 
bert, one  of  the  designers  of  the  St.  Louis 
Exposition ;  artistically,  it  affords  a  setting  for 
the  combined  efforts  of  a  dozen  of  our  leading 
sculptors.  Mr.  Charles  de  Kay,  who  writes 
at  length  of  the  new  building  in  The  Century 
(March),  pronounces  it  "a  credit  to  the  city," 
and  expresses  gratification  that  "at  least  some- 
thing has  been  done  to  blunt  the  reproof  that 
New  York,  a  city  by  the  sea,  great  through 
the  ocean  and  our  magnificent  waterways, 
rarely  remembers  the  sources  of  her  wealth 
and  greatness."  Mr.  De  Kay  reminds  us  of 
the  significance  of  the  Custom-House  as  "one 
of  the  edifices  of  our  cities  which  betokens  the 
centralization  that  took  place  when,  after  a 
world  of  bickering  and  provincial  meanness, 
the  several  colonies  agreed  to  surrender  many 
of  their  old  powers  for  the  good  of  the  nation 
at  large."  He  speaks  feelingly,  also,  of  the 
experiences  which  the  incoming  traveler  is 
compelled  to  undergo  at  the  hands  of  Uncle 
Sam  in  these  edifices,  and  further  regrets  that 


the  architect  has  not  seen  fit  to  express  these 
harrowing  experiences  in  the  sculptural  deco- 
rations, as  the  workmen  in  the  cathedrals  of  the 
Old  World  at  times  expressed  their  not  always 
flattering  opinions  of  the  ecclesiastics. 

The  new  building  is  to  be  seven  stories  hig^h. 
Elegance  is  not  here,  says  Mr.  de  Kay,  nor 
delicacy;  but  power.  And  in  such  a  building^, 
surrounded  by  towering  shapes,  the  note  of 
power  is  not  at  all  out  of  place.    Further: 

"The  front  of  nearly  two  hundred  feet  from 
Whitehall  on  the  east  to  the  Battery  Park  on  the 
west  looks  down  on  the  old  space  before  the  old 
fort  where  once  the  citizens  met  for  sport  or 
angry  town  riots,  but  where  now  the  trolleys 
grind  along  on  their  elliptical  orbits.  And  an 
imposing  front  it  is:  walls  of  granite  from  the 
Penobscot,  with  deep  embrasures  for  the  win- 
dows and  ranges  of  columns  before  three  of  the 
stories,  girders  and  beams  of  steel  instead  of 
should  last  forever.  Deep  it  goes,  seven  feet 
wood,  floors  of  terra-cotta  and  concrete  unassail- 
able by  fire;  beetling  cornice;  mansard  roof,  with 
copper  and  red  slate  rising  behind  a  French 
Renaissance  balustrade — ^here  is  an  edifice  that 
below  high- water  level,  where  the  concrete  floor- 
ing of  the  cellar  is  braced  downward  against  the 
lifting  force  of  the  tide.    Its  massive  form  and 


THE  NEW  CUSTOM-HOUSE  BEING  ERECTED  IN  NEW  YORK 

Re^rarded  as  ^the  mostCbeautiful  Custom-House  in  the  world.     Architecturally,  it  is  the  creation  o<  Mr.  Cass 
Gilbert;  artistically,  it  atfords  a  setting  for  the  combined  efforts  of  a  dozen  of  our  leading  sculptors. 


"ROME" 
By  Frank  Edwin  Elwell 

One  of  twelve  striking  sculptural  fibres  set  above  the  cornice  of  the  main  front  of  the  new  Custom - 
Honse  and  representing  countries  and  maritime  centres. 


392 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


"ENGLAND" 
By  Charles  Grafly 

comparatively  low  roof-tree  contrast  with  the 
sky-scrapers  that  tower  about  the  Bowling 
Green." 

Proceeding  to  a  description  of  the  remark- 
able sculptural  features  of  the  building,  Mr. 
de  Kay  says: 

"The  granite  capitals  of  the  columns  contain 
a  head  of  Mercury  and  the  winged  wheel,  for 
commerce  and  transportation  respectively.  Over 
the  arch  of  the  entrance  presides  a  head  of  Co- 
lumbia by  Alfano.  To  right  artd  left,  over  the 
arch,  are  heads  of  panthers,  to  represent  the  most 
important  among  the  wild  beasts  found  by  the 
colonists.  The  keystones  of  the  flat  arches  in 
the  windows  of  the  main  story,  which  light  the 
offices  of  the  collector  of  the  port,  are  carved 
with  masks  of  races.  There  is  the  Caucasian, 
with  accessories  of  oak  branches,  the  Hindu  with 
the  lotus,  the  Latin  and  the  Celt  with  grapes,  the 
Mongol  with  poppy-heads,  the  Eskimo  in  his  hood 
of  fur,  the  coureur  de  hois  with  pine-cones.  These 
are  the  work  of  Alfano,  after  the  designs  of  the 
architect.    Other  decorations  of  a  minor  sort  are 


dolphin  masks  grotesquely  treated,  forms  gener- 
alized from  kelp,  with  a  nautilus,  the  classic  rud- 
der and  the  trident,  or  the  conventionalized  wave 
— ^things  that  suggest  the  sea  without  being  literal 
or  realistic.  The  caduceus  of  Mercury  also  ap- 
pears. Under  the  arch  of  the  main  entrance  are 
the  arms  of  the  city  by  O'Connor,  with  an  eagle 
superposed  and  winged  figures  in  somewhat  'An- 
glo-Saxon' attitudes  for  supporters,  instead  of 
the  sailor  and  Indian  usually  seen  in  that  posi- 
tion." 

Most  notable  of  all  are  the  sculptural  groups 
by  Daniel  C.  French  on  four  rectangular  piers 
in  advance  of  the  building,  and  the  row  of 
twelve  single  figures  by  various  sculptors  in 
the  attic  above  the  cornice.    To  quote  again : 

"In  accordance  with  the  disposition  of  the  col- 
umns below,  of  which  they  form  the  embellish- 
ment and  crown,  these  twelve  statues  are  ar- 
ranged in  four  couples  and  four  separate  figures. 
These,  corresponding  with  the  two  outer  col- 
umns on  the  east,  are  figures  of  Greece  and  Rome 
by  Elwell,  while  the  two  columns  on  the  west 
are  indicated  or  finished  above  by  figures  repre- 
senting France  and  England,  designed  by  Grafly. 
The  two  column's  to  the  left  of  the  main  entrance 
have  high  above  them  figures  of  Venice  and  Spain 


"GENOA" 
By  Henry  Augustus  Lukeman. 


LITERATURE  AND  ART 


393 


br  Tcwjefti,  while  tho^  on  I  he  right  have  figures 

lolland  and    Porttigal  by   Louis   Saint   Gau- 

Thesc   four   hist 'mentioned   countries   are 

:    i    hr    figwres   of   remarkable    richness, 

iTimn  those  thjit   crown   the  single  col- 

^'"' tight   together   in   puir& — Phcenieia 

Genoa  by   I*tJikeman,   the   Scandi- 

i^,  **^-.     ..,-.-,,,Mni&    hy    Gelert.    and    Germany    by 

Jaegers.     Thus,  while  the  attic  above  the  entab- 

httsre — if  one  can  use  such  classical  terms  in  a 

'  ng   th^it   is   far   from  coldly   classic — is  en- 

d    by  statues  in  the  round,  an  attempt  has 

ba^   made   to    marshal   them    with   the   idea   of 

^itVfK^g  the  richest,  most  embellished  statues  near 

liter 

■7  four  groups  by  French  represent  as  many 

-^        On  one  side  of  the  entrance  is  E«- 

("?  other  America,    Europe  is  in  armor; 

'm4. .  .r  are  prows  of  ships,  and  she  holds  the 

^ere  of  etnpire.    Amenca  represents  commerce: 

slie  has  variotis  products  at  her  feet*  and  behind 

hcT  stands^  an  Indian*    The  group  at  the  eastern 

end  is  Asia>  seated  hke  a  Buddha  and  attended 

by  a  tiger.     That  at  the  western  end  is  Africa,  a 

veiled  figure  whose  attending  form  is  the  sphinx, 

'The  most  salient  slattiary,  that  wliicb  catches 

the  eye  at    first  embodies  the  chief  divisions  of 

Tt:      '  '      ^nd  the  races  and  peoples  which  have 

to  further  a  knowledge  of  those  divi- 

he  enterprise  of  their  4Jscoverers,  ad- 

-I'-TL's,    and   traderst   from  the  Phcenicians  in 

"'    iann  of  history  to  tile  Germans,  last  to  seek 

coioQies  and   become  a  sea  power,  pouring  out 


'*  DENMARK" 
By  Jotumoes  Gelert* 


*^  VENICE 
By  Fraii?m«  Michel  L.  Tonetti. 


their  treasure  in  the  endeavor  to  obtain  more  of 
ihe  earth's  surface  for  their  teeming  millions,  and 
angry  with  their  emigrants  because  they  prefer 
the  security  of  an  established  country  where  their 
vote  counts,  to  thi^  uncertainties  of  a  colony  ter- 
rorised by  soldiers  and  officials/' 

And  finally,  says  Mr.  de  Kay,  the  tiew  Cus- 

tom-House  is  not  only  beautiful  but  practical 
The  old  Custom-House  on  Wall  Street,  with 
its  domical  interior,  its  deep  and  gloomy  porch, 
its  row  of  twelve  monolithic  columns,  is  full 
of  concessions  to  the  fashions  of  the  day  in 
which  it  was  erected;  but  like  many  buildings 
in  New  York,  it  was  not  adapted  to  the  nar- 
row street  on  which  it  raises  its  gloomy ^  pri- 
son-like walls.  The  new  building  shows  a 
belter  adaptation.  Though  sky-scrapers  sur- 
round it  yet  they  cannot  shut  out  the  light 
nor  intefere  with  the  view,  and  the  changes 
made  will  be  found  conducive  to  comfort  and 
the  prompt  despatch  of  business. 


394 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


THE  WEIRD  AND  SOLITARY  GENIUS  OF  WIERTZ 


In  a  neglected  garden  in  the  suburbs  of 
Brussels  stands  a  building  of  rude  timber  and 
bare  plaster  known  as  the  Wiertz  Museum.  It 
is  visited  daily  by  tourists  from  all  parts  of 
the  world,  and  shelters  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able collections  of  pictures  ever  exhibited.  "A 
pictorial  pandemonium,  a  Vatican  of  eccen- 
tricity," Christian  Brinton,  the  American  art 
critic,  calls  it.  "On  the  walls,"  he  says,  "rages 
an  eternal  conflict  between  good  and  evil,  be- 
tween beauty  and  horror.  The  majestic  and 
the  trivial  are  here  grouped  side  by  side  just 
as  they  sprung  from  their  creator's  seething, 
incongruous  fancy.  Visions  of  relentless,  com- 
pelling power  are  succeeded  by  cheap  devices 
and  panoptical  tricks  scarcely  worthy  of  the 
rudimentary  imagination  of  a  child.  Senti- 
mentality of  the  sugary,  Raphael-Bouguereau 
brand  is  offset  by  dramatic  vivisections  and 
deliberate  diablery  from  which  the  most  cal- 
lous visitor  shrinks  in  spontaneous  terror  and 
disgust.  All  periods  from  the  classic  to  the 
ultra-modern  and  morbid,  all  episodes  from 
the  'Education  of  the  Virgin'  to  a  *Scene  in 
Hell,'  throng  this  curious  graphic  cosmos." 


'THE    REVOLT    OF    HELL    AGAINST    HEAVEN" 

A  lurid  masterpiece  by  Antoiae  Wiertz,  showinsr 
**  masses  of  writhing^demons  and  avalanches  of  riven 
rock." 


It. is  just  a  hundred  years  since  the  birth  of 
Antoine  Wiertz,  the  Belgian  painter  whose 
pictures  are  thus  exhibited;  and  the  anniver- 
sary has  been  made  the  occasion  of  celebrations 
and  of  articles  on  his  life  and  work.  Mr. 
Brinton,  who  tells  the  story  of  Wiertz's  career 
in  the  New  York  Bookman,  finds  in  all  the  his- 
tory of  art,  so  rich  in  extraordinary  personali- 
ties, no  figure  comparable  to  that  of  Wiertz. 
He  says : 

"Wiertz,  through  the  sheer  power  of  abnor- 
mality, forced  himself  into  the  company  of  the 
great,  unforgettable  masters' of  his  own  and  of 
former  days.  He  was  not  a  Rubens,  nor  a  Michel- 
angelo, as  he  fondly  supposed,  but  bv  measuring 
himself  against  such  spirits  during  a  lifetime  of 
exalted  endeavor  he  has  succeeded  in  being  re- 
membered along  with  them.  Ambition,  however 
colossal,  is  an  insufficient  asset,  yet  when  that  am- 
bition is  expressed  in  transcendent  manifestations 
of  misguided  genius,  the  result  is  formidable.  No 
one  can  look  at  Wiertz's  tortured  canvases,  or 
trace  the  story  of  his  titanic  and  pitiful  life  strug- 
gle, without  feeling  the  spell  of  an  abounding  in- 
dividuality. He  seizes  upon  you  like  a  nightmare, 
conjuring  up  visions  repulsive  and  beseeching. 
Instinctively  you  believe  that  there  lurks  some- 
where within  the  man  and  his  work  a  baffled 
beauty,  a  sublimity  which,  by  the  merest  mis- 
chance, became  grotesque  stupidity  or  tragic  in- 
completion." 

Wiertz's  father  was  a  soldier,  a  man  of 
"noble  and  virile  soul,"  who  exercised  great 
influence  over  his  son.  Aside  from  a  consum- 
ing passion  for  fame  and  success  he  tried  to 
impress  on  the  boy's  character  two  cardinal 
qualities — a  stoical  indifference  to  mortal 
trouble  and  an  enduring  contempt  for  pecuni- 
ary reward.  His  own  martial  spirit  became 
in  the  son  an  unquenchable  thirst  for  artistic 
fame.  "My  brushes,"  Antoine  would  often 
declare,  "are  my  lances,  a  canvas  is  my  bat- 
tle-field." Playing  beside  his  mother  he  one 
day  exclaimed  that  he  wished  to  become  a 
king.  "Why?"  she  asked,  thinking  that  his 
mind  was  centered  on  the  pomp  and  ceremony 
of  regal  pageantry.  "So  that  I  might  become 
a  great  painter,"  the  boy  replied  reverently. 
Young  Wiertz  never  for  an  instant  doubted 
his  destiny,  and  he  believed  that  he  was 
nightly  visited  by  the  luminous  apparition  of  a 
tall  figure,  wrapped  in  a  flaming  mantle  and 
wearing  a  Spanish  hat,  in  whose  hands  was 
borne  aloft  a  banner  on  which  gleamed  in 
letters  of  fire  the  word  "Anvers."  It  was  the 
spirit  of  Rubens,  he  said,  summoning  him  to 
Antwerp,   and   to   Antwerp   he   proceeded   at 


LITERATURE  AND  ART 


395 


the  age  of  fourteen.    At  this  point  we  quote 
from  Mr.  Brinton's  narrative: 

"Possessing  nothing  save  his  pension  of  loo 
florins  a  year,  the  young  enthusiast  desired  little 
be\-ond  *bread,  colors  and  sunlight/  though  often, 
indeed,  he  was  forced  to  do  without  all  three. 
He  worked  at  the  Academy  under  Herreyns  and 
Van  Bree  and  lived  in  a  miserable  attic  room 
too  low  for  him  to  stand  upright  in  and  almost 
too  short  to  accommodate  him  when  lying  down. 
Though  only  fourteen,  he  was  tall  and  fully  de- 
veloped physically,  having  the  stature  of  a  grown 
man,  his  pale,  mobile  features  being  already  cov- 
ered with  a  luxuriant  black  beard.  In  his  pitiful 
cell  was  neither  stove  nor  fireplace,  and  through 
the  battered  casement  used  to  blow  at  will  bitter 
winds  or  puffs  of  snow.  The  room  was  a  chaotic 
jumble  of  books,  papers,  anatomical  studies,  mu- 
sical instruments  and  the  various  paraphernalia 
necessary  to  the  practice  of  sculpture,  painting 
and  engraving.  At  times  it  grew  so  cold  that 
the  zealous  student  was  forced  to  take  to  his  bed, 
and  more  than  once  fell  asleep  with  crayon  in 
one  hand  and  scalpel  in  the  other.  It  was  a 
gruesome  retreat;  against  the  bare  wall  dangled 
a  skeleton,  and  opposite  the  door  grinned  a  clev-* 
erly  painted  death's  head.  Few  visitors,  however, 
ever  crossed  the  threshold,  for  Wiertz  was  even 
then  regarded  as  an  eccentric,  and  between  him- 
self and  the  world  was  slowly  erecting  an  impreg- 
nable barrier.  His  fellow-pupils  openly  sneered 
at  the  strange  recluse  of  the  Rue  du  Pont-Saint- 
Bernard  whose  gods  were  Rubens,  Michelango, 
Comeille  and  Mozart  and  whose  only  goddess 
was — Glory.  He  was  a  phenomenally  gifted  mu- 
sician, playing  numerous  instruments,  and  would 
often  divert  his  fancy  in  this  way,  while  below 
on  the  street  passers-by  would  pause  and  listen 
to  those  wild,  haunting  strains  floating  on  the 
midnight  air.  Although  he  lived  for  years  in  ab- 
ject poverty,  he  did  so  partially  from  principle. 
Outside  of  a  few  portraits  he  never  made  the 
slightest  attempt  to  sell  his  work.  A  wealthy 
connoisseur  once  called  and  offered  an  excellent 
figure  for  a  certain  sketch.  'Keep  your  gold,' 
cried  Wiertz  imperiously;  'it  is  the  death  of  the 
artist !' " 

In  his  twenty-sixth  year  Wiertz  went  to 
Rome,  and  consecrated  himself  to  the  produc- 
tion of  a  masterpiece.  It  was  his  ambition  to 
fasten  on  heroic  canvas  the  great  poetry  of 
the  Homeric  period.  He  was  steeped  in  the 
Iliad,  and  kept  it  under  his  pillow.  "It  is  sin- 
gular how  the  reading  of  Homer  frenzies  me," 
he  said;  "I  think  continually  of  the  struggle 
between  Ajax  and  Hector.  It  is  they  who 
transport  me  most  when  I  think  of  producing 
a  great  work.  They  inspire  me  with  a  sort 
of  heroism,  and  the  desire  to  combat  the  great- 
est masters.  I  dare  challenge  the  greatest 
colorists;  I  want  to  measure  myself  with  Ru- 
bens and  Michaelangelo !"  The  result  of 
his  eilforts,  "The  Greeks  and  Trojans  Con- 
tending   for    the    Body    of    Patroclus,"    was 


WIERTZS  PORTRAIT  OF  HIMSELF 

^This  celebrated  Belgian  painter  was  bom  just  a  hun- 
dred years  ago.  His  gallery  in  Brussels,  bequeathed  to 
the  Slate  and  preserved  as  he  left  it,  has  been  termed 
"  a  pictorial  pandemonium,  a  Vatican  of  eccentricity." 

worthy  of  his  travail.  When  exhibited  in 
Rome,  the  picture  created  a  profound  sensa- 
tion. Thorwaldsen,  greatly  impressed,  said: 
*This  young  man  is  a  giant."  "Ouida,"  the 
famous  novelist,  wrote  of  the  painting: 

"The  canvas  seems  to  breathe  the  very  soul  of 
Homer.  The  Menelaus  with  his  eyes  aflame  and 
his  beard  blown  by  the  fierce  breaths  of  war;  the 
beautiful,  nude  body  stretched  amidst  them,  dis- 
sected as  by  a  troop  of  lions  and  a  pack  of 
wolves;  the  young  son  of  Panthus,  who  falls  be- 
neath the  steel,  like  a  young  olive-tree  beneath 
the  axe;  the  perfection  of  the  anatomy;  the  life 
and  haste  and  majestic  ferocity  of  the  conflict; 
the  innumerable  tones  given  in  the  palpitating 
flesh  of  the  living  warriors,  and  the  bruised  pallor 
of  the  fallen  dead;  the  whole  conception  of  the 
composition,  into  which  a  passionate  love  and 
instinct  for  the  Homeric  age  has  been  poured  in 
a  flood  of  heroic  feeling;  all  these  together  form 
a  work  upon  which,  surely,  none  can  look  without 
emotion  and  by  which  Wiertz  may  be  said,  with- 
out presumption  or  arrogance,  to  have  realized 
the  ambition  of  his  life— to  'rival  Rubens.' 
Those  who  go  to  it  fresh  from  that  cathedral  [in 
Antwerp]  where  Rubens  in  his  two  masterpieces 
fills  the  whole  temple  with  his  glory,  will  not 
find  the  'Patroclus'  either  poor  or  pale.  That 
the   majestic   strength   of   Rubens   can   ever   find 


396 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


"THE  MAN  OP  THE  FUTURE  REGARDING  THE  THINGS  OF  THE  PAST" 

In  this  picture  Wiertz  portrays  a  man  of  the  coming  generations — a  giant  as  compared  with  those  who  live  to- 
day—looking with  curiosity,  amusement  and  a  certain  contempt  on  the  cannon,  the  thrones,  the  sceptres,  the  2>attle 
flags  of  our  time. 


its  full  equal  in  any,  or  his  lustre  of  color  in 
any,  is  still  to  be  doubted;  but  that,  of  modern 
painters,  Wiertz  does,  in  strength  of  execution 
and  power  of  hue,  come,  the  nighest  to  his  master, 
can  hardly  be  disputed." 

Flushed  with  success,  the  young  artist  took 
his  picture  to  Belgium,  where  it  was  placed  on 
free  exhibition  and  won  many  tributes.  Then 
he  turned  to  Paris,  the  city  that,  most  of  all, 
he  longed  to  conquer;  but  now  he  met  with 
defeat  and  disaster.  After  interminable  de- 
lays the  picture  was  hung  in  the  Salon  d'Hon- 
neur  of  the  Louvre,  but  was  skied  so  cruelly 
as  to  be  barely  distinguishable.  It  was  ignored 
by  press  and  public  alike.  Wiertz  turned 
away,  heart-broken.  It  was  a  blow  from 
which  he  never  recovered. 

Next  he  went  to  Liege,  where  he  settled 
down  with  his  old  mother  and  obtained  from 
the  town  the  privilege  of  stretching  an  enor- 
mous canvas  in  an  abandoned  church  which 
became  his  studio.  Here  he  created  the  fan- 
tastic "Revolt  of  Hell  against  Heaven,"  with 
masses  of  writhing  demons  and  avalanches  of 
riven  rocks.  The  death  of  his  mother  drove 
him  to  Brussels,  where,  housed  in  a  deserted 


factory,  he  completed  "The  Triumph  of 
Christ,"  which  shares  with  "Patroclus"  the 
honor  of  being  his  best  work.  It  was  this 
picture  which  induced  the  Belgian  Government 
to  realize  his  life-dream  and  to  provide  him 
with  a  studio  which  should  contain  all  his 
pictures  and  revert  to  the  state  upon  his 
death.  The  record  is  filled  out  by  Mr.  Brin- 
ton: 

"Apart  from  the  pictures  he  had  previously 
painted  it  took  the  artist  just  fifteen  years  to  fill 
the  remaining  space  at  his  disposal.  A  portion 
of  this  time  was  passed  in  writing  his  'Flemish 
School  of  Painting*  and  numerous  other  bro- 
chures, pamphlets  and  tractates  as  well  as  in 
modelling,  for  sculpture  was .  also  one  of  his 
minor  passions.  During  many  baffling  months 
he  devoted  his  energies  to  the  study  of  chemis- 
try with  a  view  to  perfecting  his  peinture  mate, 
a  combination  of  fresco  and  oil  painting  having 
more  fluency  of  handling  than  the  former  and 
possessing  none  of  the  latter's  often  irritating  re- 
flective quality.  It  was,  of  course,  necessary  for 
him  to  continue  painting  portraits  'pour  la  soupe,* 
as  he  would  say,  and  during  his  less  exalted 
moments  he  perpetrated  various  'petites  bam- 
boches,'  or  serio-comic  platitudes  utterly  without 
interest  or  distinction.  He  lived  a  rigidly  isolated 
life,  rarely  venturing  out,  though  adjoining  the 


LITERATURE  AND  ART 


397 


studio  he  devised  a  miniature  *jardin  geo- 
graphiqae,'  in  which  he  used  to  promenade,  fancy- 
rag  himself  in  different  parts  of  the  world.  He 
labored  ceaselessly,  it  being  his  hope  some  day 
to  enlarge  his  museum  to  three  times  its  actual 
size  and  paint  a  continuous  epic  of  civilisation  of 
which  the  portion  already  completed  was  merely 
a  preface.  Yet  this  grandiose  dream  was  not 
to  be  realized.  Death,  who  had  long  since  gazed 
fixedly  upon  him  from  the  walls  of  his  narrow 
Antwerp  mansarde,  at  last  claimed  him  for  that 
dim  kingdom  which  is  alf  dreams,  all  phantoms." 

It  is  useless  to  pretend  that  the  art  of 
Wiertz  possesses  any  particular  esthetic  sig- 
nificance, says  Mr.  Brinton,  in  conclusion. 
He  "occupies  a  decidedly  rickety  seat  in  the 
Pantheon  of  the  masters,"  we  are  told,  and 
"entered  not  by  day  between  wide,  lofty  por- 
tals, but  one  stormy  night  through  the  back 
door  and  up  dingy,  crooked  stairs."  Though 
at  the  outset  he  may  have  had  some  hint  of 
the  plastic  fervor  of  Michelangelo,  some  echo 
of  the  chromatic  fire  of  his  revered  Rubens, 
"these  gifts  were  quickly  swallowed  up  in  a 
boundless  sea  of  personal  vanity  and  vaunting, 
arrogant  ambition."  If  "a  gleam  of  the  spirit- 
ual evocation  of  Blake"  now  and  then  shone 
forth,  it  was  only  to  be  rendered  dull  and  lus- 
tcrless  by  the  heavy  pomposity  of  a  Hayden. 


"Not  the  least  of  Wiertz's  shortcomings  is  that 
he  was  a  perpetual  borrower.  His  particular  di- 
vinities he  constantly  laid  under  contribution  and, 
not  satisfied  with  them,  he  often  looked  else- 
where. Upon  'Happy  Times'  has  settled  the  Ver- 
gilian  quietude  of  Poussin.  Back  of  Two  Young 
Women  or  the  Beautiful  Rosine'  looms  the  elo- 
quent and  occasionally  voluptuous  fantasy  of 
Delacroix.  The  single  original  note  Wiertz 
sounded  lies  in  a  series  of  social  studies  which 
includes  'Orphans,'  'Premature  Burial,'  'Hun- 
ger, Madness  and  Crime,'  'The  Last  Cannon'  and 
Thoughts  and  Visions  of  a  Severed  Head.'  Each 
is  a  sermon  with  scant  attempt  at  disguising  the 
text — one  pleads  for  charity,  one  for  cremation, 
one  against  war,  and  another  against  capital  pun- 
ishment. It  is  obvious  that  more  restraint  and 
less  crapulous  horror,  less  of  the  stench  of  the 
charnal  house,  would  have  heightened  the  efficacy 
of  these  appeals. 

"Wiertz  fancied  himself  a  soldier  of  advanced 
thought,  a  'chasseur  d'id^es.'  In  distorted  meas- 
ure he  possessed  the  brain  of  a  philosopher,  the 
imagination  of  a  poet  and  the  fervor  of  a  pa- 
triot. Endowed  with  acute  organic  susceptibility, 
he  seemed  destined  from  the  first  for  martyrdom. 
He  was  tragically  out  of  sympathy  with  his  age 
and  time.  He  lived  the  life  of  a  lost  Titan,  al- 
ways alone,  always  harassed.  His  invincible  de- 
votion to  his  career,  his  austere  vows  of  poverty 
and  o!  celibacy — vows  which  were  never  for- 
sworn— did  not,  in  the  end,  constitute  Wiertz  one 
of  the  gods  or  redeemers  of  art.  Through  rea- 
sons beyond  the  control  of  his  troubled  spirit  he 
descended  from  Olympus  into  the  recesses  of 
dark  Avernus." 


Cvurtny  ox  Tw€  -w^o******. 


*THE  GREEKS  AND  TROJANS  CONTENDING  FOR  THE  BODY  OP  PATROCLUS 
This  painting,  after  the  style  of  Rubens,  is  regarded  as  Wiertz's  masterpiece. 


398 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


THE  ANARCHIST  SPIRIT  IN  MODERN  LITERATURE 


It  is  somewhat  startling  to  be  told  that  most 
of  the  greatest  literature  of  the  present  day  is 
dominated  by  the  anarchist  spirit.  Mr.  Will- 
iam Bailie,  who  sustains  this  contention  in  the 
foreword  to  his  new  monograph  on  Josiah 
Warren,*  defines  anarchism  so  broadly,  how- 
ever, as  to  make  his  statement  less  disquieting 
than  it  would  at  first  appear.  According  to 
his  definition,  anarchism  is  about  the  same  as 
revolt,  for  it  is  the  tendency  which  "questions 
the  supremacy  of  the  State,  the  infallibility  of 
statute  laws,  and  the  divine  right  of  all  au- 
thority, spiritual  or  temporal."  Of  this  tend- 
ency he  is  himself  a  champion,  and  proudly,, 
not  apologetically,  he  analyzes  and  defines  the 
forces  and  influences  which  he  finds  grouped 
under  the  definition.  From  his  standpoint  there 
is  nothing  unworthy  or  immoral  in  the  philos- 
ophy of  anarchisnl,  for  among  its  apostles  are 
some  of  the  world's  greatest  teachers.  The 
popularly  conceived  anarchist,  "that  moral 
monstrosity,  the  yellow  journalist  anarchist, 
with  bombs  in  his  hands  and  murder  in  his 
heart,"  is  not  of  the  same  species.     "It  is  not 


♦Josiah  Warren.  The  First  American  Anarchist. 
William  Bailie.     Small.  Maynard  &  Co. 


By 


favorable  to  the  spread  of  exact  knowledge 
that  this  lurid  creation  should  represent  the 
only  conception  of  anarchism  familiar  to  an 
uncritical  public."  Instead  we  are  pointed  to 
the  anarchism  of  literature,  where  "an  essay 
of  Spencer,  a  story  of  Tolstoy,  a  novel  of 
Zola,  a  drama  of  Ibsen,  a  poem  of  Whitman, 
add  more  force  to  the  anarchist  tendency  in 
one  year  than  opposing  power  can  suppress  in 
a  century."  This  literary  anarchism  is  fur- 
ther described  as  being  "not  a  cult,  nor  a  party, 
nor  an  organization,  neither  is  it  a  new  idea, 
nor  a  reform  movement,  nor  a  system  of  phi- 
losophy," but  solely  a  tendency  which  has  its 
place  in  the  life  of  our  times,  a  social  force 
making  for  the  completer  unfolding  of  human 
character.  "Like  the  ocean's  action  on  the 
oldest  rocks,  literature  is  a  solvent  ever  work- 
ing on  men's  minds.  It  dissolves  outgrown 
conceptions,  breaks  down  the  ancient  strata  of 
ignorance  and  prejudice,  and  at  the  same  time 
begins  to  build  up  new  ideas,  hopes  and  as- 
pirations." 

Ibsen  is  presented  as  a  marked  example  of 
the  anarchist  spirit  in  literature.  The  work 
of   this    great    dramatist    is   permeated    by    a 


"PREMATURE  BURIAL" 
One  of  Wiertz's  most  gruesome  studies. 


LITERATURE  AMD  ART 


399 


^AtllSKl   M    Th*    »«-* 


SCENE  IN  HELL" 


-  poTtxays  Napoleon  conf  related  by  **  de  sol  Ate  widows  acid  orphans  ^itid  parente  bereaved  of  tbeir 
in  tlicif  hnnds  ttie  r««kiBg  members  c»f  their  beloved  dead  onoa  ;  phantoms  ciiriing  htm  ti>  his  f^e 
blta  to  drink  a  streaming  cup  of  lilood/* 


^Tparjy  {Hirpose.     *"His  great  illutninating  idea 
intiividual  should  be  free  to  act  in 
I  Ltoental  social  relations  unfettered  by 

iuikc  ideals,  mistaken  sense  of  duty,  or  the 
tvranny  of  public  ofjinion.  Moral  courage  en- 
r '  iirig  the  individual  to  dare  to  be  free,  men* 
tally  and  morally  free,  from  superstition,  prej- 
udice  qnr!  habit^  Ibsen  shows  lo  be  the  rarest 
s/'  Preachers  of  the  same  gospel 
hc  greatest  of  living  dramatists,  all 
tnorc  or  less  influenced  by  this  master,  are 
Siidcrmannt  Maeterlinck*  Hauptmann,  Mir- 
hcau  and  Bernard  Shaw,  Zola  is  the  outstand- 
-rz  anarchist  of  modern  French  literature, 
'  i  Ic  in  Germany  ''the  existing  order— Intel- 
kctual,  mora!  and  governmental — has  not  yet 
r?t:overed  from  Nietzsche*s  masterly  attack/' 
The  trifluence  of  this  '*bril!iant  genius  and  ag- 
gr-rs^iivc  anarchist/'  vi^e  are  reminded,  h  grow- 
iog  both  at  home  and  abroad. 

Ttiming  to  English  literature  in  the  search 
for  mcfi  whose  writings  record  "the  aspiration 


for  individual  freedom  untrammelled  by  the 
social  codes  of  the  past,"  Mr.  Barlie  names 
George  Meredith,  Thomas  Hardy  and  George 
Gissing.  The  last-named,  he  thinks,  "ex- 
hibited in  a  marked  degree  the  influence  of 
the  intellectual  awakening  against  institutions 
and  ideas  that  had  outlived  thetr  usefulness/* 

Whitman  is  cited  as  one  of  two  Americans 
pre-eminent  as  poets  of  individual  libert>^  and 
democracy,  "His  sturdy  individualism,  his 
glorification  of  the  average  man  and  woman, 
hts  scorn  of  mere  statute  nioralhy,"  are  win- 
ning him  more  and  more  followers.  The  other 
American  is  also  one  of  increasing  influence— 
Thoreau;  and  of  all  influences  in  American 
literature  his  is  asserted  to  be  the  most  posi- 
tiveiy  anarchistic.  "Thoreau  was,  par  excel- 
Ivnce,  the  anarchist." 

From  these  and  other  examples  of  the  an- 
archist spirit  In  literature*  Mr,  Bailie  con- 
cludes that  "a  social  force  that  calls  forth  such 
mi.*n  has  a  purpose  to  accomplish  in  the  future." 


400 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


THE  CHIEF  SINGER  OF  THE  NEGRO  RACE 


Paul  Laurence  Dunbar,  the  negro  poet  who 
died  recently  in  Dayton,  Ohio,  at  the  compara- 
tively early  age  of  thirty-four,  is  generally 
accepted  as  the  highest  exemplification  that 
his  race  has  yet  provided  of  its  spiritual  and 
esthetic  potentialities.  Himself  a  full-blooded 
negro,  says  the  St.  Louis  Mirror,  he  has  dem- 
onstrated that  "the  negro  has  a  creative,  ar- 
tistic mind,  and  is  capable  of  a  high  ideality 
and  spirituality ;  that  he  can  appreciate  beauty ; 
that  he  can  and  does  work  for  noble  ends  out- 
side of  himself ;  that  he 
is  capable  of  all  the 
evolution  that  is  possi- 
ble, in  time,  to  every 
human  soul."  Mr.  W. 
D.  Howells,  who  "dis- 
covered" Dunbar  more 
than  ten  years  ago,  said 
of  him :  "He  is  the  only 
man  of  pure  African 
blood  and  of  American 
civilization  to  feel  the 
negro  life  esthetically 
and  express  it  lyric- 
ally." 

Dunbar  was  the  son 
of  fugitive  slaves,  and 
from  early  boyhood  had 
to  struggle  against 
great  obstacles.  He 
got  but  a  common- 
school  education,  and 
ran  an  elevator  in  a 
Dayton  business  house 
even  after  he  had  pub- 
lished his  first  volume 
of  verse,  "Oak  and 
Ivy."  For  several  years 


Courtmy  of  Dodd.  Me«d  *  Co. 

PAUL  LAURENCE  DUNBAR 


'  the  only 


Characterized  by  William  Dean  Howells  as  .    _ 

uZ  ,..««  ^«,^irv,.^^  :^  4.u^    ^^^  of  pure  African  blood  and  of  American  civilization 
ne  was  employed  in  the    to  feel  the  negro  life  esthetically  and  express  it  lyrically.' 


cause  he  was  moved  to  write.  His  poetry  was> 
an  expression  of  his  own  spirit.  And  Paul  Dun- 
bar was  a  black  man.  His  metrical  grace  anci 
power  could  not  be  credited  to  any  mixture  o£ 
white  blood.  He  was,  perhaps,  the  most  con- 
spicuous exemplification  that  his  race  has  given 
to  this  country  of  the  negro's  possibilities  along^ 
the  line  of  spiritual  expression  and  development. 
Moreover,  he  wrote  as  the  negro  feels  and  the 
negro  talks.  He  has  given  value  and  permanence 
to  the  folklore  of  the  race  in  this  country.  He 
won  recognition  and  public  applause,  not  simply 
because  his  work  was  creditable  to  a  black  man, 
but  because  it  would 
have  been  creditable  to 
any  one." 

Dunbar  wrote  both 
in  pure  English  and  in 
negro  dialect.  Some  of 
his  quaint  dialect 
verses,  such  as,  "Who*s 
Dat  Said  Chicken  in 
Dis  Crowd  ?"  are  known 
all  over  the  country. 
His  most  popular  poem 
is  said  to  be  "When 
Malindy  Sings."  Of 
his*  more  ambitious 
poems  one  of  the  best 
is.  "The  Meadow 
Lark,"  with  its  lyrical 
moral : 

Though  the  winds  be  dark. 

And  the  sky  be  sober, 
And  the  grrieving  day 
In  a  mantle  firray 

Hath  let  her  waiting  maiden 
robe  her — 
All  the  fields  along 
I  can;hear  the  song 

Of  the  meadow  lark. 

As  she  flits  and  Gutters 
And  laughs  at  the  thun- 
der when  it  mutters. 


Library  of  Congress, 
but  in  1899  the  sale  of  his  verses  and  the  roy- 
alties on  his  books  enabled  him  to  return  to 
Ohio.  Seventeen  volumes  of  verse  and  prose, 
stand  to  his  credit,  among  which  may  be  men- 
tioned: "Majors  and  Minors,"  "Lyrics  of 
Lowly  Life,"  "Folks  from  Dixie,"  "Poems  of 
Cabin  and  Field,"  "The  Uncalled"  and  "The 
Sport  of  the  Gods."  On  his  literary  achieve- 
ment the  Boston  Transcript  comments: 

"The  death  of  Paul  Laurence  Dunbar  is  a 
loss  to  American  letters.  He  was  not,  perhaps, 
a  great  poet,  but  he  was  a  real  one.  His  verse 
was  genuine,  serious  and  sweet.     He  wrote  be- 


Oh,  happy  bird,  of  heart  most 

gay 
To  sing  when  skies  are  gray! 


Dunbar's  last  days  witnessed  a  pitiful  strug- 
gle against  inevitable  destiny.  He  suflFered 
from  consumption  and  knew  that  he  must  die, 
but,  like  Robert  Louis  Stevenson,  he  worked 
bravely  on  until  the  end.  Last  December  he 
published  in  a  Philadelphia  magazine  these 
verses : 

Because  I  had  loved  so  deeply, 

Because  I  had  loved  so  long, 
God  in  His  great  compassion 

Gave  me  the  gift  of  song. 

Because  I  had  loved  so  vainly. 

And  sung  with  such  faltering  breath, 
The  Master  In  infinite  mercy 

Offers  the  boon  of  Dc^tn. 


Music  and  the  Drama 


STEPHEN  PHILLIPS'S  PICTURE  OF  AN  "AESTHETIC"  NERO 


As  an  artist  rather  than  as  a  monster,  as 
a  poet  and  only  incidentally  as  a  dabbler  in 
human  blood,  the  Roman  emperor,  Nero,  is 
presented  in  Stephen  Phillips's  latest  drama. 
The  conception  is  possibly  justified  by  Nero's 
famous  exclamation,  "Qualis  artifex  pereo!" 
(What  an  artist  perishes  in  me!)  and  is  de- 
fended by  the  author  in  a  newspaper  inter- 
view : 

*^ero,  as  I  conceive  him,  was,  above  all  things, 
a  dreamer  and  a  poet  '  Nero  was  possessed 
throughout  his  life  with  what  the  ancients  called 
a  'daimon' — the  'daimon'  of  art.  As  soon  as  he 
assumed  the  purple  his  very  first  act  was  to  sum- 
mon to  the  Imperial  Court  the  singer  Terpnus, 
and  thenceforth  he  devoted  himself  to  music, 
painting,  sculpture,  and  the  composition  of  verse. 
By  a  caprice  of  fortune  the  world's  destinies 
were  now  suddenly  placed  in  the  hands  of  the 
great  dreamer  of  tilings  fantastic  and  monstrous, 
and  to  Nero  everything  became  subordinate  to 
his  love  for  art.  The  passion  for  art  colored 
every  thought  and  action  of  his  Hfe.  Even  when 
he  committed  a  murder  he  considered  the  artis- 
tic possibilities  the  tragedy  would  afford.  Take, 
for  instance,  the  attempt  on  the  life  of  his  mother, 
Agrippina,  amidst  the  beautiful  scenery  of  the 
Gulf  of  Baiae,  when,  as  Tacitus  tells  us,  all  the 
stars  came  out  to  look  upon  the  awful  deed.  Nero 
had  cbncdved  the  whole  scene  beforehand — ^he 
had  stage-managed  his  mother's  murder! 

"The  drama  of  Nero's  life,  as  I  see  it,  lies  in 
the  struggle  between  the  son  and  the  mother. 
Whatever  faults  Agrippina  may  be  reproached 
with,  there  is  no  doubt  that  she  had  a  genuine, 
although  impetuous  and  fierce,  love  for  her  child. 
The  emperor,  on  his  side,  was  bound  to  her  not 
only  by  affection,  but  by  gratitude.  He  was 
finally  driven  to  matricide  by  urgent  {political  rea- 
sons»  and  also  by  the  lures  of  his  mistress, 
Poppaea,  who,  aspiring  to  rule  the  world  with  him, 
was  bent  upon  the  ruin  of  Agrippina.  The  young, 
all  powerful  tyrant  was  therefore  the  target  for 
the  burning  but  conflicting  passions  of  three 
women:  the  tigerish  maternal  love  of  Agrippina; 
the  interested  attachment  of  Poppsea,  £e  beau- 
tiful and  ambitious  courtezan;  and,  lastly,  the 
tender,  pathetic  devotion  of  the  slave  Acte,  who 
remained  faithful  to  Nero  even  after  his  death." 

The  dramatic  embodiment  of  this  concep- 
tion has  taken  the  London  theatrical  world  by 
storm.  Mr.  Beerbohm  Tree,  England's  great- 
est living  actor,  impersonates  the  degenerate 
emperor,  and  has  staged  the  play  with  a  lav- 
ishness  worthy  of  Nero  himself.    "One  of  the 


finest  spectacular  productions  that  the  London 
stage  has  ever  seen,"  is  what  the  London 
Sphere  calls  it;  and  Mr.  A.  B.  Walkley,  of 
the  London  Times,  says:  "It  blends  the  fra- 
grance of  rose-leaves  with  the  scent  of  blood. 
It  sates  the  eye  with  splendid  pictures  and  the 
ear  with  voluptuous  music  of  both  verse  and 
orchestra.  At  the  end  of  it  all  one  gasps  and 
is  a  little  dizzy.  In  short,  a  tremendous  pro- 
duction." 

The  action  of  the  play  takes  place  partly  at 
Rome  and  partly  at  the  pleasure  resort,  Baiae. 
There  is  a  sumptuous  banquet  scene,  and  a  tab- 
leau showing  Nero's  triumphal  entry  into  Rome. 
The  most  thrilling  scene  is  that  in  which  Nero 
is  shown  in  his  villa  at  Baiae  on  the  evening 
on  which  his  mother  is  murdered  across  the 
bay.  According  to  the  London  Daily  Tele- 
graph: 

"Agrippina  is  in  a  vessel,  and  the  roof  of  her 
state  caoin  is  to  descend  upon  her  head  in  mid- 
ocean.  Then  comes  the  sudden  intelligence  that, 
though  the  roof  has  fallen,  'the  Augusta'  herself 
has  escaped  by  swimming  to  the  shore.  What  is 
to  happen  now?  Anisetus  is  ready  with  another 
plot.  She  is  to  be  pursued  by  a  body  of  armed 
men  and  murdered  in  the  villa  in  which  she  has 
taken  refuge.  If  the  trumpet  blows  once,  it 
means  that  she  has  escaped  to  Rome;  if  it  blows 
twice,  the  signification  is  that  her  hiding-place  has 
been  found;  but  if  the  trumpet  blows  thrice,  the 
tragedy  has  been  finished  by  her  death.  The 
poignancy  of  the  situation,  as  we  hear  the  first 
blast  and  the  second  and  then  the  third  and  final 
one  across  the  bay,  constitutes  a  theatrical 
moment  of  such  intensity  as  is  rarely  witnessed 
on  the  boards." 

The  play  ends  not  with  Nero's  death  but 
with  a  dazzling  picture  of  the  burning  of 
Rome.  At  the  climax  the  emperor  is  shown 
mounted  on  the  battlements  singing  a  wild 
hymn  to  the  destroyer.  He  regards  the  con- 
flagration as  the  vengeance  of  Agrippina. 

"Mr.  Phillips  has  shown  a  true  dramatic  in- 
stinct," comments  the  London  Spectator,  "in 
letting  the  curtain  go  down  on  the  culminating 
point  of  Nero's  madness  rather  than  upon  his 
death.  The  moment  of  tragedy  is  the  passing 
of  the  soul,  and  not  of  the  body." 

"Nero"  is  written  in  blank  verse  and  con- 
tains many  lines  of  high  poetic  value.    At  the 


402 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


BEERBOHM  TREE  AS  NERO 

In  Stephen  Phillips's  new  poetic  drama.  His  imperso- 
nation of  the  degenerate  emperor  has  taken  the  London 
theatrical  world  by  storm. 

very  beginning,  the  words  of  Seneca  epitom- 
ize the  character  of  the  emperor: 

The  harp,  the  song, 
The  theatre,  delight  this  dreamer  ;  tiue. 
He  lives  but  in  imaginations;  yet 
Suppose  this  aesthete  made  omnipotent, 
Feeling  there  is  no  bar  he  cannot  break, 
Knowing  there  is  no  bound  he  cannot  pass. 
Might  he  not  then  despise  the  written  page, 
A  pett^  music,  and  a  puny  scene  ? 
Conceive;a  spectacle  not  witnessed  yet. 
When  he,  an  artist  in  omnipotence, 
Uses  for  color  this  red  blood  of  ours, 
Composes  music  out  of  dreadful  cries. 
His  orchestra  our  human  agonies, 
His  rhythms  lamentations  of  the  ruined. 
His  poet's  fire  not  circumscribed  by  words, 
But  now  translated  into  burning  cities ; 
His  scenes  the  lives  of  men,  their  deaths  a  drama. 
His  dream  the  desolation  of  mankind, 
And  all  this  pulsing  world  his  theatre  ! 

There  is  this  beautiful  reference  to  Helen 
of  Troy: 

Yet  hath  none  fairer  strayed  into  the  world 

Since  she  who  drew  the  dreaming  keels  of  Greece 
After  her  over  the  Ionian  foam. 

And  Poppaea  is  thus  described  by  Acte: 

A  woman  without  pity,  beautiful. 

She  makes  the  eartn  we  tread  on  false,  the  heaven 

A  merest  mist— a  vapor.     Yet  her  face 

Is  as  the  face  of  a  child  uplifted,  pure  : 

But  plead  with  lightning  rather  than  those  eyes, 

Or  earthquake  rather  than  that  gentle  bosom 

Rising  and  falling  near  thy  heart.     Her  voice 

Comes  running  on  the  ear  as  a  rivulet : 

Yet  if  you  hearken  you  shall  hear  behind 

The  breaking  of  a  sea  whose  waves  are  souls 

That  break  upon  a  human-crying  beach. 

Ever  she  smileth,  yet  hath  never  smiled, 

And  in  her  lovely  laughter  is  no  joy. 

Nero's  paean  over  burning  Rome  is  full  of 
intensity : 

Or  art  thou  madness  visible, 
Insanity  seizing  the  rolling  heavens? 

Thou,  Thou,  didst  create  the  world 

In  the  stars  innumerably  smiling  ! 
Thou  art  light — thou  art  God-thou  art  I ! 

Mother !  mother  ! 


This  is  thy  deed. 

Hist !     Hist !     Can  you  not  see  her 

Stealing  with  lighted  torch  ? 
She  makes  no  sound,  bhe  hath  a  spirit's  tread. 

Hast  thou  sated  thy  vengeance  yet  ? 

Art  thou  appeased  ?     .     .     . 
Now  let  the  wailmg  cease  from  thy  tomb, 

Here  is  a  mightier  wail ! 
Now  let  the  haunting  trumpet  be  dumb  ! 

Blaze  !     Rage  !     Hlaze  ! 
For  now  am  I  free  of  thy  blood — 

I  have  appeased  and  atoned, 
Have  atoned  with  cries,  with  crashings,  and  with  flaxning^. 

Thy  blood  is  no  more  on  my  head. 

I  am  purged.     I  am  cleansed  ! 
I  have  given  thee  flaming  Rome  for  the  bed  of  thy  death  ! 

O  Agrippina ! 

In  spite  of  the  poetic  beauty  of  the  play,  it 
seems  to  have  made  a  deeper  impression  as  a 
spectacle  than  as  a  drama.  Some  of  the 
critics,  indeed,  go  so  far  as  to  deny  it  the  name 
of  drama  at  all.  Mr.  Charles  Whibley,  of 
the  London  Outlook,  characterizes  it  as  "a 
panorama  interrupted  by  blank  verse" — ^"an 
imperial  pantomime  trapped  in  purple  and  ac- 
companied with  soft  touches  on  the  lute."  In 
the  same  spirit,  Harold  Hodge,  of  the  London 
Saturday  Review,  calls  it  "a  tremendous 
show,"  with  "ballet,  blood  and  thunder,  sigh- 
ing sea,  slow  music;"  but  Intimates  that  it 
cannot  be  taken  seriously  as  drama. 

The  London  Spectator,  on  the  other  hand, 
sets  a  high  estimate  on  the  dramatic  qualities 
of  the  play : 

"Mr.  Stephen  Phillips  has  made  a  clear  advance 
in  knowledge  of  stagecraft.  In  many  respects 
'Nero'  contains  less  poetry  than  'Herod'  or 
'Ulysses,'  but  it  is  incomparably  better  drama. 
There  is  a  keener  perception  of  character,  a 
firmer  grasp  on  life,  and  a  general  subordination 
of  other  interests  to  the  dramatic  effect.  Mr. 
Phillips  is  not  merely  making  phrases  or  com- 
posing beautiful  speeches ;  he  is  trying  to  develop 
against  a  dazzling  background  the  complex  trag- 
edy of  a  human  soul.  To  be  sure,  we  still 
have  much  incidental  fine  writing,  sometimes  too 
full  of  Miltonic  and  Wordsworthian  echoes  to  be 
quite  satisfactory,  sometimes  really  imaginative 
and  original,  as  in  the  wonderful  description  of 
the  listless  Navy  in  the  beginning  of  Act  III. 
But  his  characters  no  longer  say:  'Lo!  let  us 
make  a  speech,'  and  proceed  to  some  euphuistic 
soliloquy.  They  are  swept  along  in  the  full  tide 
of  action,  component  parts  of  a  great  tragic  move- 
ment, and  not  isolated  rhapsodists.  Much,  of 
course,  is  due  to  the  nature  of  the  subject.  The 
story  of  Nero  has  the  dramatic  completeness,  the 
swift  hurrying  to  a  destined  end,  which  makes 
it  the  finest  material  for  tragedy.  The  very  mon- 
strousness  of  the  acts,  and  the  greatness  of  the 
actors,  claim  the  attention  from  the  start  There 
is  no  halt  in  the  relentless  speed  with  which  Nem- 
esis follows  upon  sin  and  folly.  The  tale  has, 
indeed,  all  the  qualities  which  Aristotle  sought  for 
in  tragic  drama.  The  protagonists  are  more 
than  human  in  their  V  fipi^y  and  more  than 
human  is  the  fate  which  overtakes  them.  On  the 
whole,  Mr.  Phillips  has  risen  to  the  height  of 
his  great  argument,  and  his  daring  has  been  jus- 
tified." 


MUSIC  AND  THE  DRAMA 


403 


MR.   PINERO'S  LATEST  TRIUMPH 


"To  other  authors  we  may  turn  for  brilliant 
pamphlets    or    exquisite    fairy-tales,    but    for 
great  drama  we  have  still  to  go  to  Mr.  Pinero." 
Such  is  the  judgment  of  one  of  the  most  com- 
petent of  English  dramatic  critics,  Mr.  William 
Archer.    This  expression  of  opinion  is  evoked 
in  connection  with  Mr.  Pinero's  new  drama, 
"His  House  in  Order,"  which  has  scored  a 
great  success  in  London  and  is  likely  to  be 
given  in  this  country  in  the  near  future.     It 
is  "most  indubitably  a  Pinero  play  of  the  finest 
and  most  typical  quality,"  says  the  London 
Daily  Chronicle;  adding:    "It  is  not  a  soul- 
satisfying  play  on  the  one  hand;  it  is  not  a 
mere  piece  of  mechanical  trickery  on  the  other. 
It  is   just   a   masterpiece   of   open   dramatic 
sleight-of-hand,  perfectly  balanced,  dexterous, 
neat,  genuine,  and  ingenious — a  simple  thing 
evolved  with  the   most  elaborate  and  subtle 
care.     Moreover,  it  has  the  quality  of  grip 
in  a  greater  measure  than  any  play  of  Mr. 
Pinero's  since  The  Gay  Lord  Quex.' "     The 
London  Daily  Mail  regards   "His   House  in 
Order"  as  Mr.  Pinero's  greatest  play. 

The  play  shows  the  revolt  of  a  bright,  girl- 
ish, jocund  nature  against  the  joyless  formal- 
ism to  which  it  has  been  subject,  and  by  which 
it  has  been  almost  crushed.  As  the  London 
Athenceum  puts  it: 

"Nina,  its  heroine,  is  the  second  wife  of  a  Puri- 
tan legislator  whose  rigidly  Calvinistic  moral  code 
has  not  prevented  him,  even  in  the  lifetime  of 
his  wife,  from  making  love  to  the  governess  of 
her  son.  The  subsequent  marriage  with  the  part- 
ner in  his  offence  has  been  a  mistake.  A  bright- 
eyed,  careless,  rather  madcap  little  minx,  Nina 
shocks  all  the  proprieties,  and  it  is  as  much  with 
a  view  of  keeping  her  in  order  as  the  house  that 
Filmcr  Jesson,  her  husband,  brings  into  the  place 
as  housekeeper  his  deceased  wife's  sister,  Ger- 
aldine  Ridgeley.  It  is  apparently  in  a  mood  of 
penitence,  and  as  an  attempt  at  expiation  for  his 
breach  of  conjugal  faith,  that  Filmer  presents  to 
the  adjacent  borough,  for  which  he  is  member  of 
Parliament,  a  public  park  as  a  species  of  sou- 
venir of  his  deceased  wife.  The  occasion  is  to 
be  commemorated  by  a  kind  of  funereal  pomp. 
To  honor  it  the  house  includes  as  visitors  the 
dead  wife's  father.  Sir  Daniel  Ridgeley;  Lady 
Ridgeley,  her  mother,  and  their  detestable  son, 
Pryce  Ridgeley ;  Hilary  Jesson,  the  host's  brother, 
the  minister  to  one  of  the  South  American  re- 
publics; and  a  Major  Maurewarde,  a  friend  and 
tame  or  half-tamed  cat  of  the  family.  In  order 
to  complete  the  dramatis  personx  we  must  in- 
clude the  dead  wife  in  whose  honor  the  ftmction 
is  held,  and  who,  though  unseen,  is  felt  to  'ani- 
mate the  whole/  Every  species  of  insult  and 
oppression  is  exercised  upon  Nina  by  her  bus- 
ted and  the  relatives  of  the  dead  woman.    Hil- 


ary and  Major  Maurewarde  feel  for  licr,  though 
their  advocacy  is  powerless,  and  the  former  con- 
stitutes himself  the  young  girl's  adviser  and 
friend. 

"Two  acts  are  thus  passed,  when  hey!  presto! 
as  with  a  conjurer's  wand  the  state  of  affairs  is 
reversed.  An  accident,  improbable  in  itself,'  but 
ingeniously  contrived,  puts  the  heroine  in  pos- 
session o  fsome  terribly  compromising  letters  ad- 
dressed to  her  pedecessor.  From  these  it  is 
but  too  clear  that  the  supposed  saint  was  a  wan- 
ton, and  had  long  been  the  mistress  of  Major 
Maurewarde,  who  is,  in  fact,  the  father  of  the 
boy  passing  as  the  son  of  the  house.  Armed  with 
this  weapon,  Nina  is  indeed,  as  Hilary  calls  her, 
'the  upper  dog*  and  contemplates  an  exemplary 


ARTHUR  WING  PINERO 

Mr.  Pinero's  latest  play,  "  His  House  in  Order,"  is  pro- 
nounced the  greatest  that  he  has  yet  written. 

revenge.  The  lessons  of  Hilary,  nevertheless, 
bear  fruit.  The  oppressed  woman  sets  a  noble 
example  of  forgiveness  and  self-abnegation;  the 
incriminating  documents  are  burnt  by  ncr;  and 
the  miserable  Ridgeleys  are  left  in  ignorance  of 
their  shame.  It  has  been  necessary,  however,  to 
bring  the  letters  to  the  knowledge  of  the  husband, 
who  is  able  to  contrast  the  nobility  of  his  second 
wife  with  the  treachery  of  the  first,  and  who  not 
too  speedily  clears  the  offensive  Ridgeleys  out 
of  the  house." 

Not  all  of  the  London  critics  are  as  enthu- 
siastic as  those  above  quoted.  Mr.  Charles 
Whibley,  of  The  Outlook,  concedes  that  the 
play  is  "an  almost  perfect  machine,"  but  re- 
fuses to  accord  to  its  style  the  praise  which 


404 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


he  willingly  gives  to  its  construction.  "It  is 
interesting  and  apprehensive,"  he  says,  "but  it 
is  not  literature.  In  other  words,  it  is  not  the 
ultimate  masterpiece  of  the  British  drama." 
The  majority  of  the  critics,  however,  ex- 
press themselves  in  glowing  terms.  A  writer 
in  The  Sphere  thinks  that  Mr.  Pinero's  achieve- 
ment is  nothing  less  than  a  triumph.  "His 
House  in  Order,"  he  says,  is  "the  best  play  of 
English  manufacture  which  we  have  had  for 
some  years."  Mr.  A.  B.  Walkley,  of  The 
Times,  comments: 

"When  Mr.  Pinero  is  at  his  best  we  reckon 
ourselves  as  close  upon  the  high  water-mark  of 
theatrical  enjoyment.  In  *His  House  in  Order* 
he  is  at  his  very  best.  His  master  quality,  by 
which  we  mean  the  quality  specifically  called 
'dramatic,'  is  here  seen  at  its  maximum  of 
energy.  This  or  that  playwright  may  show  more 
'heart'  than  Mr.  Pinero  or  a  more  delicate  sub- 
tlety, a  third  may  easily  outclass  him  in  intellec- 
tual gymnastics,  but  in  his  command  of  the  re- 
sources of  the  stage  for  the  legitimate  purposes  of 
the  stage  he  is  without  a  rival.     As  it  was  said 


of  Euripides  that  he  was  the  most  tragic  of  the 
tragic  writers,  as  it  might  be  said  of  Moliere  tha^ 
he  was  the"  most  comic  of  comic  writers,  so  it- 
may  be  said  of  Mr.  Pinero  that  of  all  our  dram- 
atists to-day  he  is  the  most  'dramatic'  The  art^ 
of  drama  is,  quintessentially,  the  art  of  story-tell- 
ing, as  tlie  sculptors  say,  'in  the  round.'  Mr. 
Pinero  is  supreme  as  a  story-teller  of  that  sort 
We  are  always  keenly  interested  in  what  hx» 
people  are  doing  at  the  moment;  we  always  have 
the  liveliest  curiosity  about  what  they  arc  goingr 
to  do  a  moment  later.  He  knows  it  is  the  dram- 
atist's main  business  to  'get  along,*  and  he  gets 
along  in  'His  House  in  Order*  at  a  'record'  pace. 
.  .  .  Take  it  for  all  in  all,  'His  House  in 
Order*  is  a  very  choice  specimen  of  Pinero-work  ; 
in  other  words,  a  play  yielding  the  highest  pos- 
sible measure  of  delight." 

The  two  principal  parts  in  the  London  pro- 
duction are  taken  by  George  Alexander  and 
Irene  Vanbrugh,  and  the  acting,  as  a  whole, 
is  described  as  superb.  •  "Miss  Irene  Van- 
brugh," says  the  critic  of  The  Academy,  "be- 
comes, I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying,  the 
greatest  actress  on  the  English  stage." 


THE  GREATEST  OF  AMERICAN  COMPOSERS 


"The  most  poignant  tragedy  is  that  of  catas- 
trophe in  the  hour  of  triumph."  This  thought 
it  was  that  inspired  MacDowell's  first  piano 
sonata,  the  "Tragica,"  published  thirteen 
years  ago ;  and  this  is  the  thought  that  is  irre- 
sistibly suggested  by  recent  events  in  the  com- 
poser's own  life.  In  the  composition  of  his 
sonata  he  wished  "to  heighten  the  darkness  of 
tragedy  by  making  it  follow  closely  on  the 
heels  of  triumph,"  and  wrote  a  last  movement 
of  "steadily  progressive  triumph,  which,  at  its 
climax,  is  utterly  broken  and  shattered."  In 
the  light  of  subsequent  events,  this  sonata 
takes  on  the  nature  of  premonition  and  of 
prophecy.  At  the  height  of  his  own  fame, 
with  a  world-wide  and  undisputed  reputation 
as  the  greatest  of  American  composers,  Mac- 
Dowell  has  been  fatally  stricken.  "So  far  as 
his  mind  is  concerned,"  says  his  friend,  Mr. 
Henry  T.  Finck,  of  the  New  York  Evening 
Post,  "he  is  no  longer  among  the  living,  and 
his  body  is  fast  losing  its  strength,  too.  He 
can  no  longer  leave  his  bed,  and  often  fails  to 
recognize  those  about  him,  except,  perhaps,  by 
a  bright  glance  of  the  eyes,  which  have  not  yet 
quite  lost  that  look  peculiar  to  men  of  genius." 

The  career  thus  tragically  passing  to  its 
close  has  been  one  of  singular  individuality 
and  distinction.    It  is  surely  not  without  sig- 


nificance that  right  in  the  midst  of  our  feverish 
commercial  life  has  lived  and  worked  a  poet 
of  the  purest  type,  an  exquisite  musician,  a 
dreamer  of  ethereal  dreams.  During  a  period 
of  waning  romanticism  in  music,  it  has  de- 
volved upon  an  American  to  furnish  what  Mr. 
Lawrence  Gilman,  of  Harper's  Weekly,  calls 
"the  authentic  spirit  of  romance.*'  Elaborat- 
ing this  thought  in  a  new  biographical  study 
of  MacDowell,*  Mr.  Gilman  says: 

'The  significant  work  of  the  most  considerable 
musicians  of  our  time — of  Strauss,  Debussy, 
Elgar,  Loeffler — ^has  few  essentially  romantic 
characteristics.  Strauss — the  later  and  represent- 
ative Strauss — is  exposing,  one  need  scarcely 
note,  quite  other  impulses  and  tendencies.  De- 
bussy— the  'tres  exceptionnel,  tres  curieux,  tres 
solitaire  M.  Claude  Debussy,'  as  Bruneau  has 
called  him:  Debussy,  the  subtlest  temperament  in 
European  music, — is  employing  his  exotic  and 
luminous  art  in  the  weaving  of  a  sensuous  mys- 
ticism into  designs  of  impalpable  and  iridescent 
beauty.  Sir  Edward  Elgar  is  a  musical  pietist, 
a  visionary  of  the  austerer  sort,  who  has  found 
in  Cardinal  Newman's  ecstatic  and  elevated  poem, 
'The  Dream  of  Gerontius,'  the  motive  for  a^  work 
charged  at  many  points  with  a  lofty  and  poignant 
beauty;  or  who  gives  us  sheer  tonalized  theology 
in  his  'Apostles';  or  landscape  and  atmosphere  in 
his  orchestral  rhapsody,  'In  the  South,'  or  deli- 
cate meditations  in  his  'Dream  Children.'    Charles 

*  Edward  Mac  Do  WELL.  By  Lawrence  Gilman.  John 
I  Lane  Company. 


MUSIC  AND  THE  DRAMA 


405 


Martin  Loeffler,  an  Americanized  Alsatian  and 
a  music-maker  of  the  first  order,  is,  like  Debussy, 
an  essential  mystic,  a  tonal  Maeterlinck.  The 
older  men — Saint-Saens  and  Massenet  in  France, 
Bnich  and  Goldmark  in  Germany,  Grieg  in  Nor- 
way, Rimsky-Korsakoff  in  Russia,  Parry,  Stanford 
and  Mackenzie  in  England,  Paine  and  Chadwick 
and  Foote  in  America — are,  so  far  as  the  content 
of  their  art  is  concerned,  and  apart  from  the  ex- 
tremely diverse  character  of  its  embodiment, 
survivals  of  a  musical  past.    .    .    . 

•*But  if  the  romantic  impulse  has  very  nearly 
passed  out  of  modern  music,  the  noting  of  its 
<iisappearance  must  be.  qualified  by  a  recognition 
of  a  body  of  contemporary  tone-ooetry  in  which 
the  authentic  spirit  of  romance  has  an  exquisite 
life — which,  indeed,  owes  its  final  and  particular 
distinction  to  that  impulse:  I  mean  the  work  of 
the  most  eminent  of  American  composers,  Ed- 
ward MacDowell." 

MacDowell,  continues  Mr.  Gilman,  presents 
throughout  the  entire  body  of  his  work  the 
noteworthy  spectacle  of  "a  radical  without  ex- 
travagance, a  musician  at  once  in  accord  with, 
and  detached  from,  the  dominant  artistic 
movement  of  his  day."  His  standpoint,  we  are 
told  further,  "is,  in  the  last  analysis,  that  of 
the  poet  rather  than  of  the  typical  musician; 
the  standpoint  of  the  poet  intent  mainly  upon 
a  vivid  embodiment  of  the  quintessence  of 
personal  vision  and  emotion,  who  has  elected 
to  utter  that  truth  and  that  emotion  in  terms 
of  musical  beauty.'*     Moreover: 

"If  he  is,  in  a  singularly  complete  sense,  the  poet 
of  the  natural  world,  he  is  no  less  the  instrument 
of  purely  human  emotion.  He  responds  with  a 
quick  sensitiveness  to  the  lure  of  those  beautiful 
natural  presences  which  the  Celt  in  him  finds  un- 
ceasingly persuasive.  His  music  is  redolent  of  the 
breath  and  odor  of  woodland  places,  of  lanes  and 
moors  and  gardens;  or  it  is  saturated  with  salt 
spray;  or  it  communicates  the  incommunicable 
in  its  voicing  of  that  indefinable  enchantment  of 
association  which  clings  about  certain  aspects, 
certain  phases,  of  the  visible  world — that  subtle 
emotion  of  things  past  and  irrecoverable  which 
may  inhabit  a  field  at  night,  or  a  quiet  street  at 
dusk,  or  a  sudden  intimation  of  spring  in  the  scent 
of  lilacs.  But,  although  such  themes  as  he  loves 
to  dwell  upon  in  his  celebration  of  the  magic  of 
the  natural  wQfld  are  very  precious  to  his  imag- 
ination, the  human  spectacle  has  held  for  him, 
from  the  first,  an  emotion  scarcely  less  swift  and 
abundant." 

Proceeding  to  an  analysis  of  the  specifically 
musical  traits  through  whose  exefcise  Mac- 
Dowell exhibits  the  tendencies  and  preferences 
which  underlie  his  art,  Mr.  Gilman  notes,  first 
of  all,  "a  certain  clarity  and  directness  which 
is  apparent  no  less  in  moments  of  great  stress 
and  complexity  of  emotion  than  in  pasages  of 
simpler  and  slighter  content."    He  continues: 

"The  range  of  his  expressional  gamut  is  aston- 
ishing.    One  is  at  a  loss  to  say  whether  he  is 


EDWARD  MACDOWELL 


*'  His  power  of  forceful  utterance,"   says   Lawrence 

Gilman,   •'  •  •    -  

not  1 

thine  \ 

namic  impulse  and  sweep  of  line." 


nis  power  or  lorceiui  utterance,  says  L.awrence 
man,   "is  surpassed   by   no  composer  now  living"; 

Richard  Strauss,  not  (Tlndy,  not  Elg^ar  has  done  any- 
QK  which  excels  his  best  work  in  "  sneer  virility,  dy- 


happier  in  emotional  moments  of  weighty  signifi- 
cance— as  in  many  pages  of  the  sonatas  and  some 
of  the  *Sea  Pieces,' — or  in  such  cameo-Hke 
achievements  as  the  'Woodland  Sketches,'  certain 
of  the  'Marionettes,'  and  the  exquisite  song-group, 
'From  an  Old  Garden,'  in  which  he  attains  an  or- 
der of  delicate  eloquence  difficult  to  relate  to  the 
mind  which  shaped  the  heroic  ardors  of  the 
two  later  sonatas  into  designs  of  majestic  power 
and  amplitude.  His  command  of  the  accents  of 
tragedy  and  dramatic  crisis  is  sure  and  unfalter- 
ing— his  power  of  forceful  utterance  is  surpassed 
by  no  composer  now  living;  not  Richard  Strauss, 
not  d'Indy,  not  Elgar  has  done  anything  which 
excels  in  sheer  virility,  dynamic  impulse,  and 
sweep  of  line,  the  opening  of  the  'Keltic'  sonata. 
But  his  felicity  in  miniature  is  not  less  striking 
and  admirable.  He  has,  moreover,  a  remarkable 
gift  for  extremely  compact  expression.  Time 
and  again  he  amazes  one  by  his  ability  to  charge 
a  composition  of  the  briefest  span  with  an  emo- 
tional or  dramatic  content  of  large  and  far-reach- 
ing significance." 

Mr.  Oilman's  work  deals  with  MacDowell's 
music  rather  than  his  life,  and,  in  reviewing 
the  book,  Philip  Hale,  the  distinguished  Boston 
critic,  expresses  regret  that  more  space  is  not 
devoted  to  the  composer's  personal  traits.  He 
says  (in  the  Boston  Herald)  : 

"Surely  Mr.  Gilman  might  have  said  much 
about  Mr.  MacDowell's  many  and  rare  qualities 
without  any  sacrifice  to  taste.  For  few  men  have 
been  as  worthy  of  respect  and  affection  as  this 
composer.  The  strength,  purity  and  tenderness 
of  his  nature,  his  simplicity  and  modesty,  his  ap- 
preciation of  all  that  is  pure  and  beautiful  and 


4o6 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


noble  in  art  and  in  life,  his  righteous  indignation 
at  the  thought  of  meanness,  his  contempt  for 
cringers,  crawlers  and  intriguers;  his  courage  in 
maintaining  his  own  opinions  as, to  duty  even 
when  he  stood  almost  alone;  his  generosity 
toward  those  who  needed  help,  even  when  this 
generosity  robbed  him  of  hours  of  needed  rest 
and  taxed  sorely  his  vitality;  the  originality  and 
force  of  his  views  concerning  all  that  pertained 
to  art  and  the  conduct  of  life;  his  love  of  outdoor 
life  and  his  keen  interest  in  all  manly  sports,  his 
playfulness  and  humor,  the  wealth  of  affection  he 
lavished  on  those  that  were  nearest  to  him — do 
not  these  characteristics  deserve  at  least  a  few 
pages  ?" 

The  majority  of  MacDowell's  compositions 
are  for  piano  or  for  voice.  His  most  ambi- 
tious orchestral  works  are  an  Indian  suite  and 
four  symphonic  poems:  "Hamlet  and  Ophe- 
lia," "Launcelot  and  Elaine/'  "The  Saracens 
and  Lovely  Alda,"  and  "In  October."  For  the 
purpose  of  "studying,   faithfully   interpreting 


and  promulgating  the  tendencies  and  ideals 
embodied  in  the  compositions  and  known  es- 
thetic convictions  of  MacDowell,"  a  MacDow- 
ell  Club  has  been  recently  organized  in  Nevr 
York  by  influential  musicians,  painters,  sculp- 
tors and  literary  men. 

For  eight  years  MacDowell  held  the  chair 
of  Music  at  Columbia  University.  His  sum- 
mers he  has  been  wont  to  spend  in  Peterboro, 
N.  H.,  working  in  a  cabin  in  the  woods — "a 
house  of  dreams  untold,"  which  "looks  out 
over  the  whispering  tree-tops"  and  "faces 
the  setting  sun."  "It  was  in  that  log- 
cabin,"  says  Mr.  Finck  in  the  Boston  Musician 
(March),  "that  many  of  MacDowell's  best 
works  were  written.  Those  'dreams  untold* 
will,  alas !  remain  untold.  Ten  or  twenty  more 
years  of  them — what  a  difference  they  would 
have  made  to  American  music!" 


A  NEW  FRENCH  DRAMA  ON  DIVORCE 


A  number  of  new  plays  have  been  pre- 
sented in  Paris  this  season,  but  few  have 
aroused  as  much  interest  and  discussion  as  the 
"purpose  drama"  by  the  brothers  Paul  and  Vic- 
tor Margueritte,  the  authors  of  jpowerful 
semi-historical  novels  dealing  with  the  Franco- 
Prussian  War  and  the  Commune,  and  of  other 
novels  with  social  themes  and  propagan- 
dist purposes.  The  brothers  Margueritte 
have  paid  special  attention  to  the  subject  of 
divorce — to  the  injustice,  one-sidedness  and 
iniquity  of  the  laws  governing  the  relations 
between  husband  and  wife.  They  have  been 
earnest  champions  of  reform  in  the  interest 
of  "oppressed  woman."  Their  recent  novel, 
"Les  Deux  Vies"  (Two  Lives)  shows  how  the 
old  and  new  generation  cannot  view  marriage 
and  divorce  from  the  same  angle,  and  how  the 
modern  wife  revolts  and  acts  where  her 
mother  suffered  and  endured  in  resigned 
silence. 

Their  drama,  "Le  Coeur  et  la  Loi"  ("The 
Heart  and  the  Law"),  which  the  critics  pro- 
nounce moving,  strong,  interesting  in  itself  as 
a  picture  of  modern  life,  is  designed  appar- 
ently to  point  another  moral  with  regard  to 
the  law  of  divorce.  In  this  instance  the  fea- 
ture attacked  is  that  of  "reconciliation"  after 
suit  for  divorce  has  been  instituted,  and  its 
effect  on  the  status  of  the  woman.  The  case 
supposed  by  the  playwrights  is  an  extreme 
one,  and  the  critics  think  this  fact  weakens  the 


implied  plea.  What,  they  ask,  does  an  ex- 
ceptional situation  prove?  Under  what  law 
or  social  institution  is  hardship  or  injustice 
not  possible? 

The  story  unfolded  in  the  drama  is  thus 
summarized  in  the  Paris  Journal: 

Francine  Le  Hagre,  a  charming  and  high- 
spirited  woman,  is  married  to  a  very  dishonor- 
able, mean,  hateful  person,  who  had  not  even 
loved  her  before  the  marriage,  but  who  had 
badly  needed  her  fortune.  He  is  not  even  faith- 
ful to  her.  His  infidelity  at  last  becomes  no- 
torious, and  she  is  in  a  position,  under  the  law, 
to  apply  for  a  divorce.  The  decree,  if  granted, 
will  also  give  her  the  guardianship  of  her  young 
daughter,  Josette,  to  whom  she  is  passionately 
attached. 

Suit  is  begun,  and  Francine  impatiently  awaits 
the  trial  of  the  case  and  her  deliverance.  Un- 
fortunately, something  happens  during  the  pend- 
ency of  the  suit  that  enables  the  unscrupulous^ 
sordid  and  despicable  Le  Hagre  to  place  an  ob- 
stacle in  her  way  which  subsequently  proves  in- 
surmountable and  defeats  justice. 

Josette,  who  occasionally  visits  the  father,  falls 
and  sustains  a  severe  injury  on  the  stairway  of 
his  house.  Naturally,  she  remains  there,  to  be 
treated  by  physicians  and  surgeons.  The  alarmed 
and  deeply  concerned  mother,  hearing  of  the  ac- 
cident, forgets  herself  and  her  troubles  and  takes 
upon  herself  the  nursing  of  the  child. 

Le  Hagre,  knowing  that  reconcihation  is  a  bar 
to  a  divorce  decree,  even  if  the  reconciliation  is 
impulsive  and  temporary,  takes  advantage  of  his 
wife's  presence  in  the  house  and  sets  up  the  claim 
of  reconciliation.  He  bribes  the  servants  to 
testify  that  Francine  had  voluntarily  resumed  her 
marital  duties  and,  in  addition,  invokes  the  im- 


MUSIC  AND  THE  DRAMA 


407 


proper  aid,  with  the  judges,  of  an  influential 
magistrate  who  is  related  to  him. 

When  the  trial  is  reached,  this  conspiracy 
completely  deceives  the  court.'  Francinc's  ve- 
hement denials  are  of  no  avail;  the  weight  of 
the  evidence  is  against  her,  and  she  loses. 

She  ^>peals  and  is  defeated  again.  Under  the 
law  she  must  return  to  her  husband  and  live  with 
him;  she  may  be  compelled  to  do  so,  resistance 
exposing  her  to  heavy  penalties.  The  child  can 
be  taken  by  the  husband  at  any  moment.  The 
situation  is  desperate ;  what  is  the  poor,  distracted 
woman  to  do? 

An  adventurous  explorer,  Epavi^,  is  in  love 
with  her.  He  advises  immediate  flight  to  some 
distant,  obscure  comer  of  the  world.  Her 
mother  argues  against  it  on  grounds  of  morality 
and  social  convention.  But  Francine  belongs  to  a 
new  generation.  The  law  is  unjust,  hard,  wrong, 
and  she  will  ignore  it.  She  will  follow  her  heart 
and  the  man  she  honors  and  loves. 

The  play  won  a  brilliant  success.  Whether 
the  audience  believed  that  divorce  ought  to 
be  granted  at  the  will  of  either  party  or  merely 
sympathized  with  Francine,  without  drawing 
any  conclusions,  the  critics  do  not  claim  to 
know. 


The  critic  of  Ulntransigeant,  A.  Foureau, 
says  that  the  authors  show  in  this,  their  first 
play,  a  certain  want  of  firmness  and  construct- 
ive skill,  not  merely  in  details  but  in  the  fun- 
damental treatment  of  the  theme.  The  drama, 
in  reality,  consists  of  two  distinct  parts — ^that 
leading  up  to  the  failure  of  the  divorce  suit, 
which  is  a  plea  for  a  more  liberal  law,  for 
freer  divorce — ^and  that  which  follows  Fran- 
cinc's defeat.  Her  flight  with  a  lover,  her  kid- 
naping of  the  child,  present  a  very  different 
problem.  There  is  no  real  cohesion  between 
the  essential  theme  and  the  denouement.  The 
critic  of  Le  Petit  Journal,  Leon  Kerst,  thinks 
the  authors  intended  to  draw  the  moral  that* 
the  law  is  capable  of  driving  unhappy,  out- 
raged woman  to  extremes.  He  adds:  "The 
facts  imagined  support  the  precise,  clear, 
earnest  pleading;  theatricality  is  reduced  to  a 
minimum,  and  one  listens  with  avidity  to  the 
exposition  of  the  pros  and  cons  of  the  ques- 
tions so  convincingly  made  by  the  respective 
champions." 


THE  SEASON  OF  THE  RUSSIAN  PLAYERS 


*To  make  suffering  fashionable  in  America" 
is  the  mission  of  Paul  Orleneff,  the  great  Rus- 
sian actor.     So,  at  least,  he  states  in  a  recent 
newspaper  interview  in  which  he  gives  some 
account  of  his  dramatic  repertoire  and  of  the 
vicissitudes  of  his  company  during  the  past  ten 
months.    Quite  literally  this  mission  has  been 
fulfilled.     J.  Pierpont  Morgan,  Andrew  Car- 
negie and    Mrs.   Harry  Payne   Whitney   are 
but  three  of  a  long  list  of  patrons  who  have 
lent  prestige  and  financial  assistance  to  a  se- 
ries of  OrlenefTs  gloomy  productions  in  the 
Criterion   Theater,   New  York.     And  if  any 
actors  can  present  suffering  in  realistic  fash- 
ion it  should  be  these  Russian  players,  whose 
experience  here,  after  escaping  from  the  tyr- 
anny of  Russian  censorship,  has  been  in  the 
nature  of  one  long,  continuous  struggle  with 
an  even  gammer  tyrant — ^poverty.    Their  ef- 
forts to  maintain  a  theater  of  their  own  on  the 
East  Side  of  New  York  wotdd  undoubtedly 
Have  failed  had  it  not  been  for  the  help  of 
the  "uptown"  patrons  and  the  interest  of  such 
influential    literary   men   as   Richard   Watson 
Gilder,  Arthur  Brisbane,  James  Huneker  and 
Ernest  Crosby.    With  a  fund  of  over  $10,000 
now  collected;  with  the  appreciation  evinced 
by  press  and  public  in  New  York  and  Chicago 


even  among  people  who  do  not  know  a  word 
of  Russian;  and,  finally,  with  the  aid  and 
management  of  Charles  Frohman,  the  theatri- 
cal magnate,  the  prospects  of  the  much-tried 
Orleneff  company  are  far  brighter  than  at 
any  other  time  since  their  arrival. 

Of  the  earlier  performances  of  the  com- 
pany, and  of  the  personality  of  Orleneff  and 
that  of  his  wife  and  leading  lady,  Madame 
Alia  Nasimoff,  some  account  has  already  been 
given  in  these  pages  (see  Current  Litera- 
ture, July  and  August).  Orleneff 's  art  has 
great  power,  as  well  as  exquisite  skill,  spon- 
taneity, simplicity  and  a  sort  of  divine  infec- 
tious inspiration.  Madame  Nasimoff's  grace 
and  naturalness  recall  to  many  the  work  of 
Eleanora  Duse.  "Her  beauty,  her  individual- 
ity," says  Florence  Brooks,  in  The  Century, 
"are  as  entire  a  contrast  to  the  limpidity  of 
Orleneff  as  rich  red  wine  is  to  sparkling 
water."  The  acting  of  the  company  as  a 
whole  shows  a  co-ordination  which  gives  re- 
markable unity— a  quality  which,  as  Mr.  Cor- 
bin,  of  the  New  York  Sun,  justly  remarks, 
this  Russian  playing  has  in  common  with  all 
the  best  European  acting,  but  which  is  as  yet 
rare  in  this  country. 

The  four  plays  given  at  the  Criterion  The- 


4o8 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


ater  were  all  a  part  of  last  year's  repertoire. 
They  are:  Ibsen's  "Ghosts,"  which,  it  is  gen- 
erally conceded,  has  never  before  been  given 
in  this  country  with  such  force  and  appalling 
vividness;  "The  Chosen  People,"  by  Eugene 
Chirikov  (from  which  pasages  were  printed 
in  Current  Literature,  August) ;  "The 
Karamasoff  Brothers,"  by  Dostoyevsky;  and 
"The  Son  of  Ivan  the  Terrible,"  by  Count 
Alexis  Tolstoy.  In  their  own  little  theater 
east  of  the  Bowery,  started  with  much  sacri- 
fice by  Emma  Goldman  and  a  few  Elast  Side 
radicjils  and  now  condemned  on  account  of  its 
violation  of  the  regulations  of  the  New  York 
City  Fire  Department,  four  notable  new  plays 
have  been  presented. 

"The  Family  Zwee,"  a  drama  by  Pinski, 
translated  into  Russian  for  Orleneff  from  the 
Yiddish,  has  a  theme  very  similar  to  that  of 
Chirikov's  "Chosen  People."  We  have  here, 
as  in  Chirikov's  drama,  the  Jewish  massacres 
as  the  background.  The  main  theme,  how- 
ever, is  rather  the  conflict  that  is  at  present 
going  on  in  the  very  fold  of  Israel  between 
the  old  and  the  new  generations.  All  the 
various  tendencies  of  revolutionary  Russia  are 
represented  in  the  members  of  the  Zwee  fam- 
ily— the  father,  a  pious  old  Jew,  mourning 
because  he  knows  that  the  old  Mosaic  Juda- 
ism is  doomed  and  will  pass  away;  and  his 
three  sons,  one  a  Social  Democrat,  another  an 
ardent  Zionist,  and  the  third  an  advocate  of 
intermarriage  with  the  Gentiles.  The  fall  of 
the  old  Judaism  is  symbolized  by  the  old  man's 
death  before  the  tabernacle,  and  the  coming  of 
the  new  Judaism  by  the  victory  of  the  Social- 
ists and  the  Zionists  over  their  oppressors. 

S.  Naidyonov's  four-act  drama,  "Vanyush- 
in's  Children,"  also  hinges  on  the  conflict  be- 
tween fathers  and  sons.  It  is  not  so  broad  in 
scope  as  "The  Chosen  People"  and  "The 
Family  Zwee,"  and  shows  merely  an  outcome 
of  bad  parental  training.  It  is  a  criticism  of 
the  false  remote  attitude  that  parents  often 
assume  toward  their  children,  and  that  some- 
times results  in  complete  estrangement  be- 
tween the  older  and  younger  generations.  The 
whole  idea  of  the  drama  is  pithily  expressed  in 
this  sentence  addressed  to  the  father  by  his 
son  Alexai — the  principal  figure  in  the  drama 
— impersonated  by  Orleneflf:  "We  have  lived 
upstairs  and  you  have  lived  downstairs,  and 
thus  we  have  grown  up,  and  have  come  down- 
stairs already  full-grown,  with  our  own  tastes, 
desires  and  requirements."  The  father  finally 
commits  suicide,  unable  to  bear  any  longer  the 
disgrace  heaped  upon  him  by  his  family. 


Anton  Chekhov's  "Sea  -  Gull"  is  the  story 
of  an  actress's  unhappy  love.    Nina,  the  hero- 
ine of  the  piece,  is  the  idol  of  Konstantin,   a 
young  dramatist,  but  is  herself  in  love  with 
another  playwright,  Trigorin.     The  fact  that 
Konstantin's   mother,   Irene,  a  great  actress, 
is   already   the   mistress  of  Trigorin,   cannot 
stem  Nina's  infatuation.     Konstantin  one  day- 
shoots  a  sea-g^ll,  and  brings  it  to  her,  in  de- 
spair, telling  her  that  soon  he  will  shoot  him- 
self also.    The  dead  bird  suggests  to  Trigorin 
the  motive  for  a  story.     "I  will  write  of   a 
young  girl  who  lives  by  the  sea-side,"  he  says 
to  Nina,  "and  she  shall  love  the  sea  like  a  sea- 
gull and  be  happy  and  free  like  a  bird — ^until 
a  man  accidentally  crosses  her  path  and  out 
of  ennui  and  for  pastime  ruins  her  life,  as 
Konstantin  has  ruined  this  bird."     This  little 
drama  is  enacted  in  real  life,  for  Nina,  who 
goes  on  the  stage  and  for  a  while  succeeds 
in   winning  Trigorin's   love,   is  finally  aban- 
doned by  him.    In  melancholy  letters  to  Kon- 
stantin she  calls  herself  the  "sea-gull."    Kon- 
stantin has  won  fame  as  a  poet,  and  loves  her 
more  than  ever.     But  Nina,   though  broken 
down   and   deserted,   declares   that  she  loves 
•  Trigorin   still.     At   last   Konstantin  commits 
suicide. 

Herman  Bahr's  "Star"  is  also  concerned 
with  an  actress's  love.  In  this  case  the  star 
actress  in  a  play  is  fascinated  by  its  young,  in- 
nocent and  inexperienced  author.  She  is  tired 
of  the  loud  life  of  an  actress,  she  declares: 
she  wants  rest,  and  the  true  love  of  an  honest 
man.  So  they  decide  to  live  together  in  se- 
cret. But  she  is  unreasonably  jealous  of 
some  of  his  family  friends  who  have  found  out 
where  he  lives;  and  they  quarrel.  She  is  only 
an  actress,  after  all,  she  now  says;  he  will 
leave  her  and  marry  a  respectable  lady.  He 
denies  this  vigorously,  and  says  he  wants  to 
acknowledge  the  union  openly  before  the 
world.  Why  does  she  insist  on  keeping  their 
relations  a  secret?  he  asks.  She  knows  the 
theatrical  life  will  not  suit  him,  but  she  finally 
yields  to  his  wishes.  He  grows  jealous  of 
her,  finds  fault  with  her  gay,  Bohemian  mode 
of  life,  and  after  a  final  boisterous  scene  they 
part. 

In  the  role  of  "Zaza"  Madame  Nasimoff  has 
achieved  notable  success,  as  well  as  in  the 
part  of  "Hilda  Wangel"  in  Ibsen's  "Master- 
Builder."  These  last-mentioned  plays,  together 
with  those  above  described,  constitute  the 
striking  and  brilliant  repertoire  with  which 
Orleneflf  has  enriched  the  New  York  stage 
during  the  present  theatrical  season. 


^WSIC  AND  THE  DRAMA 


409 


THE  SECRET  OF  BARRIERS  CHARM 


Apart  from  the  discussion  aroused  by  Ber- 
nard Shaw's  plays,  the  most  notable  portent 
of  the  winter  in  the  New  York  dramatic  world 
is  undoubtedly  the  popularity  of  J.  M.  Barrie's 
"Alice-Sit-by-the-Fire'*  and  "Peter  Pan."  How 
is  Mr.  Barriers  astonishing  success  to  be  ac- 
counted for,  and  what  is  the  secret  of  his  hold 
on  the  theater-going  public  ?  These  questions 
have  engaged  the  attention  of  two  gentlemen 
eminently  qualified  to  answer  them — Charles 
Frohman,  the  producer  of  the  plays,  and  Will- 
iam Dean  Howells,  the  distinguished  novelist. 
They  both  express  their  opinions  in  Harper^ s 
Weekly.     Mr.  Frohman  says: 

"I  have  been  asked  to  account  for  the  fast  hold 
which  Barrie's  'Peter  Pan'  has  taken  upon  the  af- 
fections of  its  audiences  here  and  abroad.  The  in- 
quiry assumes  that  the  American  people  are  want- 
ing in  imagination.  The  assumption  is  unwar- 
ranted. The  very  success  of  such  a  play  as 
'Peter  Pan' — so  completely  in  a  class  by  itself  as 
to  defy  comparison — ^proves  that  there  exists  in 
the  American  people  a  pound  of  the  imaginative 
for  every  pound  of  the  practical. 

**The  shrewd  observers  of  our  social  conditions 
point  out  as  our  impending  peril  not  alone  the 
mania  of  money-getting,  not  the  danger  of  over- 
education  and  undercultivation,  nor  the  bent  of 
the  national  mind  solely  towards  national  ends, 
but  the  combination  of  all  these  towards  the  dead- 
ening of  our  imaginative  faculty.  Life  in  the 
big  cities  where  huge  buildings  shut  off  from  the 
child  all  contemplation  of  the  open  sky,  and  where 
duU  gray  streets  have  replaced  green  fields,  where 
the  lesson  of  the  day  is  'getting  on  in  the  world' 
rather  than  being  a  child  and  enjoying  the  dream- 
while  of  pirates,  fairies,  and  Indians — ^all  these  are 
pointed  out  as  tendencies  towards  early  self-con- 
sciousness and  the  stagnation  of  the  imagination. 
We  are  reminded  that  the  whistling  boy  and  the 
little  girl  singing  her  own  improvised  airs — ^those 
mirthful  little  Peter  Pans  and  Wendys  of  yes- 
terday— ^arc  no  longer  with  us.  To-day  they  are 
bent  rather  upon  aping  their  elders.  And  it  is 
asserted  that  with  their  disappearance  will  go 
that  imaginative  impulse  which  creates  for  a  na- 
tion its  great  songs  and  lyrics. 

"As  against  these  facts  we  know  that  men, 
women,  and  children  have  sincerely  appreciated 
*  Peter  Pan' — ^a  play  which  appeals  to  them  because 
they  come  of  a  people  possessed  of  a  healthy  im- 
agination. At  every  performance  old  hearts  and 
old  brains  live  over  again  the  thrills  and  sensa- 
tions of  romantic  youth.  Its  appeal  is  universal. 
There  is  joy  in  it  for  all  classes  and  all  ages.  It 
is  simply  a  matter  of  light  attracting  light.  The 
pleasure  taken  by  the  audiences  at  Teter  Pan' 
has  come,  I  think,  from  the  fact  that  whatever  is 
human  and  healthful  in  thought  or  feeling  in 
them  has  been  touched  by  Barrie's  humanity. 
Everybody  who  has  been  gripped  by  the  charm 
of  *  Peter  Pan'  has  only  to  thank  himself  that  he 
has  within  him  that  to  which  the  author  has  %vlo- 


cessfully  appealed.  Neither  the  skill  of  Miss 
Adams  nor  the  power  and  genius  of  Barrie  could 
have  availed  but  for  the  responsive  hearts  and 
sj-mpathetic  feeling  of  the  audiences.  It  has 
fallen  to  Barrie  to  evolve  what,  in  all  my  experi- 
ence, the  American  stage  has  only  now  afforded 
— ^namely,  an  entertainment  creative  of  pure  fancy 
in  the  city-bred  child,  and  quickening  to  the  im- 
agination of  the  little  people  whose  natural  Fairy- 
land we  grown-ups  have  possessed — ^an  illusion  of 
a  night  during  which  the  mother  or  father  and 
child  find  abundant  delights  in  common  and  real- 
ize new  joys  in  being  complete  chums." 

Mr.  Howells  is  impressed,  first  of  all,  by  the 
sivectness  of  the  Barrie  plays.  "They  have  a 
gentle  irony,"  he  says,  "which  is  almost  a 
caress ;  a  sympathy  with  amusing  innocence  in 
whatever  form,  with  a  confidential  wink  for 
the  more  sophisticated  witness;  an  endearing 
kindliness,  a  charming  domesticity,  with  a 
trust  of  the  spectator's  intelligence  and  tem- 
perament which  is  flattering  to  the  best  in 
him."  The  second  quality  emphasized  by  Mr. 
Howells  is  that  of  domesticity.  He  writes  on 
this  point: 

"There  is  no  hint  of  love-making  between  Peter 
Pan  and  Wendy,  even  when  they  are  playing 
father  and  mother  to  the  Lost  ^oys.  She  is  just 
the  mother  they  have  longed  for,  because  mother- 
ing is  her  instinct,  as  it  is  that  of  the  young  girl 
(I  forget  her  name)  in  'Little  Mary,'  who  adopts 
all  the  children  she  can  lay  hands  on.  Motherli- 
ness  is  what  Mr.  Barrie  is  always  finding  out  in 
women,  who  are  supposed  by  most  dramatists 
to  be  mainly  sweethearts  and  wives  at  the  best, 
and  flirts  and  adultresses  at  the  worst.  He  has 
thus  added  a  grace  to  comedy  which  has  seemed 
beyond  or  beside  the  reach  of  its  art,  and  has 
probably  endeared  himself  to  a  much  larger  pub- 
lic than  would  like  to  own  it.  Motherliness,  hun- 
gry and  helpless  enough,  is  the  note  of  the  homing 
woman  in  *Alice-Sit-by-the-Fire'  who  returns  to 
the  children  separated  almost  their  whole  lives 
from  her  by  her  exile  in  India,  and  who  loves 
them  so  much  that  she  does  not  know  how  to 
have  them,  and  all  but  spoils  her  chance  with 
them.  The  piece  is  of  course  on  its  surface  a 
satire  on  romantic  girlhood  impassioned  and  mis- 
led by  the  emotional  drama.  The  well-grown-up 
daughter  of  Alice  has  so  often  seen  erring  woman 
'saved'  by  self-sacrificing  friends,  who  opportunely 
arrive  at  supreme  moments  to  take  the  blame  of 
guilty  appearances  on  themselves,  that  when  she 
imagines  her  pretty  and  still  young  mother  in 
love  with  a  friend  of  the  husband  and  father,  she 
desires  nothing  better  than  to  conceal  herself  in 
the  young  man's  rooms,  and  to  'save'  her  mother 
by  claiming  him  for  her  own  lover.  The  fact 
that  her  father  comes  with  her  mother  to  the 
wicked  rendezvous  does  not  affect  her  position. 
To  the  very  last  she  believes  that  she  has  'saved' 
her  mother,  and  when,  late  at  night  after  they 
have  all   returned   home,   she   hears   her   father 


>^ 


410 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


storming  at  her  mother  for  reminding  him  of  the 
depreciation  of  rupees,  she  steals  upon  them  in 
her  night-gown,  and  joins  their  hands  in  a  stage- 
forgiveness.    The  whole  affair  is  delicious  comedy." 

There  is  never  anything  so  novel  in  the  arts, 
says  Mr.  Howells,  as  the  truth;  and  "in  these 
pieces  of  Mr.  Barrie's,  especially  the  last,  he 
has  divined  something  quite  new  in  the  poor 
old  world  which  often  likes  to  put  such  a 
wicked  mask  on  over  its  simple  and  harmless 
face."    Mr.  Howells  concludes: 

"In  a  very  manly  way  it  is  optimism  of  the  best 


type.  It  is  the  same  world  which  Mr.  Pinero  and 
Mr.  Jones,  and  that  unhappy  Oscar  Wilde  (ar- 
tistically the  peer  of  either),  have  shown  in  dif- 
ferent and  not  less  faithful  phases;  but  now  we 
see  that  it  is  often  not  such  a  bad  world;  for  the 
most  part  it  is  a  very  fair  world  and  even  a  very 
good  world.  We  owe  much  to  all  the  modem 
English  dramatists,  but  Mr.  Barrie  seems  likely 
to  make  us  most  deeply  his  debtor,  especially  since 
Mr.  Gilbert,  his  only  rival  in  fantasy,  fantasies  no 
more.  Even  Mr.  Gilbert  at  his  best  had  not  Mr. 
Barrie's  sweetness;  that  is  so  nearly  all  his  own, 
that  I  can  think  of  but  one  other  dramatist  to  be 
named  with  him  for  it,  and  I  am  rather  glad  that 
this  was  an  American,  the  late  James  A.  Heam." 


HAUPTMANN'S  NEW  SYMBOLIC  DRAMA 


Gerhart  Hauptmann's  latest  play,  "As  Pippa 
Dances,"  was  produced  for  the  first  time  in 
Berlin  in  January  and  has  been  received 'with 
mixed  feelings  by  the  German  public  and  crit- 
ics. Like  "The  Sunken  Bell,"  it  is  founded  on 
a  popular  myth,  and  is  full  of  mystic  symbol- 
ism; so  full,  indeed,  that  Leo  Ber^,  writing 
in  the  Neue  Gesellschaft  (Berlin),  says  that 
as  he  listened  to  this  play  Goethe's  second  part 
of  "Faust"  seemed  as  simple  as  an  elementary 
reader  in  comparison.  Later,  he  continues,  he 
learned  from  Alfred  Holzbock,  "Hauptmann's 
Boswell,"  that  Hauptmann  himself  does  not 
understand  it.  Nevertheless,  Hauptmann  has 
been  able  to  give  a  very  clear  account  of  both 
the  drama  and  its  purport,  which  we  quote 
from  a  translation  made  for  the  New  York 
Times: 

"In  the  mountains  of  my  Silesian  home  a  Vene- 
tian legend  exists  which  announced  that  at  one 
time  Venetians  came  to  Silesia  and  here  endeav- 
ored to  awaken  the  unknown  treasures  of  the 
mountains.  The  idea  forming  the  basis  of  this 
story  has  kept  me  busy  for  some  time.  Venetian 
splendor  and  its  magnificent  glass  industry  united 
in  my  imagination  with  the  mountains  and  arts 
of  my  home,  and  so  out  of  love  for  my  native 
heath  grew  my  new  legendary  drama.  In  *As 
Pippa  Dances'  I  endeavored  to  bring  together  the 
beautiful,  sensuous  world  of  Venice  with  the  seri- 
ous rough  world  of  the  mountains.  The  name  of 
the  chief  character  of  my  drama  is  Pippa.  In- 
voluntarily I  thought  of  the  most  famous  of  all 
dancers.  Pepita  (Pippa)  is  the  daughter  of  an 
Italian  glassmaker.  Although  He  is  her  father 
she  cannot  love  him.  He  came  from  Murano, 
where  Venetian  glass  is  made,  but  settled  in  Sile- 
sia. His  daughter  by  her  winning  ways  charms 
every  one.  She  has  several  admirers,  among  them 
the  manager  of  the  local  glassworks,  a  poor  un- 
couth glassblower  named  Huhn,  and  finally  a 
wandering  artisan  named  Michel  Hellriegel. 

"Pippa's  father  is  killed  by  some  glassblowcrs, 


whom  he  has  robbed  while  gambling,  and  his 
daughter  is  carried  away  by  force  by  Huhn. 
Michel  liberates  her,  and  during  a  storm  they  flee 
through  the  mountains.  The  lovers  obtain  shel- 
ter in  the  house  of  a  hermit  named  Wanu,  but 
Huhn,  who  has  followed  them,  kills  Pippa. 
Michel,  who  becomes  blind,  sees  in  his  raving  the 
golden  palaces  of  Venice. 

'T  endeavored  to  say  in  this  play  that  in  all 
of  us  lies  something  for  which  our  souls  are 
yearning;  we  all  pursue  something  which  is  danc- 
ing before  our  souls  in  beautiful  colors  and  at- 
tractive forms.  This  something  may  be  called 
Pippa.  She  is  that  beauty  followed  by  all  in 
which  the  imagination  has  not  entirely  disap- 
peared. The  manager  of  the  glassworks,  who 
wants  to  marry  her,  dreams  of  Titian;  the  old 
Huhn  is  a  brutal  fellow  with  brutal  instincts  who 
seeks  only  the  forms  of  beauty,  while  the  young 
lover  Michel  is  the  symbol  of  that  which  lives  in 
the  German  * Volksseele' ;  he  is  the  youth  free  of 
materialism,  the  youth  of  naivete  and  simple 
humor,  full  of  hope  and  desire,  the  youth  who 
with  humor  gives  himself  up  to  the  tragic  fate, 
but  who  does  not  lose  his  illusions. 

"Although  brutal  strength  conquers  in  *As 
Pippa  Dances,'  as  it  does  so  often  in  life,  Michel 
lives  a  true  exponent  of  our  nation.  He  will  fol- 
low after  the  ideals  of  beauty  as  of  yore;  but 
beauty,  just  as  Pippa  does  before  the  mob,  must 
dance  and  dance.  Beauty  is  killed  by  the  masses 
like  Pippa  by  the  old  man  of  brutal  strength — 
Huhn.  And  Wanu,  whom  I  have  portrayed  as  a 
mystical  personage,  is  a  venerable  old  man,  devot- 
ing his  life  in  the  mountains  to  science.  He  looks 
in  a  philosophical  way  to  the  people,  shelters 
youth  and  beauty,  and  endeavors  to  protect  them, 
but  cannot  save  them  as  brutal  strength  drives 
beauty  to  death." 

Although  the  critics  are  not  satisfied  with 
this  new  experiment  of  Hauptmann's,  which 
they  declare  falls  far  short  of  "The  Sunken 
Bell,"  yet  his  ability  to  produce  further  great 
works  is  not  questioned.  No  one  has  as  yet 
said  of  Hauptmann  what  has  often  been  said 
of  Sudermann — that  he  has  exhausted  himself 


MUSIC  AND  THE  DRAMA 


411 


HAUPTMANN  AS  HE  WAS— 

and  has  no  more  to  give.  The  complaint  is  a 
diflferent  one.  Hauptmann  is  now  blamed  for 
writing  too  much.  It  is  pointed  out  that  even 
the  greatest  writers  of  our  time  feel  impelled 
to  write  too  rapidly  in  order  to  get  their  wares 
into  the  market  in  time.  "Goethe  gave  sixty 
years  to  the  development  of  his  Taust !' "  ex- 


AND  AS  HE  IS! 


—Der  Fhh  (Vienna). 

claims  one  writer.  "This  is  the  difference  be- 
tween an  epoch  in  which  art  was  lived,  and 
ours,  which  capitalizes  it.  .  .  .  During  late 
years  Hauptmann  has,  to  a  certain  extent,  be- 
come the  exploiter  of  his  own  talent  which, 
being  overstrained,  finally  winds  up  in  fail- 
ure." 


A  CRITIQUE  OF  PURE   MUSIC 


Music  is  of  the  core  of  life,  says  Professor 
Santayana  in  his  new  book,*  for  its  essence 
is  vitality.  A  hope,  a  passion,  a  crime,  he 
tells  us,  is  a  flash  of  vitality.  Music  is  the  ex- 
pression of  these,  as  it  is  the  true  language 
of  the  inexpressible  in  life.  That  which  can- 
not be  translated  into  words  is  no  less  real 
than  that  which  is  possible  of  speech.  Much 
of  music  radiates  from  primary  functions 
which,  though  their  operation  is  half  known, 
have  only  base  or  pitiful  associations  in  hu- 
man life — the  unclaimed  Hinterland  of  life. 
When  music,  either  by  verbal  indications  or 
by  sensuous  affinities,  or  by  both  at  once,  suc- 
ceeds in  tapping  this  fund  of  suppressed  feel- 
ing, it  accordingly  supplies  a  great  need.  "It 
makes  the  dumb  speak  and  plucks  from  the 
animal  iieart  potentialities  of  expression 
which  might  render  it  perhaps  even  more  than 
human.  ...  It  is  the  singular  privilege 
of  this  art  to  give  form  to  what  is  naturally 

♦Thb  Life  of  Reason  :  Reason  in  Art.    By  George 
Santayana.     Charles  Scribner's  Sons. 


inarticulate,  and  express  those  depths  of 
human  nature  which  can  speak  in  no  language 
current  in  the  world." 

Music  and  life  have  this  common  base,  that 
emotion  is  the  soul  of  both.  .  "There  is  per- 
haps no  emotion  incident  to  human  life  that 
music  cannot  render  in  its  abstract  medium 
by  suggesting  the  pang  of  it  .  .  .  We 
dance,  pray  and  mourn  to  music,  and  the  more 
inadequate  words  or  external  acts  are  to  the 
situation,  the  more  grateful  music  is." 

Professor  Santayana  likens  music  unto  those 
branches  of  a  tree  which  are  put  forth  close 
to  the  ground  beneath  the  point  where  the 
boughs  separate,  having  nothing  in  common 
with  the  tree  itself  save  the  roots,  which  are 
the  parent  of  both.  "Somewhat  in  this  fashion 
music  diverts  into  an  abstract  sphere  a  part 
of  those  forces  which  abound  beneath  the 
point  at  which  the  human  understanding 
grows  articulate." 

Music,  like  life,  is  a  development.  Primi- 
tive music,  we  are  told,  is  a  wail  and  parturi- 


412 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


tion.  Music  was  long  used  before  it  was 
loved  or  people  took  pains  to  refine  it.  But 
when  men  discovered  that  song  could  be  util- 
ized to  keep  in  unison  the  efforts  of  many 
men,  as  when  soldiers  keep  in  time  to  martial 
strains,  or  sailors  sing  as  they  heave,  music 
became  a  more  intimate  part  of  life.  To-day 
we  know  that  music  has  not  only  this  material 
power,  but  in  the  realm  of  the  imagination 
and  the  emotions  it  is  as  directly  potent  as 
fighting  or  love.  At  the  same  time  music  is 
purer  than  life,  for  "spirit  is  clogged  by  what 
it  flows  through,  but  at  its  springs  it  is  both 
limpid  and  abundant."  Music  is  a  flexible 
measure.  Its  rhythms  can  explicate  all  emo- 
tions, through  all  degrees  of  complexity  and 
volume.  It  is  this  infinite  capacity  of  music 
for  expression  that  opens  up  a  vista  greater 
than  life  at  its  present  stage  can  comprehend. 

Professor  Santayana  does  not  accept  the 
Tolstoyan  theory  that  the  greatest  art,  or  the 
greatest  music,  must  be  universally  appre- 
ciated to  be  great.  He  maintains  that  a 
musical  education  is  necessary  for  musical 
judgment.  "What  most  people  relish  is  hardly 
music;  it  is  a  drowsy  revery  relieved  by  nerv- 
ous thrills."  Popular  music  must  needs  be 
simple  because  it  must  appeal  to  the  simplest 
or  the  most  primal  emotions  in  men,  not  to 
the  emotions  of  the  intellect,  which  are  the 
results  of  education  and  refinement.  "When 
elaborate  music  is  the  fashion  among  people 
to  whom  all  music  is  a  voluptuous  mystery, 
we  may  be  sure  that  what  they  love  is 
voluptuousness  or  fashion,  and  not  music  it- 
self." Elaborate  music  has  an  intellectual  es- 
sence. An  appreciation  of  intricate  music  im- 
plies an  understanding  born  of  cultivation. 
Such  music  as  has  been  elaborated  into  intri- 
cate forms  and  compositions  which  appeal  not 
to  the  emotions  alone  but  to  the  intellect  as 
well,  is  compared  by  Mr.  Santayana  to  mathe- 
matics and  arabesques: 

"A  moving  arabesque  that  has  a  vital  dimen- 
sion, as  audible  mathematics,  adding  sense  to  form 
and  a  versification  that,  since  it  has  no  subject 
matter,  cannot  do  violence  to  it  bjr  its  complex 
artifices — ^these  are  types  of  pure  livmg,  altogether 
joyful  and  delightful  things.  They  combine  life 
with  order,  precision  with  spontaneity;  the  flux 
in  them  has  become  rythmical  and  its  freedom 
has  passed  into  a  rational  choice,  since  it  has 
come  in  sight  of  the  eternal  it  would  embody. 
The  musician,  like  an  architect  or  goldsmith, 
working  in  sound,  but  freer  than  they  from  ma- 
terial trammels,  can  expand  forever  his  yielding 
labyrinth;  every  step  opens  up  new  vistas,  every 
decision — ^how  unlike  those  made  in  real  life! — 
multiplies  opportunities  and  widens  the  horizon 
before  him  without  preventing  him  from  going 


back  at  will  to  begin  afresh  at  any  point,  to  trace 
the  other  possible  paths  leading  thence,  througli 
various  magic  landscapes." 

The  limitations  of  music  are  to  be  sought. 
Professor  Santayana  maintains,  not  in  music 
but  in  men.  "The  degree  to  which  music 
should  be  elaborated  depends  on  the  capacity 
possessed  by  those  it  addresses.  There  are 
limits  to  every  man's  synthetic  powers,  and  to 
stretch  those  powers  to  their  limits  is  ex- 
hausting. Excitement  then  becomes  a  de- 
bauch; it  leaves  the  soul  less  capable  of  habit- 
ual harmony.  .  .  .  As  we  all  survey  two 
notes  and  their  interval  in  one  sensation,  so  a 
trained  mind  might  survey  a  whole  composi- 
tion." The  comparison  is  made  between  an- 
cient and  modern  music  which  shows  that 
"barbaric  musicians,  singing  and  playing  to- 
gether more  or  less  at  random,  are  too  much 
carried  away  by  their  performance  to  con- 
ceive its  effect;  they  cry  far  too  loud  and  too 
unceasingly  to  listen;  a  contagious  tradition 
carries  them  along  and  controls  them  in  a  way 
as  they  improvise;  the  assembly  is  hardly  an 
audience;  all  are  performers,  and  the  crowd 
is  only  a  stimulus  that  keeps  every  one  danc- 
ing and  howling  in  emulation.  This  uncon- 
sidered flow  of  early  art  remains  present  more 
or  less  to  the  end.  Instead  of  vague  custom 
we  have  schools,  and  instead  of  swaying  mul- 
titudes we  have  academic  example;  but  many 
a  discord  and  mannerism  survive  simply  be- 
cause the  musician  is  so  suggestible  or  so 
lost  in  the  tumult  of  production  as  never  to 
consider  what  he  does,  or  to  perceive  his 
wastefulness." 

An  interesting  thesis  is  evolved  by  Mr.  San- 
tayana, unconsciously  perhaps,  on  the  radi- 
calism of  music.  As  life  advances,  it  tends 
toward  inherent  radicalism,  restrained  by  the 
development  of  artistic  sense  and  fineness. 
"The  artist  being  a  born  lover  of  the  good  is 
a  natural  breeder  of  perfections.  ...  As 
the  standard  of  perfection  is  internal  and  is 
measured  by  the  satisfaction  felt  in  releasing 
it,  every  artist  has  tasted  in  his  activity  what 
activity  essentially  is."  The  artistic  qualities 
of  music  deepen  with  its  development.  Like- 
wise with  all  radicalism.  But  as  music  knows 
not  the  trammeling  influences  which  surround 
and  harass  life,  it  is  enabled  to  make  greater 
progress.  To  quote  Professor  Santayana  in 
conclusion : 

"In  life  the  ordinary  routine  of  destiny  beats 
so  emphatic  a  measure  that  it  does  not  allow 
free  play  to  feeling;  we  cannot  linger  on  any- 
thing long  enough  to  exhaust  its  meaning  nor  can 
we  wander  far  from  the  beaten  path  to  catch  new 


MUSIC  AND  THE  DRAMA 


413 


impressions;  but  in  music  there  are  no  mortal 
obligations,  no  imperious  needs  calling  us  back 
to  reality.  Here  nothing  beautiful  is  extrava- 
gant, nothing  delightful  unworthy.  Musical  re- 
finement finds  no  limit  but  its  own  instinct,  so 
that  a  thousand  shades  of  what,  .in  our  blunder- 
ing words,  we  must  call  sadness  or  mirth,  find 
in  music  their  distinct  expression.  .  .  .  There  is 
...  in  music  a  sort  of  Christian  piety,  in  that  it 
comes  not  to  call  the  just  but  sinners  to  repent- 
ance, and  understands  the  spiritual  possibilities 
in  outcasts  upon  the  respectable  world.  If  we 
look  at  things  absolutely  enough  and  from  their 
own  point  of  view,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
each  has  its  own  ideal  and  does  not  question  its 
ow^n  justification.  Lust  and  frenzy,  r every  or 
despair,  fatal  as  they  may  be  to  a  creature  that 
has  general  ulterior  interests,  are  not  perverse 
in  themselves :  each  searches  for  its  own  affinities, 
and  has  a  kind  of  inertia  which  tends  to  main- 
tain it  in  being,  and  to  attach  or  draw  in  what- 


ever is  propitious  to  it.  Feelings  are  blameless 
as  so  many  forms  of  vegetation;  they  can  be 
poisonous  only  to  a  different  life.  They  all  are 
primordial  motions,  eddies  which  the  universal 
flux  makes  for  no  reason,  since  its  habit  of  falling 
into  such  attitudes  is  the  ground- work  and  ex- 
emplar for  nature  and  logic  alike!  .  .  .  Moral 
judgments  and  conflicts  are  possible  only  in  the 
mind  that  represents  many  interests  synthetically; 
in  nature,  where  primary  impulses  collide,  all  con- 
flict is  physical  and  all  will  innocent.  Imagine 
some  ingredient  of  humanity  loosed  from  its 
present  environment  in  human  economy;  it  would 
at  once  vegetate  and  flower  into  some  ideal  form, 
such  as  we  see  exuberantly  displayed  in  nature. 
If  we  can  only  suspend  for  a  moment  the  con- 
gested traffic  in  the  brain,  these  initial  movements 
will  begin  to  traverse  it  playfully  and  show  their 
paces,  and  we  shall  live  m  one  of  those  plausible 
worlds  which  the  actual  world  has  made  impos- 
sible." 


THE  TWISTING  OF  THE  ROPE— A  CELTIC  PLAY 


This  is  "the  first  Irish  play  ever  given  in  a 
Dublin  theater,"  according  to  Lady  Gregory,  who 
has  translated  it  from  Irish  into  English.  The 
play  was  written  by  Dr.  Douglas  Hyde,  who  also 
acted  in  it  in  the  first  production.  It  has  been 
acted  many  times  in  the  last  few  years  in  many 
parts  of  Ireland  and  in  London  as  well,  and  ''has 
always  given  great  delight."  The  presence  in  this 
country  during  the  last  few  weeks  of  two  of  the 
Celtic  revivalists — Dr.  Douglas  Hyde  himself 
and  Anatole  le  Braz,  of  Brittany — seems  to  us  to 
render  this  play  of  peculiar  and  timely  interest. 
Lady  Gregory's  translation,  which  we  use,  is  pub- 
lished in  a  volume  entitled,  "Poets  and  Dreamers" 
(Scribner's). 

The  play  has  five  characters :  Hanrahan,  a  wan- 
dering poet  (who  also  figures  as  one  of  Mr. 
Yeats's  heroes)  ;  Sheamus  O'Heran ;  Oona,  who 
is  engaged  to  Sheamus;  Maurya,  the  woman  of 
the  house ;  Sheela,  a  neighbor.  The  scene  is  laid  in 
a  farmer's  house  in  Munster,  where  a  dance  is 
being  held.  In  the  opening,  Hanrahan  is  discov- 
ered talking  to  Oona.  Another  man  comes  up 
and  extends  his  hand  to  Oona  as  if  to  lead  her 
oflF  in  the  next  dance,  about  to  begin.  She  pushes 
him  away: 

Oona :  Don't  be  bothering  me  now ;  don't  you 
sec  I'm  listening  to  what  he  is  saying?  (To  Han- 
rahan) Go  on  with  what  you  were  saying  just 
now. 

Hanrahan :    What  did  that  fellow  want  of  you  ? 

Oona :  He  wanted  the  next  dance  with  me,  but 
I  wouldn't  give  it  to  him. 

Hanrahan :  And  why  would  you  give  it  to  him  ? 
Do  you  think  I'd  let  you  dance  with  anyone  but 


myself,  and  I  here?  I  had  no  comfort  or  satis- 
faction this  long  time  until  I  came  here  to-night, 
and  till  I  saw  yourself. 

Oona:     What  comfort  am  I  to  you? 

Hanrahan :  When  a  stick  is  half  burned  in  the 
fire,  does  it  not  get  comfort  when  water  is  poured 
on  it? 

Oona:     But,  sure,  you  are  not  half  burned. 

Hanrahan:  1  am;  and  three-quarters  of  my 
heart  is  burned,  and  scorched  and  consumed, 
struggling  with  the  world,  and  the  world  strug- 
gling with  me. 

Oona :    You  don't  look  that  bad. 

Hanrahan :  O,  Oona  ni  Regaun,  you  have  not 
knowledge  of  the  life  of  a  poor  bard,  without 
house  or  home  or  havings,  but  he  going  and  ever 
going  a  drifting  through  the  wide  world,  without 
a  person  with  him  but  himself.  There  is  not  a 
morning  in  the  week  when  I  rise  up  that  I  do 
not  say  to  myself  that  it  would  be  better  to  be  in 
the  grave  than  to  be  wandering.  There  is  nothing 
standing  to  me  but  the  gift  I  got  from  God,  my 
share  of  songs;  when  I  begin  upon  them,  my 
grief  and  my  trouble  go  from  me;  I  forget  my 
persecution  and  my  ill  luck ;  and  now  since  I  saw 
you,  Oona,  I  see  there  is  something  that  is  bet- 
ter even  than  the  songs. 

Oona:     Poetry  is  a  wonderful  gift  from  God;^ 
and  as  long  as  you  have  that,  you  are  richer  than 
the  people  of  stock  and  store,  the  people  of  cows 
and  cattle. 

Hanrahan:  Ah,  Oona,  it  is  a  great  blessing, 
but  it  is  a  great  curse  as  well  for  a  man,  he  to  be 
a  poet.  Look  at  me:  have  I  a  friend  in  this 
world?  Is  there  a  man  alive  that  has  a  wish  for 
me?  is  there  the  love  of  anyone  at  all  on  me?  I 
am  going  like  a  poor  lonely  barnacle  goose 
throughout  the  world;  like  Oisin  after  the  Feni- 
ans; every  person  hates  me:  you  do  not  hate  me, 
Oona? 

Oona:  Do  not  say  a  thing  like  that;  it  is  im- 
possible that  anyone  would  hate  you. 


414 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


Hanrahan:  Come  and  we  will  sit  in  the  cor- 
ner of  the  room  together;  and  I  will  tell  you  the 
little  song  I  made  for  you;  it  is  for  you  I  made 
it. 

(They  go  to  a  corner  and  sit  down  together. 
Sheela  comes  in  at  the  door.) 

Sheela:    I  came  to  you  as  quick  as  I  could. 

Maurya:     And  a  hundred  welcomes  to  you. 

Sheela :    What  have  you  going  on  now  ? 

Maurya:  Beginning  we  are;  we  had  one  jig, 
and  now  the  piper  is  drinking  a  glass.  They'll 
begin  dancing  again  in  a  minute  when  the  piper 
is  ready. 

Sheela :  There  are  a  good  many  people  gather- 
ing in  to  you  to-night.    We  will  have  a  fine  dance. 

Maurya :  Maybe  so,  Sheela ;  but  there's  a  man 
of  them  there,  and  Td  sooner  him  out  than  in. 

Sheela:  It's  about  the  long  red  man  you  are 
talking,  isn't  it — the  man  that  is  in  close  talk  with 
Oona  in  the  corner?  Where  is  he  from,  and  who 
is  he  himself? 

Maurya:  That's  the  greatest  vagabond  ever 
came  into  Ireland ;  Tumaus  Hanrahan  they  call 
him;  but  it's  Hanrahan  the  rogue  he  ought  to 
have  been  christened  by  right.  Aurah,  wasn't 
there  the  misfortune  on  me,  him  to  come  in  to  us 
at  all  to-night? 

Sheela:  What  sort  of  a  person  is  he?  Isn't 
he  a  man  that  makes  songs,  out  of  Connacht?  I 
heard  talk  of  him  before;  and  they  say  there  is 
not  another  dancer  in  Ireland  so  good  as  him.  I 
would  like  to  see  him  dance. 

Maurya:  Bad  luck  to  the  vagabond  I  It  is 
well  I  know  what  sort  he  is;  because  there  was 
a  kind  of  friendship  between  himself  and  the  first 
husband  I  had ;  and  it  is  often  I  heard  from  poor 
Diarmuid — ^the  Lord  have  mercy  on  him  I — ^what 
sort  of  person  he  was.  He  was  a  schoolmaster 
down  in  Connacht;  but  he  used  to  have  every 
trick  worse  than  another;  ever  making  songs  he 
used  to  be,  and  drinking  whiskey  and  setting 
quarrels  afoot  among  the  neighbors  with  his 
share  of  talk.  They  say  there  isn't  a  woman  in 
the  five  provinces  that  he  wouldn't  deceive.  He 
is  worse  than  Donal  na  Greina  long  ago.  But 
the  end  of  the  story  is  that  the  priest  routed  him 
out  of  the  parish  altogether ;  he  got  another  place 
then,  and  followed  on  at  the  same  tricks  until  he 
was  routed  out  again,  and  another  again  with  it. 
Now  he  has  neither  place  nor  house  nor  anything, 
but  he  to  be  going  the  country,  making  songs  and 
getting  a  night's  lodging  from  the  people;  nobody 
will  refuse  him,  because  they  are  afraid  of  him. 
He's  a  great  poet,  and  maybe  he'd  make  a  rann 
on  you  that  would  stick  to  you  for  ever,  if  you 
were  to  anger  him. 

Sheela:  God  preserve  us;  but  what  brought 
him  in  to-night? 

Maurya:  He  was  travelling  the  country  and 
he  heard  there  was  to  be  a  dance  here  and  he 
came  in  because  he  knew  us;  he  was  rather  great 
with  my  first  husband.  It  is  wonderful  how  he 
is  making  out  his  way  of  life  at  all,  and  he  with 
nothing  but  his  share  of  songs.  They  say  there  is 
no  place  that  he'll  go  to,  that  the  women  don't  love 
him,  and  that  the  men  don't  hate  him. 

Sheela  (catching  Maurya  by  the  shoulder) : 
Turn  your  head,  Maurya;  look  at  him  now,  him- 
self and  your  daughter,  and  their  heads  together; 
he's  whispering  in  her  ear;  he's  after  making  a 


poem  for  her  and  he's  whispering  it  in  her  car. 
Oh,  the  villain,  he'll  be  putting  his  spells  on  her 
now. 

Maurya:  Ohone,  go  deo!  isn't  it  a  misfortune 
that  he  came?  He's  talking  every  moment  with 
Oona  since  he  came  in  three  hours  ago.  I  did  my 
best  to  separate  them  from  one  another,  but  it 
failed  me.  Poor  Oona  is  given  up  to  every  sort 
of  old  songs  and  old  made-up  stories;  and  she 
thinks  it  sweet  to  be  listening  to  him.  The  mar- 
riage is  settled  between  herself  and  Sheamus 
O'Heran  there,  a  quarter  from  to-day.  Look  at 
poor  Sheamus  at  the  door,  and  he  watching  them. 
There  is  grief  and  hanging  of  the  head  on  him ; 
it's  easy  to  see  that  he'd  like  to  choke  the  vaga- 
bond this  minute.  I  am  greatly  afraid  that  the 
head  will  be  turned  on  Oona  with  his  share  of 
blathering.  As  sure  as  I  am  alive  there  will  come 
evil  out  of  this  night. 

Sheela:    And  couldn't  you  put  him  out? 

Maurya:  I  could.  There's  no  person  here  to 
help  him  unless  there  would  be  a  woman  or  two ; 
but  he  is  a  great  poet,  and  he  has  a  curse  that 
would  split  the  trees,  and  that  would  burst  the 
stones.  They  say  the  seed  will  rot  in  the  ground 
and  the  milk  go  from  the  cows  when  a  poet  like 
him  makes  a  curse,  if  a  person  routed  him  out  of 
the  house;  but  if  he  was  once  out,  I'll  go  bail  I 
wouldn't  let  him  in  again. 

Sheela:  If  himself  were  to  go  out  willingly, 
there  would  be  no  virtue  in  his  curse  then. 

Maurya:  There  would  not,  but  he  will  not  go 
out  willingly,  and  I  cannot  rout  him  out  myself 
for  fear  of  his  curse. 

Sheela:  Look  at  poor  Sheamus.  He  is  going 
over  to  her.  (Sheamus  gets  up  and  goes  over  to 
her.) 

Sheamus:  Will  you  dance  this  reel  with  me, 
Oona,  as  soon  as  the  piper  is  ready? 

Hanrahan  (rising  up)  :  I  am  Tumaus  Hanra* 
han,  and  I  am  speaking  now  to  Oona  ni  Regaun: 
and  as  she  is  willing  to  be  talking  to  me,  I  will 
allow  no  living  person  to  come  between  us. 

Sheamus  (without  heeding  Hanrahan)  :  Will 
you  not  dance  with  me,  Oona? 

Hanrahan  (savagely)  :  Didn't  I  tell  you  now 
that  it  was  to  me  Oona  ni  Regaun  was  talking? 
Leave  that  on  the  spot,  you  clown,  and  do  not 
raise  a  disturbance  here. 

Sheamus :     Oona 

Hanrahan  (shouting):  Leave  that!  (Sheamus 
goes  arvay,  and  comes  over  to  the  two  old 
women.) 

Sheamus:  Maurya  Regaun,  I  am  asking  leave 
of  you  to  throw  that  ill-mannerly,  drunken  vaga- 
bond out  of  the  house.  Myself  and  my  two 
brothers  will  put  him  out  if  you  will  allow  us; 
and  when  he's  outside  I'll  settle  with  him. 

Maurya :  Sheamus,  do  not ;  I  am  afraid  of  him. 
That  man  has  a  curse  they  say  that  would  split 
the  trees. 

Sheamus:  I  don't  care  if  he  had  a  curse  that 
would  overthrow  the  heavens;  it  is  on  me  it  will 
fall,  and  I  defy  him  I  If  he  were  to  kill  me  on  the 
moment,  I  will  not  allow  him  to  put  his  spells  on 
Oona.     Give  me  leave,  Maurya. 

Sheela:  Do  not,  Sheamus.  I  have  a  better 
advice  than  that. 

Sheamus:    What  advice  is  that? 

Sheela:    I  have  a  way  in  my  head  to  put  him 


MUSIC  AND  THE  DRAMA 


415 


out.  If  you  follow  my  advice,  he  will  go  out 
himself  as  quiet  as  a  lamb;  and  when  you  get 
him  out»  slap  the  door  on  him,  and  never  let  him 
in  a^ain. 

Maurya:  Luck  from  God  on  you,  Sheela,  and 
tell  us  what's  in  your  head. 

Sheela:  We  will  do  it  as  nice  and  easy  as  you 
ever  saw.  We  will  put  him  to  twist  a  hay-rope 
till  he  is  outside,  and  then  we  will  shut  the  door 
on  him. 

Sheamusi    It's  easy  to  say,  but  not  easy  to  do. 

He  will  say  to  you,  "Make  a  hay-rope  yourself." 

Sheela :    We  will  say  then  that  no  one  ever  saw 

a  hay-rope  made,  that  there  is  no  one  at  all  in 

the  house  to  make  the  beginning  of  it. 

Sheamusi  But  will  he  believe  that  we  never 
saw  a  hay-rope? 

Sheela:    He  believe  it,  is  it?    He'd  believe  any- 
thing;   he'd    believe   that   himself   is  ^king   over 
Ireland  when  he  has  a  glass  taken,  as  he  has  now. 
Sheamus:     But  what  excuse  can  we  make  for 
saying  we  want  a  hay-rope? 

Maurya:  Can't  you  think  of  something  your- 
self, Sheamus? 

Sheamus:  Sure,  I  can  say  the  wind  is  rising, 
and  I  must  bind  the  thatch,  or  it  will  be  off  the 
house. 

Sheela :  But  he'll  know  the  wind  is  not  rising 
if  he  does  but  listen  at  the  door.  You  must  think 
of  some  other  excuse,  Sheamus. 

Sheamus:  Wait,  I  have  a  good  idea  now;  say 
there  is  a  coach  upset  at  the  bottom  of  the  hill, 
and  that  they  are  asking  for  a  hay- rope  to  mend 
it  with.  He  can't  see  as  far  as  that  from  the  door, 
and  he  won't  know  it's  not  true  it  is. 

Maurya:  That's  the  story,  Sheela.  Now, 
Sheamus,  go  among  the  people  and  tell  them  the 
secret.  Tell  them  what  they  have  to  say,  that  no 
one  at  all  in  this  country  ever  saw  a  hay-rope, 
and  put  a  good  skin  on  the  lie  yourself.  (Shea- 
mus goes  from  person  to  person  whispering  to 
them,  and  some  of  them  begin  laughing.  The 
piper  has  began  playing.  Three  or  four  couples 
rise  up.) 

Hanrahan  (after  looking  at  them  for  a  couple 
of  minutes).  Whist!  Let  ye  sit  down!  Do  ye 
call  that  dragging,  dancing?  You  are  tramping 
the  floor  like  so  many  cattle.  You  are  as  heavy 
as  bullocks,  as  awkward  as  asses.  May  my  throat 
be  choked  if  I  would  not  sooner  be  looking  at  as 
many  lame  ducks  hopping  on  one  leg  through  the 
house.  Leave  the  floor  to  Oona  ni  Regaun  and 
to  me. 

(One  of  the  men  going  to  dance)  :  And  for 
what  would  we  leave  the  floor  to  you? 

Hanrahan:  The  swan  of  the  brink  of  the 
waves,  the  royal  phoenix,  the  pearl  of  the  white 
breast,  the  Venus  amongst  the  women,  Oona  ni 
Regaun,  is  standing  up  with  me,  and  any  place 
she  rises  up,  the  sun  and  the  moon  bow  to  her, 
and  so  shall  ye  yet.  She  is  too  handsome,  too 
sky-like  for  any  other  woman  to  be  near  her.  But 
wait  a  while!  Before  I'll  show  you  how  the 
Connacht  boy  can  dance,  I  will  give  you  the 
poem  I  made  on  the  star  of  the  province  of  Mun- 
ster,  on  Oona  ni  Regaun.  Get  uo,  O  sun  among 
women,  and  we  will  sing  the  sone  together,  verse 
about,  and  then  we'll  show  them  what  right 
dancing  is!  (Oona  rises.) 


She  is  white  Oona  of  the  yellow  hair. 

The  Coolin  that  was  destroying  my  heart  inside 

me; 
She  is  my  secret  love  and  my  lasting  affection; 
I  care  not  for  ever  for  any  woman  but  her. 
Oona :. 

0  bard  of  the  black  eye,  it  is  you 

Who  have  found  victory  in  the  world  and  fame; 

1  call  on  yourself  and  I  praise  your  mouth; 
You  have  set  my  heart  in  my  breast  astray. 
Hanrahan : 

0  fair  Oona  of  the  golden  hair. 

My  desire,  my  affection,  my  love  and  my  store. 

Herself  will  go  with  her  bard  afar; 

She  has  hurt  his  heart  in  his  breast  greatly. 

Oona: 

1  would  not  think  the  night  long  nor  the  day, 
Listening  to  your  fine  discourse; 

More  melodious  is  your  mouth  than  the  singing 

of  the  birds ; 
From  my  heart  in  my  breast  you  have  found  love. 
Hanrahan : 

I  walked  myself  the  entire  world, 
England,  Ireland,  France,  and  Spain; 
I  never  saw  at  home  or  afar 
Any  girl  under  the  sun  like  fair  Oona. 
Oona: 

I  have  heard  the  melodious  harp 
On  the  streets  of  Cork  playing  to  us; 
More  melodious  by  far  I  thought  your  voice, 
More  melodious  by  far  your  mouth  than  that. 
Hanrahan : 

I  was  myself  one  time  a  poor  barnacle  goose; 
The  night  was  not  plain  to  me  more  than  the  dav 
Till  I  got  sight  of  her ;  she  is  the  love  of  my  heart 
That  banished  from  me  my  grief  and  my  misery. 
Oona : 

I  was  myself  on  the  morning  of  yesterday 
Walking  beside  the  wood  at  the  break  of  day; 
There  was  a  bird  there  was  singing  sweetly, 
How  I  love  love,  and  is  it  not  beautiful? 

(A  shout  and  a  noise,  and  Sheamus  O'Heran 
rushes  in.) 

Sheamus:  Ububu!  Ohone-y-o,  go  deo!  The 
big  coach  is  overthrown  at  the  foot  of  the  hill! 
The  bag  in  which  the  letters  of  the  country  are 
is  bursted ;  and  there  is  neither  tie,  nor  cord,  nor 
rope,  nor  anything  to  bind  it  up.  They  are  calling 
out  now  for  a  hay  sugaun — whatever  kind  of  thing 
that  is;  the  letters  and  the  coach  will  be  lost  for 
want  of  a  hay  sugaun  to  bind  them. 

Hanrahan:  Do  not  be  bothering  us;  we  have 
our  poem  done,  and  we  are  going  to  dance.  The 
coach  does  not  come  this  way  at  all. 

Sheamus :  The  coach  does  come  this  way  now ; 
but  sure  you're  a  stranger,  and  you  don't  know. 
Doesn't  the  coach  come  over  the  hill  now,  neigh- 
bors? 

All:     It  does,  it  docs,  surely. 

Hanrahan:  I  don't  care  whether  it  does  come 
or  whether  it  doesn't.  I  would  sooner  twenty 
coaches  to  be  overthrown  on  the  road  than  the 
pearl  of  the  white  breast  to  be  stopped  from  danc- 
ing to  us.  Tell  the  coachman  to  twist  a  rope  for 
himself. 

Sheamus :  Oh !  murder !  he  can't.  There's  that 
much  vigor,  and  fire,  and  activity  and  courage  in 
the  horses  that  my  poor  coachman  must  take 
them  by  the  heads;  it's  on  the  pinch  of  his  life 
he's  able  to  control  them;  he's  afraid  of  his  soul 


4i6 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


they'll  go  from  him  of  a  rout.  They  are  neighing 
like  anything;  you  never  saw  the  like  of  them 
for  wild  horses. 

Hanrahan:  Are  there  no  other  people  in  the 
coach  that  will  make  a  rope,  if  the  coachman 
has  to  be  at  the  horses'  heads?  Leave  that,  and 
let  us  dance. 

Sheamus:  There  are  three  others  in  it;  but  as 
to  one  of  them,  he  is  one-handed,  and  another  man 
of  them,  he's  shaking  and  trembling  with  the 
fright  he  got;  it's  not  in  him  now  to  stand  up  on 
his  two  feet  with  the  fear  that's  on  him;  and  as 
for  the  third  man,  there  isn't  a  person  in  this 
countiy  would  speak  to  him  about  a  rope  at  all, 
for  his  own  father  was  hanged  with  a  rope  last 
year  l:or  stealing  sheep. 

Hanrahan :  Then  let  one  of  yourselves  twist  a 
rope  so,  and  leave  the  floor  to  us.  (To  Oona,) 
Now,  O  star  of  women,  show  me  how  Juno  goes 
among  the  gods,  or  Helen  for  whom  Troy  was 
destroyed.  By  my  word,  since  Deirdre  died,  for 
whom  Naoise  son  of  Usnech,  was  put  to  death, 
her  heir  is  not  in  Ireland  to-day  but  yourself.  Let 
us  begin. 

Sheamus :  Do  not  begin  until  we  have  a  rope ; 
we  are  not  able  to  twist  a  rope;  there's  nobody 
here  can  twist  a  rope. 

Hanrahan :  There's  nobody  here  is  able  to 
twist  a  rope? 

All:    Nobody  at  all. 

Sheela:  And  that's  true;  nobody  in  this  place 
ever  made  a  hay  sugaun.  I  don't  believe  there's  a 
person  in  this  house  who  ever  saw  one  itself  but 
me.  It's  well  I  remember  when  I  was  a  little 
girsha  that  I  saw  one  of  them  on  a  goat  that  my 
grandfather  brought  with  him  out  of  Connacht. 
All  the  people  used  to  be  saying:  "Aurah,  what 
sort  of  a  thing  is  that  at  all?"  And  he  said  that 
it  was  a  sugaun  that  was  in  it;  and  that  people 
used  to  make  the  like  of  that  down  in  Connacht. 
He  said  that  one  man  would  go  holding  the  hay, 
and  another  man  twisting  it.  I'll  hold  the  hay 
now;  and  you'll  go  twisting  it. 

Sheamus:  I'll  bring  in  a  lock  of  hay.  (He 
goes  out.)     .    .    . 

Sheamus  (coming  back)  :    Here's  the  hay  now. 

Hanrahan:  Give  it  here  to  mc;  I'll  show  ye 
what  the  well-learned,  hardy,  honest,  clever,  sen- 
sible Connachtman  will  do,  that  has  activity  and 
full  deftness  in  his  hands,  and  sense  in  his  head, 
and  courage  in  his  heart;  but  that  the  misfortune 
and  the  great  trouble  of  the  world  directed  him 
among  the  lehidins  of  the  province  of  Munster, 
without  honor,  without  nobility,  without  knowl- 
edge of  the  swan  beyond  the  duck,  or  of  the  gold 
beyond  the  brass,  or  of  the  lily  beyond  the  thistle, 
or  of  the  star  of  young  w^omen,  and  the  pearl  of 
the  white  breast,  beyond  their  own  share  of  sluts 
and  slatterns.  Give  me  a  kippeen.  (A  man  hands 
him  a  stick;  he  puts  a  ttnsp  of  hay  around  it,  and 
begins  twisting  it;  and  Sheela  giving  him  out  the 
hay.) 

Hanrahan : 

There  is  a  pearl  of  a  woman  giving  light  to  us; 
She  is  my  love;  she  is  my  desire; 
She  is  fair  Oona,  the  gentle  queen-woman. 
And  the  Munstermen  do  not  understand  half  her 
courtesy. 


These  Munstermen  are  blinded  by  God; 

They  do  not  recognise  the  swan  beyond  the  gray 

duck; 
But  she  will  come  with  me,  my  fine  Helen, 
Where  her  person  and  her  beauty  shall  be  praised 

for  ever. 

Arrah,  wisha,  wisha,  wishal  isn't  this  the  fine 
village?  isn't  this  the  exceeding  village?  The  vil- 
lage where  there  be  that  many  rogues  hanged 
that  the  people  have  no  want  of  ropes  with  all 
the  ropes  that  they  steal  from  the  hangman! 

The  sensible  Connachtman  makes 

A  rope  for  himself; 
But  the  Munsterman  steals  it 

From  the  hangman; 
That  I  may  see  a  fine  rope, 

A  rope  of  hemp  yet, 
A  stretching  on  the  throats 

Of  every  person  here ! 

On  account  of  one  woman  only  the  Greeks  de- 
parted, and  they  never  stopped,  and  they  never 
greatly  stayed,  till  they  destroyed  Troy;  and  on 
account  of  one  woman  only  this  village  shall  be 
damned;  go  deo,  ma  neoir,  and  to  the  womb  of 
judgment,  by  God  of  the  graces,  eternally  and 
everlastingly,  because  they  did  not  understand 
that  Oona  ni  Regaun  is  the  second  Helen,  who 
was  born  in  their  midst,  and  that  she  overcame 
in  beauty  Deirdre  and  Venus,  and  all  that  came 
before  or  that  will  come  after  her! 

But  she  will  come  with  me,  my  pearl  of  a  woman. 
To  the  province  of  Connacht  of  the  fine  people ; 
She  will  receive  feasts,  wine,  and  meat, 
High  dances,  sport,  and  music! 

Oh,  wisha,  wisha!  that  the  sun  may  never  rise 
upon  this  village;  and  that  the  stars  may  never 

shine  on  it;  and  that (He  is  by  this  time 

outside  the  door.  All  the  men  make  a  rush  at  the 
door  and  shut  it.  Oona  runs  towards  the  door, 
but  the  women  seise  her.  Sheamus  goes  over  to 
her.) 

Oona:  Oh!  oh!  oh!  do  not  put  him  out;  let 
him  back;  tha{  is  Tumaus  Hanrahan — he  is  a 
poet — he  is  a  bard — he  is  a  wonderful  man.  O, 
let  him  back ;  do  not  do  that  to  him ! 

Sheamus:  O  Oona  bdn  acushla  dilis,  let  him 
be;  he  is  gone  now,  and  his  share  of  spells  with 
him !  He  will  be  gone  out  of  your  head  to-mor- 
row ;  and  you  will  be  gone  out  of  his  head.  Don't 
you  know  that  I  like  you  better  than  a  hundred 
thousand  Deirdres,  and  that  you  are  my  one  pearl 
of  a  woman  in  the  world? 

Hanrahan:  (outside,  beating  on  the  door). 
Open,  open,  open ;  let  me  in !  Oh,  my  seven  hun- 
dred thousand  curses  on  you — ^the  curse  of  the 
weak  and  of  the  strong — ^the  curse  of  the  poets 
and  of  the  bards  upon  you!  The  curse  of  the 
priests  on  you  and  the  friars!  The  curse  of  the 
bishops  upon  you,  and  the  Pope!  The  curse  of 
the  widows  on  you,  and  the  children!  Open! 
(He  beats  on  the  door  again  and  again.') 

Sheamus :  I  am  thankful  to  ye,  neighbours ;  and 
Oona  will  be  thankful  to  ye  to-morrow.  Beat 
away,  you  vagabond!  Do  your  dancing  out  there 
with  yourself  now!  Isn't  it  a  fine  thing  for  a 
man  to  be  listening  to  the  storm  outside,  and  him- 
self quiet  and  easy  beside  the  fire?  Beat  away, 
beat  away!    Where's  Connacht  now? 


Religion  and  .Ethics 


THE  MORALITY  OF  THE  FUTURE 


li,  as  is  so  often  alleged,  a  large  part  of 
humanity  is  gradually  forsaking  the  religion  in 
which  it  has  lived  for  nearly  twenty  centuries, 
what  will  happen  to  morality?  To  the  fur- 
nishing of  a  satisfactory  answer  to  this  ques- 
tion many  of  the  best  minds  of  our  time  are 
devoting  themselves.  The  distinguished  essay- 
ist and  playwright,  Maurice  Maeterlinck,  is 
convinced  that,  morally  speaking,  we  have  ar- 
rived at  an  almost  unprecedented  stage  in 
human  evolution,  and  he  embodies  his  reflec- 
tions on  "Our  Anxious.  Morality"  in  a  series 
of  twenty-two  closely  reasoned  paragraphs  in 
a  recent  issue  of  The  Atlantic  Monthly.  "For 
a  religion  to  become  extinct,"  he  asserts,"  is 
no  new  thing.  .  .  .  But,  until  now,  men 
passed  from  a  crumbling  temple  into  one  that 
was  building;  they  left  one  religion  to  enter 
another;  whereas  we  are  abandoning  ours  to 
go  nowhere."  It  is  true  that  at  least  two  men 
of  genius — Tolstoy  and  Nietzsche — have  prom- 
ulgated ethical  systems  for  the  guidance  of 
humanity,  but,  in  Maeterlinck's  view,  "the  real 
drama  of  the  modern  conscience  is  not  enacted 
at  either  of  these  two  extreme  points."  It  is 
also  true  that  other  and  conservative  thinkers 
predict  moral  chaos  as  the  inevitable  result  of 
religious  decay ;  but  Maeterlinck  argues :  "Man 
is  so  essentially,  so  necessarily,  a  moral  being 
that,  when  he  denies  the  existence  of  all  moral- 
ity, that  very  denial  already  becomes  the  foun- 
dation of  a  new  morality."    He  says  further: 

"If,  to-morrow,  a  religion  were  revealed  to  us, 
proving,  scientifically  and  with  absolute  certainty, 
that  every  act  of  goodness,  of  self-sacrifice,  of 
heroism,  of  inward  nobility,  would  bring  us,  im- 
mediately after  our  death,  an  indubitable  and  un- 
imaginable reward,  I  doubt  whether  the  propor- 
tion of  good  and  evil,  of  virtues  and  vices,  amid 
which  we  live,  would  undergo  an  appreciable 
change.  Would  you  have  a  convincing  example? 
In  the  Middle  Ages,  there  were  moments  when 
faith  was  absolute  and  obtruded  itself  with  a  cer- 
tainty that  corresponds  exactly  with  our  scientific 
certainties^  The  rewards  promised  for  well- 
doing, the  punishments  threatening  evil,  were,  in 
the  thoughts  of  the  men  of  that  time,  as  tangible, 
so  to  speak,  as  would  be  those  of  the  revelation 
of  which  I  spoke  above.  Nevertheless,  we  do  not 
sec  that  the  level  of  goodness  was  raised.  A  few 
saints  sacrificed  themselves  for  their  brothers, 
carried  certain  virtues,  picked  from  among  the 
more  contestable,  to  the  pitch  of  heroism ;  but  the 


bulk  of  men  continued  to  deceive  one  another,  to 
lie,  to  fornicate,  to  steal,  to  be  guilty  of  envy,  to 
commit  murder.  The  mean  of  the  vices  was  no 
lower  than  that  of  to-day.  On  the  contrary,  life 
was  incomparably  harsher,  more  cruel,  and  more 
unjust,  because  the  low-water  mark  of  the  gen- 
eral intelligence  was  less  high." 

The  morality  that  determines  the  life  of 
the  inner  man,  says  Maeterlinck,  should  be 
clearly  distinguished  from  that  which  springs 
from  mere  expediency,  or  from  custom  and 
fashion.  True  morality  "presupposes  a  state 
of  soul  or  of  heart  rather  than  a  code  of 
strictly  formulated  precepts.  What  consti- 
tutes its  essence  is  the  sincere  and  strong  wish 
to  form  within  ourselves  a  powerful  idea  of 
justice  and  love  which  always  rises  above  that 
formed  by  the  cleverest  and  most  generous 
portions  of  our  intelligence."  More  specifical- 
ly, Maeterlinck  says: 

"There  is  in  us,  above  the  reasoning  portion  of 
our  reason,  a  whole  region  which  answers  to 
something  different,  which  is  preparing  for  the 
surprises  of  the  future,  which  is  awaiting  the 
events  of  the  unknown.  This  part  of  our  intelli- 
gence, which  I  will  call  imagination  or  mystic 
reason,  in  times  when,  so  to  speak,  we  knew  noth- 
ing of  the  laws  of  nature,  came  before  us,  went 
ahead  of  our  imperfect  attainments,  and  made 
us  live,  morally,  socially  and  sentimentally,  on  a 
level  very  much  superior  to  that  of  those  attain- 
ments. 

"At  the  present  time,  when  we  have  made  the 
latter  take  a  few  steps  forward  in  the  darkness, 
and  when,  in  the  hundred  years  that  have  just 
elapsed,  we  have  unraveled  more  chaos  than  in 
a  thousand  previous  centuries, — at  the  present 
time,  when  our  material  life  seems  on  the  point 
of  becoming  fixed  and  assured,  is  this  a  reason 
why  these  two  faculties  should  cease  to  go  ahead 
of  us,  or  should  retrocede  toward  good  sense? 
Are  there  not,  on  the  contrary,  very  serious  rea- 
sons for  urging  them  forward,  so  as  to  restore 
the  normal  distances  and  their  traditional  lead? 
Is  it  right  that  we  should  lose  confidence  in  them? 
Is  it  possible  to  say  that  they  have  hindered  any 
form  of  human  progress?  Perhaps  they  have 
deceived  us  more  than  once;  but  their  fruitful 
errors,  by  forcing  us  to  march  onward,  have  re- 
vealed to  us,  in  the  straying,  more  truths  than  our 
over-timed  good  sense  would  ever  have  come 
upon  by  marking  time.  The  fairest  discoveries, 
in  biology,  in  chemistry,  in  medicine,  in  physics, 
almost  all  had  their  starting-point  in  an  hypothe- 
sis supplied  by  imagination  or  mystic  reason,  an 
hypothesis  which  the  experiments  of  good  sense 


4i8 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


have  confirmed,  but  which  the  latter,  given  to 
narrow    methods,    would   never    have    foreseen." 

To  rationalists  who  cherish  no  higher  ideal 
than  that  of  the  conquest  of  matter  and  of  "a 
regular,  assured,  measured,  exactly  weighed 
state  of  well-being,"  Maeterlinck  addresses 
this  word: 

"Be  it  so:  they  have  charge  of  this  kind  of 
happiness.  But  let  them  not  pretend  that,  in 
order  to  attain  it,  it  is  necessary  to  fling  into  the 
sea,  as  a  dangerous  load,  all  that  hitherto  formed 
the  heroic,  cloud-topped,  indefatigable,  venture- 
some energy  of  our  conscience.  Leave  us  a  few 
fancy  virtues.  Allow  a  little  space  for  our  fra- 
ternal sentiments.  It  is  very  possible  that  these 
virtues  and  these  sentiments,  which  are  not 
strictly  indispensable  to  the  just  man  of  to-day, 
are  the  roots  of  all  that  will  blossom  when  man 
shall  have  accomplished  the  hardest  stage  of  'the 
struggle  for  life.'  Also,  we  must  keep  a  few 
sumptuary  virtues  in  reserve,  in  order  to  replace 
those  which  we  abandon  as  useless;  for  our  con- 
science has  need  of  exercise  and  nourishment. 
Already  we  have  thrown  off  a  number  of  con- 
straints which  were  assuredly  hurtful,  but  which 
at  least  kept  up  the  activity  of  our  inner  life.  We 
are  no  longer  chaste,  since  we  have  recogfnized 
that  the  work  of  the  flesh,  cursed  for  twenty  cen- 
turies, is  natural  and  lawful.  We  no  longer  go 
out  in  search  of  resignation,  of  mortification,  of 


sacrifice ;  we  are  no  longer  lowly  in  heart  or  poor 
in  spirit.  All  this  is  very  lawful,  seeing  that 
these  virtues  depended  on  a  religion  which  is 
retiring;  but  it  is  not  well  that  their  place  should 
remain  empty.  Our  ideal  no  longer  asks  to  create 
saints,  virgins,  martyrs;  but  even  though  it  take 
another  road,  the  spiritual  road  that  animated  the 
latter  must  remain  intact,  and  is  still  necessary 
to  the  man  who  wishes  to  go  farther  than  simple 
justice.  It  is  beyond  that  simple  justice  that  the 
morality  begins  of  those  who  hope  in  the  future." 

Finally,  Maeterlinck  dismisses  the  fears  of 
those  who  dread  lest  the  old  and  time-honored 
virtues  disappear  under  new  religious  condi- 
tions : 

"Those  who  assure  us  that  the  old  moral  ideal 
must  disappear  because  the  religions  are  disap- 
pearing are  strangely  mistaken.  It  was  not  the 
religions  that  formed  this  ideal,  but  the  ideal  that 
gave  birth  to  the  religions.  Now  that  these  last 
have  weakened  or  disappeared,  their  sources  sur- 
vive and  seek  another  channel.  When  all  is  said, 
with  the  exception  of  certain  factitious  and  para- 
sitic virtues  which  we  naturally  abandon  at  the 
turn  of  the  majority  of  religions,  there  is  nothing 
as  yet  to  be  changed  in  our  old  Aryan  ideal  of 
justice,  conscientiousness,  courage,  kindness,  and 
honor.  We  have  only  to  draw  nearer  to  it,  to 
clasp  it  more  closely,  to  realize  it  more  effectively ; 
and,  before  going  beyond  it,  we  have  still  a  long 
and  noble  road  to  travel  beneath  the  stars." 


AN  ITALIAN  NOVELIST'S  PLEA  FOR  CATHOLIC  REFORM 


The  literary  sensation  of  the  day  in  Italy  is 
a  novel  entitled  "The  Saint,"*  by  the  distin- 
guished author,  Antonio  Fogazzaro.  During 
the  past  few  months  twenty  thousand  copies  of 
the  book  have  been  sold,  dozens  of  lectures 
concerning  it  have  been  delivered,  and  many 
hundred  reviews  pro  and  con  have  been  writ- 
ten. Yet  it  makes  no  appeal  to  sensation- 
mongers;  rather,  it  premises  in  the  minds  of 
its  readers  a  clear  understanding  of  Italian  con- 
ditions, of  the  present  status  of  Roman  Cathol- 
icism, and  of  the  religious  tendencies  of  our 
times.  The  "Saint"  of  the  title  is  a  modern 
John  the  Baptist  who  arises  in  Italy  to  voice 
the  demands  of  the  people,  and  who  interviews 
the  Pope  at  Rome  in  their  behalf.  In  its  lit- 
erary form  the  book  is  characterized  as 
"neither  a  romance  nor  an  essay,  but  a  mix- 
ture of  the  epic,  the  lyric,  the  didactic  and  the 
mystic."  Says  Albert  Zacher,  a  Roman  corre- 
spondent of  the  Berlin  Nation : 

"Taken  as  a  whole,  'The  Saint'  is  a  contem- 

♦IL  Santo.     By  Antonio  Fogazzaro.    Baldwin,  Castoldi 
ft  Co.,  Milan. 


porary  document  of  the  highest  rank,  ...  for 
it  is  another  proof  of  the  fluid  state  of  Catholic 
feeling  at  this  changeful  period,  wherein  a  Pius  X 
strives  vainly,  by  a  sic  volo,  sic  jubeo,  to  rescue 
the  oldtime  authority  and  discipline.  To  many  a 
one  who  is  unconscious  of  the  movement  of  ideas 
in  the  air  about  us,  it  may  seem  strange  that  The 
Saint'  should  have  appeared  almost  simultane- 
ously with  Frenssen's  *Hilligenlei'  [a  plea  for 
Protestant  reform;  see  article  in  this  issue  of 
Current  Literature],  and  should  be  in  effect  its 
Catholic  parallel.  Not  so  strange,  but  much  more 
characteristic,  is  the  fact  that  Fogazzaro's  book 
begins  with  a  reference  to  Maeterlinck's  *L*In- 
truse.* " 

"The  Saint"  is  the  third  volume  of  a  series  of 
which  the  first  ("The  Little  Ancient  World") 
is  generally  regarded  as  the  most  notable  from 
an  artistic  standpoint.  The  underlying  thought 
of  the  book  is  clearly  revealed  in  the  second 
chapter,  where  a  theological  and  philosophical 
publicist,  Selva,  invites  a  number  of  learned 
clergymen  to  meet  in  his  country-house  near 
Subiaco  —  the  seat  of  the  Benedictine  order 
— for  the  purpose  of  forming  a  reform  party. 
Selva  opens  the  meeting  with  these  words: 

"We  represent  a  host  of  Catholics  both  in 


RELIGION  AND  ETHICS 


419 


and  out  of  Italy,  clergy  and  laity,  who  long 
for  the  reform  of  the  church.  We  wish  for 
it  not  as  the  result  of  rebellion,  but  as  the  off- 
spring of  legitimate  authority.  We  want  re- 
forms in  religious  instruction,  in  matters  of 
worship,  in  the  discipline  of  the  clergy,  aye, 
even  in  the  supreme  direction  of  the  church." 
During  the  di$cussion  an  old  and  learned 
monk  says: 

"The  times  demand  some  action  after  the 
example  of  Saint  Francis.  Yet  I  fail  to  find 
any  trace  of  it ;  I  see  only  hoary  orders  of  men 
'who  have  no  longer  the  power  to  influence 
our  prematurely  aged  mankind.  I  see  only  a 
Christian  Democracy,  which  is  striving  after 
political  place  and  power,  but  has  no  love  for 
the  spirit  of  Saint  Francis  or  for  poverty." 

The  Abb^  Garnier,  of  Geneva,  "an  exqui- 
sitely drawn  portrait  from  life,"  answers  in 
a  vein  of  fine  irony: 

"This  is  a  beautiful  idea,  but  it  is  not  logical. 
You  want  to  found  a  Catholic  freemasonry 
and  yet  you  have  only  negative  ideas  in  com- 
mon. You  hope  to  go  unharmed,  like  little 
fishes  that  prudently  swim  deep  down  in  the 
water,  and  forget  that  the  piercing  eye  of  the 
fisher  or  vice-fisher  will  speedily  espy  you. 
Don't  forget  either  that  though  the  great  Fish- 
erman of  Galilee  gathers  the  fish  into  the  nets, 
it  is  the  great  fisherman  of  Rome  who  cooks 
them.  .  .  .  Reforms  will  come  some  day, 
because  ideas  are  mightier  than  mere  men; 
but  if  you  marshal  your  reforms  in  battle 
array  and  march  forth  battalion-wise,  you  will 
be  exposing  them  to  a  terrific  fusillade  which 
they  will  not  be  able  to  stand  for  long.  It  is  the 
individuals,  the  Messiah-seekers,  who  really 
advance  science  and  religion.  Is  there  a 
saint  among  you?  Do  you  know  where  to 
find  one  ?  If  so,  choose  him  to  go  before  I  He 
will  need  burning  speech,  ardent  love  of  his 
fellow-men,  two  or  three  little  miracles.  Then 
inspire  in  him  what  he  has  to  say  and  your 
Messiah  will  do  more  than  all  of  you  put  to- 
gether! .  .  .  However,  I  am  well  aware 
that  you  have  no  such  saint.  If  you  had  he 
would  have  been  cautioned  and  persecuted  by 
the  police,  or  transferred  to  China  by  the 
church." 

This  irony  offends  the  others,  but,  as  is 
shown  in  the  course  of  the  narrative,  the 
ironical  abbe  was  right.  The  persecution  of 
the  reformers  begins  at  once,  and  the  ban  is 
put  upon  them. 

The  layman  who  becomes  the  hero-saint  of 
the  work  is  the  repentant  sinner  of  Fogazzaro's 
preceding  work,  "The  Little  Modern  World," 


by  name  Piero  Maironi.  He  is  converted  by 
his  wife  on  her  deathbed,  breaks  with  his  adul- 
terous love,  Jeanne  Dessalle,  and,  warned  by 
God  in  a  vision,  disappears  from  all  his  old- 
time  haunts.  The  new  volume  opens  with  the 
eager  search  of  Jeanne,  now  set  free  by  death 
from  her  former  bonds,  for  her  lost  lover. 
She  finds  him  at  last  wearing  the  habit  of  a 
lay  member  of  the  Benedictine  order,  be- 
stowed on  him  by  the  same  Don  Qemente  with 
whom  he  has  lived  for  three  years  as  a  gar- 
dener. In  the  famous  Church  of  the  Holy 
Grotto  (San  Speco)  they  meet,  and  in  a  mys- 
tical scene  he  persuades  his  temptress  that  he 
belongs  altogether  to  God,  but  promises  her 
that  if  she,  too,  will  turn  to  God  he  will  sum- 
mon her  to  his  side  "at  a  certain  solemn  hour,*' 
meaning  thereby  his  last  on  earth.  Thereupon 
he  disappears  to  lead  a  life  of  preparation  in 
the  desert.  Here  the  author's  descriptive  tal- 
ents are  shown  in  his  portrayal  of  the  strange 
country  and  inhabitants  of  the  upper  valleys 
of  the  Anio.  Like  another  John  the  Baptist, 
Piero  is  followed  by  the  super^itious  peasant 
folk,  until  again  driven  forth,  stripped  of  his 
monkish  garb  by  the  pharisaical  "Confratres,"  * 
who  report  the  "scandal"  of  this  anachronistic 
Voice  crying  in  the  Wilderness  to  the  authori- 
ties at  Rome.  Thither,  after  much  suffering, 
he  manages  to  make  his  way.  In  this  part  of 
the  narrative  the  writer  displays  his  intimate 
knowledge  of  the  conflicting  influences  at 
work  in  the  Eternal  City — ^governmental  and 
ultramontane  intrigues;  Christian  Democratic 
and  Socialist  agitations;  feminine  religious 
movements ;  and  over  all  the  Vatican  courtiers. 
When  Jeanne  Dessalle  exclaims  in  astonish- 
ment, "How  can  these  things  be?"  she  is  an- 
swered, "You  have  no  idea  of  all  that  certain 
intransigenti  in  cassocks  can  and  do  do!" 

The  most  talked  of  episode  in  the  book  is 
Piero's  interview  with  the  Pope — of  course  a 
portrait  of  Pius  X. 

The  "Saint"  says:  "Holy  Father,  the  Church 
is  sick.  Four  evil  spirits  have  taken  possession 
of  her  body  to  drive  therefrom  the  Holy  Ghost. 
The  first  is  the  Spirit  of  Falsehood.  Our  su- 
periors, clinging  to  the  dead  letter,  would  give 
to  adults  naught  but  food  for  babes."  He 
goes  on  to  scourge,  in  the  words  of  the  famous 
living  reformer.  Bishop  Bonomelli  of  Cre- 
mona, the  increase  of  outward  religious  show 
and  form  in  the  church  at  the  expense  of  in- 
ward devotion.  The  second  evil  spirit  Mai- 
roni calls  the  "Ambition  of  the  Clergy";  the 
third  the  "Spirit  of  Avarice";  the  fourth  the 
"Spirit  of  Immobility."    Finally,  referring,  of 


420 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


course,  to  Saint  Catherine  of  Siena,  he  ex- 
claims: "Even  as  a  woman  was  once  able  to 
persuade  a  Pope  to  go  to  Rome,  so  I,  too, 
would  persuade  your  Holiness  to  leave  the 
Vatican."  The  Pope's  reply  is  remarkable 
for  its  mildness :  "God  bless  you !  Follow  the 
Lx>rd's  promptings.  I,  however,  must  take  ac- 
count of  my  surroundings.  .  .  .  I  am  a 
poor  schoolmaster  who  has  seventy  scholars, 
of  whom  twenty  are  less  than  middling,  forty 
only  middling,  and  only  ten  are  really  capable. 
As  the  schoolmaster  cannot  regulate  his  school 
solely  in  the  interest  of  his  ten  bright  pupils, 
so  I,  too,  cannot  rule  the  church  in  consonance 
with  the  views  of  you  and  yours." 


On  his  deathbed  the  "Saint"  constitutes  his 
aforetime  mistress — now  disciple — ^his  spiritual 
heir.    Hence  we  may  expect  a  sequel. 

Fogazzaro,  it  should  be  added,  is  a  believing 
Catholic,  and  this  fact  lends  special  weight  to 
his  words.  He  is  a  Rosminian,  and  evidently 
a  thorn  in  the  side  of  the  Ultramohtanes — so 
much  so  that  the  Vatican  clerical  party  has 
demanded  that  he  be  placed  on  the  Index. 
And  yet,  says  Zacher,  "much  that  Piero 
preaches  is  contained  in  the  program  Pius  X. 
put  forth  in  his  *Omnia  Instaurare  in  Christo/ 
as  well  as  in  the  Jubilee  Pastoral  of  that  most 
reverend  Prince  of  the  Church,  the  Archbishop 
of  Capua,  Cardinal  Capocelatro." 


RELIGIOUS  INDIFFERENTISM  OF  THE  JAPANESE 


Less  than  a  generation  ago  the  prediction 
was  often  made  by  sanguine  friends  of  the 
cause  of  Christian  missions  that  it  would  be 
a  matter  of  a  few  decades  befofe  Japan  be- 
came practically  a  Christian  nation.  Recent 
developments  have  in  many  cases^  changed 
these  hopes  into  fears ;  and  those  who  are  ac- 
quainted with  the  condition  of  religious 
thought  in  Japan  to-day  are  practically  of  one 
mind  in  ascribing  the  slow  growth  of  Chris- 
tianity there  to  the  gatural  indifference  of 
the  Japanese,  and  especially  of  the  educated 
Japanese,  toward  all  religion.  The  new  at- 
titude of  equality  assumed  by  Japan  toward  the 
Christian  nations  of  the  West  lends  special  in- 
terest to  a  discussion  of  Japanese  religion  which 
has  just  appeared  in  the  pages  of  the  Japanese 
Methodist  organ,  Gokyo,  published  in  Tokyo. 
The  editor.  Dr.  Takagi,  addressed  to  twelve 
prominent  Japanese  laymen  these  questions: 
(i)  Is  the  alleged  indifferentism  of  the 
Japanese  a  national  trait?  (2)  If  so,  what  is 
the  explanation  of  this  unique  phenomenon? 
It  is  significant  that  ten  positively  declare 
that  this  indifference  is  a  fact.  The  reasons 
assigned  for  it  form  a  severe  indictment  of  the 
Christian  churches  as  they  are  known  to  the 
Japanese,  but  this  indictment  Dr.  Takagi  ad- 
mits to  be  extravagant  and  one-sided.  It  is  of 
interest,  none  the  less,  and  shows  that  even  on 
the  mission  field  the  churches  are  encounter- 
ing formidable  opposition  due  to  science  and 
to  "advanced"  theology. 

M.  Minokami,  one  of  the  most  thoughtful 
contributors  to  the  symposium,  finds  that  the 
chief  cause  for  the  indifference  of  the  educated 


Japanese  to  the  claims  of  religion  is  the  fact 
that  the  church  no  longer  holds  the  place  of 
leadership  in  thought  and  life  that  it  held 
down  to  a  dozen  years  ago,  in  politics,  litera- 
ture, philosophy  and  education.  In  order  to 
progress  and  achieve  permanence,  he  says, 
organizations  must  change  their  methods  and 
principles  in  accord  with  the  spirit  of  the 
age;  but  the  church  has  failed  to  do  this. 
Theology,  dogma,  and  the  articles  of  faith  as 
held  by  the  church  of  to-day  are  behind  the 
demands  of  modern  times.  They  leave  no 
room  for  the  free  spirit  of  research,  and  hence 
no  life  is  to  be  found  in  them.  Many  pfeachers 
know  this  to  be  the  case,  yet  they  have  not 
the  courage  of  their  convictions,  and  pro- 
gressive thought  finds  no  echo  in  their  ser- 
mons. The  Japanese  church  of  to-day,  con- 
tinues M.  Minokami,  is  merely  the  organ  of 
the  European  and  American  mission  societies, 
and  lacks  entirely  the  clement  of  adaptability 
to  the  natural  trend  of  the  Japanese  mind.  As 
remedies  for  the  evils  named,  M.  Minokami 
makes  the  following  suggestions:  (i)  Send 
promising  young  Japanese  pastors  into  foreign 
countries,  to  continue  their  studies  at  the 
universities  there:  (2)  Establish  a  literary 
department,  in  which  the  workers  will  have 
the  recognition  accorded  to  evangelists;  (3) 
Increase  pastors'  salaries  to  two  or  three 
times  what  they  are  now;  (4)  Give  new  form 
to  cultus  and  prayer;  (5)  Do  not  hinder  free 
and  independent  thought;  (6)  Appoint  a 
committee  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  future 
independence  of  the  church  in  Japan. 
N.    Kinoshita,    another   contributor   to   the 


RELIGION  AND  ETHICS 


421 


discussion,  also  attributes  the  religious  in- 
differentism  of  the  Japanese  to  the  fact  that 
the  church  is  not  up  to  date.  Yoimg  men 
who  have  become  acquainted  with  Christianity 
through  its  literature,  he  declares,  are  keenly 
disappointed  when  they  enter  a  church.  Unless 
the  church  becomes  more  aggressive,  it  will  be 
discarded  by  the  Japanese  altogether  or  be- 
come merely  the  breeder  of  superstition. 

Dr.  K.  Hirayama,  a  jurist,  thinks  that  the 
retrogression  of  the  Christian  church  in  Japan 
is  due  to:  (i)  The  weakness  and  emptiness  of 
the  current  theology  of  the  church;  (2)  The 
impossibility  of  a  real  defense  of  the  doctrines 
and  articles  of  faith  held  by  the  church;  (3) 
The  hypocrisy  of  many  of  the  preachers  and 
teachers,  who  are  filled  with  doubt  yet  pre- 
tend that  they  have  none;  (4)  The  lack  of 
sympathy,  on  the  part  of  religious  leaders,  with 
honest  doubters  in  their  flocks;  (5)  The 
prompt  condemnation  and  ostracism  of  all 
who  profess  new  or  "heretical"  views;  (6)  The 
widespread  dissatisfaction  with  the  present 
organization  of  the  church,  and  with  the  cus- 
toms of  the  church;  (7)  The  failure  of  the 
laity  to  make  their  influence  felt  in  the  synods 
and  conferences ;  (8)  The  absence  of  independ- 
ence,   and    the    absolute    dependence    of    the 


church  of  Japan  on  foreign  help;  (9)  The 
lack  of  solemnity  in  public  worship;  and  (10) 
The  division  of  the  church  into  sects  and 
the  crusades   for  converts. 

Dr.  Takagi,  in  summing  up  the  net  results 
of  the  symposium,  states  that  he  has  so  far 
published  only  the  views  of  the  laity,  because 
laymen  are  chiefly  concerned  in  the  matters 
discussed  and  because  they  are  known  to  have 
been 'the  dissatisfied  element  in  the  churches. 
He  observes  that  their  criticisms  are  evidently 
not  directed  against  religion  as  such  so  much 
as  against  the  church  in  its  present  form  and 
spirit.  It  is  very  clear,  he  adds,  that  Jap- 
anese Christians  will  not  submit  to  the  dic- 
tatorship of  foreign  mission  societies  or  other 
organizations.  The  demands  for  a  revision  of 
faith  will  not  down,  but  the  exact  nature  of 
this  revision  cannot  be  determined.  The 
solution  of  the  problem  necessarily  depends 
upon  the  attitude  of  the  societies  upon  whom 
the  Japanese  churches  are  financially  depend- 
ent. The  editor  concludes  with  the  state- 
ment that  the  views  of  the  writers  given 
are  extravagant,  and  that  the  voices  of  its 
pastors  should  now  be  heard  in  reference  to 
the  reformation  seemingly  demanded  by  the 
laity. 


A  "NEW  GOSPEL"  IN  A  GERMAN   NOVEL 


When  a  religious  novel  brings  to  its  author 
in  a  few  months*  time  the  sum,  in  royalties, 
of  200,000  marks  ($40,000),  the  inference  is 
either  that  the  novel  is  a  wonderfully  brilliant 
piece  of  work  or  that  the  subject  with  which 
it  deals  is  very  close  to  the  popular  thought  and 
feeling  of  the  day.  Gustav  Frenssen's  Ger- 
man novel,  "J^m  Uhl,"  written  five  years  ago, 
has  since  materialized  into  a  handsome  estate 
for  its  author;  but  it  is  his  new  work,  "Hillig- 
enlei"  (Holy  Land),  that  is  breaking  the 
record,  in  a  pecuniary  sense,  for  all  recent 
German  works  of  fiction. 

The  novel  is  an  attempt  to  create  a  "new 
gospel*'  on  the  basis  of  the  higher  criticism. 
This  gospel  leaves  out  of  the  life  of  Jesus  and 
out  of  the  Scriptures  the  supernatural  and 
miraculous  element.  The  attempt  invites  com- 
parison with  the  novel  "II  Santo,"  by  the  Ital- 
ian writer  Fogazzaro  (see  article  in  this  num- 
ber), the  latter  designing  to  secure  a  readjust- 
ment in  Roman  Catholicism  somewhat  similar 
to  that  aimed  at  by  Frenssen  in  Protestant- 


ism. As  a  literary  product  Frenssen^s  novel 
is  criticized  as  too  diffuse  and  verbose;  but 
despite  its  faults  it  has  received  respectful 
treatment  both  for  its  literary  form  and  its  con- 
tent. 

The  little  town  of  Hilligenlei,  which  must 
be  taken  as  symbolic  of  the  whole  world,  has 
a  prophecy  hanging  over  it  that  some  day  a 
child  will  be  born  in  it  who  shall  become  its  re- 
deemer and  make  Hilligenlei  a  real  "Holy 
Land."  The  book  starts  out  with  the  birth  of 
a  number  of  children,  and  it  soon  becomes  evi- 
dent that  of  all  these  it  is  Kai  Jans  who  will 
grow  up  to  be  another  Savior  of  Mankind. 
Each  child  strives  for  a  certain  high  aim 
which  he  has  set  himself  to  accomplish,  each 
one  searches  for  his  Hilligenlei;  but  there  is 
something  in  Kai  Jans  which  from  his  child- 
hood has  marked  him  out  as  different  from  all 
the  rest.  He  is  simple,  unpractical,  dreamy 
and  weird,  and  he  tells  wonderful  stories  that 
set  his  hearers  into  ecstasies.  He  goes  out 
into  the  world  as  an  ordinary  sailor,  but  in 


422 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


reality  he  is  only  in  search  of  a  "holy  land." 
His  hand  is  crushed  in  an  accident  and  he 
begins  to  study  theology  in  Berlin;  but  as  he 
is  about  to  enter  the  church  he  finds  that  his 
scientific  studies  have  left  him  without  faith. 
He  begins  in  Berlin  to  investigate  the  social 
conditions  of  the  people  and  their  needs,  and, 
returning  to  his  native  town,  again  develops 
from  the  experiences  of  his  life  and  his  re- 
flections a  new  Gospel  of  Christ.  He  talks 
over  his  theories  with  Heinke,  who  is  in  love 
with  him ;  but  she  is  betrothed  to  another:,  and 
when  Kai  Jans  learns  of  this  he  goes  to  Africa, 
leaving  Heinke  his  manuscript  of  the  Life  of 
Christ. 

This  biography  of  Christ  forms  the  culmi- 
nation of  Kai  Jans's  life-work  and  in  it  he  ex- 
pounds his  theory  of  the  New  Christianity.  It 
is  founded  on  the  investigations  of  modern 
higher  criticism  and  denies  all  supernatural 
attributes  to  Christ.  His  conclusions  are  sum- 
marized as  follows: 

"Christ  was  a  man.  There  is  evidence  enough 
for  this.  First,  he  said  it  himself;  second,  in 
his  mode  of  thought  he  was  a  child  of  his  age; 
third,  he  was  a  marked  and  peculiar  individuality ; 
fourth,  he  underwent  a  certain  development ;  fifth, 
his  nature  was  not  altogether  free  from  evil ; 
sixth,  he  erred,  especially  in  that  he  did  not  come 
again,  and  that  his  promise  of  a  coming  kingdom 
of  God  was  not  fulfilled.  He  was  a  man,  howso- 
ever wondrous,  good,  wise  and  courageous;  in 
no  deed  and  in  no  thought  did  he  transcend  the 
measure  of  man.  He  was  the  grandest,  the  fairest 
of  the  sons  of  men, 

"And  he  has  brought  us  this  gift  from  out  his 
wonderful  and  beautiful  soul:  Faith  in  high  di- 
vine worth  and  in  the  worth  of  every  human  soul, 
and,  as  a  corollary  of  this  faith,  faith  in  the  un- 
recognized eternal  power,  which  in  turn  yields, 
even  as  the  rich  soil  yields  heavy,  beautiful  fruit, 
faith  in  the  weighty,  beautiful  tasks  of  mankind 
and  in  their  wonderful,  lofty  aim,  the  kingdom  of 
God !  And  thereby  he  has  brought  forth  into  the 
light  the  sense  and  worth  of  human  life  and  en- 
dowed it  with   eternal   nobility." 

After  having  thus  divested  the  New  Testa- 
ment of  all  supernatural  authority,  Kai  Jans 
proceeds  to  justify  the  faith  that  he  still  leaves 
intact : 

"This  faith  is  ours,  not  because  he  who  first  had 
it  is  an  eternal  miraculous  being,  or  possesses  any 
other  authority  for  us.  Wha'  care  I  for  authority 
in  these  questions?  How  is  it  possible  in  these 
matters  for  one  soul  to  give  warrant  for  another  ? 
The  soul  stands  quite  alone  and  rests  on  itself. 
This  faith  is  ours  because  it  corresponds  to  what 
is  best  in  my  soul.    .    .    . 

"Rejoice!  The  church  fought  against  Reason, 
God-given  Reason,  and  fought  against  the  noble 
joy  in  life.    Behold,  here  is  a  faith  that  laughs  and 


rejoices  in  every  victory  of  science,  leaning    to 
noble  Hellenism.    .    ,    . 

"This  simple  hero  and  his  faith  China,  Japan 
and  India  will  accept.  If  they  have  souls  like 
unto  ourselves  they  will  come  to  this  faith.  For 
it  is  the  faith  corresponding  to  the  human  heart; 
the  heart  needs  it  and  opens  up  to  it." 

This  evangel  does  not  seem  to  be  particu- 
larly new  or  novel,  but  it  is  received  with  en- 
thusiastic welcome  by  the  secular  press  of 
Germany.  "By  means  of  this  intermezzo," 
says  Karl  Stridker  in  the  Tdgliche  Rundschau, 
referring  to  the  hero's  life  of  Christ,  "the 
novel  receives  a  significance  far  beyond  any- 
thing in  the  belletristic  and  imaginative  litera- 
ture of  our  time.  It  is  a  war  call,  and  a  rousing 
cO^»  ^  good  weapon  of  defense  and  attack  in 
the  war  of  the  spirits,  a  banner  which,  raised 
on  high  with  its  luminous  folds  waving  in  the 
wind  of  the  twentieth  century,  seems  to  call: 
'Gather  ye  here!  Here  is  earnestness  and 
love  spoken  to  us  by  one  who  is  called,  and 
who  deserves  to  be  heard.' "  Writing  in  the 
Allgenteine  Zeitung  (Beil),  Oscar  BuUe  speaks 
much  in  the  same  vein:  "This  novel,  with  all 
its  many  faults  of  composition,  is  like  a  worthy 
war  poem,  a  rousing  call  to  thousands  to  whom 
it  preaches  a  return  to  nature,  to  the  inherent 
race  spirit,  to  the  home  of  the  soil,  to  simple 
true  humanity." 

Karl  Korn,  a  writer  in  the  Socialist  Neue 
Zeit  (Stuttgart),  renders  a  less  favorable 
verdict.  "For  the  modernization  of  the  life 
of  Jesus,"  he  declares,  "the  attempt  of  Frens- 
sen  lacks  the  most  essential  qualification, 
the  establishment  of  a  social  substratum  upon 
which  to  rest  the  person  of  Jesus,  his  propa- 
ganda and  its  fate,  and  the  decipherment  of 
the  social  palimpsest  of  the  books  of  the  Gos- 
pel; it  lacks  even  the  insight  into  the  purely 
human  tragedy  of  the  Christ  of  the  Evangels, 
that  tragedy  which  is  so  touch ingly  expressed 
in  the  death  cry  of  the  Crucified.  There  he 
is,  hanging  and  waiting  from  hour  to  hour,  for 
now  must  be  fulfilled  that  whereon  he  has  built 
up  his  whole  life-work,  and  its  final  execution; 
his  Heavenly  Father  will  now  descend  in  all 
splendor  and  glory  and  will  save  him  and  crown 
him.  But  the  Father  comes  not ;  not  even  the 
great  ecstasy  comes  now  when  he  most  needs 
it,  to  give  him  the  psychological  proof  of  him- 
self. These  great  pioneers  have,  indeed,  no 
other  proof  for  themselves  and  their  works 
than  their  great  hours,  their  inner  glow.  .  .  . 
Was  ever  the  bankruptcy  of  a  life  and  en- 
deavor expressed  more  bitterly  than  in  this 
despairing  cry  to  heaven:  'My  God,  my  God, 
why  hast  thou  forsaken  me  ?' " 


RELIGION  AND  ETHICS 


423 


CHRISTIANITY  AS  A  FACTOR  IN  AMERICAN  POLITICS 


Is  outspoken  Christianity  a  hindrance  to  a 
man  in  public  life?  asks  the  Hon.  Henry  B.  F. 
Macfarland,  Commissioner  of  the  District  of 
Columbia.  The  question  has  come  to  him  as 
one  of  vital  importance,  and  he  thinks  it  can- 
not be  answered  "Yes"  or  "No."  An  avowed 
atheist,  he  says,  would  not  get  very  far  in 
American  political  life,  although  more  than 
one  such  man  has  been  prominent  in  the 
House  of  Commons.  Nor  could  a  conspicu- 
ously bad  man,  whatever  his  beliefs,  gain  high 
office  in  this  country.  "Whatever  the  rougher 
and  tougher  elements  of  our  politics  may  think 
about  the  character  of  candidates  for  political 
offices  of  any  sort,"  asserts  Mr.  Macfarland, 
"a  great  majority  of  the  voters,  and  the  vast 
majority  of  the  women,  who  largely  govern 
the  voters  in  the  States  where  they  have  not 
the  suffrage  themselves,  would  not  support 
either  a  blatant  infidel  or  a  notorious  evil-doer. 
The  American  voter  may  be  deceived  by  hy- 
pocrisy in  one  form  or  another,  but  he  means 
to  have  men  who  believe  in  God  and  who  live 
honestly  and  decently  as  public  servants."  Mr. 
Macfarland  says  further  (in  The  Christian 
Endeavor  World) : 

"All  of  the  Presidents,  from  George  Washing- 
ton down,  and  including  Thomas  Jefferson,  who 
was  what  we  now  call  a  Unitarian,  although  some 
of  the  Federalist  clergy  of  New  England  called 
him  an  infidel,  have  been  sincere  believers  in  God 
and  in  the  general  teachings  of  the  Christian  re- 
ligion. All  of  them  have  shown  outward  respect 
for  the  church,  have  attended  its  services,  have 
observed  the  Christian  rest-day,  and  in  times  of 
great  personal  or  national  distress  or  rejoicing,  if 
not  habitually,  have  prated  like  other  men. 

"President  Roosevelt,  m  his  frank  and  expres- 
sive way,  shows  more  plainly  than  most  of  his 
predecessors  what  is  in  his  heart  in  this,  as  in 
less  important  thinffs.  Every  one  now  knows 
what  President  McKinley  thought  and  lived,  and 
how  he  died  triumphant  in  the  Christian  faidi; 
and  Mr.  Bryan,  devout  Presbsrterian  as  he  is,  is 
a  man  of  the  same  religious  stamp.  In  the  last 
presidential  campaign  all  of  the  four  principal 
candidates  were  recognized  church-members — Mr. 
Roosevelt  of  the  Dutch  Reformed,  Mr.  Fairbanks 
of  the  Methodist,  Mr.  Parker  of  the  Episcopalian, 
and  Mr.  Davis  of  the  Presbyterian  Church." 

But  in  no  case,  continues  Mr.  Macfarland, 
has  a  man  been  elected  or  appointed  to  any 
high  office  in  the  United  States  chiefly  because 
he  was  a  Christian,  or  chiefly  because  of  his 
Christian  character.  Thomas  Jefferson's  ques- 
tions, "Is  he  honest?  Is  he  capable?  Is  he 
faithful    to    the    Constitution?"  furnish    the 


practical  standard  of  most  men  who  do  not 
first  ask,  "Is  he  loyal  to  the  party?"  and,  "Will 
he  be  useful  to  me  or  to  my  interests?"  For 
instance : 

"The  Tammany  machine  may  nominate  a  good 
Episcopalian,  like  Mayor  McClellan,  or  the  Phil- 
adelphia machine  may  nominate  a  good  Baptist, 
like  Mayor  Weaver;  but  neither  they  nor  the 
voters  are  supporting  McClellan  as  an  Episco- 
palian, or  Weaver  as  a  Baptist,  or  either  as  a 
Christian.  It  might  make  some  difference  for 
what  would  be  called  practical  political  reasons 
what  church  a  candidate  belonged  to ;  but  it  would 
not  make  any  difference  that  he  did  not  belong  to 
any  church,  provided  he  had  a  good  reputation 
and  did  not  attack  religion.  Indeed,  he  might  be 
privately  an  agnostic  or  even  an  atheist  without 
losing  anything  in  public  life  by  it." 

Theoretically,  says  Mr.  Macfarland,  politics 
ought  to  be  in  the  best  sense  religious.  "Poli- 
tics was  religion,  although  not  in  the  best 
sense  always,  in  Jerusalem,  Athens  and  Rome, 
and  in  the  so-called  theocracies  of  the  Puri- 
tans in  England  and  New  England."  But  ac- 
tually, to-day,  politics  and  religion  "will  never 
be  married,  but,  on  the  contrary,  will  always 
be  separated,"  for  politicians,  while  they  may 
believe  in  the  natural  virtues,  like  honesty,  as 
necessary  in  politics,  "do  not  think  that  re- 
ligion, or  its  distinctive  beliefs  or  require- 
ments, has  a  necessary  place  there."  To  con- 
tinue the  argument: 

"The  active  and  aggressive  Christian  is  not 
wanted  in  politics,  and  is  not  popular  in  that 
field.  His  idealism,  in  so  far  as  it  works  to  make 
him  unworldly,  is  regarded  as  unfitting  him  for 
a  life  which  is  very  much  of  this  present  world, 
and  takes  very  little  practical  account  of  any 
other.  He  is  felt  to  be  different,  even  thou?h  it 
may  be  only  in  personal  or  social  habits;  and  the 
desire  to  have  conformity  condemns  reasons  any 
one  of  which  makes  a  man  so  different  from  his 
fellows.  Almost  inevitably  he  is  regarded  by 
those  who  do  not  see  what  he  sees,  or  serve  as  he 
serves,  as  so  different  as  to  be  an  insoluble  and 
rather  uncomfortable  problem  to  them.  How- 
ever sincere  he  may  be,  they  are  almost  certain 
to  say,  and  even  to  think  honestly,  that  he  is 
more  or  less  of  a  hypocrite,  if  for  no  other  reason, 
because  he  shows  the  inconsistency  of  human  liv- 
ing, and  chiefly  because  they  cannot  believe  in 
sincere  Christian  living  of  the  actual  sort. 

"The  stricter  the  man's  habits,  the  more  sus- 
picious, or  at  least  the  more  resentful,  they  be- 
come. If  he  does  not  drink,  or  play  cards  for 
money,  or  do  any  of  the  things  which  are  called 
convivial,  they  do  not  like  him,  and  they  say, 
'He  has  no  small  vices;  so  he  must  have  large 
ones.' 

"As  a  general  rule  a  man  cannot  get  on  in  pub- 


424 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


-^H 

£^ 

1 

! 

1  ^ 

i 

1 

WILHELM  OSTWALD 

Professor  of  Physical  Chemistry  at  Leipsig  University, 
and  the  latest  lecturer  in  the  IngrersoU  course  at  Harvard 
on  the  "  Immortality  of  Man." 

lie  life  unless  he  is  emphatically  what  is  known 
as  a  man  of  the  world.  Almost  any  man  in  pub- 
lic life  would  tell  you  that  it  would  not  do  in 
politics  to  be  a  puritan,  or  a  precisian,  or  any  of 


the  things  that  may  be  called  by  those  names, 
however  fine  and  however  true  to  Christ's  teach- 
ings those  things  may  be.  He  must  have  the 
common  virtues,  like  courage  and  honesty,  but 
he  must  not  be  distinctly  and  aggressively  Chris- 
tian." 

A  few,  but  a  very  few,  men  in  high  places, 
says  Mr.  Macfarland,  in  concluding,  have  al- 
ways been  known  as  active  Christians.  They 
"have  been  respected,  though  seldom  loved." 
There  was  a  time  when  the  term  "Christian 
statesman"  was  held  in  ridicule,  and  "unfor- 
tunately there  are  always  men  to  justify  the 
suspicions  of  those  who  do  not  want  Chris- 
tians in  public  life."  Yet  "the  true  Christian 
character  does  command  respect,  and  even 
support,  in  politics  as  elsewhere.  It  would  be 
easy  to  mention  men  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
the  Cabinet,  the  Senate,  the  House,  as  well 
as  the  White  House,  whose  Christian  virtues 
have  conquered  even  prejudice,  and  have  com- 
manded general  admiration."  Mr.  Macfar- 
land thinks  it  is  well  that  hypocrisy  should  not 
be  encouraged  by  "making  a  profession  of  re- 
ligion a  passport  to  political  preferments," 
He  adds: 

"There  is,  of  course,  a  real  success  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  people  which  true  servants  of  God 
may  enjoy  to  the  full,  even  though  they  never 
receive  even  a  nomination  to  office.  With  their 
citizenship  in  heaven  they  can  combine  a  citizen- 
ship on  earth  of  the  greatest  value  to  their  coun- 
try, and  neither  contempt  nor  scoffing,  nor  any 
persecution  can  prevent  them  from  high  achieve- 
ment." 


AN   EMINENT  SCIENTIST'S  VIEWS  ON   IMMORTALITY 


The  administrators  of  the  Ingersoll  Fund 
at  Harvard  University,  which  provides  for  an 
annual  lecture  on  the  "Immortality  of  Man," 
have  been  subjected  to  somewhat  hostile  criti- 
cism lately  on  account  of  their  choice  of  lec- 
turers. Dr.  William  Osier,  the  distinguished 
physician,  who  spoke  on  "Science  and  Im- 
mortality" two  years  ago,  assumed  an  agnostic 
attitude;  and  the  latest  lecturer.  Dr.  Wilhelm 
Ostwald,  Professor  of  Physical  Chemistry  at 
the  University  of  Leipzig,  has  handled  the 
subject,  "Individuality  and  Immortality,"*  in 
the  same  spirit.  He  refuses  to  affirm  personal 
immortality.  The  only  real  immortality,  he 
argues,  is  that  we  achieve  when  we  leave  an 
impress  upon  the  life  and  work  of  the  world. 

♦  Individuality  and  Immortality.     By  Wilhelm  Ost- 
wald.    Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Company. 


He  goes  further,  and  says :  "Death  is  not  only 
not  an  evil,  but  it  is  a  necessary  factor  in  the 
existence  of  the  race.  And  looking  into  my 
own  mind  with  all  the  frankness  and  subjec- 
tiveness  which  I  can  apply  to  this  most  per- 
sonal question,  I  find  no  horror  connected  with 
the  idea  of  my  own  death." 

A  fundamental  law  of  the  universe,  as  in- 
terpreted by  this  scientist,  and  the  law  upon 
which  he  chiefly  depends  for  his  argument,  is 
that  which  makes  for  diffusion.  If  we  take 
two  different  masses  and  combine  them,  he 
points  out,  the  resulting  mass  will  behave  like 
the  sum  of  the  two  single  masses.  But 
though  the  two  masses  retain  their  quantity, 
they  lose  their  individuality.  If  we  take  two 
glasses  of  water  and  pour  them  together  into 
one  basin  the  sum  of  the  two  quantities  is 


RELIGION  AND  ETHICS 


425 


obtained.  But  there  is  no  means  known  in 
earth  or  heaven  of  finding  out  which  part  of 
the  water  came  from  one  glass  and  which  from 
the  other.  "It  is  a  strange  thing,  indeed," 
comments  Professor  Ostwald,  "that  by  merely 
being  associated  with  another  thing  of  the 
»me  kind  identity  is  lost.  And  still  more 
strange  is  the  fact  that  every  being  of  this 
kind  seems  driven  by  an  irresistible  imptdse 
to  seek  every  occasion  for  losing  its  identity. 
Every  known  physical  fact  leads  to  the  con- 
clusion that  diffusion,  or  a  homogeneous  dis- 
tribution, of  energy  is  the  general  aim  of  all 
happenings."    Furthermore : 

"The  property  which  has  been  described  as  an 
irresistible  tendency  toward  diffusion  may  also  be 
observed  in  certain  cases  in  man.  In  conscious 
beings  such  natufal  tendencies  are  accompanied 
by  a  certain  feeling  which  we  call  will,  and  we 
are  happy  when  we  are  allowed  to  act  according 
to  these  tendencies  or  according  to  our  will. 
Now,  if  we  recall  the  happiest  moments  of  our 
lives,  they  will  be  found  in  every  case  to  be  con- 
nected with  a  curious  loss  of  personality.  In  the 
happiness  of  love  this  fact  will  be  at  once  dis- 
covered, and  if  you  are  enjojring  intensely  a  work 
of  art,  a  symphony  of  Beethoven's,  for  example, 
you  find  yourself  relieved  of  the  burden  of  per- 
sonality and  carried  away  by  the  stream  of  music 
as  a  drop  is  carried  away  by  a  wave.  The  same 
feeling  comes  with  the  grand  impressions  nature 
gives  us.  Even  when  I  am  sitting  quietly  sketdi- 
ing  in  the  open  there  comes  to  me  in  a  happy 
moment  a  sweet  feeling  of  being  united  with 
the  nattu-e  about  me,  which  is  distinctly  char- 
acterized by  complete  forget  fulness  of  my  poor 
self.  We  may  conclude  from  this  that  individ- 
uality means  limitations  and  unhappiness,  or  is 
at  least  closely  connected  with  them." 

Interrogating  experience,  the  professor  finds 
the  same  law  of  diffusion  at  work,  though 
there  is  an  apparent  desire  to  defeat  it  in 
man's  response  to  inherited  instincts.  Such, 
for  instance,  is  the  instinctive  desire  of  man 
to  leave  behind  him  after  death  marked  im- 
pressions of  his  individuality.  There  is  the 
general  desire  for  the  propagation  of  one's 
personal  influence  which  is  closely  connected 
with  the  desire  for  the  propagation  of  one's 
flesh  and  blood.  By  the  operation  of  these 
factors  a  prolongation  of  every  individual  ex- 
istence in  a  greater  or  less  degree  is  secured. 
But 

■  "Such  a  prolongation  is  not  immortality  in  its 
strictest  sense.  For  we  observe  that  such  influ- 
ences, though  they  outlive  the  term  of  bodily  life 
in  the  majority  of  cases,  gradually  cease  to  act, 
and  die  out  as3rmptotically,  just  as  any  isolated 
physical  existencie  does,  by  diffusing  into  the 
great  mass  of  general  existence  and  losing  indi- 
viduality and  the  possibility  of  being  distin- 
guished. 


"This  is  true  primarily  in  the  course  of  a  se- 
quence of  generations.  In  order  that  a  family 
may  be  continued,  the  son  marries  a  wife  from 
another  family,  and  his  son  does  the  san\e.  As 
a  result  the  continuance  of  the  family  is  secured, 
but  at  the  cost  of  its  individuality.  By  these  nec- 
essary connections  with  other  families,  diffusion 
into  the  general  mass  of  the  world  takes  place, 
and  the  very  means  of  continuing  its  existence 
resuhs  in  this  inevitable  diffusion.  And  finally 
a  family  like  mankind  in  general  is  subject  to 
the  possibility  of  ultimate  destruction  by  some 
cosmic  accident. 

"And  other  things  left  by  an  individual  man  at 
death  take  the  same  course.  Consider  the  best 
case,  where  we  often  use  the  word  immortal,  that 
of  a  great  poet  or  scientist.  We  say  that  Homer 
and  Goethe,  Aristotle  and  Darwin,  are  inunortal, 
because  their  work  is  lasting,  and  will  persist  for 
scores  of  centuries,  and  their  personal  influence 
has  proven  independent  of  their  bodily  existence. 
Even  the  fact  Uiat  death  prevented  them  from 
doing  more  work  of  the  kind  they  gave  to  us 
during  their  lives  is  not  so  important  as  it  would 
seem  at  the  first  glance.  When  a  man  grows  old 
his  creative  power,  both  bodily  and  mental,  often 
dies,  long  before  the  ordinary  functions  of  life 
have  ceased.  If  a  man  lives  his  natural  time  out, 
he  will  probably  do  all  the  work  that  he  is  able 
to  do  well,  and  his  death  is  then  not  a  matter 
of  importance.  Only  when  death  is  premature 
do  we  feel  that  something  has  been  lost,  and  only 
in  such  cases  can  we  feel  that  death  is  cruel  and 
unjust." 

The  only  lasting  kind  of  life  that  the  lec- 
turer is  able  to  discover  in  the  realm  of  experi- 
ence is  that  "quite  independent  of  individual 
life  or  death,"  to  wit,  the  more  or  less  limited 
effectiveness  of  the  work  a  man  has  accom- 
plished.    He  says: 

"How  long  it  will  remain  effective  is  entirely 
d^endent  on  the  degree  to  which  the  work  has 
suited  the  wants  of  the  race.  Work  of  no  value 
to  these  wants  will  be  wiped  out  as  soon  as  pos- 
sible, while  useful  work  will  be  retained  so  long 
as  it  is  seen  to  be  useful.  The  examples  I  have 
given  show  how  very  long  the  influence  of  a 
great  and  useful  worker  may  persist,  but  there  is 
no  doubt  that  by  this  very  influence  the  indi- 
viduality of  his  work  disappears,  however  slowly. 
It  becomes  more  and  more  a  part  of  the  general 
mental  equipment  of  his  clan,  his  nation,  his  race. 
It  will  then  exist  as  long  as  these  exist,  no  longer 
as  a  distinct  idea  or  work  of  art,  but  as  a  com- 
mon possession.  Here  again  the  general  law 
of  di^usion  already  met  with  is  at  work,  and 
duration  and  individuality  are  linked  as  are  re- 
ciprocal numbers:  the  one  increases  as  the  other 
diminishes." 

Instead  of  feeling  that  we  sweep  away  the 
foundation  of  all  our  ethics  when  we  banish 
the  idea  of  a  personal  future  life  in  which  vice 
shall  be  punished  and  virtue  rewarded,  Pro- 
fessor Ostwald  thinks  that  not  only  is  ethics 
possible  without  this  idea,  but  that  "this  con- 


426 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


dition  involves  a  very  refined  and  exalted  state 
of  ethical  development."  "The  more  each 
individual  is  filled  with  the  consciousness  that 
he  belongs  to  the  great  collective  organism  of 
htmianity,  the  less  will  he  be  able  to  separate 
his  own  aims  and  interests  from  those  of  hu- 
manity. A  reconciliation  between  duty  to  the 
race  and  personal  happiness  is  the  result,  as 
well  as  an  unmistakable  standard  by  which  to 
judge  our  own  actions  and  those  of  our  fel- 
low men."    He  concludes : 

"In  fact,  we  find  the  interests  of  humanity  in 
the  very  center  of  our  ethical  consciousness.  To 
frighten  people  into  ethical  action  by  threatening 
them  with  eternal  punishment  is  a  poor  and  in- 
efficacious way  of  influencing  them.  The  nat- 
ural way  is  to  develop  a  consciousness  of  the  all- 


pervading  relation  between  the  several  individu- 
als which  make  up  humanity,  and  this  to  such 
a  degree  that  the  corresponding  actions  become 
not  only  a  duty  but  a  habit,  and  at  last  an  in- 
stinct, directing  all  our  doings  quite  spontane- 
ously for  the  interest  of  humanity.  And  every 
mental  and  moral  advance  which  we  make  for 
ourselves  by  our  constant  efforts  at  self-educa- 
tion will  be  at  the  same  time  a  gain  for  humanity, 
since  it  will  be  transmitted  to  oiir  children,  our 
friends,  and  our  pupils,  and  will  be  to  them  easier 
than  it  was  to  us,  according  to  the  general  law 
of  memory.  Beside  the  fact  of  inherited  taint  there 
exists  the  fact  of  inherited  perfection,  and  every 
advance  which  we,  by  the  sweat  of  our  brows, 
may  succeed  in  making  towards  our  perfection,  is 
so  much  gain  for  our  children  and  our  children's 
children  forever.  I  must  confess  that  I  can  think 
of  no  grander  perspective  of  immortality  than 
this." 


CAN  WE  HAVE  RELIGION  WITHOUT  GOD  ? 


It  is  a  noteworthy  fact  in  connection  with 
the  development  of  modern  religious  thought 
that  the  effort  is  constantly  being  made  to  di- 
vest religion  of  its  supernatural  attributes  and 
to  show  that  the  idea  of  God  is  not  a  neces- 
sary element  in  religion.  Works  have  ap- 
peared in  Germany  and  elsewhere  in  recent 
times  which  declare  that  religion  can  be  as- 
cribed to  animals;  and  Professor  Haeckel,  of 
Jena,  the  leading  defender  of  monism  and 
atheistic  Darwinism  in  the  Fatherland,  has 
only  lately  spoken  of  "the  religion  of  the  ants." 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  real  purpose 
behind  the  new  propaganda  is  to  show  that 
religion  can  be  grasped  entirely  independently 
of  the  conception  of  divinity,  that  it  is  a  purely 
natural  and  human  product — conclusions  in 
the  highest  degree  distasteful  to  conservative 
theologians.  In  a  new  apologetic  journal,  pub- 
lished in  Germany  and  entitled,  Glaubcn  und 
IVissen,  the  veteran  Prof.  Edward  Koe- 
nig,  of  the  University  of  Bonn,  formulates  a 
number  of  reasons  for  rejecting  this  non-theo- 
logical conception  of  religion. 

One  reason,  he  says,  is  that,  speaking  his- 
torically, religion,  both  by  its  nature  and  its 
etymological  derivation,  demands  that  the  idea 
of  a  higher  being  be  included  in  its  constitu- 
tion, and  that  nothing  be  termed  a  religion 
which  does  not  include  this  concept.  The  fa- 
mous explanations  given  of  the  word  by  Cicero 
("De  Natura  Deorum,"  II,  28),  and  by  the 
"Christian  Cicero,"  the  theologian  Lactantius, 
differ  no  doubt  in  detail,  but  both  of  them 
imply  the  subordination  of  man  to  a  superior 


being,  and  the  essence  of  both  explanations  lies 
in  bringing  man  into  closer  relation  to  God. 

Again,  the  deterioration  of  the  conception  of 
religion  according  to  the  new  definition  pro- 
vides its  own  condemnation.  Religion  be- 
comes not  only  a  phenomenon  of  inferior  char- 
acter and  development  in  man's  world  of 
thought ;  it  is  degraded  to  the  brute  world,  and 
is  even,  according  to  Haeckel,  an  attribute  of 
the  plant  and  the  mineral  kingdom.  In  his 
latest  work,  "Die  Lebenswunde,"  the  Jena  zo- 
ologist has  transferred  the  idea  of  personality 
to  the  mineral  kingdom,  and  claims  that  stones 
have  a  personality.  Religion,  defined  from 
this  point  of  view,  is  emptied  of  that  which 
fundamentally  constitutes  its  very  essence. 

The  new  propagandists,  continues  Professor 
Koenig,  cannot  be  acquitted  of  a  charge  of 
dishonesty  in  the  use  of  thought  and  language. 
They  are  ptitting  the  stamp  of  a  fixed  mean- 
ing on  a  new  substitute  that  has  essentially 
nothing  in  common  with  what  the  world  has 
for  ages  been  calling  religion.  Why  call  this 
new  thing  a  religion,  unless  the  purpose  is  to 
deceive  people  by  using  a  historic  term? 

From  a  material  standpoint,  says  the  Ger- 
man writer,  in  conclusion,  the  condemnation 
of  the  new  use  of  the  term  must  be  equally 
strong.  What  these  new  thinkers  call  religion 
is  really  only  a  vague  system  of  ordinary  hu- 
man ethics  or  morality.  From  their  standpoint, 
what  possible  use  is  there  for  a  religion  apart 
from  this  morality  or  ethics?  Honesty  should 
compel  them  to  drop  the  term  religion  as  they 
have  discarded  all  that  the  word  really  means. 


RELIGION  AND  ETHICS 


427 


DISTURBING  SCHOLARSHIP  IN  THE  AMERICAN  CHURCH 


Two  university  professors,  Nathaniel 
Schmidt,  of  Cornell,  and  George  Burman  Fos- 
ter, of  the  University  of  Chicago,  both  still 
holding  their  membership  in  Baptist  churches, 
have  just  published  volumes  that  are  inevitably 
distressing  to  defenders  of  the  orthodox  faith. 
Professor  Schmidt's  work  is  entitled  "The 
Prophet  of  Nazareth";  Professor  Foster's, 
"The  Finality  of  the  Christian  Religion." 
Both  works  deal  with  the  fundamentals  of 
Christianity,  and  both 
belong  to  the  "radical" 
school  of  criticism. 

"The  Prophet  of 
Nazareth"*  has  evoked 
estimates  so  varied  and 
contradictory  as  to  be 
bewildering.  The  New 
York  Independent  re- 
fers to  it  as  "the  most 
notable  work  on  the 
life  of  Jesus  ever  writ- 
ten by  an  American 
scholar";  adding:  "For 
insight  and  penetration 
into  the  character  of 
the  Nazarene  no  life  of 
Christ  in  the  English 
language,  save  possibly 
*Ecce  Homo,'  is  at  all 
comparable  with  it." 
On  the  other  hand,  the 
Boston  Congregational- 
ist  dismisses  the  book 
with  a  short  paragraph 
and  the  statement : 
"The  reader  can  hardly 
restrain  himself  from 
becoming  as  critical  of 
this  book  as  its  author 
is  of  the  literature  from 
which     he     essays    to 

construct  a  history."  Professor  Schmidt  illus- 
trates the  radicalism  of  his  position  by  saying 
that  if  his  researches  had  led  him  to  believe 
that  no  such  person  as  Jesus  ever  lived,  he 
would  have  frankly  stated  this  conclusion  and 
the  train  of  reasoning  that  led  up  to  it;  and  it 
was  "with  a  deep  satisfaction  the  author  found 
himself  borne  along  by  the  force  of  what 
seemed  to  him  incontrovertible  facts  to  the 
conviction  that  Jesus  of  Nazareth  actually  ex- 


•  The  Prophet  of  Nazareth. 
The  Macmillan  Company. 


isted,  that  some  of  the  events  of  his  life  may 
be  known  to  us,  that  some  of  his  words  may 
be  recovered  and  that  his  personality  imper- 
fectly as  we  may  know  it  and  widely  as  it 
differed  from  the  estimate  of  the  church,  is 
as  sublime  and  potent  for  good  as  ever." 

According  to  this  new  interpreter,  Jesus 
was  the  son  of  Joseph  and  Mary,  born  of 
ordinary  wedlock.  Most  of  the  miracles  of 
Jesus  he  rejects,  while  others,  such  as  those 
connected  with  the 
healing  of  the  sick,  he 
ascribes  to  Christ's 
*  'stronger  and  holier 
spirit,  firmness  of  will, 
power  of  suggestion." 
He  also  rejects  the  ac- 
count of  the  triumphal 
entry  into  Jerusalem, 
and  argues  that  Jesus 
was  crucified  by  the 
Jews,  not  by  the  Ro- 
mans. "Misunderstood 
and  abandoned  by  his 
diciples,"  writes  Pro- 
fessor Schmidt,  "dis- 
trusted and  feared  by 
the  common  people 
whose  cause  he  had  es- 
poused, scorned  and 
hated  by  the  represen- 
tatives of  every  popu- 
lar form  of  religion, 
and  condemned  as  a 
blasphemer  by  the 
highest  court  of  his  na- 
GEORGB  BURMAN  FOSTER  tion,  he  paid  the  pen- 

Profeasor  of  the  Philosoohy  of  Religion  in  the  University    alty   for   Spiritual   inde- 

o!  Chicago.  pendence    by    a    cruel 

In  his  new  work,  **  The  Finality  of  the  Christian  Re-  ^nA  io-nnminir\iie 
ligion,"  he  repudiates  "  authority -religion  "  and  all  that  ^"^  ignominious 
purports  to  be  "  miraculously  supernatural.'  death."         From       that 

martyr  death  there  was 
no  resurrection.  Professor  Schmidt  takes 
the  view  that  the  conviction  of  the  resurrec- 
tion "was  engendered  by  faith  in  the  prophetic 
word  and  in  its  application  to  Jesus.  It  was 
probably  in  Galilee  that  the  disciples  began 
to  proclaim  their  earnest  conviction  that  Jesus 
had  risen  from  the  dead  according  to  the  Scrip- 
tures and  would  soon  return  to  them.  The 
expectation  of  such  a  return  of  a  dead  ruler 
or  teacher  is  not  an  uncommon  phenomenon 
in  history."  Yet,  in  spite  of  all  this  destructive 
criticism.  Professor  Schmidt's  attitude  toward 


By  Nathaniel  Schmidt. 


428 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


Jesus  is  almost  that  of  a  worshipper.  "To 
have  come  under  his  spell  is  to  be  his  forever. 
To  know  him  is  to  love  him."  And  finally: 
"The  thought  of  Jesus  may,  in  numerous  di- 
rections, become  a  stronger  force  in  the  life  of 
the  world  than  it  has  yet  been." 

"The  Finality  of  the  Christian  Religion"* 
is  a  book  written  in  much  the  same  spirit.  The 
writer  declares  in  a  preface  his  belief  that  "a 
multitude  of  thoughtful  men  and  women  are 
passing  through  an  experience  similar  to  his 
own,"  and  that  "a  greater  multitude  will  travel, 
with  bleeding  feet,  the  same  via  dolorosa 
to-morrow  and  the  day  after."  The  argument 
is  rationlistic  throughout.  With  Sabatier, 
Professor  Foster  repudiates  all  "authority-re- 
ligion" and  all  that  purports  to  be  "miracu- 
lously supernatural."  One  of  the  most  radical 
passages  in  the  book  is  this:  "Miraculous  nar- 
ratives, like  the  biblical,  originating  from  no 
observer  who  possessed  sufficient  knowledge 
of  the  relations  and  laws  of  nature  to  have  a 
right  to  pronounce  upon  such  matters,  have 
no  scientific  importance.  And  the  orthodox 
exaction  of  'faith'  in  stories  out  of  relation 
with  everything  we  know  must  forever  be  no 
less  antagonistic  to  the  higher  activities  of 
faith  than  it  is  to  science  and  common-sense. 
An  intelligent  man  who  now  affirms  his  faith 
in  such  stories  as  actual  facts  can  hardly 
know  what  intellectual  honesty  means. ' 
Later  on  he  says:  "A  human  Christ  who  does 
no  more  and  no  less  than  interpret  to  us  the 
eternal  relation  of  God  in  human  nature,  and 
opens  our  eyes  to  see  it,  is  no  less  adapted  to 
reconcile  us  and  lead  tis  into  sonship  than 
the  superhuman  entity  of  the  church  which, 
with  his  epiphany  and  his  performances,  has 
no  place  in  the  pale  of  the  natural  life  of  hu- 
manity." The  resurrection  of  Jesus  is  dis- 
posed of  in  this  fashion: 

"While  war  has  long  been  waged  against  mir- 
acle ;  while  in  the  consciousness  of  humanity  faith 
in  miracles  has  been  increasingly  shaken;  while 
miracle  has  come  to  be  a  burden  instead  of  a 
support  to  religion,  it  is  yet  still  true  that  it  is 
more  difficult  for  Christianity  to  detadi  itself 
from  miracle  than  it  is  for  any  other  religion 
whatsoever.  This  is  mainly  because  the  doctrine 
of  the  bodily  resurrection  of  Jesus  has  been  prop- 
agated into  the  very  center  of  Christian  convic- 
tion, has  so  fixed  its  stamp  upon  this  religion  that 
the  latter  seems  to  many  to  stand  or  fall  with 
the  historicity  of  that  event.  *If  Christ  be  not 
risen,  our  faith  is  vain,  we  are  yet  in  our  sins,' 
writes  Paul.  Is  it  not  well  to  ask  ourselves 
whether  we  are  in  a  position  to  participate  experi- 

*  The  Finality  of   the    Christian  Religion.    By 
George  Burman  Foster.    University  of  Chicago  Press, 


entially    in   this   Pauline   proposition?     We    are 
dependent  upon  the  narratives  of  the  gospels  and 
the  witness  of  Paul,  to  form  an  idea  of  what 
occurred  after  the  death   of  Jesus.     But   these 
are  by  no  means  so  consistent  as  to  render  as- 
sent to  the  actuality  of  the  occurrences  a  require- 
ment of  conscience.    This  importance  attached  to 
the  bodily  resurrection  is  far  out  of  proportion  to 
the  evidence  therefor.     The  narratives  yield    a 
fltictuating  image  which  eludes  all  assured  evalu- 
ation.   Shall  we  base  our  highest  and  holiest,  our 
whole  religious  life,  on  an  occurrence  of  which 
no  one  can  make  a  perfectly  distinct  picture? 
And  is  it,  indeed,  necessary  that  we  build  our 
salvation  on  this  occurrence? 

The  Baptist  papers  are  greatly  disturbed  by 
the  radical  conclusions  of  these  two  scholars. 
The  Chicago  Standard  pleads  for  tolerance, 
but  the  New  York  Examiner  evidently  feels 
that  what  is  needed  is  plain  speaking  from  the 
conservative  view-point.  "All  the  fine  things 
that  are  said  about  Jesus  as  a  man  and 
teacher,"  comments  The  Examiner,  "cannot 
atone  for  the  denial  of  that  which  crowned  and 
sealed  his  mission  of  salvation.  An  unrisen 
Christ  means  a  dead  faith,  a  dead  hope,  a 
world  left  lying  in  the  wicked  one."  The 
same  paper  comments  further : 

"'When  the  foundations  are  destroyed,'  cried 
the  Psalmist  in  despair,  beholding  the  social  dis- 
order then  prevailing,  'what  can  the  righteous 
do?'  So  might  we  say  to-day,  as  we  observe  the 
destructive  work  attempted,  not  by  alien  hands, 
but  by  men  of  our  own  household  of  faith,  against 
the  most  fundamental  tenets  of  our  holy  religion 
— only  we  believe  in  the  power  of  the  living  God 
to  guard  his  Word,  and  in  the  certainty  of  his 
interposition  in  the  present  and  the  future,  as 
in  the  past,  for  its  preservation  from ,  every  as- 
sault." 

The  Chicago  Interior  (Presbyterian)  treats 
the  "heretical"  views  of  Professors  Schmidt 
and  Foster  in  lighter  vein.  This  new  gospel, 
it  remarks,  is  "merely  Ritschl  done  over — 
'sartor  resartus' — with  a  lot  of  new  frills  to 
make  it  somewhat  more  so."    It  continues: 

"We  are  not  going  to  have  hydrophobia  over 
all  this.  It  is  a  distinct  gain  in  the  area  and  su- 
premacy of  religion  that  men  who  don't  accept 
the  miracles  have  found  a  way  by  which  they  can 
adhere  to  Jesus  for  the  life  of  their  spirits.  In 
the  old  times  they  would  have  been  infidels  out- 
right; now  many  of  them  are  devout,  religious- 
hearted  men.  It  is  another  great  instance  in 
which  the  Galilean  has  conquered.  But  the 
thing  which  does  greatly  try  us  is  that  the  Rit- 
schlians  can't  see  that  Ritschlianism  is  just  the 
way  for  them;  that  the  rest  of  us  haven't  the 
difficulty  which  requires  it.  Thejr  come  and  camp 
just  over  the  line  in  the  Christian  religion,  and 
then  begin  to  exploit  their  location  as  the  center 
and  capital  of  the  whole  realm.  Professor  Foster 
could  scarcely  pen  a  sentence  which  would  more 
completely    convict   him    of   narrow    Brahmanic 


REUGtON  AND  ETHICS 


4^9 


ignorance  of  the  men  of  his  times  than  this 
which  the  papers  quote :  'An  intelligent  man  who 
DOW  affirms  his  faith  in  the  miracle  stories  as 
actual  facts  can  hardly  know  what  intellectual 
honesty  means.'  His  own  disability  he  stupidly 
attributes  to  everybody  else.  How  little  investi- 
gation would  have  taught  him  better  1  The  pro- 
fessor needs  only  to  go  round  the  comer  to  the 
first  church  he  comes  to,  and  he'll  find  plenty  of 
people  to  whom  believing  in  God  is  equivalent 
to  believing  in  the  possibility  of  miracles — that  is, 
in  the  free  hand  of  a  Sovereign  in  his  own  king- 
dom. Of  course,  they  are  not  people  whose  brains 
spin  gossamer  mesh,  but  they  think— in  that 
common-sense  style  which  helps  most  in  a  com- 
mon-sense world.  These  folks  don't  need  Rit- 
schlianism.  Let  the  professor  save  his  medicine 
for  desperate  cases  of  his  own  skepticism;  he  is 
much  misguided  in  setting  it  out  as  food  for 
healthy  people," 

Unity,  a  weekly  journal  published  in  Chi- 
cago and  devoted  to  the  unification  of  all  re- 
ligion, frankly  welcomes  the  new  views.  It 
says: 


"Professors  Schmidt  and  Foster  have  only 
dared  to  state  in  scholarly  terms  the  conclusions 
of  modem  thinking  on  high  subjects.  They  have 
justified  by  philosophy  and  historical  investiga- 
tion the  working  creed  of  most  intelligent  men 
and  women.  It  is  too  late  in  the  day  to  raise  the 
cry  of  'destroyers  of  the  faith';  'underminers  of 
conviction,'  etc.  This  work  is  done.  There  is  no 
gainsaying  the  fact  that  the  working  religion,  the 
practical  faith  of  the  well-informed  as  well  as 
the  high-intentioned  men  and  women  in  all  the 
churches,  at  least  outside  of  the  Catholic  church, 
is  based  on  the  natural  rather  than  on  the  super- 
natural; rejoices  in  the  human  Jesus  rather  than 
.  in  the  superhuman  Christ.  The  Trinity  abides  as 
a  worldng  force  only  when  mystically  interpreted 
in  a  way  that  denudes  the  old  credal  definite- 
ness  of  all  working  potency.  .  .  .  Instead  of 
being  pilloried  as  enemies  of  faith  these  men  and 
their  associates  should  be  haloed  as  prophets  of 
faith  who  come  none  too  early  to  the  tasks  of 
re-enforcing  morals  and  religion,  renewing  trust 
and  replacing  the  cracked  and  crumbling  super- 
natural foundations  of  religious  trust  and  enthu- 
siasm with  the  solid  masonry  of  natural  law  and 
universal  experience." 


A  MINISTER'S  SYMPOSIUM  ON  TWENTIETH  CENTURY 

RELIGION 


In  celebrating  its  ninetieth  biithda^y  anni- 
versary recently,  the  well-known  religious 
weekly,  the  Boston  Congregationalistj  invited 
representatives  of  five  leading  denominiitions 
— Baptist,  Congregational,  Episcopalian,  Meth- 
odist and  Presbyterian — ^to  forecast  "the  re- 
ligion of  the  next  ninety  years."  The  seven 
ministers  who  responded  to  the  invitation  are 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Frank  W.  Gunsaulus,  of  Chicago ; 
Prof.  Henry  S.  Nash,  of  Cambridge,  Mass.; 
Chancellor  James  R.  Day,  of  Syracuse  Uni- 
versity; Prof.  William  N.  Clarke,  of  Colgate 
University ;  the  Rev.  Dr.  Charles  E.  Jefferson, 
of  New  York;  the  Rev.  Dr.  George  A,  Gor- 
don, of  Boston;  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Robert  F. 
Coyle,  of  Denver.  "Recognized  prophets"  in 
their  respective  denominations.  The  Congre- 
gationalist  terms  these  men;  their  words,  it 
thinks,  are  "as  divinely  prophetic  as  those  of 
the  Old  Testament." 

It  is  intere;>l:ng  to  note  that  there  is  a  sur- 
prising unanimity  of  opinion  in  the  forecasts, 
and  that  three  points  are  underscored  by  all 
the  contributors  to  the  symposium,  namely : 
(i)  The  need  of  a  greater  emphasis  on  Christ; 
(2)  The  need  of  a  wider  religious  tolerance; 
and  (3)  The  need  of  a  larger  recognition  of 
social  questions  and  social  work. 


The  "one  thing  essential,"  according  to  Dr. 
Jefferson,  is  "God's  revelation  of  himself  in 
Christ."  The  "ideal  expression  of  the  moral 
life  of  God  in  Jesus  Christ"  also  appeals  to 
Dr.  Gordon  as  something  which  will  be  "a 
deeper  insight  for  our  successors  and  a  more 
precious  possession."  In  the  same  spirit 
Chancellor  Day  writes: 

"As  Newton  uncovered  the  law  of  gravitation, 
and  as  that  law  is  becoming  more  practical  in 
thousands  of  forms  as  men  become  more  in- 
telligent, and  the  only  changes  of  it  are  changes 
of  application,  so  our  Lord  revealed  to  men  a 
law  of  love  and  life,  foreshadowed  by  the  proph- 
ets and  sometimes  hinted  by  others,  whidi  has 
become  the  law  of  human  regeneration  and  the 
force  of  moral  action.  It  has  been  called  by  Paul 
'the  law  of  the  spirit  of  life.'  It  leaves  no  room 
for  any  other  because  it  fills  and  meets  every 
need.  It  will  endure  as  long  as  human  nature  is 
what  it  is.  It  never  can  be  supplemented,  as  there 
is  nothing  left  to  be  done  when  its  work  is 
completed. 

"It  was  revealed  in  one  who  was  what  it  is.  It 
was  not  declared  by  him  simply  as  Newton  re- 
vealed gravitation.  It  was  he.  He  was  what  he 
taught.  There  therefore  can  be  no  one  to  come 
into  his  place,  nor  any  cult  to  supplant  his  teach- 
ings. He  was  yesterday.  He  is  to-day.  He  will 
be  forever." 

But  while  doctrine  is  bound  to  remain  an 


430 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


FRANK  W.  GUNSAULUS,  D.D. 

President  of  the  Armour  Institute  of  Tochnologry. 

He  predicts  that  the  note  of  the  future  will  be  reli«rious, 
not  ecclesiastical,  and  that  conduct,  rather  than  theolog^y, 
will  be  emphasized. 

impottant  part  of  church  life,  the  tendency  is 
ever  toward  a  greater  toleration.  The  note 
of  the  future,  predicts  Dr.  Gunsaulus,  will  be 
religious,  in  the  true  sense,  but  not  ecclesias- 
tical. "The  instrumentalities  of  the  church," 
he  says,  "more  especially  the  pulpit,  will  not 
be  sharpened  for  an  intellectual  achievement 
in  a  theological  form  so  much  as  for  the  cul- 
tivating of  the  life  whose  juices  are  to  the 
plant  what  the  ehiotions  and  volitions  are  to 
character.  The  serious  question  asked  by  the 
charioteer  will  be  this,  *Is  thy  heart  right?'" 
Chancellor  Day  thinks  that  "no  Christian 
church  has  had  all  of  the  truth.  Every  such 
church  has  had  some  of  it  The  sum  of  all, 
the  consensus  of  the  saving  faith  as  held  by 
the  bodies  of  believers,  will  be  the  religion 
that  will  endure."     And  Dr.  Coyle  says: 

"The  stress  will  be  laid  upon  fundamental 
agreements  and  not  upon  small  and  unimportant 
differences.  Faith  will  be  the  thing  and  not  the 
creedal  forms  of  expressing  it.  The  divine  fire 
and  not  the  ecclesiastical  candlestick  will  be  ac- 
centuated. Not  the  machine  but  the  Master;  not 
the  sect  but  the  Saviour  will  be  lifted  up.  De- 
nominationalisms  will  grow  less,  the  Christ  of  God 
more.  Smaller  lights  will  pale  before  the  rising 
of  the  Sun  of  Righteousness.  The  rubbish  will  be 


JAMBS    KOSCOE    DAY,    D.D.,    LL.D. 

Chancellor  of  Syracuse  University. 

. ''  No  Christian  church  has  had  all  of  the  truth,"  he  says. 
"  The  consensus  of  the  saving:  faith,  as  held  by  the  bod- 
ies of  believers,  will  be  the  religion  that  win  endure.'* 


brushed  from  the  Rock  that  the  people  may  see 
it,  and  build  their  house  there. 

"There  will  be  a  shortening  of  creeds.  Only 
the  great,  broad,  necessary  things  will  be  held  on 
to.  A  few  articles  of  faith  will  suffice.  Power 
will  be  increased  by  concentration.  The  drift  will 
be  away  from  complexity  to  simplicity.  The  ef- 
fect of  a  ton  of  crude  iron  ore  upon  the  macr- 
netic  needle  is  said  to  be  less  than  the  effect  of 
the  ten  or  twenty  pounds  of  pure  iron  which  it 
contains.  Much  of  the  subtle  force  of  the  metal 
is  lost  in  finding  its  way  through  the  enveloping 
rock.  So  men  will  learn  in  the  next  ninety  years 
that  the  short  creed,  the  creed  reduced  to  the 
smallest  possible  compass,  will  be  far  more  ef- 
fective than  the  most  elaborate  confession.  Only 
the  pure  ore  of  revealed  truth  will  be  cast  in 
creedal  molds.  Christian  beliefs  which  all  fol- 
lowers of  Jesus  can  accept  will  be  framed  into 
a  brief,  irenic,  common  standard  for  working 
purposes." 

"Social  questions  are  fast  getting  to  be  the 
burning  questions  with  us  all,"  thinks  Pro- 
fessor Nash;  and  Dr.  Jefferson  prophesies; 
"Religion  will  be  increasingly  altruistic.  The 
importance  of  environment  as  a  factor  in  the 
growth  of  souls  is  bringing  to  religious  men 
a  new  sense  of  responsibility,  and  out  of  this 
awakened  social  conscience  will  come  move- 
ments for  the  redemption  of  our  cities  on  a 


RELIGION  AND  ETHICS 


431 


ROBERT  P.  COYLE,   D.D. 

Ex-Moderator  of  Presbyterian  General  Assembly. 

He  savs :  *'  Denominational! sms  will  grow  less,  the 
Chrtst  ot  God  more.  Smaller  lights  will  pale  before  the 
rising  of  the  Sun  of  Righteousness." 

scale  vaster  than  any  which  the  nineteenth 
century  attempted  .  .  .'  There  will  be  a 
Christian  Socialism,  the  full  dimensions  of 
which  we  cannot  now  conjecture."  This 
change  of  emphasis,  says  Dr.  Coyle,  "will  be 
manifest  in  gospel  propagandism.  The  tides 
of  evangelism  will  rise,  but  it  will  be  evangel- 
ism supplemented  by  greatly  augmented  ef- 
forts to  promote  social  righteousness.  The  re- 
generation of  the  individual  will  be  sought 
with  increasing  earnestness,  not  simply,  how- 
ever, that  his  soul  may  be  saved  and  that 
he  may  go  to  heaven,  but  quite  as  much  that 
he  may  save  and  serve  society  and  produce  a 
little  more  of  heaven  on  earth.  Men  will  think 
more  of  the  kingdom  and  labor  more  for  its 
coming  in  all  the  relations  of  this  mundane 
life  than  for  the  salvation  of  a  remnant,  or  of 
the  elect  They  will  prove  that  their  own  call- 
ing and  election  are  sure  by  their  compassion 
for  the  multitudes."     Professor  Clarke  adds: 

"The  Christianity  of  the  twentieth  century  must 
be  a  working  Christianity,  devoting  its  intelli- 
gence and  religious  power  to  the  vast  and  com- 
plex present  problem  of  humanity.  This  is  the 
coming  test  of  the  faith  in  its  large  forms  and 
operations — whatever   lays  hold  of  the  problem 


CHARLES  E.  JEPFERSON,  D.D. 

Pastor  of  Broadway  Tabernacle,  New  York. 

Who  looks  for  an  increase  of  ''altruistic  religion,*' 
and  thinks  ''  there  will  be  a  Christian  Socialism,  the  full 
dimensions  of  which  we  cannot  now  conjecture." 

of  humanity,  or  any  part  of  it,  in  the  spirit  of 
Christ  is  Christian,  and  whatever  does  not  is 
not.  And  the  spirit  of  Christ  in  men  will  prove 
itself  larg^e  and  strong  enough  to  take  hold  of 
the  problem  of  humanity,  and  the  coming  time 
will  be  a  period  of  Christian  power." 

Who  the  working  representatives  of  God 
in  Christ  will  be,  continues  Professor  Clarke, 
will  not  be  determined  by  names  and  pro- 
fessions. ''It  is  not  to  be  assumed  that  the  so- 
called  Christian  people  are  the  ones.  That  will 
be  as  it  may  be."    The  professor  concludes : 

"  'Not  he  that  nameth  the  name,  but  he  that 
doeth  the  will,'  is  the  Lord's  man.  In  such  a 
time  denominational  questions  of  the  old  kind 
are  nil,  and  the  question,  'Who  is  on  the  Lord's 
side?'  is  paramount.  Churches  will  be  left  behind 
if  they  do  not  discern  the  will  that  is  to  be  done, 
and  men  who  do  not  bear  the  name  will  take 
their  crown.  Yet  there  is  high  hope  for  the 
Christian  people  in  the  fact  that  they  are  begin- 
ning to  see  what  it  is  to  work  together,  and  to 
substitute  the  power  of  a  common  cause  for  the 
zest  of  their  specialties.  What  they  most  need 
is  a  deeper  sense  of  the  few  supreme  divine  real- 
ities. The  more  swiftly  they  learn  the  lesson  of 
a  simple  and  spiritual  theology,  a  Christlike  re- 
ligion of  love  and  help  and  a  call  from  God  to 
deal  with  the  present  problem  of  the  world,  the 
larger  will  be  their  share  in  the  saving  work  of 
the  twentieth  century." 


432  CURRENT  LITERATURE 

PROVIDENCE— AN  APOLOGUE  BY  VICTOR  HUGO 

The  Other  evening  I  was  a  little  late  in  going  down  to  dinner,  and  this  was  the  rea- 
son: I  noticed  a  number  of  dead  bees  lying  on  the  floor  of  the  lookout  where  I  am  ac- 
customed to  work — a  sight  that  I  encoimter  every  spring.  The  poor  things  had  come 
in  through  the  open  window.  When  the  windows  were  closed  they  found  themselves 
prisoners.  Unable  to  see  the  transparent  obstacle,  they  had  hurled  themselves  against 
the  glass  panes  on  all  sides,  east,  north,  south  and  west,  until  at  last  they  fell  to  the 
floor  exhausted,  and  died.  But,  yesterday,  I  noticed,  among  the  bees,  a  great  drone, 
much  stronger  than  the  bees,  who  was  far  from  being  dead,  the  fine  fellow;  who,  in  fact,- 
was  very  much  alive  and  was  dashing  himself  against  the  panes  with  all  his  might,  like 
the  great  beast  that  he  was.  "Ah!  my  fine  friend,"  said  I,  *' it  would  have  been  an  evil 
day  for  you  had  I  not  come  to  the  rescue.  You  wotild  have  been  done  for,  my  fine;^  fel- 
low; before  nightfall  you  would  be  lying  dead,  and  on  coming  up-stairs,  in  the  evening 
with  my  lamp,  I  would  have  found  your  poor  little  corpse  among  those  of  the  other 
bees.  Come,  now,  like  the  Emperor  Titus  I  shall  mark  the  day  by  a  good  deed:  let  us 
save  the  insect's  life.  Perhaps  in  the  eyes  of  God  a  drone  is  as  valuable  as  a  man,  and 
without  any  doubt  it  is  more  valuable  than  a  prince. 

I  threw  open  the  window,  and,  by  means  of  a  napkin,  began  chasing  the  insect 
toward  it;  but  the  drone  persisted  in  flying  in  the  opposite  direction.  I  then  tried  to 
capture  it  by  throwing  the  napkin  over  it.  When  the  drone  saw  that  I  wished  to  cap- 
ture it,  it  lost  its  head  completely ;  it  botmded  furiously  against  the  glass  panes,  as  though 
it  would  smash  them,  took  a  fresh  start,  and  dashed  itself  again  and  again  against  the 
glass.  Finally  it  flew  the  whole  length  of  the  apartment,  maddened  and  desperate. 
**Ah,  you  tryant!*'  it  buzzed.  "Despot!  you  would  deprive  me  of  liberty!  Cruel 
executioner,  why  do  you  not  leave  me  alone?  I  am  happy,  and  why  do  you  persecute 
me?" 

After  trying  very  hard,  I  brought  it  down  and,  in  seizing  it  with  the  napkin,  I  in- 
voluntarily hurt  it.  Oh,  how  it  tried  to  avenge  itself!  It  darted  out  its  sting;  its  little 
nervous  body,  contracted  by  my  fingers,  strained  itdelf  with  all  its  strength  in  an  at- 
tempt to  sting  me.  But  I  ignored  its  protestations,  and,  stretching  my  hand  out  the 
window,  opened  the  napkin.  For  a  moment  the  drone  seemed  stunned,  astonished; 
then  it  calmly  took  flight  out  into  the  infinite. 

Well,  you  see  how  I  saved  the  drone.  I  was  its  Providence.  But  (and  here  is  the 
moral  of  my  story)  do  we  not,  stupid  drones  that  we  are,  conduct  ourselves  in  the  same 
manner  toward  the  providence  of  God?  We  have  our  petty  and  absurd  projects,  otir 
small  and  narrow  views,  our  rash  designs,  whose  accomplishment  is  either  impossible 
or  injurious  to  ourselves.  Seeing  no  farther  than  our  noses  and  with  our  eyes  fixed  on 
our  immediate  aim,  we  plunge  ahead  in  our  blind  infatuation,  like  madmen.  We  would 
succeed,  we  would  triumph ;  that  is  to  say,  we  would  break  our  heads  against  an  invisi- 
ble obstacle. 

And  when  God,  who  sees  all  and  who  wishes  to  save  us,  upsets  our  designs,  we 
stupidly  complain  against  Him,  we  accuse  his  Providence.  We  do  not  comprehend 
that  in  punishing  us,  in  overturning  our  plans  and  catising  us  suffering.  He  is  doing  all 
this  to  deliver  us,  to  open  the  Infinite  to  us. — Translated  for  Current  Literature  from 
Victor  Hugo's  posthumous  work,  **La  Dernibre  Gerbe,** 


Science  and  Invention 


AN  ONTOLOGICAL  INDICTMENT  OF  THE  HUMAN  FEMALE 


Woman,  as  the  imaginative  concept  in  the 
non-scientific  mind,  is  to  be  carefully  differen- 
tiated from  the  human  female  in  the  biologi- 
cal sense.  In  laying  stress  upon  this  point, 
a  young,  but  celebrated  Vienna  biological  psy- 
chologist. Dr.  Otto  Weininger,  now  deceased, 
makes  it  the  basis  of  his  thesis  that  the  human 
female  is  too  low  in  the  scale  of  existence  to 
be  pronounced  immoral.  She  is  non-moral — 
incapable,  from  the  very  nature  of  things,  of 
a  moral  aspiration,  a  moral  idea,  or  a  moral 
action  of  her  own.  Developing  that  thought 
in  his  work  newly  issued  in  this  country,*  Dr. 
Weininger  adduces,  as  decisive  proof  of  the 
emptiness  and  nullity  of  the  human  female, 
the  alleged  fact  that  she  never  succeeds  in 
cognizing  the  problem  of  her  own  life.  The 
explanation  is  that  the  human  female  is  un- 
able to  realize  the  higher  life  of  personality. 

In  other  words,  asserts  Dr.  Weininger, 
women  have  no  existence  and  no  essence. 
"They  are  not;  they  are  nothing."  Mankind 
occurs,  asserts  the  Vienna  scientist,  as  male 
and  as  female;  that  is  to  say,  something  and 
nothing.  The  fundamental  fact  is  that  woman 
has  no  share  in  ontological  reality,  she  is 
without  any  relation  to  what  in  philosophy  is 
known  as  "the  thing  in  itself,"  and  in  theology 
is  known  as  God.  Man,  the  human  male,  in  his 
highest  form,  the  genius,  has  such  a  relation. 
Woman  sustains  no  relation  to  an  idea.  She 
neither  affirms  nor  denies  it.  She  is  neither 
moral  nor  antimoral.  Mathematically  speak- 
ing, she  has  no  sign.  She  is  purposeless — 
neither  good  nor  bad;  neither  angel  nor  devil. 
She  is  non-logicaL  She  is  non-ethicaL  Yet 
all  existence  is  moral  and  logical  existence. 
So  woman — ^speaking  in  the  metaphysical 
sense  and  differentiating  from  the  human  fe- 
male in  the  biological  sense — has  no  existence. 
It  all  sounds,  at  first,  as  if  the  German  scien- 
tist had  turned  humorist,  and  were  amusing 
himself  with  a  caricature.  But,  on  the  con- 
trary, he  is  tremendously  serious.  Whoever 
else  may  be  amused,  he  is  not.  That  eminent 
biological  socialist,  Benjamin  Kidd,  takes 
Weininger  seriously,  too,  pronouncing  his 
work  an  important  contribution  to  thought. 

•Sex  and  Character.   By  Otto  Weininger.  G.  P.  Put- 
nam's Sons. 


Dr.  Emil  Reich  deems  Weininger  a  genius. 
To  resume  our  quotation : 

"Woman  is  untruthful.  An  animal  has  just 
as  little  metaphysical  reality  as  the  actual  woman, 
but  it  cannot  speak  and  consequently  it  does  not 
lie.  In  order  to  speak  the  truth  one  must  be 
something.  Truth  is  dependent  on  an  existence, 
and  only  that  can  have  a  relation  to  an  existence 
which  is  in  itself  something.  Man  desires  truth 
all  the  time;  that  is  to  say,  he  all  along  desires 
only  to  be  something.  The  cognition-impulse  is 
in  the  end  identical  with  the  desire  for  immor- 
tality. Anyone  who  objects  to  a  statement  with- 
out ever  having  realized  it;  anyone  who  gives 
outward  acquiescence  without  the  inner  affirma- 
tion such  persons,  like  woman,  have  no  real 
existence  and  must  of  necessity  lie.  So  that 
woman  always  lies." 

No  one,  declares  Dr.  Weininger,  misunder- 
stands so  thoroughly  what  a  woman  wants  as 
he  who  tries  to  find  out  what  is  passing  within 
her,  endeavoring  to  share  her  feelings  and 
hopes,  her  experiences  and  her  real  nature. 
The  human  female  does  not  wish  to  be  treated 
as  an  active  agent  She  wants  to  remain  al- 
ways and  throughout — this  is  just  her  woman- 
hood— purely  passive,  to  feel  herself  under  an- 
other's will.  She  demands  only  to  be  taken 
possession  of,  like  a  property.  And  just  as 
mere  sensation  only  attains  reality  when  it  is 
apprehended,  so  a  woman  is  brought  to  a 
sense  of  her  existence  only  by  her  husband  or 
children.  Woman  is  the  material  on  which 
man  acts.  Man  as  the  microcosm  is  com- 
pounded of  the  lower  and  higher  life.  Woman 
is  matter,  is  nothing.  This  knowledge  gives 
us  the  keystone  in  the  arch  of  Dr.  Weininger's 
structure,  and  makes  everything  clear,  he 
thinks,  that  was  before  indistinct  regarding 
the  human  female.  It  is  vastly  significant,  too, 
that  the  keenest  sense  in  the  human  female, 
the  only  one  she  has  in  higher  development 
than  that  of  the  male  of  her  genus,  is  the  sense 
of  touch.  The  eye  and  the  ear  lead  to  the 
unlimited  and  give  glimpses  of  infinity.  The 
sense  of  touch  necessitates  physical  limita- 
tions to  our  own  actions.  Touch  is  the  emi- 
nently sordid  sense  and  suited  to  the  physical 
requirements  of  an  earth-botmd  being.  We 
quote  again: 

"Man  is  form,  woman  is  matter.    If  that  is  so, 


434 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


it  must  find  expression  in  the  relations  between 
their  respective  psychic  experiences. 

"The  summing  up  of  the  connected  nature  of 
man's  mental  life,  as  opposed  to  the  inarticulate 
and  chaotic  condition  of  woman's,  illustrates  the 
above  antithesis  of  form  and  matter. 

"Matter  needs  to  be  formed;  and  thus  woman 
demands  that  man  should  clear  her  confusion  of 
thought,  give  meaning  to  her  henid  [unclarified] 
ideas.  Women  are  matter,  which  can  assume 
any  shape.  Those  experiments  which  ascribe  to 
girls  a  better  memory  for  learning  by  rote  than 
boys  are  explained  in  this  way:  they  are  due  to 
the  nullity  and  inanity  of  women,  who  can  be 
saturated  with  anything  and  everything,  whilst 
man  only  retains  what  has  an  interest  for  him, 
forgetting  all  else. 

"This  accounts  for  what  has  been  called 
woman's  submissiveness,  the  way  she  is  influ- 
enced by  the  opinions  of  others,  her  suggestibility, 
the  way  in  which  man  moulds  her  formless  na- 
ture. Woman  is  nothing;  therefore  and  only 
therefore  she  can  become  everything,  whilst  man 
can  only  remain  what  he  is.  A  man  can  make 
what  he  Hkcs  of  a  woman:  the  most  a  woman 
can  do  is  to  help  a  man  to  achieve  what  he  wants. 

"A  man's  real  nature  is  never  altered  by  educa- 
tion: woman,  on  the  other  hand,  by  external  in- 
fluences, can  be  taught  to  suppress  her  most  char- 
acteristic self.    .    .    . 
therefore  can   not  be  classified   in  one  compre- 

"Woman  can  appear  everything  and  deny 
everything,  but  in  reaHty  she  is  never  anything. 

"Women  have  neither  this  nor  that  character- 
istic; their  peculiarity  consists  in  having  no  char- 
acteristics at  all;  Ihe  complexity  and  terrible 
mystery  about  women  comes  to  this;  it  is  this 
which  makes  them  above  and  beyond  man's  un- 
derstanding— ^man,  who  always  wants  to  get  to 
the  heart  of  things." 

At  this  point  Dr.  Weininger  turns  to  a  con- 
sideration of  what  the  human  male  is.  So  far, 
the  argument  from  ontology  does  not  indicate 
what  man  really  is.  Has  he  any  special  male 
characteristics,  like  match-making  and  want 
of  character  in  woman  ?  Is  there  a  definite 
idea  of  what  man  is,  as  there  is  of  what 
woman  is,  and  can  this  idea  of  the  human  male 
be  formulated  as  is  the  idea  of  the  human 
female?    Here  is  Dr.  Weininger's  answer: 

"The  idea  of  maleness  consists  in  the  fact  of 
an  individuality,  of  an  essential  monad,  and  is 
covered  by  it.  Each  monad,  however,  is  as  dif- 
ferent as  possible  from  every  other  monad,  and 
hensive  idea  common  to  many  other  monads. 
Man  is  the  microcosm;  he  contains  all  kinds  of 
possibilities.  This  must  not  be  confused  with  the 
universal  susceptibility  of  woman,  who  becomes 
all  without  being  anything,  whilst  man  is  all, 
as  much  or  as  little,  according  to  his  gifts,  as 
he  will.  Man  contains  woman,  for  he  contains 
matter,  and  he  can  allow  this  part  of  his  nature 
to  develop  itself  ».  e.,  to  thrive  and  enervate  him ; 
or  he  can  recognize  and  fight  against  it — ^so  that 
he,  and  he  alone,  can  get  at  the  truth  about 
woman.  But  woman  can  not  develop  except 
through  man.    .    .    . 


"Woman's  deepest  desire  is  to  be  formed  by 
man  and  so  to  receive  her  being.  Woman  de- 
sires that  man  should  impart  opinions  to  her 
quite  different  to  those  she  held  before,  she  is 
content  to  let  herself  be  turned  by  him  from 
what  she  had  till  then  thought  right.  She  wishes 
to  be  taken  to  pieces  as  a  whole  so  that  he  may 
build  her  up  again. 

"Woman  is  first  created  by  man's  will — ^he 
dominates  her  and  changes  her  whole  being  (hjT>- 
notism).  Here  is  the  explanation  of  the  rela- 
tion of  the  psychical  to  the  physical  in  man  and 
woman.  Man  assumes  a  reciprocal  action  of  body 
and  mind,  in  the  sense  rather  that  the  dom- 
inant mind  creates  the  body  than  that  the  mind 
merely  projects  itself  on  phenomena,  whilst  the 
woman  accepts  both  mental  and  physical  phe- 
nomena empirically.  None  the  less,  even  in  the 
woman  there  is  some  reciprocal  action.  How- 
ever, whilst  in  the  man,  as  Schopenhauer  truly 
taught,  the  human  being  is  his  own  creation,  his 
own  will  makes  and  re-makes  the  body,  the 
woman  is  bodily  influenced  and  changed  by  an 
alien  will  (suggestion). 

"Man  not  only  forms  himself  but  woman  also 
— a  far  easier  matter.  The  myths  of  the  book  of 
Genesis  and  other  cosmogonies,  which  teach  that 
woman  was  created  out  of  man,  are  nearer  the 
truth  than  the  biological  theories  of  descent,  ac- 
cording to  which  males  have  been  evolved  from 
females." 

Dr.  Weininger  now  comes  to  the  question  of 
how  woman,  who  is  herself  without  soul  or 
will,  is  yet  able  to  realize  to  what  extent  a 
man  may  be  endowed  with  them.  He  an- 
swers it  from  his  ontological  point  of  view. 
Of  this  much  we  may  be  certain,  he  avers,  that 
what  a  woman  notices,  or  rather  what  the  hu- 
man female  notices,  that  for  which  she  has  a 
sense,  is  not  the  special  nature  of  man,  but 
only  the  general  fact,  and  possibly  the  grade, 
of  his  maleness.  It  is  quite  erroneous  to  sup- 
pose that  woman  has  an  rnnate  capacity  to 
understand  the  individuality  of  a  man.  The 
lover,  who  is  so  easily  misled  by  the  uncon- 
scious simulation  of  a  deeper  comprehension 
on  the  part  of  his  sweetheart,  may  believe  that 
he  understands  himself  through  a  girl.  But 
those  who  are  less  easily  satisfied  cannot  help 
seeing  that  women  only  possess  a  sense  of  the 
fact,  not  of  the  individuality,  of  the  soul.  In 
order  to  perceive  and  apperceive  the  special 
form,  matter  must  not  itself  be  formless. 
Woman's  relation  to  man,  however,  is  noth- 
ing but  that  of  matter  to  form,  and  her  com- 
prehension of  him  nothing  but  willingness  to 
be  as  much  formed  as  possible  by  him — ^the 
instinct  of  those  without  existence  for  exist- 
ence. Furthermore,  this  comprehension  is 
not  theoretical,  it  is  not  sympathetic;  it  is 
only  a  desire  to  be  sympathetic.  It  is  impor- 
tunate and  egoistical.     Woman  has  no  rela- 


SCIENCE  AND  DISCOVERY 


435 


tion  to  man  and  no  sense  of  man,  but  only  for 
maleness.  If  she  is  to  be  considered  as  more 
sexual  than  man,  this  greater  claim  is  noth- 
ing but  the  intense  desire  for  the  fullest  and 
nK>st  definite  formation.  It  is  the  demand  for 
the  greatest  possible  quantity  of  existence. 

It  is  now  necessary  to  consider  Dr.  Weinin- 
ger's  law  of  sexual  attraction.  It  presup- 
poses that  a  human  female  is  not  necessarily 
all  woman  and  that  a  human  male  is  not  nec- 
essarily all  man.  Nevertheless,  for  true  union 
it  is  necessary  that  there  come  together  a 
complete  male  (M)  and  a  complete  female 
(F).  Now  if  we  take  m,  any  individual  re- 
garded in  the  ordinary  way  as  a  male,  and  de- 
note his  real  sexual  constitution  as  Mm,  so 
many  parts  really  male,  plus  Wm,  so  many 
parts  really  female;  if  we  also  take  f,  any  in- 
dividual regarded  in  the  ordinary  way  as  a 
female,  and  denote  her  real  sexual  constitu- 
tion as  V/f,  so  many  parts  really  female,  plus 
M/,  so  many  parts  really  male — ^then,  if  there 
be  complete  sexual  affinity: 

(i)  Mm  (the  truly  male  part  in  the  "male") 
plus  M/  (the  truly  male  part  in  the  "female") 
will  equal  a  constant  quantity,  M,  the  ideal  male; 
and 

(2)  Wm  plus  Wf  (the  ideal  female  parts  in 
respectively  the  "male"  and  the  "female")  will 
equal  a  second  constant  quantity,  W,  the  ideal 
female. 

This  statement  must  not  be  misunderstood. 
Both  formulas  refer  to  one  case,  says  Dr. 
Weininger,  to  a  single  sexual  relation,  the  sec- 
ond following  directly  from  the  first  and  add- 
ing nothing  to  it.  Dr.  Weininger  has  in  mind 
an  individual  possessing  exactly  as  much  fe- 
maleness  as  he  lacks  maleness — Mm  plus  Mf, 
that  is,  M.  Were  he  completely  male,  his 
requisite  complement  would  be  a  complete  fe- 
male. If,  however,  he  is  composed  of  a  defi- 
nite inheritance  of  maleness,  and  also  an  in- 
heritance of  femaleness,  then,  to  complete  the 
individual,  his  maleness  must  be  completed  to 
make  a  unit;  but  so  also  must  his  femaleness 
be  completed.  If,  for  instance,  an  individual 
be  composed  thus : 


then  the  best  sexual  complement  of  that  indi- 
vidual will  be  another  compound,  as  follows: 


It  is  only  the  male  element  in  emancipated 
women  that  craves  for  emancipation.  There  is, 
then,  a  stronger  reason  than  has  been  generally 
supposed  for  the  familiar  assumption  of  male 
pseudonyms  by  women  writers.  Their  choice 
is  a  mode  of  giving  expression  to  the  inher- 
ent maleness  they  feel.  Yet  this  inherent 
maleness  has  its  limitations.  There  is  not  one 
woman  in  the  whole  history  of  thought,  not 
even  the  most  manlike,  who  can  be  compared 
with  men  of  fifth  or  sixth- rate  genius,  for  in- 
stance, with  Riickert  as  a  poet,  with  Van  Dyck 
as  a  painter  or  Schleiermacher  as  a  philoso- 
pher. Real  desire  for  emancipation  and  real 
fitness  for  it  are  the  outcome  of  a  woman's 
maleness.  The  vast  majority  of  women  have 
never  paid  special  attention  to  art  or  science 
and  regard  such  occupations  as  higher  branches 
of  manual  labor;  or  if  they  profess  a  certain 
devotion  to  such  subjects  it  is  chiefly  as  a  mode 
of  attracting  a  particular  person  or  group  of 
persons  of  the  opposite  sex.  Apart  from  these 
instances,  a  close  investigation  shows  that 
women  really  interested  in  intellectual  matters 
are  sexually  intermediate  forms.  If  it  be  the 
case  that  the  desire  for  freedom  and  equality 
with  man  occurs  only  in  masculine  women,  the 
inductive  conclusion  follows  that  the  female 
principle — ^the  human  female  from  the  point 
of  view  of  ontology — is  not  conscious  of  a 
necessity  for  emancipation.  How  could  she 
be  when  she  thinks  always  more  or  less  in 
"henids."  "Henid"  is  the  designation  proposed 
by  Dr.  Weininger  for  an  abstract  conception. 
"The  very  idea  of  a  henid  forbids  its  descrip- 
tion. It  is  merely  a  something.  Later  on  iden- 
tification will  come  with  the  complete  articu- 
lation of  the  contents  of  the  henid;  but  the 
henid  is  not  the  whole  of  this  detailed  content." 

While  the  female  is  thinking  in  henids,  sim- 
ply because  she  is  a  human  female,  the  human 
male,  in  so  far  as  he  is  male,  thinks  in  more  or 
less  detailed  presentations.  With  the  woman 
thinking  and  feeling  are  identical.  For  man 
thinking  and  feeling  are  in  opposition.  The 
human  female  has  many  of  her  mental  experi- 
ences as  henids,  while  in  man  these  have 
passed  through  a  process  of  clarification. 
Woman  is  sentimental  and  knows  emotion, 
but  not  mental  excitement. 

Dr.  Weininger*s  work  was  first  published 
in  Germany  several  years  ago,  and  has  run 
through  six  editions.  The  author  was  not, 
at  the  time  of  its  publication,  quite  twenty-two 
years  of  age.  At  the  age  of  twenty-three  he 
blew  his  brains  out  in  Vienna.  He  was  a 
Jew,  but  had  espoused  Protestantism. 


436 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


THE  REVOLUTION  IN  BATTLE-SHIPS  AS  EXEMPLIFIED  IN 

THE  DREADNOUGHT 


Every  other  fighting  ship  in  every  navy  of 
the  world  became  obsolete  when  the  British 
battle-ship  Dreadnought  took  the  water  last 
February,  says  the  naval  expert  of  the  London 
Outlook.  The  revolution  in  battle-ship  con- 
struction exemplified  by  this  18,500-ton  type — 
which  is  to  be  completed  within  a  year — ^has 
only  incidental  reference  to  speed.  It  is  true 
that  the  Dreadnought,  the  first  war-ship  of 
anything  like  her  size  to  be  turbine  driven,  is 
expected  to  attain  twepty-one  knots  as  com- 
pared with  eighteen  knots  for  a  like  distance, 
which  is  the  utmost  that  can  be  got  out  of  the 
best  and  newest  battle-ships  in  the  king's  navy. 
But  the  high  speed  of  the  Dreadnought,  im- 
portant as  that  is,  has  no  such  importance  as 
that  which  attaches  to  the  total  suppression  of 
what  is  called  by  experts  "the  secondary  arma- 
ment." Sir  William  White,  one  of  the  most 
celebrated   of  naval   constructors,   has   grave 


doubts  of  the  soundness  of  this  idea.  The  sup- 
pression of  the  secondary  armament,  argues 
Sir  William,  adds  to  the  difficulties  of  the 
man  behind  the  gun  by  rendering  continuous 
sighting  impossible.  That  is,  the  aim  is  in- 
terfered with.  Again,  he  declares,  the  concen- 
tration of  many  huge  guns  on  one  ship  may- 
interfere  with  the  tactical  mobility  of  a  squad- 
ron of  Dreadnoughts.  But  expert  opinion  on 
the  whole  is  against  Sir  William  White.  The 
great  revolution  he  decries  is  the  bestowal 
upon  the  Dreadnought  of  ten  twelve-inch  guns 
and  the  disappearance  of  anything  between  the 
main  armament  and  the  counter-torpedo  bat- 
tery. To  him  the  naval  expert  of  the  London 
Tribune  replies  that  enormous  gun  power  is 
as  much  a  necessity  in  the  battle-ship  as  i^ 
adequate  protection  by  armor,  or  high  speed, 
or  protection  against  the  torpedo.  These  must 
be  combined  on  a  displacement  that  can  be 


Illustrated  Lundon  Sitct. 

THE  UNEQUALLED  GUNPOWER  OF  THE  "  DREADNOUGHT  "—THE  POSITIONS 
OF  THE  TEN  12-IN.  GUNS 

The  "  Dreadaoufs^ht  "  has  no  fewer  than  eight  turrets.  At  the  bow  and  stem  they  carry  two  la-in.  guns  each 
and  there  are  also  (and  this  constitutes  the  unique  strength  of  the  "  Dreadnought ")  two  broadside  batteries  of  three 
turrets  carrying  six  12-in.  guns.  The  12-in.  guns  are  marked  A.  The  guns  lettered  B  are  twelve  12-pr.  quick  firers 
for  expelling  the  attack  of  torpedo  craft  at  close  quarters.  The  semi -circles  show  the  radius  of  gunfire  from  the 
la-in.  guns. 


SCIENCE  AND  DISCOVERY 


437 


docked  in  existing  docks.  In  the  Dreadnought 
these  conditions  have  been  met.  She  will  use 
her  gun  power  to  the  full  at  ten  thousand 
yards. 

In  other  words,  thinks  this  authority,  the 
uniform  armament  of  the  Dreadnought, 
coupled,  of  course,  with  the  superiority  in 
speed  that  she  will  have  over  all  other  exist- 
ing battle-ships,  will  enable  her  to  engage  her 
enemy  at  a  range  where  she  can  utilize  her 
armament  to  its  full,  while  she  herself  is  to  a 
large  extent  immune  from  her  enemy's  at- 
tack. Every  shot  that  hits  from  the  12-inch 
has  much  greater  damaging  power  than  the 
most  powerful  guns  of  less  caliber.  The  uni- 
formity of  the  Dreadnought's  armament, 
moreover,  simplifies  the  questions  of  maga- 
zines, ammunition,  supplies  and  the  carrying 
of  extra  parts.  Lastly,  the  Dreadnought 
brings  into  the  fighting  line  a  gun  power  so 
enormously  in  excess  of  the  armament  of  any 
battle-ships  afloat  that  a  fighting  line  of  four 
Dreadnoughts  would  be  equal  to  a  fighting  line 
of  eight  of  the  finest  battle-ships  of  the  United 
States  Navy.  The  naval  expert  of  the  Lon- 
don Times  comments: 

"The  salient  feature  of  the  design  of  the  Dread- 
nought is  the  total  suppression  of  the  so-called 
'secondary  armament.'  It  is  not  easy  to  justify 
this  appellation,  since  it  has  hitherto  been  held 
by  many  high  authorities  that  the  conflict  of 
tattle-ships  would  probably  be  largely  decided 
by  the  armament  so  designated,  and  until  quite 
lately  the  target  practice  of  war-ships  would  seem 
to  have  been  organized  on  this  hypothesis.  Fur- 
thermore, in  his  study  of  the  lessons  of  the  war 
in  the  Far  East,  M.  de  Lanessan,  the  eminent 
French  statesman  and  ex-Mini ster  of  Marine, 
based  many  of  his  conclusions  on  the  assumption 
that  this  hypothesis  was  justified  by  the  experi- 
ence of  the  battle  of  Tsu  Shima.  M.  Charles 
Bos,  on  the  other  hand,  who  has  probably  had 
access  to  later  and  more  authentic  sources  of 
information,  states  distinctly  in  his  report  on  the 
French  Navy  Estimates  for  1906  that  the  en- 
gagement in  which  the  Rurik  was  sunk,  'like 
the  fighting  off  Port  Arthur  on  the  9th  of  Febru- 
ary, the  action  of  the  loth  of  August,  and  the 
crowning  victory  of  Tsu  Shima,  was  a  heavy  gun 
battle,'  and  he  draws  from  these  instances  the 
inference  that  the  Japanese  'must  have  practised 
their  men  at  long-range  firing  for  a  considerable 
time  before  the  war*  as  well  as  the  general  con- 
clusion 'that  medium  artillery  ought  to  disappear 
from  the  armament  of  battle-ships.'  It  is  true 
that  this  opinion  is  not  shared  by  Sir  William 
White,  whose  high  authority  no  one  will  ques- 
tion. Nevertheless  it  seems  certain  that  the  fire 
of  a  I2in.  gun  remains  for  all  practical  pur- 
poses effective  at  a  range  at  which  all  guns  of 
lesser  calibre  would  be  practically  out  of  action 
not  so  much  for  positive  lack  of  range  as  for 
lack  of  destructive  momentum  or  smashing  power 


at  the  range  so  determined.  This  critical  range 
which  disables  the  secondary  armament  of  all 
existing  battle-ships — ^whether  it  is  composed  of 
6in.,  7.5in.,  or  9.2in.  guns — ^may  be  put  at  about 
10,000  yards  or  five  nautical  miles,  equivalent  to 
some  sH  statute  miles.  From  a  height  of  19ft. 
above  the  sea  the  visible  horizon  is  distant  just 
five  nautical  miles,  so  that  the  gun-layer  and 
sight-setter  of  any  gun  mounted  19ft.  or  more 
above  the  water  line  would  have  the  whole  of 
an  enemy's  ship  in  sight  while  taking  aim  at  her 
at  a  range  of  10,000  yards. 

It  is  true,  concedes  this  expert,  that  to  hit 
an  object  even  as  big  as  an  enemy's  battle- 
ship at  a  range  of  10,000  yards  is  no  easy 
matter.  But  both  combatants  will  be  precisely 
on  an  equality  in  this  respect — equality  of  skill 
being  presupposed — ^the  difference  being  that 
the  Dreadnought  will  have  eight  guns  to  hit 
or  miss  while  her  adversary  has  only  four. 
The  paramount  consideration  is  that  the  gun- 
ners be  trained.  With  all  respect  to  the  high 
authority  of  Sir  William  White,  the  naval  ex- 
pert of  the  London  Times  cannot  but  think  that 
the  concentration  of  so  heavy  and  so  large 
an  armament  in  a  single  ship  must  make  a 
line  of  ten  Dreadnoughts  something  like  the 
equivalent  of  twenty  existing  first-class  battle- 
ships. The  result  of  an  action  between  ten 
Dreadnoughts  and  twenty  of  the  finest  battle- 
ships afloat  can  hardly  be  in  much  greater 
doubt  than  the  result  of  an  action  between  one 
Dreadnought  and  one  first-class  battle-ship  of 
the  type  now  afloat.  Indeed,  it  might,  thinks 
our  authority,  be  in  less  doubt.  In  a  single  ship 
action,  one  lucky  hit  might  give  the  weal&r 
ship  so  great  an  advantage  as  to  place  her 
more  powerful  antagonist  almost  at  her  mercy. 
In  a  fleet  action,  on  the  other  hand,  such  lucky 
chances  are  much  more  likely  to  be  evenly  dis- 
tributed between  the  two  sides.  Great  battles 
are  not  won  by  chance. 

Other  important  results  of  the  new  de- 
parture in  battle-ships  must  include  the  dis- 
appearance of  the  ram,  so  the  British  expert 
argues.  A  ship  which  is  to  fight  at  10,000 
yards  has  manifestly  no  use  for  a  weapon 
that  can  be  effective  only  at  close  quarters. 
M.  Lockroy,  formerly  Minister  of  Marine  in 
France,  has  said  in  the  Paris  Temps  that  the 
torpedo  should  disappear  as  an  element  in  the 
armament  of  a  battle-ship.  His  argument  is 
in  some  measure  vitiated,  replies  the  naval  ex- 
pert of  the  London  Times,  by  the  fact  that 
M.  Lockroy  attributes  to  the  torpedo  an  effect- 
ive range  of  little  more  than  five  hundred 
yards,  whereas  the  effective  range  of  the  best 
modem  torpedoes  is  not  less  than  2,000  yards. 


438 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


AN  AUTOMOBILE  SKATE 


An  automobile  skate  driven  by  a  small  gas- 
oline motor,  recently  invented  in  Paris  and 
practically  utilized  there,  is  described  at  some 
length  in  both  Paris  Cosmos  and  the  New 
York  Scientific  American.  The  American 
weekly  agrees  with  the  French  weekly  that 
the  device  is  successful.  The  new  skate  con- 
sists of  a  foot-plate  mounted  upon  four  rub- 
ber-tired wheels,  the  motor  occupying  the  mid- 
dle space.  Thus  the  apparatus  can  be  adapted 
to  the  foot  like  an  ordinary  roller-skate.  The 
automobile  skate  is  already  attaining  popu- 
larity in  Paris  and  its  use  can,  it  seems,  be 
readily  learned.  The  device  consists  of  two 
separate  parts.  There  is  first  the  pair  of 
skates  proper.  Then  there  is  the  belt.  This 
belt  is  worn  by  the  operator  around  the  waist 
and  contains  a  small,  flat  gasoline  tank,  which 
is  connected  with  the  carbureter  on  each  skate 
by  a  rubber  tube.  Near  the  tank  are  valves 
for  controlling  the  gasoline  supply  At  first 
the  apparatus  was  designed  to  carry  on  the 
belt  a  small  storage  battery  and  spark  coil  for 
the  purpose  of  ignition;  but  in  the  latest  type 
of  automobile  skates  the  battery  and  spark 
coil  are  placed  in  a  small  metal  box  with  slid- 
ing cover,  which  is  fitted  upon  the  back  part 
of  the  skate  against  the  motor  case.  The  box 
adds  but  little  to  the  size  or  weight  of  the 
skate  and  lessens  the  number  of  connections 
between  it  and  the  belt,  which  are  now  reduced 


to  the  two  tubes  for  the  gasoline.     Says  The 
Scientific  American: 

"The  foot-plate  is  of  light  and  strong  steel  and 
is  hinged  in  the  middle  for  steering.  Each  skate 
carries  a  small  air-cooled  gasoline  motor  of  the 
usual  4-cycle  type  such  as  is  used  at  present  on 
motor  bicycles,  and  it  is  designed  so  as  to  occupy 
a  very  small  space.  Fixed  on  the  motor  is  a 
small  carbureter;  and  under,  the  front  of  the 
motor,  which  is  mounted  in  an  inclined  position, 
is  the  cylindrical  muffler  which  a  curved  pipe 
connects  with  the  top  of  the  motor  cylinder. 
.  .  .  The  rear  driving  wheels  of  the  skate  are 
mounted  direct  upon  the  motor  crank  shaft  and 
thus  the  motor  itself  is  made  to  serve  as  the  main 
support  and  frame  of  the  skate.  The  steering^ 
wheels  in  front  are  mounted  on  a  loose  axle 
which  turns  about  a  central  pin,  and  the  latter 
is  fixed  in  a  bracket  plate  which  is  screwed  to 
the  motor  cylinder.  The  wheels  carry  solid  rub- 
ber tires  which  have  a  somewhat  narrow  tread 
combined  with  a  good  radial  thickness,  as  this  is 
found  to  be  the  best  practice.  The  motor  and 
all  the  metal  parts  are  nickel-plated,  and  the 
skate  has  as  a  whole,  a  neat  appearance. 

"Steering  is  carried  out  by  working  the  front 
part  of  the  plate  by  the  foot.  .  .  .  The  cur- 
rent can  be  cut  off  by  a  switch.  The  operator 
puts  on  the  belt  and  connects  the  gasoline  tube 
and  ignition  cable  to  the  skate.  He  then  switches 
on  the  current  and  opens  the  gasoline  feed,  push- 
ing the  skate  with  the  foot,  so  as  to  start  the 
motor.  He  slows  up  when  desired  by  shifting  the 
ignition,  cutting  the  current,  or  lifting  the  rear 
wheels  from  the  ground.  The  skate  can  be  used 
on  a  floor  or  smooth  ground,  and  even  upon  a 
good  piece  of  smooth  road.  A  speed  of  15  or 
20  miles  an  hour  is  said  to  be  attainable  with  it." 


Courtes)'  ot   The  Scientific  American. 

THE  AUTOMOBILE  SKATE 
It  isdriven  by  a  gasoline  motor,  the  footplate  being  mounted  upon  four  rubber-tired  wheels. 


SCIENCE  AND  DISCOVERY 


439 


FOUR  DIFFERENT  WOMEN  IN  ONE  BODY 


There  exists  at  this  moment;  in  this  country, 
the  living  body  of  a  young  woman  in  whom 
four  separate  and  distinct  persons  have  at- 
tained identities  of  their  own.  This  case  of 
what  the  scientists  call  dissociation  of  person- 
ality is  probably  the  most  unusual  one  ever 
submitted  to  the  investigation  of  an  expert. 
The  body  is  occupied  by  four  personalities,  ac- 
cording to  reports,  each  claiming  that  the  body 
is  her  own  and  each  engaged  at  different  times 
in  a  desperate  struggle  with  the  other  three  for 
possession  of  the  tenement  of  clay.  It  is  to  Dr. 
Morton  Prince,  Professor  of  Diseases  of  the 
Nervous  System  at  Tufts  College  Medical 
School  and  physician  for  diseases  of  the  nerv- 
ous system  in  Boston  City  Hospital,  that  sci- 
entists are  indebted  for  the  essential  facts  in 
this  unique  case  of  dissociation.* 

Miss  Christine  L.  Beauchamp  is  the  ficti- 
tious name  bestowed  by  Dr.  Prince  upon  the 
lady  in  whom  the  several  personalities  have 
become  developed.  Miss  Beauchamp  may 
change  her  personality  from  time  to  time — 
often  hourly.  With  each  of  these  changes  her 
character  becomes  transformed,  her  memories 
altered.  There  is  first  of  all  the  real,  original 
or  normal  self,  the  Miss  Beauchamp  intended 
by  nature.  Then  there  are  three  other  differ- 
ent individuals.  Dr.  Prince  uses  the  word 
"different"  advisedly,  because,  as  he  explains, 
each  of  the  four  ladies,  although  making  use  of 
the  same  body,  has,  nevertheless,  a  distinctly 
different  character.  The  difference  is  mani- 
fested by  different  trains  of  thought,  different 
views,  different  ideals,  different  temperaments, 
acquisitions,  tastes,  habits,  experiences  and 
recollections.  Two  of  these  personalities  have 
no  knowledge  of  each  other  or  of  one  of  the 
others,  excepting  such  information  as  may  be 
obtained  by  inference  or  at  second  hand.  In 
the  memory  of  two  there  are  consequently 
blanks  corresponding  to  the  periods  when  one 
of  the  others  is  using  the  body.  Says  Dr. 
Prince : 

"Of  a  sudden,  one  or  the  other  wakes  up  to 
find  herself  she  knows  not  where  and  ignorant 
of  what  she  had  said  or  done  a  moment  before. 
Only  one  of  the  three  has  knowledge  of  the 
lives  of  the  others,  and  this  one  presents  such 
a  bizarre  character,  so  far  removed  from  the 
others  in  individuality,  that  the  transformation 
from  one  of  the  other  personalities  to  herself  is 

♦THE  Dissociation  of  a  Person  a  litv.  a  Biograph- 
ical Study  in  Abnormal  Psychology.  By  Morton 
prince,  M.D.     Longrmans,  Green  ^  Co. 


one  of  the  most  striking  and  dramatic  features 
of  the  case.  The  personalities  come  and  go  in 
kaleidoscopic  succession,  many  changes  often 
being  made  in  the  course  of  twenty-four  hours. 
And  so  it  happens  that  Miss  Beauchamp.  if  I 
may  usd  the  name  to  designate  several  distinct 
people,  at  one  moment  says  and  does  and  plans 
and  arranges  something  to  which  a  short  time 
before  she  most  strongly  objected,  indulges  in 
tastes  which  a  moment  before  would  have  been 
abhorrent  to  her  ideals,  and  undoes  or  destroys 
what  she  had  just  laboriously  planned  and  ar- 
ranged." 

The  kaleidoscopic  character  of  this  case 
differentiates  it  from  the  type  of  dissociated 
personality  witnessed  in  the  plight  of  Ansel 
Bourne.  This  reverend  gentleman — whose 
case  has  been  studied  by  Prof.  William  James 
and  Dr.  Richard  Hodgson — awoke  one  day  to 
find  himself  living  under  the  name  of  Brown 
in  a  country  town  in  Pennsylvania,  Here  he 
had  been  living  two  months,  keeping  a  small 
shop  which  he  had  opened.  On  coming  to 
himself,  he  did  not  know  where  he  was  or 
how  he  had  come  there.  It  was  proved  that 
two  months  previously  a  sudden  change  of 
personality  had  occurred  and  that  he  had  wan- 
dered from  his  home  in  Rhode  Island  to  this 
town  in  Pennsylvania,  where  he  had  since 
been  living.  His  memory  in  his  normal  state 
was  a  complete  blank  for  this  period  of  his 
secondary  personality. 

Vastly  different  is  the  case  of  the  four 
young  ladies  known  as  one  to  their  acquaint- 
ance. Two  of  these  young  ladies  will  form  a 
hostile  combination  for  possession  of  their 
only  body  against  the  other  pair.  They  fight 
one  another  until  the  sole  body  is  almost  re- 
duced to  skin  and  bone.  One  of  the  person- 
alities will  hide  the  clothing  of  the  body  and 
thus  prevent  the  rest  from  going  out.  Just 
now.  Dr.  Prince  has  succeeded  in  reducing 
the  chaos  to  something  like  order.  He  has 
found  the  real  Miss  Beauchamp,  who  remains 
for  the  moment  in  possession  of  the  physique. 
Here,  again,  reservations  have  to  be  made, 
for  dissociation  recurs  or  tends  to  recur  with 
every  physical  or  mental  crisis.  The  case  has 
abnormalities  thus  set  forth  by  Dr.  Prince: 

"Aside  from  the  psychological  interest  of  the 
phenomena,  the  social  complications  and  embar- 
rassments resulting  from  this  inconvenient  mode 
of  living  would  furnish  a  multitude  of  plots  for 
the  dramatist  or  sensational  novelist.  Consid- 
ered simply  as  a  biography,  therefore,  an  account 
of  Miss  Beauchamp's  later  life  could  scarcely  fail 


440 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


to  interest  if  it  were  told  divested  of  the  details 
which  are  necessary  for  the  purpose  of  scientific 
study. 

"Miss  Beauchamp  is  an  example  in  actual  life 
of  the  imaginative  creation  of  Stevenson,  only, 
I  am  happy  to  say,  the  allegorical  representation 
of  the  evil  side  of  human  nature  finds  no  coun- 
terpart in  her  makeup.  The  splitting  of  person- 
ality is  along  intellectual  and  temperamental,  not 
along  ethical  lines  of  cleavage.  For  although  the 
characters  of  the  personalities  widely  differ,  the 
variations  are  along  the  lines  of  moods,  tempera- 
ment and  tastes.  Each  personality  is  incapable  of 
doing  evil  to  others." 

For  purposes  of  identification,  Dr.  Prince 
has  been  compelled  to  label  the  dififerent  iden- 
tities—B  I,  B  II,  B  III  and  B  IV.  When 
the  case  first  came  under  his  observation,  Dr. 
Prince  thought  B  I  was,  or  might  be,  the 
real  Miss  Beauchamp.  She  is  strongly  indi- 
vidualized by  a  saintliness  much  ridiculed  by 
one  of  the  other  personalities.  B  I  prays,  is 
conscientious  to  a  degree  and  invariably  hor- 
rified by  the  deportment  of  B  III,  when  the 
latter  gains  control  of  the  body.  B  II  was  at 
first  a  colorless  personality,  even  a  hypnotic 
state,  to  which  no  attention  was  paid  until  it 
transpired  that  she  is  the  original  or  real 
self.  B  III  is  by  far  the  most  interesting  of 
the  personalities — ^bright,  vivacious,  youthful 
in  spirit,  apparently  the  embodiment  of  per- 
fect health  even  when  the  common  body  is 
worn  out.  B  IV  is  hot  tempered,  wilful,  de- 
termined to  gain  control  of  the  physique. 
There  are,  of  course,  innumerable  traits  and 
circumstances  marking  off  the  personalities 
one  from  another.  Thus,  should  B  IV  enter 
the  field  of  consciousness  in  the  common  body, 
she  finds  herself  engaged  in  a  conversation  to 
which  she  has  no  clue  with  persons  who  are 
perhaps  total  strangers.  She  does  not,  how- 
ever, betray  any  confusion.  Judicious  "fish- 
ing" and  non-committal  words  carry  her 
through  the  ordeal.  But  matters  complicate 
themselves  when  a  reverend  gentleman  who 
knows  the  personalities  only  as  Miss  Beau- 
champ (B  I)  speaks  to  her  and  treats  her  as 
morbidly  conscientious  and  unhappy.  She  (B 
IV)  is  not  so  at  all  and  finds  it  difficult  to 
live  up  to  any  such  part.  She  finds  it  as  diffi- 
cult to  live  up  to  the  standard  of  this  other  self 
as  to  come  down  to  the  standard  of  Sally  (B 
III).  Then  Miss  Beauchamp's  (B  I)  friends 
bored  her  (B  IV)  as  much  as  Sally's  (B  III) 
offended  her.  B  I  had  a  lot  of  old  lady  friends 
whom  she  liked  to  visit  and  to  whom  she  was 
very  kind.  They  were  "awfully  stupid  peo- 
ple" and  bored  B  IV.  B  III  was  disgusted  by 
the   niggardliness   of    B    IV.     She    (B    III) 


meant  to  have  an  allowance  to  spend  as  she 
(B  III)  pleased.  Whether  or  not  B  IV  paid 
her  bills  was  na  concern  of  hers.  They  were 
not  her  (B  III)  bills,  but  B  IV's,  and  she  (B 
III)  had  no  responsibility  for  them.  These 
and  other  quarrels  were  fought  out  in  the 
office  of  Dr.  Prince.  Passing  over  the  purely 
technical  aspect  of  the  psychological  phe- 
nomena of  B  III  as  a  subconsciousness,  of  B 
IV  as  a  type  of  disintegrated  personality,  of 
B  II  as  a  synthesis  of  B  I  and  B  IV  when  the 
two  last  were  hypnotized  and  of  B  I  as  a  frag- 
ment of  the  field  of  consciousness,  we  come  to 
a  contest  between  two  of  these  personalities. 
It  is  to  be  noted  that  the  personalities  could 
not  communicate  with  one  another  as  the 
word  "communicate"  is  ordinarily  understood. 
One  personality  was  in  ignorance  of  the  ex- 
istence of  one  of  the  others,  or  rather  knew  of 
it  only  from  hearsay.  B  I  knew  nothing,  for 
instance,  of  two  others.  B  IV  knew  appar- 
ently something,  but  nothing  directly  beyond 
scrappy  isolated  memories  of  B  I  and  nothing 
of  B  III.  B  III  knew  all  about  the  acts  of 
B  I  and  B  IV,  but  the  thoughts  of  B  I  only. 
Later,  however,  B  III  became  conscious  of 
B  IV*s  thoughts,  B  I  received  letters  from 
B  III  and  B  IV.  Matters  modified  them- 
selves later,  but  these  details  suffice  to  show 
how  intercourse  between  the  four  was  ham- 
pered. We  come  now  to  the  stuggle  between 
B  III  and  B  IV: 

"IV's  resolution  was  taken.  She  would  kill 
(annihilate)  Sally  [B  III].  Her  other  self  [B 
III]  was  no  longer  to  be  treated  as  a  rational 
person.  It  was  nothing  but  a  'delirium'  and  as 
such  must  be  suppressed.  I  [Dr.  Prince]  was 
entirely  wrong,  she  [B  IV]  was  convinced,  in 
my  dealings  with  Sally  [B  III],  whose  claims 
for  recognition  should  receive  no  consideration 
whatsoever.  IV  was  now  to  show  us  how  to 
manage  her  case.  She  laid  her  plans  with  great 
care.  First,  she  wrote  letters  to  Dr.  Hodgson 
and  myself  announcing  her  plan  and  notifying 
us  of  her  wish  that  we  should  not  interfere.  She 
herself  under  no  circumstances  would  come  to 
us  for  help.     .     .    . 

The  next  thing  was  to  head  off  Miss  Beau- 
champ [B  I]  and  prevent  her  from  upsetting  the 
scheme  by  appealing  for  aid  [that  is,  treatment 
from  Dr.  Prince]  as  she  was  sure  to  do  when  the 
fight  began.  To  this  end  she  [B  IV]  wrote  B  1 
a  letter,  using  such  arguments  as  she  [B  IV] 
thought  would  appeal  to  her  [B  I].  She  [B  IV] 
argued  that  I  [Dr.  Prince]  was  entirely  wrong 
in  my  views  and  treatment,  that  Sally  [B  III] 
was  a  delirium  and  could  be  cured  by  a  differ- 
ent method.  She  [B  IV]  then  explained  her 
plan,  asked  B  Ts  aid  and  gave  her  directions  for 
the  part  she  was  to  play.  After  this  she  felt  sat- 
isfied there  was  nothing  to  fear  from  B  I,  A 
letter  was  then  despatched  to  Sally  [B  III].    Its 


SCIENCE  AND  DISCOVERY' 


441 


temper  was  very  different  from  that  to  B  I. 
A|>peals  to  Sally's  reason,  she  [B  IV)  later  ex- 
plained to  me,  would  have  no  effect.  So  she 
sent  a  message  that  was  sure  to  make  her  arch 
enemy  tremble.  Freely  translated  it  meant  that 
if  Sally  did  not  at  once  surrender  and  give  up 
all  her  habits,  ways,  tricks  and  annoyances  and 
pack  herself  off  for  good,  bag  and  baggage,  she 
(B  IV]  would  consign  her  to  everlasting  obliv- 
ion." 

For  his  own  part,  Dr.  Prince  thought  it 
would  be  of  scientific  interest  to  let  B  IV  have 
her  way  and  to  watch  the  fight : 

"Hostilities  opened  at  once.  Sally  took  the 
announcement  contained  in  the  letters  as  a  dec- 
laration of  war,  and  evidently  believed  in  the 
military  maxim  of  striking  the  enemy  quickly  be- 
fore he  has  time  to  arm.  B  IV  had  left  the  note, 
intended  for  me,  in  person  at  my  door. 

"On  her  return,  immediately  upon  entering  her 
own  room,  she  found  it  draped  in  black.  [There 
had  been  a  brief  interval  after  B  IV  wrote  her 
letters,  B  III  had  then  captured  the  body  and 
made  use  of  the  opportunity].  The  only  white 
object  to  be  seen  was  a  small  plaster  cast  of  a 
devil  known  as  Teddy.  Teddy  now  grinned  at 
-her  [B  IV]  from  his  perch  above  the  window, 
Tvhite  and  conspicuous  against  the  black  funereal 
background.  Artistically  suspended  to  Teddy's 
car  was  a  three-cornered  paper  pouch  cunningly 
made.  The  pouch  excited  IV's  curiosity.  She 
must  see  what  it  contained.  The  moment  she 
touched  it  a  deluge  of  tiny  pieces  of  paper  fell 
to  the  ground.  A  note  addressed  to  her  [B  IV] 
from  Sally  [B  III]  now  became  visible.  She 
opened  it  eagerly.  Had  Sally  dared  to  defy  her? 
If  IV  had  had  any  doubts  the  note  dispelled  them, 
for  it  informed  her  that  what  she  so  boldly  in- 
sisted was  only  a  'delirium'  had  already  seized 
all  the  papers  it  could  lay  hands  on,  which  meant 
all  that  she  possessed,  including  many  valuable 
pages  of  notes  of  lectures  difficult,  if  not  impossi- 
ble, to  replace.  These  were  torn  into  little  bits 
and  now  littered  the  floor.  Next  she  found  that 
the  family  ['family*  designating  the  four  ladies 
in  this  body]  purse  had  vanished. 

"The  black  drapery  of  the  room,  she  was  able 
to  convince  herself,  was  a  hallucination,  Sally's 
handiwork,  and,  with  everything  else,  was  to  be 
ignored  if  Sally  was  to  be  crushed.  So,  reso- 
lutely disregarding  everything  that  had  happened, 
she  began  to  change  her  clothes  to  go  out  again," 

While  she  was  brushing  her  hair,  a  sensa- 
tion of  great  fatigue  came  over  B  IV.  Shd 
finished,  however.  Suddenly  she  saw  her  own 
feet  at  the  opposite  end  of  the  room  and  at 
once  experienced  all  the  agonies  of  amputation. 
This,  B  IV  told  herself,  was  but  another  of  the 
tricks  of  B  III,  who  treated  the  common  body 
with  the  utmost  cruelty,  pinching  and  striking 
it  until  B  I,  B  II  and.B  IV  were  literally 
black  and  blue.  Yet  B  III  enjoyed  perfect 
health  when  the  others  were  weak  from  this 
ill-treatment.  On  this  occasion  the  hallucina- 
tion of  the  feet  caused  B  IV,  in  spite  of  her 


utmost  efforts  to  dispel  the  chimera,  to  faint 
away: 

"The  nights  were  made  hideous  for  B  IV.  To 
allow  her  to  sleep  was  to  give  her  a  chance  to 
renew  her  strength  and  courage.  .  So  Sally  kept 
her  awake  the  greater  part  of  the  night  Some- 
times IV  no  sooner  would  get  to  bed  than  Sally 
'coming,'  would  rise,  throw  the  bedding  on  the 
floor,  pile  heaps  of  furniture  on  the  bed  and  turn 
the  room  generally  upside  down.  When  satis- 
fied that  everything  was  sufficientlv  lincom  fort  able 
she  would  change  herself  back  to  IV  again.  This 
would  be  repeated  as  often  as  IV  got  into  bed. 
Every  day  she  would  spring  some  new  impish 
invention  upon  her  opponent.  It  would  carry  us 
too  far  to  narrate  them  here.  Dressing  was  a 
burden,  for  every  article  of  dress  was  hidden  or 
damaged;  meals  repulsive,  for  she  saw  all  sorts 
of  unpleasant  things  in  her  food,  and  every  move- 
ment painful,  for  she  was  bruised  from  head  to 
foot.  But  IV  was  game.  I  saw  her  from  time 
to  time,  but  though  exhausted  from  want  of  sleep 
she  was  still  defiant  and  wanted  no  help.  She 
was  determined  to  conquer  Sally.  So  I  looked 
on  without  interfering,  and  watched  the  battle 
from  afar.    .    .    . 

"The  nightly  visitations  of  Sally  now  took  a 
different  form.  One  night  IV  awoke  to  find  her- 
self perched  upon  a  shaky  structure,  composed  of 
a  couch,  two  chairs  and  a  dress  suit  case.  She 
was  stark  naked,  and  in  an  attitude  as  if  posing 
for  a  statue.  Her  limbs  fixed,  as  if  by  some  oc- 
cult power,  unable  to  move  hand  or  foot,  she  was 
entirely  helpless  save  for  the  power  of  speech, 
which  would  ill  have  served  her  under  the  circum- 
stances. She  could  not  call  for  help,  for  what  a 
spectacle  she  presented  I  Another  night,  it  it  was 
very  cold,  an  exposed  position  in  the  deep  window 
seat  was  selected  as  her  niche;  while  the  next 
night,  if  the  pose  was  a  reclining  one,  the  hard 
surface  of  the  top  of  the  commode,  measuring 
three  feet  by  two,  offered  a  sufficiently  comfort- 
able and  commodious  couch.  In  this  position  she 
was  kept  posing  an  hour  at  a  time,  'until,*  she 
wrote,  'I  would  lose  myself  from  anger,  cold  and 
fatigue.* 

"At  first  IV  thought  that  Sally's  intention  in 
all  this  posing  was  simply  to  tire  her  out,,  but 
presently  the  real  meaning  flashed  upon  her.  It 
was  a  punishment  for  her  sins.  She  had  been 
reading  a  certain  book  on  art  which  had  inter- 
ested her  deeply.  There  was  no  harm  in  that — 
how  could  there  be,  for  a  clergyman  had  loaned 
it  to  her?  But  the  book  was  highly  objectionable 
both  to  B  I  and  Sally.  They  had  even  appealed 
to  me  to  forbid  it.  Now  it  was  as  plain  as  day 
that  the  attitudes  she  was  made  to  assume  were 
reproductions  of  the  illustrations  in  the  book " 

Meanwhile,  B  I  was  suffering  tortures,  al- 
though she  was  ignorant  of  the  cause  of  her 
physical  crisis.  B  III  made  scratches  on  the 
body  with  sharp  instruments  and  bathed  the 
excoriations  in  alcohol.  Or  she  cut  the  arms 
of  the  "family"  and  rubbed  lemon  juice  into 
the  wounds.  B  I  felt  these  tortures  as  much  as 
B  IV,  although  B  I  was  not  in  the  secret  of 


442 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


the  conflict  between  B  III  and  B  IV.  At  last 
B  III  won.  B  IV  confessed  dolefully  that  B  III 
must  be  a  person  and  not  a  delirium.  Then 
B  III  and  B  IV  entered  into  a  combination 
against  B  I.  One  of  B  Ill's  grievances  against 
B  IV  was  thart  the  latter  refused  to  recognize 
the  former  as  a  real  person  and  regarded  her 
only  as  a  "delirium."  IV*s  air  of  superiority 
stung  III  to  the  quick.  IV,  being  completely 
worsted  in  the  fight  just  recorded,  now  pro- 
posed to  III  to  recognize  the  latter  as  a  real 
person  on  certain  conditions.  On  IV's  part, 
besides  the  recognition  of  B  III  as  an  equal, 
with  all  the  rights  and  privileges  pertaining  to 
a  sane  being,  she  would  concede  to  B  III : 

1.  Half  the  "family"  funds  to  spend  as  she 
(B  III)  pleased. 

2.  Half  the  time.  • 

3.  The  right  to  employ  her  time  in  her  own 
way  and  after  her  own  inclination. 

4.  A  trip  to  Europe. 

In  return  for  this,  III  on  her  part  was  to: 

1.  Keep  IV  fully  informed  of  everything 
that  took  place  while  B  III  and  B  I  were  on 
the  scene. 

2.  Help  IV  in  awkward  situations  when  she 
was  pressed  about  maters  of  which  she  was 
ignorant. 

3.  Prevent  B  II  from  giving  the  doctor  any 
information  which  IV  did  not  wish  him  to 
have,  especially  regarding  the  trip  to  Europe. 

4.  Combine  with  IV  to  get  rid  of  B  I  by 
suppressing  her  letters,  preventing  interviews 
between  her  and  the  doctor  and  generally  ter- 
rorizing her  by  misinformation,  threating  let- 
ters and  the  like. 

5.  Conceal  the  conspiracy  itself  from  the 
doctor. 

All  this  fell  in  with  the  wishes  of  B  III. 
To  have  money  of  her  own,  to  do  just  as  she 
pleased,  to  have  the  time  of  her  life  in  Eu- 
rope and  to  be  treated  as  a  person  were  temp- 
tations not  to  be  resisted.  The  bargain  was 
struck.  When  the  conspirators  began  to  act, 
much  light  was  thrown  upon  the  phenomena 
of  dissociation  on  their  physiological  and  psy- 
chological sides: 

"IV  suddenly  coming  to  herself  would  be  ig- 
norant of  what  had  occurred  a  moment  before 
when  she  was  Sally  [B  III].  If  pressed  by  ques- 
tions, there  would  be  no  time  for  Sally  [B  III] 
to  warn  her  [B  IV].  Under  this  agreement  Sally 
devised  a  scheme  to  get  over  these  awkward  sit- 
uations. On  one  occasion  I  witnessed  an  inter- 
esting exhibition  of  this  phenomenon,  illustrative 
of  Sally's  method  of  helping  IV  out  in  accordance 
with  this  bargain.  In  reply  to  an  objection  which 
I  made  to  IV  in  regard  to  going  to  Europe,  on 
the  ground  that  her  ignorance  of  herself  in  her 


other    characters    unfitted    her    for    travel,     she 
claimed  to  know  everything  that  she  did  as  B   I. 
I  at  once  challenged  her  to  tell  me  what  she   as 
B  I  had  written  in  her  last  letter.    Upon  this  she 
at  once  fixed  her  eyes  on  vacancy,  went  into    a 
condition  of  abstraction  or  half  way  dreamy  state 
and  repeated  almost  word  for  word  the  languag^e 
of  the  letter.    In  this  state  she  remained  uncon- 
scious of  her  surroundings.     When  she  had  fin- 
ished, she  went  on  talking  as  if  nothing  out   of 
the  ordinary  had  happened.     I  challenged  her   to 
repeat  the  act.     She  proceeded  to  do  the  same 
thing  over  again.    But  after  she  had  repeated    a 
few    sentences,    I    gently   slapped   her    face    and 
aroused  her,  thus  preventing  her  from  relapsingr 
into  the  dreamy  state,     bhe  was  then  unable  to 
repeat  the  letter.    By  going  into  the  dreamy  state 
she  was  able  to  converse  for  the  time  being  with 
the  complete  knowledge  which   Sally  possessed. 
When   she   came   again   to   herself   she  had    no 
knowledge  of  what  she  had  said.     It  was  to  be 
inferred   that   while   in   the   dreamy   state   Sally 
spoke  through  her  tongue.    The  phenomenon  was 
automatic    speaking,   and,   in   principle,    identical 
with  the  automatic  writing  which  Sally  so  often 
performed.    It  was,  therefore,  a  phenomenon  of 
dissociation  and  differed  from  the  'mind  fixing* 
memory,  which  was  a  phenomenon  of  synthesis 
of  the  dissociated  experiences  of  B  I. 

"Another  scheme  for  helping  IV  out  of  her 
difficulties  was  a  code  of  signals  arranged  be- 
tween her  and  Sally.  When  IV  asked  some  ques- 
tion about  matters  of  which  she  was  ignorant, 
Sally  would  give  her  the  clue  by  'automaticallir* 
stroking  the  palm  of  one  hand  with  the  forefinger 
of  the  other.  A  stroke  to  the  right  meant  Yes, 
and  a  stroke  to  the  left  meant  No.  IV  would 
thus  know  whether  to  answer  in  the  affirmative 
or  in  the  negative." 

It  is  now  time  to  point  out  that  there  were 
traces  of  other  Miss  Beauchamps  than  the  four 
whose  adventures  were  so  exciting.  There  ex- 
isted personalities  that  could  be  identified  up  to 
B  VII.  But  Dr.  Prince  did  not  permit  them 
to  develop,  as  that  would  have  complicated  the 
case  and  rendered  cure — formation  of  one  per- 
manent person  out  of  all  the  persons— difficult. 
Stripped  of  technical  terms,  it  may  be  stated 
that  the  field  of  consciousness  of  the  real  Miss 
Beauchamp  had  been  split  into  fragments  or 
sections.  Independent  experiences,  memories, 
ideas  and  actions  were  synthesized  into  diflFer- 
ent  personalities,  each  one  a  piece  of  the  same 
puzzle.  The"  notion  here  may  be  modified  by 
conceiving  B  III  as  a  "subconsciousness"  lurk- 
ing behind  the  other  personalities;  yet  B  III 
became  an  alternating  personality,  too,  and,  as 
has  been  seen,  associated  the  motor  centers  of 
the  brain  in  the  body  with  her  own  conscious- 
ness. As  for  the  minor  or  undeveloped 
forms  of  personality,  such  as  the  vague  B  VII : 

"They  depend  upon  the  one  hand  upon  the  dis- 
sociation of  the  normal  personal  consciousness  by 
which  certain  memories  and  perceptions  are  lost, 


SCIENCE  AND  DISCOVERY 


443 


and,  on  the  other,  on  a  rearrangement  or  new 
sjrnthesis  of  the  psychical  factors  (memories, 
moods,  etc.)  which  make  up  personality.  The 
new  synthesis  may  have  a  very  limited  field  of 
consciousness,  differing  from  the  original  per- 
scmality  rather  hy  what  it  has  lost  than  by  what 
it  has  gained.  It  may  have  very  little  spontaneity 
and  power  to  originate  action  and  so  far  as  its 
memories  and  mental  reactions  persist  they  may 
show  little  variation  from  the  personality  out  of 
which  it  has  been  formed.  Such  a  synthesis  is 
conveniently  spoken  of  as  a  state,  whether  so- 
called  hypnotic  or  not.  ^ 

"When  the  new  ssmthesis  is  complex  and  em- 
braces a  wide  field  of  consciousness,  we  have 
what  to  all  intents  and  purposes  is  a  complete 
personality.  It  may  have  its  own  groups  of 
memories,  with  amnesia  for  the  original  personal 
synthesis  and  its  own  peculiar  reactions  to  the 
environment  (moods),  thus  differing  in  memory 
and  moods  from  the  original  self.  It  is  con- 
veniently termed  a  second  or  third  personality. 

"Theoretically,  a  normal  personal  consciousness 
may  be  disintegrated  in  all  sorts  of  ways,  so  that 
any  group  of  memories,  and  even  functions  and 
faculties,  may  be  lost;  and  all  sorts  of  combina- 
tions of  memories,  functions  and  faculties  may 
be  formed." 

B  II  marks  herself  off,  however,  as  a  dis- 
sociated group  of  conscious  states.  One  of  the 
most  difficult  problems  in  the  case  is  that  of 
B  Ill's  mind  as  a  subconsciousness.  When  B 
III  disappears  as  an  alternating  personality 
and  becomes  subconscious,  does  her  mind  in 
the  transformation  lose  something  of  its  fac- 
ulties and  dwindle  in  the  range  of  its  mental 
processes?  This  would  mean  conversely,  says 
Dr.  Prince,  that  when  B  III  (Sally)  emerges 
from  her  subconscious  position  and  becomes 
an  alternating  personality,  by  the  very  process 
she  robs  the  primary  consciousness  (the  real 
Miss  Beauchamp)  of  a  part  of  its  mind  and 
to  that  extent  acquires  a  wider  field  of  con- 
sciousness herself.  It  was  necessary  to  get  rid 
of  her.  "With  the  resurrection  of  the  real 
self  (B  II)  she  (B  III)  'goes  back  to  where 
she  came  from,'  imprisoned,  'squeezed,'  un- 
able either  to  'come'  at  will  or  be  brought  by 
command."  The  real  Miss  Beauchamp  is  not, 
however,  permanent  : 

"She  has  the  same  emotional  psychical  makeup 
which  is  so  prominent  a  trait  in  B  I  and  B  IV^ 
and  though  it  is  not  so  intense  as  in  the  disin- 
tegrated selves,  still  it  is  sufficient  to  be  a  dis- 
turbing factor.  Daily  experiences  which  in  or- 
dinary people  would  be  emotionally  colorless  are 
accompanied  by  feelings  of  undue  intensity.  Even 
memories  of  the  past  tend  to  revive  all  the  orig- 
inal feelings  which  accompanied  them.  The  men- 
tal cohesion  of  a  person  with  such  a  temperament 
necessarily  yields  to  the  disintegrating  effects  of 
the  strains  of  life.  The  circumstances  of  her  Hfe 
are  such  that  it  is  impossible  for  her  to  have  the 
freedom  from  care,  anxiety  and  responsibility,  in 


short,  from  mental  and  physical  strain,  that  such 
a  nature  should  have.  After  continuous  expo- 
sure to  such  disintegrating  agencies  during  vary- 
ing periods,  or  after  exposure  to  a  sudden  emo- 
tional shock,  her  personality  tends  to  disintegrate 
once  more." 

The  disintegration  of  the  real  Miss  Beau- 
champ into  the  four  Miss  Beauchamps  was 
the  result  of  shock.  This  shock  was  emo- 
tional. The  circumstances  cannot  be  defi- 
nitely stated  because  they  are  too  personal 
The  process  of  cure — it  would  be  more  ac- 
curate to  say  the  integration  of  the  personality 
— was  through  hypnotism.  Dr.  Prince  found 
that  by4iypnotizing  B  I  and  B  IV  he  got  B  II. 
He  did  not  then  feel  sure  that  B  II  was  the 
real  Miss  Beauchamp.  Circumstances  showed 
him  later  that  the  real  Miss  Beauchamp 
could  be  no  other  than  B  II.  Her  eccentrici- 
ties were  attributable  to  the  interference  of 
B  III.  (B  III  was  full  of  tricks  of  this  kind. 
She  once  tried  to  pass  herself  off  as  B  IV). 
Having  secured  B  II,  and  finding  her  to  be  the 
real  Miss  Beauchamp,  it  sufficed  to  expel  B  III 
from  the  state  of  an  alternate  personality  into 
the  state  of  subconscious  existence.  The  pro- 
cess required,  among  other  things,  h)rpnotism, 
etherization,  mental  suggestion  and  therapeu- 
tic psychology.  B  III  having  disappeared  in 
complete  synthesis  of  B  I  and  B  IV,  it  was 
merely  necessary  to  preserve  the  health  of  the 
resulting  B  II  to  insure  the  normal  perman- 
ence of  the  real  Miss  Beauchamp. 

All  current  definitions  of  insanity  are  nec- 
essarily modified  by  the  collusions  to  which 
this  case  points.  One  of  the  four  Miss  Beau- 
champs  was  in  the  habit  of  threatening  the 
others  with  incarceration  in  a  lunatic  asylum. 
There  is  little  doubt  that  this  threat  could  have 
been  put  into  effect.  It  is  true  that  imprison- 
ment of  one  of  these  young  ladies  would  have 
involved  loss  of  liberty  for  all  four,  as  there 
was  but  one  body  among  them.  This  circum- 
stance did  not  deter  the  most  conscientious  of 
the  Miss  Beauchamps  from  a  step  which  she 
deemed  imperative  through  the  irrational  de- 
portment of  B  III.  Th^e  conclusion  is  in- 
evitable that  alterations  of  personality  are 
indistinguishable  to  the  lay  mind  from  loss 
of  reason.  There  must  be  various  alleged 
lunatics  whose  only  mental  ailment  is  disin- 
tegration of  the  field  of  consciousness.  It  is 
also  likely  that  innumerable  victims  of  altera- 
tion of  personality  keep  the  secret  of  their 
suffering.  Such  persons  are  afraid  of  being 
thought  queer.  Hence  the  phenomena  have 
seemed  to  be  rarer  than  they  really  are. 


444 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


PNEUMONIA,  MICE  AND  THE  COLD  CURE 


Weeks  have  elapsed  since  the  establishment 
of  an  open-air  pneumonia  ward  on  the  roof  of 
the  Presbyterian  Hospital  in  New  York  City. 
The  results  of  this  experiment,  like  the  re- 
sults of  a  similar  experiment  at  Fordham  Hos- 
pital, are  convincing  evidence  to  some  physi- 
cians that  the  theory  underlying  the  treatment 
is  sound.  But  the  medical  press  of  the  coun- 
try remains  as  yet  non-committal,  in  some  in- 
stances openly  skeptical.  To  expose  a  pneu- 
monia patient  to  the  open  air  and  at  a  low 
temperature  involves,  it  is  feared,  too  much 
risk,  even  if  exceptional  cases  point  to  a  dif- 
ferent conclusion.  Thus  argue  various  au- 
thorities quoted  in  The  Medical  Neivs  and 
other  organs  of  the  profession.  Yet  the  prin- 
ciple involved  in  this  cold-air  treatment  of 
pneumonia  is  simple  and  convincing,  accord- 
ing to  its  professional  advocates. 

The  pneumonia  patient  arrives  for  treat- 
ment with  high  fever,  rapid  respiration  and  a 
condition  of  the  lungs  more  or  less  dangerous 
according  to  the  length  of  time  the  disease  has 
been  permitted  to  run.  In  a  closed  room  the 
patient  is  obliged  to  breathe  rapidly  in  order 
to  get  the  requisite  amount  of  air.  But  out 
of  doors,  with  fresher,  cooler  air,  the  respira- 
tion of  the  patient  is  markedly  diminished  and 
the  fever  subsides  rapidly.  The  cures  effected 
since  the  inauguration  of  this  treatment  at 
two  New  York  hospitals  last  November  are 
said  to  show  about  95  per  cent,  of  cures. 

The  value  of  a  mode  of  treatment  really  ca- 
pable of  reducing  the  mortality  from  pneu- 
monia is  pointed  out  in  The  Medical  Record,^ 
It  is  averred  that  pneumonia  causes  more 
deaths  in  many  parts  of  this  country  than  are 
due  to  pulmonary  consumption.  It  is  even  de- 
clared that  correct  diagnosis  might  prove 
pneumonia  to  be  more  of  a  scourge  than  tuber- 
culosis. Be  this  as  it  may,  statistics  published 
in  medical  organs  seem  to  show  a  progressive 
diminution  in  tuberculosis  cases  accompanied 
by  a  steady  increase  in  cases  of  pneumonia.  Dr. 
Thomas  Darlington,  Commissioner  of  Health 
in  New  York,  appointed  a  commission  more 
than  one  year  ago  to  make  a  special  study  of 
pneumonia  with  results  that  were  not  convinc- 
ing, so  far  as  relates  to  the  cause,  prevention 
and  cure  of  the  malady.  Various  novel  sys- 
tems of  treatment  were  considered  by  the  emi- 
nent medical  men  who  made  up  this  investi- 
gating committee.  The  negative  nature  of 
the  report  submitted  by  these  high  authorities 


has  tended  to  abate  professional  confidence  in 
the  cold-air  treatment  of  pneumonia,  so  far, 
at  least,  as  the  medical  press  is  concerned. 
Authorities  practically  agree  that  the  dis- 
ease in  question  is  most  prevalent  in  Decem- 
ber, January,  February  and  March.  In  the 
last-named  month  it  is  peculiarly  prevalent. 
Does  this  circumstance  confirm  the  theory  of 
those  who  attribute  pneumonia  partly  to  a  de- 
pressed physical  condition?  Dr.  Palier  does 
not  think  so.  Healthy  children  are  quite  as 
liable  to  attacks  of  pneumonia  as  are  the  deli- 
cate ones.  His  own  conclusion  (announced 
in  an  article  published  in  The  Medical  News) 
is  that  the  house  mouse  is  the  main  cause  of 
the  spread  of  pneumonia.    He  says : 

"Let  us  consider  how  mice  cause  pneumonia. 
In  the  months  of  December,  January,  February, 
and  March,  there  are  usually  many  mice  in  the 
houses,  especially  those  whose  pluml^ing  is  de- 
fective, and  which  are  in  a  general  poor  sanitary 
condition.  Mice,  as  is  well  known,  work  them- 
selves through  under  sinks,  and  hence  are  mostly 
abundant  in  houses  where  the  plumbing  is  not 
open,  where  there  are  many  nooks  and  corners 
around  the  sinks.  In  trying  to  obtain  mice  for 
experiments  I  learned  from  many  people  that 
mice  are  more  abundant  in  the  house  in  the 
months  referred  to  above  than  in  the  summer. 
Young  mice  seem  to  be  especially  abundant  in 
the  month  of  March.  Now  young  mice  are  es- 
pecially susceptible  to  the  d.  1.  b.  c.  [Dr.  Palier's 
suggested  name  for  the  bacteria  in  question — 
diplo-lanceo-bacilli-cocci].  The  young  mice  come 
into  the  rooms  to  look  for  food;  they  can  easily 
get  inoculated  with  human  sputum.  These  mice, 
either  through  their  feces,  or  after  their  death 
through  their  decomposing  bodies,  spread  vir- 
ulent d.  1.  b.  c,  which  may  cause  disease  in  man 
either  by  inhalation  or  by  inoculation  through 
some  abraded  surface. 

"Now  it  is  not  easy  to  find  dead  mice  for  dis- 
secting to  see  whether  any  of  tliem  actually  have 
died  from  d.  1.  b.  c. ;  but  the  author  was  fortunate 
enough  in  finding  two  young  dead  mice,  which 
showed  many  d.  1.  b.  c.  in  smear  preparations 
made  from  the  blood.  Mice,  as  is  well  known, 
usually  die  in  nooks  and  corners,  and  it  i$  indeed 
very  hard  to  find  them  after  they  die.  But  the 
fact  that  even  one  dead  mouse  showed  in  its 
blood  the  d.  1.  b.  c.  and  the  characteristic  patho- 
logical changes  in  its  various  organs,  goes  a 
great  deal  to  prove  what  has  been  said  before. 

"In  poorly  ventilated  rooms  the  virulent  d.  1.  b.  c. 
emanating  from  the  feces  of  infected  mice 
or  from  their  decomposing  bodies,  become  abun- 
dant and  the  chances  of  contracting  pneumonia 
are  great." 

Dr.  Palier  refrains  from  committing  himself 
in  any  way  as  to  the  relation  of  his  theory  to 
the  effects  attributed  to  the  cold-air  treatment 


SCIENCE  AND  DISCOVERY 


445 


THERAPEUTIC  CAPACITIES  OF  THE  COLORS 


When  a  beam  of  white  light  is  passed 
through  a  slit  and  caught  upon  a  glass  prism, 
the  rays,  as  we  have  all  known  since  our 
school  days,  are  refracted  in  an  unequal  man- 
ner, giving  rise,  if  received  on  a  screen,  to 
a  rainbow-like  band,  called  the  spectrum,  vary- 
ing in  color  from  red  to  violet.  These  rays 
not  only  vary  in  refrangibility,  becoming  in- 
creasingly refrangible  from  red  to  violet,  but 
also  in  wave-length,  which  increases  from 
violet  to  red. 

Dr.  George  Pernet  reminds  us  of  these  com- 
monplace facts  of  science  in  his  article  on  the 
light  treatment  of  disease  in  The  Quarterly 
Review,  because  he  considers  it  necessary  to 
emphasize  them  if  we  are  to  grasp  the  prin- 
ciples and  methods  underlying  the  medicinal 
effects  of  the  colors  generally.  He  thinks 
the  world's  acquaintance  with  the  subject  is 
distorted  and  partial,  due  to  sensational  news- 
paper accounts  of  the  wonders  wrought  by 
Finsen  and  his  light  in  cases  of  smallpox  and 
lupus.  The  simple  truths  of  exact  science  in 
this  domain  show  why  Finsen — although  a 
great  benefactor  of  humanity — wrought  no 
"wonder." 

To  return  to  the  spectrum.  The  radiation 
from  the  sun  does  not  consist  only  of  rays  per- 
ceived by  the  eye.  There  are  rays  of  greater 
wave-length  than  the  red  and  others  of  less 
wave-length  than  the  violet  rays.  They  form 
the  invisible  spectrum,  the  regions  beyond  the 
luminous  band  being  called  the  infra-red  and 
the  ultra-violet,  respectively,  the  latter  of 
which  can  be  brought  out  by  photography. 
This  has  led  to  a  division  of  the  solar  spectrum 
into  three  kinds  of  rays,  the  invisible  heat 
rays  (red  and  infra-red),  the  luminous  rays 
(red  to  violet,  that  is,  the  whole  of  the  visi- 
ble spectrum),  and  the  chemical  or  actinic 
rays  (violet  and  ultra-violet).  This  division 
is  not  strictly  correct,  but  will  serve. 

At  present  the  bactericidal  power  of  the 
rays  of  the  spectrum  is  beyond  dispute.  The 
action  of  light  on  bacteria  seems  to  some  in- 
vestigators to  be  mainly  due  to  the  chemical 
or  actinic  portion  of  the  spectrum.  Generally 
speaking,  diffused  daylight  has  little  effect  on 
germs,  but  the  direct  solar  rays  are  more  or 
less  bactericidal.     Says  Dr.  Pernet: 

"During  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  many  in- 
vestigations have  been  carried  out  with  the  view 
of  ascertaining  the  influence  of  light  alone  (the 
factor  heat  being  excluded),  and  also  of  finding 


out  the  kind  of  radiation  responsible  for  the  re- 
sults observed.  Janowski  experimented  with  the 
Bacillus  typhosus,  the  micro-organism  which 
causes  typhoid  or  enteric  fever.  He  subjected 
cultures  to  monochromatic  radiations,  obtained 
by  passing  light  through  solutions  of  bicliromate 
of  potash,  Bismarck  brown,  and  various  aniline 
dyes.  He  checked  the  results  obtained  in  this 
way  by  testing  the  various  radiations  by  means 
of  photographic  paper.  The  radiations  which  act 
most  powerfully  on  the  paper,  viz.  the  actinic  or 
chemical  rays,  also  kill  the  Bacillus  typhosus 
most  readily.  Kotliar  carried  out  similar  ex- 
periments with  the  Bacillus  prodigiosus,  which 
in  medieval  times  gave  rise  to  the  miraculous 
blood-stained  bread  and  sacred  Host.  The  mi- 
crobe grew  as  abundantly  under  the  red  rays  as 
it  did  in  the  dark;  but  the  development  was  ex- 
tremely slow  when  the  inoculated  tubes  were 
exposed  to  the  actinic  or  violet  rays. 

"The  foregoing  experiments  were  made  with 
sunlight;  but  Geissler  went  a  step  further  and 
employed  the  electric  arc-light  as  well,  with  simi- 
lar results.  Buchner  again  confirmed  this,  but 
he  used  flat  glass  boxes  (Petri's)  for  his  cultures 
instead  of  cylindrical  test-tubes  and  spherical 
flasks,  thus  doing  away  with  any  interference 
with  the  rays  due  to  the  shape  of  the  vessel. 

"With  regard  to  the  microbe  which  gives  rise 
to  diphtheria,  Ledoux-Lebard  found  that  the  vio- 
let rays  killed  this  bacillus,  the  influence  of  the 
red  rays  being  nil.  More  recently  Finsen  and 
Bie  of  Copenhagen  have  made  further  researches 
in  the  same  direction,  but  with  a  powerful  elec- 
tric arc-light.  Bie  worked  with  the  red  Bacillus 
prodigiosus.  The  bactericidal  action  of  the  rays 
of  the  spectrum  was  found  to  increase  from  the 
red  to  the  violet,  the  maximum  effect  being  ob- 
tained with  the  violet  and  ultra-violet,  that  is 
the  chemical  or  actinic  rays.  Bie  estimated  their 
power  at  96  per  cent,  as  compared  with  4  per 
cent,  for  the  other  radiations.  The  same  observer 
made  experiments  with  yeast  and  fungi.  He 
found  that  they  resist  light  longer  than  bacteria, 
and  that  the  pigmented  kinds  resist  far  longer 
than  the  non-pigmented. 

"These  experiments  demonstrated  the  fact  that 
light  has  a  bactericidal  action,  which  depends  on 
the  chemical  rays,  and  that  a  positive  effect  can 
be  obtained  if  the  light  employed  is  sufficiently 
strong  and  concentrated.  Taken  with  the  re- 
sults obtained  by  Richardson,  Marshall  Ward, 
and  others,  and  also  with  the  experiments  of 
Momont,  who  found  that  the  bactericidal  action 
of  light  did  not  occur  in  vacuo,  they  give  ground 
for  thinking  that  the  process  is  one  of  oxidation, 
both  of  the  protoplasm  of  the  micro-organisms 
and  of  the  nutrient  media  in  which  they  grow. 
It  must  not  be  lost  sight  of,  however,  that  bacteria 
in  the  natural  state  are  not  in  the  same  condi- 
tions as  those  cultivated  artificially  and  subjected 
to  the  action  of  light  in  laboratories.  The  influ- 
ence of  sunlight  as  a  scavenger  in  a  general  way 
must  not  be  exaggerated." 

Turning  from  the  purely  bactericidal  action 
of  colors  or  light  to  the  employment  of  the 


446 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


rays  of  the  spectrum  in  disease,  attention  is 
arrested  by  the  peculiar  effects  of  red.  Finsen 
at  the  height  of  his  career  warned  his  pupils 
against  rash  conclusions  from  their  experience 
in  the  treatment  of  maladies  with  the  aid  of 
this  color.  In  the  treatment  of  smallpox,  he 
emphasized  the  importance  of  absolutely  ex- 
cluding the  red  rays.  In  an  epidemic  of  vari- 
ola at  Lyons — where  the  light  treatment  was 
declared  inoperative  for  some  obscure  reason 
— ^the  peculiar  effect  of  the  red  light  treatment 
on  patients  and  nurses  was  remarked.  The 
patients  were  in  a  state  of  constant  excite- 
ment, and  begged  to  be  placed  in  ordinary  day- 
light. The  nurses  had  to  be  supplied  with  blue 
spectacles  to  induce  them  to  remain  on  duty. 
Mental  excitability,  at  times  very  marked,  has 
also  been  observed  among  the  workmen  em- 
ployed in  the  red  rooms  of  a  photographic  firm 
in  Lyons.  Cases  of  terrifying  hallucinations 
and  delirium  in  hospital  patients  have  been 
traced  to  red  light. 

It  is  noteworthy  that  the  rays  which  act 
most  markedly  on  micro-organisms  and  animal 
tissues — ^the  chemical  blue,   violet  and  ultra- 


violet— are  not  good  penetrators  of  the  skirt, 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  rays  which  <lo 
not  act  to  any  g^eat  extent  on  micro-organ- 
isms and  animal  tissues — ^that  is,  the  red,  yel- 
low and  yellow-green — have  a  much  greater 
power  of  skin  penetration.     That  the  actinic 
rays  are  bactericidal  in  the  case  of  cultures 
on   artificial    media   is   undoubted.     Whether 
these  rays  act  in  the  same  way  on  the  dis- 
eased tissues  of  the  skin  is  quite  another  mat- 
ter.    At  any  rate,  investigators  have  arrived 
at    the    tentative    conclusion    that    any    vital 
changes  in  the.  skin  due  to  light  are  caused  by 
the  chemical  rays  of  the  spectrum  and  to  the 
chemical  rays  alone.    For  a  healthy  condition 
of  the  retina  and  epidermis,  it  is  necessary 
that  the  ratio  between  the  intensities  of  the  ra- 
diations  in   different   parts   of  the   spectrum 
should  remain  nearly  constant    The  injurious 
effects  produced  by  light  from  incandescent 
gas  or  arc  lamps  cannot  be  attributed  to  the 
presence  of  a  greater  intensity  of  ultra-violet 
or  violet  light  than  is  present  in  sunlight,  but 
to  the  total  absence  of  red  radiation,  or  its 
equivalent. 


EXTRACTION  OF  GASTRIC  JUICE  FROM  THE  LIVE  HOG 


Natural  gastric  juice  is  so  essential  to  the 
development  of  therapeutic  science  that  the 
supply  of  the  fluid  threatens  to  be  inadequate 
to  meet  the  demand.  In  pulmonary  tuber- 
culosis the  use  of  the  natural  gastric  juice 
from  an  extraneous  source  has  been  held  a 
condition  precedent  to  cure.  Without  arguing 
the  point,  Paris  Nature  observes  that  extrac- 
tion of  the  gastric  juice  from  the  living  hog 
may  henceforth  prove  an  adequate  source  of 
supply  for  all  emergencies.  Yet  the  problem 
of  extraction  seemed  for  a  time  insoluble.  Sev- 
eral years  were  devoted  to  experiment  before 
the  true  operation  was  discovered.  It  was 
imperative  that  the  juice  be  secured  in  all  its 
purity.  Now  the  stomach  secretes  the  juice 
during  the  period  of  digestion  only.  To  ob- 
tain the  juice  during  that  period,  it  was  es- 
sential to  divert  the  meal  from  the  stomach. 
But  the  organ  itself  had  to  retain  its  posi- 
tion in  the  animal  economy.  The  French 
surgeons  investigating  this  matter  had  a  whole 
farm  not  far  from  Paris  for  their  laboratory. 
Innumerable  live  hogs  were  the  subject-mat- 
ter of  experiment.  The  surgeons  at  last  hit 
upon  the  plan  of  severing  the  esophagus  of 


the  hog  above  the  cardia.  The  pneumoga^ric 
nerves  were  preserved.  The  esophagus  was 
let  down  upon  the  duodenum.  Then  an  open- 
ing was  made  through  the  belly  for  the  flow 
of  the  secretion. 

The  result  is  that  the  provender  of  the  hog 
does  not  make  a  route  for  itself  through  the 
stomach.  The  stomach,  nevertheless,  secretes 
gastric  juice  when  the  animal  eats.  A  little 
tube  is  inserted  into  the  perforated  belly  after 
the  hog  has  eaten  and  gastric  juice  flows  in 
considerable  quantity  along  the  path  made  for 
it  and  into  a  receptacle  held  in  position  by  an 
attendant.  Such  gastric  juice  as  the  animal 
requires  for  its  own  anatomical  ends  runs  into 
the  duodenum  through  the  pylorus.  Notwith- 
standing the  serious  and  delicate  nature  of  the 
surgical  operation  the  hog  has  undergone,  it 
thrives  and  fattens.  The  animals  are  boarded 
and  lodged  luxuriously.  They  spend  the  day  in 
the  open  air.  Their  food  is  made  up  of  pota- 
toes, bran,  buttermilk,  flour,  meat  and  the  like. 
They  are  washed  regularly.  Their  health  is 
carefully  looked  after  by  a  corps  of  doctors. 
When  gastric  juice  is  to  be  extracted,  the 
hogs  are  raised  into  the  air. 


Recent  Poetry 


John  Payne  is  introduced  to  the  American  pub- 
lic as  "one  of  the  uncrowned  kings  of  poetry."  He 
is  a  retired  London  solicitor,  who  is  rather  well 
known  for  his  translations  of  Hafiz  and  Villon 
and  Boccaccio  and  others,  winning  from  Richard 
Gamett  the  verdict  that  in  the  field  of  transla- 
tion he  is  "literally  without  a  rival."  But  he  is, 
furthermore,  the  author  of  more  than  thirty 
thousand  lines  of  original  verse,  and  here  also, 
according  to  the  London  Academy,  he  "has  proved 
himself  to  be  a  master  of  his  art."  A  volume  en- 
titled "Selections  From  the  Poetry  of  John  Payne" 
has  just  been  published  by  John  Lane  Company, 
with  an  introduction  by  Lucy  Robinson  that 
ought  to  make  it  "go"  if  anything  could.  But 
it  is  evident  at  a  glance  that  the  poet  has  not 
courted  and  is  not  likely  to  win  wide  popularity. 
His  poems,  as  his  introducer  admits,  "make  slow 
headway  against  the  hurry  and  discord  of  modern 
existence,"  and  require  a  long  and  intimate  com- 
munion on  the  part  of  a  reader  before  yielding  up 
their  true  aroma.  Aside  from  the  sonnets,  the 
poems  are  nearly  all  of  them  of  unpopular  length, 
and  too  long  to  go  the  rounds  of  newspaper  and 
magazine  quotation. 

The  following  is  but  an  extract  from  a  poem 
entitled  "The  Pact  of  the  Twin  Gods."  After 
long  warfare  between  them.  Death  and  Life  agree 
to  make  "a  thing  that  shall  be  for  a  covenant," 
something  "that  shall  be  sadder  and  more  sweet 
than  Death,  and  gladder  and  more  sweet  than 
Ufe." 

THE  PACT  OF  THE  TWIN  GODS 

By  John  Payne 

Then  Life  brought  flowers  and  breezes  and  sun- 
gold 

And  juices  of  the  vine; 
And  Death  brought  silver  of  the  moonlight  cold 

And  the  pale  sad  woodbine. 

Life  brought  clear  honey  of  the  buxom  bees 

And  fruits  of  autumn-time; 
And  Death  brought  amber  from  the  murmuring 

seas 
And  fretwork  of  the  rime. 

God  Life  did  rob  the  jasmine  of  its  balm, 

Death  the  pale  lil/s  bells; 
Life  brought  a  handful  of  the  summer-calm, 

Death  of  the  wind  that  swells. 

And  sighs  about  the  winter-wearied  hills; 

Life  the  spring  heaven's  blue. 
Death  brought  the  gray,  that  in  the  autumn  fills 

The  skies  with  its  sad  hue. 


And  with  these  things  of  mingling  life  and  death 
Did  the  twin  gods  upbuild 
A    golden    shape,    which    drew    the    goodliest 

breath 
That  ever  bosom  filled: 

For  it  was  lovesome  as  the  risen  sun 

And  pale  as  ended  night. 
Glad  as  the  glance  of  an  immortal  one 

And  mild  as  the  moon's  light. 

The  form  of  it  was  white  as  is  the  snow 

When  the  pale  winter  reigns. 
And  rosy-tinted  as  the  even-glow 

After  the  April  rains. 

The  charm  of  day  was  in  its  violet  eyes 

And  eke  the  spells  of  night; 
Therein  one  read  of  the  gold  Orient  skies 

And  the  faint  Spring's  delight. 

And  for  a  voice  Life  lent  it  all  the  tune 

That  from  lark-throats  doth  rise; 
And  pale  Death  added  to  it,  for  a' boon, 

The  sad  sweet  night-bird's  sighs. 

Its  hands  were  warm  as  Life  and  soft  as  Death, 

Rosy  as  flowers  and  white 
As  the  pale  lucent  stone  that  covereth 

The  graves  in  the  moon's  sight. 

Its  hair  was  golden  as  the  sheer  sun's  shine, 

When  the  hot  June  rides  far. 
And  tender-colored  as  the  hyaline 

Of  the  pale  midnight  star. 

Red  was  its  mouth  as  is  the  damask  rose 

And  purple  as  night-shade, 
Most  glad  and  sad,  fulfilled  of  lovesome  woes 

And  joys  that  never  fade. 

Swift  were  its  rosy  golden-sandalled  feet. 

Yet  lingering  as  the  night. 
And  the  soft  wings  that  on  the  air  did  beat 

Were  of  the  windflower's  white. 

And  on  its  head  they  set  a  double  crown. 

Golden  and  silver  wrought, 
Wherein  sweet  emeralds  for  hope  were  sown 

And  amethysts  for  thought. 

Thus  did  the  two  gods  make  this  lovesome  thing, 

To  stand  betwixt  them  twain; 
And  therewithal  they  crowned  the  fair  shape  king 

O'er  them  and  suzerain. 

And   from  that  time  there  hath  no  more  been 
strife  * 

'Twixt  these  two  gods  of  might ; 
For  evermore  betwixten  Death  and  Life 

That  creature  of  delight 

Hath  gone  about  the  weary  worldly  ways. 

Holding  them  hand  in  hand, 
So  that  Death  never  on  a  mortal  lays 

His  finger,  but  there  stand 


448 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


Beside  him  Life  and  that  sweet  shape  which  they 

Have  for  their  master  made; 
And  on  hke  guise,  when  dawn  hath  lit  the  day, 

Death  walketh  in  the  shade, 

Hard  by  the  sun  and  all  the  gauds  of  life: 

And  by  them,  without  cease. 
The  winged  shape  goes  and  orders  all  their  strife 

To  harmony  and  peace. 

And  if  one  ask  which  god  he  cherisheth 

His  brother  god  above, 
Methinks  his  heart  beats  franklier  for  Death; 

For  lo!  his  name  is  Love. 

The  tragic  death  of  Laurence  Hope,  inflicted 
by  her  own  hand  after  the  death  of  her  husband, 
has  given  an  adventitious  and  painful  interest  to 
the  volume  of  "Last  Poems"  recently  published 
by  John  Lane  Company.  The  title-page  bears  the 
subtitle,  "Translations  from  the  Book  of  Indian 
Love."  Most  of  the  poems  are,  to  an  Occidental 
mind,  decidedly  erotic,  but  they  have  the  delicacy 
of  touch  and  the  glamour  which  most  of  the 
decadent  school  manifest,  and  the  eroticism,  being 
imported  from  the  Far  East,  seems  to  be  a  little 
more  natural  and  simple  and  less  offensive  than 
that  which  is  found  nearer  home.  We  quote 
three  of  the  poems  which  are  "void  of  offense": 

SURFACE  RIGHTS 
By  Laurence  Hope 

Drifting,  drifting  down  the  River, 
Tawny  current  and  foam-flecked  tide. 

Sorrowful  songs  of  lonely  boatmen. 
Mournful  forests  on  either  side. 

Thine  are  the  outcrops*   glittering  blocks. 
The  quartz — where  the  rich  pyrites  gleam, 

The  golden  treasure  of  unhewn  rocks 
And  the  loose  gold  in  the  stream. 

But, — ^the  dim  vast  forests  along  the  shore. 
That  whisper  wonderful  things  o'  nights, — 

These  are  things  that  I  value  more, 
My  beautiful  "surface  rights." 

Drifting,  drifting  down  the  River, — 

Stars   a-tremble  about  the   sky — 
Ah,  my  lover,  my  heart  is  breaking, 

Breaking,  breaking,  I  know  not  why. 

Why  is  Love  such  a  sorrowful  thing? 

This  I  never  could  understand ; 
Pain  and  passion  are  linked  together. 

Ever  I  find  them  hand  in  hand. 

Loose  thy  hair  in  its  soft  profusion. 
Let  thy  lashes  caress  thy  cheek, — 

These  are  the  things  that  express  thy  spirit, 
What  is  the  need  to  explain  or  speak  ? 

Drifting,  drifting  along  the  River, 
Under  the  light  of  a  wan  low  moon. 

Steady,  the  paddles;  Boatmen,  steady,— 
Why  should  we  reach  the  sea  so  soon? 


See  where  the  low  spit  cuts  the  water. 
What  is  that  misty  wavering  light? 

Only  the  pale  datura  flowers 
Blossoming  through  the  silent  night. 

What  is  the  fragrance  in  thy  tresses? 

Tis  the  scent  of  the  champa's  breath; 
The  meaning  of  champa  bloom  is  passion — 

And  of  datura — death! 

Sweet  are  thy  ways  and  thy  strange  caresses. 
That  sear  as  flame,  and  exult  as  wine. 

But  I  care  only  for  that  wild  moment 
When  my  soul  arises  and  reaches  thine. 

Wistful  voices  of  wild  birds  calling — 
Far,  faint  lightning  towards  the  West, — 

Twinkling  lights  of  a  tyah  homestead, — 
Ruddy  glow  on  a  girl's  bare  breast — 

Drifting  boats  on  a  mournful  River, 
Shifting  thoughts  in  a  dreaming  mind, — 

We  two,  seeking  the  Sea,  together, — 
When  we  reach  it, — ^what  shall  we  find? 

THE  TOM-TOMS 

By  Laurence  Hope 

Dost  thou  hear  the  toms-toms  throbbing. 

Like  a  lonely  lover  sobbing 

For  the  beauty  that  is  robbing  him  of  all  his  life's 

delight? 
Plaintive  sounds,  restrained,  enthralling, 
Seeking  through  the  twilight  falling 
Something  lost  beyond  recalling,  in  the  darkness 

of  the  night. 

Oh,  my  little,  loved  Firoza, 

Come  and  nestle  to  me  closer. 

Where  the  golden-balled  Mimosa  makes  a  can- 
opy above. 

For  the  day,  so  hot  and  burning, 

Dies  away,  and  night,  returning, 

Sets  thy  lover's  spirit  yearning  for  thy  beauty 
and  thy  love. 

Soon  will  come  the  rosy  warning 
Of  the  bright  relentless  morning. 
When  thy  soft  caresses  scorning,  I  shall  leave  thee 

in  the  shade. 
All  the  day  my  work  must  chain  me, 
And  its  weary  bonds  restrain  me. 
For  I  may  not  re-attain  thee  till  the  light  begins 

to  fade. 

But  at  length  the  long  day  endeth. 

As  the  cool  of  night  descendeth 

His  last  strength  thy  lover  spendeth  in  returning 

to  thy  breast. 
Where  beneath  the  Babul  nightly. 
While  the  planets  shimmer  whitely, 
And   the   fire-flies  glimmer  brightly,   thou   shalt 

give  him  love  and  rest. 

Far  away,  across  the  distance. 

The  quick-throbbing  drums*  persistence 

Shall  resound,  with  soft  insistence,  in  the  pauses 

of  delight. 
Through  the  sequence  of  the  hours, 
While  the  starlight  and  the  flowers 
Consecrate  this  love  of  ours,  in  the  Temple  of 

the  Night. 


RECENT  POETRY 


449 


I  SHALL  FORGE'l 

By  Laurence  Hope 

Although  my  life,  which  thou  hast  scarred  and 
shaken, 

Retains  awhile  some  influence  of  thee, 
As  shells,  by  faithless  waves  long  since  forsaken, 

Still  murmur  with  the  music  of  the  Sea, 

I   shall  forget.     Not  thine  the  haunting  beauty, 
Which,  once  beheld,  for  ever  holds  the  heart, 

Or,  if  resigned  from  stress  of  Fate  or  Duty, 
Takes  part  of  life  away:— the  dearer  part. 

I  gave  thee  love;  thou  gavest  but  Desire. 

Ah,  the  delusion  of  that  summer  night! 
Thy  soul  vibrated  at  the  rate  of  Fire; 

Mine,  with  the  rhythm  of  the  waves  of  Light. 

It  is  my  love  for  thee  that  I  regret. 

Not  thee,  thyself,  and  hence,— I  shall  forget! 

Our  novelists  all  seem  to  long  to  achieve  suc- 
cess in  a  poetical  way  after  they  have  gained 
it  in  the  way  of  fiction.  Mr.  Mighels,  author  of 
"The  Ultimate  Passion,"  gives  us  this  fine  poem 
in  Harper's  Magazine: 

THE    DESERT 
By  Philip  Verrill  Mighels 

Now  mark  you,  God  made  Him  an  Eden,  of  old. 

And  made  Him  a  man  and  a  maid; 
He  gave  them  to  live  in  His  garden  of  love, 

To  live  with  Him  there  unafraid. 
They  ate  of  the  fruits  and  the  honey. 

They  took  of  the  knowledge  and  lust. 
Then  fled  from  the  punishment  bitter 

And  humbled  themselves  in  the  dust 
To  pray  and  beseech  Him  for  mercy, 

As  all  of  the  penitent  must. 

Then,  mark  you,  God  made  Him  a  mountain, 

And,  mark  you.  He  made  Him  a  sea. 
But  life  took  its  root  on  the  topmost  crag. 

Where  it  seemed  no  life  could  be. 
And  life  was  aswarm  in  the  deepmost  cave 

That  the  ocean  could  fill  with  His  tears. 
And  the  cries  and  prayers  and  moans  arose 

From  it  all,  to  seek  His  ears — 
The  cries  and  prayers  and  moans  of  things 

Alive  and  filled  with  fears. 

And  God  was  beseeched  from  morn  till  night. 

And  beseeched  from  night  until  day 
By  things  that  plead  to  save  their  lives 

The  while  they  fought  for  prey; 
And  nowhere  peace  from  the  wails  and  moans 

Could  God  in  His  anguish  know 
Till  He  made  Him  a  place,  a  desolate  place. 

Where  naught  of  Life  may  grow — 
A  desert  as  bare  as  the  new-made  air. 

To  which  He  may  sometimes  go. 

Then  hark  you,  beware  of  the  desert 

Where  only  God  may  bide — 
God  all  alone,  and  nothing  of  Life 


In  that  desolate  region  wide. 
No  insect,  bird  or  snake  is  there, 

No  animal,  grass,  or  stone. 
And  all  of  the  man  who  ventured  to  cross 

Is  a  whitened  and  crumbling  bone; 
For  this  is  the  desert  that  God  has  made 

As  a  place  to  be  alone! 

When  John  Williamson  Palmer  passed  away 
last  month,  we  lost  one  of  the  best  balladists, 
if  not  the  best,  America  has  produced.  His 
"Stonewall  Jackson's  Way"  was  probably  the 
most  widely  known  of  his  ballads,  but  the  one 
below  comes  close  behind  it  in  popularity  and  we 
think  outranks  it  in  dramatic  power.  All  his 
ballads  might  be  counted  on  the  fingers  of  one's 
two  hands,  and  were  collected  a  few  years  ago  in 
a  volume  entitled,  "For  Charlie's  Sake  and  Other 
Lyrics  and  Ballads"  (Funk  &  Wagnalls  Co.). 
All  the  ballads  are  full  of  energy,  but  the  action 
is  so  compressed,  at  times,  in  his  stanzas  as  to 
confuse  the  mind  and  blur  the  mental  picture. 

THE    MARYLAND    BATTALION    IN    THE 
BATTLE  OF  LONG  ISLAND 
By  John  Williamson  Palmer 

Spruce  Macaronis  and  pretty  to  see, 

Tidy  and  dapper  and  gallant  were  we. 

Blooded  fine  gentlemen,  proper  and  tall. 

Bold  in  a  fox-hunt  and  gay  at  a  ball. 

Prancing  soldados,  so  martial  and  bluff. 

Billets  for  bullets,  in  scarlet  and  buff. 

But  our  cockades  were  clasped  with  a  mother's 
low  prayer. 

And  the  sweethearts  that  braided  the  sword- 
knots  were  fair. 

There  was  grummer  of  drums  humming  hoarse  in 

the  hills. 
And  the  bugles  sang  fanfaron  down  by  the  mills. 
By  Flatbush  the  bagpipes  were  droning  amain. 
And  keen  cracked  the  rifles  in  Martense's  lane. 
For  the  Hessians  were  flecking  the  hedges  with 

red. 
And  the  Grenadiers*  tramp  marked  the  roll  of 

the  dead. 

Three  to  one,  flank  and  near,  flashed  the  files  of 

St.  George, 
The  fierce  gleam  of  their  steel  as  the  glow  of  a 

forge. 
The  brutal  boom-boom  of  their  swart  cannoneers 
Was  sweet  music  compared  with  the  taunt  of 

their  cheers — 
For  the  brunt  of  their  onset,  our  crippled  array. 
And  the  light  of  God's  leading  gone  out  in  the 

fray! 

Oh,  the  rout  on  the  left  and  the  tug  on  the  right ! 
The  mad  plunge  of  the  charge  and  the  wreck 

of  the  flight! 
When  the  cohorts  of  Grant  held  stout  Stirling  at 

strain. 


450 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


And   the  mongrels  of  Hesse  went  tearing  the 

slain ; 
When  at  Freeke's  Mill  the  flumes  and  the  sluices 

ran  red, 
And  the  dead  choked  the  dyke  and  the  marsh 

choked  the  dead! 

"Oh,  Stirling,  good  Stirling!  How  long  must  we 
wait? 

Shall  the  shout  of  your  trumpet  unleash  us  too 
late? 

Have  you  never  a  dash  for  brave  Mordecai  Gist, 

With  his  heart  in  his  throat,  and  his  blade  in  his 
fist? 

Are  we  good  for  no  more  than  to  prance  at  a 
ball, 

When  the  drums  beat  the  charge  and  the  clari- 
ons call?" 

Tralara!  Tralara!     Now  praise  we  the  Lord, 
For  the  clang  of  His  call  and  the  flash  of  His 

sword ! 
Tralara!    Tralara!    Now  forward  to  die. 
For   the   banner,   hurrah!    and   for   sweethearts, 

goodby ! 
"Four  hundred  wild  lads!"     Maybe  so.     I'll  be 

bound 
'Twill  be  easy  to  count  us,  face  up  on  the  ground. 
If  we  hold  the  road  open,  tho'  Death  take  the 

toll, 
Well  be  missed  on  parade  when  the  States  call 

the  roll- 
When  the  flags  meet  in  peace  and  the  guns  are 

at  rest. 
And  fair  Freedom  is  singing  Sweet  Home  in  the 

West. 

A  spring  poem  not  of  the  conventional  type 
is  the  following,  which  we  take  from  The 
National  Magazine: 

MARCH  IN  KANSAS 

By  a.  a.  B.  Cavaness 

March  is  a  wondrous  battle-ground 

And  wild  the  conflicts  are — 
O  furiously  the  troopers  ride 

From  North  and  Southern  star! 

And  ever  the  March  is  come  again, 

Again  from  South  and  North 
Swifter  than  ancient  cavalry 

Their  warriors  come  forth. 

Chill  is  the  steel  of  Northern  spears 

And  hot  the  Southern  swords, 
Yet  never  we  know  what  angereth 

The  howling  midnight  hordes. 

Last  night  the  bivouac  of  the  spears 

The  swords,  a  hurricane, 
Oyt-shrieking  fiends,  the  Northmen  smote 

And  routed  them  amain. 

Then  resting  from  their  giant  toil 

And  dropt  to  slumbers  sweet — 
Sudden  the  hosts  of  Aeolus 

Sweep  back  in  mail  of  sleet, — 


With  banners  crowning  battlements 

Daring  the  blades  with  scorn, 
Till  dipt  in  fire  the  sabres'  ire 

With  glory  flags  the  Morn. 

Yet  never  the  flash  of  sword  or  spear 

Is  seen  on  the  bloodless  fields, 
But  rings  the  shout  of  the  battle's  rout 

And  clash  of  the  phantom  shields. 

Thus  ever  the  deathless  feud  is  fought 

And  March  is  lost  and  won, 
Till  the  last  campers  yield  the  fight 

To  showers  and  the  sun. 

Mr.  Markham,  whose  first  published  love  poem, 
"Virgilia,"  was  reprinted  in  these  pages  a  few 
months  ago,  has  published  a  sort  of  sequel.  It 
has  the  "singing  tone,"  which  is  considered  by 
some  the  first  requirement  of  all  good  poetry,  and 
a  wealth  of  beautiful  phrasing.  But  it  does  not 
seize  us  as  the  first  poem  did,  seeming  to  lack 
something  in  the  way  of  spontaneity.  We  reprint 
from  The  Cosmopolitan: 

THE  HOMING  HEART 
By  Edward  Markham 


It  was  ages  ago  in  life's  first  wonder 
I  found  you,  Virgilia,  wild  sea-heart; 

And  'twas  ages  ago  that  we  went  asunder. 
Ages  and  worlds  apart. 

Your  lightsome  laugh  and  your  hair's  dark  glory, 
I  knew  them  of  old  by  an  ocean-stream, 

In  a  far,  first  world,  now  turned  to  story. 
Now  faded  back  to  dream. 

I  saw  you  there  with  the  sea-girls  fleeing, 
And  I  followed  fast  over  rock  and  reef; 

And  you  sent  a  sea-fire  into  my  being, 
The  lure  of  the  lyric  grief. 

One  after  one  the  stars  were  slipping. 
Pearl  after  pearl  to  the  bowl  of  night; 

And  down  the  west  three  moons  were  dipping 
Into  the  waves,  all  white. 

I  know  not  now  where  the  moons  were  misting. 
On  what  lost  sea  in  the  milky  track; 

But  I  know  that  you  swore  to  a  lovers'  trysting, 
In  those  quick  glances  back. 

I  followed  you  fast  through  the  white  sea-splen- 
dor, 

On  into  the  rush  of  a  blown,  black  rain; 
Drawn  on  by  that  mystery  strangely  tender, 

The  lure  of  the  lyric  pain. 

As  up  round  a  headland  the  tides  came  hurling, 
You  sang  one  song  from  your  wild  sea-heart: 

Then  a  mist  swept  in,  and  we  two  went  whirling, 
Ages  and  worlds  apart. 


RECENT  POETRY 


451 


II 

We  are  caught  in  the  coil  of  a  God's  romances— 
We  come  from  old  worlds  and  we  go  afar: 

I    have  missed  you   again  in  the   Earth's   wild 
chances — 
Now  to  another  star ! 

Perhaps  we  are  led  and  our  loves  are  fated, 
And  our  steps  are  counted  one  by  one ; 

Perhaps  we  shall  meet  and  our  souls  be  mated. 
After  the  burnt-out  sun. 

For  over  the  world  a  dim  hope  hovers, 
The  hope  at  the  heart  of  all  our  songs — 

That  the  banded  stars  are  in  league  with  lovers, 
And  fight  against  their  wrongs. 

If  this  all  is  a  dream,  then  perhaps  our  dreaming 
Can  touch  life's  height  to  a  finer  fire: 

Who  knows  but  the  heavens  and  all  their  seeming 
Were  made  by  the  heart's  desire? 

One  thing  shines  clear  in  the  heart's  sweet  reason, 
One  lightning  over  the  chasm  runs — 

That  to  turn  from  love  is  the  world's  one  treason 
That  treads  down  all  the  suns. 

So  I  go  to  the  long  adventure,  lifting 
My  face  to  the  far,  mysterious  goals. 

To  the  last  assize,  to  the  final  sifting 
Of  gods  and  stars  and  souls. 

Our  ways  go  wide  and  I  know  not  whither, 
But  my  song  will  search  through  the  worlds  for 
you, 
Till  the  Seven  Seas  waste  and  the  Seven  Stars 
wither. 
And  the  dream  of  the  heart  comes  true. 

I  am  out  to  the  roads  and  the  long,  long  questing, 
On  dark  tides  driven,  on  great  winds  blown : 

I  pass  the  rims  of  the  worlds  unresting, 
I  sail  to  the  unknown. 

•   III 
There  are  more  lives  yet,  there  are  more  worlds 
waiting, 
For  the  way  climbs  up  to  the  eldest  sun. 
Where  the  white  ones  go  to  their  mystic  mating, 
And  the  Holy  Will  is  done. 

I  will  find  you  there  where  our  low  life  height- 
ens— 

Where  the  door  of  the  Wonder  again  unbars, 
Where  the  old  love  lures  and  the  old  fire  whitens, 

In  the  Stars  behind  the  stars. 

Perhaps  we  will  meet  where  the  boughs  for  raft- 
ers 

Shelter  a  cliff  by  an  ocean-stream, 
As  we  met  long  ago  in  the  light  sea-laughters. 

When  over  me  went  the  dream. 

,  Perhaps  we  will  meet  in  some  field  of  faery, 

Twined  round  by  the  sea  and  the  scented  vales, 
To  stray  moon-charmed  in  a  high-hung,  airy 
Dream- wood  of  nightingales. 


We  will  hear  some  word  of  the  final  meaning, 
As  we  meet  at  last  by  the  love-loud  trees. 

Hushed  with  the  wonder  of  life,  and  leaning 
Over  the  marveling  seas. 

Ah,  strangely  then  will  the  heart  be  shaken, 
FoF  something  starry  will  touch  the  hour; 

And  the  mystic  wind  of  the  worlds  will  waken. 
Stirring  the  soul's  tall  flower. 

As  we  go  star-stilled  in  the  mystic  garden. 
All  the  prose  of  this  life  run  there  to  rhyme, 

How  eagerly  will  the  poor  heart  pardon 
All  of  these  hurts  of  Time! 

For  'twill  all  come  back— the  wasted  splendor. 
The  heart's  lost  youth  like  a  breaking  flower. 

The  dauntless  dare,  and  the  wistful,  tender 
Touch  of  the  April  hour. 

In  that  wondrous  hour  of  our  souls  dream-driven, 
In  that  high,  white  hour,  O  my  wild  sea-bride. 

The  tears  and  the  years  will  be  all  forgiven, 
And  all  be  justified. 

"Since  Kipling's  'Recessional,'  I  have  read  no 
single  poem  so  beautiful,"  says  a  writer  in  The 
Musical  Leader,  speaking  of  the  verses  below  by 
William  Watson.  The  verses  apply  evidently  to 
Russia,  but  will  be  just  as  apt  when  the  occa- 
sion that  elicits  them  has  long  passed  by.  This 
poem  was' first  published  in  the  London  Daily 
Chronicle : 

KNIGHTS  AND  KING 
By  William  Watson 

The  knights  rode  up  with  gifts  for  the  king. 

And  one  was  a  jeweled  sword. 
And  one  was  a  suit  of  golden  mail. 

And  one  was  a  golden  Word. 

He  buckled  the  shining  armor  on. 

And  he  girt  the  sword  at  his  side ; 
But  he  flung  at  his  feet  the  golden  Word, 

And  trampled  it  in  his  pride. 

The  armor  is  pierced  with  many  spears, 
And  the  sword  is  breaking  in  twain ; 

But  the  Word  hath  risen  in  storm  and  fire 
To  vanquish  and  to  reififn. 

Wilfred  Campbell,  the  Canadian  poet,  has  col- 
lected in  one  volume  (Revell)  all  his  verse,  not 
dramatic  in  form,  which  he  cares  to  preserve. 
We  have  room  here  for  this  little  moral-picture 
alone : 

RODODACTULOS 
By  Wilfred  Campbell 

The  night  blows  outward  in  a  mist, 
And  all  the  world  the  sun  has  kissed. 

Along  the  golden  rim  of  sky 

A  thousand   snow-piled  vapors  lie. 

And  by  the  wood  and  mist-clad  stream 
The  Maiden  Morn  stands  still  to  dream. 


Success:  A  Story 


Marguerite  von  Oertzen,  the  author  of  this  bright  little  tale  dialoguS,  is  one  of  the  clever 
German  women  writers  of  to-day.  She  was  born  at  Heidelberg,  in  1868,  and  was  educated  in  a 
convent.  She  is  daughter  of  Georg  Baron  von  Oertzen,  who  was  at  one  time  Bismark's  attach^, 
and  who  is  favorably  known  as  a  poet.  This  translation  is  made  from  the  German,  for  Current 
Literature,  by  Newell  Dunbar. 


Small  coffee-room  of  a  fashionable  "air-cure" 
hotel  in  the  Black  Forest.  The  proprietor,  Frau 
Biihler,  is  smilingly  listening  to  Herr  Milkes, 
who  warmly  remonstrates  with  her.  He  is  a 
very  young,  spare  man,  with  curly  hair,  indica- 
tions of  a  small  mustache,  and  a  gaudy  necktie. 

Milkes:  As  I  said,  if  you'd  permit,  we  make 
no  claims.  The  affair's  wholly  at  our  own  risk. 
I  have  here  the  program  and  a  printed  critique 
(proudly)  ;  my  first  I 

Frau  BUhler  (embarrassed) :  Yes,  you  see, 
Hcrr — ^Hcrr 

Milkes  (with  a  bow)  :     Milkes. 

Frau  BUhler:  Herr  Milkes,  with  our  guests 
anything  of  that  sort  usually  meets  with  slight 
encouragement.  They  all  want  to  recover  from 
the  season.  They  come  mostly  from  Berlin, 
where  they  have  an  opportunity  of  hearing 
artists  of  the  very  first  rank.  Here,  a  peasant's 
quartette  or  something  out  of  the  people's  life 
of  the  region  draws  best. 

Milkes:  If  we'd  known  that,  my  wife  would 
have  brought  her  rustic  dress. 

Frau  BUhler   (looking  around):     Your  wife! 

Milkes:  Oh  I  she's  waiting  outside.  She's  so 
timid.  (Goes  to  the  window  and  calls  without.) 
Leni,  you  may  come  in!  (To  Frau  BUhler, 
entreatingly.)  I'm  from  the  Stadttheater.  That's 
rather  of  the  better  sort.  Only  the  pay 
for  chorus  singers  is  so  very  small  that  one 
can  lay  nothing  by  for  the  summer.  Still 
I've  been  mentioned  in  a  critique.  (Draws 
from  his  pocket  a  well-thumbed  copy  of  a  news- 
paper, and  reads  aloud:)  "The  little  solo  of  Herr 
Milkes  pleasantly  impressed  us.  He  surprised  us 
with  the  softness  and  freshness  of  his  genuinely 
lyrical  tenor."  (Lays  the  paper  aside.)  That  en- 
couraged me  to  the  study  of  songs. 

Frau  BUhler:  That's  very  nice  indeed,  but  I 
really  can't  guarantee  that  my  guests  will  appear 
in  full  force.    Whether  it's  worth  your  while 

Milkes  (with  fire)  :  We're  modest.  If  only 
ten  should  come.  (Leni  enters.  Graceful  little 
form;  short  dress;  black  ringlets,  not  put  up;  in 
her  ears  are  big,  round,  silver  pearls.) 


Milkes  (proudly  introducing)  :  My  wife! 

Frau  BUhler  (astonished) :  She?  Why,  good 
gracious!  That's  really  still  a  child  .  .  .  she 
wears  short  skirts  indeed,  and  her  hair  is  not 
put  up. 

Milkes:  She's  already  seventeen.  We've  been 
married  three  months.  We're  saving  up  now  for 
a  long  dress;  eh,  Leni?  We're  always  jolly — 
all's  one  to  us!  She,  too,  you  must  know,  be- 
longs to  the  theater. 

Frau  BUhler  (rather  touched)  :  I  couldn't  so 
much  as  give  you  a  suitable  bed.  We're  over- 
crowded. 

Milkes :  Oh,  we  don't  care  for  that ;  eh,  Leni  ? 
We'll  sleep  in  the  hayloft— or  on  the  bowling- 
alley.     It's  August,  indeed. 

Leni  (beaming  and  snuggling  up  to  him)  :  Oh, 
yes! 

Frau  BUhler:  So  be  it.  I'll  have  the  coach- 
man's room  prepared.  The  coachman  can  move 
into  the  hay  for  the  night 

Milkes  (jubilant) :  Oh,  you  good,  peerless 
woman ! 

Leni  (aside  to  him)  :  Look!  Nobody,  you  see, 
can  resist  you. 

Frau  BUhler:  The  program  I'll  set  on  the 
tables  at  dinner  to-day.  And  in  the  evening  at 
eight  o'clock  the  concert  can  begin  in  the  reading- 
room.    Do  you  need  anything  more  for  it? 

Milkes:  A  soup  plate,  if  you  please.  And  a 
white  napkin  and  a  small  table.  There  Leni'll 
sit  and  take  in  the  money.  Piano  accompaniment 
I'll  do  myself. 

Leni  (claps  her  hands)  :  And  everyonc'U  give 
as  much  as  he  likes. 

Milkes  (dances  around  with  her,  singing)  : 

"How   false  thou   art — ^now  list! 
Thou  hast  with  others  kissed! 
Thou  lov'st  me  now  no  more, 
Wholly  now  no  more." 

Frau  BUhler  (laughing)  :  But,  good  people! 

Milkes  (letting  Leni  go)  :  Yes,  look  you,  dear,  * 
good  madam,  if  you  could  see  the  little  one  there, 
how  she  saves  and  works  and  drudges.    And  now 


SUCCESS 


453 


such  a  piece  of  good  luck !  Perhaps  we'll  take  in 
twenty  marks! 

Lent  (horrified)  :  Why,  Pepi,  so  unreasonable ! 
Right  away  you  always  get  megalomania  I 

Frau  Biihler:  Now  Til  really  just  venture  to 
see  about  a  little  breakfast.  Til  remark,  how- 
ever, at  once,  that  in  the  coachman's  room  one 
person  can  scarcely  turn  round  I 

Milkes:  That  suits  us  exactly.  The  narrower 
the  better. 

Lent:  But  aren't  you  just  the  bad  boy !  {Frau 
Biihler  leaves  the  room.  A  waiter  begins  with 
scornful  nonchalance  to  lay  covers  for  two,  dur- 
ing which  Leni  regards  him  anxiously  and  ill  at 
ease.) 

Leni  (whispers  to  Milkes) :  I  say — look — 
wine-glasses  I 

Milkes  (squeezing  her  arm  hard)  :  What  luck ! 

Leni:  Owl  (The  waiter  serves  several  dishes 
and  then  retires.) 

Milkes:  Art's  nevertheless  the  finest  thing  in 
the  world. 

Leni:  I  say,  I  wonder  if  I  might  take  the 
bones  there  in  my  fingers? 

Milkes  (glances  furtively  toward  the  door) : 
Just  fall  to!     Nobody's  looking. 

Leni  (after  she  has  eaten}  :  Always  when  I'm 
so  full,  our  first  acquaintance  occurs  to  me. 
'Twas  at  rehearsal.  You  ate  a  slice  of  bread  and 
butter  and  all  at  once  you  gave  me  half. 

Milkes:  You  see,  you  kept  looking  at  the 
bread  with  such  big  eyes  I  thought  you  were 
hungry. 

Leni:  I  was  in  love  with  you,  and  then  de- 
voured the  bread  from  sheer  fright.  Your  voice 
stirred  me  through  and  through.  (Very  ear- 
nestly.) Even  to  this  day,  you  see,  when  you  sing 
I  have  to  cry. 

Milkes:  I  only  hope  you  won't  begin  for  us, 
this  evening,  with  your  blubbering! 

Leni:    No,  no,  I'll  be  very  careful. 

Milkes  (suddenly)  :  1  say,  suppose  I  should 
become  famous? 

Leni  (shuddering)  :  With  a  hundred  and  fifty 
marks'  salary    .    .    . 

Milkes:  And  a  chimney-pot  hat  on  my  head 
even  in  the  forenoon,  like  our  hero  tenor! 

Leni  (low  and  ceremonious)  :  And  I — with  a 
train ! 


Evening;  in  the  reading-room,  after  the  con- 
cert. Milkes  has  but  just  finished  Schubert's 
"Doppelgdnger."  Silence;  then  faint,  sporadic 
applause.  All  throng  to  the  exit,  past  Leni,  who 
sits  before  the  soup-plate  filled  with  silver,  while 
great  tears  roll  down  her  cheeks. 


Milkes  (goes  up  to  her,  importunately)  :  Still, 
a  few  applauded,  eh?  And  one  man  nodded — I 
saw  it  distinctly — at  the  pianissimo,  Leni,  you're 
blubbering  again! 

Leni  (sobbing):  Darling!  You  sang  so  won- 
derfully! (In  deepest  agitation.)  Your  voice 
would  bring  me  to  life  if  I  lay  dead  under  the 
ground!  (Rises  and  embraces  him.)  I  don't 
know  how  much  there  is  in  the  plate.  I  haven't 
counted  it.  And  neither  do  I  know  whether  it 
pleased  them,  there,  in  the  fine  clothes.  But  me 
it  pleased!     I  am  so  proud  of  you! 

Milkes  (horrified)  :  Child,  you're  trembling, 
indeed!  If  my  singing  excites  you  so,  you  really 
cannot  go  along  any  more  in  future.  And  yet — 
what  do  I  care  for  the  rest!  I  sing  for  you. 
(He  sits  down  and  begins  to  count  the  money. 
Leni  idly  stares  at  the  door  before  her.) 

Milkes  (looking  up)  :  Nearly  everyone  has 
given  a  mark.  Twenty-eight  marks  and  fifty 
pfennigs.     Don't  you  hear,  Leni? 

Leni  (fervently  embraces  him  anew)  :  Oh,  you 
— you!  They  don't  all  comprehend  you,  indeed 
they  don't! 


Ten  years  later.  The  same  air-cure  hotel  in 
the  Black  Forest.  The  hotel  turnout  stops  be- 
fore the  entrance;  Frau  Biihler  stands  at  the 
open  coach-door.  Herr  Milensky,  very  "swagger^* 
man  of  thirty,  with  thick,  curly  hair,  smooth,  full 
face,  has  already  alighted. 

Milensky:  So,  please,  a  very  quiet  room.  My 
wife  is  somewhat  nervous. 

Frau  Biihler  (regards  him  searchingly)  :  I've 
a  drawing-room  with  balcony 

Voice  from  the  carriage:  Ask  if  there's  a 
dressing-room  with  bath-room  near  by. 

Frau  Biihler:     Certainly.     Exactly  vis-a-vis 

Milensky:  Will  you  alight,  Edith?  (He  as- 
sists a  very  stout  but  strikingly  beautiful  blonde 
out  of  the  carriage.  She  wears  a  blue  silk  travel- 
ing cloak  and,  in- spite  of  the  July  heat,  a  chin- 
chilla stole.) 

Frau  Milensky:  Arrange,  too,  at  once  about 
the  menu,  Joseph.  You  know  I  can't  eat  every- 
thing— especially  roast  venison.  (To  Frau 
Biihler.)     Have  you  an  elevator? 

Frau  Biihler  (at  a  loss) :  No,  that  we  haven't 
here  yet.     But  electric  light 

Frau  Milensky  (laughing)  :  I  can't  despatch 
myself  up  the  stairs  on  that.  Let's  get  out, 
though.  You'll  probably  come  on,  Joseph,  when 
business  is  settled.  (She  follows  the  hall-porter 
into  the  house..  A  strong  odor  of  violettes  dc 
Parma  remains  behind.) 

Frau  Biihler   (leads  Herr  Milensky  into  her 


454 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


oMce)  :  May  I  once  more  beg  for  the  worthy 
name — for  the  hotel-register? 

Milensky  (put  out)  :  Is  that  necessary?  One 
is  so  much  annoyed  by  the  public.  One  is  stared 
at.  Several  families  have  already  recognized  me 
— as  I  drove  by. 

Frau  Buhler :  If  the  name's  not  given,  I  should 
be  all  the  more  besieged  on  all  sides.  People  are 
inquisitive.  We  had  a  prince  here  once  who  was 
traveling  incognito.  Within  half  an  hour  they 
had  found  out  who  he  was. 

Milensky  (nervous)  :  And  I  had  looked  for 
such  a  quiet  place,  just  to  escape  from  curi- 
osity!   I  remembered  the  spot  from  former  times. 

Frau  BUhler  (cautiously)  :  It  seems  to  me, 
too,  that  I've  already  had  the  honor 

Milensky  (quickly)  :  Write  then :  Court  opera- 
singer  Milensky,  Frau  Sarow-Milensky,  royal 
chamber-singer — from  Berlin. 

Frau  BUhler  (writing)  :  So,  then,  the  fa- 
mous  

Milensky  (interrupts  her)  :  Please  not.  And 
another  thing :  Say  to  your  guests  that  neither  my 
wife  nor  I  will  sing  a  note  here.  Once  over  in 
Carlstadt,  it's  past  all  belief  what  happened  to 
us.  They  asked  me  to  treat  them  to  a  song  in 
the  drawing-room;  imagine  my  voice  in  the 
drawing-room!     I,  naturally,  left  at  once. 

Frau  BUhler  (anxiously)  :  What  lies  in  my 
power  I'll  do. 

Milensky:  Neither  do  I  ever  talk  about  the 
theater  or  about  things  that  relate  to  the  stage. 
Say  that  to  your  guests. 

Frau  BUhler:     But 

Milensky  (very  decidedly)  :  The  length  of  our 
stay  and  our  coming  back  will  depend  upon 
whether  regard  is  paid  to  these  wishes. 

Frau  Buhler:  What  in  me  lies.  Your  lady 
wife,  too,  has  perhaps  other  wishes? 

Milensky:  Yes — we  need  a  drawing-room  and 
two  bedrooms.  My  wife  is  very  nervous.  (Pause. 
Suddenly,  in  a  wholly  altered  tone:)  Frau  Buhler 
— is  the  coachman's  room  still  furnished  as  it 
was  ten  year's  ago? 

Frau  Buhler  (at  first  speechless,  then  crying 
out  in  sudden  recognition) :  The  coachman's 
room!     Oh,  good  gracious!     You — ^you  are 

Milensky  (quickly  and  softly,  taking  her  hand)  : 


Do    you    know    me    yet?      You    good,    peerless 
woman 

Frau  Buhler  (moved)  :  So  then!  So  then 
you've  become  such  a  great  man!  Yes,  the 
coachman's  room  is  still — ^pardon  me,  I've  grow^n 
wholly  stupid. 

Milensky:  Then  I  would  greatly  like  to  see 
it.  (Looks  upon  the  Aoor.)  But  at  once — and 
— (lays  his  finger  upon  his  mouth). 

Frau  BUhler  (hesitating)  :  Oh,  yes,  I  under- 
stand.   And — and 

Milensky  (very  quietly)  :  I  know  what  you 
wish  to  ask.  You're  asking  after  the  child-like 
wife  who  then  accompanied  me.  (He  goes  to  the 
window  and,  while  continuing  to  speak,  looks 
out.)  I  had  luck.  I  succeeded.  That  came  at  a 
blow!  And  Leni  still  continued  to  cry  when  I 
sang,  as  she  sat  in  a  box  ...  in  a  dress  with 
a  train.  But  she  could  no  more  go  along — into 
the  new  relations,  into  the  "being  famous,"  as 
she  called  it.  She  stayed  behind,  like  a  bird 
whose  wing  does  not  suffice  for  flight.  She  wasn't 
fitted  for  the  new  life.  In  all  respects  she  re- 
mained the  old  Leni.  I  could  instil  nothing  into 
her  by  education.  There  were  painful  moments. 
And  finally — she  suffered  with  the  fixed  idea  that 
I  must  be  ashamed  of  her 

Frau  BUhler:     FoV  heaven's  sake! 

Milensky:  One  day  she  left  me.  She  went 
back  to  her  mother.  When  I  wanted  to  take  her 
to  me  again,  then  I  saw  that  I'd  become  a  stranger 
to  her.  It's  one  of  those  riddles  that  we  could 
never  guess.  She  died  soon  after  that;  her  lungs 
were  affected. 

Frau  Buhler:    And  how 

Milensky:  My  present  wife  I  took  from  the 
stage,  of  which  she  is  still  a  star. 

Frau  BUhler  (softly)  :  Alas  .  .  .  poor  Herr 
Milkes!     (Confused)  I  mean 

Milensky:  I  understand  quite  well  what  you 
mean.  And  I  would  like  to  see  the  coachman's 
room  where  I  kept  house  with  Leni.  It  seems  to 
me — it  seems  to  me,  nevertheless,  dear,  good  Frau 
Biihler,  that  I  was  very  happy  then — with  poor 
little  Leni.  And  it  seems  to  me,  too,  that  nobody 
else  has  so  listened  to  me  as  did  she. 

Frau  Buhler  (sympathetically)  :  Then  come 
quickly,  before  the  table  d'hote  begins. 


DustJDirt 


and 

are  best  re  moved  i 
ing    with    a    clj 
tened  with  wal 


Germs 

>m  floors  by  first  sweep- 
■covered  broom  mois- 
containing  just  a  little 


Platmrhloridea. 

The  OdonessDisijaiistdaid, 


A  colorless  liquid; 
foul  odors  and  dise^ 
hold    use.       Sold 


rful,  safe  and  economical.     Instantly  destroys 
breeding  matter.     Specially  prepared  for  house- 
in    quart    bottles,    by    druggists    everywhere. 
An  illustrated  booklet  with  valuable  sanitary 
information    mailed    free.      Address 

Henry   B.   Piatt,    42   Cliff  Street.   N.   Y. 


EZ-S 


An  InftaBtMiw 


fe£si»ssrtfw 


Ik 


■r.  I 


UK 


.r""    ^  .:   -■  i'v^'^ 


'*?S^' 


Dusty  or  damp  comers  and  cracks — nooks  behind  plumbing  and  all  spots  that  can't  be 
reached  by  the  scrubbing-brush,  should  be  freely  sprinkled  with  a  mixture  of  one  (1)  part 
Piatt's  Chlorides  and  ten  (10)  parts  of  water,  by  means  of  a  whisk-broom. 


vose 


HAVE  BEEN  ESTABLISHED 
54  YEARS 

and  are   receiying  more  fay- 

orable  comiMats  t<Mlay  from  an  art> 

Iscio  standpoint  than  all  other  makes  combined. 

WE  CHALLENGE 
COMPARISONS. 

By  our  easy  payment  plan  every  family  in  moderate 
chrcumstuoces  can  own  a  vose  piano.  We  allow 
a  liberal  price  for  old  instruments  in  exchange,  and 
deliver  the  piano  in  your  house  free  of  expense. 
You  can  deal  with  us  at  a  distant  point  the  same 
as  in  Boston.  Catalogue,  books, 
etc.,  giving  full  information 
mailed  free. 

iVOSe  &  SONS  PIANO  co^ 
I  Boylston  St^  Bostoa,  Mass. 


lANOS 


MENNEN'S 

BORATED  TALCUM 

TGI  LET^^POWD  ER, 


I 


Pare  as  the  LOy 


■healthful  and   rcfrcsliir.c;  th.it  is  why  MEN. 

.      NS    It    .il.v,i)s    usr.l     ..III     recommended    by 

phy-^i-  lansan.l  ll^r^cs.     Its  perfect   purity  and  abso- 

rurally  have  won  for  ituniversial  esteem.     In 

^^,,, -fry  it  is  supreme.   unr,]ualled  for  ohnflnir, 

netiie-raMii.  chnpiiod  hiinrtH.  etc.,  it  is  so  tiiinir, 
waiury  and  l.ealit.tr.  MEVNE.N'S  t.ce  on  every  l>ux— see 
that  ynu  (fet  the  jjenuine.  F^i*  ^,i.'f  n  '»-i-n'A^rc  6>r  *y  mat.', 
fjc.  SamfU  r^ff.  MEN'NKN'S  VIOLi: T  (Uorated)  TAL- 
CUM ha-,  l'  i.tvilets. 


6ERHAF 


0.-   NEWARK.N.J 


i 


"^  KBflNICH 

pi.no  advts.  MM  |||||.|l 
are  very  sim-  ^^  ■■  ■■  ■■  ■  ■ 
Uar— all  claim  *^  *  W^FBB 

superlative 

merits,  The      ^%  I   B   |^l  ^^k 

significance  of  this  ^U  I  W^  H^f  1 1 
announcement  is  ■  I  KM  I^H  1 1 
to  urge  prospective  ■  I  B  V  I  ■  ^0 
purchasers  to  -^^■^^■^— ■— ~  ^^— 
compare  values  before  making  a  selection.  To 
this  end  we  request  that  you  send  for  our  new 
catalogue  and  the  name  of  your  nearest  dealer. 


Address 


KRANICH  &  BACH, 

233-45  East  23fd  St..  Mew  Yirt  Cit;.  [ 


The  Absurd 


Man 


never  changes. 


It  you  are  **  goins  down  *'  a  little — lack 
power  and  vigor  to  **do  things" — your 
food  does    not  properly  supply  the  need.* 

Change.' 


Grape-Nuts 


Furnish  the  things  that  the  sys- 
tem must  have  to  make  bone,  muscle, 
and  the  gray  matter  in  brain  and  nerve 
centres. 

10  days*  trial  shows  one  that  feeling 
of  reserve  strength  so  essential  to 
success. 

'<  There*!  a  Reason.*' 

Postum  Cereal  Co..  Battle  Creek,  Mich.,  U.  S.  A- 


WVNKOOP    MALLtNBfeCK    CRAWFORD    CO..     NEW    YORK 


$3.00  a  Year 


Mar   1906 


Price  25  Cents 


C  ui* r e  nt 
Liter^dure 


For  Complete  Table  of  Contents  see  inside  pag^e 


A  Review  cf  the  World 


The  Courts  and  the  Country 

Is  the  Exposure  of  Graft  Beings  Overdone  ? 

Politics  and  Municipal  Ownership 

The  Earthquake  in  California 


Persons  in  the  Foreg^round 

The  Foremost  Democrat  in  Washington 
Stormy  Career  of  Maksim  Gorky 
Tbf^e  Tragic  Loves  of  Parneirs  Life 
Strenuous  Life  of  a  Woman  Reformer 


Literature  and  Art 


Carnegie's  Spelling  Reform  Crusade 
Re-discovery  of  some  Turner  Masterpieces 
Whitman  and  His  Contemporaries 
Versatile  Talent  of  Gutzon  Borglum 


Recent  Poetry 


Music  and  the  Drama 

Will  the  Drama  Supplant  the  Novel  ? 
The  Greatest  of  Living  Composers 
Where  Barrie  and  Snaw  Fail 
The  Poor  Fool:  Bahr's  Latest  Drama 


Religion  and  Ethics 

Was  Jesus  Really  a  Jew  ? 
The  Lost  Faith  of  Childhood 
Solidarity  the  Key-note  of  Religion 
The  Present  Moral  Upheaval  in  America 


Science  and  Discovery 

Surprises  of  Heredity  in  Royal  Families  • 
New  Evidence  of  Man's  Affinity  with  Apes 
A  New  Despotism  from  Fixation  of  Nitrogen 
The  World's  Greatest  Astro-Physicist 


Recent  Fiction  and  the  Critics 


The  Child:  A  Story  by  Jean  Richepin 


THE    CURRENT    LITERATURE   PUBLISHING    CO.   | 
34    West    26tli    Street.    New    York  ' 


Be  Fair  to  Your  Skin,  and  It  Will 
Be  Fair  to  You— and  to  Others 

A  Beautiful  Skin  can  only  be  secured  through  Nature's  work.  Ghastly,  horrid  imita- 
tions of  Beauty  are  made  by  cosmetics,  balms,  powders  and  other  injurious  compounds. 
They  put  a  coat  over  the  already  clogged  pores  of  the  skin,  and  double  the  injury. 
Now  that  the  use  of  cosmetics  is  being  inveighed  against  from  the  very  pulpits,  the 
importance  of  a  pure  soap  becomes  apparent.  The  constant  use  of  HAND  SAPOLIO 
produces  so  fresh  and  rejuvenated  a  condition  of  the  skin  that  all  incentive  to  the  use 
of  cosmetics  is  lacking. 

HAND  SAPOIIO  is 

C!Q   PURR   ^^^  ^^  ^°  ^  freely  used  on  a  new-born  baby  or  the  skin  of  the  most  delicate 

SO   SIMPLE   that  it  can  be  a  part  of  the  inyalid's  supply  with  beneficial  results. 

GO  iri?l?Tr**  A  l^iriTTQ  AS  to  bring  the  snull  boy  almost  into  a  state  of  "  surgical  clean- 
i3VJ   Mur  r  K\^A%^KyjMJi3  liness"  and  keep  him  there. 


Intending  parchiiscrs 

of  a  sirictlyjirst- 

class  Piano 

should 

not     fail 

to  exam- 

inc  the 

merits  of 

THE    WORLD     RENOWNED 

SOEMEH 

It  is  the  special  favorite  of  the  refined  and 
culttired  musical  public  on  account  of  its  un- 
surpassed tone-quality*  unequaled  durability, 
elegance  of  design  and  finish.  Catalogue 
mailed  on  application. 

THESOHMER-CECILIAN  INSIDE  PLAYER 

suB>Asse^  All  others 

Favorable  Terms  to  Responsible  Parties 

SOHMER  d  COMPANY 


Wirerooms  Cor.  5(h  Atc.  22d  Si. 


NEW  YORK 


From  itereograpb.  copyrigbt  1908,  Underwood  ft  Underwood,  If.  1, 

THE  SENATOR  FROM  TEXAS] 

When  Joseph  Welldon  Bailey,  age  42,  made  his  four-hour  speech  on  railroad  rate  legislation  a  few  days  'ago, 
nearly  all  the  members  of  the  House  of  Representatives  filled  the  standing  room  in  the  Senate  Chamber,  and  the 
visitors'  gallery  was  jammed  until  the  doors  had  to  be  closed.  He  detests  oratorical  tricks,  [speaking  usually^in  a 
calm,  even  tone,  preferring  argument  to  rhetoric. 


Current  Literature 


voL.iL,N(i.5      ^    ,♦  PH.*^'"'r''''J^!rS;^"AT    A  H 

'  Associate  Editors:  Leonard  D.  Abbott,  Alexander  Harvey 


MAY,  1906 


A  Review  of  the  World 


But  the  ship  sailed  safely  over  the  sea, 
And  the  hunters  came  from  the  chase  in  glee ; 
And  the  town  that  was  builded  upon  a  rock 
Was  swallowed  up  in  the  earthquake  shock. 

Bret  Harte. 

|ALF  a  century  in  building,  half  a 
minute  in  falling — ^that  is  in  brief 
the  story  of  San  Francisco.  The 
earthquake  shock  which,  followed 
by  an  uncontrollable  fire,  has  practically  de- 
stroyed the  metropolis  of  our  Pacific  coast,  was 
just  twenty-eight  seconds  in  duration.  It  be- 
gan, according  to  the  records  in  Lake  Chabol 
observatory,  Oakland,  at  5:14:48,  a.  m.,  April 
18,  and  ended  at  5:15:16.  It  was  followed  by 
other  shocks  later,  but  it  was  the  first  shock 
that  did  the  damage,  and  which  started  the 
conflagration  that  completed  the  city's  ruin. 
With  gas  escaping  everywhere  from  the  broken 
gas  mains  to  aid  in  the  quick  spread  of  the 
flames,  and  with  the  supply  of  water  cut  off  by 
reason  of  the  broken  water  mains,  the  citizens 
were  next  to  helpless  as  the  flames  swept  first 
over  the  business  section  and  then  spread  to 
the  residence  section  until,  according  to  Gen- 
eral Funston's  estimate,  200,000  people  were 
rendered  homeless   in  twenty-four  hours. 


HAD  it  not  been  that  the  full  force  of  the 
shock  was  limited  to  the  business  sec- 
tion and  came  at  an  hour  when  that  section 
was  comparatively  deserted,  San  Francisco 
might  have  furnished  a  loss  of  life  equal  to 
that  seen  when  Lisbon  was  destroyed  by  an 
earthquake  and  sixty  thousand  persons  were 
killed.  Had  the  stone  walls  of  San  Fran- 
cisco's tall  steel  structures  fallen  a  few  hours 
later  into  streets  teeming  with  a  busy  throng, 
had  the  big  department  stores  collapsed  when 
filled  with  shoppers,  there  would  have  been 
thousands  of  deaths  where  there  were  hun- 
dreds.    It  was  bad  enough,  Heaven  knows, 


as  it  was;  but  how  much  worse  it  might  have 
been!  The  city  can  be  and  will  be  rebuilt 
and  its  beauty  and  glory  may  in  the  years  to 
come  be  really  enhanced  by  the  catastrophe. 
Says  the  New  York  Times'. 

"That  there  has  been  a  lamentable  disaster 
admits  of  no  doubt.  But,  apart  from  the  irrepa- 
rable loss  of  life,  the  great  earthquake  of  San 
Francisco  of  1906  may  be  as  much  a  blessing  in 
disguise  as  the  great  fire  of  Chicago  in  1871.  We 
may  be  quite  confident  that  the.  new  San  Francisco 
will  bear  as  improved  a  relation  to  the  old  as  that 
which  is  no  longer  the  new  Chicago  bears  to  the 
temporary  settlement  on  the  swampy  river  which 
was  the  site  of  Chicago  before  the  fire." 


FIRE  and  earthquake  have,  indeed,  rendered 
feasible  for  San  Francisco  a  scheme  for 
her  improvement  and  reconstruction  upon 
which  many  civic  enthusiasts  have  expended 
large  sums  to  little  purpose  hitherto.  The  Cali- 
fornian  metropolis  is  a  city  of  hills,  or  rather  a 
metropolis  amid  hills.  Scarcely  was  it  in  ruins 
when  a  plan  to  rear  a  new  San  Francisco  was 
well  under  way.  Indeed,  this  very  plan  had 
been  formed  months  back.  The  earthquake 
merely  made  it  timely.  There  is  to  be  a  civic 
center,  which,  according  to  an  article  in  The 
Overland  Monthly,  will  be  about  where  the 
ruined  City  Hall  stood,  and  from  which  the 
restored  streets  will  diverge  as  spokes  from 
the  hub  of  a  wheel.  Here  will  be  the  City 
Hall,  a  Custom-House,  Federal  buildings,  with 
such  civic  institutions  as  academies,  an  opera- 
house  and  the  library.  All  roads  will  lead  to 
this  center  as  the  pivot  on  which  the  newly 
built  city  will  turn  and  have  its  being.  Steel- 
framed  structures  will  be  necessary.  The  les- 
son of  the  earthquake  seems  to  be  not  that 
tall  buildings  are  dangerous,  but  that  all  those 
which  are  not  strongly  skeletonized  are  liable 
to  collapse.  This  plan  for  the  reconstruction 
of  San  Francisco  originated  in  the  mind  of 


456 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


D.  H.  Burnham  and  his 
associates,  and  has  been 
supported  by  an  associa- 
tion formed  some  time 
ago  to  co-operate  in  se- 
curing its  adoption.  San 
Francisco  has  for  months 
past  bestowed  so  much 
thought  upon  the  radical 
reconstruction  of  her  bus- 
iness section  and  her 
slums  that  the  emergency 
does  not  find  her  unpre- 
pared so  far  as  plans  for 
the  future  go.  But  in  the 
structures  of  the  new  San 
Francisco,  according  to 
the  distinguished  Ameri- 
can geologist,  Major  Clar- 
ence Edward  Dutton,  the 
science  of  seismology  will 
have  to  be  carefully  con- 
sidered, that  a  type  of 
building  may  be  evolved 
adapted  to  the  elastic 
wave-motion  to  which  the 
earth's  crust  in  California 
is  prone.  The  Japanese 
learned  that  lesson  long 
ago. 


I  T  is  the  suddenness  of 


THE  BUSINESS  SECTION  OP  SAN   FRANCISCO 

This  whole  section  is  in  ruins.  The  first  shock  of  theTearthquake«  the  one  that 
did  the  damage,  lasted  less  than  half  a  minute.  What  it  failed  to  do  in  the  way 
of  destruction  the  confiafiri'ation  completed. 


a  calamity  of  this  kind 
that  gives  it  its  most  dreadful  aspect  and  that 
for  the  time  being  stuns  the  mind  and  par- 
alyzes the  will.  Here  is  the  account  of  one 
of  the  eye-witnesses  of  the  scenes  after  the 
earthquake.  It  is  written  by  a  New  York  Sun 
correspondent : 

"Of  the  scenes  which  marked  the  transforma- 
tion of  this  the  gayest,  most  careless  city  on  the 
continent  into  a  wreck  and  a  hell  it  is  harder  to 
write.  That  the  day  started  with  a  blind,  general 
panic  goes  without  saying.  People  woke  with  a 
start  to  find  themselves  flung  on  the  floor.  In 
such  an  earthquake  as  this  it  is  the  human  in- 
stinct to  get  out  of  doors,  away  from  falling  walls. 
The  people  stumbled  across  the  floors  of  their 
heaving  houses  to  find  that  even  the  good  earth 
upon  which  they  placed  their  reliance  was  sway- 
ing and  rising  and  falling  so  that  the  sidewalks 
cracked  and  great  rents  opened  in  the  ground. 

"The  three  minutes  which  followed  were  an 
eternity  of  terror.  Probably  a  dozen  or  more 
persons  died  of  pure  fright  in  that  three  minutes, 
when  there  seemed  no  help  in  earth  or  heaven. 
There  was  a  roar  in  the  air  like  a  great  burst  of 
thunder  and  from  all  about  came  the  crash  of 
falling  walls.     It  died  down  at  last,  leaving  the 


earth  quaking  and  quivering  like  jelly.  Men 
would  run  forward,  stop  as  another  shock,  which 
might  be  greater  any  moment,  seemed  to  take  the 
earth  from  under  their  feet,  and  throw  themselves 
face  downward  on  the  ground  in  an  agony  of 
fear." 

Vesuvius  gave  warnings  of  its  recent  erup- 
tion months  before.  But  the  earthquake  in 
California  gave  no  warning.  It  struck  with 
the  abruptness  of  a  bolt  of  lightning  and  did 
its  worst  work  while  a  person  might  hold  his 
breath.  Not  in  San  Francisco  alone,  but  in 
Palo  Alto  (where  the  buildings  of  the  Leland 
Stanford  University  have  been  severely  in- 
jured), in  Santa  Rosa  (where  not  a  brick  or 
stone  building  was  left  standing)  and  in 
numerous  other  towns  and  small  cities  the 
damage  has  been  proportionately  as  great  as 
in  the  city  by  the  Golden  Gate.  The  whole 
country  has  been  inexpressibly  shocked  and 
measures  for  quick  relief  have  been  promptly 
instituted.  The  exact  loss  of  life  will  probably 
never  be  known.  The  damage  to  property 
runs  into  the  hundreds  of  millions. 


'THE  MAN  WITH  THE  MUCK-RAKE"' 


457 


THE  AUTOGRAPH  WRITTEN  BY  THE  EARTHQUAKE 

The  waving  line  above  tells  the  storyf  in  the  unimpassioned  way  science  has.  of  the  great  tragedy  in  San 
Francisco.     Tt  is  the  line  traced  by  the  pencil  of  a  seismograph  in  the  office  of  the  State  geologist  at  Albany,    \ 
N.  Y.,  3,000  miles  from  the  scene  of  the  tragedy. 


HE  "man  with  the  muck-rake,"  as 
he  originally  appears  in  "Pilgrim's 
Progress,"  is  merely  a  type  of  the 
carnal-minded  man,  who  could  look 
no  way  but  downward,  and  "raked  to  himself 
the  straws,  the  small  sticks  and  dust  of  the 
floor" — that  is  to  say,  the  riches  of  this  world. 
The  expression  has,  however,  been  extensively 
applied  of  late  to  writers  in  the  papers  and 
the  magazines  who  make  a  specialty  of  ex- 
posing gjaft  and  corruption  in  corporate  and 
political  life.  There  are  protests  from  many 
sources  from  those  who  think  that  this  "liter- 
ature of  exposure"  is  being  overdone.  Senator 
Lodge  raised  his  voice  in  the  Senate  lately  to 
denounce  reckless  attacks  upon  public  men. 
District-Attorney  Jerome,  evidently  stung  by 
the  persistent  criticism  of  his  recent  attitude 
in  regard  to  criminal  prosecutions  of  insur- 
ance officials,  expressed  himself  caustically  on 
the  "hysteria"  which  he  discerns  in  the  present 
state  of  public  sentiment.  Ex-Goveritbr  Black 
has  expressed  the  view  that  the  idea  has  gone 
almost  wild  in  this  country  to-day  that  "the 
only  way  to  prove  oneself  simon-pure  and 
God's  noblest  work  is  not  to  have  a  dollar." 
Into  the  midst  of  the  discussion  aroused  by 
these  and  other  utterances  has  come  President 
Roosevelt's  speech  at  the  laying  of  the  corner- 
stone of  the  new  office  building  for  the  House 
of  Representatives. 


THE  President  was  careful  to  distinguish 
between  those  writers  who  are  indis- 
criminate in  their  assaults  upon  the  character 
of  public  men  and  those  who  remember  that 
an  attack  even  upon  an  evil  man  is  of  use  only 
when  free  from  hysterical  exaggeration  and 
absolutely  true.  "Expose  the  crime  and  hunt 
down  the  criminal,"  he  said,  "but  remember 
that  even  in  the  case  of  crime  if  it  is  attacked 
in  sensational,  lurid  and  untruthful  fashion. 


it  may  do  more  damage  to  the  public  mind 
than  the  crime  itself."  Worse  even  than  hys- 
terical excitement  is  "a  sodden  acquiescence  in 
evil,"  and  the  present  unrest  is  therefore  an 
encouraging  sign ;  but  if  it  is  to  result  in  per- 
manent good,  the  emotion  must  be  translated 
into  action  that  is  marked  by  honesty,  sanity 
and  self-restraint.  "There  is  mighty  little 
good  in  a  mere  spasm  of  reform.  The  reform 
that  counts  is  that  which  comes  through 
steady,  continuous  growth.  Violent  emotion- 
alism leads  to  exhaustion."  The  work  of  re- 
form is  not  merely  a  long  uphill  pull.  "There 
is  almost  as  much  of  breeching  work  as  of 
collar  work;  to  depend  only  on  traces  means 
that  there  will  soon  be  a  runaway  and  an 
upset."    Moreover : 

"The  Eighth  Commandment  reads,  Thou  shalt 
not  steal'  It  does  not  read,  Thou  shalt  not  steal 
from  the  rich  man.'  It  does  not  read,  Thou 
shalt  not  steal  from  the  poor  man/  It  reads 
simply  and  plainly,  Thou  shalt  not  steal.'  No 
good  whatever  will  come  from  that  warped  and 
mock  morality  which  denounces  the  misdeeds  of 
men  of  wealth  and  forgets  the  misdeeds  prac- 
tised at  their  expense;  which  denounces  bribery, 
but  blinds  itself  to  blackmail;  which  foams  with 
rage  if  a  corporation  secures  favors  by  improper 
methods  and  merely  leers  with  hideous  mirth  if 
the  corporation  is  itself  wronged.  The  only  pub- 
lic servant  who  can  be  trusted  honestly  to  pro- 
tect the  rights  of  the  public  against  the  misdeed 
of  a  corporation  is  that  public  man  who  will  just 
as  surely  protect  the  corporation  itself  from 
wrongful  aggression.  If  a  public  man  is  willing 
to  yield  to  popular  clamor  and  do  wrong  to  the 
men  of  wealth  or  to  rich  corporations,  it  may 
be  set  down  as  certain  that  if  the  opportunity 
comes  he  will  secretly  and  furtively  do  wrong  to 
the  public  in  the  interest  of  a  corporation." 

Throughout  the  address  the  President 
evinced  fear  of  an  injurious  reaction  in  the 
public  mind,  and  he  went  so  far  as  to  point 
out  one  case  in  which  injury  has  already  been 
done  to  the  public  service.    "One  serious  diffi- 


458 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


THE  WRITER  OP  "THE  TREASON   OF  THE 
SENATE  »• 

The  above  title  of  David  Graham  Phillips's  series  of 
articles,  placarded  in  large  tyt)e  on  the  bill-boards  of 
Washington,  bad  much  to  do,  it  is  thought,  with  eliciting 
the  President's  muck-rake  speech. 

culty,"  he  said,  "encountered  in  getting  the 
right  type  of  men  to  dig  the  Panama  Canal 
is  the  certainty  that  they  will  be  exposed  both 
without  and,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  within  Con- 
gress to  utterly  reckless  assaults  on  their 
capacity  and  character.  What  the  President 
said  on  this  subject  has  received  general  ap- 
proval both  from  radicals  and  conservatives. 


DISCUSSION  of  this  subject,  as  already 
stated,  had  reached  a  point  of  consider- 
able intensity  even  before  the  President  made 
his  speech.  The  campaign  of  exposure,  said 
Mr.  Norman  Hapgood,  editor  of  Collier^ s,  in 
a  speech  in  St.  Louis,  "has  not  gone  half  far 
enough.  ...  It  will  not  hurt  us  to  know 
all  the  facts  about  our  communities.  How  is 
it  possible  to  be  a  self-governing  community 
unless  we  know  everything  of  the  political  and 
financial  methods  going  on  at  the  head  of  our 
affairs?" 

This  question,  says  the  Spring^eld  Repub- 
lican, is  more  theoretical  than  practical.  Re- 
formers must  take  the  American  people  as 
they  are 'and  they  "will  as  surely  tire  of  ex- 
posures as  of  roller  skates  or  bicycles."  It 
continues  in  words  that  have  the  greater 
weight  because  of  the  keen  and  intelligent 
sympathy  which  The  Republican  has  steadily 
shown  in  the  purposes,  if  not  always  in  the 
methods,  of  even  the  most  radical  groups  of 
reformers : 

"Believe  us,  there  is  nothing  more  to  be  gained 
at  present  by  piling  np  examples  of  corruption 
either  in  political  or  business  life.  Worst  of  all 
must  be  mere  reiteration  of  what  has  already  been 
said,  only  in  far  more  lurid  and  reckless  form.  It 
is  the  overstraining  for  effect  that  impels  the  gal- 
lery to  mock  the  hero  of  melodrama,  and  in  the 
same  way  the  overworking  of  the  materials  in 
this  chapter  of  exposure  must  produce  the  same 
result.  Reaction  is  generally  caused  by  excess,  or 
satiety.  And  it  is  our  observation  that  the  public 
to-day  cannot  be  safely  fed  on  warmed-over  tales 
of  public  scoundrelism.  There  is  a  positive  dan- 
ger to  the  reforms  which  all  desire,  in  provoking 
a  reactionary  spirit  in  the  land.    .    .    . 

"The  time,  then,  has  come  when  all  the  ener- 
gies of  reform  should  be  concentrated  upon  the 
reaping  of  the  fruits  of  the  popular  uprising.  The 
time  for  exposure  has  passed,  notwithstanding 
that  Mr.  Hapgood  is  right,  perhaps,  in  thinking 
that  it  has  not  gone  *half  far  enough.'  The  quick- 
ening of  the  public  conscience,  which  has  been 
the  splendid  achievement  of  those  who  have  laid 
bare  the  anatomy  of  modern  pelf,  should  now  be 
materialized  into  measures  which  will  distinguish 
the  present  period  as  one  that  scored  an  advance 
no  possible  reaction  could  overcome." 


ANOTHER  SERIES    OF    MANHOLE    EXPLOSIONS, 
BUT  JEROME  DOESN'T  MIND 

— Macauley  in  N.  Y.  Worid. 


A  DEFENSE  of  the  press  in  this  relation 
is  ?idvanced  by  the  conservative  New  York 
Times.  It  admits  that  "the  incendiaries  of 
the  ten-cent  weekly  and  monthly  field"  seem 
to  have  discarded  conscience  and  lost  their 
sense  of  responsibility,  but  we  must  remember 
that  even  the  magazines  cannot  make  bricks 
without  straw.     It  continues: 

"It  is  not  surprising  that  the  bricks  they  make 
should  partake  of  the  hue  of  their  material,  and 
no  one  will  deny  that  the  straw  supplied  to  them 


THE  LITERATURE  OF  EXPOSURE'' 


4S9 


during  the  past  year  has  been  very  yellow  in- 
deed. The  most  reckless  and  sensational  news- 
paper cannot  out  of  its  own  resources  create 
any  harmful  degree  of  public  excitement.  There 
must  be  something  to  be  excited  about.  The 
frauds,  the  wrongs,  the  extortions,  the  breaches 
of  trust,  the  corruptions,  and  the  'graft'  that 
have  come  to  light  during  the  twelve-month  have 
been  flagitious  enough  to  stir  any  people  to  an- 
ger. In  the  main  the  press  has  but  reflected  the 
public  temper.  That  the  wrath  of  the  people  and 
their  excitement  or  hysteria  have  been  raised  to 
a  higher  pitch  through  the  exaggerations  and  the 
reckless  sensationalism  of  the  press  is  doubtless 
true,  but  the  occasion  and  the  substance  of  the  re- 
sentment were  not  of  its  making.  For  the  most 
part  it  has  been  true  to  its  function  of  present- 
ing the  picture  of  the  times." 

A  note  of  jubilant  optimism  comes  from  the 
New  Orleans  Times-Democrat  as  it  considers 
the  situation: 

"From  pulpit  and  university  and  press  one 
hears  voices  which  have  been  stifled  too  long. 
Through  all  the  veins  of  the  body  politic  there 
thrills  the  vigor  of  fresh  blood.  Ideas  long  ac- 
cepted as  gospel  truth  are  imperiously  challenged. 
Men  long  worshipped  for  their  plutocratic  for- 
tunes are  snatched  from  their  pedestals.  The 
prophets  of  the  new  order  have  ceased  to  stand 
in  the  pillory.  In  this  mighty  conflict  nothing  will 
perish  that  ought  to  endure,  nor  will  individual 
or  class  be  despoiled  of  aught  that  is  held  by 
sound  title;  but  we  must  look  beneath  the  sur- 
face, if  we  would  reclaim  our  heritage  and  pos- 
sess the  substance  of  freedom  once  more.  A 
trumpet  has  sounded  and  it  is  a  trumpet  that 
will  never  call  retreat." 

One  of  the  most  famous  and  discriminating 
authors  of  the  recent  literature  of  exposure, 
Mr.  Lincoln  Steflfens,  in  bringing  his  recent 
series  of  articles  on  the  Government  at  Wash- 
ington to  a  close,  has  this  to  say  on  the  general 
subject  of  graft  in  America: 

"My  belief  is  that  so  far  as  our  government  is 
bad,  the  evil  thereof  is  chargeable,  not  to  partic- 
ular bad  men,  but  to  the  good  citizens;  and  that 
not  alone  their  neglect,  but  their  (often  uncon- 
scious) participation  in  some  form  (often  uni- 
dentified) of  graft,  keeps  them  'apathetic'  Bank- 
ers call  themselves  good  citizens ;  I  know  three  or 
four  who  are.  I  should  like  to  have  the  others 
ask  themselves  why  they  are  leaving  reform  to 
what  they  call  'Socialists.'  Isn't  it  because  they 
are  not  only  busy,  but  in  on  the  graft  some- 
where ?" 


|OMETHING  very  like  a  sensation 
was  created  by  the  utterance  made 
by  President  Roosevelt,  in  his 
"muck-rake"  speech,  in  favor  of  a 
progressive  inheritance  tax  on  large  fortunes. 
The  utterance  on  this  point  was  incidental  and 
brief,  but  it  has  overshadowed  all  the  rest  of 
the  speech  so  far  as  the  newspaper  comment 


ifJ 


HE  HUNTS  THE  ADULTERATORS  OF  FOOD 

Mr.  Norman  Hapj^ood,  of  Collier*Ss  believes  the  cam- 
Af^n  of  exposure  has  not  yet  gone  half  far  enougfh. 
e  will  keep  on  with  his  part  of  the  campaign. 


This   is  what  he  said  on  the 


is  concerned, 
subject: 

"As  a  matter  of  personal  conviction,  without 
pretending  to  discuss  the  details  or  jronnulate 
the  system,  I  feel  that  we  shall  ultimately  have 
to  consider  the  adoption  of  some  such  scheme  as 
that  of  a  progressive  tax  on  all  fortunes  beyond 
a  certain  amount  either  given  in  life  or  devised 
or  bequeathed  upon  death  to  any  individual— a 
tax  so  framed  as  to  put  it  out  of  the  power  of 
the  owner  of  one  of  these  enormous  fortunes  to 
hand  on  more  than  a  certain  amount  to  any  one 
individual — the  tax,  of  course,  to  be  imposed  by 
the  national  and  not  the  State  government.    Such 


ONLY  "A  FIT  OF  HYSTERIA" 

—Rogers  in  N.  Y.  Herald. 


/ 


JOHN  D.  ROCKEFELLER  OF  TO-DAY 

'^*^rt  oaoJr^*^  ^®  ^^^  lately  donned  a  wig  and  has  been  blessed  with  a  new  grandson  lead  some 
facetlo***^^^*''"®  to  juggle  with  the  phrases  "nair-apparent"  and  "heir-apparent."  If  President  Roose- 
velfB  ioperixance  tax  ever  prevails,  no  one  will  be  more  affected  by  it  than  Mr.  Rockefeller  and  his  heir- 
apparent.  ^  '  ^ 


PRESIDENT  ROOSEVELTS  LATEST  SENSATION 


461 


Lincoln  Steffens's  specialty  is  cor- 
rnption  in  municipal  and  state  poli- 
tic*. 


Miss  Ida  Tarbell  is  the  historian  of 
Standard  Oil  and  the  biographer  of 
John  D.   Rockefeller. 


Ray  Stannard  Baker  makes  a 
specialty  of  railroad  corporations, 
bat  does  not  limit  himself  to  them. 


THREE  LEADING  PRODUCERS  OF  "THE  LITERATURE  OF  EXPOSURE" 


taxation  should,  of  course,  be  aimed  merely  at 
the  inheritance  or  transmission  in  their  entirety 
of   fortunes   swollen  beyond   all   healthy   limits. 

"A  monstrous  proposition"  is  the  way  the 
New  York  Times  characterizes  this  suggestion : 

"Mr.  Roosevelt,  we  are  ready  to  believe,  did  not 
see  its  full  meaning  or  the  way  in  which  it  would 
be  taken.  That  does  not  change,  it  certainly  does 
not  lessen,  its  baleful  significance.  If  ownership 
beyond  a  limit  to  be  fixed  by  vote  of  Congress 
is  an  offense,  tlven  all  ownership  is  exposed  to 
punishment,  since  Congress  can  change  the  limit 
from  year  to  year.  And  in  the  long  run  the  very 
right  of  property  becomes  dependent  on  the  view 
the  majority  for  the  moment  may  happen  to  take ; 
the  fifty-acre  farm,  the  two-story  cottage,  is  no 
safer  than  the  palace  of  the  millionaire.  What 
notion  could  be  more  directly  adapted  to  in- 
flame the  passions  of  the  multitude  than  the  no- 
tion that  beyond  a  line  they  are  themselves  to  set 
possession  is  criminal?  With  possibly  the  best 
of  motives,  with  a  pathetic  endeavor  to  be  mod- 
erate and  balanced,  Mr.  Roosevelt,  the  President 
of  the  United  States,  has  set  a  pace  the  wildest 
Socialist  cannot  exceed  toward  a  goal  the  Anar- 
chist is  seeking." 

The  New  York  World  is  unable  to  see  any- 
thing revolutionary  in  the  suggestion: 

"To  tax  fortunes  'given  in  life*  might  indeed 
prove  so  diflScult  as  to  compel  in  practice  the 
substitution  of  an  income  tax.  But  neither  this 
nor  the  proposed  inheritance  tax  is  revolutionary 
or  alarming.  Both  might  be  highly  desirable 
measures  of  taxation,  especially  if  coupled  with 
a  decided  lightening  of  the  excessive  burdens  of 
the  tariff  upon  consumers.     Both  are  now  col- 


lected in  most  of  the  progressive  European  gov- 
ernments, and  both  have  been  collected  in  this 
country."  

ACCORDING  to  The  Sun's  correspondent, 
little  else  was  discussed  in  Washington 
by  public  men  the  next  day  but  the  President's 
proposition.  Some  denounced  it  as  rank  social- 
ism and  pointed  to  the  platform  on  which  Eu- 
gene Debs  ran  for  the  presidency  in  1904, 
pledging  the  party  to  "graduated  taxation  of 
incomes,  inheritances,  franchises  and  land 
values."  Cable  despatches  from  England  rep- 
resent a  lively  interest  there  in  the  President's 
suggestion.  The  London  Daily  News  thinks 
public  opinion  will  approve  it.  The  London 
Telegraph  says  the  doctrine  will  not  sound 
very  dreadful  to  Englishmen,  who  have  long 
had  an  income  tax  combined  with  the  prin- 
ciple of  graduation.  The  London  Express 
says  that  the  same  suggestion  has  been  made 
by  scores  of  political  economists.  Several  of 
our  Western  governors  have  indorsed  the 
President's  views,  among  them  Governor  El- 
rod,  of  South  Dakota,  and  Governor  Brooks 
of  Wyoming.  Ex- Judge  John  F.  Dillon,  the 
noted  corporation  lawyer,  sums  up  his  views 
on  the  subject  in  the  sentence:  "The  whole 
of  our  prosperity  rests  in  individual  freedom, 
the  inviolability  of  private  property,  and  the 
sacredness  of  contracts."  Such  a  measure  as 
the  President  proposes  would.  Judge  Dillon 


462 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


thinks,  destroy  the  incentive  to  activity  and  the 
mainspring  to  labor.  The  Philadelphia  Press 
regards  it  as  *'the  most  radical  proposition 
ever  made  by  a  President  of  the  United 
States."  The  Chicago  Tribune  observes  that 
"if  tlie  genius  of  the  President  succeeds  in 
formulating  a  system,  which  he  does  not  at 
present  pretend  to  do,  he  will  have  done  more 
to  deprive  anarchists  and  agitators  of  their 
fuel  for  class  hatred  than  could  be  done  in  any 
other  way." 


HE  center  of  the  stage,  in  our 
national  affairs,  during  the  last  few 
weeks,  has  been  held  by  the  courts, 
especially  the  Federal  courts.  The 
attention  which  was  concentrated  a  short  time 
ago  upon  the  Senate  and  its  powers,  and  be- 
fore that  upon  the  President  and  his  powers, 
is  now  focused  upon  the  judicial  branch  of  the 
Federal  Government.  Various  events  have 
brought  this  to  pass.  The  important  decision 
by  the  Supreme  Court  in  the  tobacco  trust  and 
paper  trust  cases  (noted  by  us  last  month) 
has  awakened  wide  and  enthusiastic  comment. 
The  decision  of  Judge  Humphrey  in  the  meat- 
packers'  case  has  caused  disappointment,  so 
far  at  least  as  the  press  is  concerned,  equally 
intense  and  widespread.  The  decision  secured 
by  Attorney-General  Hadley,  of  Missouri,  re- 
quiring answers  to  his  questions  on  the  part 
of  Standard  Oil  magnates  has  evoked  many 
expressions  of  editorial  delight  and  of  con- 
gratulations   for   the  young  attorney-general. 


SAFE! 

— Macauley  in  N.  Y.  Wor/4/. 


The  lynching  of  a  negro  in  Chattanooga,  in 
violation  of  a  stay  of  execution  granted  by  the 
United  States  Supreme  Court,  is  an  event  that 
has  unprecedented  features  and  may  have 
some  momentous  consequences.  The  visit  of 
officials  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor 
to  President  Roosevelt  to  demand  that  the 
right  of  Federal  courts  to  issue  writs  of  in- 
junction in  labor  disputes  be  abolished  and  the 
President's  reply  furnish  more  very  interest- 
ing material  for  discussion  and  political  spec- 
ulation. A  new  decision  by  the  Supreme  Court 
on  the  subject  of  divorce,  to  the  effect  that  no 
divorce,  if  granted  by  a  State  in  which  birt 
one  party  to  the  divorce  is  a  resident,  is  en- 
forceable in  other  States,  may,  it  is  thought, 
render  20,000  children  illegitimate  and  place 
hundreds  of  women,  some  of  high  social  po- 
sition, in  a  very  embarrassing  position.  And 
finally  the  foremost  issue  up  for  debate  in 
Washington  this  year — ^that  of  railroad  rate 
regulation — has  revolved,  in  late  weeks,  around 
the  relation  of  the  Federal  courts  to  Con- 
gress and  the  extent  of  the  right  of  the 
latter  to  abridge  the  powers  and  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  former.  This  series  of  events 
has  not  yet  produced  any,  articles  in  our  ten- 
cent  magazines  on  "The  Treason  of  the 
Supreme  Court,"  but  it  has  elicited  some  sharp 
criticism  and  some  very  jubilant  commenda- 
tion, and  the  magazines  may  be  trusted  to  get 
into  the  procession  this  month  or  next.  The 
first  line  of  attack  is  probably  indicated  in  the 
remark  by  Mr.  Bryan's  paper.  The  Commoner, 
that  "one  of  the  essential  reforms  of  to-day 
is  the  abolition  pf  the  life-tenure  federal 
judiciary." 


HAT  is  called  "the  meat-packers' 
decision"  has  evolved  a  new  phrase 
for  our  dictionary-makers  to  take 
note  of.  The  phrase  is  "immunity 
bath."  Attorney-General  Moody  is  respon- 
sible for  the  phrase,  but  whether  Commissioner 
Garfield,  or  Judge  Humphrey,  of  the  United 
States  district  court  at  Chicago,  or  Thomas 
Jefferson,  who  drafted  the  Federal  Constitu- 
tion, is  responsible  for  the  thing  itself  is  a 
subject  of  dispute.  The  occasion  that  gave  it 
birth  was  the  criminal  prosecution  of  the 
meat-packers — sixteen  of  them — for  viola- 
tions of  the  anti-trust  law.  They  pleaded  im- 
munity from  penalty  under  the  provision  in 
the  fifth  amendment  of  the  Constitution  that 
says  no  person  "shall  be  compelled  in  any 
criminal  case  to  be  a  witness  against  himself." 


MEAT'PACKERS  AND  ''IMMUNITY  BATHS'' 


463 


Their  claim  was  that,  under  legal  compulsion, 
they  had  given  evidence  to  Commissioner  Gar- 
field, of  the  bureau  of  corporations,  in  his 
recent  investigation;  that  this  evidence  had 
been  turned  over  to  the  judicial  department 
and  formed  in  part  the  basis  of  the  prosecu- 
tion. The  attorney-general  scouted  the  plea 
for  immunity  as  absurd,  and  he  pictured  the 
result  if  it  prevailed.  Washington  would  be- 
come a  health  resort  for  all  sorts  of  corpora- 
tion magnates  pursuing  devious  ways.  'T  can 
imagine  them  meeting,"  he  said,  "and  saying: 
'Good  morning,  good  morning,  Mr.  Rocke- 
feller, have  you  had  your  immunity  bath  this 
morning?'  Look  at  the  absurdity  of  the 
thing!" 

Judge  Humphrey  looked,  and  then  decided 
that  whether  or  not  "the  thing"  was  absurd, 
it  was  according  to  law.  He  said  in  his 
decision : 

"Garfield  came  to  the  defendants  and  held  up 
before  them  the  powers  of  his  office.  They  did 
not  go  to  him  and  volunteer  anything.  Now, 
since  the  defendants  volunteered  nothing,  but 
gfave  only  what  was  demanded  by  an  officer,  who 
had  the  right  to  make  the  demand,  and  gave  in 
good  faith  under  a  sense  of  legal  compulsion,  I 
am  of  the  opinion  that  they  were  entitled  to  im- 
munity." 

This  immunity  extends  not  to  the  corpora- 
tion itself  but  only  to  the  individuals  who  con- 
duct it  Whereat  a  harsh  and  bitter  laugh 
has  been  heard  throughout  the  land.  For  a 
corporation  cannot  be  imprisoned. 


NOTHING  less  than  a  calamity  has  befallen 
the  country,  according  to  Attorney- 
General  Moody's  view — a  calamity  to  "the 
government,  the  people,  the  laws  and  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  laws."  For  apparently  the 
case  cannot  be  appealed  to  a  higher  court, 
and  as  it  stands,  it  seems  to  put  an  effectual 
end  to  the  usefulness  of  the  bureau  of  corpora- 
tions. Such  a  conservative  paper  as  The 
Journal  of  Commerce  (New  York)  has  the 
following  to  say  concerning  the  decision: 

*The  more  the  ruling  of  Judge  Humphrey  in 
the  Chicago  Packers'  case  is  considered  the  more 
extraordinary  it  appears,  and  it  is  hardly  con- 
ceivable that  it  can  be  sound  judicial  doctrine.  It 
seems  as  though  some  influence  must  have  oper- 
ated upon  Uie  judicial  mind  besides  a  desire  to 
see  the  law  vindicated  against  the  designs  of  its 
willful  violators." 

This  seems  to  the  Topeka  Capital  unjust. 
Judge  Humphrey,  it  says,  "has  a  specially 
clean  reputation,"  and  was  a  judge  in  a  thou- 
sand to  try  the  beef  trust.  The  fault,  it  thinks, 
is  in  the  failure  of  law  to  keep  abreast  of  the 


times.  Centuries  ago,  in  the  age  of  tortures, 
it  was  necessary,  in  order  to  protect  the  inno- 
cent, to  exempt  them  from  testifying  against 
themselves.  That  exemption  now  is  the  strong 
defense  of  the  guilty.  But  Judge  Humphrey 
is  not  responsible  for  the  law  as  it  exists.  A 
great  many  papers  blame  Commissioner  Gar- 
field.    Says  the  Boston  Herald: 

"This  breakdown  of  the  government's  criminal 
prosecution  was  not  due  to  any  fault  or  lack  in 
the  office  of  the  attorney-general.  It  is  charge- 
able wholly  to  the  heedless  if  not  ignorant  action 
of  Commissioner  Garfield  in  prosecuting  his  in- 
quiries for  information  with  so  little  knowledge 
and  care  as  to  release  the  men  whom  he  subjected 
to  his  legal  'force  pump'  from  any  personal  lia- 
bilities for  their  acts  or  for  those  of  the  corpora- 
tions which  they  control  and  direct.  .  .  .  Had 
a  commissioner  of  greater  legal  knowledge  and 
experience,  imbued  with  a  desire  to  do  thmgs  in 
the  right  way  rather  than  to  do  them  'anyhow,' 
been  intrusted  with  the  duty  of  prying  into  the 
affairs  of  great  corporations,  this  humiliating  fail- 
ure might  have  been  spared  the  administration." 

In  a  special  message  to  Congress  on  the  sub- 
ject, President  Roosevelt  declares  that  Com- 
missioner Garfield  had  only  performed  the  duty 
imposed  on  him  by  Congp*ess.  He  characterizes 
the  decision  of  the  judge  in  strong  terms  which 
have  created  another  presidential  sensation. 
"Such  interpretation  of  the  law  comes  measur- 
ably near  making  the  law  a  farce,"  he  says, 
and  to  make  the  will  of  Congress  "absolutely 
abortive."  He  adds :  "I  can  hardly  believe  that 
the  ruling  of  Judge  Humphrey  will  be  fol- 
lowed by  other  judges."  He  urges  the  enact- 
ment of  new  legislation  declaring  the  will 
of  Congp*ess  more  explicitly. 


The  Law  :  Bagged,  by  Jingo ! 

The  Onlooker  :  Only  the  bag,  by  Jingo ! 

— Warren  in  Boston  Heraid. 


464 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


HE  cry  against  the  courts  because 
of  "government  by  injunction*'  is 
again  heard.  It  was  raised  last 
month  in  the  White  House  in  a 
presentation  of  grievances  made  to  the  Presi- 
,dent  by  leaders  of  the  American  Federation 
of  Labor,  who  claim  to  represent  a  member- 
ship of  two  million  wage-earners.  At  the  end 
of  their  presentation  address  these  words  were 
used: 

"As  labor's  representatives,  we  ask  you  to  re- 
dress these  grievances,  for  it  is  in  your  power 
to  do  so.  Labor  now  appeals  to  you  and  we 
trust  that  it  may  not  be  in  vain.  But  if  per- 
chance you  may  not  heed  us,  we  shall  appeal 
to  the  conscience  and  the  support  of  our  fellow- 
citizens." 

If  the  press  correctly  interpret  these  words 
and  the  subsequent  action  of  the  Federation's 
executive  council,  they  mean  a  new  and  dis- 
tinct labor  party  in  the  near  future.  The  pur- 
pose of  this  party  will  be,  as  stated  by  the 
council,  to  "elect  men  from  our  own  ranks 
to  make  new  laws  and  administer  them  along 
the  lines  laid  down  in  the  legislative  demands 
of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  and  at 
the  same  time  secure  an  impartial  judiciary 
that  will  not  govern  us  by  arbitrary  injunctions 
of  courts,  nor  act  as  the  pliant  tools  of  corpora- 
tions." The  petition  presented  to  the  Presi- 
dent and  later  to  Speaker  Cannon  contained  a 
number  of  grievances — the  suspension  of  the 
eight-hour  law  at  Panama,  the  alleged  relaxa- 
tion in  the  administration  of  the  Chinese  ex- 
clusion laws,  the  unsympathetic  attitude  of  the 
present  Labor  Committee  in  the  House  of 
Representatives,  the  insufficient  restrictions  on 
immigp*ation,  and  the  competition  of  convict 
labor;  but  the  grievance  that  was  evidently 
regarded  as  the  most  important  of  all  was 
the  one  that  relates  to  "government  by  in- 
junction." 


THE  reply  made  by  the  President  on  the  dif- 
ferent subjects  laid  before  him  has  re- 
ceived fully  as  enthusiastic  praise  as  anything 
he  has  ever  said.  Speaking  on  the  question  of 
injunctions,  he  regretted  that  the  delegation 
had  not  been  more  specific  in  its  complaint.  He 
asserted  that  he  was  in  favor  of  the  bill  now 
before  Congress  to  prevent  certain  abuses 
of  the  writ  of  injunction,  but  that  if  the 
bill  was  unsatisfactory  to  the  Federation 
they  could  probably  kill  it  readily  as  the 
capitalistic  elements  are  also  strongly  opposed 
to  it.  He  declared  that  in  the  four  and  a  half 
years  that  he  has  been  in  the  White  House 


the  writ  of  injunction  has  not  been  invoked 
once  by  the  Federal  Government  against  labor, 
but  has  often  been  invoked  against  capitaL 
And  in  conclusion  he  stated  that  labor  could 
not  reasonably  ask  for  immunity  from  injunc- 
tion by  the  courts  for  acts  that  were  wrong, 
and  that  he  would  invoke  it  just  as  readily 
against  labor  as  against  capital  if  the  occasion 
called  for  it.  The  entire  response  by  the  Presi- 
dent was  made,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Phila- 
delphia Public  Ledger,  "with  a  candor,  good 
judgment,  good  temper  and  good  taste  that 
must  everywhere  meet  admiring  recognition." 
Whether  the  Federation  leaders  admired  it  we 
do  not  know;  but  it  does  not  seem  to  have 
satisfied  them.  The  declaration  for  inde- 
pendent political  action  followed  soon  after. 


THIS  grievance  of  the  Federation  is  the 
subject  of  the  leading  editorial  in  a 
recent  number  of  The  American  Federation- 
ist,  written  and  signed  by  Samuel  Gompers, 
the  head  of  the  Federation.  It  is  entitled  "The 
Injunction  in  Labor  Disputes  Must  Go,"  and 
begins:  "What  we  have  called  Holdomism — 
Holdom,  of  Chicago,  a  judge  beloved  of  pluto- 
cratic lawyers  and  rabid  enemies  of  unionism 
— the  carrying  of  the  injunction  to  unheard-of 
extremes,  is  arousing  the  just  and  natural  in- 
dignation of  honest,  unprejudiced  men."  Mr. 
Gompers  refers  approvingly  to  recent  action 
by  the  Chicago  Typographical  Union  looking 
to  the  formation  of  an  anti -injunction  league, 
"the  sole  purpose  of  which  shall  be  to  compel 
every  candidate  for  office,  without  regard  to 
political  affiliation,  either  national,  state,  or 
municipal,  to  place  himself  on  record  as  op- 
posed to  the  injunction  as  applied  to  trade 
unions,"  and  also  to  the  suggestion  of  a  Kan- 
sas labor-union  that  a  national  conference  be 
held  "for  the  purpose  of  agreeing  upon  the 
best  plan  for  preventing  further  aggressions, 
recovering  lost  ground,  and  securing  such  a 
basis  for  law  as  will  increase  instead  of  de- 
crease respect  for  the  courts."  Says  Mr. 
Gompers : 

"It  is  not  a  question  of  particular  individuals. 
The  whole  system  must  be  attacked.  Judicial 
candidates  everywhere  must  be  made  to  under- 
stand that  the  working  masses  mean  to  assert 
and  defend  their  rights  as  citizens  and  free  men 
— ^the  right  to  trial  by  jury,  the  right  to  free 
speech  and  free  association  within  the  law,  the 
right  of  moral  suasion,  the  right  to  induce  men 
to  join  unions,  the  right  to  use  the  streets  and 
highways  peaceably  and  in  an  orderly  manner. 
All  these  rights,  as  we  have  repeatedly  shown, 
have  been  denied  and  invaded  by  the  injunction 
judges,  and  without  a  shadow  of  justification." 


IS  THERE  TO  BE  A  NEW  LABOR  PARTY? 


465 


MR.  GOMPERS  asserts  that  eminent  law- 
yers and  impartial  jurists  recognize  the 
viciousness  of  the  injunction  proceedings.  He 
quotes  from  a  recent  address  by  Mr.  S.  S. 
Gregory,  ex-President  of  the  Illinois  Bar  As- 
sociation, who  says: 

"So  far  as  I  know,  it  was  he  [Judge  Tuley,  of 
Chicago]  who  coined  the  phrase  'government  by 
injunction'  which  has  gained  such  wide  currency. 
This  expression  not  inaptly  characterizes  those 
efforts  now  so  common  to  commit  to  chancery 
the  enforcement  of  the  criminal  law  under  the 
guise  of  protecting  property  rights.  ...  It 
requires  and  is  bound,  sooner  or  later,  to  receive 
legislative  treatment  as  to  matters  of  procedure, 
which  will  render  it  impossible  for  courts  of 
equity  to  administer  the  ^enal  code  without  any 
limitation  in  respect  of  the  constitutional  rights 
of  the  accused,  under  the  form  of  proceedings  in 
contempt  for  violating  an  injunction.  This  mode 
of  procedure  becomes  peculiarly  obnoxious  and 
hostile  to  liberty  when  it  is  resorted  to  by  the 
nation  or  state  in  respect  of  matters  as  to  which 
the  sovereign  has  no  property  interest,  and  solely 
and  only  for  the  purpose  of  procuring  an  injunc- 
tion against  criminal  conduct  already  prohibited 
by  the  law.  The  necessary  effect  of  this  course  is, 
if  violation  of  an  injunction  thus  obtained  be  al- 
leged, to  deprive  the  accused  of  his  constitutional 
right  to  trial  by  jury,  on  what  is  virtually  a  crim- 
inal accusation." 


WHAT  Mr.  Gompers  has  to  say  about  in- 
junctions does  not  elicit  anything  like 
the  amount  of  comment  that  is  elicited  by  the 
supposed  threat  to  form  a  new  labor  party. 
"Several  so-called  labor  parties  have  figured 
in  the  politics  of  the  United  States,"  observes 
the  St.  Louis  Globe-Democrat.  "Not  one  of 
those  parties  raised  a  ripple  on  the  surface  of 
the  current  of  politics.  The  real  labor  men, 
the  many  millions  of  workers  in  all  fields, 
shunned  those  parties,  as  they  will  shun  the 
one  which  the  federation  wants  to  start,  if  it 
should  ever  get  started." 

A  number  of  journals  find  the  inspiration 
of  this  projected  movement  in  the  recent  suc- 
cess of  the  Labor  party  in  Great  Britain.  Says 
the  Springfield  Republican: 

"It  must  be  admitted  that  the  English  experi- 
ence has  already  taught  labor  in  America  how 
much  more  easily  the  desired  legislation  may  be 
secured  from  parties  in  power  if  only  labor  com- 
mands a  solid  block  of  votes  in  the  arena  of  par- 
liamentary strife.  The  French  experience  teaches 
the  same  lesson.  And  when  such  facts  are  so 
manifest  to  eyes  outside  the  unions,  is  it  absurd 
to  suppose  that  the  American  labor  leaders  them- 
selves are  blind  to  them  ?" 

The  Journal  of  Commerce  (New  York)  de- 
clares that  the  allegation  that  the  writ  of 
injunction  has  been  perverted  so  as  to  attack 


ahd  destroy  personal  freedom  is  "without  a 
shadow  of  foundation."    It  says  further: 

"There  is  a  prevailing  suspicion  that  the  two 
million  enrolled  members  claimed  by  the  Ameri- 
can Federation  of  Labor  are  largely  men  in 
fiction,  and  there  is  a  tolerable  certainty  that  not 
more  than  a  fraction  of  that  number  would  be 
governed  in  their  action  at  the  polls  by  the  cut 
and  dried  formulas  of  their  leaders.  But  organ- 
ized labor  has,  nevertheless,  through  the  lobby  it 
maintains  in  Washington,  succeeded  in  terroriz- 
ing members  of  Congress  to  an  extent  out  of  all 
proportion  to  its  real  strength.  It  would  have  an 
extremely  healthy  influence  on  our  politics  and 
legislation  to  require  this  supposititious  body  of 
American  citizens  to  stand  up  and  be  counted." 

It  is  interesting  to  note,  in  this  connection, 
another  editorial  by  Mr.  Gompers,  recounting 
the  fact  that  Mr.  Hearst's  papers  have  been  of 
late  assailing  the  trade-unions  and  their  lead- 
ers, and  that  a  recent  visit  of  protest  to  Mr. 
Hearst  resulted  in  a  mutual  understanding 
and  a  promise  that  the  attacks  by  his  papers 
should  cease. 

S  THE  long  and  able  debate  in  the 
Senate  on  rate  regulation  nears  its 
close,  it  becomes  more  and  more 
obvious  that  the  crux  of  the  whole 
matter  is  the  question  of  judicial  review. 
All  other  features  of  the  subject  have  al- 
most dropped  out  of  sight,  and  the  discussion 
has  become  one  between  lawyers,  in  which 
such  terms  as  "broad  review,"  "limited  re- 
view," "equity  jurisdiction,"  "judicial  power 
of  the  United  States,"  are  hurled  by  them  at 
one  another  with  the  ease  and  adroitness  of 
Titans  hurling  mountains  at  the  high  Olympic 
gods.  But  the  discussion,  though  a  legal  one, 
has  been  far  from  uninteresting  or  obtuse. 
Even  a  layman  may  follow  it  with  avidity  if 
he  has  the  time  to  read  the  speeches  in  full 
and  does  not  have  to  depend  on  the  mere 
skeleton  reports  in  the  news  despatches.  The 
speeches  by  Foraker,  Lodge,  Spooner,  Rayner, 
Knox,  Bailey,  and  others  constitute,  in  the 
opinion  of  the  Philadelphia  Ledger,  "one  of 
the  most  remarkable  series  of  speeches  ever 
delivered  in  the  history  of  the  Senate."  And 
the  Boston  Herald  questions  whether  the  Sen- 
ate has  ever,  during  the  present  generation, 
shown  in  any  discussion  more  of  the  qualities 
of  statesmanship  than  have  been  exhibited  in 
the  last  few  weeks  in  this  debate. 


THREE  groups  of  Senators  have  gradually 
defined  themselves.     One  group,  led  by 
Senator  Dolliver,  wish  the  Hepburn  bill  passed 


466 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


THE  SENATOR  FROM  KANSAS 

Chester  I.  Long  is  fifoiring  prominently  as  an  advocate 
of  rate  regulation.  He  says:  **  I  object  to  any  plan  which 
proposes  to  confer  the  rate-making  power  on  the  courts, 
either  directly  or  indirectly,  for  such  power  is  confided 
to  Congress  and  not  to  the  courts,  and  the  courts  should 
not  discharge  the  power  even  if  it  is  attempted  to  be 
conferred  by  statute." 

substantially  as  it  came  from  the  lower  house, 
with  its  very  brief  and  incidental  reference 
to  review  by  the  courts.  The  second,  led  by 
Senators  Spooner  and  Knox,  wish  an  amend- 
ment providing  for  full  review  by  the  courts 
of  the  rates  decreed  by  the  commission,  not 
only  as  to  their  "lawfulness"  and  "constitu- 
tionality," but  as  to  their  furnishing  "just 
compensation."  The  third  group,  led  by  Sen- 
ator Bailey,  wish  judicial  review,  but  do  not 
wish  this  review  to  extend  to  the  power  of  set- 
ting aside  the  rates  by  writs  of  injunction,  is- 
sued before  a  full  hearing  of  both  sides.  At 
this  writing,  it  seems  to  be  practically  con- 
ceded on  all  sides  (i)  that  rates  shall  be  reg- 
ulated, and  (2)  that  they  shall  be  subject  to 
some  kind  of  judicial  review.  The  President's 
utterances  have  been  explicit  in  favor  of  a 
court  review.  Congressman  Hepburn  admits 
that  there  is  no  doubt  that  if  his  bill  becomes 
law  the  court  will,  under  its  provisions,  "have 
the  right  to  enjoin  a  rate  fixed  by  the  com- 
mission if  it  is  unreasonably  low,"  even  if  it 
does  not  amount  to  practical  confiscation.  Sen- 
ator Tillman  admits  that  rate  regulation  with- 


out review  by  the  courts  would  be  unconstitu- 
tional. And  Senator  Bailey,  when  asked  by 
Senator  Aldrich  whether  he  is  in  favor  of  "a 
full  and  fair  judicial  determination  finally  of 
the  question  whether  the  rates  fixed  furnish 
just  compensation  or  not,"  replied  in  the  fol- 
lowing emphatic  words: 

"I  am.  I  have  never  seen  the  hour,  and  I  sin- 
cerely trust  I  will  never  see  the  time,  when  I 
can  be  clamored  into  closing  the  doors  of  the 
courts  against  any  person,  natural  or  corporate. 
The  right  to  a  trial  is  not  only  sacred  under  the 
Constitution,  but  it  was  sacred  before  the  Con- 
stitution was  adopted.  If  you  could  destroy  the 
Constitution,  and  if  by  burning  its  parchment 
you  could  release  us  from  our  obligation  to  obey 
its  limitations,  I  should  still  stand  here  contend- 
ing for  the  right  of  every  man  to  have  his  day 
in  court.  But,  Mr.  President,  the  right  to  a  day 
in  court,  the  right  to  have  a  fair  and  an  impar- 
tial trial,  does  not  embrace  the  right  of  allow- 
ing an  arbitrary  Federal  judge  to  set  aside  with- 
out sufficient  inquiry  the  deliberate  judgment  of 
a  competent  and  impartial  board." 


WHAT,  then,  is  the  real  point  of  conten- 
tion? It  is  indicated  in  the  last  few 
words  above.  When  a  certain  rate  has  been 
ordered  by  the  commission,  shall  that  rate 
prevail  until  a  Federal  court  has,  after  a  full 
hearing,  given  its  final  decision,  or  may  it  be 
set  aside  at  once  by  a  writ  of  injunction  issued 
by  the  court  pending  the  full  hearing?  This  is 
an  important  matter  to  the  shipper,  as  well  as 
the  railroad  and  the  public,  for  it  might  be 
years  before   final   adjudication   was   reached 


DESIGN  FOR  A  NEW  COAT  OF  ARMS 

^DeMar  in  Philadelphia  Record, 


A  GREAT  DEBATE  IN  THE  SENATE 


467 


and  the  question  whether  the  rate  ordered  by 
the  commission  or  the  rate  made  by  the  rail- 
road should  prevail  during  these  years  evi- 
dently involves  the  practical  success  or  failure 
of  the  whole  scheme  of  rate  regulation.  The 
Hepburn  bill  leaves  this  question  undeter- 
mined, though,  according  to  Mr.  Hepburn's 
admission  already  quoted,  he  himself  thinks 
the  court's  right  to  enjoin  would  be  undoubted 
under  his  bill.  Senators  Knox  and  Spooner 
maintain  that  if  the  Federal  courts  be  author- 
ized by  Congress  to  review  the  rates  at  all, 
that  authority  must  extend  to  the  issuing  of 
injunctions,  and  Senator  Knox's  bill  provides 
for  this,  but  requires  a  bond  to  be  supplied  by 
the  railroad  to  cover  the  cost  to  the  shipper 
of  the  difference  in  rates  caused  by  the  in- 
junction. Senator  Bailey  insists  that  the  third 
article  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  which  de- 
clares that  "the  judicial  Power  of  the  United 
States  shall  be  vested  in  one  supreme  Court, 
and  in  such  inferior  Courts  as  the  Congress 
may  from  time  to  time  ordain  and  establish," 
makes  all  the  Federal  courts,  except  the 
Supreme  Court  alone,  the  creatures  of  Con- 
gress and  subject  to  its  unlimited  restriction. 


CASE    after    case    is    quoted    by    Senator 
Bailey   to  prove  this   point.     Here   is  a 
sample  quotation  from   the   Supreme  Court's 


NO  COMMON  CARRIER 

Uncle  Sam — '*I  don't  know  as  it  matters  how  I  get  there, 
just  so  I  arrive." 

— Minneapolis  Journal. 


From  it.rcograpb,  copyright  1006, by  Uiiderirood  &  Underwood,  N.  Y. 
LA  FOLLETTE  AS  A  SENATOR 

The  two  Senators  from  Wisconsin,  Spooner  and  La 
Pollette,  thoug^h  both  Republican,  are  at  swords'  points 
on  most  issues.  Spooner  is  a  conservative,  La  Follette 
on  many  issues  a  raaical.  They  are  one  on  the  protective 
tariff,  however. 


decision    in    the    case   of    the   United    States 
versus  Hudson  (7th  Cranch).   Said  the  Court: 

"Of  all  the  courts  which  the  United  States 
may,  under  their  general  powers,  constitute,  one 
only,  the  Supreme  Court,  possesses  jurisdiction 
derived  immediately  from  the  Constitution,  and 
of  which  the  legislative  power  can  not  deprive 
it.  All  other  courts  created  by  the  General  Gov- 
ernment possess  no  jurisdiction  but  what  is  given 
them  by  the  power  that  creates  them  and  can 
be  vested  with  none  but  what  the  power  ceded 
to  the  General  Government  will  authorize  them 
to  confer." 

But,  say  Senators  Spooner  and  Knox,  Con- 
gress cannot  constitute  a  court  of  equity  and 
then  deprive  it  of  the  inherent  functions  of 
such  a  court;  and  "the  power  to  grant  an  in- 
junction, preliminary  or  final,"  is  held  to  be 
such  a  function.     Says  Senator  Knox: 

"Right  here  is  the  vital  part  of  the  controversy. 
Bv  the  creation  of  these  inferior  courts  Congress 
does  not  also  create  the  power  with  which  they 
are  to  be  clothed.  Congress  merely  applies  the 
power  already  created  by  the  Constitution.  If 
it  were  otherwise,  and  Congress  not  only  created 
the  courts  but  the  judicial  power  as  well,  then 
it  would  undoubtedly  be  true  that  Congress  could 


468 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


likewise  deprive  the  courts  of  this  power  by 
taking  away  one  or  more  of  their  essential  and 
inherent  subordinate  powers,  such  as  the  right 
to  issue  the  writ  of  injunction.  But  that  is  not 
the  case.  The  judicial  power  exists  inherently 
by  virtue  of  the  Constitution,  which  instrument 
likewise  created  Congress  and  prescribed  that  it 
should  establish  the  courts  through  which  the 
judicial  power  should  operate.  The  office  of 
Congress  is  therefore  to  distribute  and  not  to 
create  these  powers." 

Senator  Knox's  citations  to  prove  this  point 
were  taken  from  the  "Cyclopedia  of  Law  and 
Procedure"  (vol.  xvi,  p.  30),  Beach  on  ** Mod- 
ern Equity  Jurisprudence"  (section  5),  Bis- 
pham*s  "Equity"  (6th  edition,  p.  2),  and  Bates 
on  "Federal  Equity  Procedure"  (sections  525, 
526).  Ah,  says  Senator  Bailey,  in  effect,  in 
his  notable  reply  four  hours  and  ten  minutes 
long,  the  Senator's  citations  are  from  the  text- 
books on  law,  which  discuss  the  law  as  it  is; 
but  it  is  as  it  is  simply  because  Congress  has 
heretofore  so  willed  it.  And  he  proceeded  to 
cite  additional  rulings  by  the  courts  to  prove 
that,  if  so  disposed.  Congress  could  to-day  dis- 
establish every  one  of  the  inferior  Federal 
courts ;  and  "the  power  to  create  and  the  power 
to  destroy  must  include  the  power  to  limit." 
Senator  Bailey's  speech,  according  to  the  New 
York  Times  (a  determined  opponent  of  rate 
regulation),   fairly   routed   Senators    Spooner 


THE  WASHINGTON  VESUVIUS 

— Thomdlke  in  Philadelphia  Press, 


and  Knox.  Senator  Hale  rose  to  acknowledge 
that  he  was  entirely  convinced  by  the  argu- 
ment, and,  according  to  the  New  York  Eve- 
ning Post,  the  speech  "has  put  a  new  face 
upon  the  whole  rate-bill  situation."  The 
Washington  correspondent  of  the  Springfield 
Republican  said  in  his  report  of  the  speech : 

"Gladstone  was  able  to  lend  color  to  dry  facts 
and  figures  when  introducing  the  English  budget, 
but  Bailey  to-day  made  of  abstract  law,  of  cita- 
tions from  a  hundred  cases  with  the  law-books 
piled  around  him  like  a  barricade,  a  veritable 
drama.  Speaking  with  superb  grace  and  dignity, 
and  with  luminous  clarity,  even  the  galleries  could 
follow  the  thought  as  he  developed  it.  But  there 
was  little  eloquence  for  mere  eloquence's  sake. 
At  the  close  of  the  speech  the  galleries,  setting 
Senate  rules  at  defiance,  broke  into  prolonged  ap- 
plause, while  practically  all  the  senators  crowded 
around  Bailey  to  congratulate  him.  It  was  with 
difficulty  that  the  Senate  could  be  again  called  to 
order  and  it  soon  adjourned. 

"Those  who  look  ahead  count  Bailey's  speech 
as  likely  to  be  of  historic  importance,  not  only 
because  of  its  memorable  eloquence,  but  because 
they  feel  that  this  question  of  abridging  the  re- 
straining powers  of  the  courts  is  likely  to  recur. 
In  spite  of  their  protests  and  the  fact  that  they 
have  the  votes  to  beat  him,  it  seemed  that  many 
of  the  republicans  felt  inwardly  that  Bailey  had 
proved  his  case.  This  being  so,  his  speech  will 
be  turned  back  to  in  the  future." 


HE  defiance  of  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court  which  occurred  in 
Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  several  weeks 
ago  may  have  important  develop- 
ments in  the  future  relations  of  the  Federal 
Government  to  lynching  mobs.  A  negro,  John- 
son, had  been  convicted  of  assault  upon  a 
white  woman.  The  case  had  been  appealed  to 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  and 
a  stay  of  execution  of  sentence  had  been 
granted.  A  mob  was  thereupon  hastily  organ- 
ized in  Chattanooga,  the  jail  was  stormed  and 
the  negro  prisoner  was  hanged.  Within  forty- 
eight  hours  after  there  was  an  uprising  of 
infuriated  negroes  and  it  took  the  combined 
power  of  the  police  and  military  to  prevent 
them  from  destroying  the  city.  The  feature 
of  the  case  that  distinguished  it  from  all  other 
cases  of  lynching  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  was 
defiance  not  of  State  authorities  only  but  of 
the  highest  Federal  court  of  the  land  as  well. 
All  over  the  country  this  novel  feature  of  the 
case  has  excited  discussion,  and  the  steps  to 
be  taken  by  the  Federal  Government  to  vindi- 
cate the  court  may  result  in  a  new  line  of 
precedents  for  the  prosecution  of  lynchers 
under   Federal   statutes.      The   Macon,    Ga., 


THE  SUPREME  COURT  AND  THE  TENNESSEE  LYNCHING 


469 


FnHD  ■tvreograph,  ropytlgbt  IQOO,  by  Underwootl  t.  Underwood,  N.  T. 

TUSKEGEE  INSTITUTE  TO-DAY 

It  was  started  twenty-five  years  ago  with  an  abandoned  church,  a  hen-house  and  a  blind  mule.    These  are  but  a  few 
of  the  many  buildings  now  owned  by  it,  all  of  them  erected  by  its  negro  students. 


Telegraph  fears  "disastrous  consequences."    It 
says: 

"The  ear  of  the  American  public  is  accustomed 
by  this  time  to  the  clamor  from  Democrats  and 
Republicans  ahke  for  Federal  control  of  many 
things  hitherto  and  by  warrant  of  the  constitu- 
tion under  the  control  of  the  states.  It  is  there- 
fore a  favorable  time  for  certain  Northern  agi- 
tators to  push  their  scheme  of  placing  lynching 
cases  in  the  South  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Federal  courts,  thus  giving  the  lowest  of  negro 
criminals  superior  rights  to  those  enjoyed  by 
white  criminals  who  must  look  to  the  state  gov- 
ernment and  state  courts  for  protection.  The 
affair  at  Chattanooga,  where  for  the  first  time 
the  lynchers  of  a  negro  came  into  conflict  with 
the  supreme  court  of  the  United  States,  will  be 
used  by  the  said  agitators  for  all  it  is  worth, 
and  there  is  no  telHng  what  the  ultimate  conse- 
quences may  be  in  a  period  of  insensate  demand 
for  the  extension  of  the  powers  of  the  Federal 
government  beyond  the  provisions  of  the  consti- 
tution." 


ALL  that  the  Supreme  Court  itself  can  do 
in  this  matter  is  to  punish  for  contempt 
of  court,  which  is  a  mere  misdemeanor  punish- 
able by  fine  and  imprisonment  not  to  exceed 
twelve  months.  But  the  Attorney-General  of 
the  United  States  has  directed  the  United 
States  district  attorney  at  Knoxville  to  investi- 
gate the  case,  with  a  view  probably  of  prose- 
cuting the  lynchers  for  violation  of  the  Federal 
statutes  (sections  5508-5509),  which  declare 
that  conspiring  to  deprive  a  citizen  of  rights 
guaranteed  to  him  by  the  Federal  statutes  is  a 
crime  punishable  by  a  fine  not  exceeding  $5,000 
and  imprisonment  not  exceeding  ten  years. 
Some  of  the  Southern  papers  denounce  the 
Supreme  Court  for  having  interfered  in  the 
case  at  all.  The  Atlanta  News  calls  this  inter- 
ference "an  outrage  against  justice,"  and  the 
Memphis  News-Scimetar,  while  it  admits  that 
the  mob  did  wrong,  declares  that  "the  Federal 


Court  interfered  without  warrant  or  constitu- 
tional right  and  all  the  blame  for  Chatta- 
nooga's shame  lies  at  their  door."  Other 
Southern  papers,  notably  the  Chattanooga 
Times,  the  Columbia  State  and  the  Richmond 
Times-Dispatch  are  unsparing  in  their  con- 
demnation of  the  mob.  The  first-named  paper, 
published  at  the  seat  of  the  lynching,  calls 
upon  the  State  authorities  to  employ  every 
agency  available  for  bringing  all  the  members 
of  the  mob  to  justice;  and  it  adds:  "We  do  not 
want  the  interference  of  federal  authority  in 
our  local  affairs,  but  we  cannot  prevent  it  if 
it  shall  be  made  to  appear  that  we  dare  not  or 
will  not  enforce  our  own  laws." 


THE  Chattanooga  lynching  "makes  a  case," 
says  the  New  York  Tribune,  "if  ever  one 
can  be  made,  for  testing  the  theory  of  Judge 
Jones,  of  the  United  States  District  Court  of 
Alabama,  that  the  Federal  government  can  be 
rendered  an  effective  instrument  for  punishing 
lynchers  whom  State  governments  will  not 
suppress  or  punish."  It  calls  upon  the  Federal 
authorities  to  punish  the  infraction  of  the  Fed- 
eral laws  in  this  case  whatever  the  State  of 
Tennessee  may  do  about  murder  trials.  The 
Springfield  Republican  declares  that  "as  re- 
viewed by  the  Chattanooga  papers  after  the 
lynching,  the  evidence  was  too  uncertain  to 
justify  the  slaughter  of  a  dog."  The  Boston 
Herald  publishes  a  letter  from  E.  M.  Hewlett, 
of  Washington,  the  lawyer  who  pleaded  John- 
son's case  before  the  Supreme  Court.  Speak- 
ing of  the  trial  in  Tennessee  at  which  Johnson 
was  convicted,  Mr.  Hewlett  says: 

"At  the  trial  of  the  Johnson  case  in  Tennessee, 
one  of  the  jurors  arose  in  the  box  and  demanded 
of  the  young  woman  who  had  been  attacked  if 
she  was  sure  the  defendant  was  the  man  who 


470 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


From  stereograph,  ropyrif ht  UW8,  Underwood  fc  Uuderwood,  N  F. 
THE  MAN  WHO  MADE  TUSKEGEE 

One  member  of  Mr.  Washltigrton's  family,  the  daugrhter,  is 
missinsT  here.     She  is  in  Berlin  studying  music. 

committed  the  act,  and  when  she  said  she  was 
not  willing  to  swear  that  he  was,  the  juror  de- 
manded that  she  should  swear  that  he  was  the 
man  and  he  would  get  down  out  of  the  box  and 
tear  his  heart  oui.  The  presiding  judge  did  not 
even  reprimand  him.  The  counsel  who  defended 
him  were  intimidated  by  the  mob,  and  after 
conviction  the  judge  refused  to  let  counsel  file 
a  motion  for  a  new  trial.  The  lawyers  who  (by 
appointment  of  the  court)  represented  him  at 
the  trial  were  the  best  white  lawyers  in  the  state. 
They  had  to  abandon  the  case  on  account  of 
threats  from  the  mob.  Many  of  the  best  citi- 
zens contributed  money  to  carry  the  case  to  the 
supreme  court.  As  Justice  Harlan  said,  he  was 
tried  by  a  mob  and  not  by  a  court.  The  presid- 
ing judge  even  went  as  far  as  to  appoint  a  com- 
mittee to  wait  on  the  lawyers  and  give  them  to 
understand  that  if  they  attempted  to  further  de- 
fend Johnson,  Johnson  would  be  lynched  at 
once.  .  .  .  Mr.  N.  W.  Parden  is  an  attorney 
from  Tennessee  and  is  a  brave  man,  because  he 
took  up  the  case  after  the  mob  had  threatened 
to  burn  his  house  down  if  he  appeared  for  the 
man." 

• 

TARTING  twenty-five  years  ago 
with  an  abandoned  church,  a  hen- 
house, and  a  blind  mule,  the  Tus- 
kegee  Institute  has  now  83  build- 
ings, 2,000  acres  of  land,  and  personal  prop- 
erty whose  value  is  $831,895.  Starting  with 
30  students  and  one  teacher,  it  enrolled  last 
year  1,504  students  studying  thirty-seven  dif- 
ferent industries.     Starting  with  an  income  of 


$2,000  a  year  granted  by  the  State  of  Ala- 
bama, it  has  an  endowment  fund  that  on  Jan- 
uary I  amounted  to  $1,275,664,  and  an  income, 
exclusive  of  special  contributions,  of  about 
$213,000,  nearly  one-half  of  it  coming  from 
industrial  products  made  in  the  school  itself. 
Six  thousand  negro  students  have  gone  out 
from  its  halls,  not  one  of  whom,  it  is  claimed, 
has  ever  been  convicted  of  a  crime  and  less 
than  ten  per  cent,  of  whom  have  proved  to  he 
failures  at  their  chosen  vocations.  Under  the 
circumstances,  it  seems  as  though  Tuskegee 
had  a  good  right  to  celebrate  her  twenty-fifth 
anniversary  last  month  and  call  on  the  coun- 
try at  large  to  increase  her  endowment  to  three 
millions  and  her  annual  income  to  half  a  mil- 
lion. Unlike  Hampton  Institute,  Tuskegee  is 
manned  entirely  by  negroes,  and  has  been 
from  the  beginning.  Says  the  New  York 
Times  of  this  feature  of  the  school: 

"One  of  the  remarkable  facts  that  this  celebra- 
tion has  brought  into  prominence  has  been  that  a 
great  institution  has  been  built  up  and  developed 
and  great  material  resources  have  been  adminis- 
tered successfully  by  negroes.  Through  it  have 
been  exhibited  the  great  qualities  of  one  negro, 
at  least,  and  the  intelligence,  devotion,  and  self- 
control  of  many  others  who  have  tenaciously  kept 
to  a  high  ideal.  They  have  a  right  to  congratu- 
late themselves,  in  Mr.  Washington's  words, 
that  they  have  *put  a  new  spirit  into  the  people, 
a  spirit  that  makes  them  feel  that  they  have 
friends  right  about  them,  a  spirit  that  has  filled 
them  with  the  idea  that  they  can  make  progress, 
that  they  will  make  progress,  and  fulfill  their 
mission  in  this  Republic.'" 


MORE  than  one  hundred  persons,  many  oi 
them  of  national  reputation,  went  from 
New  York  City  in  a  special  train  to  attend 
the  anniversary  exercises.  Among  those  on 
the  program  were  Secretary  Taft,  as  a  special 
representative  of  President  Roosevelt;  Presi- 
dent Eliot,  of  Harvard ;  and  Andrew  Carnegie, 
of  the  Spelling  Reform  Association  and  sev- 
eral other  things.  The  speech  of  the  Secre- 
tary of  War  was  the  only  one  that  has 
excited  much  newspaper  comment.  He  spoke 
of  the  political  disqualifications  of  the  negro 
in  the  Southern  States  with  a  frankness  that 
has  surprised  many  and  oflFended  few.  If  the 
negro  is  to  be  disfranchised,  it  is  better,  he 
thinks,  for  the  South  to  do  it  by  legal  methods 
than,  as  in  the  past,  by  illegal  methods.  Under 
the  laws  as  they  now  exist  in  most  of  the 
Southern  States  he  sees  a  chance  for  the 
negroes  as  they  develop  educationally  to  in- 
crease their  political  power  gradually  and 
wholesomely,  and  by  dividing  their  votes  into 


THE  CELEBRATION  AT  TUSKEGEE 


471 


the  diflfcrent  parties  into  which  the  whites  are 
sure  to  divide,  not  on  racial  issues  but  issues 
of  general  public  concern,  to  make  themselves 
respected  and  courted  in  politics  as  other 
voters  are.  "The  suggestion  of  the  Secre- 
tary," says  the  Chicago  Tribune,  "might  well 
be  followed  as  a  possible  solution  of  a  great 
national  problem."  But  the  profound  and 
statesmanlike  word  on  this  issue,  the  Boston 
Herald  thinks,  was  uttered  by  Booker  T. 
Washington,  of  whom  it  says:  "Perhaps  the 
nation  has  no  living  citizen  to  whom  it  owes 
a  more  profound  obligation."  What  Mr. 
Washington  said  was: 

"If  this  country  is  to  continue  to  be  a  repub- 
lic its  task  will  never  be  completed  as  long  as 
seven  or  eight  millions  of  its  people  are  in  a  large 
degree  regarded  as  aliens,  and  are  without  voice 
or  interest  in  the  welfare  of  the  government.  Such 
a  course  will  not  merely  inflict  great  injustice 
upon  these  millions  of  people,  but  the  nation  will 


pay  the  price  of  finding  the  genius  and  form  of  its 
government  changed,  not  perhaps  in  name,  but 
certainly  in  reality,  and  because  of  this  the  world 
will  say  that  free  government  is  a  failure." 

"These  two  illuminating  sentences,"  says 
the  Boston  paper,  "should  sink  deep  into  the 
hearts  of  all  the  citizens  of  the  republic.  It  is 
not  mere  compliment  to  say  that  they  partake 
of  the  terse,  logical  inevitableness  of  Abraham 

Lincoln's  habit  of  presenting  a  case." 

•  * 

ESUVIUS  has  opened  crater  upon 
crater  throughout  the  last  thirty 
days  with  an  explosiveness  unpar- 
alleled in  over  eighteen  hundred 
years.  Every  despatch  from  Naples  since  the 
first  week  of  April  has  read  like  a  twentieth- 
century  amplification  of  the  narrative  in  which 
the  younger  Pliny  recorded  the  last  days  of 
Pompeii.  There  were  perceptible  shocks  of 
earthquake  throughout  the  Neapolitan  region 


Fnmi  iterw»fr«pb,  copyrlgbt  l«»»  by  Underwood  ti.  Underwood,  N.  Y, 
A  TUSKEGEE  CLASS  IN  GEOGRAPHY 

RiMDining  the  banks  of  a  brook  to  understand  how 
rivers  dlstribtite  fi^avel  and  soil  and  affect  agricultural 
values. 


From  iterrogrnph,  copyright  1908,  by  Underwood  k.  Underwood,  N.  Y. 

A  TUSKEGEE  CLASS  IN  ARITHMETIC 

It  is  making  practical  calculations  in  connection  with 
a  new^  building.  Every  structure  of  the  institute  has 
been  planned  and  built  by  the  students. 


472 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


Prom  rteieogiaph,  copyright  1006,  by  Cndcrwood  it  Underwood,  H.  Y. 

BOOKER  T.  WASHINGTON  AND  HIS  FRIENDS 

To  the  right  of  Mr.  Wnshin^arton  are  Robert  C.  Ogden  and  George  T.  McEnery j  to  bis  left  are  Andrew 
Carnegie  and  President  Charles  W.  Eliot :  in  the  back  row  are  Dr.  Lyman  Abbott,  J.  Phelps  Stokes  (to  the 
right  of  Dr.  Abbott)  and  H.  B.  Prissell,  of  Hampton  Institute.  These  were  some  of  the  visitors  to  Tuskegee 
last  month. 


as  far  back  as  last  March.  A  wide  crevice  then 
opened  in  the  side  of  the  volcano  itself.  Lava 
issued  fitfully,  wreaths  of  smoke  ascended  to  a 
height  of  a  thousand  feet  and  the  principal 
crater,  long  hidden  in  vapor,  exploded.  These 
phenomena  were  but  the  more  violent  phases 
of  a  disturbance  that  has  been  almost  continr 
uous  during  the  past  six  months.  But  the  suc- 
cessive streams  of  lava  from  the  edge  of  the 
old  crater  did  not  begin  to  flow  steadily  until 
three  weeks  ago.  Then  began  also  the  ejec- 
tion of  incandescent  stones,  earthquakes  of 
increasing  radius  and  an  almost  incessant  sub- 
terranean thunder.  Seismic  shocks  were 
powerful  as  far  away  as  the  island  of  Ustica, 
some  thirty-seven  miles  from  Palermo.     In  one 


more  week  Vesuvius  was  venting  torrents  oi 
liquid  fire  toward  the  sky  and  currents  of  lava 
in  the  direction  of  Naples.  Panic  now  began 
to  rage  through  a  region  inhabited  by  hundi^eds 
of  thousands  of  the  Italian  proletariat.-  A 
dozen  populous  towns  have  disappeared  only 
less  completely  than  Herculaneuni^  \.The 
deaths  are  counted  by  hundreds  and  the  home- 
less would  populate  an  American  city  of  the 
second  class. 


NUMEROUS  seismic  outbursts  occurring 
within  the  past  three  months  in  South 
America  and  in  Formosa,  as  well  as  the  still 
more  recent  disturbance  in  California  (noted 
on  another  page)  have  much  to  do  with  this 


THE  ERUPTION  OF  VESUVIUS 


473 


latest   eruption   of   Vesuvius,   says   Professor 
Belar,  the  eminent  head  of  the  Laubach  Ob- 
servatory.   It  was  he  who  ascribed  the  French 
mining  disaster  to  atmospheric  conditions,  and 
he  now  connects  the  volcanic  outbreak  with  the 
sudden  general   increase  which  has  occurred 
since  March  20th  in  the  activity  visible  on  the 
surface  of  the  sun.    The  curious  point  is,  he 
notes,  that  this  activity  is  apparent  in  all  the 
existing  groups  of  sun-spots,  and  he  predicts 
that  as  long  as  the  sun-spot  activity  continues 
the  seismic  disturbances  will  be  frequent  This 
is  contrary,  of  course,  to  the  view  held  by  many 
scientists     that    neither     sun-spots,     meteors, 
aurorae   nor   planetary   configurations   sustain 
any  direct  relation  to  seismic  phenomena.    On 
the  other  hand,  it  is  maintained  that  volcanic 
eruptions,   and   especially  earthquake   shocks, 
must,  at  least  in  part,  be  effects  of  meteor- 
ological conditions,  and   these,   in   turn,   cer- 
tainly depend  upon  the  sun.     The  connection 
of  the  Vesuvian  activity  with  last  February's 
earthquake  in  Colombia,  entailing  the  loss  of 
some  two  thousand  lives,  is  not  to  be  ignored, 
according  to  the  expressed  opinions  of  noted 
seismologists.     On  the  basis  of  their  records, 
the  more  violent  phases  of  this  eruption  of 
Vesuvius  were  predicted  many  weeks  ago  by 
Professor  Matteucci,  the  director  of  the  ob- 
servatory on  that  volcano,  who  has  remained 
at  his  post  day  after  day  despite  the  sulphur- 
ous fumes  and  hot  ashes. 


AS  AN  industrial  center,  Naples  is  so  im- 
portant a  unit  in  the  economic  structure 
of  Italy  that  the  paralysis  of  the  city  may 
lead  to  a  financial  crisis.  The  population  of 
the  city  and  its  suburbs  is  about  800,000.  All 
the  wealthy  people  of  southern  Italy  reside 
there  for  a  part  of  the  year,  and  the  social 
season  had  not  waned  when  the  volcano  mani- 
fested its  first  furious  activity.  The  devas- 
tated region  is  fertile,  yielding  cheap  food  for 
a  population  far  beyond  the  range  of  the  ruin 
already  wrought.  Rents  in  and  about  Naples 
are  low,  fuel  almost  superfluous  and  the 
ordinary  death-rate  less  than  that  of  any  other 
Italian  town.  East  from  Naples  is  a  vast 
plain  that  presented,  until  a  month  ago,  an 
aspect  of  the  highest  cultivation,  with  no 
dwellings  save  those  of  the  peasants  who  till 
the  soil.  It  is  not  suitable  for  residential 
purposes  because  disagreeable  trades  have 
been  established  there,  and  it  is  close  to  the 
most  squalid  part  of  the  town.  Here  the 
seiimic  convulsion  caused  the  most  acute  in- 
dustrial paralysis.    The  area  is  intersected  by 


Copyright  b>  C.  n.  OraTci 

INSIDE  THE  CRATER 

The  lava  from  this  mouth  is  always  of  an  acid  tvpe. 
Ferric  chloride  is  said  to  form  the  crust  un  fhe  lava 
surface.  ^ 

the  railway  lines  that  have  been  completely 
blcvcked  by  falling  ashes.  Between  the  plain 
and  the  sea  are  factories  and  ship-building 
yards  sufficiently  remote  from  Vesuvius,  it 
was  thought,  to  incur  no  risk. 


IN  THIS  now  smoking  plain  the  Italian 
Government  recently  established  a  free 
zone  to  attract  manufacturing  capitalists  from 
northern  Italy  and  abroad.     Land  was  to  be 


Copyright  by  H.  C.  White  Co. 

LOOKING  INTO  VESUVIUS 

This  picture  was  taken  at  a  point  immediately  over 
the  crater. 


474 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


THE  CRATER  OP  VESUVIUS 

The  eruption  of  this  volcano  during  the  past  month  differed  from  that  which  destroyed  Pompeii  and  Hercu- 
laneum  in  the  fact  that  quantities  of  lava  flowed  down  the  side  of  the  mountain.  In  the  outburst  of  79  A.  D.,  on 
the  contrary,  no  lava  was  ejected. 


sold  at  an  almost  nominal  price,  and  factories 
were  to  enjoy  complete  immunity  from  direct 
taxation.  By  a  law  enacted  in  1904,  the  in- 
dustrials were  to  pay  no  income  tax — which  is 
high  elsewhere  in  Italy — no  land  or  building 
tax,  no  customs  duties  on  imported  plant — 
machinery  and  tools  and  the  like.  The  same 
law  allowed  them  to  get  salt  at  cost  price  in- 
stead of  at  the  rate  charged  by  the  govern- 
ment monopoly — a  highly  important  conces- 
sion in  the  case  of  chemical  works.  The  con- 
struction of  an  eighth  of  the  rolling-stock  of 
Italian  railways  was  given  out  by  contract  to 
Naples.  The  government  also  undertook  to 
supply  motive  power  at  the  lowest  rate  and  to 
bring  electric  energy  from  the  upper  waters 
of  the  Volturno.  Such  was  the  industrial 
paradise,  with  a  vast  inland  market,  easy  con- 
dition^ of  import  and  export,  a  practically 
complete  exemption  from  taxation,  abundance 
of  efficient  labor,  a  salubrious  climate  and  ex- 
cellent water,  cheap  motive  power,  abundance 
of  raw  material  and  the  easiest  conditions 
possible  for  exportation  to  North  and  South 
America,  Africa  and  the  Far  East,  against 
which  the  destructive  energies  of  Vesuvius 
have  been  so  potent.  At  the  present  writing, 
the  activity  of  the  volcano  has  markedly  de- 
creased, and  the  panic  of  the  people  in  Naples, 
who  feared  at  one  time  the  destruction  of 
their  city,  has  subsided. 


Ih^^fJ 


pl^^2|  UNICIPAL  ownership  is  a  slogan 
that  has  been  very  much  in  the  air 
in  the  last  twelve  months.  The 
election  of  Mayor  Dunne  in  Chi- 
cago a  year  ago  gave  new  potency  to  the 
phrase  and  the  vote  for  Mr.  Hearst  in  New 
York  City  last  fall  gave  it  an  aspect  almost 
of  terror  to  the  more  conservative.  The 
fears  of  its  foes  have  now  been  somewhat  al- 
layed by  the  referendum  vote  taken  on  the 
subject  last  month  in  Chicago.  Although  that 
.vote  is  claimed  as  a  victory  for  municipal  own- 
ership, it  shows  a  decline  not  an  increase  in 
the  public  sentiment  in  its  favor.  The  situa- 
tion in  Chicago  has  aroused  a  continental  in- 
terest. The  approaching  expiration  of  the 
franchises  granted  to  most  of  the  street-rail- 
ways and  the  applications  for  renewal  brought 
the  question  acutely  before  the  people  in  the 
election  a  year  ago.  The  unsatisfactory  serv- 
ice furnished  by  the  railway  companies  inten- 
sified public  feeling  to  such  an  extent  that  all 
parties  adopted  municipal  ownership  plat- 
forms. The  Democratic  candidate  added  one 
word  to  his  platform — the  word  "immediate." 
That  word  elected  him  by  20,000  plurality.  At 
the  same  time  a  direct  vote  was  taken  on  the 
question,  "Shall  the  Council  pass  any  ordi- 
nance granting  a  franchise  to  any  street  rail- 
way company?"  The  question  was  decided 
in  the  negative  by  a  vote  of  152,135  to  59,213, 


CHICAGO'S  STRUGGLE  OVER  MUNICIPAL  OWNERSHIP 


475 


NAPLES— "THE  QUEEN  OP  THE  MEDITERRANEAN"— AND  VESUVIUS 

Standing  in  its  amptaithater  of  hills,  "this  most  heavenly  of  the  cities  of  Italy,"  as  Garibaldi  called  it,  rivals 
Constantinople  in  the  splendor  of  itA  site.  Prom  the  alleged  tomb  of  Virgil,  where  the  spectator  is  presumed  by 
this  picture  to  stand,  the  view  has  the  qualities  that  inspired  the  aphorism,  "See  Naples  ana  die." 


WHEN  the  new  mayor  entered  into  office 
the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  immediate 
municipal  ownership  began  to  loom  up.  For 
one  thing,  the  railway  companies  insisted  that 
their  rights  had  not  expired,  and  the  case  they 
made  out  had  to  be  adjudicated.  Then  the 
mayor's  plans  for  procedure  were  not  ap- 
proved by  the  Council,  which  turned  them 
down  one  after  another  with  some  emphasis. 
One  of  his  plans,  to  construct  a  city  railway 
on  174  miles  of  available  streets  by  contract 
with  a  private  corporation  that  should  furnish 
the  money  and  take  in  return  a  twenty-year 
franchise  for  operation  of  the  road,  alienated 
the  Municipal  Ownership  League.  Some  of 
his  supporters,  conspicuously  Joseph  Medill 
Patterson  and  Clarence  Darrow,  withdrew 
their  support  because  of  their  growing  con- 
viction that  municipal  ownership  will  prove 
futile  and  that  only  outright  socialism  is  worth 
fighting  for.  But  the  most  formidable  of  all 
difficulties  was  the  fact  that  Chicago  had  al- 
ready borrowed  up  to  her  legal  limit,  or  almost 
so^and  there  was  no  money  available  for  an 
experiment  in  municipal  ownership.  As 
month  succeeded  month,  the  word  "immedi- 
ate" was  being  stretched  so  much  that  it 
was  in  danger  of  losing  its  elasticity.  In  the 
meantime  the  whole  country  was  watching  the 
situation  with  keen  interest,  for  the  same 
movement  is  being  advocated  in  many  cities. 


BUT  Mayor  Dunne  kept  busy,  and  things  be- 
gan to  come  his  way.  The  legislature 
passed  the  Mueller  bill  giving  the  city  the 
right  to  tK>rrow  an  additional  sum  of  $75,000,- 
000  on  certificates  the  security  for  which  is 
to  be  not  the  property  of  the  city  in  general, 
but  merely  the  railways  which  they  are  to  en- 
able the  city  to  purchase.  Then  came  a  de- 
cision of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court  to 
the  eflfect  that  while  the  charters  of  the  pres- 
ent railway  companies  were  extended  to  nine- 
ty-nine years  by  a  law  passed  in  1865,  the  con- 
tracts for  their  occupation  of  Chicago  streets 
were  not  so  extended.  Then,  on  April  4,  came 
a  referendum  vote  on  three  propositions :  Shall 
the  Council  proceed  without  delay  to  secure 
municipal  ownership  and  operation?  Shall  the 
Council  be  authorized  to  issue  certificates  to 
the  amount  of  $75,000,000  ?  Shall  the  city  oper- 
ate as  well  as  own  the  railways?  The  first 
two  questions  received  an  affirmative  majority 
of  less  than  4,000.  The  third  received  a  ma- 
jority of  about  10,000.  Owing  to  the  provi- 
sions of  the  law,  the  third  question  had  to 
receive  a  three-fifths  vote  in  the  affirmative  in 
order  to  prevail.  The  result  is  that  municipal 
ownership  is  authorized,  but  municipal  opera- 
tion is  not.  This  indecisive  result  gives  each 
side  something  to  deplore  and  something  to 
rejoice  in.  Mayor  Dunne  claims  a  notable 
victory  achieved  in  the  face  of  the  opposition 


476 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


of  all  the  daily  papers  but  Mr.  Hearst's.  Ex- 
Mayor  Harrison  was  also  opposed  to  munic- 
ipal ownership,  and  the  saloon  element,  it  is 
said,  was  hostile  because  a  high  license  law 
was  submitted  at  the  same  time  and  they  saw 
or  thought  they  saw  some  relation  between 
municipal  ownership  and  high  license.  The 
Republican  party,  as  an  organization,  was  also 
opposed.  But  the  labor  element  turned  out 
strongly  in  favor,  and  "the  victory,  so  far  as 
it  was  a  victory,"  says  the  Boston  Transcript, 
"belongs  largely  to  them." 


BUT  it  is  still  a  long  step  between  the  au- 
thorization of  municipal  ownership  and 
the  thing  itself.  In  the  first  place  the  Coun- 
cil must  act  before  the  Mueller  certificates  can 
be  issued.  Whether  the  mayor  will  have  less  or 
more  trouble  with  the  new  Council  than  he 
had  with  the  old  is  a  matter  of  uncertainty. 
The  Chicago  Tribune  says:  "The  new  council 
will  be  less  friendly  to  the  mayor  than  the 
present  one.  With  hardly  an  exception  all 
his  *I.  M.  O.'  friends  for  whom  he  worked  the 
hardest  have  been  defeated."  Counting  all 
the  doubtful  members  of  the  Council  in  favor, 
there  is  still  a  majority.  The  Tribune  says, 
against  municipal  ownership.  Even  after  the 
Council  and  the  mayor  shall  reach  an  agree- 
ment for  the  issuance  of  the  certificates,  the 
constitutionality  of  the  law  authorizing  them 
remains  to  be  determined  by  the  courts.  And, 
that  accomplished,  the  task  remains  of  finding 
a  market  for  them — a  task  which  the  conserva- 
tive press  declares  to  be  the  most  formidable 
of  all.  Says  the  Cleveland  Plain  Dealer,  a 
paper  of  the  same  political  faith  as  Mayor 
Dunne,  but  opposed  to  his  plans  for  municipal 
ownership : 

"There  is  behind  these  debt  certificates  noth- 
ing in  the  shape  of  a  tax  levy,  they  being  sup- 
ported only  by  the  general  credit  of  a  city  which 
has  reached  the  legal  limit  of  its  bonded  indebt- 
edness and  has  been  for  several  years  on  the 
verge  of  bankruptcy.  Holders  of  them  will  have 
as  their  only  tangible  security  the  physical  prop- 
erties of  a  street  railway  system  that  is  notori- 
ously worn  out.    Who  is  to  buy  such  securities?" 


EVEN  after  the  certificates  are  issued  ,heir 
legality  determined  and  purchasers  found, 
the  difficulties  have  not  all  been  vanquished. 
The  Glasgow  expert,  Mr.  Dalrymple,  whom 
Mayor  Dunne  summoned  to  Chicago  last  year 
to  make  report  on  the  practicability  of  munici- 
pal operation  (a  report  that  has  never  b6en 
published),  says:  "If  the  city  insists  on  tak- 
ing over  all   the   lines   at  once,  $75,000,000 


would  be  only  a  starter.  Enormous  sums 
would  have  to  be  spent  to  bring  the  lines  up 
to  a  state  of  efficiency."  With  all  these  obsta- 
cles successfully  overcome,  another  referen- 
dum vote  must  then  be  taken  and  a  three-fifths 
majority  obtained  before  municipal  opera- 
tion as  well  as  ownership  can  be  undertaken. 
There  is,  therefore,  a  well-marked  disposition 
on  the  part  of  papers  in  many  sections  to 
dwell  upon  the  word  "immediate"  in  this  con- 
nection in  a  sarcastic  tone  and  to  remind  May- 
or Dunne  of  his  ante-election  prediction  that 
two  months  after  his  election  municipal  own- 
ership would  be  well  on  the  way  to  accomplish- 
ment.   Says  the  Columbia  (S.  C.)  State: 

"The  Chicago  election  must  be  regarded  as 
a  severe  blow  at  the  municipal  ownership  and 
operation  idea.  The  conditions  in  the  Windy 
City  were  particularly  propitious  for  the  winning 
of  a  decisive  victory  by  the  municipal  ownership 
voters.  If  Chicago,  which  may  justly  be  said  to 
be  the  centre  of  political  radicalism  and  unrest 
in  this  country,  rejects  the  municipal  ownership 
scheme,  there  cannot  be  much  hope  for  that  policy 
in  other  more  conservative  American  cities  in 
the  immediate  future." 

"It  is  plain,"  comments  the  Louisville  Cou- 
rier-Journal, another  Democratic  paper,  "that 
the  policy  of  municipal  control  has  been  badly 
wounded  in  the  house  of  its  friends."  But  the 
Omaha  IV  or  Id-Herald,  the  Buffalo  Times,  and 
other  of  the  more  radical  papers,  including 
Mr.  Hearst's,  proclaim  the  result  "another 
notable    victory    for    municipal    ownership." 


BUT  NO  pent-up  Chicago  confines  the  powers 
of  the  municipal  ownership  idea.  Mr. 
William  R.  Hearst,  of  New  York,  is  in  the 
saddle  again,  mounted  upon  a  steed  upon 
whose  trappings  are  the  initials  M.  O.  He  is 
after  the  governorship  of  New  York  State, 
and  nobody  seems  to  consider  his  ambition 
this  time  a  laughing  matter.  Nor  does  the 
country  at  large  seem  to  consider  it  a  matter 
of  importance  to  New  York  State  alone.  The 
possibility  of  his  election  as  governor,  and  the 
formidable  strength  that  such  a  success  would 
give  him  as  a  candidate  for  the  presidential 
nomination  in  the  next  national  Democratic 
convention,  are  making  politicians  all  over  the 
country  sit  up  and  take  notice.  Here  is  the 
way  his  new  State  organization,  the  Inde- 
pendence League,  sounds  the  "opening  gtm"  of 
his   campaign: 

"Public  officials  in  both  of  the  great  parties  are 
chosen  not  by  the  citizenship,  but  by  organized 
monopoly.  They  serve  the  power  that  nominates 
them  and  not  the  people,  whose  voting  has  become 
a  mere  travesty  on  popular  government    .    .    . 


'THE  APPARITION  OF  HEARST' 


477 


"The  shameful  revelations  that  have  startled 
the  country  and  crystalhzed  public  indignation 
during  the  past  year  have  indicted  the  hired  cor- 
poration-owned bosses  of  both  parties.  Insurance 
funds,  the  reliance  of  widows  and  children,  were 
stolen  by  Democrats  and  Republicans  alike. 
Bosses  on  both  sides  shared  the  plunder  as  a  re- 
ward for  servility.  The  peoole  of  the  State  are 
determined  that  these  bosses  shall  be  deprived  of 
their  power.  The  Independence  League  is  or- 
ganized to  give  effect  to  this  determination.'' 

That,  of  course,  is  talk ;  but  the  vote  for  Mr, 
Hearst  as  mayor  of  New  York  City  last  fall 
shows  that  it  is  talk  that  has  just  now  a  great 
deal  of  potency.  And  from  Washington  comes 
the  news  of  achievement  The  new  chairman 
of  the  Democratic  congressional  campaign 
committee  is  James  M.  Griggs,  an  adherent  of 
Mr.  Hearst,  and  an  advocate,  it  is  said,  of  Mr. 
Hearst's  leadership.  This  means,  according 
to  the  St,  Louis  Globe-Democrat,  that  "the 
Democrats  will  put  up  a  strong  fight  for  Con- 
gress in  1906"  and  "a  Democratic  victory  in 
the  Congressional  campaign  this  year  would 
be  hailed  as  a  Hearst  victory." 


CONFRONTED  by  this  "apparition  of 
Hearst"— TA^  Sun's  phrase— the  con- 
servative Democrats  and  independents  show 
signs  of  visible  agitation. .  Senator  Gay,  of 
Georgia,  warned  his  fellow  Senators  a  few 
days  ago  that  if  railway  rate  regulation  were 
defeated,  we  would  have  "a  deluge  of  Hearst- 
ism"  in  1908.  Judge  Parker,  the  late  Demo- 
cratic candidate  for  President,  makes  refer- 
ence to  some  demagog  whose  "baneful  sinister 
figure**  we  now  see  reflected  "for  the  first  time 
in  our  history  on  the  screen  of  the  future" — 
a  reference  that  is  understood  to  refer  to  Mr. 
Hearst.  Ex-Senator  James  M.  Smith,  of  New 
Jersey,  writes  to  ex-President  Cleveland  that 
"there  is  little  hope  of  Democratic  success 
along  conservative  lines,"  for  "this  is  a  period 
of  radicalism,"  another  utterance  that  is 
understood  to  refer  to  Mr.  Hearst.  The  Tam- 
many Hall  General  Committee  has  come  out 
emphatically  in  opposition  to  the  issue  raised 
by  Mr.  Hearst's  followers,  adopting  resolu- 
tions that  read  in  part  as  follows: 

"Every  proposal  that  a  municipality  assume  oper- 
ation of  all  public  utilities  and  reduce  rates  to  per- 
sons using  them,  regardless  of  what  the  service 
may  actually  cost,  is  an  attempt  to  force  some  men 
to  bear  the  expenses  of  others,  because  where  the 
outlay  for  operation  exceeds  earnings  the  deficit 
must  be  made  up  by  taxation,  and  this  we  de- 
nounce as  socialistic,  and  therefore  hostile  to  jus- 
tice, and  subversive  of  democratic  government." 

De  Lanccy  Nicoll,  who  was  vice-chairman 


of  the  National  Democratic  Committee  in  the 
campaign  of  1904,  at  a  recent  meeting  of  the 
Democratic  Club,  of  New  York  City,  de- 
nounced Hearst  as  a  "traitor"  to  the  party  in 
that  year,  saying: 

"Mr.  Hearst  and  his  man  Ihmsen  came  to  me 
[at  national  headquarters]  and  asked  for  space  to 
open  up  quarters  in  our  place.  I  told  them  we 
would  be  only  too  glad  to  accommodate  them,  and 
I  gave  them  the  best  we  had.  They  had  the  use 
of  all  the  campaigning  facilities  at  the  national 
headquarters,  and  then,  by  — ^!  afterward  they 
turned  round  and  stuck  the  knife  into  the  back  of 
the  candidate  of  the  Democratic  party  and  tried 
all  they  could  to  help  to  beat  us.    .    .    . 

"I  want  for  a  moment  to  contrast  the  treacher- 
ous behavior  of  Hearst  and  the  record  of  Bryan. 
My  experiences  of  that  campaign  proved  to  me 
that  Bryan  is  a  true  Democrat  while  Hearst  is  a 
false  Democrat.  So  far  as  Mr.  Bryan  is  con- 
cerned, he  undertook  to  support  loyally  and  ear- 
nestly and  with  all  bis  powers  of  eloquence  the 
candidate  who  had  been  selected  by  the  Demo- 
cratic national  convention." 

References  to  the  "baleful  evil"  of  socialism 
and  to  "so-called  Democrats"  who  are  sow- 
ing the  seeds  of  "diseased  thought"  for  the 
sole  purpose  of  "personal  elevation,"  made  in 
Mayor  McClellan's  address  at  the  recent  Jef- 
ferson dinner  of  the  Democratic  Club  of  New 
York,  were  evidently  aimed  at  Mr.  Hearst 
and  his^  lieutenants.  Mr.  Hearst's  organs  re- 
ply to  these  and  all  similar  attacks  in  the  fol- 
lowing vein: 

"The  greater  the  number  of  corrupt  or  discred- 
ited politicians  who  attack  Mr.  Hearst  the  better 
he  likes  it.  He  hopes  an  alignment  will  speedily 
be  made  between  all  corporations,  their  managers 
and  their  tools  on  one  side,  and  the  decent  citizen- 
ship of  the  State  on  the  other.  The  sooner  that 
alignment  comes  the  sooner  will  occur  the  down- 
fall of  the  collection  of  predatonr  millionaires  and 
rotten  politicians,  in  and  out  ot  office,  who  have 
got  possession  of  the  Government,  city  and  State, 
and  whose  only  use  for  power  is  to  hold  up  the 
people  and  empty  their  pockets." 


MR.  HEARST  has  scored  in  another  way  in 
Washington.  Upon  his  complaint  and 
upon  evidence  furnished  by  him  to  the  Attor- 
ney-General, a  Federal  investigation  has  been 
ordered  into  certain  alleged  "special  arrange- 
ments" between  the  American  Sugar  Refining 
Company  and  numerous  railroad  systems  run- 
ning into  New  York  City.  Every  trunk  line 
east  of  the  Mississippi  is  involved,  according 
to  The  Evening  lournal  (New  York),  and  in- 
dictments are  asked  of  H.  O.  Havemeyer,  A. 
J.  Cassatt,  W.  H.  Newman,  W.  H.  Truesdale, 
George  F.  Baer,  Charles  S.  Mellen,  and  others. 
According  to  The  lournal,  **the  evidence  lays 
bare  the  most  astounding  favoritism,  flagrant 


478 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


ENCOURAGING 
The  Judge — "IVe  led  him,  and  Billy,  there — he's  led 
him.     Try  him,  colonel ;  he  may  take  a  fancy  to  you!" 

— Boston  Herald. 
(TudMre  Parker  advises  that  the  next  Democratic  can- 
didate oe  taken  from  the  South.) 

rebates  and  vicious  partiality.  Letters,  cir- 
culars, private  agreements,  initialled  memo- 
randa of  private  understandings,  special  allow- 
ances and  private  refunds  are  all  in  the  hands 
of  the  Government."  The  case  grows  out  of 
the  competition  between  the  beet-sugar  inter- 
ests and  the  Sugar  Trust.  To  meet  a  cut  in 
prices  in  the  West  by  the  former,  the  latter,  it 
is  charged,  made  special  arrangements  with 
the  railroads  for  a  cut  in  rates  for  a  limited 
period.  The  Washington  Star  (Dem.)  is  not 
an  advocate  of  Hearst,  but  it  remarks: 

"He  has  performed  a  public  service,  and  de- 
serves to  be  complimented  on  it.  His  enemies 
will  probably  charge  that  he  is  playing  politics. 
Let  that  be  admitted,  and  yet  we  have  something 
from  him  which  should  assist  in  carrying  forward 
a  policy  now  of  general  demand.    He  has  large  re- 


sources, both  in  the  way  of  money  and  agencies 
for  publicity,  and  as  he  is  devoting  them  in  local 
as  well  as  in  national  affairs  to  the  anti-monopo- 
listic movement  he  is  entitled  to  praise  without 
regard  to  his  political  affiliations  and  aspirations. 
Let  his  opponents  do  as  well,  or  better,  in  the 
same  line.  That  is  the  proper  reply  to  him,  and 
the  only  one  that  will  impress  the  public" 

The  New  York  Evening  Post  (Ind.)  is 
alarmed  over  the  Hearst  danger.  "The  charm 
of  the  Hearst  movement,"  says  its  Albany  cor- 
respondent in  accounting  for  the  way  in  which 
that  movement  is  gaining  ground  in  New  York 
State,  '*is  the  duality  of  its  appeal  to  light 
heads  and  light  pockets."  The  Evening  Post 
thinks  that  the  Republican  organization  is  en- 
couraging Mr.  Hearst's  followers  to  capture 
the  Democratic  State  organization,  and  it  says : 

"The  Hearst  candidacy  has  now  seriously  to  be 
reckoned  with.  The  clamor  of  it  will  fill  the 
State.  Republicans  are  affrighted  by  it,  and  de- 
cent Democrats  know  not  where  lo  turn.  A  man 
who,  but  for  his  money,  which  he  pours  out  lav- 
ishly in  politics,  would  never  be  thought  of,  head- 
ing a  movement  which,  if  not  financed  by  him, 
would  attract  but  few  with  brains  in  stable  equi- 
librium, is  raiding  the  chief  office  of  the  State, 
and  sober  people  are  saying  that  there  is  no  means 
of  beating  him  off.  This  is  the  political  portent 
now  confronting  the  citizens  of  New  York.  About 
it  they  will  have  to  think,  write,  speak,  act  for 
months  to  come." 


ALL  OUT  OF  TUNE 

— Davenport  in.N.  \.  Mail. 


MORE  interesting  even  than  the  Hearst 
movement  is  the  turning  toward  Bryan 
on  the  part  of  conservative  Democrats,  who 
see  in  him  a  possible  savior  from  Hearst.  Mr. 
Nicoirs  denunciation  of  Hearst  and  laudation 
of  Bryan's  loyalty  in  1904,  already  quoted,  was 
followed  by  a , unanimous  vote  of  the  Demo- 
cratic Qub  indorsing  the  speaker's  views. 
Since  then  all  sorts  of  rumors  have  been  gain- 
ing credence  of  a  movement  Bryan-ward.  So 
decided  is  the  present  leaning  of  Cleveland 
Democrats  toward  Bryan,  says  the  Springfield 
Republican,  "that  there  is  talk  of  getting  up 
a  great  reception  to  the  'peerless  leader'  on  his 
return  from  around  the  world,  in  which  the 
Belmonts  and  Ryans  and  Gormans  and  pos- 
sibly even  Cleveland  himself,  will  figure  prom- 
inently." 

The  New  York  Tribune  quotes  a  "prominent 
member"  of  the  Democratic  Club  as  saying: 

"Unless  Hearst  should  run  away  with  the  or- 
ganization before  1908,  you'll  see  the  conservative 
Democrats  of  this  city  supporting  Bryan  for  the 
nomination  two  years  from  now.  Bryan  has  be- 
come less  radical  and  could  be  counted  on  to 
give  a  good  administration  if  he  should  be  elocted, 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  conservative  Dem- 
ocrats, and,  for  that  matter,  Republicans,  are  will- 


MR,  BRYAN  ON  SOCIALISM 


47    [ 


ing  to  go  a  good  deal  further  along  radical 
lines  than  they  were  in  1896  or  igoo.  While 
Hearst  is  a  man  of  capital,  he  is  too  much 
of  a  Socialist  to  suit  the  conservative  Dem- 
ocrats, and  for  that  reason,  more  than  for 
any  other,  they  will  oppose  him.  Bryan, 
on  the  other  hand,  while  a  good  deal  of  a 
radical,  has  been  broadened  by  study  and 
travel  and  observation  and  could  be  trusted 
by  the  men  in  the  Democratic  organiza- 
tion who  opposed  him  before  to  run  things 
sensibly  if  he  should  be  elected  President." 

The  New  York  Times  and  The  World 
rub  their  editorial  eyes  in  amazement 
at  this  turn  in  affairs,  and  recall  Mr. 
Bryan's  past  record,  and  ask  what  evi- 
dence there  is  that  he  has  altered  his 
views.     Says  the  Times: 

"Let  Mr.  William  J.  Bryan  expressly  re- 
cant the  free-silver  heresy.  Let  him  re- 
cant the  now  Rooseveltian  doctrine  of  con- 
fiscating railway  profits  by  administrative 
act.  Let  him  recant  his  formal  declara- 
tions made  within  the  last  two  years  for 
municipal.  State,  and  National  ownership 
of  public  'utilities.*  Let  him  recant  his  be- 
lief in  the  expediency  of  packing  the  Fed- 
eral Supreme  Court  with  Justices  to  re- 
verse the  income  tax  decision.  Then  one 
might  believe  the  report  that  the  New  York 
Democratic  Club  is  sincerely  converted  to 
Bryan  as  the  next  conservative  standard 
bearer  of  the  party  'to  stem  the  rising  tide 
of  Socialism.'" 


of 


"It  would  be  a  spectacle  for  gods  and 
men,"  thinks  the  Springfield  Republican, 
"if  the  gold  Democrats,  who  thought  a 
public  hanging  almost  too  good  for  him 
in  1896,  were  to  accept  Bryan  as  their 
candidate  in  1908 — something  unique 
even  in  the  extraordinary  vicissitudes 
American  politics;  but  this  would  not  result 
from  a  lessened  radicalism  on  his  part.  It 
would  grow  out  of  a  decided  change  in  the 
general  attitude  of  the  country  regarding  the 
need  of  radical  reforms  in  the  industrial  or- 
ganization of  society,  a  change  which  even 
the  most  bourbonish  of  the  'plutocracy'  are  be- 
ing forced  to  recognize." 


Copyright  1900.  by  J.  £.  Purdy,  Boston. 

WILL  HE  BE  THE  NEXT  GOVERNOR  OF  NEW  YORK 
STATE? 

The  candidacy  of  William  R.  Hearst,  says  the  N.  Y.  Evening 
Posty  "has  now  seriously  to  be  reconea  with.  The  clamor  of  it 
will  fill  the  state-  Republicans  are  affrijjhted  by  it  and  decent 
Democrats  know  not  where  to  turn.  .  .  .  This  is  the  political 
portent  now  confronting  the  citizens  of  New  York." 


MUCH  of  this  turning  toward  Bryan  has 
been  due  to  an  article  written  by  him 
on  "Individualism  versus  Socialism,"  and  pub- 
lished in  the  April  Century.  It  is  "a  strong, 
temperate,  philosophical  and  truly  American 
statement  of  the  case,"  according  to  one  con- 
servative paper  (the  Boston  Herald),  and  ac- 
cording to  another  (the  New  York  Times), 
it  furnishes  solid  evidence  that  he  "is  rebuild- 
ing his  reputation." 


Mr.  Bryan,  in  this  article,  recognizes  the 
**moral  passion"  that  renders  socialism  a  sort 
of  religion  and  says  that  in  the  field  of  ethics 
the  first  battle  between  individualism  and 
socialism  must  be  fought.  The  individualist 
who  believes  in  competition  can,  we  are  told, 
consistently  advocate  the  extension  of  munici- 
pal ownership,  usury  laws,  factory  laws,  etc., 
because  "it  is  not  only  consistent  with  indi- 
vidualism, but  is  a  necessary  implication  of  it, 
that  the  competing  parties  should  be  placed 
on  substantially  equal  footing,"  and  these  and 
other  similar  laws  are  designed  to  make  com- 
petition real  and  effective,  not  to  eliminate  it. 
In  other  words,  the  present  abuses,  under  the 
competitive  system,  are  not  an  essential  part 
of  that  system,  and  in  any  fair  comparison  of 
the  two  systems  we  must  consider  each  at  its 
best.  Man,  as  we  find  him,  needs  the  spur 
of  competition.     The  socialist  admits  the  ad- 


480 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


vantage  of  rivalry,  but  would  substitute  altru- 
istic for  selfish  motives.  The  individualist  be- 
lieves that  altruism  is  a  spiritual  quality  that 
defies  governmental  definition,  and  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  conceive  of  a  successful  system,  en- 
forced by  law,  with  altruism  as  the  controlling 
principle.  "The  attempt  to  unite  Church  and 
State  has  never  been  helpful  to  either  govern- 
ment or  religion,  and  it  is  not  at  all  certain 
that  human  nature  can  yet  be  trusted  to  use 
the  instrumentalities  of  government  to  enforce 
religious  ideas." 


ANY  system  of  government,  continues  Mr. 
Bryan,  must  be  administered  by  human 
beings  and  will  reflect  the  weaknesses  of  those 
who  control  it.  Will  socialism  purge  the  in- 
dividual of  selfishness  or  bring  a  nearer  ap- 
proach of  justice?  Mr.  Bryan  proceeds  to 
answer  this  question  as  follows: 

"Justice  requires  that  each  individual  shall  re- 
ceive from  society  a  reward  proportionate  to 
his  contribution  to  society.  Can  the  state,  act- 
ing through  officials,  make  this  apportionment  bet- 
ter than  it  can  be  made  by  competition  ?  At 
present  official  favors  are  not  distributed  strictly 
according  to  merit  either  in  republics  or  in  mon- 
archies; is  it  certain  that  socialism  would  insure 
a  fairer  division  of  rewards?  If  the  government 
operates  all  the  factories,  all  the  farms,  and  all 
the  stores,  there  must  be  superintendents  as  well 


as  workmen;  there  must  be  different  kinds  of 
employment,  some  more  pleasant,  some  less  pleas- 
ant. Is  it  likely  that  any  set  of  men  can  distribute 
the  work*  or  fix  the  compensation  to  the  satisfac- 
tion of  all,  or  even  to  the  satisfaction  of  a  major- 
ity of  the  people?  ^hen  the  government  employs 
comparatively  few  of  the  people,  it  must  make 
the  terms  and  conditions  inviting  enough  to  draw 
the  persons  needed  from  private  employment ; 
and  if  those  employed  in  the  public  service  become 
dissatisfied,  they  can  return  to  outside  occupations. 
But  what  will  be  the  result  if  there  is  no  private 
employment?  What  outlet  will  there  be  for  dis- 
content if  the  government  owns  and  operates  all 
the  means  of  production  and  distribution? 

"Under  individualism  a  man's  reward  is  de- 
termined in  the  open  market,  and  where  compe- 
tition is  free  he  can  hope  to  sell  his  services  for 
what  they  are  worth.  Will  his  chance  for  re- 
ward be  as  good  when  he  must  do  the  work  pre- 
scribed for  him  on  the  terms  fixed  by  those  who 
are  in  control  of  the  government?" 

As  there  is  not  in  operation  any  such  social- 
istic system  as  is  contended  for,  we  must  judge 
what  its  results  would  be  by  our  experience. 
Individualism  has  been  tested  by  centuries  of 
experience  and  under  it  we  have  made  prog- 
ress. The  nearest  approach  to  the  socialistic 
state  in  our  experience  is  to  be  found  in  the 
civil  service.    Mr.  Bryan  proceeds: 

"If  the  civil  service  develops  more  unselfishness 
and  more  altruistic  devotion  to  the  general  wel- 
fare than  private  employment  does,  the  fact  is 
yet  to  be  discovered.     This  is  not  offered  as  a 


Prom  Witkrt  Jaccb  rstutt^art).  THE  SICK  MAN  OF  MOROCCO—] 


RESULTS  OF  THE  MOROCCO  CONFERENCE 


481 


criticism  of  civil  service  in  so  far  as  civil  service 
may  require  examinations  to  ascertain  fitness  for 
office,  but  it  is  simply  a  reference  to  a  well-known 
fact — viz.,  that  a  life  position  in  the  government 
service,  which  separates  one  from  the  lot  of  the 
average  producer  of  wealth,  has  given  no  ex- 
traordinary stimulus  to  higher  development." 

Mr.  Bryan  closes  with  a  plea  for  the  united 
action  of  all  honest  socialists  and  honest  in- 
dividualists in  opposition  to  the  abuses  of  the 
competitive  system,  and  especially  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  growth  of  monopoly. 


IE  Morocco  conference  terminated 
its  existence  at  Algeciras  after  the 
employment,  as  sarcastic  foreign 
dailies  hint,  of  an  unconscionable 
amount  of  leisure  in  expiring.  The  outcome 
is  "a  German  gambit"  which  "leaves  France 
in  check  and  must  ultimately  force  a  move," 
says  the  dissatisfied  London  Outlook,  and  this 
is  a  heavy  price  to  pay,  it  thinks,  for  natives 
as  rank  and  file  in  the  Sultan's  police,  for  caids 
as  commanders,  for  French  and  Spanish  in- 
structors and  a  Swiss  inspector-general. 
William  II  saved  the  conference;  German 
dailies  have  little  doubt  of  that.  French  dailies 
are  not  less  certain  that  the  French  delegate, 
tactfully  supported  by  Paris,   rescued  every- 


thing and  everybody.  American  dailies  add 
that  it  was  Mr.  White,  inspired  by  the  diplo- 
macy of  the  President  of  the  United  States, 
whom  we  must  regard  as  the  true  savior  of 
the  situation.  President  Roosevelt's  analysis 
is  that  the  result  diminishes  chances  of  fric- 
tion between  opposing  forces.  "I  hope  and 
believe,"  says  the  occupant  of  the  White 
House,  "that  the  conference  has  resulted  and 
will  result  in  rendering  continually  more 
friendly  the  relations  between  the  mighty 
empire  of  Germany  and  the  mighty  republic 
of  France."  It  has  not  had  such  an  effect 
upon  the  mighty  newspapers  of  those  mighty 
powers.  The  Kreuz  Zeitung  was  never  more 
truculent  and  the  Paris  Temps  could  not  be 
more  virtuously  severe.  Their  editorials  are 
of  that  carefully  worded  sort  which  proclaims 
official  inspiration.  There  are  detached  allu- 
sions to  the  military  strength  of  republic  and 
empire,  assurances  that  neither  is  in  dread  of 
mobilization  on  any  frontier  and  a  tendency 
to  differ  regarding  the  good  faith  of  Great 
Britain  as  an  ally.  The  London  Spectator 
thinks  it  goes  to  the  root  of  the  matter,  dis- 
carding names  for  facts,  when  it  says  that 
William  II  forced  the  Algeciras  conference  in 
order  to  test  the  strength  of  the  cordial  under- 
standing between  London  and  Paris. 


—AND  HOW  THEY  CURED  HIM 


482 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


<  Terrirorf 


Moons  h 
Ttrriiorf 


WHY  WILLIAM  II  WANTED  THAT  ATLANTIC  PORT 

"An  examination  of  the  map  will  show  how  seriously  the  United  States 
is  interested  in  the  Morocco  question,"  says  the  British  naval  expert, 
H.  W .  Wilson,  in  The  National  Kevtew  (London),  from  which  the  above  map 
is  copied.  **At  Mogador  or  Casablanca  Germany  would  be  within  easy 
reach  of  South  America.  .The  distances  from  the  nearest  point  on  the 
Venezuelan  and  Brazilian  seaboard  are  marked,  and  it  can  easily  be 
calculated  that  they  are  well  within  the  radius  of  the  modern  German 
battleships,  while  the  German  armoured  cruisers  are  still  better  able  to 
accomplish  such  a  voyage.  Mogrador  or  Casablanca,  in  fact,  would  »rive 
Germany  just  the 'jumpm?-off  place'  which  she  wants  for  enterprises 
directed,  not  only  ag^ainst  £n{cland,  but  also  against  South  America." 


LONDON  and  Paris  were  never  on  better 
terms.  But  between  the  view  that  France 
has  come  out  victor  and  the  theory  that  Will- 
iam II  has  gained  one  of  the  diplomatic 
triumphs  of  his  reign  flows  a  current  of 
European  newspaper  debate  as  turbulent  as  the 
eight  points  upon  the  Moroccan  coast  among 
which  the  new  police  force  will  be  distributed. 
Foiled  in  his  attempt  to  convert  one  of  those 
points  into  a  naval  station,  William  II,  it  is 
predicted,  is  soon  to  make  a  demonstration 
across  the  Atlantic.  He  will  demand  a  confer- 
ence of  the  powers  nominally  to  settle  some 
question  of  Bolivian  or  Venezuelan  finance, 
but  really  to  have  the  concert  of  Europe  pass 
judgment  upon  the  scope  and  validity  of  the 


Monroe  doctrine.  William  II, 
finding  that  there  is  no  naval  base 
for  him  on  the  Sultan's  coast, 
means  now  to  look  for  it  on  the 
San  Domingan  shore.  The  Paris 
Temps  has  asserted  that  Hohen- 
zollern  diplomacy  was  actively 
behind  one  revolution  in  the 
black  republic.  It  is  now  hinted 
that  Berlin's  Foreign  Office,  as 
agent  for  certain  European  cred- 
itors, has  been  considering  inter- 
vention somewhere  in  the  Carib- 
bean with  a  coaling  station  as 
its  own  commission.  This  may 
be  gossip,  but  it  finds  it  way  into 
European  dailies  with  a  regular- 
ity portending  either  the  burst- 
ing of  a  diplomatic  storm  or  the 
activity  of  a  press  bureau  bent 
upon  inciting  the  American  mind 
to  suspicion  of  Hohenzollern  dy- 
nastic aims. 

••  • 

HE  revolutionary  nebu- 
la that  has  been  whirl- 
ing for  so  many 
months  about  the  au- 
tocratic center  of  the  Russian 
political  system  was  being  con- 
centrated all  last  month  into  a 
single  organic  mass — ^the  Duma. 
In  the  near  future  this  body  is 
to  become  visible  to  the  world, 
and  grand  ducal  influence  is  be- 
ing exerted  to  the  utmost  to  fix 
its  orbit  within  the  autocratic 
system  of  which  Nicholas  II  is 
the  sun.  In  that  capacity  his  im- 
perial majesty  is  to  rise  with 
a  special  splendor  on  the  day  the  Duma  meets, 
and  unless  the  red  terror  deters  him  at  the 
last  moment,  he  means  to  render  his  recep- 
tion of  the  delegates  more  pompous  than  the 
abdication  of  Charles  V,  more  solemn  than  the 
death  of  Julian  the  Apostate  and  more  histori- 
cal than  the  reception  of  Columbus  by  Fer- 
dinand and  Isabella  after  the  discoveiy  of  the 
New  World.  Shocked  by  its  own  littleness, 
the  Duma  will  thereupon,  if  the  Czar  be  well 
advised,  vote  taxes  for  the  support  of  the 
grandeur  it  witnesses  and  without  doing  any- 
thing else  disperse  until  the  autumn.  Bureau- 
cracy is  tiding  over  the  interval  in  accord- 
ance with  Calonne's  maxim  that  when  pressed 
for  funds  one  should  spend  lavishly,  and  the 


4tnuoicpoli 
..  Matn  traOi  routt^ 


THE  ELECTIONS  TO  THE  RUSSIAN  DUMA 


48 


world,  thinking  such  a  show  of  assets  a  proof 
of  wealth,  will  lend  its  money  freely.  Russia, 
or  rather  her  government,  is  now  asking  for 
$700,000,000. 


ISOLATED  by  an  indirect  mode  of  election 
from  any  genuine  constituency,  subject  to 
manipulation  by  bureaucratic  ministers  who 
may  bully  it  with  impunity,  subordinated  by 
decree  to  the  will  of  Nicholas  II  whenever  he 
elects  to  adjourn  it,  and  impotent  if  opposed 
by  an  upper  house  specially  packed  to  thwart 
it,  this  new-born  Russian  Duma  has  become 
a  parliamentary  curiosity  to  organs  in  St. 
Petersburg  of  more  or  less  liberal  opinion 
such  as  the  Nasha  Zhizn  (defiant,  as  ever,  of 
the  censor),  the  Rtiss  (supposed  to  represent 
western  culture),  the  Strana  (newly  founded  to 
propagate  advanced  ideas),  and  the  Sviet  (an- 
tagonizer  of  bureaucracy).  The  good  old- 
fashioned  Novoye  Vremya  alone  notes  the 
progress  of  the  month's  elections  with  content. 
It  is  the  one  uproarious  optimist  of  the  Rus- 
sian situation.  It  is  apparently  sure  that  a 
quorum  of  the  Duma  will  be  got  together  in 
time  to  organize  this  month  in  the  unimposing 
Tauride  Palace.  Some  476  seats  are  already 
in  place  for  the  deputies,  but  what  pro- 
portion of  that  number  had  been  elected  by 
the  end  of  the  third  week  in  April  no  com- 
petent authority  pretends  to  know  precisely. 
The  liberal  and  progressive  elements  make 
claims  of  victories  which  the  Krcus  Zeitung 
pronounces  extravagant.  The  London  Times 
found  it  difficult  to  obtain,  after  an  expendi- 
ture of  infinite  pains,  any  complete  or  trust- 
worthy account  of  the  village  elections  in 
Russia  proper.  Strangers,  it  reports,  were 
"eliminated"  by  local  officials.  But  our  London 
contemporary's  information  is  that  the  rural 
police,  in  defiance  of  law,  attended  elections 
and  exerted  direct  pressure.  Delegates  chosen 
by  peasants  in  contravention  of  orders  were 
thrown  into  prison.  In  factory  towns  patrols 
of  Cossacks  kept  back  wage-earners  who  ap- 
peared to  cast  their  votes.  In  the  suburbs  of 
St.  Petersburg  this  form  of  intimidation  seems 
to  have  been  flagrant.  Moscow's  mill  hands 
were  less  molested.  In  St.  Petersburg  proper 
the  elections  resulted  in  what  appears  to  have 
been  a  complete  rout  of  bureaucracy. 


IN  FACT,  wherever  the  forces  of  bureau- 
cracy failed  to  deploy  in  armed  force  they 
went  to  certain  defeat  against  unshaken  lines 
of  Constitutional  Democrats.  They  elected 
about  140  of  their  candidates,  according  to 


THE  BRAINS  OF  WILLIAM  II'S  NAVY 

Admiral  von  Koster  is  in  command  of  the  German 
battle  squadron.  This  is  perhaps  the  most  powerful  of 
organized  floating  forces.  The  squadron  is  not  as  large 
as  the  one  which  guards  the  channel  for  England.  Naval 
experts  pronounce  it  none  the  less  the  most  efficient  of 
all  combative  seagoing  fleets. 

a  report  in  the  Journal  des  DSbats,  amid  smok- 
ing hecatombs  of  slaughtered  voters.  They 
might  have  scored  more  heavily  but  for  one 
of  the  untimely  disintegrations  to  which  Rus- 


(5ERMANY  AND  FRANCE  AT  ALGECIRAS 
The  new  Columns  of  Hercules. 

— Pasquino  (Turin). 


484 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


si  an  political  groups  are  so  prone.  However, 
the  achievements  of  the  Constitutional  Dem- 
ocratic body  are  so  brilliant  that  Witte  seems 
to  think  they  will  manage  to  capture  the  or- 
ganization of  the  Duma.  In  that  event  the 
Nasha  Zhisn's  definition  of  the  Duma  as  a 
contrivance  for  the  sole  purpose  of  voting  taxes 
may  require  revision. 


DURNOVO  all  but  drove  Witte  from  power 
three  weeks  ago.  So  low  had  Witte 
fallen  that  he  had  to  issue  an  official  denial 
of  his  own  words  to  a  deputation  that  asked 
him  to  enforce  his  decrees,  and  which  met  that 
denial  with  documentary  evidence  to  the  con- 
trary. Witte  was  likewise  humiliated  into  ex- 
plaining that  the  freedom  of  the  press  prom- 
ised by  himself  to  a  delegation  of  journalists 
had  been  based  upon  his  own  complete  mis- 
interpretation of  an  imperial  rescript.  Such 
is  the  measure  of  Durnovo's  new  power.  De- 
spatches in  London  dailies  are  picturesque  with 


the  doings  of  a  Witte,  new  and  strange,  rush- 
ing upon  Tsarskoe-Selo  to  complain  to  the 
Czar  that  Durnovo  nullifies  the  acts  *  of  his 
nominal  but  official  superior.  Nicholas  II 
bestowed  no  consolation.  What  the  Czar  said 
must  be  inferred  from  events.  We  read  no 
more  of  stormy  scenes  between  Mr.  Dumovo 
and  Mr.  Witte.  The  disciplined  Prime  Min- 
ister told  his  next  deputation  that  Russia  has 
an  ideal  executive.  In  France,  he  explained, 
the  executive  is  dependent  upon  a  parliamen- 
tary vote.  In  England  the  executive  is  de- 
pendent upon  a  popular  vote.  In  Russia  the 
executive  is  dependent  only  upon  himself.  It 
seems  plain  to  the  London  Tribune  that  Witte 
is  kept  in  office  only  on  account  of  the  eflfect- 
ive  way  he  has  with  financiers.  The  Duma, 
it  prophesies  from  details  supplied  by  an  un- 
usually well-informed  correspondent,  will 
serve  Witte's  purpose  by  inducing  foreign 
bankers  to  float  the  coming  huge  loan.  The 
real    ruler   of   the   empire,    practically  under 


'THE  ISLE  OF  DEATH  "—THE  DUMA 


—  Wakre  /tf^o*,lStuttgart. 


WITTE*S  CONTEST  WITH  DURNOVO 


48s 


martial  law,  was  Durnovo,  supported  by  a  star 
chamber  in  the  imperial  palace,  over  which 
presides  General  Trepoff.  Durnovo  was  sent 
to  the  rear  when  the  election  returns  came  in. 
But  his  resignation — if  it  be  a  resignation — 
is  understood  to  have  been  as  formal  as 
Trepoff 's.  If  Witte  is  not  yet  permitted  to 
resign,  it  is  merely  because  he  has  not  yet 
fulfilled  his  allotted  function  of  piling  a  bank- 
rupt treasury  high  with  rubles. 


LEAVING  Witte  to  organize  the  ceremonial 
pageant  for  what,  to  the  London  Tribune, 
seems  an  idle  festival  of  constitutionalism, 
Durnovo  spent  the  past  four  weeks  in  over- 
populating  every  available  prison.  One  of  his 
immediate  subordinates  is  quoted  in  the  Lon- 
don Post  as  asking  a  colleague  how  the  multi- 
tudes of  newly  arrested  could  be  accommo- 
dated in  cells  already  crowded.  "Let  five 
thousand  out,"  was  the  answer.  "But  which 
five  thousand?"  "Any  five  thousand — one  five 
thousand  will  be  as  glad  to  get  out  as  another 
five  thousand."  That,  says  Hon.  Maurice 
Baring,  with  the  conviction  of  a  man  studying 
autocracy  on  the  spot,  is  administrative  Russia 
functioning  in  its  perfection.  He  finds  the 
native  press  too  censored  to  comment  upon  a 
condition  of  absolute  chaos  with  any  respect 
for  facts.  No  parliament,  says  the  London 
Spectator,  shrewdest  of  organs  in  the  inter- 
pretation of  Russia,  has  ever  been  exposed  to 
such  pressure  as  the  deputies  of  the  Duma  are 
likely  to  experience.  They  are  forbidden  to 
discuss  what  imperial  rescripts  call  "the  funda- 
mental laws  of  the  monarchy."  Nor  does  the 
British  weekly  take  stock  in  the  theory  that 
the  people  will  be  behind  their  deputies  urging 
them  to  assert  their  freedom.  The  Muscovite 
masses  are  not  enlightened  enough  for  that. 
Durnovo,  il  hints,  has  converted  the  court  to 
the  view  that  Russia  is  unfitted  for  any  form 
of  freedom.  He  was  to  have  whipped  the 
foreign  loans  through  the  Duma  and  then  got- 
ten rid  of  it  in  a  hurry.  Now  he  is  a  tool  of 
autocracy  rusting  unused. 


ON  DURNOVO'S  capacity  to  transmute 
Russia's  electoral  molecules  into  gold  for 
the  treasury  the  bureaucracy  can  no  longer 
fondly  rely.  The  Paris  Aurore  characterizes 
him  as  an  empty  upstart.  Suave  with  deputa- 
tions, he  assures  them  that  no  party  in  the  state 
has  his  sympathy.  He  prides  himself  upon  being 
destitute  of  political  principles.  His  enemies 
accuse  him  of  duplicity.  He  devised  the  enact- 
ments now  nullifying  all  over  the  empire  the 


"LAST  OF  THE  NIHILISTS  AND  FATHER  OF 
THE.RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION." 

Nicholas  Tchaykovsky  was  one  of  the  first  to  fi^eet 
Gorky  upon  the  latter's  arrival  in  New  York.  Tchay- 
kovsky is  here  as  a  delegate  of  the  Socialist  Revolution- 
ist partyt 


Czar's  guarantee  of  freedom  of  speech,  free- 
dom of  the  press,  freedom  of  assembly  and 
freedom  from  arbitrary  arrest  and  detention 
without  trial.  He  is,  in  truth,  a  bold  and 
avowed  reactionary.  Grand  dukes  of  the  tra- 
ditional Muscovite  school  applaud  him  openly. 
Durnovo  has  caused  not  less  than  70,000  arrests 
since  he  became  Minister  of  the  Interior.  Lon- 
don dailies  even  accuse  him  of  causing  nearly 
10,000  progressive  intellectuals,  male  and 
female,  to  be  shot  without  trial  for  merely 
possessing  certificates  of  membership  in  the 
Social-Democratic  party,  for  attending  some 
public  meeting,  or  for  reading  a  Liberal  news- 
paper. Witte,  subjected  to  a  deliberate 
affront  by  his  supplanter  in  authority,  sent 
his  resignation  to  the  Czar  last  month.  Nich- 
olas returned  the  communication  in  two  days, 
if  our  well-informed  authority  be  accurate, 
with  a  command  to  remain  in  office.  That  is 
described  as  the  one  setback  of  Dumovo's  san- 


486 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


guinary  career  in  an  office  from  which  Plehve 
was  expelled  by  assassination.  Durnovo  will 
be  expelled  by  the  Duma,  predict  those  foes 
of  his  whose  hopes  are  based  upon  what  to 
them  seem  the  triumphs  at  the  voting  urns  of 
every  progressive  element. 
« 

Y  SECURING  a  postponement  of 
that  second  peace  conference  at 
The  Hague  for  which  the  world 
has  been  kept  so  long  waiting,  Sec- 
retary Root  is  said  to  come  out  best  in  a  diplo- 
matic encounter  with  the  house  of  Hohen- 
zollern.  The  Kolnische  Zeitung,  it  is  true, 
repudiates  as  malicious  the  insinuation  that 
Berlin  strove  to  fix  this  conference  for  June. 
Imperial  policy,  asserts  this  inspired  organ,  is 
unconcerned  at  the  delay  until  next  autumn. 
At  no  time  did  it  enter  the  official  mind  of 
Berlin  to  have  The  Hague  conference  used  as 
a  diplomatic  ecumenical  council  for  the  con- 
demnation of  such  heresies  as  may  find  favor 
with  the  Pan-American  Congress  of  next  July 
at  Rio  Janeiro.  But  such  German  disclaimers 
fail  to  impress  those  London  and  Paris  organs 
which  profess  to  be  aware  of  a  certain  distrust 
in  Washington  inspired  by  all  the  Berlin 
diplomacy  that  affects  The  Hague  conference. 
The  Department  of  State  is  said  to  have  taken 
forty-eight  hours  to  recover  from  the  surprise 
over  its  discovery  of  Berlin's  veiled  purpose 
to  set  the  date  of  The  Hague  conference  for 
early  in  June  or  July.  That  date,  of  course, 
would  have  made  it  impossible  for  the  Pan- 
American  Congress  to  submit  suggestions  of 
great  importance  to  The  Hague.  William  II 
is  represented  as  the  opponent  of  any  such 
suggestions — especially  from  lands  in  which 
the  names  of  Calvo  and  of  Drago  are  esteemed. 
He  is  desirous  that  The  Hague  conference 
shall  not  commit  itself  to  the  doctrine  that 
European  navies  must  refrain  from  collecting 
debts  after  the  fashion  set  by  some  of  his  own 
cruisers. 


MR.  ROOT'S  alleged  eagerness  to  have  The 
Hague  conference  indorse  what  William 
II  is  determined  it  shall  not  indorse  indicates,  if 
European  papers  know  their  Roosevelt,  a  fresh 
phase  of  the  Monroe  doctrine.  It  is  a  phase  as- 
sociated with  the  name  of  Calvo,  whom  the 
Paris  Temps  dQcms  an  illustrious  authority  on 
international  law,  and  with  the  name  of  Dr. 
Drago,  that  Argentine  Minister  of  Foreign 
Affairs  who  first  became  prominent  when 
Emperor  William's  cruiser  was  firing  upon 


Puerto  Cabello.     At  that  time  John  Hay,    as 
Secretary  of  State,  caused  a  rejection  of  tlie 
developed  Calvo  or  Drago  doctrine,  so  far  as 
Washington  is  concerned.    This  doctrine  is  in 
effect  that  delay  in  the  payment  of  a  public 
debt,  where  this  is  not  due  to  bad  faith,  oug-ht 
not  to  be  and  cannot  be  made  a  ground   for 
armed    intervention    in    a    South    American 
country  by  any  European  power.     Argentina 
a  few  years  ago  asked  our  Giovernment  to  join 
in  such  a  declaration.     Mr.  Hay  set  his   face 
against  the  proposition.     It  was  thought   Sig- 
nificant  then  that  Emperor  William's  ambas- 
sador in  Washington  was  very  assiduous    in 
questioning  Mr.  Hay  on  the  subject  of  Argen- 
tina's   suggestion.      Argentina,    observes    the 
London  Times,  "baited  its  proposal  with  a  rec- 
ognition of  the  Monroe  Doctrine,"  a  doctrine 
which  is  undoubtedly  to  some  extent  an  object 
of    suspicion    in     South    American    capitals. 
Now,   with   the  Pan-American   Congress   less 
than  eight  weeks  away,  comes  the  announce- 
ment that  Secretary  of  State  Root  is  to  go  in 
official    state    to    the    Brazilian   capital    as    a 
champion  of  the  very  doctrine  to  which   his 
predecessor  in  office  would  not  listen. 


IF,     THEREFORE,     the     Drago     doctrine 
1      emerges  from  the  Pan-American  confer- 
ence officially  indorsed,  with  the  United  States 
concurring,  a  new  situation,  thinks  the  Lon- 
don   Post,    will    confront    the  *  diplomacy    of 
Europe.    "If  Europe  cannot,  without  challeng- 
ing the  United  States,  seize  or  occupy  South 
American  territory,  or  may  not  employ  force 
to  secure  the  payment  of  debts,  South  America 
is  beyond  the  reach  of  European  punishment 
and   can    with    impunity   defy   its   creditors." 
Thus  the  British  daily.    Yet  there  are  London 
organs  which  recall  that  Great  Britain  has  a 
Calvo   doctrine   of  her   own.     She  tells   her 
financiers    that    their    investments    in    South 
America  can  never  become  the  basis  of  naval 
interventions   and   debt-collecting  displays  of 
military  power.    But  to  Emperor  William  any 
restriction  of  the  might  of  the  mailed  fist  in 
this  hemisphere  is  deemed   hateful.     That  is 
why,    says   rumor,   he    instigated    the   Czar's 
government  to  hasten  The  Hague  conference. 
He  wanted  no  Pan-Americanism  there.    His 
Majesty,  it  is  assumed,  now  feels  that  some 
of  the  alleged  influence  he  has  acquired  over 
the  Rooseveltian  mind  has  been  undermined 
by  Mr.  Root.     That  he  is  going  to  Brazil  as 
an  advocate  of  the  Drago  doctrine  speaks  vol- 
umes to  Europe  for  his  influence  with  Roose- 
velt. 


Persons  in  the  Foreground 


THE  FOREMOST  DEMOCRAT  IN  WASHINGTON 


With  Qeveland  out  of  politics  and  Bryan 
out  of  the  country,  it  may  be  said  that  the 
foremost  Democratic  leader  in  America  to-day 
is  Senator  Joseph  W.  Bailey,  of  Texas.    Sena- 
tor Gorman  is  still  the  nominal  leader  of  the 
minority  in  the  Senate;  but  Gorman  is  a  sick 
man  and  has,  for  the  time  being,  practically 
retired  from  the  scene.    Bailey  is  the  man  who 
looms  up  on  the  Democratic  side  in  the  rate 
discussion,  although  Tillman  has  charge  of  the 
rate  bill.     But  Tillman,  in  a  position  of  that 
kind,   where   the   whole  debate   hinges   upon 
legal  questions,  is,  with  all  his  rugged  hon- 
esty, more  or  less  of  a  joke.    He  has  nothing 
but   what   Senator   Spooner  calls   "corn-field 
law"  in  his  equipment.    Bailey  is  regarded,  as 
one  of  the  ablest  lawyers  in  the  Senate,  and 
w^hen  he  speaks  he  commands  the  close  atten- 
tion even  of  Spooner.    "It  is  sight  worth  see- 
ing," says  a  Washington  correspondent,  "when 
Spooner  sits  under  the  fall  of  Bailey's  slow 
drip  of  oratory,  as  deeply  engrossed  and  pain- 
fully attentive  as  a  schoolgirl  on  the  last  lap 
of  the  latest  novel."     Here  is  a  pen-picture, 
by  the  same  correspondent,  of  Bailey  deliver- 
ing a  speech: 

"When  Bailey  arises  to  deliver  one  of  these 
speeches  he  usually  stands  with  the  tips  of  his 
fingers  touching  his  desk  and  lets  his  talk  fall 
with  a  slow,  indolent,  resistless  drip.  He  often 
parts  his  words  in  the  middle,  leaving  a  pause 
between  syllables.  When  he  rises  to  an  occa- 
sional flight  of  eloquence  it  is  not  lugged  in;  it 
belongs  there  and  could  not  be  left  out.  On  such 
occasions  his  slow  voice  rises  and  booms  out  like 
a  church  organ;  the  fingers  leave  the  desk  and 
the  hands  rise  in  gestures  that  are  not  of  elocu- 
tion schools  like  Fairbank^s  or  of  imitation  wrath 
and  excitement  like  Beveridge's,  but  of  natural 
grace.  He  despises  the  conventional  oratorical 
tricks,  such  as  the  rising  inflection  at  the  end  of  the 
sentence;  but  he  has  one  effective  oratorical  trick 
of  his  own,  which  consists  of  bringing  one  of  his 
bursts  of  eloquence  by  slow  degrees  to  its  highest 
point  of  voice  and  gesture  and  closing  it  by  utter- 
ing the  last  three  or  four  words  of  the  sentence  in 
a  conversational  tone.  It  is  difficult  to  give  an 
idea  of  the  effect  of  this  in  print,  but  when  it  hap- 
pens persons  who  are  amenable  to  such  things 
find  little  thrills  running  up  and  down  their  spines 
and  feel  a  desire  to  bite  pieces  out  of  the  furni- 
ture." 

The  above  description  is  part  of  a  very  in- 
teresting  sketch  of   the  man   made   by   Mr. 


Charles  Willis  Thompson,  Washington  cor- 
respondent of  the  New  York  Times,  and  re- 
cently embodied  in  book  form*  together  with 
numerous  other  vivid  sketches  of  prominent 
figures  in  Washington. 

Bailey  hailed  originally  from  Copiah  County, 
Mississippi.  He  grew  to  manhood  in  a  tavern, 
with  the  atmosphere  of  a  country  grog-shop 
about  him,  and  in  a  rough  and  lawless  environ- 
ment. When  he  was  barely  twenty  he  took  an 
active  part  in  suppressing,  by  illegal  means, 
the  negro  vote  in  the  county.  The  fact  has 
not  been  lost  sight  of  by  his  Republican  foes, 
and  though  more  than  twenty  years  have 
elapsed  since  that  youthful  indiscretion,  the 
incident  is  still  trotted  out  to  discredit  him. 
His  uncle,  believing  that  Bailey  could  achieve 
something  away  from  his  Copiah  County  envi- 
ronment, sent  him  to  Texas.  His  arrival  there 
was  an  event,  says  Mr.  Thompson: 

"One  day  there  dawned  upon  Gainesville  an 
apparition  which  made  that  town  sit  up  and  rub 
its  eyes.  It  was  a  tall,  lank  young  man  with  an 
enormous  slouch  hat  and  enveloped  in  a  tremen- 
dous coat.  His  hair  hung  down  on  his  shoulders 
in  a  fashion  to  give  pangs  of  envy  to  Buffalo  Bill 
and  Col.  John  A.  Joyce.  He  was  not  at  all  a 
typical  Southerner;  he  was  the  South  intensified 
and  exaggerated  a  hundred  times.  He  was  the 
stage  Southerner  done  into  real  life. 

"In  Gainesville  they  were  not  used  to  such 
sights.  Bailey  did  not  know  there  was  anything 
wrong  with  his  appearance;  his  make-up  was  all 
right  for  Copiah  County.  It  had  never  attracted 
any  attention  in  those  wilds. 

"But  Gainesville  *did  not  get  much  chance  to 
laugh  at  Bailey.  Raw  boy  as  he  was,  queer  and 
countrified  as  his  aspect  was,  and  full  of  strange 
affectations  as  he  was,  there  was  that  in  him 
which  compelled  not  only  attention  but  respect 
and  could  not  be  hidden  or  perverted  by  all  the 
eccentricities  and  crudenesses  of  youthful  ego- 
tism." 

Almost  at  once  he  sprang  into  political  lead- 
ership. In  a  deadlocked  congressional  con- 
vention, a  compromise  was  suggested  in  the 
nomination  of  the  lanky  young  man  with  the 
long  hair.  It  swept  the  convention.  But 
Bailey  was  pledged  to  another  candidate  and 
strove  to  stem  the  tide  in  his  own  favor.  As 
a  last  resource  he  sprang  upon  a  chair  and  an- 

♦Partv  Leaders  of  the   Time.      By   Charles  Willis 
Thompson.     G.  W.  Dillingham  Company. 


488 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


nounced  that  he  was  not  old  enough  to  be 
eligible  as  a  Congressman,  not  being  twenty- 
five.  That  was  true;  but  it  was  also  true  that 
he  would  have  been  twenty-five  by  the  time  he 
entered  upon  the  duties  of  the  office.  This 
fact  he  suppressed,  and  his  candidate  was 
finally  elected.  Two  years  later,  however,  the 
district  insisted  on  Bailey  and  started  him  on 
his  way  to  national  fame.  "That  lanky  youth 
with  the  black  mane,"  says.  Mr.  Thompson, 
"seems  an  impossibility  now  as  one  looks  at 
the  Bailey  of  to-day;  a  full-faced,  handsome, 
stately  man,  moving  with  a  lazy  majesty  and 
commanding  the  strained  attention  of  the  na- 
tion's Solons  when  his  slow,  sonorous  voice 
begins  to  roll  out  across  the  Senate  chamber. 
It  is  not  merely  to  his  ability  that  the  senators 
pay  tribute.  They  pay  it  also  to  his  character ; 
to  the  tremendous  sincerity  of  the  man  and  to 
his  dead-level  loyalty  to  his  own  convictions." 
Bailey's  weakness  as  a  leader,  we  are  fur- 
ther told,  is  in  his  hot  temper.  The  most 
grievous  mistake  he  has  ever  made  was  when, 
a  few  years  ago,  he  assaulted  Beveridge  in  the 
Senate  chamber,  after  the  latter  had  been  har- 
'  rying  and  harassing  him  for  several  hours  in 
a  running  debate.  But  as  Bailey  grows  older 
(he  is  now  but  forty-two)  he  is  getting  better 
control  of  his  temper.  "With  that  conquered, 
no  debits  will  be  recorded  on  his  standing  as 
a  statesman."  As  a  political  strategist,  how- 
ever, he  is  said  to  be  deficient: 

"He  never  could  be  a  party  general  as  Gorman 
was.  He  is  not  a  manipulator  and  could  not  be- 
come one.    His  leadership  in  the  House  of  Repre-* 


sentatives  was  unsuccessful  for  that  reason.  In 
the  sense  of  being  a  maneuverer,  a  strategist,  a 
political  chess-player,  Bailev  can  never  be  a  leader 
anywhere.  But  he  is  a  leader  on  great  public 
questions.  He  stands  head  and  shoulders  above 
the  other  Democrats  of  the  Senate.  He  is  a 
commanding  figure  among  his  fellows.  He  can 
lead  them  on  questions  of  principle;  never  in 
chess-playing. 

"His  full  proportions  are  becoming  known  to 
his  countrymen,  and  he  is  unquestionably  the  fore- 
most figure  in  the  minority.  He  has  been  forging 
resistlessly  to  the  front  for  years  and  to-day  there 
is  no  dissent  anywhere  in  the  Senate  from  his 
recognition  as  the  strongest  personality  and  ablest 
man  on  the  Democratic  side. 

"There  is  nothing  of  1884  about  Bailey.  The 
Southern  politicians  admire  him  and  love  him. 
They  regard  him  as  a  great  leader.  In  the  Senate 
the  Kepublicans  respect  him  very  much,  fear  him 
a  little,  and  like  him  a  great  deal.  He  is  a  big, 
calm-fcyed  man,  slow  of  speech,  tremendously  pre- 
pared on  all  questions  senatorial.  He  does  not 
play  tricks,  and  is  hotly  contemptuous  and  intol- 
erant of  them.  He  does  not  maneuver  for  little 
petty  points  of  party  advantage,  and  is  ferociously 
wrathful  when  one  seeks  so  to  maneuvre  at  his 
expense." 

There  is  considerable  talk  about  the  Demo- 
cratic party's  choosing  its  next  presidential 
candidate  from  the  South.  If  that  policy  were 
to  be  adopted,  the  man  whom  the  lightning 
would  be  most  apt  to  strike  would  be  the  Sen- 
ator from  Texas.  Even  in  1904  he  was  talked 
of  and  some  of  his  admirers  waited  upon  him 
to  urge  him  to  run.  His  grave  reply  was: 
"Gentlemen,  I  thank  you,  but  your  suggestion 
is  impossible.  On  the  wall  of  my  office  at 
Gainesville  there  hangs  a  picture  of  Jefferson 
Davis." 


THE  STORMY  CAREER  OF  MAKSIM  GORKY 


"I  know  that  life  is  hard,  that  at  times  it  is 
coarse  and  disgusting,  and  I  detest  it;  I  de- 
test this  order  of  things.  I  know  that  life  is 
a  serious  matter,  although  as  yet  not  ordered, 
.  .  .  that  I  must  exert  all  my  powers  and 
abilities  to  help  to  bring  it  into  order.  And 
with  all  the  means  of  my  soul  I  will  seek  to 
live  up  to  my  inner  driving  impulse,  to  rush 
into  the  thickest  of  life,  mingle  with  it,  mold 
it  now  so,  now  so,  step  in  the  way  of  this  one 
and  jump  to  the  help  of  that  other  one.  .  .  . 
This — ^yes,  this  is  the  joy  of  life !" 

These  words,  put  in  the  mouth  of  an  engine- 
driver  in  one  of  Gorky's  plays,  represents  the 
actual  course  of  the  life  of  the  author,  who  is 


now  visiting  America  in  behalf  of  the  Russian 
revolutionists.  First  with  his  pen,  then  with 
active  work  in  the  ranks  of  the  extreme  revo- 
lutionists, the  Social-Democratic  party,  Gorky 
has  always  remained  true  to  this  ideal  of  the 
"joy  of  life."  He  has  introduced  a  new  note 
in  Russian  literature — a  note  which  had  not 
been  sounded  since  the  reaction  that  set  in 
after  the  assassination  of  Alexander  the  Sec- 
ond. So  large  a  part  of  the  more  virile  young 
men  of  Russia  were  sent  after  that  event  to 
languish  in  the  prisons  or  in  exile  that  Russian 
literature  became  an  instrument  of  weakness. 
It  lost  the  note  of  power.  It  still  had  its  lit- 
erary triumphs  —  Chekhov,  for  instance,  who 


MAKi^lM  GORKY 


ut^T^l^S^llu^  nfi'^"^*  K^"^  ^H  f^tii^'^ost  ground  of  life,  where  Is  naught  but  aludge  and  mnrk 


I  am  the 
p  to  bear  wit- 


490 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


GORKY  IN  A  RUSSIAN  JAIL 

For  his  participation  in  the  Revolution  he  has  been 
twice  imprisoned,  being  finally  released  and  ordered  to 
leave  St.  Petersburg. 

drew  wonderful  pictures  of  real  life;  but  it 
was  a  life  that  represented  weakness,  helpless- 
ness, despair.  The  only  literature  of  that  time 
that  carried  a  gospel  with  it  was  Tolstoy's  and 
his  gospel  was  one  of  submissiveness  and  non- 
resistance.  Gorky  came,  and  Russian  litera- 
ture was  again  transformed  into  a  mighty, 
aggressive,  fighting  force.  Gorky's  literary 
characters,  like  himself,  are  filled  with  discon- 
tent. Like  himself  they  come  from  the  lowest 
depths  of  society,  from  the  tramps  and  the 
working  men,  those  who  were  later  to  bring  on 
the  Russian  revolution  which,  from  the  very 
first,  is  presaged  in  his  stories.  Their  discon- 
tent is  not  passive;  it  is  active  and  ready  for 
attack.  They  have  hate  enough  to  overthrow 
the  old;  they  have  love  enough  to  erect  the 
new.  They  are  all  imbued  with  the  "joy  of 
life."  Gorky  sounded  the  bugle  call,  and 
around  him  gathered  a  number  of  the  most 
resolute  minds  of  Russia — Andreyev,  Chirikov, 
Skitaletz,  Kuprin.  They  work  each  in  his  own 
way,  but  all  in  the  same  spirit;  and  thus,  to- 
gether with  the  more  lowly  workers  of  under- 
ground Russia,  they  have  helped  to  speed  the 
revolution  that  seems  now  to  be  rapidly 
gathering  force  for  its  final  triumphant  con- 
summation. 

To  read  Gorky's  works  is  in  great  part  to 
read  his  life.  All  his  writings  are  artistic 
representations  of  his  experiences.  What  he 
relates  he  has  either  lived  through  or  has  ob- 
tained directly  from  companions  he  met  in  his 
vagabond  days.     The  use  of  the  first  person 


in  many  of  his  stories  is  in  his  case  no  mere 
literary  device. 

Alexey  Maximovich  Pieshkov  (Gorky  is  a 
pseudonym,  meaning  "bitter")  was  born  in 
Nizhni-Novgorod  in  1869.  His  father,  an  up- 
holsterer, died  when  Gorky  was  four  years  of 
age.  The  mother  married  again  soon  after- 
ward, and  Gorky  lived  with  his  grandfather. 
At  the  age  of  nine  he  lost  his  mother  also. 
His  school  career  terminated  after  five  months, 
when  he  was  taken  ill  with  the  smallpox.  At 
the  age  of  nine  he  went  to  work  as  apprentice 
in  a  shoe  warehouse  and,  losing  his  position 
there  after  two  months,  he  was  placed  under 
the  charge  of  an  engineer.  Brutal  treatment 
caused  him  to  run  away,  and  he  took  up  an 
apprenticeship  with  a  painter  of  sacred  im- 
ages. Finding  his  treatment  here  no  better, 
he  escaped  again  and  became  a  scullion  on  a 
Volga  steamer. 

Here  he  met  the  cook  Smury,  who  be- 
friended the  boy  and  became  an  important  fac- 
tor in  his  life  by  first  introducing  him  to  good 
literature.  "Here  on  the  steamer,"  writes 
Gorky,  "the  cook  Smury  had  a  great  influence 
on  my  education.  He  persuaded  me  to  read 
the  lives  of  the  saints,  but  he  also  made  me 
read  Gogol,  Gleb  Uspensky,  the  elder  Dumas, 
and  many  books  of  the  freemasons.  Before 
that  I  could  not  endure  books  and  printed 
paper  in  general,  including  the  passport."  He 
had,  however,  previously  read  a  good  deal  of 
that  kind  of  literature  which  Jack  London 
calls  "Seaside  Library  novels." 

The  better  class  of  literature  fired  him  with 
a  desire  to  educate  himself,  and  he  went  to 
Kazan  with  the  idea  of  taking  up  a  course  of 
study  there.  "When  I  had  reached  the  age  of 
fifteen  I  felt  a  fanatic  desire  to  study ;  for  this 
purpose  I  went  to  Kazan,  taking  it  for  granted 
that  here  the  sciences  were  taught  gratis  to 
anybody  that  wanted  to  study.  It  turned  out 
that  this  was  a  mistaken  idea,  and  so  I  went 
to  work  in  a  bakery  for  three  rubles  a  month. 
That  was  the  hardest  work  of  any  that  I  had 
done."  But  his  stay  in  Kazan  proved  a  most 
important  period  of  his  life.  It  gave  him  the 
material  for  some  of  his  best  stories — "Twen- 
ty-six and  One"  and  "Konovalov."  Here  he 
met  students  and  took  a  lively  interest  in  their 
studies.  He  became  acquainted  with  social- 
istic literature,  visited  the  dens  of  drunkards 
and  tramps,  took  to  drinking  himself,  studied 
the  life  and  psychology  •  of  the  submerged 
tenth  and  came  to  this  conclusion:  "The  man 
who  battles  with  life,  who  is  vanquished  by 
it  and  who  suffers  is  a  greater  philosopher 


PERSONS  IN  THE  FOREGROUND 


491 


than  Schopenhauer  himself,  because  abstract 
thought  never  assumes  such  definite  and  pre- 
cise form  as  that  which  is  pressed  out  of  the 
soul  of  a  man  through  suffering." 

Gorky  had  now  ample  opportunity,  through 
suffering,  to  become  a  great  philosopher.  He 
went  from  job  to  job,  worked  in  the  harbor, 
became  a  wood-sawyer,  then  a  carrier,  went 
without  lodging  and  sank  to  the  lowest  depths. 
Finally  he  attempted  suicide,  but  recovered 
with  a  bullet  wound  in  his  lungs.  Then  be- 
gan his  wanderings  again,  with  intervals  of 
work  as  line-keeper,  fruit-seller,  kvas-dealer. 
He  went  to  Odessa  and  labored  in  the  salt- 
•  works,  then  he  continued  his  peregrinations 
through  the  Crimea,  Kuban  and  the  Caucasus. 
In  Tiflis  he  came  in  contact  with  a  student 
whom  he  describes  somewhere  under  the  name 
of  Alexander  Kalushny  and  from  whom  he 
apears  to  have  learned  much  in  the  way  of 
technical  composition.  There  also  appeared 
his  first  story,  "Makar  Chudra,"  in  the  Kav- 
kas,  in  1892. 

In  Nizhni-Novgorod  he  had  worked  as  clerk 
in  the  office  of  lawyer  Lavin,  a  great  Macaenas 
of  modern  literature,  who  immediately  discov- 
ered the  great  talent  of  Gorky  and  did 
much  for  his  education.  His  "Wanderlust," 
however,  had  taken  him  away  on  another 
tramp  of  several  years,  and  when  he  returned 
again  to  his  native  city  he  was  introduced  to 
the  eminent  author  Korolenko,  editor  of  Rt^ss- 
koye  Bogatstvo,  Korolenko  encouraged  the 
young  author,  and  in  1895,  when  "Chelkash" 
appeared,  Gorky  immediately  leaped  into  fame. 

Gorky  has  come  to  America  to  work  for  the 
Russian  revolution.  He  desires  by  voice  and 
pen  to  expose  the  actual  conditions  in  Russia, 
of  which  he  believes  the  Americans  are  still 
largely  ignorant.  He  wants  to  point  out  to 
us  that  the  Russian  peasant  is  ripe  for  a 
change;  that,  although  he  has  for  a  long  time 
borne  the  oppression  of  the  bureaucracy,  he 
now  shows  his  discontent  plainly.  In  this  way 
Gorky  hopes  to  enlist  the  sympathy  of  the 
American  people  and  secure  their  financial 
assistance  for  the  revolutionists.  Gorky's 
adopted  son,  Nikolay  Zavolsky  Pieshkov,  is 
living  in  New  York,  and  describes  his  adopted 
father  as  "the  mildest  of  men."  "In  all  the 
time  that  I  was  with  him  I  never  heard  him 
say  a  harsh  or  insulting  word  to  anybody. 
And  he  never  commands.  I  don't  remember 
him  ever  giving  me  any  orders.  It  is  his  prin- 
ciple to  let  people  alone,  to  let  them  do  as  they 
please,  and  in  his  private  life  he  acts  on  this 
principle.     He  is  a  true  gentleman;  not  your 


THE  FIRST  PHOTOGRAPH  MADE  OF  GORKY   IN 
AMERICA 

The  young  man  is  Gorky's  adopted  son,  who  lives  in 
New  York.  The  third  member  of  the  party  is  Mme. 
Andreieva,  whom  Gorky  publicly  recognizes  as  his  wife. 
Doubt  as  to  the  legality  of  her  wifehood,  according  to 
Russian  law,  has  caused  scandal  at  the  outset  of.  Gorky  s 
career  here. 


respectable  gentleman  with  starched  collar  and 
shirt  and  polished  shoes,  but  a  kind  man,  a 
man  whose  every  fiber  quivers  with  love  and 
regard  for  his  kind." 

Gorky  keeps  his  house  open  not  only  for  his 
friends  but  for  all.  "The  whole  day  long  the 
bell  keeps  ringing,"  says  Nikolay,  and  Gorky 
is  never  "not  at  home."  He  receives  them  all. 
He  is  loved  by  all  the  people  in  Nizhni-Nov- 
gorod and  wherever  he  is  known,  and  they 
come  to  him  with  all  their  troubles.  They  come 
to  him  for  advice,  they  come  even  for  money 
when  they  want  to  start  in  business,  and  they 
come  asking  him  to  stand  godfather  to  their 
children.  He  helps  many,  and  especially  stu- 
dents, many  of  whom  he  supports  at  home  and 
abroad.  He  also  contributes  largely  to  libra- 
ries. The  Nizhni-Novgorod  library  has  about 
three  rooms  full  of  books  contributed  by  him." 

Gorky  is  a  free-thinker  and  a  Social  Demo- 
crat who  looks  upon  Socialism  as  a  means 
rather  than  a  final  end.  The  fact  that  he  is 
accompanied  by  Mme.  Andreieva,  a  noted  Rus- 
sian actress,  whom  he  publicly  proclaims  his 
wife,  though  the  Russian  Church  has  refused 
to  grant  him  a  divorce  from  his  first  wife,  who 
is  still  living,  has  come  as  a  surprise  to  his 
friends  in  America  and  has  distracted  public 
attention  from  his  real  mission.  Several  hotels 
in  New  York  have  refused  to  receive  him  un- 
der the  circumstances,  and  Gorky  and  his  com- 
panions, evidently  dumbfounded  at  this  treat- 
ment, have  at  the  time  of  this  writing  with- 
drawn entirely  from  the  public  view. 


492 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


THE  STRENUOUS  LIFE  OF  A  WOMAN  REFORMER 


"Come  quick ;  let  me  take  you  to  the  cellar.' 
It  was  an  excited  county  sheriff  of  South  Da- 
kota who  spoke,  and  he  was  excited  because  a 
cyclone  was  about  to  break  loose.  "Never 
mind,"  calmly  said  the  lady  to  whom  he  spoke ; 
"after  my  recent  experiences  a  little  thing  like 
a  cyclone  doesn't  frighten  me." 

The  lady  was  the  late  Miss  Susan  B.  An- 
thony, and  her  experiences  as  a  reformer  dur- 
ing a  period  of  more  than  fifty  years  were 
full  of  dramatic  and  humorous  incident.  She 
was  frequently  indignant,  but  there  is  no  rec- 
ord that  she  was  ever  frightened  or  daunted. 
Courage  was  in  the  blood.  Her  brother,  Col. 
D.  R.  Anthony,  who  ran  a  daily  newspaper 
for  many  years  in  Leavenworth,  Kansas,  had 
the  same  fighting  blood,  and  the  stories  about 
him  have  becbme  an  important  part  of  the 
State's  traditions.  The  grandfather  of  Susan 
B.  was  a  soldier  of  the  Revolution,  and  her 
father  was  a  Hicksite  Quaker.  But  the  latter 
married  outside  his  faith  and  was  disciplined. 
He  wore  an  overcoat  with  a  cape  and  also 
wore  a  colored  handkerchief  around  his  neck, 
and  he  was  again  disciplined.  Finally  he  al- 
lowed young  people  to  dance  in  his  house. 
Then  the  Quakers  gave  him  up.  He  was  not 
again  disciplined;  he  was  disowned. 

This  father  was  a  wealthy  man,  but  he  be- 


CouTteay  ol  The  Independent, 

MISS  ANTHONY  AT   FIFTY 

*  Id  all  the  details  of  the  toilet,  she  was  fastidious,  and  a  rent,  a  frayed  edge 
or  missing:  button  was  looked  upon  as  almost  a  sin." 


lieved  in  the  economic  independence  of  women, 
and  Miss  Susan,  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  began 
the  career  of  a  teacher,  earning  the  first  winter 
the  dazzling  sum  of  one  dollar  a  week  and 
board.  For  fifteen  years  she  continued  in  the 
same  vocation,  refusing  various  offers  of  mar- 
riage and  growing  at  times  indignant  over 
the  injustice  of  receiving  about  one-fourth  as 
much  pay  as  that  which  a  man  would  receive 
for  the  same  work.  At  the  end  of  this  period 
she  attended  a  State  Teachers*  Convention, 
and  at  the  close  of  the  second  day,  when  a  dis- 
cussion was  up  on  the  quesion,  "Why  is  not 
the  teacher's  profession  as  much  respected  as 
that  of  the  doctor  or  lawyer?"  she  rose  and 
addressed  the  chair.  The  incident  is  thus  nar- 
rated in  the  Boston  Transcript: 

"*Mr.  President.'  We  are  told  that  a  bomb- 
shell would  not  have  created  greater  commotion. 
For  the  first  time  a  woman's  voice  was  heard  in 
a  teachers'  convention.  Every  neck  was  craned, 
and  a  profound  hush  fell  upon  the  assembly.  At 
length,  recovering  from  the  shock  of  beings 
thus  addressed  by  a  woman,  the  presiding  officer 
leaned  forward  and  asked  with  satirical  polite- 
ness, 'What  will  the  lady  have?'  T  wish  to  speak 
to  the  question  under  discussion,'  said  Miss  An- 
thony, calmly,  although  her  heart  was  beating  a 
tattoo.  Turning  to  the  few  rows  of  men  in  front 
of  him,  the  back  seats  being  occupied  by  women, 
the  presiding  officer  inquired :  'What  is  the  pleas- 
ure of  the  convention?*  'I 
move  she  shall  be  heard,'  said 
one  man;  this  was  seconded  by 
another,  and  thus  was  precip- 
itated a  debate  which  lasted 
half  an  hour,  although  the  lady 
had  precisely  the  same  right  to 
speak  as  had  any  man  who  was 
taking  part  in  the  discussion. 
During  all  this  time  Miss  An- 
thony remained  standing,  lest 
she  should  lose  the  floor  if  she 
sat  down.  At  last  a  vote  was 
taken,  men  only  voting,  and 
the  motion  was  carried  in  the 
affirmative  by  a  small  major- 
ity. Miss  Anthony  then  said : 
*It  seems  to  me  you  fail  to 
comprehend  the  cause  of  the 
disrespect  of  which  you  com- 
plain. Do  you  not  see  that,  so 
long  as  society  says  that  wo- 
man has  not  brains  enough  to 
be  a  doctor,  lawyer  or  minis- 
ter, but  has  plenty  to  be  a 
teacher,  every  man  of  you  who 
condescends  to  teach,  tacitly 
admits  before  Israel  and  the 
sun  that  he  has  no  more 
brains  than  a  woman?' — and 
sat  down." 


PERSONS  IN  THE  FOREGROUND 


493 


Prior  to  the  foregoing  incident,  however, 
Miss  Anthony  had  made  her  initial  public 
speech.  Like  the  first  public  speech  of  Abraham 
Lincoln  and  of  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  it  was  in 
behalf  of  the  temperance  cause.  The  senti- 
ment of  the  public  at  that  time  concerning 
women  on  the  platform  is  illustrated  by  the 
remark  made  to  her  by  the  president  of  a  con- 
vention held  in  Troy  which  was  addressed  by 
her  on  the  subject  of  coeducation.  After  the 
address  he  said  to  her:  "Madam,  that  was  a 
splendid  .production  and  well  delivered;  I  could 
not  have  asked  for  a  single  thing  different  in 
matter. or  manner;  but  I  would  rather  have 
followed  my  wife  or  daughter  to  Greenwood 
Cemetery  than  have  her  stand  here  before  this 
promiscuous  audience  and  deliver  that  ad- 
dress r 

It  was  not  merely  in  the  matter  of  public 
speaking  that  the  rights  of  women  were  wo- 
fully  ignored.  Writing  in  The  North  Ameri- 
can Review,  Ida  Husted  Harper  says  concern- 
ing this  subject: 

"Outside  of  teaching  (for  a  beggarly  pittance) 
they  could  earn  a  living  only  at  menial  occupa- 
tions. The  first  fight  to  be  made  was  to  secure 
for  them  the  right  to  speak  in  public,  to  ask  for 
the  redress  of  their  own  wrongs.  Everywhere 
the  English  common  law  prevailed  which  had 
been  adopted  by  the  colonies  and  never  changed. 
The  wife  had  no  legal  existence,  or,  as  Black- 
stone  expressed  it,  'the  very  being,  or  existence,  of 
the  woman  is  suspended  during  marriage.'  She 
could  not  own  property,  buy  or  sell,  sue  or  be 
sued,  make  a  contract,  testify  in  court  or  control 
her  own  wages.  The  father  could  apprentice 
young  children  without  the  mother's  consent  and 
dispose  of  them  by  will  at  his  death.  There  was 
but  one  cause  for  divorce,  and  the  husband, 
though  the  guilty  party,  could  retain  the  property 
and  the  children." 

Miss  Anthony  used  to  illustrate  this  condi- 
tion of  her  sex  in  the  following  story : 

"A  farmer's  wife  in  Illinois,  who  had  all  the 
rights  she  wanted,  had  made  for  herself  a  full 
set  of  false  teeth.  The  dentist  pronounced  them 
an  admirable 'fit  and  she  declared  it  gave  her  fits 
to  wear  them.  He  sued  her  husband  for  the 
money  and  the  latter's  counsel  put  the  wife  on 
the  stand  to  testify,  but  the  judge  ruled  her  off 
saying,  'A  married  woman  cannot  be  a  witness 
in  matters  of  joint  interest  between  herself  and 
her  husband.'  Think  of  it,  ye  good  wives,  the 
teeth  in  your  mouth  are  a  joint  interest  with 
your  husband  about  which  you  are  legally  incom- 
petent to  speak!" 

Since  that  time,  of  course,  the  legal  and  eco- 
nomic status  of  women  has  been  vastly  im- 
proved, and  though  Miss  Anthony  died  in 
disappointment  at  not  being  able  to  witness  the 
general  political  enfranchisement  of  women, 


Coarteay  of  the  RevUv  qf  Reviewt. 

MISS  ANTHONY  AT  THIRTY-SIX 

At  this  age  she  stood  forth  as  a  leader  of  *'the  most  for- 
lorn and  hopel<%ss  cause  that  ever  called  for  recognition 
and  assistance." 

she  lived  to  see  a  large  number  of  the  changes 
which  she  championed  achieved. 

Various  stories  are  told  of  her  skill  in  rep- 
artee. "You  are  not  married,"  said  a  well- 
known  abolitionist  to  her  once;  "you  have  no 
business  to  be  discussing  marriage."  "Well, 
Mr.  Mayo,"  she  replied,  "you  are  not  a  slave, 
suppose  you  quit  lecturing  on  slavery."  At 
another  time  an  opponent  quoted  St.  Paul's 
"Wives,  submit  yourselves  unto  your  hus- 
bands." "Sir,"  she  retorted,  "no  one  objects 
to  the  husband  being  the  head  of  the  wife  as 
Christ  was  the  head  of  the  Church — to  crucify 
himself;  what  we  object  to  is  his  crucifying 
his  wife !" 

Forty  years  ago  Miss  Anthony  was  de- 
scribed in  the  papers  as  a  sort  of  virago  and 
man-hater;  but  her  friends  have  always  in- 
sisted that  she  was  a  woman  of  dignity,  sweet- 
ness and  gracious  womanliness.  Writing 
shortly  before  her  death,  in  The  Evening  Post 
(New  York),  Rheta  Childe  Dorr  says  of  her 
personal  appearance: 

"In  those  early  days  the  newspapers  paid  a 
great  deal  of  attention  to  the  clothes  worn  by  the 
suffragists.  The  motive  probably  was  to  frighten 
women   into   the   belief  that   brains   and   beauty 


494 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


were  incompatible.  At 
all  events,  the  published 
reports  always  made 
Miss  Anthony  and  her 
friends  out  monsters  of 
such  hideous  mien,  sar- 
torially  speaking,  that 
strong  men  shuddered  at 
the  sight.  The  fact  is, 
except  for  a  brief  enthu- 
siasm for  the  bloomer 
costume,  which,  in  the 
era  of  hoopskirts  must 
have  secretly  allured 
many  anti-suffragists. 
Miss  Anthony  has  al- 
ways dressed  extremely 
well.  She  was  born  a 
Quaker  and  naturally 
preferred  a  simple  style. 
But  she  was  always  a 
very  pink  of  neatness 
and  she  has  a  natural 
liking  for  dainty  rai- 
ment. In  her  old  age 
she  is  positively  dressy. 
She  wears  soft,  black 
gowns  that  trail  on  the 
floor  and  are  modishly 
,  built.  She  has  a  fondness  for  pliable  satins  and 
soft  silk  fabrics,  and  her  love  for  beautiful  lace 
is  well  known.  At  the  Baltimore  convention  she 
wore  a  satin  gown  with  a  great  deal  of  white 
point  lace  on  the  bodice  and  sleeves.  Her  hands 
were  ringless,  but  she  wore  a  jeweled  brooch  and 


Photograph  by  Vmider  Wcyde. 

A  BAS  RELIEF  BY  MISS  USHER 

"No  one  objects  to  the  husband  beinf?  the  head  of 
the  wife  as  Chnst  was  the  head  of  the  Church — ^to 
crucify  himself.  What  we  object  to  is  his  crucifying 
his  wife.'* 


some  very  handsome 
shell  combs  in  her  w^hite 
hair.  Her  long  coat  was 
lined  with  rich  "wrhite 
satin  and  her  bonnet  was 
made  by  a  clever  inil- 
liner.  No  one  could  ac- 
cuse Miss  Anthony  at 
eighty-six  of  being 
dowdy." 

Another    writer,      in 
the  Boston  Transcript, 
bears    similar    testi- 
mony.   "In  all  the    de- 
tails of  the  toilet,"    we 
are  assured,   "she   was 
fastidious,  and  a   rent, 
a  frayed  edge  or  miss- 
ing button  was  looked 
upon  as  almost  a  sin." 
When  Miss  Anthony 
died  a  few  weeks  ag^o 
the  flags  of  the  city  of 
Rochester     were     dis- 
played at  half-mast.    Numerous  meetings  were 
held   in   various   cities   to   commemorate    her 
work,  and  in  one  of  them,  in  New  York  city, 
one  of  the  speakers,  Mrs.  Catt,  pronounced  her 
"the  greatest  woman  that  ever  lived." 


THE  THREE  TRAGIC  LOVES  OF  CHARLES  STEWART  PARNELL 


Love  shaped  the  career  of  Charles  Stewart 
Parnell  in  three  crucial  phases  of  his  man- 
hood. To  the  elucidation  of  this  fact  the  sister 
of  the  once  uncrowned  king  of  Ireland  has 
devoted  the  most  personal  study  of  the  man 
that  has  ever  appeared.*  The  sister  would  not 
convey  the  idea  that  her  illustrious  brother 
was  a  Don  Juan.  On  the  contrary,  but  infre- 
quent traces  of  sensuality  are  discernible  in 
her  portrait  of  him.  Yet  we  are  informed  that 
the  coldness  and  aloofness  of  the  great  leader 
developed  from  one  love  tragedy  following 
another  until  his  being  became  wrapped  i\\ 
shadow.  Though  always  treating  women  with 
an  almost  knight-errant  chivalry  and  respect, 
he  never,  declares  Mrs.  Dickinson,  seemed  to 
desire  either  their  friendship  or  their  love, 
though,  like  most  men  with  an  early  romance, 
he  possessed  a  mysterious  fascination  for  many 
of  the  fair. 

Here  is  the  first  of  the  three  tragedies.    The 

•  A  Patriot's  Mistake.  Beings  Personal  Recollections 
of  the  Parnell  Family.  By  a  Daughter  of  the  House. 
John  l4ine  Company. 


heroine  was  the  daughter  of  a  farmer  living 
near  Cambridge,  where  the  young  Parnell  was 
an  undergraduate: 

"Daisy  was  as  innocent  as  the  large-eyed  flow- 
ers from  which  she  took  her  name,  wholly  uncon- 
scious of  her  charms  and  therefore  more  charm- 
ing. Her  blue  eyes  and  golden  hair,  with  the 
white  dresses  which  she  generally  wore,  made  her 
an  entrancing  picture,  especially  to  the  uncritical 
eyes  and  susceptible  heart  of  ^nineteen;  and 
Charles  had  no  sooner  seen  her  in  the  glow  of  a 
summer  evening  than  he  resolved  to  make  her 
acquaintance.  This  he  easily  managed,  as  even 
at  that  age  he  was  developing  some  of  the  inge- 
nuity of  resource  which  afterwards  served  him  in 
worthier  causes.  The  next  day  he  arranged  to 
be  at  the  same  place  at  the  hour  when  the  fruit- 
picking  was  in  progress  for  the  following  da/s 
market  and  was  even  more  charmed  by  a  closer 
view  of  the  delicate,  rose-tinted  face  under  the 
white  sun  bonnet.  Daisy,  on  her  part,  though  ap- 
parently more  intent  on  the  j^lum  and  pear  trees 
than  ever,  was  for  the  first  time  blissfully  aware 
that  the  dark-haired  young  gentleman  with  the 
inscrutable  eyes,  whom  she  had  often  noticed  on 
the  river,  preferred  gazing  at  her  to  practicing 
his  strokes.    She  was  not  a  vain  girl,  coming  from 


PERSONS  IN  THE  FOREGROUND 


495 


an  ancestry  that  had 
covered  their  sweetest 
faces  with  the  Puritan 
hoods  as  a  protest 
against  the  vanity  and 
worldliness  of  the  Cava- 
lier court  and  that  were 
distinctly  religious  in 
their  habits  of  thought, 
though  often  grotesque 
in  their  modes  of  ex- 
pressing them.  Her 
knowledge  of  the  world 
was  very  small.  Living 
in  a  secluded  district  with 
a  few  neighbors,  love  in 
connection  with  herself 
had  hardly  yet  entered 
her  head.  And  she  had 
no  mother.  Little  won- 
der then  that  it  was  with 
something  of  the  won- 
der and  the  thrill  of  a 
first  emotion  that  she  re- 
ceived the  unspoken 
homage  of  a  handsome 
youth  whom  she  knew  to 
be  a  member  of  the 
neighboring  university 
and  far  above  her  station 
in  life 

"An  acquaintance  was 
quickly  made  by  means 
of  a  fortunate  accident 
to  Charles's  oar  and  the 
borrowing  of  some  cord, 
and  he  arranged  to  meet  Daisy  on  future  even- 
ings, charging  her  to  strict  secrecy  in  fear  of 
his  college  authorities.  The  young  girl  willingly 
promised.  She  was  already  captivated  by  his 
fascination  and  understood  the  dreadful  conse- 
quences that  would  ensue  if  their  new  friendship 
came  even  to  her  fathers'  ears.  No  thought  of 
injuring  a  peaceful  heart,  still  less  of  any  wrong- 
doing, had  entered  Charles's  head.  His  artistic 
sensibilities  were  kindled  by  the  beauty  of  a 
flower  in,  as  he  thought,  an  unfavorable  soil,  and 
since  leaving  his  family  he  had  often  yearned  for 
feminine  society.  He  therefore  magnanimously 
resolved  to  give  Daisy  a  good  deal  of  his  im- 
proving society  and  help  to  advance  her  educa- 
tion." 

In  the  long  evening  walks,  when  the  fruit 
season  was  over,  the  acquaintance  ripened  into 
a  deep  and  trusting  affection  on  the  girl's  part 
and  an  equally  strong,  though  less  pure  and 
unselfish,  passion  on  the  boy's  part.  Charles 
knew  it  was  impracticable  to  marry  Daisy, 
lovely  and  innocent  though  she  was.  Mrs. 
Dickinson  proceeds: 

"At  nineteen  one  does  not  analyze  one's  emo- 
tions nor  does  a  youth  know  how  to  exercise  the 
self-discipline  and  restraint  that  come  with  later 
years.  They  were  lovers  and  happy  in  each 
other's  society  until  their  paradise  was  spoiled 
by  an  impulse  of  young  passion,  and,  as  is  usual- 
ly the  case,  the  ebb  tide,  on  one  side  at  least,  set 
in  from  that  hour.    A  coldness  and  estrangement 


Coartcay  ot  the  John  Lftne  Compaay. 

PARNELL  AT  TWENTY 

He  had  just  passed  through  a  tragedy  of  love  which 
made  him,  his  sister  ftays,  a  prey  to  agonies  of  remorse 
foi  the  rest  of  hfs  days. 


gradually  grew  between 
them  and  an  increasing 
wretchedness  on  the 
girl's  part,  who  was  sen- 
sitive and  inexperi- 
enced. Charles  was  with 
her  as  frequently  as 
ever.  Although  their 
meetings  had  lost  their 
first  joy,  he,  to  do  him 
justice,  had  no  idea  of 
the  misery  the  poor  girl 
suffered  or  that  she  con- 
templated self-destruc- 
tion. He  was  rudely 
awakened.  One  morn- 
ing, on  coming  along 
the  river  bank,  near  the 
place  where  Daisy  and 
he  had  first  met,  he 
caught  the  sound  of 
many  frightened  voices. 
On  turning  a  bend  in 
the  path,  he  suddenly 
came  on  a  group  which 
haunted  him  for  years 
after.  A  small  crowd 
of  villagers  was  gath- 
ered round  a  figure  that 
had  just  been  dragged 
from  the  river,  now 
swollen  with  heavy  rain. 
A  woman  held  the  head 
that  was  covered  with 
dark  masses  of  golden 
hair,  and  the  slender, 
dripping  form  was  that  of  a  young  girl.  Push- 
ing aside  the  crowd  with  a  gasp  of  horror,  Charles 
recognized  the  body  of  his  little  wife,  as  he  had 
called  Daisy.     She  was  qui^e  dead." 

The  next  love  scene  painted  by  Parnell's 
sister  opens  in  New  York  in  one  of  the  'fine 
houses  on  Fifth  avenue.  The  Irishman  was 
already  habitually  gloomy,  his  sadness  having 
become  the  note  of  his  temperament.  This 
new  episode  shows  how  his  entrance  upon  a 
parliamentary  career  had  its  origin  in  his  love 
for  a  woman: 

"Charles,  a  slender  and  very  handsome,  dark- 
eyed  young  man  of  twenty-three,  looking  slighter 
and  handsomer  than  ever  in  evening  clothes,  was 
engaged  talking  to  his  hostess,  Mrs.  Forbes,  when 
his  attention  was  attracted  by  a  strikingly  beau- 
tiful girl  of  superb  and  queenly  carriage,  dressed 
with   the  taste   which   Americans  alone  possess. 

"She  was  standing  near,  a  ring  of  admirers 
around  her,  all  pleading  for  her  favor  and  com- 
peting for  her  smiles,  whilst  she  conversed  with 
and  entertained  them  with  infinite  tact  and  clever- 
ness. 

"Coil  upon  coil  of  rich  masses  of  chestnut  au- 
burn hair,  piled  up  on  top  of  a  small  and  shapely 
head;  large  slumberous  eyes  of  varying  color, 
now  as  dark  as  night  and  now  of  a  golden  hazel, 
which  scintillated  and  flashed  with  every  change 
of  feeling  which  her  expressive  countenance  in- 
stantly betrayed;   a   skin  beautifully  fair  and  a 


496 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


Bgure  perfect  in  its  grace 
and  its  maturity  of  de- 
velopment rendered  her 
a  distraction  from  head 
to  foot.    .    .    . 

"Long  before  the  con- 
clusion of  the  partv, 
Charles  was  completely 
subjugated  and  his  heart 
had  gone,  never  to  re- 
turn to  its  rightful  own- 
er again.  .  .  .  Before 
many  weeks  had  passed 
he  had  proposed  and 
been  accepted,  and  it 
was  soon  known  that 
the  attractive  young 
Irishman  was  engaged 
to  the  late  belle  of  New 
York  and  heiress  of  the 
rich  Mr.  H." 


But  the  lady  changed 
her  mind.  One  memorable  day,  as  Mrs.  Dick- 
inson phrases  it  in  her  effective  style,  the  idol 
of  his  life  coolly  informed  Mr.  Pamell  that 
she  would  not  marry  him  because  he  had  no 
name.  He  replied  that  he  had  the  oldest  name 
in  Ireland.  The  lady  replied  that  Paraell  had 
never  distinguished  himself  in  any  way.  He 
immediately  vowed  to  do  so.  Back  to  Ireland 
he  went.  In  a  very  few  years  his  name  was 
kn6wn  wherever  the  name  of  England  was 
known.     To  quote: 

"Pearl,  that  star  for  which  Charles  had  sighed 
for  so  long,  was  within  his  reach  and  he  looked 
forward  to  calling  his  beloved  his  own,  his  wife. 
He  Was  on  the  point  of  starting  for  America, 
where  their  nuptials  were  to  be  celebrated,  when 
— but  how  write  about,  how  describe,  the  bolt 
that  fell  with  unrelenting  force  on  Charles's  head? 
How  portray  the  indescribable  anguish,  the  sharp 
agony,  the  despair  contained  in  an  innocent-look- 
ing telegram,  placed  in  Charles's  hand  by  an 
obsequious  waiter  on  the  eve  of  his  departure? 
We  can  but  picture  him  in  his  acrony  and  passion, 
in  his  mad  despair.  He  had  loved  her  with  all 
the  strength  of  his  strotig  nature.  This  ill-omened 
message  announced  the  marriage  of  his  inconstant 
betrothed  to  another." 

However,  he  never  railed  against  women,  as 
a  less  noble  nature  might  have  been  tempted  to 
do.  He  came  forth  strengthened  and  ennobled, 
his  sister  says,  by  the  trial  through  which  he 
had  passed.  But  he  never  loved  again.  Mrs. 
Dickinson  is  sure  of  that.  This  brings  up  the 
"mistake,"  to  use  the  sister's  word,  regarding 
Mrs.  O'Shea.  That  lady,  we  read,  was  con- 
sidered very  pretty  and  fascinating  to  a  de- 
gree. About  ten  years  Charles's  senior,  she 
was  still  in  her  prime  when  first  they  met. 
With  her  it  appears  to  have  been  a  case  of 
love  at  first  sight.  In  Mrs.  Dickinson's  own 
words : 


CoortMy  of  John  Lane  Company 

AVONDALE 

The   Irish  home  of  Charles   Stewart    Pamell 
which  he  dispensed  at  one  time  a  genial  and  con- 
vivial hospitality. 


"In  her  infatuation  for 
the  attractive  and  distin- 
guished young  Irish 
leader,  who  was  gener- 
ally regarded  as  unap- 
proachable and  indiffer- 
ent to  the  blandishments 
of  the*  fair  sex,  she 
[Mrs.  O'Shea]  seems  to 
have  forgotten  all  or- 
dinary caution  and  to 
have  acted  from  the  be- 
ginning with  tlie  aban- 
don of  one  who  consid- 
ers the  world  well  lost 
for  love.  At  first  and 
for  long,  Charles  was  as 
adamant  to  the  fascina- 
cions  of  the  charmer. 
Once  he  even  placed  the 
ocean  between  himself 
and  temptation;  but  ad- 
verse fate  played  into  the 

hands  of  the  woman  who  so  madly  worshipped 

him." 


in 


The  rest  is  not  silence,  as  Hamlet  says,  but 
scandal,  and  the  wrecking  of  a  great  career 
on  the  eve  of  triumph  both  for  himself  and  for 
his  country. 

It  was  when  the  storm  was  bursting  over 
the  head  of  Parnell  that  his'  latent  will  power 
revealed  itself,  according  to  this  sister's  chron- 
icle, in  a  determination  to  remain  Ireland's 
uncrowned  king— or  die.  He  might  have  suc- 
ceeded in  winning  back  his  power,  she  thinks, 
had  it  not  been  that  his  health  was  so  far 
gone.  The  priests,  we  are  told,  pursued  him 
at  this  time  with  a  hatred  long  felt  and  long 
concealed. 

As  misfortune  threatened  to  engulf  him,  he 
overcame  the  tendency  to  proud  reserve  bred 
of  the  remorse  that  never  ceased  to  eat  into 
his  soul  because  of  Daisy's  death.  His  sister 
would  have  us  believe  that  her  memory  was 
with  him  to  the  end.  Be  that  as  it  may,  Par- 
nell in  his  last  days  became  a  more  magnetic 
and  winning  leader  than  at  any  other  stage 
of  his  career.  The  priests  warned  their  flocks 
against  him  in  vain.  His  voice,  never  before 
musical,  acquired  in  the  last  speech-making 
tour  of  his  life  a  melody  which  those  who 
heard  it  can  never  forget  His  gestures  lost 
their  constraint,  his  manner  assumed  a  new 
expansiveness.  Had  he  lived,  says  Mrs.  Dick- 
inson, Ireland  would  have  been  his  once  more. 

Upon  what  basis  was  built  the  odd  notion 
that  Parnell  did  not  die  but  had  been  spirited 
away  and  was  to  return  to  the  scene  of  his 
former  triumphs,  his  sister  professes  herself 
unable  to  imagine.  Of  his  death  there  can  be 
no  shade  of  doubt.    The  end  was  peaceful. 


Literature  and  Art 


ANDREW  CARNEGIE'S  "SPELLING  REFORM"  CRUSADE 


"One    of   the    greatest   movements   of   the 
times/'  it  is  predicted,  will  grow  out  of  the 
new  campaign  inaugurated  by  the  "Simplified 
Spelling  Board"  and  financially  backed  by  An- 
drew Carnegie.    This  statement  is  not  unrea- 
sonable, in  view  of  the  prominence  and  influ- 
ence of  the  men  who  are  actively  supporting 
the    crusade.      Commissioner   W.    T.    Harris, 
editor  of  the  last  edition  of  Webster's  Dic- 
tionary; Benjamin  Gunter,  editor  of  the  Cen- 
tury Dictionary;  Charles  P.  G.  Scott,  editor 
of   the  etymological  department  of  the  Cen- 
tury Dictionary;  and  Dr.  I.  K.  Funk,  editor 
of  the  Standard  Dictionary,  are  all  members 
of  the  Simplified  Spelling  Board,  as  are  also 
Prof.  Thomas  R.  Lounsbury,  of  Yale  Univer- 
sity; Prof.  Francis  A.  March,  of  Lafayette; 
Prof.  Brander  Matthews,  of  Columbia;  Henry 
Holt,    the    New    York    publisher;    William 
Hayes    Ward,    editor    of    The    Independent; 
Richard  Watson  Gilder,  editor  of  The  Cen- 
tury; and  Justice  Brewer,  of  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court. 

In  a  public  statement,'  issued  from  Hot 
Springs,  Va.,  and  generally  accepted  as  re- 
flecting the  aims  of  the  members  of  the  Board, 
Mr.  Carnegie  says: 

"The  organized  effort  I  have  agreed  to  finance 
is  not  revolutionary — far  from  it.  Its  action  will 
be  conservative.  Word  after  word  it  will  en- 
deavor to  improve  the  spelling  and  the  language 
— slowly,  of  course,  but  hastening  the  pace  if 
possible.    .    .    . 

"Since  our  language  has  been  constructed 
through  unceasing  change,  literary  men  should 
welcome  new  words  and  new  spellings  with  fa- 
voring eye,  since  it  is  by  these  alone  that  further 
improvement  can  come.  Scholars  denounced 
'plow*  for  'plough,'  for  instance.  But  'plow'  has 
been  accepted.  So  with  many  words  that  will 
readily  occur  to  readers. 

"Our  language  is  likely  to  prevail  in  the  world, 
and  we  may  hope  it  is  to  become  finally  the 
universal  language,  the  most  potent  of  all  in- 
struments for  drawing  the  race  together,  insur- 
ing peace  and  advancing  civilization.  The  for- 
eigner has  the  greatest  difficulty  in  acquiring  it 
b^use  of  its  spelling.  This  is,  at  least,  his  chief 
obstacle;  for  its  grammar  is  easy. 

"Hundreds  of  scholarly  men  have  agreed  to  use 
improved  spelling  for  twelve  words.  These  words 
are  already  well  started  in  actual  use.  Other  sim- 
plifications will  be  suggested." 

Mr.  Carnegie  here  refers  to  the  twelve  "re- 


formed" spellings  recendy  sanctioned  by  the 
National  Education  Association,  namely : 
"Bizness,"  for  business;  "enuf,"  for  enough; 
"fether,"  for  feather;  "mesure,"  for  measure; 
"plesure,"  for  pleasure;  "red,"  for  read;  "ruf," 
for  rough;  "trauf,"  for  trough;  "thru,"  for 
through;  "tuf,"  for  tough;  "tung,"  for  tongue; 
"yung,"  for  young. 

Not  content  with  these  modifications,  the 
Simplified  Spelling  Board  has  submitted  pro- 
posals under  twenty  heads  looking  toward 
further  changes.  The  suggestions  are  as  fol- 
lows: 

1.  Words  spelled  with  ae,  cb,  or^.  Rule: 
Choose  e,  as  in  anesthetic,  esthetic,  and  medieval. 

2.  Words  spelled  with  -dge-ment  or  -dg-ment. 
Rule:  Omit  e,  abridgment,  acknowledgment, 
judgment,  and  lodgment. 

3.  Words  spelled  with  -ed  or  -t,  the  preceding 
single  consonant  bein^  doubled  before  -ed 
i'pped,  -ssed)  and  left  smgle  before  -t  (-pt,  -st). 
Rule:  Choose  -/  in  all  cases,  dipt,  dript,  dropt, 
stept,  blest,  prest,  distrest,  blusht,  husht,  washt, 

4.  Words  spelled  with  -ence  or  -ense  (Latin 
-ens-a).  Rule:  Choose  -ense,  defense,  ofFense, 
pretense. 

5.  Words  spelled  with  -ette  or  -et.  Rule:  Omit 
-te,  coquet,  epaulet,  etiquet,  omelet. 

6.  Words  spelled  with  gh  or  f.  Rule:  Choose 
-/,  draft. 

7.  Words  spelled  with  -gh  or  without,  (i) 
'Ough  or  'Ow.  Rule:  Choose  -ow,  plow.  (2) 
'Ough  or  'O.  Rule:  Choose  -o,  altho,  tho,  thoro, 
-boro  (in  place  names). 

8.  Words  with  the  verb  suffix,  of  Greek  origin, 
spelled  'ise  or  -ise.  Rule :  Choose  -iee,  catechise, 
criticise,  exorcize,  legalise. 

9.  Words  spelled  with  -ite  or  -it.    Rule:   Omit 

e,  deposit,  preterit. 

10.  Words  spelled  with  -//  or  -/  (-f7/  or  -*/). 
Rule :  Choose  /,  distil,  fulfil,  instil. 

11.  Words  spelled  with  -ll-ness  or  -l-ness. 
Rule :  Omit  one  /,  dulness,  fulness. 

12.  Words  spelled  with  -mme  or  -w.  Rule: 
Omit  -me,  gram,  program. 

13.  Words  spelled  with  oe,  «,  or  e.  Rule: 
(Hioose  e,  ecumenical,  esophagus. 

14.  Words  spelled  with  -our  or  -or.  Rule: 
Choose  -or,  favor,  fervor,  flavor,  honor,  labor, 
rigor,  rumor,  tenor,  tumor,  valor,  vapor,  vigor. 

15.  Words  spelled  with  ph  or  f.    Rule:  C5ioose 

f,  fantasm,  fantasy,  fantom,  sulfate,  sulfur. 

16.  Words  spelled  with  -rr  or  -r.  Rule:  Omit 
one  r,  bur,  pur. 

17.  Words  spelled  with  -re  or  er.  Rule: 
Choose  -er,  center,  meter,  miter,  niter,  sepul- 
cher,  theater. 

18.  Words  spelled  with  j  or  *  (in  the  root). 


498 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


"PURSUED" 

(By  Gutzon  Borglum) 

A  repreBentation  of  two  Indian  riders  now  in  the  possession 
of  the  German  Emperor. 


Rule:    Choose  s,  apprise,  assize,  comprise,  raze, 
surprise,  teasel, 

19.  Words  spelled  with  -s  or  sc.  Rule:  Omit 
c,  simitar,  sithe. 

20.  Words  spelled  with  or  without  silent  -ue. 
Rule:.  Omit  -ue,  catalog,  decalog,  demagog,  peda- 
gogy prolog. 

From  across  the  Atlantic  a  cry  of  horror 
has  arisen  at  the  very  thought  of  these 
changes.  Algernon  Swinburne  regards  the 
proposition  as  "a  barbarous,  monstrous  ab- 
surdity," and  Sir  Arthur  Conan  Doyle  says: 
"Reformed  spelling  might  become  universal, 
but  it  would  cease  to  be  the  English  lan- 
guage." Rider  Haggard  bluntly  declares: 
"The  language  as  written  by  the  translators 
of  the  Bible  and  by  Shakespeare  is  good 
enough,  indeed  too  good,  for  me." 

In  this  country  the  question  of  spelling  re- 
form is  being  debated  as  never  before.  Dur- 
ing the  past  few  weeks  the  daily  and  weekly 
papers  have  teemed  with  comment  and  cor- 
respondence on  this  subject.  The  New  York 
Evening  Post  takes  a  rather  sympathetic  at- 
titude toward   the   campaign,   and  notes  that 


many  of  the  forms  proposed  are  already 
in  common  use.  "Others,  which  are  but 
rarely  used,"  it  says,  "will  make  a  pow- 
erful appeal  for  universal  suflfrance;  and 
still  others  are  so  strange  to  the  eye  that 
they  may  not  work  their  way  into  the 
language  for  several  generations,  if  in- 
deed they  ever  succeed."  The  Columbia 
(S.  C.)  State  comments: 

"This  reform  is  unquestionably  needed. 
Our  spelling  is  not  only  absurd,  it  is  dis- 
honest. It  does  not  represent,  it  has  never 
fully  represented,  our  spoken  language.  It 
is  even  getting  farther  and  father  from  the 
sounds  that  we  use.  To  keep  up  such  a 
farce  is  not  worthy  a  sensible  people- 
Teachers  have  assured  Mr.  Carnegie  that 
'children  would  be  saved  more  than  a 
year's  instruction  if  our  spelling  were  sim- 
plified.' It  has  been  demonstrated  that 
great  economy  would  result  in  the  printing 
of  books  and  papers;  and  it  is  clear  that 
the  language  would  be  far  more  easily  ac- 
quired, which  is  a  great  consideration  rt 
this  time  when  we  are  teaching  Englisli 
with  rapid-fire  guns  and  expect  the  whole 
world  to  speak  our  language  at  some  remote 
day. 

"But  can  it  be  achieved?  The  Simplified 
Spelling  Board,  which  Mr.  Carnegie  has 
'financed,'  has  adopted  possibly  the  best 
plan  for  launching  the  movement,  that  of 
recommending  a  few  obvious  changes  that 
will  not  seem  too  radical  a  departure  from 
the  forms  to  which  we  have  grown  accus- 
tomed. But  it  must  face  and  overcome  a 
prejudice  that  has  its  roots  in  the  granite 

of  ignorance,  which  it  takes  to  be  pride  in   the 

language  and  a  lordly  conservatism." 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Philadelphia  Public 
Ledger  argues  that  the  new  movement  is 
bound  to  fail  for  the  reason  that  it  does  not 
take  into  account  the  "genius"  of  the  Eng- 
lish language: 

"One  thing  is  painfully  manifest  in  the  dis- 
cussions which  are  excited  by  these  revivals  of 
spelling  reform,  and  that  is  that  the  reform  move- 
ment, as  at  present  organized,  takes  no  cogni- 
zance of  the  'genius'  of  a  language  which  con- 
tains one  of  the  grandest  literatures  of  the  civ- 
ilized world.  However  you  may  personify  that 
'genius,'  it  assuredly  exists,  it  is  assuredly  a  force, 
and  it  will  not  down  for  any  isolated  attacks, 
however  financed,  upon  its  existence.  We  care 
nothing  about  the  mere  'history*  of  words,  about 
which  Mr.  Carnegie  talks,  for  there  are  many 
words  with  a  wonderfully  interesting  history 
which  do  not  carry  it  upon  their  face.  We  put 
on  one  side  any  sentimental  affection  for  old 
forms  in  an  old  and  dear  literature.  But  we  do 
think  and  venture  to  say  that  the  proposals  of 
spelling  reforms  are  more  likely  to  make  'con- 
fusion worse  confounded'  than  to  clear  up  the 
field  of  our  language  and  make  it  more  easy  for 
the  foreigner  to  walk  upon.    The  change  of  some 


LITERATURE  AND  ART 


499 


dozen  words,  grinning  like  caricatures  in 
their  new  masks,  will  make  but  a  poor 
monument  for  finance  and  toil." 

The  humorists  are  busy  exploiting  this 
theme.  A  correspondent  of  the  New 
York  Times  suggests  that  the  "Bored 
of  Spelling'  beg^n  simplification  with 
their  own  names,  thus:  "Androo  Kam- 
age,**  "Tomus  Lownsbre,"  "Richud  Wat- 
sn  Gildr,"  "Brandr  Mathooz,"  etc. 

Mark  Twain  is  afraid  that  spelling 
reform  is  unlikely;  but  if  it  does  come, 
he  w^ants  it  to  come  not  as  a  gradual 
change  but  all  at  once.  And  he  thinks 
that,  in  case  of  sudden  change,  people 
would  get  used  to  it  just  as  they  get 
used  to  mixed  bathing,  women  riding  bi- 
cycles, hoopskirts,  smoking-rooms  for 
women,  or  anything  else  that  is  new. 
He  writes  (in  Harper's  Weekly)  : 


''Suppose  all  the  newspapers  and  period- 
icals should  suddenly  adopt  a  Carnegian 
system  of  phonetic  spelling — what  would 
liappen?  We  all  know  quite  well  what 
would  happen.  To  begin  with,  the  nation 
would  be  in  rage;  it  would  break  into 
a  storm  of  scoffs,  jeers,  sarcasms,  cursings, 
vituperations,  and  keep  it  up  for  months— but 
it  would  have  to  read  the  papers ;  it  couldn't  help 
itself.    .    .     . 

"To  what  literature  would  we  limit  the  change? 
Naturally,  and  unavoidably,  to  literature  written 
after  the  change  was  established.  It  would  not 
occur  to  any  one  to  disturb  the  'associations.'  No 
book  already  existing  would  be  put  into  the  new 
spelling.  We  do  not  guess  at  this;  we  have  his- 
tory for  it.  We  do  not  profane  Chaucer's  spell- 
ing by  recasting  it  to  conform  to  modem  forms. 
One  of  its  quaintest  and  sweetest  charms  would 


"RUSKIN'' 

"When  I  saw  Ruskin  at  Windermere."  saysGutzon  Bor/(lttm, 
"  he  had  drawn  into  himself.  He  had  full  con6dence  in  his  own 
strength,  but  was  sad.  The  most  marvelous,  mat^nificent,  un- 
appreciated genius  the  world  has  ever  known." 


be   gone,   it   would   not   be   Chaucer   any   more. 
...    All   the   old   books   would   naturally  and  « 
necessarily  remain  as  they  arc.     Do  we  change 
Marjorie  Fleming's  spelling?    No.    No  one  could 
meditate  a  vandalism  like  that.    .    .    . 

"By  a  sudden  and  comprehensive  rush  the 
present  spelling  could  be  entirely  changed  and 
the  substitute-spelling  be  accepted,  all  in  the  space 
of  a  couple  of  years;  and  preferred  in  another 
couple.  But  it  won't  happen,  and  I  am  as  sorry  as 
a  dog. 

"For  I  do  love  revolutions  and  violence." 


THE  VERSATILE  TALENT  OF  GUTZON  BORGLUM 


During  his  youth,  Gutzon  Borglum,  the  New 
York  sculptor  and  painter,  lived  for  a  while 
in  the  Far  West,  among  horses  and  cowboys; 
and  one  of  his  earliest  friends  and  admirers, 
the  wife  of  General  Fremont,  prophesied  that 
he  would  "ride  to  fame  on  horseback."  Al- 
most literally  the  prediction  has  been  fulfilled. 
His  heroic  half-circle  of  wild  horses  in  Bronze, 
"The  Mares  of  Diomedes,"  has  just  been  pre- 
sented to  the  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art  by 
James  Stillman,  the  banker,  and  his  repre- 
sentation of  two  Indian  riders,  "Pursued,"  was 
purchased  not  long  ago  by  the  German  Em- 
peror. The  first-named  work,  characterized 
by  Christian    Brinton,    the  art  critic,  as  "a 


triumph  of  American  sculpture"  and  repro- 
duced herewith,  elicits  the  following  tribute 
from  Leila  Mechlin,  a  writer  in  The  Interna- 
tional  Studio  (April)  : 

"Strength,  brute  strength,  controlled  by  human 
intelligence,  makes  to  the  manhood  of  this  sculp- 
tor direct  appeal  and  few  have  given  it  as  ade- 
quate expression  as  he.  His  'Mares  of  Diomedes' 
shows  a  mad  stampede  directed  and  guided  by 
the  will  of  a  single  man — ^the  hero,  Hercules,  who 
in  bringing  from  Thrace  the  man-eating  mares 
of  the  King  of  the  Bestones  performed  the  eighth, 
supposedly,  impossible  task  imposed  by  Eurys- 
theus.  It  is  a  brilliant  work,  original  in  concep- 
tion and  well  composed — literally  the  embodiment 
of  energy  and  strength.  There  is  wild  confusion 
and  yet  perfect  order.    The  horses  pile  upon  one 


500 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


"NERO" 

Gutzon  Borglum's  idea  of  Nero  as  the  beast  that 
lurks  in  human  form  presents  a  dramatic  contrast  to 
Stephen  Phillips's  new  poetic  portrayal  of  an  **aesthetic" 
Nero. 


another  in  their  frenzied  haste,  and  so  form  a 
solid  mass,  but  they  never  lose  their  onward 
spring.  Hercules,  reduced  to  diminutive  size  by 
comparison  to  the  great  brutes,  clings  like  a  leech 
to  the  forward  mare,  which  is  lurching  into  space, 


ONE  OF  BORGLUM'S  FANTASIES 


and  with  his  man's  intellect  guides  the  fearful 
race.  The  animals  are  well  modelled,  and  show, 
on  the  part  of  the  sculptor,  an  intimate  knowl- 
edge of  anatomy;  the  story  is  well  told;  but  it  is 
the  conception  of  the  group  as  a  unit,  togrether 
with  its  masterly  rendering,  which  places  it 
among  the  great  works  of  art.  ...  Its  force 
is  tremendous,  and  its  strength  well  sustained, 
and  at  no  point  does  the  sculptor  seem  to  have 
even  momentarily  lost  his  grip.  It  expresses  sus- 
pended action,  but  the  feeling  of  motion  is  not 
paralysed — the  mares  are  aquiver  with  life.  It  is 
dramatic,    but    not    overstrained — vital,    but     not 


Horses,  however,  were  not  the  only  subjects 
that  inspired  Borglum's  youthful  imagination. 
In  the  West  he  may  be  said  to  have  imbibed 
something  of  the  free  and  independent  spirit, 
the  versatility,  which  characterize  all  his  work. 
Born  of  stock  that  contains  German,  French, 
and  Danish,  as  well  as  American,  elements, 
pursuing  his  studies  in  Paris  and  London,   as 
well  as  in  San  Francisco  and  New  York,   he 
has  learned  to  express  himself  through  many 
mediums   and   in   various   forms.     His   talent 
ranges   from  the  grotesque,  as  evidenced    by 
his  gargoyles,  through  phases  of  the  terrible, 
of  which  his  "Nero"  is  an  excellent  example, 
to  the  entire  absence  of  the  animal  and  the 
prevalence  of  the  spiritual,  as  shown  in  the 
delicate  and  exquisite  purity  of  his  cherubs, 
his  angels  ^nd  his  saints. 

Mr.  Borglum  was  brought  up  as  a  Roman 
Catholic,  and  the  religious  influence  in  his 
work  is  marked.  He  modeled  the  angels  for 
the  Cathedral  of  St.  John  the  Divine,  in  New 
York,  and  the  ensuing  discussion  in  regard  to 
the  sex  of  angels  (see  Current  Lit- 
erature^ December)  is  still  fresh  in 
the  public  memory.  Lately,  how- 
ever, he  has  been  dominant ly  swayed 
by  the  idealism  of  Rodin  and  Whist- 
ler. To  this  mood  must  be  credited 
three  of  his  most  notable  works:  "I 
piped  to  you  and  ye  have  not 
danced,"  "Ruskin"  and  "Nero." 

"I  piped  to  you  and  ye  have  not 
danced"  expresses  pathetically  a 
feeling  found  in  much  of  his  work 
that  things  so  often  come  to  us  too 
late,  after  the  strong  desire  for  them 
is  over. 

The  saddened  face  of  the  woman 
— a  face  beautiful  but  no  longer 
young— has  in  it  the  thought  of 
the  sculptor  that  our  best  endeav- 
ors hardly  compensate  us;  that  if 
success  comes  during  life  it  too  often 
comes   long  after  those   whom   we 


LITERATURE  AND  ART 


5or 


"THB  MARES  OP  DIOMBDES" 

Recently  purchased  by  James  Stillman,  the  New  York  banker,  and  presented  to  the  Metropolitan 
Museum  of  Art.     This  is  reg^arded  as  Gutzon  Borglum's  masterpiece. 


wish  to  thank  for  the  inspiration  have  gone 
beyond  the  sound  of  the  human  voice;  that 
while  they  were  here  to  listen  the  world  re- 
fused to  dance. 
In  the  same  spirit  he  created  his  "Ruskin." 
"When  I  saw  Ruskin  at  Windermere/'  says 
Borglum,  "he  had  drawn  into  himself.  He 
knew  his  worth.  He  had  full  confidence  in 
his  own  strength,  but  he  was  sad.  The  most 
marvelous,  magnificent,  unappreciated  genius 
the  world  has  ever  known." 

In  regard  to  the  idea  of  the  terrible,  best 
revealed  in  his  work  through  the  medium  of 
his  ''Nero,"  he  has  had  this  to  say : 

"Each  of  us  puts  something  of  his  life  in  his 
work.  Something  in  my  life  made  my  Nero  pos- 
sible. It  has  passed.  It  has  gone  out  of  my  life. 
It  would  be  impossible  for  me  to  create  another 
Nero  or  to  shape  a  being  at  all  like  him. 

"There  arc  some  days  when,  absorbed  in  my 
angels,  my  cherubs,  my  saints,  I  hate  my  Nero; 
but  if  art  is  worth  anything  at  all  it  must  be  real, 
and  he  was  real  at  the  time.  As  a  matter  of  fact 
I  found  the  firebrand  reincarnated  in  a  man  here 
in  New  York  who  had  once  been  my  friend." 

Mr.  Borglum  has  done  nothing  more  re- 


markable than  his  gargoyles  for  Princeton 
University.  Of  this  phase  of  his  work  he  re- 
cently said: 

"When  I  was  first  asked  to  make  some  gar- 
goyles, I  confess  I  was  somewhat  at  sea  as  to  how 
to  begin.  I  could  hardly  comprehend  the  nature 
of  the  motive.  Nothing  in  life  is  without  cause 
and  effect.  Nothing  is  merely  a  shell.  Every- 
thing has  some  motive. 

"I  at  len^h  discovered  that  the  gargoyle  was 
the  expression  of  an  ignorant,  superstitious  ar- 
tisan who  imagined  the  projections  of  buildings 
to  be  the  spirits  he  feared  and  who  fashioned  them 
accordingly. 

"The  original  idea  of  the  ^rgoyle  is  a  stick 
that  carries  water;  but  the  ignorant  peasant — 
the  gargoyle  was  created  in  a  most  supersti- 
tious age — turned  them  into  distortions  of  nat- 
ural things. 

"There  you  have  the  key  to  the  creation. 

"I  went  to  work  with  this  precedent  and  made 
my  North  Wind,  a  creature  of  distended  nostril, 
a  wild-eyed  thinp:  with  mouth  hideously  curved, 
in  the  act  of  emitting  the  fury  of  the  sometimes 
death-dealing  blast  in  the  North  and  the  West. 

"I  created  my  gargoyle  Snout,  my  gargoyle 
Bottom  (a  distortion  of  Shakespeare's),  my  Half- 
Equipped,  the  bird  with  one  arm,  one  leg,  one 
foot,  but  in  spite  of  all,  happy,  for  the  reason 
that  the  half-equipped  are  always  happy. 


502 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


THE  FOUNDER  OF  THE  SMITHSONIAN 

INSTITUTION 

(By  Gutzon   Borglum.) 

A  characteristic  portrait  of  the  eccentric  Englishman 
who  bequeathed  to  the  United  States  his  entire  fortune, 
to  be  used  for  the  "  increase  and  diffusion  of  knowledge 
among  men." 

"Take  every  sentiment  of  virtue  and  vice  or 
of  fear,  and  symbolize  it  and  you  have  the  pos- 
sibility of  a  gargoyle.  Take  the  distorted  face, 
the  mouth  awry,  the  crooked  nose,  the  chin 
pushed  sidewise,  the  hair  blown  wildly  about,  the 
eyes  half  insane,  and  you  have  the  face  one  fears 


rhight  peer  suddenly  out  of  the  darkness — in  other 
words,  the  gargoyle. 

*^Take  the  face  of  a  friend  suddenly  converted 
by  temper,  by  fury,  by  passion,  into  the  face  of 
a  foe  and  there  once  more  you  have  your  gar- 
goyle." 

One  of  Borglum's  best  sculptural  works 
is  a  portrait  of  James  Smithson,  the  eccen- 
tric English  scientist  who  bequeathed  to  the 
United  States  his  entire  fortune  to  found  the 
Smithsonian  Institution;  and  another  is  a 
small  equestrian  figure  entitled  "The  Boer," 
symbolizing  a  lost  cause,  which  evoked  Appre- 
ciative comment  when  exhibited  in  London  at 
the  time  of  the  South  African  War. 

In  England  Mr.  Borglum's  talents  have  al- 
ways been  at  a  premium.  Three  of  his  can- 
vases were  sent  for  by  Queen  Victoria  to  be 
shown  at  Osborne.  His  "Pan"  mural  dec- 
orations adorn  the  Queen's  Hotel,  in  Leeds; 
and  he  has  only  recently  completed  a  painting, 
"The  Coming  of  Guinevere"  and  twelve  pan- 
els illustrating  the  "Midsummer  Night's 
Dream,"  for  the  Midland  Hotel  Concert  Hall, 
in  Manchester. 

Leila  Mechlin,  the  International  Studio 
writer,  sums  up  Borglum's  position: 

"He  is  one  of  the  many-talented  few,  but  even 
he  is  not  uniformly  successful.  He  has  done 
well,  but  it  is  probable  that  he  will  do  still  better. 
His  paintings  and  his  sculptures  both  show  steady 
progress;  they  are  becoming  more  artistic  and  in 
their  significance  more  profound.  He  takes  to  his 
task  both  enthusiasm  and  zealous  purpose  and  he 
is  still  looking  beyond  for  something  higher  and 
better.  The  reason  for  building  any  work  of 
art,'  he  says,  'can  only  be  for  the  purpose  of 
fixing  in  some  durable  form  a  great  emotion,  or  a 
great  idea,  of  the  individual,  or  the  people.'  This 
to  a  degree  epitomises  his  object,  but  it,  likewise, 
measures  his  success.  He  has  given  to  his  work 
definite  meaning,  and  through  it  he  has  made 
worthy  contribution  to  the  art  of  the  present  day." 


ENEMIES  AND  HATERS  OF  BOOKS 


There  are  many  tragic  chapters  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  writing  and  preservation  of  books, 
and  while  at  our  stage  of  civilization  there  is 
little  danger  of  the  recurrence  of  such  trage- 
dies, books  still  have  enemies  and  still  need 
protection.  This  is  the  general  conclusion 
which  has  been  reached  in  an  exhaustive  work 
that  has  been  written  on  this  subject  by  a 
French  book-lover  and  expert,  Albert  Cim. 

His  work  is  entitled  "Le  Livre,"  and  covers 
ancient,  medieval  and  modern  history,  includ- 


ing our  own  time.  It  appears  that  the  most  an- 
cient destroyer  of  books  known  was  the  Baby- 
lonian king,  Nabonassar,  who,  in  the  third 
century  B.  C,  destroyed  all  the  records  of  the 
reigns  and  rulers  precedent  to  himself.  In- 
stances of  such  ruthless  vandalism  are  by  no 
means  rare  in  history.  It  is,  however,  an 
error  and  historical  injustice  to  charge  the 
Caliph  Omar  with  the  destruction  in  640  of 
the  Alexandrian  library.  If  Omar  burned  any- 
thing, it  was  the  mere  insignificant  remnant 


LITERATURE  AND  ART 


503 


of  a  once  magnificent  library.  The  greater 
part  of  this  vast  collection  of  books  had  been 
destroyed  by  the  troops  of  Julius  Caesar,  and 
another  substantial  part  by  Bishop  Theophile, 
four  hundred  years  later,  who  fought  paganism 
strenuously  and  regarded  pagan  literature  as 
worse  than  worthless. 

Religious  fanaticism  and  religious  warfare 
are,  indeed,  responsible,  for  the  extermination 
of  countless  literary  treasures  and  collections. 
The  Romans  consigned  to  the  flames  Jewish 
and  Christian  books,  the  Jews  treated  pagan 
and  Christian  books  in  the  same  way,  and  the 
Christians  pursued  a  similar  policy.  In  Spain, 
at  and  after  the  expulsion  of  the  Moors,  whole 
libraries  of  the  writings  of  Islam  were  sav- 
agely dertroyed;  the  English  Puritans  exter- 
minated many  collections  of  books  in  the 
monasteries,  and  even  Cromwell  burned  the 
Oxford  library,  then  one  of  the  best  in  Europe. 
Red  and  white  extremists  have  been  equally 
cruel  to  books ;  the  Spanish  Inquisition  and  the 
French  Revolution  were  at  one  in  this  matter. 
The  Spanish  discoverers  and  rulers  of  America 
destroyed  thousands  of  Mexican  and  Peruvian 
records,  and  as  a  result  a  most  important 
part  of  the  history  of  human  progress  has  been 
lost  forever. 

The  crusaders  were  destroyers  of  what  they 
considered  heretical  books,  and  in  Russia  the 
war  of  orthodoxy  on  sectarian  dissent  still 
manifests  itself,  among  other  things,  in  the 
destruction  of  the  books  of  the  non-conform- 
ists. 

There  are,  however,  other  methods  than 
burning  or  destroying  books,  and  these  still 
survive.  The  collectors  who  tear  out  and  pre- 
serve only  the  title-pages  of  books  do  not 
flourish  now  as  they  did  in  earlier  centuries, 
but  at  certain  periods  such  collecting  was  the 
rage.  In  England,  in  the  eighteenth  century, 
John  Bagford  gathered  together  a  hundred 
bulky  volumes  of  title-pages.  Other  collectors 
used  to  tear  out  the  illustrations  and  throw 
the  text  away. 

The  author  has  some  amusing  pages  on  the 
attitude  of  women  toward  books.  It  is  a  fact, 
he  says,  that  bibliophiles  have  no  high  opinion 
of  woman.  She  is  regarded  by  them  as  a 
natural  enemy  of  their  treasures.  Who  has 
ever  known  a  woman  bibliophile?  asks  a 
writer  he  quotes  approvingly.  The  woman 
of  any  home  would  rather  have  ornaments, 
bric-a-brac,  what  not,  than  books.  Besides,  it 
seems  impossible  for  women  to  handle  books 
with  loving  care ;  they  show  utter  indifference 


to  the  safety  and  integrity  of  books  in  every 
possible  way.  One  ardent  book-lover  has  left 
the  dictum  that  no  woman  can  be  left  alone 
with  a  book. 

The  author  deals  with  bookbinders,  store- 
keepers, autograph  hunters,  and  so  on,  placing 
them  all  in  the  various  classes  of  book  haters. 
Finally,  he  reaches  the  last  class — ^the  writers 
of  books.  Paradoxical  as  it  may  seem,  authors 
do  not,  he  finds,  necessarily  love  books— except 
their  own.  Many  positively  dislike  them,  while 
others  are  simply  indifferent  and  neither  buy 
nor  read  books. 

Rousseau  did  not  hesitate  to  declare  flatly 
that  he  "hated  books,  as  they  teach  people  to 
talk  about  things  they  do  not  understand." 
Chauteaubriand  had  a  profound  contempt  for 
books,  in  which  feeling  his  wife  shared.  He 
had  a  secretary  who  consulted  whatever  au- 
thorities he  needed  in  his  historical  writings, 
he  himself  avoiding  all  unnecessary  reading. 
In  a  letter  to  a  friend  his  wife  praised  an 
apartment  they  had  taken,  one  of  its  merits  be- 
ing the  impossibility  of  "finding  room  in  it  for 
even  a  dozen  books."  Victor  Hugo  read  very 
little.  Even  for  his  historical  novels  and  plays 
he  drew  chiefly  on  his  imagination.  He  had 
no  library,  and  Jules  Simon  wrote  of  him: 
"There  is  hardly  a  book  in  Hugo's  house,  while 
in  mine  there  are  25,000  of  them."  Lamartine 
cared  little  for  books ;  he  read  nothing  till  his 
fiftieth  year.  Maupassant  also  avoided  read- 
ing. Books,  he  said,  made  one  narrow;  they 
misrepresented  life,  indulged  in  deceptions 
and  gave  the  mind  a  false  direction,  he 
thought.  Zola  had  a  small  library  and  held 
that  only  idlers  read  much.  Who,  he  asked 
in  a  letter,  reads  for  genuine  pleasure?  As 
for  authors,  they  write  that  others  may  read, 
as  sausage-makers  prepare  their  stuff  for 
others.  Pierre  Loti  frankly  declared  that  he 
feared  and  distrusted  books.  They  destroy 
originality  and  sincerity,  he  said,  and  only  a 
man's  own  ideas  and  sentiments  are  of  value. 

Even  among  librarians,  whose  business  it 
is  to  care  for  books  and  encourage  reading, 
there  are,  according  to  the  author,  haters  of 
books.  A  great  Paris  librarian  is  quoted  as 
saying  that  it  would  give  him  keen  pleasure 
to  see  the  whole  collection  in  his  charge  de- 
stroyed by  fire.  What  is  the  use  of  all  these 
laden  shelves?  Who  reads  these  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  volumes  ?  he  asked.-  If  he  had  his 
way,  only  about  five  hundred  books  would  be 
preserved,  as  they  contained  all  that  could  be 
properly  called  literature. 


504 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


REDISCOVERY  OF  SOME   OF  TURNER'S    MASTERPIECES 


Twenty-one  oil  paintings  by  the  famous 
English  artist,  J.  M.  W.  Turner,  have  come  to 
light  in  the  cellars  of  the  National  Gallery  of 
British  Art,  and  are  being  exhibited  in  Lon- 
don. They  formed  part  of  the  bequest  made 
to  the  nation  by  Turner  fifty  years  ago,  but, 
for  unaccountable  reasons,  were  boxed  and 
hidden  away.  Now  they  are  found  to  be  mas- 
terpieces, surpassing,  in  some  instances,  the 
finest  of  Turner's  work  heretofore  known.  All 
artistic  London  is  agog  with  the  discovery. 
The  remote  Tate  Gallery,  in  which  the  pic- 
tures have  been  put  on  public  view,  is  besieged 
by  visitors,  and  the  general  public  has  shown 
as  much  interest  as  the  art  connoisseurs.  A 
London  critic  refers  to  the  exhibition  as  "one 
of  the  greatest  and  most  genuine  art  sensations 
that  have  occurred  within  years." 

Several  reasons  have  been  given  to  explain 
the  treatment  the  paintings  have  received.  One 
is  that  they  were  simply  forgotten,  just  as  old 
rubbish  might  be  forgotten  in  some  long  closed 
attic  in  one's  own  house;  another,  that  their 


"slightness  of  execution"  and  "more  or  less 
wrecked  condition"  rendered  them  unfit  for 
exhibition.  Both  of  these  reasons,  says  a 
London  correspondent  of  the  New  York  Eve- 
ning Post,  are  equally  unsatisfactory.  "If  a 
case  of  mere  forget  fulness,"  he  writes,  "it  is 
unpardonable  thkt  men  appointed,  and  paid  a 
large  salary,  to  watch  over  the  country's  treas- 
ures should  not  have  remembered  the  existence 
and  the  presence  on  their  premises  of  the  nota- 
ble pictures  of  a  distinguished  painter.  One 
asks,  in  consternation,  what  Other  fine  and 
beautiful  things  may  be  thrust  out  of  sight  in 
the  dust  and  dirt  of  the  National  cellars?  .  .  . 
On  the  other  hand,  it  is  incredible  that  the  di- 
rectors— all,  I  believe,  artists — who  have  suc- 
ceeded each  other  since  the  Turners  were 
placed  under  their  charge,  should  have  had 
such  a  poor  opinion  of  the  merit  and  state  of 
preservation  of  the  paintings  in  question." 
The  same  writer  continues: 

"Curiously  enough,  they  are  in  a  great  deal  bet- 
ter condition  than  many  that  have  been  for  long 


STORM  OFF  A  ROCKY  COAST 
(By  J.  M.  W.  Turner.) 


A  RIVEli  SCENE  WITH  CATTLE 
<By  J.  M.  W.  Turner.) 


A   HfiGAtTA  ON  THE  MEDWAY 
(By  J,  M*  W.  Turn^rj 


5o6 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


ROCKY  BAY  WITH  CLASSIC  FIGURES  AND  SHIPS 
(By  J.  M.  W.  Turner.) 


hanging  in  the  Turner  Room  in  Trafalgar  Square. 
They  are  not  melancholy  wrecks,  in  which  you 
have  to  imagine  all  the  wonderful  qualities  Rus- 
kin  discovered  in  them  and  commanded  the  world 
to  see  and  admire  with  him.  The  color  is  pure 
and  fresh,  the  sun  shines  as  it  rises  and  sets — it 
has  not  been  eclipsed  by  the  passing  of  time — 
skies  and  mists  are  luminous.  It  may  be  that 
Turner's  worst  experiments  with  varnish,  which 
these  paintings  seem  to  have  escaped,  were  dead- 
lier enemies  to  his  work  than  the  damp  and  squal- 
or of  his  forlorn  house  in  Queen  Anne  Street 
and  the  dust  and  darkness  of  the  National  cel- 
lars. However  that  may  be,  only  the  blind — or 
the  directors  of  the  National  Gallery— could  have 
found  in  the  condition  of  the  long- forgotten  se- 
ries an  argument  for  their  concealment." 

The  London  Daily  News  also  finds  it  "incon- 
ceivable how  any  student  of  pictorial  art  can 
have  dismissed  such  an  achievement  as  un- 
worthy a  place,  not  to  say  a  high  place,  in  our 
national  collections" ;  and  adds :  "The  heritage 
is  one  of  which  the  nation  has  reason  to  be 
proud."  In  a  similarly  appreciative  spirit,  the 
London  Morning  Post  comments:  "The  first 
glance  round  the  room  was  sufficient  to  show 
that  one  was  in  the  presence  of  great  art,  not 
the  art  of  commonplace  thought  and  uninspired 
expression,  but  the  art  that  reveals  by  sugges- 


tion all  the  knowledge  of  a  master  craftsman, 
and  the  infinite  feeling  of  a  mind  sensitive  to 
the  ever-varying  moods  of  nature — a  mind  so 
sensitive  that  it  magnified  each  visual  record 
and  made  truth  stronger  and  more  beautiful. 
But  the  revelation  is  nearly  always  more  the 
magnifying  of  physical  grandeur  than  the 
glorifying  or  explaining  of  spiritual  beauty." 

Two  of  the  most  striking  pictures  in  the  col- 
lection are  "A  River  Scene,  with  Cattle," 
showing  Dutch  influence,  and  "An  Interior  at 
Petworth,"  which  expresses  a  vision  of  bril- 
liant, transfiguring  sunshine  streaming  through 
vast  windows  into  a  large  and  sumptuously 
decorated  room.  The  most  beautiful  of  all,  in 
the  judgment  of  several  critics,  are  some  com- 
paratively small  sketches  of  yacht  racing  on 
the  Solent.  The  larger  paintings  permit  of 
division  into  two  series,  a  gray  and  a  golden. 
To  the  former  series  belongs  "The  Evening 
Star,"  a  favorite  alike  with  the  critics  and  the 
public.  Of  this  picture  a  London  correspond- 
ent of  the  New  York  Sun  writes : 

"The  subject  is  very  simple — a  fisherman  and 
his  dog  on  the  shores  of  a  tranquil,  gray-blue  sea ; 
some  spars  rising  up  at  the  edge  of  the  water;  a 


LITERATURE  AND  ART 


507 


sky  paling  in  the  twilight;  a  single  star  reflected 
in  the  sea.  The  sentiment  is  exquisitely  rendered. 
It  is  expressed  with  a  skill  which  is  both  mas- 
terly and  unobtrusive.  There  is  a  reticence  which 
one  hardly  associates  with  Turner,  a  grave  and 
tender  beauty  which  is  rare  in  his  work.  It  is  a 
picture  to  be  seen — one  which  does  not  lend  itself 
to  reproduction  or  description." 

The  rest  of  the  gray  series  are  "Margate 
from  the  Sea,"  "Breakers  on  a  Flat  Beach," 
"The  Thames  from  above  Waterloo  Bridge," 
and  "Storm  off  a  Rocky  Coast"  The  last  is 
pronounced  "a  magnificent  effect." 

Of  the  golden  series  the  Sun  writer  says : 

"Perhaps  the  most  brilliant  of  the  golden  se- 
ries is  'Sunrise,  Norham  Castle,'  and  the  most 
beautiful,  *A  Rocky  Bay,  with  Classic  Figures  and 
Ships,*  though  a  more  intimate  charm  pervades 
the  slighter  'Hastings,'  a  view  of  the  south  coast 


watering  place.  'Sunset,  with  Boat  Between 
Headlands,'  'Sunset,  Bay  of  Baix,'  and  'Sunrise, 
with  a  Sea-Monster,'  complete  the  list  of  the 
larger  canvases.  Here,  again,  there  is  little  to 
be  said  that  oould  convey  any  adequate  idea  of 
the  individual  pictures;  but  of  them  collectively 
it  may  be  said  that  Turner,  by  sheer  force  of 
genius,  presents  in  a  more  direct  manner  the  bril- 
liant effects  of  light  which  the  French  impres- 
sionists are  only  able  to  attain  in  a  somewhat 
mechanical  fashion." 

Most  of  these  pictures  represent  Turner's 
latest  period.  During  this  "last  phase"  he  was 
lonely  and  friendless,  yet  in  it  he  made  fresh 
conquests.  As  the  French  critic,  Robert  de  la 
Sizeranne,  puts  it:  "He  stands  alone,  as 
little  to  be  imitated  in  his  own  country  as 
elsewhere,  belonging  no  more  to  one  region 
of  the  globe  than  a  comet  belongs  to  one  re- 
gion of  the  sky." 


WHITMAN'S  PLACE  IN  THE  HEARTS  OF  HIS  CONTEMPORARIES 


Walt  Whitman  has  been  so  persistently  ig- 
nored or  belittled  by  some  critics,  and  so  bit- 
terly attacked  by  others,  that,  not  unnaturally, 
he  is  often  represented  as  having  undergone 
a  kind  of  literary  martyrdom. .  But  Horace 
Traubel's  newly  published  and  most  illuminat- 
ing record*  of  the  correspondence  and  conver- 
sation of  the  Camden  poet  makes  it  clear  that 
Whitman  was  in  constant  and  intimate  touch 
with  some  of  the  greatest  minds  of  his  time, 
and  that  "Leaves  of  Grass"  awakened  not 
merely  critical  interest  but  a  spirit  of  personal 
devotion  and  warm-hearted  loyalty  among  a 
large  number  of  his  most  eminent  literary  con- 
temporaries both  in  Europe  and  this  country. 

Emerson's  now  famous  characterization  of 
"Leaves  of  Grass"  as  "the  most  extraordinary 
piece  of  wit  and  wisdom  that  America  has  yet 
contributed,"  and  his  further  statement,  ad- 
dressed directly  to  Whitman,  "I  greet  you  at 
the  beginning  of  a  great  career,"  show  con- 
clusively that  the  one  man  whose  judgment 
Whitman  must  have  valued  most  —  for  as  a 
youth  he  had  saturated  himself  in  Emerson's 
thought — was  not  afraid  to  give  him  unstinted 
praise.  Whitman  blazoned  the  words,  it  will 
be  remembered,  on  the  cover  of  the  second 
edition  of  his  poems,  rather  to  Emerson's 
mortification;  but  Traubel  furnishes  evidence 
to  show  that  Emerson  never  "went  back"  on 
his  glowing  estimate. 

•With  Walt  Whitman  in  Camden  (March  2»— July 
X4«  x888).     By  Horace  Traubel.     Small,  Maynard  &  Co. 


John  Ruskin  treated  Whitman  better  than 
Whitman  treated  him ;  for  Whitman  confessed 
that  he  did  not  care  for  Ruskin  akd  could  not 
read  him,  whereas  Ruskin  wrote  to  William 
Harrison  Riley,  a  Socialist  friend  who  had 
sent  him  excerpts  from  "Leaves  of  Grass": 
"These  are  quite  glorious  things  you  have 
sent  me.  Who  is  Walt  (Walter?)  Whitman, 
and  is  much  of  him  like  this  ?"  Tennyson  cor- 
,  responded  with  Whitman,  and  addressed  to 
him,  in  1887,  a  letter  which  the  American 
poet  treasured  as  "correct,  choipe,  final."  It 
reads : 

Dear  Old  Man: 

I,  the  elder  old  man,  have  received  yojur  Arti- 
cle in  the  Critic,  and  send  you  in  return  my  thanks 
and  New  Year's  greeting  on  the  wings  of  this 
East  wind,  which,  I  trust,  is  blowing  softlier  and 
warmlier  on  your  good  gray  head  than  here, 
where  it  is  rocking  the  elms  and  ilexes  of  my 
Isle  of  Wight  garden. 

Yours  always, 

Tennyson. 

In  some  ways  the  most  important  of  Whit- 
man's friendships  was  that  with  John  Ad- 
dington  Symonds.  It  is  doubtful  if  literary 
history  can  furnish  a  parallel  to  this  remark- 
able intimacy,  which  lasted  for  twenty  years. 
Symonds  was  a  classical  scholar  of  distinction, 
an  historian  of  the  Italian  Renaissance  and  a 
biographer  of  Shelley  and  Michelangelo.  His 
attitude  toward  Whitman  was  that  of  rever- 
ential discipleship.  "Leaves  of  Grass,"  he 
once  said,  had  influenced  him  more  than  any 


508 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


WALT  WHITMAN 

He  has  sometimes  been  treated  as  a  literary  outcast, 
yet  he  numbered  among  his  intimate  friends  Emerson, 
Thoreau,  John  Burrouehs,  John  Addington  Symonds, 
W.  M.  Rossetti,  Edmund  Gosse  and  Edward  Dowden. 

Other  book  except  the  Bible;  more  than  Plato 
or  Goethe.  In  a  letter  to  Whitman,  written 
from  Bristol,  England,  and  dated  February 
7,  1872,  he  speaks  again  of  what  the  poems 
had  meant  to  him: 

"For  many  years  I  have  been  attempting  to 
explain  in  verse  some  of  the  forms  of  what  in  a 
note  to  Democratic  Vistas  (as  also  in  a  blade  of 
Calamus)  you  call  'adhesiveness/  I  have  traced 
passionate  friendship  through  Greece,  Rome,  the 
medieval  and  the  modern  world,  and  have  now 
a  large  body  of  poems  written  but  not  published. 
In  these  I  trust  the  spirit  of  the  Past  is  faithfully 
set  forth  as  far  as  my  abilities  allow. 

"It  was  while  engaged  upon  this  work  (years 
ago  now)  that  I  first  read  'Leaves  of  Grass.'  The 
man  who  spoke  to  me  from  that  book  impressed 
me  in  every  way  most  profoundly — unalterably ; 
but  especially  did  I  then  learn  confidently  to  be- 
lieve that  the  comradeship  which  I  conceived 
as  on  a  par  with  the  sexual  feeling  for  depth 
and  strength  and  purity  and  capability  of  all  good, 
was  real — not  j  delusion  of  distorted  passions,  a 
dream  of  the  Past,  a  scholar's  fancy — but  a  strong 
and  vital  bond  of  man  to  man. 

"Xet  even.tjien  how  hard  I  found  it — brought 
up  in.. English  feudalism,  educated  at  an  aristo- 
cratic'  pliblic  schooK '(Harrow)  and  an  over-re- 
fined university   (Oxford) — to  winnow   from  my 


own'  emotion  and  from  my  conception  of  the  ideal 
friend  all  husks  of  affectations  and  aberrations 
and  to  be  a  simple  human  being!  You  cannot  tell 
quite  how  hard  this  was,  and  how  you  helped 
me. 

Whitman's  influence  over  Symonds  grew 
stronger,  not  weaker,  with  the  years.  Sy- 
monds had  always  been  ambitious  to  write  a 
worthy  interpretation  of  the  "master."  and  he 
put  the  fading  strength  of  his  last  days  into 
"Walt  Whitman:  A  Study."  The  book  ap- 
peared on  the  very  day  that  Symonds  died. 

Dante  Gabriel  Rossetti  was  one  of  Whit- 
man's earliest  readers,  and  his  brother,  Will- 
iam Mfchael  Rossetti,  wrote  an  introduction  to 
the  first  English  edition  of  "Leaves  of  Grass." 
The  edition  was  expurgated,  with  W^hitman's 
consent,  but  against  his  better  judgment.  He 
said  afterward: 

"I  have  heard  nothing  but  expurgate,  expur- 
gate, expurgate,  from  the  day.  I  started.  Every- 
body wants  to  expurgate  something — this,  that, 
or  the  other  thing.  If  I  accepted  all  the  sugges- 
tions, there  wouldn't  be  one  leaf  of  the  Leaves 
left — and  if  I  accepted  one,  why  shouldn't  I  ac- 
cept all?  Expurgate,  expurgate,  expurgate! 
I've  heard  that  till  I'm  deaf  with  it.  Who  didn't 
say  expurgate?  Rossetti  said  expurgate  and  1 
yielded.  Rossetti  was  honest.  I  was  honest — we 
both  made  a  mistake.  It  is  damnable  and  vulgar 
— th^  mere  suggestion  is  an  outrage.  Expurgation 
is  apology — yes,  surrender — yes,  an  admission  that 
something  or  other  was.  wrong.  Emerson  said 
expurgate — I  said  no,  no.  I  have  lived  to  regret 
my  Rossetti,  yes — I  have  not  lived  to  regret  my 
Emerson,  no  .  .  .  Did  the  Rossetti  book  ever 
do  me  any  good?  I  am  not  sure  of  it:  Rossetti's 
kindness  did  me  good — ^but  as  for  the  rest,  I  am 
doubtful." 

Such  staid  critics  as  Edmund  (josse  and 
Edward  Dowden  fell  completely  under  Whit- 
man's spell.  Probably  both  would  modify  now 
the  enthusiastic  utterances  of  their  youth,  but 
the  earlier  attitude  is  none  the  less  significant. 
Mr.  Gosse  visited  Whitman  in  1887.  Years 
before  he  had  written  him: 

"The  Leaves  of  Grass  have  become  a  part  of  my 
every-day  thought  and  experience.  I  have  con- 
sidered myself  as  the  'new  person  drawn  toward' 
you;  I  have  taken  your  warning,  I  have  weighed* 
all  the  doubts  and  the  dangers,  and  the  result  is 
that  I  draw  only  closer  and  closer  towards  you. 

"As  I  write  this  I  consider  how  little  it  can  mat- 
ter to  you  in  America  how  you  are  regarded  by  a 
young  man  in  England  of  whom  you  have  never 
heard.  And  yet  I  cannot  believe  that  you,  the  poet 
of  comrades,  will  refuse  the  sympathy  I  lay  at  your 
feet.  In  any  case  I  can  but  thank  you  for  all  that 
I  have  learned  from  you,  all  the  beauty  you  have 
taught  me  to  see  in  the  common  life  of  healthy 
men  and  women,  and  all  the  pleasure  there  is  in 
the  mere  humanity  of  other  people.  The  sense  of 
all  this  was  in  me,  but  it  was  you,  and  vou  alone, 
who  really  gave  it  power  to  express  itself.    Often 


LITERATURE  AND  ART 


509 


wh€n  I  have  been  alone  in  the  company  of  one  or 
other  of  my  dearest  friends,  in  the  very  delicious- 
ness  of  nearness  and  sympathy,  it  has  seemed  to 
me  that  you  were  somewhere  invisibly  with  us." . 

I^rofessor  Dowden,  writing  from  Dublin  in 
1871,  said: 

"You  have  many  readers  in  Ireland,  and  those 
who  read  do  not  feel  a  qualified  delight  in  your 
poems— do  not  love  them  by  degree,  but  with  an 
absolute,  a  personal  love.  We  none  of  us  ques- 
tion that  yours  is  the  clearest,  and  sweetest,  and 
fullest  American  voice.  We  grant  as  true  all  that 
you  claim  for  yourself.  And  you  gain  steadily 
among  us  new  readers  and  lovers." 

Thoreau  was  among  the  first  to  recognize  "a 
great  big  something"  in  "Leaves  of  Grass," 
and  John  Burroughs  has  always  been  one  of 
Whitman's  stanchest  friends  and  defenders. 
Sidney  Lanier,  John  Hay,  Edmund  Clarence 
Stedman,  Richard  Watson  Gilder,  Joaquin 
Miller  are  but  a  few  of  the  distinguished 
Americans  who  gave  Whitman  encouragement 
at  a  time  when  his  poems  were  almost  univer- 
sally misunderstood  and  execrated.  Even  be- 
fore Jiis  death  Whitman  had  translators  and 
interpreters  in  Germany,  France  and  Den- 
mark. Well  might  he  say  (in  1872)  that,  on 
the  whole,  he  was  "more  than  satisfied"  with 
his  literary  fortune.  And  many  years  later  he 
added :  "I  have  been  lucky  in  my  friends,  what- 
ever may  be  said  about  my  enemies.  I  get 
more  and  more  to  feel  that  the  Leaves  do  not 
express  only  a  personal  life — they  do  that  first 


GEORGE  GISSING 

'*Of  all  the  losses  which  literature  •  has  lately  en- 
dured/' says  C  P.  G.  Mastermao,  '*the  death  of  Glssiiur 
stands  out  as  most  exhibiting  the  ragged  edge  of  tragedy." 

of  all — but  that  they  in  the  end  express  the 
corporate  life — the  universal  life." 


THE  VICTIM  OF  A  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  GRUB  STREET 


"Of  all  the  losses  which  literature  has  lately 
endured,  the  death  of  George  Gissing  stands 
out  as  most  exhibiting  the  ragged  edge  of 
tragedy."  So  writes  C.  F.  G.  Masterman,  lit- 
erary editor  of  the  London  Daily  News  and 
one  of  the  new  Liberal  members  of  Parlia- 
ment, in  a  recently  published  volume  of  es- 
says.* Gissing's  career,  he  continues,  owed 
its  tragic  elements  to  the  fact  that  it  repre- 
sented genius  crushed  and  thwarted  by  a  nine- 
teenth-century Grub  Street;  and  he  reveals 
the  fact  that  one  of  the  latest  (and  best)  of 
Gissing's  books — "The  Private  Papers  of 
Henry  Ryecroft" — was,  under  the  thin  veil  of 
fiction,  autobiographical.  "For  twenty  years 
he  had  lived  by  the  pen,"  says  Gissing  of  his 
hero — that  is,  of'  himself — in  the  preface  to 
these  remarkable  papers;  "he  was  a  struggling 

^IN     Peril    of  Change.       By   C.   F.   G.    Masterman, 
B.  W.  HnebKh,  New  York. 


man  beset  by  poverty  and  other  circumstances 
very  unpropitious  to  work.  .  .  .  He  did  a 
great  deal  of  mere  hack-work ;  he  reviewed,  he 
translated,  he  wrote  articles.  There  were 
times,  I  have  no  doubt,  when  bitterness  took 
hold  upon  him;  not  seldom  he  suffered  in 
health,  and  probably  as  much  from  moral  as 
from  physical  overstrain." 

Shortly  before  his  death,  Gissing  had  ar- 
rived at  something  like  comfortable  living. 
"We  hoped,"  he  wrote  of  Ryecroft  in  words 
strangely  prophetic,  "it  would  all  last  for  many 
a  year;  it  seemed,  indeed,  as  though  he  had 
only  need  of  rest  and  calm  to  become  a  hale 
man.  ...  It  had  always  been  his  wish  to 
die  suddenly.  ...  He  lay  down  upon  the 
sofa  in  his  study,  and  there — as  his  calm  face 
declared — passed  from  slumber  into  the  great 
silence." 

The     tyranny    of    this    nineteenth-century 


5IO 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


Grub  Street,  writes  Mr.  Mastcrman,  drove 
his  genius  into  a  hard  and  narrow  groove. 
He  might  have  developed  into  a  great  critic 
—witness  the  promise  of  his  essay  on  Dickens. 
There  was  humor  in  him  all  unsuspected  by 
the  public  till  the  appearance  of  "The  Town 
Traveler";  and  a  keen  eye  for  natural  beauty, 
and  a  power  of  description  of  the  charm  and 
fascination  of  places.  And  a  passionate  love 
of  nature  and  of  home  were  only  made  mani- 
fest in  "By  the  Ionian  Sea''  and  the  last,  most 
kindly  volume.    But  all  this  was  sacrificed: 

"Ht  remains,  and  will  remain,  in  literature  as 
the  creator  of  one  particular  picture.  Gissing  is 
the  painter,  with  a  cold  and  mordant  accuracv,  of 
certain  phases  of  city  life,  especially  of  the  life  of 
London,  in  its  cheerlessness  and  bleakness  and 
futility,  during  the  years  of  rejoicing  at  the  end 
of  the  nineteenth  century.  If  ever  in  the  future 
the  long  promise  of  the  Ages  be  fulfilled,  and 
life  becomes  beautiful  and  passionate  once  again, 
it  is  to  his  dolorous  pictures  that  men  will  turn 
for  a  vision  of  the  ancient  tragedies  in  a  City  of 
Dreadful  Night. 

"Gissing  rarely  if  ever  described  the  actual 
life  of  the  slum.  He  left  to  others  the  natural 
history  of  the  denizens  of  'John  Street'  and  the 
'Jago.*  The  enterprise,  variety  and  adventurous 
energy  of  those  who  led  the  existence  of  the  beast 
would  have  disturbed  with  a  human  vitalitv  the 
picture  of  his  dead  world.  It  was  the  classes 
above  these  enemies  of  society,  in  their  ambitions 
and  pitiful  successes,  which  he  made  the  subject 
of  his  genius.  He  analyzes  into  its  constituent 
atoms  the  matrix  of  which  is  composed  the  char- 
acteristic city  population.  With  artistic  power 
and  detachment  he  constructs  his  sombre  picture, 
till  a  sense  of  almost  physical  oppression  comes 
upon  the  reader,  as  in  some  strange  and  disor- 
dered dream. 

"There  are  but  occasional  vivid  incidents;  the 
vitriol-throwing  in  The  Nether  World';  the 
struggle  of  the  Socialists  in  'Demos,'  as  if  against 
the  tentacles  of  some  slimy  and  tmclean  monster ; 
the  particular  note  of  revolt  sounded  in  'New 
Grub  Street/  when  the  fog  descends  not  merely 
upon  the  multitude  who  acquiesce,  but  upon  the 
few  who  resist.  But  in  general  the  picture  is 
merely  of  the  changes  of  time  hurrying  the  indi- 
viduals through  birth,  marriage,  and  death,  but 
leaving  the  general  resultant  impression  un- 
changed. Vanitas  vanitatum  is  written  large  over 
an  existence  which  has  'never  known  the  sunshine 
nor  the  glory  that  is  brighter  than  the  sun.' " 

Gissing  was  an  individualist,  unsocial  to  a 
fgult,  living  most  of  his  forty-six  years  in  Grub 
Street  without  the  joy  of  comradeship,  grap- 
pling with  difficulties — ^personal  and  literary — 
alone.  Thinking  of  those  early  years  in  Lon- 
don, he  wrote,  near  the  end  of  his  short  life : 

"I  see  that  alley  hidden  on  the  west  side  of  Tot- 
tenham Court  Road,  where,  after  living  in  a  back 
bedroom  on  the  top  floor,  \  hn«I  fo  exchange  it  for 


the  front  cellar;  there  was  a  difference,  if  I  re- 
member rightly,  of  sixpence  a  week,  and  sisc- 
pence,  in  tfiose  days,  was  a  very  great  considera- 
tion— ^why,  it  meant  a  couple  of  meals.  (I  once 
found  sixpence  in  the  street,  and  had  an  exulta- 
tion which  is  vivid  in  me  at  this  moment.)  The 
front  cellar  was  stone-floored;  its  furniture  was 
a  table,  a  chair,  a  wash-stand,  and  a  bed;  the 
window,  which  of  course  had  never  been  cleaned 
since  it  was  put  in,  received  light  through  a  flat 
grating  in  the  alley  above.  Here  I  lived;  here  I 
wrote.  Yes,  'literary  work*  was  done  at  that 
filthy  deal  table,  on  which,  by  the  bye,  lay  my 
Homer,  my  Shakespeare,  and  the  few  other 
books  I  then  possessed.  At  night,  as  I  lay  in 
bed,  I  used  to  hear  the  tramp,  tramp  of  a  posse 
of  policemen  who  passed  along  the  alley  on  their 
way  to  relieve  guard;  their  heavy  feet  sometimes 
sounded  on  the  grating  above  my  window. 

"I  recall  a  tragi-comical  incident  of  life  at  the 
British  Museum.  Once,  on  going  down  into  the 
lavatory  to  wash  my  hands,  I  became  aware  of  a 
notice  newly  set  up  above  the'  row  of  basins.  It 
ran  somehow  thus :  'Readers  are  requested  to  bear 
in  mind  that  these  basins  are  to  be  used  only  for 
casual  ablutions.'  Oh,  the  significance  of  that  in- 
scription! Had  I  not  myself,  more  than  once, 
been  glad  to  use  this  soap  and  water  more  largely 
than  the  sense  of  the  authorities  contemplated? 
And  there  were  poor  fellows  working  under  the 
great  dome  whose  need,  in  this  respect,  was 
greater  than  mine.  I  laughed  heartily  at  the  no- 
tice, but  it  meant  so  much. 

"Nature  took  revenge  now  and  then.  In  winter 
time  I  had  fierce  sore  throats,  sometimes  accom- 
panied by  long  and  savage  headaches.  Doctoring, 
of  course,  never  occurred  to  me;  I  just  locked 
my  door,  and  if  I  felt  very  bad  indeed,  went  to 
bed — ^to  lie  there,  without  food  or  drink,  till  I  was 
able  to  look  after  myself  again. 

"Would  I  live  it  over  again,  that  life  of  the 
garret  and  the  cellar?  Not  with  the  assurance  of 
fifty  years'  contentment  such  as  I  now  enjoy  to 
follow  upon  it!  With  man's  infinitely  pathetic 
power  of  resignation,  one  sees  the  thing  on  its 
better  side,  forgets  all  the  worst  of  it,  makes  out 
a  case  for  the  resolute  optimist.  Oh,  but  the 
waste  of  energy,  of  zeal,  of  youth!  In  another 
mood,  I  could  shed  tears  over  that  spectacle  of 
rare  vitality  condemned  to  sordid  strife.  The  pity 
of  it!  And — if  our  conscience  mean  anything  at 
all — the  bitter  wrong!" 

For  skilled,  artistic  craftsmanship,  Mr.  Mas- 
terman  thinks  that  Gissing  held  the  first  place 
in  the  ranks  of  the  younger  authors  of  to-day. 
The  later  books  seemed  to  open  possibilities 
of  brilliant  promise.  The  bitterness  had  be- 
come softened.  The  general  protest  against 
the  sorry  scheme  of  human  things  seemed  to 
be  passing  into  a  kind  of  pity  for  all  that  suf- 
fers. The  older  indignation  had  yielded  to 
perplexity  as  of  a  suffering  child.  With  some- 
thing of  that  perplexity — ^with  a  new  note  of 
wistfulness,  the  sudden  breaking  of  the  springs 
of  compassion — George  Gissing  passed  from 
a  world  of  shadows  which  he  found  full  of 
uncertainty  and  pain. 


LITERATURE  AND  ART 


5" 


THE  ESSENTIAL  HUMANITY  OF  CHARLES  LAMB 


The  life  of  Charles  Lamb,  says  Mr.  E.  V. 
Lucas,  who  has  recently  published  what  is  hailed 
not  only  as  "the  book  of  the  hour,"  but  some- 
thing better — ^a  book  for  all  time,  "is  the  nar- 
rative of  one  who  was  a  man  and  brother 
first,  an  East  India  clerk  next,  and  a  writer 
afterwards."  It  is  the  story  "rather  of  a 
private  individual  who  chanced  to  have  liter- 
ary genius  than  of  a 
man  of  letters  in  the 
ordinary  sense  of  the 
term."  It  is  this  view 
that  illuminates  the 
two  large  volumes*  de- 
voted to  all  the  simple 
details  of  Lamb's  life, 
to  his  friendships,  and 
to  an  account  of  the 
sister  with  whom  his 
own  life  story  was  so 
inextricably  woven. 
Lamb  is  presented,  es- 
sentially, as  a  character 
who  chanced  to  make 
use  of  a  literary  me- 
dium to  impress  not 
only  his  generation  but 
posterity  by  his  human 
traits.  The  anomaly 
of  Lamb's  literary  fame 
is  well  indicated  by 
Mr.  Lucas  when  he 
says  that  the  work  of 
Charles  Lamb  forms 
no  integral  part  in  the 
history  of  English  lit- 
erature; he  is  not  in 
the  main  current,  he  is 
hardly  in  the  side  cur- 
rent of  the  great 
stream.  "As  that  noble 
river  flows  steadily  on- 
ward it  brims  here  and 
there  into  a  clear  and 
peaceful  bay.  Of  such 
tributary  backwaters, 
which  are  of  the  stream  yet  not  in  it,  Sir 
Thomas  Browne  is  one,  Charles  Lamb  an- 
other."    Mr.  Lucas  adds: 

"In  other  words,  the  'Essays  of  Elia'  are  per- 
haps as  easily  dispensed  with  as  any  work  of 
fancy  and  imagination  in  the  language;  and  a 
large  number  of  persons  not  uninterested  in  £ng- 

•Thb  Lifb  of  Charles  Lamb.      By  E.  V.  Lucas.     G. 
P.  PutoAin's  Sons. 


CHARLES   LAMB 

''English  literature  has  nothing  that  in  its  way  is 
better  than  'Elia's*  best.'*  The  blend  of  sanity,  sweet 
reasonableness,  tender  fancy,  high  imagination,  sym- 
pathetic understanding  of  human  nature,  and  humor, 
now  wistful,  now  frolicsome,  with  literary  skill  of 
unsurpassed  delicacy,  makes  'Elia'  unique. 


lish  literature  atuin  to  preat  heights  of  ignorance 
concerning  them.  Their  'facts'  are  not  of  the 
utilitarian  order ;  their  humor  leads  rarely  to  loud 
laughter,  rather  to  the  quie,t  smile;  they  are  not 
stories,  they  are  not  poems;  they  are  not  difficult 
enotigh  to  suggest  'mental  improvement'  to  those 
who  cotmt  it  loss  unless  they  are  puzzled,  nor 
simple  enough  for  those  who  demand  of  their 
authors  no  confounded  nonsense. 
"At  the  same  time  English  literature  has  noth- 
ing that  in  its  way  is 
better  than  'EHa*s'  best. 
The  blend  of  sanity, 
sweet  reasonableness, 
tender  fancy,  high  imag- 
ination, sympathetic  un- 
derstanding of  human 
nature,  and  hiunor,  now 
wistful,  now  frolic- 
some, with  literary  skill 
of  unsurpassed  delicacy, 
makes  'Elia*  unique." 

If  the  "Essays  .  of 
Elia"  endure,  continues 
Mr.  Lucas,  it  is  because 
they  "describe  with  so 
much  sympathy  most 
of  the  normal  failings 
of  mankind,"  because 
Lamb  "understands  so 
much,  and  is  so  cheer- 
ing to  the  lowly,  so 
companionable  to  the 
luckless.  He  is  always 
on  the  side  of  those 
who  need  a  friend.  He 
is  *in  love  with  the 
green  earth,'  he  never 
soars  out  of  reach, 
never  withholds  his 
tolerance  for  our  weak- 
nesses." Mr.  Lucas 
adopts  as  a  suitable 
characterization  of  the 
"Essays"  a  definition 
which  has  stood  for  a 
proverb.  They  contain 
"the  wisdom  of  many 
and  the  wit  of  one." 
They  offer  the  essen- 
tials of  experiences  common  to  us  all  to  each 
reader  "in  terms  peculiar  to  his  own  case." 
To  quote  further ; 

"It  is  by  'Elia'  that  Lamb  stands  where  he  does ; 
and  our  prose  literature  probably  contains  no 
work  more  steeped  in  personality.  What  Shake- 
speare's essays  would  have  been  like  we  cannot 
conjecture;    what   Lamb's   plays    were   like    we 


512 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


know;  and  the  two  men  technically  are  not  com- 
parable. But  in  tolerance,  in  the  higher  clear- 
ness, in  enjoyment  of  fun,  in  love  of  sweetness, 
in  pleasure  in  gentlemen,  in  whimsical  humor, 
Lamb  and  Shakespeare  have  much  in  common. 
Lamb's  criticisms  of  Shakespeare,  though  not 
necessarily  better  than  those  of  certain  other 
writers,  always  seem  to  me  to  come  from  one 
peculiarly  qualified  to  speak  by  reason  of  superior 
intimacy  or  familiarity.  He  writes  more  as 
Shakespeare's  friend  than  any  other." 

Lamb  "found  the  essay  a  comparatively 
frigid  thing"  and  "he  left  it  warm  and  com- 
panionable." He  had  no  mind  for  exerting 
such  a  thing  as  "influence."    "Hazlitt,  his  most 


illustrious  contemporary  in  this  form/'  says 
Mr.  Lucas,  "owed  technically  nothing  to  Lamb, 
Lamb  owed  nothing  to  Hazlitt."  The  latter 
essayist  continued  the  traditions  of  Drydcn, 
Addison,  Steele  and  Goldsmith ;  "Lamb  played 
many  pranks,  annihilated  'Progress/  in  his  own 
words  wrote  'for  antiquity.'"  By  the  same 
token  Mr.  Lucas  warns  off  any  who  think  they 
may  be  able  to  emulate  his  literary  virtues. 
"To  try  to  write  like  Lamb  is,  perhaps,  the 
surest  road  to  literary  disaster;  to  try  to  write 
like  Hazlitt  is  one  of  the  best  things  a  youn^ 
man  can  do." 


THE   "SPLENDID   ISOLATION"  OF  EMILY  BRONTE 


"The  greatest  book  ever  written  by  a  wom- 
an" is  the  deliberate  judgment  of  Mr.  Clement 
K.  Shorter  upon  "Wuthering  Heights."  Long 
after  "Jane  Eyre"  and  "Shirley"  have  been 
permanently  consigned  to  the  shelves  of  the 
historically  interesting,  he  avers,*  "Wuther- 
ing Heights"  will  be  read.  "No  book  has  so 
entirely  won  the  suffrage  of  some  of  the  best  . 
minds  of  each  generation,"  he  adds,  and  as  if 
to  establish  this  opinion  beyond  all  reach  of 
doubt  or  skeptic,  he  marshals  the  expressed 
corroboration  of  a  small  but  brilliant  cloud  of 
witnesses. 

Emily  Bronte  withered  before  the  first  rays 
of  appreciation  fell  upon  her  work.  She 
did  not  live  long  enough  to  know  even  of  the 
praise  bestowed  by  Sidney  Dobell,  the  first 
critic  to  recognize  its  beauty  and  lasting  worth. 
Could  she  have  lived  a  little'  longer,  she 
might  have  heard  Matthew  Arnold  voice 
words  of  no  mean  praise,  and  later  Mrs.  Hum- 
phry Ward  and  Maurice  Maeterlinck.  Mr. 
Swinburne  caught  the  true  feeling  of  the 
Bronte  fellowship  when  he  said  of  "Wuthering 
Heights" :  "It  may  be  true  that  not  many  will 
ever  take  it  to  their  hearts;  it  is  certain  that 
those  who  do  like  it  will  like  nothing  very 
much  better  in  the  whole  world  of  poetry  or 
prose." 

Emily  Bronte  knew  a  brief  and  lonely  life. 

She  died  before  she  was  thirty.     *'Silent  and 

rather  grim"  she  has  been  called,  but  it  was 

life   that   made    her   so.      Too    sensitive    and 

shrinking  to  partake  in  the  church  work  in 

Haworth  which  occupied  her  sisters,  she  was 

content  with  the  companionship  of  her  dogs. 

Roaming  with  them  over  the  rolling  moorlands 

♦Charlotte  BrontS.    By  Clement  K.  Shorter.    Charles 
Scnbner's  Sons. 


was  the  only  happiness  she  knew.  It  is  said 
that  she  never  had  an  intimate — ^no  friend  or 
comrade  of  schoolgirl  days,  no  confidante  of 
young  womanhood,  Charlotte  knew  her  best, 
perhaps,  and  so  it  is  peculiarly  fitting  that  her 
tribute  to  "Wuthering  Heights"  should  be  pre- 
served. "Wuthering  Heights*  was  hewn  in  a 
wild  workshop,"  she  tells  us,  "with  simple  tools 
out  of  homely  materials.  The  statuary  found 
a  granite  block  on  a  solitary  moor;  gazing 
thereon  he  saw  how  from  the  crag  might  be 
elicited  a  head,  savage,  swart,  sinister ;  a  form 
molded  with  at  least  one  element  of  grandeur 
— ^power.  He  wrought  with  a  rude  chisel  and 
from  no  model  but  the  vision  of  his  medita- 
tions. With  time  and  labor  the  crag  took 
human  shape;  and  there  it  stands,  colossal, 
dark  and  frowning,  half-statue,  half-rock;  in 
the  former  sense,  terrible  and  goblin-like;  in 
the  latter,  almost  beautiful,  for  ifs  coloring  is 
of  mellow  grey,  and  moorland  moss  clothes  it; 
and  heath,  with  its  bloomy  bells  and  balmy 
fragrance,  grows  faithfully  close  to  the  giant's 
foot." 

"Wuthering  Heights"  was  bom  in  sorrow 
and  its  beauty  remains  a  perpetual  source  of 
inspiration  to  succeeding  generations.  To  use 
Mr.  Shorter's  words  concerning  the  characters 
in  this  book,  "the  whole  group  of  tragic  figures 
are  before  us  and  we  are  moved  as  in  the  pres- 
ence of  a  great  tragedy."  Mr.  Shorter  says 
again :  "Emily  Bronte  was  quite  a  young  wom- 
an when  she  wrote  this  book.  One  almost 
feels  that  it  was  necessary  that  she  should  die. 
Any  further  work  from  her  pen  must  almost 
have  been  in  the  nature  of  an  anti-climax.  It 
were  better  that  'Wuthering  Heights*  should 
stand,  as  does  its  author,  in  splendid  isolation.'* 


Music  and  the  Drama 


THE  GREATEST  OF  LIVING  COMPOSERS 


"Keep  steadily  on;  I  tell  you,  you  have  the 
capability,  and — do  not  let  them  intimidate 
you !"  Such  was  the  fatherly  advice  of  Franz 
Liszt  to  Edvard  Grieg  when  the  latter,  as  a 
young  and  trembling 
composer,  visited  him 
in  Rome  forty  years 
ago.  For  Grieg  the 
words  had  "an  air  of 
sanctification"  and  the 
promise  of  "a  wonder- 
ful power  to  uphold 
him  in  days  of  adver- 
sity"; and  Liszt  lived 
long  enough  to  realize 
that  his  confidence  had 
been  abundantly  justi- 
fied. Grieg  has  be- 
come, perhaps,  the 
most  universally  known 
and  beloved  of  modern 
composers.  He  is  gen- 
erally conceded  to  be 
the  greatest  living  com- 
poser. As  his  distin- 
guished fellow  country- 
man, Bjornson,  puts  it: 
"Grieg  has  brought  it 
about  that  Norwegian 
moods  and  Norwegian, 
life  have  entered  into 
every  music-room  in 
the  whole  world." 

It  was  Hans  von  Biilow  who  called  Grieg 


EDVARD  GRIEG 


"He  hAB  brought  it  about/'  says  Bjomstjeme 
Bjdmson,  the  distmgruished  playwright  and  novelist, 
'^hat  Norwegian  moods  and  Norwegian  life  have 
entered  into  every  music* room  in  the  whole  world." 


the  "Chopfti  of  the  North."  The  characteriza- 
t'on,  as  Henry  T.  Finck  points  out  in  a  newly 
published  and  stimulating  critique,*  is  sugges- 
tive, but  not  entirely  accurate.  Both  com- 
posers, it  is  true,  show 
great  refinement  of 
style,  rare  melodic, 
harmonic  and  rhythmic 
originality,  an  abhor- 
rence of  the  common- 
place, and  a  certain 
**exotic"  nationalism ; 
but  Grieg  departs  from 
the  lines  laid  down  by 
Chopin  and  excels  him 
in  his  faculty  for  or- 
chestral coloring  and 
in  his  gift  to  the  world 
of  a  hundred  and  twen- 
ty-five songs  which 
only  two  or  three  mas- 
ters have  equaled. 
Moreover,  Chopin  can 
never  be  entirely  disso- 
ciated from  the  deca- 
dent school.  His  music 
has  something  of  the 
flavor  of  hothouse 
flowers ;  whereas 
Grieg  is  primitive  and 
elemental.  "One  of 
the     most     remarkable 


•  Edvard  Grieg. 
pany. 


By  H.  T.  Pinck.     John  Lane  Com- 


grieg's  villa  at  troldhaugen  on  the 
norwegian  coast 


ANOTHER  VIEW  OP    GRfEG'S  VILLA,  SHOWING 
ITS  COMMANDING  OUTLOOK 


514 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


traits  of  Grieg,"  says  Mr.  Finck,  "is  that  al- 
though he  had  an  invalid  body  nearly  all 
his  life,  his  artist  soul  was  always  healthy; 
there  is  not  a  trace,  of  the  morbid  or  mawkish 
in  his  music,  but,  on  the  contrary,  a  superb 
virility  and  an  exuberant  joyousness  such  as 
are  supposed  to  be  inseparable  ^rom  robust 
health."  An  apter  comparison  than  that  be- 
tween Grieg  and  Chopin  would  be  one  between 
Grieg  and  the  greatest  American  composer, 
Edward  MacDowell,  who  has  essential  and 
fundamental  traits  in  common  with  his  Nor- 
wegian contemporary,  and,  on  reliable  report, 
^'simply  worships  him."  Mrs.  Finck,  after  vis- 
iting Grieg  with  her  husband  in  1901,  wrote 
home:  "In  many  ways  Edvard  Grieg  re- 
minded us  of  our  Edward  [MacDowell]." 

The  place  of  Grieg  in  world-music  has  not 
been  authoritatively  determined,  but  one  thing 
is  certain:  his  reputation  is  steadily  growing. 
It  is  sometimes  charged  that  "Grieg,  despite 
'the  many  beauties  in  his  works,  writes  in  a 
dialect  quite  as  truly  as  did  Burns,"  but  Mr. 
Finck  makes  the  rejoinder  that  the  composi- 
tions of  Grieg  contain  much  more  Grieg  than 
Norway.  In  even  stronger  language  he  de- 
clares that  "ninety-five  hundredths  of  Grieg's 
music  is  absolutely  and  in  every  detail  his 
own."    To  quote  further: 

"He  has  provided  a  large  store-house  of  abso- 
lutely new  melodic  material — a  boon  to  countless 
students  and  imitators;  he  has  created  the  latest 
harmonic  atmosphere  in  music,  having  gone  even 
beyond  Liszt  and  the  most  audacious  Germans  in 
his  innovations,  and  he  has  thus,  like  Schubert, 
like  Wagner,  like  Chopin,  enlarged  the  world- 
language  of  music.  He  has  taught  his  new  idioms 
to  some  of  the  most  prominent  composers  of  his 
time,  among  them  Tchaikovsky,  Paderewski, 
D' Albert,  MacDowell.  A  Viennese  critic  has 
pointed  out  'unmistakable  analogies'  between  the 
harmonic  peculiarities  of  Grieg  and  those  of  Rich- 
ard Strauss;  and  as  Grieg  had  done  most  of  his 
work  when  Strauss  began,  he  is,  of  course,  the 
originator  and  Strauss  the  disciple. 

"From  every  point  of  view  that  interests  the 
music-lover  Grieg  is  one  of  the  most  original 
geniuses  in  the  musical  world  of  the  present  or 
past.  His  songs  are  a  mine  of  melody,  surpassed 
m  wealth  only  by  Schubert's,  and  that  only  be- 
cause there  are  more  of  Schubert's.  In  originality 
of  harmony  and  modulation  he  has  only  six  equals 
— Bach,  Schubert,  Chopin,  Schumann,  Wagner 
and  Liszt.  In  every  rhythmic  invention  and  com- 
bination he  is  inexhaustible,  and  as  an  orchestrator 
he  ranks  among  the  most  fascinating." 

The  story  of  Grieg's  life  has  been,  in  the 
main,  uneventful.  He  jls  of  Scotch  ancestry, 
and  happily  married  to  a  cousin  who  has  both 
inspired  and  interpreted  his  songs.  In  Chris- 
tiania,  Copenhagen,  Leipsic,  Rome,  Paris  and 


London  the  Griegs  have  given  song  recitals. 
"They  were  enjoyed  as  unique  artistic  events," 
says  Mr.  Fmck,  "and  while  it  was  taken  as  a 
matter  of  course  that  the  composer  should  re- 
veal new  poetic  deta.ls  in  the  piano  parts,  every 
one  was  surprised  to  find  that  an  unheralded 
singer  should  outshine  most  of  the  famous 
professionals  in  her  ability  to  stir  the  soul 
with  her  interpretative  art." 

Grieg  has  been  the  life-long  friend  of 
Bjornson  and  Ibsen.  It  was  on  the  solicita- 
tion of  the  latter  that  he  wrote  his  famous 
"Peer  Gynt"  suite.  The  play  and  accompany- 
ing music  were  given  for  the  first  time  at  the 
Christiania  Theater  in  1876.  They  have  had 
seventy  subsequent  performances  in  Chris- 
tiania alone,  and  have  been  presented  in  Paris 
and  Berlin. 

The  most  exciting  incident  in  Grieg's  career 
occurred  in  1903,  when  at  the  height  of  the 
Dreyfus  agitation,  he  was  invited  by  the  emi- 
nent French  conductor,  M.  Edouard  Colonne, 
to  give  a  concert  in  Paris.  Grieg  had  ex- 
pressed sentiments  offensive  to  the  national- 
ists, and  public  feeling  was  intense.  At  first 
he  refused  the  invitation,  but  later  he  con- 
sented to  appear.  He  was  greeted  by  hisses 
as  well  as  by  applause,  and  after  the  rendi- 
tion of  the  first  number  on  the  program  a 
man  arose  in  the  parquet  and  shouted:  "We 
applaud  only  the  artist  and  great  musician.'' 
"Think  of  it,"  wrote  Grieg  in  a  private  letter ; 
"when  I  was  about  to  enter  my  carriage 
[after  the  concert],  there  was  a  triple  cordon 
around  it.  I  felt  as  important  as  Cromwell 
— at  the  very  least.".  On  this  occasion  Raoul 
Pugno,  the  pianist,  played  Grieg's  A  minor 
concerto,  a  noble  composition  which  he  has 
since  done  much  to  popularize  throughout 
Europe  and  the  United  States. 

Grieg's  home  is  a  lonely  villa  at  Troldhau- 
gen,  commanding  a  panorama  of  fiord  and 
woods.  According  to  latest  reports  he  is  well 
and  hearty,  and  plans  to  visit  London  next 
summer  to  take  part  in  some  conceits  which 
are  being  organized  in  his  honor.  Says  a  par- 
agrapher  in  London  Truth: 

"Dr.  Grieg  is  passing  the  winter  at  Christiania, 
where  a  friend  from  England  who  recently  saw 
him^was  rejoiced  to  notice  the  excellent  health 
and  spirits  which  he  appeared  to  be  enjoying. 
Every  morning  he  leaves  his  hotel  to  visit  the 
establishment  of  Messrs.  Hals,  the  leading  piano 
firm  of  Norway,  where  a  magnificent  music  room 
is  placed  at  his  exclusive  disposal,  while  it  is 
pleasant  to  know  that  of  late  he  has  been  able 
to  take  up  again  his  creative  work." 


a    a 


5  *% 


MX. 

o    IJ3 


if      i 


B      :? 


5i6 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


IN  THE  COUNTRY  OF  HAMLET 


The  eminent  Danisfh  aiiWior,  George  Brandes,  ' 
"the  Taine  o{  the  North,"  in  his  great  work 
on  Shakespeare^  makes,  th*^  remarkable  asser- 
tion that  "Hamlet"  has  shed  more  renown  upon 


MONUMENT    TO    SHAKESPEARE  AT  ELSINORE, 
DENMARK 

Recently  erected  by  popular  subscription  to  commem- 
orate the  third  centenary  of  the  publication  of  *'Hamlet." 

Denmark  than  that  shed  by  all  its  previous, 
history.  Shakespeare,  in  singling  out  the  little 
northern  state  as  the  scene  of  his  master- 
piece, has  encircled  the  name  of  Denmark  with 
an  imperishable  aureole.  He  has  embalmed 
it  in  fadeless  romance.  By  a  strange  paradox, 
this  creation  of  the  poet's  brain  has  become 
more  real  in  Denmark  than  any  of  the  kings 
or  vikings  of  Scandinavian  history.  The 
Danes,  an  imaginative  people,  have  been  quick 
to  recognize  their  debt  to  Shakespeare,  and 
have  even  delighted  to  honor  his  memory.  The 
plays  have  been  faithfully  and  ably  translated 
into  Danish,  and  the  finest  biographical  study 
of  the  poet  in  recent  times  has  been  written 
by  the  Danish  scholar  above  named.  At 
Elsinore  there  was  recently  erected  a  magnifi- 
cent statue  to  the  poet,  the  cost  being  defrayed 
by  popular  subscription.  The  Monde  Illustre 
(Paris)   describes  the  event  as  follows: 

"On  the  recent  occasion  of  the  third  centenary 


of  the  publication  of  'Hamlet,*  a  number  of  rep- 
resentative Danes  determined  to  commemorate 
the  event  by  the  erection  of  a  monument  to 
Shakespeare.  Great  interest  was  shown  in  the 
project,  which  was  generally  regarded  as  a  fitting 
act  of  homage  to  the  great  poet  who  had  so 
signally  honored  Denmank.  Elsinore  was  chosen 
as  the  site.  The  monument  is  the  work  of  the 
Danish  sculptor  Hasschiis.  It  represents  Shake- 
speare seated,  pen  in  hand,  conceiving  and  writing 
the  famous  drama.  The  charming  site  which 
has  been  chosen  for  the  monument  has  a  strong 
appeal  for  visitors,  suggestive  as  it  is  of  the 
dramatic  incidents  of  'Hamlet.' 

"The  passionate  admiration  now  accorded  tlie 
great  poet  has  amply  avenged  the  neglect  of  his 
own  age  and  the  oblivion  which  threatened  his 
memory  in  the  succeeding  century.  These  latest 
honors  to  Shakespeare  remind  us  of  Victor 
Hugo's  words  of  homage:  'If  a  mountain  of 
stones  were  piled  up  in  his  honor,  could  they  add 
to  his  greatness?  What  memorial  arch  will  out- 
last these:  "The  Tempest,"  "The  Winter's  Tale," 
"The  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor,"  "The  Two  Gen- 
tlemen of  Verona,"  "Julius  Caesar,"  "Coriolanus"  ? 
What  monument  more  grandiose  than  "Lear," 
more  sternly  impassive  than  "The  Merchant  of 
Venice,"  more  brilliant  than  "Romeo  and  Juliet," 
more  Dedalean  than  "Richard  III"?  What  moon- 
light so  soft  and  mysterious  as  that  which  il- 
lumines   "The     Midsummer     Night's    Dream"? 


'TOMB  OP  HAMLET"  AT  ELSINORE 


MUSIC  AND  THE  DRAMA 


517 


What  edifice  of  cedar  or  of  oak  shall  last  as  long 
as  "Othello**?  What  monument  of  brass  shall 
endure  as  lon«r  as  "Hamlet"?'" 

It  is  remarkable  how  little  is  generally 
known  of  the  vog^e  of  Shakespeare  in  the 
country  of  Hamlet.  Elsinore  is  steeped  in 
memories  of  the  immortal  poem.  We  all 
know  that  moonlit  scene  with  its  g.iostly  visi- 
tant, its  tragic  associations.  But  how  many 
know  that  Elsinore  is  an  actuality  to-day,  and 
that  the  story  of  Hamlet  and  Ophelia  is  a 
living  tradition  among  its  inhabitants? 

The  Elsinore  of  the  present  day,  as  we 
learn  from  the  French  article,  offers  a  rugged, 
picturesque  landscape  in  harmony  with  its 
romantic  traditions.  A  great  tumulus  on  the 
outskirts  of  the  town,  surmounted  by  an  enor- 
mous monolith,  is  reverenced  as  the  "Tomb 
of  Hamlet."  In  the  park  of  Marienlyst,  a 
suburb  of  Elsinore,  there  is  a  beautiful  statue 
of  Hamlet,  the  work  of  the  famous  sculptor 
Petersen.  Near  by  is  "Ophelia's  Spring,"  a 
clear  stream  of  water  purling  from  the  rocks 
and  shaded  by  great  trees.  The  whole  country 
is  steeped  in  Shakespearean  memories.  The 
immortal  legend  of  the  Danish  prince ;  the  fate 
of  the  ill-starred  Ophelia;  the  fearful  appari- 
tion of  the  murdered  king,  are  known  to  the 
humblest  inhabitant.  Elsinore  is  a  favorite 
haunt  for  Shakespeare-lovers  visiting  Den- 
mark. One  may  see  them,  book  in  hand,  fol- 
lowing the  lines  which  allude  to  the 
scenes  before  them.  With  the  approach  of 
evening  a  profound  melancholy,  typical  of 
northern  countries,  seems  to  descend  upon 
Elsinore.     It  is  then  that  the  full  significance 


"OPHELIA'S  SPRING"  AT  ELSINORE 

of  Shakespeare's  masterpiece  dawns  upon  the 
visitor.  Out  of  the  deepening  shadows 
emerges  the  phantom  monarch  "revisiting  the 
glimpses  of  the  moon."  The  "eternal  blazon" 
uttered  to  Hamlet  by  those  fleshless  lips  echoes 
through  the  mind,  and  "thoughts  beyond  the 
reach  of  our  souls"  throng  upon  the  tourist. 


TWO  NEW  OPERAS  BY  FRENCH  COMPOSERS 


Operatic  novelties  have  not  been  plentiful  in 
the  music  centers  of  Europe  during  the  season 
now  drawing  to  a  close.  The  Italian  com- 
posers have  done  little;  the  German  and 
French,  not  much  more.  Of  the  Gallic  operas 
that  have  attracted  praise  and  won  critical 
commendation,  the  most  important  is  doubt- 
less that  of  Camille  Saint-Saens.  It  is  called 
"L'Ancetre"  (The  Ancestor)  and  deals  with  a 
typical  episode  from  Corsican  life.  It  had  its 
first  production  late  in  February  at  Monte 
Carlo;  Paris  is  to  hear  it  soon.  The  most 
notable  feature  of  "The  Ancestor,"  music- 
ally speaking,  is  declared  to  be  the  vigor,  the 
freshness,  the  spontaneity  of  the  composer's 


ideas.  It  might  be  the  work  of  a  young  man, 
while  Saint-Saens  is  seventy-one  years  of  age. 
The  "book"  is  by  a  young  poet,  Ange  de 
Lassus,  and  is  based  on  a  poem  entitled,  "Ven- 
detta," which  tells  the  tragic  story  of  a  char- 
acteristic Corsican  "blood  feud"  extending  over 
the  lifetime  of  more  than  two  generations. 
The  "lyrical  drama"  presents  the  struggle  be- 
tween barbarism,  tradition  and  fierce  blood- 
thirstiness  on  one  hand,  and  the  modern  gospel 
of  peace  and  civilization  and  ethical  religion 
on  the  other,  barbarism  in  the  end  asserting 
the  supremacy  which  it  still  commands  in  Cor- 
sica. The  plot  of  the  opera  is  summarized  in 
Le  Figaro  substantially  as  follows : 


5i8 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


CAMILLE  SAINT-SAfiNS 


His 


The  leadine  contemporary  French  composer.  Hi> 
latest  opera,  •^L'Anc^tre/'tells  the  tragic  story  of  a  char- 
acteristic Corsican  "  blood  feud  "  extendinic  over  the  life- 
time of  more  than  two  generations. 

In  a  mountainous  and  wild  region  there  live, 
almost  side  by  side,  two  families — ^the  Fabiani  and 
the  Pietra-Nera.  Between  them  there  has  ex- 
isted a  fatal  feud  for  many  decades.  The  grand- 
fathers transmitted  it  to  their  sons,  and  these  in 
turn  to  their  children.  Already  it  has  claimed 
many  victims,  murder  and  violence  being  the 
natural  manifestations  of  the  inextinguishable 
hatred. 

The  Pietra-Nera  family  is  represented  by  a 
young  military  officer,  Tebaldo.  who  is  serving 
in  France  and  is  visiting  his  home  with  full  knowl- 
edge of  the  peril  to  which  he  is  exposing  himself. 
A  pious  hermit,  who  is  the  neighbor  of  both  fami- 
lies, has  resolved  to  effect  a  lasting  peace  between 
them.  He  has  confided  his  hope  to  Tebaldo,  who 
approves  of  the  effort  and  is  for  his  part  ready 
to  end  the  feud.  A  meeting  of  the  two  families 
is  at  last  arranged  by  the  hermit,  and  the  younger 
members  of  the  families  are  disposed  to  respond 
to  his  appeals.  They  have  had  enough  of  blood, 
tears  and  sorrow;  they  would  welcome  harmony 
and  good-will. 

But  Nunciata,  the  "ancestor,"  the  grandmother 
in  the  Fabiani  family,  who  has  stood  apart,  sullen 
and  stern,  steps  forward  and  with  one  word, 
"No !"  upsets  the  peace  plans  of  the  good  hermit. 
In  her,  past  rancor  and  hate  burn  as  fiercely 
as  ever,  and  the  deadly  enmity  must  continue. 

Tebaldo,  however,  has  fallen  in  love  with  Mar- 
garita Fabiani,  one  of  Nunciata's  three  grandchil- 
dren, and  she  reciprocates  his  love.  Vanina,  Mar- 
garita's sister,  also  loves  Tebaldo,  but  this  is  her 
secret,  and  no  one  suspects  it.  The  law  of  the 
feud  must  prevail  and  the  affections  of  nature  be 
disregarded. 


Leandri,  Nunciata's  grandson,  entraps  Tebaldo 
and  attempts  to  kill  him.  He  fails  and  is  killed 
by  his  intended  victim  acting  in  pure  self-defense. 
Leandri  is  found  dead  and  carried  home,  and  the 
old  grandmother,  in  a  frenzy  of  grief  and  ragre, 
swears  that  this  new  crime  of  the  Pietra-Nera 
family  must  be  avenged,  Death,  death  to  the 
Pietra-Neras !  All  must  take  the  solemn  oath; 
but  just  as  Vanina  is  about  to  do  so  a  servant  tells 
her  that  Tebaldo  is  the  slayer  of  her  brother. 

Tebaldo  is  making  preparations  to  leave  the 
island  and  return  to  France.  But  first  Margarita 
and  he  must  be  made  man  and  wife  by  the  hermit 
amid  the  Rowers  and  plants  which  surround  the 
little  chapel.  Unfortunately  Vanina  has  followed 
them  and  is  cone  aled  near  by,  shotgun  in  hand. 
She  overhears  the  lovers,  her  jealousy  is  excited, 
and  a  great  conflict  between  duty  and  anger,  on 
the  one  hand,  and  her  love  for  Tebaldo,  on  the 
other,  rages  within  her  breast.  She  tries  to  shoot, 
her  heart  fails  her,  and  she  drops  the  weapon. 
Nunciata,  however,  is  at  her  side;  she  tosses  up 
the  rifle  and  aims  it  at  Tebaldo.  Vanina  throws 
herself  upon  her  to  protect  the  man  she  loves, 
and  the  bullet  is  lodged  in  her  breast  instead.  It 
was  to  avenge  the  brother;  it  killed  the  sister. 

The  Saint- Saens  score,  writes  Gabriel  Faure, 
the  eminent  composer  and  music  critic,  is 
both  dramatic  and  melodious.  It  has  the  finest 
qualities  of  French  musics-elegance,  lucidity, 
fluency,  clearness  in  complexity;  yet  it  is  a 
sober,  strong,  realistic  score.  It  reflects  the 
natural  and  human  environment  of  Corsica, 
the  composer  having  visited  the  island,  not  to 
make  use  of  actual  folk-melodies  or  "local 
color,"  but  to  saturate  himself  with  the  Cor- 
sican atmosphere  and  give  it  indirect,  subtle 
expression  in  his  themes  and  orchestration. 
The  themes  are  characteristic,  some  repre- 
senting the  beauty  and  sweetness  of  nature  and 
the  love  of  the  young  Tebaldo  and  Margarita, 
others  the  fatal  shadow  of  the  feud,  the  im- 
pending doom,  the  tragic  past  of  the  two  fami- 
lies. There  are  many  beautiful  arias  and  con- 
certed numbers  in  the  opera,  and  the  orches- 
tral accompaniment  is  rich  and  full  of  coloi 
and  vigor. 

Another  interesting  and  notable  operatic 
novelty  is  "Sanga,"  by  the  Irish-French  com- 
poser, Isidore  de  Lara,  whose  "Messaline," 
produced  last  year,  has  given  him  a  high  repu- 
tation in  France.  "Sanga"  is  described  as  a 
"lyrical  drama."  The  "book"  was  written  by 
Eugene  Morand  and  Paul  de  Choudens,  and 
is  composed  in  a  style  that  may  be  regarded  as 
semi- Wagnerian.  The  "leading  motive"  is 
freely  employed  to  characterize  persons,  situa- 
tions and  moods,  and,  indeed,  the  whole  score 
is  founded  on  a  number  of  such  themes.  The 
composer,  however,  allows  himself  more  free- 
dom than  Wagnerian  musical  principles  permit 
in  the  combinations  and  development  of  these 


MUSIC  AND  THE  DRAMA 


519 


themes.  The  opera  was  produced  at  the  Munic- 
ipal Opera  House  in  Nice,  where,  according 
to  the  Figaro  correspondent,  little  justice  could 
be  done  to  its  scenic  and  spectacular  features, 
which  arc  unusual  and  which  would  tax  the 
mechanical  resources  of  the  best-equipped 
opera-houses  of  Europe,  "Sanga,"  says  the 
reviewer  in  the  paper  named,  shows  decided 
growth  in  De  Lara's  art  and  musical  ability 
of  an  exceptional  order.  To  appreciate  the 
character  and  merit  of  the  score  it  is  necessary 
to  consider  the  strange  and  original  plot  of 
the  opera,  which  is  thus  indicated : 

Master  Vigord  is  a  Savoy  fanner  who  is  as 
miserly  as  he  is  hard  and  tyrannical.  He  is  a 
severe  taskmaster,  and  even  parental  love  he 
understands  only  as  an  exercise  of  implacable  au- 
thority. He  is  feared  by  all  his  laborers,  as  well 
as  by  his  only  son,  Jean.  This  youth  is  in  love 
with  Sanga,  a  girl  of  the  highways,  a  wild,  self- 
willed,  untrained  creature  of  peculiar  charm  and 
fascination.  An  accident  has  caused  her  to  join 
the  farmer's  harvesters.  Vigord  learns  of  his 
son's  infatuation,  but  he  has  other  intentions  with 
regard  to  Jean's  future.  Jean  is  to  marry  his 
cousin  Lena,  a  gentle,  submissive,  domestic  girl. 
Vigord  brutally  dismisses  Sanga,  but  she  trusts 
Jean,  her  devoted  lover,  and  is  sure  that  he  will 
defy  his  father  and  accompany  her  into  the  out- 
side world.  Jean  does  make  an  effort  to  abandon 
father  and  home  for  his  sweetheart,  but,  being  a 
timid  and  irresolute  creature,  he  changes  his  mind, 
and  Sanga  is  obliged  to  depart  alone.  Before  set- 
ting out  she  invokes  the  wrath  of  Heaven  on  the 
cruel  old  farmer  and  all  those  who  inhabit  the 
spot  where  she  has  been  scorned  and  betrayed. 

Sanga  retires  into  the  Alps.  A  storm  is  threat- 
ened. Sanga  is  recalling,  in  plaintive  song,  the 
joys  of  her  mountain  life,  and  addressing  invoca- 
tions and  prayers  to  the  declining,  fiery  sun,  the 
wind  which  is  steadily  rising,  the  rain  which  is 


turning  into  a  flood,  the  thunder  and  lightning 
which  precede  the  terrible  tempest.  Darkness  de- 
scends upon  the  land ;  the  storm  is  carrying  devas- 
tation and  desolation  into  the  neighboring  villages 
and  farms;  the  church  bells  are  sounding  alarm; 
cries  of  despair  and  horror  fill  the  air ;  and  Sanga 
is  almost  directing  the  awful,  sublime  tempest; 
it  is  almost  her  curses  that  have  precipitated  this 
havoc  and  destruction. 

The  Vigord  farm  has  suffered  with  the  rest. 
Everything  is  destroyed  by  the  flood.  Vigord, 
Jean  and  Lena  have  had  to  save  themselves  by  as- 
cending to  the  barn  attic.  The  only  light  seen 
comes  from  the  church  in  the  vicinity,  where  the 
panic-stricken  villagers  are  gathered  praying  and 
chanting.  Vigord,  the  miser,  seeing  his  complete 
ruin,,  loses  his  mind.  He  throws  his  gold  pieces 
into  the  raging  waters ;  he  blasphemes  and  mocks 
the  worshippers. 

Suddenly  a  boat  is  seen.  It  approaches  the 
Vigord  refuge.  Sanga  is  in  it.  She  has  come 
to  save  Jean,  her  former  lover.  The  barn,  under- 
mined, crumbles,  and  Vigord  and  Lena  are 
drowned;  but  Jean  clings  to  floating  timber,  and 
Sanga  succeeds  in  rescuing  him — in  dragging  him, 
unconscious,  into  her  boat. 

But  when  he  regains  consciousness  he  bitterly 
reproaches  Sanga  for  having  refused  help  to  his 
father  and  cousin.  He  will  not  accept  life  from 
her  hands ;  he  deliberately  overturns  the  boat,  and 
both  of  its  occupants  are  swept  awav  by  the  irre- 
sistible torrent 

The  score  attempts  to  give  musical  expres- 
sion not  only  to  the  human  emotions  of  the 
opera  but  to  the  grand,  terrible  and  over- 
whelming manifestations  of  nature  just  de- 
scribed. The  composer  has  tried  to  follow 
modern  ideas  in  regard  to  the  role  of  the  or- 
chestra, which  is  particularly  important  in 
an  opera  of  natural  "stress  and  storm,"  with- 
out sacrificing  the  older  idea  of  flowing,  set 
melodies. 


A  SENSE   OF  THE  INFINITE  IN   MUSIC 


The  supreme  task  of  the  artist,  as  inter- 
preted by  Schelling,  the  German  philosopher, 
is  that  of  endeavoring  to  represent  the  infinite 
under  a  finite  form.  Whoever  succeeds  in  ac- 
complishing this,  he  said,  has  risen  to  the 
true  idea  of  the  beautiful.  Beethoven  and 
Wagner,  the  master  musicians,  expressed 
themselves  in  similar  terms;  and  music,  the 
most  ethereal  and  evanescent  of  the  arts,  lends 
itself  most  readily  to  the  exposition  of  this 
thought. 

"  Tis  by  the  world  of  the  senses,"  said 
Schelling  in  another  place,  "that  we  perceive, 
as  through  an  almost  transparent  cloud,  that 
land  of  fantasy  toward  which  we  are  advanc- 


ing." The  words  serve  as  a  text  for  a  brilliant 
article  in  the  Revista  d* Italia  (Rome)  by  one 
of  the  foremost  European  critics  in  matters 
esthetic.  Professor  Villanis,  of  Rome.  He 
begins : 

"Athwart  the  positivism  of  the  passing  hour, 
and  all  the  more  because  of  its  rude  handling  of 
idealistic  tendencies,  voices  from  the  past  insist 
on  making  themselves  heard;  and  such  is  their 
fascination  that  our  minds  are  bewitched  as  we 
listen  to  them,  and  the  actual  moment  seems  to 
be  conscious  of  its  kinship  with  bygone  epochs. 
Thus,  though  modern  esthetics  are  daily  eman- 
cipating themselves  from  metaphysical  fetters, 
Schelling's  transcendental  idealism  nevertheless 
still  wakes  an  echo  in  our  souls  when  we  make 
bold    to    examine    the    luminous    and    indefinite 


S20 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


world  revealed  to  us  in  works  of  art  and  espe- 
cially in  musical  works.  Through  that  web  and 
woof,  whereon  the  melodious  design  traces  its 
bizarre  patterns,  we  catch  glimpses  of  a  throng 
of  symbols  whereby  our  spirits'  universe  would 
seem  to  be  portrayed.  Associations  at  first  well- 
nigh  imperceptible,  waxing  by  degrees  more  dis- 
tinct, are  welded  together  in  an  ever-growing 
chain;  the  concordant  alternation  of  rest  and 
movement;  the  ebb  and  flow  of  rhythmical 
phrases,  uplift,  refresh,  re-enliven  the  pulses  of 
our  being;  and  to  the  first  indefinite  state  of  the 
soul  there  succeeds  a  second,  a  third,  a  lengthy 
train  of  emotional  afiirmations,  becoming  ever 
clearer,  more  precise. 

"Thereupon  a  world  of  tenuous  images,  bocne 
as  on  butterfly  wings,  flutter  up  from  the  depths 
of  our  being,  poise  for  an  instant  amid  the  soul's 
shadowy  places,  then  dart  upward  toward  the 
broadening  light,  the  luminous  brightness.  It  is 
no  longer  an  isolated  artist,  a  stranger  to  us, 
who  is  singing:  it  is  present  and  past  genera- 
tions, it  is  the  universal  soul  which  is  declaiming 
the  eternal  poem  of  being.  And  however  short- 
lived that  artistic  sense  may  be  within  us,  the 
fleeting  esthetic  moment  seems  to  hold  in  its 
embrace  an  infinity  of  time  and  space.    .    .    . 

"Hence  there  are  two  elements  in  a  work  of 
art  The  Unite  is  the  natural  element,  the  physi- 
cal, material  element,  whereby  the  artistic  crea- 
tion is  embodied,  made  concrete  and  rendered 
perceptible  to  the  senses;  in  the  case  of  a  page 
of  music  it  may  be  represented  by  the  vehicle 
of  sound.  The  inHnite,  on  the  contrary,  is  in 
the  consciousness  of  the  artist  creator,  in  whom 
it  sprang  into  life.  Like  the  blessedness  described 
in  Dante's  'Paradiso,'  it  reflects  the  infinity  of 
consciousness  and  universal  life." 

This  idea  seems  to  have  been  in  the  mind 
of  every  musician  the  moment  his  reason  has 
attempted  to  penetrate  the  mystery  of  his  own 
work.  The  composer  has  ever  been  conscious 
of  the  fact  that  his  music  represented  detached 
observations,  stray,  cloudy  hints,  imperfect 
syntheses  of  a  vision  but  barely  glimpsed. 
Scarcely  had  the  art  of  music  ceased  to  be  a 
simple  ^>ort  of  rhythmical  and  harmonic  sym- 
metry, when  this  reflection  of  an  infinity, 
humanly  speaking  unutterable,  shone  forth 
in  the  confessions  of  creative  genius.  Scarcely 
had  the  time-spirit  begun  to  influence  the  idea 
of  music  and  to  let  in  a  flood  of  new  light  on 
the  consciousness  of  mankind,  when  there 
arose  from  the  crucible  of  classicism  that  arch 
rebel,  Beethoven,  in  whom  was  this  same 
sense  of  infinity.  Bettina  von  Amim,  writing 
to  Goethe  in  1810,  reports  the  great  symphonist 
as  saying: 

"The  human  mind  tends  to  a  boundless  uni- 
versajity.  where  all  in  all  go  to  make  up, 
as  it  wtre.  a  cradle  for  feeling,  bom  of  some 
simple  mu::ical  thought  impossible  to  describe 
outside  of  th's  fusion.  There  you  have  the  ori- 
gin of  harmony;  there  is  all  that  my  symphonies 


tend  to  express;  therein  the  various  forms  be- 
come united.  .  .  .  Music  is  the  onlv  means 
whereby  we  scale  the  higher  world  of  intelli- 
gence, that  world  which  enfolds  man,  but  which 
man  in  his  turn  is  unable  to  embrace.  ...  It 
is  the  presentiment,  the  inspiration,  of  a  celestial 
science,  and  the  sensations  which  the  spirit  re- 
ceives from  it  constitute,  in  a  way,  the  materiali- 
zation of  knowledge.  .  .  .  Music  is  a  land 
wherein  the  spirit  lives  and  thinks  and  works. 
...  A  thought,  though  it  be  but  a  stray  idea, 
contains  in  itself  the  character  of  generality,  of 
high  spiritual  community;  hence  every  musi- 
cal thought  is  an  inseparable  part  of  all  harmony, 
which  represents  that  same  unity." 

It  is  seldom,  as  Professor  Villanis  points  out, 
that  an  artist  with  the  intuitions  of  genius  has 
succeeded  in  defining  with  greater  clearness  a 
concept  which  has  floated  beyond  the  philoso- 
pher's ken.  But  Wagner,  in  endeavoring  to 
define  the  innovations  of  Beethoven  in  the 
realm  of  musical  creation,  repeated  the  same 
thought.  Speaking  of  the  creative  dream 
wherein  Beethoven  was  wrapped,  oblivious  to 
the  disturbing  voices  of  the  world,  Wagner 
said: 

"No  longer  sensible  to  earthly  sounds,  he  pro- 
jected his  gaze  toward  those  forms  which  the 
inward  spiritual  light  illuminated  and  which  thus 
became  once  more  tangible  to  the  spirit.  Then 
only  the  essence  of  things  held  converse  with 
him  and  gave  him  power  to  express  his  thought 
in  the  light  of  beauty.  He  was  able  to  compre- 
hend the  forest,  the  rivulets,  the  heath,  the  heav- 
ens, the  merry  throngs,  the  fond  lovers,  the 
nightingale's  song,  the  scurrying  clouds,  the  tem- 
pest's rage,  and  that  marvellous  serenity  which 
for  him  had  become  the  very  essence  of  music, 
permeates  all  he  sees,  is  apparent  in  all  his  imajg- 
mations.  .  .  .  Confronted  with  the  infinite 
tranquillity  of  such  a  man  who  observes  the  com- 
edy of  existence,  all  life's  terrors  vanish:  Brah- 
ma, creator  of  the  world,  laughs  to  himself  be- 
cause he  has  penetrated  the  illusions  which  have 
held  him ;  and  consciousness,  freed  again,  scorns, 
defies  and  overthrows  its  tormentors?' 

And  thus,  says  Professor  Villanis,  from  the 
finite  period  of  musical  creation  emerges  the 
infinite  poem  of  universal  emotion.  "Of  afl 
the  arts,  music  is  the  clearest  exponent  of 
movement.  Sound  does,  indeed,  reveal  under 
a  sensible  form  its  vibratory  nature,  and  the 
sonorous  waves  pass  over  us  like  thrilling  vio- 
lin bows,  communicating  their  vibrations  to 
the  very  depths  of  our  being.  .  .  .  Time, 
and  space  enlarge  their  boundaries  and  become 
lost  in  the  immeasurable  depths  of  vaster  as- 
pirations. The  musical  phenomenon,  having 
once  risen  to  the  dignity  of  a  true  work  of  art, 
manifests  itself  as  the  symbol  of  an  infinite 
language  wherein  every  soul  finds  a  response 
to  its  own  yearnings." 


MUSIC  AND  THE  DRAMA 


521 


WILL  THE  DRAMA  SUPPLANT  THE  NOVEL? 


Novel  writing  is  too  easy  to  be  wholly  sat- 
isfactory to  an  artist  in  literature.  The  true 
artist  is  ever  yearning  for  a  grapple  with  stub- 
bom  resistance.  In  consequence,  the  drama, 
with  its  more  rigid  form  and  exacting  tech- 
nique, is  likely  to  attract  the  ablest  minds  of 
the  future.  Such,  in  brief,  is  the  argument 
presented  by  Prof.  Brander  Matthews,  of 
Columbia  University,  to  sustain  his  contention 
that  the  novel,  which  has  been  dominant,  not 
to  say  domineering,  in  the  second  half  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  may  have  to  face  an  .acute 
rivalry  of  the  drama  in  the  first  half  of  the 
twentieth  century.  He  writes  (in  The  North 
American  Review)  : 

"The  novel  is  a  loose  form  of  hybrid  ancestry; 
it  may  be  of  any  length ;  and  it  may  be  told  in  any 
manner, — ^in  letters,  as  an  autobiography  or  as  a 
narrative.  It  may  gain  praise  by  the  possession 
of  the  mere  externals  of  literature,  by  sneer  style. 
It  may  seek  to  please  by  description  of  scenery, 
or  by  dissection  of  motive.  It  may  be  empty  of 
action  and  filled  with  philosophy.  It  may  be 
humorously  perverse  in  its  license  of  digression, — 
as  it  was  in  Sterne's  hands,  for  example.  It  may 
be  all  things  to  all  men:  it  is  a  very  chameleon- 
weathercock.  And  it  is  too  varied,  too  negligent, 
too  lax  to  spur  its  writer  to  his  utmost  enort,  to 
that  stem  stru^le  with  technic  which  is  a  true 
artist's  never-failing  tonic. 

"On  the  other  hand,  the  drama  is  a  rigid  form, 
limited  to  the  three  hours'  traffic  of  the  stage. 
Just  as  the  decorative  artist  has  to  fill  the  space 
assigned  to  him  and  must  respect  the  disposition 
of  the  architect,  so  the  pla3rwright  must  work 
his  will  within  the  requirements  of  the  theatre, 
turm'ng  to  advantage  the  restrictions  which  he 
should  not  evade.  He  must  always  appeal  to  the 
eye  as  well  as  to  the  ear,  never  forgetting  that 
the  drama,  while  it  is  in  one  aspect  a  department 
of  literature,  in  another  is  a  branch  of  the  show- 
business.  He  must  devise  stage-settings  at  once 
novd,  ingenious  and  plausible;  and  he  must  in- 
vent reasons  for  bringing  together  naturally  the 
personages  of  his  play  in  the  single  place  where 
each  of  his  acts  passes.  He  must  set  his  char- 
acters firm  on  their  feet,  each  speaking  for  himself 
and  revealing  himself  as  he  speaks ;  for  they  need 
to  have  internal  vitality  as  they  cannot  be  painted 
from  the  outside.  He  must  see  his  creatures  as 
well  as  hear  them ;  and  he  must  know  always  what 
they  are  doing  and  how  they  are  looking  when 
they  are  spealang.    .    .    . 

"The  art  of  the  dramatist  is  not  yet  at  its  rich- 
est ;  but  it  bristles  with  difficulties  such  as  a  strong 
man  joys  in  overcoming.  In  this  ^larper  difficulty 
is  its  most  obvious  advantage  over  the  art  of  the 
novelist;  and  here  is  its  chief  attraction  for  the 
story-teller,  weary  of  a  method  almost  too  easy 
to  be  worth  while." 

Professor  Matthews  strengthens  his  posi- 
tion by  citing  the  cases  of  a  number  of  emi- 


nent novelists  who  have  felt  the  lure  of  the 
stage.    To  quote  again : 

"The  dramatic  form  has  always  had  a  power- 
ful fascination  for  the  novelists,  who  are  forever 
casting  longing  eyes  on  the  stage.  Mr.  James 
himself  has  tried  it,  and  Mr.  Howells  and  Mark 
Twain  also.  Balzac  believed  that  he  was  destined 
to  make  his  fortune  in  the  theatre;  and  one  of 
Thackeray's  stories  was  made  over  out  of  a  com- 
edy, acted  only  by  amateurs.  Charles  Reade 
called  himself  a  dramatist  forced  to  be  a  novelist 
by  bad  laws.  Flaubert  and  the  Goncourts,  Zola 
and  Daudet,  wrote  original  plays,  without  ever 
adiieving  the  success  which  befell  their  efforts  in 
prose-fiction.  And  now,  in  the  opening  years  of 
the  twentieth  century,  we  see  Mr.  Barne  in  Lon- 
don and  M.  Hervieu  in  Paris  abandoning  the 
novel  in  which  they  have  triumphed  for  the  far 
more  precarious  drama.  Nor  is  it  without  sig- 
nificance that  the  professional  playwrights  seem 
to  feel  little  or  no  temptation  to  turn  story-tellers. 
Apparently  the  dramatic  form  is  the  more  at- 
tractive and  the  more  satisfactory,  in  spite  of  its 
greater  difficulty  and  its  greater  danger." 

These  remarks  have  provoked  an  interesting 
rejoinder  from  Qyde  Fitch,  the  distinguished 
playwright.  In  an  interview  with  a  New  York 
Herald  reporter,  he  expresses  his  conviction 
that  present-day  playwrights  are  giving  the 
stage  a  much  higher  class  of  literature  than 
formerly.  "No  one  can  doubt  it,"  he  says, 
"who  looks  over  the  field.  Twenty  years  ago 
there  were  but  two  American  dramatists  who 
were  writing  seriously  and  earnestly  for  the 
stage.  To-day  there  are  at  least  a  dozen  en- 
gaged in  that  occupation."  But  he  cannot  at 
all  agree  with  Professor  Matthews  that  the 
dramatist  of  the  next  generation  will  in  any 
way  menace  the  novelist.    He  declares : 

"The  man  who  can  write  a  good  play  cannot 
necessarily  write  a  good  novel,  and  vice  versa. 
.  .  .  With  very  few  exceptions  have  men  who 
are  great  as  novel  writers  achieved  greatness  as 
playwrights.  That  would  seem  to  prove,  would  it 
not,  that  the  two  talents  are  not  at  all  similar? 
As  well  claim,  that  a  great  sculptor  could  turn  his 
talent  to  painting  and  become  a  great  artist.  .Now 
there  is  no  one  whose  writing  I  admire  more  than 
Henrv  James,  and  yet  his  play  was  a  failure. 
Possibly  he  can  write  a  successful  play,  but  he 
has  not  as  yet.  Much  the  same  is  true  of  William 
Dean  Howells,  whom  we  all  admit  to  be  the  fore- 
most and  vigorous  champion  of  Americanism  and 
twentieth  century  ideas.  He  did  a  little  something 
in  playwriting,  but  I  doubt  if  he  ever  put  him- 
self seriously  to  the  task.  At  any  rate  what  he 
did  do  was  only  of  trifiing  consequence.  Of 
course,  the  great  exception  is  Mr.  Barrie.  His 
novels  were  enormously  successful  and  so  were 
his  plays,  and  I  believe  of  late  years  he  is  writing 
more  plays  than  novels.    That  only  shows  that 


522 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


he  had  the  talent  and  the  technique  for  both  kinds 
of  work,  which  is  a  very  rare  thing  indeed." 

In  brief,  says  Mr.  Fitch,  the  two  kinds  of 
work  are  so  entirely  different  that  it  is  not  fair 
to  compare  them;  and  he  points  to  the  large 


number  of  good  plays  and  good  novels  pro- 
duced during  the  last  two  decades  as  convinc- 
ing evidence  that  "the  interests  of  literature 
and  the  drama  are  both  on  the  increase  and 
both  making  for  the  better," 


THOMAS  HARDY'S  PANORAMIC  DRAMA 


Two  years  ago,  Thomas  Hardy,  the  eminent 
English  novelist,  published  the  first  part  of  a 
drama,  entitled  "The  Dynasts,"  and  dealing 
with  the  Napoleonic  wars.  The  reception  ac- 
corded to  the  volume  was  of  so  extraordinary 
a  character  as  to  challenge  attention  on  both 
sides  of  the  Atlantic.  Reviewers  who  had 
been  foremost  in  acclaiming  Mr.  Hardy's 
genius  as  a  writer  of  fiction  looked  askance 
at  his  maiden  effort  in  dramatic  literature.  In 
the  preface  to  the  work  Mr.  Hardy  explained 
that  the  play  was  "intended  simply  for  mental 
performance,  not  for  the  stage,"  and  suggested 
the  possibility  of  a  future  time  when  mental 
performance  might  be  the  fate  of  "all  drama, 
other  than  that  of  contemporary  or  frivolous 
life."  •'This  pronouncement  brought  him  into 
conflict  with  Mr.  A.  B.  Walkley,  the  brilliant 
dramatic  critic  of  the  London  Times,  and  it 
was  generally  felt  that  he  was  worsted  in  the 
ensuing  debate.  The  actual  body  of  the  work, 
however,  aroused  even  more  comment  than  his 
defense  of  the  "unplayable  play."  On  all  sides 
the  opinion  was  expressed  that  Mr.  Hardy  had 
made  a  serious  mistake.  Some  were  disposed 
to  treat  the  matter  as  a  joke.  Others  insisted 
that  "The  Dynasts"  was  neither  poetry  nor 
drama.  Even  the  more  favorable  critics  con- 
fessed themselves  puzzled  by  the  seeming  lack 
of  form  and  of  finish  in  the  composition. 

Now  the  second  part*  of  "The  Dynasts"  has 
been  published,  and  a  decided  change  in  the 
temper  of  the  press  is  discernible.  The  critical 
attitude,  if  not  appreciative,  has  at  least  be- 
come respectful.  Mr.  William  Archer,  writing 
in  the  London  Tribune,  says : 

"This  Second  Part  carries  us  from  the  death 
of  Pitt  to  a  little  beyond  the  battle  of  Albuera. 
The  'panoramic  show,'  as  the  author  himself  calls 
it,  discloses  to  us  the  battlefields  of  Jena  and 
Auerstadt,  the  meeting  of  the  Emperors  at  Tilsit, 
the  battle  of  Vimiera,  Sir  John  Moore's  retreat, 
Corunna.  Wagram,  Talavera.  Walcheren,  the  di- 
vorce of  Josephine,  the  marriage  of  Napoleon  and 

♦The  Dynasts  :  A  Drama  of  the  Napoleonic  Wars  in 
Three  Parts,  Nineteen  Acts  and  One  Hundred  and 
Thirty  Scenes.  By  Thomas  Hardy.  Part  Second. 
The  Macmillan  Company. 


Marie  Louise,  the  lines  of  Torres  Vedras,  the 
birth  of  the  King  of  Rome,  Albuera,  King 
George's  padded-room  at  Windsor,  and  a  revel  of 
the  Regency  at  Carlton  House.  Interstices  arc 
filled  in  with  minor  episodes  and,  as  in  the  First 
Part,  a  troop  of  'Phantom  IntelUgences' — Spirits 
of  the  Pities.  Spirits  Sinister  and  Ironic,  Spirits 
of  Rumour,  Recording  Angels,  etc. — ^provide,  in 
italics,  a  running  commentary  on  the  spectacle. 

"There  can  be  no  doubt  that  this  is  a  grandi- 
ose design  which  Mr.  Hardy  is  patiently,  indomi- 
tably working  out.  Nor  is  it  questionable  that 
the  work  bears  the  impress  of  an  original  and 
powerful  spirit.  We  may  wonder  whether  Mr. 
Hardy  might  not  have  been  better  employed  than 
in  pulling  the  strings  of  these  fitful  puppet-shows 
on  'this  wide  and  universal  theatre.'  We  may 
question  whether  'The  Dynasts'  will  ultimately 
take  rank  in  English  literature  beside  'Jude  the 
Obscure'  and  'Life's  Little  Ironies,'  and  'Wesscx 
Poems.'  But,  for  the  moment,  at  any  rate,  such 
questionings  are  idle.  We  have  to  consider,  not 
what  Mr.  Hardy  might,  could,  would,  or  should 
have  given  us,  but  what  he  has  actually  given 
us;  and  that  is  a  fascinating  series  of  dissolving 
views,  or  glimpses  of  history  seen  through  the 
medium  of  a  peculiar  poetic  temperament." 

The  success  or  failure  of  the  play,  it  is  con- 
ceded, must  ultimately  be  determined  by  two 
tests,  the  test  of  philosophy  and  the  test  of 
style ;  and  neither  the  philosophy  nor  the  style 
wins  whole-hearted  critical  approval.  Mr. 
Hardy  sees  in  the  Napoleonic  wars  nothing  but 
a  wrangle  of  "Dynasts,"  a  "great  historic 
calamity,  or  clash  of  peoples,  artificially 
brought  about";  and  instead  of  trying  to  give 
an  account  of  the  phenomenon  in  terms  of 
cause  and  effect,  he  has  taken  refuge  in  the 
theory  of  a  blindly  mischievous  Immanent  Will. 
The  result,  says  Mr.  Archer,  is  disastrous, 
whether  considered  from  the  philosophical  or 
literary  point  of  view.  "A  purely  pessimistic 
interpretation  of  the  Napoleonic  writer  is  ad- 
missible enough,"  he  thinks;  "but  there  is  a 
querulousness  in  the  pessimism  of  Mr.  Hardy's 
Intelligences  which  scarcely  seems  to  make  for 
true  enlightenment."  This  position  is  substan- 
tially that  of  the  critic  of  the  London  Outlook, 
who  says: 

"If  you  call  to  mind  any  of  the  great  dramas  in 
literature,   'Agamemnon,'   '(Edipus,'   'Othello'   or 


MUSIC  AND  THE  DRAMA 


523 


'Macbeth/  yon  find  yourself  watching  a  great 
sonl  in  conflict  with  destiny.  Human  thought 
and  action  personified  in  one  man  of  heroic  mould, 
and  the  inevitable  consequences  of  human  thought 
and  action  personified  for  poetry  as  Zeus  or  as 
Fate  or  perhaps  as  some  other  man — those  are  the 
elements  of  the  great  dramas  that  we  know,  and 
in  their  confiict/in  the  dark  borderland  of  doubt 
between  a  deed  and  its  results,  in  what  .^schylus 
called  the  lurmixftiw  oc^rw,  the  dusk  between  op- 
posing spears,/lies  the  essence  of  dramatic  in- 
terest and  suspense.  The  hero,  be  it  Agamem- 
non or  Macbeth  or  whom  you  will,  is  resi>on8ible 
for  his  own  deeds,  but  the  deed  once  done  is  ir- 
revocable and  its  consequences  will  be  what  they 
wiU  be.  That  philosophy  runs  through  all  great 
dramatic  literature;  in  the  choruses  of  the  Aga- 
memnon, for  instance,  it  finds  expression  in  a 
thousand  phrases  of  piteous  or  terrible  import. 

"But  the  philosophy  on  which  Mr.  Hardy  sets 
out  to  interpret  the  drama  of  the  Napoleonic  era 
seems  at  first  sight  very  different.  With  the 
theory  that  all  humtm  thought  and  action  is  pre- 
destined— the  expression  of  an  Immanent  Will — 
human  responsibility  seems  to  vanish,  and  with 
it,  as  we  were  saying,  the  essence  of  dramatic 
interest.  In  the  First  part,  for  instance.  Napoleon 
is  presented  setting  on  his  head  the  iron  crown 
of  Lombardy.  The  Spirit  of  the  Pities,  whom  Mr. 
Hardy  himself  describes  as  resembling  the  Chorus 
or  ideal  spectator  of  Greek  drama,  shudders  and 
murmurs  a  warning  in  Napoleon's  ear.  He  is  at 
once  rebuked : — 

Spirit  of  thb  Years. 

Offlciotts  sprite, 
Tlum'rt  young,  and  dost  not  heed  the  Cause  of  things 
Which  some  of  us  have  inkled  to  thee  here; 
Else  would'st  thou  not  have  hailed  the  Emperor, 
Whose  acts  do  but  out*shape  Its  governing. 

SPIRIT  OF  THE  Pities. 
I  feeL  Sire,  as  I  must  i    This  tale  of  Will 
And  Life's  impulsion  by  Incognizance 
I  cannot  take. 

As  humble,  if  not  ideal,  spectators  we  are  inclined 
to  sympathise;  and  here  as  often  elsewhere  we 
feel  acutelv  .that  the  problem  raised  by  Mr. 
Hardy's  scheme  is — ^how  is  any  serious  and  sus- 
tained dramatic  interest  compatible  with  the  atti- 
tude of  mind  demanded  by  the  Immanent  Will, 
the  Spirit  of  the  Years,  and  the  whole  philosophic 
purport  of  the  play  ?" 

With  a  similar  sense  of  disappointment  the 
London  Times  Literary  Supplement  criticizes 
the  poetical  side  of  the  play : 

"Mr.  Hardy  is  singularly  devoid  of  the  peeping 
graces  and  adornments  we  are  accustomed  to 
look  for  in  a  poet.  Compare  the  blank  verse  of 
*The  Dynasts'  even  with  the  musical  and  prac- 
tised blank  verse  of  Mr.  Stephen  Phillips,  verse 
rich  with  a  thousand  associations;  and  it  is  in- 
deed difficult  at  first  to  understand  why  a  man 
of  immense  talent  like  Mr.  Hardy  should  have 
chosen  this  particular  medium  of  rhythm  for  what 
is  perhaps  his  greatest  book.  No  one  was  ever, 
apparently,  more  insensible  to  the  natural  magic, 
the  delist  of  purely  poetic  language.  No  one 
has  ever  appeared  less  disposed  to  'look  upon  fine 


phrases  like  a  lover.'    Mr.  Hardy  tells  us,  indeed, 
how 

All  give  way 
And  regiments  crash  like  trees  at  felling  time. 

He  writes,  with  curiously  Elizabethan  imagery. 

God  grant  his  star  less  lurid  rays  than  ours, 
Or  this  too  pregnant,  hoarsely  groaning  day 
Shall,  ere  its  loud  delivery  be  done, 
Have  twinned  disasters  to  the  fatherland 
That  fifty  years  will  fail  to  sepulchre. 

And  again  of  Napoleon  he  muses — 

Upon  what  dark  star  he  may  land  himself 
In  his  career  through  space. 

But  even  such  roughly-eloquent  lines  are  isolated 
examples.  To  find  a  poetic  parallel  to  Mr. 
Hardy's  wilful  and  determined  plainness  of  lan- 
guage we  should  have  to  go  back  to  Crabbe;  or, 
better  still,  to  Wordsworth's  'noble  plainness.* 
Yet  here,  again,  Mr.  Hardy  refuses  to  be  classi-* 
fied.  For  Crabbe  had  never  an  instance  of  that 
lofty  imagination,  that  power  of  visualizing  the 
'far  Unapparent'  which  is  so  characteristic  of  Mr. 
Hardy.  And  Mr.  Hardy's  verse  never  for  one 
moment  ri^es  to  those  clear  heights  of  perfect 
formt  where  Wordsworth  often  moves  at  ease." 

In  this  country  the  new  volume  of  "The 
Dynasts"  has  been  handled  more  roughly.  Mr. 
H.  W.  Boynton,  writing  in  the  New  York 
Times  Saturday  Review,  says  bluntly:  "It 
is  not  a  great  work,  because  its  workmanship 
is  not  great."  The  New  York  Evening  Post 
comments : 


"If  this  attempt  at  poetic  drama  were  at  least 
poetry,  we  should  accept  it  with  gratitude.  It  is 
so  only  rarely.  The  strength  of  Mr.  Hardy's 
style  appears  rather  in  the  passages  of  prose  de- 
scription, in  which  he  is  sometimes  at  his  best. 
Of  his  blank  verse,  the  line 

Is  the  Duke  of  Dalmatia  yet  at  hand  ? 

is  almost  a  fair  example;  and  his  lyric  may  be 
represented  by  the  following  passage : 

With  Torrens,  Perf^ison,  and  Pane, 
And  majors,  captains,  clerks  in  train, 
And  those  grim  needs  that  appertain — 
The  surgeons — ^not  a  few. 

The  Spirit  of  the  Pities  is  made  to  exclaim: 

Mock  on,  Shade,  if  thou  wilt !    But  others  find 
Poesy  ever  lurks  where  pit-pats  poor  mankind  ! 

Certainly,  if  it  lurks  here,  it  lurks  out  of  sight  and 
hearing.  The  play  presents  an  interesting  vari- 
ety of  rhythms,  but  they  are  used  apparently  with- 
out sense  of  their  expressional  values.  What  can 
be  said  of  a  writer's  feeling  for  the  metrical  fitness 
of  things,  when  he  chooses  Sapphic  stanzas  (not 
always  quite  regular,  to  be  sure)  for  his  descrip- 
tion of  the  battle  of  Talavera,  and  terza  rima  for 
his  comment  on  the  birth  of  Napoleon's  son?  It 
would  be  hardly  fair  to  leave  Mr.  Hardy's  work, 
however,  without  quoting  from  the  best  of  his 
all  too  rare  successes  in  lyric  rhythm — ^the  Chorus 
of  the  Pities  after  the  battle  of  Albuera: 

Friends,  foemen,  mingle,  heap  and  heap. — 
Hide  their  hacked  bones,  Barth  ! — deep,  deep,  deep, 
Where  harmless  worms  caress  and  creep.     .     .     . 
What  man  can  grieve?    what  woman  weep  ? 
Better  than  waking  is  to  sleep  I     Albuera  f " 


5M 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


WHERE  BARRIE  AND  BERNARD  SHAW  FAIL 


At  first  sight,  Bernard  Shaw  and  J.  M. 
Barrie  seem  to  have  nothing  in  common.  But 
James  Huneker,  the  well-known  dramatic  and 
musical  critic,  has  found  a  point  of  contact 
between  them  and  he  states  it  frankly,  almost 
brutally.  They  resemble  one  another,  he  says, 
in  the  ephemeral  quality  of  their  work,  in  their 
shortcomings,  in  their  limitations.  As  yet, 
both  have  failed  to  master  the  technics  of  the 
theater;  that  is,  "they  cannot  build  a  play 
which  has  a  beginning,  a  middle  and  an  end." 
Moreover,  as  essential  Romantics,  with  all  the 
faults  of  the  Romantic  school,  they  have  also 
failed  to  grasp  the  principles  of  true  and  con- 
vincing character  creation.  Elaborating  this 
train  of  thought  in  The  Metropolitan  Magazine 
(April),  Mr.  Huneker  says:  ^ 

"Mr.  Shaw,  who  is  an  intellectual  anarc^,  and 
not  the  Socialist  he  so  fondlv  imagines  himself, 
has  written  plays  which  are,  despite  their  modern 
themes.  Romantic  in  their  essence.  'Like  all  the 
Romantic  writers,  Shaw  is  incapable  of  character 
creation.  His  theater  is  peopled  by  Shaws,  by 
various  opinions  of  Shaw  regarding  the  universe. 
He  could  no  more  erect  a  play  in  architect  fashion 
as  does  Pinero  than  Pinero  could  handle  the 
multitude  of  ideas  so  ably  assimilated  and  set 
forth  by  Shaw.  Nor  can  the  Irishman  conceive 
and  execute  characters  in  action  as  does  Paul 
Hervieu.  The  truth  is  that  Paul  Hervieu  is  thrice 
as  modem  as  Shaw;  that  in  'Law  of  Man,'  'The 
Nippers,'  The  Labyrinth'  (the  original,  not  the 
English  version)  the  French  dramatist  has 
handled  the  most  pressing  questions  of  our  fe- 
verish life,  and  handled  them  as  a  dramatist,  not 
as  a  doctrinaire.  Charming  debates  as  are  the 
Shaw  plays,  they  will  not  endure  for  the  simple 
reason  that  only  true  art  endures ;  ideas  stale,  but 
art,  never.  A  jellyfish  is  not  more  viscous  than 
the  form — if  it  can  be  called  form — of  the  Shaw 
play.  And,  remember,  this  fact  abates  not  a 
jot  of  their  entertaining  quality.  We  are  viewing 
them  now  as  drama — and  they  fail  the  critical 
test. 

''Shaw  is  a  Romantic.  He  worships  himself 
romantically,  and  when  he  does  not  wnte  of  him- 
self, he  no  longer  interests.  His  is  an  interesting 
personality.  It  quite  overflows  the  picture  of  the 
world  made  by  his  brain.  Thus  it  is  that  the 
characters  in  his  plays  are  but  various  facets  of 
his  own  person.  If  he  were  a  close  observer  of 
life,  as  well  as  a  superb  satirist,  he  would  be  an 
objective  dramatist.  He  has,  for  example,  por- 
trayed several  Americans.  He  believes  he  under- 
stands the  American  character.  He  certainly 
abuses  it.  But  what  an  eye-opening  experience 
will  be  his  when  he  comes  to  America  and  studies 
its  people!  A  Romantic,  then,  he  is  incapable  of 
depicting  any  character  but  his  own,  incapable 
through  lack  of  sympathy  of  projecting  himself 
into  the  normal  feelings  of  average  humanity. 
This  stamps  him  as  a  Romantic— the  Romantics 
who  described  themselves  so  admirably  and  with 


much  art,  but  could  not  paint  the  world  about 
them." 

Barrie's  romanticism,  in  contrast  with  that 
of  Bernard  Shaw,  has  "more  charm,"  but  is 
"on  a  lower  intellectual  level."  Like  Daudet, 
he  has  the  gift  of  pity  and  tears ;  but  "he  slops 
over  so  hopelessly  on  every  occasion  that  one 
soon  feels  that  it  is  Barrie  the  man  that  is 
weeping,  not  Barrie  the  artist."  Mr.  Huneker 
says  further : 

"I  faintly  enjoyed  the  latest  Barrie  offering  at 
the  Criterion.  'Alice-Sit-by-the-Fire'  is  like  its 
name — sweet  and  vermicular.  It  is  what  our 
German  brethren  would  call  Bondwurm,  In  it 
I  saw  Miss  Ethel  Barrymore  endeavoring  to  sup- 
press her  adorable  self,  crusji  the  Ethel  in  her, 
subdue  the  Barrymore  of  her.  to  fit  a  nice,  lady- 
like role,  a  mother  who  is  misunderstood  by  her 
children.  It  is  all  pleasing  tomfoolery  with  as 
much  relation  to  life,  to  art,  to  the  theater,  as  is 
the  pollywog.  In  despair  I  read  'Mrs.  Warren's 
Profession'  after  I  left  the  playhouse  to  rid  mv- 
self  of  the  sickly  surf  of  Barrie's  futile  and  braci- 
ish  ideas.  And  I  assure  you  I  do  not  care  much 
for  this  particular  play.  But  any  astringent  for 
the  mental  palate  after  the  Barrie  confitures, 

"His  'Little  Mary*  marked  the  low- water  mark 
of  dramatic  formlessness.  'AUce,'  etc.,  is  a  trifle 
better.  I  do  not  include  'The  Admirable  Crichton/ 
as  that  clever  piece  was  first  written  by  Ludwig 
Fulda,  then  adapted  without  adcnowledgment. 
...  I  can  go  'Peter  Pan,*  but  no  more  Barrie 
for  me  if  it  is  to  be  of  the  'Alice,  where  art  thou?* 
type." 

Formless  fantasies,  whimsical  fairy-tales, 
clever  anecdotage,  fulminating  satire — these 
about  sum  up,  for  Mr.  Huneker,  the  substance 
of  both  Barrie's 'and  Shaw's  plays.  He  con- 
fesses that  he  is  "heartily  tired  of  the  play  that 
masquerades  as  a  play  but  is  not  a  play,  only 
a  fable  or  a  sermon";  and  adds: 

"We  are  weary  of  these  opened  flood-gates  of 
conversation,  of  dialogue  that  merges  into  the 
monologue  of  the  agitator.  The  same  old  human 
stuff  is  scattered  around  us,  and  the  dramatist, 
wary  of  the  wind  of  public  favor,  is  gjoing  back 
to  it  Pinero's  last  success  may  be  a  sign  of  the 
times.  It  was  the  fashion  to  flout  such  a  strong 
specimen  of  stage  architecture  as  'The  Gay  Lord 
Quex,'  yet  what  a  solace  it  would  be  to-day  in 
the  midst  of  all  this  shallow  characterization,  this 
shaky  drawing  and  melodramatic  daubing!  The 
epigram  play  was  revived  \ff  Oscar  Wilde;  it 
bids  fair  to  die  with  Mr.  Shaw.  Mr.  Pinero, 
whose  beaver-shaped  brow  indicates  hid  beaver- 
like  proclivity  for  design  and  structure  in  his 
dramas,  will  outlast  a  wilderness  of  the  wits,  sen- 
timentalists and  rhapsodists.  No  art  is  so  narrow 
in  its  formal  scope,  no  art  imposes  so  many  re- 
strictions upon  its  practitioners,  as  the  art  of  the 
theater." 


MUSIC  AND  THE  DRAMA 
THE  POOR  FOOL— BAHR'S  LATEST  DRAMA 


525 


This  latest  work  of  Hermann  Bahr,  the  cele- 
brated author  of  "The  Apostle/'  is  a  one-act 
problem  play.  The  problem  is:  Which  is  the  su- 
perior kind  of  life — that  of  the  respectable  but 
selfish  type,  of  one  who  lives  in  a  conventionally 
moral  way,  is  esteemed  by  society  and  never 
comes  into  conflict  with  its  established  customs 
and  laws;  or  that  of  a  restless,  rebellious  spirit, 
which  is  impatient  of  conventional  restraints, 
breaks  through  all  social  .barriers  to  assert  its 
own  individuality?  This  comparison  is  accentu- 
ated in  the  drama  by  the  contrasted  lives  of  two 
brothers.  Vincenz  Haisst  is  imperial  councilor 
and  the  sole  proprietor  of  the  old  and  rich  busi- 
ness of  the  family.  He  is  a  man  reputable  in  every 
respect;  but  he  has  crushed  out  of  him  all  finer 
emotion  and  is  hard  and  selfish.  His  two 
brothers  have  gone  astray.  One,  Edward,  has  led 
a  fast  life,  and  has  been  imprisoned  by  Vincenz's 
business  manager  for  embezzlement  of  money  be- 
longing to  the  house.  For  fifteen  years  he  has 
been  living  in  disgrace  with  his  eldest  brother, 
Vincenz,  who  has  treated  him  with  the  utmost  se- 
verity and  contempt.  Another  brother,  Hugo,  a 
musician,  a  "genius"  as  his  business  brother  sar- 
castically calls  him,  has  also  led  a  life  of  excess 
and  has  finally  landed  in  an  insane  asylum. 

We  have  thus  the  representatives  of  two  ex- 
treme systems  of  philosophy--the  Puritanic  and 
the  Nietszchean.  And  the  triumph  falls  to  the 
representative  of  the  latter  philosophy,  who, 
though  mad  through  his  excesses,  still  maintains 
a  sort  of  spiritual  ascendency  over  his  conven- 
tional brother,  and  forces  the  latter,  on  the  eve 
of  death,  to  question  the  worth  of  his  own  life  and 
the  wisdom  of  his  long  self-restraint.  The  play  is 
another  of  many  evidences  of  the  omnious  extent 
to  which  Nietzsche's  anti-Christian  views  figure 
in  the  current  thought  and  literary  product  of 
Europe. 

The  opening  scene  reveals  Vincenz  as  ex- 
tremely ill  and  expecting  death.  He  has  an  only 
daughter,  Sophie,  seventeen  years  old.  By  will- 
ing his  property  to  Huster,  his  head  manager,  he 
sees  a  way  of  putting  the  old  house  in  safe  and 
able  hands;  and  at  the  same  time,  to  retain  it 
within  the  family,  he  has  provided  for  the  mar- 
riage of  his  daughter  with  Huster.  But  Huster 
is  a  man  fifty  years  of  age,  and  Sophie  has 
nothing  in  common  with  him.  She  has  always 
been  attracted  by  the  adventurous  and  bold  career 
of  her  two  wayward  uncles,  and  detests  Huster. 
for  his  harsh  treatment  of  Edward.  Hard  as 
Vincenz  is,  he  cannot  but  entertain  some  scruples 
as  to  the  terms  of  the  intended  will,  which  prac- 


tically forces  upon  Sophie  the  marriage  with 
Huster,  or  leaves  her  with  nothing  but  the  small 
share  of  property  to  which  she  is  entitled  by 
law;  and  to  appease  his  conscience  he  tries  to 
justify  his  conduct  in  a  conversation  with  the 
notary.  In  this  conversation  he  reveals  a  feeling 
of  bitterness  against  his  two  brothers,  mingled 
with  envy  because  of  the  general  admiration  for 
the  genius  of  Hugo,  and  a  feeling  of  latent  doubt 
as  to  the  preference  of  a  career  such  as  his  own. 
To  the  notary's  remark  that  Hugo  is  said  to  be  a 
real  genius  he  answers: 

"Yes,  since  he  is  mad  everybody  finds  it  so.  Of 
course  I  cannot  tell.  This  is  a  thing  that  these 
lofty  gentlemen  settle  among  each  other,  and  we 
have  to  keep  silent.  But  my  child  I  want  to  guard. 
You  cannot  blame  me  for  that.  I  think  we  have 
had  enough  of  that  in  our  family.  The  other 
one,  Edward,  has  also  been  a  sort  of  little  genius 
all  the  time — the  thief.  I  think  we  have  had  our 
full  of  it  now."  And  when  the  notary  remarks 
that  Edward  was  a  mere  child  when  he  commit- 
ted his  indiscretion,  Vincenz  flares  up.  "You 
are  so  considerate!"  he  says.  "Only  decent  peo- 
ple get  no  consideration  from  anybody.  We  toil 
and  moil  and  keep  ourselves  constantly  in  re- 
straint, and  no  one  asks  us  the  price  we. pay  for 
it.  .  .  .  My  father  was  a  good  man,  but  he 
also  thought  that  a  young  man  must  have  his  fling. 
No,  Mr.  Regel,  the  evil  only  sinks  in  the  deeper. 
You  don't  know  men.  There  is  only  one  way: 
Starve  it  out)  It  is  hard,  I  know;  I  have  been 
through  it  myself.  But  it  does  the  work.  I  am 
glad  that  I  have  never  yielded  to  myself,  never.* 
And  now  it  shows,  now  we  have  the  result  Here 
am  I,  and  there  are  they.  Starve  it  out;  starve 
out  the  evil  that  is  in  man,  in  every  matt.  Our 
nature  is  evil,  we  cannot  change  it.  There  is  only 
one  way:  starve  it  out."  . 

When  Sophie  intercedes  for  Edward,  whose 
misdeeds  she  thinks  have  been  expiated,  he  re^ 
plies:  "That  sort  of  thing,  my  child,  is  never 
expiated.  With'  musicians  it  is  perhaps  other- 
wise (sneeringly) ,  But  we  plain  working  people 
who  are  nothing  but  respectable — we,  my  child, 
never  forget  and  never  excuse  it.  We  cannot 
Otherwise  who  would  be  so  foolish  as  to  be  re- 
spectable? It  is  no  pleasure.  (After  a  pause, 
calmly)  Mark  that,  and  think  of  it  a  little.  You 
have  a  drop  of  that  kind  in  your  blood  also,  the 
evil  drop.     (Softly)  God  protect  you  I" 

Sophie  leaves  and  he  again  remains  alone  with 
the  notary: 

Vincenz:   When  one  lies  awake  in  his  bed  the 


526 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


whole  black  night  and  knows  that  in  the  comer 
stands  Death,  a  strange  feeling  comes  over  one, 
and  he  passes  everything  over  in  his  mind  again 
— how  it  all  was,  and  how  it  should  have  been, 
should  have  been.  And  who  is  right?  Who  is 
right  in  the  end?  When  death  is  staring  you  in 
the  face  you  want  to  know  it:  Who  is  right? 
Because  at  such  a  time  it  is  a  matter  of  ^reat 
importance  to  you.  And  I  know  it  now  {vigor- 
ously) :  /  am  right,  /.  Because  I  can  die  peace- 
fully, without  regret  That  is  the  beautiful  thing 
about  it.  {In  a  whisper)  I,  too,  have  often  been 
lured:  "Forth,  do  not  question;  you  are  a  fool; 
see  how  they  enjoy  themselves."  I,  too,  wanted 
to  enjoy  myself  once.  And  what  would  I  have 
for  it  now?  Where  would  all  that  have  come  to 
long  ago?  Look  at  Hugo.  What  has  he?  It 
all  passes  and  one  is  left  a  miserable  wretch.  No, 
Mr.  Regel,  /  am  right.  That  will  be  my  last 
word  in  my  last  hour:  /  am  right.  Abstinence 
and  toil  is  man's,  and  he  who  takes  it  on 
him  is  proof  against  death.  I  would  not  die  like 
a  man  of  pleasure.  No,  /  am  right,  it  is  only 
now  that  I  know  it. 

Regel:  I  thought  that  a  man  might  be  permit- 
ted a  little  beauty  now  and  then. 

Vincem  {shouting  triumphantly)  :  But  you  sec 
the  end !  You  see  it !  Ruined,  a  miserable  wreck, 
scarcely  forty,  and  nothing  more  is  left  of  this 
brilliant,  dazzling  man,  nothing  but  a  poor  fool, 
a  poor  whining  fool.  {Looks  up  stealthily  at  the 
notary,  then  in  a  husky  voice)  I  want  to  tell 
you  something.  You  thought  when  I  asked  you 
to  try  to  get  the  physician  to  bring  Hugo  here 
that  perhaps  I  did  it  out  of  pity?  No,  no, 
it  was  not  that.  I  am  not  sentimental.  Life  has 
weaned -me  from  anything  of  that  kind.  No, 
you  might  as  well  know  it.  Why  should  I  be 
ashamed?  It  is  my  right.  {Slowly  in  an  under- 
tone, slyly)  I  want  my  proof.  Do  you  under- 
stand ?  I  want  to  sec  them  standing  side  by  side, 
his  life  and  mine.  Now,  at  last,  put  them  side 
by  side  and  measure  them.  Let  it  come  out,  I 
want  my  proof.  Here  let  him  stand,  the  luminous 
one,  right  before  me  who  always  stinted  myself. 
Then  we  shall  see  it  plain.  I  want  the  proof. 
{Smiling)  He  was  so  proud  of  his  beautiful  life. 
But  the  main  point  is  a  beautiful  death.  It  is  I 
who  can  have  that!  There  is  where  it  shows. 
We  shall  see.    That's  why,  Mr.  Regel. 

Dr.  Halma  comes  in,  giving  instructions  as  to 
the  manner  in  which  Hugo  is  to  be  received. 
Vincenz  and  Sophie  remain  in  the  room,  Sophie 
sitting  at  the  sewing-machine  a^  if  at  work,  in 
accordance  with  the  order  of  the  physician  not 
to  appear  to  notice  Hugo,  as  the  presence  of  sev- 
eral persons  disturbs  him.  Enter  Hugo.  The 
room  is  the  same  as  he  had  known  before,  but 
with  a  slight  change  in  furniture. 

{Hugo  enters,  small,  slender,  delicate;  with 
luxurious  blond  hair,  large  beaming  blue  eyes;  at 
first  shy  and  uneasy,  but  later  beaming  forth  as  if 
with  the  r/idianCe  of  the  sun;  walks  in  hesitatingly 
without  raising  his  eyes.) 

Dr.  Halma:   Go  ahead,  friend. 

{Hugo  walks  on  obediently,  then  remains  stand- 
ing, stUl  keeping  his  eyes  down.) 


h'r 


Dr.  Halma:  Will  you  wait  for  me  here  until 
I  come  back? 

{Hugo  nods.) 

Ir.  Halma:  Take  your  hat  and  coat  off. 

{Hugo  nods  but  does  not  move.) 

Dr.  Halma  {takes  off  his  hat  and  coat)  :  So. 
It  is  very  pleasant  here,  is  it  not  ? 

{Hugo  nods  mechanically.) 

Dr.  Halma:  Don't  you  like  it  here?  Look 
around  you. 

Hugo  {still  hesitates  a  moment,  then  raises  his 
large,  beaming  eyes,  looks  first  in  front  of  him, 
then  on  the  right,  sees  a  zither,  but  then  im- 
mediately turns  to  the  physician,  against  whom 
he  threateningly  points  his  right  index  finger, 
smiling  lightly)  :   No,  no. 

Dr.  Halma:   What  is  it? 

Hugo   {smiling)  :  I  know.     But Oh, '  no. 

{The  smile  dies  off,  he  covers  his  eyes  with  his 
hand;  in  a  tone  of  infinite  sorrow)  Oh,  no. 

Dr.  Halma:   What  do  you  mean? 

Hugo  {taking  his  hand  from  his  eyes  and  turn- 
ing to  the  doctor  in  a  tone  of  bitter  hatred)  :  No, 
you  won't  succeed.  You  cannot  impose  on  me.  No, 
my  friend.  {Laughing  contemptuously)  It  is  a 
capital  imitation.  The  resemblance  is  close. 
{Looks  around  the  room.)  So  close  one  could 
almost  be  duped.  But —  {heaves  a  heavy  breath 
with  infinite  melancholy) — ^but  in  reality  it  was 
different.  {Changing  his  tone  to  a  mild  reproach) 
What  is  the  use,  doctor?  You  are  forever  want- 
ing to  try  me.  {Contemptuously)  H'm,  it  is  time 
that  you  knew  it.  {Sits  down. )  H'm,  how  many 
times  more?  You  travel  about  with  me,  and  I 
am  to  believe,  but  I  notice  at  once,  h'm,  that  it 
is  all  an  imitation  {Fiolently,  knocking  his  hand 
on  the  table)  And  bad!  False  streets,  false 
houses,  everything  changed.  I  remember  per- 
fectly. Don't  you  think  I  can  remember?  You 
will  not  destroy  my  beautiful  world  with  your 
cheap  and  bad  imitations.  Imitations!  Nothing 
but  counterfeit.  {In  a  tone  of  infinite  melancholy) 
My  beautiful  world!  The  beautiful,  beaming 
world !  {Suddenly  tearing  at  his  collar)  You  al- 
ways give  me  such  heavy  things  that  it  almost 
chokes  me.  Why  is  everything  so  heavy?  {Un- 
buttons his  coat.) 

Dr.  Halma:  Now  you  will  calmly  wait  for  me, 
won't  you?  {Exit,  carefully  locking  the  door  be- 
hind him.) 

Hugo  {pressing  his  hand  against  his  forehead)  : 
What  now?  What  was  I  going  to  say?  Some- 
thing is  in  my  mind.     I  seem  to But  now 

I  can  no  longer  think  of  it.  I  seem  to  think — 
{pointing  with  two  fingers  at  his  forehead) 
something  must  be  torn  there.  It  is  just  exactly 
as  if  something  were  torn.  {Breaks  out  into  a 
sudden  laughter,  while  his  face  brightens)  H'm. 
{Rocking  to  and  fro  and  as  if  listening,  half  sink- 
ing) "Autumn  looks  adown  the  slope,"  h'm!  Said 
the  keeper  (very  slowly)  "Autumn  looks  adown 
the  slope."  {Nods,  beats  time  with  his  hand  to 
his  inner  melody,  then,  as  if  concluding  rhyth- 
mically, in  spirit,  with  deep  voice)  "Adown  the 

slope Slope."  {Stares  before  him  with  half- 

closed  eyes,  smiling,  then  suddenly  opens  them 
tvide,  looks  with  astonishment  a/  the  wall  across 
the  room,  which  he  now  recognizes;  rises,  turns 
around  slowly,  and  finally  beholds  Vincenz,  to- 
zvard  whom  he  bends,  nodding  softly;  smiling) 
H'm.    How  is  that? 


MUSIC  AND  THE  DRAMA 


S'7 


Vinceng  (who  has  sat  motionless  all  the  time, 
fairly  devouring  Hugo  with  his  eyes)  :    Hugo ! 

Hugo  (in  a  strange,  clear  and  childish  tone,  as 
if  coming  from  a  far  distance)  :  Vinccnz,  see. 
(Involuntarily  putting  out  his  hand,  which  he 
suddenly  withdraws  in  terror)  How  is  that? 
Come,  help  me!  (Shouting,  while  he  clings  to 
the  arm  of  his  brother)  Help  me,  Vincenz,  do 
you  not  see?  (Sobbing)  Do  you  not  see  how-; — 
(Releases  his  grasp  of  Vincent's  arm  and  points 
at  himself)  Look  at  me!  Is  it  not  so?  Is  it  not 
so?  Something  must  be  torn  there.  Think.  I 
implore  you,  Vincenz,  help  me.  Be  good  and — 
and Are  you  still  angry? 

Vincenz  (who  has  hitherto  stared  at  him  rigidly, 
suddenly  bursts  forth  in  tears)  :  My  poor— my 
poor — Hugo!     (Sinks  on  the  sofa.) 

Hugo  (drazving  back  and  shouting) :  No,  no!  I 
do  not  want  to.  I  do  not  want  to.  Why  don't 
you  let  me  go?  It  is  all  over  now.  (Drops  on 
the  couch.  After  a  long  pause)  "Autumn  looks 
adown  the  slope"  (pause),  "adown  the  slope."  No. 
And  yet  it  is  there,  after  all.  (Shrewdly)  Just 
wait It  is  gone  again.   Yes Say,  Vincenz. 

Vincens:   Well,  Hugo? 

Hugo:  1  am  gone.  Quite  empty.  They  have 
taken  everything  away  from  me.  Can't  be  helped. 
Gone!    (With  ecstasy)  Do  you  remember?    That 

famous   picture?     The   luminous   one And 

Marie  was  quite  mad  about  the  hat.  (Seriously) 
Tis  no  use.  Does  not  illuminate  any  more.  (In 
an  indifferent  tone,  as  if  he  was  going  to  say 
something  of  no  account)  "Autumn  looks  adown 

the  slope."  (Contemptuously)  Bah! (With  a 

merry  laugh)  Yes,  now  we  arc  here  again.  That's 
funny.  Here  it  began,  here  it  will  end.  And  you 
are  not  angry  any  more,  are  you? 

Vincenz  (greatly  moved)  :  Why,  no. 

Hugo  (in  a  reminiscent,  satisded  tone)  :  Be- 
cause I  always  shocked  you.  (Proudly)  I  was 
a  bad  fellow,  all  right.  You  know  a  man  can't 
help  himself.  He  has  to.  And  you  couldn't 
understand  that,  you  see;  you  were  always  good. 
(Laughs)  H*m.  (With  good-natured  mockery) 
So  good!  But  I  had  no  respect  (With  great 
zest)  Oh,  my,  but  didn't  you  get  mad.  though, 
sometimes!  I  was  a  rogue,  that's  true.  I  knew 
exactly  how  to  take  father,  while  you (Sud- 
denly, in  astonishment)  Say,  where  is  Edward? 

Vincenz :   Do  you  want  to  see  him  ? 

Hugo:  No,  no.  I  and  Edward!  We  will 
cause  each  other  too  much  pain.  You  are  much 
more  clever.  Perhaps — ^perhaps  if  I  had  followed 
you,  who  knows  ?  But  see,  one  really  cannot  help 
it,  he  must.  (Jovially,  regarding  him  with  a  sin- 
cere open  expression)    You  are  no  longer  angry? 

Vincenz   (still  greatly  moved):   Why,   Hugo! 

Hugo:  It  is  not  so,  now?  Let  me  be  here. 
Here  it  began. 

Vincenz:   If  you  want  to. 

Hugo :  There  it  is  so  horrible.  (Stretches  him- 
self and  leans  back,  then  pulls  down  his  hat.)  You 
were  always  so  mad  when  I  had  my  hat  cocked 
on  one  side.  And  because  I  said  (imitating  the 
boastful  voice' of  a  child),  *A  genius  must  do  it!' 
And  father  laughed.  (Softly,  with  great  affec- 
tion) He  loved  me  so  dearly.  (In  a  changed, 
almost  angry  and  contemptuous  tone)  And  the 
women,  too.  A  lot  of  them.  But  that  was  differ- 
ent. That  wasn't  the  right  thing  any  more.  Beau- 
tiful  women!      (Sighing)    Beautiful!      (With   a 


soft,  affectionate  voice)  But  this  dear,  good  old 
face  of  father (Rises  slowly,  recalls  some- 
thing and  walks  up  to  where  the  picture  of  his 
father  is  hanging.  He  looks  at  it  and  strokes  it, 
half  kneeling  on  the  sofa.)  I  believe  I  get  every- 
thing from  him  (slowly  passing  his  hand  through 
his  /lair)— all  this  beauty  and  wonderful  great- 
ness. From  him,  most  assuredly.  God!  why, 
he  never  said  anything,  he  was  so  remarkable  in 
his  ways — so  that  we  should  not  guess  how  much 
he  loved  us!  And  yet  he  acted  as  if  it  was  a 
terrible  thing  to  him  when  I  took  up  music,  and 
sometimes  it  seemed  to  me  as  if  he  was  afraid 
and  glad  at  the  same  time,  as  if  when  he  was 
young  he  had  wanted  it  himself,  but  did  not  trust 
himself.  Hence  this  strange  feeling  toward  me, 
half  anxious  and  yet  proud.  For  instance,  do 
you  recollect?  At  my  first  concert  here? 
(Laughs.)  God!  I  have  achieved  the  greatest 
successes  everywhere,  but  really,  that  was  the 
first  time  in  my  life  when  I  would  rather  have 
been  away  at  the  last  moment,  out  of  fear. 
Then  when  the  applause  was  still  roaring  outside, 
father  came  very  quietly  into  my  room  as  I 
was  changing  my  clothes.  And  he  only  pressed 
my  hand.  Not  a  word  did  he  say.  He  could  not 
have  done  it.  And  then  we  went  home  and — 
that  had  never  yet  happened— then  he  himself 
fetched  grandfather's  old  birthday  wine  from  the 
cellar.  I  see  it  yet  before  me — four  stout  bot- 
tles of  superior  Franconian.  Why,  that  was  a 
sacred  relic— the  last  four  bottles!  We  drank 
three.     (Laughs  softly.)     H'm! 

Vincenz:    There  is  still  one  left. 

Hugo  (joyously)  :  Oh ! 

Vincenz:  There  is  still  one  down  in  the  cel- 
lar.    (Looks  inquiringly  at  Hugo.) 

Hugo:    That  would  really  be  a 

Vincenz:    Fetch  the  wine,  Sophie. 

Sophie:    Yes,  father.     (Goes  to  the  door.) 

(Hu^o  looks  up,  and  now  for  the  first  time 
sees  Sophie;  walks  up  to  her  and  looks  at  her 
curiously,  at  first  with  a  very  serious  expression, 
then  grozving  more  and  more  bright  and  cheer- 
ful, as  if  he  had  looked  into  and  recognized  her 
very  soul;  he  strokes  her  hair  gently  from  her 
forehead,  and  then  kisses  it  tenderly;  then  he 
looks  affectionately  at  her  again  and  beckons  her 
to  go.    Sophie  walks  out  through  the  door.) 

Vincenz:  We  will  drink  it  together. 

Hugo  (who  had  folloived  Sophie  with  his 
eyes)  :  Is  it  not  so?  Now  it  shows  in  the  end. 
(his  gestures  become  freer,  his  voice  grows 
clearer  and  his  whole  being  radiates.) 

Vincenz  (noticing  the  change  in  him  with  anx- 
ious astonishment)  :    Hugo! 

Hugo  (buried  in  thought  and  reminiscences, 
beaming  and  smiling)  :   Yes. 

Vincenz:   What  is  it  you  feel  all  of  a  sudden? 

Hugo:  Glad.  And  do  you  know — soaring! 
Everything  soars  upward  again  now.  And  the 
other  part,  everything— human  suffering,  human 
conflict — lies  deep  down  underneath  me.  It  sinks 
and  sinks  away.  But  I,  soaring  and  ever  soaring, 
keep  ascending  in  glorious  felicity.  (Softly, 
childishly)  Now  I  am  there  again.  (Bows  his 
head  as  if  in  devout  prayer,  with  exaltation.)    I. 

Vincenz  (in  terror):    Hugo! 

Hugo  (with  the  same  exalted  air)  :  I.  (Sophie 
enters,  bringing  the  wine.) 

Vincenz   (hastily  to  Sophie)  :    Give  it  to  me. 


5* 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


(Pours  the  glasses  full  with  a  trembling  hand;  to 
Sophie)  Go. 

(Hugo  notices  her  again  as  she  is  about  to  go, 
smiles  kindly  at  her,  takes  her  softly  by  the  hand, 
and  leads  her  mysteriously  to  a  chair  at  a  table, 
into  which  he  presses  her  gently  and  sits  down 
opposite  her,) 

VinceuM  (suddenly  noticing  her  again)  :  What 
arc  you  doing  here  still?    Have  I  not  told  you 

Hugo  (putting  his  hand  on  his  brothe/s  arm)  : 
Leave  her. 

Vincens  (Hying  into  a  rage)  :   She 

Hugo  (with  gentle  force,  bending  mysteriously 
toward  his  brother's  ear,  smiling  strangely) : 
Leave  her,  for  she  belongs  to  me. 

Vincens:   No,  no! 

Hugo:  Leave  her,  I  say.  Poor  Vincenzl 
There  are  many  things  yet  you  do  not  laiow. 
(Inclines  mysteriously  toward  him,  with  an  air 
of  haughtiness  and  cunning.)  "Autumn  looks 
adown  the  slope."  Take  your  Rrlass  and  (enclos- 
ing the  glass  in  both  his  hands)— 2ind  let  us  praise 
God  the  Lord !  (Raises  the  glass  and  empties  it 
with  one  draft.)     Let  us  praise  God  the  Lord! 

Brother,  he  who  cannot  do  that (In  ecstasy) 

lean!    Yes,  I! 

Vinceng:  We  must  yield  humbly. 

Hugo:  No!  Proudly!  It  is  with  pride  he 
wants  to  be  praised.  Proudly,  boldly,  rush  into 
life  so  that  it  spurts  and  splashes,  and  sink,  ay, 
sink  and  drown— underneath  is  the  dear  God, 
at  the  bottom  of  the  sea.  Dive,  dive,  deep  below— 
(more  slowly)  I  have  dived  down  to  God's 
depth.  (With  mysterious  fear)  From  this  a 
cold  shiver  sometimes  passes  through  me.  Life's 
depth,  the  deep,  hidden  depth  of  God.  Thence 
I  have  hauled  up  the  light  for  man.  But  if  you 
do  not  drown  first  you  can  know  nothing.  Poor 
Vincenz!  (Filling  his  glass  again.)  I  want  to 
praise  a  little  more.     (Drinks  quickly.) 

VinceuM:  Why  do  you  call  me  poor? 

Hugo  (giving  the  glass  from  which  he  had 
drunk  to  Sophie):  Dear,  dear  girl,  drink. 
(Sophie  takes  the  glass,  and  looks  shyly  at  her 
father.)  Drink  and  drown!  This  is  what  you 
must  learn,  dear  girl.  Drown.  Then  you  shall 
be  blessed. 

Vincenz  (who  had  been  buried  in  deep  medita- 
tion): Why  "poor"?    Tell  me. 

Hugo:    Poor  Vincenz! 

VinceuM  (pained,  as  if  abjuring  him)  :  Why  do 
you  say  that? 

Hugo :  Because  you  have  no  autumn.  You  see? 

Vincenx:   Autumn? 

Hugo:  "Autumn  looks  adown  the  slope."  As 
we  were  riding  here  in  the  carriage  through  the 
large  garden  where  the  old  trees  are,  the  leaves 
were  already  worn;  the  keeper  said— he  is  a 
Tjrrolean,  a  merry  fellow  who  always  has  those 
sayings,  you  know,  and  he  pointed  at  a  yellow 
tree — it  was  all  ablaze— and  he  said:  "Autumn 
looks  adown  the  slope!"  He  said  it  merrily. 
And,  you  see,  it  is  not  so  with  you.  You  have  no 
autumn.    Because  you (Laughs.)  Of  course. 

Vincens:   Because  what? 

Hugo:  Because  you  were  afraid.  But  I  was 
not.  I  rushed  in  with  both  my  feet  Into  the 
fire  and  burned  myself.  And  smoke.  And  out 
of  the  smoke  I  emerged  a  new  man.  And  again  I 
walked  in  and  again  was  burned.  Burning  with- 
out end.    And  that  is  why  I  am  so  yellow  now 


with  blessedness.  Like  the  burning  trees,  every- 
thing burns.  Burning  is  life.  Bum  and  get 
burned.  And  I  am  so  heavy  with  fruit;  all  over 
me  I  am  so  laden  with  the  ripe,  blessed,  blue 
hours,  and  then  everything  opens.  Everything 
opens  and  is  bestowed  as  a  gift  on  the  good  sin- 
ner. Everything  then  lays  itself  bare  and  dances 
before  me — all  beings  and  all  creations.  And  it  is 
only  since  then  that  I  have  known  it  I  know  it 
I  know  since  I  have  died  that  I  cannot  die.  It 
only  turns  around.  Death  and  life,  it  is  the  same 
wheel ;  now  it  is  on  top,  now  it  is  at  the  bottom, 
now  it  ascends  and  now  it  descends  again.  You 
die  every  day,  you  live  forever.  And  everything  is 
as  you  are,  everywhere,  upon  all  the  suns.  (Turns 
suddenly  to  Sophie.)  You,  dear  Rrirl,  on  you  I 
bestow  this  as  a  gift :  Live  yourself  to  death,  it  is 
thus  you  praise  God  the  Lord !  Then  you  shall  be 
able  to  do  it.  I  praise  Him  because  He  has  blessed 
me.  I  praise  Him.  (Sophie  looks  up  eagerly, 
drinking  in  his  words  with  avidity.) 

Vincenz  (throws  himself  violently  forward,  and 
extends  his  right  arm  across  the  table  as  if  to 
protect  Sophie)  :  No!  Leave  her!  Do  not  destroy 
my  child! 

Sophie:   Father! 

(Hugo  rises,  stretches  himself  to  his  full  height, 
and  looks  domineeringly  at  Vincenz.) 

Hugo:  What  is  it  you  want? 

Vincenz  (unable  to  bear  his  look)  :  My  child ! 
(Stretches  out  his  hand  again  for  her  involun- 
tarily,) 

Hugo  (with  unspeakable  contempt) :  You  poor 
fool! 

Vincenz  (clenches  his  fists,  panting)  :   I?    I? 

Hugo :   You  slink  off  to  your  death !    You 

Vincenz:  No. 

Hugo:   You  poor  fool! 

Vincenz  (collecting  all  his  power  in  a  last  ef- 
fort, shouting  and  rushing  at  his  brother)  :  Get 
out!    Away  with  you!    Get  out! 

Sophie:    Father,  father! 

(Dr.  Halma  enters  quickly.) 

(Vincenz  tumbles  back  in  fright  on  seeing  the 
doctor,  still  gazing  with  intense  hatred  at  Hugo.) 

Hugo  (unmoved,  with  extreme  calmness) : 
And  yet  I  shall  stay.  Wherever  I  am  I  remain 
with  you  henceforth.  I  stand  before  you.  For 
now  it  has  been  shown.  You  and  I.  And  hence- 
forth it  shall  stand  forever  before  you.  And  it 
is  now  for  the  first  time  that  you  have  cause  for 
your  envy!     Now  more  than  ever. 

Vincenz  (breaks  down  and  sinks  on  a  chair) : 
And  a  whole  life  of  duty  and  rentmciationl 

Hugo:  Yes,  you  see,  all  this  that  you  think, 
all  this  is  worth  nothing.  Your  worth  is  only  an 
illusion;  only  in  illusion  is  trdth  (raising  his  in- 
dex anger  warningly).  Upon  life's  depth,  the 
profound  depth  of  God.  (Goes  slowly  toward  the 
doctor,  his  finger  still  raised  in  warning,) 

Vincenz:    No,  no! 

Hugo  (to  the  doctor  in  quite  a  different,  timid 
voice,  like  a  baby  afraid  of  punishment)  :  Yes, 
doctor,  directly.  (  Turning  to  Sophie  again,  beam- 
ing and  with  great  tenderness.)  You  dear  girl! 
I  bless  you — from  my  blessed  loneliness,  allness, 
and  I  wish  it  to  you.  Do  not  questioa  Live! 
Live !  Thus  you  praise  God  the  Lord.  (Blesses 
her.) 

Vincenz  (moaning) :  But  wherefore,  then? 
Wherefore? 


Religion  and  Ethics 


THE  LOST  FAITH  OF  CHILDHOOD 


"I  crave  for  the  faith  of  my  boyhood  days; 
I  have  struggled  for  it;  on  my  knees  I  have 
begged  and  implored  for  it,  but  it  has  not 
come."  This  impassioned  cry  from  the  heart 
of  a  man  who  has  thought  and  suffered  deeply 
may  safely  be  accepted  as  the  expression  of  a 
not  uncommon  mood.  It  appears  as  the  climax 
of  a  letter  which  is  printed,  without  signature, 
in  a  recent  issue  of  the  New  York  Outlook, 
and  which  has  aroused  unusual  interest  in  the 
religious  world.  The  anonymous  correspond- 
ent writes: 

"When  I  was  a  boy,  I  was  quite  religiously  in- 
clined. I  believed  everything  in  the  Bible  from 
Genesis  to  Revelation.  It  was  the  source  of  all 
my  strength,  comfort,  and  inspiration;  and  by 
obeying  the  precepts  and  injunctions  of  it  I  ex- 
pected to  be  justified  and  saved.  Jesus  Christ,  to 
me,  was  a  living  reality,  a  being  whom  I  believed 
had  actually  come  from  heaven,  was  crucified,  and 
rose  from  the  dead,  and  who  sat  on  the  right 
hand  of  Qod,  making  intercession  for  all  his  lol- 
lowers  here  below.  God  was  One  to  whom  I 
regularly  prayed,  and  with  whom  I  communed  as 
with  a  personal  friend.  When  I  sinned  I  fell 
upon  my  knees  and  tremblingly  begged  his  for- 
giveness; a  being,  of  human  attributes,  whom  I 
feared  and  loved,  and  who  had  the  power  to  raise 
me  up  or  strike  me  dead.  All  these  things  were 
not  myths,  nor  even  matters  of  faith  alone.  I  be- 
lieved in  them  as  much  as  I  believed  in  my  own 
existence.  And  from  this  faith  came  a  joy,  even 
the  memory  of  which  is  enough  to  make  life 
worth  living.  Whether  my  faith  was  false,  or 
whether  from  reaction,  I  became  a  blatant  and 
reviling  infidef.  Having  an  ear  attuned  to  the 
harmony  and  melody  of  beautiful  language,  and 
especially  of  prose-poetry,  I  was  attracted  by  the 
rhetoric  of  Ingersoll.  His  sophistry  did  not  influ- 
ence me  much,  but  it  led  me  to  other  works  which 
did.  Influenced  more  by  form  than  substance,  I 
read  and  re-read  the  pompous  and  stately  lan- 
guage of  the  famous  sixteenth  and  seventeenth 
chapters  of  Gibbon's  'Roman  Empire,'  which 
shook  my  faith  in  the  authenticity  of  the  Gospels. 
From  Gibbon  I  passed  to  Darwin,  Huxley,  Wal- 
lace, Haeckel,  and  the  materialists,  whose  con- 
clusions, I  foolishly  believed,  completely  upset 
and  destroyed  all  reality  in  revelation,  and  took 
away  all  my  remaining  faith  in  the  Bible,  Jesus 
Christ,  or  God.  I  am  glad  to  say,  however,  that 
the  faith  of  my  younger  days  had  left  such  an 
imperious  influence  upon  my  soul  that,  while  I 
professed  myself  an  infidel,  I  was  still  unsatis- 
fied; and  after  groping  in  the  dark  for  two  or 
three  years,  I  finally  became  convinced  that  I 
was  wrong.  I  believe  the  Bible  to  be  the  Word 
of  God,  but  not  with  the  warmth  and  feeling  with 


which  I  used  to  believe  it  I  believe  in  Jesus 
Christ,  but  he  is  to  me  merely  a  historical  per- 
sonage, who  means  but  little  more  to  me  than 
Plato  or  Aristotle.  I  believe  in  the  existence  of 
God,  but  this  belief  is  purely  intellectual.  It  has 
no  more  influence  over  my  life  than  the  belief  in 
the  law  of  gravitation.  He  is  a  vague  abstraction 
whom  I  neither  fear  nor  love.  My  mind,  from 
reading  works  of  science,  has  become  so  analyti- 
cal and  dissecting,  even  in  matters  of  faith,  that 
I  even  criticise  the  grammar  and  logic  of  pnyen. 
All  this  I  regard  as  a  misfortime.  I  crave  for 
the  faith  of  my  boyhood  days;  I  have  struggled 
for  it;  on  my  knees  I  have  begged  and  implored 
for  it,  but  it  has  not  come." 

This  "pathetic  letter"  has  provoked  a  lengthy 
editorial  and  much  earnest  correspondence  in 
The  Outlook.  According  to  the  editorial  judg- 
ment, it  expresses  a  longing  that  can  never  be 
satisfied,  and  but  echoes  the  old  cry,  "I  would 
I  were  a  boy  again."  The  Outlook  comments 
further : 

"The  faith  of  childhood  once  lost  can  never  be 
recovered.  It  is  sometimes  kept,  but  at  too 
great  a  sacrifice.  For  he  who  boasts  of  a  child- 
hood faith  simply  bears  witness  against  himself 
that,  while  he  has  ^rown  in  muscular  strength, 
in  nerve  power,  in  mtellecttial  capaci^,  in  exec- 
utive energy,  he  has  not  grown  in  his  religious 
experence.  A  childhood  faith  is  beautiful  in  a 
child;  it  is  a  dwarfed  and  stunted  faculty  in  a 
mature  man  or  woman.  The  faith  of  childhood 
is  bom  of  the  child's  imagination.  It  is  an  un- 
questioning and .  therefore  an  unreasoning  faith. 
He  makes  no  distinction  in  his  own  mind  between 
what  he  has  seen  and  what  he  has  imagined.  The 
perplexed  mother  need  not  be  perplexed  at  his 
nursery  tales  told  with  such  serious  assurance 
that  it  is  'true,  mamma.'  To  him  what  he  has 
imagined  is  'true.'  He  is  as  ready  to  believe  in 
Santa  Claus  as  in  Jesus  Christ,  in  the  Arabian 
Nights  as  in  the  miracles  of  the  New  Testament. 
The  reindeer  and  the  sleigh-bells  are  as  real  to 
him  as  the  Wise  Men  and  the  Shepherds.  Do 
not  undeceive  him.  Life  will  undeceive  him  in 
due  time. 

"But  do  not  envy  him.  Do  not  try  to  go  back 
and  recapture  that  nursery  experience.  The  faith 
of  manhood  is  of  a  different  sort  It  is  not  an 
unquestioning  but  a  questioned  faith.  It  is  not 
founded  on  reason;  but  it  dares  submit  itself  to 
all  the  tests  to  which  reason  can  subject  it.  The 
crucible  never  yet  created  gold;  but  it  tries  the 
gold  and  rejects  the  dross.  Reason  never  yet 
created  faith;  but  it  separates  the  true  from  the 
false.  After  the  crucible  appears  but  little  gold, 
but  it  is  pure.  After  the  reason  there  appears  a 
shorter  creed,  but  it  is  vital.  Credulity  has  done 
the  world  more  harm  than  skepticism.    The  only 


530 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


way  to  know  anything  is  to  dare  to  question 
everything." 

The  Outlook's  final  advice  to  the  troubled 
inquirer  is  to  "mingle  in  literature  and  in  life 
with  men  of  faith"  and  to  "obey  such  heavenly 
vision  as  is  afforded  to  him."  "So  doing,"  it 
says,  "he  will  find  the  light  within  him,  which 
neglect  has  dimmed  but  not  wholly  extin- 
guished, gradually,  and  to  him  almost  uncon- 
sciously, reviving  to  re-illumine  his  life." 

With  this  editorial  pronouncement  several 
correspondents  take  issue.  One  reader  de- 
clares that  a  human  soul  hungering  for  bread 
has  been  given  a  stone;  adding:  "The  faith  of 
the  devout  heart  at  seventy-seven  does  not  ma- 
terially differ  from  that  of  a  child  of  twelve, 
save  that,  while  more  intelligent,  it  is  also 
deeper,  stronger,  more  full  of  trust,  love,  joy." 
Another  correspondent  says:  "The  writer  of 
that  letter  will  best  find  his  way  to  a  real,  a 
manly  faith,  not  merely  by  'mingling  in  lit- 
erature and  in  life  with  men  of  faith,'  but  by 
looking  constantly  to  God  for  guidance  and 
help  in  accordance  with  the  promise,  'Draw 
nigh  unto  God  and  he  will  draw  nigh  unto 
thee.'  *'     A  third  correspondent  comments : 

"That  which  makes  the  child- faith  so  beauti- 
ful is  the  simple,  unquestioning  acceptance  of  the 
great  fact  of  the  Fatherhood  of  a  Personal  God, 
whose  great  love  is  most  perfectly  revealed  in 
the  Person  of  his  Son  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  the 
Friend  and  Saviour  of  all  those'  who  put  their 
trust  in  him  and  obey  him.  For  such  a  faith  as 
this  the  heart  cries  out  not  less  in  mature  life 
or  old  age  than  in  childhood  and  the  loss  of  it 
is  one  compared  with  which  all  other  losses  are 
as  nothing.  And  this  faith  can  be  retained.  It 
was  in  the  joy  of  this  faith  that  Mr.  Drummond 
endured  serenely  the  years  of  illness  that  preceded 
the  close  of  his  life.  It  was  in  the  inspiration 
of  this  faith  that  Tennyson,  after  the  trials  in- 
numerable of  a  long  and  busy  life,  wrote  before 
he  died, 

I  hope  to  see  my  Pilot  face  to  face 
when  I  have  crossed  the  bar. 

It  was  this  faith  that  was  the  keynote  of  the 
hymn  of  the  Dean  of  Canterbury,  'Life's  Answer,' 
which  ends. 

Safe  to  the  land,  safe  to  the  land. 

The  end  is  this, 
And  then  go  with  Him  hand  in  hand 

Par  into  bliss. 

It  was  in  the  strength  of  this  faith  that  Phillips 
Brooks  wrote: 

The  Christ  who  in  eternity  opens  the  last  concealment 
and  lays  his  comfort  and  life  close  to  the  deepest  needs 
of  the  poor,  needy  human  heart  is  the  same  Christ  that 
first  laid  hands  upon  the  blind  eyes  and  made  them  see 
the  sky  and  flowers. 

"When  St.  Paul  says,  'When  I  became  a  man, 
I  put  away  childish  things,'  he  does  not  mean 
that  the  childlike  faith  is  incompatible  with  the 
maturity  of  mind  that  belongs  to  manhood  and 


womanhood.  The  man  of  fifty  loves  his  mother 
with  a  deeper  reverence  and  veneration  than  the 
heart  of  childhood  can  know,  but  it  is  the  child 
love  still  in  the  heart  of  the  man  who  gives  it.  It 
included  the  learned  ones  of  his  day  as  well  as 
His  disciples  when  our  Lord  said  to  them,  'Ex- 
cept ye  be  converted  and  become  as  little  chil- 
dren, ye  shall  not  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
heaven.'. 

"This  is  a  faith  worth  having  and  keeping—- 
worth  fighting  for,  if  need  be,  and,  if  lost,  it 
is  worth  while  to  lose  all  else  in  order  that  it  may 
be  gained  again.    .    .    . 

"The  Christian  life  for  its  maintenance  re- 
quires a  constant  struggle  with  sin  and  tempta- 
tion, and  implicit  obedience  to  the  great  Captain 
of  our  salvation.  Does  one  find  his  faith  slipping 
from  him,  or  is  it  apparently  entirety  gone?  Let 
him,  with  all  his  might,  set  about  righting  what- 
ever may  be  wrong  in  his  life.  Is  there  an  out- 
ward or  inward  sin  to  be  relinquished?  Let  it 
be  given  up  now" 

A  fourth  correspondent  writes: 

"You  appear  to  take  for  granted  and  give  out 
the  idea  that  all  .mankind  must  of  necessity  pass 
through  these  successive  stages  of  erroneous  child- 
hood belief,  then  analysis  and  doubt,  and  with 
perhaps  a  rare  chance  of  again  emerging  into  the 
realization  of  the  omnipresence  of  Grod.  The 
letter  you  are  answering  portrays,  as  you  say, 
*a  common  experience';  but,  while  deploring  the 
condition,  why  not  find  the  solution  of  the  diffi- 
culty in  the  truthful  education  of  children? 
'Whosoever  shall  not  receive  the  kingdom  of 
God  as  a  little  child,  he  shall  not  enter  therein,* 
are  the  words  of  the  Christ.  Cannot  a  child  un- 
derstand a  measure  of  truth?  Then  why  teach 
children  grotesque  dreams  of  heaven  and  an  an- 
thropomorphic God  which  cannot  stand  the  test 
of  reason?  'Life  will  undeceive  him,'  you  say. 
To  me  that  is  inexpressibly  pathetic;  yet  you 
omit  any  suggestion  of  regret  that  your  inquirer 
(lid  not,  when  a  boy,  comprehend  as  a  child  might 
that  the  unchanging  God  is  Love.  Your  line  of 
demarcation  is  so  strong  between  'childhood 
faith'  and  the  faith  of  manhood  yet  it  must  be 
the  same  faith  differently  expressed.  Nothing 
should  be  lost;  nothing  of  good  is  lost.  .  .  . 
I  used  heartily  to  despise  Emerson's  essay  on 
Love,  where  he  speaks  of  youthful  passion,  the 
endearments,  the  avowals,  as  'deciduous,'  having 
a  prospective  end,  until  I  learned  this  truth  that 
nothing  is  really  lost;  and  this  is  beautifully  il- 
lustrated in  Olive  Schreiner's  Dream,  The  Lost 
Joy:  when  Life  and  Love  lost  their  first  radiant 
Joy,  they  would  not  give  up  to  reclaim  it  that 
dearer  being,   Sympathy,  the   Perfect  Love. 

"Through  childlike — not  childish — acceptance 
of  good  will  the  despondent  one  come  into  'the 
kingdom'  he  fancies  was  childhood's  possession 
and  lost." 

In  presenting  this  budget  of  dissentient 
views.  The  Outlook  suggests  that  neither  its 
own  answer  nor  that  of  any  one  of  its  cor- 
respondents is  complete  or  final ;  but  that  each 
answer  contains  a  germ  of  truth  and  will  serve 
to  meet  individual  cases. 


RELIGION  AND  ETHICS 


531 


WAS  JEvSUS  REALLY  A  JEW? 


This  question,  "childish"  though  it  may  seem, 
is  far  from  being  "a  foregone  conclusion/'  con- 
tends Prof.  Julius  Lippert,  a  di^inguished  eth- 
nologist and  exegetical  scholar,  in  the  Berlin 
Nation.  His  learned  and  lengthy  argument, 
continued  through  several  numbers  of  this 
publication,  supports  the  theory  that  Jesus 
was  not,  in  the  strict  sense,  a  Jew  at  all.  He 
was  a  Galilean,  probably  of  Syrian  stock,  we 
are  told,  and  so  was  John  the  Baptist. 

Jesus,  of  course,  was  a  native  of  Nazareth, 
in  Galilee.  He  lived  there  as  a  youth  and  must 
have  been  brought  into  constant  contact  with 
Galileans.  But  his  disciples  and  interpreters, 
says  Dr.  Lippert,  were  determined  to  show 
that  he  was  sprung  from  stock  ethnically 
purely  Jewish.  This  they  endeavored  to  do  by 
means  of  genealogies,  and  by  "enshrining  in 
tradition  certain  narratives  concerning  his 
circumcision  and  the  happenings  of  his  birth 
which  were  all  adapted — from  a  Jewish  stand- 
point— to  set  forth  his  Messiahship  in  har- 
mony with  popular  preconceptions."  To  quote 
further : 

"Two  genealogies  have  come  down  to  us,  one 
in  Matthew;  the  other  in  Luke.  Neither  agrees 
with  the  other  in  anything  save  the  final  names. 
Otherwise  they  do  not  coincide  either  in  their 
names  or  in  the  number  of  them.    .    .    . 

"The  stories  about  the  birth  of  Jesus  inserted 
in  Luke's  gospel  fail  to  harmonize  with  the  very 
purpose  of  these  genealogies.  While  the  latter 
seek  to  prove  his  descent  from  Jewish  lineage 
and  especially  from  David,  solely  through  Joseph, 
as  the  real  father  of  Jesus,  the  narrative  of  the 
miraculous  conception  of  Mary  puts  the  Mes- 
siahship of  Jesus  in  a  totally  different  light  The 
miraculous  conception  cannot  be  said  to  be  up- 
held by  the  genealogies,  for  they  are  both  based 
on  Christ's  descent  from  Joseph  and  not  from 
Mary.  Only  in  later  days  did  exegetical  schol- 
ars extricate  themselves  from  this  difficulty  by 
the  assumption  that  Joseph  and  Mary  were  rela- 
tives. In  that  case,  however,  the  family  record 
must  certainly  have  contained  one  more  member 
before  Mary;  otherwise  we  should  be  led  to  con- 
clude that  they  were  brother  and  sister." 

It  is  small  wonder,  continues '  Dr.  Lippert, 
that  Paul,  a  Jew  born  in  the  Diaspora  and, 
a  disciple  of  the  Pharisees,  sound  in  his 
knowledge  of  the  Scriptures,  held  himself 
proudly  aloof  from  "genealogies  and  fables" 
(I  Tim.  i,  4;  iv,  7;  Tit.  iii,  9)  and  warned 
his  disciples  time  and  again  against  such  "un- 
profitable" and  "foolish"  questionings.  In 
Paul's  eyes,  Jesus  was  both  ethnically  and  in 
his  relationship  to  the  "Law"  a  Jew,  and  for 


this  simple  reason  that  he,  Paul,  had  con- 
vinced himself  of  Jesus'  Messiahship,  while  ■ 
his  scriptural  studies  provided  him  with  am- 
ple arguments  to  support  his  contentions.  "To 
the  born  Jew  and  Benjaminite,"  adds  Dr. 
Lippert,  "Jesus  must  have  been  both  ethnically 
and  religiously  a  Jew.  A  profane  historical 
critic,  however,  cannot  overlook  the  point  that 
this  testimony  of  Paul  to  Jesus'  Jewish  de- 
scent is  based,  not  on  historical,  but  on  psy- 
chological considerations.  In  other  words,  it 
belongs  to  theology." 

Professor  Lippert  goes  on  to  make  a  study 
of  the  character  of  John  the  Baptist,  eliminat- 
ing the  narrative  of  his  childhood  as  given  by 
"the  later  Luke,"  and  concludes  from  John's 
own  expressions  of  contempt  for  the  Phari- 
sees' pride  in  their  ancestry,  as  well  as  from  the 
fact  of  his  being  delivered  over  to  Herod  An- 
tipas,  Tetrarch  of  Galilee,  and  not  to  the  Jeru- 
salem authorities,  that  the  Forerunner  was,  like 
Jesus,  a   Galilean. 

With  this  the  writer  is,  so  to  say,  on  his  own 
ground  and  his  analysis  of  the  ethnological 
characteristics  of  the  natives  of  Galilee  is, 
perhaps,  the  most  instructive  part  of  this 
study.  Far  back  in  the  days  of  the  double 
kingdom  these  people  were  reproached  with 
"limping  between  the  two  sides"  (I  Kings 
xviii,  21)  that  is,  between  the  Syrian  Baalim 
and  the  Jewish  Elohim.  Only  a  hundred  and 
odd  years  before  Christ  and  after  a  long  period 
of  Syrian  rule,  John  Hyrcanus  reconquered 
the  land  and  gave  its  inhabitants  the  alterna- 
tive of  being  circumcised  or  banished.  That 
these  were  not  Jews  stands  to  reason,  while 
we  know,  furthermore,  that  the  "few"  Jews 
left  there  had  a  short  time  previously  been 
transplanted  to  Judea  by  Simon  (J  Maccabees 
v,  12  and  25).  With  the  Roman  conquest 
(63  B.  C.)  Galilee  became  again  a  Syrian 
province.  Considering,  under  these  circum- 
stances, how  difficult  it  must  have  been  to  de- 
termine the  precise  racial  and  religious  ances- 
try of  any  family,  Dr.  Lippert  thinks  we 
should  examine  each  witness  in  turn.  Peter,  he 
contends,  was  "certainly  of  Syrian  stock,  since 
his  very  speech  betrayed  him."  An  analysis 
of  his  reputed  sayings  and  writings  convinces 
Dr.  Lippert  that  the  apostle  who  declared  that 
the  "Law"  was  a  "yoke  which  neither  our 
fathers  nor  we  were  able  to  bear"  was  rather 
one  in  sympathy  with  the  rebellious  Galileans, 
whom  even  Isaiah  (ix,  i)  had  styled  heathens, 


53^ 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


than  a  Jewish  devotee  of  ancient  rights.  The 
genuine  Jews  justly  accused  him  of  partaking 
with  the  uncircumcised  of  unclean  food.  That 
long  before  this  Jesus'  disciples  had  held  that 
they  were  not  bound  by  the  ritualistic  ablu- 
tions and  the  strict  Sabbatarian  laws  of  the 
Jews,  we  know  from  the  gospels.  Peter,  like 
Paul,  disowns  "wise  fables"  in  his  epistles, 
and  as  the  sole  convincing  proof  appeals  to 
the  transfiguration  on  the  mountain,  which, 
though  it  was  not  Jerusalem,  he  calls  "holy," 
quite  as  his  master  had  answered  the  question 
as  to  the  comparative  merit  of  Samaria  and 
the  Temple  as  a  place  of  prayer.  All  indices, 
these,  we  are  told,  of  the  true  liberal  "Gali- 
lee of  the  Nations." 

Coming  to  the  personality  of  Jesus  himself, 
the  writer  claims  the  same  privilege  accorded 
to  Paul  and  to  Peter  of  disregarding  all  "gen- 
ealogies and  fables,"  and  from  this  standpoint 
presents  Jesus  as  a  native  of  Nazareth  and  a 
bom  Galilean  to  whom  all  that  has  been  said 
of  Galilean  liberal  tendencies  and  question- 
able ancestry  applies  fully.  The  land  was  filled 
with  Jewish  schools  established  for  the  propa- 
ganda of  Hebraism.  These  were,  doubtless, 
open  to  him,  with  the  exception  of  that  at 
Nazareth,  where  he  was  known  as  the  carpen- 
ter's son,  the  son  of  Mary  and  one  of  many 
brothers  and  sisters.  When  he  broke  these 
ties  forever  (Mark  iii,  32  et  seq.)  it  was  to 
dedicate  himself  to  the  new  brotherhood  of  his 
disciples.  What  manner  of  men  the  first  of 
'  ^  these  were  we  have  seen  in  Peter.  One  of  the 
next  to  be  called  was  a  man  employed  in  the 
tax  office  ,  the  son  of  Alpheus.  He  came  from 
a  class  of  people  the  Jews  branded  as  "unclean," 
on  the  ground  that  they  belonged  to  a  foreign 


nation  and  religion.  To  the  disgust  of  the 
Jews,  Jesus  sat  with  such  at  table  and  ate  of 
"unclean"  dishes.  Furthermore,  in  the  eyes 
of  the  scribes  he  and  his  disciples  were  guilty 
of  Sabbath  breaking.  He  pleaded  guilty  to 
this  charge,  and  defended  his  acts.  His  at- 
titude toward  fasting,  ritualistic  ablutions  and 
legal  food,  as  well  as  his  solemn  compact  with 
his  apostles,  are  characterized  by  Dr.  Lippert 
as  being  just  as  typical  of  the  Galilean  as  they 
are  distinctly  unhebraic.  An  analysis  of 
Christ's  teachings,  he  holds,  quite  as  conclu- 
sively points  to  a  non- Jewish  source  of  their 
ethical  groundwork. 

That  Jesus'  native  tongue  was  the  Syrian, 
Professor  Lippert  believes  is  conceded  by  all 
sides ;  and  he  points  out  that  "when  left  alone 
with  himself  and  his   God  on  the  cross,   a 
moment  so  intimately  human,  his  tongue  re- 
verted   to    the   childhood   speech."     Another 
link  in  the  argument  is  furnished  by  Mark's 
gospel.    After  driving  out  the  hucksters  from 
the  Temple  (another  foreign  trait,  since  all 
true  Jews  had  become  accustomed  to  their 
presence  there),  Jesus  met  the  objections  of 
the  scribes  to  his  Messiahship  that  he  must 
needs  be  the  son  of  David,  by  denying  the  va- 
lidity of  their  argument.     In  language  that 
cannot  be  mistaken,  he  told  them  that  he  was 
not  David's  son. 

In  conclusion  the  learned  writer  remarks: 
"Of  course  we  concede  that  our  proofs  and 
arguments  are  not  sufficient  to  settle  so  mo- 
mentous a  question;  but  it  may  be  that  they 
will  suffice  to  show  that  instead  of  being 
'something  everybody  knows,'  we  are  still 
justified  in  raising  the  question:  Was  Jesus 
a  Jew?" 


SOLIDARITY  AS  THE   KEYNOTE  OF   TRUE  RELIGION 


Not  from  moral  philosophy  nor  from  sci- 
ence, not  from  religion  as  ordinarily  under- 
stood, but  from  the  growing  sense  of  social 
solidarity  comes  the  new  and  true  gospel  for 
humanity.  So  at  lea^  avers  Alessandro  Grop- 
pali,  a  vigorous  and  optimistic  Italian  thinker, 
whose  resonant  word  rings  over  and  above  the 
pessimistic  philosophies  of  our  time  like  a 
trumpet  blast 

Our  modern  conceptions  of  life,  declares 
this  Italian  writer,  can  all  be  ranged  under  one 
of  three  categories — those  of  God,  the  individ- 
ual and  society.    The  theologian  naturally  re- 


gards life  primarily  in  religious  terms  and 
Groppali  grants  that  "as  the  religious  concep- 
tion of  life's  meaning  was  the  first  to  arise,  so 
has  it  taken  deepest  root  in  man's  soul."  But 
"sweet  and  puissant  as  it  may  be,  with  its 
promise  of  immortality  in  a  world  beyond,  this 
conception  does  not  satisfy  those  who  rebel 
at  deferring  all  hopes  until  after  death  and  are 
struggling  to  solve  the  problem  of  life  by  its 
own  rules."  The  teaching  of  individualism, 
he  proceeds,  is  that  "life's  design  should  be 
sought  for  in  life  itself;  that  "life  ought  to 
be  regarded  from  the  happiest  possible  stand- 


RELIGION  AND  ETHICS 


533 


point";  and  that  "man  must  make  use  of  all 
the  treasures  of  his  energy  in  the  realization 
of    a   joyful  exaltation  of  his  being,  in  the 
afBrmation  of  his  powers  and  in  the  conquest 
of  pleasures."    To  this  doctrine  of  the  Nietz- 
schean    school,  Groppali  objects:  "The  indi- 
vidual, considered  in  and  by  himself,  torn  from 
the    soil  of  social   energies  which  bred  and 
formed  him  so  variously,  is  a  mere  figment  of 
man's  mind,  the  product  of  our  fancy.    .    .    . 
We   ourselves,  consciously  or  unconsciously, 
bear  within  us  a  sum  of  impressions,  of  dispo- 
sitions,  of  stratas   of   hereditary   tendencies, 
which  consrtitute  our  character  and  personality. 
.     .     .    An  indissoluble  chain  of  solidarity,  an 
inextricable  wheelwork  of  reciprocal  obliga- 
tions, fetter  and  entwine  all  individuals  who, 
while  they  live  in  a  social  order,  must  needs 
transmit  something  one  to  another,  like  the 
waves  of  the  sea,  continuing  the  movement  of 
human  life."     The   writer  says   further    (in 
the  Nuova  Antologia) : 

"A  recognition  of  this  fact  will  not  mean  the 
extinction  of  individuality.  On  the  contrary,  it 
will  mean  that  man,  in  becoming  a  more  zealous 
fellow-worker  in  the  great  upbuilding  and  ad- 
vancement of  civilization,  will  become  so  much 
the  greater  and  nobler  an  individual  In  the 
intunate  consent  of  all  mankind  in  a  common 
action,  in  the  reciprocal  exchange  of  help 
and  services,  in  the  sharing  of  defeats  and 
victories,  in  the  brotherhood  of  the  same  joys  and 
the  same  griefs,  men's  souls  will  be  purged  grad- 
ually of  the  selfish  sediment,  so  that  they  will  re- 
ceive and  bear  testimony  to  the  leaven  of  ever 
new  and  higher  ideals.  Once  illuminated  by  this 
new  ray  of  light,  enlightened  by  this  new  faith, 
life  appears  under  lovelier  and  more  attractive 
hues.  Your  ascetic,  who,  with  f^ze  fixed  on 
the  vision  of  a  faraway  world  which  cannot  be 
ours,  isolates  himself  from  life  by  totally  con- 
secrating himself  to  the  worship  of  his  ideal,  and 
your  "superman,"  who,  by  livmg  solely  in  and 
for  himself,  deludes  himself  with  a  drunken 
dream  of  dominion,  are  seen  to  be  one,  at  least  in 
so  far  as  both  concepts  of  life  are  but  hallucina- 
tioos  of  minds*  either  diseased  or  distraught." 

As  a  striking  proof  of  the  benefits  of  this 
rapidly  growing  sense  of  solidarity,  the  writer 
cites  the  labor-union  movement,  which  in  its 
beginnings  caused  so  much  alarm  and  excited 
such  deep  suspicion,  but  which  to-day,  he 
thinks,  must  be  regarded  as  a  really  beneficient 
factor  in  the  progress  of  civilization,  alike  for 
the  working  man  ,the  employer  ,and  society  as 
a  whole.  "Who  ever  could  have  imagined,"  he 
asks,  "that  this  movement,  so  generally  con- 
sidered as  the  most  genuine  product  of  class- 
antagonism,  as  the  principal  fomenter  of 
strikes  and  of  conflict  between  employers  and 
workers,  was  in  the  crucible  of  time  to  be 


transmitted  into  a  powerful  instrument  of  tran> 
quillity  and  peace  ?"  This  beneficial  outcome  is 
attributed  to  the  new-bom  sense  of  solidarity. 
"By  its  organizations,"  says  Groppali,  "the 
proletariat  exercises  a  reflex  action  for  good 
on  the  industrial  world,  forcing  the  capitalist 
to  adopt  improved  technical  systems,  and 
thereby  intensifying  production.  Thus  while, 
under  the  pressure  of  this  new  force  on  the 
one  hand,  production  improves  and  is  intensi- 
fied, on  the  other  the  working  classes,  enabled 
to  obtain  better  nourishment  and  more  leisure 
to  devote  to  their  own  improvement,  are  wax- 
ing hardier,  more  supple,  and  apter  to  follow 
the  continual  transformation  of  productive 
processes.''  In  the  passage  of  humaner  laws,  in 
charitable  and  philanthropic  ideas  based  upon 
the  idea  of  the  uplifting  effect  of  work  instead 
of  upon  alms-giving,  in  international  al- 
liances of  every  scope,  the  Italian  publicist  also 
sees  encouraging  signs  of  the  growth  of  soli- 
darity.   He  adds : 

"Facts  have  modified  the  prophecy  of  Marx, 
who  thought  that  the  poor  must  ever  grow 
poorer  and  the  rich  richer,  until  the  increasing  ex- 
asperation of  the  masses,  the  revolutionary 
fermentation  of  the  proletariat,  excluded  from  all 
the  joys  of  life,  culminated  in  a  deadly  and  de- 
finitive struggle.  In  the  first  faint  dawn  of  the 
labor  movement  Marx  could  not  either  glimpse 
the  bright  morn  or  foresee  that  this  same  prole- 
tariat .  .  .  was  destined  to  exercise  litUe  by 
little,  by  means  of  its  own  organizations  and  its 
conquest  of  public  powers,  a  conservative  influ- 
ence, and  thus  act  as  a  curb  upon  the  excesses  of 
capitalism.^ 

In  concluding,  Groppali  expresses  his  con- 
viction that  a  conception  of  life  founded  on 
the  solidarity  of  mankind  has  all  the  requisites 
necessary  to  express  the  deeper  aspirations  of 
our  souls.    He  says: 

"Face  to  face  with  the  problem  which  has  con- 
stituted the  dream  and  the  despair  of  all  living  be- 
ings, confronted  with  that  fearsome  question  of 
the  worth  and  end  of  living,  this  conception  is 
clear  and  decided.  It  says  that  if  we  wish  our 
lives  to  pass  by  in  an  undying  Spring  ...  we 
must  live  in  others  and  for  others,  with  the  se- 
cure conviction  that  the  good  done  by  us  will 
be  of  advantage  to  ourselves  likewise,  by  a  nat- 
ural and  automatic  repercussion.    .    .    . 

"This  doctrine  which  nourishes  the  soul  with 
an  immortality  less  ethereal  but  truer  than  that 
which  as  children  we  learned  from  religion  or 
poetry,  must  not  be  regarded  as  a  mere  string  of 
abstract  concepts,  but  as  a  combination  of  the 
most  vital  and  vibrant  emotions  and  sentiments. 
It  must  be  accepted  as  our  viaticum  on  life's 
journey,  as  a  rule  of  faith  which  we  can  live  by 
in  all  glad  sincerity  of  soul,  in  the  fullest  fervor 
of  enthusiasm." 


534 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


A  PSYCHICAL  EXPLANATION  OFyTHE  MIRACLES  OF  JESUS 


The  most  notable  document  thus  far  pub- 
lished in  the  crusade  now  being  carried  on  in 
Germany  with  a  view  to  popularizing  advanced 
theology  (see  Current  Literature,  January) 
is  a  cheaply  issued  work  entitled  "J^sus."  Its 
author,  Professor  Bousset  of  Gottingen,  aims  to 
give  in  simple  language  the  sum  and  substance 
of  modern  critical  opinion  concerning  the 
founder  of  Christianity,  and  his  temper  is  well 
illustrated  by  his  attitude  toward  the  New 
Testament  miracles. 

The  gospels,  as  he  points  out,  attach  almost 
as  much  importance  to  the  miracles  of  Jesus 
as  to  his  teaching.  "He  taught  and  he  healed." 
It  is  significant  that  Jesus  took  into  considera- 
tion not  only  the  spiritual  interests,  but  also 
the  physical  sufferings  of  his  people.  He  was 
not  as  hyperspi ritual  as  many  of  his  followers 
would  have  us  believe.  On  the  other  hand, 
he  was  no  social  reformer.  On  account  of  his 
own  condition,  he  scarcely  regarded  the  pov- 
erty and  the  self-denial  around  him  as  an  evil ; 
it  was  wealth  that  he  felt  to  be  the  main  evil. 
But  whenever  he  saw  real  suffering  with  his 
own  eyes  he  rendered  assistance,  and  when- 
ever he  found  sickness  and  misfortune  he 
healed. 

We  can  call  Jesus,  says  Professor  Bousset, 
an  extraordinarily  successful  physician.  The 
skill  of  the  physician  in  those  days,  at  least 
in  that  part  of  the  world  in  which  Jesus  lived, 
was  of  a  very  primitive  character.  People  had 
no  conception  as  to  what  was  possible  or  im- 
possible through  this  art.  The  physician  em- 
ployed all  kinds  of  medical  devices,  and,  at 
the  same  time,  all  the  tricks  of  quackery,  sym- 
pathy, sorcery,  prayer,  and  the  use  of  the  mys- 
terious name  of  God.  We  can  call  Jesus  a 
physician  who  confined  himself  entirely  to  the 
employment  of  religious  and  spiritual  methods. 
He  spoke  the  healing  word  to  the  sick  man, 
took  him  by  the  hand,  put  his  hand  upon  him. 
This  is  all ;  only  rarely  does  tradition  mention 
that  he  made  use  of  other  means.  We  can  call 
his  healing  method  the  psychical.  He  set  the 
inner  powers  of  man  in  motion  so  that  they 
found  their  realization  externally  in  the  bodily 
life.  He  healed  the  sick  and  suffering  through 
his  unshaken  confidence  in  his  heavenly  Father 
and  the  power  that  was  active  in  him,  by  mak- 
ing others  feel  a  similar  absolute  confidence  in 
him  as  the  messenger  of  God.  In  this  way  the 
healing  method  of  Jesus  lies  entirely  within 
the  sphere  of  what  can  be  psychologically  un- 


derstood. It  is  nothing  absolutely  unique  or 
peculiar  to  himself.  We  find  analogies  through- 
out the  history  of  religion,  even  down  to  our 
own  days.  We  need  but  think  of  the  many 
undeniable  and  amazing  cures  that  have  been 
effected  in  connection  with  the  pilgrimages  to 
Lourdes,  or  the  hearing  of  prayers  in  the  case 
of  Pastor  Blumhardt.  Modern  science  at- 
tributes these  successes  to  suggestion,  auto- 
suggestion, hypnotism,  etc. 

In  view  of  these  analogies,  continues  the 
German  writer,  it  will  doubtless  be  wise  to 
draw  the  circle  of  possibilities  as  wide  as 
possible.  We  must  take  into  considera- 
tion the  masterful  impression  made  by 
the  personality  of  Jesus,  the  almost  incalcu- 
lable popular  confidence  in  this  successful  phy- 
sician, and  the  childlike  naivete  of  people  who 
did  not  know  how  to  mistrust  that  which  was 
regarded  as  miraculous.  But  with  all  this,  the 
limitations  of  Christ's  activity  are  apparent,  and 
we  find  that  there  were  psychological  cpndi- 
tions  which  made  cures  impossible.  In  places 
where  there  was  no  faith  Jesus  failed  to  ef- 
fect cures.  His  greatest  successes  were 
achieved  in  connection  with  demoniacs. 
Among  these  unfortunates  we  recognize  with 
absolute  certainty  the  different  types  of  lunacy, 
such  as  madness  (Mark,  v,  2)  ;  lethargy  (Matt 
xii,  22)  ;  and  epilepsy  (Mark  ix,  17).  The  pop- 
ular opinion  was  that  these  sicknesses  were  the 
direct  result  of  the  presence  and  activity  of 
evil  spirits.  Jesus,  a  child  of  his  own  times, 
shared  this  view.  He  is  represented  as  ex- 
pelling demons  from  these  sick  persons.  What 
really  resulted  was  psychological  healing,  due 
to  the  quieting  effect  of  his  extraordinary  soul 
power.  It  is  just  such  cases  that  have  al- 
ways responded  most  readily  to  psychological 
and  personal  influence.  Christ  did  not  al- 
ways secure  permanent  results.  Many  of  his 
cures  were  doubtless  of  only  a  temporary  char- 
acter. 

Jesus  himself  laid  great  stress  on  his  mira- 
cles, concludes  Professor  Bousset,  and  the  tra- 
ditions of  the  gospels  have  made  him  a  miracle- 
worker  in  the  extraordinary  and  absolute 
sense.  According  to  these  reports,  he  was  a 
superhuman  Son  of  God,  who  directly  affected 
the  conditions  of  life  and  of  mankind.  He  is 
even  reported  to  have  raised  the  dead.  But 
upon  closer  examination  all  these  supernatural 
miracles  can  be  explained  on  a  psychological 
basis. 


RELIGION  AND  ETHICS 


535 


THE  "GREAT  MORAL  UPHEAVAL"  NOW  TAKING  PLACE 

IN  AMERICA 


If  it  be  true,  as  the  New  York  Independent 
observed  not  long  ago,  that  "the  chief  danger 
no'wr  threatening  American  civilization  is  a 
g^eneral  deterioration  of  morals,"  we  ought  to 
take  comfort,  as  a  nation,  in  two  diagnoses  of 
our  moral  health  recently  made  by  English 
writers.  Both  of  these  writers  are  in  the 
highest  degree  optimistic,  and  both  intimate 
that  something  like  a  moral  revival  is  going 
on  in  the  United  States  at  this  moment. 

The  first  of  the  two  writers  mentioned  ex- 
presses his  views  in  Blackwood's  Magazine 
under  the  title,  "American  Morality  on  Its 
Trial."  Referring  to  the  revulsion  of  feeling 
created  in  this  country  by  the  life  insurance 
scandals,  he  says:  "There  is  no  precedent  for 
the  wave  of  moral  indignation  that  has  swept 
over  the  country";  adding:  "The  American 
nation  of  to-day  has  left  no  room  for  doubt 
as  to  the  force  and  sincerity  of  its  protest 
against  financial  and  political  breach  of  trust/' 
In  the  same  article  this  writer  says  further: 

"The  mass  of  the  American  people  are  certain- 
ly as  honest  as  those  of  any  other  country.  They 
have  quite  as  high  a  moral  standard  as  our  own. 
and  are  equally  successful  in  living  up  to  it.  There 
is  no  simpler,  purer  or  more  rational  life  under 
the  sun  than  that  of  the  middle  class  American 
in  his  normal  condition.  Outside  of  the  mael- 
strom of  'machine*  politics  or  Wall  Street  specu- 
lation^^e  twin  curses  of  the  country — ^he  can 
be  high  principled  and  honorable  both  in  busi- 
ness and  in  private  life.  The  70  per  cent,  of 
Americans  who  live  outside  of  the  great  cities 
eat  the  bread  of  honest  industry  and  have  no 
wish  for  any  other.  They  know  nothing  of  'graft' 
and  'tainted  money'  except  what  they  read  in 
the  newspapers.  It  they  were  inclined  to  be  lax, 
the  American  woman  is  there  to  brace  them  up. 
She  continues  to  be  what  she  always  has  been — 
a  great  moral  power. 

"So  long  as  the  American  woman  holds  her 
present  position  in  her  own  household  and  in 
society  there  need  be  little  fear  as  to  the  ulti- 
mate future  of  American  morals.  She  is  one 
of  the  sheet  anchors  of  the  country  in  every 
moral  crisis,  and  her  influence  is  again  making 
itself  felt  to-day.  There  are  many  varieties  of 
good  women  in  the  world:  some  passive  and 
others  active;  some  subjective  and  others  ag- 
gressive. The  good  American  woman  is  the  most 
active  and  ag^essive  of  her  sex.  She  exercises 
the  strictest  discipline  over  her  own  family.  She 
has  the  most  decided  convictions  on  social  ques- 
tions. In  nine  cases  out  of  ten  she  is  an  anti- 
drinker,  anti-smoker  and  anti-gambler.  However 
much  she  may  wish  her  children  to  succeed 
in  life,  she  would  not  have  them  be  Twodlers'  at 
any  price." 

The  second  writer  referred  to,  Admiral  Sir 


C  A.  G.  Bridge,  analyzes  in  The  Nineteenth 
Century  what  he  calls  "a  great  moral  upheaval 
in  America."  This  ethical  enthusiasm,  he  de- 
clares, has  revealed  itself  under  various  forms, 
but  the  object  is  always  the  same — ^the  pttri- 
fication  of  public  life.  Its  most  conspicuous 
'manifestation  he  finds  in  the  revolt  against  the 
boss  and  the  political  machine  in  many  States 
and  cities.  Another  phase  of  the  movement 
is  represented  by  the  "investigation  of  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  great  insurance  companies, 
pushed  on  with  almost  relentless  fervor."  A 
third  aspect  of  the  same  moral  intensity  ap- 
pears, according  to  Admiral  Bridge,  in  the 
movement  against  the  laxity  of  the.  divorce 
laws  of  several  States.  While  dealing  with 
this  subject  he  indulges  in  the  generalizations: 
"It  may  be  because  the  Puritan  ideal  is  not  yet 
entirely  extinct  in  the  United  States,  or  it  miiy 
be  for  reasons  resting  on  a  broader  base,  but 
nothing  is  more  offensive  to  Americans  in  gen- 
eral than  anything  tending  to  the  degradation 
of  the  home.  A  much-reported  scandal  is  not 
regarded  by  them  as  a  good  subject  for  con- 
versation. If  mentioned  at  all,  it  is  usually 
mentioned  with  disgust:  and  the  sayer  of 
smart  things,  who  in  other  societies  is  almost 
expected  to  exercise  his  wit  upon  such  a  mat- 
ter, would,  if  he  tried  to  do  so  in  the  United 
States,  be  thought  and  probably  be  made  to  see 
that  he  was  thought  stupid  and  vulgar."  And, 
finally,  says  the  admiral,  a  curious  manifesta- 
tion of  the  wide  front  of  the  moral  revival  is 
revealed  in  the  many  protests  against  the 
brutality  of  football,  as  played  in  this  country. 
He  goes  on  to  comment: 

"It  is  reasonable  to  ask  why  these  several  move- 
ments or  several  phases  of  one  great  movement, 
naving  what  was  essentially  a  single  aim,  became 
apparent  in  the  year  that  has  just  closed.  The 
answer  can  be  given  easily.  The  immense  num- 
ber of  persons  scattered  over  the  vast  territory 
of  the  United  States  who  have  been  striving  for 
purity  of  life  in  all  its  phases  did  not  come  into 
existence  only  in  the  second  half  of  1905.  They 
had  existed,  in  full  numerical  proportion  to  the 
total  population,  for  many  years.  What  they 
wanted  in  order  to  co-ordmate  their  efforts  and 
give  cohesion  to  their  forces  was  a  standard 
around  which  they  might  assemble,  and  a  stand- 
ard-bearer who  would  lead  them  in  the  great 
campaign  on  behalf  of  public  and  private  morals 
which  they  were  ready,  and  indeed  eager,  to 
fight.  They  have  found  that  standard  in  the  now 
generally  recognised  character,  and  that  leader  in 
the  person,  of  President  Theodore  Roosevelt.    No 


536 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


Copyright,  1900,  by  Prank  V.  Du  Mond. 
CHRIST  AND  THE  WOMAN  TAKEN  IN  ADULTERY 
^By  Frank  V.  Du  Mond.) 
One  of  ten  portrayals  of  Christ  by  American  painters. 

President  since  Washington  has  been  so  general- 
ly popular  or  more  thoroughly  the  President  of 
the  whole  people  rather  than  the  mere  chosen 
head  of  a  party." 

These  5"glish  appreciations  of  our  national 
character  have  led  to  some  interesting  com- 
ment in  this  country.  The  New  York  Outlook 
shares  the  admiral's  view  that  a  very  real 
moral  revival  is  taking  place,  but  thinks  that 
its  causes  lie  far  too  deep  to  be  ascribed,  in 
^ny  large  degree,  to  Theodore  Roosevelt's 
leadership : 

"The  moral  upheaval  does  not  depend  on  any 
one  man,  nor  does  it  owe  its  increasing  vigor  and 
its  promise  for  the  future  to  any  single  career.  It 
is  the  result  of  forces  which  have  been  at  work 
for  years  past,  and  of  a  growing  sense  of  the 
necessity  of  what  Mr.  Kidd  calls  'civic  self-sacri- 
fice.' Americans  have  long  been  restive  under 
machine  politics;  of  late  years  they  have  been 
ashamed  of  their  subservience;  at  last  they  have 


become  willing  to  pay  the  price  of  driving  the 
boss  out  of  public  hfe  and  of  separating  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  country  from  its  business  inter- 
ests. More  than  one  *boss'  of  large  ability  (and 
it  has  happened  many  times  that  'bosses'  have 
been  lacking  in  moral  insight  and  vigor  rather 
than  in  intellectual  capacity)  •  has  discerned  of 
late  years  th6  disastrous  results  of  what  Mr.  Stef- 
fens  calls  'the  systent* — ^that  is  to  say,  the  steady 
and  growing  seizure  of  the  political  life  of  the 
country  for  commercial  purposes — and  has  de- 
plored the  tendency  as  one  of  danger.  This  is  at 
the  root  of  the  greater  part  of  oiu-  moral  dis- 
orders in  public  and  private  life,  .of  the  failure 
of  individuals  and  the  inefficiency  of  the  Govern- 
ment; and  it  is  against  this  corrupt  combination 
between  business  and  government  that  the  coun- 
try has  risen  in  revolt.  It  is  weary  of  influence 
and  pulls  and  backstairs  management;  of  having 
Mr.  Odell  decide  who  shall  be  Governor  of  New 
York,  and  Mr.  Aldrich  make  up  his  mind  in  ad- 
vance what  legislation  shall  be  permitted  to  go 
through  Congress.  It  has  determined  that  the 
men  into  whose  hands  as  trustees  and  directors 
great  sums  of  money  are  placed  shall  not  treat 
their  positions  as  if  they  were  mere  opportunities 
for  private  speculaton  and  money-making;  that 
the  men  at  the  head  of  the  party  organizations 
shall  not  parcel  out  important  positions  as  the 
spoils  of  politics  without  regard  to  public  inter- 
ests. In  other  words,  it  has  determined  that  the 
United  States  shall  lead  a  decent  moral  life;  that 
the  public  shall  manage  its  own  affairs ;  that  legis- 
lators shall  regard  its  will  and  not  the  will  of 
irresponsible  masters;  that  the  men  to  whom 
great  interests  are  committed  shall  guard  those 
interests  sacredly,  or  shall  suffer  definite  punish- 
ment if  they  are  traitors  to  their  trusts. 

"The  moral  upheaval  in  America  is  the  truest 
and  most  beneficent  kind  of  a  revival  of  religion ; 
for  what  is  needed  even  more  than  the  filling 
of  the  churches  and  the  swelling  of  gifts  for  re- 
ligious purposes  is  honesty  in  dealing,  man  with 
man;  a  deep  and  quick  sense  of  responsibility 
of  the  public  servant  to  the  public  that  trusts  him ; 
and  a  quickened  conscience  on  the  part  of  every 
man  who  holds  the  relation  of  a  trustee  to  a 
group  of  men  or  to  the  community.  It  is  the 
social  conscience  which  has  been  touched,  and 
the  revival  now  in  progress  means,  not  primarily 
the  saving  of  individual  men  from  their  sins,  but 
the  redemption  of  great  communities  and  the  rc- 
invigoration  of  the  moral  life  of  States." 

Turning  to  the  definitely  religious  life  of 
the  nation,  The  Outlook  discovers  many  more 
signs  of  moral  activity.  "To  call  this  a  com- 
mercial nation,"  it  says,  "has  been  equivalent 
to  a  severe  judgment  upon  it;"  but  "as  a  mat- 
ter of  fact,  there  are  many  signs  which  indicate 
that  behind  this  immense  development  of  in- 
dustry, commerce,  and  finance  there  is  a  genu- 
ine idealism."  "This  commercial  period,"  it 
adds,  "has  compassed  the  establishment  and 
growth  of  three  of  the  most  remarkable  re- 
ligious orders  of  all  time — ^the  Salvation 
Army,  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Associa- 
tion,   and    the    Young    People's    Society    of 


RELIGION  AND  ETHICS 


537 


Christian  Endeavor.  Of  these  three  one 
was  planted  and  two  have  found  most  fertile  soil 
in  this  commercial  nation."  Moreover,  "this 
period  and  country  have  shown  their  char- 
acter by  responding  to  that  severest  of  all  tests 
of  religious  idealism — the  summons  to  engage 
in  foreign  missions."  Never,  avers  The  Out- 
look, was  the  response  to  this  summons  more 
emphatic  than  at  present;  and  in  witness  to 
the  truth  of  this  statement  it  cites  the  recent 
convention  of  the  Student  Volunteer  move- 
ment Of  the  history  of  this  movement  The 
Outlook  says: 

"Twenty  years  ago  Mr.  D wight  L.  Moody  in- 
vited some  college  students  to  Northfield  to  spend 
a  few  weeks  in  the  study  of  the  Bible.  Out  of  the 
gathering  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  students  there 
has  come  this  movement.  Originally  simply  an 
unorganized  body  of  men  with  a  common  purpose, 
it  is  now  an  incorporated  body.  Those  who  make 
this  declaration,  •  *It  is  my  purpose,  if  God  per- 
mit, to  become  a  foreign  missionary,'  are  known 
as  Student  Volunteers.  The  organization  does 
not  send  out  missionaries;  the  Volunteers  all  ro 
out  under  their  own  denominational  boards.  Al- 
lied with  this  purpose  of  enlisting  recruits  for 
the  service  is  that  of  promoting  in  the  home 
land  an  intelligent  knowledge  and  interest  con- 
cerning the  subject  of  foreign  missions. 

"Some  conception  of  the  extent  of  this  move- 
ment may  be  gathered  from  the  following  facts: 
Up  to  the  beginning  of  this  year  almost  three 
thousand  volunteers  had  sailed  for  the  foreign 
field;  one  thousand  of  these  have  gone  in  the 
last  four  years.  Text-books  on  missions  have 
been  prepared,  and  twelve  thousand  students  in 
our  colleges  in  over  one  thousand  groups  are 
studying  the  subject  under  highly  qualified  men. 
It  is  safe  to  say  that  never  before  have  so  many 


Copy  light,  180C  by  WUl  fl.  Low. 
♦'  HE  THAT  IS  WITHOUT  SIN  AMONG  YOU,  L^T 
HIM  FIRST  CAST  A  STONE" 

Will  H.  Low's  treatment  of  this  theme  is  softer,  and 
less  dramatic,  than  that  of  Frank  V.  DuMond,  shown  on 
the  opposite  page. 

men  gone  forth  from  our  colleges  with  so  broad 
a  view  of  the  forces  working  for  and  against  the 
regeneration  of  the  world." 


NEW  PORTRAYALS  OF  CHRIST  BY  AMERICAN   PAINTERS 


A  number  of  Cleveland  business  men 
recently  conceived  the  idea  of  collecting  and 
exhibiting  ten  portraits  of  Christ  by  represent- 
ative American  painters.  They  were  doubt- 
less guided  and  influenced  by  a  somewhat 
similaf  religio-artistic  undertaking  in  Ger- 
many, a  few  years  ago,  which  enlisted  such 
talented  artists  as  Gabriel  Max,  KampfiF, 
Stucke,  and  others.  Organized  under  the  title 
"The  Exhibition  of  American  Arts  Company," 
they  invited  ten  well-known  American  painters 
— among  them  John  La.Farge,  Kenyon  Cox  and 
Will  H.  Low — to  embody  their  conceptions  of 
Christ  in  life-size  canvases.  Each  artist  was 
left  free  in  the  details  of  his  composition,  and 
each  was  asked  to  contribute  an  interpreta- 
tion of  his  own  particular  motif.    The  result- 


ing pictures  constitute  a  unique  group,  and  are 
now  being  exhibited  in  New  York. 

Probably  the  most  notable  painting  in  the 
collection  is  that  by  Joseph  Lauber,  entitled: 
"In  Him  was  life:  and  the  life  was  the  light 
of  men."  It  shows  a  virile  and  impassioned 
Christ,  standing  on  a  hill-top  illumined  by  the 
rays  of  the  sinking  sun.  The  artist  declares 
that  his  idea  was  "to  create  a  visible  embodi- 
ment of  an  idea  which  is  in  the  mind  of  every 
Christian.  I  have  not  chosen,"  he  says,  "the 
representation  of  my  scene  from  His  ministry 
accompanied  by  accessory  figures,  nor  the  Man 
of  Sorrows,  nor  the  traditional  visionary  figure 
remote  from  man,  surrounded  by  a  nimbus; 
what  has  impressed  me  most  is  the  spiritual 
power  and  quietness  of  Christ,  the  giving  of 


538 


CURRENT    LITERATURE 


Cupyrlfbt*  1906  by  Keiiron  Cox. 

"COME  UNTO  ME" 
(By  Kenyon  Cox.) 

self,  and  the  love,  mercy  and  charity  He 
brought  into  this  life,  especially  for  the  op- 
pressed and  those  whom  the  world  scorns." 

John  La  Farge  has  painted  Christ  the  Com- 
forter, following  the  text:  "Yea,  though  I 
walk  through  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of 
death,  I  will  fear  no  evil,  for  Thou  art  with 
me."  The  work  is  medieval,  rather  than  mod- 
ern, in  spirit,  and  reminiscent  of  the  early 
Italian  school.  It  owes  much  of  its  charni  to 
beautiful  coloring  and  draperies.  Mr.  La 
Farge's  Christ,  remarks  the  New  York  Times, 
"has  an  expression  steadfast  and  aloof.  One 
thinks  of  busts  of  Zeus  marked  by  an  Olym- 
pian calm." 

Kenyon  Cox  and  Charles  C.  Curran  have 
both  taken  the  text,  "Come  unto  Me";  but  the 
treatments  are  widely  different.  The  former 
gives  us  a  rich  study  in  voluptuous  reds;  the 
latter  shows  an  ascetic  Christ,  clad  in  a  single 
white  robe  which  leaves  the  neck  and  right 
shoulder  bare.  Gari  Melchers  portrays  Christ 
as  "The  Man  of  Sorrows,"  with  sad  mien  and 
downcast   eyes. 

Will  H.  Low  and  Frank  V.  Du  Mond  have 
both  pictured  the  incident  of  Christ  and  the 


woman  taken  in  adultery.  Mr.  Low's  picture 
is  graceful,  rather  than  strong.  He  paints  a 
young  Christ  in  profile,  under  an  arbor,  lean- 
ing over  a  young  woman  who  kneels  at  his 
feet.     Mr.  Low  says  in  comment: 

"In  essaying  to  portray  the  figure  of  Christ, 
one  is  struck  at  the  outset  bv  the  complete  omis- 
sion throughout  the  New  Testament  narrative 
of  any  reference  to  His  physical  appearance. 
Hence  it  is  but  logical  to  presume  that,  coming^ 
as  a  Man  to  men,  His  figure  and  face  were  devoid 
of  aught  that  was  visibly  supernatural.  On  the 
other  hand,  coming  from  whence  we  know  not, 
there  has  been  evolved  an  accepted  type  which 
in  many  and  varied  instances  has  served  the  art- 
ist throughout  the  Christian  era,  and  which  to 
all  mankind  is  recognizable  as  a  portrayal  of 
Christ.  The  splendid  and  majestic,  the  ethereally 
spiritualized  or  the  careworn  and  sorrow-laden 
type  of  Christ  offer,  one  and  all,  abundant  op- 


Copyrl«lit,  19f-6.  by  La  Furg« 

"YEA,  THOUGH  I  WALK 
THROUGH  THE  VALLEY  OP 
THE  SHADOW  OF  DEATH,  I 
WILL  FEAR  NO  EVIL,  FOR 
THOU  ART  WITH  ME." 

(By  John  La  Farge.) 


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"IN  HIM  WAS  LIFE:    AND  THE  LIFE  WAS  THE  LIGHT  OF  MEN" 

This  painting,  bv  Joseph  Lauber,  is  probably  the  most  notable  of  a  group  of  Christ-portraits 
now  bein^  exhibited  in  New  York.  It  shows  a  virile  and  impassioned  figure  standing  on  a  hill- 
top Illuminated  by  the  rays  of  the  sinking  sun. 


S40 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


portunity  to  the  artist.  But  a  more  simple  in- 
terpretation has  appealed  to  me.  My  endeavor 
has  been  to  depict,  in  so  far  as  a  picture  may 
translate  the  spoken  word,  His  appeal  to  our 
charity  of  thought  and  judgment,  as  being  per- 
haps more  than  any  other  of  His  utterances  ap- 
plicable to  our  everyday  life.  .  .  .  Of  the 
type  of  Christ  I  can  only  say  that  I  have  sought 
to  express  a  man  compassionate  and  just,  gentle 
yet  strong,  one  whose  thoughts  have  left  a  cer- 
tain impression  of  nobility  upon  a  face  which 
otherwise  might  pass  unnoticed  among  the  peo- 
ple— where  He  might  be,  as  indeed  He  was,  known 
as  *the  son  of  Joseph,  the  carpenter/  " 

Mr.  Dumond's  treatment  of  the  text,  "He 
that  is  without  sin  among  you,  let  him, cast 
a  stone,"  is  much  more  dramatic  than  Mr. 
I^w's.  It  is  strongly  Oriental  in  feeling. 
Christ  stands  with  shrouded  head  and  uplifted 
hands  in  the  door  of  the  Temple,  and^  Mag- 
*dalen,  stricken  with  shame  and  terror,  writhes 
before  him. 

Frederick  S.  Lamb's  picture  h^s  a  stained- 


glass-window  effect,  and  illustrates  "The  Old 
and  the  New  Jerusalem."     He  says: 

"I  have  represented  the  Christ  on  the  moun- 
tain with  the  old  city,  Jerusalem,  at  his  feet.  The 
time  is  late  afternoon,  and   He  is  supposed  to 

,  have  gone  to  the  mountain  for  meditation  and 
prayer.  While  intent  upon  the  thought  of  the 
saymg  of  the  *01d  Jerusalem*  there  comes  to  Him 
the  vision  of  the  New.  This  is  depicted  in  the 
picture  behind  the  head,  and  forms  in  the  sky 

*  a  cross,  suggesting  the  sacrifice  which  He  must 
make  in  order  to  achieve  redemption  for  the 
world." 

There  remain  George  Hitchcock's  "Christ, 
the  Preacher,"  and  William  H.  Crane's  "Thy 
Will  be  Done."  The  first  shows  a  sorrowful 
figure  against  a  sunny  orchard,  with  radiant 
flowers.  The  second  is  a  picture  of  Christ  in 
.  Gethsemane,  praying  in  the  dusk  under  a  tree. 

As  a  whole,  the  ten  paintings  are  conceded 
to  be  strikingly  beautiful  and  impressive.  They 
will  be  shown  for  several  weeks  in  New  York, 
and  then  exhibited  in  other  cities. 


A  REVOLT  AGAINST  CHURCH 'AtJTHORITY  IN  GERAIANY 


The  spirit  that  prompted  the  separation  of 
church  aud  State  in  France  seems  to  have^ 
spread  to  Germany,  where  all  at  once  a  num- 
ber of  movements  have  sprung  up  with  the 
one  purpose  of  persuading  the  people  to  leave 
the  churches  en  masse.  The  unique  feature 
of  this  propaganda  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  does 
not  emanate  from  governmental  Sources,  but 
is  rather  directed  against  the  government. 
Moreover,  the  agitation  is  confined  to  the  lib- 
eral and  radical  sections  of  the  church,  and 
is  based  on  alleged  favoritism  shown  by  the 
State  to  the  conservative  party. 

Perhaps  the  most  noteworthy  expression  of 
this  movement  is  thkt  embodied  in  a  widely 
circulated,  appeal  recently  issued  by  students 
of  the  great  Universities  of  Berlin  and  Leipsic, 
asking  the  professors  and  the  students  to  sever 
their  connection  with  the  church  on  the  ground 
that  the  principles  of  the  latter  are  antago- 
nistic to  the  independence  of  research  and 
thought  demanded  by  "academic  freedom." 
From  this  manifesto  we  quote  the  following 
characteristic  extracts : 

The  independence  of  German  thought,  secured 
at  so  great  a  cost,  is  in  danger.  Our  opponents 
are  determined  and  outspoken,  and  to  a  great  ex- 
tent have  secured  the  ear  and  the  influence  of 
those  in  authority  in  the  State.  University  men, 
both    professors    and    studertts,    are    largely    to 


blame  for  the  present  deplorable  condition  of 
a^irs.  This  .weakness  of  character  in  modern 
univernty  life  will  in  the  end  poison  the  people 
and  ^oduce  intellectual  decay.  University  free- 
dom implies  absolute  independence  of  anv  author- 
ity in'  matters  of  thought  and  science,  also  in  re^ 
ligio^is  questions.  For  this  reason  a  genuine  uni- 
•versilty  man  can  never  honestly  accept  any  re- 
ligious creed  or  confession.  The  vast  majority 
'  of  "German  professors  and  students  have  as  a 
ftiajtter  of  fact  already  broken  with  the  church ;  and 
all  that  is  tiow  asked  of  them  is  that  they  be  hon- 
est enough  to  discard  their  mask  and  to  abandon 
religiotis 'profession.  Accordingly,  we  ask  all  of 
the  nott-tjieological  professors  to  leave  the  church 
;in  a  body  and  to  insist  upon  the  theological  fac- 
ulty being  takfen  out  of  the  university  teaching 
corps,  since  what  it  teaches  is  in  the  nature  of  the 
case  i^nconsistent  and  incompatible  with  the  canons 
and  spirit  of  modern  independence  of  thought  and 
reseatch. 

Academic  Fellow-Citizens:  The  undersigned 
have  formally  severed  their  connection  with  the 
church  and  ask  you  to  do  the  same.  Only  a  gen- 
eral exodus  of  the  university  men  out  of  the 
churches  can  free  the  people  from  confessional 
control  through  the  State. 

Another  appeal,  but  of  a  different  kind,  is 
found  in  the  Neue  Gesellschaft,  the  socialistic 
organ  of  former  pastor  Paul  Goehre.  It  urges 
all  who  believe  in  independence  in  religious 
matters  to  leave  the  church,  on  the  ground  that 
the  new  school  law  will  put  the  schools  and 
thereby  the  education  of  the  coming  genera- 


RELIGION  AND  ETHtcy 


543 


tion  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  clergy  and 
the  church.  The  appeal,  while  directed 
strongly  against  the  church,  claims  to  be  issued 
in  the  interest  of  true  religion.  The  schools 
and  popular  education,  this  document  declares, 
must  be  absolutely  independent  of  church  con- 
trol and  must  be  secular  in  character.  The 
public  schools,  it  says  further,  have  no  busi- 
ness to  impart  religious  instructions,  and  if 
tens  or  hundreds  of  thousands  declare  to  the 
government  that  they  will  sooner  leave  the 
churches  than  submit  to  the  new  school  law, 
the  State  will  take  sober  second  thought  and 
make  haste  slowly. 

By  no  means  all  of  the  advocates  of  liberal 
religious  thought  recognize  this  "appeal"  as 
expressing  their  views.  The  Christliche  Welt 
(Marburg),  the  leading  popular  organ  of  ad- 
vanced theology  in  Germany,  moderately,  yet 
firmly,  expresses  its  dissent  from  the  Goehre 
agitation. 

Still  different  in  character  is  a  public  appeal 
issued  by  the  authorities  of  the  Free  Religious 
Congregation  in  Berlin.  This  document  also 
takes  the  new  school  law  for  a  text,  and  urges 
upon  the  liberal-minded  people  of  Germany  the 
necessity  of  declaring  officially  the  dissolution 
of  their  connection  with  the  church.  In  this 
way,  it  says,  they  can  rid  themselves  of  the 
church  taxes  which  otherwise  they  will  be  com- 
pelled to  pay.    It  closes  with  the  words:  "He 


■jS' 


who   h^ 
shour 
his  CG 
appeal. 
Christian 
break  away 
those  who  are 
attending  such  a 

All    these    appCv 
when  it  is  remembet 
and  church  are  uniteo, 
born  into  some  religiouk 
tinues  to  be  regarded  as  a  . 
unless  he  formally  and  legah^ 
nection.  This  the  Germans  are  . 
to  do,  and  even  the  propaganda  w 
Social  Democrats  has  failed  to  dra\ 
number  out  of  the  churches.     The 
want  to  be,  nominally  at  least,  religioui^ 

A  new  organization,  called  "Mon 
Verein,"  devoted  to  the  advocacy  of  the  r* 
ical  anti-Christian  philosophy  of  Haeckel,  o. 
Jena,  is  in  reality  also  directed  against  the 
church,  although  nominally  of  a  scientific 
character.  Haeckel,  the  alter  ego  of  Darwin 
in  Germany,  and  author  of  "The  Riddle  of  the 
Universe,"  has  been  nothing  if  not  a  pro- 
nounced enemy  of  the  church,  and  the  new 
society,  of  which  he  is  the  president  and  lead- 
ing spirit,  is  altogether  at  one  with  him  in  this 
respect. 


^aven  and  hell 

ii^ioT  the  medie- 

•^     Vage  on  earth. 

<^  ^c!^'  cnP  ^^^  thought 

'^.<^  ^\cJory  oi  hon- 

^  J^\^pi  fame  for 

vo*^     SP  r  the  loss 

^^^'Acs,  rul- 

"5^^?^  >rice  as 

'^^«'^se  of 

^States 

^^.  the 

^self 

in 

of 

t 


THE  SCHOOLS  OF  JERUSALEM 


Jerusalem,  the  sacred  city  of  the  three  great 
monotheistic  religions  of  the  world,  Christian- 
ity, Judaism  and  Mohammedanism,  has  through 
the  agency  of  these  religions  become  in  recent 
years  a  noteworthy  educational  center.  In  the 
middle  ages  it  was  well  supplied  with  prom- 
inent Mohammedan  schools.  They  were 
found  chiefly  in  the  immediate  surroundings 
of  the  old  Temple  Place,  the  present  Haram, 
and  attracted  pupils  and  students  from  the 
entire  Mohammedan  world.  When  in  1517  the 
Turks  gained  possession  of  the  Holy  Land 
these  schools  fell  into  decay.  There  was  no 
revival  of  the  educational  interests  in  the  city 
until  the  second  half  of  the  last  century,  when 
various  societies  and  churches  of  Protestant- 
ism went  vigorously  to  work  to  establish 
schools.  In  a  spirit  of  rivalry  and  imitation 
the  other  religious  communions  followed  their 


example.  As  a  result,  an  exceptionally  large 
number  of  schools  have  in  recent  years  been 
established  in  Jerusalem,  and  are  exercising 
great  influence  over  the  intellectual  and  spirit- 
ual status  of  the  city. 

To  the  Bote  aus  Zion,  a  German  quarterly 
published  in  Jerusalem  in  the  interest  of  the 
great  Syriac  orphan  homes  established  by  the 
late  Pastor  Schneller,  we  are  indebted  for  the 
above  facts.  The  same  paper  makes  it  clear 
that  the  Mohammedans,  while  at  present  the 
dominant  power  in  Palestine,  are  not  in  the 
majority  in  Jerusalem,  where  they  number  only 
about  6,000  souls  and  have  only  four  schools. 
Three  of  these  are  of  the  common  grade,  and 
one  is  a  higher  institution  of  learning.  In  the 
last  mentioned  there  is  an  enrolment  of  120 
boys  and  youths,  who,  through  the  medium  of 
the  Arabic  language,  are  taught  the  Koran, 


542 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


and  in  ariition  study  the  Turkish  and  the 
French  inguages,  mathematics,  geography, 
and  his^ry.  One  of  the  common  schools  is 
for  girl',  with  350  in  attendance,  and  the  other 
two  fo  boys,  with  an  enrolment  of  480.  In 
these  ilementary  schools,  too,  the  Koran  is 
the  lasis  for  work  done  in  reading,  writing 
and  memorizing.  Compulsory  attendance  is 
the  rule  for  the  boys. 

rlistorically,  the  Greek  Orthodox  Church 
t^kes  the  precedence  among  the  different 
Christian  communions  represented  in  Jeru- 
salem. In  Palestine  as  a  whole  this  church 
reports  some  90  schools  with  4,500  pupils. 
The  Greeks  in  Jerusalem  number  about  5,000 
souls,  and  have  e^ablished  five  schools — two 
/  higher  academies  preparing  boys  for  entrance 
into  a  priest's  seminary — ^two  day-schools  of  an 
elementary  character,  and  a  school  for  small 
children.  The  seminary  itself  is  near  Jeru- 
salem with  70  students  enrolled.  The  two  day- 
schools  are  attended  by  250  boys  and  120  girls. 

The  Roman  Catholic  Church  has  been  estab- 
lished in  the  Holy  Land  since  the  crusades, 
and  its  adherents  are  generally  known  as  the 
Latin  Christians.  They  report  one  theological 
seminary  with  30  students  and  three  element- 
ary schools  for  boys  and  four  for  girls,  each  in 
charge  of  some  special  order  or  organization 
of  the  church. 

The  best  results  have  undoubtedly  been  ac- 
complished by  Protestants,  and  are  closely 
identified  with  the  revered  name  of  Bishop 
Gobat,  of  Jerusalem.  The  Protestants  have  a 
normal  school  in  connection  with  a  Syriac 
orphan  home,  with  16  male  students,  and  a 
newly  established  girls'  Normal  School  man- 
aged by  the  Kaisers wert  Deaconesses.  The 
boys'  school  of  the  Orphans'  Home  has  an  en- 
rolment of  230,  and  the  girls'  school  of  123. 


Among  these  15  are  blind.  In  addition  there 
are  four  other  Protestant  day-schools  and  a 
school  for  small  children.  English  Protestant- 
ism is  very  active  in  educational  work.  The 
Church  Mission  Society  has  a  high  school  and 
an  elementary  school  for  boys  and  one  for 
girls,  the  last  mentioned  with  an  enrolment 
of  300.  The  London  Jewish  Mission  Society 
also  controls  two  such  schools;  and  the  strict 
Episcopalians  in  the  American  colony  sup- 
port religious  schools  of  their  own. 

Of  the  other  Christian  sects,  only  the  Ar- 
menians and  the  Russians  have  schools  of  their 
own  in  the  sacred  city.  The  former  maintain 
a  theological  seminary  with  75  students,  and 
boys'  and  girls'  schools  with  130  pupils;  while 
the  Russians  have  only  a  single  school,  for 
small  children.  The  inactivity  of  the  latter  in 
this  regard  is  remarkable,  especially  in  view 
of  the  fact  that  the  Orthodox  Church  is  doing 
so  much  for  schools  in  other  portions  of 
Palestine. 

Jerusalem  is  rapidly  again  becoming  a  Jew- 
ish city,  and  the  Jews  are  doing  much  for  the 
education  of  their  children,  although  it  is  al- 
most impossible  to  secure  reliable  statistics  on 
the  subject.  Most  of  the  Jewish  schools  are 
of  the  Talmud  type,  and  several  prepare  young 
men  for  rabbinical  positions.  The  best  are 
those  controlled  by  the  "Alliance  Israelite," 
with  which  manual  training  is  often  connected. 

Statistics  show  that  about  one  out  of  every 
six  or  seven  of  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem  is 
attending  school.  Not  a  few  of  the  pupils  come 
from  outside  the  city  or  from  abroad.  In 
Jerusalem  itself,  however,  there  are  about 
9,000  children  between  six  and  fourteen  years, 
and  of  a  proper  age  to  attend  school.  On  this 
basis  the  population  of  the  city  is  doubtless 
about  60,000. 


THE  NAIVE  RELIGION   OF  THE  GREEKS 


"The  Greeks  are  ever  children,"  Herodotus 
once  said,  and  the  words  might  serve  as  a  text 
for  G.  Lowes  Dickinson's  new  and  brilliant 
study*  of  Greek  life  and  thought.  Children 
of  genius  they  may  have  been,  with  creative 
powers  that  belong  to  maturity  and  not  to 
childhood,  but  children  they  nevertheless  were, 
facing  the  world  and  its  problems  with  the 
bright  eyes  and  wondering  gaze  of  childhood. 


•The  Greek  View  of  Life. 
McClure,  Phillips  &  Co. 


By  G.  Lowes  Dickinson. 


Nothing  could  be  more  naive  than  the  Greek 
idea  of  deity.  Facing  the  mysterious  mani- 
festations of  the  natural  world — the  fire  that 
burns,  the  water  that  drowns,  the  tempest  that 
harries  and  destroys — and  asking  himself. 
What  is  this  persistent,  obscure,  unnamable 
Thing?  the  Greek  replied:  "It  is  something 
like  myself."  And  so  every  power  of  nature 
he  presumed  to  be  a  spiritual  being,  imperson- 
ating the  sky  as  Zeus,  the  earth  as  Demeter, 
the  sea  as  Poseidon.    Says  Mr.  Dickinson: 


RELIGION  AND  ETHICS 


543 


"From  generation  to  generation  under  his  shap- 
ing hands,  the  figures  multiply  and  define  them- 
selves; character  and  story  crystallise  about  what 
at  first  were  little  more  than  names;  till  at  last, 
from  the  womb  of  the  dark  enigma  that  haunted 
him  in  the  beginning,  there  emerges  into  the 
charmed  light  of  a  world  of  ideal  grace  a  pan- 
theon of  fair  and  concrete  personalities.  Nature 
has  become  a  company  of  spirits;  every  cave 
and  fountain  is  haunted  by  a  nymph ;  in  the  ocean 
dwell  the  Nereids,  in  the  mountain  the  Oread, 
the  Dryad  in  the  wood;  and  everywhere,  in 
groves  and  marshes,  on  the  pastures  or  the  rocky 
heights,  floating  in  the  current  of  the  streams  or 
traversing  untrodden  snows,  in  the  day  at  the 
chase  and  as  evening  closes  in  solitude  fingering 
his  flute,  seen  and  heard  by  shepherds,  alone 
or  with  his  dancing  train,  is  to  be  met  the  horned 
and  ffoat-footed,  the  sunny-smiling  Pan. 

"Thus  conceived^,  the  world  has  become  less 
terrible  because  more  familiar.  All  that  was  in- 
comprehensible, all  that  was  obscure  and  dark,  has 
now  been  seized  and  bodied  forth  in  form,  so  that 
everywhere  man  is  confronted  no  longer  with 
blind  and  unintelligible  force,  but  with  spiritual 
beings  moved  by  like  passions  with  himself.  The 
god^  it  is  true,  were  capricious  and  often  hostile 
to  his  good,  but  at  least  they  had  a  nature  akin 
to  his;  if  they  were  angry,  they  might  be  propiti- 
ated; if  they  were  jealous,  they  might  be  ap- 
peased; the  enmity  of  one  might  be  compensated 
by  the  friendship  of  another;  dealings  with  them, 
after  all,  were  not  so  unlike  dealings  with  men, 
and  at  the  worst  there  was  always  a  chance  for 
courage,  patience  aiid  wit" 

The  Greek  view  of  death  and  a  future  life 
was  scarcely  less  naive.  It  partakes  of  the 
ghostly  imaginings  of  childhood.  Greek  re- 
ligion taught  the  survival  of  the  spirit  after 
death;  but  this  survival,  as  described  in  the 
Homeric  poems,  is  merely  that  of  a  phantom 
and  a  shade,  a  bloodless  and  colorless  duplicate 
of  the  man  as  he  lived  on  earth.  On  no  people 
has  the  shadow  of  death  fallen  with  more 
horror  than  upon  the  Greeks.  "The  tenderest 
of  their  songs  of  love  close  with  a  sob ;  and  it 
is  an  autumn  wind  that  rustles  in  their  bowers 
of  spring."  Quoting  the  account  of  Odysseus' 
meeting  with  his  mother's  ghost — how  he 
sprang  toward  her  and  was  minded  to  embrace 
her,  but  she  "flitted  from  his  hands"  with 
cries  and  lamentation  that  "the  sinews  no  more 
bind  together  the  flesh  and  the  bones" — Mr. 
Dickinson   says: 

"From  such  a  conception  of  the  life  after  death 
little  comfort  could  be  drawn;  nor  does  it  appear 
that  any  was  sought  So  far  as  we  can  trace  the 
habitual  attitude  of  the  Greek  he  seems  to  have 
occupied  himself  little  with  speculation,  either  for 
good  or  evil,  as  to  what  might  await  him  on  the 
other  side  of  the  tomb.  He  was  told  indeed  in 
his  legends  of  a  happy  place  for  the  souls  of 
heroes,  and  of  torments  reserved  for  great  crim- 
inals ;  but  these  ideas  do  not  seem  to  have  haunted 
his  imagination.    He  was  never  obsessed  by  that 


close  and  imminent  vision  of  heaven  and  hell 
which  overshadowed  and  dwarfed,  for  the  medie- 
val mind,  the  brief  space  of  pilgrimage  on  earth. 
Rather  he  turned,  by  preference,  from  the  thought 
of  death  back  to  life,  and  in  the  memory  of  hon- 
ourable deeds  in  the  past  and  the  hope  of  fame  for 
the  future  sought  his  compensation  for  the  loss 
of  youth  and  love." 

A -hierarchy  of  anthropomorphic  deities,  rul- 
ing the  world  as  much  by  whim  and  caprice  as 
by  wisdom,  left  no  room  for  either  a  sense  of 
sin  or  a  sense  of  duty.  Mr.  Dickinson  states 
it  as  a  distinguishing  characteristic  of  the 
Greek  religion  that  "it  did  not  concern  itself 
with  the  conscience  at  all;  the  conscience,  in 
fact,  did  not  yet  exist,  to  enact  that  drama  of 
the  soul  with  God  which  is  the  main  interest 
of  the  Christian,  or  at  least  of  the  Protestant 
faith."    The  Writer  says  further: 

"To  the  Puritan,  the  inward  relation  of  the  soul 
to  God  is  everything;  to  the  average  Greek,  one 
may  say  broadly,  it  was  nothing;  it  would  have 
been  at  variance  with  his  whole  conception  of  the 
divine  power.  For  the  gods  of  Greece  were  be- 
ings essentially  like  man,  superior  to  him  not  in 
spiritual  nor  even  in  moral  attributes,  but  in  out- 
ward gifts,  such  as  strength,  beauty,  and  immor- 
tality. And  as  a  consequence  of  this  his  relations 
to  them  were  not  inward  and  spiritual,  but  exter- 
nal and  mechanical.  In  the  midst  of  a  crowd  of 
deities,  capricious  and  conflicting  in  their  wills, 
he  had  to  find  his  way  as  best  he  could.  There 
was  no  knowing  precisely  what  a  god  might  want ; 
there  was  no  knowing  what  he  might  be  going  to 
do.  If  a  man  fell  into  trouble,  no  doubt  he  had 
offended  somebody,  but  it  was  not  so  easy  to  say 
whom  or  how ;  if  he  neglected  the  proper  observ- 
ances no  doubt  he  would  be  punished,  but  it  was 
not  everyone  who  knew  what  the  proper  observ- 
ances were.  Altogether  it  was  a  diflicult  thing  to 
ascertain  or  to  move  the  will  of  the  gods,  and  one 
must  help  oneself  as  best  one  could.  The  Greek, 
accordingly,  helped  himself  b"  an  elaborate  sys- 
tem of  sacrifice  and  prayer  and  divination,  a  sys- 
tem which  had  no  connection  with  an  internal 
spiritual  life,  but  the  object  of  which  was  simply 
to  discover  and  if  possible  to  affect  the  divine  pur- 
poses." 

Moral  virtue  the  Greeks  conceived  not  as 
obedience  to  an  external  law,  a  sacrifice  of  the 
natural  man  to  a  power  that  in  a  sense  is  alien 
to  himself,  but  rather  as  the  tempering  into 
due  proportion  of  the  elements  of  which 
human  nature  is  composed.  The  good  man 
was  the  man  who  was  beautiful — ^beautiful  in 
soul.  "Virtue,"  says  Plato,  "will  be  a  kind  of 
health  and  beauty  and  good  habit  of  the  soul ; 
and  vice  will  be  a  disease  and  deformity  and 
sickness  of  it."  Such  being  the  conception  of 
virtue  among  the  Greeks,  it  follows  that  the 
motive  to  pursue  it  can  hardly  have  presented 
itself  to  them  in  the  form  of  what  we  call  the 
"sense  of  duty."     As  Mr.  Dickinson  puts  it: 


544 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


"Duty  emphasises  self- repression.  Against  the 
desires  of  man  it  sets  a  law  of  prohibition,  a  law 
which  is  not  conceived  as  that  of  his  own  com- 
plete nature,  asserting  against  a  partial  or  dis- 
proportioned  development  the  balance  and  totality 
of  the  ideal,  but  rather  as  a  rule  imposed  from 
without  b^  a  power  distinct  from  himself,  for  the 
mortification,  not  the  perfecting,  of  his  natural 
impulses  and  aims.  Duty  emphasises  self- repres- 
sion ;  the  Greek  view  emphasised  self-development 
That  'health  and  beauty  and  good  habit  of  the 
soul,'  which  is  Plato's  ideal,  is  as  much  its  own 
recommendation  to  the  natural  man  as  is  the 
health  and  beauty  of  the  body.  Vice,  on  this  view, 
is  condemned  because  it  is  a  frustration  of  nature, 
virtue  praised  because  it  is  her  fulfillment;  and 
the  motive  throughout  is  simply  that  passion  to 
realise  oneself  which  is  commonly  acknowledged 
as  sufficient  in  the  case  of  physical  development, 
and  which  appeared  sufficient  to  the  Greeks  in 
the  case  of  the  development  of  the  soul." 

From  such  reasoning  as  this  it  appears 
clearly  enough  that  the  Greek  ideal  was  far 
removed  from  asceticism;  but  it  might  be 
argued,  on  the  other  hand,  that  it  came  dan- 
gerously near  to  license.  "Nothing,  however," 
says  Mr.  Dickinson,  "could  be  furthfer  from 
the  case."  That  there  were  libertines  among 
the  Greeks,  as  everywhere  else,  he  argues, 
goes  without  saying;  but  the  conception  that 
the  Greek  view  of  life  was  to  follow  impulse 
and  abandon  restraint  is  characterized  as  a 
figment  of  would-be  "Hellenists"  of  our  own 
time.  "The  word  which  best  sums  up  the 
ideal  of  the  Greeks  is  'temperance' " ;  and 
'^he  self-realization  to  which  they  aspired 
was  not  an  anarchy  of  passion,  but  an  or- 
dered evolution  of  the  natural  faculties  under 
the  strict  control  of  a  balanced  mind."  In 
illustration  of  his  point,  Mr.  Dickinson  refers 
to  the  treatment  of  pleasure  in  the  philosophy 
of  Plato  and  of  Aristotle : 

"The  practice  of  the  libertine  is  to  identify 
pleasure  and  good  in  such  a  manner  that  he  pur- 
sues at  any  moment  any  pleasure  that  presents 
itself,  eschewing  comparison  and  following  the 
flow  of  vivid  and  fresh  sensations  which  he  pos- 
tulates as  the  end  of  life.  The  ideal  of  the 
Greeks,  on  the  contrary,  as  interpreted  by  their 
two  greatest  thinkers,  while  on  the  one  hand  it  is 
so  far  opposed  to  asceticism  that  it  requires 
pleasure  as  an  essential  complement  of  Good,  on 
the  other,  is  so  far  from  identifying  the  two,  that 
it  recognizes  an  ordered  scale  of  pleasures,  and 
while  rejecting  altogether  those  at  the  lower 
end,  admits  the  rest,  not  as  in  themselves  con- 
stituting the  Good,  but  rather  as  harmless  addi- 
tions or  at  most  as  necessary  accompaniments  of 
its  operation.  Plato,  in  the  Republic,  distin- 
guishes between  the  necessary  and  unnecessary 
pleasures,  defining  the  former  as  those  derived 
from  the  gratification  of  appetites  'which  we  can- 
not get  rid  of  and  whose  satisfaction  does  us 
good' — such,  for  example,  as  the  appetite  for 
wholesome  food;  and  the  latter  as  those  which 


belong  to  appetites  'which  we  can  put  away  from 
us  by  early  training;  and  the  presence  of  which, 
besides,  never  does  us  anv  good,  and  in  some 
cases  does  positive  harm,— such,  for  example, 
as  the  appetite  for  delicate  and  luxurious  dishes. 
The  former  he  would  admit,  the  latter  he  ex- 
cludes from  his  ideal  of  happiness.  .  .  .  His 
general  contention  that  pleasures  must  be  ranked 
as  higher  and  as  lower,  and  that  at  the  best 
they  are  not  to  be  identified  with  the  Good, 
is  fully  accepted  by  so  typical  a  Greek  as  Aris- 
totle, Aristotle,  however,  is  careful  not  to 
condenm  any  pleasure  that  is  not  definitely  harm- 
ful. Even  'unnecessary'  pleasures,  he  admits, 
may  be  desirable  in  themselves;  even  the  deliber- 
ate creation  of  desire  with  a  view  to  the  enjoy- 
ment of  satisfying  it  may  be  admissible  if 
it  is  not  injurious.  Still,  there  are  lands  of 
pleasures  which  ought  not  to  be  pursued,  and 
occasions  and  methods  of  seeking  it  which  are 
improper  and  perverse.  Therefore  the  Reason 
must  be  always  at  hand  to  check  and  to  control; 
and  the  ultimate  test  of  true  worth  in  pleasure, 
as  in  everything  else,  is  the  trained  judgment  of 
the  good  and  sensible  man." 

This  elemental  conception  of  life,  beautiful, 
as  it  was,  both  in  itself  and  its  fruitage,  con- 
tained the  elements  of  its  own  dissolution. 
"The  eating  of  the  tree  of  knowledge,"  says 
Mr.  Dickinson,  "drove  the  Greeks  from  their 
paradise."  The  harmony  which  was  the  dom- 
inant feature  in  their  consciousness  and  "the 
distinguishing  characteristic  of  their  epoch  in 
the  history  of  the  world"  was  "nevertheless, 
after  all,  but  a  transitory  and  imperfect  at- 
tempt to  reconcile  elements  whose  antagonism 
was  too  strong  for  the  solution  thus  proposed." 
It  depended  on  an  assumption  of  anthropo- 
morphic gods  which  was  too  childish  to  bear 
the  light  of  reason.  It  was  a  harmony  for 
life,  but  not  for  death.  Mr.  Dickinson  con- 
cludes : 

"With  the  Greek  civilisation  beauty  perished 
from  the  world.  Never  again  has  it  been  possible 
for  a  man  to  believe  that  harmony  is  in  fact  the 
truth  of  all  existence.  The  intellect  and  the  moral 
sense  have  developed  imperative  claims  which  can 
be  satisfied  by  no  experience  known  to  man.  And 
as  a  consequence  of  this  the  goal  of  desire  which 
the  Greeks  could  place  in  the  present,  has  been 
transferred,  for  us,  to  a  future  infinitely  remote, 
which  nevertheless  is  conceived  as  attainable.  Dis- 
satisfaction with  the  world  in  which  we  live  and 
determination  to  realise  one  that  shall  be  better, 
are  the  prevailing  characteristics  of  the  modern 
spirit.  The  development  is  one  into  whose  mean- 
ing and  end  this  is  not  the  place  to  enter.  It  is 
enough  that  we  feel  it  to  be  inevitable;  that  the 
harmony  of  the  Greeks  contained  in  itself  the 
factors  of  its  own  destruction;  and  that  in  spite 
of  the  fascination  which  constantly  fixes  our  gaze 
on  that  fairest  and  happiest  halting-place  in  the 
secular  march  of  man,  it  was  not  there,  any  more 
than  here,  that  he  was  destined  to  find  the  repose 
of  that  ultimate  reconciliation  which  was  but  im- 
perfectly anticipated  by  the  Greeks." 


Science  and  Discovery 


SURPRISES  OF  HEREDITY  AS  SHOWN  IN  ROYAL  PEDIGREES 


Nothing  could  be  more  unfounded,  in  view 
of  recent  expert  research,  than  the  popular 
idea  of  royalty  as  degenerate  through  inter- 
marriages. Certain  degenerations  may  be 
notorious  in  certain  royal  families,  but,  says 
Dr.  Frederick  Adams  Woods,  lecturer  in  the 
biological  department  of  the  Massachusetts 
Institute  of  Technology,  the  frequency  of  in- 
termarriage is  not  the  cause.  It  is  not  among 
degenerate  families  only,  like  the  royalties  of 
Spain  and  Portugal,  that  one  finds  wedlock 
entered  into  by  near  kin,  observes  Dr.  Woods 
in  his  statistical  study  of  royal  heredity  just 
issued.*     Such  intermarriages  are  apparently 

•Mental   and  Moral  Heredity   in   Royalty.     By 
Frederick  Adams  Woods,  M.  D.     Henry  Holt  &  Co. 


equally  common  in  families  which  have  given 
us  the  highest  mental  and  moral  grades, 
namely,  Saxe-Coburg-Gotha,  Hohenzollern 
and  Nassau-Dietz.  The  parents  of  Frederick 
the  Great  and  of  his  remarkable  brothers  and 
sisters  were  own  cousins.  The  great  Queen 
Isabella  came  from  strongly  inbred  ancestry, 
and  Ernest  the  Pious  is  many  times  in  the 
pedigree  of  the  excellent  house  of  Saxe- 
Coburg-Gotha.  Furthermore,  Dr.  Woods 
avers  in  his  carefully  compiled  volume  that 
the  Romanoff  degeneracy  and  Swedish  royal 
eccentricities  were  neither  caused  nor  per- 
petuated by  the  close  marriage  of  kin.  All 
this  agrees  with  the  generally  accepted  sci- 
entific opinion  of  the  present  day,  says  Dr. 


PROM  THE  BEST  OF  ROYAL  PEDIGREES 

They  are  Princess  Victoria  of  Wales  and  her  brothers 
Albert  and  George.  The  house  of  Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, 
declares  Doctor  woods,  has  the  cleanest  and  best  pedi- 
gree to  be  found  in  all  royalty. 


TYPES  OP  POSSIBLE  MENTAL  UNBALANCE 

Princess'tMarie  of  Greece  and  her  daughters  Nina  and 
Xenia.  Their  hereditary  factors  include  wonderful  in- 
tellectual brilliance  modified  by  tendency  to  psycho- 
neurosis. 


546 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


HEIRESS  OF  A  DREAMING  PROPENSITY 

The  German  Emperor's  only  daughter,  still  a  jfirl  in 
short  dresses,  should  love  poetry  and  art. 

Woods,  although  he  admits  that  popular 
opinion  is  to  the  contrary. 

Nor  can  any  degeneration  that  may  exist 
in  twentieth-century  royalty  be  rightly  as- 
cribed to  its  exceptional  and  exalted  position, 
according  to  the  many  inferences  drawn  in 
Dr.  Woods's  work.  Degeneration  has  oc- 
curred only  in  certain  branches,  he  says.  That 
degeneration  may  always  be  accounted  for 
by  pollution  of  the  blood  of  the  male  line 
through  marriage  with  a  family  in  which  a 
degeneration  was  then  existing,  or  some  con- 
stant artificial  selection  of  the  worst  types 
rather  than  the  best.  While  some  branches 
were  deteriorating,  others  equally  blue-blood- 
ed (Prussia,  Saxe-Coburg-Gotha,  Nassau- 
Dietz,  Mecklenburg,  Denmark,  Austria  and 
modern  Portugal)  were  holding  their  own  or 
actually  rising  in  mental  and  moral  tone. 

It  would  be  a  simple  matter  to  take  any 
royal  child  now  living  and  mathematically 
calculate  its  mental  and  moral  future  within 
limits  not  too  narrow  to  be  practical.  That 
is  made  clear  by  Dr.  Woods's  coefficients  of 
correlation  and  his  application  of  the  law  of 
ancestral  heredity,  into  the  technical  side  of 
which  it  is  unnecessary  to  enter.  At  this 
point  it  suffices  to  consider  what  Dr.  Woods 
deems  a  popular  misconception  concerning 
the  value  of  hereditary  influence — a  mistake, 


he  thinks  very  frequently  made.  Many  peo- 
ple argue  that  great  geniuses,  coming  as  they 
frequently  do  from  humble  families — Frank- 
lin and  Lincoln,  for  instance — discount  our 
beliefs  in  miental  heredity.  But  the  cases  of 
such  men  should  only  strengthen  our  reliance 
on  this  same  force.  We  should  consider  the 
thousands,  indeed  millions,  of  mediocrities 
who  have  ,to  be  born  from  mediocrities  be- 
fore one  mind  of  the  type  of  Franklin's  is 
produced.  That  they  rise  superior  to  their 
circumstances  is  a  proof  of  the  inborn  nature 
of  their  minds  and  characters.  A  man  of 
this  sort  represents  a  combination  of  the 
best  from  many  ancestors.  "It  would  be  pos- 
sible in  a  g^eat  many  throws  to  cast  a  large 
number  of  dice  so  that  they  would  all  fall 
aces.  But  here,  in  certain  regions  of  royalty, 
as  among  the  Montmorencys  and  Hohcnzol- 
lerns,  where  the  dice  are  loaded — such  a  re- 
sult may  be  expected  in  a  large  percentage 
of  throws."  That  is,  the  ancestors  of  any 
given  generation  had  been  selected  with  very 
great  care.  The  result  vindicates  the  science 
of  heredity  in  the  mental  and  moral  sphere 
as  strikingly  as  the  Hapsburg  lip  vindicates 
heredity  in  the  physiognomical  sphere.  Says 
Dr.  Woods: 

"In  tracing  the  facial  peculiarities  of  the  three 
families  of  Spain,  France  and  Austria,  the  great, 
swollen  underlip  of  the  Hapsburgs  offers  such  a 
distinct  feature  that  other  traits  of  physiognomy 
may   as  well  be  neglected.     This   swollen,  pro- 


PRINCES  OF  PROMISING  PEDIGREE 

Children  of  Prince  Charles  of  Hesse,  a  house  exertint?, 
by  its  high  qualities  during  many  generations,  an  uplift- 
ing influence  on  all  the  stocks  with  which  it  has  blended 


SCIENCE  AND  DISCOVERY 


547 


The  family  of  the  Crown 
Prince  of  Portugral  had  been 
decaying  for  some  genera- 
tions, but  It  has  revived. 


Prince  Edward   of  Wales 
has  the  best  of  royal  blood  in 

him. 


ArcMuke  Carl  Franz  of 
Austria  shows  the  Hapsburpf 
lip  less  _prominently  than 
does  the  King  of  Spain. , 


truding  lip  was  in  the  sixteenth  century,  in  its 
original  type,  usdally  combined  with  a  long, 
heavy  under  jaw,  as  one  sees  in  the  Emperor 
Charles  V.  Later  the  jaw  became  more  nearly 
normal,  though  the  lip  still  persisted  and  can 
be  traced,  with  its  varying  degrees  of  intensifi- 
cation, through  no  less  than  eighteen  genera- 
tions, coming  out  in  at  least  seventy  of  the  vari- 
ous descendants. 

"Its  first  appearance,  according  to  history,  was 
in  Cymburga,  who  was  born  in  the  last  part  of 
the  fourteenth  century  and  became  the  wife  of 
Ernest,  the  second  patriarch  of  the  house  of 
Hapsburg.  In  its  latest  manifestation  it  ap- 
pears at  the  present  day  with  diminished  strength 
and  modified  form  in  the  young  King  of  Spain. 
This  is  a  remarkable  instance  of  the  force  of 
heredity  in  perpetuating  a  physical  trait  and  has 
been  thought  to  be  an  example  of  prepotency, 
the  male  line  being  able  to  transmit  a  deeply 
rooted  peculiarity,  the  features  from  the  mater- 
nal side  having  no  influence  in  counteracting  it. 
As  an  example  of  prepotency,  the  Hapsburg  lip 
was  cited  by   Darwin." 

Turning  from  physical  to  moral  character- 
istics, Dr.  Woods  finds  the  best  pedigree  in 
all  royalty  to  be  possessed  by  the  present  King 
of  England,  his  son,  the  Prince  of  Wales,  and 
the  children  of  the  Prince  of  Wales.  Or,  to 
use  Dr.  Woods's  own  more  scientific  language, 
the  family  of  Saxe-Coburg-Gotha  (with  the 
death  of  Queen  Victoria  the  House  of  Han- 
over came  to  an  end  and  Edward  VII  inau- 
gurated the  reign  of  the  house  of  Saxe-Co- 
burg-Gotha) shows  that  the  assumption  of 
high  rank  and  power  and  the  consequent  op- 
portunity for  ease  and  luxury  do  not  in  the 
least  tend  to  degeneracy  of  the  stock.  But 
the  good  qualities  of  the  royal  breed  must  be 
kept  up  with  marriages  to  stocks  of  equal 
value  and  no  vicious  elements  must  be  intro- 
duced.    Dr.  Woods  adds: 

"Albert,  the  lamented  consort  of  Queen  Vic- 
toria, was,  as  everyone  knows,  a  highly  culti- 
vated, earnest  and  noble  man,  a  devoted  hus- 
band and  an  enthusiastic  reformer  in  all  affairs 
related  to  the  public  good.  Well  versed  in  sci- 
ence and  literature,  he  was  also  an  accomplished 
musician.  Did  he  come  by.  this  character 
through  inheritance?  It  will  be  seen  that  traits 
like  Albert's  are  written  all  over  his  family  ped- 
igree.   .    .    . 

"This  group  is  remarkable  for  its  virtues  and 
bent  towards  literature,  science  and  art.  It  is 
not  that  the  dukes  in  the  male  line  have  shown 
such  a  tendency  in  a  marked  degree,  but  it  is 
that  at  each  step  going  back  the  pedigree  gives 
us  in  many  stems  examples  of  idealists,  poets  and 
dreamers.    .    .    . 

"We  see  that  after  two  hundred  and  fifty  years 
the  same  traits  exist  because  there  has  never 
been  a  time  when  blood  of  another  sort  was 
introduced  to  contaminate  or  dilute  it." 

It   can   be   shown,   from   the   pedigrees   of 


Princess  Elizabeth  of 
Greece  conies  of  a  stock 
noted  for  pious  women. 


This  little  Crown  Prince 
of  Norway  has  in  his  veins 
blood  indicating  in  its  pos- 
sessor high  ideality. 


The  Crown  Prince  of  Sax- 
ony ought  to  be  romantic  in 
temperament. 


548 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


all  the  royal  children  in  Europe,  if  Dr. 
Woods  be  correct  in  his  conclusions,  that  no 
royal  family  has  been  able  to  maintain  itself 
without  degeneration  unless  it  has  taken  a 
good  share  of  Saxe-Coburg  blood.  The  good 
qualities  of  royalty,  if  due  to  heredity  at  all, 
in  Austria,  England,  Germany,  Belgium  and 
Bulgaria,  are  largely  due  to  this  strain  of  the 


SaxerCoburg  blood.  It  probably  saved  the 
Bourbons  in  Portugal.  Thus,  says  Dr.  Woods, 
in  tracing  the  pedigree  and  in  accounting  for 
the  virtue  of  the  consort  of  Queen  Victoria 
we  find  the  theory  of  moral  and  mental  he- 
redity sustained  in  his  case  as  well  as  in  the 
others.  Inbreeding  did  not  affect  the  result 
except  for  good. 


NEW  EVIDENCE  OF  MAN'S  AFFINITY  WITH  THE 
ANTHROPOID  APE 


The  close  relation  of  man  to  the  anthropoid 
apes  has  lately  raised  in  a  remarkable  degree 
the  market  price  of  these  creatures.  Every 
living  specimen  that  reaches  Europe  is  now 
bid  for  through  letter,  cable  and  telegram,  by 
workers  at  medical  problems  in  Paris,  London 
and  Berlin.  This  information  is  supplied  by 
Dr.  Saleeby  in  his  remarkable  study  of  evolu- 
tion as  "a  cosmic  generalization.'**  The  near- 
est animals  to  man,  explains  Dr.  Saleeby,  are 
the  chimpanzee,  the  gorilla,  the  orang-outang 
and  the  gibbon.  They  are  the  four  existing 
types  of  anthropoid  ape.  No  amount  of  cor- 
rection, complains  our  evolutionist,  will  ap- 
parently destroy  the  popular  error  that  man 
is  descended  from  one 
or  other  of  these  apes. 
This,  we  are  reminded 
by  Dr.  Saleeby,  has 
never  been  even  sug- 
gested by  any  biolo- 
gist. What  all  biolo- 
gists believe  is  that 
man  and  certain  of 
these  apes  have  a  com- 
mon ancestor.  Both 
Darwin  and  Huxley 
thought  the  chimpan- 
zee and  the  gorilla  to 
be  the  apes  most  near- 
ly related  to  man.  The 
prevalent  opinion  in- 
clines to  give  the  pref- 
erence, we  read  also, 
to      the      chimpanzee. 


♦EVOLUTION:     THE  MASTER 

Key.  a  Discussion  of  the 
Principle  of  Evolution  as 
Illustrated  in  Atoms,  Stars, 
Organic  Species,  Mind, 
Society  and  Morals.  By 
C.  W.  Saleeby,  M.D.  Harper 
&  Brothers. 


Coarte«y  of  Harper  &  Brothers. 
THE  LATEST  INTERPRETER  OF  EVOLUTION 

Dr.  C.  W.  Saleeby  insists  in  his  new  work,  "  Evolu- 
tion, the  Master-Key,"  that  reliprious  dogma  is  for- 
ever exploded  and  that  Spencer  founded  "the  cosmic 
generalization  "  upon  which  all  truth  reposes. 


However,  there  is  general  agreement  with  the 
conclusion  of  Darwin  that  man,  the  gorilla  and 
the  chimpanzee  are  derived  from  a  common 
ancestor.  That  common  ancestor  is  now  ex- 
tinct. What  his  characteristics  were  can  only 
be  faintly  guessed  at.  He  may,  thinks  Dr. 
Saleeby,  have  more  nearly  resembled  tlie  gib- 
bon than  any  other  existing  form. 

Now,  the  older  evidence  for  man's  relation 
to  the  anthropoid  ape  is  familiar  to  all.  He 
resembles  them  in  physical  structure  to  an 
extent  almost  incredible.  He  shares  with  the 
chimpanzee  and  with  the  gorilla  some  three 
hundred  structural  features  which  are  not 
possessed  even  by  any  of  the  lowest  order  of 
monkeys.  Man's  earli- 
er stages  of  develop- 
ment are  quite  indis- 
tinguishable from  those 
of  the  anthropoid  apes. 
Very  little  was  known 
in  the  earlier  days  of 
evolution  regarding  the 
embryology  of  anthro- 
poid apes.  But  re- 
cently there  have  been 
discovered  two  note- 
worthy facts  which 
may  prove  of  great 
scientific  importance 
and  which  certainly 
possesses  incalculable 
interest : 


"In  the  first  place,  it 
has  recently  been  fotmd 
that  there  is  a  whole 
series  of  diseases  which 
are  common  to  man  and 
the  anthropoid  apes,  but 
which  attack  no  lower 
animal.     For  long  these 


SCIENCE  AND  DISCOVERY 


•  549 


were  thought  to  be  peculiar  to  man  alone,  but 
Metchnikoff  and  his  fellow-workers  at  the  Pas- 
teur Institute  have  shown  that  certain  of  them  can 
be  coimnunicated  to  the  anthropoid  ape  and  that 
protective  or  curative  sera  can  be  produced  in 
this  fashion.  This  fact  clearly  points  to  a  pro- 
found resemblance  in  the  bodily  chemistry — a 
physiological  similarity  no  less  striking  than  the 
anatomical  resemblances  so  familiar — of  man  and 
these  creatures. 

"The  second  recent  discovery  points  in  the 
same  direction.  It  has  lately  been  shown  that  the 
blood  of  each  species  of  animal  differs  radically 
from  that  of  every  other.  Hitherto  it  has  hardly 
been  possible  for  the  expert,  summoned  to  give 
evidence  in  a  trial  for  murder,  let  us  say,  to  de- 
cide whether  or  not  specimens  of  blood  submitted 
to  him  are  human  or  not.  Mammalian  blood 
could  be  distinguished  from,  say,  the  blood  of 
birds,  by  means  of  the  characteristic  shape  of 
the  blood  corpuscles  which  is  common  to  all 
mammals  save  the  camel;  but  to  distinguish  be- 
tween the  blood  of  man  and  a  dog  was  often  im- 
possible. Now,  however,  it  has  lien  shown  that 
when  the  blood  of  a  given  animal,  say  a  dog,  is 


injected  into  the  blood  vessels  of  an  animal  of 
another  kind,  such  as  a  cat,  the  red  corpuscles 
of  the  cat  are  destroyed  and  disintegrated; 
whereas,  if  the  dog's  blood  be  injected  into  an- 
other dog,  no  such  disintegration  occurs.  Hence, 
in  distinguishing  between  3ie  blood  of  a  man  and 
a  dog  it  is  only  necessary  to  make  a  sterile  solu- 
tion of  the  blood  stain  and  inject  it  into  a  dog. 
If  'haemolysis'  occurs,  the  blood  cannot  be  canine; 
if  it  does  not,  the  blood  must  certainly  be  canine. 
Now  the  astonishing  and  even  bizarre  fact  is 
that  the  blood  of  the  anthropoid  ape  gives  the 
characteristic  human  reaction,  while  the  blood  of 
the  lower  monkeys  does  not.  In  other  words, 
the  blood  of  man  and  of  the  anthopoid  ape  are 
identical  when  judged  by  this,  the  most  subtle  and 
delicate  of  all  known  tests. 

"To  the  evidence  of  anatomy  in  favor  of  man's 
intimate  relationship  with  the  anthropoid  ape  there 
has,  therefore,  been  added  that  of  comparative 
pathology,  of  embryology  and  of  physiological 
chemistry.  Many  other  facts  might  be  adduced, 
such  as  the  recent  discovery  that  a  function  hith- 
erto thought  to  be  characteristic  of  the  human 
female  is  also  displayed  by  the  anthropoid  ape." 


THE  GREATEST  ASTRO-PHYSICIST  OF  THE  AGE 


The  most  responsible  position,  as  well  as 
the  highest  honor  that  can  be  conferred  in 
this  country  upon  a  man  of  science  was  held. 
The  Popular  Science  Monthly  is  inclined  to 
think,  by  Samuel  Pierpont  Langley,  the  lately 
deceased  secretary  of  the  Smithsonian  Insti- 
tution. Probably  Langley's  greatest  work,  says 
our  contemporary,  is  connected  with  the  heat 
of  the  sun  and  the  infra-red  rays  of  the  spec- 
trum. But  perhaps  his  researches  in  aero- 
dynamics are  more  generally  known  to  the 
newspaper-reading  public.  His  theoretical 
and  experimental  contributions  to  the  sub- 
ject of  what  popular  parlance  describes  as 
flying-machines  is  pronounced  fundamentally 
important  likewise.  In  fact,  writes  Professor 
Fisher  in  the  London  Mail,  Langley,  with 
the  aid  of  a  huge  swirling  table,  by  means 
of  which  he  could  test  the  lifting  power  of 
a  given  aeroplane  set  at  different  angles  and 
driven  at  varying  speeds,  discovered  the  fun- 
damental law  of  flight,  which  is  called  by  his 
name.  Langley's  law  tells  us  that  the  faster 
a  flying-machine  travels  the  less  energy  will 
be*needed  to  keep  it  afloat. 

But  whatever  Langley  may  have  con- 
tributed to  the  sum  total  of  our  knowledge 
in  other  lines,  declares  Dr.  William  Hallock, 
of  Columbia  University,  in  The  New  York 
Times,  the  lately  deceased  scientist  will  be 


best  and  most  gratefully  remembered  by  sci- 
entific men  as  the  inventor  of  the  bolometer 
and  the  ,pioneer  investigator  of  the  distribu- 
tion of  energy  in  the  solar  spectrum.  That 
is,  on  the  whole,  the  verdict  of  London 
Nature  and  of  the  French  and  German  sci- 
entific press,  where  he  is  pronounced  a 
physicist  of  world-wide  reputation  and  per- 
haps the  most  eminent  American  figure  in  the 
domain  of  pure  science.  *  The  bolometer  is 
deemed  his  greatest  single  triumph.  This 
instrument  is  defined  by  The  Scientific  Ameri- 
can as  a  thermometer  of  almost  infinite  tenu- 
ity, measuring  radiant  heat  with  an  accuracy 
that  has  never  been  excelled.  In  its  more  re- 
cent forms  the  instrument  can  detect  differ- 
ences of  temperature  amounting  to  no  more 
than  the  one-millionth  part  of  a  degree  on  an 
ordinary  thermometer.    To  quote: 

"In  the  hands  of  Langley,  the  bolometer  dem- 
onstrated experimentally  that  the  maximum  heat 
in  the  normal  spectrum  lies  in  the  orange  and 
not  in  the  infra-red  spectrum,  as  commonly  sup- 
posed. Before  the  invention  of  the  bolometer  the 
distribution  of  heat  in  the  spectrum  was  almost 
entirely  unknown.  In  the  course  of  three  years' 
patient  work,  however,  Langley  completed  a  map 
of  the  principal  lines  of  the  heat  spectrum  and 
thereby  furnished  new  material  for  a  study  of 
the  interaction  of  solar  heat  and  terrestrial  at- 
mosphere.    What  Kirchhoff  did  for  the  upper 


550 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


rays  of  the  spectrum 
Langlcy  accomplished 
for  the  lower  spectrum. 
"One  important  re- 
sult of  all  these  bo- 
lometric  investigations 
was  the  discovery  that 
the  earth's  atmosphere 
acted  with  selective  ab- 
sorption to  a  remarkable 
degree,  keeping  back  an 
immense  proportion  of 
blue  and  green,  so  that 
which  was  originally  the 
strongest  became,  when 
it  reached  us,  the  weak- 
est of  all,  and  what  was 
originally  weak  became 
relatively  strong.  The 
action  of  the  atmosphere 
is  just  the  converse  of 
that  of  an  ordinary 
sieve,  or  like  that  of  a 
sieve  which  should  keep 
back  small  particles  an- 
alogous to  the  short 
wave  lengths  (blue  and 
green)  and  allow  freely 
to  pass  the  larger  ones 
(the  dark  heat  rays). 
L  a  n  g  1  e  y ,  therefore, 
proved  that  white  is  not 
the  sum  of  all  radia- 
tions as  we  used  to  be 
taught,  but  that  it  re- 
sembles pure  original 
sunlight  less  than  the 
electric  beam  which  has 
come  to  us  through  red- 
dish-colored glasses  re- 
sembles the  original 
brightness." 

So  exquisite  is  the 
bolometer  that,  as  Langley  himself  said,  "If 
you  look  at  it,  a  lai:ge  deflection  will  result." 
The  heat  of  the  observer's  face  would  be  reg- 
istered, or  at  least  traceable  in  the  record.  Dr. 
William  Hallock,  a  scientist  who  had  all  pos- 
sible facilities  for  estimating  Langley  as 
man  and  scientist,  writes  in  The  New  York 
Times,  in  a  study  already  referred  to: 

"The  temperature  of  the  surface  of  the  moon 
and  the  phenomena  transpiring  upon  the  surface 
of  the  sun  were  questions  to  whose  answering  he 
contributed  materially. 

"Few  know  or  realize  that  it  is  to  him  that  we 
primarily  owe  our  present  system  of  standard 
time,  as  used  by  the  railroads  first,  and  now  by 
everybody.  It  was  his  bolometer  and  his  careful 
experimentation  which  showed  that  the  despised 
little  fire-fly  has  a  lighting  plant  which  uses  all 
its  energy  for  visible  light,  whereas  most  of  the 
lighting  devices  used  by  man  waste  at  least  99 
per  cent,  of  the  energy  consumed. 

"It  is  then  in  these  domains  of  astrophysics  that 
his  real  services  to  science  lie,  where,  following 
the  meagre  and  uncertain  steps  of  Melloni,  he 
led  physicists  into  a  field  which  has  been  gleaned 


Coortecy  of  The  Sdtntific  Amtriam. 

OUR  GREATEST  SCIENTIST  SINCE  FRANKLIN 

Samuel  Pierpont  Langlev,  although  popularly  known 
as  a  maker  of  nying  machines,  was  a  famous  physicist. 


by  many  since  and 
which  has  furnished  the 
most  important  contri- 
butions to  practical  and 
theoretical  physics  in 
the  past  score  of  years." 
Langley's  first  im- 
portant contribution  to 
aeronautics  was  based 
upon  the  observation 
that  birds  keep  them- 
selves up  by  pressure 
of  the  air  on  the  under 
surface  of  their  wings, 
kite  like.  Langley 
showed  that  this  up- 
ward pressure  might 
be  attained  in  two  dif- 
ferent ways.  First  (to 
follow  the  article  of 
Prof.  W.  E.  Garrett 
Fisher  in  the  London 
Mail),  the  bird's  wing 
may  strike  down  upon 
the  air,  which  happens 
in  what  is  known  as 
flapping  flight.  But, 
secondly,  the  pressure 
may  be  provided  by 
the  internal  work  of 
the  wind  itself,  and  in 
this  case  we  have 
soaring  flight.  Exam- 
ples of  both  kinds  are 
seen  in  the  case  of 
the  sea-gull.  On  rising 
from  the  water,  the  gull  flaps  its  wings 
strongly,  in  order  to  lift  itself  the  first  few 
difficult  feet.  But  once  up  in  the  air,  it 
swings  round  in  large  circles  and  spirals,  with 
no  apparent  effort,  its  wings  remaining  almost 
motionless,  and  only  being  inclined  at  varying 
angles  in  order  to  meet  the  changing  currents 
of  the  wind.  It  is  this  soaring  flight  that  all 
the  practical  inventors  of  flying-machines  have 
set  themselves  to  imitate  in  accordance  with 
Langley's  law  and  the  discoveries  made  by 
Langley. 

Langley  was  the  one  American  scientist  of 
his  day  who  possessed  an  international  repu- 
tation in  the  popular  as  well  as  in  the  ex- 
pert sense.  His  name  was  as  familiar  to  the 
newspaper  reader  of  Paris  and  London,  of 
Cairo  and  Tokyo,  as  it  had  become  to  those 
who  pore  over  the  Sunday  supplements  of 
American  newspapers.  Langley  never  com- 
mitted himself  to  the  fantastic  theories  of 
much  contemporary  science. 


SCIENCE  AND  DISCOVERY 


551 


THE  QUEEN  ANT  AS  A  PSYCHOLOGICAL  STUDY 


It  is  unfortunate  that  mention  of  the  queen 
ant,  thinks  Dr.  William  Morton  Wheeler,  of 
the  American  Museum  of  Natural  History, 
should  suggest  by  association  the  idea  of  the 
queen  honey-bee.  These  two  insects  are,  he 
insists,  diametrical  opposites  in  certain  very 
important  respects.  The  queen  honey-bee  is 
a  degenerate  creature.  She  is  unable  to  nour- 
ish herself  or  her  young.  She  cannot  visit  the 
flowers,  nor  build  nor  store  the  comb.  The 
worker  bee,  apart  from  her  infertility,  still  re- 
tains intact  all  the  true  female  attributes  of 
the  ancestral  solitary  bees.  In  ants  the  very 
reverse  of  this  is  the  case.  The  queen  ant  is 
the  perfect  exemplar  and  embodiment  of  the 
species.  She  has  lost  none  of  the  primitive 
female  attributes  of  independence  and  initia- 
tive. These  she  shares  with  the  female  bumble- 
bees, solitary  and  social  wasps.  The  worker 
ant,  on  the  contrary,  bears  all  the  stigmata  of 

m  incomplete  and  re- 
tarded development. 
"Although,"  declares 
Dr.  Wheeler  in  The 
Popular  Science 
Monthly,  from  which 
From  Tu  i^p^  *«^  mmiki,.  this  Study  is  extracted, 
t,^^     ..     M       ^  "these  differences  be- 

SOhouette  of    a    Queen  ,  , 

At/a  stxdens  in  the  act  of  tween  the  queen  hon- 
d^"i?i^ft  of  &".  I?v:      ey-bee  and  queen  ant 

S!SS.pU^^a"g"aUSI  ^«d  b^^^^"  ^^«  '^' 
aons  and  saturated  with  a  :$pective  workers  muSt 
drop  of  fecal  liquid.  (Prom       .  ^     «^««^««4.     4.^     «.u^ 

as  insuntaneous  photo-  be  apparent  to  the 
graph,  after  J.  Huber.)  ^ost    superficial    ob- 

server, yet  the  fa- 
miliar conception  of  the  queen  honey-bee  as 
little  more  than  an  egg-laying  machine,  so  de- 
generate that  she  cannot  exist  apart  from  the 
workers,  has  been  tactily  expanded  to  embrace 
the  queen  ant."  It  is  time,  thinks  Dr.  Wheeler, 
that  the  reputation  of  this  insect  be  viewed  in 
a  more  favorable  light.  The  facts,  he  thinks, 
have  an  important  bearing  on  the  views  of 
authors  like  Brooks  and  Geddes  and  Thomson, 
who  assume  that  male  animals  are  more  vari- 
able than  females.  This  hypothesis  has  been 
transplanted  by  some  scientists  to  the  field  of 
biology  and  anthropology,  resulting  in  some 
quite  mistaken  assumptions.  Dr.  Wheeler, 
who  discovered  the  temporary  social  parasi- 
tism of  some  of  our  American  ants,  since  found 
in  some  of  the  species  of  Europe — where  he 
predicted  its  occurrence — follows  in  this  fash- 
ion the  eventful  life  history  of  the  queen  ant : 


^#^- 


"After  more  protracted  larval  and  pupal  stages 
than  those  of  the  worker  and  male — more  pro- 
tracted in  order  that  she  may  store  up  more  food 
and  hence  more  energy  in  her  body — she  hatches 
as  a  sensitive  callow  in  a  colony  at  the  height  of 
its  annual  development.  In  other  words,  she  is 
born  into  a  community  teeming  with  queens, 
workers  and  males,  and  the  larvae  and  pupae  of 
these  various  forms  at  the  season  of  their  greatest 
activity  and  growth.  From  all  sides  a  shower  of 
stimuli  must  be  constantly  raining  in  upon  her 
delicate  organization  as  she  tarries  for  days  or 
even  weeks  in  the  dark  galleries  of  the  parental 
nest,  while  her  color  gradually  deepens  and  her 
integument  acquires  its  mature  consistency.  Dur- 
ing this  her  prenuptial  life,  she  may  assist  the 
workers  in  carrying  about,  feeding  and  cleaning 
the  brood.  She  eats  independently  of  the  food 
brought  into  the  nest  by  the  foraging  workers. 
She  may  occasionally  join  the  workers  in  exca- 
vating chambers  and  galleries.  If  she  belongs  to 
a  slave-making  species  she  may  even  accompany 
the  workers  on  their  cocoon-robbing  expeditions. 
Although  she  shows  that  she  is  able  to  perform 
all  these  actions  supposed  to  be  peculiar  to  the 
workers,  she  often  does 
so  with  a  certain  desul- 
torv  incoherency. 

"When  fully  mature 
she  becomes  impatient 
for  her  marriage  flight 
and  must  often  be  for- 
cibly detained  in  the  .^ 
nest  by  the  workers  till  '^  "*  '^''^  *^  ^'*^«'- 
the  propitious  hour  ar-  Silhouette  of   a    Queen 

rives  when  the  males  saturated  tuft  of  mvceii- 
and  females  from  all  um  in  the  fungus  garden, 
the  nests  in  the  neigh-  l^^'SJl /il^^^^ft?^^^^* 
borhood  rise  high  into      ^ut^V  ^   '  ^' 

the   air    and    celebrate 
their     nuptials.      Then 

the  fertilized  queen  descends  to  the  earth  and  at 
once  divests  herself  of  her  wings,  either  by  pulling 
them  off  with  her  legs  and  jaws  or  by  rubbing 
them  off  against  the  grass-blades,  pebbles  or  soil. 
This  act  of  dealation  is  the  signal  for  important 
physiological  and  psychological  changes.  She  is 
now  an  isolated  being,  henceforth  restricted  to  a 
purely  terrestrial  existence,  and  has  gone  back  to 
the  ancestral  level  of  the  solitary  female  Hymen- 
opteron.  During  her  life  in  the  parental  nest  she 
stored  her  body  with  food  in  the  form  of  masses 
of  fat  and  bulky  wing  muscles." 

With  this  physiological  endowment  and  with 
an  elaborate  inherited  disposition,  ordinarily 
called  instinct,  the  queen  ant  sets  out  alone, 
declares  Dr.  Wheeler,  to  create  a  colony  out 
of  her  own  substance.  She  begins  by  excavat- 
ing a  small  burrow,  either  in  the  open  soil, 
under  some  stone  or  in  rotten  wood.  She  en- 
larges the  blind  end  of  the  burrow  to  form  a 
small  chamber.  She  then  completely  closes  the 
opening.  This  labor  of  excavation  often  wears 
away  all  her  mandibular  teeth,  rubs  the  ha*r 


552 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


from  her  body  and  mars  her  burnished  or 
sculptured  armor.  Thus  are  produced  a  num- 
ber of  mutilations  which,  though  occurring 
generation  after  generation  in  species  that  nest 
in  hard,  stony  soil,  are  never  inherited. 

In  the  cloistered  seclusion  of  her  chamber 
the  queen  now  passes  days,  weeks  or  even 
months  waiting  for  the  eggs  to  mature.  When 
these  eggs  have  reached  their  full  volume  at 
the  expense  of  her  fat  body  and  degenerating 
wing  muscles,  they  are  fertilized  and  laid.  The 
queen  nurses  them  in  a  little  packet  till  they 
hatch  as  minute  larvae.  These  she  feeds  with 
salivary  secretion  and  the  larvae  grow  slowly, 
pupate  prematurely  and  hatch  as  unusually 
small  but  otherwise  normal  workers.  In  some 
species,  says  Dr.  Wheeler,  it  takes  fully  ten 
months  to  bring  such  a  brood  of  workers  to 
maturity.  During  all  this  time  the  queen  takes 
no  nourishment.  She  merely  draws  on  her  re- 
serve tissues.  As  soon  as  the  workers  mature 
they  break  through  th.e  soil  and  thereby  make 
an  entrance  to  the  nest  and  establish  a  com- 
munication with  the  outside  world.  They  en- 
large the  original  chamber  and  continue  the 
excavation  in  the  form  of  galleries.  They  go 
forth  in  search  of  food  and  they  share  it  with 
their  exhausted  mother.  She  now  exhibits  a 
further  and  .final  change  in  her  behavior : 

"She  becomes  so  exceedingly  timid  and  sensi- 
tive to  the  li^ht  that  she  hastens  to  conceal  her- 
self on  the  slightest  disturbance  to  the  nest.  She 
becomes  utterly  indifferent  to  the  young,  leaving 
them  entirely  to  the  care  of  the  workers,  while 
she  limits  her  activities  to  laying  eggs  and  imbib- 
ing liquid  food  from  the  tongues  of  her  attend- 
ants. This  copious  nourishment  soon  restores  her 
depleted  fat-body,  but  her  disappearing  wing- 
muscles  have  left  her  thoracic  cavity  hollow  and 
filled  with  gases  which  cause  her  to  float  when 
placed  in  water.  With  this  circumbscribed  activ- 
ity she  lives  on,  sometimes  to  an  age  of  fifteen 
years,  as  a  mere  egg-laying  machine.  The  current 
reputation  of  the  ant  queen  is  derived  from  such 
old,  abraded,  toothless,  timorous  queens  found  in 
well-established  colonies.  But  it  is  neither  chiv- 
alrous nor  scientific  to  dwell  exclusively  on  the 
limitations  of  these  decrepit  beldames  without 
calling  to  mind  the  charms  and  self-sacrifices  of 
their  younger  days. 

"Now  to  bring  up  a  family  of  even  very  small 
children  without  eating  anything  and  entirely  on 
substances  abstracted  from  ones  own  tissues  is 
no  trivial  undertaking.  Of  the  many  thousands 
of  ant  queens  annually  impelled  to  enter  on  this 
ultra-strenuous  life,  very  few  survive  to  become 
mothers  of  colonies.  The  vast  majority,  after 
starting  their  shallow  burrows,  perish  through 
excessive  drought,  moisture  or  cold,  the  attacks 
of  parasitic  fungi  or  subterranean  insects,  or  start 
out  with  an  inadequate  supply  of  food-tissue  in 
the  first  place.  Only  the  very  best  endowed  indi- 
viduals live  to  preserve  the  species  from  extinc- 


tion. I  know  of  no  better  example  of  natural 
selection  through  the  survival  of  the  fittest.  .  .  . 
"Unusually  large  queens  are  found  in  the  genus 
Atta,  a  group  of  American  ants  that  raise  fungi 
for  food,  and  are,  so  far  as  known,  quite  unable 
to  subsist  on  anything  else.  The  female  Atia  oa 
leaving  the  parental  nest,  is  so  well  endowed 
with  food  tissue,  that  she  not  only  can  raise  a 
brood  of  workers  without  taking  nourishment, 
but  has  energy  to  spare  for  the  cultivation  of  a 
garden  kitchen.  She  carries  the  germ  of  this 
garden  from  the  parental  nest  in  the  form  of  a 
pellet  of  fungus  hyphae  stowed  away  in  her  buc- 
cal pocket,  spits  it  out  soon  after  completing  her 
chamber,  manures  with  her  excreta  the  rapidly 
growing  hyphae  and  carefully  weeds  them  till  her 
firstling  brood  of  workers  hatches.  These  then 
bring  into  the  nest  the  pieces  of  leaves  and  the 
vegetable  detritus  essential  to  the  maintenance  and 
growth  of  the  garden." 

The  discovery  that  the  queen  ant  really 
possesses,  at  least  potentially,  all  the  instincts 
of  the  worker,  besides  others  peculiar  to  her- 
self, puts,  contends  Dr.  Wheeler,  a  different 
construction  on  a  matter  which  has  long  been 
puzzling  some  zoologists.  It  has  been  taken 
for  granted  that  worker  ants  are  necessarily 
sterile  and  that  they  possess  morphological, 
physiological  and  psychological  characters  not 
represented  in  the  queens  of  their  species.  But, 
comments  Dr.  Wheeler: 

"On  such  assumptions  it  is,  of  course,  impos- 
sible to  understand  how  the  workers  can  have 
come  by  the  obviously  adaptive  and  exquisitely 
correlated  characters,  which  they  are  unable  to 
transmit.  *  It  will  be  remembered  that  neo-Dar- 
winians  and  neo-Lamarckians,  in  the  persons  of 
Weismann  and  Herbert  Spencer,  locked  horns 
over  this  matter  some  years  ago.  Both  in  this 
and  in  many  similar  discussions,  the  very  prem- 
ises which  both  parties  accepted  are  unwar- 
ranted. In  the  first  place,  it  is  now  known  that 
workers  readily  become  fertile  when  well  fed  and 
that  they  can  and  often  do  produce  normal  young 
from  un fecundated  eggs.  Although  these  young 
Are  usually,  if  not  always,  males,  it  is  evident 
that  these  males,  through  the  eggs  which  th^r 
fertilize,  can  transmit  the  characters  of  their 
worker  mothers  to  succeeding  generations  of 
queens  and  workers.  Thus  the  congenital,  and 
perhaps  even  the  acquired,  characters  of  the 
worker  are  not  necessarily  lost,  but  can  t>e  gath- 
ered up  into  the  germ-plasma  of  the  species.  In 
the  second  place,  most,  if  not  all  of  the  charac- 
ters of  the  worker  are  not  qualitatively  but  only 
quantitatively  different  from  those  of  the  queen. 
In  other  words,  the  worker  does  not  differ  from 
the  queen  as  a  mutant,  but  as  a  fluctuating  vari- 
ation, which  has  been  produced  by  imperfect  or 
irregular  feeding  during  its  larvaf  stages.  This 
is  true  alike  of  morphological,  physiological  and 
psychological  characters.  Even  when  the  queen 
fails  to  manifest  the  worker  instincts,  we  are  not 
justified  in  doubting  her  ability  to  do  so  under 
the  proper  conditions. 

"The  hitherto  unsuspected  capacity  of  the  queen 
ant  is  beautifully  illustrated  by  another  set  of 


SCIENCE  AND  DISCOVERY 


553 


€wts»  whicli  at  the  same  tune  show  the  doee  ooo- 
nection  1>etween  adaptiTc  befaavior  and  r^Kula- 
tk»,  or  regeneration.  Under  normal  conditions 
the  queen,  after  rearing  a  brood  of  workers,  no 
longer  takes  part  in  the  'mudc  and  muddle  of 
child-raising'  but  seems  to  be  as  indifferent  to 
the  young  of  her  spedes  as  some  women  who 
have  brought  up  large  families.  If,  however,  the 
firstling  brood  of  workers  be  removed  and  the 
queen  isolated,  she  forthwith  begins  to  bring  up 
another  brood,  precisely  as  in  the  first  instance, 
provided  her  body  still  contains  sufficient  food- 
tissue.  She  thus  regenerates  the  lost  part  of  her 
colony,  just  as  a  mutilated  earthworm  regener- 
ates its  lost  segments.  In  the  ant  the  absence 
of  workers  acts  as  a  stimulus  to  restore  the  col- 
ony, just  as  the  absence  of  segments  leads  die 
earthworm  to  complete  its  body.** 

It  is  evident  to  Dr.  Wheeler,  therefore,  that 
the  variability  of  the  female  sex  in  ants  is  re- 
maiicable,  reaching  clear  expression  and  ex- 


traordinary range.  The  fact  has  a  most  impor- 
tant bearing  on  the  views  of  scientists  who 
assume  that  male  animals  are  more  variable 
than  females  and  of  those  who,  as  was  said  in 
the  beginning,  have  transplanted  this  hypothe- 
sis to  sociology  and  anthropology.  Astonish- 
ing, however,  to  Dr.  Wheeler  is  the  atti- 
tude of  the  biometricians,  who,  he  asserts, 
priding  themselves  on  the  accuracy  of  their 
methods  and  repudiating  mere  observations 
and  speculation,  proceed  to  an  elaborate  meas- 
urement of  the  wings  of  honey-bees  and  ants 
for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  whether  males 
are  more  variable  than  females.  A  glance  at 
a  few  ant  colonies,  according  to  Dr.  Wheeler, 
would  convince  the  most  skeptical  that  there 
can  be  no  such  correlation  between  sex  and 
variability  as  that  now  so  much  assumed. 


A  NEW  ECONOMIC  DESPOTISM  THROUGH  THE  FIXATION 

OF  NITROGEN 


That  radical  reconstruction  of  society  to 
which  so  many  revolutionists  look  forward — 
whether  that  reconstruction  be  socialistic  or 
anarchical — ^will  not  be  accomplished  by  force 
of  arms  or  passive  resistance  if  the  conclu- 
sion to  which  Dr.  Robert  Kennedy  Duncan 
leads  in  his  Harper's  Magazine  papers  be  a 
sound  one,  but  it  will  be  accomplished  through 
the  irresistible  mi^t  of  chemistry.  Dr.  Dun- 
can, whose  work  as  Professor  of  Chemistry  in 
Washington  and  Jefferson  College,  as  author 
of  text-books  on  the  new  aspects  of  the  physi- 
cal sciences  and  as  special  commissioner  for 
Harper's  Magazine  in  the  investigation  of  the 
"new"  science,  has  given  him  an  international 
reputation,  says  that  a  social  revolution  has 
\iegaxk  in  Germany.  .  It  is  a  social  revolution 
soon  to  spread  throughout  our  globe.  The  so- 
cialists have  nothing  to  do  with  it.  The  revo- 
lution is  spreading  silently  because  wealthy 
men  have  a  vested  interest  in  concealing  it. 
"During  the  next  five  years,"  writes  Dr.  Dun- 
can, "the  small  manufacturer  who  is  swept  out 
of  existence  will  often  wonder  why.  He  will 
ascribe  it  to  the  economy  of  large  scale  opera- 
tions, or  business  intrigues  or  what  not,  never 
knowing  that  his  disaster  was  due  to  the  ap- 
plication of  pure  science  that  the  trust  organi- 
zations and  large  manufacturers  already  are 
beginning  to  appreciate."  The  weapon  in  the 
hands  of  these  new  Caesars  of  industry  is  the 


fixation  of  nitrogen.  The  problem  involved, 
says  Dr.  Duncan  in  the  second  of  his  Har- 
per's Magazine  studies,  is  of  immense  impor- 
tance to  the  human  race,  "We  either  must 
solve  this  problem  or  starve."  Our  authority 
introduces  his  theme  thus : 

"The  romantic  deportment  of  the  nitrogen  atom 
is  fascinatingly  interesting  to  the  student  of  chem- 
istry. Wherever  he  looks  he  sees  that  the  living, 
moving,  doing  thing  in  the  world  is  nitrogen;  it 
is  at  once  the  most  restless  and  the  most  powerful 
of  the  elements.  When  nitrogen  enters  into  a 
collocation  of  atoms  we  invariably  expect  the 
collocation  to  do  something  active,  whether  good 
or  ill;  for  the  nitrogen  compounds  have  proper- 
ties and  qualities,  £hey  are  never  inert 

"So  it  is  that,  entering  into  combination  with  a 
few  other  atoms,  it  will  yield  us  the  most  deli- 
cate and  delicious  of  perfumes,  while  it  is  equally 
ready  to  join  forces  with  others  to  produce  sub- 
stances whose  smell  of  utter  vileness  has  the 
psychological  effect  of  causing  the  experimenter 
to  'wish  he  was  dead.'  In  the  aniline  dyes  it 
enhances  our  clothing  with  a  thousand  beautiful 
colors,  and  in  still  another  thousand  forms  it 
enters  the  chambers  of  the  sick  in  the  healing 
guise  of  all  the  synthetic  medicines.  It  lurks 
in  prussic  add,  the  ptomaines,  and  a  host  of  dead- 
liest poisons;  it  drives  our  bullets  in  the  form  of 
gunpowder;  it  explodes  our  mines  as  dynamite 
and  guncotton;  it  dissolves  our  metals  as  nitric 
acid;  it  extracts  our  gold  as  cyanide;  and  in  an 
infinity  of  ways  it  menaces  or  ministers  to  man- 
kind. Nitrogen-containing  substances,  then,  are 
active  substances,  and  their  activity  seems  to  be 
due  to  a  certain  'temperamental  nervousness*  of 


554 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


the  nitrogen  atom  which  sends  it  flying  on  the 
slightest  pretext  from  one  atomic  community  to 
another.  On  this  account  we  call  nitrogen  a 
'labile'  element. 

"But  it  is  only  when  we  consider  nitrogen  in 
its  relation  to  life  that  we  see  how  truly  momen- 
tous is  this  fact  of  its  lability.  We  have  been 
accustomed  in  the  past  to  ascribe  to  carbon  the 
role  of  life-element  paramount,  but  the  more  the 
question  is  studied,  the  more  does  it  appear  evi- 
dent that  the  carbon  constituent  of  the  body  is 
the  mere.brfck  and  mortar  of  it,  good  enough  to 
constitute  its  physical  substratum,  and  good 
enough,  too,  to  burn  as  fats  and  carbohydrates  to 
maintain  its  fires,  but  that  the  working,  building, 
'vital'  thing,  the  thing  that  is  the  moving-spring 
of  protoplasm  and  that  brings  about  the  continu- 
ous adjustment  of  internal  to  exemal  conditions 
that  we  call  life,  is  the  versatile,  restless  nitrogen. 

"It  looks  as  though  the  living  being  constituted 
a  vast  unstable  plasma  in  which  the  nitrogen 
atom,  with  oxygen  on  the  one  hand  and  carbon 
or  hydrogen  on  the  other,  very  much  as  it  is  in 
nitroglycerin,  swings  the  atoms  of  the  living  body 
through  all  the  multiplex  atomic  relations  of 
growth  and  decay.  The  lability  of  living  sub- 
stance is  the  lability  of  the  nitrogen  atom,  and 
we  may  say,  with  much  more  propriety  than 
*Ohne  Phosphor  kein  Gcdanke,'  'Ohne  StickstoflF 
kcin  Leben' — no  life  without  nitrogen. 

"And  yet — and  this  is  a  most  interesting  thing 
— ^this  nitrogen,  which  when  combined  with  ele- 
ments of  another  kind  is  so  energetic  and  so  useful, 
is,  in  its  care- free,  solitary  condition,  a  stub- 
born, lazy,  inert  gas.  In  this  the  elemental  con- 
dition it  is  one  of  the  most  abundant  and  pervad- 
ing bodies  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  It  constitutes 
four-fifths  of  the  air  that  blows  in  our  faces,  and 
so  much  of  it  there  is  that  every  square  yard  of 
earth's  surface  has  pressing  down  upon  it  nearly 
seven  tons  of  atmospheric  nitrogen. 

"Chemically  speaking,  it  is  all  but  unalterable, 
though   the   'all  but'   is  vastly   important  to  us, 

"One  of  two  metals,  such  as  calcium  and  mag- 
nesium and  a  few  compounds  of  metals,  may  be 
made  to  unite  with  it.  We  find,  too,  that  certain 
organisms,  bacteria — 'nitrifying  microbes'  they 
are  called, — ^have  within  their  little  bodies  labora- 
tories for  attaching  nitrogen  to  other  elements, 
though  the  mechanism  of  this  action  no  man  un- 
derstands. 

"Still  again  we  find  that  the  lightning  flash  will 
cause  the  nitrogen  and  oxygen  of  the  air  to  com- 
bine in  the  path  of  its  streak  to  form  nitrous  add, 
or  that  it  will  cause  the  nitrogen  and  water  vapor 
to  react  to  form  ammonia.  Outside,  however,  of 
the  minute  quantities  which  are  extracted  from  the 
air  in  these  various  ways,  the  whole  great  ocean 
of  atmospheric  nitrogen  under  whidi  we  live 
and  move  maintans  in  a  chemical  sense  a  listless, 
useless  lethargy." 

Now,  the  nitrogen,  proceeds  Dr.  Duncan, 
which  is  united  with  other  elements  (it  mat- 
ters little  which)  and  which  is  so  tempera- 
mentally nervous  and  active  and  useful  we 
call  "fixed"  nitrogen.  Various  have  been  re- 
cent attempts  to  solve  the  problem  of  trans- 
forming in  large  quantities  the  free  and  use- 


less nitrogen  into  the  fixed  and  useful  kind. 
This  problem  is  of  such  importance  to  all  man- 
kind that  failure  to  solve  it  would  mean  the 
extermination  of  our  race — ^perhaps  within  a 
generation.  That  seems  a  sensational  and 
alarmist  statement,  admits  Dr.  Duncan.  Yet 
it  is  literally  true.  The  invaluable  "fixed" 
nitrogen  which  we  have  within  us  and  which 
we  are  continually  using  up  we  must  con- 
tinually restore.  In  order  to  do  this,  we  eat 
it.  We  eat  it  in  the  form  of  animal  food  or  of 
certain  plant  products  such  as  wheaten  bread. 
But  plants  and  animals  depend  like  ourselves 
upon  the  soil  for  every  trace  of  the  nitrogen 
they  contain.  The  soil  in  its  turn  has  won  it 
from  the  reluctant  air  through  the  slow  ac- 
cumulations of  the  washing  rain,  from  the 
lightnings  of  a  million  storms  or  through  slow 
transformations  by  billions  of  nitrifying  or- 
ganisms through  what,  so  far  as  we  are  con- 
cerned, is  infinite  time.  Not  only  so,  but  the 
valuable  nitrogen-containing  substances  we 
employ  in  our  civilization  are  in  the  same  po- 
sition of  dependence  upon  the  soil. 

But  we  filch  this  nitrogen  from  the  soil  im- 
mensely faster  than  it  is  restored  by  natural 
processes.  The  land  grows  sick  and  barren 
and  refuses  to  g^row  our  crops.  Everybody 
knows  what  we  must  do  to  cure  the  land — ^we 
must  use  manure  or  fertilizer.  That  is,  we 
must  mix  with  the  soil  substances  containing 
fixed  nitrogen  which  the  plant  may  utilize  in 
building  up  what  we  must  and  will  have — 
bread  and  meat.  In  the  olden  time,  natural 
manure  was  sufficient  to  meet  the  demand  of 
sparse  populations.  To-day  the  natural  ma- 
nure of  the  world  is  a  mere  drop  in  the  bucket 
of  man's  wants.  This  would  be  true  even  if 
man  could  utilize  the  fixed  nitrogen  of  the 
sewage  of  his  cities.  As  a  matter  of  fact  man 
was  long  since  forced  to  have  recourse  to  three 
fertilizers.  The  first  was  Peruvian  guano. 
We  have  practically  eaten  it  up.  The  second 
fertilizer  is  ammonium  sulphate.  The  supply 
is  large  but  inadequate.  The  third  fertilizer, 
nitrate  of  soda  or  Chile  saltpeter,  seems  more 
promising.  Yet  by  the  year  1925  these  beds 
will  have  been  exhausted. 

In  these  facts  we  have  the  basis  of  the  new 
economic  despotism.  The  result  of  experi- 
mentation by  Prof.  Adolph  Frank,  of  Char- 
lottenburg,  establishes  that  under  certain  con- 
ditions calcium  cyanamide  is  a  better  fertilizer 
than  the  sulphate  of  ammonia  from  the  gas 
works,  and  practically  equal  to  the  saltpeter 
from  the  mines — weight  for  weight  of  the  ni- 
trogen   it   contains.     The   new  product   was 


SCIENCE  AND  DISCOVERY 


555 


elaborated  by  toilful  experiment,  performed  in 
the  obscurity  of  laboratories.  In  another  dec- 
ade it  will  yield  tribute  from  all  the  scientific 
agriculture  of  the  world: 

'The  world  is  now,  thanks  to  Dr.  Frank,  in  the 
possession  of  a  fertilizing  material  that  is  almost 
ideal.  The  parent  calcium  carbide  is  made  out 
of  lime  and  coke  which  arc  everywhere  cheap 
and  available,  and  the  atmospheric  nitrogen  any- 
body may  use.  The  cheapness  of  the  fertilizer  is 
thus  dependent  solely  upon  the  price  of  electrical 
energy.  Even  now,  the  fertilizer  equivalent  of  an 
electrical  horse-power  is  superior  to  the  living 
horse.  A  living  horse  produces  yearly  some  21,- 
250  pounds  of  manure,  which  contains  about  126 
pounds  of  nitr(»en,  while  the  electrical  horse  in 
the  same  time  fixes  no  less  than  550  pounds  of 
this  same  nitrogen  in  the  form  of  calcium  cyana- 
mide. 

•TJnder  the  name  of  'KalkstickstoflF,'  this  cal- 


cium   cyanide    is   now  in   the    markets    of    the 
world.    .    .    . 

"In  manufacturing  the  substance,  they  employ 
the  latest  results  of  technical  science.  The  atmos- 
pheric nitrogen  must  be  separated  from  the  oxy- 
gen with  which  it  is  mixed.  They,  therefore, 
Dquefy  the  atmosphere  and  separate  the  two  sub- 
stances by  fractional  distillation.  The  oxygen 
passes  off  to  be  used  for  other  purposes,  but  the 
nitrogen  passes  suddenly  from  the  intense  cold  of 
liquid  air  into  the  highest  heat  of  the  electric 
furnace,  where,  through  contact  with  a  mixture 
of  coke  and  lime,  it  is  caught  and  transformed  into 
KalkstickoflF." 

Such,  hints  Dr.  Duncan,  is  the  chemical 
foundation  for  an  economic  superstructure 
within  which  the  next  great  trust  will  make 
its  home,  unless,  indeed,  a  word  to  the  wise 
suffices. 


HELIUM  AND  THE  TRANSMUTATION  OF  ELEMENTS 


The  story  of  helium  is  pronotmced  by  Sir 
William  Ramsay,  the  famous  Professor  of 
Chemistry  at  University  College,  London,  to 
be  one  of  the  most  romantic  in  the  history  of 
science.  It  is  a  story,  he  says,  of  which  the  last 
chapters  are  still  unwritten.  Helium,  orig- 
inally seen  as  a  spectrum  line  in  the  chromo- 
sphere of  the  sun,  was  discovered  on  the 
earth,  or  rather  existing  as  a  gas  in  the  atmos- 
phere, so  recently  as  last  year.  And  helium, 
adds  Sir  William  in  a  recent  communication 
to  the  London  AthemBum,  has  provided  the 
first  authentic  case  of  transmutation — sl  prob- 
lem which  has  occupied  ^the  alchemists  ever 
since  the  sixth  century  of  our  era. 

An  eclipse  was  visible  in  India  in  1868,  ob- 
serves Sir  William  in  his  exposition,  and 
among  those  who  observed  the  phenomenon 
was  the  celebrated  French  astronomer  Jans- 
sen,  For  the  first  time  a  spectroscope  was 
employed  to  analyze  and  trace  to  its  sources 
the  light  evolved  by  the  edge  or  "limb"  of 
the  sun.  It  appeared  that  enormous  promi- 
nences, moving  at  an  almost  incredible  rate, 
were  due  to  hurricanes  of  hydrogen.  That 
the  gas  blown  out  beyond  the  shadow  of  the 
moon  was  really  hydrogen  was  revealed  by 
the  red,  blue-green  and  violet  lines  which 
characterize  its  spectrum.  Among  these  lines 
was  one  occupying  nearly  the  position  of  the 
two  lines  characteristic  of  the  spectrum  of 
glowing  sodium.  In  October  of  1868  Sir 
Norman  Lockyer  declared  that  he  had  estab- 
lished the  existence  of  three  bright  lines  in 


the  "chromosphere,"  or  colored  atmosphere 
surrounding  the  sun.  It  was  known  that  an 
increase  of  pressure  had  the  effect  of  broaden- 
ing spectrum  lines.  Sir  Norman  Lockyer  was 
at  first  inclined  to  attribute  this  new  line 
to  a  broadening  of  the  sodium  lines  owing  to 
a  pressure  of  the  uprush  of  gas  causing  the 
hurricane.  However,  this  hypothesis  and  a 
subsequent  one — ^that  the  new  yellow  line 
might  possibly  be  ascribed  to  hydrogen — 
could  not  be  maintained.  Hence  the  line  was 
attributed  to  the  existence  of  an  element  in  the 
sun  unknown  on  the  earth.  The  name 
"helium"  was  chosen  as  an  appropriate  re- 
minder of  the  habitat  of  the  element.  Sir  Wil- 
liam proceeds : 

"Among  the  lines  visible  in  the  chromosphere, 
ten  are  always  observed.  Of  these,  four  may  be 
seen  in  the  hydrogen  spectrum,  one  is  due  to 
calcium,  and  four  to  helium;  there  is  still  one 
unidentified  with  the  spectrum  of  any  known  ele- 
ment; it  has  the  wave-length  5316.87,  and  the 
source  has  been  named  'coronium.'  It  appears 
at  a  great  height  in  the  solar  atmosphere,  and 
it  is  conjectured  that  it  must  be  lighter  than 
any  known  gas. 

"Shortly  after  the  discovery  of  argon  in  1884, 
the  notice  of  one  of  the  discoverers  was  drawn 
to  an  account  by  Dr.  Hillebrand,  of  the  United 
States  Geological  Survey,  of  the  presence  in 
certain  ores  containing  uranium  of  a  gas  which 
could  be  extracted  by  an  air-pump.  Hillebrand 
examined  the  spectrum  of  the  gas,  and  supposed 
it  to  be  nitrogen.  It  is  true  that  he  saw  in  it 
spectrum  lines  which  could  hardly  be  ascribed 
to  nitrogen;  but  on  mentioning  the  fact  to  his 
colleagues,  he  was  bantered  out  of  his  quest,  and 
did  not  follow  up  the  clue.    Now  in  Uie  spring 


556 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


of  1895  attempts  were  being  made  to  cause  argon 
to  combine;  and  it  was  argued  that  conceivably 
Hillebrand's  gas  might  turn  out  to^  be  argon,  and 
might  give  an  indication  to  a  possible  compound. 
Consequently,  a  specimen  of  clevite— one  of  the 
minerals  which  Hillebrand  had  found  to  give 
off  the  supposed  nitrogen  in  largest  quantity- 
was  purchased,  and  the  gas  was  collected  from 
it.  On  purification,  its  spectrum  showed  the  pres- 
ence of  a  brilliant  yellow  line,  almost  identical 
in  position  with  the  yellow  lines  of  soditmi.  It 
was  soon  evident  that  the  solar  gas,  helium,  had 
been  discovered  on  the  earth. 

"The  visible  spectrum  of  helitun  is  compara- 
tively simple,  and  many  of  its  lines  have  been 
identified  among  those  of  the  solar  chromosphere. 
It  is  also  to  be  detected  in  many  of  the  fixed  stars, 
notably  Capella,  Arcturus,  Pollux,  Sirius,  and 
Vega.  It  is  one  of  the  lightest  of  gases,  being 
only  twice  as  heav^  as  hydrogen,  but,  unlike  hy- 
drogen, however,  its  molecules  consist  of  single 
atoms,  whereas  those  of  hydrogen  consist  of 
paired  atoms,  which  separate  only  when  hydrogen 
enters  into  combination  with  oxygen  or  other 
elements.  This  peculiarity  appears  to  render 
liquefaction  of  helium  almost  impossible;  for 
while  hydrogen  has  been  liauefied,  and  boils  at 
422*  FaJir.  below  zero,  helium  has  been  cooled 
to  438*  Fahr.,  and  has  been  compressed  to  one- 
sixtieth  of  its  ordinary  bulk,  and  yet  has  shown 
no  sign  of  liquefaction.  Indeed,  it  is  now  the 
only  'permanent'  gas,  for  it  has  never  been  con- 
densed into  hquidf  form. 

"The  minerals  which  contain  helium  have  one 
thing  in  common;  they  all  contain  uranium  or 
thorium,  or  lead,  or  a  mixture  of  these.  Minerals 
of  lead  alone  do  not  show  the  presence  of  helium ; 
but  it  may  be  stated  that  helium  is  an  invariable 
constituent  of  ores  of  uranium  and  thorimn.  It 
was  at  first  supposed  that  such  minerals  contain 
helium  in  a  state  of  combination;  but  this  view 
could  not  be  substantiated,  for  the  constituents 
of  these  ores  do  not  show  any  tendency  towards 
combination  with  helium." 

Between  this  and  what  follows  Sir  William 
sees  a  remarkable  connection.  Radium  and 
allied  bodies  are  disintegrating — ^"their  atoms 
are  spontaneously  flying  to  bits."  This  is  why 
radium  compounds  are  permanently  at  a  tem- 
perature above  that  of  the  atmosphere,  and 
why  they  are  continually  emitting  corpuscles 
of  high  velocity.  Now,  this  view,  although 
new  in  its  application  to  elements,  has  long 
been- known,  remarks  Sir  William,  to  hold 
good  for  certain  compounds.  There -is  a  fear- 
fully explosive  compound  of  nitrogen  with 
chlorine  which,  on  the  least  touch,  resolves  it- 
self suddenly  into  its  constituent  elements.  It 
is  true  that  here  we  have  a  molecule  composed 
of  atoms  "disintegrating"  into  atoms  which 
subsequently  combine  to  form  new  molecules 
of  nitrogen  and  of  chlorine.  But  in  principle 
an  analogy  may  be  drawn  between  the  disrup- 
tion of  the  molecules  of  an  explosive  com- 
pound and  the  disintegration  of  an  atom  into 


corpuscles.  Professor  Rniherford  and  Mr. 
Soddy  showed,  however,  that  corpuscles  which 
have  been  proved  by  Prof.  J.  J.  Thomson,  of 
Cambridge,  to  be  exceedingly  minute  are  not 
the  only  products  of  disintegration  of  the  ra- 
dium atom.  The  proof  was  adduced  that 
among  these  products  were  atoms  of  a  density 
comparable  with  that  of  hydrogen  and  helium : 

"This  hypothesis  evidently  admitted  of  esqieri- 
mental  proof,  and  in  conjunction  with  Mr.  Soddy 
I  collected  the  'emanation'  or  gas  evolved  from 
salts  of  radium.  We  showed  that  this  gas»  pre- 
sumably of  high  density,  disintegrates  in  its  turn, 
and  that  perhaps  7  per  cent  of  it  changes  into 
heUum.  What  becomes  of  the  remaining  93  per 
cent  is  as  yet  undecided;  still  some  hint  may 
be  gained  from  the  fact  that  a  constant  ratio 
exists  between  the  amount  of  helium  obtainable 
from  a  mineral  and  the  weight  of  lead  which 
it  contains.  It  may  be  that  lead  forms  the  ulti- 
mate prc^uct,  or,  at  least,  one  of  the  ultimate 
products  of  the  disintegration  of  the  atom  of 
emanation.  Another  radio-active  element,  actin- 
ium, has  been  shown  by  its  discoverer  Debieme 
also  to  yield  helium  by  the  disintegration  of  the 
emanation,  or  fsa,  which  it  continually  evolves. 

"This  disruptive  change  is  attended  by  a  great 
evolution  of  heat;  for  the  radio-active  elements 
are  in  a  sense  explosive;  and  explosions  are 
always  accompanied  b]r  a  rise  of  temperature. 
But  such  atomic  explosions  surpass  in  degree,  to 
an  almost  inconceivable  extent,  the  molecular  ex- 
plosions with  which  we  are  familiar.  Could  we 
induce  a  fragment  of  radium  to  evolve  all  its 
energy  at  once,  the  result  would  be  terrific,  for 
in  the  energy  with  which  it  parts  during  its 
change  it  surpasses  in  explosive  power  our  most 
potent  guncotton  by  millions  of  times.  It  has 
been  suggested  that  to  this  or  similar  changes 
are  due  9ie  continued  hig^  temperature  of  the 
sun  and  the  presence  of  helium  in  its  chromo- 
sphere. 

"Up^  to  the  present  no  further  cases  of  trans- 
mutation have  been  observed  than  those  men- 
tioned: radium  and  actinium  into  their  emana- 
tion, and  these  emanations  into  helium.  But 
proof  is  accumulating  that  many  forms  of  matter 
with  which  we  are  familiar  are  also  undergoing 
similar  change,  but  at  a  vastly  slower  rate.  The 
mills  of  God  grind  slowl/ — so  slowly  that  many 
generations  of  men  must  come  and  go  before 
ocular  proof  is  obtained  of  the  products  of  such 
possible  transmutations." 

It  was  Sir  William  Ramsay,  as  will  be  re- 
called, through  whom  our  knowledge  of  many 
little  known  gases  has  been  increased.  But 
while  Sir  William  must  be  credited  with  the 
first  isolation  of  helium  (in  1895),  the  spec- 
troscopical  discovery  of  the  element  itself 
must  be  ascribed  to  Lockyer.  Sir  William 
Ramsay's  discoveries,  in  addition  to  the  at- 
mospheric gases,  include  neon,  xenon  and 
krypton.  His  work  on  the  discovery  of  gases 
in  our  atmosphere  is  standard  autiiority. 


Recent  Poetry 


Spring  brings  us  out-of-door  poetry  with  a  rush. 
None  of  it  is  better  than  Bliss  Carman's  poem  in 
Appleton's  Booklovers  Magazine.  Of  all  our 
poets.  Carman  is  the  most  delightfully  pagan,  and 
he  is  at  his  best  when  consorting  with  animate 
nature.  He  is  always  lured  by  the  open  road 
and  the  mountain  trail,  and  even  his  metrical  feet 
have  the   Wander-lust  in  them. 

PAN  IN  APRIL 

By  Buss  Cakman 

If  I  were  Pan  upon  a  day  in  spring, 
Some  morning  when  the  gold  was  in  the  sky, 
In  some  remote  ravine  among  the  hills, 
As  slowly  as  the  purple  of  the  peaks 
Dissolved  before  die  footfall  of  the  sun, 
I  would  emerge  and  take  on  form  and  voice 
And  be  myself  the  dreamer  and  the  dream. 
I  would  go  down  beside  the  brawling  brooks 
That  leap  from  dizzy  ledges  in  the  air 
And  pla^  among  the  bowlders  far  below, 
Filling  the  canyon  with  reverberant  sound; 
And  in  that  rushing  murmur  I  would  hear 
A  hidden  throb  of  music  large  and  slow, 
The  rhythm  whereto  from  chaos  rose  the  world 
To  power  and  meaning  and  majestic  form. 
I  would  take  heed  of  winds  and  budding  leaves, 
And  of  the  sap  that  mounts  to  meet  the  sun 
By  the  dark  stairway  in  the  tree's  deep  heart 
All  the  sweet  life  of  tasseled  silver  birch, 
Basswood  and  red-keyed  maple,  would  be  mine. 
And  mine  the  hum  of  bees  in  willow  blooms 
Yellow  and  fragrant.    I  would  taste  the  tang 
Of  black  birch  twigs;  and  on  some  sandy  ground 
Strewn  with  pine  needles,  patched  with  lingering 

snow, 
Find  the  first  mayflower  spilling  on  the  air 
Its  scent  of  woodlands  odorous  and  wild. 

In  all  that  life  of  rivers,  trees,  and  flowers 
From  rim  to  rim  beneath  the  airy  dome 
In  ordered  sequence  I  would  feel  myself 
Grow  with  their  growing,  touch  the  bound  and 

poise 
Of  shape  and  symmetry  in  myriad  ways. 
Then  in  a  marshy  place  beside  a  stream 
With  water  seeping  through  the  grassy  tufts. 
My  ear  would  catdi  the  first  small  silver  note 
Of  the  shrill  chorus  which  must  soon  awake. 
When  the  green  frogs  take  heart  a^n  to  fill 
Their  reedy  flutes  with  old  impassioned  joy. 
Then  in  the  woods  with  their  unfolding  green 
Meshing  and  filtering  the  morning  li^ht. 
How  I  would  listen  tor  the  arriving  birds 
And  note  and  know  them  by  their  rapturous  calls ! 
With  every  ringing  song  I  would  be  glad. 
And  mark  each  throat  of  fluttered  gray  or  blue 
Throbbing  with  ecstasy—- the  pulse  of  life, 
The  beat  and  tremble  of  the  soul  of  things. 

In  that  wild  music  I  would  grow  aware 
Of  a  dumb  longing  poignant  as  my  own. 


Craving  for  utterance  through  the  rift  of  sense. 
Confronted  with  the  law  of  rhythm  and  time. 
Helped  by  the  veiy  hindrance  to  a  pause 
And  modulation  in  its  wayward  rush; 
Then  finding  vent  in  that  melodious  guise. 
I  would  see,  too,  the  foxes  in  their  dens, 
The  noisy  squirrel  and  the  lumbering  bear. 
And  all  the  moving  creatures  of  the  wood 
Furtive  and  timorous,  yet  glad  of  life 
And  eager  with  resurgence  of  the  spring. 
All  humans  also  would  be  in  my  ken. 
Women  at  work,  and  men  in  their  shirt  sleeves 
With  clanking  teams  at  troughs  on  disUnt  farms. 
And  children  straggling  on  their  way  to  school 

Then  I  would  muse  on  what  sustains  the  world. 
This  colored  pageant  passing  like  a  dream. 
That  fleets  between  eternities  unknown. 
And  without  argument  I  would  surmise 
The  excellence  of  instinct  warm  and  keen 
Which  keeps  us  safe  until  the  law  be  learned. 
And  must  forever  be  one  guide  to  good. 
While  restless  soul  puts  forth  unresting  hands 
To  mold  the  world  according  to  its  will. 
And  thence  comes  beauty,  substance  made  to  wear 
The  form  that  best  will  serve  the  spirit's  need 
For  growth  and  gladness  up   from   change  to 

change. 
The  greening  earth,  the  level  changing  sea. 
The  stable  hills  and  the  triumphant  sun. 
The  tissue  and  fabric  of  the  universe, 
The  veil  that  hides  what  men  call  mystery— 
These  for  a  robe  of  glory  should  be  mine. 
The  outward  semblance  of  a  radiant  life, 
The  fragrant  floating  garments  of  the  spring. 

There  I  would  feel  in  that  delightful  world. 

The  earliest  fulfillment  of  desire, 

Beauty  accomplished  at  the  soul's  behest 

And  loveliness  made  actual  to  meet 

The  need  of  loveliness— what  more  than  that? 

So  it  would  be  enough,  perhaps,  to  live 

The  pure,  unvexed  existence  of  a  god 

In  deep-eyed  contemplation  for  a  day. 

Drenched  with  the  beautv  and  the  sense  of  spring 

On  the  Aprilian  earth — if  I  were  Pan. 

That  is  a  land-lover's  poem.  The  following  is 
a  sea-lover's  poem,  with  a  Kiplingesque  swing  and 
a  Kiplingesque  tang  to  it.  We  take  it  from  The 
Pall  Mall  Magazine : 

THE  CALL  OF  THE  SEA 

By  W.  Monro  Anderson 

When  the  farthest  sea  is  charted,  when  my  lights 
are  getting  low. 
You  must  lay  me  out  on  deck  and  head  away 
Where  die  clipper  ships  are  tacking,  and  the  great 
long  liners  race. 
And  the  smoky  tramps  go  thrashing  down  the 
bay; 


558 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


With  the  scent  of  teak  about  me,  and  the  smell 
of  tarry  cables, 
I  shall  watch  the  shore  lights  dropping  out  of 
sight. 
And  the  great  green   windy  billows   they   will 
drone  a  sea-dirge  for  me, 
While  I  bid  the  swinging  stars  a  long  good- 
night. 

You  must  stitch  me  up  in  canvas,  you  must  heave 
me  overboard. 
With  a  firebar  as  a  keepsake  from  the  crew ; 
Never  mind  the  "Jack"  or  Bible — ^keep  her  en- 
gines going  hard. 
For  rd  miss  the  muffled  beating  of  the  screw; 
Somewhere  in  the  North  Pacific,  where  the  loony 
whales  are  spouting. 
And  the  clean  blue  track  is  clear  for  miles  and 
miles, 
I  shall  lie  so  still  and  quiet  in  the  Port  of  Missing 
Traders, 
Where  the  ships  of  all  the  world  make  after- 
whiles. 

Ay,  so  very  snug  and  quiet  on^the  rolling  waste 
of  sands. 
With  no  weeping  women  wailing  for  the  dead, 
Down  among  the  long-oared  galleys  I  shall  watch 
the  traders  pass, 
And  the  great  black-bellied  liners  overhead. 
Overhead    a    ghostly   white    moon    through    the 
broken  cloud-gaps  T2Lcing, 
And  the  smoke-stacks  spitting  cinders  at  the 
sky; 
I  shall  hear  the  white  gulls  screeching  and  their 
far-off  pilot  calling 
Down  the  long  line  where  the  lagging  strag- 
glers fly. 

It's  a  pleasant  harbor,  and  it's  full  of  masts  and 
soars. 
And  there's  dancing  and  there's  fiddling  all  day 
long; 
And  you're  always  on  full  rations,  and  it's  always 
double  rum. 
And  the  hand  who  has  to  draw  it  draws  it 
strong; 
Pay  her  off  and  get  her  going.  Oh  1  you  lazy  sons 
of  Devon, 
There's  a  hooker  lying  idle  down  below, 
For  another  hand  is  wanted,  and  she's  waiting, 
and  I'm  readv. 
And  the  sea  is  calling  loud,  and  I  must  go. 

Katherine  Tynan— Mfrs.  Hinkson— has  "long 
had  a  foremost  place  among  living  writers  of 
prose  and  poetry,"  according  to  Clement  K. 
Shorter  in  the  London  Sphere.  A  volume  of 
her  verse  has  just  been  published  in  London 
under  the  title,  "Innocencies."  From  it  we  take 
the  following: 

INTROIT 

By  Kathekinb  Tynan 

'Twere  bliss  to  see  one  lark 

Soar  to  the  azure  dark 

Singing  upon  his  high  celestial  road. 

I  have  seen  many  hundreds  soar,  thank  God! 


To  see  one  spring  begin 

In  her  first  heavenly  green 

Were  grace  unmeet  for  any  mortal  clod. 

I  have  seen  many  springs,  thank  God! 

After  the  lark  the  swallow. 

Blackbirds  in  hill  and  hollow, 

Thrushes  and  nightingales,  all  roads  I  trod. 

As  though  one  bird  were  not  enough,  thank  God ! 

Not  one  flower,  but  a  rout. 
All  exquisite,  are  out ; 
All  white  and  golden  every  stretch  of  sod. 
As  though  one  flower  were  not  enough,  thank 
God! 

By  way  of  contrast,  we  give  next  a  poem  in- 
spired by  the  children  who. do  not  know  what  it 
is  to  see  the  larks  or  to  behold  spring's  rout 
of  wild  flowers.    It  is  taken  from  Everybody's: 

CITY  CHILDREN 
By  Charles  Hanson  Towne 

Pale  flowers  are  you  that  scarce  have  known  the 
sun! 
Your  little  faces  like  sad  blossoms  seem 
Shut  in  some  room,  there  helplessly  to  dream 

Of  distant  glens  wherethrough  glad  rivers  run. 

And  winds  at  evening  whisper.    Daylight  done. 
You  miss  the  tranquil  moon's  unfettered  beam, 
The  wide,  unsheltered  earth,  the  starlight  gleam. 

All  the  old  beauty  meant  for  every  one. 

The  clamor  of  the  city  streets  you  hear. 
Not  the  rich  silence  of  the  April  glade; 
The  sun-swept  spaces  which  the  good  God  made 
You  do  not  know ;  white  mornings  keen  and  clear 
Are  not  your  portion  through  the  golden  year, 
O  little  flowers  that  blossom  but  to  fade  1 

After  that  it  is  well  to  be  reminded  that  one 
may  dwell  in  Arcady  even  though  penned  up  be- 
tween four  walls.  The  following  from  Scribner's 
is  an  effective  reminder  of  that  fact: 

"ET  IN  ARCADIA  EGO" 

By  Theodosia  Garrison 

A  simple  print  upon  my  study  wall, 
I  see  you  smile  at  it,  my  masters  ^11, 

So  simple  it  could  scarce  indeed  be  less — 

A  shepherd  and  a  little  shepherdess 
Who  let  their  sheep  go  grazing  truant-wise 
To  look  a  moment  in  each  other's  eves. 

"A  grav-haired  man  of  sclence,'^^  thus  your 
looks, 

"Why  is  this  trifle  here  among  his  books?" 
Ah  well,  my  answer  only  this  could  be. 
Because  I  too  have  been  in  Arcady. 

My  students  give  grave  greeting  as  I  pass. 
Attentive  following  in  talk  or  dass. 

Keen-eyed,  clear  headed,  eager  for  the  truth ; 

Yet  if  sometime  among  them  sits  a  youtli 
Who  scrawls  and  stares  and  lets  the  lesson  go 
And  puts  my  questions  by  unheeding  so, 


RECENT  POETRY 


559 


I  smile  and  leave  his  half-writ  rhyme  unvexed 
Guessing  the  face  between  him  and  the  text. 

A  foolish  thing,  so  wise  men  might  agree, 

But  I  wrote  verses  once — ^in  Arcady. 

The  little  maid  who  dusts  my  book-strewn  room — 
Poor  dingy  slave  of  polish  and  of  broom 

Who   breaks   her   singing   at   my    footsteps' 
sound. 

She  too  her  way  to  that  lost  land  has  found. 
Last  night,  a  moonlit  night  ana  passing  late, 
Two  shadows  started  as  I  neared  the  gate. 

And  then  a  whisper,  poised  twixt  mirth  and 
awe, 

"The  old  Professor.    Mercy,  if  he  saw!" 
Ah  child,  my  eyes  had  little  need  to  see — 
I  too  have  kissed  my  ibve — ^in  Arcady. 

My  mirror  gives  me  back  a  sombre  face — 
A  gray  haired  scholar,  old  and  commonplace 

Who  goes  on  his  sedate  and  dusty  ways 

With  little  thought  of  rosy  yesterdays; 
But  they  who  know  what  eager  joy  must  come 
To  one  long  exiled  from  a  well-loved  home 

When  comes  some  kinsman  from  the  selfsame 
land 

To  give  him  greeting,  they  may  understand 
How  dear  these  little  brethren  needs  must  be 
Because  I  too  have  lived  in  Arcady. 

Miss  Florence  Wilkinson,  we  are  glad  to  note, 
is  publishing  a  volume  of  her  poems.  She  has 
written  novels  and  dramas,  but  she  has  never 
achieved  in  prose  quite  the  distinction  she  has 
already  achieved  in  verse.  We  are  indebted  to 
The  Outlook  for  this  poem: 

NIAGARA 
By  Florence  Wilkinson 

The  water  talked  to  the  turbine 
At  the  intake's  couchant   knee: 

Brother,  thy  mouth  is  darkness 
Devouring  me. 

I  rush  at  the  whirl  of  thy  bidding; 

I  pour  and  spend 
Through  the  wheel-pit's  nether  tempest. 

Brother,  the  end? 
Before  fierce   days  of  tent  and  javelin, 

Before  the  cloudy  kings  of  Ur, 
Before  the  Breath  upon  the  waters. 

My  splendors  were. 

Red  hurricanes  of  roving  worlds. 

Huge  wallow  of  the  uncharted  Sea, 
The  formless  births  of  fluid  stars. 

Remember  me. 
A  glacial  dawn,  the  smoke  of  rainbows. 

The  swiftness  of  the  canoned  west, 
The  steadfast  column  of  white  volcanoes, 

Leap  from  my  breast. 

But  now,  subterranean,  mirthless, 

I  tug  and  strain, 
Beating  out  a  dance  thou  hast  taught  me 

With  penstock,  cylinder,  vane. 
I  am  more  delicate  than  moonlight, 

Grave  as  the  thunder's  rocking  brow ; 
I  am  genesis,  revelation, 

Yet  less  than  thou. 


By  this  I  adjure  thee,  brother. 

Beware  to  offend! 
For  the  least,  the  dumbfounded,  the  conquered, 

Sliall  judge  in  the  end. 

The  turbine  talked  to  the  man 

AT  THE  switchboard's  CRYPTIC  KEY  I 

Brother,  thy  touch  is  whirlwind 
Consuming  me. 

I  revolve  at  the  pulse  of  thy  finger. 
.     Millions  of  power  I  fiash 
For  the  muted  and  ceaseless  cables 

And  the  engine's  crash. 
Like  Samson,  fettered,  blindfolded, 

I  sweat  at  my  craft; 
But  I  build  a  temple  I  know  not, 

Driver  and  ring  and  shaft. 

Wheat-field  and  tunnel  and  furnace, 

They  tremble  and  are  aware. 
But  beyond  thou  compellest  me,  brother. 

Beyond  these,  where? 
Singing  like  sunrise  on  battle, 

I  travail  as  hills  that  bow; 
I  am  wind  and  fire  of  prophecy. 

Yet  less  than  thou. 

By  this  I  adjure  thee,  brother. 

Be  slow  to  offend! 
For  the  least,  the  blindfolded,  the  conquered, 

Shall  judge  in  the  end. 

The  man  strove  with  his  maker 

At  the  clang  of  the  power-house  door: 

Lord,  Lord,  Thou  art  unsearchable, 
Troubling  me  sore. 

I  have  thrust  my  spade  to  the  caverns; 

I  have  yoked  the  cataract ; 
I  have  counted  the  steps  of  the  planets. 

What  thing  have  I  lacked? 
I  am  come  to  a  goodly  country. 

Where,  putting  my  hand  to  the  plow, 
I  have  not  considered  the  lilies. 

Am  I  less  than  Thou? 

The  maker  spake  with  the  man 

At  the  terminal-house  of  the  line  : 

For  delight  wouldst  thou  have  desolation, 
O  brother  mine. 

And  fiaunt  on  the  highway  of  nations 
A  byword  and  sign? 

Have  I  fashioned  thee  then  in  my  image 

And  quickened  thy  spirit  of  old, 
If  thou  spoil  my  garments  of  wonder 

For  a  handful  of  gold  ? 
I  wrought  for  thy  glittering  possession 

The  waterfall's  glorious  lust; 
It  is  genesis,  revelation, — 

Wilt  thou  grind  it  to  dust  ? 

Niagara,  the  genius  of  freedom, 

A  creature  for  base  command! 
Thy  soul  is  the  pottage  thou  sellest: 

Withhold  thy  hand. 
Or  take  him  and  bind  him  and  make  him 

A  magnificent  slave  if  thou  must — 
But  remember  that  beauty  is  treasure 

And  gold  is  dust. 


560 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


Yea,  thou,  retumid  to  the  fertile  ground 

In  the  humble  days  to  be, 
Shalt  learn  that  he  who  slays  a  splendor 

Has  murdered  Me. 
By  this  I  adjure  thee,  brother. 

Beware  to  offend! 
For  the  least,  the  extinguished,  the  conquered, 

Shall  judge  in  the  end. 

Miss  Thomas  has  written  few  things  better 
than  this  prophecy  of  better  days  for  Russia. 
We  take  it  from  Poet  Lore. 

IN  MUSCOVY 

By  Edith  M.  Thomas 

I 

Hear,  if  ye  will,  this  borrowed  line 
From  the  old  scholar  Herbastein. 
"In  Muscovy  no  voice  of  bird 
Through  all  the  Winter  Year  is  heard.— 
Upon  the  instant  everywhere, 
In  Muscovy,  when  comes  the  hour 
Of  winter's  loosed  and  broken  power. 
In  hedges,  groves,  and  orchards  bare — 
Ere  yet  the  flower,  ere  yet  the  leaf — 
The  birds  are  singing,  free  of  grief; 
So  sing,  with  quivering,  blissful  throats, 
Their  maddest,  sweetest  summer  notes. 

In  Muscovy! 

"In  Muscovy  all  unespied 

Where  through  the  Winter  Year  they  hide 

If  hollow  tree,  if  winding  grot. 

If  delved  mine  where  winds  blow  not, 

Or,  lapped  on  beds  of  rivers  still, 

Soft  wing  by  wing,  and  bill  by  bill! 

Where  swallow,  lark,  and  throstle  stay 

Through  winter's  teen,  no  soul  can  say; 

Men  only  see  their  instant  throng 

And  hear  the  sudden  joyful  song 

In  Muscovy!" 

Thus  far  the  scholar  Herbastein; 
The  legend  read  anew,  be  mine! 
In  Muscovy  a  mighty  Heart 
Mid  long  snow-silence  broods  apart; 
In  Muscovy  a  mystic  Soul 
But  looms  through  dreams  that  round  it  roll 
(As  when  a  traveller  scarce  is  known 
For  wreathing  breath  his  lips  have  blown). 
That  Heart,  that  Soul,  but  threads  a  trance, 
With  sight  beneath  the  veilM  glance! 
It  is  a  music  in  arrest, — 
Tis  folded  song  in  winter-nest! 
.  .  .   But  npw  near  waking  is  that  Heart, 
From  wintry  trance  that  Soul  shall  start; 
Ay,  yet, — and  soon! — the  birds  shall  sing 
And  all  the  land-locked  land  shall  ring! 
Vesna  her  banners  shall  outfling; 
And  all  the  world  shall  know  %s  Spring 
In  Muscovy! 

II 

In  Muscovy,  O  brooding  Heart, 

No  anarch  snaps  your  bonds  apart. 

Though  even  now  those  bonds  ye  cast! 

Your  sun  toward  solstice  mounts  at  last; 

In  fated  fullness  of  long  Time 

To  greatening  Vernal  I^y  ye  climb! 


So,  ever,  on  this  turning  sphere, 
Each  land  shall  greet  its  melting  year! 
Ye  are  the  people  of  the  bourne, 
Lit  by  the  Even  and  the  Mom ! 
Wherefrom  ye  have  the  mystic  Soul 
Swayed  by  the  tides  that  dual  roll. 
In  you  the  East  and  West  inhere; 
Ye  have  the  vision  of  the  seer, 
Whom,  like  a  mantle,  Thought  enwraps — 
Let  not  in  dreams  that  vision  lapse! 
And  unabated  strength  of  thews 
Have  ye, — in  World-emprise  to  use. 
Be  not  that  strength  in  wrath  forespent 
When,  up  the  earth  the  shaft  is  sent. 
To  say  that,  close  beneath  your  verge. 
The  new  day  strengthens  to  emerge ; 
And  yet — and  soon — the  birds  shall  sing 
And  make  the  land-locked  Land  to  ring! 
Vesna  her  banners  shall  outfling, 
And  all  the  World  shall  know  'tis  Spring 
In  Muscovy! 

In  Book  News  is  published  (not  for  the  first 
time,  we  presume)  the  following  beautiful  and 
sad  little  lyric  by  the  late  William  Sharp,  who  was 
also  Fiona  Macleod: 

THE  ISLE  OF  DREAMS 

By  William  Sharp 

There  is  an  isle  beyond  our  ken, 
Haunted  by  Dreams  of  weary  men, 
Grey  Hoi>es  enshadow  it  with  wings 
Weary  with  burdens  of  old  things : 
There  the  insatiate  water-springs 
Rise  with  the  tears  of  sdl  who  weep: 
And  deep  within  it,  deep,  oh,  deep 
The  furtive  voice  of  Sorrow  sings. 

There  evermore, 

Till  Time  be  o'er, 

Sad,  oh,  so  sad,  the  Dreams  of  men 

Another  poem  in  the  minor  strain  is  the  fol- 
lowing from  Appleton's  Booklovers  Magagine : 

THE  WATCH  OF  THE  GODS 
By  Georgia  Wood  Pangborn 

The  melancholy  of  a  driven  leaf. 
The  patient  journey  of  a  long  dead  world ; 

These  are  alike,  when  gods  with  steady  eyes 
Look  down  upon  a  universe  unfurled. 

Th(^  see  the  silt  and  scum  of  what  has  been. 

The  death  in  ice  that  was  a  birth  in  fire, 
Old  forests  mute  with  snow  that  shall  not 

melt; 
A  world  long  done  with  sorrow  and  desire. 

And,  you  that  sigh  to  see  a  green  leaf  brown. 
E'en  so,  perhaps,  the  gods  with  steady  ^es. 

Who  watch  dead  worlds  like  autumn  leaves 
go  by 
Along  the  drift  of  gray  eternities. 

If  the  above  has  a  tear  in  it  the  following  has 
a  smile  in  it  for  most  of  us.  It  comes  from  The 
National  MagoMine: 


RECENT  POETRY 


561 


BALLADE     OF    THE     INFANT    ON     MY 

KNEE 

By  Frank  Putnam 

Time  was,  when  in  my  boyhood's  home 
I  dreamed  both  day  and  night  (none  knew) 

Of  long,  straight  roads  where  I  ^ould  roam 
Free  as  the  warm  South  wind  that  blew 
Meadow  and  orchard  idly  through. 

Other  designs  had  Fate  for  me, 
More  to  my  taste,  as  time  proved  true: 

Witness  the  infant  on  my  knee. 

Later  I  felt  I  was  foreordained 

(Touched  by  a  Fairy  at  my  first  cry) — 

The  world  well  lost  for  a  true  love  gained — 
In  red  men's  forays  to  fight  or  fly, 
There  mate  and  marry,  there  live  and  die. 

Fate  smiled  behind  her  fan  at  me, 
Never  an  Indian  maid  knew  I: 

Witness  the  infant  on  my    nee. 

Dreams  and  visions  alike  forgot, 
Fame  was  the  lure  that  led  me  long. 

Wealth  passed  by  and  I  knew  it  not ; 
I  staked  my  all  on  a  vagrant  song 
That  died  unheard  in  the  heedless  throng. 

Then  Fate  had  pity,  as  all  may  see. 
And  made  me  amends  for  her  great  wrong: 

Witness  the  infant  on  my  knee, 

.     ENVOY 

Prince,  happy  is  he  whom  Fate  befriends. 
Or  low  or  high  though  his  lot  may  be; 

When  she  It  the  last  her  best  sift  sends: 
Witness  the  infant  on  my  knee. 

The  Bibelot  devotes  all  of  its  March  number 
to  the  lyrics  of  Margaret  L.  Woods.  Mrs.  Woods 
is  English  and  has  published  six  volumes  of  fic- 
tion and  six  volumes  of  lyric  and  dramatic  poetry. 
Fifteen  of  her  lyrics  are  reprinted  in  The  Bibelot 
and  they  all  have  literary  distinction.  The  one 
below  appeals  to  us  most  strongly: 

GAUDEAMUS    IGITUR. 

By  Mabgaset  L.  Woods 

Come,  no  more  of  grief  and  dying! 
Sing  the  time  too  swiftly  flying. 

Just  an  hour 

Youth's  in  flower, 
(Hve  me  roses  to  remember 
In  the  shadow  of  December. 

Fie  on  steeds  with  leaden  paces! 
Winds  shall  bear  us  on  our  races. 

Speed,  O  speed, 

Wind,  my  steed. 
Beat  the  lightning  for  your  master. 
Yet  my  Fancy  shall  fly  faster. 

Give  me  music,  give  me  rapture, 
Youth  that's  fled  can  none  recapture; 


Not  with  thought 

Wisdom's  bought. 
Out  on  pride  and  scorn  and  sadness! 
Give  me  laughter,  giye  me  gladness. 

Sweetest  Earth,  I  love  and  love  thee. 
Seas  about  thee,  skies  above  thee, 

Sun  and  storms. 

Hues  and  forms 
Of  the  clouds  with  floating  shadows 
On  thy  mountains  and  thy  meadows. 

Earth,  there's  none  that  can  enslave  thee, 
Not  thy  lords  it  is  that  have  thee; 

Not  for  gold 

Art  thou  sold. 
But  thy  lovers  at  their  pleasure 
Take  Uiy  beauty  and  thy  treasure. 

While  sweet  fancies  meet  me  singing, 
While  the  April  blood  is  springing 

In  my  breast. 

While  a  jest 
And  my  youth  thou  yet  must  leave  me, 
Fortune,  'tis  not  thou  canst  grieve  me. 

When  at  length  the  grasses  cover 
Me,  the  world's  unwearied  lover. 

If  regret 

Haunt  me  yet 
It  shall  be  for  joys  untasted. 
Nature  lent  and  folly  wasted. 

Youth  and  jests  and  siunmer  weather, 
Goods  that  kings  and  clowns  togedier 

Waste  or  use 

As  they  choose. 
These,   the  best,   we  miss  pursuing 
Sullen  shades  that  mock  our  wooing. 

Feigning  Age  will  not  delay  it— 
When  the  reckoning  comes  we'll  pay  it. 

Own  our  mirth 

Has  been  worth 
All  the  forfeit  light  or  heavy 
Wintry   Time   and    Fortune   levy. 

Feigning  grief  will  not  escape  it. 

What  though  ne'er  so  well  you  ape  it — 

Age  and  care 

All  must  share. 
All  alike  must  pay  hereafter. 
Some  for  sighs  and  some  for  laughter. 

Know,  ye  sons  of  Melancholy, 
To  be  young  and  wise  is  folly. 

'Tis  the  weak 

Fear  to  wreak 
On  this  clay  of  life  their  fancies, 
Shaping  battles,  shaping  dances. 

While  ye  scorn  our  names  unspoken, 
Roses  aead  and  garlands  broken, 

O  ye  wise. 

We  arise. 
Out  of  failures,  dreams,  disasters, 
We  arise  to  be  your  masters. 


Recent  Fiction  and  the  Critics 


When  Sienkiewicz  writes  a  Polish  historical 
romance  his  pen  has  the  sure  touch  of  a  master. 
He  has  a  talent  for  characterization  that  makes 
one  think  of  Shakespeare.  He  has  a  wealth  of 
incident  and  of  stirring  action  that  Scott  did  not 
surpass.  His  men  are  tremendously  masculine, 
and  his  heroines  are  the  very  acme  of  feminine 
charm.  His  humor  is  compelling,  his  dramatic 
power  is  at  times  unsurpassed,  and  the  tone  of 
his  novels  is  always  pure  even  in  the  midst  of 
revolting  scenes-  described  with  unsparing  realisuL 

After  a  silence  of  several  years  he  has  given  us 

what  appears  to  be  the  second  volume  of  a  new 

trilogy,   of  which   "The   Knights 

Fleld.On  the  ^f  ^1,^  Cross"  was  the  first.   About 

of  Qlory      the  only  point  the  critics  make 

against   the   present    volume*    is 

that  the  title  is  misleading  and  should  be  "On  to 

the  Field  of  Glory."    There  is  no  warfare  in  the 

story,  except  in  anticipation.    The  time  is  one  of 

preparation  for  war,  just  prior  to  the  second  great 

siege  of  Vienna  by  the  Turks.    The  story  ends 

with  the  hero  and  his  friends  on  the  march  to 

meet  the  Turks.    The  third  volume  of  the  trilogy 

will  undoubtedly  give  us  the  siege. 

But  if  there  is  no  war,  there  is  plenty  of  fight- 
ing, some  strenuous  love-making  and  plenty  of 
humor.  The  reviewer  of  The  Sun  does  not  find 
the  lack  of  war  any  deprivation.     He  remarks: 

"We  have  found  ourselves  quite  willing  to  abide 
in  Poland  in  the  company  of  this  admirable  story 
teller.  He  stirs  our  blood  and  he  makes  us  laugh, 
and  inasmuch  as  he'  does  this  we  have  no  particu- 
lar wish  to  go  to  Vienna,  though  it  would  be  in- 
teresting, of  course,  to  see  the  renowned  Polish 
cavalry  cutting  the  pagans  to  pieces.  .  .  .  The 
reader  will  be  glad  to  read  ...  all  the  story. 
It  has  a  strong  and  curious  interest  Not  many 
stories  are  better." 

The  Nation  advises  all  who  have  read  and  liked 
the  author's  Zagloba  romances  to  read  this,  his 
latest  work.  The  four  Bukoyemskis  "are  as  stir- 
ring in  their  way  as  the  author's  immortal  Za- 
globa was  in  his,"  and  Panna  Anulka  "is  as  charm- 
ing as  Sienkiewicz  alone  (one  is  tempted  to  say) 
can  make  the  heroine  of  gory  romance."  In  all 
his  books,  says  another  critic,  (in  The  Book  News), 
Sienkiewicz  is  "the  complete  master  of  his  art. 
He  never  hesitates  in  a  narrative  or  makes  any 
of  those  blunders  so  frequent  in  the  contemporary 
novel ;  nor  does  he,  on  the  other  hand,  give  coun- 

*Om  the  Field  of  Glory.     By  Henryk  Sienkiewicz. 
Translated  by  Jeremiah  Curtin.     Little,  Brown  A  Co. 


tenance  to  any  save  a  delicate  handling  of  those 
questions  which  so  frequently  give  opportunity  for 
vileness  such  as  permeates  the  Russian  novel  in 
particular."  Some  of  the  scenes  in  the  present 
book  are,  as  the  Providence  Journal  points  out, 
revolting  and  likely  to  prove  unpleasant  to  the 
ordinary  reader,  though  the  truth  of  the  picture 
doubtless  requires  them.  But  we  get  Poland  in 
the  latter  half  of  the  seventeenth  century  as  no 
one  not  a  Pole  could  have  presented  it,  and  as  no 
other  Pole  ever  has  presented  it.  "  'On  the  Field 
of  Glor/  is,  when  once  the  reader  has  caught  the 
spirit  of  the  age  and  country  in  which  it  takes 
place,  a  graceful  romance  and  a  vivid  picture 
of  a  life  now  almost  forgotten  by  the  Poles  them- 
selves." The  translation  by  Mr.  Curtin  elicits 
general  praise. 


Mr.  Upton  Sinclair,  a  young  man  with  an  un- 
doubted gift  of  literary  expression,  has  been 
trying  to  find  himself  for  several  years.  His 
"King  Midas,"  his  "Journal  of  Arthur  Stirling," 
his  "Manassas"  and  now  "The  Jungle,"  are  the 
fruits  of  this  e£Fort,  and  they  leave  us  still  uncer- 
tain as  to  the  author's  line  of  future  development. 
They  present  somewhat  the  appearance  of  a  series 
of  excursions  in  diverse  directions.  The  latest 
of  his  works^  is  scored  by  the 
The  critics,  but  it  has  at  least  secured 

Jungle  elaborate  recognition  at  their 
hands,  and  is  receiving  more  at- 
tention and  longer  reviews  than  perhaps  any 
other  novel  of  the  day. 

It  is  frankly  socialistic,  its  author  being  now  a 
sort  of  official  press-agent  for  one  of  the  several 
factions  into  which  the  socialists  of  America  are 
divided.  The  foundation  for  the  socialistic  con- 
clusion is  laid  in  the  alleged  conditions  in  the 
packing  industry  in  Chicago.  The  hero,  a  young 
Lithuanian  giant,  enters  a  packing  establishment, 
hopeful,  willing,  trustful.  He  is  almost  forced 
into  a  descending  scale  of  degradation,  until  he 
becomes  a  hobo,  a  drunkard,  a  highwayman  and 
a  political  heeler.  Then  he  "gets  religion"  of 
the  socialistic  brand,  and  becomes  a  man  again. 
Mr.  Robert  Hunter,  author  of  "Poverty,"  says 
of  the  tale:  "It  is  one  of  the  most  powerful  and 
terrible  stories  ever  written.  As  a  portrayal  of 
industrial  conditions  I  have  never  read  anything 
in  literature  that  equals  it." 

The  Reader  Magazine  finds  that  the  story  re- 

♦  THE  Jungle.     By  Upton  Sinclair.     Doub^eday,  Page 
ct  Co. 


RECENT  FICTION  AND  THE  CRITICS 


S6s 


veals  much  of  artistic  penetration  and  power,  and 
the  yery  brutality  of  the  book  will  cause  it  to  be 
much  talked  of ;  but  "one  feels  that  the  conditions 
that  it  depicts  are  too  grossly  overdrawn  to  in- 
sure a  permanent  place  for  it."  This  is  in  brief 
the  judgment  of  all  the  conservative  critics.  The 
author's  indictment,  The  Outlook  thinks,  "would 
have  been  more  convincing  if  it  were  less  hys- 
terical." 

Mr.  Edward  Clark  Marsh,  writing  in  The  Book- 
man, gives  Mr.  Sinclair  a  literary  classification  as 
follows : 

"Here  is  our  first  thoroup^h^oing  American  dis- 
ciple, on  one  side  at  least,  of  2ola :  a  novelist  with 
little  of  the  insight  and  imagination  the  French- 
man possessed  at  his  best,  but  with  all  his  indus- 
try and  no  little  of  his  ingenuity  in  coining  an 
effect  by  piling  detail  on  detail,  directing  atten- 
tion so  persistently  to  parts  that  the  whole  loses 
all  perspective." 

The  same  critic  finds  "genuine  talent"  displayed, 
but  the  hero,  Jurgis  Rudkus,  "is  a  mere  jumble 
of  impossible  qualities  labelled  a  man  and  put 
through  certain  jerky  motions  at  the  hands  of  an 
author  with  a  theory  to  prove."  The  Independent 
similarly  concludes  that  Mr.  Sinclair  has  not  only 
talent  but  unquestionable  genius;  "but  he  lacks 
judgment  and  has  always  been  disposed  to  exceed 
the  truth  in  the  violence  of  his  effort  to  tell  it." 
The  same  reviewer  writes  further : 

"Never  was  such  a  black  picture  drawn  of  greed 
and  inhumanity  practised  by  that  class  of  society 
which  we  are  accustomed  to  reckon  generous  and 
honorable.  There  is  no  denying  that  Mr.  Sinclair 
has  the  reality  of  terrible  possibilities  back  of  his 
representations.  It  is  not  whether  the  thing  is 
literally  true  that  counts  for  so  much  as  it  is  the 
proof  the  book  offers  that  such  things  may  be 
true  in  every  horrible  detail.  The  power  exists 
in  the  hands  of  great  corporations  to  bring 
these  miserable  conditions  to  pass.  And  it  is  a 
sort  of  axiom  of  human  nature  that  the  more 
power  a  man  or  a  set  of  men  have  the  more  un- 
scrupulous they  are  in  exercising  it.  If  one-tenth 
of  the  author's  statements  have  ever  been  true 
of  any  one  living  worker  in  Packingtown,  it  con- 
stitutes an  argument  for  socialism  or  any  other 
form  of  revolution  that  is  well  nigh  incontro- 
vertible. But  this  is  just  Mr.  Sinclair's  purpose. 
The  Jungle'  is  really  a  socialistic  tract,  and  not 
a  novel  at  all." 

The  Times  (New  York),  in  its  literary  supple- 
ment, devotes  a  full  page  to  its  review  of  "The 
Jungle,"  finding  it  "a  close,  a  striking  and  in  many 
ways  a  brilliant  study  of  the  great  industries  of 
Chicago";  but  the  reviewer  is  skeptical  as  to  the 
author's  sincerity:  "His  art  is  too  obvious,  his 
devices  too  trite,  and  he  has  too  much  joy  in 
them.  His  delight  is  not  so  much  in  the  thing  he 
says  as  in  the  way  he  says  it,  which  is  often  as- 
tonishingly clever."    Another  conservative  paper, 


The  Evening  Post  (New  York),  gives  not  only  a 
column  review  to  "The  Jungle,"  but  a  leading 
editorial  on  "Socialistic  Novels,"  which  is  based 
chiefly  upon  it. 

Another  socialistic  novel  that  is  conunanding 
respectful  consideration  from  even  the  conserva- 
tive press  is  by  the  author  of  "The 

The  Great    Silence  of   Dean   Maitland"— the 

•  Refusal  lady  (Miss  Tuttiett)  who  calls 
herself  Maxwell  Gray.  Her  story* 
is  of  a  young  man  who  renounces  inherited  wealth 
because  of  the  injustice  upon  which  it  rests,  and 
in  doing  so  also  renounces  the  love  of  the  girl 
he  was  to  have  married,  bvH  who  is  not  quite  de- 
voted enough  to  follow  him  into  poverty.  He 
goes  finally  to  South  Africa  and  establishes  a  suc- 
cessful socialistic  colony,  finding  happiness  in 
altruism. 

The  socialistic  conclusion  does  not  seem  at  all 
convincing  to  the  critics,  but  the  author's  nobility 
of  purpose  commands  their  respect.  "Whatever 
may  be  thought  of  the  execution  of  this  novel," 
says  the  London  Spectator,  "its  ideals  are  so  much 
'on  the  side  of  the  angels'  that  the  story  itself  can- 
not but  be  welcomed  by  the  serious  reader."  The 
London  Times  takes  about  the  same  view:  "The 
tale  is  a  really  thoughtful  one,  written  with  a  pur- 
pose; but  buried  so  deeply  beneath  extravagances 
of  style  that  it  needs  patience  to  value  the  motive 
at  its  true  worth.  Maxwell  Gray's  canvas  is  too 
big  for  her — ^her  scene  painting  is  splashy  and 
gaudy."  William  Morton  Payne,  reviewing  the 
book  in  the  (Thicago  Dial,  regards  it  as  "singularly 
charming  and  appealing,"  and  though  based  upon 
overwrought  emotion  rather  than  upon  any  prac- 
tical form  of  idealism,  it  is  "so  fine  in  motive  and 
so  graceful  in  diction  that  criticism  is  measur- 
ably disarmed."         

Eden  Phillpotts  has  never  been  a  remarkably 

popular  writer  in  this  country,  a  fact  due,  partly, 

we  presume,  to  the  somberness  of 

The  his  tales  and  partly  to  the  close 

Portreeve      fidelity  with  which  he  reproduces 

an    unfamiliar    dialect    and    life 

under  conditions  alien  to  Americans.    His  latest 

novelf  is  of  the  same  color  and  texture  as  those 

that  have  preceded  it,  but  it  is  generally  regarded 

as  the  strongest  work  that  has  come  from  his  pen. 

The  London  Academy  calls  it  "a  powerful,  almost 

a  great  book,"  and  the  New  York  Evening  Post 

thinks  that  it  shows  that  a  worthy  successor  has 

been  found  to  Thomas  Hardy. 

The  "portreeve"  was  a  sort  of  town  overseer. 

*  Thb  Grbat  Refusal.  By  Maxwell  Gray.  D.  Apple- 
ton  A  Co. 

fTHB  Portreeve.  By  Eden  Phillpotts.  The  Mac- 
millan  Company. 


564 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


The  story  circles  around  Dodd  Wolferstan,  the 
portreeve  of  Bridgetstowe,  on  the  north  of  Dart- 
moor. Instead  of  the  "eternal  triangle"  of  char- 
acters, we  have  a  quadrangle — ^two  men  who  love 
the  same  woman,  and  two  women  who  love  the 
same  man.  Dodd  Wolferstan,  who  has  worked 
his  way  to  success  from  a  lowly  start  in  the 
workhouse,  who  is  strong,  handsome,  sane,  re- 
ligious and  ambitious,  loves  I  let  Yelland,  a  peas- 
ant girl,  and  is  loved  by  her.  Unfortunately, 
Abel  Pierce  also  loves  her  with  the  fierceness 
of  primitive  passion,  and  the  wealthy  Prim- 
rose Horn  loves  Dodd  just  as  fiercely.  She  and 
Abel  conspire  to  separate  Dodd  and  Ilet,  and 
succeed  for  long,  until  Abel's  death.  Then  Dodd 
and  Ilet  are  married  and  the  real  story  be- 
gins. The  tale  from  that  on  is  a  tale  of 
Primrose's  hatred  and  her  consecration  to  re- 
venge. She  succeeds  to  the  full,  wrecks  the  port- 
reeve's life  and  drives  him  to  a  madhouse  and  a 
tragic  death. 

The  London  Academes  critic  compares  the 
story  to  the  old  Greek  tragedies.  He  says :  "In 
giving  us  something  stronger  than  the  lukewarm 
brew  of  the  average  of  our  day,  Mr.  Phillpotts 
gives  us  more  than  a  taste  of  tfie  old  tragedy. 
We  are  lifted,  excited,  awestruck:  there  is  some- 
thing of  that  purging  by  pity  and  terror  that  only 
great  tragedy  can  accomplish.  And  yet,  great  as 
our  modern  author  is  in  many  ways,  he  just  falls 


short."  The  London  Time^  critic  enjoys  the  au- 
thor's "fine  sincerity  of  purpose,"  his  sympadiy 
with  the  poor,  and  the  conversations  of  the  primi- 
tive Dartmoor  people;  but  he  cannot  believe  that 
the  elemental  emotions  rage  so  nakedly  there  as 
Mr.  Phillpotts  would  have  us  believe,  and  above 
all  he  cannot  believe  in  the  malefic  astuteness  of 
Primrose,  or  in  her  awful  steadiness  of  hate.  The 
Outlook  (New  York)  thinks  the  motive  of  the 
story  one  of  the  most  repellant  within  reach  of 
the  novelist,  and  it  is  worked  out  with  unsparing 
boldness;  yet  Mr.  Phillpotts  has  never  before 
sketched  the  loveliness  and  majesty  of  the  Dart- 
moor country  with  a  surer  hand.  The  St  Louis 
Mirror  cannot  understand  why  Phillpotts  does  not 
achieve  the  vogue  of  Thomas  Hardy,  for  ''no 
modem  English  writer  excels  him,  at  times,  in  the 
artist  touch  of  description,  and  the  atmosphere 
he  invokes  is  well-nigh  perfect ;  the  breath  of  the 
moor,  the  ripple  of  the  stream,  the  scent  of  the 
hay,  are  all  his  to  give  to  the  one  who  goes  with 
him  to  Devon's  tors  and  meadows  and  wastes." 
The  Springfield  Republican,  however,  finds  him 
lacking  in  Hardy's  special  charm— "the  delicate 
ironic  touch,  the  skilled  artistry."  The  New  York 
Evening  Post  thinks  that  Phillpotts  has  shown  a 
steady  advance  in  each  of  his  later  novels;  but 
'The  Portreeve"  is  so  far  beyond  his  other  works 
that  it  can  be  compared  only  with  Hard/s  "Mayor 
of  Casterbridge"  or  "The  Return  of  the  Native." 


THE  CHILD— A  STORY  BY  JEAN   RICHEPIN 


It  was  a  small  railway  station  on  the  Paris- 
Lyon  line.  With  a  disdainful  tone  in  his  voice 
the  conductor  was  accustomed  to  call  out  the  name 
of  the  station  to  the  sleepy  passengers:  "Saint- 
Felicien-du-Mont ;  one  minute's  stop!"  Then  the 
train  proceeded  further  with  a  loud  noise,  and  dis- 
appeared immediately  into  a  tunnel  as  if  it  felt 
ashamed  of  having  been  halted  for  such  a  trifle. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Verdie  were  the  only  two  officials 
of  this  station.  He  called  himself  the  station- 
master  of  Saint-Felicien-du-Mont,  while  his  wife 
designated  herself  more  modestly  as  the  railroad- 
guard. 

They  had  a  son  of  about  two  years  of  age, 
Emil  by  name,  or,  as  they  fondly  called  him, 
Milot.  The  little  fellow  was  the  sole  fortune,  the 
sole  joy,  of  his  good  parents,  and  M.  Frederic  in 
particular  was  uncommonly  proud  of  his  boy. 

One  morning  the  "station-master,"  as  usual, 
took  his  child  along  with  him  to  his  work  that 
he  might  play  with  him  in  his  short  intervals  of 


rest.  He  had  to  close  up  a  passage  in  the  hedge 
which  ran  along  the  track. 

Milot  behaved  excellently;  he  did  not  cry  oooe 
the  whole  time.  And  even  when  Verdie,  in  order 
to  amuse  him,  began  to  creep  on  the  ground  on 
all  fours  the  child  laughed  like  a  veritable  hoh- 
goblin  and  took  the  face  of  dear  papa  between 
his  dirty  little  hands.  The  happy  father  beamed 
with  joy  and  called  laughingly  to  Milot: 

"Well,  well  1    Now  I  want  you  to  sing." 

The  little  fellow  began  to  crow  like  a  young 
ro^stf^r.  The  father  rolled  in  laughter.  How 
comically  Milot  threw  his  head  back!  And  how 
oddly  he  screwed  up  his  little  mouth,  showing 
here  and  there  the  still  missing  teeth. 

Verdie  forgot  all  the  sleepless  nights  which  his 
son  had  caused  and  thought  only  of  the  pleasant 
memories  which  that  child  had  left  in  his  mind — 
the  first  smile,  the  first  "papa,"  the  first  clapping 
of  hands,  the  first  step — in  short,  all  those  com- 
monplaces which  to  the  parents'  hearts  always 
seem  so  new  and  fascinating. 


THE  CHILD 


S6S 


Radiating  with  delight,  he  played  pranks  with 
Milot  and  rolled  on  the  grass  like  an  old  dog 
trjring  to  keep  his  young  puppy  in  good-humor. 

'Vilot,"  he  asked,  imitating  the  helpless  speech 
of  the  child,  "how  does  the  train  go?" 

Milot  began  to  run  up  and  down  with  his  awk- 
ward little  feet  and  cried,  opening  his  eyes  wide 
and  pufiBng  up  his  cheeks :  "Fu,  fu,  fu  P* 

Without  a  shadow  of  doubt  that  was,  at  least 
in  the  opinion  of  Verdie,  a  faithful  imitation  of 
the  noise  made  by  a  train.  The  father  could 
scarcely  get  over  his  laughter  and  delight  That 
was  his  work.  He  had  taught  Milot  this,  as  he 
had  also  taught  him  how  to  mew  like  a  cat,  to 
blow  out  the  candles,  to  bring  into  a  rage  the 
parrot  of  his  aunt  who  lived  with  them,  and  a 
hundred  other  ingenious  performances. 

Presently  his  wife  Marie  appeared  with  a  flag. 
She  let  down  both  barriers  at  the  point  where  the 
track  crossed  the  road,  and  looked  toward  the 
tunnel. 

"Is  the  express  train  coming  already?"  asked 
Verdie,  who  stood  on  the  other  side  of  the  track. 

"Yes,  it  will  be  here  in  a  minute." 

Both  pricked  up  their  ears.  The  next  moment 
a  thick  cloud  of  white  steam  emerged  from  the 
tunnel  and  the  train  came  rushing  on  the  trem- 
bling rails. 

"Mamma,  mamma!"  cried  Milot,  who  saw  it 
coming. 

Whereat  he  tore  himself  loose  from  his  father's 
hand  and  ran,  mimicking  the  train :  "Fu,  fu,  fu  1" 

Suddenly  a  fearful  double  shriek  rent  the  air: 
the  child  had  run  on  the  track. 

"Milot!    For  Heaven's  sake,  Milot!" 

"Fu,  fu,  fu!"  cried  the  child,  jubilantly  raising 
his  voice  higher  and  higher. 

The  train  whizzed  by  like  lightning,  then  grew 
smaller  and  smaller. 

A  short  distance  from  the  track  Milot's  muti- 
lated body  lay  in  a  pool  of  blood. 

n 

They  lifted  the  child  and  carried  him  into  the 
house. 

"Oh,  my  God,  my  God!"  cried  Verdie  with  a 
voice  that  seemed  not  to  proceed  from  a  human 
throat 

Marie  wept,  cried  and  wailed.  But  when  she 
saw  her  husband  take  the  revolver  and  point  it 
at  his  head,  she  jumped  up  with  a  bound. 

"No,  no!  Not  that!  Not  that!"  she  cried,  and 
tore  the  weapon  from  his  hand,  beside  herself 
with  terror. 

He  yielded  the  revolver  to  her,  and  both  broke 
down,  weeping  loudly. 


Suddenly  Frederic  seized  his  weapon  again. 

'*No,  let  me I  am  to  blame  for  all,  I  am 

to  blame!  I  should  have  kept  him  back  —  not 
taken  him  to  the  track.  .  .  .  I,  I  am  to  blame ! 
I  am  a  miserable  wretch!    Let  me!" 

They  struggled  amid  wild  cries  to  wrest  the 
revolver  from  each  other. 

"No,  no,  no!  Oh,  I  beg  you,  Frederic!"  im- 
plored the  young  wife.  "On  my  knees  I  beg  you, 
do  not  kill  yourself!" 

But  he  paid  no  attention. 

"Do  not  kill  yourself!  Oh,  my  God,  what  am 
I  to  do  to  keep  him  from  killing  himself?  Give 
me  a  saving  thought    Oh,  my  God!" 

Verdie  suddenly  released  her;  he  seemed  to 
have  renounced  his  purpose. 

Then  he  felt  a  soft  object  under  his  feet,  the 
sight  of  which  broke  his  heart :  Milofs  first  shoe, 
a  red  felt  shoe,  the  length  of  a  finger.  In  his 
struggle  with  Marie  he  had  thrown  it  down  from 
the  itagire. 

Now  he  could  no  longer  control  himself;  he 
rushed  to  the  kitchen  drawer  and  pulled- out  a 
knife. 

"Frederic,  Frederic !"  cried  his  wife,  as  She  saw 
that  he  was  on  the  point  of  cutting  his  throat 
"Stop!  stop!  Listen  to  me!  You  shall  know 
everything.  You  have  lost  nothing,  nothing! 
Milot  was  not  your  son !" 

in 

The  husband  turned  around.  His  feet  shook 
beneath  him  as  if  the  roof  had  suddenly  dropped 
on  his  shoulders. 

"What — what  are  you  saying  there?" 

"He  was  not  your  son,  I  swear  to  you,  my  good 
Frederic !    He  was  the  son  of " 

"You  wretch  r 

With  these  words  Verdie  snatched  the  revolver 
that  lay  on  the  ground  and  fired  on  his  wife. 

Then  he  rushed  like  a  madman  from  the  room 
past  his  sister-in-law,  who  had  just  returned  from 
the  village. 

"Anne,  Anne!"  cried  Marie,  who  was  fatally 
wounded  and  had  a  rattling  in  her  throat  "In  a 
year — or  in  six  months — or  in  a  couple  of  weeks 
— ^you  will  tell  Frederic,  won't  you,  sister — ^you 
will  tell  him  that  it  wasn't  true— what  I  told  him ; 
tell  him  that  Milot  was  his  son — as  you  know 
— and  as  the  dear  Lord  knows,  who  gave  me  the 
idea!  It  was  the  only  way,  else  he  would  have 
killed  himself  —  my  poor  husband!  Won't  you, 
Anne?    You  will  tell  him?" 

An  hour  later  she  expired  in  her  sister's 
arms. 


The     Humor    of    Life 


MORE   EATING   THAN    SEEING 

George  Ade,  the  humorist  and  playwright,  told 
a  story  recently  of  a  farmer  who  went  to  a  large 
city  to  sec  the  sights.  The  rural  visitor  engaged 
a  room  at  a  hotel,  and  before  retiring  asked  the 
clerk  about  the  hours  for  dining. 

"We  have  breakfast  from  six  to  eleven,  dinner 
from  eleven  to  three,  and  supper  from  three  to 
eight,"  explained  the  clerk. 

"Wa-al,  say,"  inquired  the  farmer  in  surprise, 
"what  time  air  I  goin*  tcr  git  ter  sec  ther  town?" 

— Judge, 


A  FRIENDLY   INVITATION 

"When  in  need  of  a  square  meal  draw  on  me," 
said  the  rubber  nipple  to  the  baby. — Judge. 


FUNNY,    ISN'T    IT? 

That  a  taut  rope  is  none  the  wiser. 

That,  though  night  falls,  day  breaks. 

That  a  pen  has  to  be  driven,  but  a  pencil  is 
lead. 

That  sailors  never  box  the  compass  on  the 
spar  deck. 

That  the  fellow  with  a  literary  bent  is  usually 
broke. 

That  a  tree  is  cut  down  before  it  is  easily  cut 
up. 

That  improper  fractions  should  figure  m  pure 
mathematics. 

That  the  man  with  lantern  jaws  is  seldom  a 
brilliant  talker. — Warwick  James  Price  in  Satur- 
day Evening  Post. 


REAL    DISTINCTION 

"Is  Mr.  Scadds  a  man  of  scientific  distinction  ?" 

"Yes,  indeed,"  answered  Miss  Cayenne.     "He 

has  so  many  college  deg^rees  that  when  he  sends 

in  his  card  you  can't  be  sure  whether  it  is  his 

name  or  a  problem  in  algebra." — ^London  Tit-Bits. 


A    DELICATE    COMPLIMENT 

Many  delicate  compliments  have  been  paid  to 
the  fair  sex  by  men  subtle  in  speech,  but  here  is 
one  straight  from  the  heart  of  an  illiterate  negro, 
which,  it  seems,  would  be  difficult  to  excel. 

It  is  recalled  by  the  Reverend  C.  P.  Smith,  of 
Kansas  City,  in  telling  the  story  of  a  marriage- 
fee. 

"When  I  was  preaching  in  Walla  Walla,  Wash- 
ington," he  says,  "there  was  no  negro  preacher 
in  town,  and  I  was  often  called  upon  to  perform 
a  ceremony  between  negroes,  une  afternoon, 
after  I  had  married  a  young  negro  couplcj  the 
groom  asked  the  price  of  the  service. 

"*0h,  well,'  said  I,  'you  can  pay  me  whatever 
you  think  it  is  worth  to  you.*  ^ 

"The  negro  turned  and,  slightly  looking  his 
bride  over  from  head  to  foot,  slowly  rolled  up 


the  whites  of  his  eyes  to  me  and  said: 

"'Lawd,  sah,  yo'  has  done  ruined  me  fo'  life 
yo'  has,  fo'  sure  V  "—-Judge. 


HONEST  CRITICISM 

An  actor  whose  name  is  world-known  nowa- 
days tells  the  following  story  as  illustrating  the 
curious  criticisms  to  which  players  are  subject. 

In  his  early  days  he  once  gave  to  a  waiter  in 
a  restaurant  a  pass  for  "Hamlet,"  in  which  he 
himself  took  the  title-role. 

He  did  not  tell  the  waiter  he  was  an  actor. 
He  wanted  to  get  from  this  simple-minded  and 
yet  intelligent  man  an  honest  criticism  on  his 
work. 

So  he  duly  played  Hamlet,  the  waiter  occupy- 
ing his  free  seat  throughout  the  performance; 
and  the  next  day  the  actor  visited  the  restaurant. 

"Well,"  he  said  to  the  waiter,  "you  saw  'Ham- 
let' last  night,  eh?" 

The  waiter  scowled  as  he  replied: — 

"Yes,  I  did;  and  who's  goin'  to  pay  me  for  my 
time  ?" — London  Tit-Bits. 


EVENED  UP 

All  things  by  Time  are  set  to  rights 

And  squared  in  divers  ways; 
Gay  blades  by  lengthening  their  nights 

Are  shortening  their  days. 

— Catholic  Standard  and  Times. 


AN  INFERENCE 

"When  I  awoke  from  the  operation  I  felt  as 
if  I  was  burning  up." 

"I  see.  You  must  have  thought  that  it  had  been 
unsuccessful." — Smart  Set. 


EXCUSABLE 

Editor  :  I  cannot  tolerate  such  spelling  as  this. 
You  have  here  the  word  "suburban"  spelled  "sub- 
bourbon." 

New  Writer:  Yes;  but  haven't  you  noticed 
the  scene  of  the  plot  is  laid  in  Kentucky? — Judge. 


HOW  THEY  DID  IT 

Tommy  (from  the  city)  :  And  you  pasteurize 
all  the  milk,  don't  you,  Uncle  Jed? 

Uncle  Jed  :  Haw,  haw,  haw  I  Jes*  lisen  to  ther 
boy.  No,  sonny,  it's  only  ther  cows  we  treet  thet 
way. — Brookl)m  Life. 


A   BIGOT 

Uncle  George:  And  how  do  you  like  your 
employer,   Harry? 

Harry:    Oh,  he  isn't  so  bad;  but  he's  bigoted. 

Uncle  George:     Bigoted?    In  what  way? 

Harry:  He's  got  an  idea  that  words  can  only 
be  spelled  his  way. — London  Tit-Bits. 


NO  STROPPING 


SAVES 


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AWHEEL  OF  PROGRESS 


Every  pro^rM*  '^  «■»«       ^^  gJM  ^     ^rf  ^^  w^"  1^^^  ^'J"  »  't^''*'  ? 

sLuiiiJdkiiow  f    Mf  C7      %^aMW7mSm^        btactory  hm  hi^  barber  cua 

Shave  yourself  and  save  time,  nioiiev  and  worry, 

"The  Gillette"  blade  is  of  fine,  flexible,  wafer  steel  that  shaves. 

t2  blades^  24  keen  edges. 

20  to  40  quick  and  comrortabic  shaves  from  each  blade,  J^^'---,-^ 

Triple  silwf'plnteil  ^X  wilh  la  biaUe^ .    - ...,.,....,.,..- .  *  ?  oo         Wy     ^BP^ 

Qimdnifik  guJd  pEatcd  set  T^iih  i  j  ijbdt-s    ■ .  .    ^  ■ .  ■  ^ - * ^^^^  MJ      ^L     I  ■  wv 

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Jna  <l«vic«  (n  the  wortd.      ^"i<J  *»>  Umlin*  ,jri»iE. t uikr>  und  Imrd^Mrr  dt(*k«,     A«k  lu**'*? 

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Liter^dure 


For  Complet*  Table  of  ContenU  aee  inside  page 


A  Review  of  the  World 


San  Francisco  the  Undaunted 

The  President's  Crusade  Against  Trusts 

The  Duma  and  the  Czar 

Britain's  Battle  over  ''Birrelligion'* 


Persons  in  the  Foreground 

The  Positive  Character  of  Speaker  Cannon 
Wells— **A  Prophet  of  the  Coming  Race" 
That  Human  Radiance  Called  Ellen  Terry 
The  World's  Most  Perfect  Ruler  of  Men 


Literature  and  Art 


Mural  Decoration — An  Art  for  the  People 
The  Bane  of  Irresponsible  Criticism 
A  Japanese  Don  Quixote  # 

Gorky  and  the  New  Russian  Literature 


Recent  Poetry 


Music  and  the  Drama 

Max  Reger :  A  New  Problem  in  Music 
Barrie's  Two  New  Fantasies 
The  Awakening:  Hervieu's  Latest  Play 
Has  American  Music  a  Distinctive  Note  ? 


Religion  and  Ethics 

The  Heresy  Trial  in  the  Twentieth  Century 
Providence  and  the  California  Disaster 
Saving  Men  from  Moral  Overstrain 
The  Most  Vital  Element  in  Christianity 


Science  and  Discovery 

Scientific  Problem  of  the  Earthquake 
Burbank's  Method  for  the  Human  Race 
Principles  of  the  Boomerang's  Flight 
Theories  of  Cloud  Architecture 


Recent  Fiction  and  the  Critics 


The  Other  Side  of  the  Moon ;    A  Prize  Story 


THE    CURRENT    LITERATURE   PUBLISHING    CO. 
34    West    20tli    .Street,    New    YorR 


OUT  O'  DOORS 

SUMMER  PLEASURES  are  essentially 
out-of-door  ones.  All  the  active  sports  make  the 
bath  a  luxury ;  add  to  its  delights  by  using  Hand 
Sapolio,  the  only  soap  which  lifts  a  bath  above  a 
commonplace  cleansing  process.  Hand  Sapolio 
gives  more  than  cleansing ;  it  gives  energy  and  vim 
and  circulation.     It  is  "  the  soap  with  life  in  it." 

No  animal  fats,  but  pure  vegetable  oils  com- 
bined with  the  cake,  so  that 

THE  TEXTURE  OF  THE  SOAP  HEI.PS 
THE  TEXTURE  OF  THE  SKIN. 


'\KyenD2ms(^fbiiiitaJnPeD 

K^n  "ntm  pen    wItH  j^^>^  th«    ClIp-CAp 

IF  you  would  be  successful  —  save  time. 
Water-nan's  Ideal  Fountain  Pen  is  one  of  the 
greatest  time  savers  of  the  period.  It  is  a 
necessity  to  everyone  in  a  business  or  profes- 
sional career.  If  you  realize  this,  why  not  make 
a  gift  of  Waterman's  Ideal  Fountain  Pen  to 
some  graduating  friend  >  Nothing  is  more  ac- 
ceptable, nothing  more  appropriate. 

It  is  ultimately  cheaper  than  steel  pens  and 
ink  bottles,  and  with  proper  care  it  will  last  a 
life  time.  Pens  of  our  manufacture  have  been 
in  use  since  first  made,  twenty-two  years  ago, 
and  they  are  as  good  to-day  as  ever.  They  are 
more  essential  to  success  to-day  than  ever. 

Pens  purchased  anywhere  are  exchangeable 
everywhere    if   in   any    degree    unsatisfactory. 
Your  pen  should  suit  your  hand,  and  there  is  j 
a  pen  made  for  everyone.  ^  ^ 

Sutioners,    drug^    and    jewelers    almost  |p^j 
f^B   everywhere  cany  varied  assortmenU.     Our  own 
|B   branch  offices  give  particular  attention  to  repairs. 
5H   Write  for  a  copy  of  our  booklet  "PoinU  for 
Penmen." 

L.E.  Watermafl  Co.,173  6itMuIwaj,N.  Y. 

a09  STATE  ST. .  CHICAGO  8  SCHOOL  ST.    BOSTON 

136  ST.  JAMES  ST.,  ICGNTKEAL 

961  BROADWAY,  OAKLAND,  CALIF. 


Photograph  byflKalk. 

ONCE  AN  ORCHESTRA  LEADER;    NOW  THE  HEROIC  MAYOR  OF  SAN  FRANCISCO 

"Society  was  thrown  back  to  it.s  beginnings,"  writes  Frederick  Palmer.  "There  wa«  chaos  in  the  streets 
and  in  men's  minds.  .  .  .  The  control  of  the  situation  fell  back  on  two  men,  Ftinston  and  Schmitz. 
Both  happen  to  be  natural  leaders  ot  men.  But  Schmitr  was  the  surprise.  In  this  crisis  he  showed  that 
he  had  a  backbone  of  steel  and  thefmind  of  the  bom  organizer.  Tall  and  well  set  up,  with  black  beard 
and  black  pompadour  hair,  he  seems  still  the  leader  of  an  orchestra  as  he  once  was.  His  orisrin  and  his 
previous  character  make  his  work  the  more  wonderful." 

His  name  is  not  even  in  "  Who's  Who  "—yet.     It  is  Eugene  E.  Schmitr. 


Current  Literature 


VOL  XL,  No.  6 


Edward  J.  Wheeler,  Editor 
Associate  Editors :  Leonard  D.  Abbott,  Alexander  Harvey 


JUNE,  1906 


A  Review  of  the  World 


Serene,  indifferent  of  fate, 

Thou  sittcst  at  the  Western  Gate; 

Upon  thy  heights  so  lately  won 
Still  slant  the  banners  of  the  sun; 

Thou  seest  the  white  seas  strike  their  tents, 
O  Warder  of  two  Continents. 


nggiHE  Western  Gate,  the  heights,  and 
^^1^1  the  white  seas  of  Bret  Harte's  poem 
F^^^^  remain;  but  that  is  about  all  that 
I.  Msmi  {3  ]^t  of  San  Francisco,  the  old  city 
of  romance  and  song  and  story.  It  was  a 
city  of  contrasts.  More  poetry,  it  is  asserted, 
was  written  daily  in  San  Francisco  than  in 
any  other  city  in  the  United  States.  There 
were  also  more  murders  in  proportion  to  popu- 
lation. "The  smelting-pot  of  the  races,"  Ste- 
venson called  her,  and  he  was  enamored  of  her 
beauty,  her  romance,  her  mystery,  and  even 
her  license.  "Physically  and  mor- 
ally," says  one  writer,  "San  Fran- 
cisco was  built  on  mud."  There  is 
much  truth  in  that;  but  out  of  the 
mud  grew  flowers  of  rare  beau- 
ty and  intoxicating  perfume;  and 
the  whole  world  is  to-day  looking 
with  admiring  eyes  upon  the  deeds 
of  heroism,  the  undaunted  spirit, 
the  brotherly  kindness  and  the 
marvelous  self-restraint  of  this  old 
city  of  unspeakable  vice  and  inde- 
scribable charm  that  has  passed 
off  the  face  of  the  earth  forever. 
For  the  old  San  Francisco  can 
never  be  restored. 


then  by  the  Franciscan  fathers,  and  it  marked 
the  period  of  Spanish  glory  and  religious 
chivalry.  And  this  old  building,  apparently 
tottering  and  ready  to  fall  of  its  own  weight, 
has  resisted  the  earthquake  shock  that  laid  in 
ruins  the  new  eight-million-dollar  City  Hall, 
and  still  stands  when  marts  and  exchanges  and 
the  palaces  of  millionaires  are  but  unsightly 
heaps  of  twisted  girders  and  broken  brick  and 
crumbled  stone.  After  the  Spanish  period 
came  the  days  of  '49 — the  days  of  the  Argor 
nauts  and  the  Vigilance  Committee,  of  fortunes 
made  and  lost  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  when 
it  cost  twenty-four  dollars  a  dozen  to  have 
shirts  laundered,  and  might  cost  you  your  life 
tq^  ask  a  man  what  his  real  name  was.  The 
newer  city,  San  Francisco  the  third,  the 
metropolis  of  the  Pacific  coast,  the  city  loved 
by  Stevenson  and  scorned  by  Kipling,  in  addi- 
tion to  her  reminders  of  the  high- 
ly colored  past,  possessed  many 
other  features  of  varied  interest. 
For  one  thing,  nature  has  re- 
mained very  close  to  the  city's  life. 
"Within  the  last  few  years  men 
have  killed  deer  on  the  slopes  of 
Tamalpais  and  looked  down  to  see 
the  cable  cars  crawling  up  the  hills 
of  San  Francisco  to  the  north.  In 
the  suburbs  coyotes  steal  in  and 
rob  hen  roosts  by  night."  Says  a 
writer  in  The  Evening  Post  (New 
York)  : 


THE  history  of  the  city  goes 
back  not  merely  to  the  days 
of  '49,  but  to  the  days  of  our 
Declaration  of  Independence.  The 
old  Mission  Dolores  was  er^qtecj 


From  Rtsrcoarapb,  copyrUht 
IWe,  by  H  a  White  CoT,  N.  Y. 

THE  FIRST  CAR 

"City  and  railroad  offi- 
cials and  invited  guests 
filled  the  first  street -car 
which  started  on  the  run 
across  the  1  city,  Mayor 
Schmitz  acting  as  mo- 
torman.  Everywhere  the 
car  was  greeted  with 
cheers,'* 


"Something  in  the  lingering  glam- 
or of  Spanish  days;  something  in 
her  situation  set  on  a  finger  of  land 
beaten  on  one  side  by  a  windy  ocean 
and  caressed  on  the  other  by  a  quiet 
bay ;  something  in  the  belief  that  San 
Francisco  is  a  city  where  for  great 
things  lie  upon  the  knees  of  the  gods ; 
something  in  the  mere   sunny  soft- 


568 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


THE  BUSINESS  SECTION  OF  THE  CITY  AFTER  THE    EARTHQUAKE  AND  BEFORE  THE  FIRE 

SWEPT  IT 

"The  direct  damajfe  of  the  earthquake,"  says  President  Jordan,  "was  not  great.  Old  brick  buildings 
were  crumbled,  and  chimneys  flung  about,  but  the  modern  steel  structures  received  little  if  any  injury. 
Even  the  slender  Call  Building,  some  thirteen  stories  high,  swayed  in  perfect  rhythm." 


ncss  of  the  air  which  breeds  sensuous  women  and 
long-limbed,  clean-lined  men;  something  in  hdr 
so  strange  mixture  of  races  that  not  seldom  on 
the  circling  bay  a  Neapolitan  fisherboat  passes 
with  her  swifter  sails  a  blunt-bowed  Chinese  junk; 
something  more  than  all  this,  subtle,  impalpable, 
'evasive  as  water  beneath  a  knife,*  yet  as  real  as 
granite — impels  to  poetry.  Poetry,  like  the  spores 
of  some  crimson  fungus,  is  in  the  air.  It  takes 
root,  here,  there,  and  strangely  grows.  One  comes 
upon  it  with  a  movement  of  surprise  in  most  un- 
hkely  places.  The  phenomenon  is  a  thing  at 
which  to  marvel." 


Fromwcrcogittph,  copyright  l\t(H\,  II.  C.  White  Co..  N.  Y. 

WHERE  THE  BIG    WATER    MAIN    WAS    BROKEN 

The  earth  at  this  point  in  Valencia  Street  sank  four  , 
feet      The  damage  done  here  to  the  water  main  caused 
the  destruction  of  the   city   by   fire.     This  hole  may  be 
called  the  open 'grave  of  old  San  Franci.sco. 


WHAT  was  it  that  happened  on  that  fatal 
April  i8?  Back  in  the  geologic  ages 
the  crust  of  the  earth  received  too  great  a 
strain  and  there  was  a  break.  The  rocks  on 
one  side  of  this  break  were  left  2,000  feet 
higher  than  those  on  the  other  side.  The  ele- 
vated side  is  called  the  Sierra  Morena,  and 
forms  the  backbone  of  the  peninsula  of  San 
Francisco.  The  depression  on  the  other  side  is 
called  the  Portola  Valley  and  by  various  other 
names.  The  break'  itself  is  called  by  geologists 
the  Portola  fault.  The  weakness  along  the 
line  of  this  fault  has  been,  according  to  Presi- 
dent Jordan,  writing  in  The  Independent,  the 
cause  of  San  Francisco's  numerous  tremors 
and  shocks  in  past  years.  "The  very  violent 
shock  of  April  i8th  was  clearly  due  to  this. 
The  old  fault  in  the  rock  reopened,  breaking 
the  surface  soil  more  or  less  for  a  distance  of 
upward  of  forty  miles.  The  mountain  on  the 
west  side  of  the  fault  slipped  to  the  northward 
for  a  distance  of  between  three  and  six  feet 
without  change  of  level  on  either  side."  Here 
is  a  description  by  another  writer  of  what  has 
happened  in  the  Sobrante  hills,  a  few  miles 
north  of  Berkeley: 
"The  hills  are  rent  and  torn  in  a  way  that  can 


THE  EARTHQUAKE  AND  AFTER 


569 


THE  BUSINESS  SECTION  OF  THE  CITY  AFTER  THE  FIRE  HAD  PASSED  OVER  IT 

**  When  the  Bvm  rose  that  Thursday  morning,"  says  Miriam  Michelson,  "  it  was  blood-red  in  a  heaven  of 
smoke.  Black  clouds  were  belching  forth ;  the  business  part  of  the  town  was  a  hot  graveyard,  whose  rickety, 
irregular-shaped  tombstones  marked  the  spot  where  millions  of  property  lay  in  mountainous  heaps  of  smok- 
ing brick  and  twisted  steel." 


scarcely  be  believed  except  by  personal  observa- 
tion. On  the  slope  of  one  of  the  hills  is  a  fissure 
three-quarters  of  a  mile  long.  At  one  end  of  the 
aperture,  which  is  tapering,  the  crevice  is  ten  feet 
across  and  eighty  feet  deep.  The  ground  must 
have  been  tumbled  about  in  a  frightful  manner, 
for  in  one  place  a  large  knoll  has  risen  and  in  an- 
other entire  oak  trees  have  been  moved  thirty 
feet. 

"There  is  great  confusion  in  the  country  at 
Point  Reyes,  thirty-three  miles  north  of  this  city 
[Oakland]  owing  to  manifest  changes  in  the  lay 
of  the  land.  Although  there  is  no  visible  break 
in  the  earth's  surface,  numerous  signs  record  the 
moving  of  the  country  at  least  ten  feet  northward. 
An  old  oak  tree,  a  landmark  in  those  parts,  is  now 
ten  feet  distant  from  the  fence  which  it  formerly 
overhung. 

"At  Olema,  a  nearby  town,  a  pipe  line  300  feet 
long,  which  was  broken  by  the  quake,  on  being 
repaired  showed  an  excess  length  of  three  feet, 
indicating  a  contraction  of  the  earth.  At  Bolinas 
knolls  of  earth  have  been  thrown  up  where  be- 
fore there  was  level  ground.  Proprietary  lines 
have  been  changed  and  there  is  confusion  over 
the  present  acreage  of  large  estates." 


case  were  without  wings,  and  they  became 
panic-stricken.  "I  met  only  one  man,"  says 
Frederick  Palmer  in  Collier's,  "who  did  not 
think  that  the  world  was  coming  to  an  end 
after  the  shock  had  lasted  twenty  seconds." 
That  one  man  was  a  newcomer  who  h^d  heard 
about  San  Francisco's  earthquakes  and  who 
supposed  this  particular  one  was  the  customary 
sort  of  thing.  When  his  wife  and  children 
began  to  make  audible  expression  of  their 
feelings  about  being  thrown   out  of  bed,  he 


THAT  was  all  that  happened — a  little  slip 
of  a  few  feet  in  the  rocks  along  a  line 
about  forty  miles  in  length — a  slight  twitching 
of  the  earth,  less  violent,  in  proportion,  as  one 
writer  puts  it,  "than  the  act  of  a  horse  shaking 
his  skin  to  throw  off  a  fly."    But  the  flies  in  this 


IN  FRONT  OF  THE  POST-OFFICE 

"The  driver  of  a  market-wapfon  told  me  his  horse 
went  down  on  all  fours  while  he  himself  was  thrown 
forward  on  to  the  dashboard,  and  the  street  before  him 
seemed  to  be  weavmg  and  twisting." 


S70 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


From  •toreograph,  copyrlgbt  1906,  Cndcrwood  A  Undonrood.  N.  Y. 
THE  ANGEL  OP  GRIEF 

Statue  at  the  Leland  Stanford  University  standing  in  the 
midst  of  ruins. 

calmly  informed  them  that  people  there  didn't 
pay  any  attention  to  little  matters  like  that,  and 
the  thing  to  do  was  to  go  back  to  bed,  which 
they  all  proceeded  to  do!  Ludicrous  as  that 
seems,  it  was  not,  after  all,  such  an  absurd 
procedure,  for,  according  to  all  accounts,  de- 


spite the  violence  of  the  earthquake  and  the 
panic  it  occasioned,  the  actual  damage  caused 
by  it  would  have  been  comparatively    slig^ht 
but  for  the  breaking  of  the  gas  mains   and 
water  mains  and  the  consequent  destruction 
by  fire.    At  least  San  Franciscans  stoutly  as- 
severate that  such  was  the  fact,  and  insist  that 
the  disaster  shall  be  hereafter  spoken  of  as  the 
great  fire  rather  than  as  the  great  earthquake. 
Senator  Newlands,  of  Nevada,  declares   that 
not  three  per  cent,  of  the  damage  was  caused 
by  the  shock.    President  Jordan  says  that  the 
damage  other  than  by  fire  was  "not  great."   Old 
brick  buildings  were  crumbled  and  chimne3^s 
were    toppled    down,    but    the    modem    steel 
structures   received  little  if  any   injury,    and 
solid  masonry  stood  fairly  well  if  it  was  not 
too  high.     Even   the  brick  or  stone   facings 
on  the  steel  structures  for  the  most  part  kept 
their  places.    The  relative  damage  done  by  the 
earthquake  and  the  fire  is  a  very  important 
point,  not  only  in  its  influence  upon  the  rein- 
vestment of  capital  in  rebuilding,  but  also  upon 
the  adjustment  of  payments  by  the  fire  insur- 
ance companies,  which  are  liable  for  the  loss  by 
fire,  but  not  liable  for  the  loss  by  earthquake. 
Franklin  K.  Lane,  who  was  the  candidate  for 
governor  of  California  in  the  recent  election, 
says  on  the  subject: 

"All  the  buildings  which  went  down  [from  the 
shock]  were  either  crazy  shacks  on  the  made 
lands  or  badly  constructed  brick  buildings  of  the 
type  wherein  the  frame  was  of  wood  with  a  brick 
firewall.  In  the  case  of  these  brick  buildings,  also, 
the  greater  part  of  the  damage  was  on  the  made 
lands.    The  great  loss  of  life  was  on  the  southern 


THEY  CALL  THEM  ANGELS  IN  DISGUISE  OUT  IN  SAN  FRANCISCO 

One  woman  tells  why  :  "Thev  have  ^one  without  water,  without  food,  without  their  tents  that  the  woinen 
and  children  might  have  them.  In  this,  our  time  of  need,  the  army  has  been  our  refugre  andlour  strength." 
This  is  a  picture  of  the  First  Coast  Battery. 


AS  JACK  LONDON  SAW  IT 


S7I 


fringe  of  Market  street  from  the  waterfront  to 
about  Fourth  street.  This  part  of  the  city  was 
originally  a  swamp.  A  great  deal  has  been  said. 
of  the  fall  of  City  Hall.  That  stood  above  die 
dry  bed  of  an  old  creek  and  was  not  anchored 
deep  enough.  The  new  postofficc  was  also  on  that 
creek  bed;  but  for  that  building  they  bored  for 
three  years  to  get  foundations  deep  enough.  The 
postofficc  was  only  a  little  damaged.  I  drove  all 
through  the  business  district  in  an  automobile 
within  three  hours  after  the  disaster  and  before 
the  fire  had  made  any  headway.  Not  one  of  the 
new  steel  frame  buildings  was  hurt  in  the  least. 
Some  of  the  Eastern  papers  have  told  how  they 
cast  their  shells.  That  is  not  true.  They  did  not 
lose  a  brick — even  the  windows  remained  un- 
broken. Many  of  them  stood  on  the  made  land, 
too,  and  the  rest  in  the  low  land.  A  modern  steel 
skyscraper  has  proved  itself  the  safest  place  in  an 
earthquake.  Honestly  constructed  wooden  and 
brick  buildings  stood  it  too.  Nine  out  of  ten 
houses  destroyed  by  the  earthquake  were  old  and 
flimsy  and  should  have  been  torn  down  by  city 
ordinance  long  before. 


HUNDREDS  of  descriptions  of  the  scenes 
that  followed  the  fire  have  been  given  in 
print,  and  hundreds  more  are  probably  yet  to 
be  told.  One  of  the  best  is  that  written  by 
Jack  London  for  Collier^s  Weekly,  which 
paper,  by  the  way,  has  handled  the  whole  oc- 
currence with  marked  enterprise  and  ability. 
Jack  London  was  forty  miles  away  when  the 
shock  of  the  earthquake  came,  but  reached  the 
stricken  city  soon  afterward.  Contrary  to 
many  reports,  he  declares  that  the  panic  by 
that  time  was  hardly  observable.     He  writes: 


From  itereograph,  copyright  liMM,  Underwood  k,  Underwood,  N.  Y 

»•  PALACE  HOTEL  GRILL  " 

At  least  that  is  what  the  sign  on  the  shack  says.  It 
takes  more  than  an  earthquake  and  a  fire  to  quench  the 
American  sense  of  humor. 

'^Remarkable  as  it  may  seem,  Wednesday  night, 
while  the  whole  city  crashed  and  roared  into  ruin, 
was  a  quiet  night.  There  were  no  crowds.  There 
was  no  shouting  and  yelling.    There  was  no  hys- 


Prom  ■tereoffrapb,  copyright  IflOO,  by  H.  C.  White  Co  .  X.  T.  From  utereograph,  copyright  1900,  by  Underwood  k.  Underwood,  N.  Y. 

"THE  PILLARED  FIRMAMENT  IS  ROTTENNESS  AND  EARTH'S  BASE  BUILT  ON  STUBBLE" 

"  There  were  hills  and  hollows  where  all  was  level  before,  and  the  iron  of  the  tracks  was  twisted  in  a  roost 
Wdeotis  way.  Great  fissures  and  cracks  were  in  the  roadbed,  and  on  one  side  we  saw  a  great  fissure,  into  which 
a  wagon  had  fallen."  . 


572 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


From  itereograph,  copyright  1906,  II,  C.  White  Co  ,  S.  Y. 

THE  EIGHT-MILLION- DOLLAR  CITY  HALL 

Why  were  the  municipal  buildings  so  badly  damaged 
by  the  earthquake  and  the  Federal  buildings  hardly  at 
all  ?  The  answer,  says  a  correspondent  of  the  Springfield 
Kepublican  is — Graft. 

tcria,  no  disorder.  I  passed  Wednesday  night  in 
the  path  of  the  advancing  flames,  and  in  all  those 
terrible  hours  I  saw  not  one  woman  who  wept, 
not  one  man  who  was  excited,  not  one  person  who 
was  in  the  slightest  degree  panic-stricken. 

"Before  the  flames,  throughout  the  night,  fled 
tens  of  thousands  of  homeless  ones.  Some  were 
wrapped  in  blankets.  Others  carried  bundles  of 
bedding  and  dear  household  treasures.  Some- 
times a  whole  family  was  harnessed  to  a  carriage 
or  delivery  wagon  that  was  weighted  down  with 


their  possessions.  Baby  buggies,  toy  wagons,  and 
go-carts  were  used  as  trucks,  while  every  other 
person  was  dragging  a  trunk.  Yet  everybody  vr as 
gracious.  The  most  perfect  courtesy  obtained. 
Never,  in  all  San  Francisco's  history,  were  her 
people  so  kind  anjl  courteous  as  on  this  night  of 
terror. 

"All  night  theSe  tens  of  thousands  fled  before 
the  flames.  Many  of  them,  the  poor  people  from 
the  labor  ghetto,  had  fled  all  day  as  well.  They 
had  left  their  homes  burdened  with  possessions. 
Now  and  again  they  lightened  up,  flinging  out 
upon  the  street  clothing  and  treasures  they  had 
dragged  for  miles. 

"They  held  on  longest  to  their  trunks,  and  over 
these  trunks  many  a  strong  man  broke  his  heart 
that  night.  The  hills  of  San  Francisco  are  steep, 
and  up  these  hills,  mile  after  mile,  were  the  trunks 
dragged.  Everywhere  were  trunks,  with  across 
them  lying  their  exhausted  owners,  men  and 
women." 

Among  the  vehicles  pressed  into  frequent 
service  were  perambulators,  children's  wagons 
and  rocking-chairs.  "No  one  has  spoken  of  the 
figure  the  American  rocking-chair  cut  in  the 
fire,"  writes  one  correspondent  "Rocking- 
chairs  were  in  great  demand  as  drays  for 
household  goods.  Nearly  every  family  dragged 
one  or  more  after  them  in  the  flight  to  the 
western  hills." 


THERE  never  has  been  such  a  leveler, 
writes  Gertrude  Atherton  in  Harper's 
Weekly,  describing  the  scenes  of  the  first 
week.  She  tells  of  millionaires  in  the  bread- 
line taking  their  turn  with  Chinamen  and  day- 
laborers,     and     of     women     in     opera-cloaks 


Jul  ^        .t  J  * 


>»^> 


From  stereograph,  copyilgbt  iWX\  by  Underwood  &  Underwood,  N.  Y.  From  atcreoprttph,  copyrigb'  IQG,  by  II.  C.  White  C  « .  X  T. 

OUTSIDE  THE  FIRE-ZONE 

"A  building  that  lay  under  the  breaking  point  of  an  earth  wave  wa.s  pulled  apart  as  you  pull  apart  a  piece  of 
bread,  or  its  sides  ground  to^t'therj  or  it  fell  like  a  house  of  cards.  P'or  blocks  the  pavement  was  scarcely  disturbed 
and  then  there  were  places  where  it  looked  as  if  it  had  been  turned  into  miniature  hills  and  valleys." 


GERTRUDE  ATHERTON'S  DESCRIPTION 


573 


camped  out  under  the  open  sky,  cooking  at 
stoves  improvised  out  of  loose  bricks  and  cob- 
ble-stones. Her  sister  was  one  of  these,  hav- 
ing escaped  in  a  nightgown,  a  pink  opera- 
cloak  and  her  husband's  boots.  Even  the 
Chinamen  were  amused  at  her  appearance. 
Mrs.  Atherton  has  never  had  much  use  for 
pessimists,  but  she  has  less  use  than  ever  after 
witnessing  human  nature  under  the  strain  put 
upon  it  in  San  Francisco.    She  writes : 

"Organization  began  almost  before  the  earth- 
quake stopped.  Red  Cross  ambulances  and  auto- 
mobiles were  flying  about,  car-loads  and  ship- 
loads of  food  were  on  the  way,  and  these  cities 
'across  the  bay*  literally  opened  their  arms.  Never 
has  there  been  a  finer  exhibition  of  the  good  in 
human  nature,  for  it  is  one  thing  to  subscribe  what 
you  can  afford,  and  another  to  take  strangers  into 
your  house  for  weeks  and  perhaps  months.  This 
thousands  have  done  and  are  expressing  their  de- 
sire for  more,  while  the  relief  work  in  San  Fran- 
cisco, under  Mayor  Schmitz  and  Mr.  Phelan,  is  as 
systematic  as  if  earthquakes  and  fires  that  de- 
voured four  square  miles  of  a  city  were  part  of 
the  yearly  routine.  There  have  been  few  cases 
of  extortion  reported;  personally  I  have  only 
heard  of  two.  One  was  the  case  of  a  leading  firm 
of  grocers,  who  immediately  put  famine  prices  on 
everything.  General  Funston  turned  them  out, 
closed  them  up,  and  put  a  sentry  before  the  door. 
The  other  case  was  a  personal  experience,  but  I 
have  been  requested  to  withhold  it  until  the  ex- 
citement is  over  lest  the  man  be  lynched.  But 
these  exceptions  dwindle  and  disappear  before  the 


From  «tcrecgrapb,  ropyitght  lOCG,  H.  0.  White  Co  .  N.  Y 

LIKE  A  PICNIC  TO  THE  BOYS 

The  school  buildings  that  were  uninjured  were  filled 
with  straw  beds  and  cots  for  days,  and  the  boys  never 
whimpered  over  the  lack  of  educational  facilities! 

abounding  kindness  and  helpfulness  of  hundreds 
of  thousands,  some  homeless,  but  willing  to  share 
an  asparagus  stalk,  others  more  fortunate  and  al- 
most ashamed  of  being  so." 


DESPITE  the  underlying  horror  of  scenes 
that  must  abide  in  the  minds  of  all  for- 
ever, Mrs.  Atherton  cannot  see  how  the  net' 
result  can  fail  to  be  a  good  one.     She  writes 
further : 


Copyright.  Jud<;e  Co.,  lOOa 


From pbotograph by  Underwood  &.  Cud«rwm>d,  N.  Y. 

BEFORE  THE  EARTHQUAKE— AND  AFTER 

Of  the  Memorial  Church  at  Lcland  Stanford  University,  President  Jordan  writes  :  '*The  spire  of  wood,  weisrhted 
by  tiles,  plunged  through  the  nave  of  the  church.  The  concussion  of  air  forced  off  the  church  front  with  the  great 
Mosaic,  *The  Sermon  on  the  Mount.*  The  flying  buttresses  of  the  tower  fell  crashing  through  the  apses.  Otherwise 
the  church  sufifered  little.  The  bells  and  the  organ  are  unharmed,[the  steel-braced  walls  are  perfect,  the  mosaics  and 
stained  glass  windows  are  mo.stly  intact." 


574 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


Kroin  ■tereograph,  copyright  1906,  by  H.  C.  White  Co.,  N.  T. 

FUNSTON  "THE  LITTLE  BRIGADIER" 

•'  The  army  organization  was  alone  intact ;  .it  is  the 
army  of  force  and  society  returned  to  primitive  necessi- 
ties. Fifteen  hundred  regular  troops  were  on  the  streets 
inside  of  two  hours.  It  was  not  a  time  for  looking  up 
the  law  or  consulting  precious  authorities  on  the  subj^<it. 
You  will  be  told  that  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  had  been  shot  and  dynamited  full  of  holes  before 
Wednesday  was  over,  and  no  man  suggests  that  this 
was  wrong." 

"Frivolity,  the  most  unpardonable  and  far- 
reaching  of  all  vices,  is  at  an  end  in  San  Francisco 
for  years  to  come.  Rich  women,  who  have  been 
cooking  in  the  streets  in  an  oven  made  from  their 
fallen  chimneys,  and  may  have  to  do  their  own 


washing  until  frightened  servants  can  be  induced 
to  return  to  the  city,  who  have  been  confined  with 
as  little  ceremony  and  shelter  as  the  women  of 
wandering  tribes,  and  the  men  who  stand  in  line 
for  hours  for  their  portion  of  bread  and  potatoes, 
look  back  upon  the  ordinary  routine  of  their  idle 
lives  with  a  mixture  of  wonder  and  contempt.  Old 
people,  who  vegetated  in  corners  and  feared 
draughts,  are  active  and  interested  for  the  first 
time  in  a  quarter  of  a  century.  Even  dyspeptics 
are  cured,  for  everybody,  even  the  normally  fed, 
is  hungry  all  the  time.  Everybody  looks  back 
upon  the  era  'before  the  earthquake'  as  a  period 
of  insipidity,  and  wonders  how  he  managed  to 
exist.  If  they  are  appalled  at  the  sight  of  a  civili- 
zation arrested  and  millions  of  property  and 
still  more  to  be  lamented  treasure  gone  up  in 
smoke,  they  are  equally  aquiver  with  a  renewed 
sense  of  individuality,  of  unsuspected  forces  they 
are  keen  to  pit  against  Nature." 


A  MOTHER  woman  novelist  who  went 
-'V  through  the  scenes  following  the  disas- 
ter was  Miriam  Michelson,  who  narrates  her 
experience  also  in  Harper's  Weekly.  She 
tells  of  the  procession  of  barefooted  women, 
screaming  children  and  ashen-faced  men. 
People  did  queer  things,  as  they  always  do  in 
such  times  of  supreme  tension.  Miss  Michel- 
son  saw  one  man  carefully  carrying  a  brand- 
new  pair  of  tan  shoes  over  his  shoulder  on  a 
stick,  and  absotutely  nothing  else.  One  in- 
genious man  had  piled  his  household  pos- 
sessions on  a  lawn-mower  and  was  trundling 
them  along  cheerfully.  Another  writer  tells 
of  a  man  in  pink  pajamas  walking  in  bare  feet 


From  «tereo(?raph,  copyright  1900.  H.  C,  White  Co.,  N    Y.  From  •renrprnpli,  copyright  lOOfl,  H.  C.  White  Co,  Jf.  Y. 

TWO  OF  THE  RELIEF  CAMPS 

**  We  have  been  close  to  the  bare  necessaries  of  life  for  so  long  now  that  we  seem  always  to  have  lived  in  nrim- 
ti  ve  times.  We  are  not  a  civilized  people ;  we  seem  always  to  have  lived  in  tents,  to  never  have  had  any  clothes 
o  never  have  had  anything  but  the  bare  necessaries  of  life.  '  ^  v.iuuicw 


AS  TOLD  BY  MIRIAM  MICHELSON  AND  JAMES  HOPPER  575 


round  and  round  the  Dewey  column,  and  of 
an  English-looking  gentleman,  clad  in  a  long, 
white  nightshirt  and  flowing  whiskers,  sitting 
on  a  bench  perpetually  replacing  in  the  orbit 
of  his  left  eye  a  monocle  which  by  an  invol- 
untary contraction  of  the  muscles  he  immedi- 
ately twitched  off  again.  At  the  end  of  the 
third  day,  on  the  very  top  of  Jones  Street  hill, 
in  the  middle  of  the  street,  the  only  thing  seen 
standing  for  miles  was  a  piano,  and  seated  at 
it  was  a  man,  his  hair  streaming,  his  body 
swaying,  his  red  tie  flying  out,  his  hands  danc- 
ing over  the  key-boards  as  he  played  Saint- 
Saens's   "Danse    Macabre" — the   death-dance. 


THE  same  writer  who  tells  of  this  incident 
of  the  "Danse  Macabre" — ^James  Hop- 
per— gives  a  picture  of  another  dance  that  is 
both  amusing  and  graphic.  He  was  in  the 
tfiird  story  of  a  seven-story  brick  building 
when  the  quaking  began,  and  describes  in 
Harper's  Weekly  his  sensations.     He  writes: 

"The  thing  started  without  gradation,  with  a 
direct  violence  that  left  one  breathless.  'It's  in- 
credible/ I  said,  aloud.  There  was  something  per- 
sonal about  the  attack;  it  seemed  to  have  a  cer- 
tain vicious  intent  My  building  did  not  sway; 
it  quivered  with  a  vertical  and  rotary  motion,  and 
there  was  a  sound  as  of  a  snarl.  I  stayed  in  bed 
for  a  long  time,  as  it  seemed.  I  raised  myself 
on  my  elbow,  but  even  that  rudimentary  approach 


Prom  stareograph,  copyright  lOOQ,  Underwood  ft  CTnderwood,  V.  Y. 

WHATEVER   HAPPENS,   CHILDREN    WILL  BE 
HAPPY  AND  A  PRETTY  GIRL  PRETTY- 

to  a  movement  toward  escaping  seemed  so  abso- 
lutely futile  that  I  lay  back  again.  My  head  on 
the  pillow  watched  my  stretched  and  stiffened 
body  dance.  It  was  springing  up  and  down  and 
from  side  to  side  like  a  pancake  in  the  tossing 
griddle  of  an  experienced  French  chef.  The  bu- 
reau at  the  back  of  the  room  came  toward  me.  It 


Vrom  ttereograpb,  ropyrigbt  IlKW.  Underwood  A.  Underwood,  N.  X.  From  itereograpb,  copyright  1900,  Underwood  A  Underwood,  N,  Y. 

THE  INDOMITABLE  SENSE  OP  HUMOR 

'*  There  is  no  wood — it  has  all  been  burned,  so  the  people  have  tried  to  build  a  hut  of  any  s^alvanized  iron  they 
can  find,  or  any  bit  of  ruin  that  will  stand  upright  serves  as  a  house,  aod  they  cover  it  with  an  old  quilt  or  an  old 
blanket  They  cook  on  some  sort  of  an  improvised  stove,  some  little  old  rusty  affair,  and  their  cooking  utensils  are 
tomato  «ans." 


576 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


•FIRST  DISTRIBUTION  OP  MAIL 

Nobody  could  find  anybody,  so  name^  were  called  out  at  the  post-office  and  the  people  stepped  up  to  get  their 
letters,  as  in  pioneer  days. 


danced/  approaching  not  directly,  but  in  a  zigzag 
course,  with  sudden  bold  advances  and  as  sudden 
bashful  retreats — with  little  bows,  and  betks,  and 
nods,  with  little  mincing  steps:  it  was  almost 
funny.  The  next  second,  a  piece  of  plaster  fall- 
ing upon  my  head  made  me  serious.  The  quake 
gave  one  of  its  vicious  jerks,  and  1  had  a  sudden 
clear  vision  of  the  whole  building  dancing  an  in- 
fernal dance,  the  loosened  bricks  separating  and 
clacking  to  again  like  chattering  teeth.  And  the 
quake  continued,  with  a  sort  of  stubborn  violence, 
an  immense  concentration  of  its  deadly  purpose 
that  left  one  without  fear,  without  horror,  without 
feeling.  Tt's  the  end,'  I  thought,  and  a  panorama 
of  cataclysms  swept  through  my  mind:  Pompeii, 
Lisbon,  Krakatoa,  Manila,  St.  Pierre,  Samoa, 
Vesuvius,  with  San  Francisco  as  a  stupendous 
climax." 


EVERY  man,  woman  and  child  of  the  more 
than  300,000  that  were  rendered  homeless 
has  a  story  to  tell  of  hardship  and  danger  and 
privation;  but  probably  no  one  of  that  vast 
throng  fought  for  safety  at  a  greater  disad- 


vantage than  that  with  which  "Gimpy  Bill" 
had  to  contend.  "Gimpy  Bill"  is  a  cripple 
who  sold  lead-pencils  in  Market  Street  His 
legs  have  been  cut  off  almost  to  the  hips,  and 
he  gets  around  on  two  little  platforms,  mounted 
on  wheels  and  strapped  to  his  stumps,  pushing 
himself  with  two  canes.  Here  is  his  story 
as  told  by  the  correspondent  of  The  Sun  (New 
York) : 

"When  the  earthquake  came  Bill  was  sleeping 
over  a  saloon  on  Washington  street  near  Mont- 
gomery— a  region  which  got  a  heavy  shock.  His 
street  legs  were  unstrapped,  but  he  had  his  clothes 
on.  He  was  pitched  out  of  bed  and  rolled  about 
the  room  like  an  empty  demijohn.  A  heavy  cor- 
nice fell  through  the  ceiling  of  his  room  and 
missed  him  by  a  foot.  He  rolled  away  from  the 
wreck  and  managed  to  get  to  his  rollers,  which  he 
strapped  on. 

"He  tried  the  door,  but  the  wreckage  outside  it 
had  him  penned  in,  a  prisoner,  He  trundled  him- 
self to  the  window,  and  saw  that  the  district  was 
already    on    fire.     Bill  made  it  back  to  the  bed, 


RELAYING  THE  FIRST  CAR-TRACKS— ON  MARKET  STREET— AFTER  THE  FIRE 


THE  RESURGENT  SPIRIT  OF  THE  PIONEERS 


577 


ONE  OP  THE  BREAD-LINES 

"The  power  to  draw  a  check  for  a  million  would  not  advance  yon  any  in  the  bread-line.  The  poor  were  four 
days  away  from  pay-day  ;  the  well-to-do,  maybe,  were  going  to^he  bank  to-morrow,  and  had  scarcely  the  price  of  a 
carfare  in  their  pockets.     But  money  meant  nothing  and  food  everything." 


twisted  the  blankets  and  sheets  into  a  rope,  tied 
his  canes  about  his  neck  with  a  cord,  and  slid  out 
of  the  window.  His  rope  was  too  short.  At  the 
end  of  it,  he  hung  ten  feet  above  the  street.  There 
he  swung  and  yelled,  afraid  of  what  the  drop 
might  do  to  his  trundle  platforms,  until  some  one 
passing  threw  up  a  pile  of  boxes  and  helped  him 
down. 

"In  one  day,  driven  always  backward  by  the 
fire,  this  cripple  covered  about  fourteen  miles,  end- 
ing in  a  camp  in  Golden  Gate  Park.  At  one  time 
he  grabbed  the  tailboard  of  a  wagon  and  held  on, 
his  platforms  bumping  over  the  cobbles.  At  an- 
other time  his  only  ^ay  of  exit  from  the  fire  was 
across  Russian  Hill,  up  which  an  Italian  boy  pulled 
him  with  a  rope  for  ten  cents." 


BUT  the  story  of  the  earthquake,  the  fire, 
and  the  fleeing  multitudes,  thrilling  as  it 
is,  is  not  the  story  that  carries  with  it  the 
keenest  interest  and  the  greatest  inspiration. 
The  real  epic  of  the  occasion  is  the  tale  of 
restoration  and  reconstruction,  of  the  way  in 


which  people  suddenly  hurled  out  of  all  social 
order  into  social  chaos  faced  the  situation;  of 
how,  stripped  without  warning  of  all  the  facili- 
ties of  life  with  which  civilization  has  endowed 
mankind,  they  proceeded  to  grapple  with  nature 
much  as  the  cave-men  had  to  grapple  with  her 
and  evolve  out  of  primitive  conditions  the 
means  of  livelihood.  In  the  Yellowstone  Park 
a,  great  gorge  has  been  cut  by  one  of  the 
streams  down  through  the  geological  strata  of 
many  periods,  revealing,  as  in  a  vast  natural 
diagram,  the  processes  of  world  formation. 
The  catastrophe  in  California  has  cut  down 
through  all  the  social  strata  and  enabled  us 
to  see,  as  it  were,  the  long  story  of  civilization 
re-enacted  before  our  eyes  in  a  few  days'  time. 
Probably  no  large  city  in  the, world  could  fur- 
nish a  people  better  able  to  meet  such  a  test 
triumphantly.  The  spirit  of  the  pioneers  is 
still  there,  and  much  of  their  daring  and  re- 


GBTTING  OUT  THE  FXRST  NEWSPAPER— TWi?;'  DAJLY  JVBfVS— AFTER  THE  FIRE 


s;8 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


From  fltereograph,  copyright  1906,  H.  C.  Wliit«  Co.,  N.  7. 

DYNAMITED— BY  ORDER  OF  THE  COMMITTEE 

One  of  the  first  steps  in  rebuilding  the  city  was  to  blow 
down  the  dangerous  walls  of  ruined  buildings. 

source  and  adaptability  has  been  inherited  by 
their  sons  and  daughters.  Nevertheless,  it  is 
appalling  to  think  of  the  consequences  that 
would  have  ensued  had  it  not  been  for  the 


quick  and  efficient  assistance  given  by  the  reg- 
ular army  troops  stationed  at  the  Presidio. 

WITHIN  two  hours  after  the  first  shock 
of  the  earthquake  fifteen  hundred  of 
Uncle  Sam's  soldiers  were  on  the  streets  fight- 
ing the  most  desperate  battle  that  soldiers  ever 
fought.  General  Greely  was  absent,  but  Gen- 
eral Funston,  "the  little  brigadier"  whose 
rapid  promotion  for  conspicuous  services  in 
Cuba  and  the  Philippines  gave  such  oflFense 
to  many,  Avhose  capture  of  Aguinaldo  occa- 
sioned so  much  criticism,  was  in  command. 
-They  fought  the  conflagration  with  artillery 
and  dynamite.  They  patrolled  the  city  the  one 
organized  body  of  men  in  all  that  turmoil. 
The  mayor  of  the  city,  Eugene  E.  Schmitz, 
once  an  orchestra  leader,  then  a  Labor  candi- 
date who  defeated  both  old-party  candidates, 
proved  himself  a  born  leader.  With  the  whole 
municipal  government  in  temporary  ruin  round 
about  him,  he  was  quick  to  organize  a  new  gov- 
ernment for  the  emergency.  He  appointed  a 
citizens*  committee  of  fifty  with  ex-Mayor  Phe- 
lan  at  its  head  and  he  and  Funston  and  Phelan 
set  themselves  to  preserve  order  and  save  the 
lives  of  300,000  homeless  and  penniless  people. 
About  the  first  step  taken  was  the  issuance  of 
the  following: 

PROCLAMATION 

BY   THE    MAYOR. 

The  Federal  Troops,  the  members  of  the  Regu- 
lar Police  Force,  and  all  Special  Police  Officers 
have  been  authorized  to  KILL  any  and  all  persons 
found  engaged  in  looting  or  in  the  commission  of 
any  other  crime. 

I  have  directed  all  the  Gas  and  Electric  Light- 
ing Companies  not  to  turn  on  Gas  or  Electricity 
until  I  order  them  to  do  so ;  you  may  therefore  ex- 
pect the  city  to  remain  in  darkness  for  an  indefi- 
nite time. 

I  request  all  citizens  to  remain  at  home  from 
darkness  until  daylight  of  every  night  until  order 
is  restored. 

I  Warn  all  citizens  of  the  danger  of  fire  from 
damaged  or  destroyed  chimneys,  broken  or  leak- 
ing gas  pipes  or  fixtures,  or  any  like  cause. 

E.  E.  SCHMITZ,  Mayor. 

Dated,  April  i8,  1906. 


FIRST  STEP  IN  REBUILDING 

In  addition  to  dynamite,  a  donkey-engine  was  used  to 
pull  down  dangerous  walls  left  standing  by  the  fire. 


npHAT  proclamation  has  been  called  "the 
*  edict  that  prevented  chaos."  It  may  be 
considered  the  first  step  in  the  reconstruction 
of  the  social  organism.  The  next  steps  came  in 
such  rapid  succession  that  it  is  hardly  possible 
to  discern  the  order  of  sequence.  After  the  fire 
had  been  stayed  at  Van  Ness  Avenue  by  blow- 
ing down  eight  or  nine  blocks  of  buildings 
ahead  of  the  flames,  the  most  urgent  needs 


ORDER  EVOLVING  FROM  CHAOS 


579 


were  for  water,  food,  shelter,  and  medical 
treatment  for  the  injured.  Without  waiting 
for  any  authority  from  Congress,  Secretary 
of  War  Taft  wired  orders  for  the  immediate 
appropriation  of  tents,  blankets,  provisions  and 
medical  stores  from  the  army  supplies.  Auto- 
mobiles were  pressed  into  service  by  army  offi- 
cers, and  the  stores  were  rushed  through  from 
the  Presidio  without  regard  to  speed  regula- 
tions. Tents  were  erected  in  all  the  parks  that 
had  not  been  swept  by  fire.  Hospitals  were 
established,  concentration  camps  were  formed, 
and  after  the  first  day  or  two,  incredible  as  it 
may  seem,  there  was  no  need  for  any  person 
to  go  hungry.  Two  dangers  had  been  averted 
— the  danger  from  fire  and  the  danger  from 
starvation.  The  next  peril  that  seemed  immi- 
nent was  that  of  an  epidemic.  Sanitary  con- 
ditions had  to  be  established  with  the  sewers 
all  out  of  order.  Here  again  the  experience  of 
the  soldiers  with  sanitary  arrangements  for 
camps  saved  the  day.  Then  the  dead  had  to 
be  found  in  the  ruins  and  buried  as  speedily 
as  possible.  Every  able-bodied  man,  poor  or 
rich,  with  soft  hands  or  hard,  was  forced  to 
labor  for  a  part  of  each  day  until  this  work  was 
finished.  Here  again  the  results  were  almost 
incredible.  Two  weeks  after  the  shock  the 
board  of  health  reported  that  the  sick  list  was 
but  slightly  greater  than  usual,  there  was  no 
more  contagious  disease  than  in  normal  times, 
and  there  had  been  but  one  death  from  ex- 
posure. On  May  i,  twelve  days  after  the 
shock,  one  of  the  press  agencies  reported  as 
follows : 

"The  calamity  has  given  San  Francisco  a  new 
psychology.  It  has  created  a  new  and  capable  set 
of  pioneers;  it  has  given  the  people  a  new  and 
intense  interest  in  life.  It  has  even  improved  the 
health  of  all  who  were  strong  enough  to  pull 
through  the  moderate  hardship  of  the  first  five 
days.     There  isn't  a  blase  person  in  the  State." 


CREDIT  for  these  surprising  successes  in 
coping  with  nature  are  given  by  those 
who  ought  to  know  not  alone  to  Funston  and 
Schmitz,  but  to  the  people  themselves.  "It's 
been  easy,"  said  one  army  officer;  "the  people 
have  been  so  quiet  and  reasonable."  Here  is 
an  extract  from  a  letter  written  by  a  San  Fran- 
cisco artist,  Bruce  Porter  (one  of  the  founders 
of  The  Lark)f  to  a  friend  in  New  York  City: 

"It  was  the  day  of  judgment  and  all  the  Biblical 
terrors  of  the  Wrath  of  God,  but  if  you  could 
have  been  here  you  would  have  seen  what  the 
people  are.  It  was  the  noblest  expression  of  hu- 
manity that  the  world  has  seen.  Nobody  thought 
of  himself,  and  the  prostitute  with  last  night's 
paint  on  her  cheeks  sat  and  held  the  baby  of  the 


CHAIRMAN  OP  THE  CITIZENS'  COMMITTEE 

Next  to  Funston  and  Schmitz.  James  D.  Phelan  is 
f^riven  credit  for  the  remarkable  exhibition  the  citizens  of 
San  Francisco  have  made  of  orderliness  and  fortitude. 

homeless  and  husbandless  woman  beside  her.  The 
town  has  never  been  in  such  perfect  moral  order. 


DIRECTOR  OP  RELIEF  WORK 
Dr.  Edward  T.  Devine,  secretary  of  the  Charity  Or- 
ganization Society  of  New  York,  was  despatched  at  once 
to  San  Francisco  to  take  charge  of  the  Red  Cross  work. 
He  handled  a  difficult  situation  with  great  tact. 


58o 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


and  if  I  once  said  to  you — vauntingl3r— that  the 
idea  of  the  American  people  was  charity  and 
brotherly  love,  here  is  the  proof. 

"There  has  been  no  panic,  no  disorderly  con- 
duct, simply  unconscious  bravery  and  unselfish- 
ness under  as  severe  a  strain  as  was  ever  put  upon 
a  community.  The  desolation  is  inconceivable, 
and  of  course  everybody  is  poor  and  one-half  the 
population  homeless.  The  Presidio  beneath  my 
windows  was  packed  with  people  that  first  night — 
the  heavens  terribly  red  with  fire,  ominous,  awful 
— people  without  a  scrap  to  cover  them  sharing 
their  crusts  with  strangers — and  the  good  nature 
was  like  a  cooling  breeze  in  one's  face  as  one 
walked  among  them.  What  help  one  could  give 
was  unanimously  refused  in  the  interest  of  more 
helpless  neighbors.  Not  one  case  of  drunkenness 
have  I  seen  in  seven  days,  and  I  have  heard  only 
two  oaths,  and  those  lightly  spoken — and  this  in 
what  has  been  named  'the  wickedest  city  in  the 
world.' " 

Frederick  Palmer's  testimony  is  to  the  same 
eflfect:  "Rioting  there  was  none;  looting  very 
little.  Bad  natures  were  cowed  by  the  great 
calamity  and  the  good  in  men  generally  ap- 
peared." He  adds:  "Sanitary  regulations  were 
enforced  with  an  ease  which  would  hav^  been 
impossible  in  any  great  European  city.  Here 
common  intelligence  and  the  ethics  of  modem 
popular  education  through  schools  and  news- 
papers and  periodicals  play^ed  a  part.  'What 
we  have  to  look  out  for  is  an  epidemic/  was 
the  common  watchword;  and  with  few  excep- 
tions there  was  no  need  of  discipline  on  this 
account."  It  is  a  gay  picture  which  the  spe- 
cial correspondent  of  The  Evening  Post  (New 
York)  gives  us  nearly  three  weeks  after  the 
shock : 


"The  spirit  shown  by  the  refugees  is  amazing: 
in  the  light  of  their  almost  tragic  condition.  A 
great  many  pianos  have  been  carried  to  the  parks 
and  set  up  under  the  tents.  All  day  long  and  deep 
into  the  night  men  and  women  bang  away  at 
popular  airs,  one  great  favorite  being  'Home  Was 
Never  Like  This.*  On  Sunday  the  marine  and 
army  bands  give  afternoon 'and  evenine  concerts 
in  Golden  Gate  Park  and  at  the  Presidio,  while 
the  children  and  young  people  dance  on  the 
green." 


ONE  reason  for  the  ease  with  which  order 
has  been  maintained  and  an  epidemic 
prevented  lies  in  the  prompt  and  decisive  action 
of  the  mayor  in  closing  all  the  saloons  imme- 
diately after  the  fire  started.  Three  weeks  later 
they  were  still  closed  and  he  was  asked  when  . 
he  was  going  to  allow  them  to  reopen.  His 
reply  was:  "Saloons  will  remain  closed  in- 
definitely in  San  Francisco.  Peace  and  quiet 
have  prevailed  since  all  traffic  in  liquor  was 
stopped  and  no  saloon  will  be  permitted  to 
open  until  such  time  as  there  is  no  likelihood  of 
complaint.  I  may  say  that  the  proprietors 
themselves  are  not  complaining.  It  is  certain 
that  nothing  will  be  done  in  the  liquor  matter 
inside  of  sixty  or  ninety  days  and  possibly 
longer." 

This  action  of  the  mayor  is  not  nearly 
as  extraordinary  as  the  compliance  of  the 
people,  including  the  saloon-keepers  them- 
selves, with  this  state  of  things.  But  the  sense 
of  universal  brotherhood  and  the  common 
gratitude  for  dangers  escaped  seems  to  have 
softened  all  hearts  and  quickened  the  altruistic 


DYNAMITE   VERSUS  FIRE 

To  save  the  Post-Office  from  the  flames,  the  Odd  Fellows  Hall  was  blown  to  ruins.  The  cloud  in  this  picture 
is  the  result  of  the  explosion.  The  fire  was  finally  stayed  by  blowing  down  eight  or  nine  blocks  of  buildings 
before  the  fiames  reached  them. 


THE  UNIVERSAL  BROTHERHOOD  REALIZED 


S8i 


instincts.  "Isn't  this  great  universal  brother- 
hood fine  on  this  beautiful  Sunday  morning?" 
remarked  a  physician  making  his  rounds. 
"Isn't  it  great  to  be  able  to  say  to  a  man, 
'Do  you  want  a  collar?  Do  you  want  car 
fare?'  And  to  have  him  take  it  just  as  if  he 
were  your  brother,  and  he  had  a  right  to  take 
it?  My  clean  collars — ^thereby  hang  many 
tales  when  I  have  time  to  tell  them !  " 

A  special  correspondent  of  The  Times  (New 
York)  describes  the  open-air  religious  serv- 
ice in  the  refugees  camp  on  Adams  Point,  the 
second  Sunday  after  the  disaster: 

"Few  open-air  temples  could  be  more  beautiful. 
It  is  a  natural  park  full  of  splendid  oak  trees,  the 
green  lawn  sloping  down  to  lovely  Lake  Merritt, 
picturesque  against  a  magnificent  background  of 
hills. 

"Thousands  were  assembled  for  the  service,  and 
no  one  who  heard  it  will  ever  forget  it.  A  piano 
had  been  brought  out  on  a  wagon,  and  in  it  sat  a 
woman  to  play  the  accompaniments.  There  was 
nothing  incongruous  in  the  scene.  The  addresses 
told  of  the  courage  necessary  to  go  on — and  they 
were  full  of  comfort  in  their  own  way. 

"But  that  was  not  what  you  felt.  Each  indi- 
vidual soul  spoke  for  itself.  All  our  life  have  *we 
heard  prayers  in  the  churches,  but  we  realized 


how  terrible  a  thing  it  is  when  from  the  depths 
men  pray.  Not  the  prayers  they  may  say  in 
words,  but  the  prayers  written  in  their  faces.  The 
majesty  of  a  great  sanctuary  in  the  hills  was 
about  us,  as  thousands  of  voices  sang  reverently 
in  a  hymn  which  was  a  great  Psalm : 

"  *Lead,  kindly  Light,  amid  th'  encircling  gloom. 
Lead  Thou  me  on/ 

"Softly  the  benediction  was  pronounced  over 
bowed  heads.  Each  heart  knoweth  its  own  bitter- 
ness. Only  God  may  know  the  tmspoken  prayer 
in  the  heart  of  each  of  these  homeless  ones.  In 
silence  we  took  our  homeward  way." 


IF  THE  disaster  in  San  Francisco  has  re- 
vealed unsuspected  depths  of  heroism,  it 
has  also  revealed  unsuspected  depths  of  de- 
pravity as  well.  One  of  these  latter  revela- 
tions was  made  in  the  Chinatown  district,  [t 
appears  now  that  there  were  two  Chinatowns, 
one  above  the  ground,  another  below.  A  large 
number  of  subterranean  passages  have  been 
laid  bare,  running  from  house  to  house,  with 
deep,  dark  and  mysterious  dungeon-like  wells. 
Speaking  of  this,  a  writer  says :  "The  existence 
of  these  lairs  had  long  been  suspected,  and 
stories   of   the   terrible   crimes   committed   in 


From  ttcreograph,  copyright  190ft,  Underwood  A  Ondetwood,  N.  Y. 

BACK  TO  THE  SIMPLE  LIFE 

*^  Our  ovens  are  made  of  the  bricks  that  toppled  down  from  our  chimneys.     They  are  laid  roughly  upon  each 
other,  and  we  unhandy  folk  burn  our  fingers  and  scald  ourselves  in  our  efforts  to  cook." 


582 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


EVERY  LITTLE  HELPS 

— Naughton  in  Duluth  Evening  Heraid, 

them  have  been  current,  but  it  took  the  re- 
moval of  the  buildings  to  show  the  existence 
of  a  second  Chinatown  under  the  first  The 
one  to  some  degree  in  view  was  bad  enough, 
but  what  went  on  among  the  prisoners  and 
jailers  of  the  subterranean  city  probably  passes 
the  Occidental  imagination."  Another  revela- 
tion which  the  earthquake,  it  is  claimed,  has 
made,  is  that  of  "graft"  on  the  part  of  the 
political  machine  which  has  for  years  ruled 
the  city.  This  particular  machine  "happens 
to  be  a  Republican  machine,"  says  the  cor- 
respondent of  the  Boston  Transcript,  itself  a 
Republican  paper.     He  says  further: 


"Few  if  any  among  cities  have  been  more  opeolv 
and  frankly  surrendered  to  political  loot  than  has 
San  Francisco  in  the  recent  years  of  her  history. 
By  way  of  illustration  there  is  the  fate  which  be- 
fell her  municipal  buildings  in  the  earthquake. 
Compared  with  the  experience  of  the  Federal  pub- 
lic buildings,  the  city  structures  point  a  mighty 
moral.  In  all  the  devastated  district  there  is  no 
more  conspicuous  ruin  than  that  of  the  City  Hall, 
whose  history  is  a  serial  storv  of  shameless  and 
unpardonable  graft.  The  original  estimates  for 
this  building  contemplated  an  expenditure  of 
?i,ooo,8oo.  When  that  sum  was  disposed  of  the 
structure  had  hardly  risen  above  the  basement. 
Before  it  was  completed  it  had  cost  approximately 
^,000,000.  No  one  in  this  region  pretends  to 
deny  that  it  stood  as  a  monument  to  the  audacity 
of  the  looters.  When  the  shock  of  the  earthquake 
came  it  crumbled  like  a  playhouse  of  pasteboard. 
1  he  ensuing  fire  did  no  more  than  to  put  an  ap- 
propriate smudge  of  black  over  the  wreckage. 
Other  municipal  buildings  fared  not  much  better : 
everyone  bears  the  stamp  of  an  unmistakable  dis- 
;«^."^?^;u  ^  u^  Federal  buildings  are  practically 
intact,  though  they  bore  an  equal  if  not  a  greater 


GRIT   • 
— ^Maybell  in  Brooklyn  Eagle. 


rrom  itereogmph,  copyright  19C8,  Underwood  ft  Underwood,  N.  Y. 
FIRST  RED  CROSS  HOSPITAL 

"  In  the  church  near  us  three  little  children  were  bom 
last  night.  In  the  camp  a  few  blocks  away  eighteen 
were  born.  Children  are  bom  behind  screens  on  street 
corners,  and  later  the  poor  mothers  are  taken  to  the 
nearest  improvised  hospital. " 

RESUMPTION  of  business  may  be  said  to 
have  begun  on  May  i,  when  the  banks 
opened  again.  They  had  no  buildings,  but  all 
the  cashiers  were  stationed  at  the  mint  to  re- 
ceive customers.  Each  depositor  was  limited 
to  a  withdrawal  at  first  of  $500,  giving  a 
promissory  note,  which  was  indorsed  by  the 
cashier,  and  presented  at  the  mint.  By  that 
date,  too,  the  water-supply  had  been  restored 
in  fairly  good  quantity,  800  out  of  1,100  arc 
lamps  had  been  relighted  in  the  streets,  and 
the  street-cars  were  running  on  many  of  the 
avenues.  All  over  the  business  section  little 
shacks  of  wood,  tar-paper  and  corrugated  iron 
were  going  up  as  substitutes  for  office  buildings 
and  department  stores.  With  the  beginning  of 
business,  the  spirit  of  gain  began  to  make 
itself  again  felt.  Exorbitant  rents  were  asked 
for  these  little  shacks.     For  an  ugly  frame 


REBUILDING  ASSURED 


583 


building  that  escaped  destruction  and  which 
has  been  bringing  in  rentals  of  $150  a  month 
the  owner  now  asks  $5,000  a  month.  A  kitchen 
in  a  two-story  shanty  has  been  rented  for  $100 
a  month.  In  Oakland,  by  May  7,  the  hotels 
were  asking  five  dollars  a  day  for  a  cot  in  a 
hallway.  Speculation  in  real  estate  had  beg^n 
and  prices  were  being  predicted  higher  than  be- 
fore the  fire. 


THE  question  of  the  rebuilding  of  San  Fran- 
cisco seems  to  be  no  longer  a  question. 
The  Crocker  Brothers,  who  estimate  their 
losses  at  $7,500,000,  say:  "It  is  preposterous  to 
suggest  the  abandonment  of  the  city.  It  is 
the  natural  metropolis  of  the  Pacific  Coast. 
God  made  it  so.  D.  O.  Mills,  the  Spreckels 
family,  everybody  we  know,  have  determined 
to  rebuild  and  to  invest  more  than  ever  before. 
Certainly  we  do."    On  May  7,  a  contract  was 


From  ite^eograph,  copyright  1900,  by  Underwood  *  Underwood,  N.  S. 
FIRST  SUNDAY  SERVICE   AT  THE   PRESIDIO 
CAMP 

"Each  individual  soul  spoke  for  itself.  All  our  life 
have  we  heard  prayers  in  the  churches,  but  we  realized 
how  terrible  a  tiling  it  is  when  from  the  depths  men  pray. 
Not  the  prayers  they  may  say  words,  but  the  prayers 
written  m  their  faces." 

signed  by  George  H.  Toy  for  an  eleven-story 
building  of  steel  and  stone,  and  a  few  days 
later  a  contract  was  announced  by  Wm.  R. 
Hearst  for  a  new  skyscraper  for  his  newspaper 
The  Examiner,  On  May  ii,  a  meeting  was 
held  by  two  hundred  owners  of  business  sites, 
and  twenty-five  of  them  stated  that  architects 
were  already  at  work  for  them  on  plans  for 
better  buildings  than  they  had  had  before  the 
fire.  A  nine-story  steel  structure  was  then  al- 
ready under  way  at  the  corner  of  Sutter  and 
Kearney  Streets,  the  cost  of  which  is  to  be 
$200,000.  It  was  announced  in  Pittsburg,  on 
the  same  day,  that  the  Westinghouse  Company 
had  shipped  thirty-five  car-loads  of  electrical 
machinery  to  California,  and  that  thirty  more 
car-loads  would  leave  in  a  week.  The  capital 
immediately  available  for  the  San  Francisco 
banks,  for  the  re-establishment  of  business,  was 


DOESN'T  SEEM  TO  KNOW  THAT  SHE  IS 
MISERABLE 

She  is  campins:  out  on  the  ruins  of  her  home  and  doesn't 
have  to  worry  about  dusting  the  bric-a-brac, 

figured  out  as  nearly  $50,000,000  on  May  12, 
the  New  York  banks  having  transferred  $36,- 
635,000  to  that  city  in  the  preceding  three 
weeks,  and  over  seven  millions  of  dollars  hav- 
ing been  in  the  hands  of  the  San  Francisco 
banks  at  the  time  of  the  fire.     Various  plans 


From  itareograph,  cor y right  IM8,  Underwocd  &  Underwood,  N.  V. 

THE  LUXURY  OF  PAPER-COVERED  HOUSES 

"There  are  no  cooks — the  Chinese  servants  have  fled 
the  city,  and  one  may  see  delicately  nurtured  women 
cookins:  for  their  crying  children  in  the  middle  of  the 
•treet" 


584 


CURRENT  LITERATURE   . 


for  the  financing  of  the  new  building  opera- 
tions are  under  consideration  by  E.  H.  Harri- 
man.  Senator  Newlands,  ex-Mayor  Phelan 
and  others.  Says  Mr.  Harriman :  'It  will  take 
three  years  to  rebuild  the  city.  Such  work  can 
not  be  done  hysterically ;  nothing  can  be  accom- 
plished that  way.  It  is  necessary  to  proceed 
according  to  well-formed  plans."  What  these 
plans  are  to  be,  and  whether  Mr.  Burnham's 
ideas  are  to  be  followed  out,  the  whole  country 
will  be  interested  in  knowing. 


NO  EARTHQUAKE  could  expend  such 
varied  energy  in  the  destruction  of  San 
Francisco  as  her  citizens  now  display  in  the 
reconstruction  of  their  city.  To  this  effect 
the  journals  of  all  Europe  are  unanimous  and 
it  constitutes,  perhaps,  the  one  point  upon 
which  the  dailies  of  London  and  the  dailies  of 
Berlin  are  of  the  same  opinion.  Not  all,  nat- 
urally, have  had  the  self-restraint  in  the 
course  of  their  comment  to  ignore  the  phenix 
rising  from  her  ashes  or  the  burning  of  Rome 
when  Nero  reigned  The  London  Guardian 
congratulates  mankind  that  the  disaster  oc- 
curred in  San  Fran- 
cisco instead  of  on 
the  site  of  any  city  of 
equal  size  in  Europe. 
A  cultivated  being,  it 
explains,  is  neces- 
sarily less  horrified 
by  the  catastrophe  to 
the  Queen  of  the  Pa- 
cific than  he  would 
be  by  a  like  misfor- 
tune in  an  Old  World 
community.  This 
fact,  we  are  assured, 
is  attributable  to  the 
inferiority  of  the 
American  people  in 
an  esthetic  and  his- 
torical sense,  and  the 
whole  affair,  accord- 
ingly, has  an  element 
of  comfort  to  the 
British  organ.  "You 
may  rebuild  San 
Francisco,"  it  avers, 
"but  you  cannot  make 
an  Appian  Way  or  a 
Square  of  St.  Mark, 
a  Notre  Dame  or  a 
Westminster  Abbey." 
Mere  enterprise  does 
not  erect  such  memo* 


From  Btercograph,  cop>  rJ^lit  lorw. 
Underwood  &  Underwood,  N.  Y 

TWENTY-FIVE  CAR- 
LOADS OF  POTATOES 

"Whatpride  we  take  in  our 
Sfreat  Government !  For  the 
sun  has  set  on  scores  of  thou- 
sands of  homeless  people, 
and  not  one  of  them  is 
hungrry." 


rials  of  antiquity.  History  evolves  them.  **A 
great  earthquake,"  to  quote  further,  "which 
dealt  with  a  historic  city  as  San  Francisco  has 
just  been  dealt  with  would  arouse  very  differ- 
ent emotions — every  intelligent  person  who 
read  of  it  would  realize  that  the  world  had  suf- 
fered a  moral  and  intellectual  loss  such  as  can- 
not possibly  accrue  from  the  destruction  of  a 
brand  new  commercial  capital."  Wherefore 
the  London  organ  congratulates  the  esthetical- 
ly  superior  portion  of  mankind  upon  the  dis- 
crimination of  the  terrestrial  crust  in  its  mani- 
festations of  seismic  energy. 


EUROPEAN  fire  insurance  companies 
either  lack  all  faculty  for  this  kind  of 
speculation  or  they  are  not  sufficiently  co- 
heirs of  the  ages  to  subordinate  financial  con- 
siderations to  the  historical  sense.  Sir  Will- 
iam Bousfield,  of  the  Union  Assurance  So- 
ciety of  London,  goes  so  far  as  to  say  that  the 
directors  of  that  corporation  are  much  to  be 
sympathized  with  in  connection  with  such  a 
dire  calamity  at  the  end  of  a  successful  year 
in  Califdrnia.  A  company  like  the  Union,  he 
adds,  may  have  its  whole  position  materially 
changed  by  the  San  Francisco  calamity.  By 
common  consent,  the  Baltimore  fire,  two  years 
ago,  which  cost  British  companies  about 
$10,000,000,  will  prove  a  trifle  compared  with 
the  losses  in  California  which  they  must  face 
very  soon.  The  liabilities  of  London  com- 
panies in  San  Francisco  are  put  by  the  Lon- 
don Telegraph  at  not  less  than  $100,000,000. 
This  leaves  out  of  consideration  other  claims 
which  may  be  advanced  from  elsewhere  than 
San  Francisco.  But  it  does  not  follow  that 
$100,000,000,  or  anything  like  that  sum,  will 
have  to  be  paid.  It  is  said  in  the  London 
Times  that  there  must  be  many  structures  in 
the  city  destroyed  by  earthquake  only.  There 
can  be  no  liability  in  such  c^ses,  although 
policy  must  dictate  a  certain  liberality  in  in- 
terpreting insurance  restrictions.  Given, 
however,  a  clause  exempting  a  company  from 
fires  attributable  to  earthquake,  what  right,  it 
is  asked  in  some  London  insurance  organs, 
have  the  companies  to  pay  a  single  penny? 
"It  is  all  very  well  to  be  liberal,"  asserts  one 
high  insurance  official  in  England,  "but  you 
cannot  be  liberal  with  other  people's  money. 
Fire  insurance  corporations  must  not  make 
presents  even  if  their  motive  in  doing  so  be 
to  obtain  future  business."  It  is  deemed  a 
possibility  that  a  shareholder  in  London  might 
obtain  an  injunction  restraining  payments  of 


SAN  FRANCISCO  ALGECIRAS,  AND  EMPEROR  WILLIAM  585 


m^ 

[[C"  '**^-'    ' '    ■    \^. 

^"''r--*— 

THE  SPIRIT  OF  FORTY-NINE 

**The  man  who  had  a  burned  store  and  his  debts  as  the  result  of  a  life-work  showed  the  same  stoicism  as  the 
whole  people :  the  stoicism  of  the  men  who  fought  the  Indians  and^thirst  alone  the  old  overland  trail  as  they  made 
their  way  to  that  garden  spot  of  America  which  they  love  with  an  affection  unknown  in  the  older  communities." 


losses  not  called  for  by  the  terms  of  a  policy. 
Innumerable  policies  contained  an  earthquake 
restriction.  There  are  also  various  German, 
French  and  Austrian  fire  insurance  companies 
yet  to  make  known  their  final  attitude. 


A  PROFOUND  subtlety  is  discerned  by 
the  Avenire  d'ltaliq  in  Victor  Emman- 
uel's remark  that  circumstances  impart  pe- 
culiar appropriateness  to  his  own  personal 
expressions  of  sympathy  with  San  Francisco. 
Emperor  William  wounded  Italian  sensibili- 
ties to  the  quick,  say  Roman  organs,  by  re- 
fraining from  any  personal  expression  to  Vic- 
tor Emmanuel  of  the* sympathy  he  should  have 
felt  with  the  Vesuvian  sufferers.  How  con- 
spicuous, insinuate  a  few  foreign  dailies  now, 
is  the  alleged  absenpe  of  any  condolence 
from  the  Hohenzollern  to  our  President  upon 
the  direst  calamity  in  American  annals !  Fond 
as  he  has  always  been  of  cabling  to  Mr. 
Roosevelt,  William  II  imposed  restraints  upon 
this  propensity  when  San  Francisco  lay  in 
ruins.  Telegrams  there  are  from  the  French 
President,  the  British  King  and  potentates 
a-plenty;  but  from  the  German  Emperor  Pres- 
ident Roosevelt  received  no  line  directly — at 
least  no  personal  communication  between  the 
pair  on  the  subject  of  San  Francisco  has  seen 
the  light  of  day  abroad.  William  II  seems 
merely  to  have  instructed  his  Washington  am- 
bassador to  communicate  to  the  American 
Government  a  formal  expression  of  the  im- 
perial sympathy.  A  like  course  was  adopted 
in  the  case  of  the  Vesuvian  disasters.  The 
European  explanation  is  that  Italy  had  in- 
curred William's  displeasure  by  her  proceed- 
ings at  the  Morocco  conference.  It  is  now 
surmised  in  foreign  capitals  that  the  successor 


of  Frederick  the  Great  must* have  been  dis- 
pleased likewise  with  Rooseveltian  policies  at 
Algeciras.  Berlin  newspapers  remark  that 
Italy,  owing  to  her  diplomacy,  had  no  right  to 
expect  condolences  on  the  Vesuvian  disaster 
from  Germany.  These  very  Berlin  organs 
manifest  a  tendency  to  resent  President  Roose- 
velt's rejection  of  foreign  aid  for  San  Fran- 
cisco. Yet  Paris  dailies  and  London  dailies 
expatiate  upon  the  lofty  plane  of  sturdiness 
and  self-reliant  independence  of  which  the 
presidential  attitude  is  eloquent.  Berlin  re- 
torts by  complaining  of  a  moral  Monroe  doc- 
trine set  up  in  an  insulting  hurry.  London 
would  like  to  know  if  the  earthquake  has  not, 
through  the  irony  of  circumstance,  become 
involved  in  world  politics.  Paris  finds  a  coun- 
terpart to  the  mysterious  relation  suspected 
between  Vesuvian  disturbances  and  San  Fran- 
cisco quakings  in  the  unfathomable  coinci- 
dence of  the  cablegram  not  sent  by  Emperor 
Willialn  and  the  foreign  aid  not  accepted  by 
President  Roosevelt. 


RADUALLY  the  policy  of  the  pres- 
ent administration  has  developed 
until  it  has  reached  the  full  propor- 
tions of  a  general  war  upon  those 
forms  of  industrial  combination  loosely  termed 
trusts.  It  is  no  longer  a  skirmish  that  we  are 
witnessing,  nor  a  single  engagement;  it  is  a 
widesrpead  war,  a  campaign;  or,  better,  per- 
haps, a  crusade,  as  its  purpose  is  reformation 
rather  than  annihilation.  A  reference  to  some 
of  the  engagements  of  the  last  few  weeks  in- 
dicates the  extent  and  importance  of  what  is 
now  occurring  in  the  country.    The  prosecu- 


586 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


tion  of  the  "meat-packers'  trust,"  with  its  fu- 
tile ending,  was  followed,  as  told  in  these 
pages  last  month,  by  the  President's  sensa- 
tional message  with  its  critical  references  to 
Judge  Humphrey  and  its  request  for  legisla- 
tion* to  enable  the  administration  to  overcome 
the  difficulty  arising  from  the  latter's  ruling 
in  regard  to  "immunity  baths."  The  prosecu- 
tion of  three  other  corporate  bodies,  the  "to- 
bacco trust,"  the  "paper  trust"  and  the  "sugar 
trust,"  resulted,  as  already  noted  by  us,  in  a 
decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  to  the  effect 
that  a  corporation  cannot  claim  the  privilege 
granted  by  the  law  to  an  individual,  of  refusing 
to  furnish  testimony  that  is  incriminating. 
This  decision  has  greatly  facilitated  the  work 
the  President  has  undertaken.  The  first  direct 
result  is  the  surrender  and  the  expected  disso- 
lution of  the  "paper  trust,"  a  fact  of  such  tre- 
mendous import  that  the  New  York  Herald's 
Washington  correspondent  chronicles  it  as 
follows : 

"What  is  regarded  here  as  the  beginning  of  the 
end  of  industrial  combinations  in  the  United 
States  occurred  to-day  in  St  Paul,  Minn.,  when 
the  Northwestern  Paper  Trust  surrendered  in  its 
defense  against  governmental  proceedings  and  its 
dissolution  was  ordered.  It  would  be  difficult  to 
exaggerate  the  far  reaching  importance  of  this 
action.  No  one  here  doubts  that  this  is  only  the 
forerunner  of  dozens  of  similar  dissolutions  of 
trusts  and  combinations  alleged  to  be  restraint  of 
interstate  commerce." 


ANOTHER  important  move  by  the  admin- 
istration has  been  the  selection  oi  Charles 
E.  Hughes  (who  conducted  the  insurance  in- 
vestigations) and  Alexander  Simpson,  Jr.,  of 
Philadelphia,  by  the  Attorney-General,  to  con- 
duct an  investigation  into  the  relation  of  the 
coal-carrying  railroads  and  the  coal-mining 
industry,  a  similar  investigation  having  also 
been  instituted  by  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Commission.  Some  sensational  revelations 
have  already  been  made.  A  fourth  battle  of  the 
same  sort  has  been  begun  in  the  indictment,  by 
a  Federal  grand  jury,  of  the  New  York  Cen- 
tral &  Hudson  River  Railroad  Company,  the 
American  Sugar  Refining  Company  and  the 
New  York  Sugar  Refining  Company  (that  is 
to  say,  the  "sugar  trust"),  the  railroad  for 
giving  and  the  trust  for  receiving  rebates.  An- 
other proceeding  has  been  instituted  by  the 
Attorney-General  in  a  petition  before  the  Cir- 
cuit Court  in  Indiana  for  an  injunction  against 
three  associations  commonly  known  as  the 
"drug  trust,"  on  the  basis  of  evidence  elicited 
recently  in  a  suit  before  Judge  Holland,  in 
the  Circuit  Court  for  the  Eastern  District  of 
Pennsylvania.   In  addition  to  all  these  actions, 


indictments  have  also  been  secured  against  the 
Chicago,  Burlington  &  Quincy  Railroad,  the 
Great  Northern,  the  Mutual  Transit  Company, 
and  others,  together  with  a  number  of  shippers 
over  those  roads,  for  rebating,  and  in  the  case 
of  two  of  the  Burlington  railroad  officials,  con- 
victions have  been  secured  and  fines  of  $10,000 
each  imposed.  But  the  real  battle  royal 
against  trusts  was  apparently  begun  when  on 
May  4  the  President  sent  a  special  message  to 
Congress  transmitting  a  report  by  Commis- 
sioner Garfield,  of  the  Bureau  of  Corporations, 
accusing  the  Standard  Oil  Company,  that  has 
been  called  the  parent  of  all  the  trusts,  of  se- 
curing illegal  rebates  from  railroads  in  nearly 
all  sections  of  the  country. 


THIS  long  series  of  momentous  movements 
coming  to  public  notice  within  the  last 
few  weeks  has  furnished  the  uppermost  topic 
in  the  press  of  the  country,  next  to  the  San 
Francisco  disaster.  Referring  to  the  Presi- 
dent's activity  on  these  lines,  one  of  the  con- 
servative, non-political  journals  of  New  York 
City,  The  Journal  of  Commerce,  pays  him  this 
strong  tribute: 

"However  mistaken  his  methods  may  occasion- 
ally be,  he  has  performed  an  inestimable  service, 
one  that  will  be  permanently  recorded  to  his  credit 
and  may  start  a  new  epoch  in  the  career  of  this 
republic,  in  stirring  up  the  sentiment  and  the  con- 
science of  the  country  in  regard  to  some  wide- 
spread and  deeply-rooted  wrongs,  which  were 
more  of  a  menace  to  our  institutions  than  most 
people  realize.  If  he  succeeds  even  in  starting  a 
remedy  which  shall  work  out  a  correction  of  the 
wrongs  and  restore  to  health  the  disordered  body 
politic,  he  will  be  entitled  to  the  gratitude  not  only 
of  this  generation  but  of  all  those  that  are  to 
come.  ...  He  has  the  faults  that  go  with  his 
character  and  temperament,  but  they  are  blem- 
ishes which  are  insignificant  compared  with  the 
.  qualities  that  are  essential  to  success  in  such  ef- 
forts as  he  is  called  upon  to  put  forth.  He  has 
attacked  the  great  trusts,  the  combination  of  pow- 
erful railroads  and  the  alliance  between  the  two, 
with  a  determination  and  a  force  that  have  made 
the  country  realize  what  a  dangerous  empire  of 
unscrupulous  greed  was  being  reared  over  the 
foundations  of  a  free  republic,  and  have  brought 
the  people  to  his  support." 

And  the  President's  warfare  against  the 
trusts,  according  to  the  St.  Louis  Globe-Demo- 
crat, is  only  beginning. 


NO  PARTY  lines  are  discernible  in  the  al- 
most unanimous  approval  given  by  the 
press  to  the  general  course  of  the  administra- 
tion in  these  matters.  That  unanimity  of  ap- 
proval does  not  extend,  of  course,  to  the  Presi- 
dent's position  on  the  rate  bill,  nor  to  his  criti- 
cism of  Judge  Humphrey,  which  has  been 


AN  "EPOCH-MAKING"  MESSAGE  ON  STANDARD  OIL 


S87 


sharply  censured  by  many  papers  upholding 
his  course  in  other  respects.  The  appointment 
of  Charles  £.  Hughes  to  conduct  the  "coal 
trust"  investigation  is  spoken  of  with  special 
enthusiasm.  "One  such  official  act,"  says  the 
Democratic  World  (New  York),  is  worth  a 
thousand  speeches  about  the  square  deal  and 
lasting  righteousness,"  The  commission  given 
to  Messrs.  Hughes  and  Simpson  is  a  sweeping 
one.  They  are  to  "take  under  consideration 
all  the  facts  now  known,  or  which  can  be  as- 
certained, relating  to  the  transportation  and 
sale  of  coal  in  interstate  commerce,  to  advise 
what,  if  any,  legal  proceedings  should  be  be- 
gun, and  to  conduct,  under  the  direction  of  the 
Attorney-General,  such  suits  or  prosecutions, 
if  any,  as  may  be  warranted  by  the  evidence 
in  hand  and  forthcoming.  The  Pennsylvania 
papers  are  especially  interested.  Says  the 
Philadelphia  Ledger: 

'The  case  of  the  combinations  between  the  rail- 
ways and  the  fuel-producing  corporation^  has 
been  a  peculiarly  flagrant  one,  and  the  opportunity 
is  now  presented  for  the  first  time  for  a  searching 
review  of  the  whole  evil If  the  De- 
partment of  Justice,  with  the  assistance  of  Messrs. 
Hughes  and  Simpson,  shall  make  material  prog- 
ress in  this  direction,  it  will  rid  the  country  of 
one  of  the  most  insidious  menaces  to  its  industrial 
and  commercial  well-being.  It  is  this  possibility 
of  public  service  which  gives  this  step  of  the  Fed- 
eral Government  its  great  importance." 


MORE  striking,  because  more  unexpected, 
is  the  practical  unanimity  with  which 
the  conservative  and  radical  press  alike  have 
commented  upon  the  message  of  the  President 
concerning  the  Standard  Oil  Company.  Many 
of  the  more  important  papers  speak  of  it  as 
"epoch-making."  The  Baltimore  Sun  thinks 
he  might  be  more  specific  in  discussing  reme- 
dies, and  the  New  York  Times  takes  issue 
with  the  President's  apparent  purpose  in  the 
message  to  influence  the  passage  of  the  rail- 
way rate  bill,  to  which  it  has  all  along  been 
strongly  opposed.  But  even  The  Times  says 
of  the  message  as  a  whole  and  the  report  that 
accompanies  it : 

"There  is  scarcely  room  for  doubt  that  the  Com- 
missioner has  the  facts  and  evidence  to  support 
his  charges.  Assuming  that  his  proofs  are  ade- 
quate, the  country  will  demand  that  justice  and 
the  law  shall  have  their  due.  We  see  no  reason 
why  the  secret  rebate  should  not  be  crushed  out 
now  for  all  time.  It  is  a  device  of  the  business 
coward  and  assassin,  it  is  dishonest  and  detestable. 
The  country  hates  it,  and  among  those  who  have 
openly  condemned  it  were  hjrpocrites  who  were 
all  the  time  secretly  giving  or  receiving  it.  .  .  . 
If  the  railroad  managers  of  the  country,  the  men 
of  the  Standard  Oil  Company  and  of  other  cor- 


porations and  concerns  that  have  profited  by  this 
criminal  trickery,  have  not  yet  had  their  eyes 
opened  to  the  fact  that  the  prevailing  spirit  of  dis- 
content and  the  growing  Socialistic  agitation  in 
the  country  are  larjg^ely  due  to  them  and  their 
contemptuous  violation  of  the  laws  of  the  land, 
it  is  high  time  that  a  revealing  light  were  let  in 
upon  their  minds  through  the  discourse  of  Judges 
pronouncing  sentence  in  courts  of  law." 


THE  investigation  made  into  the  affairs  of 
the  Standard  Oil  Company  was  ordered 
by  a  resolution  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives passed  February  15,  1905.  The  resolu- 
tion referred  to  the  Kansas  bil  field  alone,  but 
Commissioner  Garfield  extended  the  scope  of 
the  inquiry  to  cover  the  whole  country.  "The 
report  shows,"  says  the  President,  "that  the 
Standard  Oil  Company  has  benefited  enor- 
mously up  almost  to  the  present  moment  by 
secret  rates,  many  of  these  secret  rates  being 
clearly  unlawful."  These  rebates,  he  says, 
amount  to  at  least  $750,000  a  year,  and  enable 
it  to  derive  a  much  larger  profit  at  the  expense 
of  the  public.  Shortly  after  the  discovery  of 
the  secret  rates  most  of  them  were  promptly 
corrected  by  the  railroads — an  acknowledg- 
ment, the  President  thinks,  that  the  rates  were 
wrong  and  known  to  be  wrong.  The  Depart- 
ment of  Justice,  says  the  President,  will  take 
up  the  question  of  instituting  prosecutions  in 
at  least  some  of  these  cases.  In  addition  to 
the  advantage  secured  by  means  of  secret 
rates,  contrary  to  the  law  on  the  statute  books, 
the  Standard  Oil  Company  has  also  received 
"overwhelming  advantage"  from  open  rates, 
which  the  present  law  probably  does  not  reach. 
In  New  England  the  refusal  of  several  roads 
to  prorate — ^that  is,  to  join  in  through  rates — 
has  "virtually  kept  independent  refiners  from 
using  all-rail  routes,"  giving  a  great  advan- 
tage to  the  Standard  with  its  part  water  route, 
a  fact  that  furnishes  to  the  President's  mind 
a  strong  argument  for  the  passage  of  the  rate 
bill.  Commissioner  Garfield,  in  explaining  the 
general  results  of  his  investigation,  says: 

"Different  methods  are  used  in  different  places 
and  under  different  conditions,  but  the  net  result 
is  that  from  Maine  to  California  the  general  ar- 
rangement of  open  rates  on  petroleum  oil  is  such 
as  to  give  the  Standard  an  unreasonable  advantage 
over  its  competitors.  The  conclusion  is  unavoid- 
able that  the  Standard  oil  company  has  had  an 
important  voice  in  the  construction  of  such  rates, 
and  this  conclusion  is  supported  by  specific  evi- 
dence developed  by  the  investigation." 


IN  A  reply  made  for  the  Standard  Oil  Com- 
pany by  Mr.  H.  H.  Rogers  and  Mr.  John 
D.  Archbold,  they  say,  in  part: 


S88 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


From stcreograpbt  copyright  1000,  Underwood  St  Underwood,  N.  Y. 

THE  DISTINGUISHED  SON  OF  A  DISTINGUISHED 

FATHER 

Commissioner  Garfield's  report  on  the  Standard  Oil 
Company  is  to  be  made  the  basis  for  prosecutions  by  the 
Attomey-GeneraL 

"One  does  not  care  to  bandy  words  with  the 
President  of  the  United  States.  It  is  not  easy 
to  differentiate  between  Mr.  Roosevelt  the  Presi- 
dent, and  Mr.  Roosevelt  the  individual.  He  has 
given  us  of  his  advice  most  generously  upon  every 
subject  from  the  size  of  our  families  to  the  mis- 
takes of  the  federal  judges,  and  some  error  is 
inevitable  now  and  then  to  the  most  conservative 
man  under  such  circumstances.  We  say  flatly 
that  any  assertion  that  the  Standard  Oil  Company 
has  been  or  is  now  knowingly  engaged  in  prac- 
tices which  are  unlawful  is  alike  untruthful  and 
unjust." 

Very  many  of  the  commissioner's  criticisms, 
they  assert,  will  be  answered  by  bearing  in 
mind  that  the  Standard  refineries  are  located 
at  centers  of  distribution,  while  the  independ- 
ent refineries  are  usually  in  the  crude-oil 
fields.  The  refusal  of  the  New  England  roads 
to  prorate,  they  also  assert,  has  not  affected 
the  price  of  kerosene  or  the  Standard's  control 
of  the  market;  and  if  the  refusal  of  the  roads 
to  prorate  is  in  violation  of  the  proprieties, 
"clearly  they  and  not  the  Standard  Oil  Com- 
pany should  be  made  the  object  of  attack." 
The  reply  of  Messrs.  Rogers  and  Archbold  has 
not,  however,  had  any  appreciable  effect  upon 
the  tone  of  the  press  comment.  The  Presi- 
dent has  made  no  move,  according  to  the  Pitts- 
burg Dispatch,  "that  hit  the  mark  more  nota- 


bly nor  at  such  an  effective  moment."  The 
Connecticut  Courant  says  that  "Theodore 
Roosevelt  has  smitten  with  a  resounding 
whack  of  challenge  the  biggest  golden  shield 
in  the  world  as  fearlessly  as  Wilfred  of  Ivan- 
hoe  tapped  the  shield  of  the  Templar,"  and  the 
Cleveland  Plain  Dealer  sees  special  signifi- 
cance in  the  fact  that. a  short  time  after  the 
reading  of  the  message  in  the  Senate  that 
body  adopted  by  a  unanimous  vote  Senator 
Lodge's  amendment  to  the  rate  bill,  making 
pipe  lines  for  the  transportation  of  oil  com- 
mon carriers  subject  to  the  regulations  of  the 
interstate  commerce  act..  As  for  the  lower 
house,  it  broke  out  into  a  storm  of  applause 
when  the  message  was  read. 


ONE  champion  the  Standard  Oil  has,  how- 
ever, found  in  Chancellor  James  R.  Day, 
of  Syracuse  University,  the  only  man,  we  be- 
lieve, who  was  ever  elected  a  bishop  in  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  and  then  declined 
the  honor.  The  chancellor  accuses  the  Presi- 
dent of  "anarchism,"  asserting  that  "the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  has  positively  no 
right,  constitutionally  or  morally,  to  attack 
corporate  business,  or  private  business."  Dr. 
Day's  comment  has,  however,  been  treated 
with  scant  courtesy.  A  journal  so  far  removed 
from  "anarchism"  as  the  New  York  Evening 
Post  and  so  little  disposed  to  accept  the  Presi- 
dent's views  on  many  questions,  says  curtly: 
"It  is  a  singular  coincidence  that  John  D. 
Archbold,  vice-president  of  the  Standard  Oil 
Company,  has  given  much  money  to  Syracuse 
University,  and  is  now  president  of  the  board 
of  trustees.  Under  such  circumstances,  the 
head  of  a  college  who  springs  to  the  defence 


FORTISSIMO 

— W.  A.  Rogers  in.N.  Y.  //fr(f/(^. 


WHAT  ''FREE  ALCOHOL"  MIGHT  DO 


589 


of  bis  dearest  contributors  accomplishes  little, 
either  for  his  college  or  the  contributors." 


ONE  feature  of  the  President's  message 
to  which  Dr.  Day  especially  objects  is 
the  reference  to  a  measure  that  has  been  before 
Congress  in  one  form  or  other  for  sixteen  or 
seventeen  years,  and  which  this  year  has  ex- 
cited widespead  interest  and  general  approval. 
It  is  the  bill  removing  the  tax  from  denatured 
alcohol  used  in  the  arts  and  manufactures. 
The  President's  reference  to  this  bill  is  as  fol- 
lows : 

"The  Standard  oil  company  has,  largely  by  un- 
fair or  unlawful  methods,  crushed  out  home  com- 
petition. It  is  highly  desirable  that  an  element  of 
competition  should  be  introduced  by  the  passage 
of  some  such  law  as  that  which  has  already  passed 
the  House,  putting  alcohol  used  in  the  arts  and 
manufactures  upon  the  free  list." 

This  bill,  which  passed  the  lower  house 
several  weeks  ago  with  but  seven  votes  in  op- 
position, was  referred,  upon  its  arrival  in  the 
Senate,  to  the  Finance  Committee,  of  which 
Senator  Aldrich  is  chairman.  The  Senator, 
as  is  well  known,  is  the  father-in-law  of  John 
D.  Rockefeller,  Jr.,  and  stands  in  popular  esti- 
mation as  the  leading  representative  of  cor- 
porate interests  in  general  in  the  Senate.  This 
reference  of  the  bill  to  his  committee  and  the 
indications  of  the  Senator's  intention  to  delay 
action  upon  it  until  after  a  prolonged  hearing 
that  would  be  pretty  sure  to  throw  it  over 
until  the  liext  session  has  intensified  the  feel- 
ing toward  the  Standard  Oil  Company  and 
given  special  point  to  the  President's  refer- 
ence above.    The  statement  made  by  that  com- 


•^ 

mK^^^M 

2^ 

w 

RBCENT  SNAP-SHOT  OF  JOHN  D.  ROCKBFBLXER 

If  the  charsres  made  by  Commissioner  Garfield  are  sus- 
tained by  the  courts,  the  Standard  Oil  officials  have  ren- 
dered themselves  liable  to  penalty  as  violators  of  Fed- 
eral law. 

pany's  ofiicials  that  "as  to  the  subject  of  free 
alcohol  we  have  no  concern  whatever"  is  taken 
in  a  Pickwickian  sense.  In  making  such  a 
statement,  says  the  conservative  Boston  Trans- 
script,  "they  tax  public  credulity  to  the  snap- 
ping point."    It  adds: 

"Free  denatured  alcohol  can  be  employed  for 
light,  fuel  and  heat,  and  we  have  excellent  scien- 
tific authority  for  believing  that  it  is  more  effect- 
ive in  any  or  all  of  these  fimctions  than  the  prod- 
ucts of  the  Standard  Oil  Company.  That  they 
are  afraid  of  it  is  a  fact  clearly  revealed  by  the 
attitude  of  those  in  the  Senate  recognized  as  the 
company's  friends.  Free  alcohol  is  not  drawn 
from  wells  and  is  not  run  to  the  refineries  or  tide 
water  in  pipe  lines.  It  could  not  be  cornered.  It 
would  defy  monopoly,  and  it  would  prove  the  un- 
conquerable rival  of  that  vast  monopoly  already 
established.  The  emphasis  placed  upon  this  fea- 
ture of  the  situation  is  one  of  the  strongest  points 
in  the  President's  message." 


TRIMMING  HIS  WINGS 

— Maybell  in  Brooklyn  Eagle. 


AS  LONG  ago  as  1889,  the  Finance  Commit- 
tee of  a  Republican  Senate  reported  a  tar- 
iff bill  removing  the  tariff  on  alcohol  used  in  the 
arts,  and  the  Senate  passed  the  bill.  The  ar- 
guments in  favor  of  such  action,  says  the  New 
York  Tribune,  recalling  that  fact,  are  many 
times  as  strong  to-day  as  they  were  seventeen 
years  ago.    The  alcohol  to  be  released  from 


590 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


THE  HEAD  OP  "THE  MEAT-PACKERS'  TRUST" 

The  srentlemati  with  his  hand  on  the  wheel  is  J.  Og-den 
Armour,  who  has  been  defending  his  business  in  a  series 
of  well-written  articles  in   The  Saturday  Evening  Post. 

tax  must,  according  to  the  present  bill,  be 
•'denatured"  with  some  material  "which  de- 
stroys its  character  as  a  beverage  and  renders 
it  unfit  for  liquid  medicinal  purposes."  The 
present  tax  on  alcohol  is  $2.08  a  gallon.  The 
cost  of  production  is  estimated  as  low  as  eight 
cents  a  gallon.  It  can  be  produced  from  corn, 
wheat,  potatoes,  beets,  rice — anything  contain- 
ing starch  or  sugar.  The  Secretary  of  Agri- 
culture, in  a  recent  hearing  on  the  bill  before 
the  Ways  and  Means  Committee,  said: 

"The  Northern  States  could  readily  depend 
upon  the  white  potato  as  a  source  of  heat  and 
light,  the  Southern  States  upon  the  yam  and  the 
sweet  potato,  and  the  Western  States  upon  the 
sugar  beet.  .  .  .  The  average  amount  of  sugar 
and  starch  which  goes  to  waste  in  the  stalks  of 
Indian  corn  annually  would  make  100  gallons  of 
commercial  alcohol  per  acre.  When  we  consider 
that  the  number  of  acres  in  Indian  corn  is  approx- 
imately 100,000,000,  it  is  seen  that  the  quantity 
of  alcohol  that  is  lost  in  the  stalks  is  so  large  tis 
to  be  almost  beyond  the  grasp  of  our  conception." 

The  subject  appeals,  as  no  mere  political 
bill  ever  appeals,  to  the  popular  interest,  for 
the  promise  is  held  out  by  the  champions  of 
the  bill  of  something  like  a  revolution  in  do- 
mestic life  if  the  bill  prevails.     In  an  article 


on  the  use  of  alcohol  in  Germany,  by  C.  J.  Zin- 
theo,  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  pub- 
lished in  The  Gas  Engine,  we  find  this: 

"For  lighting  purposes,  as  alcohol  gives  a  non- 
luminous  flame,  a  chemical  mantle  is  used  similar 
to  the  Welsbach  burner,  which  produces  a  very 
bright,  intense  and  economical  light,  costing  but 
one  cent  per  burner,  per  hour,  for  71-candle  power. 
For  the  production  of  heat  generally  it  is  simply 
perfection,  and  nothing  has  yet  been  found  to 
equal  ethyl  alcohol  for  this  purpose,  owing  to  the 
fact  that  it  produces  perfect  and  complete  com- 
bustion. 

"Alcohol  made  repugnant  to  the  taste  is  being 
used  as  an  incandescent  light.  Instead  of  being 
drunk,  it  is  burned.  It  propels  the  farm  motor, 
the  automobile  and  the  launch,  and  the  simple  fact 
of  obtaining  denaturalization  permits  each  private 
citizen  to  light  his  farm  or  factory,  to  heat  his 
home,  do  farm  work,  or  transport  himself.  One 
of  the  neatest  of  the  many  new  devices  used  in 
Germany  is  an  alcohol  flatiron  with  a  small  reser- 
voir, which,  being  filled  with  alcohol  and  lit,  heats 
the  iron  for  the  hour's  work,  at  a  cost  of  less  than 
two  cents.  The  cleanliness  and  economy  of  these 
figures  to  the  housekeeper  are  obvious.  For  farm 
motors  alcohol  is  a  perfect  fuel  because  of  its 
complete  combustion,  the  absence  of  its  noxious 
odors,  its  uniform  quality  and  its  unlimited  and 
universal  sources.  While  it  is  true  that  tfie  heat 
of  combustion  of  alcohol  is  practically  only  half 
that  of  gasoline,  yet  twice  as  large  percentage  of 
heat  can  be  converted  into  useful  work  as  in  gaso- 
line, and  hence  point  for  point  alcohol  is  as 
efficient  as  gasoline." 

"We  do  not  know  a  journal  of  prominence 
in  this  country,"  says  the  Boston  Transcript, 
"that  is  not  enthusiastically  in  favor  of  the 
measure,  and  all  reflect  the  sentinieijt  of  their 
readers." 


"THEY  MAKE  HIM  SO  NERVOUS" 

— Minneapolis  foumal^ 


THE  PRESIDENT  AND  EX-SENATOR  CHANDLER 


591 


rBSpTlHE  closing  days  of  the  debate  in  the 
1^^^^  Senate  on  the  rate-regulation  bill — 
CTiM?tf^  which  was  passed  in  that  body 
hV&4  on  May  i8  by  a  vote  of  71  to  3 
— were  marked  by  maneuvers  for  party  ad- 
vantage, personal  recriminations,  and  discus- 
sion of  minor  details.  When  President  Roose- 
velt accepted  what  is  known  as  the  Allison 
amendments,  he  healed  a  breach  in  the  Repub- 
lican ranks  and  insured  the  passage  of  the 
bill  in  a  form  approved  by  him;  but  he  did 
this  at  the  expense  of  being  charged  with  bad 
faith  by  many  Democratic  Senators,  who  in- 
sist that  he  has  surrendered  on  the  main  point 
to  the  enemies  of  rate  regulation,  and  has  be- 
trayed the  Democratic  allies  who  have  been 
fighting  his  battle  for  him.  The  Allison 
amendments  pertained  chiefly  to  the  vexed 
question  of  court  review,  and  provide  that  no 
preliminary  injunction  is  to  be  granted  with- 
out a  hearing  of  both  sides,  that  application  for 
such  injunction  must  be  heard  by  three  Cir- 
cuit Court  judges,  and  that  a  direct  appeal 
from  their  decision  is  to  be  had  to  the  Supreme 
Court  only.  This,  Senator  Bailey  and  Senator 
Tillman  and  Senator  Rayner  assert,  is  the 
"broad  court  review"  against  which  the  Pres- 
ident was  supposed  to  be  contending,  and  they 
ostentatiously  congratulated  Senator  Aldrich 
and  the  other  conservative  Senators  on  hav- 
ing captured  the  President  and  won  their  fight. 
The  President,  on  the  other  hand,  as  well  as 
Secretary  Root  and  Secretary  Taft,  considers 
that  the  Allison  amendment  "does  not  in  the 


THE  HEAD  OF  THE  "SUGAR  TRUST" 

Henry  O.  Havemeyer  has  been  president  of  the  Amer- 
ican Sugar  Refining  Co.  (capital  $75,000,000)  ever  sinoe  its 
organization.  The  company  has  just  been  indicted  for 
accepting  rebates. 

slightest  degree  weaken  or  injure  the  Hep- 
burn bill,"  but  "merely  expresses  what  the 
friends  of  the  bill  have  always  asserted  was 
implied  by  the  terms  of  the  bill." 


PERHAPS  HE  IS  RIGHT 
Senator  Tillman  insists  that  the  senate  is  not  decaying. 
— Minnempolis  Journal. 


AN  unfortunate  issue  of  veracity  was 
raised  in  the  course  of  the  closing  de- 
bate between  ex-Senator  Chandler  and  Presi- 
dent Roosevelt.  It  transpires  that  the  ex-Sen- 
ator had  been  acting  as  a  sort  of  intermediary 
between  the  President  and  the  Democratic 
Senators  who  were  favorable  to  the  rate- 
review  bill  in  its  more  stringent  form.  The 
understanding  of  these  latter  was  that  ex- 
Senator  Chandler  was  acting  in  these  nego- 
tiations as  an  emissary  for  the  President.  The 
President's  understanding  was  that  Mr. 
Chandler  was  acting  as  an  emissary  for  the 
Democratic  Senators.  When  the  President, 
therefore,  accepted  the  Allison  amendments 
without  notice  to  ex-Senator  Chandler  or  the 
Democratic  Senators,  the  latter  resented  it  as 
an  evidence  of  duplicity  and  bad  faith,  and  a 
statement  to  this  eflfect,  written  by  the  ex- 
Senator,  was  read  by  Senator  Tillman  on  the 
floor  of  the  Senate.  It  included,  also,  an 
assertion  that  the  President  had  declared  in 


592 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


Pbotogrnph  by  Tach. 
"EUROPE  HAS  GIVEN  NO  WORTHIER  CITIZEN 
TO  AMERICA  " 

The  late  Carl  Schurz,  of  whom  Jawes  Bryce  spoke  as 
above,  was  the  lirst  German-born  American  to  take  a 
seat  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States. 

conversation  that  Senators  Knox,  Spooner, 
and  Foraker  were  trying  to  injure  or  defeat 
the  rate  bill  by  ingenious  constitutional  ar- 
guments. This  assertion  of  the  ex-Senator  s 
was  stigmatized  by  Senator  Lodge,  on  the 
authority  of  the  President,  as  "a  deliberate 
and  unqualified  falsehood.''  From  a  personal 
and  partizan  point  of  view,  these  incidents  of 
the  discussion  have  interest  and  importance; 
but  neither  the  railroads,  the  shippers,  nor  the 
general  public  have  any  vital  concern  in  them 
and  the  press  has  refused  to  consider  them  as 
affairs  of  very  great  magnitude  at  this  time. 
"We  do  not  think,"  says  the  New  York  Times, 
(Dem.),  "the  country  will  follow  very  keenly 
the  difference  that  has  arisen  between  Mr. 
Roosevelt  and  ex-Senator  Chandler."  But  the 
results,  other  papers  think,  upon  legislation  de- 
sired by  the  President  may  be  far-reaching. 

• 
•  • 

EW   men    have   played   more   parts 

than    Carl    Schurz    played    in    the 

seventy-seven  years  of  his  life,  just 

ended.  He  was  an  active  revolu- 
tionist in  Germany  in  1848,  escaping  from  the 
fortress  of  Rastadt  when  it  was  captured  by 
the  enemy  through  a  sewer  to  the  Rhine,  and 
thence  to  Switzerland.  Later  he  returned  in 
disguise  to  Berlin  to  carry  out  an  adventurous      so  recently  devoted  to  English  discontent  at 


scheme,  which  proved  successful,  for  the  liber- 
ation of  his  former  professor,  Kinkel,  who  had 
been  imprisoned  for  life  for  his  part  in  the 
revolution.  In  London  and  Paris  young 
Schurz  supported  himself  as  music-teacher 
and  newspaper  correspondent,  ending  his 
career  in  the  latter  city  by  happily  and  ro- 
mantically marrying  the  daughter  of  a  Ham- 
burg merchant.  Coming  to  America  a  month 
later,  in  1852,  he  became  one  of  the  early  or- 
ganizers of  the  Republican  party,  and  in  1857 
came  within  107  votes  of  being  elected  lieu- 
tenant-governor of  Wisconsin,  although  he 
had  ohly  just  become  a  citizen.  He  became  a 
lawyer,  a  lecturer,  a  party  leader,  being  one 
of  the  committee  that  notified  Abraham  Lin- 
coln of  his  nomination  in  i860.  He  served  for 
a  few  months  as  minister  to  Spain,  returning 
to  the  United  States  to  take  part  in  the  Civil 
War,  on  the  Union  side,  receiving  a  commis- 
sion as  brigadier-general.  After  the  war  he 
became,  in  succession,  Washington  corre- 
spondent of  the  New  York  Tribune,  editor  of 
the  Detroit  Post,  editor  of  the  Westliche  Post. 
In  1869  he  was  elected  a  United  States  Sena- 
tor by  the  Missouri  legislature,  being  the  first 
German-born  citizen  to  serve  in  the  Senate. 
He  became  Secretary  of  the  Interior  under 
President  Hayes,  giving  a  great  impetus  to 
the  cause  of  civil  service  reform,  a  cause  with 
which  his  name  has  always  been  very  promi- 
nently identified.  The  romantic  story  of  his 
life  is  being  told  in  graphic  detail  in  an  auto- 
biography that  has  been  running  as  a  serial 
in  McC lure's  for  six  or  eight  months.  He  was 
the  finest  example  of  the  idealist  that  Ger- 
many ever  contributed  to  America,  according 
to  The  Evening  Post  (New  York),  a  paper 
of  which  he  was  for  several  years  the  editor. 
The  New  York  Mail  calls  him  another  Cato 
the  Censor,  and  says  that  he  was  a  bom  "mug- 
wump," whose  gifts  fitted  him  for  opposition 
and  criticism,  but  "quite  unfitted  him  for  con- 
structive statesmanship." 


PON  that  Princess  Ena  of  Batten- 
berg  whom  June  sees  transmitted 
into  Queen  Victoria  Eugenia  of 
Spain,  Madrid  is  now  bestowing  an 
adoration  that  reflects  presumedly  the  state 
of  his  Catholic  Majesty's  heart  White  duch- 
ess satin,  embroidered  with  silver  thread,  open- 
work patterns  of  large  rosettes  and  short 
sleeves  terminating  in  frills  of  lace  monopo- 
lize in  the  dailies  of  all  Europe  the  columns 


THE  WEDDING  OF  PRINCESS  EN  A 


593 


the  abjuration  of  Protestantism  by  the  object 
of  the  Spanish  King's  love.    The  wedding  tries 
the  patience  of  the  nonconformists  not  less 
than   that   of   the   dressmakers.     The   young 
royal  lady  swore,  in  a  very  elegant  hat,  that 
she  was  very  sorry  she  had  been  brought  up  a 
Protestant.     "I   now,   by  the  help  of  God's 
g^race,"  she  declared  in  the  palace  chapel  at 
San  Sebastian,  "profess  that  I  believe  the  Holy 
Roman  Catholic  Apostolic  Church  to  be  the 
only  and  true  church."    Amid  a  chorus  of  cen- 
sure from  the  sectarian  evangelical  weeklies 
of  her  uncle's  realm  and  an  outburst  of  ad- 
miration in  the  society  organs,  the  princess, 
in  white  silk  and  a  train  embroidered  in  sil- 
ver, accepted,  on  a  gilt  footstool,  everything 
that  has  been  defined  and  declared  to  be  truth 
by  the  Council  of  Trent  and  by  the  Ecumenical 
Council  of  the  Vatican,  and  accepted  as  well 
the  primacy  not  only  of  honor  but  of  juris- 
diction of  the  Roman  pontiff.     This  repudia- 
tion of  the  faith  of  which   her  royal   uncle 
is  the  defender  makes  the  princess  the  center 
of  what  the  London  World  pronounces  the 
fashionable  event  of  the  season. 


IT  WOULD  be  idle  to  pretend,  confesses  the 
London  Times,  that  this  is  an  act  of  which 
the  religious  sense  of  Edward  VII 's  kingdom 
can  wholly  approve.  Why  should  anyone  be 
offended,  asks  the  Madrid  Epoca,  at  what  does 
not  offend  the  religious  sense  of  Alfonso  XIIFs 
kingdom?  "The  instinct  which  leads  to  pro- 
test .  and  dissatisfaction,"  adds  the  London 
Times,  "is  natural  and  ought  to  be  respected." 
"How  detestable  the  bigotry,"  observes  the 
Madrid  Epoca,  "that  impugns  the  sincerity  of 
conversion."  The  London  daily  trusts  that  in 
the  visits  which  the  new  Queen  of  Spain  will 
often  pay  her  native  land,  "the  Roman  Cath- 
olic aspects  of  her  new  dignity  will  be  made  as 
little  prominent  as  possible,"  while  the  dynas- 
tic organ  in  Madrid  anticipates  a  day  when 
Spanish  ecclesiastical  dignitaries  shall  once 
more  be  welcomed  in  the  capital  of  the  great 
Protestant  power.  Only  when  the  disputatious 
dailies  approach  the  subject  of  sentiment  can 
they  agree  upon  any  aspect  of  the  marriage. 
They  all  tell  us  that  it  was  based  upon  a  lam- 
bent fire,  so  to  speak,  which,  playing  round  this 
pair  of  hearts,  has  penetrated  to  the  very  cores 
or,  more  accurately,  the  valves,  of  the  cardiac 
regions  concerned.  (See  Madrid  Epoca,)  Al- 
fonso's apocryphal  passion  for  an  inaccessible 
Bavarian  princess,  compared  with  the  absorp- 
tion of  his  soul  in  Ena,  is  as  the  unbudded  cow- 
slip ta  the  rose  in  full  bloom.    (For  details  of 


THE  PAIR  WHO  DECLINED  TO  WED   BY  PROXY 

They  are  seated  side  by  side  in  this  grroup.  The  youna: 
lady  18  the  Princess  Ena  of  Battenberg.  The  youth  is 
the  present  Kine  of  Spain.  Standing  in  the  center  is  the 
motner  of  the  oride-to-be,  formerly  Princess  Beatrice, 
favorite  daughter  of  the  late  Queen  Victoria.  Following 
the  ancient  Spanish  royal  custom,  Princess  Ena  was  to 
marry  Alfonso  by  proxy.  But  she  objected  to  being 
made  Queen  of  Spain  by  anyone  but  Alfonso. 

Alfonso's  love  at  first  sight,  see  London  Public 
Opinion.)  Even  thus  Don  Juan's  previous  at- 
tachment to  another  lady  made  him  feel  with 
greater  intensity  that  heaven  was  where  his 
last  love  happened,  to  be — the  idea,  this,  of 
a  Spanish  comic  paper  giving  sarcastic  form 
and  expression  to  the  emotional  state  of  the 
entire  Iberian  peninsula.  That  peninsula,  as 
reflected  in  its  press,  now  floats  in  the  ocean 
of  Alfonso's  love.  There  are  bull  fights  every- 
where.  

HER  Serene  Highness,  or,  as  she  is  hence- 
forth to  be,  her  Catholic  Majesty,  has 
already  proceeded  to  Spain.  The  original 
plan  was  to  have  these  nuptials  celebrated  at 
the  home  of  the  royal  bride,  which  would  have 
entailed,  in  accordance  with  ancient  custom,  a 
marriage  by  proxy.  As  it  is,  all  the  powers, 
including  the  United  States,  have  despatched 
special  embassies  to  Alfonso's  capital  to  wit- 
ness the  substitution,  as  mistress  of  the  royal 
palace  at  Madrid  and  as  mistress  of  the  Elscu- 
rial,  of  a  young  English  girl  for  a  middle-aged 
Austrian  woman.  Of  medium  height,  with 
melancholy  countenance,  a  Hapsburg  profile. 


594 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


HEAD  OP  THE  FRENCH  MINISTERIAL 
GOVERNMENT 

lean  Sarrien,  now  Premier  in  Paris,  but  soon,  it  is 
said,  to  retire,  intends  to  apply  the  law  separating  church 
and  state  in  all  its  vigor  regardless  of  the  physical  resist- 
ance of  clergy  and  congregations. 

in  aspect  noble,  in  religion  reverentially  Cath- 
olic, Dofia  Maria  Christina,  the  grand  figure  of 
the  long  regency,  makes  way  for  a  tall,  lively, 
fair  girl,  one  year  older  than  Alfonso  himself, 
a  girl  graceful  of  figure,  addicted  to  athletic 
sports  and  never  melancholy  for  a  moment. 
Automatically  the  distinction  of  commanding 
the  Order,  of  Maria  Luisa  passes,  by  this  mar- 
riage, from  the  elder  woman  to  her  junior. 
Perhaps  the  most  interesting  features  of  the 
affair  are  the  bestowal  upon  Alfonso's  new 
consort  of  that  crown  studded  with  diamonds 
which  was  paid  for  by  popular  subscription 
throughout  the  peninsula  and  which  this  bride 
is  to  wear  as  Queen  of  Spain — mistress  of  the 
most  ceremonial  court  in  the  world — and  the 
public  exhibition  of  the  new  sovereign's  gowns 
and  the  whole  of  her  underwear  in  the  show- 
rooms of  the  most  fashionable  modiste  in  Lon- 
don. All  the  night-dresses — four  dozen — we 
read  in  the  London  Standard,  are  adorned — 
in  the  case  of  a  lady,  says  Gibbon,  such  details 
are  important — with  genuine  lace,  besides  be- 
ing composed  of  the  finest  cambric  and  high  in 
the  yoke.  The  petticoats  are  mostly  of  pale 
pink  broche,  with  frills  of  mousseline  de  soie. 
There  are  a  good  many  columns  of  this  in 
British  journals  which  view  with  scorn  yellow 
journalism  in  America. 


EPARATION  of  church  and  state 
was  sustained  by  the  French  voters 
in  last  month's  national  election; 
or,  as  Clemenceau  puts  it,  despotism 
was  not  banished  from  heaven  that  it  might 
establish  its  headquarters  at  Paris.  The  re- 
sult is  held  by  many  newspapers  abroad  to 
prove  again  that  French  voters  never  go  over 
to  the  enemies  of  any  political  combination 
that  passes  anticlerical  measures.  May  Day 
agitations  entailed  the  presence  of  soldiery  in 
the  streets  of  the  capital,  and  striking  miners 
forced  the  Minister  of  the  Interior  to  cease  his 
electioneering  long  enough  to  enforce  meas- 
ures of  constraint  that  public  order  might  be 
maintained.  Toward  the  last  the  voting-ums 
seemed  magnets  for  all  the  elements  of  discon- 
tent. Such  things,  Clemenceau  now  tells  us, 
were  the  instrumentalities,  if  not  indeed  the 
devices,  of  reaction.  But  no  senile  coalition 
of  all  the  impotents,  he  adds,  with  character- 
istic fierceness,  could  repel  the  force  which  re- 
publican France  has  released  into  a  world  made 
hideous  with  the  hum  of  clericalism.  There  is 
an  infinite  amount  of  this  sort  of  thing  in  that 
well-known  vehicle  of  Q^menceau's  opinions, 
the  Paris  Aurore,  Everything  he  says  is  read 
avidly  just  now,  for  the  reason  that  he  is  the 
one  man  to  whom  all  the  French  ascribe  tfic 
anticlerical  triumph  that  has  just  been  won. 
As  for  the  nominal  head  of  the  anticlerical 
combination  now  in  power,  Premier  Sarrien, 
he  is  understood  to  have  already  resigned  him- 
self to  his  own  resignation.  His  anticlerical 
supporters  will  not  support  him.  He  was  put 
in  as  a  mere  stop-gap,  and  is  to  be  defeated 
by  those  who  won  his  victory. 

• 
•  • 

N  A  certain  midnight  toward  the 
end  of  April  last,  listless  members 
of  the  House  of  Commons  were 
rendered  wide  awake  by  the  news 
that  Mr.  John  Morley,  speaking  officially  as  a 
pillar  of  the  British  ministry,  was  hurling  de- 
fiance at  the  whole  bench  of  bishops.  So  tame 
a  theme  as  education  provided  the  Secretary 
of  State  for  India  with  his  unit  of  resistance. 
Scores  of  members  of  Parliament  sat  as  rigid 
as  wires  while  Mr.  Morley,  guest  of  honor  at 
a  great  dinner,  placed  himself,  without  insin- 
cerity and  without  impertinence,  as  he  phrased 
it,  in  the  position  of  those  who  are  now  to 
raise  a  tremendous  battle — Morley's  own 
words — against  the  very  ministry  he  adorns. 
"What  is  the  principle  they  oppose?"  cried 
that  statesman,  philosopher  and  literary  oracle 


BRITAIN'S  BATTLE  OVER  ''BIRRELLIGION'' 


595 


excitedly.  "The  principle  in  the  [new  edu- 
cation] bill  that  those  who  provide  the  money 
shall  control  the  expenditure  of  the  money." 
Within  an  hour  the  fuse  of  the  London  po- 
litical pinwheel  had  begun  to  sputter,  and  by 
the  next  morning  every  journalistic  sky-rocket 
in  England  was  blazing  skyward.  ''It  is  obvi- 
ous/' comments  the  London  Morning  Post, 
in  consternation  at  what  it  terms  "the  out- 
cry," "that  the  fight  which  will  rage  around 
its  [the  education  bill's]  main  provisions  will 
be  as  fierce  as  any  witnessed  at  Westminster 
in  recent  times."  The  progress  of  the  meas- 
ure through  the  Commons  must,  it  concludes, 
consume  most  of  the  ten  or  twelve  weeks  that 
now  remain  of  the  session  and  an  autumn  ses- 
sion will  almost  certainly  be  required  to  af- 
ford the  House  of  Lords  time  to  achieve  that 
rescue  of  the  English  people  from  "the  curse 
of  secularism"  against  which  the  bench  of 
bishops  is  in  insurrection. 


FROM  "Birrelligion"  has  been  spawned  the 
new  educational  hydra  which  England's 
priests,  peers  and  prelates  are  now  attacking, 
fearless  of  the  superior  weight  of  the  non- 
conformist enemy  in  the  House  of  Commons. 
Of  Birrelligion  we  have  many  definitions  and 
one  obvious  etymology.  It  is  derived  from 
the  name  of  the  president  of  the  Board  of 
Education  in  the  Campbell-Bannerman  min- 
istry— ^the  Right  Honorable  Augustine  Bir- 
rell,  K.  C,  incidentally  famous  on  the  Ameri- 
can side  of  the  Atlantic  for  certain  jesting 
essays  on  themes  literary.  But  Mr.  Birrell's 
"Obiter  Dicta"  passed  out  of  all  English 
minds,  when,  some  weeks  ago,  he  brought 
in  his  education  bill  amid  Roman  Catholic 
hierarchical  tumult,  Anglican  prelatical  dis- 
may and  a  sort  of  popular  pandemonium. 
Birrelligion  has  since  been  the  only  political 
phenomenon  of  which  Britain  seems  for  the 
time  being  to  be  conscious.  On  the  Saturday 
before  the  Monday  that  brought  him  this  re- 
nown, the  Right  Honorable  Augustine  Bir- 
rell,  K.  C,  sat  in  a  London  park  framing  the 
speech  with  which  his  education  bill  was  in- 
troduced to  the  lawmakers  of  his  native  is- 
land— ^"a  very  beautiful  park,"  he  assured  the 
House  of  Commons,  "rich  with  the  promise, 
I  hope  not  the  delusive  promise,  of  early  sum- 
mer, a  place  simply  swarming  with  children 
who  all  seemed  animated  by  one  desire,  name- 
ly, to  ascertain  the  time  from  me."  The 
laughter  that  greeted  this  sally  was  loud,  but 
the  impertinence  that  prompted  it  was  too 
characteristic,  complains  the  London  Satur- 


day Review,  It  gives  us,  we  are  told,  the 
measure  of  the  man  and  of  his  bill,  and  re- 
veals the  lightness  with  which  Mr.  Birrell  has 
made  himself  the  instrument  of  "Noncon- 
formist malice."  He  is  pietistic,  too,  it  is 
charged,  and  h3rpocritical.  Line  by  line,  word 
by  word,  concludes  the  Conservative  organ, 
the  Birrelligious  bill  must  be  fought.  Then 
the  House  of  Lords  must  deal  with  it.  To 
this  mood  had  the  official  opposition  press 
come  when  Mr.  Morley  defied  the  bishops. 
He  implied  thereby  a  defiance  of  the  House 
of  Lords.  The  London  Spectator  foresees  a 
fresh  phase  of  the  agitation  for  the  exter- 
mination of  the  hereditary  legislator  in  the 
land.  If  Great  Britain  escapes  a  constitution- 
al crisis  involving  Lords  and  Commons  before 
the  fate  of  the  education  bill  is  decided,  then 
the  London  Spectator  is  a  false  prophet 


NOT  an  instant  was  lost  by  the  Archbishop 
of  Canterbuxy  in  calling  the  Church  of 
England  to  arms.  Mr.  Birrell,  powerfully 
seconded  by  the  support  of  Mr.  Morley — 
which  entails  the  support  of  the  whole  min- 
istry— ^predicts,  none  the  less,  the  passage  of 
what  has  now  become  the  bill  of  the  session. 
This  will  mean  that  on  and  after  January  i. 
1908,  a  school  in  England  shall  not  be  rec- 
ognized as  a  public  elementary  school  unless 
it  is  provided  by  the  local  education  authority. 
From  and  after  the  date  named,  no  elemen- 
tary school  shall  receive  a  penny  of  public 
money,  unless  it  becomes  a  provided--or  as 
we  Americans  would  say,  a  public — school 
within  the  meaning  of  the  education  act. 
That  is  a  revolutionary  modification  of  the 
sectarian  system  established  by  Mr.  Bal- 
four's government  four  years  ago.  The  Bir- 
rell measure  would  transform  every  sectarian 
school  receiving  public  funds  into  a  provided 
school  within  the  meaning  of  the  act.  Conse- 
quently, the  school  thus  transformed  would 
impart  the  same  kind  of  instruction  in  religion 
that  is  now  given — when  it  is  given  at  all — 
in  the  provided  schools  of  England.  But  this 
religious  instruction  is  to  be  subject  to  the 
condition  that  no  catechism  or  formulary  dis- 
tinctive of  any  religious  denomination  shall 
be  taught  in  school  hours  and  to  a  conscience 
clause  rescuing  children  from  such  moral  in- 
struction as  their  parents  may  oppose.  The 
result  would  be  what  Mr.  Birrell's  opponents 
contemptuously  call  "School  Board  religion." 
This  includes  a  form  of  prayer  to  be  used 
both  morning  and  afternoon  in  class,  hymns 
for  daily  use  and  a  syllabus  of  religious  doc- 


596 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


THE  FIRST  STEP 

C.  R.  Macauley  in  N.  Y.  IVor/d. 


electing  to  receive  public  money 
must  become  provided  schools, 
knowing  but  one  control  hence- 
forth, that  of  the  local  educa- 
tional authority.  ("Putting  the 
Church,"  to  quote  our  London 
commentator  once  more,  "under 
the  heel  of  the  Nonconfonn- 
ists.*')  However,  on  two  days 
a  week  in  some  schools  surren- 
dering to  the  principle  of  the 
bill  by  abandoning  the  denomi- 
national badge,  special  denomi- 
national teaching  shall  be  given 
when  stipulated  for  and  demand- 
ed by  parents.  ("A  conces- 
sion," proceeds  the  opposition 
voice,  "which  is  a  studied  in- 
sult." But  this  denominational 
instruction  is  not  to  be  given  by 
the  teacher,  nor  can  it  be  given 
in  the  hours  allotted  by  the  bill 
to  secular  instruction — nine  in 
the  morning  to  four  in  the  after- 
noon on  five  days  a  week.  ("In- 
flames old  sores,"  expounds  our 
oracle,  "and  adds  others  far 
more  malignant  in  their  na- 
ture. ")  The  debate  is  one  that 
stirs  all  England  and  arouses 
many  passionate  utterances. 


trine  framed  by  representatives  of  several  de- 
nominations. 


OWNERS  of  schools  now  denominational 
are  to  remain  their  owners  in  the  future. 
They  will  have  the  exclusive  possession  of  the 
premises  during  the  whole  of  Saturday  and  of 
Sunday.  They  will  likewise  have  the  use  of 
them  in  the  evenings  of  week  days.  ("Pre- 
tended good  will,"  The  Saturday  Review 
terms  this  arrangement.)  The  maintenance 
of  the  buildings  as  well  as  the  cost  of  their 
administration  will  be  provided  for  out  of  the 
taxes.  What  becomes,  asks  Mr.  Birrell,  of 
the  bishops'  cry  of  confiscation?  .  ("This  is 
Stiggins's  hour,"  replies  the  dissatisfied  organ 
just  referred  to,  "and  Stiggins  means  to  get 
his  pound  of  flesh  while  he  can.")  Mr.  Bir- 
rell pointed  out  to  the  House  of  Commons  that 
the  facilities  afforded  in  his  bill  are  confined 
to  "non-provided" — that  is,  denominational 
— schools.  ("A  tasteful  touch,"  our  contem- 
porary proceeds,  "certain  to  tickle  the  Non- 
conformist palate.")     All  non-provided  schools 


STARTING  with  complete  public  control, 
carrying  with  it  the  appointment  by 
the  local  educational  authority  of  the  teacher 
— to  whom  no  creed  of  any  denomination  can 
be  applied  as  a  test — and  with  such  a  syllabus 
of  religious  instruction  as  the  local  educa- 
tional authority  adopts,  the  new  and  now 
fiercely  fought  and  fiercely  defended  educa- 
tion bill  embodies,  to  blend  the  words  of  Mr. 
Birrell  with  the  words  of  Mr.  Morley,  the 
principle  that  where  there  is  expenditure  of 
public  money  there  must  public  control  be, 
also.  But  the  whole  bill  embodies  noncon- 
formist religion,  contend  ecclesiastics  of  emi- 
nence. As  a  nonconformist  born  and  bred, 
as  a  man  nurtured  in  nonconformist  history 
and  nonconformist  traditions,  as  one  who 
thinks  he  may  say  he  was  bom  in  the  very 
nonconformist  library  of  a  nonconformist 
minister,  Mr.  Birrell  protests  against  this  mis- 
use of  the  term  "Nonconformist  religion." 
And  of  all  the  vile  phrases  that  have  climbed 
to  currency  in  England  the  vilest,  to  Mr.  Bir- 
rell, is  "the  Nonconformist  conscience."     "It 


THE  OPENING  OF  THE  DUMA 


597 


must,"  he  said  in  his  great  speech  on  the  edu- 
cation bill,  "have  been  the  invention  of  an 
Erastian  humorist."  An  Erastian,  as  those 
members  of  the  Commons  who  had  their  eccle- 
siastical encyclopedias  at  hand  must  have 
noted  with  admiration,  identifies  to  some  ex- 
tent the  church  with  the  state  and  is  accused 
of  denying  self-government  to  the  church  al- 
together. The  allusion  inspired  pungency 
from  pulpits  wherein  Erastianism  was  viewed 
as  the  parent  heresy  of  Birrelligion. 


ISEMBARKING  from  his  yacht  at 
the  steps  of  his  winter  palace  in 
St.  Petersburg  barely  a  fortnight 
ago,  the  successor  of  Ivan  the  Ter- 
rible paraded  with  a  brilliant  suite  between 
lines  of  cavalry  to  the  gilded  Hall  of  St  George 
and  there  addressed  ambiguous  phrases  to  that 
Duma  which  refuses  to  regard  him  any  longer 
as  the  autocrat  of  all  the  Russias.  Surround- 
ed by  the  most  exalted  ecclesiastics  of  a  church 
which  recognizes  him  as  its  visible  head  on 
earth  and  with  his  attenuated  figure  framed  in 
the  gold  canonicals  and  diamond-studded  me- 
ters of  the  entire  Holy  Synod,  Nicholas  H  told 
the  shabby  peasants  and  the  impecunious  pro- 
fessors in  front  of  him  that  divine  Providence 
had  prompted  his  summons  of  them  to  co-oper- 
ate in  the  framing  of  the  empire's  laws.  He 
spdce  of  their  arduous  labors  to  come,  of  the 
needs  of  his  beloved  peasantry,  of  his  own  un- 
alterable will  and  of  the  little  son  to  whom 
he  would  bequeath  a  firmly  established,  well- 
ordered,  enlightened  state.  Never  was  the 
nervousness  for  which  this  potentate  is  fa- 
mous more  visible  to  his  applauding  courtiers, 
whose  obeisances  and  genuflections  contrasted 
sharply  with  the  stolidity  of  the  listening 
Duma. 


NICHOLAS  IPs  original  determination  to 
honor  with  his  presence  only  the  open- 
ing ceremonies  of  the  Council  of  the  Empire 
seems  to  have  been  frustrated  partly  by  his  own 
indecisive  temperament  and  partly  by  the  in- 
flexible pertinacity  of  two  ladies.  The  Czar's 
wife  and  the  Czar's  mother  were  for  once 
agreed  upon  a  course  for  Nicholas  to  pursue, 
according  to  the  prevailing  gossip.  These 
ladies  went  through  the  ceremonies  in  white 
silk  trains  and  gold  slippers,  supporting  an- 
cient Russian  head-dresses  that  certainly  were 
high  and  probably  were  hot.  Less  than  a  week 
before  his  Majesty  had  affronted  his  mother 
by  dropping  Witte.     Goremykin,  the  Russian 


WITTE'S    REACTIONARY   SUCCESSOR 

The  rekl  power,  explain 8  the  well-informed  correspond- 
ent of  the  London  Telegraphy  is  not  wielded  by  Ivan 
Goremykin,  the  new  Prime  Minister  of  Russia.  As 
Witte's  successor,  it  is  understood  that  he  will  permit  (or 
rather  be  forced  to  allow)  General  Trepoflf  to  act  as 
Russia's  real  ruler. 

who  despises  Witte  most,  and  that  is  saying 
much,  succeeded  him  as  Premier.  A  decade 
ago  Witte  drove  Goremykin  from  power. 
Goremykin  returned  the  compliment  when 
Plehve  became  all  powerful  with  the  Czar. 
Witte  scored  again,  and  now  it  is  Goremykin's 
turn  once  more.  Goremykin  has  always  been 
in  touch  with  reactionary  grand  dukes  and 
at  odds  with  the  faction  that  rallies  around  the 
Czar's  mother. 

I  IKE  all  the  older  props  of  the  Romanoff 
Lr  dynastic  throne,  Goremykin  is  well 
versed  in  the  orthodox  religion  and  he  is  said 
to  have  great  reverence  for  the  episcopal  and 
monastic  character.  He  is  said  to  be  so  dis- 
dainful of  the  culture  of  Western  Europe 
as  to  be  unaware  of  the  precise  difference 
in  days  between  the  calendar  in  vogue 
throughout  Russia  and  that  prevailing  in  the 
rest  of  Europe.  The  amplitude  of  his  estate 
is  not  readily  reconciled  by  his  critics  with  the 
stern  regard  he  professes  for  the  general  wel- 
fare of  the  Muscovites  and  even  the  creed  he 
accepts  is  alleged  to  be  tainted  with  heresy. 
Considerations  of  this  nature  are  understood 
in  Europe  to  have  been  urged  by  the  mother 
of  Nicholas  when  she  heard  the  first  rumor  of 
Goremykin's  elevation.    However  this  may  be, 


598 


CUl^RENT  LITERATURE 


the  Dowager  Czarina  was  appeased  by  the  ap- 
pointment of  that  tried  instrument  of  her  pol- 
icy, the  Chevalier  Isvolsky,  to  the  post  of  Min- 
ister of  Foreign  Affairs.  This  experienced 
diplomatist  has  long  represented  his  sovereign 
at  the  court  of  Denmark,  where,  it  is  said,  he 
imbibed  a  distrust  of  Emperor  William  and  a 
faith  in  Great  Britain  which  must  influence 
his  attitude  toward  future  Anglo-Russian  rela- 
tions. Isvolsky  would  undoubtedly  have  suc- 
ceeded Witte  himself  had  the  wishes  of  the 
Czar's  mother  prevailed. 


French  Revolution  and  it  is  his  theory  that  his- 
tory repeats  itself. 


QUITTING  the  scene,  the  deputies  of  the 
Duma  then  proceeded  to  that  hall  in  the 
Tauride  Palace  which  has  been  set  aside  as  the 
cradle  of  this  latest  born  of  parliaments.  No 
caucus  in  Washington  could  have  organized 
itself  in  more  cut  and  dried  fashion.  By  the 
election  of  Prof.  Sergei  Andreievich  Mour- 
romtseff  as  its  president,  the  Duma  is  said 
to  reveal  that  if  it  lacks  the  wisdom  of  age  it 
possesses  the  docility  of  youth.  President 
Mouromtseff  is  described  as  a  lecturer  rather 
than  an  orator,  one  whose  mode  of  treating 
public  questions  is  academic  rather  than  prac- 
tical. He  has  watched  with  loving  interest 
the  growth  of  liberal  views  in  Russia,  but  his 
mind  has  been  formed  in  the  study  and  is  sup- 
posed to  be  scarcely  fitted  for  the  collisions  of 
party  spirit  He  thinks  the  Duma  will  grow  a 
large  crop  of  Robespierres  and  Dantons,  for 
his  mind  is  saturated  with  the  history  of  the 


STRIFE  soon  became  manifest  in  the  Duma 
itself.  The  proletarian  element  dreads  a 
reconstruction  of  autocracy  along  middle-class 
lines,  while  the  liberal  minds  wish  the  evolu- 
tion of  a  solid  and  substantial  government 
based  upon  legality,  solvency  and  the  dom- 
inance of  business  considerations.  The  first 
clash  occurred  when  the  deputy  who  has  been 
hailed  as  the  Camille  Desmoulins  of  Russia — 
somehow  every  conspicuous  individual  has  a 
label  borrowed  from  the  French  Revolution — 
Ivan  Petrunkevitch,  created  an  uproar  by  de- 
claring that  the  first  official  word  of  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Muscovite  people  should  be 
the  consecrated  one  of  liberty.  Deputy  Pe- 
trunkevitch is  but  a  type  of  dozens  who,  al- 
though without  parliamentary  experience,  can 
construct  the  lofty  harangue,  overarch  it  with 
metaphor,  render  it  dazzling  with  epithets  and 
sparkling  with  jests.  Of  constructive  work 
there  is  as  yet  not  a  trace.  There  is  much  to 
be  heard  regarding  the  ship  of  state,  the  holy 
cause  of  liberty  and  the  will  of  the  people. 
Men  attend  the  sessions  not  yet  for  the  purpose 
of  getting  through  with  the  business  of  the 
day,  but  to  echo  the  universal  shout  for  free- 
dom and  the  rights  of  man.  Premier  Goremy- 
kin,  says  rumor,  has  been  personally  com- 
manded by  Nicholas  II  to  get  rid  of  all  these 
people  as  soon  as  practicable. 


From  ^tcicogrnph,  ropyriglu  19t(),  by  Fndcrwood  &  UndiTwood,  N.  Y. 

THE  ATHLETES^WHO  REPRESENTED  THE  UNITED  STATES  AT  THE  OLYMPIC  GAMES 

Americans  in  the  Olympic  Games  at  Athens  were  the  winners  of  79  points.  No  other  nation  won  more  than  36 
points,  which  were  scored  bv  the  British.  Practicallv  all  the  leading  honors  crossed  to  this  side  of  the  AtVantic, 
a  Canadian  winning  the  big  event — the  race  from  Marathon  to  Athens.  "America's  triumph,"  says  the^  Phila- 
delphia Press,  "is  natural,  inevitable.  To-day  this  is  the  jrreat  center  of  the  athletic  world."  But  the  wbfole  tone 
of  the  games  was  lowered,  says  the  anti- American  ^Saturday  Review^  by  the  participation  of  Americans  |in  them! 


Persons  in  the  Foreground 


-THE  MOST  STRIKING  AND  POSITIVE  CHARACTER  IN  THE 
HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  " 


"Uncle  Joe,"  otherwise  the  Hon.  Joseph 
G.  Cannon,  of  Illinois,  Speaker  of  the  House 
of  Representatives,  has  just  been  celebrating, 
with  the  aid  of  many  of  his  congressional 
friends,  the  seventieth  anniversary  of  his  birth ; 
yet  the  New  York  Sun  dubs  him  the  youngest 
man  in  Washington.  It  is  the  Washington 
correspondent  of  the  New  York  Times  who 
characterizes  him  as  in  the  title  above,  and  he 
limns  the  character  of  the  erstwhile  "watch- 
dog of  the  Treasury"  in  a  way  that  goes  far 
to  justify  the  characterization.  For  Uncle 
Joe  Cannon,  despite  the  post  of  almost  im- 
measurable influence  which  he  now  occupies — 
second  in  power,  indeed,  only  to  that  of, the 
President  himself — has  long  been  noted  for  his 
unconventionality,  his  humor,  his  bluntness, 
and  his  ability  to  disarm  his  fiercest  political 
opponents  of  all  personal  enmity.  He  can 
do  things  that,  done  by  most  other  men,  would 
cause  a  furore,  but  which,  done  by  him,  arouse 
more  amusement  than  anger. 

Once  recently  so  many  Republican  mem- 
bers of  the  House  were  absent  from  the  floor 
refreshing  themselves  in  the  House  restaurant 
that  the  Democrats  suddenly  discovered  that 
they  had  a  majority  and  they  proceeded  at 
once  to  make  use  of  it.  They  called  up  a  bill 
and  proceeded  to  carry  it  to  a  vote  as  speedily 
as  possible.  The  Speaker  sent  .out  a  hurry 
call  for  Republican  members  and  did  all  he 
could  parliamentarily  to  delay  the  voting.  In 
sheer  desperation  he  was  forced  at  last  to  or- 
der a  third  roll-call,  in  violation  of  all  prec- 
edents. Up  sprang  a  dozen  or  two  of  enraged 
Democrats,  all  shouting  at  once.  "Why  does 
the  Chair  call  the  roll  a  third  time  ?"  was  their 
indignant  demand  as  voiced  by  one  of  their 
number.  "Uncle  Joe"  never  hesitated.  "The 
Chair  will  inform  the  gentleman,"  he  replied; 
"the  Chair  is  hoping  that  a  few  more  Repub- 
licans will  come  in." 

A  storm  of  laughter  shook  the  house,  and 
the  angriest  of  the  Democrats  sat  down  to 
chuckle. 

The  incident  is  narrated  by  C.  W.  Thomp- 
son, The  Times  correspondent,  in  his  new  book, 
"Party  Leaders  of  the  Time,"  from  which  we 


have  already  had  occasion  to  quote  rather  free- 
ly for  this  department.  The  same  writer  thus 
describes  Cannon  in  action,  on  the  floor  of  the 
House,  prior  to  his  election  as  Speaker : 

"The  'Uncle  Joe*  who  for  so  many  years  was 
chairman  of  the  Appropriations  Committee,  the 
official  watchdog  of  the  Treasury,  was  a  sight 
worth  seeing  when  a  debate  was  on.  His  delivery 
was  slashing,  sledge-hammery,  full  of  fire  and 
fury.  When  he  got  thoroughly  interested  in  his 
subject  the  fact  was  made  known  in  an  infallible 
way.  On  such  occasions  he  would  take  off  his 
coat  and  throw  it  on  his  desk.  Provoked  by  op- 
position and  getting  warmed  to  his  subject,  his 
waist-coat  would  follow  his  coat ;  and  if  the  occa- 
sion was  of  sufficient  moment  to  warrant  it,  off 
would  come  collar  and  necktie. 

"Thus*  stripped  for  action,  *Uncle  Joe'  would 
move  up  and  down  the  aisles  in  long  strides,  wav- 
ing? his  fists  in  the  air  and  pouring  forth  a  con- 
tinual flood  of  sarcasm,  invective  and  denuncia- 
tion at  a  rate  that  taxed  the  stenographers.  He 
would  roll  up  his  shirt-sleeves  to  give  him  greater 
freedom,  and  his  bony  fists  would  fly  around  in 
the  heat  of  his  wrath  so  that  the  ducking  heads 
of  congressmen,  dodging  to  avoid  a  punch  in  the 
eye,  marked  his  dashes  up  and  down  the  aisles. 

"If  some  unlucky  opponent  interrupted^  Can- 
non would  stride  up  and  down  the  aisle,  jerking 
his  shirt-sleeved  arms  about  in  a  fury  of  impa- 
tience. As  the  last  word  left  the  questioner's 
mouth  a  gigantic  roar  of  'Oh,  Mr.  Chairman/ 
would  burst  from  Cannon  as  if  his  pent-up  feel- 
ings had  torn  that  torrent  of  sound  from  his 
bosom,  and  behind  it  would  come  such  a  flood  of 
sarcasm,  couched  in  homely  language  and  min- 
gled with  soundest  sense,  that  the  interrupter 
wilted  under  a  laugh  that  shook  the  house. 

"And  when  it  was  over  Cannon  would  go  back 
to  his  place  and  put  on  his  collar  and  necktie  and 
waist-coat  and  coat,  and  retire  to  the  Appropria- 
tions room, 

"These  speeches  were  seldom  partisan  ones; 
he  was  engrossed  in  his  work  of  watching  appro- 
priations and  defeating  extravagance.  He  never 
hesitated  to  beard  the  House  leaders,  the  august 
triumvirate  of  the  machine,  nor  to  defy  the  speak- 
er himself." 

Now,  as  Speaker,  he  cannot  make  speeches 
and  he  keeps  his  coat  on.  "He  is  the  picture 
of  dignity  as  he  stands  in  the  Speaker's  place, 
and  it  is  quaint,  natural,  unforced  dignity; 
nothing  put  on  about  it."  Out  of  the  Speak- 
er's chair,  however,  he  is  as  unconventional 
as  ever.  Two  days  before  he  became  Speaker 
a  friend  called  on  him  in  the  room  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  Appropriations,  remarking:  "Joe,  I 


6oo 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


AT  THREESCORE  YEARS  AND  TEN 

Of  Speaker  Cannon,  who  has  just  celebrated  his  seven- 
tieth birthday,  it  is  said  :  "  He  is  the  picture  of  dignity 
as  he  stands  in  the  speaker's  place,  and  it  is  quaint,  nat- 
ural, unforced  dignity  ;  nothing  put  on  about  it. 

had  it  in  mind  to  drop  in  on  you  and  say  good- 
by  to  Joe  Cannon."  "What  do  you  mean?" 
was  the  response.  "Well,  I  have  known  Joe 
Cannon  many  years  and  I  thought  I  might 
never  see  him  again,  but  would  hereafter  have 


to  deal  entirely  with  the  Speaker."  Cannon 
took  the  cigar  from  his  mouth,  pointed  with 
it  toward  the  Hall  of  Representatives,  and 
said:  "In  there  I'll  be  the  Speaker;  away  from 
there  youll  find  that  Fll  be  Joe  Cannon." 

That  has  been  the  case,  and  to  that  is  due 
much  of  the  power  that  he  has  maintained 
over  his  associates.  Says  Mr.  Thompson,  the 
correspondent,  be  it  remembered,  of  a  Demo- 
cratic journal: 

"The  House  loves  and  trusts  him;  he  is  the 
most  popular  man  in  all  its  membership.  Thi 
Democrats  are  little  less  fond  of  him  than  the 
Republicans.  He  has  not  followed  the  Hender- 
son policy  of  treating  the  minority  like  captives 
in  a  Roman  triumph;  he  has  treated  them  fairl> 
and  even  generously. 

•*And  the  House  admires  him  no  less  than  it 
loves  and  trusts  him.  It  will  follow  him  to  battle 
anywhere  and  for  any  cause,  as  it  rose  from  its 
degradation  and  followed  him  solidly  to  battle 
with  the  Senate.  It  knows  him  as  an  uncommon 
man;  a  man  of  high  ideals  and  firm  convictions 
and  definite  purposes." 

Speaker  Cannon  is  a  Southerner  by  birth. 
having  been  born  in  Guilford,  N.  C.  But  his 
whole  public  and  professional  career  (he  is  a 
lawyer)  has  been  identified  with  Illinois.  He 
first  went  to  Congress  in  1873,  and  has  been 
a  member  of  the  lower  house  ever  since,  with 
the  exception  of  one  term— a  period  of  serv- 
ice of  thirty-two  years. 

"Nobody  ever  associated  'Uncle  Joe's'  per- 
sonality with  old  age,"  says  the  St.  Louis 
Globe-Democrat,  "and  they  are  not  likely  to 
do  so  in  the  near  future."  He  is  being  prom- 
inently mentioned  as  a  candidate  for  Presi- 
dent to  succeed  Theodore  Roosevelt,  but  he 
refuses  to  take  such  thought  seriously.  One 
cartoonist  represents  him  as  singeing  the 
wings  of  the  presidential  bee  with  the  lighted 
end  of  his  ever-present  cigar. 


■THAT  HUMAN   RADIANCE  WE  CALL  ELLEN  TERRY" 


"Why  do  you  look  so  young?"  The  ques- 
tion was  addressed  to  Mrs.  C.  Wardell,  whom 
all  the  world  knows  as  Ellen  Terry,  and  who 
has  just  been  celebrating  the  completion  of 
her  first  half  century  on  the  stage.  Her 
answer  was :  "I  think  it  is  because  I  am  never 
long  unhappy.  I  always  try  to  be  happy." 
This  gift  of  buoyant  jollity,  in  the  judgment 
of  Max  Beerbohm,  is  one  of  the  two  gifts 
that  have  secured  for  her  the  peculiar  place 
she  holds  in  the  affections  of  her  audiences. 


The  other  of  the  two  gifts  is  hcV  sense  of 
beauty.  Nothing  can  obscure  for  us  these  two 
gifts,  says  Mr.  Beerbohm  in  The  Saturday 
Review,  "Was  ever  a  creature  so  sunny  as 
she?  Did  ever  any  one  radiate  such  kindness 
and  good  humor?"  Another  writer  applies  to 
her  the  happy  phrase  at  the  head  of  this  article, 
and  a  third  calls  her  "the  most  marvellous 
alchemist  of  our  time,"  for  she  has  discovered 
the  secret  of  perpetual  youth — a  neat  little 
compliment,    by   the    way,    that   is   becoming 


ELLEN  TERRY  AS  "FAIR  ROSAMOND' 


"  Nothins:  can  obscure  for  us."  writes  Max  Beerbohm,  "  her  sense  of  beauty  and  her  buo^'ant  jollity.  It 
is  tliis  latter  quality  that  explains  the  unique  hold  she  has  on  the  affections  of  the  public.  Was  ever  a 
oreature  so  sunny  as  she  ?     Did  ever  anyone  radiate  such  kindness  and  good  humor  ? " 


6o2 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


ELLEN  TERRY  AND  HER  SON,  GORDON  CRAIG, 
IN  "THE  DEAD  HEART" 

Mr.  Craig,  in  addition  to  being  an  actor,  has  made  a  Eu- 
ropean reputation  as  stage  director. 

just  a  trifle  worn  from  frequent  use  upon  vari- 
ous kinds  of  anniversary  occasions. 

These  are  but  a  few  of  the  many  tributes 
that  Ellen  Terry's  golden  jubilee  has  brought 
forth  from  all  sides.  The  Queen  of  England 
sent  her  a  jewel;  distinguished  men  and 
women  in  many  countries  telegraphed  their 
congratulations ;  and  a  "shilling  fund"  recently 
started  in  her  benefit  by  a  London  newspaper 
has  reached  very  considerable  proportions. 
At  the  conclusion  of  a  special  performance  of 
"The  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor,"  in  which 
she  participated,  Beerbohm  Tree,  the  leading 
English  actor,  recited  a  poem  written  for  the 
occasion  by  Louis  N.  Parker,  and  presented  to 
hera  silver  jewel-casket,  the  gift  of  the  Lon- 
don Playgoers'  Club. 

Of  all  the  literary  tributes  evoked  by  the 
occasion  none  is  more  interesting  than  that 
contributed  by  Bernard  Shaw  to  the  Neue 
Freie  Presse  (Vienna).  His  article  has  a 
double  timeliness,  in  view  of  the  fact  that 
Ellen  Terry  is  now  appearing  in  his  "Captain 
Brassbound's  Conversion,"  a  play  which,  ac- 
cording to  its  author,  "has  been  waiting  for 
her  for  seven  years."  He  writes,  in  the 
Austrian  paper: 


"Apart  from  her  chosen  profession,  Ellen  Terry 
is  such  a  remarkable  woman  that  it  is  very  diffi- 
cult to  describe  her  unless  one  decides  to  give  the 
history  of  her  life  instead  of  her  public  activity. 
The  role  which  she  played  in  the  life  of  her  times 
can  only  be  properly  estimated  when  (perhaps 
fifty  years  hence;  her  letters  will  be  collected 
and  published  in  twenty  or  thirty  volumes.  Then, 
I  think,  we  shall  discover  that  every  celebrated 
man  of  the  last  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century 
(that  is  if  he  had  been  a  theatregoer)  had  been  in 
love  with  Ellen  Terry,  and  that  many  of  tliese 
men  had  found  in  her  friendship  the  best  return 
which  could  be  expected  from  a  gifted,  brilliant 
and  beautiful  woman,  whose  love  had  already 
been  given  elsewhere,  and  whose  heart  had  with- 
stood thousands  of  temptations.  To  me  (for  I 
am  also  one  of  her  unsuccessful  admirers)  Ellen 
Terry's  art  is  the  least  interesting  thing  about  her. 
In  contrast  to  Irving,  to  whom  his  art  was  every- 
thing and  his  life  nothing,  she  has  found  life  it- 
self more  interesting  than  art.  And  while  she  was 
associated  with  him  in  his  long  and  brilliant  man- 
agement of  the  Lyceum  Theatre  she — the  most 
modern  of  modern  women — considered  it  a  higher 
honor  to  be  an  economic  exemplary  housewife 
than  to  be  a  self-conscious  woman  whose  highest 
aim  was  to  play  the  female  heroine  in  the  old- 
fashioned  plays  in  which  Irving  shone," 

Fortunately  there  were  among  these  old- 
fashioned  pfeys  a  handful  of  Shakespeare's 
tragedies  and  comedies.  "We  saw  Ellen 
Terry  as  Portia,  as  Juliet,  as  Imogen^,  as 
Ophelia,"  says  Mr.  Shaw,  "but  never  as  Rosa- 
lind in  'As  You  Like  It,*  which  she  would  un- 
doubtedly have  played  very  successfully,  if 
she  had  been  as  anxious  about  her  own  fame 
as  to  help  Irving."     He  continues: 

"There  have,  perhaps,  never  been  two  members 
of  the  same  profession  so  dissimilar  as  Ellen 
Terry  and  Henry  Irving.  They  both  had  wonder- 
fully beautiful  and  interesting  faces,  but  faces 
like  Irving's  the  world  has  seen  for.  centuries  in 
the  pictures  of  its  priests,  its  statesmen,  its  princes 
and  its  saints,  but  a  countenance  such  as  Ellen's 
the  world  has  never  seen  before.  She  has  ac- 
tually created  her  own  beauty,  for  her  pictures 
as  a  girl  hardly  show  a  single  feature  of  the  won- 
derful woman  who,  in  1875,  appeared  again  and 
took  London  by  storm  after  she  had  turned  her 
back  on  the  stage  for  seven  years.  That  much- 
used  word  'only'  can  be  used  literally  in  regard 
to  Ellen  Terry.  If  Shakespeare  had  met  Irving 
on  the  street  he  would  have  recognized  in  him 
immediately  a  distinguished  type  of  the  family 
of  artists;  if  he  had  met  Ellen  Terry  he  would 
have  stared  at  her  like  at  a  new  and  irresistibly 
charming  type  of  woman.  Sargent's  picture  of 
her  as  Lady  Macbeth  will  stand  out  among  all  the 
pictures  of  distinguished  women  as  one  who  bears 
no  resemblance  to  anybody  else." 

Continuing  the  comparison,  Mr.  Shaw  says 
that  Irving  was  "simple,  reserved/  and  thought- 
ful," while  Ellen  Terry  is  "qjuick,  restless, 
brilliant,  and  is  free  and  easy  'in  her  maniLer 


PERSONS  IN  THE  FOREGROUND 


603 


even    toward    the    most    bashful    stranger." 
Moreover: 

"Irving  was  not  fond  of  writing  letters.    .    .    . 
CUen  Teriy,  on  the  other  hand,  is  one  of  the 
erreatest  letter  writers  that  ever  lived.     She  can 
dash  oft  her  thoughts  at  lightning  speed  in  a 
handwriting  which  is  as  characteristic  and  unfor- 
setable  as  her  countenance.    If  one  finds  a  letter 
from  her  in  the  morning  mail  it  is  as  if  one  saw 
the  woman  herself,  and  one  opens  this  letter  first 
and  feels  that  it  is  the  beginning  of  a  happy  day. 
Her  few  published  writings  give  no  idea  of  her 
real  literary  activities.     Her  letters  are  all  too 
intimate,  too  personal,  too  characteristic  to  mean 
anything  except  to  the  one  to  whom  they  are 
addressed.    And  here  we  come  to  another  point 
in  which  she  differed  from  Irving.     Irving  was 
sentimental  and  sympathetic  and,  like  most  sen- 
txxnental  and  sympathetic  people,  he  was  always 
thinking  of  his  own  interests.     He  never  under- 
stood other  people,  aqd  really  never  understood 
himself.    Ellen  Terry  is  not  sentimental  and  not 
S3rmpathetic,   but   she  takes  a  lively   interest  in 
everybody  and  everything  that  is  remarkable  and 
attractive.    She  is  intelligent,  she  understands,  she 
is  interested  because  she  understands,  and  is  kind- 
ly di^wsed,  but  she  was  more  often  excited  than 
deeply  moved,   and  has  more  often   pitied   and 
helped   than   loved.     Although   she   was   always 
ready  to  sacrifice  her  talent  and  her  art,  first 
to  her  home-duties,  and  later,  after  her  return 
to  the  stage,  to  the  Lyceum  undertaking,  still  she 
never-  surrendered  her  inner  self.     If  she  gave 
up  her  art,  she  gave  up  with  it  only  part  of  her 
being.     Irving's  art,  on  the  other  hand,  was  his 
whole  self,  and  that  was  the  reason  why  he  sac- 
ificed  himself  to  his  art  as  he  sacrificed  everybody 
and  everything  else  to  it." 

Mr.  Shaw  goes  on  to  maintain  that  Irving 
not  only  wasted  his  own  talents  on  antiquated 
and  reactionary  drama,  but  that  he  wasted 
Ellen  Terry's  talents  also.    To  quote: 

"If  anyone  had  accused  him  of  such  a  thing  he 
would  have  called  attention  to  such  of  hi^  plays 
as  The  Lady  of  Lyons/  The  Amber  .Heart/ 
Will's  arrangement  of  'Olivia'  and  Taust,'  to  his 
Shakespeare  repertoire,  and,  finally,  to  'Madame 
Sans-Gene,'  a  bold  concession  to  the  ultra  mod- 
ern spirit,  made  really  for  Ellen  Terry's  sake.  He 
^ould  have  said :  Can  anyone  but  a  fool  say  that 
to  excel  in  such  masterpieces  was  to  waste  one's 
talents?  What  actress  could  wish  for  more? 
Was  not  Shakespeare  the  greatest  dramatist  of 
the  past,  the  present,  the  future?  Was  not 
Goethe,  although  a  foreigner,  worth  revising? 
Was  not  Tennyson  the  poet  laureate?  Ought  ob- 
scure executive  and  immoral  Norwegians  and 
Germans  like  Ibsen  and  Hauptmann,  and  their 
English  imitators  to  be  played  at  the  Lyceum  Thea- 
tre just  because  literary  cliques  discussed  them, 
and  because  Duse  and  Rejane  played  them,  and 
because  there  were  English  actresses  in  such  a 
deplorable  condition  that  they  were  forced  to  play 
these  new  questionable  heroines  like  Hedda  Uab- 
ler  and  Nora  Helmer  in  semi-private  productions 
at  the  independent  theatre  and  for  the  stage  so- 
ciety? 
"All  this  sounded  reasonable,  and  the  majority 


ELLEN  TERRY  AS  '•MISTRESS  PAGE" 

Miss  Terry's  Kolden  jubilee  was  celebrated  by  a  special 
performance  of  **The  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor/*  in 
which  Beerbohm  Tree  also  took  i>art. 

of  English  theatregoers  still  think  it  sounds  rea- 
sonable. In  other  countries,  Germany  and  Aus- 
tria, for  instance,  her  position  will  be  better  un- 
derstood. She  climbed  to  the  highest  summit  it 
was  possible  to  climb  in  the  old  drama,  succeed- 
insr  thereby  in  completely  excluding  herself  from 
the  modern  drama." 

Max  Beerbohm  takes  the  more  generally 
accepted  English  view  that  Ellen  Terry  was 
wise  in  choosing  Shakespearean  roles  and  has 
made  an  imperishable  reputation  in  them. 
Comparing  her  with  the  ultra-modern  Mrs. 
Patrick  Campbell,  he  says :  * 

"For  my  part,  I  am  not  sure  that  in  sheer  sense 
of  beauty,  and  in  power  of  creating  beautiful  ef- 
fects on  the  stage,  Miss  Terry  is  greater  than 
Mrs.  Patrick  Campbell.  I  think  it  would  be  hard 
to  decide  justly  between  these  two.  But  it  is  cer- 
tainly natural  and  inevitable  that  in  England  Miss 
Terry  should  be  held  to  be  unrivalled.  For  she  is 
so  very  essentially  English.  Or,  rather,  she  is 
just  what  we  imasrine  to  be  essentially  English. 
...  Anyhow,  I  have  no  doubt  that  to  the  Ital- 
ians, Sigrnora  Duse's  sadness  seems  t)rpically  Ital- 
ian, just  as  the  sadness  of  Mrs.  Campbell  (who  is 
partly  Italian)  seems  typically  un-English  to  the 
English,  and  just  as  Miss  Ellen  Terry's  sunniness 


6o4 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


seems  to  the  English  not  less  typically  English. 
Exotic  though  this  sunniness  really  is,  there  is  in 
the  actual  art  with  which  Miss  Terry  conveys 
it  a  quality  that  really  is  native.  Hers  is  a  loose, 
irregular,  instinctive  art,  .  .  .  and  it  is  just 
because  her  art  is  so  spontaneous,  so  irreducible 
to  formulae,  that  she  has  been  and  is  matchless  in 
Shakespeare's  comedies.  She  has  just  the  quality 
of  exuberance  that  is  right  for  those  heroines. 
Without  it  not  all  her  sense  of  beauty  would  have 
helped  her  to  be  the  perfect  Beatrice,  the  perfect 
Portia,  that  she  is.  In  modern  comedy  that  vir- 
tue becomes  a  defect  In  'Alice  Sit  by  the  Fire' 
her  beautiful  boisterousness  wrought  utter  havoc; 


and  so  it  will  in  'Captain  Brassbound'  so  soon  as 
she  is  thoroughly  at  home  in  her  part  She  needs 
a  Shakespeare  to  stand  up  to  her.'' 

Ellen  Terry  was  married,  at  the  early  age 
of  sixteen,  to  the  famous  painter,  George  Fred- 
erick Watts.  The  marriage  proved  unhappy 
and  a  separation  ensued.  In  1868  she  mar- 
ried Charles  Wardell,  an  actor  whose  stage 
name  was  Charles  Kelly.  Her  son,  Gordon 
Craig,  has  made  a  European  reputation  as  a 
stage  director. 


A  PROPHET  OF  THE  COMING  RACE 


Very  quietly,  in  the  midst  of  all  the  Gorky 
excitement,  there  came  to  America,  on  a  fly- 
ing visit,  the  unique  English  writer  who,  ac- 
cording to  Mr.  C.  F.  G.  Masterman,  is  one 
of  our  two  living  prophets,  George  Bernard 
Shaw  being  the  other.  And  no  less  a  critic 
than  G.  K.  Chesterton  couples  the  same  two 
Britishers  as  geniuses  who  have  shown  that 
the  very  best  plays  and  romances  produced  in 
England  to-day  are  not  "art  for  art's  sake," 
but  "by-products  of  propaganda." 

H.  G.  Wells,  says  Mr.  Masterman,  has  en- 
tered the  profession  of  prophecy,  like  the 
shepherd  of  Tekoa,  by  unorthodox  ways. 
Like  Bernard  Shaw,  "he  follows  the  New  Tes- 
tament in  preferring  the  wicked  to  the  mean" ; 
but,  unlike  Shaw,  he  has  a  beautiful  faith  in 
youth.  Always  he  appeals  to  the  young  men 
and  women  to  enrol  in  the  crusade  for  the 
New  Republic.  He  "ransacks  the  springs  of 
action,  to  drive  down  into  fundamental  things, 
to  examine  how,  if  at  all,  it  is  possible  by 
breeding,  by  education,  by  social  reconstruc- 
tion, to  hasten  the  arrival  of  the  Coming 
Race."  Moreover,  Mr.  Wells  is  that  most  re- 
markable of  all  things — a  prophet  who  has 
not  stopped  growing.  "One  can  lie  awake  at 
night  and  hear  him  grow,"  says  the  delighted 
Mr.  Chesterton. 

This  powerful  and  truly  imaginative  writer 
is  physically  rather  frail,  and  only  forty  years 
old.  He  is  the  least  insular  of  Englishmen, 
indeed  quite  world-wide  in  his  interests  and 
sympathies;  but  he  still  resides  in  Kent,  the 
county  of  his  birth.  On  his  card  is  printed 
"Spade  House,  Sandgate."  His  father  was  a 
professional  cricketer,  and  when  a  lad  H.  G. 
Wells  was  apprenticed  to  a  shop-keeper;  but 
his  studies  and  ambition  soon  led  him  to  the 


Royal  College  of  Science,  London,  where  he 
proved  a  brilliant  pupil,  winning  later  the  de- 
gree of  bachelor  of  science  at  the  University 
of  London,  with  special  honors  in  zoology  and 
geology.  All  this  time  he  was  learning  how 
to  write.  "I  am  convinced,"  he  is  reported 
as  saying,  "that  a  scientific  education  is  the 
best  possible  training  for  literary  work.  Crit- 
icism is  the  essence  of  science,  and  the  critical 
habit  of  mind  is  essential  to  artistic  perform- 
ance. If  I  have  a  critical  faculty,  it  was  de- 
veloped the  year  I  had  comparative  anatomy. 
As  Huxley  taught  it,  comparative  anatomy 
was  really  elaborate  criticism  of  form,  and  lit- 
erary criticism  is  little  more." 

Ill-health  obliged  Wells  to  give  up  the  teach- 
ing of  biology  and  turn  to  literature  as  a  pro- 
fession. Beginning  with  the  brief  essay  and 
short  story,  he  developed  that  fascinating  form 
of  fiction  the  "scientific  romance,"  in  such 
storied  as  "The  Time  Machine"  and  "The  War 
of  the  Worlds,"  which  made  him  famous  as-  a 
writer.  The  remarkably  long  list  of  his  pub- 
lished works  includes  no  less  than  eight  o^ 
these  romances,  four  volumes  of  short  stories, 
two  novels  and  the  very  important  sociologi- 
cal essays  entitled  "Anticipations,"  "Mankind 
in  the  Making"  and  "A  Modem  Utopia," 
which  last,  he  informs  us,  brought  him  back 
to  imaginative  writing  again — ^to  "Kipps"  and 
"In  the  Days  of  the  Comet,"  now  running  se- 
rially in  The  Cosmopolitan  Magazine.  "He 
began,"  says  G.  K.  Chesterton,  "by  trifling 
with  the  stars  and  systems  in  order  to  make 
ephemeral  anecdotes;  he  killed  the  universe 
for  a  joke.  He  has.  since  become  more  and 
more  serious,  and  has  become,  as  men  in- 
evitably do  when  they  become  more  and  more 
serious,  more  and  more  parochial.     He  was 


PERSONS  IN  THJS  POkJSGkOUND 


605 


frivolous  about  the  twilight  of  the  gods;  but 
he  is  serious  about  the  London  omnibus.  He 
was  careless  in  The  Time  Machine/  for  that* 
dealt  only  with  the  destiny  of  all  things;  but 
he  is  careful  and  even  cautious  in  "Mankind 
in  the  Making,"  for  that  deals  with  the  day 
after  to-morrow.  He  began  with  the  end  of 
the  world,  and  that  was  easy.  Now  he  has 
gone  on  to  the  beginning  of  the  world,  and 
that  fe  difficult." 

Like  Shaw  again,  Mr.  Wells  is  a  member 
of  the  London  Fabian  Society,  as  is  also  his 
wife,  and  he  is  more  of  a  simon-pure  Socialist 
than  the  average  member,  lately  censuring  the 
society,  in  a  paper  entitled  "The  Faults  of  the 
Fabian,"  for  neglecting  its  main  work  of 
propaganda  for  mere  administrative  reform. 
"Efficiency"  in  trifling  matters  does  not  satisfy 
him.  His  books  are  full  of  practical  sugges- 
tions as  to  ways  and  means  of  social  reorgan- 
ization, but  through  them  all,  as  Mr.  Master- 
man  says,  Wells  is  appealing  to  the  spirit 
which  must  animate  these  material  changes. 
"With  Carlyle  and  all  the  school  of  the 
prophets,  he  demands  a  new  heart;  in  the  old 
theological  language,  a  mind  set  on  righteous- 
ness, a  will  directed  toward  harmony  with 
the  will  of  God.  He  appeals  to  the  young. 
What  man  over  thirty — so  rings  his  challenge 
— dares  hope  for  the  Republic  before  he  die? 
or  for  an  infantile  death-rate  under  ninety  in 
the  thousand,  with  all  the  conquered  desola- 
tion that  such  a  change  would  mean?  or  'for 
the  deliverance  of  all  our  blood  and  speech 
from  those  fouler  things  than  chattel  slavery, 
child  and  adolescent  labor  ?* " 

In  "Mankind  in  the  Making,"  Wells  prcr 
sents  the  unforgettable  picture  of  "all  our 
statesmen,  our  philanthropists  and  public  men, 
our  parties  and  institutions  gathered  into  one 
great  hall,  and  into  this  hall  a  huge  spout, 
that  no  man  can  stop,  discharges  a  baby  every 
eight  seconds."  "Our  success  or  failure  with 
that  unending  stream  of  babies  is  the  measure 
of  our  civilization,"  he  maintains.  And  start- 
ing with  this  simple  declaration,  he  proceeds 
to  diagnose  our  present  civilization  and  fore- 
cast a  future  with  all  the  fervor  of  a  Hebrew 
prophet. 

But  H.  G.  Wells  is  no  "crank."  As  Mr.  E. 
H.  Clement,  in  the  Boston  Transcript,  ob- 
serves: "You  feel  that  he  is  joining  in  the 
common  laughter  at  cranks — jollying  them  at 
the  very  moment  that  he  is  far  surpassing 
them  in  optimistic  imaginings  and  aspirations 
for  the  race — for  nothing  less  wide  than  the 
human  race  holds  his  interest."    "I  believe  it 


A  CHIEL  AMANG  US  TAKIN*  NOTES 

Of  Mr.  H.  G.  Wells,  who  has  been  unostentatiously 
visiting  our  country,  a  critic  says,  "  One  can  lie  awake 
at  night  and  hear  him  grow." 

is  generally  admitted  that  he  has  provided 
England  with  a  good  deal  to  talk  about,"  says 
Sir  Oliver  Lodge. 

Mr.  Wells  was  in  America  for  six  weeks 
only,  to  study  certain  social  phenomena,  and 
he  was  the  guest  of  honor  wherever  he  went. 

"It  is  not  difficult,"  he  has  said,  "to  collect 
reasons  for  supposing  that  humanity  will  be 
definitely  and  consciously  organizing  itself  as 
a  great  world-state — a  great  world-state  that 
will  purge  itself  from  much  that  is  mean, 
much  that  is  bestial,  and  much  that  makes 
for  individual  dulness  and  dreariness,  gray- 
ness  and  wretchedness  in  the  world  of  to- 
day. And  finally  there  is  the  reasonable  cer- 
tainty that  .  .  .  this  earth  of  ours,  tide- 
less  and  slow-moving,  will  be  dead  and 
frozen,  and  all  that  has  lived  upon  it  will  be 
frozen  out  and  done  with.  There  surely  man 
must  end.  That,  of  all  such  nightmares,  is 
the  most  insistently  convincing.  And  yet  one 
doesn't  believe  it.  At  least  I  do  not.  And  I 
do  not  believe  in  these  things  because  I  have 
come  to  believe  in  certain  other  things — in 
the  coherency  and  purpose  in  the  world  and  in 
the  greatness  of  human  destiny.  Worlds  may 
freeze  and  suns  may  perish,  but  there  stirs 
something  within  us  now  that  can  never  die 
again." 


6o6 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


•THE  MOST  PERFECT  RULER  OF  MEN  THE  WORLD  HAS 

EVER  SEEN" 


The  words  above  were  uttered  at  the  bedside 
of  Abraham  Lincoln  by  his  Secretary  of  War, 
Edwin  M.  Stanton.  They  form  the  keynote  of 
a  new  life  of  Lincoln  written  for  the  express 
purpose  of  bringing  out  this  element  of  Lin- 
coln's greatness — his  wonderful  mastery  of 
men.  It  was  a  mastery  that  displayed  itself 
in  all  its  power  upon  such  subjects  as  Doug- 
las, McClellan,  Stanton,  Seward,  Fremont  and 
Chase,  and  in  concentrating  our  attention  upon 
this  element  in  the  Lincoln  personality,  an  ele- 
ment rendered  increasingly  significant  as  year 
succeeds  year,  we  have,  contends  Mr.  Alonzo 
Rothschild,  in  his  biography,*  the  dominant  fact 
df  Lincoln's  career.  Yet  the  greatest  of  all 
the  men  upon  whom  this  mastery  was  exercised 
— Abraham  Lincoln  himself — received  no  ade- 
quate credit  for  any  such  capacity  from  the 
multitude  who  yielded  to  it.  They  thought,  so 
far  as  they  thought  of  it  at  all,  that  Lincoln 
was  weak.  Time  never  wholly  eradicated  that 
notion  at  any  stage  of  his  administration, 
though  the  more  discerning  few  realized  the 
truth,  and  some  even  tried  to  account  for  it. 

This  man  of  the  people,  writes  Mr.  Roths- 
child, owed  something  of  that  subtle,  indefi- 
nable force  which  issued  in  mastery  over  his 
fellow  man  to  mere  physique.  And  we  are 
afforded  this  comparison  between  the  tall  Sum- 
ner and  the  tall  Lincoln : 

"Sumner,  whether  he  gave  to  the  world  an 
•oration  with  carefully  studied  pose  and  gesture, 
or  privately  employed  his  powers  of  persuasion 
in  furthering  one  of  the  lofty  aims  of  his  career, 
was  ever  conscious  of  the  advantage  that  lay  in 
his  commanding  figure  and  he  improved  it  to 
the  utmost.  Lmcoln,  rarely,  if  ever,  self-con- 
scious, made  no  such  apphcation  of  his  strength 
and  stature;  but  the  exhibitions  of  them  that  he 
scattered  through  his  life  abundantly  manifest 
his  half-serious,  half-joking  sense  of  their  im- 
portance. This  appreciation  of  a  superiority, 
purely  physical,  by  leaders  so  unlike  in  tempera- 
ment and  training,  is  sufficient  to  warrant  the 
attention  that  has  been  given  to  a  seemingly  un- 
essential matter.  Moreover,  it  is  no  mere  co- 
incidence that  the  three  most  forceful  person- 
alities that  have  directed  the  fortunes  of  the 
American  people  from  the  President's  chair  were 
embodied  in  frames  of  uncommon  size  and  vigor. 
Their  habits  of  command,  confirmed  early  in 
life  by  ability  to  enforce  their  wishes,  armed  them 
with  the  irresistible  powers  of  control  by  means 
of  which  they  triumphed  in  great  crises  of  our 
nation's  history.     The  heaviest  demands  of  this 

♦Lincoln  :  Master  of  Men.  A  Study  in  Character. 
By  Alonzo  Rothschild.  Houghton,  Mifflin  and  Com- 
pany. 


nature  were,  beyond  a  question,  laid  upon  Abra- 
ham Lincoln,  and  he,  consistently  enough,  was, 
of  all  the  Presidents,  the  tallest.'^ 

Lincoln's  mastery  of  self  became,  with  the 
progress  of  time,  well-nigh  absolute.  It  need- 
ed to  be  wholly  so,  suspects  our  biographer, 
to  carry  President  Lincoln  through  the  ofdeal 
of  his  cross-purposes  with  McClellan.  This 
"smart  young  general,"  as  Mr.  Rothschild 
terms  him,  had  been  at  no  pains  to  conceal  an 
overweening  contempt  for  Lincoln  and  his 
civilian  advisers.  It  required  all  the  forbear- 
ance of  the  executive  head  of  the  United 
States  Government  to  prevent  an  explosion 
of  indignation  throughout  the  whole  adminis- 
tration circle  at  the  attitude  of  cavalier  dis- 
dain manifested  by  McClellan.  Here  are  some 
instances : 

"Mr.  Lincoln  had  made  it  a  practice,  from  the 
beginning,  to  pay  informal  visits  at  McQellan's 
headquarters.  Waiving,  with  characteristic  self- 
surrender,  all  questions  of  etiquette,  he  hoped 
thus  to  keep  in  touch  with  military  affairs  at  the 
least  possible  expenditure  of  the  General's  time. 
Before  breakfast,  or  after  supper,  as  the  case 
might  be,  the  President  would  arrive  with  some 
such  greeting  as  *Is  George  in?'  And  it  became 
a  matter  of  comment  that,  if  George  was  in,  he 
did  not  always  receive  his  distineuished  caller 
promptly.  Seemingly  unconscious  of  any  dis- 
courtesy, Mr.  Lincoln  waited  with  unrufHed  good 
humor  in  McClellan's  reception  roorn^  among 
the  'other  common  mortals,'  as  one  mdignant 
chronicler  expressed  it,  until  the  oracle  was 
pleased  to  have  him  admitted. 

"More  vehement  still  must  have  been  the  rage 
of  a  White  House  clerk,  who  tells  us  how  he  ac- 
companied his  chief,  one  evening,  to  the  head- 
quarters in  H  Street.  *We  are  seated,*  he  writes, 
'and  the  President's  arrival  has  been  duly  an- 
nounced, but  time  is  being  given  him  to  think 
over  what  he  came  for.  General  McClellan  is 
probably  very  busy  over  some  important  detail  of 
his  vast  duties,  and  he  cannot  tear  himself  away 
from  it  at  once.  A  minute  passes  and  then  an- 
other and  then  another  and  with  every  tick  of  the 
clock  upon  the  mantel  your  blood  warms  nearer 
and  nearer  its  boiling  point.  Your  face  feels  hot 
and  your  fingers  tingle  as  you  look  at  the  man  sit- 
.  ting  so  patiently  over  there  whom  you  regard  as 
the  Titan  and  hero  of  the  hour;  and  you  try  to 
master  your  rebellious  consciousness  that  he  is 
kept  waiting,  like  an  applicant  in  an  ante-room.' 

"On  another  occasion,  Secretarv  Seward  had 
the  honor  of  sharing  a  snub  with  the  President. 
Calling  together  at  headquarters,  one  evening, 
they  were  told  that  the  General  was  out  but  would 
soon  return.  After  they  had  waited  in  the  re- 
ception room  almost  an  hour,  McClellan  came 
back.  Disregarding  the  orderly  who  had  told 
him  about  his  visitors,  he  went  directly  up-stairs. 
Whereupon    Mr.   Lincoln,   thinking  that   perhaps 


PERSONS  IN  THE  FOREGROUND 


607 


he  had  not  l^een  announced,  sent  up  his  name; 
but  the  messenger  returned  with  the  informa- 
tion that  the  General  had  gone  to.  bed. 

"It  is  doubtful  whether  the  President  ever  re- 
quired or  received  an  explanation  of  this  gross 
misbehavior.  There  was  no  appreciable  change 
in  his  friendly  attitude  toward  McClellan." 

These  were  a  few  of  the  many  occasions 
upon  which  Lincoln  effaced  himself.  His  self- 
ma^ery  had  extinguished  personal  vanity — so 
far  as  personal  vanity  means  the  sense  of  self- 
importance — within  him.  Otherwise  he  never 
could  have  asserted  a  mastery  over  Seward. 
Seward  thought  himself  (and  the  country 
thought  him)  the  power  behind  the  throne. 
That  view  lingered  long  after  Lincoln's  first 
inauguration.  Seward  at  first  entirely  mis- 
conceived the  President's  character.  The 
homely  simplicity  with  which  Lincoln  had 
borne  himself  when  visited  at  "his  secluded 
abode"  before  his  inauguration,  the  candor 
with  which  he  acknowledged  his  deficiencies 
and  the  meekness  with  which  he  listened  to 
innumerable  advisers,  bidden  or  otherwise, 
left  most  of  the  politicians  firm  in  the  opinion 
that  the  conduct  of  the  administration  would 
be  in  the  hands  of  Lincoln's  strongest  secre- 
tary. This  widespread  notion  of  the  Presi- 
dent's weakness  was  a  favorite  one  with  Sew- 
ard, who  at  the  same  time  concurred  in  the 
general  estimate  of  his  own  superiority.  And 
Mr.  Rothschild  adds:    ' 

"In  the  whirl  of  events,  the  Secretary's  daz- 
zled vision  mistook  the  President's  lack  of  knowl- 
edge for  incapacity;  his  indecision  for  executive 
incompetence;  his  modesty  for  weakness.  The 
Ship  of  State  seemed  to  be  drifting  on  to  the 
rocks  and  a  stronger  hand— so  thought  Mr.  Sew- 
ard—was  needed,  forthwith,  at  the  helm.  He 
had  embarked  in  the  administration  with  the  ex- 
pectation of  directing  its  course.  The  notion  had 
apparently  been  confirmed  not  only  by  public 
opinion  but  also  by  the  deference  with  which  the 
President  treated  him." 

So  Mr.  Seward  wrote  to  Mr.  Lincoln  to  the 
effect  (as  our  biographer  summarizes  the  docu- 
ments in  the  case)  that  the  new  President  was 
unequal  to  his  duties  and  should  turn  over  the 
most  important  of  them  to  a  sort  of  dictator. 
It  was  a  communication,  opines  Mr.  Roths- 
child, which  could  have  been  addressed  by 
Seward  only  to  a  President  whom  he  believed 
to  be  totally  lacking  in  strength  of  character. 
His  error  was  corrected  without  delay.  The 
President,  with  his  customary  disregard  of 
self,  ignored  the  insult,  and  as  to  the  exercise 
of  absolute  authority  remarked:  'If  this  must 
be  done,  I  must  do  it."  Thus  ended  Mr,  Sew- 
ard's dream  of  domination: 

/ 
/ 


"All  his  romantic  notions  of  saving  the  country 
through  his  own  capacity,  so  freely  expressed  in 
confidential  letters  to  his  wife,  had  to  be  revised, 
and  we  find  him  presently  writing  to  her :  'Execu- 
tive skill  and  vigor  are  rare  qualities.  The  Presi- 
dent is  the  best  of  us.'  In  the  public  eye,  how- 
ever, the  Secretary  still  held  sway.    .    .    . 

"No  one,  it  is  safe  to  say,  appreciated  the  Sec- 
retary at  his  true  value  so  accurately  as  the  Presi- 
dent. In  his  admiration  of  Mr.  Seward,  he 
overlooked  the  mistakes,  supplemented  the  im- 
portant labors,  on  occasion,  with  necessary  touches 
of  his  own  shrewd  common  sense,  and  kept  the 
brilliant  talents  employed  for  the  best  interests  of 
*the  country.    .    .    . 

"Small  wonder  that  the  respect  which  the  Sec- 
retary had  early  learned  to  show  his  chief  became 
mingled  with  a  warmth  of  personal  devotion  that 
has  not,  in  similar  relations  of  our  history,  been 
surpassed.  Renouncing  his  own  aspirations,  Mr. 
Seward  dedicated  himself  without  reserve,  to  the 
President's  political  fortunes,  as  well  as  to  the 
success  of  his  administration,  so  far  as  it  might 
be  achieved  by  the  State  Department." 

Lincoln  held  his  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
Salmon  P.  Chase,  by  a  free  rein,  writes  Mr. 
Rothschild.  But  there  were  times  when  Chase 
got  out  of  hand.  Then  the  lines  stiffened  and 
one  masterful  twist  of  the  wrist  brought  the 
Secretary  back  to  his  work.  Like  Seward, 
Chase  was  made  to  feel  the  power  that  lurked 
in  Lincoln's  slack  hand.  Unlike  Seward,  Chase 
never  became  reconciled  to  the  sway.  From 
the  very  outset,  the  man  at  the  head  of  the 
Treasury  chafed  under  whatiever  limitations 
were  placed  upon  his  authority.  It  was  in 
vain.  Chase,  says  Mr.  Rothschild,  never  en- 
tirely forgave  Lincoln  the  latter's  victory  at 
the  Chicago  convention  that  nominated  the 
candidate  for  the  presidency  of  their  mutual 
party.  That  a  man  so  markedly  his  inferior 
in  education  and  public  achievements  should 
have  been  preferred  to  himself  was  as  griev- 
ous to  the  Ohio  statesman's  self-love  as  it 
was  irritating  to  his  sense  of  equity.  That 
this  man,  moreover,  when  he  came  to  the 
presidency  should  persist  in  actually  funning 
the  administration  while  his  brilliant  Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasury — ^so  willing  at  every  turn 
to  relieve  him  of  the  burden — ^remained  merely 
head  of  a  department,  hardly  allayed  the 
statesman's  resentment.  The  prejudice  en- 
gendered in  the  defeated  candidate  took  deeper 
root  in  the  disappointed  Cabinet  minister.  Mr. 
Chase's  failures,  withal,  to  sway  the  Presi- 
dent in  many  important  matters  filled  him  with 
amazement.  The  character,  or  fancied  char- 
acter, of  the  chief  who  overruled  him  made 
his  cup  of  subordination  doubly  bitter.  The 
masterful  Chase  had  met  his  master,  says  Mr. 
Rothschild,  yet  he  could  not  bnng  himself  to 


6o8 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


the  point  of  admitting  it.    The  men  were  not 
in  sympathy. 

"One  rarely  finds  two  public  men  working  to- 
gether so  earnestly  for  the  triumph  of  the  same 
principles  who  are,  at  once,  so  essentially  dis- 
similar in  social  attributes  as  they  happened  to 
be.  Lincoln's  ways — unconventional  in  the  ex- 
treme--|Tated  upon  the  sensibilities  of  the  dig- 
nified Chase.  To  the  Secretary's  fondness  for 
forms,  pride  of  intellect,  distaste  for  humor,  and 


serious,  almost  ascetic  devotion  to  hi{  tasks,  must 
be  ascribed,  in  a  degree  at  least,  the  absence  of 
cordiality  between  him  and  a  President  who  made 
no  secret  of  his  ignorance,  troubled  himself  not 
a  whit  about  precedents  and  was  reminded,  on  all 
conceivable  occasions,  of  stories  hardlv  con- 
structed according  to  classic  models.  Not  the 
least  of  Lincoln's  offenses  against  the  Chester- 
field of  his  Cabinet  was  the  ill-concealed  amuse- 
ment with  which  he  regarded  that  gentleman's 
displeasure  at  his  levity.  The  President's  bump 
of  reverence  appears  to  have  been  so  exceeding-ly 
flat  that  the  frowns  of  an  important  personag^e, 
however  great,  failed  to  abash  him.  Mr.  Chase 
once  told  with  evident  disgust,  how  an  old-time 
crony  of  Lincoln  in  the  Thirtieth  Congress  was 
permitted  to  interrupt  a  meeting  of  the  Cabinet. 
That  body  was  in  session  one  day  when  the  door- 
keeper announced  that  Orlando  Kellogg  was  with- 
out and  wished  to  tell  the  President  the  story 
of  the  stuttering  justice.  Mr.  Lincoln  ordered 
the  visitor  to  be  ushered  in  immediately.  Greet- 
ing Kellogg  at  the  threshold  with  a  warm  grasp 
of  the  hand,  the  President  said,  as  he  turned  to 
his  Cabinet: 

"'Gentlemen,  this  is  my  old  friend,  Orlando 
Kellogg,  and  he  wants  to  tell  us  the  story  of  the 
stuttering  justice.  Let  us  lay  all  business  aside, 
for  it  is  a  good  story.' 


READING  THE  EMANCIPATION  PROCLAMATION 

Of  Chapin'8  Lincoln,  the  New  York  Evening  Post 
declares  :  ''  Those  who  most  deeply  venerate  the  memory 
of  Lincoln  would  find  nothing  to  wound  them  in  this 
respectful  attempt  at  his  re-embodiment. 


'YOU  GAVE    US  THIRTEEN  STARS 


Lincoln  a  stranger  to  his  biographers.  Benjamin 
Chapin  here  interprets  the  Lincoln  of  whom  it  has  been 
said  that  no  man  hid  more  innate  solemnity  with  more 
outward  comicality. 

BENJAMIN  CHAPIN'S  IMPBRSONATIONS 


PERSONS  m  THE  FOREGROUND 


609 


"So  statesmeti  as  well  as  afiFairs  of  state  waited 
while  the  humorous  Kellogg  spun  his  yarn  and 
Lincoln  had  his  laugh. 

"In  strong  contrast  to  the  distant  relations  be- 
tween Lincoln  and  Chase  was  the  cordial  good 
fellowship  which  the  President  evinced  toward 
Seward.  The  Secretary  of  State  appears  to  have 
been  especially  congenial  to  his  chief.  For  Mr. 
Lincoln,  of  all  men,  cot^d  appreciate  a  cabinet 
minister  who,  whatever  may  have  been  his  fail- 
ings, submitted  loyally,  in  the  main,  to  superior 
authority,  fomented  no  quarrels  and  adapted  a 
cheery,  resourceful  disposition,  with  rare  felicity, 
to  the  President's  moods.  Seward's  influence 
with  Lincoln  was  notably  creater  than  that  of 
Chase — greater,  in  fact,  than  that  of  any  of  his 
colleagues;  but  not  nearly  so  great,  be  it  said,  as 
was  at  the  time  generally  believed.  Great  or 
small,  however,  the  prestige  thus  enjoyed  by  the 
Secretary  of  State  became  particularly  galling 
to  the  man  in  the  Treasury." 

Edwin  McMasters  Stanton  was  the  third 
member  of  what  Mr.  Rothschild  pronounces 
Lincoln's  great  Cabinet  triad.  It  would  be 
difficult  to  convey  an  adequate  idea  of  the 
boundless  contempt  for  Lincoln  with  which 
Stanton  fairly  ached  in  1861.  According  to  at 
least  two  chroniclers,  he  alluded  to  the  Presi- 
dent as  "a  low,  cunning  clown."     According 


to  another  he  referred  to  Mr.  Lincoln  as  the 
"original  gorilla,"  and  ''often  said  that  Du 
Chaillu  was  a  fool  to  wander  all  the  way  to 
Africa  in  search  of  what  he  could  so  easily 
have  found  at  Springfield,  111."  No  one  who 
knew  Stanton  courted  an  encounter  with  him. 
Only  a  master  of  masters,  says  Mr.  Rothschild, 
could  control  such  an  embodiment  of  force. 


SLEEPLESS  BENEATH  A  LOAD  OF  CARE 

Lincoln's  gauntness  in  his  closinfi"  year  of  life— a 
gauntness  made  effective  in  Benjamin  Chapin's  imperson- 
ation— ^is  attributed  in  part  to  his  lack  of  opportunities 
to  get  to  bed. 

OP  ABRAHAM  LINCOI.N  IN  WAR  TIM9 


TALLEST  OP  ALL  THE  PRESIDENTS 

There  is  an  appropriateness  between  Lincoln's  physi- 
cal size  and  his  mastery  of  men,  says  his  latest  biogra- 
pher, Alfred  Rothschild.  Benjamin  Chapin's  success  as 
**  Lincoln  "  is  attributed  in  part  to  the  actor's  height. 


6io 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


At  the  time  of  his  appointment  as  Secretary 
of  War  Stanton  had  manifested  most,  if  not 
all,  of  his  extraordinarily  vitriolic  traits.  They 
boded  no  good  for  the  Cabinet  nor  for  the 
President's  authority.  So  thought  the  friends 
who  warned  Mr.  Lincoln  that  nothing  could 
be  done  with  such  a  man  unless  he  were 
allowed  to  have  his  own  way.  They  appeared 
to  have  abundant  ground,  moreover,  for  their 
comforting  prediction  that  "Stanton  would 
run  away  with  the  whole  concern."  Strangely 
enough,  the  President  showed  no  alarm: 

"The  ability  and  self-sacrificing  patriotism 
with  which  the  appointee  administered,  from  the 
outset,  the  aflFairs  of  his  office,  secured  to  him 
the  President's  unreserved  confidence.  *I  have 
faith,'  said  Mr.  Lincoln,  speaking  of  the  new  min- 
ister and  another,  'in  affirmative  men  like  these. 
They  stand  between  a  nation  and  perdition.'  He 
not  only  permitted  Mr.  Stanton  largely  to  con- 
trol the  details  of  the  War  Department,  but  in 
matters  of  general  policy  ^^  ^^^^  ^^  frequently 
deferred  to  that  officer's  judgment.  Men  of  such 
dissimilar  temperaments,  however,  working  to- 
gether toward  a  common  end  in  wholly  unlike 
ways,  naturally  had  frequent  differences  of  opin- 
ion. Their  very  earnestness  bred  trouble.  Mr. 
Stanton,  moreover,  conducting  his  department 
solely  with  regard  to  military  requirements, 
could  not  fail  to  clash  with  a.  President  who  had 
to  face  the  complex  problems  of  a  Civil  War  in 
their  political  as  well  as  their  strategic  aspects. 
But  Mr.  Lincoln  fathomed  the  man  with  whom 
he  had  to  deal.  When  a  misunderstanding  arose 
he  ignored  the  Secretary's  flashes  of  temper  and 
fixed  his  attention  on  the  question  at  issue.  In- 
deed, the  President  exercised  tact  enough  for 
both  of  them." 

The  irritability  to  which  Stanton  was  ad- 
dicted contrasted  strongly  with  a  playfulness 
always  characteristic  of  Lincoln  in  his  man- 
agement of  the  ebullient  Secretary  of  War. 
Up  to  his  eyes  in  affairs,  much  in  love  with 
the  authority  of  his  official  position,  Stanton 
would  say  to  those  who  interrupted  him  with 
written  orders  from  the  President :  "I  will  not 
do  it.  Go  right  back  to  the  President  and  say 
I  refuse  to  obey !"  The  geniality  with  which 
Lincoln  tolerated  his  insubordinate  subordi- 
nate did  not  affect  the  inflexibility  of  the  pres- 
idential will.  Mr.  Lincoln  would  deferentially 
insinuate  that  the  authority  of  the  President 
of  the  United  States  was  a  fact.  Nor  did 
Stanton  succeed  in  ignoring  the  fact.  Ob- 
stinate as  Stanton  was,  the  fact  was  more  so. 
A  mind  less  conscious  of  its  mastery  than 
Lincoln's  might  have  inflicted  upon  Stanton  a 
personal  humiliation  in  overruling  him.  Not 
once,  however,  did  Lincoln  oflFend  the  spirit 
he  subdued. 

Stanton's  distrust,   even  contempt,   of  Lin- 


coln in  1861  had  given  way  by  1865,  says  Mr. 
Rothschild,  to  entirely  different  sentiments. 
Like  his  associates  in  the  Cabinet,  with  pos- 
sibly one  exception,  the  Secretary  of  War  had 
correctly  gaged  the  President's  intellectual 
and  moral  force.  That  this  force,  when  ex- 
erted to  the  full,  was  well-nigh  irresistible  he 
had  painfully  learned  by  repeated  but  unsuc- 
cessful strivings  to  get  his  own  way.  No  one 
had  ever  so  worsted  Edwin  M.  Stanton.  He 
was  outclassed.  With  his  increasing  respect 
for  Mr.  Lincoln's  power  came,  naturally 
enough,  something  like  a  fair  appreciation  of 
the  President's  lofty  character.  Such  mag- 
nanimity, devotion  to  duty  and  homely  sincer- 
ity could  have  but  one  effect  upon  a  man  of 
Stanton's  intense  nature.  He  began  with  re- 
viling Lincoln.  He  ended  with  loving  him. 
Stanton,  the  lion-hearted  Secretary  of  War, 
could  achieve  this  moral  thing.  Nevertheless, 
Stanton  needed  a  sharp  word  now  and  then. 
But  Stanton  got  to  know  that  Lincoln  was  a 
master  of  men: 

"Secretary  Stanton's  temperament  rendered 
him  anything  but  an  easy  instrument  in  any 
man's  hand.  His  very  faults  partook  of  the  rug- 
ged strength  which,  viewed  at  this  distance, 
makes  him  stand  out  as  'the  Titan  of  Lincoln's 
Cabinet.  That  the  President  controlled  so  tur- 
bulent a  force  without  sacrificing  aught  of  its 
energy  was,  perhaps,  his  highest  achievement  in 
the  neld  of  mastership.  This  was  due,  primarily, 
of  course,  to  his  insight  into  Stanton's  character. 
Few  men,  if  any,  had  fathomed  as  truly  the  sterl- 
ing qualities  that  lay  beneath  the  failings  of  the 
great  Secretary.  For  the  real  Stanton  revealed 
himself  to  the  President  in  the  daily — at  times 
hourly — ^meetings  imposed  upon  them  by  the  re- 
quirements of  the  war.  Together  they  bore  the 
anxieties  and  shared  the  joys  of  the  struggle. 
Their  co-operation  in  the  absorbing  work  to 
which  both  had  dedicated  themselves  established 
between  the  men,  dissimiliar  as  they  were  by  na- 
ture, a  bond  of  sympathy  which  even  Stanton's 
headiness  could  not  destroy.  Indeed,  Mr.  Lin- 
coln, treating  the  Secretary  somewhat  as  a  par- 
ent would  a  talented  but  hi^h-strung  child — ^now 
humoring,  now  commanding — appears  to  have 
risen  above  even  a  shadow  of  personal  resentment 
and  to  have  overlooked  an  occasional  opposition 
that,  however  violent  might  have  been  its  out- 
bursts, always  yielded  in  the  end  to  his  au- 
thority.   .    .    . 

"A  notable  group  watched  around  the  bed  on 
which  he  [Lincoln]  breathed  his  last.  Among  all 
the  public  men  in  the  sorrowing  company,  no  grief 
was  keener  than  that  of  his  iron  war  minister. 
None  of  them  had  tested,  as  Edwin  M.  Stanton 
had,  the  extraordinary  resources  of  the  stricken 
chief.  It  was  fitting,  therefore,  that  he,  as  'passed 
the  strong,  heroic  soul  away,'  should  pronounce 
its  eulogy: 

"  There  lies  the  most  perfect  ruler  of  men  the 
world  has  ever  seen.' " 


Literature  and  Art 


THE  BANE  OF  IRRESPONSIBLE  CRITICISM 


From  three  countries  have  lately  issued  vig- 
orous protests  against  the  alleged  incompe- 
tent and  irresponsible  literary  criticism  of  the 
day.  Marcel  Prevost,  the  well-known  Pari- 
sian critic,  sees  a  "book  crisis"  impending  in 
France  and  thinks  that  one  of  the  chief  rea- 
sons for  the  failing  condition  of  the  book 
trade  lies  in  unsatisfactory  book  reviewing. 
Writing  in  the  Paris  Figaro,  he  says:  "We 
shall  have  to  establish  something  like  honest 
criticism,  and  something  like  intelligent  and 
independent  criticism;  but  how  many  Paris 
newspapers  can  to-day  boast  of  intelligent  and 
independent  criticism?"  Richard  Bagot,  an 
English  novelist  of  distinction,  writes  in  the 
same,  spirit  in  The  Nineteenth  Century  and 
After.  He  thinks  "there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
the  present  system  of  reviewing  works  of  fic- 
tion is  far  from  being  satisfactory  cither  to 
novelists  or  to  the  general  mass  of  novel  read- 
ers." He  points  to  the  often  ridiculously  con- 
tradictory nature  of  press  notices,  and  cites 
from  his  own  experience  a  case  in  which  a 
journal,  in  error,  printed  in  different  issues 
both  a  highly  flattering  and  a  very  adverse  re- 
view of  one  of  his  own  books !  The  perplexed 
novelist  constantly  "reads  in  one  leading  or- 
gan that  he  has  written  a  work  which  places 
him  *in  the  front  rank  of  living  writers  of  fic- 
tion,' and  in  another  that  he  is  ignorant  of  the 
very  rudiments  of  the  art  of  novel-writing." 
Mr.  Bagot  says  further: 

"In  the  case  of  every  other  branch  of  literature 
and  art,  criticism  is,  with  rare  exceptions,  entrust- 
ed to  critics  who  are  recognized  authorities  on  the 
particular  subject  dealt  with  by  the  producer  of 
the  work  criticized.  Works  of  fiction  alone  are 
in  countless  instances  relegated  to  the  superficial 
and  hasty  judgment  of  reviewers  who,  as  often 
as  not,  lack  that  authority  which  should  render 
them  competent  to  record  their  opinion  in  the 
public  press.  A  novel  dealiiuj,  we  will  say  with 
foreign  life  is  reviewed  perh  'ps  by  a  critic  who 
has  no  knowledge  of  the  people  and  of  the  coun- 
try in  which  the  scene  of  the  book  in  question  is 
laid.  How,  it  may  be  asked,  is  such  a  critic 
to  be  a  sonnd  and  reliable  guide  either  to  author 
or  public  r* 

Gertrude  Atherton,  the  talented  American 
novelist,  takes  up  the  cudgels  against  the  crit- 
ics in  this  country.  During  the  course  of  an 
article  in  the  San  Francisco  Argonaut,  in  which 


she  takes  exception  to  that  journal's  charac- 
terization of  Edith  Wharton  as  "the  foremost 
woman  novelist  in  the  United  States,"  she 
says: 

'Those  that  are  carried  away  by  booming  and 
blinded  by  success — and  they  are  more  numerous 
than  sheep — ^have  only  to  glance  back  and  ponder 
for  a  moment  upon  the  furores  of  other  years  to 
realize  what  this  sort  of  thing  amounts  to.  Some 
fifteen  or  twenty  years  Ago,  Amelie  Rives  was 
heralded  as  *the  greatest  genius  since  Shake- 
speare,' and  every  scribe  took  up  the  cry  with 
the  enthusiasm  of  those  whose  mission  it  is  ever 
to  be  in  fashion.  Ten  years  ago,  and  for  several 
subsequent  years,  Mrs.  Craigie  had  a  boom  in 
London  quite  as  persistent  and  extravagant.  She 
was  *the  greatest  novelist  since  George  Eliot.' 
Comment  is  unnecessary.  In  1898,  I  think  it  was, 
an  American  that  had  just  come  over  to  London 
told  me,  literally  with  an  expression  of  awe  in 
his  eyes — ^he  was  young  and  enthusiastic — ^that  the 
great  American  novel  had  been  written — *Richarji 
Carvel' — 'everybody  said  so.'  About  the  same 
time  I  saw  a  serious  discussion  in  an  American 
literary  journal  as  to  whether  'Janice  Meredith' 
would  be  considered  as  great  a  historical  novel 
a  hundred  years  hence  as  at  the  present  date. 
Then  came  Mary  Johnston  with  her  knightly  and 
polished  English.  She  fairly  inflamed  the  sober 
pages  of  the  Atlantic  Monthly,  and  there  was  no 
doubt  in  anybody's  mind  that  another  fixed  star 
had  arisen. 

"As  far  as  I  know  the  success  of  the  last  three 
authors  was  entirely  spontaneous  and  also  legiti- 
mate: they  responded  to  the  public  mood  of  the 
moment.  But  there  is  no  question  whatever  of 
the  prolonged  and  systematic  booming  of  the  first 
two;  and  however  innocent  they  may  have  been 
of  direct  effort,  the  booming  was  the  result  of  the 
same  human  weakness  that  has  prompted  Mrs. 
Wharton's;  the  ineradicable  and  most  mischiev- 
ous weakness  of  snobberjr.  All  three  of  these 
writers  have  sufficient  merit  to  furnish  an  excuse 
for  loud  and  continued  public  worship,  but  not 
one  of  them  has  the  remotest  claim  to  greatness, 
nor  ever  had  a  chance  of  endurance.  Although 
no  one  would  listen  to  me  at  the  time,  I  predicted 
the  inevitable  end  of  Amelie  Rives  and  Mrs. 
Craigie.  The  former  had  talent  without  brain, 
and  the  latter  brain  without  talent.  I  am  quite 
as  ready  to  predict  Mrs.  Wharton's.  Five  years 
from  now  she  will  have  worked  out  her  thin  vein 
of  ore,  her  friends  will  have  wearied,  and  the 
public  and  critics  will  be  excited  over  some  new 
'genius,'  who,  like  the  rest  of  the  world,  mistakes 
an  accident  for  genuine  popularity." 

Granting  the  incompetency  of  much  of  our 
latter-day  criticism,  the  question  naturally 
arises:  What  is  to  be  done?    Mr.  Bagot  has 


6l2 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


a  practical  proposal.  He  suggests  that  ""it 
would  at  once  greatly  lessen  the  arduous  labors 
of  reviewers  of  novels  for  the  press  were  it 
possible  to  organize  a  species  of  'clearing- 
house' for  works  of  fiction,"  and  submits  that 
''some  such  process  as  this  would  also  tend  to 
give  the  public  a  more  weighty  opinion  as  to 
what  to  read  and  what  to  ignore  than  the  press 
can,  under  present  circumstances,  supply." 
He  continues : 

"Would  it  not  be  possible  for  our  press  itself 
to  institute,  I  do  not  say  an  Academy  of  Bclles- 
Lettres,  but  a  body  chosen  from  among  its  most 
capable  critics,  whose  office  it  shbuld  be  to  sift 
the  tares  of  fiction  from  the  wheat,  and  whose 
opinion  on  the  technical  merits  of  novels  sub- 
mitted to  it  should  form  as  it  were  the  passport 
of  those  novels  to  the  subsequent  notice  of  the 
press,  without  thereby  limiting  or  influencing  in 
any  way  the  free  expression  of  subsequent  press 
criticism?  I  make  my  suggestion  with  all  possi- 
ble reserve.  ...  At  the  same  time,  I  do  not 
hesitate  to  say  that  some  system  of  responsible 
criticism  would  be  to  me,  as  a  writer  of  fiction, 
of  far  greater  use  and  benefit  than  are  individual, 
and  therefore  irresponsible  criticisms,  often  at 
variance  with  each  other,  which  are  the  outcome 
of  our  actual  system  of  reviewing.  I  am  con- 
fident that  I  am  by  no  means  alone  among  novel- 
ists in  holding  these  sentiments." 

The  Chicago  Dial,  an  influential  organ  of 
literary  opinion,  devotes  a  leading  editorial 
to  this  subject.  'That  such  defects  as  have 
been  indicated,  and  many  others  as  glaring, 
characterize  most  current  criticism  of  fiction," 
it  says,  "is  a  fact  too  apparent  to  need  demon- 
stration."   It  proceeds: 

"The  reasons  are  equally  apparent  To  make 
a  truly  intelligent  estimate  of  even  a  novel  re- 
quires ability  of  a  sort  so  rare  and  valuable  as  to 
be  at  the  command  of  very  few  newspapers  or 


other  periodicals.  It  also  demands  an  amount  of 
space  that  cannot  possibly  be  devoted  to  any  sin- 
gle book  of  the  class  that  numbers  its  thousands 
yearly.  The  problem  set  the  average  reviewer 
of  the  average  novel  is  simply  this:  What  is  the 
most  profitable  employment  1  may  make  of  the 
two  hours  and  the  two  hundred  words  which  are 
all  I  can  give  to  this  book?  A  personal  impres- 
sion, a  bit  of  description  or  classification,  an  indi- 
cation of  some  salient  feature,  and  a  word  or  two 
about  the  workmanship  are  all  that  may  be  at- 
tempted under  the  narrow  conditions  imposed. 
Reviewinjgr  done  subject  to  those  limitations  will 
have  weight  in  proportion  to  the  ability  and 
knowledge  of  the  reviewer— -and  the  brief  para- 
graph may  often  be  surprisingly  weighty— but  of 
course  it  will  be  anything  but  adequate  to  the 
claims  of  any  book  that  really  calls  for  serious 
consideration." 

The  Dial  recognizes  practical  difficulties  in 
the  way  of  establishing  Mr.  Bagot's  suggested 
tribunal,  but  thinks  that,  on  the  whole,  his 
plan  would  do  more  good  than  harm.  It  com- 
ments : 

"The  difficulty,  of  course,  would  lie  in  the  consti- 
tution of  the  tribunal  organized  for  this  judicial 
sifting  of  the  tares  from  the  wheat.  To  accept 
the  responsibilities  of  a  Rhadamanthus  in  this 
matter  would  be  to  accent  a  thankless  task,  and 
one  certain  to  entail  much  discomfort  upon  the 
incumbent.  The  rage  of  the  rejected  would  be 
anything  but  celestial,  and  would  be  declared 
in  a  manner  both  personal  and  pointed.  Mr.  Bag- 
ot  appreciates  the  difficulty  of  the  problem,  and 
it  is  with  no  little  diffidence  that  he  proposes  his 
press-constituted  academy.  But  the  experiment  is 
not  beyond  the  range  of  possibility,  and  the  li- 
terary profession  is  already  looking  for  some  way 
of  trying  it  Certainly  the  long-suffering  public, 
now  misled  by  so  many  blind  guides,  deserves 
to  have  its  interests  protected  by  the  critical  guild 
more  effectively  than  they  are  at  present  pro- 
tected, and  no  suggestion  aiming  at  so  praise- 
worthy an  end  should  fail  of  being  examined  with 
due  deliberation." 


ONE  OF  THE  GREAT  STORY-TELLERS  OF  THE  WORLD 


As  a  novelist  of  the  first  rank,  well  qualified 
to  take  his  place  with  the  foremost  of  the 
European  masters,  Fenimore  Cooper  is  char- 
acterized by  William  Crary  Brownell,  the  dis- 
tinguished American  critic.  Mr.  Brownell 
thinks  that  America  has  been  inclined  to 
neglect  one  of  its  greatest  literary  figures, 
and  he  asserts  that  the  attitude  is  not  credit- 
able. Cooper  belongs,  he  says,  "in  the  same 
category  with  Scott  and  Dumas  and  George 
Sand";  in  some  respects  has  surpassed  Scott; 
in  short,  is  "one  of  the  great  story-tellers  of 
the  world." 


Balzac's  indebtedness  to  Cooper  is  well 
known.  "If  Cooper,"  he  once  said,  "had  suc- 
ceeded in  the  painting  of  character  to  the  same 
extent  that  he  did  in  the  painting  of  the 
phenomena  of  nature  he  would  have  uttered 
the  last  word  of  our  art."  And  Thackeray 
has  put  himself  on  record  to  this  effect:  "I 
have  to  own  that  I  think  the  heroes  of  another 
writer,  viz.,  Leatherstocking,  Uncas,  Hard- 
heart,  Tom  Coffin,  are  quite  the  equals  of 
Scott's  men ;  perhaps  Leatherstocking  is  better 
than  anyone  in  'Scott's  lot'  *La  Longue 
Carabine'  is  one  of  the  great  prize-men  of 


LITERATURE  AND  ART 


613 


fiction.  He  ranks  with  your  Uncle  Toby,  Sir 
Roger  de  Coverley,  Fjilstaff — ^heroic  figures 
all,  American  or  British — and  the  artist  has 
deserved  well  of  his  country  who  devised 
them." 

Cooper  has  his  faults,  of  course;  what 
author  has  not?  At  times  he  is  too  prolix. 
It  is  easy  to  point  out  technical  blemishes  in 
his  work.  He  is  "nothing  at  all  of  a  poet — ^at 
least  in  any  constructional  sense."  But  over 
and  above  these  blemishes  he  has  qualities  of 
commanding  genius.  Says  Mr.  Brownell  (in 
Scribner^s  Magasine) : 

"There  is  a  quality  in  Cooper's  romance  that 
gives  it  as  romance  an  almost  unique  distinction. 
I  mean  its  solid  and  substantial  alliance  with  real- 
ity. It  is  thoroughly  romantic,  and  yet— very 
likely  owing  to  his  imaginative  deficiency,  if  any- 
thing can  be  so  owingj— it  produces,  for  romance, 
an  almost  unequalled  illusion  of  life  itself.  This 
writer,  one  says  to  oneself,  who  was  completely 
unconscious  of  either  the  jargon  or  the  philos- 
ophy of  'art,'  and  who  had  a  superficially  unro- 
mantic  civilization  to  deal  with,  has,  nevertheless, 
in  this  way  produced  the  rarest,  the  happiest, 
artistic  result.  He  looked  at  his  material  as  so 
much  life ;  it  interested  him  because  of  the  human 
elements  it  contained." 

The  verisimilitude  of  Cooper's  Indians  has 
been  a  main  point  of  attack  of  his  caricaturing 
critics ;  but  Mr.  Brownell  avers  that  "the  in- 
troduction into  literature  of  the  North  Amer- 
ican Indian,  considered  merely  as  a  romantic 
element,  was  an  important  event  in  the  history 
of  fiction."     To  quote  further: 

"He  was  an  unprecedented  and  a  unique  figure 
—^t  least  on  the  scale,  and  with  the  vividness 
with  which  he  is  depicted  in  Cooper,  for  the  In- 
dians of  Mrs.  Behn  and  Voltaire  and  Chateau- 
briand can,  in  comparison,  hardly  be  said  to 
count  at  all.  They  are  incarnated  abstractions 
didactically  inspired  for  the  most  part;  L'lng^u, 
for  example,  being  no  more  than  an  expedient 
for  the  contrasted  exhibition  of  civilized  vices. 
But  Cooper's  Indians,  whatever  their  warrant  in 
truth,  were  notable  actors  in  the  picturesque 
drama  of  pioneer  storm  and  stress.  They  stand 
out  in  individual  as  well  as  racial  relief,  like  his 
other  personages,  American,  English,  French, 
and  Italian,  and  discharge  their  roles  in  idiosyn- 
cratic as  well  as  in  energetic  fashion.  To  object 
to  them  on  the  ground  that,  like  Don  Quixote 
and  Athos,  the  Black  Knight  and  Saladin,  Uncle 
Toby  and  Dalgetty,  they  are  ideal  types  without 
actual  analogues  would  be  singularly  ungracious." 

Taking  up  Balzac's  dictum,  above  quoted, 
Mr.  Brownell  makes  the  statement:  "Nowhere 
else  has  prose  rendered  the  woods  and  the 
sea  so  vividly,  so  splendidly,  so  adequately — 
and  so  simply,"  as  in  Cooper's  novels.  There 
is  a  peculiarity  in  Cooper's  view  and  treat- 
ment of  nature,  he  continues.     "Nature  was 


to  him  a  grandiose  thaumaturgic  manifesta- 
tion of  the  Creator's  benevolence  and  power, 
a  stupendous  spectacular  miracle,  a  vision  of 
beauty  and  force  unrolled  by  Omnipotence, 
but  a  panorama,  not  a  presence.  There  was 
nothing  Wordsworthian,  nothing  pantheistic 
in  his  feeling  for  her — for  'it,'  he  would  have 
said.  No  flower  ever  gave  him  thoughts  that 
lay  too  deep  for  tears.  He  was  at  one  with 
nature  as  Dr.  Johnson  was  with  London. 
There  is  something  extremely  tonic  and  nat- 
ural in  the  simplicity  of  such  an  attitude,  and 
as  a  romancer  the  reality  and  soundness  of  it 
stood  Cooper  in  good  stead."  To  say,  how- 
ever, that  Cooper  was  unsurpassed  in  a  certain 
attitude  toward  nature,  adds  Mr.  Brownell,  is 
not  to  depreciate  his  portraiture  and  his 
knowledge  of  human  nature.  On  this  point  we 
read: 

"No  writer,  not  even  the  latest  so-called  psy- 
chological novelist,  ever  better  understood  the 
central  and  cardinal  principle  of  enduing  a  char- 
acter with  life  and  reality — namely,  the  portrayal 
of  its  moral  complexity.  To  open  any  of  the  more 
important  'tales'  is  to  enter  a  company  of  person- 
ages in  each  of  whom  coexist — in  virtue  of  the 
subtle  law  that  constitutes  character  by  unifying 
moral  complexity — foibles,  capacities,  qualities, 
defects,  weakness  and  strength,  good  and  bad, 
and  the  inveterate  heterogenei^  of  the  human 
heart  is  fused  into  a  single  personality.  And  the 
variety,  the  multifariousness  of  the  populous 
world  that  these  personages,  thus  constituted, 
compose,  is  an  analogue  on  a  larger  scale  of  their 
own  individual  differentiation.  Cooper's  world 
is  a  microcosm  quite  worthy  to  be  set  by  the  side 
of  those  of  thf  great  masters  of  fiction  and,  quite 
as  effectively  as  theirs,  mirroring  a  synthesis  of 
the  actual  world  to  which  it  corresponds,  based 
on  a  range  of  ex  per  it  nee  and  framed  with  imag- 
inative powers  equalled  by  them  alone." 

Above  all,  concludes  Mr.  Brownell,  Cooper 
was  an  American  of  Americans ;  his  work  has 
always   made   for   the   "rational   aggrandize 
ment"  of  this  country. 

"Quite  aside  from  the  service  to  his  country  in- 
volved in  the  fact  itself  of  his  foreign  literary 
popularity— -gfeater  than  that  of  all  other  Ameri- 
can authors  combined — it  is  to  be  remarked  that 
the  patriotic  is  as  prominent  as  any  other  element 
of  his  work.  To  him,  to  be  sure,  we  owe  it  that 
immediately  on  his  discovery,  the  European  world 
set  an  American  author  among  the  classics  of 
its  own  imaginative  literature;  through  him  to 
this  world  America,  not  only  American  native 
treasures  of  romance,  but  distinctively  American 
traits,  ideas  and  habits,  moral,  social  and  political, 
were  made  known  and  familiar.  He  first  painted 
for  Europe  the  portrait  of  America.  And  the  fact 
that  it  is  in  this  likeness  that  the  country  is  still 
so  generally  conceived  there  eloquently  attests; 
the  power  with  which  it  was  executed." 


6i4 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


GORKY  AND  THE  NEW  RUSSIAN  LITEl^TURE 


Americans  familiar  with  the  works  of  Tol- 
stoy, Turgenieff  and  Dostoyevsky  probably  re- 
gard Russian  literature  as  the  ne  plus  ultra  of 
radicalism.  In  this  regard  Russia  is  certainly 
abreast,  if  not  in  advance,  of  all  the  modern 
tendencies  manifested  in  the  latest  schools  of 
European  letters.  But  Maksim  Gorky,  in  a  re- 
cent series  of  essays,  maintains  that  Russian 
literature  up  to  the  present  has  really  been  a 
very  bourgeois  product — ^thc  direct  and  logical 
expression  of  Russian  conditions  as  they  exist- 
ed previously  to  the  entrance  of  the  revolution- 
ary forces  as  a  powerful  factor  in  the  social  and 
political  life  of  the  country.  He  believes  that 
only  now  is  a  truly  radical  Russian  literature 
possible,  now  when  a  new  era  is  opening  in- 
spired by  the  growing  strength  of  the  Russian 
proletariat 

These  essays  appeared  in  th^  heat  of  politi- 
cal controversy  in  a  party  newspaper  in  Rus- 
sia, and  have  been  collected  and  printed  in 
German  under  the  title  of  "Political  Reflec- 
tions." They  deal  chiefly  with  political  ques- 
tions, but  some  twenty  pages  of  the  booklet 
are  devoted  to  a  criticism  of  Russian  litera- 
ture. 

Writing  of  this  portion  of  the  work  in  an 
article  in  DieNeue  Zeit  (Stuttgart),  Henri- 
ette  Roland  Hoist  says: 

"It  is  the  wprk  of  a  poet  at  a  time  when  he  only 
wanted  to  be  a  fighter,  and  felt  only  as  a  fighter. 
He  does  not  attempt  to  show  why  Russian  lit- 
erature is  as  it  is;  his  chief  aim  is  not  to  explain 
its  connection  with  social  conditions,  although  he 
sees  this  connection  clearly.  He  merely  endeavors 
to  express  and  judge  the  character  of  this  Rus- 
sian literature  as  he  sees  it  with  new  eyes  and 
estimates  it  with  a  new  heart  and  a  new  brain, 
that  is,  from  the  standpoint  of  a  new-world  con- 
ception, the  class  standpoint  of  the  revolutionary 
proletariat.  This  is  the  significance  of  the  work 
of  Gorky  and  this  is  the  significance  which  he  de- 
sired to  impart  to  it.  This  is  what  is  peculiar, 
new  and  important  in  it.  For  the  first  time  a  dis- 
tinguished Russian  author  sees  the  whole  of  Rus- 
sian literature  with  new  eyes.  For  the  first  time 
he  expresses  firmly,  bravely  and  passionately  what 
he  sees.  For  the  first  time,  through  him,  a  new 
class  regards  this  old,  reverent  and  adored  struc- 
ture of  Russian  literature  without  awe,  without 
fear,  without  adoration.  For  the  first  time, 
through  him,  the  new  class  rejects  the  old  meas- 
ure of  critical  values,  and  fashions  a  new  one  for 
itself.  For  the  first  time  it  estimates  its  national 
literature  as  it  estimates  everything  else  upon 
earth,  in  the  light  of  its  needs,  its  hopes,  its  love, 
and  its  hate." 

"No  other  literature  like  the  Russian,"  says 


Gorky,  "has  represented  its  people  so  repul- 
sively sweet,  and  has  described  their  suf- 
ferings with  so  peculiar  and  questionable  a  de- 
votion. Consciously  or  unconsciously,  but  al- 
ways persistently,  it  has  represented  the  people 
as  patiently  indifferent  to  the  course  of  life, 
.  always  preoccupied  with  thoughts  of  God  and 
of  the  soul,  with  a  desire  for  inner  peace,  with 
a  bourgeois  mistrust  of  everything  new,  good- 
natured  to  disgust,  ready  to  excuse  ever3rthing 
and  everybody."  It  raised  the  people  to  the 
point  of  heroism,  but  it  was  the  heroism  of  pa- 
tience. This  patience  drew  hymns  of  praise 
from  Russian  literature,  but  the  outbursts  of 
anger,  the  spirit  of  passionate  revolt  against 
misery,  the  spirit  of  true  heroism  were  not  re- 
corded. And  this,  notwithstanding  the  fact 
that  Russia  had  its  true  heroes,  such  as  the 
predecessors  of  the  present  revolutionists,  the 
heroes  of  the  "Narodnaya  Volya."  Gorky  rcr 
calls  the  words  of  one  of  their  contemporaries, 
the  great  poet  Nekrasov,  who  in  a  fragmen- 
tary poem  only  offered  a  message  of  resigna- 
tion to  his  people,  "Good  night."  "And  that," 
Gorky  continues,  "at  a  time  when  so  many 
storm  bells  had  already  begun  to  sound,  and 
had  endeavored  to  awaken  the  people!  In 
those  days  when  the  heroes  in  the  struggles 
for  liberty  fell  alone !" 

Gorky  states  a  new  philosophy  of  litera- 
ture, says  the  writer  in  the  Neue  Zeit,  and  In 
so  doing  furnishes  a  vivid  example  of  the  fact 
that  the  author's  social-democratic  opinions 
"do  not  work  to  his  injury  but  lift  him  up 
above  his  former  self."  In  conclusion  the 
writer  observes: 

"Gorky's  work  is  not  only  a  reckoning  with 
the  old;  it  becomes  the  resurrection  of  new 
Russia  in  art.  ...  In  this  book,  in  which  the 
soldier  of  the  revolution  speaks  his  thoughts,  his 
images,  his  language  rise  to  a  proud,  forceful,  daz- 
zling beauty  which  he  never  reaches  in  any  of 
his  previous  works.  One  needs  but  read  the 
words  dedicated  to  the  memory  of  the  fighters  of 
the  Narodnaya  Volya,  the  description  of  incom- 
ing capitalism,  and,  above  all,  the  splendid  tribute 
to  the  *hero-man,'  that  is  to  say,  to  the  unfolding 
of  the  proletarian  ego  to  the  world.  He  has 
completely  shaken  off  the  element  of  weakness, 
which  in  former  works  occasionally  clings  to  his 
thoughts  and  images.  Formerly  the  highest  form 
of  revolt  that  he  knew  was  the  individual  revolt 
of  vagabonds  or  gipsies,  who  thirsted  for  freedom, 
but  lacked  the  power  to  change  the  world.  Now 
he  sees  rising  up  from  the  depths  a  new  force,  a 
reasoned  and  organized  rebellion — and  he  has  the 
good  fortune  to  be  able  to  see  it,  this  proletarian 
consciousness  of  victory." 


LITERATURE  AND  ART 


615 


A  JAPANESE  "DON  QUIXOTE" 


Western  culture  and  literature  have  been 
proud  of  Cervantes's  immortal  masterpiece, 
but  there  is  danger  that  the  charge  of  plagia- 
rism will  be  preferred  against  the  author  of 
"Don  Quixote."  A  French  writer,  Leon  Char- 
pentier,  shows  in  the  literary  supplement  of 
Le  Figaro  that  the  Japanese  anticipated  Cer- 
vantes, and  that,  of  the  adventures  and  inci- 
dents narrated  in  "Don  Quixote,"  several  of 
the  most  extraordinary  and  diverting  had  been 
imagined  long  before  by  the  romancers  of  the 
Land  of  the  Rising  Sun. 

The  Japanese  "Don  Quixote"  is  a  novel  of 
fanciful  adventure  based  on  historic  fact.  It 
is  called  "The  Horrific  Yorimitsu,"  and  de- 
scribes, with  fantastic  exaggeration  and  poetic 
license,  the  actual  career  of  a  feudal  warrior 
and  hero,  Yorimitsu,  who  was  born  in  the  year 
947  of  our  era  and  lived  to  be  seventy-four 
years  of  age — "which  proves,"  says  a  Japanese 
legend,  "that  heroism  is  conducive  to  health." 
Yorimitsu  made  war  on  the  brigands  and  ban- 
dits who  infested  the  district  of  Kioto,  the 
scene  of  his  labors.  After  his  death  the  peo- 
ple and  the  literary  classes  alike  seized  upon 
his  interesting  and  busy  life  and  glorified  it 
in  order  to  inspire  the  Samurai  and  encour- 
age a  warlike  spirit  in  the  young.  They  im- 
agined all  sorts  of  grotesque  and  thrilling  ex- 
ploits with  which  to  credit  him,  and  it  was  no 
longer  robbers  whom  he  fought,  but  ogres, 
ghosts,  evil  spirits.    M.  Charpentier  says: 

"Yorimitsu  is  still  popular  in  Japan.  Like  Don 
Quixote,  he  fights  non-existent  enemies.  He 
makes  himself  the  champion  of  the  weak,  and  is 
ever  the  dupe  of  his  fancies.  He  deploys  an 
enormous  activity,  but  the  work  is  actually  done 
by  his  four  lieutenants^— Tsuna,  Kintichi,  Suye- 
mada,  Sadamichi.  He  attacks  a  windmill  that, 
from  a  distance,  he  mistakes  for  a  terrible  ad- 
versary. He  gallops  furiously  toward  a  mist;  he 
always  pursues  the  wicked,  but  those  he  slays 
always  come  to  life  again." 

"The  Horrific  Yorimitsu,"  M.  Charpentier 
says,  can  best  be  judged  by  a  characteristic 
chapter  describing  one  of  the  more  important 
adventures  of  the  hero  and  his  faithful  lieu- 
tenants. He  accordingly  translates  and  con- 
denses the  following: 

One  day  the  valorous  Yorimitsu  and  his  faith- 
ful Tsuna  were  exploring  the  country  in  quest  of 
opportunities  for  new  prodigies  of  enterprise,  new 
occasions  for  glorious  deeds,  when  they  suddenly 
perceived  before  them,  on  the  horizon,  a  white 
cloud.  The  apparition  caused  their  blood  to  boil 
and  filled  their  heads  with  sublime  ambitions. 

It  was  not  a  banal  cloud.    It  was  almost  round. 


It  had  several  openings — ^two  that  were  like  eyes, 
one  that  looked  like  a  mouth,  another  where  the 
nose  should  be  placed. 

"Tsuna,"  cried  Yorimitsu,  "what  do  you  see  in 
the  sky?" 

"The  head  of  a  dead  creature,"  replied  Tsuna. 

"Yes,  exactly;  but  what  does  it  indicate?" 

"It  means  that  there,  in  that  direction,  there 
must  be  a  nest  of  evil  spirits  who  spread  terror 
and  death  through  this  land." 

"Let  us  march  upon  them,  Tsuna.  So  far  we 
have  fought  and  conquered  human  beings  only; 
ours  shall  be  the  glory  of  slaying  also  ghosts  and 
ogres.     Forward !" 

After  several  hours  of  slow  but  courageous  rid- 
ing, the  heroes  reached  a  dilapidated  old  house. 
.The  cloud  then  dissipated,  thus  showing  them  that 
this  was  their  goal.     This  was  the  retreat,  the 
headquarters,  of  the  evil  spirits. 

They  knocked.  An  old,  half-blind,  doddering 
woman  opened  the  door.  Who  was  she?  What 
sort  of  house  was  she  living  in?  She  had  served 
five  generations  of  Samurai;  but  the  last  sur- 
vivor of  the  race  had  died  twenty  years  ago,  and 
she  was  all  alone,  waiting  to  meet  death  in  the 
ruin.  And,  in  truth,  there  were  ghostly  enemies 
of  the  extinct  house  bent  on  the  destruction  of 
the  abode.  Nightly  assaults  were  made  on  the 
already  tottering  walls  by  invisible  foes. 

"Tsuna !"  exclaimed  Yorimitsu,  "this  is  our  bat- 
tle-ground!    We  need  know  no  more." 

They  sent  the  old  servant  to  bed,  determined 
to  keep  vigil  and  encounter  the  malign  spirits 
and  fight  them  to  the  death.  A  storm  broke  out. 
There  was  a  terrific  gale,  and  our  heroes  heard  the 
sound  of  drums  and  galloping  horses,  the  flapping 
of  wings  and  the  marching  of  serried  columns. 
Now  and  then  the  door  was  burst  open,  and  they 
heard  the  voices  of  the  enemy  challenging  them: 
"We  are  an  army  of  phantoms,  a  crowd  of  ghosts, 
a  band  of  skeletons.    Come  out,  if  you  dare!" 

The  impetuous  Yorimitsu  leapt  forward  and 
looked  out  each  time  he  heard  this  challenge, 
but  he  saw  nothing.  He  only  heard  the  distant 
sounds  of  the  drums,  and  the  rain  drops  cooled 
his  head  and  face. 

•  Our  heroes  decided  that  they  could  but  remain 
on  the  defensive.  The  ghostly  army  continued  to 
pass  by,  but  beyond  provocative  cries,  laments, 
shrieks  and  sighs  gave  no  direct  sign  of  a  disposi- 
tion to  attack  the  armed  and  resolute  warriors. 

Other  adventures  are  described  by  M.  Char- 
pentier. The  hero  has  a  portentous  dream; 
a  beautiful  woman  is  trying  to  ensnare  him. 
He  awakens,  furiously  attacks  a  big  spider 
(whose  shape  the  temptress  has  assumed),  and 
pursues  her  into  a  dark,  gloomy  cavern.  He 
captures  young  maidens  and  brings  them  to 
the  emperor  as  the  rescued  victims  of  awful 
plots  of  which  they  know  nothing. 

The  story  of  "The  Horrific  Yorimitsu"  ap- 
peared first  in  the  twelfth  century,  and  its  ajJ:^ 
thorship  is  not  exactly  known.    It  is  suppo^ 
to  be  the  composite  work  of  several  romance 


6i6 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


THE  MOST  INFLUENTIAL  OF  LIVING  CRITICS 


George  Brandes,  it  may  safely  be  said,  is 
the  one  living  critic  of  world  proportions.  For 
the  present  generation  he  continues  the  tradi- 
tion of  an  intellectual  lineage  represented 
during  the  past  century  by  such  men  as  Mat- 
thew Arnold,  Taine  and  Sainte-Beuve ;  and 
he  owes  his  success  as  a  critic  to  much  the 
same  methods  as  those  employed  by  the  writ- 
ers named.  In  the  sixth  and  final  volume  of 
his  "Main  Currents  in  Nineteenth  Century 
Literature"* — a  work  comparable  to  Taine's 
"History  of  English  Literature" — he  gives  us 
a  remarkable  psychological  study  of  one  of  the 
most  interesting  and  pregnant  epochs  in  hu- 
man history.  And  in  an  explanation  of  his 
purposes  and  methods,  he  lets  us  into  his  men- 
tal workshop,  so  to  speak.  His  intention,  he 
tells  us,  is  by  means  of  the  study  of  certain 
main  groups  and  main  movements  in  Euro- 
pean literature  to  outline  a  psychology  of  the 
first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century.  His  first 
proceeding  was  to  separate  and  classify  the 
chief  literary  movements  of  the  period;  his 
next  to  find  their  general  direction  or  law 
of  progression,  a  starting-point,  and  a  central 
point.  The  direction  he  discovered  to  be  a 
great  rhythmical  ebb  and  flow — ^thc  gradual 
disappearance  of  the  ideas  and  feelings  of  the 
eighteenth  century  until  authority,  the  heredi- 
tary principle,  and  ancient  custom  once  more 
reigned  supreme;  then  the  reappearance  of 
the  ideas  of  liberty  in  ever  higher  mounting 
waves.  The  starting-point  was  now  self-evi- 
dent, namely,  the  group  of  epoch-making 
French  literary  works  denominated  the  Emi- 
grant Literature,  the  first  of  which  bears  the 
date  1800.  The  central  point  was  equally  un- 
mistakable. From  the  literary  point  of  view,  it* 
was  Byron's  death;  from  the  political,  that 
Greek  war  of  liberation  in  which  he  fell.  This 
double  event  is  epoch-making  in  the  intellec- 
tual life  and  literature  of  the  Continent.  The 
concluding  point  was  also  clearly  indicated, 
namely,  the  European  revolution  of  1848.  By- 
ron's death  forming  the  central  point  of  the 
work,  the  school  of  English  literature  to  which 
he  belongs  became,  as  it  were,  the  hinge  upon 
which  it  turned.  The  main  outlines  now  stood 
out  clearly:  the  incipient  reaction  in  the  case 
of  the  emigrants;  the  growth  of  the  reaction 
in  the  Germany  of  the  Romanticists;  its  cul- 
mination and  triumph  during  the  first  year  of 

•Main  Currents  in  Nineteenth  Century  Litera- 
ture.   By  Georsfe  Brandes.   The  Macmillan  Company. 


the  Restoration  in  France;  the  turn  of  the 
tide  discernible  in  what  is  denominated  Eng- 
lish Naturalism;  the  change  which  took  place 
in  all  the  great  writers  of  France  shortly  be- 
fore the  Revolution  of  July,  a  change  which 
resulted  in  the  formation  of  the  French  Ro- 
mantic School;  and,  lastly,  the  development  in 
German  literature  which  issued  in  the  events 
of  March,  1848. 

The  completion  of  "Main  Currents  of  the 
Nineteenth  Century"  may  be  described  as  the 
culmination  of  Brandes's  life — ^a  life  that  has 
been  filled  with  inspiring  activity,  but  the  data 
of  which  are  but  little  known  in  this  country, 
though  his  name  has  become  so  familiar.  He 
was  bom  in  Copenhagen  in  1842.  His  full 
name  is  George  Morris  Cohen  Brandes,  and 
he  is  of  Jewish  race.  His  parents  were  in 
comfortable  circumstances.  At  seventeen  he 
entered  the  University  of  Copenhagen  and  de- 
voted himself  to  the  study  of  jurisprudence. 
This  was  followed  by  a  course  in  philosophy 
and  esthetics.  His  superiority  was  apparent 
from  the  first  and  attracted  the  admiration  of 
the*!authorities  of  the  university.  In  1862  he 
won  the  gold  medal  of  the  university  by  his 
essay  on  "Fatalism  Among  the  Ancients,"  a 
remarkable  effort  for  a  youth  of  twenty,  full 
of  originality  and  brilliancy  of  expression.  He 
was  graduated  with  the  highest  honors  and 
received  the  degree  of  doctor  of  philosophy. 
His  next  five  years  were  spent  in  travel  on 
the  Continent,  and  these  were  as  fruitful  in  in- 
tellectual experience  as  the  years  spent  in 
the  university.  As  might  be  expected,  the 
transition  from  the  world  of  ideas  to  the  world 
of  action  made  a  profound  impression  upon 
him.  He  visited  Paris  (spending  a  year  there) 
and  the  principal  cities  of  Germany.  Contact 
with  the  great  centers  of  modem  intelligence 
and  with  the  actual  leaders  of  what  he  after- 
ward called  "The  Modem  Awakening"  in- 
spired in  him  an  eager  desire  to  be  the  light- 
bearer  to  his  own  country  and  to  northern 
Europe  in  general.  He  had  become  an  able 
linguist,  speaking  and  writing  French  and  Ger- 
man almost  as  readily  as  his  mother-tongue, 
and  his  general  equipment  was  peculiarly 
adapted  for  the  task. 

He  had  not,  however,  reckoned  with  the  pro- 
verbial backwardness  of  average  mankind  in 
accepting  new  ideas.  When,  upon  his  return 
to  Denmark,  the  enthusiastic  yotmg  scholar, 
fresh  from  the  sources  of  modem  learning, 


LITERATURE  AND  ART 


617 


entered  upon  his  task  of  bringing  his  country- 
men en  rapport  with  European  ideas,  he  found 
himself  confronted,  as  it  were,  with  a  wall  of 
lead.  The  Denmark  of  that  day  was  distinctly 
hostile  to  modem  thought,  which  it  associated 
directly  with  infidelity,  and  Brandes  found  to 
his  disappointment  and  disgust  that  those  whom 
he  had  counted  upon  as  allies  in  his  campaign 
of  enlightenment  were  in  reality  his  uncompro- 
mising foes.  He  had  just  published  his  book, 
'The  Dualism  in  Our  Most  Recent  Philoso- 
phy," a  work  in  which  he  had  discussed  at 
length  and  with  entire  freedom  the  perilous 
subject  of  the  relation  of  religion  to  science. 
This  was  regarded  as  a  defiance  by  the  ortho- 
dox party,  and  a  veritable  crusade  was  started 
against  him.  He  was  made  the  object  of 
malicious  attacks.  Life  in  his  native  country 
became  unbearable,  and  in  1877  he  went  to 
Berlin.  Here  he  found  the  milieu  he  desired, 
and  he  entered  upon  a  period  of  literary  ac- 
tivity which  resulted  in  his  gaining  a  place  of 
recognition  among  German  men  of  letters. 

Perhaps  no  truer  idea  of  Dr.  Brandes's  lit- 
erary status  and  of  his  relations  to  his  native 
country  can  be  given  than  by  quoting  from 
an  essay  written  some  years  ago  by  Professor 
Boyesen,  a  noted  Norwegian  writer: 

"The  Danish  horizon  was,  twenty  years  a^o, 
hedged  in  on  all  sides  by  a  patriotic  prejudice 
which  allowed  few  fveign  ideas  to  enter.  The 
people  had,  before  tBe  two  Schleswig-Holstein 
wars,  .been  in  lively  c6mmunication  with  Ger- 
many, and  the  intellectual  currents  of  the  Father- 
land had  found  their  way  up  to  the  Belts,  and  had 
pulsated  there,  though  with  some  loss'^f  vigor. 
Bat  the  disastrous  defeat  in  the  last  war  aroused 
such  hostility  to  Germany  that  the  intellectual 
intercourse  almost  ceased.  German  ideas  became 
scarcely  less  obnoxious  than  German  bayonets. 
Spiritual  stagnation  was  the  result.  For  no  nation 
can  with  impunity  cut  itself  off  from  the  great 
life  of  the  world.  ...  It  seemed  for  a  while 
as  if  the  war  had  cut  down  the  intellectual  ter- 
ritory of  the  Danes  even  more  than  it  had  cur- 
tailed their  material  area.  They  cultivated  their 
little  domestic  virtues,  talked  enthusiastic  non- 
sense on  festive  occasions,  indulged  in  vaiii  hopes 
of  recovering  their  lost  provinces,  but  rarely  al- 
lowed their  political  reverses  to  interfere  with 
their  amusements.  They  let  the  world  roar  on  past 
their  gates  without  troubling  themselves  much  as 
to  what  interested  or  agitated  it.  A  feeble,  moon- 
shiny,  late-romanticism  was  predominant  in 
their  literature;  and  in  art,*  philosophy  and  poli- 
tics that  slug^sh  conservatism  which  betokens  a 
low  vitality,  mddent  upon  intellectual  isolation. 
What  was  needed  at  such  a  time  was  a  man  who 
could  re-attach  tiie  broken  connection — ^a  mediator 
and  interpreter  of  foreign  thought  in  such  a  form 
as  to  appeal  to  the  Danish  temperament  and  be 
capable  of  assimilation  bv  the  Danish  intellect. 
Such  a  man  was  George  Brandes.  He  undertook 
to  put  his  people  en  rapport  with  the  nineteenth 


GEORGE  BRANDES 
A  critic  who  maintains  for  our  generation  the  intel- 
lectual traditions  representM  taring  the  nast  century 
by  such  men  as  Matthew.  4m«d/Wne  and  Sainte-Beuve. 

century,  to  opeft  ttew  avenues- for  the  influx  of 
modern  though^  to  take  the  place  of  those  which 
had  been  closed.  .  .  .  But  a  self-satisfil^  a^d 
virtuous  little  natiQn  which  regards  its  iciribte- 
ness  from  the  great  world  as  a  matter  of  ^ooqgrat- 
ulation  is  not  apt  to  receive  with  favor  swcjij  a 
champion  of  alien  Ideas.  The  more  the  Qajes 
became  absorbed  in  their  national  hallucinatidns, 
the  more  provincial,  nay  parochial,  they  became 
in  their  interests,  the  less  did  they  feel  the  peed 
of  any  intellectual  stimulus  from  abroad ;  and 
when  Dr.  Brandes  introduced  them  to  modem 
realism,  agnosticism  and  positivism,  they  thanked 
God  that  none  of  these  dreadful  'isms  were  in- 
digenous with  them;  and  were  disposed  to  take 
Dr.  Brandes  to  task  for  disturbing  their  idyllic, 
orthodox  peace  by  the  promulgation  of  such  dan- 
gerous heresies.  When  the  nme  came  to  fill  the 
professorship  for  which  he  was  a  candidate,  Jhe 
was  passed  Dy,- and  a  safer  but  inferior  man  was 
appointed."  .  i 

It  is  gratifying  to  learn  that,  in  time,  the 
Danes  repented  their  harsh  treatment  of  their 
most  distinguished  man.  In  1882  his  friends 
in  Copenhagen  were  strong  enough  to  invite 
him  back  to  Denmark,  and  to  offer  him  an  im- 
portant and  profitable  post.  He  now  resides  in 
Copenhagen,  as  a  public  lecturer,  with  a  sub- 


6i8 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


scribed  guarantee  of  $i,ooo  a  year. 

Dr.  Brandes  is  a  tireless  literary  worker  of 
the  type  of  Sainte-Beuve  and  Balzac,  a  writer 
who  is  satisfied  with  nothing  less  than  perfec- 
tion, and  who  never  allows  any  careless  work 
to  reach  the  public.  He  gives  a  hint  of  this 
in  the  motto  taken  from  Balzac  which  is  pre- 
fixed to  his  volume,  "Young  Germany": 


"If  the  artist  does  not  throw  himself  into  his 
work  as  Curtius  hurled  himself  into  the  gulf,  as 
the  ^oldier  dashes  over  the  redoubt;  and  if  he 
does  not  toil  in  his  crater  like  the  miner  buried 
under  an  avalanche;  if  he  contemplates  the  diflS- 
culties  instead  of  conquering  them  one  by  one,  his 
work  will  never  attain  completeness;  it  will  per- 
ish in  the  atelier,  or  production  will  become  im- 
possible and  the  artist  will  be  a  witness  of  the 
suicide  of  his  own  genius." 


THE  LITERARY  "FLOWER  FESTIVALS"  OF  COLOGNE 


For  eight  years  the  city  of  Cologne,  on  the 
^hine,  h^s  been  holding  each  spring  a  "flower 
festival"  in  the  interest  of  literature.  This 
movement  has  attracted  international  atten- 
tion, and  is  not  unparalleled  in  other  countries. 
Centuries  ago  the  people  of  Wales  inaugurated 
the  Eisteddfod  prize  contest,  which  still  takes 
place  every  year  in  a  Welsh  village,  according 
to  sacred  custom,  under  the  auspices  of  an 
arch-druid.  During  the  middle  ages  French 
and  German  princes  took  an  active  interest 
in  "flower  festivals."  Under  Charles  V  of 
France  such  festivals  were  celebrated  at  court 
to  counteract  the  demoralizing  influence  of 
the  pest.     The  "Blumenspiele,"  as  they  were 


called,  were  very  closely  connected  with  me- 
dieval minnesingers.  Coming  down  to  more 
recent  times,  poetic  festivals  have  been  held 
in  Spain,  in  Mexico,  on  African  soil,  in  Me- 
dilla,  and  among  the  Germans  of  our  own 
country  in  the  city  of  Baltimore. 

The  Cologne  "Blumenspiele"  are  a  direct  re- 
sult of  the  wave  of  romanticism  that  has  lately 
swept  over  Germany.  Some  ten  years  ago  lit- 
erary Germany  was  under  the  influence  of  the 
crassest  materialism.  The  young  writers  out- 
Zolaed  Zola,  and  the  savor  of  their  work  was 
not  pleasant  to  the  nostrils.  Then  a  powerful 
reaction  set  in  and  a  great  romantic  wave 
carried  Hauptmann,   Sudermann   and   Schlaf, 


THE  PLOWSR  QUEEN  AND  HER  MAIDS  OP  HONOR  AT  THE  COLOGNE  FESTIVAL 

Each  spring  the  city  of  Colojoie  holds  a  literary  festival,  offering  a  prize  for  the  best  love  poem  by  a 
woman  and  crowning  the  winner  Flower  Queen. 


LITERATURE  AND  ART 


619 


DR.  JOHANNES  PaSTENRATH 
Founder  of  the  Cologne  "  Blumenspiele  " 

and  all  the  lesser  men  before  it.  It  was  dur- 
ing this  pedod  that  the  festivals  were  founded 
by  Dr.  Johannes  Fastenrath.  Fastenrath,  who 
is  himself  a  poet  of  considerable  merit  and 
ranks  high  as  a  translator  from  the  Romance 
languages,  had  become  acquainted  with  a  sim- 
ilar institution  at  Barcelona  during  a  long 
sojourn  in  Spain.  Immediately  he  realized 
the  possibilities  of  transplanting  this  heirloom 
of  the  troubadours  to  German  soil.  He  hoped 
by  its  means  to  stimulate  poetic  activity,  and 
to  help  in  turning  back  the  threatening  tide  of 
materialism.  The  results  have  more  than  jus- 
tified his  optimism.  This  year  the  demonstra- 
tion was  more  imposing  than  ever,  and  took 
place  in  Cologne  in  an  ancient  hall — the 
**Gurzenich" — which  has  seen  emperors  and 
kings  crowned  in  its  time. 

Fastenrath  is  sixty-six  to-day,  but  still  as 
enthusiastic  as  when,  in  1898,  he  proposed  first 
to  the  "Literary  Society  of  Cologne"  the  an- 
nual celebration  of  this  poetic  festival.  From 
his  own  pocket  he  gave  ten  thousand  marks, 
the  interest  upon  which  was  to  go  toward 
buying  prizes.  The  city  of  Cologne,  the  King 
of  Spain  and  the  Queen  of  Roumania,  princes 
of  the   royal   house   of    Bavaria,    and   many 


others  interested  in  literature,  gave  their 
hearty  support  and  established  a  number  of 
additional  prizes  for  the  best  love  poem,  the 
best  religious  poem,  the  best  patriotic  poem, 
the  best  short  story,  the  best  fairy  story,  etc. 
With  the  prize  for  the  best  love  poem  goes  the 
right  to  appoint  the  Flower  Queen  who  pre- 
sides over  the  festivals.  If,  as  this  year  and 
once  before,  the  winner  is  a  woman,  she  is 
crowned  queen  by  her  own  right.  One  of  the 
Flower  Queens  was  Carmen  Sylva,  poetess  by 
vocation  and  queen  by  profession.  This  year's 
chosen  Flower  Queen  is  Miss  Therese  Keiter, 
a  celebrated  Catholic  lyrist  and  novelist.  Un- 
fortunately sickness  prevented  her  from  occu- 
pying the  throne,  and  she  had  to  reign  by 
proxy.  German- Americans  have  always  taken 
an  active  part  in  the  festivals,  and  twice  in 
the  history  of  the  institution  they  have  suc- 
ceeded in  carrying  off  a  prize.  The  story 
which  received  the  prize  for  the  best  fairy- 


THBRESE  KEITER' 

A  Roman  Catholic  lyrist  and  poetess,  whose  love  poem 
entitles  her  to  the  "  Flower  Throne  "  at  Cologne. 


6ao 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


Copyright  IMS,  by  Cartls  ft  C2ftmeron. 

•»  YESTERDAY,  TO-DAY  AND  TO-MORROW  " 
(PaintiDg  by  H.  O.  Walker  in  the  Minnesota  State  Capitol.) 


talc  (Mdrchen)  this  year  the  reader  will  find 
in  another  part  of  the  magazine. 

For  the  facts  stated  we  are  indebted  to  the 
annual  published  by  the  society.  It  is  a  volu- 
minous document  of  over  five  hundred  pages, 
containing  photographs  of  prize-winners, 
poems  and  stories  which  have  been  awarded 
prizes  or  honorable  mention  by  the  committee 
of  competent  literary  men,  and  greetings  in 
French,  Provencal,  Spanish,  Swedish,  Czech, 
Dutch  and  German.  Of  all  the  great  world- 
languages  English  alone  is  so  far  unrepre- 
sented. 


The  celebration  at  Cologne  is  a  picturesque 
affair.  It  is  conducted  with  all  the  pomp  of 
a  high  mass.  Representatives  of  the  Gennan 
student  bodies  in  their  many-colored  costumes 
strangely  contrast  with  more  soberly  clad  vis- 
itors from  all  parts  of  the  world — from  Ger- 
many, France  and  Spain,  from  iht  Mazanares 
and  from  the  blue  Adriatic.  The  hall  is  filled 
with  beautiful  ladies  in  festive  garments,  all 
adorned  with  flowers.  Flowers  are  everywhere. 
In  the  center  of  the  "Gurzenich"  rises  the  gold- 
en throne  decked  with  roses,  palms  and  laurel. 
It  is  surmounted  by  a  canopy  bearing  the  in- 


Coityrtght  1905,  by  E.  H.  BJaabfield.     Photo  by  Inalee  ft  Deck  Cu. 

"WESTWARD' 
(Painting  by  E.  H.  Blashfield  in  the  Iowa  State  Capitol.) 


LITERATURE  AND  ART 


621 


Oo^Ti«ht  ISOS,  W  KenyoD  Cox.    Pboto  by  De  W.  O.  Ward. 


"HERDING" 
(Paintini;  by  Kenyon  Cox  in  the  Iowa  State  Capitol.) 


signia  of  the  cities  of  Barcelona  and  Cologne, 
and  the  initials  of  the  Queen  in  letters  of  vio- 
lets, surrounded  by  an  oval  of  heliotrope  upon 
a  background  of  white  anemones.  To  the 
right  and  left  are  grouped  the  maids  of  honor 
with  their  flowers.    Then  sonorous  peals  issue 


from  the  mouth  of  the  great  church  organ. 
All  eyes  are  turned  toward  the  Flower  Queen, 
who  enters,  conducted  by  the  Herald  of  the 
Festival  and  the  venerable  Dr.  Fastenrath,  as- 
sumes her  seat  on  the  throne  and  distributes 
the  prizes. 


MURAL  DECORATION— AN  ART  FOR  THE  PEOPLE 


"The  future  great  art  of  this  republic,  as 
far  as  it  is  expressed  in  painting,  will  find  its 
complete  and  full  development  on  the  walls 
of  our  public  buildings."  This  prediction, 
made  recently  by  an  American  art  critic,  is 
not  unreasonable  in  view  of  present  tenden- 
cies in  the  artistic  world.  Such  well-known 
American  artists  as  John  La  Farge,  Edwin 
H.  Blashfield,  F.  D.  Millet  and  Kenyon  Cox 
are  devoting  a  larger  and  larger  share  of  their 
time  to  mural  painting.  In  our  Eastern  cities 
there  already  exist  many  notable  examples  of 
decorative  work.  Washington  has  its  superb 
Congressional  Library,  and  Boston  its  Public 
Library  embellished  by  Puvis  de  Chavannes, 
Abbey  and  Sargent.  Bowdoin  College,  in 
Maine,  boasts  of  four  beautiful  mural  paint- 
ings. A  bank  in  Pittsburg  gave  Blashfield  and 
Millet  commissions  for  large  lunettes.  The 
criminal  and  appellate  courts  in   New  York 


and  several  hotels  in  Chicago,  New  York  and 
Boston  are  similarly  decorated.  The  Balti- 
more Court-house  has  lately  acquired  a  num- 
ber of  panels  by  C.  Y.  Turner,  commemorating 
"The  Burning  of  the  I'eggy  Stuart;*  and  R.  T. 
Willis  has  made  for  the  Second  Battalion 
Armory  in  Brooklyn  decorative  designs  show- 
ing the  sea  battles  between  the  Serapis  and  the 
Bonhomme  Richard  and  the  escape  of  the  Con- 
stitution. And  now,  on  a  larger  scale  than  has 
been  attempted  before  in  this  country,  two 
Western  State  Capitols — ^those  of  Minnesota 
and  Iowa — have  engaged  the  efforts  of  our  best 
mural  painters.  All  of  which,  as  a  writer  in 
The  Craftsman  (April)  points  out,  makes  for 
democracy  in  art;  for  while  easel  pictures  too 
often  go  to  the  costly  private  collections  of 
connoisseurs,  "the  paintings  on  the  walls  of 
public  buildings  are  for  the  people,  and  to  the 
people  they  chiefly  appeal  because  of  beautiful 


622 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


Copyright  1906.  by  John  La  Farge. 

"THE  RECORDING  OF  PRECEDENTS:    CONFUCIUS  AND  HIS  PUPILS  COLLATE  AND  TRAN- 
SCRIBE DOCUMENTS  IN  THEIR  FAVORITE  GROVE" 
(Paintins:  by  JohD  La  Farge  in  the  Supreme  Court  Room  of  the  Minnesota  State  Capitol.) 


symbolism  or  vivid  recording  of  some  historic 
event  of  which  the  nation  or  the  State  is  justly 
proud." 

The  new  State  Capitol  of  Minnesota,  pro- 
nounced by  Kenyon  Cox  "one  of  the  most 
beautiful  and  imposing  of  modern  classic 
buildings,"  is  the  work  of  the  well-known  New 
York  architect,  Mr.  Cass  Gilbert.  The  beauty 
of  the  structure  and  of  its  decorations  will  be 
it  is  believed,  when  completed,  unequaled  else- 
where in  the  country.  It  is  to  be  a  marble  pal- 
ace, constructed  at  a  cost  of  four  million  dol- 
lars. The  color  scheme  and  the  decorations  for 
the  walls  of  the  entire  building  were  planned 
by  Mr.  Gilbert,  the  beautiful  marbles  and 
bronzes,  the  sculpture,  even  carpets,  the  furni- 
ture and  the  curtains  being  the  choice  of  his 
artistic  judgment.  All  were  selected  with  the 
same  end  in  view — the  erection  of  a  building 
of  harmonious  beauty.  Throughout  the  rotun- 
da, the  corridors,  and  the  rooms  there  is  a  per- 
fect rhythm  of  color.  Even  the  predominating 
colors  in  the  individual  mural  paintings  were 
suggested  to  the  various  artists  who  painted 
them,  so  that  all  the  pictures  blend  with  the 
general  scheme  of  decoration,  and  there  has 
been  a  complete  collaboration  of  architect, 
sculptor  and  painter.  Throughout  the  build- 
ing there  are  mural  paintings  of  superior 
merit  by  La  Farge,  Blashfield,  Millet,  Cox, 
H.  O.  Walker,  E.  E.  Simmons,  R.  F.  Zogbaum, 
Douglas  Volk,  and  Howard  Pyle. 

The  four  paintings  by  Mr.  La  Farge  are  in 


the  Supreme  Court  room.    They  are  described 
as  follows  by  Grace  Whitworth: 

The  pictures  are  both  symbolic  and  realistic. 
They  relate  to  law  and  represent  distinct  and 
successive  periods  in  the  history  of  its  advance- 
ment. The  first  of  the  group  is  "The  Moral  and 
Divine  Law."  The  painting  is  of  a  rough  and  rug- 
ged mountain,  representing  Mount  Sinai,  to  the 
summit  of  which  Moses  and  Aaron  have  ascend- 
ed. In  the  center  of  the  picture  is  the  figure  of 
Moses,  kneeling  with  arms  outstretched,  receiv- 
ing the  Law  of  the  Commandments.  Mr.  La 
Farge's  intent  is  to  typify  "the  forces  of  nature 
and  the  human  conscience." 

In  the  second  painting,  "The  Relation  of  the 
Individual  to  the  State,"  Mr.  La  Farge  has  rep- 
resented an  imaginative  but  typical  scene  from 
Plato's  "Republic."  Socrates  is  portrayed  in  con- 
versation with  the  sons  of  Cephalus  and  a  friend, 
the  particular  subject  of  the  discussion  being 
Socrates'  argument  that  "the  true  artist  in  pro- 
ceeding according  to  his  art  does  not  do  the  best 
for  himself,  nor  consult  his  own  interests,  but 
that  of  his  subject."  The  scene  of  the  paint- 
ing is  a  bright,  out-of-door  one,  and  the  impor- 
tant figures  in  the  painting  are  informally  ar- 
ranged. At  the  right  of  the  canvas  is  a  slave  girl, 
with  tambourine,  who  has  chanced  along;  and 
beyond  is  a  glimpse  of  a  charioteer  and  his  pranc- 
ing horses.  Mr.  La  Farge  has  wished  "to  convey 
in  a  typical  manner  the  serenity  and  good  nature 
which  is  the  note  of  the  famous  book  and  of 
Greek  thought  and  philosophy, — an  absolutely 
free  discussion  of  the  interdependence  of  men. 

Another  painting  is  "The  Recording  of  Prec- 
edents." "Believing  and  loving  the  ancients, 
Confucius  was  a  transmitter  and  not  a  maker," — 
and  this  great  commentator  Mr.  La  Farge  has 
selected  as  the  best  t>T)e  for  the  subject  of  his 
third  lunette. 


LITERATURE  AND  ART 


623 


Copyright  1905,  by  John  JLi  Fatge. 

"THE  ADJUSTMENT  OP  CONFLICTING  INTERESTS:    COUNT  RAYMOND  OF  TOULOUSE 

SWEARS,  IN  THE  PRESENCE  OF  THE  BISHOP,  TO  OBSERVE  THE 

LIBERTIES  OP  THE  CITY" 

(Painting:  by  John  La  Parge  in  the  Supreme  Court  Room  of  the  Minnesota  State  Capitol.) 


The  painting  represents  a  Chinese  garden  sit- 
uated on  the  bank  of  a  river.  Confucius  and  three 
of  his  disciples  are  comparing  and  recopying  the 
writings  of  their  predecessors.  At  the  extreme 
left  are  a  number  of  other  manuscripts  which  a 
messenger  has  just  delivered  to  the  great  philos- 
opher. The  Chinese  musical  instrument  called 
the  "kin,"  upon  which  it  was  Confucius's  habit 
to  play  before  discussion,  is  lying  on  the  ground 
before  him.  The  purpose  of  this  painting  has  been 
to  express  a  method  of  instruction  different  from 
that  of  verbal  argument  denoted  in  the  Greek 
picture. 

In  the  last  of  the  series,  "The  Adjustment  of 
Conflicting  Interests,"  Mr.  La  Farge  has  selected 
Count  Ra>'mond  of  Toulouse  as  a  type  of  the 
rnedieval  ruler,  confronted  with  conflicting  po- 
litical and  ecclesiastical  dissensions.  The  paint- 
ing represents  the  interior  of  a  church.  Before 
the  altar  are  grouped  the  bishop,  priests,  and  civic 
maR^istrates.  Count  Raymond  is  swearing  in  their 
presence  to  heed  the  rights  of  the  city.  "These 
chiefs,"  explains  Mr.  La  Farge,  "represent  or- 
ganized bodies  that  meet  in  a  form  of  war, 
wherein  strict  law  is  observed  and  ethical  justice 
is  no  longer  the  theme." 

Many  months  of  study  and  labor  have  been 
given  by  Mr.  La  Farge  to  these  paintings. 
He  is  now  seventy  years  of  age,  but  he  is  still 
to  be  found,  usually,  in  his  studio  at  nine 
o'clock — the  studio  in  which  he  has  worked 
for  fort7-seven  years.  The  Confucius  lunette 
(reprorfuced  here)  has  been  of  intense  interest 
to  him  and  upon  the  subject  of  this  painting 
alone  he  has  read  thousands  of  pages.     He 


commissioned  two  Chinese  scholars  to  trans- 
late for  him  many  of  the  early  Chinese  works, 
and  advised  with  a  third  who  has  recently 
been  in  China  searching  the  first  records  of 
that  country's  history.  Forty  thousand  dol- 
lars were  paid  to  Mr.  La  Farge  for  his  four 
paintings.  In  depth  of  intellectual  influence 
and  artistic  impressiveness,  they  undoubtedly 
outrank  any  murals  that  he  has  ever  produced. 
The  most  recent  mural  paintings  by  Mr. 
Edwin  H.  Blashfield  are  those  for  Minnesota's 
new  State  Capitol  and  Iowa's  remodeled 
Capitol.  Two  of  these  paintings  constitute 
the  principal  decoration  of  the  Senate  Cham- 
ber in  the  Minnesota  building.  They  .are  large 
lunettes,  each  measuring  thirty-five  feet  across 
the  base.  They  are  described  as  follows  by 
Miss  Whitworth: 

One  lunette,  entitled  "The  Discoverers  and  the 
Civilizers  led  to  the  Source  of  the  Mississippi," 
has  in  the  center  a  cluster  of  wide-spreading  pine 
trees,  beneath  which  is  seated  the  great  spirit, 
Manitou.  Beside  him  is  an  urn  symbolic  of  the 
source  of  the  Mississippi  River.  From  the  urn 
flows  a  narrow  stream  of  water  that  spreads  wider 
and  wider  in  its  outward  flow.  At  the  feet  of 
the  Great  Spirit,  rising  from  out  the  rush  and 
soray  of  water,  are  an  Indian  youth  and  maiden. 
At  the  right  are  French  and  English  discoverers 
led  by  the  spirit  of  Enterprise.  In  the  left-side 
group  are  types  of  colonists  who  became  Western 
civilizers.  A  priest  among  them  offers  a  crucifix 
to  the  Indian  woman,  and  over  them  all  is  the 


624 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


Copjrifht  1905,  ^  E.  H.  Bluhfleld.     Phi»to  by  Inale«  ft  Deck  Co.  .     - 

"THE  DISCOVBRBRS  AND  CIVILIZERS  LED  TO  TttE  SOURCE  OP  t HE  MISSISSIPPI* 
(Painting  by  B.  H.  Blashfield  in  the  Senate  Chamber  of  the  Minnesota  State  Capitol.) 


winged  figure  of  CivilizatioiL  At  either  extreme 
of  Uie  painting  are  a  sledge  and  a  light-boat— 
the  vehicles  whidi  were  the  first  to  open  up  the 
Northwest 

Mr.  Blashfield  has  named  his  second  painting 
"Minnesota,  the  Grain  State."  There  is  an  im- 
posing central  group  of  several  figures — ^the  prin- 
cipal one  being  that  of  a  woman  representing 
Minnesota.  She  is  seated  on  a  load  of  wheat- 
sheafs,  drawn  by  two  white  oxen.  Hovering 
about  her  are  two  ideal  figures  protecting  her 
with  their  widespread  wings  and  holding  over 
her  head  a  crown  typical  of  the  triumph  of 
Minnesota  as  a  grain  State.  The  two  figures  on 
each  side  of  the  oxen  serve  as  decorative  objects 
in  the  composition  of  this  central  group.  Just  in 
advance  of  the  oxen  is  a  spirit-child  bearing  a 
tablet  with  the  inscription,  "Hie  est  Minnesota 
Granarium  Mundi."  The  group  at  the  right  is 
meant  to  be  suggestive  of  the  Civil  War  epoch 
and  of  Minnesota  at  the  beginning  of  her  State- 
hood. Here  are  the  figures  of  several  soldiers, 
old  and  young,  and  in  their  midst  is  an  army  nurse 
carrying  9.  basket  filled  with  rolls  of  bandages. 
Above  floats  the  spirit  of  Patriotism,  a  helmeted 
figure,  holding  in  her  hands  the  sword  and  palms 
of  victory.  In  tiie  left  section  of  the  painting 
are  several  other  realistic  figures  expressive  of 
the  Minnesota  of  to-day.  At  this  end  of  the  pic- 
ture is  a  reaping  machine,  its  operator  motmted 
for  action.  Near  him  are  father,  mother  and 
child  leaning  against  a  huge  sack  of  flour.  The 
symbolical  and  realistic  are  again  mingled  in  this 
group,  for  above  the  human  types  glides  the 
spirit  of  Agriculture,  holding  in  outstretched  arms 
stalks  of  wheat  and  corn  which  she  eagerly  offers 
to  the  figure  enthroned  upon  the  loadf  of  wheat 
The  men  and  women  on  both  sides  of  the  painting 
are  intenUy  gazing  at  the  central  figure,  Minne- 
sota. In  Uie  baciqen^oimd  on  the  left  looms  the 
dome  of  the  new  Capitol  building.  The  dom- 
inatiiig  compositional  pattern  of  the  picture  is 
the  festoon  expressed  m  light  colors  against  the 


darker  background.  All  degrees  of  white  are 
used — creamy  white,  cold  blue  white,  chalky  white, 
greenish  and  pinkish  whites.  The  figure  of 
Minnesota  is  draped  in  white,  and  over  her 
knees  falls  a  covering  of  gold  brocade.  The  float- 
ing robes  of  the  spirits  are  painted  in  red,  shot 
with  silver.  These  figures  with  their  beautiful 
pink-white  wings  appear  most  brilliant  against 
the  deq)  bhie  of  the  sky. 

Mr.  filashfield's  "Westward,"  reproduced  here- 
with and  painted  for  the  recently  remodeled  Iowa 
State  Capitol  building,  is  a  wondrous  composi- 
tion in  subject,  in  color,  and  in  esmanse.  It  is 
forty  feet  long  and  fourteen  feet  high,  and  is 
placed  on  the  wall  of  the  building  at  uie  landing 
of  the  main  stairway.  The  painting  represents  the 
pioneers  traveling  toward  the  West.  In  the  cen- 
ter of  the  canvas  is  a  large  caravan  drawn  by  a 
double  team  of  oxen.  Some  of  the  women  and 
children  are  riding  in  the  wagon,  and  others  arc 
walking  beside  it  with  the  stalwart  men.  One 
note  of  especial  interest  to  lowans  is  that  of  the 
central  figure  on  the  wa^on,  which  represents 
a  Des  Moines  girl.  Leading  the  oxen  are  the 
spirits  of  Enlightenment  carrying  an  open  book 
and  a  shield,  the  latter  bearing  the  coat  of  arms 
of  the  State.  Two  other  spirits  hold  a  basket 
from  which  they  are  scattering  the  seeds  of  Civ- 
ilization. In  the  rear  of  the  caravan  are  two 
spirits  symbolizing  other  degrees  of  Progress. 
They  carry  small  models  of  the  stationary  steam- 
engine  and  the  electric  dynamo.  At  the  lower 
right  comer  of  the  painting  is  the  standing  corn, 
suggestive  of  the  very  fringe  of  civilization  which 
the  travelers  are  leaving,  and,  at  the  lower  left 
corner  the  wildness  of  the  unsettled  country 
toward  which  they  move  is  typified  in  the  huge 
buffalo  skull  that  looms  above  the  extremely 
short  grass  of  the  Western  plains.  This  picture 
is  painted  in  large,  simple  planes  of  creamy  white 
and  exquisite  orange  and  bhies.  The  hour  of  the 
painting  is  twilight  and  Mr.  Blashfield  has  caught 
the  beautiful  glowing  colors  and  the  mysterious 


LITERATURE  AND  ART 


625 


deep  blue  shadows  of  sky  and  plain  to  be  seen 
lingering  over  the  unlimited  Western  prairies. 

Soon  after  the  painting  had  been  placed 
in  the  Capitol  building  a  few  lowans  dis- 
covered that,  according  to  teamster  tradition, 
the  man  driving  the  oxen  was  guiding  them 
from  the  wrong  side  of  the  wagon,  a  detail 
that  aroused  some  good-natured  newspaper 
comment  "I  was  quite  well  aware,"  says  the 
artist,  "that  the  left  side  was  the  one  on  which 
the  driver  should  have  been  placed,  but  to 
make  the  painting  compositionally  agreeable 


it  was  necessary  to  put  the  teamster  on  the 
other  side  of  the  wagon." 

Such  a  criticism  is  a  small  point  of  difference 
to  bring  forth  when  contemplating  the  entirety 
of  so  beautifully  composed  and  executed  a 
painting.  The  picture  is  realistic  as  well  as 
symbolic,  but  an  artistic  painting  is  seldom  an 
exact  copy  of  nature.  Art  is  the  significance 
of  truth.  In  this  deeply  interesting  painting, 
not  accuracy  of  detail,  but  the  spirit  of  Hero- 
ism and  Progress  possessed  by  the  State's  fore- 
fathers should  be  the  all-absorbing  theme. 


THE  ULTIMATE  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  ART 


Whistler  defined  art  as  "the  Science  of  the 
Beautiful^"  and  many  of  us  have  thoughtlessly 
echoed  the  definition.  But  as  Haldane  Mac- 
fall,  an  English  writer,  points  out  in  a  brilliant 
little  book  just  published,^  art  is  really  no  such 
thing.  It  is  not  science  and  it  is  not  neces- 
sarily beauty;  and  the  above  definition  par- 
takes of  the  "wisdom  of  the  wiseacres  who 
defined  a  crab  as  a  scarlet  reptile  that  walks 
backwards — ^which  were  not  so  bad,  had  it 
been  a  reptile,  had  it  been  scarlet,  and  had  it 
walked  backwards."     Mr.  Macfall  continues: 

"Art  concerns  itself  with  tears  and  pathos  and 
tragedy  and  ugliness  and  greyness  and  the  agonies 
of  life  as  mudh  as  with  laughter  and  comedy  and 
beauty. 

"Neither  Whistler  nor  another  has  the  right  to 
narrow  the  acreage  of  the  garden  of  life.    What 
concern  has  Shakespeare  with  beauty?     In  thf 
Book  that  Shakespeare  wrote,  beauty  is  not  K 
god — beauty  is  not  his  ultimate  aim.    Is  jeal^i^ 
beautiful?    Yet  'Othello'  is  great  art    Is 
ineffectual    struggle    against    destiny    be^^" 
Yet  'Hamlet'   is  rightfy   accounted  the  /"^ 
piece  of  the  ages.    Are  hate  and  despair  .<|IV;:' 
beautiful?    It  has  been  written  that  Mp'^^  J^" 
ing  of  a  Hog'  is  beautiful    It  is  whr{  ^°^^' 
tiful.    Had  Millet  made  ft  beautifu;?^,  ^^^  "^- 
tered   the   stupidest   of  lies,     Nc'*i5?ii^^'    - 
statement  of  it  may  heart.    Inde^'  T^^^  ?'"^ 
in  art,  a  large  part  of  his  signiCf  M^,*f*'  >sa 
protest  against  the  orttiness  oCr^J^^^'    ^« 
took  thc^ earth,   th«  Rreat-L^j^^ ,^^,, *«d  ^« 
wrought  with  a  mister's  ste;f  5"^  !S!,-?!^'''.**S'* 
the  toTagcdy  and  tfe  might^^^*;,^^^^^  ^^^^ 
earth  iid  of  th^i  ^^t  ^J^^^  ^^^^.V'^ 
'Man  with  the-Hoe'  isfj^^l^^^  ^^Itl^'^T 
it  holds  the/ast  cmo^^s  of  mans  d^^^^     to 
labor,  and  H  man's  r-ePtance  of  that  destiny; 
h  utterT  tife  ugHne&'^s  ^^?,d>y  ?s  '*  states  the 
Luty  of  Ae  e7rth?,^^tod'  and  it  mort  rightly 
utter^Sese  things,^  ^»^  ^^  ^'tsht  take  equal 


s 
? 
ter- 
:ad  fear 


•WHlsn^R.      By  *^^*°*    Macfall.      John    W.    Luce 
Coii^Miy. 

/ 
/ 

/ 


rank,  and  thereby  add  to  Jur  knowledge  of  the 
emotions  of  life  through  -he  master's  power  and 
the  beauty  of  craft^najt^hip  whereby  he  so  sol- 
emnly uttered  the  truth 

Art,  says  Mr.  Ma^^all,  is  not  an  oil-painting 
on  canvas  in  a  g[>t  frame.  It  is  not  the  ex- 
clusive toy  of  a  ^cw  prigs,  nor  the  password 
of  a  cult  ijrt  is  universal,  eternal— not 
parochial.  I'  ^s  *^^  emotional  statement  of 
life.  Evervnian  is  an  artist  in  his  degree — 
every  mar*s  moved  by  art  in  his  degree.  To 
conclude  / 

«It  .as  exactly  in  his  confusion  of  /art  with 
beau^  "***  Whistler  fell  short  of  the  vi^nesses. 
Thf.^  *^^  ^  greater  emotions  than  mere  beiluty ; 
ap.  It  was  just  in  these  very  majestic  qualities,  ih 
^e  sense  of  the  sublime  and  of  the  immensities, 
/Cfore  whidi  his  exquisite  and  subtle  genius  stood 
mute.    But  at  least  one  of  the  greater  senses  was 
given  to  him  in  abundance— the  sense  of  mystery. 
He  never  'sucked  ideas  dry.'     His  splendid  in- 
stmct  told  him  that  suggestion  was  the  soul  of 
craftsmanship,  and  he  never  overstated  the  de- 
tails of  life.    Out  of  the  mystic  twilight  he  caught 
the  haunting  sense  of  its  half-revelation  and  its 
elusiveness  with  an   exquisite  emotional  use  of 
color;  and  in  the  seeing  he  caught  a  glimpse  of 
the  hem  of  the  garment  of  God. 

"For  when  all's  said  and  the  last  eager  craving 
denied,  it  is  all  a  mystery,  this  splendid  wayfar- 
ing thing  that  we  call  life;  and  it  is  well  so,  lest 
the  reason  reel. 

"That  which  is  set  down  in  clear  fulness;  that 
of  which  the  knowledge  is  completely  exhausted, 
shall  not  satisfy  the  hunger  of  the  imag- 
ination—for  the  imagination  leaps  beyond  it.  That 
which  is  completely  stated  stands  out  clear  and 
precise;  we  know  the  whole  tale;  it  is  finished. 
But  that  which  stands  amidst  the  shadows,  with 
one  foot  withdrawn,  that  which  is  half  hid  in 
the  mysteries  of  the  unknown,  holds  the  imagina- 
tion and  compels  it. 

''If  man  once  peeped  within  the  half-open  door 
and  saw  his  God,  where  He  sits  in  His  Majes^- 
though  the  vision  blinded  him,  his  imagir- V 
would  create  a  greater    .    .    /' 


re 


Music  and  the  Drama 


MAX  REGER:  A  NEW  PROBLEM  IN  MUSIC 


"Max  Reger  is  the  musical  hero  of  the  day," 
says  a  writer  in  Die  Musik  (Berlin).  It  would 
be  more  accurate  to  say  that  he  is  the  musical 
problem  of  the  day,  for  the  most  varied  opin- 
ions in  regard  to  his  work  are  expressed.  Ger- 
many is  seldom  without  its  musical  problem. 
The  day  before  yesterday  it  was  Wagner ;  yes- 
terday it  was  Richard  Strauss;  today  it  is 
Max  Reger.  By  some  of  the  critics  Reger  is 
hailed  as  a  genius  of  the  first  order  and  the 
founder  of  a  nev»  school  of  music;  others 
speak  of  his  competitions  as  "ragged,  hag- 
gard, deformed  monstsosities." 

For  some  years  Max  Reger  has  held  a  po- 
sition  as    Professor   of  Counterpoint   in    the 
Munich  Conservatory.     Hv  has  just  resigned 
his  chair,  at  the  age  of  thii^-three,  in  order 
to    devote    his    time   to    contjosition.      Some 
ninety  works — songs,  sonatas,  Wan  works,  a 
'*Sinfonietta"  for  orchestra— alr\cly  stand  to 
his   credit.     "Reger   evenings"   aVT  given   in 
German  concert  halls,  and  have  le\to  fierce 
controversies.      "In    Munich   they   n\ionger 
fight  about  Strauss,"  says  Mr.  H.  T.Vnck, 
of  the  New  York  Evening  Post;  "he  is  \cse, 
<iethroned,  discarded— a  victim  of  what  \w 
seems   his   Bellinian   mania   for  kindergart\ 
•simplicity  in  orchestral   construction.     Rege 
is  now  the  leader  of  the  band  of  unmelodious 
composers  who  make  a  sport  and  specialty  of 
writing      dissonantal      concatenations."      Mr. 
Finck  goes  on  to  recount  the  following  anec- 
sdote : 

"During  and  after  a  recent  concert  at  which 
his  'Sinfonietta'  was  played,  thmgs  happened  that 
caused  the  Miinchener  Post  to  say  that  the  Reger 
disease  is  assuming  the  aspect  of  a  musical  epi- 
demic dangerous  to  the  community.  There  was 
a  disturbance  at  the  concert,  and  afterwards  a 
band  of  young  men  paraded  the  streets  with 
torches;  thev  serenaded.  Reger,  and  also  Mottl, 
who  had  conducted  the  'Sinfonietta  ;  then  they 
provided  themselves  with  tin  horns  and  kettles, 
and  had  a  charivari  before  the  house  of  a  cntic 
who  had  spoken  disrespectfully  of  Reger.  tint 
the  critic  got  even  with  them.  The  next  day  he 
printed  this  notice:  T  herewith  desire  ]o  express 
my  cordial  thanks  to  those  members  of  the  Max 
Reger  community  who  rejoiced  me,  on  the  night 
of  February  9,  with  a  serenade,  in  which,  so  far 
as  I  could  make  out,  fragments  from  the  master's 
'  'Sinfonietta'  were  reproduced  in  a  highly  char- 
doiA^«.]^istic  manner.' " 
Sc^tooflerely  in  Germany,  but  also  in  Eng- 


land and  this  country,  Max  Reger's  music  is 
exciting  the  liveliest  interest.  Mr.  Richard 
Aldrich,  of  the  New  York  Times,  commenting 
on  the  examples  of  Reger's  art  that  have  been 
heard  in  New  York  during  the  past  winter, 
says:  "It  is  impossible  to  make  even  a  pro- 
visional estimate  of  Reger  from  the  few  works 
that  have  been  heard  here.  .  .  .  But  it  is 
an  interesting  career  to  watch,  even  at  a 
distance."  Mr.  Frederic  S.  Law,  a  writer  in 
the  Boston  Musician,  comments: 

"Reger  appears  to  be  a  problem  of  more  than 
usual  difficulty.  Some  deduce  a  plus  result  and 
hail  him  as  the  greatest  of  his  time.  Others  can 
obtain  nothing  but  a  minus  answer  and  find  him 
incomprehensible,  not,  as  they  maintain,  on  ac- 
count of  exceptional  depth  in  his  ideas  or  their 
novel  and  original  musical  treatment,  but  because 
he  has  nothing  to  say  and  says  it  badly. 

"One  of  the  latest  pebbles  thrown  into  the 
pool  of  criticism  has  been  his  sonata  for  violin 
and  piano.  Op.  72.  One  authority  pronounces  this 
*a  thoroughly  wonderful  work,  leading  us  into 
worlds  of  feeling  before  untrodden  and  opening 
vistas,  new,  great,  and  astonishing.'  Others  as 
fully  accredited  say  that  it  shows  no  organic 
unity;  that  its  thoughts  are  wandering  and  ob- 
scure; that  its  ideas  are  incoherent  and  have  no 
relation  to  each  other. 

"These  latter  dicta  have  a  familiar  sound. 
They  and  others  similarly  phrased  are  to  be 
found  as  far  back  as  the  history  of  music  can 
ke  us.  The  clear,  transparent  Haydn  was  at 
^  time  considered  heavy  and  complex  in  iii- 
^Npientation ;  Mozart  was  reproached  with  hav- 
"^^aced  his  statue  in  the  orchestra  and  his 
pedd^  on  the  stage, — the  accusation  still  hurled 
^8^^*"\\Vagner.  As  we  have  long  ago  cleared 
the  io%r  of  the  charge,  so  the  end  of  the  cen- 
tury wil\.Q|j^jjjy  f^j^^  ^g  other  also  pronounced 
not  guiltvV 

We  sho\  ijg^j.  -j^  mind  that  such  comments 
otten  signiiyv  jj^^  g^  |  ^  extension  of  con- 
ventional hmV  ^  hitherto  unsuspected  scheme 
of  relations  alNT^j^i^j,  seem  arbitrary  and  far 
fetched   to   thos^-    ^^  ^^^^  ^^  ^^    •„ 

l^^''  uT^i1%  S^    1^^^    of   the    study    and 
thought  which  mak^^^  3^^^^^  ^^^^^^  ^^  ^j^^j^ 

origmator.     Whethei\^        -^  .^  ^^^^^ 

^"^''^i  ^f^^o  tJ^f  oS^  "^w  century  may  be 
safely  left  to  time.    OnK^      .        -^    (.  ^^^  j^j 

is   an   aggressive   artisti\jemperanicnt   and   one 
that  justifies  expectation  V  ^he  fmure." 

Ernest  Newman,  the  Vn.kno^^  English 
critic,  takes  a  decidedly  Vpgatory  view  of 
Reger's  talents.  Writing  oi^g  gongs  (in  the 
Boston  Musician),  he  says :  ^  "^ 

"Reger  is  unquestionably  an  lasting  and  in 


\ 


MUSIC  AND  THE  DRAMA 


627 


some  respects  a  powerful  personality.  Let  us  be- 
gin by  saying  the  best  we  can  of  him.  In  his 
early  songs,  such  as  those  of  Op.  4,  Op.  8,  Op.  12, 
and  Op.  15,  we  can  see  a  young  man  of  a  rather 
forcible  temperament,  anxiously  striving  to  be 
original  as  no  one  has  ever  been  before.  The 
work  is  occasionally  not  pleasing,  the  melodies  be- 
ing undistinguished,  the  harmonic  and  other  pro- 
cedure too  deliberately  sophisticated,  and  the  feel- 
ing too  often  dull;  but  here  and  there  one  comes 
across  a  song  that  is  natural,  sincere,  and  impres- 
sive, such  as  'Gliick'  (Op.  15,  No.  i),  or  fanciful 
and  charming,  like  the  'Nelken'  (Op.  15,  No.  3). 
Even  in  his  later  work,  if  you  are  fortunate 
enoiigh  in  your  selections,  you  will  find  a  fair 
number  of  songs  either  of  a  simplicity  that  lets 
you  grasp  them  at  once,  or  of  an  apparent  com- 
plexity that  soon  vanishes  if  you  take  a  little  trou- 
ble over  them.  .  .  .  But  we  work  on  and  on, 
through  another  fifty  or  sixty  Lieder,  and  grad- 
ually we  come  to  the  conclusion  that  after  all 
Max  Reger  is  not  a  born  song-writer,  and  that, 
if  the  truth  were  told,  he  is  doing  the  form  rather 
more  harm  than  good  by  the  way  he  handles  it. 
We  see  that  instead  of  being  the  master  of  his 
own  complex  harmonies  he  is  really  the  slave  of 
them.  They  are  too  abstruse,  too  alembicated, 
for  him  to  carry  on  the  same  train  of  thought  for 
more  than  a  bar  or  two;  so  that  the  song  as  a 
whole  lacks  homogeneity.  He  begins  with  a  text 
that  he  forgets  all  about  before  he  has  reached 
his  sixth  bar,  and  ends  on  a  topic  that  had  never 
entered  his  head  when  he  began  to  write.  There 
should  be  no  waste  matter  in  the  song ;  everything 
that  appears  should  bear  in  the  closest  way  on 
what  has  gone  before  and  what  comes  after, — ^an 
esthetic  principle  that  Reger  too  rarely  bears  in 
mind.  The  value  of  a  song  by  Hugo  Wolf,  for 
example,  is  that  no  matter  how  long  or  how  com- 
plex It  is,  it  is  dominated  throughout  by  one  cen- 
tral conception,  which  we  can  see  clearly  from 
every  point  of  the  song.  His  music  is  *fliougbt 
out*  like  Beethoven's,^-that  is,  no  matter  how  rap- 
idly it  is  conceived  and  executed,  it  is  based  on  a 
fundamental  logic  of  the  emotions  that  becomes 
more  convincing  to  us  the  more  often  we  examine 
it.  The  majority  of  Reger's  songs  cannot  stand 
such  a  test  as  this.  Their  light  shines  intermit- 
tently; their  wisdom  consists  of  scattered  apho- 
risms, that  do  not  compose  into  an  organic  whole." 

Mr.  Newman  sums  up  the  argument: 

"On  the  whole,  then,  as  we  survey  Reger's 
hundred  songs  in  their  totality,  we  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  his  is  too  factitious,  too  theatrical 
a  talent  for  this  kind  of  work.  His  hits  hardly 
count  against  his  misses;  and  to  make  such  misses 
as  he  has  done  if  conclusive  against  his  having 
any  inborn  faculty  for  song-expression.  It  is 
almost  pathetic  to  think  of  the  vast  number  of 
black  notes  hefias  put  on  paper  and  the  relatively 
small  outlet  rfie  hurnan  soul  finds  through  them. 
He  is  too  s^lf-conscious,  too  bent  on  dazzHng  us 
with  his  fow  of  language,  on  subduing  us  by 
any  means  but  those  of  simplicity  and  truth. 
He  is  the  Cagliostro  of  the  song, — a  Cagliostro 
who  occasionally  lapses  into  sincerity." 

A  writer  in  London  Truth  finds  much  both 
to  blame  and   to    praise    in    Reger*s    music. 


THK  MAN  OP  THE  HOUR  IN  THE  MUSICAL 
WORLD 

B/  some  of  the  critics  Reger  is  proclaimed  a  genius 
of  the  first  order ;  others  speak  of  his  compositions  as 
"  ragged,  hagg^ard,  deformed  monstrosities." 

Speaking  of  a  recent  performance  of  Reger's 
sonata  for  violin  and  piano,  he  says: 

"To  a  considerable  extent  the  predominant 
impression  which  it  produces  on  a  first  acquaint- 
ance is  sheer  bewilderment — ^bewilderment  tem- 
pered by  doubt  as  to  whether  the  performers  are 
not  by  some  misunderstanding  or  other  playing 
in  different  keys.  At  times  indeed  the  effect  was 
almost  comic.  Each  seemed  to  be  playing  with 
the  utmost  determination,  gravity,  and  enthusiasm 
music  which  did  not  in  the  least  go  with  that  of 
the  other.  Or  anon  one  gained  the  impression 
that  the  music  might  be  all  right  if  the  one  per- 
former did  not  appear  to  be  a  bar  or  so  behind 
the  other  all  the  time.  Then  a  comparatively  lucid 
interval  would  bring  relief,  to  be  quickly  suc- 
ceeded once  again  by  a  long  stretch  of  seeming 
chaos  and  cacophony.  And  yet  with  it  all  there 
remained,  strange  to  say,  an  abiding  sense  of  un- 
derlying strength  and  purpose.  Herr  Reger's 
music,  if  one  may  judge  it  by  this  single  example, 
has  at  least  one  admirable  quality.  There  is 
nothing  about  it  of  the  decadent,  degenerate,  or 
morbid.  On  the  contrary,  it  leaves  a  general  im- 
pression of  abounding  vigor  and  virility.  It  is 
not  subtle  and  elusive  after  the  manner  of,  say, 
Debussy.  On  the  contrary,  among  its  leading 
characteristics  are  a  wholesome  directness  > 
forthrightness  which  seem  to  justify  to  t»-* 
tent  at  least  the  alleged  watchword  .^'  .I'e 

poser,  'Back  to  the  Classics.* " 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


Courteay  of  Tk«  Mumcal  Courier  ( New  York ). 


LISTENING  TO  MUSIC 


SYMPHONY  CONCERTS   IN  A  GREEK  THEATER 


*' Symphony  concerts  under  the  open  sky, 
though  at  midwinter,  and  given  in  a  Greek 
theater  by  a  university  orchestra  of  seventy 
professional  musicians,  before  audiences  of 
4,000  or  5,000  people" — such  is  the  new  de- 
parture reported  from  the  University  of  Cali- 
fornia. The  prime  mover  in  this  remarkaUe 
undertaking  has  been  Dr.  J.  Fred  Wolle,  al* 
ready  well  known  as  the  creator  of  the  great 
Bach  festivals  at  Bethlehem,  Pa.,  and  now 
Professor  of  Music  in  the  University  of  Cali- 
fornia. Upon  assuming  his  new  position  last 
September  he  applied  all  his  energy  to  the 
task  of  establishing  a  university  orchestra  of 
professional  musicians  which  should  maintain 
the  highest  musical  traditions  and  render  the 
noblest  compositions.  And  what  auditorium 
could  be  more  appropriate  than  the  magnifi- 
cent Greek  theater  recently  presented  to  the 
university  by  Mrs.  Phoebe  A.  Hearst? 

The  results  of  his  experiment  are  chronicled 
in  an  article  in  The  Musical  Courier  (New 
York),  from  which  we  quote: 

"For  many  years  past  San  Francisco  has  had 
a  scries  of  symphony  concerts  every  season,  with 
varying  degrees  of  artistic  and  popular  success. 
Always  the  undertaking  has  been  a  difficult  strug- 
gle, and  never  before  has  there  seemed  a  pros- 
pect  of  permanency.     As   Dr.   Wolle's   concert- 
meister  the  University  appointed  Gulio  Minetd, 
who  had  served  Fritz  Scheel  and  the  conductors 
of  other  seasons  in  San  Francisco  in  a  similar 
racity.    Into  its  orchestra  the  University  gath- 
dotiJ>gether  absolutely  the  best  professional  mu- 
inatinff   San  ^>    'cisco,  including  a  large  num- 
the  festoodT'*  *hemselvcs  directors  of  or- 


chestras,  and   the   best   soloists   and   players   of 
chamber   music  in   San   Francisco.     Among  the 
number  are  many  who  have  played  with  the  chief 
American  symphony  orchestras.     For  the  open- 
ing concert  of  the   series,   at   the  Greek  Thea- 
tre,  February   15,  more  people  came  from   San 
Francisco    to    Berkeley    than   had    ever   listened 
to     a     symphony     concert     in     San     Francisco. 
For  the  second  concert,  on  March  i,  three  times 
as  many  people  gathered  in  the  Greek  Theatre  as 
had  ever  heard  a  symphony  concert  in  California. 
There  is  an  inexpressible  delight  in  hearing  the 
masterworks  of  orchestral  music  under  such  sor- 
ro^dings  as  those  in  which  the  University  or- 
chestra plays.     In  the  rising  tiers  of  the  vast 
Greek  Theatre    are    assembled   thousands    upon 
thousands  of  eager  Hsteners.     The  orchestra  is 
ranged  t^)on   the   immense   stage  of  the  Greek 
Theatre,  and  for  a  background  is  a  stated  Doric 
columned  ttmple  front,  overhead  the  blue  sky  of 
California  midwinter,  and  all  about  a  great  for- 
est of  eucalyptus  and  cypress  trees,  with  a  glimpse 
between  the  branches  of  the  green  Berkeley  hills, 
rising  steeply  behind  the  theatre.    There  is  noth- 
ing to  intrude  on  flie  entrancing  music,  no  sound 
but  murmurs,  now  and  again,  from  the  high  tree- 
tops,  or  the  call  of  a  bkd  as  it  wings  its  way  above 
the  theatre.    This  first  series  of  symphonies  at  the 
University    of    California  consisted    of   but    six 
concerts.    While  the  musicians  devote  but  a  share 
of  their  time  to  the  service  of  the  symphony  or- 
chestra, and  for  the  most  part  play  mghtiy  in  San 
Francisco  orchestras,  yet  there  is  the  greatest  ar- 
tistic promise  in  the  work  of  tht  organization. 
There   are   four   rehearsals   each   week,  that   is, 
eight  rehearsals  for  each  of  the  symphony  con- 
certs.   For  the  very  reason  that  tke  musicians  arc 
not  required  to  play  in  the  sym^ony  orchestra 
alone,  it  is  possible  for  the  University  to  com- 
mand the  services  of  the  best  prolessiona]  mu- 
sicians  in   a   city  of  half  a   million  population. 
These  men  are  for  the  most  part  Geman  or  Ital- 
ian by  birth,  well  trained,  long  experi^ced,  and 


MUSIC  AND  THE  DRAMA 


629 


'^^w                  \_Jm 

^SlfllB^^^^^^^^ ' 

1  III  1  iiiiiwMiii^wi  ^""^"■Tr^^" 

■ .  ^MI^M 

UNDER  CALIFORNIAN  SKIES 


highly  skilled,  possessing  unu  ual  versatility,  re- 
sponsiveness and  temperament.  All  the  more  be- 
cause membership  in  the  symphony  orchestra  is 
not  their  one  occupation,  they  come  to  its  work 


with  this  enthusiasm  and  delight  inhering  in  the 
fact  that  this  is  a  longed  for  opportunity  to  ex- 
press in  the  highest  degree  their  hopes,  their  am- 
bitions and  their  artistic  ideals." 


THE  '^SONG  OF  SONGS"  AS  A  POETIC  DRAMA 


Mrs.  Mercedes  Leigh,  an  English  actress 
who  has  recently  come  to  this  country  and  has 
appeared  here  in  Oscar  Wilde's  "Salome,"  is 
presenting  in  New  York  a  dramatized  version 
of  the  "Song  of  Songs."  This  ancient  love- 
song  has  played  an  interesting  pa^^  in  literary 
and  dramatic,  as  well  as  in  theoi  /  con- 
troversy. It  was  greatly  admired  t/  ♦he, 
and  Ernest  Renan  made  it  the  basiy  ^ 

act  drama  for  which  he  invented  per\ 
structed  situations  and  built  a  more  ^e 

arbitrary  framework.     A  later  French^^ 
Jean  dc  Bonnefon,  has  converted  the 
of  Songs"  into  a  one-act  drama,  which, 
given  in  Paris  about  a  year  ago,  with  ^faoc 
moiselle   Vellini  in   the  leading  role.     Both 
M.  de  Bonnefon  and  Mrs.  Leigh  feel  that  in 
the  simplicity  of  the  one-act  play  they  have 
found  a  stronger  and  more  sincere  expression 
than    existed    in   the    complicated   drama   of 
Renan. 

In  Mrs.  Leigh's  version  the  biblical  mod^ 
and  language  arc  closely  followed.  The 
drama  resolves  itself  into  a  love  rhapsody, 
full  of  passion  and  poetic  feeling.  There  are 
practically  only  two  characters — the  Sulamite 
woman  and  King  Solomon.  The  woman  has 
been  brought  to  the  court  against  her  will. 


She  addresses  herself,  as  in  a  dream,  to  the 
shepherd  lover   she   has   left   in   her   native 
village,  and,  through  him,  to  the  cotmtry  from 
which  she  is  exiled.     Solomon  at  first  takes 
her  ardent  words  to  himself;  and  a  chorus  of 
his  court  followers  intensifies  the  situation. 
Finally  Solomon  speaks:  "I   have  compared 
thee,  O  my  love,  to  a  company  of  horses  in 
Pharaoh's^chariots.    Thy  cheeks  are  comely, 
thy  naked  neck  is  as  a  jewel,  yet  will  we 
make  for  thee  chains    of    gold    inlaid  with 
silver." 
.  The   swing  and   rhythm   of  tiie  measured 
nations    following   are   comparable   to   the 
'ts  and  responses  of  a  sacred  ceremony, 
subject  is  one  which  contains  the  qual- 
ities    "^  music,  and  in  order  to  intensify  the 
pec  scriptural  effect,  music  has  been  com- 

posea  accompany  the  drama  throughout 
Miss  Frances  Greene,  whose  music  for 
"Electra"  and  "Salome"  has  already  been 
heard  in  New  York,  is  felt  to  have  caught  the 
spirit  of  the  play  admirably.  She  expresses 
in  her  score  solemnity,  passion,  the  Oriental 
pulse  of  mystery,  by  means  of  insistent  and 
soothing  rhythms,  monotonous  melodic  phrases  ^ply 
based  on  the  richer  harmony  of  our  ni)>l  "^^^.^^^ 
Occidental  musical  development. 


^lan  nature 


630 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


An  extract  will  show  the  feeling  as  of  a 
litany  which  pervades  the  whole  piece. 

Solomon  :  Behold  thou  art  fair,  my  love,  behold  thou 
art  fair,  thou  hast  dove's  eyes. 

SULAMITE:  Behold  thou  art  fair,  my  beloved,  my 
adored  one. 

Solomon  :  I  am  the  rose  of  Sharon  and  the  lily  of  the 
valleys.  As  a  lily  among  thorns  so  is  my  love  among 
the  daughters. 

SULAMITE  :  As  the  apple  tree  among  the  trees  of  the 
wood,  so  is  my  beloved  among  the  sons.  I  sat  down 
under  his  shadow  with  great  dehght  and  his  fruit  was 
sweet  to  my  taste. 

After  this  the  chorus  begins  to  perceive  that 
it  is  of  another  than  Solomon  that  she  is 
speaking.  But  the  king  charges  them  author- 
itatively to  remain  calm,  and  the  Sulamite, 
still  in  a  dream,  does  not  hear  them,  but  is 
absorbed  in  her  ecstasy  of  love.    She  says: 

"The  voice  of  my  be- 
loved! Behold,  he  com- 
eth  leaping  upon  the 
mountains,  skipping  upon 
the  hills.  My  beloved  is 
like  a  roe,  or  a  young 
hart;  behold  he  standeth 
behind  our  wall,  he  look- 
eth  forth  at  the  win- 
dows, showing  himself 
through  the  lattice.  My 
beloved  spake  and  said 
unto  me:  Rise  up,  my 
love,  my  fair  one,  and 
come  away,  for  lo,  the 
winter  is  past,  the  rain  is 
over  and  gone;  the  flow- 
ers appear  on  the  earth; 
the  time  of  the  singing  of 
birds  is  come,  and  the 
voice  of  the  turtle  is 
heard  in  our  land. 

"The  fig  tree  putteth 
forth  her  green  figs,  the 
vineyards  are  in  bloom 
and  exhale  all  their  per- 
ftune.  Arise,  my  love,  my 
fair  one,  and  come  away. 

"O,  my  dove,  thou  art 
in  the  clefts  of  the  rocks, 
in  the  secret  places  of  the 
stairs,  let  me  see  thy 
countenance,  let  me  hear 
thy  voice ;  for  sweet  is 
thy  voice  and  thy  coun- 
tenance is  comely. 

"My  beloved  is  mine 
and  I  am  his,  he  feedeth 
his  flocks  among  the  lilies. 
Until  the  day  break  and 
the  shadows  flee  away, 
return,  my  beloved;  and 
be  thou  like  a  roe,  or  a 
young  hart,  upon  the 
mountains  of  Bether." 


>;^^    The  woman  cries  out : 
dotij^iii^ill  arise  now.    .    .    . 

!2*^*  ''l?eek  him  whom 
the  festooi^* 


my  soul  loveth,"  and  there  is  a  movement  of 
indignation  among  the  chorus,  astonished  at 
her  audacity.  But  Solomon  says:  "I  charge 
you,  O  ye  daughters  of  Jerusalem,  by  the  roes 
and  the  hinds  of  the  field,  that  ye  stir  not  up 
nor  awake  my  love  until  she  pleases."  Then 
the  chorus  sings  the  praises  of  the  king: 

"Who  is  this  that  cometh  out  of  the  wilderness 
like  pillars  of  smoke  perfumed  with  myrrh  and 
frankincense,  with  all  the  powders  of  the  mer- 
chant ? 

"Behold  his  bed  which  is  Solomon's;  three  score 

valiant  men  are  about  it  of  the  valiant  of  Israel. 

"They  all  hold  swords,  being  expert  in   war : 

every  man  hath  his  sword  upon  his  thigh,  because 

of  fear  in  the  night. 

"King  Solomon  made  himself  a  chariot  of  the 
wood  of  Lebanon.  He  made  pillars  thereof  of 
silver,  the  bottom  thereof 
of  gold,  the  covering  of 
it  of  purple;  the  midst 
thereof  being  paved  with 
love,  for  the  daughters  of 
Jerusalem. 

"Go  forth,  O  ye  daugh- 
ters of  Zion  and  behold 
King  Solomon  with  the 
crown  wherewith  his 
mother  crowned  him  in 
the  day  of  his  espousals, 
and  in  the  day  of  the 
gladness  of  his  heart." 

The  "Song  of  Songs" 
develops  in  these  large 
rhythms  into  an  emo- 
tional climax.  Little  by 
little  Solomon  compre- 
hends the  true  meaning 
of  the  appeals  of  the  girl 
to  her  absent  lover.  He 
becomes  sincerely  in 
love  with  her,  and  ad- 
dresses her  in  words 
that  match  her  own  in 
eloquence  and  inten- 
sity. The  disdain  of  the 
Sulamite  then  mounts  to 
the  height  of  insolence. 
Solomon  is  routed  in  a 
final  apostrophe.  And 
this  is  all.  It  is  the  tri- 
umph, says  M.  Bonne- 
fon,  of  the  scriptural 
narrative,  of  love  over 
venality.  It-  is  a  pam- 
phlet of  genius  against 
a  king  so  great  that  the 
pamphleteers  of  his  time 
needed  genius  them- 
selves to  understand  it. 


Copyright  1908.  by  F.  B.  Heraog. 

MRS.  MERCEDES  LEIGH 

As  the  Sulamite  woman  in  her  own  dramatic  ver- 
sion of  "  The  Song  of  Songs. "j 


MUSIC  AND  THE  DRAMA 


631 


J.  M.  BARRIE'S  TWO  NEW  FANTASIES 


Mr.  J.  M.  Barrie  might  have  called  his  two 
new  "playlets"  a  "Revue  des  Deux  Mondes," 
says  William  Archer,  the  eminent  London 
critic ;  for  the  first  of  the  two,  entitled  "Punch," 
is  a  "revue"  of  the  artistic,  and  the  second, 
"Josephine,"  of  the  political  world.  Both  are 
full  of  quaint  fantasy,  and  both  have  been  en- 
thusiastically received  at  their  first  perform- 
ances in  London.  Writing  of  the  first-named 
play  in  the  London  Tribune,  Mr.  Archer  says : 

"The  scene  of  Tunch'  is  the  home  of  that 
popular  entertainer^  the  inside  of  his  show.  On 
the  window-sill — ^his  stage — ^he  is  going  through 
his  performance,  Judy,  his  faithful  old  wife,  hand- 
ing him  his  puppets  and  generally  assisting.  But 
alas!  his  humors  have  palled  on  his  public;  they 
find  his  drama  'crude,*  and  the  curtain  falls  to 
a  chorus  of  groans  and  hisses.  Punch  is  heart- 
broken. His  artist's  pride  is  wounded,  and  he  is 
at  a  loss  to  imagine  what  the  public  wants.  They 
have  applauded  him  for  forty  years — why 
should  they  desert  him  now?  All  he  asks  is 
'praise,  praise,  praise' ;  why  should  they  refuse 
it  him?  Judy  offers  to  tear  up  her  treasured  mar- 
riage-lines and  pretend  they  are  not  married,  for 
'it's  never  serious  drama  if  they're  really  man  and 
wife' ;  but  Punch  will  by  no  means  sanction  this 
sacrifice.  Then  the  Public  enters,  incarnate  in  a 
butcher-boy,  and  declares  that  he  has  transferred 
his  allegiance — ^he  doesn't  know  why — ^to  'the  New 
Man.'  Punch  hits  the  butcher-boy  over  the  head 
with  his  staff,  and  so  commits  'his  last  murder.' 
But  then  the  New  Man,  or  Superpunch,  enters 
to  take  possession  of  the  booth;  and  on  his  head 
Punch's  staff  breaks  innocuous — the  public,  he 
explains,  tried  to  bludgeon  him  at  the  outset,  but 
found  his  head  too  hard.  The  New  Man  is,  of 
course,  made  up  to  resemble — ^rather  remotely — 
Mr.  Bernard  Shaw.  When  Punch,  admowledg- 
ing  his  defeat,  offers  to  hand  over  to  him  his 
properties  and  puppets,  the  New  Man  answers 
that  he  requires  nothing  but  'a  pot  of  ink*  (it 
should  have  been  a  type- writer)  'and  a  few  car- 
rots.' In  the  end  Superpunch  seats  himself  on  the 
window-ledge  stage,  amid  thunders  of  applause, 
while  Punch  and  Judy  beat  a  mournful  retreat. 
The  little  apologue,  though  it  may  be  called  a 
'revue'  of  to-morrow  rather  than  of  to-day,  is  full 
of  point  and  humor." 

Of  "Josephine"  Mr.  Archer  despairs  of  con- 
veying the  slightest  idea,  "unless  by  comparing 
it  to  a  dramatization  of  the  'Political  Para- 
bles* of  the  Westminster  Gazette  Ofiice  Boy." 
"There  is  no  coherent  action,"  he  declares, 
"and  the  dialogue  is  one  long  series  of  topical 
'hits,'  some  of  them  clear  and  entertaining, 
many  of  them  far-fetched  and  very  difficult  to 
follow.  For  my  own  part,  I  confess  that  I 
found  it  very  fatiguing  to  keep  pace  with  Mr. 
Barrie's  thick-coming  quips  and  quillets." 
The  London  Athenaum  says: 


"The  action  of  'Josephine'  passes  in  three 
scenes,  whereof  the  first  two  take  place  in  the 
country  house  of  Mr.  John  Buller,  and  the  third 
in  his  town  mansion,  which  is  also  tlie  House  of 
Commons.  John  Buller,  the  somnolent  type  of 
the  Englishman  of  old  days,  in  blue  coat,  top 
boots,  and  other  signs  of  agricultural  occupation, 
has  four  sons,  all  of  whom  are  anxious  to  enjoy 
the  supremacy,  otherwise  the  conduct  of  affairs, 
which  involves  the  Premiership.  Each  of  these 
is  distinguishable  as  some  recent  Prime  Minister 
or  the  representative  of  some  power  in  the  State; 
Andrew,  given  to  ploughing  a  lonely  furrow,  is 
Lord  Rosebery;  James,  with  his  vacillations,  is 
Mr.  Balfour;  and  CoUn  is  Sir  Henry  Campbell- 
Bannerman;  while  a  fourth — a  huge  and  formi- 
dable figure — is  Bunting,  standing  for  the  Labour 
party. 

"Not  very  brilliant  in  conception  is  all  this; 
nor  do  the  amours  of  James  with  Josephine* or 
his  dalliances  with  Free  (Trade)  or  Fair  (Trade), 
two  nymphs  of  rival  and  well-balanced  attractions, 
impart  any  great  probability  or  vivacity  to  the 
proceedings.'*" 

While  it  is  generally  conceded  that  the  two 
fantasies  have  scored  a  decided  popular  suc- 
cess, the  critical  verdict  is,  in  some  instances, 
unfavorable.     The  Athenceum  comments: 

"As  a  humorist  Mr.  Barrie  is  indeed  light, 
sparkling,  inventive,  resourceful,  but  in  dramatic 
grip  there  has  been  a  constant  declension,  and 
later  pieces  are  not  to  be  compared  in  that  re- 
spect with  'The  Little  Minister,'  or  even  'The  Pro- 
fessor's Love  Story.'  The  vein  of  pretty  senti- 
ment in  which  Mr.  Barrie  formerly  indulged  is 
absent,  moreover,  from  the  later  works;  and  the 
unbridled  drollery  which  brought  with  it  com- 
pensation for  many  shortcomings  is  no  longer 
assertive.  In  its  place  comes  a  sort  of  freakish- 
ness  which  is  effective  when  it  hits,  but  which 
does  not  always  hit.  It  is  difficult  to  refuse  ad- 
miration to  the  cleverness  of  the  workmanship, 
though  the  sense  of  dulness  is  never  far  away." 

A  writer  in  London  Truth  also  thinks  that 
Mr.  Barrie  can  do  better: 

"Of  course,  there  are  witty  lines  in  the  revue 
['Josephine'],  but  the  main  point  for  the  audience 
seemed  to  be  to  identify  the  characters  with  well 
known  sayings  of  their  originals.  To  some  minds 
it  may  afford  satisfaction  to  hear  people  talk  about 
plowing  lonely  furrows  or  to  see  orchids  ban- 
died about  the  stage.  To  me  such  obvious  sym- 
bolism is  wearisome  to  a  degree.  None  of  the 
personages  in  the  revue  are  entities ;  they  are 
merely  abstractions  dressed  up  in  cuttings  from 
the  newspapers.  In  fact,  I  am  sure  that  if  an 
unknown  writer  had  submitted  these*  two  revues 
to  the  management  of  any  theatre,  neither  would 
have  had  a  chance  of  being  accepted.  Mr. 
can  do  far  better  than  thia  as  he 
proved,  and  I  hope  that  tWe  next  woju^we  see 
from  his  hand  will  deal  either  withJwifinan  natjir^ 
or  fairy  nature." 


632 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  SELF-REALIZATION  AS  TREATED  BY 
SUDERMANN  AND  HAUPTMANN 


The  plays  of  Ibsen,  it  has  been  said,  are  "a 
long  litany  praising  the  man  who  wills,"  and 
Ibsen  himself,  in  his  recently  published  "Let- 
ters," has  made  it  clear  that  the  motive  under- 
lying all  his  work  and  life  has  been  a  pas- 
sion for  self-realization.  In  a  hundred  different 
ways  he  endeavors  to  convey  to  his  audiences 
a  fundamental  message  which  might  be  stated 
in  ethical  terms  thus:'  Be  true  to  yourself. 
Be  true  to  the  highest  that  you  know,  at  what- 
ever cost.  This  is  the  only  thing  in  life  that 
is  important 

•The  burden  of  this  same  message  has  fallen 
on  the  shoulders  of  Sudermann  and  Haupt- 
mann,  the  leading  representatives  of  contem- 
porary German  drama.  Sudermann's  two 
greatest  women  characters,  Magda,  in  the 
play  of  that  name,  and  Beata,  in  'The  Joy  of 
Living,"  both  transgress  the  social  law  in  their 
struggle  to  "realize"  themselves — ^to  live  the 
richest  and  fullest  life  of  which  they  are  ca- 
pable; and  Master  Heinrich,  the  hero  of  Haupt- 
mann's  poetic  drama,  "The  Sunken  Bell,"  de- 
serts his  wife  and  children  because  he  "finds" 
himself,  for  the  first  time,  in  his  love  for  the 
fairy  sprite,  Rautendelein.  It  is  significant, 
however,  that  all  three  of  these  characters 
bring  intense  suffering  upon  themselves  and 
those  nearest  to  them,  and  that  all  are  broken 
in  their  efforts  to  live  what  they  conceive  to  be 
the  highest  life. 

Prof.  Otto  Heller,  of  the  Washington  Uni- 
versity, St.  Louis,  who  suggests  these  facts 
in  his  new  "Studies  in  Modem  German  Litera- 
ture,"^ points  out  that  Sudermann  has  passed 
through  three  distinct  stages  in  his  treatment 
of  the  human  problem: 

"At  first,  in  his  plays,  the  class  conflict  per  se 
is  in  the  foreground,  the  fates  of  the  individuals 
are  of  secondary  interest.  The  type  of  these 
dramas  is  'Die  Ehre.'  In  that  play  the  final  des- 
tinies of  Robert  and  Lenore.  Alma  and  Kurt,  are 
disposed  of  with  a  noncnalant  wave  of  the 
hand.    .    .    . 

"It  is  not  long,  however,  before  the  major  sym- 
pathies of  Sudermann  are  transferred  from  the 
sociologic  class  phenomena  in  the  abstract  to  the 
concrete,  living  individual.  The  first  play  of  the 
second  phase  is  'Magda.'  The  connection  with 
the  teachings  of  Friedrich  Nietzsche  is  obvious, 
^he  highest  duty  of  the  exceptional  type  is  to 

"^ate  its  true  genius,  regardless  of  the  statutes 
and'^fcjMaws  of  society.    The  exceptional  man  or 

li^T^DtuiVfiL Modern  German  Literature.     By  otto 
^^^""  >  »Cb.-^  ^*n"  *  Co.,  Boston. 


woman  must,  therefore,  follow  the  path-finding: 
instinct.  Such  is  the  prime  consideration.  The 
most  sacred  bonds  must  be  severed  as  soon  as  th^ 
become  a  hindrance  to  the  free  unfolding  of  indi- 
viduality. At  the  same  time,  genius  may  not, 
after  def}ring  the  conventions  t  and  thus  securing 
its  own  higher  form  of  happiness,  expect  to  par- 
ticipate with  equal  share  in  the  happjr  lot  of  the 
throng.  Thus  every  genius  is  placed  in  the  Sap- 
phic dilemma. 

"There  is  a  third  class  of  plays  by  Sudermann 
representing  a  yet  higher  stage  of  ethical  con- 
ception. A  person  may  be  at  the  same  time  sov- 
ereignly independent  and  sovereignly  unselfish. 
*Teja'  is  an  apotheosis  of  civic  martyrdom, 
'Johannes'  a  glorification  of  the  gospel  of  love. 
Marikke  ['St.  John's  Fires'],  too,  and  Beata 
['The  Joy  of  Living*]  in  their  way  show  their 
strength  not  so  much  in  self-assertion  as  in  self- 
abnegation." 

Hauptmann's  development,  while  much  less 
logical  and  definite  than  that  of  Sudermann, 
presents  many  points  of  similarity.  He,  too, 
is  constantly  preoccupied  with  the  struggle  of 
the  "exceptional  type"  to  "cultivate  its  true 
genius,"  and  his  most  characteristic  plays,  such 
as  "Lonely  Souls"  and  "The  Sunken  Bell," 
vividly  illustrate  this  attitude.  On  the  first- 
named  play,  which  has  been  compared  with 
Ibsen's  "Rosmersholm,"  Professor  Heller  com- 
ments: 

"The  simple  action  of  'Einsame  Menschen'  re- 
volves round  one  of  those  persons  for  whom 
Goethe  discovered  the  appellation  ProhUmatische 
Naturen  (problematic  characters).  Johannes 
Vockerat  is  studying  to  be  a  theologian,  when 
through  Darwin  and  Haeckel  the  drift  of  the 
modem  scientific  era  is  forcibly  borne  upon  him. 
He  forsakes  theologv  and  becomes  a  philosopher 
of  the  psycho-physiological  school,  thou^  the  old 
orthodox  Adam  is  not  quite  dead  within  him. 
For  years  he  has  now  been  fretting  over  his  pros- 
pective magnum  opus.  But  it  is  safe  to  say  he 
would  never  have  adiieved  the  work,  even  if 
Hauptmann's  five-act  tragedy  had  not  effectually 
cut  him  off  from  the  possibility,  for  he  is  a  man 
with  a  broken  will.  We  meet  his  brothers  and 
cousins  everywhere  in  Hauptmann's  dramatic 
world.  The  family  type  is  classically  expressed 
in  Master  Heinrich  of  'The  Sunken  Belr  celeb- 
rity. Johannes  loves  his  wife  for  a  while  and 
after  a  fashion;  but  when  by  chance  he  meets 
Anna  Mahr  he  finds  that  she  is  more  congenial 
to  him.  She  understands  him,  and,  mark  well,  he 
has  never  been  understood  before.  So  he  falls 
in  love  with  her,  ^fter  a  fashion,  and  now  we  be- 
hold him  swinging  to  and  fro  between  two  poles 
of  amatory  attraction,  just  as  he  has  all  the  time 
been  the  shuttlecock  between  the  battledores  of 
two  opposite  philosophies.  His  curse  is  inde- 
cision; his  only  stability  is  in  his  self-tove.    •    .    . 


MUSIC  AND  THE  DRAMA 


633 


The  troublous  aspect  of  such  Wcrtherian  diar- 
acters  as  Johannes  was  for  a  long  time  of  absorb- 
ing interest  to  Hauptmann.  He  dedicated  *Ein- 
same  Mcnschen'  to  &osc  who  'had  lived  through' 
the  tragedy." 

In  the  end,  Johannes  committed  suicide ;  and 
this  tragedy  finds  a  counterpart  in  the  fate 
of  Master  Heinrich,  who  was  cut  off,  at  last, 
from  the  "shining  heights,"  and  from  his  val- 
ley home  as  well.  They  both  failed  because 
they  hesitated,  and  in  hesitating  were  lost 
Says  Professor  Heller: 

"The  tragic  fate  of  Master  Heinrich  would 
infallibly  have  appealed  to  us  had  the  poet  fully 
convinced  us  of  his  hero's  overmanship.  In  that 
case  Master  Heinrich  might  have  been  reckoned 
among  those  brethren-in-fate  of  Faust  whom  we 
hesitate  to  judge  according  to  the  usual  standards 
of  human  conduct.  As  it  is,  he  is  too  small  of 
stature  to  be  compared  with  Faust,  even  though 
he  does  distantly  resemble  him.  Faust  triumphs 
because  he  is  an  overman,  Heinrich  perishes  be- 
cause he  would  like  to  be.  He  is  a  calamitous 
blend  of  the  Titan's  ambition  and  the  weakling's 
lack  of  self-control,  a  hybrid  between  overman  and 
decadent.  His  flight  from  the  narrower  circles  of 
life  looks  suspiciously  like  an  escapade.    No  lofty 


fellowship  of  spirit  or  congeniality  of  mind,  no 
profound  mutual  comprehension,  joins  Heinrich 
and  Rautendelein  by  main  force;  nothing  but  a 
sensual  attraction  draws  them  together.  And  the 
sacred  fires  in  Heinrich's  new-built  temple  cannot 
long  be  kept  glowing  when  fanned  only  by  such 
a  fickle  breeze  as  his  passion  for  Rautendelein. 
If  the  fate  of  Heinrich,  the  lesser  mystic,  fails 
to  -wring  from  us  as  much  sympathy  as  we  feel 
for  the  greater  mystic,  Faust,  it  is  principally  be- 
cause we  ourselves  are  more  nearly  concerned 
in  the  fate  of  Faust.  The  great  problems  of  life 
which  he  finally  solves  in  spite  of  all  hindrances 
are  of  universal  human  relevancy.  The  whole 
aim  and  endeavor  of  Hauptmann  s  hero,  on  the 
other  hand,  is  centered  exclusively  on  artistic 
ideals,  to  realize  which  he  deserts  his  nearest  ob- 
ligations. In  spite  of  all  its  beauties.  The  Sunken 
Bell,'  after  all,  does  not  appeal  irresistibly  to  all 
our  human  nature  at  once,  because  it  deals  with 
human  nature  under  exceptional  aspects. 

"The  enthusiastic  acceptance  of  *The  Sunken 
Beir  served  as  an  unmistakable  sign  of  the  trend 
of  the  literary  taste.  For  the  poet  himself,  as 
well  as  for  the  public,  it  testified  to  the  truth  of 
the  blunt  saying  in  Paul  Heyse's  anti-naturalistic 
novel,  'Merlia*:  Though  with  the  pitchfork  of 
naturalism  we  may  drive  out  never  so  vigorously 
that  longing  for  the  great  and  beautiful  which  is 
called  idealism,  it  forever  returns,'" 


A  PLAY  BY  WILLIAM  VAUGHN  MOODY 


The  appearance  of  Margaret  Anglin,  one  of 
our  most  talented  actresses,  in  the  title  role 
of  "A  Sabine  Woman,"  a  play  by  William 
Vaughn  Moody,  has  aroused  much  interest 
in  the  literary  as  well  as  the  dramatic  world. 
Until  now  Mr.  Moody  has  been  chiefly  known 
for  his  work  in  the  domain  of  pure  poetry. 
Some  competent  judges  have  assigned  him 
the  first  place  among  living  American  poets. 
But  it  seems  that  his  great  ambition  has  been 
to  write  plays  that  could  be  staged  and  that 
should  grip  the  heart  of  the  American  people. 
This  ambition  has  been  in  part  fulfilled  by  Miss 
Anglin's  production  of  his  play,  which  took 
place  in  Chicago  a  few  days  ago.  It  provided, 
according  to  the  newspapers  of  that  city,  "the 
most  exciting  first  night"  the  stage  had  known 
there  in  many  years. 

The  "Sabine  Woman"  of  the  drama  is  an 
American  girl  who,  by  force  of  circumstances 
and  against  her  will,  is  entrapped  into  mar- 
riage with  a  rough  Westerner.  She  becomes 
a  "Hedda  Gabler"  of  the  mountains,  rest- 
less and  bitter,  but,  unlike  Ibsen's  heroine,  is 
finally  reconciled  to  her  husband.  From  an 
account  of  the  play  appearing  in  the  Boston 
Transcript  and  based  on  Chicago  newspaper 


accounts,  we  take  the  foUowmg  details  of  the 
plot: 

The  first  act  reveals  the  situation  on  which 
the  whole  action  pivots.  We  are  made  ac- 
quainted first  with  the  heroine — a  young 
woman  who  has  reached  that  epoch  in  her  life 
where  the  girl  and  woman  meet,  and  to  whom 
the  joy  of  life  is  the  holiest  and  best  reason 
for  living.  Suddenly  she  faces  a  great  crisis. 
She  is  alone  at  a  ranch  in  Arizona  at  night. 
She  is  attacked  by  three  drunken,  roistering, 
•passion-crazed  brutes.  Passing  over  the 
probability  of  her  having  been  left  alone  in 
this  out-of-the-way  place,  even  while  a  known 
enemy  is  lurking  in  the  vicinity,  we  face  a 
strongly  dramatic  situation.  She  grasps  a 
revolver  with  which  to  protect  herself,  but  she 
does  not  fire  it.  She  is  disarmed  and  then, 
to  protect  herself,  agrees  to  become  the  wife 
of  the  least  offensive  of  the  three  if  he  shall 
save  her  from  the  others.  This  he  agrees  to 
do.  He  buys  off  one  of  the  trio,  a  dissolute 
Mexican,  and  agrees  to  fight  a  duel  with  the 
other.  Here  the  first  weakness  in  the  dramat-- 
structure  occurs.  Men  do  not  fight  du'-' 
the  spur  of  the  moment,  even  \v 
Arizona.     Then,  at  the  return' 


634 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


queror,  the  intensity  of  the  situation  is  im- 
paired by  its  rambling  continuance.  The  un- 
reasoning mastery  of  the  man  must  dominate 
the  situation.  The  scene  in  which  the  girl 
wavers  between  thoughts  of  murdering  her 
conqueror  and  of  committing  suicide  is  strong 
and  the  logical  close  of  the  act.  He  must  live, 
she  says,  that  he  may  suffer  and  atone;  she 
must  live  because  life  is  dear  to  her. 

The  second  act  shows  Zona,  the  heroine, 
eight  months  later,  in  practically  the  same 
state  of  emotional  extremity.  She  is  out  of 
Tiarmony  with  existence,  at  war  with  nature, 
in  a  state  of  physical  and  mental  unrest.  She 
loathes  her  husband,  yet  is  held  to  him  by  the 
hate  that  is  akin  to  love.  She  is  slaving  her 
life  away  that  she  may  buy  back  and  return  to 
him  the  string  of  nuggets  with  which  he 
bought  the  chance  to  save  her  of  the  Mexican. 
Her  inner  soul  revolts  at  the  thought  of  the 
unspeakable  bargain  he  drove  to  secure  her, 
and  she  has  a  deep  desire  to  reach  beneath  the 
heart  of  him  and  make  him  suffer  as  she 
suffers,  and  atone  through  his  suffering,  that 
a  new  respect  may  awaken  in  her.  And  here 
we  get  a  technical  and  contradictory  weak- 
ness, for  on  top  of  this  feeling  of  deep  loath- 
ing which  Zona  makes  us  feel  she  has  for  her 
husband,  he  recounts  in  poetic  prose  the  early 
months  of  happiness  or  of  simulated  happi- 
ness, when  she  clung  to  him  as  she  clung  to 
life.  There  is  a  strong  scene,  half  of  pleading, 
half  of  denunciation,  between  the  two,  in 
which  the  blundering,  pathetic,  ignorant  hus- 
band does  not,  cannot,  understand  aught  save 
the  fact  that  they  are  man  and  wife,  that  he 
loves  her,  and  is  willing  to  devote  his  life  to 
her.  He  takes  the  string  of  nuggets  she  casts 
at  his  feet,  puts  it  around  her  neck,  and  de- 
crees that  as  they  are  man  and  wife  such 
they  must  remain.  Zona,  weakened  In  strength 
of  purpose  as  well  as  in  body,  agrees  to  returif 
to  her  New  England  home  with  the  relatives 
who  have  sought  her  out. 

The  third  act  is  again  somewhat  pervaded 
with  gloom,  though  Mr.  Moody  makes  a  rather 
deft  and  grateful  use  of  humor  through  the 
character  of  a  sister-in-law.  Zona,  at  home 
again,  is  again  downcast,  sullen,  resigned, 
hopeless.  She  has  become  the  mother  of  a 
but  she  treats  the  babe  as  a  mechanical 
as  her  offspring.  Her  souFs  call  is 
"unclean,  unclean,"  whenever  the 
the  liS^coaches.  The  husband,  secretly, 
reconciliation,  has  come 
[ig.  In  his  effort  to  restore 
destroyed  he  has  saved 


the  fortune  and  the  home  of  Zona's  parents. 
She  still  lives  as  one  apart  from  all  who  have 
known  her.  When  she  is  told  that  her  hus- 
band has  followed  her  she  again  turns  upon 
him  and,  to  her  mother,  lashes  him  for  the 
crime  he  committed,  a  confession  that  inspires 
a  doubt  as  to  the  final  settlement  with  the  fam- 
ily after  the  curtain  cuts  from  view  the  ex- 
posed portion  of  the  life  of  these  people.  The 
husband  comes,  faces  Zona,  and  again  they 
grope  for  the  light  with  which  to  read  their 
lives  aright.  Here,  as  an  example  of  Mr. 
Moody's  style  and  dialogue  and  command  of 
emotion,  is  a  page  or  two  of  their  talk : 

Stephens:   It  has   been   our   life    .    .    .    and 

...    it  has  been  all — right 

Zona:  All— right.    All— right 

Stephens:  Some  of  it  has  been  wrong,  but  as  a 
whole  it  has  been  right— right— right  I  know 
that  doesn't  happen  often,  but  it  has  happened 
with  us  because — ^because— because  since  I  came 
in  that  door  I  don't  know  what  I'm  saying  ex- 
cept that  it's  just  the  opposite  of  what  I  came 
to  say,  because  the  sight  of  you  puts  nonsense 
and  the  strength  of  angels  in  me— because  the 
first  time  our  eyes  met  they  drove  away  what 
was  bad  in  our  meeting  and  left  only  the  fact 
that  we  had  met — ^pure  good — ^pure  joy^— a  fortune 
of  it— for  both  of  us.  Yes,  both  of  us.  You'll 
see  it  yourself  some  day. 

Zona :  I  tried— I  tried  with  my  whole  strength. 
I  went  through  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death 
holding  our  life  high  in  my  hands  and  crying  to 
Heaven  to  save  us,  as  by  fire — ^by  the  fire  of 
suffering  and  sacrifice.  And  you  would  not  suf- 
fer. You  were  too  busy  and  contented.  Even 
now  it  might  not  be  too  late  if  you  had  the  cour- 
age to  say  "The  wages  of  sin  is  death"  and  the 
strength  to  suffer  the  anguish  of  death  and  to 
rise  again.  But  instead  of  that  ^ou  go  on  declar- 
ing that  our  life  is  right  when  it  is  wrong — from 
the  first  instant  horribly  and  hopelessly  wrong. 

Stephens  (indicating  the  portraits  on  the  walls)  : 
Zona,  those  fellows  are  fooling  you.  Don't  you 
see  it?  That  little  mummy  there  in  the  wig  is  the 
worst  (He  points  to  a  clerical  portrait  of  the 
eighteenth  century.)  He  is  a  money  grubber 
turned  saint  and  balancing  the  books  on  the  old 
basis.  He  is  the  one  that  keeps  your  head  set 
on  mortgages  and  the  wages  of  sin  and  all  that 
rubbish.  What  have  you  got  to  do  with  self- 
respect?  That's  all  well  enough  in  its  place,  but 
it's  got  no  business  coming  between  us.  What 
have  we  got  to  do  with  suffering  and  sacrifice? 
That  may  be  the  law  for  some,  and  I've  tried 
hard  to  see  it  as  our  law,  and  thought  I  had  suc- 
ceeded. But  I  haven't.  Our  law  is  joy  and  sel- 
fishness. The  curve  of  your  shoulder  and  the  light 
on  your  hair  as  you  sit  there  say  that  as  plain  as 
preaching.  Does  it  gall  you  the  way  we  came 
together  ?  You  asked  me  that  night  what  brought 
me,  and  I  told  you  whiskev  and  the  sun  and  the 
fork-tailed  devil.  Well,  I'tell  you  I'm  thankful 
on  my  knees  for  all  three.  Does  it  rankle  in  your 
mind  that  I  took  you  when  I  could  get  you  by 
main  strength  and  fraud?  I  guess  most  women 
are  taken  that  way  if  they  only  knew  it    Don't 


MUSIC  AND  THE  DRAMA 


635 


you  want  to  be  paid  for?  I've  i)aid  for  you  not 
only  with  a  nugget  chain,  but  with  the  heart  in 
my  breast  Do  you  hear?  That's  one  thing  you 
can't  throw  back  at  me— the  man  you've  made  nie. 
Wrong  is  wrong  from  the  minute  it  happens  to 
the  crack  of  doom  and  all  the  angels  in  Heaven 
working  overtime  can't  make  it  less  or  diflPerent 
by  a  hair.  That  seems  to  be  the  law.  I've  learned 
it  hard,  but  I  guess  I've  learned  it.  I  guess  it's 
spelled  in  mountain  letters  across  the  continent 
of  this  life.  Done  is  done,  and  lost  is  lost,  and 
smashed  to  hell  is  smashed  to  hell.  We  fuss  and 
potter  and  patch  up — God  knows  for  what  reason. 
You  might  as  well  try  to  batter  down  the  Rocky 
Mountains  with  a  rabbit's  heartbeat. 

Then  the  brother  of  Zona  bursts  in  upon 
them,  shoots  and  wounds  the  husband,  and 
this  brings  the  love  that  has  been  struggling 
in  the  woman's  heart  to  her  lips,  and  the 
reconciliation  follows. 

"There  is  a  strong  vital  dramatic  idea  at  the 
foundation  of  the  play,"  comments  the  Chicago 
Tribune,  "and  when  considerable  of  the  clog- 
ging talk  is  lopped  off,  certain  of  the  char- 
acters more  dearly  defined  and  the  situations 
made  more  intelligible,  a  drama  of  power  and 
strength  should  result.  There  is  excellent 
material  in  the  play,  and  while  it  seems  that 


Mr.  Moody  has  not  in  all  instances  made  the 
best  use  of  his  materials  the  dramatic  scheme 
just  as  it  stands  is  good,  and  with  elimination 
and  condensation  the  play  can  be  made  effect- 
ive beyond  the  usual.  ...  Its  stage  value 
lies  more  in  the  interest  that  the  spectator 
feels  in  the  husband's  winning  of  his  wife's 
love  than  in  the  problem  of  the  psychological 
changes  the  woman  undergoes.  The  author 
may  have  intended  this  problem  to  be  the  chief 
eleipent  in  the  drama,  but  if  so  he  has  failed 
to  make  it  such." 

The  Chicago  Inter-Ocean  pronounces  the 
first  act  of  the  play  "one  of  the  strongest  any 
American  dramatist  ever  has  written,"  but 
thinks  the  second  "indirect,  contradictory, 
clouded  and  unnecessarily  oppressive."  It  adds : 
"Fortunately  for  Mr.  Moody  his  original  in- 
tent is  but  slightly  obscured  by  his  superior 
intellectuality,  which  inspires  decorative  verbi- 
age, profound  philosophy,  suggestive  symbol- 
ism, and  leads  even  unconsciously  into  those 
psychological  depths  that  belong  to  the  cham- 
ber music  of  the  drama,  but  not  to  the  broader 
function  of  the  stage." 


IS  THERE  A  DISTINCTIVE  NOTE  IN  AMERICAN  MUSIC? 


The  recent  organization  of  the  New  Music 
Society  of  America,  a  body  which  has  for  its 
aim  the  encouragement  and  performance  of 
American  music,  and  the  first  two  concerts 
of  the  society,  given  in  Carnegie  Hall,  New 
York,  Jend  a  special  timeliness  to  the  ques- 
tion which  stands  at  the  head  of  this  article. 

The  claims  of  American  music,  so  to  speak, 
have  come  up  for  settlement.  Have  we  as  yet 
any  genuinely  American  music?  is  being 
asked.  If  not,  is  there  any  prospect  that  we 
shall  have  a  native  school  of  composition  in 
the  near  future?  And  is  it  true,  as  has  been 
alleged,  that  the  works  of  American  compos- 
ers have  been  unduly  neglected?  In  regard 
to  the  last  point,  Mr.  Philip  Hale,  the  musical 
critic  of  the  Boston  Herald,  waxes  satirical: 

"There  are  American  composers  who  are  sure 
that  there  is  a  sworn  conspiracy  to  crush  them. 
Mr.  Zenas  T.  Field  can  not  understand  why  Mr. 
Gericke  will  not  produce  his  tone  poem,  *Lucy 
of  Hockanum  Ferry,'  and  Mr.  Bela  Graves  knows 
that  there  are  sinister  and  malignant  influences 
against  him,  otherwise  Mr.  Walter  Damrosch 
would  look  favorably  on  his  great  orchestral 
fantasia,  'The  Springfield  Arsenal.'" 

Mr.    Hale    evidently    feels    that   the   really 


gifted  American  composer  has  had  his  full 
meed  of  recognition.  But  several  of  the 
younger  American  composers  take  issue  with 
him.  Lawrence  Oilman,  of  Harper's  Weekly, 
Arthur  Farwell,  of  the  Wa-Wan  Press, 
Harvey  Worthington  Loomis,  of  New  York, 
and  others,  have  expressed  the  conviction  that 
American  musical  compositions  are  neglected 
because  they  are  American,  and  that  the  works 
of  European  composers  are  apt  to  receive 
more  generous  treatment.  This  has  led  to 
a  consideration  of  the  distinctively  American 
contribution  thus  far  made  to  world-music. 

Mr.  H.  E.  Krehbiel,  the  well-known  critic 
of  the  New  York  Tribune,  who  writes  on  this 
subject  in  the  Philadelphia  Etude,  says: 

"During  our  Colonial  life  there  was  no  'call* 
for  a  distinctive  note;  we  were  English.    During 
the  Revolution  we  were  rebellious  Englishmen — 
nothing  more.     We   wrote  patriotic  poems  but 
we  sang  them  to  English  tunes.    When  the  War 
of  1812  came  upon  us,  we  boasted  and  celebrated 
our  naval  triumphs  particularly,  in  song,  loud  and 
long;  but  we  stuck  to  the  old  tunes.     We  sang 
'Adams  and  Libert/  to  the  tune  of  To  Anacreo' 
in  Heaven';  'Hull's  Victory*  to  the  tune  of 
be   Three    Poor   Mariners'   or   'Heart   r' 
'The  Constitution  and  Guerriere'  to 


636 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


.^^^>'» 


JOHN   PHILIP  SOUSA   CARICATURED:    A   VERY 
•'DISTINCTIVE"  FIGURE  IN  AMERICAN  MUSIC 

His  comic  opera,  *'The  Free  Lance,**  has  just  been 
successfully  produced  in  New  York. 

From  r>fc^  Musical  Courier  (New  York). 

The  Landlady  of  France*;  The  Sovereignty  of 
the  Ocean'  to  The  Kilruddery  Fox  Chase' ;  The 
Yankee  Tars'  to  'Derry,  Down  Derry,'  and  so 
on  for  quantity.  Our  sentimental  ballads  were 
English,  Englishmen  like  Incledon  and  Phillips 
came  over  here  to  sing  them  for  us,  and  Horn 
and  Russell  later  to  sing  and  write  them. 

"But  when  we  were  shaken  by  the  Civil  War, 
a  war  of  brothers,  involving  moral  and  social  as 
well  as  political  question — then  we  saw  the  spirit 
of  folk-song  awakened.  When  the  names  of 
Root  and  Work  are  forgotten,  their  songs  will 
be  folk-songs.  They  are  American,  not  because 
they  speak  an  American  dialect,  but  because  they 
proclaim  an  American  spirit." 

Just  in  so  far  as  we  have  adopted  idioms 

"racy  of  the  soil,"  continues  Mr.  Krehbiel,  we 

have   come   nearest   to   creating  distinctively 

American  music;  and  the  Afro-American  and 

^Indian  sources  have  in  the  past  proved  most 

He  writes  on  this  point: 

laugh  who  will,  I  have  no  hesitation 

^hat  were  I  anywhere  in  the  world, 

^nd  thoughts  of  home,  I  would 

i^wn  a  swelling  of  the  heart 

Old  Folks  at  Home'  or 


*At  a  Georgia  Campmceting'  to  fall  into  my  un- 
suspecting ear.  No  other  popular  music  would 
affect  me  in  such  a  particular  manner.  For  me, 
then,  there  is  something  American  about  it.  It 
is  thirty  years  since  I  began  the  study  of  Ameri- 
can slave  music  and  I  am  still  as  interested  in 
it,  and  as  convinced  of  its  potential  capacity  for 
artistic  development,  as  I  have  ever  been.  For 
preaching  the  doctrine  I  have  been  well  laughed 
at  by  my  friends  among  the  critics;  but  no  harm 
has  been  done.  It  was  all  in  good  nature,  and 
they  had  scarcely  closed  their  mouths  after  the 
first  guffaw  with  which  the  suggestion  that  In- 
dian, but  more  especially  Afro-American,  melo- 
dies might  profitably  be  used  as  thematic  ma- 
terial for  artistic  composition,  before  Dr.  Dvorak 
showed,  with  his  quartet,  quintet  and  symphony 
composed  during  his  stay  in  America,  that  the 
laughter  of  the  skeptics  was  as  *the  crackling  of 
thorns  under  a  pot.  In  those  works  we  find  the 
spirit  of  Negro  melody  and  some  of  its  literal 
idiom,  though  there  was  no  copying  of  popular 
tunes.  Then  came  Mr.  MacDowell  with  his 
'Indian'  suite  (fruit  of  a  conversation  held  as 
long  ago  as  1888  in  the  Botolph  Club  in  Boston), 
and  his  exquisite  pianoforte  piece  'From  an  In- 
dian Lodge.'  Then  my  contention  with  the  wise 
men  of  the  East  reminded  me  only  of  the  old 
story  of  Diogenes  crawling  out  of  his  tub  and 
walking,  wordless,  up  and  down  in  front  of  it, 
while  he  listened  to  the  arguments  of  the  sophist 
who  was  busily  proving  that  there  was  no  such 
thing  as  motion.  While  the  skeptical  critics 
talked,  Dvorak  and  MacDowell  walked.  To  say 
the  least,  they  set  up  fingerposts  which  will  be 
looked  at  more  than  once  while  composers  are 
hunting  for  a  distinctive  note  in  American  music." 

The  Etude,  commenting  editorially,  takes 
the  view  that  "America  is  in  the  beginning  of 
the  era  of  producing  good  composers": 

"It  took  Germany  seven  hundred  years  to  pro- 
duce a  Beethoven.  In  one  hundred  America  al- 
most has  arrived  at  the  point  where  Germany 
now  is,  and  in  another  century  it  may  overtake 
the  older  land,  who  can  say?  But  there  will  need 
be  used  every  influence  that  can  be  brought  to 
bear  on  the  artistic  education  of  the  people.  For 
it  takes  a  thousand  cultured  musicians  to  produce 
a  good  composer  and  a  thousand  good  composers 
to  produce  a  great  composer. 

"Just  now  America  is  in  the  beginning  of  the 
era  of  producing  good  composers.  Perhaps  there 
are  half  a  hundred  names  that  could  be  included 
in  a  catalogue  of  such.  Of  course  there  are  hun- 
dreds who  do  a  little  writing  of  more  or  less 
merit,  sporadic  attempts  that  do  good  only  to 
those  who  practice  such.  They  gain  the  technic 
by  this  experimenting,  but,  when  they  get  the 
technic,  have  nothing  to  say. 

"Some  day  out  of  the  wealth  of  commonplace 
compositions  there  will  be  evolved  a  writer  who 
will  combine  sentiment,  technic,  and  originality  in 
such  proportions  and  in  such  prominence  as  will 
entitle  him  to  the  term  'great.'  But  before  that  day 
arrives  the  thousand  good  composers  must  be 
encouraged  in  every  possible  way,  by  private  word 
and  by  public  hearing,  that  from  this  myriad- 
headed  individual  there  may  spring  a  genius 
worthy  to  represent  the  New  World  side  by  side 


MUSIC  AMD  THE  DRAMA 


637 


with  the  best  representatives  of  European  art. 
Every  society  for  the  encx>uragement  of  American 
composition,  every  American  name  on  a  program, 
every  recital  of  American  compositions  brings 
the  day  nearer  when  America  can  take  her  place 
in  the  front  ranks  of  musical  creativeness.*'^ 

In  concluding,  it  is  interesting  to  note  that 
Prof.  John  Knowles  Paine,  director  of  the 
musical  department  of  Harvard  University 
since  1875,  was  engaged,  at  the  time  of  his 
death,  a  few  days  ago,  on  a  symphonic  poem 
on  the  subject  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  Of  this 
work  Mr.  Louis  C.  Elson  wrote  recently:  "We 
can  all  hope  that  when  we  have  the  pleasure 
of  hearing  it  performed  we  shall  be  justified 


in  calling  it  the  American  'Heroic'  Symphony, 
upon  a  greater  man  than  Napoleon,  whom 
Beethoven  honored  in  music.  Lincoln  is  so 
pre-eminently  a  man  of  the  American  people 
that  American  characteristics  must  come  to 
the  fore  in  such  a  work."  How  far  toward 
completion  this  work  had  gone  is  not  now 
known.  Professor  Paine  has  been  called  "the 
Nestor  of  American  composers,"  and  has 
written  a  long  series  of  compositions,  mostly, 
however,  on  un-American  subjects.  His 
death,  coming  so  soon  after  the  disablement  of 
MacDowell,  is  a  serious  loss  to  American 
music. 


"THE  AWAKENING"— HERVIEU'S  LATEST  PLAY 


Paul  Hervieu*s  latest  play,  "Le  Reveil,"  which, 
as  stated  in  these  columns  three  months  ago, 
was  the  chief  sensation  of  the  theatrical  year  in 
Paris,*  will  probably  constitute  one  of  the  leading 
events  in  the  coming  dramatic  season  on  the 
American  stage,  with  Olga  Nethersole  in  the  star 
role. 

Th^rese  de  Megee,  wife  of  Raoul,  has  izWcn 
in  love  with  Prince  Jean,  but  has  resisted  his 
importunities  and  is  about  to  give  him  his  final 
dismissal  when  she  learns  that  he  is  in  danger 
of  losing  his  life  if  she  does  not  detain  him  in 
Paris.  Jean's  father.  Prince  Gregoire,  has  come 
to  Paris  from  the  Sylvanian  frontier.  He  tells  of 
a  plot  to  wrest  the  Sylvanian  throne,  rightfully 
belonging  to  his  family,  from  its  present  occupant, 
and,  as  he  is  himself  very  unpopular,  he  has  decided 
to  declare  his  son  king  the  moment  the  usurper  is 
overthrown.  He  has  come  to  Paris  to  summon 
his  son  to  Sylvania  for  this  purpose.  But  Jean 
flatly  refuses  to  follow  his  father's  lead,  giving  as 
the  reason  his  love  for  Therese.  Therese,  learning 
of  the  sacrifices  Jean  is  willing  to  make  for  her, 
and  the  probability  of  assassination  if  he  returns 
to  Sylvania,  abandons  her  scruples,  and  the  two 
lovers  appoint  a  rendezvous  for  the  next  day. 
The  house  in  which  they  meet  belongs  to  Prince 
Gregoire,  who  just  previously  to  their  arrival, 
has  come  there  to  hold  a  secret  conference  with 
Keff,  an  emissary  of  the  Sylvanian  conspirators. 
He  learns  that  his  son  is  momentarily  expected 
there  with  Therese,  and  he  decides  to  make  an 
attempt  to  foil  the  lover's  purpose  by  strategy. 
Ke£F  and  Prince  Gregoire  withdraw  into  the 
next  room.  Jean  enters,  with  Therese,  the  room 
they  have  left. 

•See  the  March  number  of  CuRRBNT  Litbraturb. 


Jean:  We're  alone.  (5*^^  enters.)  Here  you 
are  at  last. 

ThMsei  Yes,  here  I  am,  as  I  promised. 

Jeani  Hurry  up  and  take  off  that  horrid  veil. 

Thirise:  If  you  don't  want  me  to  faint,  give 
me  a  chance  to  come  to  myself.  (She  sinks  on 
a  couch.) 

Jean  (having  removed  her  veil  and  hat)  :  My 
love!  My  lovel  Don't  tremble  all  over  that 
way.  Won't  you  tell  me  you  have  some  happi- 
ness to  grant  me? 

Thirise:  O  Jean!  The  thought  that  some 
day  I  might  be  united  to  you,  body  and  soul, 
has  always  come  to  me  with  the  indefiniteness 
of  a  dream.  It  always  passed  into  the  haze  of 
the  far-off,  the  unreal.  I  never  conceived  that 
the  gift  of  myself  would  occur  in  any  other  way 
than  unexpectedly,  when  bereft  of  my  senses. 
But  this  rendezvous,  arranged  twenty-four  hours 
beforehand,  all  that  time  for  surrendering  my 
conscience,  that's  what  has  tortured  me;  that  is 
what  has  made  me  regard  you  as  my  conqueror. 
And  that  word  means  that  I  must  suffer  a  little 
oppression,  and  that  there  is  a  touch  of  cruelty 
in  your  contentment.  Oh,  forgive  me  these 
miserable  words!  I  withdraw  them.  I  haven't 
come  to  break  my  promise. 

Jean:  Understand  me,  Th^r^sel  Understand 
that  I  do  not  consider  myself  victorious  as  long 
as  I  have  not  brought  confidence  to  your  soul 
and  a  smile  to  your  lips.  No,  my  dear,  dear 
love,  I  do  not  regard  you  as  already  mine.  In 
this  first  meeting  when  we  are  really  alone,  I 
feel  that  it  is  an  added  delight  to  conquer  you 
entirely,  by  my  humble  fervor,  my  respectful 
patience.  Show  me  all  the  shadows  that  darken 
this  dear  forehead,  so  that  I  can  chase  them  away 
with  my  kisses. 

Thirise:  I  am  in  a  hurry  to  p^et  rid  of  one 
thought  that  still  weighs  on  my  mmd.  But  there 
need  be  no  misunderstanding  between  us,  Jean. 
Do  you  thoroughly  realize  what  it  means  *'^''  1 
yesterday,  when  I  pledged  myself  to  yoil.  "^'^'V 
the  same  time  gave  up  the  rest  of  ^^^^  ^^th 
You  see,  here  I  am;  I  have  left  vute  sofJ*  ^pd 
to  return.     Do  you  comprehen''  ^^  dim 

cance  of  this  thing? 


638 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


Jean:  Yes.  I  expected  a  resolve  from  you  as 
strong  as  mine,  without  any  reserve,  without 
thought  of  turning  back.  I,  too,  for  love  of  you 
have  lost  my  family.  I  give  up  my  chances  of 
reigning,  my  military  duties,  my  honor  as  a  man, 
for  you,  for  you,  for  you. 

ThMse :  Ah  1  Yes,  I  am  your  chattel.  Hide 
me  from  the  eyes  of  the  world.  Take  me  and 
keep  me  forever. 

Jean:  I  will  carry  you  away  this  evening. 
Not  a  soul  who  knows  us  shall  ever  see  us  again. 

ThMse:  Ah!  Take  away  my  senses!  Drug 
me,  so  that  I  do  not  see  on  what  ruins  I  am 
stepping. 

Jean:  I  adore  you! 

ThMse  (yielding  to  Jean's  embrace)  :  I  adore 
voul  (Then  breaking  away  from  his  embrace) 
Listen !  (She  points  to  the  door  in  the  rear  from 
zvhich  a  sound  has  issued.)  There  is  someone 
there. 

Jean:  Yes,  I  hear  someone  walking.  It's  the 
servant. 

ThMse:    Someone  is  talking. 

Jean:    I'll  go  and  see. 

ThMse:    Stay  here  with  me. 

Jean :  Let  me  go.  Don't  show  yourself.  (He 
opens  the  door  in  the  rear.  The  lights  in  the 
room  are  extinguished.  Jean  is  lost  in  the  dark- 
ness. The  door  is  shut.  His  voice  is  heard  in 
one  stifled  cry.)     Come  here! 

ThSrise  (alone,  throwing  herself  against  the 
door  in  the  rear,  which  is  now  bolted)  :  Who  is 
there?  They're  fighting.  Someone  has  fallen. 
Open  the  door,  Jean!  Open  the  door!  Jean! 
Answer  me!  Answer  me!  He  cried  out  only 
once !  Jean !  Let  me  hear  your  voice !  Jean ! 
He  doesn't  answer!  Not  a  sound!  Nothing! 
The  silence  of  death !  No !  Someone  is  coming ! 
(She  recoils  in  fright.  The  door  is  opened  again. 
Keif  appears.)     Ah!     Who  are  you? 

Keif  (standing  in  the  open  door  and  obstruct- 
ing the  way)  :  Prince  Jean  was  watched  by  spies. 
This  morning  they  discovered  that  he  had  a 
rendezvous  here.    That  was  their  opportunity. 

ThMse  (a  rising  note  of  despair  in  the  ex- 
clamations)  :  Jean  !   Jean !    Jean !   Jean !' 

Keff:  You  see  he  does  not  hear  you  any  more. 
(The  door  having  been  bolted  from  the  inside, 
he  moves  away.  ThMse  throws  herself  against 
it  again  and  tries  to  make  it  give  way.) 

ThMse:  Tell  me  he  has  been  dragged  off. 
Tell  me  he  is  gone.  Tell  me  he's  not  there  any 
more. 

Keff:  Prince  Jean  is  there,  killed  by  one  blow, 
in  the  heart. 

ThMse  (with  a  piercing  cry) :  Ah !  You 
killed  him. 

Keff:    His  death  brings  peace  to  my  country. 

ThMse:  I  want  to  see  him. 

Keff:  There  are  companions  there  who  do  not 
want  to  be  seen. 

ThMse:    I  will  look  only  at  him. 

Keff:  We  do  not  want  the  screams  of  a 
woman  over  a  corpse. 

ThMse:    Then  kill  me,  too!     Kill  me! 

Keff:  You  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  cause 

serve.     We   know    that   you    are   a   married 

who   would   lose   all    by   denouncing  us. 

'be     street,    you     will     not   breathe   a 

have  nothing  to   fear  from  you. 


ThMse:  I  will  not  go.  All  is  over  for  mc. 
There  is  only  one  thing  for  me  to  do,  to  kill 
myself  near  him. 

Keff:  You  would  not  want  to  be  recognized 
in  a  rendezvous?  You  would  not  want  to  be 
lifted  from  the  corpse  of  your  lover  to  be  carried 
to  your  daughter? 

ThMse  (losing  courage  at  the  thought)  :  Oh! 
Not  that!     Not  that! 

Keff:  You  can  do  nothing  more  for  Prince 
Jean.  As  for  yourself,  the  thmg  to  do  is  not  to 
be  mixed  up  in  a  most  terrible  scandal.  A  maid 
who  was  sent  away  will  return  any  minute  now, 
with  her  curiosity  excited.  She'll  go  prowling 
about,  and  possibly  discover  the  state  of  affairs 
immediately.  If  you  are  still  here,  you'll  not 
escape   any  more. 

ThMse:    Leave!     Yes,  I  had  better  do  so. 

Keff:  Time  presses.  It's  to  our  interest,  too, 
the  interest  of  us  others,  to  be  at  a  distance  from 
here.  Leave  this  room,  which  is  in  demand.  Go 
now. 

ThMse  (making  an  effort) :  I  cannot  I 
cannot  stand.    I  will  fall. 

Keff  (advancing  toward  her)  :  I  took  upon 
myself  the  duty  of  making  you  leave  by  per- 
suasion or  by  force.  I  will  carry  you  down- 
stairs. 

ThMse  (reanimated  by  horror)  :  Oh !  Your 
hands  shall  not  touch  me.  Don't  touch  me!  Fm 
going!  I'm  going!  (With  one  hand  she  gathers 
up  her  cloak,  lying  on  a  chair,  with  the  other 
she  picks  uf  her  hat  from  a  table.) 

Keff  (pointing  to  the  veil,  which  she  has  for- 
gotten) :   Don't  let  this  lie  about  here! 

ThMse:  Oh!  (She  snatches  it  with  the  air 
of  a  thief  and  exit  by  the  left,  walking  un- 
steadily.) 

Keff  (after  having  listened  for  the  shutting  of 
the  door  downstairs)  :  My  lord,  she's  not  here 
any  more. 

Prince  Grigoire  (going  to  look  out  through 
the  parting  of  the  curtains) :  She  is  leaning 
against  a  wall.  She  is  going  toward  the  Bois. 
(To  Keff)   Call  Maria. 

Keff  (calling  through  the  door  on  the  left)  : 
Maria ! 

Prince  Grigoire:  You,  go  unbind  my  son. 
(To  Maria)   Come  here.     (Keff  exit  rear.) 

Prince  Grigoire  (pointing  through  the 
window)  :  That  woman  there — see  what  becomes 
of  her. 

Maria:    Very  well. 

Prince  Grigoire:  If  she  attempts  anything^ 
foolish — throws  herself  under  a  carriage,  for  in- 
stance     Oh,  I  cannot  explain — I  don't  know 

what.  Well,  then,  do  whatever  you  can  to  pre- 
vent her,  to  defend  her  against  herself. 

Maria":    Very  well. 

Prince  Grigoire:  Don't  lose  her  from  your 
sight  imtil  she's  had  enough  time  to  become 
sensible. 

Maria:    I  understand. 

Prince  Grigoire:  Now,  then,  hurry  up.  Go 
on.     (Maria  exit  on  left.) 

Prince  Grigoire:  This  is  the  only  way  of 
getting  out  into  the  street.  The  window^  is 
barred.  There  will  be  no  difficulty  in  keeping 
Jean. 

Keff  (returning)  :  He  is  getting  his  breath 
again. 


MUSIC  AND  THE  DRAMA 


639 


Prince  GrSgoire:  Leave  us  alone  together. 
Keep  watch  l^hind  that  door.     (Keff  exit  left) 

Jean  (entering,  pale,  bruised,  suffocated) : 
Where  is  she? 

Prince  Grigoire:  Gone. 

Jean :  You  had  her  chased  from  here  ignomin- 
iously  ? 

Prince  Grigoire:  The  ignominy  I  The  ig- 
nominy was  in  her  remaining  any  longer  at  your 
mercy.  The  ignominy  was  in  your  ruining  the 
wife  of  your  friend! 

Jean:  You  have  subjected  me  to  a  savage  act 
of  aggression,  Jor  which  you  must  now  justify 
yourself. 

Prince  Grigoire:  You  made  sport  of  me.  I 
showed  you  how  good  a  clown  I  make. 

Jean :  By  what  right  did  you  knock  me  down  ? 
Why  did  you  gag  me  with  your  own  hands? 

Prince  Grigoire:  I  had  to  get  you  back,  and  I 
did  get  you  back,  no  matter  how.  And  now  Til 
keep  you. 

Jean:  As  amazed  as  I  am  at  your  abominable 
violence,  I  am  still  more  astonished  at  your  fool- 
ishness. What  good  does  it  do  you  to  have  me 
in  your  power  for  one  moment?  My  only 
thought  is  of  that  woman — to  go  to  her  again; 
to  consecrate  myself  to  her. 

Prince  Grigoire:  And  so,  before  that  mass  of 
men  who  beg  you  for  a  reign  of  greater  justice 
and  a  life  of  less  misery,  before  those  heroic  and 
humble  legions,  you  do  not  experience  a  thrill 
as  of  a  heaven-imposed  mission?  You  do  not 
want  to  throb  with  that  superb,  keen  sensation 
which  comes  from  the  knowledge  that  so  many 
eyes  are  turned  on  you,  ready  to  express  grati- 
tude, adoration,  ecstasy,  at  the  mere  sight  of  their 
legitimate  master,  the  elect  of  God! 

Jean:  Keep  your  Utopias  and  let  me  live  in 
my  natural  feelings.  In  my  eyes  happiness  does 
not  consist  in  the  artificial  ostentation  and  glory, 
in  the  showy  make-believes  that  you  flash  before 
my  eyes.  In  this  greedy,  grasping,  lying  world, 
it  is  only  in  love  that  I  see  the  sacrifice  of  one- 
self, limitless  devotion,  the  true  joy,  the  true 
beauty  of  life,  and  a  real  majesty  for  human 
beings. 

Prince  Grigoire:  And  our  country?  Our 
partizans?    Your  people? 

Jean:  I  have  no  people.  I  feel  myself  the 
master,  the  chosen  one  of  a  single  being,  who 
gave  herself  to  me  entirely  and  for  whom  I  want 
to  sacrifice  everything. 

Prince  Grigoire:  Then  you  declare  yourself 
incorrigible,  since  you  would  brazenly  sink  into 
the  worst  moral  pit,  openly  court  public  degrada- 
tion. As  for  myself,  I  would  not  hesitate  to 
keep  you  in  hiding  all  your  life;  if  need  be,  pass 
you  off  as  dead.  In  fact,  the  woman  who  was 
with  you  is  convinced  that  you  were  killed. 

Jean:  Oh!  You  made  her  believe  that!  That's 
a  crime  for  which  I  demand  satisfaction  from 
you.  But  first  I  must  disabuse  her  of  her  wrong 
impression.  I  will  go  to  her  again!  (He  runs 
to  the  door  on  left.) 

Prince  Grigoire:  You  cannot  any  more.  She 
is  already  too  far  away.    And  you  are  in  a  cage. 

Jean:  Then  Til  speak  to  you  as  a  suppliant. 
I  tell  you,  because  I  have  proof  of  it,  I  tell  you 
the  strongest  feeling  in  Therese  de  M^gee  is  the 
feeling  for  my  life.  The  very  thing  that  chased 
away  the  last  scruples  of  her  virtue  was  the  fear 


that  I  was  going  to  expose  myself  to  death.  If 
she  realizes  now  that  my  death  has  been  brought 
about,  if  it  is  my  ghost  that  you  have  set  upon 
her  heels,  come  with  me  and  see  to  what  point 
her  lost  wits  will  carry  her. 

Prince  Grisoire :  I  have  assumed  that  you  no 
longer  exist  lor  her.  I  have  placed  her  outside 
your  destiny.     Let  her  go  her  own  way. 

Jean :  Oh,  you  have  cherished  a  horrible  hope ! 
You  hope,  yes,  you  do,  for  a  solution  that  terrifies 
me.  You  nope  that  Therese  will  herself  assume 
the  charge  of  freeing  you  of  her !  At  last  I 
understand  you!  I  understand  your  aim  in 
frightening  her.  I  understand  of  what  interest 
it  is  to  you  to  detain  me  here,  so  that  your  at- 
tempt on  her  may  bear  results,  your  attempt  to 
murder 

Prince  Grigoire:  Ascribe  to  me  all  the  designs 
you  want!  If  this  woman  who  is  a  wife  and 
mother  does  not  recognize  her  duties  toward  her 
family,  if  the  only  duty  she  imposes  on  herself 
is  toward  her  lover,  if  she  kills  herself  for  you, 
that  is  her  crime,  not  mine. 

Jean:  You  will  kill  me,  too.  I  am  bound  to 
her  in  death  as  in  life.  I  will  follow  her  into 
the  extremities,  the  whirlpools  in  which  she  will 
be  engulfed.  You  have  my  pledge  that  I  shall 
not  survive  her. 

Prince  Grigoire:  Rather  than  let  your  name  be 
inscribed  on  the  page  of  infamy  in  history,  rather 
than  that,  I'd  see  you  buried  in  your  grave. 

Jean  (drunk  with  fury)  :  Make  your  inexorable 
vows.  When  you  surprised  me,  I  prided  myself 
on  denying  you  as  my  father.  The  ties  of  blood 
no  longer  bind  us  to  each  other.  Each  of  us  has 
abandoned  everything  that  passes  for  filial  or 
fatherly.    We  are  nothing;  but  two  enemies. 

Prince  Grigoire  (carried  away  by  horror) : 
Take  care!  There  is  the  look  of  a  parridde  in 
your  eyes. 

Jean  (with  a  frightful  expression) :  I  hate 
you!     I  hate  you!     I  hate  you! 

Prince  Grigoire  (responding  to  his  desperate 
words  with  a  curse)  :  Let  fate  do  with  you  what 
she  will!  Return  to  your  love,  since  it's  so  sure 
a  treasure!     Run  and  seek  her! 

Jean  (lightly):    Ah! 

Prince  Grigoire:  Get  out  of  my  sight!  KeflF, 
let  him  pass!  Go!  Go!  Go!  (Jean  exit,  left, 
Keff  jumps  forward  to  catch  Prince  Grigoire, 
whose  entire  being,  for  an  instant,  seems  to  give 
way.) 

Therese  reaches  home  half  dead.    She  has  been 
expected    anxiously    by    her    husband    and    her 
daughter  Rose.     Rose  is  in  love  with  a  young 
man  of  a  respectable  family,  and  they  were  about 
to    become    engaged    when    the    love-affair    of 
Therese  interfered  and  now  threatens  to  bring 
all  their  relations  to  an  end.    If  Therese  does  not 
appear  at  the  dinner  to  which  they  are  invited 
that  evening  by  the  family  of  the  young  man, 
all  is  over  between  him  and  Rose.     The  affec- 
tion displayed  by  Raoul  to  Therese  when  he  sees  ^ 
her  return  in  distress  brings  her  to  a  reali-shieir 
sense  of  the  misfortune  she  would  ^^^1^^'^^  ^^^^ 
upon  her  husband  if  she  had  carriec'tiire  some  d"^ 
pose;  and  the  grief  of  her  dan^' 


640 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


"^ 


stacles  put  in  the  way  of  her  betrothal,  the  cause 
of  which  Rose  cannot  surmise,  acts  still  further 
in  recalling  her  to  a  sense  of  her  duties  to  her 
family.  Despite  her  agitated  condition  and  her 
ill-health,  she  decides  to  attend  the  dinner.  Con- 
sequently when  Jean  arrives  he  finds  her  dressed 
in  a  gorgeous  dining-gown  ready  to  depart. 

Jean  (alone) :  At  last  I  (He  sees  Thirise, 
who  enters  on  left,  and  greets  her  with  a  deep 
cry  of  joy.)     Ah! 

Thirise  (with  the  same  impulse) :  You ! 
Alive!    By  what  miracle? 

Jean  (transfixed.  His  regard  has  rapidly  taken 
in  ThMse  from  head  to  foot.  Thirise,  frozen 
in  her  turn,  with  trembling  fingers  draws  her 
evening  cloak  over  her  bare  shoulders) :  My 
father  arranged  this  plot.  But  you,  tell  me  you 
did  not  think  I  was  dead  I  Tell  me,  to  save  me 
from  losing  my  senses  at  seeing  you  dressed  up 
in  this  way. 

Thirise  (overwhelmed)  :  I  did  think  you  were 
dead. 

Jean:  You  thought  me  dead,  and  you  adorn 
yourself  I 

Thirise:  The  moment  in  which  I  see  you 
again  is  sacred.  Do  not  say  anything  that  will 
make  it  taste  of  gall. 

Jean :  Everything  made  me  think  that  it  was  a 
sick-room,  a  room  of  desolation  and  solitude.  I 
still  hear  you  cry  out  my  name ;  it  -sounded  like 
a  trumpet  call  on  judgement  day,  and  I  trembled 
in  my  bonds,  a  gag  in  my  mouth.  You  who 
raised  me  from  that  tomb  with  a  supernatural 
voice,  is  it  you  yourself  I  now  see,  leaving  in  this 
way  for  some  social  function? 

Thirise:  Don't  go  on  in  that  way.  Oh,  don't 
speak ! 

Jean :  What  ?  You  were  going  to  make  a  show, 
listen  to  everybody,  talk,  smile.  Therese!  How 
could  you?  How  could  you?  (He  bursts  into 
tears. ) 

Thirise:  Ah,  do  not  show  such  grief!  I 
cannot  console  you.  On  the  contrary,  I  would 
only  double  your  pain  if  I  tried  to  explain  my 
conduct,  since  it  was  inspired  by  my  feeling  for 
others  than  you. 

Jean:  You  can  easily  imagine  that  in  my  niad 
rush  to  find  you,  my  one  hope,  my  fervent  desire, 
was  that  you  would  have  abstained  from  the  irrep- 
arable act.  To  chase  away  the  visions  in  which 
you  appeared  disfigured  by  suicide,  I  told  myself 
that  perhaps  your  reason  would  carry  you  safely 
beyond  that  act  of  desperation.  I  should  have 
found  it  perfect  if  you  had  dragged  yourself 
here,  just  as  wounded  animals  instinctively  find 
their  way  back  to  shelter.  But  I  could  not  fore- 
see that  you  would  be  so  amiably  brave,  nor 
that  your  weeds  for  me  would  be  so  decollete. 

Thirise:   Jean!    You    weren't  present  at   my 

Calvary.    You  do  not  know  the  chain  of  events 

that  forced  me.     And  besides,  I  alone  am  in  a 

condition  to  measure  the  influences  that  acted  on 

me  since  I  was  carried  to  this  home.    Know,  at 

s*   I  wanted  to  die.    When  I  fell  down  on  the 

>»vas  on  the  road  to  drown  myself. 

'^^mned):    Therese! 

'»fhere  are  other  women  who  in  the 
'«5    would    have    borne    them- 


selves better,  let  God  judge  between  them  and 
me.  As  for  myself,  I  did  what  I  could,  what  it 
was  possible  for  me  to  do. 

Jean  (after  a  pause)  :  I  was  wrong,  I  dare  say. 
I  yielded  to  a  thoughtless  fit  of  passion.  The 
impression  I  did  not  check  will  pass 

Thirise  (firmly)  :  No,  it  will  not  pass. 

Jean:  How  do  you  know?  Why  be  so  decided? 

Thirise  (with  a  mournful  authority) :  Poison 
has  been  thrown  into  the  sources  of  our  love. 
The  other  lovers  live  in  the  thought  that  they 
are  inseparable.  They  walk  along  asleep  in  their 
prodigious  dream.  You  and  I  have  been  awak- 
ened. When  you  arise  from  death,  jrou  find  me 
making  a  pact  against  you  with  the  living.  And 
I — I  am  granted  the  revelation  that  you  have 
disappeared  without  arresting  the  course  of  my 
life,  without  deflecting  it  for  even  one  night. 
The  word  that  says  always,  the  words  that  prom- 
ise the  infinite,  all  the  big  words,  are  congealed 
in  the  rouge  that  I  have  just  put  on  my  lips  (re- 
treating before  his  advance  toward  her).  Now 
that  I  can  no  longer  believe  my  passion  for  you 
is  my  supreme  faith,  now  that  I  no  longer  dream 
of  you  as  my  only  master  and  my  god,  now  that 
I  no  longer  have  these  wild  excuses,  I  would  be 
a  monster  to  wish  to  sacrifice  my  family  to  you! 
(Retreating  before  him  and  with  still  more  reso- 
lution) I  pitied  my  husband.  And  I  have  just 
experienced  the  feeling  that  I  am  forever  en- 
laced by  the  arms  of  my  daughter. 

Jean  (after  having  questioned  himself  in  a 
feverish  walk  up  and  down  the  room) :  It  is 
my  despair  that  I  cannot  find  the  words  with 
which  to  give  you  the  lie.  Yes,  we  have  seen  an 
abyss  opening  between  us.  I  will  not  say  that  I 
no  longer  desire  you;  the  moments  in  which  you 
and  I  were  so  close  to  each  other  could  only 
heighten  my  sensual  appetite.  But  I  also  pur- 
sued in  you  the  ideal,  the  absolute;  and  behold, 
in  my  flight  into  the  infinite  I  have  struck  against 
limitations.  I  would  not  content  myself  with  a 
falling-ofF  from  my  exalted  feelings.  The  hymn 
of  joy  which  was  interrupted  will  never  sound 
in  me  again.  An  icy  breath  is  exhaled  from  the 
things  that  once  kindled  my  enthusiasm.  There 
is  an  irony  in  the  air;  it  emanates  from  the  folds 
of  this  robe,  from  its  perfume;  you  wore  it  in 
the  city  at  the  very  time  when  I  was  condemned 
never  to  enjoy  it  again.  (Discovering  something 
essential)  Oh !  We  have  lost  only  our  illusions, 
and  it  is  love  which  we  will  not  find  again ! 

Thirise:  My  friend!  My  friend!  This  time 
it  has  really  come  from  death  to  the  place  where 
we  are! 

A  Servant  (entering  by  the  rear):  The  car- 
riage is  waiting.  (He  goes  out.  Thirise  goes 
to  open  the  door  on  the  left  and  with  a  sign 
calls  the  maid.) 

Jean :  We  will  see  each  other  again  ? 

Thirise:  No.  (The  maid  brings  Thirise  a 
fan,  readjusts  her  cloak  on  her  shoulders  and 
goes  out  by  the  door  on  the  left,  leaving  it  open.) 

Jean  (h%s  voice  half  veiled) :  Oh!  This  is  not 
the  time  when  We  will  say  good-by  to  each 
other  ? 

Thirise:  Yes.  As  in  a  chamber  of  death, 
without  a  sound,  without  a  gesture,  without  a 
word;  only  a  handshake.  (Thirise  and  Jean 
shake  each  other^s  hand  in  silence.  She  goes  out 
by  the  right.    He  falls  sobbing  on  a  chair.) 


Religion  and  Ethics 


THE  SOUL  OF  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE 


Columbus  once  said:  "Gold  is  the  most  ex- 
cellent thing  in  the  world;  with  gold  we  pile 
up  a  treasure  with  which  its  owner  may  have 
everything  in  the  world;  it  can  even  force  the 
gates  of  paradise."  It  has  been  suggested  that 
America  inherited  its  worst  national  trait  from 
its  discoverer.  Yet  a  Harvard  professor, 
Louis  Agassiz,  is  remembered  because  he  de- 
clared that  he  had  "no  time  to  make  money" ; 
and  Andrew  Carnegie  has  already  achieved 
a  kind  of  immortality  for  his  statement  that 
"it  is  a  crime  to  die  rich."  Mr.  William  M. 
Ivins,  the  well-known  lawyer  and  late  Repub- 
lican candidate  for  Mayor  of  New  York,  who 
takes  a  serious  view  of  our  national  destiny, 
and  has  lately  endeavored  to  give  us  some 
insight  into  what  he  calls  the  "soul"  of  the 
American  people,*  is  by  no  means  prepared 
to  admit  that  money-grubbing,  or  even  com- 
mercialism, is  the  ruling  American  quality. 
He  says: 

"The  earliest  manifestation  of  the  American 
Spirit  came  from  the  Puritan  and  the  Cavalier, 
and  it  was  a  good  spirit,  bom  of  the  reading  of 
the  Bible  and  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  and 
the  Elizabethan  dramatists,  and  of  Milton  and 
of  Locke.  It  was  a  colonizing  spirit,  which 
pushed  farther  and  farther  to  the  west  and  south, 
until  the  whole  land  was  covered.  But  for  many 
decades,  while  theoretically  hospitable  to  all  the 
world,  we  remained  a  more  or  less  exclusive 
and  isolated  people,  for  in  the  history  of  immi- 
gration into  America  this  is  to  be  noted,  that  it 
is  divided  into  three  periods — the  first  one  that 
of  the  early  comers,  followed  by  a  long  interval, 
let  us  say  from  1700  to  1848,  during  which  im- 
migration played  a  smaller  part  in  the  deter- 
mination of  our  national  psychology;  and  then 
from  1848  to  date,  a  new  and  tremendous  in- 
coming, ,a  veritable  transplanting  of  Europe, 
which  has  so  modified  the  character  of  our 
people  and  of  our  national  life  as  to  leave  the 
old  controlling  Puritan  and  Cavalier  strain  some- 
thmg  to  be  sought  for  historically  rather  than  to 
be  felt  intimately  and  actively. 
"Our  country  presented  every  variety  of  nat- 
.  ural  gift  and  our  Constitution  offered  every 
temptation  to  men  of  breadth  and  boldness. 
Everything  favored  our  becoming  the  final  re- 
adjuster  in  the  history  of  the  peoples,  with  prac- 
tical immunity  for  a  century  and  a  half  from 
outside  interference,  while  the  bone  of  our  char- 
acter was  setting,  with  steady  progress,  with  un- 

♦The  Soul  op  the  People,     a  New  Year's  Ser- 
mon.    By  Wflliam  M.  Ivins.    The  Century  Company. 


broken  evolution,  with  final  culmination  of  con- 
tinental and  national  unity,  with  room  for  every- 
thing and  for  every  one  in  all  possible  trades 
and  in  all  possible  professions.  Thus,  with 
society  built  up  upon  the  principle  of  peace,  for 
the  last  half  century  we  have  been  transplanting 
Christendom  and  becoming  the  direct  and  the 
sole  heir  of  that  Welt  Geist  which  is  *the  in- 
herited collective  wisdom  of  the  world.'" 

If,  as  Mr.  Ivins  asserts,  the  work  of  Amer- 
ica is  to  "remake  the  world,"  no  question  can 
be  more  pertinent  than  this:  What  character 
are  we  bringing  to,  what  character  are  we 
building  up  for,  the  performance  of  this  task? 
In  endeavoring  to  answer  this  question,  he 
says  : 

"Underlying  the  national  spirit,  I  find  primarily 
these  things:  the  flavor  of  the  soil  and  of  the 
atmosphere,  of  the  high,  clear  heaven,  the  end- 
less prairie,  the  rolling  country,  the  great  cloud- 
gathering  mountains;  begetting  in  men  an  apti- 
tude for  freedom  of  thought  and  speech,— ^c 
essence  of  the  life  of  the  intellectual  man, — ^and 
rewarding  the  worker  with  pure  food  and  ample, 
a  good  roof  and  a  warm  coat, — ^plenty,  in  a  word, 
the  basis  of  strength  in  the  physical  man.  It  is 
due  to  this,  and  to  other  causes  that  I  have 
hastily  touched  on  already,  that  our  people  has 
become  physically — and  as  an  entire  people,  I 
do  not  hesitate  to  say,  intellectually  as  well — the 
best  product  of  the  past  and  the  finest  promise 
for  the  future.  And  we  are  both  one  and  the 
other  precisely  because  we  have  not  permitted 
the  past  to  dwarf  the  present,  because  we  have 
not  let  reverence  for  yesterday  spread  a  pall 
over  to-morrow.  This,  I  take  it,  is  the  most 
notable  thing  in  our  atitude  towards  life,  in 
what  may  be  called  our  national  culture,  if 
Goethe  was  right  in  saying  of  culture  that  it 
was  simply  'putting  every  man  in  a  proper  atti- 
tude towards  life.' " 

Proceeding,  next,  to  an  attempt  to  "place" 
our  spiritual  center  of  gravity,  Mr.  Ivins  says : 
"As  a  nation,  we  certainly  have  one;  but  for 
me,  at  least,  it  is  hard  to  find,  and  I  am  not 
prepared  to  admit  that  it  is  pure  commercial- 
ism, although  commercialism  is  a  very  obvious 
national  trait."    To  quote  further: 

"The   spiritual  centre  of  gravity  can   still   be 
located  in  European  peoples — among  the  Engly'- 
the    Spanish,   the   French   and   the   Germ^  1*^ 
was   easily   enough   located   here   in   '^oy'the 
times,'  when  in  the  South  it  wa«        /  ^i^j 
generosity  and   chivalry,   and   i-   *  f, 

spirit  of  Puritan  fine  living  -d  ever  known, 
more  difficult  now  to  ^ 


642 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


like  New  York,  to  which  more  than  half  of  our 
people  are  practical  strangers  from  the  point 
of  view  of  intellectual  community  in  our  tradi- 
tions and  ideals.  However,  I  should  say  that 
our  spiritual  centre  of  gravity  is  a  national  love 
of  work,  which  is  the  mainspring  of  the  eUiics 
of  our  new  civilization.  That  is  why  we,  as  yet, 
have  no  intellectual  proletariat,  and  no  body  of 
the  unclassed,  as  in  Europe;-  for,  notwithstand- 
ing all  appearance,  we  have  here  no  'classes'  in 
the  European  sense  of  the  word.  The  tools  to 
him  who  can  use  them — that  is  our  motto.  Or, 
as  Ferrero  says,  'Let  him  who  can  do  a  thing 
well  step  forward  to  do  it,  and  no  one  will 
question  where  he  learnt  it :  such  is  the  university 
degree  required  of  an  American  engineer,  law- 
yer, clerk,  or  employee.'" 

There  is  somewhere  always,  in  every  peo- 
ple, continues  Mr.  Ivins,  a  moral  unity;  but, 
like  the  spiritual  center  of  gravity,  this  moral 
unity  of  our  new  race  is  also  difficult  to  find. 
It  often  seems,  as  he  confesses,  that  "for 
all  our  lower  wants  and  interests  the  whole 
people  are  in  unison,  dominated  by  a  devour- 
ing spirit  of  commercialism";  but  he  finds,  in 
connection  with  our  higher  wants,  a  baffling 
conflict  of  motives.    He  adds: 

"And  one  thing  which  I  believe  I  discover 
with  great  precision  is  that  as  a  nation  we  are 
too  far  away  from  the  spiritual,  too  near  the 
physical  and  the  sensual.  We  are  suffering  from 
the  contagion  of  luxury.  It  was  one  of  the 
causes  of  both  Greek  and  Roman  decline ;  yet  the 
luxury  of  Rome  was  sordid  want  compared  with 
the  luxury  of  our  American  cities.  We  are  cer- 
tainly not  a  religious  people,  in  the  old  sense 
of  the  word, — minding  authority,  careful  of  tra- 


dition; but  if  religion  mean  for  others  what  it 
means  for  me, — if  it  mean  the  quest  of  the 
eternal,  if  it  mean  the  hunger  for  the  knowledge 
of  the  infinite,  then,  in  that  sense,  I  do  not 
hesitate  to  say  that  our  people  are  not  irreligious, 
even  if  it  be  a  fact  that  the  nation  is  not  spirit- 
ually potent  enough  to  raise  up  a  Francis  of 
Assisi,  a  Savonarola,  a  Milton,  a  Pascal  or  a 
Newman.  It  did  beget  its  Emerson,  its  Parker, 
its  Channing,  its  Hecker,  its  Lowell,  and  its 
Phillips  Brooks,  but  who  have  taken  their 
places?  Mind  you,  I  do  not  mean  for  a  minute 
to  say  that  we  are  incapable  of  begetting  such 
men,  but  that  I  do  not  detect  them  now,  although 
it  is  part  of  my  creed  that  the  need  begets  the 
man,  and  that  somewhere,  'in  shady  leaves  of 
destiny,'  our  redeemers  are  growing  to  full-stat- 
ured  manhood,  and  will  declare  themselves  with 
the  coming  of  the  hour  of  our  necessity." 

Returning  to  the  main  argument,  Mr.  Ivins 
lays  it  down  as  a  historical  fact  that  with  every 
people  in  the  world  before  ourselves  there  has 
always  been  something  that  has  been  sacred, 
and  states  his  conviction  that  there  must,  if 
a  people  is  to  endure,  always  be  some  one 
thing  which  is  sacred  to  the  national  con- 
science. What  is  it  that  is  sacred  to  us?  he 
asks.  The  law?  "We  are  probably  more  dis- 
regardful  of  law  than  any  other  people  in  the 
world."  The  church  ?  "There  is  no  church  in 
the  political  sense."  Property?  "Possibly." 
But  Mr.  Ivins  thinks  that  on  the  whole 
"what  we  hold  most  sacred  is  the  ennobling 
power  of  work,"  and  that  "deep  down  beneath 
everything  else  our  nation  has  a  sovereign 
and  a  saving  ideal  of  righteousness." 


THE  MOST  VITAL  ELEMENT  IN  CHRISTIANITY 


What  is  the  essential  element  in  Christian- 
ity, the  essential  theoretical  element  which  in- 
spires its  teachings  on  the  ethical  side?  This 
question  has  been  raised  hundreds  of  times 
by  Christian  thinkers  and  theologians,  but 
has  seldom  received  a  more  notable  answer 
than  that  given  by  Sir  Oliver  Lodge,  the  emi- 
nent English  scientist,  in  the  latest  issue  of 
The  Hibbert  Journal  (London).  He  says 
that  he  has  tried  to  discover  the  element  which 
Christianity  possesses  in  excess  above  other 
religions — ^the  "vital  element  which  has  en- 
abled it  to  survive  all  the  struggles  for  ex- 

*"^ce,  and  to  dominate  the  most  civilized  peo- 
Tie  b 

>**flje  world";  and  he  adds:  "I  believe 

^'vas^vcssential  element  in  Christianity 

'^«'/t/iea)f  a  human  God;  of  a  God, 

••*hert  «ipart  from  the  universe, 


not  outside  it  and  distinct  from  it,  but  imma- 
nent in  it;  yet  not  immanent  only,  but  actually 
incarnate,  incarnate  in  it  and  revealed  in  the 
Incarnation."    To  quote  further: 

"This  perception  of  a  human  God,  or  of  a 
God  in  the  form  of  humanity,  is  a  perception 
which  welds  together  Christianity  and  Pantheism 
and  Paganism  and  Philosophy.  It  has  been  seized 
and  travestied  by  Comtists,  whose  God  is  rather 
limited  to  the  human  aspect  instead  of  being  only 
revealed  through  it.  It  has  been  preached  by 
some  Unitarians,  though  reverently  denied  by 
others  and  by  Jews,  who  have  felt  that  God  could 
not  be  incarnate  in  man:  'This  be  far  from  thee. 
Lord.'  It  has  been  recognized  and  even  exag- 
gerated by  Catholics,  who  have  almost  lost  the 
humanity  in  the  Divinity,  though  they  tend  to 
restore  the  balance  by  practical  worship  of  the 
Mother  and  of  canonical  saints.  But  whatever 
its  unconscious  treatment  by  the  sects  may  have 
been,  this  idea — ^the  humanity  of  God  or  the  Di- 


RELIGION    AND  ETHICS 


643 


vinity  of  man — I  conceive  to  be  the  truth  which 
constituted  the  chief  secret  and  inspiration  of 
Jesus:  *I  and  the  Father  are  one.'  *My  Father 
worketh  hitherto,  and  I  work.'  The  Son 
of  Man,'  and  equally  The  Son  of  God/ 
'Before  Abraham  was  I  am.'  'I  am  in  the 
Father  and  the  Father  in  me.'  And  though 
admittedly  'My  Father  is  greater  than  I,'  yet  *he 
that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father*;  and  'he 
that  believeth  on  me  hath  everlasting  life.*" 

According  to  Sir  Oliver  Lodge's  view,  the 
real  meaning  and  significance  of  this  concep- 
tion of  Godhead  needs  to  be  re-stated.  It 
has  been  felt  to  rest  upon  miracles  and  por- 
tents— Christ's  miraculous  birth  and  porten- 
tous death  and  the  ascent  of  his  body  into 
Heaven;  but  Sir  Oliver  says:  "I  suggest  that 
such  an  attempt  at  exceptional  glorification  of 
his  body  is  a  pious  heresy — a  heresy  which 
misses  the  truth  lying  open  to  our  eyes.  His 
humanity  is  to  be  recognized  as  real  and  or- 
dinary and  thorough  and  complete:  not  in 
middle-life  alone,  but  at  birth  and  at  death, 
and  after  death.  Whatever  happened  to  him 
may  happen  to  any  one  of  us,  provided  we  at- 
tain the  appropriate  altitude,  an  altitude  which, 
whether  within  our  individual  reach  or  not, 
is  assuredly  within  reach  of  humanity."  Above 
all,  this  conception  of  Godhead  impresses  the 
fact  that  the  Christian  deity  is  not  a  being 
outside  the  universe,  above  its  struggles  and 
advances,  but  one  who  "enters  into  the  storm 
and  conflict,  and  is  subject  to  conditions  as 
the  Soul  of  it  all."    To  quote  again : 

"Consider  what  is  involved  in  the  astounding 
idea  of  evolution  and  progress  as  applied  to  the 
whole  universe.  Either  it  is  a  fact  or  it  is  a 
dream.  H  it  be  a  fact,  what  an  illuminating  fact 
it  is!  God  is  one;  the  universe  is  an  aspect  and 
a  revelation  of  God.  The  universe  is  struggling 
upward  to  a  perfection  not  yet  attained.  I  see 
in  the  mighty  process  of  evolution  an  eternal 
struggle  towards  more  and  more  self-perception, 
and  fuller  and  more  all-embracing  Existence — 
not  only  on  the  part  of  what  is  customarily 
spoken  of  as  Creation-^but  in  so  far  as  Nature  is 
an  aspect  and  revelation  of  God,  and  in  so  far 
as  Time  has  any  ultimate  meaning  or  significance, 
we  must  dare  to  extend  the  thought  of  growth 
and  progress  and  development  even  up  to  the 
height  of  all  that  we  can  realise  of  the  Supernal 
Being.  In  some  parts  of  the  universe  perhaps 
already  the  ideal  conception  has  been  attained; 
and  the  region  of  such  attainment— the  full  blaze 
of  self-conscious  Deity — is  too  bright  for  mortal 
eyes,  is  utterly  beyond  our  highest  thoughts;  but 
in  part  the  attainment  is  as  yet  very  imperfect; 
in  what  we  know  as  the  material  part,  which  is 
our  present  home,  it  is  nascent,  or  only  just  be- 
ginning; and  our  own  struggles  and  efforts  and 
disappointments  and  aspirations — ^the  felt  groan- 
ing and  travailing  of  Creation — ^these  are  evi- 
dence of  the  effort,  indeed  they  themselves  are 
part  of  the  effort,  towards  fuller  and  completer 


and  more  conscious  existence.  On  this  planet 
man  is  the  highest  outcome  of  the  process  so  far, 
and  is  therefore  the  highest  representation  of 
Deity  that  here  exists.  Terribly  imperfect  as 
yet,  because  so  recently  evolved,  he  is  neverthe- 
less a  being  which  has  at  length  attained  to  con- 
sciousness and  free-will,  a  being  unable  to  be 
coerced  by  the  whole  force  of  the  universe, 
against  his  will;  a  spark  of  the  Divine  Spirit, 
therefore,  never  more  to  be  quenched.  Open  still 
to  awful  horrors,  to  agonies  of  remorse,  but  to 
floods  of  joy  also,  he  persists,  and  his  destiny  is 
largely  in  his  own  hands;  he  may  proceed  up  or 
down,  he  may  advance  towards  a  magnificent  as- 
cendancy, he  may  recede  towards  depths  of  in- 
famy. He  is  not  coerced;  he  is  guided  and  in- 
fluenced, but  he  is  free  to  choose.  The  evil  and 
the  good  are  necessary  correlatives;  freedom  to 
choose  the  one  involves  freedom  to  choose  the 
other." 

The  idea  of  a  God  that  could  share  all  the 
struggle  and  travail  of  humanity,  that  could 
sympathize,  that  had  felt  the  extremity  of 
human  anguish  and  the  agony  of  bereavement, 
had  submitted  even  to  the  brutal,  hopeless 
torture  of  the  innocent,  and  had  become  ac- 
quainted with  the  pangs  of  death — ^this,  says 
Sir  Oliver  Lodge,  has  been  "the  chief  conso- 
lation of  the  Christian  religion."  He  con- 
tinues: "This  is  the  extraordinary  conception 
of  Godhead  to  which  we  have  thus  far  risen. 
This  is  my  beloved  Son.*  The  Christian  God 
is  revealed  as  the  incarnate  spirit  of  humanity, 
or  rather  the  incarnate  spirit  of  humanity  is 
recognized  as  a  real  intrinsic  part  of  God. 
The  Kingdom  of  Heaven  is  within  you': — 
surely  one  of  the  most  inspired  utterances  of 
antiquity."    He  concludes: 

"Infinitely  patient  the  Universe  has  been  while 
man  has  groped  his  way  to  this  truth;  so  simple 
and  consoling  in  one  of  its  aspects,  so  incon- 
ceivable and  incredible  in  another.  Dimly  and 
partially  it  has  been  seen  by  all  the  prophets,  and 
doubtless  by  many  of  the  pagan  saints.  Dimly 
and  partialljT  we  see  it  now;  but  in  the  life-blood 
of  Christianity  this  is  the  most  vital  element  It 
is  not  likely  to  be  the  attribute  of  any  one  re- 
ligion alone,  it  may  be  the  essence  of  truth  in  all 
terrestrial  religions,  but  it  is  conspicuously  Chris- 
tian. Its  boldest  statement  was  when  a  child  was 
placed  in  the  midst  and  was  regarded  as  a  symbol 
of  the  Deity;  but  it  was  foreshadowed  even  in 
the  early  conceptions  of  Olyinpus,  whose  gods 
and  goddesses  were  affected  with  the  passions  of 
men;  it  is  the  root  fact  underlying  the  super- 
stitions of  idolatry  and  all  varieties  of  anthro- 
pomorphism. Thou  shalt  have  none  other  gods 
but  me':  and  with  dim  eyes  and  dull  ears  and 
misunderstanding  hearts  men  have  sought 
obey  the  commandment,  seeking  after  Q^' 
haply  they  might  find  Him;  while  a^'-^,  ' 
their  God  was  very  nigh  unto  tV'by  the 
midst  and  of  their  fellowship.  A-er  of  this 
their  struggles,  rejoicing  ir .  known." 

evoking  even  in  their  o^  -^^^  ^^^^  Known, 
and  broken  image  o' 


644 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


NEW  REVELATIONS  OF  NEITZSCHE 


The  unflagging  interest  in  Nietzsche  and 
his  work  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic  is 
exhibited,  as  we  have  pointed  out  before,  most 
strikingly  in  recent  Continental  literature — ^in 
novels,  plays  and  poetry,  as  well  as  in  religious 
and  philosophical  writing.  Two  important 
articles  by  his  intimate  friends.  Prof.  Julius 
Kaftan  and  Prof.  Frank  Overbeck,  have  lately 
appeared  in  German  magazines,  the  first  in 
the  Deutsche  Rundschau,  the  second  in  the 
Neue  Rundschau. 

It  is  significant  that  both  of  these  writers, 
though  religious  men  and  out  of  sympathy  with 
Nietzsche's  extreme  position,  unite  in  paying 
tribute  to  his  extraordinary  power  and  bril- 
liancy as  a  thinker. 

In  the  seven  years  immediately  preceding 
his  illness,  says  Professor  Kaftan,  Nietzsche 
constantly  planned  to  write  a  work  which 
should  set  forth  his  ideas  as  a  coherent,  com- 
prehensive and  systematic  whole.  The  book 
was  to  serve  as  a  parallel  to  'Zarathustra.'  All 
that  in  the  latter  had  been  proclaimed  under 
a  poetical  guise,  Nietzsche  desired  to  arrange 
in  strictly  logical  form  as  his  philosophical 
teaching.  The  failure  to  understand  his  'Zar- 
athustra'  made  him  the  more  eager  to  accom- 
plish this  task.  But  he  was  not  destined  to 
complete  his  plans.  Before  he  even  began  to 
put  his  material  into  shape,  the  malady  de- 
clared itself,  forever  putting  an  end  to  his 
mental  activities.  Some  notes,  however,  have 
been  published  posthumously  and  furnish  us 
with  a  groundwork  of  his  beliefs,  which  are 
thus  summarized  by  Professor  Kaftan: 

Nietzsche's  fundamental  quarrel  is  with  those 
who  deny,  misconceive  and  abuse  the  "real  world"  ' 
in  which  we  live,  and  who  set  up  in  its  place  a 
"true   world"    of   their   own    imagination.     Not 
merely  the  pessimists  are  to  blame  in  this  respect ; 
most  religious  thinkers  have  fallen  into  the  same 
mistake.    They  all  try  to  make  man  feel  that  he 
is  a  Hinterweltler,  a  crawlinsr  creature  seeking 
for  something  behind  or  beyond  the  world.    Thus 
it  becomes  an  inborn  trait  with  religious  people 
to  regard  the  real  world  with  an  evil  eye  and  in- 
culcate a  contempt  for  it.    This  is  true  of  Bud- 
dhism and  Christianity  more  than  of  all  the  other 
religions.     Indeed,    Nietzsche   always   looked   at 
Christianity    through    Schopenhauer's    spectacles, 
hence  for  him  it  belongs  in  the  same  category  as 
Buddhism,  whereof  it  is  only  a  less  logical  form. 
*-  \ges   long,   Religion,   Ethics,   and    Philosophy 
^"":uled  men's  feelings.    Everywhere  mankind 
^\^'  fif ted  the  world  according  to  their  stock 
J    -everywhere  in  Europe  to-day  their 
''^^^pcpdermined    and    tottering,    since 
*     .  tt'*^"^  °^  ^®  world's  meaning 
'-♦heic-^Ue.    A  stage  of  develop- 


ment now  faces  us  which  will — ^nay,  which  must- 
proceed  irresistibly,  since  none  can  contradict 
definitively  Positive  Science  and  its  results.  Pos- 
itive Science  confutes  the  interpretation  of  the 
world  according  to  the  false  valuation  hitherto 
given  it,  a  valuation  due  to  decadence  and  ex- 
haustion. This  interpretation  tumbles -to  pieces 
and  drags  down  in  its  ruins  Religion,  Ethics  and 
Philosophy.  Art,  also,  in  so  far  as  it  is  tainted 
with  this  malady  (Wagner's  music  first  and  fore- 
most) cannot  avoid  the  same  fate.  There  is 
nothing  which  the  intellectual  and  historical  world 
can  rescue  from  this  state  of  corruption.  Nihilism 
with  its  universal  sway  is  the  only  conceivable 
end. 

True  philosophy,  Nietzsche's  philosophy,  un- 
derstands all  this,  explains  its  development  and 
accepts  it.  Its  underlying  truth  and  its  strength 
lie  in  the  fact  that  it  has  thrown  off  all  notions 
of  a  "true  world"  as  taught  by  Religion,  Morality 
and  a  decadent  Philosophy.  There  is  only  the 
real  world  which  ever  was  and  ever  shall  be. 
This  perception  is  the  great  and  new  achievement 
of  mankind. 

But  then,  we  ask  almost  involuntarily,  what  is 
the  goal,  the  end  of  the  world?  For  with  the 
idea  of  anything  in  process  of  being  we  connect 
that  other — What  is  it  to  be? — ^and  only  in  this 
connection  are  we  wont  to  attach  any  value  or 
meaning  to  an  idea.  We  r^rd  everything  that 
exists  in  the  light  of  its  origin,  and  conceive  that 
it  must  be  a  means  to  an  end,  the  way  to  some 
^al.  But  concerning  the  process  of  being,  which 
is  manifested  in  the  real  world,  we  have  no  right 
to  raise  such  a  question.  Here  it  would  be  folly. 
There  is  no  wherefore  and  no  end  in  view.  This 
any  thinking  man  must  see  if  he  stops  to  reflect. 
For  were  there  a  wherefore  or  an  end  in  view,  it 
must  have  been  reached  long  ere  this.  To  sup- 
pose a  time  when  there  was  naught,  i.e.,  nothing 
in  process  of  being,  would  be  the  barrenest  of 
propositions,  an  empty  thought.  The  real  world 
was  always,  and  always  was  in  process  of  being. 
Had  there  been  anything  which  was  to  develop 
from  it  or  be  made  out  of  it,  surely  it  would  have 
appeared  long  since  and  the  process  of  being 
would  have  had  its  end.  That  is  not,  however, 
the  case;  the  processes  of  development  go  on 
forever.  Consequently  there  is  no  wherefore  and 
no  goal, — what  we  have  is  the  real  world,  always 
in  process  of  being,  a  development  forever  lasting. 

But  what,  then,  is  the  real  world,  so  highly  to 
be  prized,  so  deeply  to  be  cherished?  How  are 
we  to  regard  it,  we  men  of  intelligence  and  free 
souls?  The  answer  comes:  "Energy!"  This  ques- 
tion can  only  be  replied  to  figuratively,  and  ac- 
cordingly we  call  it  a  Sea  of  Energy!  This  fig- 
ure indeed  is  one  grown  familiar  to  us  who  have 
wandered  with  Zarathustra  along  the  Mediter- 
ranean strands;  the  Sea  with  its  restless  waves 
rising  and  sinking,  the  Sea  in  storm  and  in  sun- 
shine, now  lying  so  still  before  us  like  a  snake 
with  its  shimmering  scales,  now  rearing  and  rag- 
ing in  monstrous  sport  with  its  powers,  as  though 
it  were  a  pack  of  gigantic  lions.  That  is  an  im- 
age of  tlie  real  world— a  Sea  of  Energy. 

Energy  is  the  being,  the  substance,  of  the  real 
world ;  the  "will  to  do"  is  the  countersign  which 


RELIGION    AND  ETHICS 


^\  645 


admits  us  to  a  comprehension  of  mortal  things 
and  their  evolution. 

Man's  life  is  but  a  short  minute  in  the  course 
of  a  long  day,  and,  when  we  think  of  that  moment, 
what  signifies  it  in  comparison  with  the  endless- 
ness of  billowing  energies?  Nevertheless  it  is  a 
link  in  the  Ring  of  Rings,  was  ever  such,  and  ever 
will  be  again.  In  fine,  all  Zarathustra's  passionate 
zeal  is  centered  on  how  best  he  may  order  every 
second  in  that  minute  so  to  bring  about  an  appre- 
ciation of  the  real  world  in  mankind,  and  give 
that  thought  its  true  value." 

Professor  Overbeck's  article  is  in  large  part 
devoted  to  personal  details  connected  with 
the  man  "whose  intimacy  had,  more  than  all 
else,  filled  his  [Overbeck's]  life";  and  he  fur- 
nishes the  first  authentic  account  of  Nietzsche's 
mental  disintegration  and  final  insanity.  He 
vrrites,  in  part: 

"As  to  his  genius,  in  the  highest  sense  of  the 
word,  Nietzsche  himself  never  believed  in  it,  or 
rather  he  never  believed  in  himself.  .  .  .  His 
end  does  not  at  all, — as  his  opponents  would  like 
to  have  us  think, — furnish  argument  against  his 
possession  of  genius,  though  perhaps  it  may  ac- 
count for  the  limitations  of  his  gifts.  One  thing 
aboul  these  gifts  seems  to  me  most  tragic,  their 
one-sidedness.  Nietzsche  had  genius,  but  it  lay  in 
his  talents  as  a  critic.  All  these  critical  gifts  of  his 
genius,  however,  he  turned  in  the  most  danger- 
ous direction,  that  is,  against  himself,  after  a 
fashion  positively  lethal. 

"His  madness,  which  no  one  had  any  such  op- 
portunity to  watch  from  its  inception  as  I  had, 
was,  according  to  my  first  and  lasting  impression, 
a  catastrophe  which  struck  him  with  lightning- 
like suddenness.  It  took  place  between  Christ- 
mas, 1888^  and  Epiphany,  1889.  Previously  to 
that,  though  in  a  state  of  nervous  exaltation,  if  you 
will,  he  was  certainly  not  crazy." 

Still  Overbeck  confesses  that  as  far  back 
as  1 881  Nietzsche  had  shown  peculiarities 
which  would  probably  have  convinced  an  ex- 
perienced observer  that  he  was  "a  destined 
candidate  for  the  insane  asylum."  His  mad- 
ness, however,  his  friend  contends,  had  no 
effect  on  his  written  works  until  the  fall  of 
1888.  Professor  Overbeck  insists  most  em- 
phatically on  this  point  in  opposition  to  such 
as  have  found  traces  of  "mad  eccentricity"  in 
all  Nietzsche's  works. 

After  relating  certain  incidents  to  prove  that 
Nietzsche  Was  no  Superman,  especially  in  his 
infrequent  dealings  with  women,  his  friend 
hastens  to  add  "that  none  can  question  the 
genuineness  of  his  manhood.  Whatsoever  he 
may  have  seemed,  he  was  no  actor;  though 
oftentimes  seemingly  affected,  he  really  liv^d 
the  role  he  was  representing.  .  .  .  Though 
perhaps  not  in  everything,  yet  in  very  many  of 
his  habits  of  living,  and  especially  in  what  we 
^all  every-day  ways,  Nietzsche  was  one  of  the 


most  steady  and  regular  men  I  have  ever 
known.  .  .  .  Although  an  'immoralist'  he 
was  to  an  unusual  and  surprising  degree  'a 
model  man.'  .  .  .  He  himself  considered 
that  his  strongest  attitude  was  his  self  mas- 
tery. It  is  true  that  at  times  he  showed  no 
more  of  this  quality  than  most  men,  and  yet, 
taking  his  life  as  a  whole,  he  did  possess  it  to 
an  extraordinary  degree." 

Of  Nietzsche's  optimism,  this  critic  declares 
it  is  that  of  a  desperado,  fighting  with  bound- 
less  fantasy  again^  "the  unbounded  despair^' 
of  Schopenhauer  and  his  school.  "The  new 
civilization,  with  its  'Supermen'  which  he  in- 
culcated, is  simply  another  sign  of  despera- 
tion; a  fact  proven  not  least  conclusively  by 
Nietzsche's  attempt  to  identify  himself  with 
his  Uebermensch  and  the  practical  outcome 
thereof,  as  exemplified  in  his  life.  With  it 
all  he  advanced  to  precisely  the  same  point 
as  our  modem  theological  apologists  for  Chris- 
tianity, namely  to  the  point  where  he  saw 
that  the  proof  of  their  theories  can  only  be 
looked  for  from  the  future,  as  no  man  can 
furnish  that  evidence  so  long  as  he  is  still 
on  earth."  "Lyrical  philosophy"  would  be 
the  most  fitting  term  to  describe  Nietzsche's 
teachings,  says  this  critic. 

Dr.  Overbeck's  exposition  of  his  friend's 
attitude  toward  Christianity  is  doubly  inter- 
esting, coming  from  a  university  Professor 
of  Theology.  Nietzsche's  aphorism:  "Never 
in  all  the  hours  of  my  life  have  I  been  a  Chris- 
tian ;  I  have  regarded  everything  which  I  have 
found  styled  Christianity  as  a  despicable 
equivocation  in  terms,  a  piece  of  actual  cow- 
ardice before  all  powers  to  whom  otherwise 
the  right  to  rule  belongs,"  is  regarded  by  Over- 
beck. as  an  exaggeration,  though  he  does  not 
question  its  sincerity.  His  criticism  of  theol- 
ogy as  a  "parasite"  meets  with  Overbeck's 
fullest  approval  on  historical  grounds,  though 
for  religion  as  a  faculty  of  mankind  he  con- 
tends that  Nietzsche  had  no  comprehension 
whatever.  He  quotes,  however,  with  unction 
and  evident  approval  a  saying  of  Dr.  Kaftan, 
that  "a  course  in  Nietzsche  would  be  one  of 
the  best  of  introductions  to  the  study  of  the- 
ology." 

Nietzsche  has  been  regarded  as  a  solitary 
spirit;  but  Overbeck  says  that  more  than  any 
other  man  he  ever  knew,  Nietzsche  was  in- 
clined to  heartiest   friendships.     As   for^'f^ 
own  relations  with  his  friend,  this  big!<&y\he 
is  specific  in  his  statement,  as  bo'li^Ycr  of  this 
sequel,  that  he  was  ever  tljg^d  ever  known," 
"the  most  remarkable  mjr' ' 


646 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


BABYLONIAN  INFLUENCE  IN  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT 


The  emphasis  upon  "Babylonism"  in  the 
radical  religious  thought  of  the  day,  and  the 
many  efforts  of  German  theologians  to  show 
that  the  religious  ideas  of  the  Babylonians  are 
repeated  in  the  teachings  of  the  Scriptures, 
have  been  hitherto  confined,  in  the  main,  to 
the  Old  Testament.  During  recent  months, 
however,  the  New  Testament  has  also  been  in- 
vestigated for  the  purpose  of  discovering 
traces  of  this  type  of  thought,  and  in  a  new 
work  by  Pastor  Paul  Fiebig,  entitled  "Babel 
and  the  New  Testament"  (published  in  Leip- 
sic),  an  attempt  has  been  made  to  present  in 
systematic  form  the  results  of  this  investiga- 
tion. The  author  bases  his  conclusions 
largely  on  two  leading  works  on  this  subject, 
one,  Gunker&  "New  Testament  Interpreted 
from  the  Standpoint  of  the  History  of  Re- 
ligion," representing  radical  thought,  and  the 
other,  Jeremias'  "Babylonian  Elements  in  the 
New  Testament,"  representing  the  conserva- 
tive standpoint  His  own  conclusions,  how- 
ever, seem  very  far  from  conservative.  Noth- 
ing more  sweepingly  inimical  to  orthodox 
conceptions  of  the  Bible  has  heretofore  come 
even  from  Germany. 

As  Pastor  Fiebig  points  out,  Hugo  Winck- 
ler,  of  the  University  of  Berlin,  was  the  first 
to  demonstrate  that  the  entire  Oriental  world, 
in  ancient  times,  accepted  practically  a 
single  type  of  religious  ideas — ^namely,  the 
astrological  and  mythological  religion  of 
Babylon.  The  chief  feature  of  this  religion 
was  its  emphasis  upon  the  courses  of  the  sun, 
moon  and  stars  in  their  influence  upon  the 
life  of  nations  and  of  individuals.  Very  nat- 
urally this  cast  of  thought,  he  holds,  left  its 
traces  on  the  contents  of  the  New  Testament, 
and  Pastor  Fiebig  cites  a  number  of  events  in 
the  life  of  Jesus  which  he  thinks  show  Baby- 
lonian influence: 

First  among  these  events  is  the  miraculous  birth 
of  Jesus  from  a  virgin.  In  this  connection  it 
should  be  remembered  that  Demeter^  the  mother 
of  Dionysus,  is  called  a  "sacred  virgin."  Isis, 
the  mother  of  Horus,  is  also  assigned  this  role. 
Sargon,  Gudea,  Assumasipal,  Asurbanipal,  and 
other  Assyrian  and  Babylonian  kings,  claim  to 
^  have  been  bom  of  virgin  mothers,  naming  the 
./i^g^oddess  Istar  as  their  mother.    This  is  the  reason 


of  th^'^^^vnfi^PPears  on  the  eastern  point  of  the 

oi  the  ^'^^^SStL^nT"^**^"  °^  ^^  ^*^^^  ^^  Jesus 
horizon.  ^"^^^*>Ji  of  December  is  certainly 
with^the  t^^^^^;^;;^^  fact.    It  is  interesting 


to  compare,  also,  the  twelfth  chapter  of  Revela- 
tion, where  the  presence  of  a  mass  of  kindred 
mythological  data  can  be  clearly  traced,  and  are 
transferred  to  the  person  of  Jesus. 
.  Another  event  that  exhibits  Babylonian  influ- 
ences is  the  massacre  of  the  children  after  the 
birth  of  Jesus.  The  story  of  the  wise  men  plainly 
points  to  Babylon,  and,  occurring  at  the  opening 
of  the  New  Testament,  is  a  clear  indication  that 
Babylonian  elements  must  necessarly  be  found  in 
the  New  Testament.  The  Christmas  narrative 
has  remarkable  parallels  in  Babylonian  literature, 
as  has  also  the  promise  of  an  abundance  of  bless- 
ings in  connection  with  the  coming  of  the  "Re- 
deemer King." 

The  mocfing  of  Christ  before  his  death  is  a 
third  event  that  has  special  significance.  A  par- 
allel to  this  is  to  be  found  in  a  peculiar  rite  of 
the  Persian  Saccian  festival,  during  which  the 
God  of  that  year,  in  the  semblance  of  a  slave,  is 
mocked  at.  The  two  thieves  on  the  cross  also 
have  their  counterparts  in  the  two  high  court 
officials  who  constantly  deride  the  King  of  the 
Year.  The  healing  miracles  of  Jesus  can  be  par- 
alleled to  a  phenomenal  extent  in  Babylonian  lit- 
erature, more  particularly  in  the  accounts  of  Mar- 
duk,  the  Sun-God  of  the  Babylonians. 

Still  another  event,  the  resurrection  of  Jesus 
after  three  days,  recalls  the  great  resurrection 
festival  of  the  Babylonians  in  Nisan,  which  was 
celebrated  at  the  same  time  as  the  death  of  Jesus. 
In  solemn  processions  and  with  holy  rites  the 
resurrection  of  Marduk  was  celebrated  at  the 
beginning  of  spring.  Hymns,  ritual  services, 
liturgies,  prayers,  etc.,  used  in  connection 
with  this  celebration  still  exist,  but  have  only 
been  translated  in  part  The  period  of  three  days, 
the  resurrection  of  Jesus,  the  celebration  of  the 
"Lord's  Day,"  the  eclipse  of  the  sun  at  the  death 
of  Jesus,  the  appearance  of  the  angels,  and  other 
circumstances  in  connection  with  the  crucifixion, 
are  akin  to  features  of  the  Babylonian  religion. 

In  conclusion,  the  author  maintains  that 
Satan,  the  wicked  demon,  the  "seven  evil 
spirits,"  Jesus'  description  of  himself  as  "the 
Son  of  Man,"  can  all  be  traced  to  Babylon. 
The  apocalyptic  literature  of  the  Jews,  says 
Pastor  Fiebig,  as  developed  in  the  Apocalypse 
of  John,  is  simply  filled  with  Babylonian  ele- 
ments. The  thoughts  and  teachings  of  Jesus, 
it  is  true,  are  infinitely  exalted  above  those  of 
the  apocalyptic  writings;  but  it  is  neverthe- 
less clear  that  even  in  Christ's  own  conscious- 
ness, as  is  seen  by  his  use  of  the  name  "Son 
of  Man,"  Babylonian  thought  can  be  traced. 
Babylon  has  accordingly  exerted  a  great  in- 
fluence not  on  the  Old  Testament  alone,  but 
upon  the  entire  Bible. 

From  a  conservative  point  of  view  the 
whole  subject  of  "Babylonism,"  both  in  its 
relations  to  the  Old  and  the  New  Testament, 
has  been  handled  in  articles  appearing  in  the ' 


RELIGION  AND  ETHICS 


647 


leading  apologetical  journal  of  Germany,  the 
Beweis  des  Glaubens  and  its  literary  supple- 
ment, Theologischer  Literaiurbericht.  These 
articles  substantially  agree  in  recognizing  an 
external  agreement  between  certain  biblical 
and  extra-biblical  teachings,  but  hold  that  the 
mistake  of  modern  ''Babylonism"  consists  in 
making  external  agreement  equivalent  to  cause 
and  effect.  They  particularly  score  the  "super- 
ficial judgment"  which  sees  in  the  deification 
of  great  heroes  by  the  Greeks  and  Romans  a 
prototype,  or  even  a  source,  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment doctrine  of  the  divinity  of  Christ. 

In  other  conservative  journals,  such  as  the 
Theologisckes  Literaturblatt  of  Leipsic,  still 
further  reasons  are  given  for  very  cautious 


acceptance  of  these  conclusions.  Especially  is 
it  urged  that  not  one  iota  of  evidence  has 
been  produced  to  show  that  the  biblical  teach- 
ings are  or  ever  were  actually  dependent  upon 
these  extra-biblical  legends.  Even  if  the 
stories  are  externally  alike — ^which  they  are 
only  in  minor  particulars — ^there  is  no  evi- 
dence to  show  that  the  one  had  any  influence 
on  the  genesis  or  development  of  the  other. 
As  in  nearly  all  ultra-critical  hypotheses,  say 
the  conservative  writers,  there  may  be  and 
probably  is  a  small  grain  of  truth  present 
The  exaggeration  and  abuse  of  this  constitute 
the  stock  in  trade  of  the  radicals;  but  only 
time  and  further  research  will  show  what  this 
kernel  of  truth  is. 


THE  ALIENATION  OF  WORKING  MEN  FROM  THE  CHURCH 


•  One  of  the  gravest  problems  that  Christians 
have  to  face,  says  the  New  York  Churchman, 
is  that  involved  in  the  alienation  of  artisans 
and  laborers  from  the  church.  This  problem 
is  especially  to  the  fore  in  England  just  now 
on  account  of  the  startling  success  of  the  Labor 
party  in  the  last  parliamentary  elections.  It 
is  a  well-known  fact  that  many  of  the  English 
trade-unionists  and  Socialists  are  avowed  free- 
thinkers. The  intellectual  leader  of  this  group 
is  Robert  Blatchford,  editor,  of  the  London 
Clarion,  a  trenchant  writer  who  wields  great 
influence  among  English  working  men.  Some 
two  or  three  years  ago  he  launched  an  aggres- 
sively anti-Christian  campaign  in  his  paper, 
which  brought  storms  of  protest  about  his 
head  and  evoked  hundreds  of  replies  from 
clergymen.  One  of  the  members  of  his  own 
staff,  Mr.  George  Haw,  withdrew  from  the 
paper  as  a  result  of  the .  crusade,  and,  after 
being  allowed  generous  space  in  The  Clarion 
to  present  the  Christian  side  of  the  argument, 
as  stated  by  G.  K.  Chesterton,  G.  W.  E,  Rus- 
sell, and  ethers,  published  a  number  of  the 
articles  in  book  form  under  the  title,  "The 
Religious  Doubts  of  Democracy." 

Mr.  Haw  has  now  published  a  second  book, 
"Christianity  and  the  Working  Gasses,"*  which 
IS  attracting  wide  attention  on  both  sides  of  the 
Atlantic.  In  it  he  collects  the  views  of  eleven 
writers,  all  of  whom  may  be  said  to  have  spe- 
cial knowledge  of  the  subject  treated.  Some 
of  the  contributors,  such  as  Dean  Kitchin  and 

•Christianity  and  the  Working  Classes.     Edited 
bj  G^or^  Hfiw.     The  Macmillfin  Company. 


Canon  Barnett,  represent  the  Anglican  Church. 
Others,  like  Will  Crooks  and  George  Lansbury, 
speak  for  the  labor  movement.  Mr.  Haw,  at  the 
beginning  of  the  book,  endeavors  to  formulate 
the  working  man's  indictment  of  the  church. 
He  has  received  letters  from  working  men 
throughout  England,  and  claims  to  be  thor- 
oughly familiar  with  their  point  of  view.  One 
of  them  wrote  him :  "As  moral  guides,  clergy- 
men of  all  denominations  are  not  better  than 
ordinary  mortals.  We  find  them  supporting 
wars  of  aggression,  opposing  measures  of  jus- 
tice, harsh  as  rulers  and  magistrates."  An- 
other says :  "The  religion  of  Christ,  depending 
as  it  does  upon  the  experience  and  intuitions  of 
the  unselfish  enthusiasms,  cannot  possibly  be 
accepted  or  understood  generally  by  a  world 
which  tolerates  a  social  system  based  upon  frat- 
ricidal struggle  as  the  condition  of  existence." 
A  third  declares:  "The  duty  of  ordering  our- 
selves lowly  and  reverently  to  all  our  betters, 
to  obey  pastors  and  masters,  to  be  content  in 
that  state  of  life  into  which  it  shall  please  God 
to  call  us,  coming  from  the  people  interested 
in  keeping  such  a  state  of  things  going,  is  open 
to  misconstruction."  A  fourth  charges  that 
"the  churches  each  year  tend  to  become  more 
and  more  mere  machinery  for  the  Sunday  rec- 
reation of  the  well-fed  and  the  well-dresser*/^" 
Turning  from  the  rank  and  file  of  the,  {j^g^u. 
ing  class  to  its  leaders,  we  find  Ke^^^'earth. 
the  veteran  Socialist  leader,  exist  face,  and  as 
self  as  follows  in  an  open  Wd  actively  or  pas- 

«„Ki:o»,^^   :«    ^    ,.-»^-»«f    ive  must  face  them  from 

puDlisnea   m   a   recent  - ,  „^,j:^*  ^^,^^a 

V       ,       ,T      J     \     '«=w,  and  our  verdict  regara- 
Leader  (London) • 


648 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


terbury,  writing  the  other  day,  said  he  had  to 
devote  seventeen  hours  a  day  to  his  work,  and 
had  no  time  left  in  which  to  form  opinions  on 
how  to  solve  the  unemployed  question.  The 
religion  which  demands  seventeen  hours  a  day 
for  organization,  and  leaves  no  time  for  a 
single  thought  about  starving  and  despairing 
men,  women  and  children,  has  no  message  for 
this  age." 

Mr.  Haw  finds  significance  ia  Ms  view,  as 
in  the  statements  of  the  two  other  labor  lead- 
ers previously  mentioned.  Mr.  Crooks,  now 
member  of  Parliament  from  Woolwich,  makes 
the  following  remarks: 

"If  I  wanted  some  kind,  neighborly  action 
done,  the  last  person  to  come  into  my  mind  would 
be  the  regular  attendant  at  church.** 

"Where  I  sec  Christ's  teaching  reserved  for  a 
specially  favored  few,  it  suggests  that  the 
churches  fear  to  increase  their  congregations  too 
much,  lest  heaven  be  not  large  enough  to  hold 
them  all,  with  common  people  crowding  in." 

"Many  parsons  cannot  approach  the  poor  with- 
out a  sense  of  loftiness  and  a  show  of  patronage 
which  working  men  and  women  hate." 

"When  work-people  go  to  diurch  they  see  the 
pulpit  a  long  way  from  the  congregation.  Like 
the  preaching,  it  is  much  above  the  people's 
heads." 

"I  think  if  the  churches  would  try,  say  once  or 
twice  a  week  for  a  while,  to  run  a  service  where 
it  was  understood  everyone  could  go  without 
Sunday  clothes,  then  those  who  have  only  the 
clothes  they  stand  upright  in  would  not  be 
ashamed  to  attend,  as  they  often  are  now." 

Mr.  Lansbury,  a  Social-Democratic  spokes- 
man and  a  parliamentary  candidate  at  the  last 
election,  declares  that  "what  workmen  want  to 
see  is  some  attempt  at  putting  Christianity  into 
business."    He  continues: 

*^I  look  on  the  Church  of  England  as  being 
legally  and  morally  the  birthright  of  the  people ; 
its  money,  its  buildings,  its  services  have  all  been 
left  and  devised  to  the  people  as  a  wiiole,  not 
for  any  section.  However  much  it  may  be 
wrapped  up  in  formulas  and  ceremonies,  its 
teaching,  if  it  has  any  foundation  at  all,  is  to  be 
found  in  the  Gospels.  These  teach  not  that  riches 
are  the  most  important  thiuR,  but  that  the  life 
spent  in  the  service  of  our  fellows  is  the  thing 
wft  should  all  strive  to  attain  to.  What  would 
England  be  like  if  each  one  of  us  was  consider- 
ing his  neighbor?  What  would  our  slums  be  if 
each  regarded  his  fellow  as  his  brother-man? 

"I  often  ask  workingmen  not  to  judge  Chris- 
tianity by  its  modern  forms,  but  to  judge  it  for 
i^^.^yhat  it  really  is.    If  it  stands,  as  I  hold  it  does, 
^•^ruibv*^^  bettering  of  men  and  women,  then  those 
""*      fv'eUS^o  think  so  must  stand  together,  and  in 
V\     g^opposition  must  make  our  church  once 
^-vas*  o.,^j;;.|ch  of  the  people,  where  we  may 
''•*''/i/ifc*;ong^^ether  for  conunon  prayer  and 
'•^heit-j^ig^^'  j?o  back  to  the  spirit  of 

^^-v^  book.  The  Church 


me 


Times  (London),  a  prominent  Anglican  paper, 
says:  "It  is  the  fact,  the  visible,  urgent,  unde- 
niable fact,  that  the  working  classes  of  this 
country  as  a  whole  are  separated  from  the  prac- 
tice of  the  Christian  rdigion."  The  London 
Guardian,  another  influential  Anglican  organ, 
also  admits  that  "there  is  a  separation  some- 
where between  organized  Christianity  and 
the  sympathies  of  workingmen."    It  adds, 

'  'The  remedy,  Mr.  Haw  and  his  collaborators 
would  doubtless  tell  us,  lies  in  the  appeal  of  the 
church  to  the  leading  spirits  among  the  working 
men,  the  minds  that  mould  the  tone  and  temper  of 
working-class  opinion.  Such  an  appeal,  we  be- 
lieve, is  being  made,  and  not  ineffectively;  but  a 
great  drift  of  feeling— of  prejudice,  if  we  will- 
such  as  has  caused  the  present  aloofness  of  work- 
ing men  from  the  church,  is  slow  to  change  its 
course.  The  change  will  come,  however  slowly, 
when  the  message  that  reaches  the  artisan  is 
charged  with  the  absolute  conviction  that  will 
forbid  any  unworthy  truckling  to  methods  such 
as  are  supposed  to  attract  a  certain  sort  of  work- 
ing-class mind,  which  will  take  care  that  the  serv- 
ices of  the  church  are  conducted  with  that  in-^ 
tent,  reality,  and  seriousness  which  convey  a 
sense  of  the  Presence  of  God,  which  will  seek  to 
make  the  Gospel  that  is  preached  in  the  pulpit 
the  standard  also  of  the  business,  the  pleasure, 
and  the  aims  of  life." 

The  able  secular  weekly,  the  London  Spec- 
tator, takes  an  optimistic  view  of  the  situation : 

"To  our  mind,  the  general  impression  left  by 
this  exceedingly  interesting  and  informing  book 
is  a  cheerful  one.  The  church  is  evidently  suffer- 
ing for  the  sins  of  the  past, — for  the  days  when 
it  was  said  with  some  truth  that  she  used  her 
authority  to  'restrain  the  vices  of  the  poor  and 
protect  the  property  of  the  rich.'  Surely  no  un- 
prejudiced observer  can  deny  that  those  days  are 
over.  The  uneducated  have  long  memories  and 
slow  perceptions,  but  they  are  not  intentionally 
unfair  and  the  church  must  get  justice  in  the  end. 
Meanwhile,  in  this  country  the  religious  cause  is 
not  irreparably  damaged  by  the  unpopularity  of 
the  churches.  Protestant  Christianihr  is  founded 
on  the  Scriptures.  The  fourfold  biography  of 
Christ  is  in  the  hands  of  the  people,  and  the  down- 
fall of  all  the  churches  would  not  involve  their 
ideal.  In  this  divine  ideal  lies  the  power  of  res- 
urrection, and  signs  are  not  wanting  of  a  revival 
of  faith.  ^  Each  age  emphasises  a  hew  side  of 
Christianity,  and  it  is  the  practical  and  ethical 
side  which  is  making  appeal  to  the  new  genera- 
tion." 

The  American  religious  press  is  devoting 
considerable  space  to  Mr.  Haw's  book.  "The 
causes  of  the  alienation  [of  the  workers]," 
observes  the  New  York  Churchman,  "are  much 
the  same  in  England  as  in  America.  The  rem- 
edy is  the  same  everywhere — a  return  to  Chris- 
tian fellowship,  to  a  more  faithful  following 
of  our  Lord."  The  Boston  Congregationalist, 
however,  thinks  there  is  "too  much  talk  about 


RELIGION  AND  ETHICS 


649 


the  church's  relation  to  the  labor  problem." 
It  comments  further: 

"The  supreme  mission  of  the  church  is  not 
to  aid  any  one  class  in  society  to  gain  advantages 
over  another  class,  nor  can  it  assume  that  one 
class  is  more  fairly  represented  than  another  in 
the  kingdom  of  God.  The  church  approaches  all 
men  in  the  spirit  of  Christ  to  persuade  them  to 
receive  and  cultivate  that  spirit,  and  if  they  feel 
that  they  cannot  do  this  in  association  with  mem- 
bers of  any  particular  church,  it  is  willing  that 
they  should  unite  in  any  fellowship  which  cher- 
ishes that  spirit. 

"Christian  truth  and  life  are  suffering  loss  to- 
day from  too  much  talk  about  the  church's  rela- 
tion to  the  labor  problem,  as  though  Christianity 
had  a  peculiar  mission  to  those  who  labor  without 
liaving  their  money  employed  in  the  work  they 
are  doing.  PhiUips  Brooks  expressed  an  im- 
portant truth  when,  repl3ring  to  an  invitation  to 
preach  to  working  men,  he  wrote :  'I  like  working 
men  very  much  and  care  for  their  good,  but  I 
have  nothing  distinct  or  separate  to  say  to  them 
about  religion;  nor  do  I  see  how  it  will  do  any 


good  to  treat  them  as  a  separate  class  in  this  mat- 
ter in  which  their  needs  and  duties  are  just  like 
other  men's.' " 

Zion's  Herald,  the  Boston  Methodist  paper, 
also  argues  that  labor  problems  and  social  ques- 
tions should  be  tabooed  by  the  church  as  an 
organization.    It  concludes  an  editorial: 

"Our  ssrmpathies  are  with  the  working  class, 
the  common  people.  We  believe  they  have  not 
yet  got  .the  square  deal,  the  fair  treatment,  to 
which  they  are  entitled — ^have  not  yet  secured  the 
full  measure  of  their  rights.  We  wish  them  well 
in  their  efforts  to  better  their  condition.  But  let 
them  not  put  upon  the  church,  or  anybody  else, 
that  part  of  the  blame  which  belongs  to  them- 
selves. Let  them  not  alienate  their  true  friends 
by  excesses  and  unjust  demands.  Let  them  not 
think  that  changed  laws  or  better  institutions  will 
radically  alter  human  nature  or  do  away  with  the 
necessity  of  a  changed  heart.  Let  them  give 
more  attention  to  their  own  lives  than  to  com- 
plaining about  the  lives  of  others." 


PROVIDENCE  AND  THE  SAN  FRANCISCO  DISASTER 


Voltaire's  faith  in  God  was  shaken  by  an 
earthquake,  and  before  and  since  his  day  there 
have  not  been  wanting  those  who  look  upon 
great  calamities  as  "acts  of  God."  In  connec- 
tion with  the  recent  California  disaster,  this 
attitude  has  found  new  expression.  So  well- 
known  a  man  as  the  Rev.  Dr.  R.  A.  Torrey, 
the  evangelist,  has  not  hesitated  to  affirm  his 
conviction  that  "the  Lord  has  taken  a  solemn 
way  of  speaking"  to  the  inhabitants  of  "one  of 
the  wickedest  cities  in  this  country."  A  clergy- 
man in  Asbury  Park  is  also  of  the  opinion  that 
"the  city  would  not  have  been  destroyed  if  it 
had  been  a  Christian  city.  ...  No  Chris- 
tian city  ever  was  destroyed." 

The  old-established  Presbyterian  paper,  the 
New  York  Observer,  thinks  it  "not  impossible" 
that  the  earthquake  "may  have  been  in  some 
sense  a  visitation  of  divine  judgment."  In 
much  stronger  language.  The  New  World 
(Roman  Catholic)  of  Chicago  comments: 

"God  rules  in  the  storm,  the  volcanic  eruption, 
the  tidal  wave,  and  the  earthquake.  He  is  the 
Lord  and  Master  of  nature  and  its  laws,  as  well 
as  of  the  supernatural  sphere.  But  the  pygmy 
ministers  of  Chicago  in  their  vapid,  and  to  some 
extent  blasphemous,  utterances  last  Sunday  morn- 
ing on  the  San  Francisco  cataclysm  attempted  to 
dethrone  God  in  His  own  universe.  Not  even 
Tyndall,  sitting  with  crossed  legs  on  the  summit 
of  the  Alpine  Matterhorn,  contemplated  nature's 
independence  of  divine  control  to  a  more  extrav- 
agant degree  than   our  Chicago   Protestant  di- 


vines. One  fellow  argued  from  the  Book  of 
Job  that  God  does  not  punish  sin  by  temporal 
afflictions.  .  .  .  But  when  we  remember  that 
only  a  few  years  ago  on  Good  Friday  night  of 
all  the  nights  of  the  year  many  of  the  wealthy 
citizens  of  San  Francisco  assembled  together 
with  lewd  women  in  one  of  the  most  luxurious 
mansions  of  the  city  and  carried  their  hellish  or- 
gies so  far  that  they  kicked  the  globes  off  the  chan- 
deliers, we  shall  be  inclined  at  least  to  abstain 
from  asserting  that  subterranean  gases,  'faults,' 
and  other  seismic  agencies  were  the  principal 
and  only  cause  of  nature's  convulsions." 

These  views,  however,  attract  attention  by 
their  infrequency.  They  are  not  shared  by 
the  majority  of  religious  papers.  "The  real 
culture  of  the  age,"  observes  The  Universalist 
Leader  (Boston),  "forbids  that  we  should 
longer  hold  God  accountable  for  these  disas- 
ters as  his  judgments  upon  us  for  our  sins." 
The  same  paper  comments  further: 

"Yet  it  remains  for  us  to  face  the  fact  that 
there  are  forces  of  nature  which  come  into  ac- 
tion, whose  time  we  can  not  calculate,  for  which 
we  can  not  prepare  and  may  not  defy.  The 
earthquake  grasps  the  most  sublime  achiev^ent 
of  man  and  crushes  it  to  atoms.  Fire  with  a 
single  lap  of  tongue  erases  the  most  enduring 
monument.  The  volcano  rains  death  and  destruc- 
tion upon  the  proud  city.  The  cyclone  toys  with 
the  massive  structure,  and  floods  sweep  the  hu- 
man ant-hills  from  the  surface  of  the  earth. 

"These  are  facts  which  we  must  face,  and  as 
we  may  not  merely  hold  God  actively  or  pas- 
sively accountable  to  us,  we  must  face  them  from 
our  own  point  of  view,  and  our  verdict  regard- 


6so 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


Conrtety  ot  The  Church  Standard  (Pbilade'pbia; 

BISHOP  OF  A  DISTURBED  DIOCESE 

Bishop  W.  D.  Walker,  of  the  Diocese  of  Western  New 
York,  as  Dr.  Crapsey'ti  ecclesiastical  superior,  wrote  to 
him  just  previously  to  the  trial:  "It  is  a  stupendous  re> 
sponsibility  that  you  have  assumed  in  disturbine  the 
peace  of  God's  Church  and  In  teaching  as  truth  what  is 
contrary  to  its  doctrine." 

ing  them  will  finally  be  determined  just  accord- 
ing as  our  standards  are  commercial  or  religious, 
and  our  measurements  those  of  time  or  of  eter- 
nity. 

"If  the  chief  object  of  our  lives  is  to  build  our 
block  houses,  and  to  build  bigger  and  bigger 
houses  every  year,  and  to  fight  each  other  to  try 
to  get  more  houses  than  some  other  fellow,  and 
to  count  ourselves  successful  when  we  have  a 
hundred  houses  when  we  can  not,  by  any  possi- 
bility, live  in  more  than  one  of  them,  then  when 
something  knocks  down  a  few  of  our  houses  the 
disaster  seems  very  serious.    Or  if  success  means 


a  nine-course  dinner  and  throwing  away  more 
food  than  we  use,  and  we  are  brought  down  to 
just  enough  to  nourish  us  for  a  few  days,  then 
no  smaller  word  than  calamity  will  cover  our 
condition.  But  if  we  have  cultivated  that  nature 
in  which  the  life  is  more  than  meat,  and  the  body 
than  raiment,  then  arc  we  possessed  of  a  differ- 
ent standard  of  values,  and  will  get  a  different 
result. 

"And  further,  if  our  life  is  limited  to  three 
score  years  and  ten,  and  we  lose  out  of  it  the 
three  score,  or  two  score,  or  one  score,  or  even 
the  ten  years,  the  disaster  is  appalling,  but  when 
the  life  measures  up  to  eternity  we  discover  that 
we  can  substract  several  scores  of  years  without 
its  being  perceptibly  diminished. 

"It  therefore  appears  that  religion,  whose  chief 
message  is  that  of  life  and  immortality,  has  some- 
thing very  vital  to  say  in  the  presence  of  these 
incidents  of  the  world's  development." 

Most  of  the  other  religious  papers  emphasize 
the  moral  gains  resulting  from  the  calamity. 
The  New  .York  Examiner  (Baptist)  rejoices 
greatly  at  "the  splendid  demonstration  of  fra- 
ternal kindness"  which  the  disaster  evoked; 
and  the  Chicago  Interior  (Presbyterian)  com- 
ments : 

"Such  calamities  as  those  which  have  befallen 
our  cities  upon  the  Pacific  Coast  bring  out  in  a 
Christian  nation  the  nobler  elements  of  character. 
Conscience  speaks,  and  synipathy,  and  the  hand 
which  may  have  been  delicately  gloved  before 
is  bared  for  self-sacrificial  toil  This  great  sor- 
row will  have  its  silver  lining.  God's  voice  will 
be  remembered  after  the  earthquake  and  the  fire 
have  passed  into  history.  The  wound,  deadly  as 
it  seems  to-day,  will  be  healed.  The  sun  will 
smile  again.  The  Golden  Gate  will  still  stand 
open  to  the  traffic  of  the  seas.  More  beautiful 
churches  will  rise  from  the  ashes  of  the  past  In 
the  end  a  better  life,  with  perhaps  less  of  pride 
and  more  of  love,  will  sprinsr  up;  and  looking 
back  upon  the  horrors  of  this  fateful  week  and 
seeing  all  their  sequels,  the  citizens  of  the  new 
San  Francisco  will  remember  not  only  the  earth- 
quake and  the  fire  but  the  still,  small  voice  that 
followed  them,  putting  into  the  heart  of  their 
beautiful  city  by  the  sea  a  new  sense  of  life's  se- 
riousness and  a  new  joy  in  life's  best  hopes." 


THE  HERESY  TRIAL  IN  THE  TWENTIETH  CENTURY 


"The  church  will  never  rise  to  its  opportu- 
nity, never  reveal  itself  to  the  world,  never  ex- 
ress  the  spirit  of  its  Master,  until  it  places  the 
tfiii  for  heresy  with  the  duel,  the  gage  of  battle 
and  the  thumb-screw  in  the  museums  of  the 
past." 

This  positive  utterance  from  the  New  York 
Outlook,  evoked  in  connection  with  the  now 
famous  heresy  trial  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Algernon 
S.  Crapsey,  of  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  quite  evidently 


represents  the  views  of  a  growing  number  of 
religious  thinkers  in  this  country.  The  New 
York  Churchman,  the  leading  American  organ 
of  the  denomination  to  which  Dr.  Crapsey  be- 
longs, has  consistently  opposed  his  trial  for 
heresy.    It  said  recently: 

"We  have  never  questioned  the  right  of  the 
church  to  choose  its  own  methods  of  procedure. 
Our  position  has  been  and  is  that  in  proportion 
as  the  church  realizes  its  divine  character  and  its 


RELIGION  AND  ETHICS 


6si 


catholic  mission  in  that  proportion  will  it  forsake 
the  methods  of  mere  human  institutions,  and  con- 
form its  practices  to  the  divine  method,  in  deal- 
ing with  those  whom  it  has  set  apart  and  con- 
secrated to  serve  at  its  altars.  It  should  be  slow 
to  invoke  judicial  madiinery  to  sever  priestly  re- 
lations because  of  difficulties  of  faith;  for  these 
it  is  the  church's  peculiar  province  to  meet  and 
to  remove.  They  are  often  in  reality  indications 
of  growth  in  faith  and  grace.  Surely  no  one 
should  be  hastily  condemned  who  clings  to  Christ 
and  His  church.  Surelv  the  church,  with  its 
Lord,  will  realize  that  offences  must  needs  come, 
and  that  woe  will  inevitably  find  those  by  whom 
the  offences  come.  Surely  the  church  will  not 
be  more  quick  than  Qirist  to  force  the  coming 
of  the  woe,  but  will  rather  give  place  for  faith, 
h(q>e  and  love. 

"The  church  has  endured  and  can  endure 
wolves  in  sheep's  clothing,  but  it  cannot  afford  to 
act  the  wolfs  part  The  church  must  be  merci- 
less to  heresy,  but  it  would  betray  its  mission  if  it 
were  merciless  to  any  human  being,  even  to  the 
heretic.  The  church  cannot  undertake  to  uproot 
false  doctrine  without  first  assuming  responsibil- 
ity for  continuous  and  persistent  development  in 
knowledge  and  an  equally  consistent  growth  in 
grace.  But  once  let  a  merciless  attitude  toward 
heresy  be  transferred  to  the  heretic,  and  then  the 
road  to  persecution  and  obscurantism  is  made 
easy. 

"Because  we  have  believed  that  the  procedure 
in  the  Crapsey  case  would  produce  unhappy  if 
not  unholy  results,  we  have  been  constrained  to 
think  that  the  authorities  of  the  diocese  of  West- 
em  New  York  were  wrong  in  refusing  to  abide 
by  the  decision  of  their  own  Investigating  Com- 
mittee. In  this  attitude  we  find  ourselves  sus- 
tained by  churchmen  and  non-churchmen,  not 
only  in  America  but  abroad.  It  is  already  be- 
coming clear  that  the  authorities  of  Western  New 
York  do  not  even  represent  that  diocese,  much 
less  the  American  church." 

The  Investigating  Committee  here  referred 
to  was  appointed  last  winter  by  Bishop  Walker, 
of  the  Diocese  of  Western  New  York.  It  was 
called  into  being  as  a  result  of  the  expression 
of  radical  views  by  Dr.  Crapsey,  both  in  the 
pulpit  and  his  book,  "Religion  and  Politics." 
These  views  can  be  briefly  indicated  by  quo- 
tation. Of  the  miraculous  birth  of  Je?us  he 
said : 

"In  the  U^ht  of  scientific  research,  the  founder 
of  Christianity,  Jesus,  the  son  of  Joseph,  no  longer 
stands  apart  from  the  common  destiny  of  man 
in  life  and  death,  but  he  is  in  all  things  like  as  we 
are,  bom  as  we  are  born,  dying  as  we  die,  and 
both  in  life  and  death  is  in  the  keeping  of  that 
same  Divine  Power,  that  Heavenly  Fatherhood 
which  delivers  us  from  the  womb,  and  carries  us 
down  to  the  grave. 

"When  we  come  to  know  Jesus  in  his  historical 
relations,  we  see  that  a  miracle  is  not  a  help— 
it  is  a  hindrance  to  an  intelligent  comprehension 
of  his  person,  his  character  and  his  mission.  We 
are  not  alarmed,  we  are  relieved,  when  scientific 
history  proves  to  us  that  the  fact  of  his  miracu- 
lous birth  was  unknown  to  himself,  unknown  to 


WILL  HE  RECANT? 


Algernon  S.  Crapsey,  D.D.,  rector  of  St,  Andrew's 
Church,  Rochester,  who  invited  a  heresy  trial  by  his 
radical  utterances,  was  suspended  from  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  ministry,  with  the  privilege  of  recanting  and 
averting  the  sentence  within  thirty  days. 

his  mother,  and  unknown  to  the  whole  Christian 
community  of  the  first  generation." 

In  another  place  he  wrote  of  biblical  miracles : 

"Natural  forces  are  now  known  to  be  unchange- 
able in  their  nature  and  uniform  in  their  opera- 
tion. They  know  nothing' of  man  and  care  noth- 
ing for  his  wishes;  the  only  way  he  can  profit  by 
them  is  by  obeying  them ;  if  he  puts  himself  under 
their  guidance  they  will  help  him;  if  he  gets  in 
their  way,  they  will  destroy  him." 

After  a  full  examination  of  the  evidence 
against  Dr.  Crapsey,  the  Investigating  Commit- 
tee reported,  by  a  vote  of  three  to  two,  against 
a  heresy  trial,  but  unanimously  condemned 
him  as  a  man  who  "easily  surrenders  himself  to 
his  intellectual  vagaries,  and  advocates  with  re- 
markable eloquence  the  thing  which  for  the 
time  being  appears  to  him  to  be  true."  This 
report  only  added  fuel  to  the  controversy. 
Bishop  Walker,  in  a  sermon  in  Rochester,  de- 
nounced Dr.  Crapsey's  attitude;  and  the  two 
Anglican  weeklies  published  outside  of  New 
York,  The  Living  Church  (Milwaukee)  and 
The  Church  Standard  (Philadelphia),  both  de- 
manded that  further  action  be  taken.  As  a 
result  of  the  agitation  Dr.  Crapsey  was  tried 
for  heresy  at  Batavia,  N.  Y.,  in  April,  before 
an  ecclesiastical  court  consisting  of  five  of  hia 


6^32 


.CURRENT  LITERATURE 


fellow  clergymen  in  the  Diocese  of  Western 
New  York,  and  was  suspended  from  the  Prot- 
estant Episcopal  ministry,  by  a  vote  of  four 
to  one,  with  the  privilege  of  recanting  and 
averting  the  sentence  within  thirty  days. 

The  trial  aroused  national  attention,  and  has 
led  to  voluminous  comment  in  both  the  re- 
ligious and  secular  press.  Not  the  least  inter- 
esting feature  of  the  controversy  has  been  the 
active  participation  of  prominent  laymen. 
Prof.  Brander  Matthews,  of  Columbia  Univer- 
sity, Robert  Fulton  Cutting,  of  New  York, 
and  Robert  Treat  Paine,  of  Boston,  are  all 
known  to  be  in  sympathy  with  Dr.  Crapsey's 
position.  Edward  M.  Shepard,  the  distin- 
guished New  York  lawyer,  acted  as  counsel  for 
the  accused  Rochester  clergyman,  and  said  at 
the  trial  that  he  spoke  not  merely  as  a  lawyer, 
but  from  his  "own  conscience  and  conviction." 
George  Foster  Peabody,  the  noted  philanthro- 
pist, at  his  own  expense,  reprinted  and  cir- 
culated throughout  the  country  commendatory 
comment  of  the  religious  press  on  Dr.  Crap- 
sey.  And  Seth  Low,  ex-Mayor  of  New  York, 
has  written  a  long  letter  to  The  Churchman 
on  "the  far-reaching  importance  of  the  Crap- 
sey  trial,"  in  which  he  says: 

"There  are,  and  there  always  have  been,  two 
different  views  of  Christian  truth.  One  type  of 
mind  looks  upon  it  as  a  diamond,  revealed  to  the 
world  in  its  perfect  form,  once  for  all;  a  treasure 
to  be  kept  and  valued,  and  that  changjes  not  An- 
other t}rpe  of  mind  cannot  even  conceive  of  Chris- 
tian truth  in  this  fashion.  It  thinks  of  truth  as  a 
seed,  and  because  it  does,  it  expects  it  to  change 
its  form  and  to  take  on  new  characteristics  con- 
tinually. To  men  of  this  way  of  thinking,  tlie 
truth  is  a  vital  thing ;  and  its  significance  is  large- 
ly lost  whenever  it  is  thought  of  as  crystallized. 
If  our  church  is  to  be  really  a  church,  and  not  a 
sect,  it  must  be  large  enough  to  hold  men  of  both 
of  these  types  of  mind;  for,  with  an  infinite  vari- 
ety of  shadings,  all  men  are  divided  into  these 
two  classes. 

"What,  then,  is  the  bearing  of  this  proposition 
upon  the  case  at  issue?  In  the  judgment  of  the 
writer,  it  means  that  there  ought  to  be  room 
enough  in  the  ministry  of  the  church,  as  well  ns 
in  its  membership,  for  any  one  to  whom  the  creed 
is  the  historic  form  of  making  the  confession  that 
St.  Peter  made:  'I  believe  that  Thou  art  the 
Christ,  the  Son  of  the  Living  God' ;  whether  such 
an  one  accepts  the  creed  literally,  or  interprets 
,  it  spiritually.  It  is  scarcely  a  generation  since 
every  one  who  doubted  the  literal  accuracy  of  the 
first  chapter  of  Genesis  was  looked  at  askance  as 
a  heretic.  Now,  none  but  the  ignorant  so  inter- 
pret it ;  and  yet  the  chapter  has  not  lost  any  of  its 
spiritual  value.  It  is  easy  to  understand  that  men. 
who  have  looked  upon  a  literal  interpretation  of 
the  creed  as  self-evidcntly  the  only  right  inter- 
pretation should  be  shocked  when  good  men  pro- 
fess to  hold  the  creed,  and  say  it  unhesitatingly. 


even  when  they  do  not  accept  it  literally.  And 
yet  it  is  probable  that  no  one,  to-day,  holds  every 
one  of  the  articles  of  the  creed  in  the  sense  in 
which  it  was  held  when  first  written.    .    .    . 

"I  am  far  from  assenting  to  all  of  Dr.  Crap- 
ses opinions,  but  I  devoutly  ho]^e  that  he  will 
be  held  to  be  entirely  within  his  rights  as  a  min- 
ister of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  church  in  fol- 
lowing his  scholarship  wherever  it  may  lead  him, 
so  long  as  the  creed  is  to  him  the  historic  state- 
ment of  the  belief  of  the  church,  full  now,  as  al- 
ways, of  spiritual  truth  and  significance." 

The  temerity  of  this  eminent  Anglican  lay- 
man has  drawn  letters  of  protest  from  two 
bishops.  "If  I  understand  Mr.  Low's  argj- 
mcnt  correctly,"  says  Bishop  Mackay-Smith, 
of  Pennsylvania,  in  The  Churchman,  "it 
amounts  to  a  plea  that  ...  a  particular 
clergyman  may  be  held  as  within  his  rights  in 
*  following  his  scholarship  wherever  it  may  lead 
hifn,  so  long  as  the  creed  is  to  him  the  historic 
statement  ot  the  belief  of  the  church.*  It  seems 
to  me  that  I  have  seldom  read  a  vaguer  phrase 
than  this  latter  one.  No  human  being  doubts 
that  the  creed  or  creeds  are  the  historic  state- 
ments of  the  belief  of  the  church.  The  late 
Robert  G.  Ingersoll  would  confess  it,  and  so 
also  would  men  like  Moncure  D.  Conway, 
who,  I  suppose,  believes  in  nobody  but  himself, 
or  Dr.  Mxnot  J.  Savage,  who  apparently  be- 
lieves in  nothing  but  ghosts.  It  would  be  an 
edifying  sight  to  see  either  of  these  gentlemen 
instituted  as  rector  of  Trinity  church,  New 
York,  or  Holy  Trinity  church,  Philadelphia, 
if  the  only  criterion  should  be  that  they  be- 
lieved the  creeds  to  be  'historic  statements  of 
the  belief  of  the  church.' "  Writing  to  The 
Living  Church  in  similar  spirit,  the  Bishop  of 
Fond  du  Lac  argues  that  Mr.  Low's  new  and 
wide  interpretation  of  the  function  of  the  min- 
istry can  only  lead  to  "Jesuitism"  and  "ecclesi- 
astic grafting." 

The  bishops'  attitude  is  reflected  in  the 
comment  of  many  religious  papers.  Zion's 
Herald  (Boston,  Methodist)  evidently  feels 
that  in  "so  clear  a  case  of  rank  heresy"  as 
Dr.  Crapsey's,  a  trial  was  inevitable,  and  will, 
on  the  whole,  prove  beneficial.  The  Boston 
Congregationalist  says: 

"Even  many  liberally  disposed  ministers  and  lay- 
men, constitutionally  opposed  to  heresy  trials,  rec-  ♦ 
ognize  the  peculiar  difficulties  of  this  case  arising 
•  from  Dr.  Crapse/s  frequent  and  bold  disavowal 
of  what  have  been  looked  upon  as  fundamental 
doctrines  of  the  Episcopal  Church.  His  position 
amounts  to  a  denial  of  all  the  supernatural  ele- 
ments in  the  Christian  religion.  Jesus,  to  his 
mind,  was  born,  lived  and  died  as  do  other  men, 
though  in  life  and  death  he  was  'in  the  keeping 


RELIGION  AND  ETHICS 


6S3 


of  that  same  divine  power,  that 
heavenly  fatherhood,  which  de- 
livers us  from  the  womb  and  car- 
ries us  down  to  the  grave.'  How 
far  these  conceptions  are  from  the 
statements  of  the  Nicene  and 
Apostles'  Creeds  is  evident  at  a 
glance.  Can  the  holder  of  such 
views  Sunday  ofter  Sunday  le- 
cite  those  sections  of  the  creeds 
which  refer  to  Jesus  Christ  with- 
out stultifying  himself — ^this  is  the 
question  which,  though  Dr.  Crap- 
sey  may  have  been  able  to  an- 
swer to  his  own  satisfaction,  he 
has  not  yet  met  to  the  satisfac- 
tion of  many  of  his  fellow-Epis- 
copalians and  of  many  outsiders 
as  well  .  .  .  Dr.  Crapsey  has 
certainly  gone  to  the  utmost  limit 
of  so-called  spiritual  interpreta- 
tion. In  his  favor  might  be  cited 
his  twenty  years'  valuable  service 
at  Rochester  and  the  fact  that  his 
case  has  already  once  been  passed 
upon  by  a  committee  of  his  dio- 
cese which  refused  to  present  him 
for  trial.  Yet  if  the  £pisa>pal 
Church  shall  retain  in  its  minis- 
try many  men  of  this  type  of 
thought    it    will    have    soon    to 


Covteqr  of  TU  LMm0  Ohurek  ( M llwaokcc ) 

THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  COURT  THAT  TRIED  DR.  CRAPHKV 

Reading  from  left  to  riyht :   Rev.  Meiuir«,  John  M.  Oilbtrt,   VTmnv\H\H. 
A>ttnham.   Ph.D.,   Wi  '         ------  -       - 

Charles  H.  Boynton. 


>  Jo 
Dttnham,   Ph.D.,   Walter   C,   Robert!  (President),   O.  Hherman  HurrowM, 


reconstruct  its 
creedal  basis  and  greatly  modify  the  character  of 
its  ordination  vows  or  else  run  the  risk  of  los- 
ing the  respect  of  those  who  demand  a  reasonable 
degree  of  faithful  adherence  to  creeds  on  the 
part  of  their  signers." 

The  New  York  Independent,  however,  while 
conceding  that  Dr.  Crapsey  has  been  preach- 
ing doctrines  plainly  at  variance  with  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  creeds,  holds  that  the 
views  he  represents  are  "becoming  more  and 
more  prevalent,"  and  that  room  will  soon  have 
to  be  made  for  them  in  the  church  which  now 
condemns  him.     It  continues: 

"Meanwhile,  those  who  are  in  advance  of  the 
new  definitions,  those  who  originate  theni,  hare 
to  suffer  for  their  prematureness.  It  was  just 
thirteen  years  ago  that  Professor  Bnggs  was  sus- 
pended from  the  Prcsb>'tcrian  ministry;  but  no 
one  woald  now  suffer  in  that  way ;  and  tt  mar  be 
that  Dr.  Crapsey  is  making  a  safe  road  for  tnose 
who  shall  succeed  him. 

"It  looks  so.  The  Dean  of  Westminster  ex- 
plahis  that  these  are  not  so  »(nous  lapses  from  the 
faith  that  they  need  disturb  us.  The  leading  or- 
gan of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  this  country  d»- 
recates  the  trial  oi  those  who  would  hold  by  the 
dntrcfa,  and  dcc!ar«  that  the  decision  of  <k)C- 
trinal  differences  should  be  >ft  to  the  court  of 
reason.  It  is  clear  that  an  irvcreawng  number  of 
those  who  belirre  th  fin  selves  Chnttiar^s  are  ehn>- 
inaring  the  New  Te^tin^eat  xr:ra#:>«  as  a  burden 
to  iasdL  Btit  if  we  are  to  z^/^frcach  irtsd  coocm- 
sioo  we  beljere  it  wii:  nrx  tPt  by  tr.t  process  of 
'spirtaalzzsi^'  tr:z  hy  ir.^  irzr.t^  ir-o-r^  r>v?>^t?,  zrA 
Hiore  mjOQai  wij.  o?  i.'irr.-**  r^  'hit  >jeryis,  or 
mjihi^  bare  escer^sd  ^g^J  ^'^  the  Sew  Testa^ 


ment  as  well  as  the  Old  Testament  history, 

''But  then  what  will  become  of  Christianity? 
Is  its  meaning  also  to  be  eviscerated?  Ihat  we 
cannot  believe;  for  the  eiience,  the  core,  the 
heart  of  Christianity  is  not  its  phibsophy  or  doc- 
trines, not  its  history,  not  even  the  biography  of 
its  great  Master,  but  that  which  makes  diKiples, 
worshipers  and  children  of  the  Father,  lovers  of 
God  and  knrers  of  man.  To  that  extent  we  may 
M>iritualiz€  by  putting  the  spirit  above  the  letter, 
the  life  above  the  form." 

The  New  York  Evening  Post  also  prescntt 
arjgumenU  to  show  that  the  day  of  the  heresy 
trial  is  passing.    It  says: 

"As  compared  with  the  published  uturances  of 
Heber  Newton,  Dr.  Crapse/s  statements  do  not 
seem  to  be  extreme,  tb^/ugh  they  mark  a  distinct 
advance  in  frankness  from  the  day  Bishop  (>ray 
'deposed'  Bishop  Colenso  U/r  attempting  u>  /^uei^' 
tion  the  Pentateudi.  Ihe  words  are  muich  mfjft 
specific,  too,  than  those  utti^rred  \fy  Dt,  Charles 
A.  Briggs  m  tS^i,  when  he  ber^ame  fffoU%%f/r  of 
Biblical  thtfjlogy  at  the  L'nj/yn  Ihe/^k^Kal  Smt- 
maiTj,  and  which  led  to  bis  withdrawal  Inmi  th«r 
Preibyterian  mimfAry.  But  IH,  BrHUt^  f'/und  ref- 
uge with  the  Episcopalians,  th^t  <>iurch  caiied  by 
KruIIips  BTfMjk%  'the  ror/rniTtc  chur^Ji  m  Am^tfica/ 

''St.  John's  Meth/>dia  EptKy/pal  O.nuh  of  .Sc 
Iy>uji  has  juu  cali^d  u>  th<  p4t<//ra>ie  the  k^r. 
Dr.  li^Tj  h.  Brad.-!:/,  in^y,,  \t^XAnw  of  h  i  ^^^ 
kef  in  the  ti.-y/rr  of  evo; -fv/n  aM  't..\  *^x'>/fs^^ 
m*^ti  of  the  li.^.er  critKawn/  W4s  $^j*  tty/rt  tful 
and  a</4t;:»rH  of  the  charge  of  r.>r-5s/.     So,  f>^ 

socy>>>g3ca{  ;nyet^iiifa;//f,  a..'.v,t»  t/y>  tjKTtrr^^  v» 
attraa  geoerai  af  ^/t>yn  or  to  ^ifiw  ^t^m  k.M^^ii 
the  feres  of  tut  dhaflc^^/ra  <rf  the  oid  Of 'W  /  " 


6S4 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


THE  DUTY  OF  SAVING  MEN  FROM  "  MORAL  OVERSTRAIN 


It  is  part  of  an  engineer's  profession  to  fig- 
ure out  the  amount  of  physical  weight  and 
pressure  that  any  given  substance  will  bear; 
and  upon  the  accuracy  of  his  calculations  the 
safety  and  well-being  of  the  community  largely 
depend.  Mr.  George  W.  Alger,  a  New  Yoric 
lawyer,  now  proposes  that  the  principle  in- 
volved has  a  moral,  as  well  as  a  mechanical, 
application.  He  thinks  that  the  prevention  of 
''moral  overstrain''  is  as  important  as  that  of 
physical  collapse,  and  regrets  that  "there  is 
no  *jacking-up'  process  for  overstrained  mor- 
als to  be  found  in  the  law-courts."  Following 
this  train  of  thought  in  a  newly  published  book 
of  essays,*  Mr.  Alger  says: 

"We  take  philosophically  enough  the  daily 
moral  breakdown  of  our  fellow  men,  and  ordi- 
narily do  not  complain  to  Providence  against  our 
inability  to  ascertain  with  mathematical  certainty 
the  extent  of  the  confidence  we  can  safely  repose 
in  the  people  with  whom  we  have  intercourse.  It 
has  always  been  so  and  always  will  be.  We  can- 
not apply  mathematics  to  human  conduct.  The 
fidelity  insurance  corporations  which  have  sprung 
up  within  recent  years  have,  to  be  sure,  their  sys- 
tems based  on  experience  for  estimating  moral 
hazards;  and  they  have  curious  and  exceedingly 
interesting  theories  of  moral  probabilities  by 
which,  for  example,  they  estimate  the  chances  of 
defalcation  by  an  employee  in  a  given  employment 
in  which  given  opportunities  for  wrong-doing  are 
not  counterbalanced  by  certain  systems  of  in- 
spection or  supervision.  These  corporations  and 
a  few  large  financial  institutions  apparently  recog- 
nize the  necessity  of  considering  moral  risks 
somewhat  in  the  way  in  which  the  engineer  esti- 
mates upon  the  girder,  how  he  can  make  it  per- 
form its  useful  functions  in  a  house  without  being 
broken  down  by  overstrain  and  bringing  calamity 
with  its  fall.  The  policy  of  the  finanaal  institu- 
tions in  dealing  with  this  question  deserves  a 
study  by  itself.  Their  method  involves,  generally, 
in  its  application  to  subordinate  employees,  a  com- 
plex and  carefully  studied  business  system  filled 
with  'checks  and  balances,'  with  frequent  inspec- 
tions and  examinations,  which  are  intended  to  re- 
duce the  opportunity  for  successful  wrong-doing 
to  a  minimum.  The  nay  of  the  minor  employees 
of  a  banking  house  who  handle  fortunes  dail]^  is, 
as  a  rule,  pitifully  small,  showing  a  conscious 
purpose  in  these  institutions  of  relying  principally 
upon  a  practical  certainty  of  detection,  coupled 
with  a  remorseless  and  relentless  severity  in  pros- 
ecution and  punishment,  as  a  relief  for  the  severe 
moral  strain  upon  employees  whose  opportuni- 
ties and  temptations  for  wrong-doing  are,  from 
the  nature  of  the  employment,  large.^' 

Except  in  these  financial  institutions  and 
fidelity  insurance  corporations,  there  seems  to 

♦  Moral  Overstrain.     By  George  W.  Alger.     Houeh- 
ton»  Mifflin  &  Co. 


be'  in  practical  operation  no  rational  system  for 
estimating  or  relieving  the  strain  upon  morals 
which  business  life  necessarily  involves.  Out- 
side of  this  group  the  only  check  upon  human 
irsAity  is  that  based  on  a  "faith"  in  the  hon- 
esty of  men  which,  in  Mr.  Alger's  view,  often 
only  serves  as  a  mask  for  business  careless- 
ne$s.    To  quote  again: 

"How  many  thousands  of  business  men  there 
are  who  manage  their  affairs  in  slipshod,  slovenly 
fashion,  and  who  complain  bitterly  of  the  abuse 
of  the  'perfect  confidence*  which  they  have  re- 
posed in  their  employees.  My  own  notion  of  this 
'perfect  confidence'  is  that  in  ninety  cases  out  of 
a  hundred  it  is  not  genuine  confidence  at  all,  but 
a  mere  excuse  for  business  shiftlessness  or  lack  of 
system.  The  law  relating  to  actions  for  per- 
sonal injuries  provides  that  a  man  whose  body 
has  been  injured  by  the  carelessness  of  another 
must,  in  order  to  entitle  him  to  claim  damages, 
prove  not  only  that  carelessness,  but  also  his  own 
freedom  from  negligence  contributing  to  or  caus- 
ing the  injury.  If  every  business  man  who  suf- 
fers from  a  defaulting  employee  were  obliged  to 
prove  not  only  the  employee's  crime,  but  the  ab- 
sence of  substantial  business  carelessness  on  his 
own  part,  which  afforded  both  the  opportunity  and 
the  temptation  for  the  offense,  how  few  convic- 
tions of  these  defaulters  there  would  bel" 

Mr.  Alger  illustrates  his  point  by  citing  a 
doctrine  the  precise  opposite  to  this  rule  of 
faith  as  he  heard  it  laid  down  some  years  ago 
by  a  great  criminal  jurist  It  was  in  an  old 
New  York  court,  and  Recorder  Smyth  had 
just  passed  sentence  on  a  young  man  who  had 
been  convicted  of  robbery  in  snatching  a  watch 
from  a  lady.  The  year  was  1892,  and  there  had 
been  great  industrial  depression.  The  lady 
had  been  shopping  all  day  long  in  streets 
thronged  with  poor  men,  out  of  work  and 
hungry.  The  young  man,  who  was  scarcely 
more  than  a  "boy,  had  snatched  the  watch,  but 
was  caught  in  trying  to  escape.  After  Re- 
corder Smyth  had  passed  sentence  on  the  boy, 
he  turned  and  addressed  these  remarks  to  the 
prosecutrix : 

"Madam,  it  is  one  of  the  great  defects  of  the 
criminal  law  that  it  has  no  adequate  punishment 
for  those  who  incite  their  fellows  to  crime.  If 
it  were  in  my  power  to  do  so,  I  can  assure  you 
I  should  feel  it  a  pleasanter  duty  to  impose  an 
even  severer  sentence  than  the  one  I  have  just 
rendered,  on  the  vain  woman  who  parades  up 
and  down  the  crowded  streets  of  this  city,  filled 
as  they  are  to-day  with  hungry  people,  wearing 
ostentatiously  on  her  dress,  insecurely  fastened, 
a  glittering  gewgaw  like  liiis,  tempting  a  thou- 
sand hungry  men  to  wrong-doing.  There  are,  in 
my  judgment,  two  criminals  involved  in  this  mat- 


RELIGION  AND  ETHICS 


655 


ter,  and  I  ancerely  regret  that  the  law  permits 
me  to  punish  only  one  of  them." 

"As  important  as  any  duty  in  the  realm  of 
morals,*'  concludes  Mr.  Alger,  is  this  duty  of 
not  putting  on  the  character  of  another  a 
greater  burden  than  it  can  safely  bear.  He 
adds: 

''We  are  paying  greater  attention  yearly  to  the 
physical  discomforts  of  tlie  worker,  tr3ring  to  re- 


lieve the  overburdened,  and  to  lighten  the  load  of 
hard  work  which  has  fallen  so  heavily  in  our 
struggle  for  oonmiercial  supremacy,  particularly 
on  the  women  and  children.  This  is  all  excellent/ 
but  we  must  remember  that  we  have  no  more 
right  to  overload  a  man's  morals  than  his  back, 
and  that  while  it  is  a  duty  as  well  as  a  privilege  to 
have  faith  in  our  fellows,  we  should  temper  that 
faith  with  common  sense  so  that  our  faith  may 
be  to  them  a  help  and  a  support  rather  than  a 
stumbling-block  and  a  cause  of  offense." 


A  THEOLOGICAL  STORM  IN  NORWAY 


Norway  has  become  a  theological  storm  cen- 
ter, and  the  first  ministerial  crisis  which  the 
new  King  has  had  to  face  is  the  outcome  of 
a  church  controversy  that  antedated  his  ac- 
cession to  the  throne  by  about  a  year. 

The  world-wide  conflict  between  conserva- 
tive and  radical  theologians  has  in  Norway 
taken  the  shape  of  a  struggle  for  the  leading 
theological  professorship  in  the  country,  the 
chair  of  Systematic  Theology  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  Giristiania.  As  practically  every  min- 
ister in  the  land  must  sit  at  the  feet  of  the 
incumbent  of  this  chair,  its  influence  on  the 
future  of  the  Norwegian  church  is  naturally 
very  great  Norway  is  a  Lutheran  country,  de- 
cidedly orthodox  in  its  religious  views,  and  has 
thus  far  resisted  all  the  inroads  of  the  newer 
tendencies  in  theology.  Repeated  attempts 
have  been  made  to  introduce  Ritschlianism 
into  the  State  church,  but  these  have  generally 
failed 

The  present  struggle  was  caused  by  an  at- 
tempt to  fill  the  Christiania  chair  of  Theology, 
which  has  been  vacant  since  1903.  In  Norway 
such  chairs  are  filled  by  a  competitive  examina- 
tion of  different  applicants,  and  at  the  first 
contest  the  prize  was -easily  won  by  Dr.  Ording, 
who  is  generally  recognized  as  the  leading 
Scandinavian  scholar.  Opposition  to  him  at 
once  developed  both  in  the  country  at  large 
and  in  the  university,  owing  to  the  fact  that 
he  was  inclined  to  adopt  liberal  views,  especial- 
ly in  reference  to  baptism.  It  was  found  that  he 
denied  baptismal  grace  and  regeneration  in  the 
historical  sense  of  the  confessions  of  the 
country  and  that  he  sympathized  with  the 
Zwinglian  view  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  His 
Zwinglian  sympathies  especially  offended  the 
orthodox  party,  but  that  unique  class  of  church 
workers  in  Norway,  Jhe  "lay  preachers,"  who 
have  always  been  more  liberally  inclined  than 
the  average   ordained   pastor,   were   satisfied 


with  his  views  on  the  sacraments.  The  mild 
Ritschlianism  of  Ording,  however,  was  a  seri- 
ous offense  in  the  eyes  of  these  "Izy  preach- 
ers," who  are  pietistically  inclined,  and  they 
accordingly  joined  the  official  orthodox  hosts 
in  the  contest  against  Ording.  As  a  result  the 
government  refused  to  appoint  him  and  invited 
a  second  contest  for  the  appointment,  this  time 
from  all  Scandinavia.  Dr.  Ording  again  came 
out  an  easy  winner.  Then  the  government  ap- 
pealed to  the  other  universities  of  the  North- 
lands— Copenhagen^  Lund,  Upsala  and  Hel- 
singfors — for  their  opinion  on  Ording,  and  in 
general  the  voting  was  in  favor  of  the  gifted 
and  brilliant  theologian.  The  poet  Bjornson^ 
who  also  took  part  in  the  controversy,  ex^ 
pressed  himself,  in  one  of  many  articles,  as  fol- 
lows: "The  religion  of  the  majority  of  the 
average  churchgoers  is  this:  In  all  simplicity 
to  approach  near  to  God.  They  seldom  care 
anything  for  dogmas.  In  all  of  the  recent  com- 
petitions for  the  theological  chair  the  liberals 
have  gained  the  victory.  Instead  of  seeing  in 
this  a  providential  act  of  God,  the  orthodox 
party  usurp  for  themselves  the  rights  of  God*s 
providence.  They  call  themselves  the  church 
people,  just  as  if  there  were  no  other  church 
people  than  themselves." 

Just  recently  the  controversy  has  been  tem- 
porarily closed  by  the  appointment  of  Dn 
Ording;  but  the  Minister  of  Religion  and  In- 
struction has  resigned  in  consequence,  and  also 
the  leader  of  the  conservatives  in  the  Copen- 
hagen faculty — Dr.  Odland.  The  government 
offers  to  appoint  a  second  and  conservative 
Professor  of  Systematic  Theology  to  appease 
the  orthodox  party,  but  they  refuse  to  be  thus 
comforted.  The  whole  issue  is  likely  to  come 
to  the  front  in  the  next  political  campaign,  for 
in  Norway  the  great  struggle  between  the  old 
and  the  new  types  of  theological  thought  is 
evidently  only  beginning. 


Science  and  Discovery 


THE  PRINCIPLE  OF  THE  BOOMERANG'S  FLIGHT 


.-■li^v,   / 


^ 


1\ 


In  the  hands  of  a  skilful  Australian  native 
a  good  boomerang  will  follow  the  most  com- 
plex courses  in  its  flights,  so  remarkablei 
according  to  Col.  A.  H.  Lane-Fox,  who  has 
studied  this  weapon  for  years,  that  the  be- 
havior of  the  projectile  must  be  seen  to  be 
believed.  The  boomerang  will  literally  shoot 
arotmd  a  comer.  A  boomerang  can  be  thrown 
around  a  building  or  tree,  and  will  return,  as 
is  well  known,  straight  to  the  thrower.  The 
boomerang  can  be  hurled  at  a  bird  on  the 
wing,  knock  the  biped  down  with  its  rotating 
arms  and  return  to  the  owner.  These  facts 
are  illustrated  by  diagrams  from  observation 
which  are  here  reproduced  from  The  Strand 
Magazine  of  Lcmdoo. 

The  scientific  princi- 
ple upon  whidi  depends 
the  flight  of  tilt  boomer- 
ang is  set  fdcMi  by  Col- 
onel Lane-FSox:  The  an- 
gle and  the  drde  de- 
scribed by  the  boomer- 
ang in  its  flight  depend 
partly,  upon  the  shape 
of  the  weapon  itself  and 
partly  upon  the  rotary 
motion  imparted  to  it  by 
the  hurler.  As  long  as 
the  forward  movement 
persists,  the  boomerang 
will  continue  to  ascend. 
The  plane  of  rotation, 
instead  of  continuing  perfectly  parallel  to  its 
original  position,  will  be  slightly  raised  by  the 
action  of  the  atmosphere  on  the  forward  side. 
When  the  movement  of  transition  ceases,  the 
boomerang  will  begin  to  fall.  Its  course  in 
falling  will  be  by  the  line  of  least  resistance. 
This  is  in  the  direction  of  the  edge  that  lies 
obliquely  toward  the  thrower.  It  will,  conse- 
quently, fall  back  precisely  as  a  kite  when  the 
string  is  suddenly  broken  is  observed  to  fall 
back  for  a  short  distance.  But,  as  the  kite 
has  received  no  movement  of  rotation  to  cause 
it  to  continue  in  the  same  plane  of  descent,  it 
soon  loses  its  parallelism  and  falls  in  a  series 
of  fantastic  curves  toward  the  ground. 
The  boomerang  will  do  the  same  thing  if  it 


fooji/ 


Boomerang   rose   looTt.,    did 

double     twist     and     fell     ai 

throwcr'«i  feet. 


loses  its  movement  of  rotation.  As  long  as 
this  movement  of  rotation  persists,  which  it 
usually  does  even  after  the  forward  movement 
has  ceased,  it  continues  to  fall  back  upon  an 
inclined  plane  similar  to  that  by  which  it 
ascended  and  finally  reaches  the  ground  at  the 
feet  of  the  thrower.  There  are  various  mathe- 
matical explanations  of  the  somewhat  mys- 
terious principle  of  the  boomerang.  Colonel 
Lane-Fox,  nevertheless,  asserts  that  this  stmi- 
mary  explains  all  that  there  is  to  explain. 

But  another  careful  student  of  the  boom- 
erang, Mr.  Charles  Ray,  throws  light  upon  the 
subject  from  the  practical  as  distinguished 
from  the  theoretical  point  of  view: 


-t 


y2o/M- 


'\ 


k 


BringiMdownabird.  Boomcyans. 
after  tlrikine  bird,  turned  sharply 
and  returned  in  almott  «aiae  direc  • 


"The  boomerang  is  a 
more  or  less  sickle  shaped 
stick  of  hard  wood,  rang- 
ing in  length  from  fifteen 
inches  to  three  and  a  half 
feet,  two  or  three  inches 
wide,  and  about  three- 
eighths  of  an  inch  thick. 
The  ends  are  usually 
rounded  or  pointed,  and 
one  of  the  sides  is  made 
convex,  the  other  being 
flat  The  edge  is  sharp- 
ened all  round,  and  the 
surface,  upon  which  its 
curious  flight  mainly  de- 
pends, is  slightly  waving 
and  broken  by  various 
angles  which  balance  and 
counter-balance  each  other. 
Some  of  these,  by  causing 
differences  in  the  pressure 
of  the  air  on  certam  parts, 
give  steadiness  of  flight,  and  others  impart  buoy- 
ancy. The  angles  really  serve  to  counteract  gravi- 
tation, so  that  even  when  the  force  imparted  by 
the  thrower  is  spent  the  boomerang  still  continues 
its  flight 

"The  Australians  in  the  manufacture  of  their 
weapons  follow  the  natural  grain  of  the  wood, 
and  this  leads  to  every  kind  of  curve,, from  the 
slightest  bend  to  a  right  angle  or  the  segment 
of  a  circle,  with  the  result  that  no  two  boomer- 
angs are  ever  exactly  alike  in  shape.  In  throw- 
ing, the  weapon  is  held  by  one  end  with  the  con- 
vex side  downwards.  The  thrower  bends  his 
body  back  with  the  boomerang  over  his  shoqlder 
and  then  hurls  it  forward,  when  it  whirls  round 
and  round  like  a  wheel  and  makes  a  loud,  buzzing 
noise.  After  reaching  a  certain  distance  it  stops 
in  Its  flight  and  then  commences  to  return,  and 
falls  at  the  feet  of  or  behind  the  thrower.    If  th^ 


tioM  as  that  from  which 
thrown 


SCIENCE  AND  DISCOVERY 


6S7 


Boomenng  thrown  by  concealed  hunter  at  m  kangaroo  laoft.  »«»y. 

Boomerang  turned,  made  two  smalt  circles,  and  sinick 

animal's  hind  legs. 

boomerang  is  thrown  downwards  to  the  ^ound 
it  rebound^  in  a  straight  line,  pursuing  a  ricochet 
motion,  in  that  case,  of  course,  not  returning  to 
the  thrower.  Very  often  a  boomerang  appears 
to  be  merely  a  common  crooked  stick,  although  in 
reality  it  is  a  weapon  upon  which  much  time  and 
care  has  been  spent.  Mr.  Horace  Baker,  who  has 
made  a  i>articular  study  of  these  objects,  says  he 
believes  it  is  possible  to  make  a  boomerang  by 
exact  mathematical  calculation,  although  he  has 
not  yet  been  able  to  do  this.  He  has  made  two, 
apparently  alike  in  every  particular,  yet  while  one 
rose  buoyantly  in  the  air,  the  other  fell  dead  be- 
cause of  some  untrue  adjustment  of  the  angles  of 
its  faces.    .    .    . 

"The  boomerang  is  used  for  various  purposes 


Boomeiang  thrown  right,  round  a  building,  circuit  about  jooft. 

by  the  natives  of  New  South  Wales  and  Queens- 
land. The  children  find  it  a  fruitful  source  of 
amusement  and  spend  a  good  deal  of  time  in  per- 
fecting themselves  in  its  use.  Then  it  is  used  in 
hunting,  when  its  curious  flight  renders  it  inval- 
uable. For  instance,  it  can  be  thrown  at  a  flock 
of  ducks  or  wild  fowl  on  a  river  or  marsh,  knock- 
ing down  one  or  more  and  returning  to  its  user, 
instead  of  being  lost  in  the  morass.    Then  in  the 


....»- 


•:C 


^•Z" 


:•  * 


After  going  ispft.  boomerang  revolved  in  perpendicular  plane, 

then  turned  off,  and  finally  fell  at  throwe|''s  feet.    Time  iomc.  , 

greatest  height  9ort. 

pursuit  of  the  kangaroo  and  other  animals,  the 
huntsman  can  hide  behind  a  bush  or  rising  of  the 
ground  and  aim  at  his  quarry  without  himself 
being  seen.  Such  a  weapon  must  naturally  have 
given  a  great  advantage  to  its  possessors  in  the 
struggle  for  Ufe,  over  Siose  who  did  not  know  its 
use. 

''In  warfare  the  boomerang  has  the  quality  of 
being  a  most  formidable  weai>on  among  unciv- 
ilized tribes.  It  is  capable  of  inflicting  a  wound 
several  inches  deep  and  will  strike  its  victim  with- 


out giving  the  slightest  clue  as  to  the  position  of 
the  assailant,  who  may  be  behind  a  thicket  to  the 
right  or  left.  Of  course,  the  user  of  a  boomerang 
must  himself  be  skilful,  or  it  will  be  as  dangerous 
to  him  as  to  the  obtect  aimed  at,  for  it  may  return 
and  strike  its  owner.  It  is  by  constant  practice 
for  generations  that  the  Australian  aborigines 
have  been  able  to  excel  in  its  use,  although  they 
are  not  all  able  to  do  the  wonderful  things  with 
the  boomerangs  that  are  sometimes  spoken  of.  A 
gentleman  who  resided  for  some  time  in  Austra- 
lia informed  Lord  Avebury  that  on  one  occasion, 
in  order  to  test  the  skill  with  which  the  boomer- 
ang could  be  thrown,  he  offered  to  a  native  a 


-as-of4 


.'^^ 


1) 


\ 


J^ 


v- 


direction, 


turned,  passed  over  throwei's  head,  travelled  in  a  reverse 
— •—  figure  eight,  and  then  Wl  at  thrower's  feet  with  a 
third  small  turn  to  the  left. 


reward  of  sixpence  for  every  time  th^  missile  was 
made  to  return  to  the  spot  from  which  it  was 
thrown.  He  drew  a  circle  five  or  six  feet  in  di- 
ameter on  the  siand,  and  the  man  threw  the  boom- 
erang with  great  force  a  dozen  times,  out  of 
which  it  fell  within  the  circle  five  times. 

"The  method  of  defence  against  the  boomerang 
in  warfare  is  to  hold  forward,  verticallv,  a  stick 
about  two  feet  long,  with  a  notched  head  and 
handle.  This  is  moved  right  or  left  as  the  case 
may  be,  causing  the  boomerang  to  fly  off  at  one 
side  or  the  other.    In  order  to  overcome  this  de- 


..*< 


L/'l±L-'='r-^^. 


Killing  a  amaJl  animal  with  a  boomerang  thrown  to  the  ground, 
along  wbicb  it  traveb  with  a  ricochet  movemeoi. 

fence  the  Queensland  aborigines  use  a  boomerang 
of  peculiar  shape.  It  has  a  hooked  end,  and  when 
it  strikes  the  defensive  stick,  the  angle  caused  by 
the  hook  revolves  round  the  stick,  and  the  other 
end  of  the  boomerang  swings  round  and  gives  the 
victim  a  severe  blow.  To  one  not  well  initiated 
into  the  mysteries  of  boomerang-throwing,  how- 
ever, it  is  very  difficult  to  defend  one's  self  against 
the  missile.  Edward  John  Eyre,  the  esrolorer, 
tells  how  he  once  nearly  had  his  arm  broken  by 
a  boomerang  while  standing  within  a  yard  of  the 
native  who  threw  it,  and  looking  out  purposely 
•tor  it." 


•••^N 
'^•^v 


300  f*^ 


'%. 


V, 


after  reaching  limit  in  direction  thrown  took  a  turn,  pamrd 
rose  to  MU,  turned  to  right,  and  fell  in  fiont  of  thrower. 


658 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


THE  THEORIES  OF  CLOUD  ARCHITECTURE 


Until  a  comparatively  recent  time,  the  me- 
chanics of  cloud  production  was  assumed  to 
be  more  or  less  of  an  exact  science.  Meteor- 
ology somewhat  hastily  concluded  that  all 
clouds  were  formed  in  accordance  with  the 
same  general  law.  Now,  in  the  light  of  recent 
investigations  by  cloud  students,  among  them 
Professor  Hildebrandsson,  of  Upsala,  Hon. 
Ralph  Abercromby  and  C.  T.  R.  Wilson,  it 
appears  that  clouds  vary  not  only  in  structure 
but  in  meteorological  function.  They  are  not 
necessarily  limited,  for  instance,  to  the  task 
of  watering  the  earth  or  of  covering  it  with 
hail  and  snow.  They  may  act  also  as  scav- 
engers of  the  upper  air. 

Mr.  Arthur  W.  Clayden,  who  for  many 
years  has  studied  cloud  types,  is  prompted  to 
declare  in  his  recently  published  volume*  that 
it  will  require  long  observation  during  years 
to  come  to  afford  mankind  an  adequate  knowl- 
edge of  every  form  of  cloud.  We  now  know 
in  a  vague  way  much  of  the  conditions  of 


♦  Cloud    Studies. 
Dutton  &  Co. 


By   Arthur  "W.    Clayden.      E.    P. 


cloud-formation  in  the  higher  atmospheric 
region;  but  that  knowledge  is  mainly  theoret- 
ical. Only  strong  probability  can  be  adduced 
for  much  that  is  now  taken  for  granted. 
Any  visible  mass  composed  of  small  particles 
of  ice  or  water  suspended  in  the  air  and 
formed  by  condensation  from  the  state  of 
vapor  ought,  declares  Mr.  Qayden,  to  be  con- 
sidered a  cloud.  As  thus  defined,  there  is  but 
one  form  of  cloud  now  readily  available  for 
study.  Its  general  name  is  cumulus.  Cumulus 
can  be  divided  into  several  types  which  are 
best  considered  in  the  order  of  growth.  They 
are  described  by  experts  as  clouds  in  a  rising 
current,  and  to  this  characterization  Mr.  Clay- 
den offers  no  objection.  But  each  cumulus 
must  be  looked  upon,  he  adds,  as  simply  the 
visible  top  of  an  ascending  pillar  of  damp  air. 
The  vapor  which  makes  its  appearance  in  the 
cloud  is  present  in  the  transparent  air  beneath. 
The  base  of  the  cloud  is  simply  the  level  at 
which  that  vapor  begins  to  condense  into  vis- 
ible liquid  particles.  Since  cumulus  clouds  are 
caused   by   ascending   currents,   the   problem 


Courtesy  of  E.  P.  Dution  &  Co..  New  Yort 


CRESTED  ALTO  WAVES 


The  clouds  here  shown  are  distinctly  of  the  cumulus  order  and  a  prominent  feature  is  the  way  in  which 
the  right-hand  side  of  each  wave  has  a  clear-cut  rounded  contour,  like  that  of  the  upper  edge  of  a^small 
cumulus,  while  the  left-hand  edge  of  each  band  is  frayed  out  into  a  ragged  fringe.  It  is  evident  that  this 
peculiar  structure  must  be  due  to  a  series  of  narrow  waves  intersecting  a  plane  in  which  the  air  is  just  on 
the  point  of  evolving  this  type  of  cloud  architecture.  This  picture,  like  the  two  cloud  photographs  follow- 
ing, is  from  '*  Cloud  Studies^'  by  Arthur  W.  Clayden. 


SCIENCE  AND  DISCOVERY 


659 


Cooiteay  of  &  P.  Dotton  ft  Co..  New  7ork. 


HIGH  BALL  CUBfULUS 


The  current  system  of  cloud  nomenclature  is  founded  upon  the  plan  of  Luke  Howard,  the  pioneer  in 
cloud  research.  He  recognized  three  main  types  of  cloua  architecture,  which  he  named  Cirrus.  Stratus 
and  Cumulus.  Cirrus  included  all  forms  which  are  bailt  up  of  delicate  threads,  like  the  fibers  in  a  tragment 
of  wool.  Stratus  was  applied  to  all  clouds  which  lie  inVevel  sheets.  Cumulus  was  the  lumpy  form.  By 
combinations  of  these  terms  other  clou4s  were  descrit>ed.  Thus  a  quantity  of  cirrus  arranged  m  a  sheet  was 
called  cirro-stratus,  while  high,  thin  clouds  like  cirrus,  but  made  up  of  detached  rounded  balls,  was  cirro- 
cumulus.  Many  cumulus  clouds,  arranged  in  a  sheet  with  little  space  between  them  became  cumulo-stratus, 
while  the  great  clouds  from  which  our  heavy  rains  descend  i>artake,  to  some  extent,  of  all  three  types  and 
were  therefore  distinguished  by  a  special  name — ^Nimbus. 


arises:  How  are  the  currents  themselves 
brought  about?  They  must  be  brought  about, 
says  Mr.  Gayden,  either  by  the  general  dis- 
turbance of  the  air  due  to  a  cyclonic  move- 
ment or  by  the  local  irregularities  of  temper- 
ature on  the  ground  produced  by  the  sun's 
heat.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  we  do  get  cumulus 
produced  in  great  abundance  in  the  rear  of 
every  cyclone  and  we  get  them  under  condi- 
tions of  still  air  and  hot  sun  which  sp'ecially 
favor  evaporation  and  the  development  of 
differences  of  temperature.  The  cyclone 
cumulus  may  come  at  any  hour  of  the  day  or 
night,  though  it  is  comparatively  rare  between 
midaight  and  morning.  Heat  cumulus  is  gen- 
erally formed  during  the  afternoon,  and  it  is 
only  under  relatively  uncommon  conditions 
that  it  persists  during  the  night.  If  the  cloud 
has  not  grown  to  very  great  size  it  usually 
begins  to  break  up  and  disappear  about  sun- 
set; but  if  it  has  grown  to  the  dimensions  of 
a  summer  thunder-cloud  it  may  go  on  grow- 
ing, piling  mass  on  mass,  until  it  generates  a 
thunder-storm  even  in  the  hours  of  early 
morning. 


Of  cloud  formation  in  general,  Mr.  Qayden 
says: 

"Given  any  mass  of  air  at  a  particular  tempera- 
ture, it  can  take  up  and  hold  in  the  form  of  in- 
visible vapor  a  fixed  quantity  of  water  and  no 
more.  When  it  holds  the  maximum  possible  it 
is  said  to  be  saturated.  If  it  is  nearly  saturated 
it  would  be  called  damp;  if  far  from  saturated, 
dry.  Now  the  warmer  the  air,  the  larger  the 
quantity  of  vapor  necessary  to  saturate  it;  so 
that  if  a  quantity  is  saturated  at  a  high  tempera- 
ture and  is  then  cooled,  it  will  no  longer  be. able 
to  retain  all  its  moisture  in  the  invisible  form, 
but  the  surplus  quantity  will  make  its  appearance 
as  liquid  particles,  that  is  to  say  as  mist  or  cloud. 

"Similarly,  if  a  quantity  of  air  is  not  fully  sat- 
urated at  its  particular  temperature,  and  is  then 
cooled,  it  will  approach  nearer  and  nearer  to  sat- 
uration, and  if  the  process  is  continued  long 
enough  the  result  will  be  cloud  formation. 

"All  clouds  without  exception  are  produced  by 
exactly  such  cooling  of  air  containing  water 
vapor,  first  to  the  temperature  at  which  the  quan- 
tity it  contains  is  the  maximum  possible  and  then 
beyond  that  point.  Now,  if  we  start  with  very 
warm  air,  and  cool  it  one  degree,  we  decrease  its 
vapor-holding  power  and  the  decrease  per  dc^ee 
grows  less  and  less  as  the  temperature  falls.  Sup- 
pose, for  instance,  we  have  air  saturated  at  01 
degrees  and  cool  it  to  60  degrees,  the  quantity  of 


66o 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


Coaiteny  ot  E.  P    Dattoo  A  Co.,  New  Tork. 


MACKEREL  SKY 


The  scientific  nartie  of  this  form  of  cloud  is  alto  stratus  maculosus,  or  spotted  high  stratus.     Alto  clouds 

they  are  always  composed  of  liquid  parti 
temperature  must  often  be  many  degrees  below  the 


are  fundamentally  different  from  other  groups  in  that  they  are  always  composed  ofliquid  particles,  thougn 
there  is  no  doubt,  from  their  great  altitude,  that  their  '  "  "  -*-—  *--  ^  ^  . 


ordinary  freezing-point  of  water. 

vapor  condensed  will  be  equal  to  the  difference 
of  holding  power.  Suppose,  again,  we  have  air 
saturated  at  31  degrees  and  we  cool  it  to  30  de- 
grees, the  quantity  of  vapor  condensed  will  again 
be  equal  to  the  difference  of  holding  power;  but 
this  quantity  will  be  very  greatly  less  than  in 
the  former  case." 

Cooling  air  saturated  at  61  degrees  to  60 
degrees  might  produce  a  dense  cloud,  but 
applying  a  similar  reduction  of  one  degree  to 
air  saturated  at  31  degrees  (if  we  take  the 
same  volume  of  air),  will  only  produce  a  very 
much  thinner  result.  Here  we  see  one  good 
reason  why  the  high  clouds  are  the  thinnest 
and  the  alto  clouds  of  intermediate  density. 

The  necessary  cooling  may  be  brought 
about  in  several  ways.  Cooling  by  contact 
with  a  cold  body  is  one  potent  cause.  We 
often  see  it  in  a  mountain  district,  where  a 
frost-bound  peak  stands  facing  the  wind  with 
glittering  snow-slopes  on  which  the  sun  is 
shining,  while  a  long  tongue  of  cloud  hangs 
like  a  banner  on  its  leeward  side.  In  such  a 
case  it  is  easy  to  understand  how  the  air 
sweeping  by  the  icy  mass  is  chilled  below  its 
saturation  point.  But  as  it  passes  on,  the 
chilled  portions  become  mixed  with  the  rest 
and  the  cloud  evaporates  again. 

Of  another  cause,  Mr.  Clayden  writes: 


"If  a  quantity  of  air  exists  under  a  certain  pres- 
sure and  at  a  certain  temperature,  on  reducing  the 
pressure  it  will  expand,  and  in  the  act  of  ex- 
panding it  will  become  cooler.  This  may  easily 
be  illustrated  with  an  air-pump.  Let  a  damp 
sponge  or  a  piece  of  wet  blotting-paper  stand 
undef  a  glass  receiver  over  an  air-pump  until  the 
air  has  become  damo.  If  the  apparatus  is  in  a 
darkened  room,  and  a  powerful  beam  of  light 
from  a  lantern  is  sent  through  the  receiver,  the 
damp  air  will  be  seen  to  be  quite  clear;  but  a 
stroke  or  two  of  the  pump  removes  some  of  the 
air,  the  remainder  is  chilled  by  its  own  expansion, 
and  a  dense  cloud  is  precipitated.  If  this  cloud 
be  viewed  closely,  it  will  be  seen  to  be  composed 
of  minute  particles,  which,  on  looking  towards 
the  light  glow  with  the  colors  of  a  corona.  In  a 
few  minutes  the  cloud  will  disappear,  but  it  can 
be  recalled  again  and  again  by  successive  strokes 
of  the  pump,  getting  thinner  and  thinner  as  the 
air  gets  more  and  more  rarefied;  an  illustration 
of  a  second  reason  why  the  high  clouds  are  thin- 
ner than  the  lower." 

If  the  damp  air  used  in  this  experiment  were 
carefully  filtered  so  as  to  remove  all  foreign 
particles,  no  cloud  was  produced,  and  the  in- 
troduction of  a  puff  of  unfiltered  air  was 
attended  by  immediate  condensation.  The 
deduction  was  that  vapor,  even  below  its  sat- 
uration temperature,  cannot  produce  cloud 
unless  nuclei  of  some  sort  are  already  present, 
presumably  dust  particles. 


SCIENCE  AND  DISCOVERY 


66i 


IF  BURBANK'S  METHODS  WERE  APPLIED  TO  THE 

HUMAN  RACE 


Were  it  possible  to  select  twelve  normal 
American  families  and  subject  them  to  the 
application  of  principles  deduced  from  Luther 
Burbank's  study  of  plant  life,  more  would  be 
accomplished  for  mankind  in  ten  generations 
than  can  now  be  hoped  for  in  a  hundred 
thousand  years.  Thus  argues  Mr.  Burbank 
in  The  Century  Magajsine.  Look  at  the  ma- 
terial upon  which  to  draw  for  such  an  experi- 
ment, exclaims  the  eminent  horticulturist 
enthusiastically,  after  an  analysis  of  the  sta- 
tistics of  immigration.  "Here  is  the  Noith, 
powerful,  virile,  aggressive,  blended,  with  the 
luxurious,  ease-loving,  more  impetuous  South. 
Again  you  have  the  merging  of  a  cold  phleg- 
matic temperament  with  one  mercurial  and 
volatile.  Still  again  the  union  of  great  na-^ 
tive  mental  strength,  developed  or  undeve- 
loped, with  bodily  vigor,  but  with  inferior 
mind.  See,  too, 'what  a  vast  number  of  en- 
vironmental influences  have  been  at  work  in 
social  relations,  in  climate,  in  physical  sur- 
roundings. Along  with  this  we  must  observe 
the  merging  of  the  vicious  with  the  good,  the 
good  with  the  good,  the  vicious  with  the 
vicious." 

Such  a  blending  of  types  occurs  on  a  grand 
sq^le  only  in  our  own  country.  Now  for  the 
hortiQultural  argument.  From  six  to  ten  gen- 
erations suffice,  as  a  rule,  we  are  told,  to  con- 
firm in  new  phases  most  descendants  of  any 
given,  set.  of  parent  plants.  Such  stability 
once  attained,  the  descendant  plant  may  be 
relied  upon  to  live  the  new  existence  without 
regard  to  the  ancient  ways  of  its  ancestors. 
Such  transformations  in  plant  life  are  accom- 
plished in  less  than  a  dozen  generations,  some- 
times in' less  than  half  a  dozen.  The  time  dc- 
pc^nds  upon  the  kind  qf  plant  nature  subjected 
to  this  ev9lutionary  process.  In  setting  this 
dovfj^f  Mr*  Burbank  does  not  mean  that  inade- 
quate, care  'and  culture,  ^carelessness  in  the 
horticultural  process  at  any  stage,  may  not 
undo  all  the  good  resulting  from  the  most 
loving  care.  The  plant  may  become  wild 
again  from  neglect  '  But  it  will  be  wild,  to 
use  Mr.  Burbank's  phrase,  "along  the  lines 
of  its  new  life,  not  by  any  means  necessarily 
along  ancestral  lines."  And  all  this  brings 
us  to  the  point: 

"Ten  generations  of  human  life  should  be  am- 


ple to  fix  any  desired  attribute.  This  is  absolutely 
clear.  There  is  neither  theory  nor  speculation. 
Given  the  fact  that  the  most  sensitive  material 
in  all  the  world  upon  which  to  work  is  the  na- 
ture of  a  little  child,  given  ideal  conditions  under 
which  to  work  upon  this  nature,  and  the  end  de- 
sired will  as  certainly  cgme  as  it  comes  in  the 
cultivation  of  the  plant  There  will  be  this  dif- 
ference, however,  that  it  will  be  immeasurably 
easier  to  produce  and  fix  any  desired  traits  in 
the  child  than  in  the  plant,  though,  of  course,  a 
plant  may  be  said  to  be  a  harp  with  a  few  strings 
as  compared  with  a  child. 

"Apply  to  the  descendants  of  these  twelve 
famihes  throughout  three  hundred  years  the  prin- 
ciples I  have  set  forth,  and  the  reformation  and 
regeneration  of  the  world,  their  particular  world, 
will  have  been  effected.  Apply  these  principles 
now,  to-day,  not  waiting  for  the  end  of  these 
three  hundred  years,  not  waiting,  indeed,  for 
any  millennium  to  come,  but  make  the  millen- 
nium* aad  see  what  splendid  results  will  fol- 
low. Not  the  ample  results  of  the  larger 
period,  to  be  sure,  for  with  the  human  life,  as 
with  the  plant  life,  it  requires  these  several  gen- 
erations to  fix  new  characteristics  or  to  intensify 
old  ones.  But  narrow  it  still  more,  apply  these 
princi]>les  to  a  single  family, — indeed,  still  closer, 
to  a  single  child,  your  child  it  may  be,— and  see 
what  the  results  will  be. 

"But  remember  that  just  as  there  must  be  in 
plant  cultivation  great  patience,  unswerving  de- 
votion to  the  truth,  the  highest  motive,  absolute 
hooesty,  unchanging  love,  so  must  it  be  in  the 
cultivation  of  a  child.  .  .  .  Here  in  America, 
in  the  midst  of  this  vast  crossing  of  species,  we 
have  an  unparalleled  opportunity  to  work  upon 
these  sensitive  human  natures.  We  may  sur- 
round them  with  right  influences.  We  mav  steady 
them  in  right  ways  of  living.  We  may  bring  to 
bear  upon  them,  just  as  we  do  upon  plants,  the 
influence  of  light  and  air,'  of  sunshine  and  Abun- 
dant, well-balanced  food." 

One  can  breed  into  a  plant  almost  any  char- 
acteristic desired,  and  child-life  is  not  less 
amenable  to  culture.  Thrift,  honesty,  strength, 
can  be  imparted  even  when  heredity,  is  as- 
serting itself  contrariwise,  and  there  are  tend- 
encies to  reversion  to  former  ancestral  traits. 
The  abnormal  human  plant  may  be  purged  of 
its  abnormality,  for  "it  is  the  influence  of  cul- 
tivation, of  selection,  of  surroundings,  of  en- 
vironment, that  makes  the,  change  from  the 
abnormal  to  the  normal."  Environment  is 
stronger  than  heredity,  says  Mr.  BurbaAk; 
heredity  itself  is  simply  the  sum  of  all  the 
effects  of  all  the  past  environment.  "There 
is  no  doubt,"  he  says,  "that  if  a  child  with  a 
vicious  temper  be  placed  in  an  environment 
of  peace  and  quiet  the  temper  will  change." 


662 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


THE   NEW  ERA  IN   SCIENCE  INAUGURATED  BY  THE  CURIES 


During  the  few  weeks  that  have  elapsed 
since  Pierre  Curie,  the  pioneer  of  radium  re- 
search, was  killed  in  the  streets  of  Paris  by 
a  passing  vehicle,  his  name  has  been  asso- 
ciated with  more  eulogy  in  the  world's  scien-. 
tific  press  than  that  bestowed  upon  any  man 
since  the  death  of  the  elder  Darwin.  Pro- 
fessor Boys  declares  that  the  discovery  by 
Curie  of  what  seems  to  be  the  everlasting 
production  of  heat  in  easily  measurable  quan- 
tity by  a  minute  amount  of  a  radium  compound 
is  so  amazing  that  even  now  when  many  sci- 
entists have  had  the  opportunity  of  seeing  with 
their  own  eyes  the  heated  thermometer  they 
are  hardly  able  to  believe  what  they  see. 
"This,  which  can  barely  be  distinguished  from 
the  discovery  of  perpetual  motion,  which  it  is 
an  axiom  of  science  to  call  impossible,  has  left 
every  chemist  and  physicist  in  a  state  of  be- 
wilderment." The  mystery  here  is  being  at- 
tacked, adds  Professor  Boys,  and  theories  are 
daily  invented  to  account  for  the  marvelous 
results  of  observations;  but  these  theories 
themselves  would  a  few  years  ago  have  seemed 
more  wonderful  and  incredible  than  the  facts, 
as  we  believe  them  to  be,  seem  to-day.    Now 


the  man  who  was  most  conspicuous  in  this 
labor  of  elucidation  is  no  more. 

Scarcely  three  years  have  passed  since  the 
Revue  Scieniifique  (Paris)  announced  the 
discovery  of  what  it  termed  the  astonishing 
fact  that  radium,  in  addition  to  the  radio-active 
properties  rendered  familiar  by  the  researches 
of  Becquerel  on  uranium,  possesses  the  prop- 
erty of  maintaining  its  temperature  at  a  point 
three  degrees  higher  than  that  of  its  surround- 
ings and  of  continuously  emitting  heat  without 
any  apparent  diminution  of  bulk  or  altera- 
tion of  physical  constitution.  Eminent  scien- 
tists at  first  refused  to  accept  an  assertion  ir- 
reconcilable with  laboratory  experience,  main- 
taining that  there  must  have  been  somewhere 
a  serious  error  of  observation.  That  radium 
possesses  radio-active  properties  indefinitely 
more  powerful  than  those  displayed  by  any 
other  body  is  a  fact  of  an  order,  as  the  Phy- 
sikcUische  Zeitschrift  (Leipsic)  and  its  tech- 
nical contemporaries  noted  at  the  time,  to 
which  scientists  had  long  been  accustomed. 
These  properties  in  radium  differed  only  in 
degree  from  properties  with  which  the  scien- 
tific world  had  been  familiar,  but  that  differ- 


THB  FIRST  HEROINE  OP  SCIENCE 

Madame  Sklodowski  Curie,  a  lady  of  Polish  origin, 
has  made  her  name  immortal  by  her  achievements  in 
radium  research. 


THE    SCIENTIST   WHOSE    DOUBT   LED    TO   THE 
DISCOVERY  OP  RADIUM 

Pierre  Curie,  killed  in  the  streets  of  Paris  a  month  ago, 
inaugurated  the  contemporary  reyoluUoo  in  physics, 


SCIENCE  AND  DISCOVERY 


663 


ence  in  degree  has  become  sufficiently  aston- 
ishing in  the  light  of  further  investigation, 
since  it  has  become  clear  that  radium,  without 
external  stimulus,  can  produce  effects  hitherto 
only  obtainable  by  means  of  the  electrical  dis- 
charge in  high  vacua.  It  can  throw  gases  into 
that  state  of  vibration  which  causes  the  pro- 
duction of  their  characteristic  spectrum.  It 
emits  at  the  same  time  a  radiation  resembling 
the  Rontgen  rays,  producing  like  them  marked 
physical  and  physiological  effects.  It  soon  be- 
came obvious  that  Pierre  Curie,  aided  at  every 
stage  by  the  indefatigable  co-operation  of  his 
wife,  had  introduced  mankind  to  forces  of  a 
totally  unprecedented  significance  in  the  evo- 
lution of  science. 

Rarely,  moreover,  has  a  series  of  physical 
discoveries  contributed  so  much  to  awakening 
general  interest  and  scientific  speculation. 
Pierre  Curie,  Professor  of  Physics  in  the 
School  of  Physics  and  Industrial  Chemistry 
at  Paris,  and  Madame  Sklodowski  Curie,  his 
wife,  a  lady  of  Polish  origin,  had  long  been 
interested  observers  and  students  of  the  experi- 
ments of  Becquerel.  That  new  property  of 
matter,  radio-activity,  had  been  found  to  exist. 
What  was  the  source  of  it?  The  reply,  until 
the  Curies  had  completed  their  investigations, 
was  that  the  source  must  be  uranium.  That, 
however,  was  not  absolutely  certain;  and 
prompted  by  the  doubt  in  the  case,  the  Curies 
proceeded  to  ascertain  the  ray-emitting  capac- 
ity of  pitchblende,  the  parent  substance  of 
uranium.  Thus  were  they  brought  to  their 
great  discovery  that  selected  specimens  of 
pitchblende  were  endowed  with  four  times  the 
radio-activity  of  metallic  uranium.  The  Curies 
reasoned  that,  if  pitchblende  had  so  strong  an 
activity,  it  was  due  to  the  fact  that  that  min- 
eral contained  a  substance  unprecedentedly  ra- 
dio-active. This  substance  they  extracted.  In 
no  long  time  they  announced  their  discovery 
of  three  elements  with  ray-emitting  powers. 
These  were  radium,  polonium  and  actinium. 

Dr.  W.  Hampson,  who  has  lectured  on  ra- 
dium at  University  College,  London,  writing 
of  these  experiments,  says: 

"It  is  interesting  here  to  consider  the  means 
by  which  the  radio-activity  of  a  substance  was 
estimated,  for  the  method  employed  is  an  illus- 
tration of  the  utmost  refinement  yet  reached  by 
science  in  the  measurement  of  small  quantities. 
By  this  means  it  is  possible  to  detect  the  presence 
of  substances  in  quantities  thousands  of  times  as 
small  as  could  be  weighed  by  the  most  powerful 
balances  or  measured  by  the  aid  of  the  most  pow- 
erful microscopes,  quantities  far  too  small  to  be 
identified  even  by  means  of  spectrum  analysis.  Dry 
air,  which  is  not  a  conductor  of  electricity,  can 


by  appropriate  means  be  broken  up  in  such  a  way 
as  to  make  it  a  conductor.  This  is  called  ionizing 
the  air.  The  vibrations  of  ether,  with  which  we 
have  been  familiar  under  the  name  of  X-rays, 
cannot  only  act  on  a  photographic  plate,  but  can 
also  ionize  the  air  through  which  they  pass.  It 
was  soon  found  that  the  action  of  uranium,  tho- 
rium and  radio-active  minerals  resembled  that  of 
the  X-rays  in  the  latter  respect  as  well  as  in  the 
former.  They  also  can  convert  the  air  in  their 
neighborhood  into  a  feeble  conductor  of  electric- 
ity with  more  or  less  completeness,  according  to 
the  amount  of  their  radio-activity;  and  electric 
measurements  can  now  be  made  with  such  ex- 
treme refinement  that  it  is  possible  by  this  means 
to  detect  infinitesimally  small  changes  in  the  con- 
ductivity of  the  air,  and  therefore  in  the  radio- 
activity of  the  substances  which  are  making  it  a 
conductor." 

The  delicacy  of  observation  made  possible  by 
this  means  is  far  greater  than  can  be  attained 
in  observing  photographic  effects,  and  the  ob- 
servations can  be  much  more  rapidly  as  well 
as  more  conveniently  completed.  Thus  the 
Curies  examined  a  large  number  of  elements 
and  minerals.  It  was  found  that  uranium  dis- 
played its  radio-activity  whether  it  was  tested 
as  the  separated  metal  or  in  compound  forms 
combined  with  other  substances  as  in  the  oxide 
or  sulphide  or  salts  of  sodium,  potassium  or 
ammonium.  They  reasoned  as  follows  (we 
quote  from  Dr.  Hampson)  : 

"The  activity  of  the  uranium  oxides  (black  and 
green)  being  marked  as  2.6  and  1.8,  that  of  pitch- 
blende was  found  to  be  8.3.  The  pitch-blende  was 
stronger  in  radio-activity  than  the  uranium.  And, 
inasmuch  as  the  residues  left  after  removing  ura- 
nium formed  but  a  small  part  of  the  whole  mineral 
which  they  made  so  much  stronger  than  uranium, 
these  residues  themselves  must  be  immensely  more 
active  than  uranium.  But  they  consisted  largely 
of  iron,  lead,  and  a  number  of  other  substances 
which  were  known  to  have  no  radio-activity  at 
all.  It  followed  that  they  must  be  mixed  with 
a  small  quantity  of  some  yet  undiscovered  sub- 
stance, which  was  the  cause  of  the  obsenred  ac- 
tivity; and  this  material,  being  so  small  in  quan- 
tity, must  be  of  an  activity  correspondmgly 
intense,  in  order  to  leaven  the  whole  lump  so 
effectually  as  it  did. 

"The  search  for  this  small  quantity  of  hitherto 
undiscovered  material  is  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able pieces  of  scientific  work  in  verification  of  a 
previous  train  of  reasoning.  In  the  actual  work, 
Madame  Curie  was  assisted  by  her  husband,  Prof. 
Curie,  and  by  M.  Bemont.  The  chemical  analysis 
of  the  uranium  residues  is  described  by  Madame 
Curie,  but  a  repetition  of  it  would  be  meaningless 
for  our  present  purpose.  A  very  brief  summary 
of  it  occupies  a  large  page  and  a  half  of  print, 
and  it  must  suffice  us  to  say  that  it  is  a  very  long 
and  tedious  process,  requiring  many  months  for 
its  completion.  After  each  step  which  separated 
one  group  of  substances  from  another,  the  inves- 
ti/?ators  compared,  by  the  electrometer  test  de- 
scribed above,  the  two  groups,  for  the  purpose  of 


664 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


determining  which  of  them  possessed  the  greater 
amount  of  radio-activity.  This  one  would  be  sup- 
posed to  contain  tke  substance,  or  the  greater  pro- 
portion of  the  substance  of  which  they  were  in 
search,  and  it  would  be  further  subdivided  into 
smaller  groups  to  still  further  narrow  the  limits 
within  which  the  object  of  their  search  must  be 
looked  for. 

"At  one  stage  in  the  analysis,  the  precipitate 
obtained  by  adding  sulphuretted  hydrogen  to  an 
acid  solution,  gave,  among  other  things,  a  form 
of  bismuth  which  was  found  to  be  very  radio- 
active. But  bismuth  itself,  obtained  in  other 
ways,  is  not  radio-active.  The  inference  was  that, 
mixed  or  combined  with  the  bismuth,  and  sepa- 
rated by  the  same  chemical  reactions  which  had 
separated  the  bismuth,  was  another  substance, 
strongly  radio-active.  This  proved  to  be  the  case, 
and  the  radio-active  material  was  further  con- 
centrated by  processes  of  sublimation  and  precip- 
itation, proving  to  be  more  volatile  than  bismuth 
as  a  sulphide,  and  less  soluble  as  a  nitrate  or  a 
sulphide.  Still,  in  its  chemical  behavior  it  so 
strongly  resembled  bismuth  that  Madame  Curie 
found  it  impossible  to  get  it  quite  purified  from 
that  element.  In  honor  of  her  native  country,  the 
new  substance  was  called  polonium.  Marckwald 
has  since  devised  another  method  by  which  it  is 
got  purer,  though  still  not  quite  pure.  The  ex- 
treme delicacy  of  these  researches,  dealing  as  they 
do  with  excessively  small  quantities,  is  well  illus- 
trated by  the  fact  that  by  his  improved  method 
Marckwald  obtained  out  of  two  tons  of  pitch- 
blende one-sixteenth  part  of  a  grain  of  polonium 
— one  part  out  of  five  hundred  millions. 

"The  bismuth  portion  of  pitch-blende  was  not 
the  only  portion  which  Madame  Curie  found  to  be 
radio-active.  Just  as  polonium  imitated  very 
closely  the  chemical  reactions  of  bismuth,  so  it 
was  with  barium  and  some  other  substances.  The 
barium  obtained  from  the  pitch-blende  by  or- 
dinary methods  of  analysis  appeared  to  be  very 
radio-active.  But  since  ordinary  barium  is  not 
radio-active,  here  again  it  was  inferred  that  some 
radio-active  substance,  behaving  chemically  in 
very  much  the  same  way  as  barium,  had  been  sep- 
arated with  it,  and  means  were  sought  of  getting 
it  by  itself.  It  was  found  that  the  chlorides  of 
barium  and  the  radio-active  substance,  if  dis- 
solved in  boiling  water  and  allowed  to  cool,  crys- 
tallize out  of  solution  in  such  a  way  that  the  less 
soluble  portion  proves  to  be  more  active  than  the 
remainder.  If  this  more  active  portion  is  treated 
in  the  same  way,  it  is  itself  divided  into  two  por- 
tions, of  which  the  less  soluble  is  still  more  active 
than  before." 

By  pursuing  to  the  end,  with  the  greatest 
skill  and  perseverance,  this  method  of  increas- 
ing purification,  the  Curies  succeeded  at  last 
in  separating  from  the  barium  of  pitchblende 
a  very  minute  quantity  of  a  substance  which, 
closely  as  it  resembled  barium  in  most  ways, 
differed  from  it  completely  in  the  possession 
of  an  enormously  high  radio-activity — an  ac- 
tivity a  million  times  as  great  as  that  of  ura- 
nium, from  which  the  first  lesson  had  been 
learned  of  this  particular  class  of  phenomena. 


Very  appropriately,  therefore,  the  Curies  chris- 
tened the  new  substance  radium. 

It  does  not  detract  from  the  glory  of  these 
achievements,  notes  Nature  (London),  that 
some  of  the  conclusions  of  the  Curies  were 
simultaneously  arrived  at  by  other  scientists 
investigating  independently.  And  it  is  to 
Pierre  Curie  that  full  credit  for  blazing  the 
path  of  investigation  is  given  in  the  French 
scientific  press.  His  was  the  creative  mind. 
The  discoveries  of  his  wife  were  the  outcome 
of  his  own  personal  suggestions.  She  achieved 
the  triumph  of  determining  with  exquisite 
accuracy  the  atomic  weight  of  radium.  Her 
talent  was  for  execution  of  the  plan.  But  the 
campaign  had  been  outlined  from  the  begin- 
ning by  the  husband. 


?     f      ? 


MAGNIFIED  TEN  THOUSAND  TIMES 

a.  Molecule  of  water,  b.  Molecule  of  alcohol,  c. 
Molecule  of  chloroform,  d.  Molecule  of  soluble  starch. 
e-h.  Particles  of  colloidal  solution  of  gold.  i.  Particles 
of  gold  in  the  act  of  precipitation. 

**The  'ultra  microscope,'  invented  by  Siedentopf 
and  Zsi^mondy,  has  made  it  possible  to  detect,  in  a 
solution,  solid  particles  of  a  diameter  of  4  millionths 
of  a  millimeter,"  says  77r<f  Scientific  Amrricany  from 
which  the  above  dia^ams  are  taken.  '*The  limit  of 
the  best  microscopes  is  75  times  as  great,  or  3  ten-thou- 
sandths of  a  millimeter.  This  new  optical  instrument 
has  brought  the  largest  molecules,  such  as  those  of  albu- 
men and  soluble  starch,  into  the  realm  of  visibility.  The 

THE  RELATIVE  SIZES 


SCIENCE  AND  DISCOVERY 


665 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  EARTHQUAKE 


Earthquakes  are  defined  by  twentieth-cen- 
tury scientists  as  mere  exaggerations  of  the 
imperceptible  movements  which  are  continu- 
ally taking  place  in  the  earth's  crust.  This 
definition  embodies  the  results  of  modern  dis- 
coveries, due  to  the  labors  of  many  scientists, 


MAGNIFIED  ONE  MILLION  TIMES 


Human  blood-corpuscle^    B.  Rice  starch  grain. 

"    "  /.  ^.  A.  Particles  of  a  col 


C.  Kaolin 


A. 
suspended  in  water.     2i\  F,  Bacteria. 

loidal  solution  of  gold.  1.  k,  /.  Particles  oi  gold  solution  in  the 
act  of  precipitation. 

accompanying  diagrams,  from  a  recent  publication  of  Dr.  Zsig- 
iQondv»  may  serve  to  give  a  vague  idea  of  the  dimensions  of 
this  Ultra-microscopic  world.  If  one  of  the  largest  of  molecules, 
that  of  soluble  starch,  could  be  actually  magniiied  xo,ooo  times  in 
every  direction,  so  that  its  volume  would  be  multiplied  1,000,000,000, 
it  would  still  be  smaller  than  a  pea.  One  of  the  five  million 
corpuscles  which  are  contained  in  a  cubic  centimeter  of  blood 
would,  if  enlarged  in  the  same  proportion,  fill  a  large  room,  for 
Its  diameter  would  measure  six  meters." 

OF  VARIOUS  MOI.ECUI.BS 


among  whom  Prof.  John  Milne  holds  a  fore- 
most place.    And  it  is  because  the  workers  are 
so  many  and  the  data  of  the  subject  so  com- 
plex that  we  have  such  contradictory  views  to 
deal  with.    Until  Prof.  John  Milne  took  up  his 
residence  in  Japan  and  began  to  observe  earth- 
quakes at  first  hand,  seismology  was 
in  a  rudimentary  condition,  a  mere 
subsidiary  branch  of  geology.     Pre- 
vious knowledge  of  earthquakes  con- 
sisted, as  The  Outlook,  of  London, 
observes,  of  nothing  more  than  Mal- 
let's   discovery    that    the   destructive 
waves  of  earthquake  motion  all  ra- 
diated from  a  center  somewhere  down 
in  the  earth's  crust.     The  approxi- 
mate  position   of   this  center  might 
be  determined  by  observations  of  the 
direction  in  which — as  shown  by  the 
ruined   walls    of    houses — ^the   waves 
came    to    the    surface    at    different 
places.     But  seismology  now  inclines 
to  the  view  that  the  majority  of  re- 
corded earthquakes  are  due  to  sud- 
den fractures  or  displacements  in  the 
rocks  lying  far  beneath  the  earth's 
surface,  setting  in  motion  waves  in 
the  terrestrial  crust  which  cause  the 
widespread     destruction     observable 
When  they  reach  the  surface,  at  such 
k  point  as  San  Francisco.     Most  of 
the   facts,  according  to  Major  But- 
ton,* fit  in  with  this  simple  theory  and 
it  has  gained  wide  acceptance  among 
the  most  noted  seismologists.    Yet  it 
is  probable  that  some  earthquakes  are 
due  to  causes  of  which  at  present  sci- 
ence has  no  definite  information. 

Fractures  or  displacements  of  the 
terrestrial  crust  are  natural  enough 
at  great  depths,  where  the  strain  ijn- 
posed  upon  the  rocks  must  be  tremen- 
dous. A  slight  addition  to  that  strain, 
whether  occasioned  by  sudden  in- 
crease in  the  barometric  pressure  or 
by  sediment  constantly  deposited  by 
streams  or  the  ocean,  ultimately 
proves  too  severe  for  the  strata  at 
certain  places.  These  have  to  read- 
just themselves,  and  the  effect  is  some- 
what analogous  to  that  of  the  collapse 
of  the  roof  of  a  tunnel  or  of  a  mine. 


♦  Earthquakes.      By  Clarence  Edward  Dut- 
B.  P.  Dutton  &  Co. 


ton. 


666 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


^^i^;-^%^>A---- 


'•-^ 


SECTION  OP  THE  EARTH 


Showing^  approximately  the  curvature,  the  relative  heights  of  the  loftiest  mountains  and  highest  clouds, 
the  greatest  depth  of  ocean,  and  the  thickness  of  the  solid  crust. 

The  thickness  of  the  black  line  suggests  the  limits  practically  inhabited  by  man,  i>.,  from  the  bottom  of 
the  deepest  mine  to  the  highest  habitation  in  Europe,  about  xo,ooo  feet. 

The  dotted  line  above  the  surface  shows  the  level  where  the  atmospheric  pressure  is  one-third  that  at  sea- 
level,  so  that  two-thirds  of  the  atmosphere  is  below  this  line,  the  remamder  extending  upwards  in  increasing 
attenuated  form. 

The  temperature  of  the  earth  is  here  assumed  to  increase  at  a  rate  of  1*  P.  for  each  60  feet  of  descent. 
This  increase  is,  of  course  solely  a  matter  of  conjecture,  and  many  theorists  deny  the  possibility  of  this  thin 
crust  of  solid  earth  enclosing  so  vast  a  bulk  of  molten  and  liquid  matter.  The  pressure  of  the  superincum- 
bent crust  may  also  raise  the  melting  point  of  mineral  matter  down  below. 

^  The  Science  Year  Booky  1906. 


We  have  then  what  Major  Dutton  calls  a  tec- 
tonic earthquake — ^and  San  Francisco  has  ex- 
perienced one  of  the  worst  of  tectonic  earth- 
quakes : 

"They  shake  the  world,  it  might  be  said,  to  its 
foundations.  Their  distinctive  name  implies  their 
presumed  connection  with  the  structural  changes 
by  which  the  crust  of  our  planet  is  being  continu- 
ously modified;  and  the  crust  represents,  appar- 
ently, the  outer  rind  of  a  cooling  and  shrinking 
globe.  The  radio-activity  of  a  small  percentage 
of  its  ingredients  might,  to  be  sure,  neutralize 
loss  of  heat  by  radiation  into  space,  but  this  sur- 
mised compensation  has  not  been  in  any  way  veri- 
fied. Observed  facts,  on  the  contrary,  harmonize^ 
well  with  a  slow  advance  of  refrigeration.  The' 
folding  and  fracturing,  the  faulting  and  fissuring 
of  the  strata,  the  uptilts  and  lateral  thrusts  of 
mountain  chains,  seem  the  results  of  secular  con- 
traction; and  some  rough  jerks  and  tumbles  at- 
tend the  readjustments  rendered  inevitable  by  the 
shrinkage. 

"Authorities  are  divided  as  to  whether  the  in- 
terior of  the  earth  is  solid,  liquid  or  gaseous.  The 
tremendous  pressure  reigning  there  probably  tends 
to  level  the  distinctions  between  matter  in  the 
three  states  familiar  to  us  and  to  reduce  substan- 
tial differences  to  mere  questions  of  verbal  defi- 
nition. It  is  only  certam  that  the  earth,  as  a 
whole,  is  not  less  rigid  than  steel,  that  it  possesses 
vast  stores  of  heat  and  is  highly  elastic.  Up  to 
a  certain  point  it  can  resist  the  strains  continually 
arising  through  surface  agencies.  Wind  and  water 
remove  materials  from  one  part  of  the  globe  to 
pile  them  up  over  another ;  one  region  is  lightened 
by  denudation  while  adjacent  tracts  are  weighted 
by  deposition.  Relative  changes  of  level  are  the 
appropriate  means  for  rightmg  their  disturbed 
equilibrium;  but  they  can  seldom  take  i)lace  until 
the  prolonged  accumulation  of  inequality  finally 
renders  tension  insupportable.  There  is  then  a 
sudden  snap,  an  abrupt  settlement,  and  the  news 
is  announced  at  the  surface  by  the  waves  of  an 
earthquake." 

The  connection  between  tectonic  earthquakes 
and  mountain  building  presents  the  greatest 
of  all  the  puzzles  having  to  do  with  such  earth- 
quakes as  that  at  San  Francisco  and  the  recent 
Colombian  and  Indian  earthquakes.  "Moun- 
tain building"  is  likely  to  originate  vibratory 
impulses.    The  ground  is  most  unstable  in  the 


neighborhood  of  recently  elevated  and  still  de- 
veloping mountain  systems,  such  as  the  Alps, 
the  Andes  and  the  Himalayas.  While  it  is 
still  too  early  to  pronounce  a  final  opinion  upon 
the  cause  of  the  San  Francisco  earthquake, 
according  to  Dr.  Ralph  S.  Tarr,  Professor  of 
Dynamic  Geology  and  Physical  Geography  at 
Cornell,. he  deems  it  probable,  and  states  in  a 
communication  to  The  New  York  Times,  that 
this  shock  was  the  result  of  niovements  along 
one  or  more  fault  lines  in  the  course  of  the 
natural  growth  of  the  coast  mountain  ranges. 
The  growth  of  the  coast  ranges  is  still  pro- 
gressing throughout  the  entire  extent  of  Cali- 
fornia as  an  abundance  of  evidence  shows. 
There  are  upraised  shore  lines  at  various  points 
along  the  California  coast  proving  recent  up- 
lift. The  very  Bay  of  San  Francisco  is  the  re- 
sult of  a  geologically  recent  subsidence  of  this 
part  of  the  coast,  which  has  admitted  the  sea 
into  the  gorge  that  the  Sacramento  River  for- 
merly cut  across  the  coast  ranges.  This  forms 
the  Golden  Gate.    Professor  Tarr  adds: 

"A  further  reason  for  knowing  that  the  moun- 
tains of  this  region  are  growing  is  the  frequency 
of  earthquake  shocks  in  California.  Every  year 
there  are  from  twenty-five  to  forty  earthquakes 
recorded  in  the  State,  and  not  a  few  of  these  have 
been  felt  in  San  Francisco  itself.  For  example, 
on  March  jo,  1898,  there  was  a  shock  whidi  did 
damage  to  the  extent  of  $342,000  at  the  Mare  Is- 
land Navy  Yard.  The  city  is  in  a  region  of  earth- 
quake frequency,  and  itself  seems  to  be  near  a 
line  of  movement.    .    .    . 

"Some  day — ^no  one  can  tell  when — ^the  strain 
will  again  need  relief,  and  renewed  slipping  will 
occur,  and  with  it  renewed  shaking  of  the  crust, 
the  violence  of  which  will  depend  upon  the  amount 
of  slipping.  It  is  a  necessary  result  of  mountain 
growth.  This  instance  is  but  one  of  many  thou- 
sands on  record,  and  from  all  accounts  apparently 
not  one  of  the  greatest  magnitude.  It  has  at- 
tracted our  attention  because  it  happened  to  be 
near  a  great  centre  of  population,  and  not  far 
away  from  habitations,  as  was  the  case  with  the 
Yakutat  Bay  earthquake,  which  was  scarcely 
noticed. 

"Coming  so  soon  after  the  eruption  of  Vesuvius 


SCIENCE  AND  DISCOVERY 


667 


it  is  natural  to  think  of  association  between  the 
two  phenomena.  There  is,  however,  no  known 
geological  reason  for  associating  the  two.  They 
are  too  far  apart,  and  on  two  separate  zones  of 
earthquake  frequency.  For  these  reasons  they 
can  hardly  be  sympathetic.  Geologists  will,  I 
feel  confident,  agree  that  the  close  relation  be- 
tween the  eruption  of  Vesuvius  and  the  San  Fran- 
cisco earthquake  from  the  standpoint  of  time  is 
a  mere  coincidence.  The  shock  is  but  one  of  many 
in  the  history  of  California ;  it  is  one  out  of  many 
in  the  great  circum- Pacific  belt  of  earthquakes 
even  during  the  present  year — one  more  move- 
ment chanced  to  come  near  a  great  city  a  short 
time  after  an  eruption  of  Vesuvius. 

"I  am  confident  also  that,  barring  its  occurrence 
near  a  city,  geologists  will  agree  that  the  San 
Francisco  earthquake  is  a  normal  outcome  of 
rock  movements  which  arc  a  necessary  result  of 
motmtain  growth.  The  reason  for  the  mountain 
growth,  however,  is  not  a  subject  upon  which 
agreement  would  be  so  general.  This  is  not  the 
place  to  enter  into  a  discussion  of  that  subject, 
and  it  must  suffice  therefore  to  state  a  hypothesis 
most  generally  held  by  geologists  as  best  sup- 
ported by  the  evidence.  This  hypothesis  is  that 
the  heated  earth  in  cooling  is  contracting;  that  in 
doin^  this  the  cold,  rigid  crust  along  certain  lines 
is  bemg  crumpled,  placed  in  a  state  of  strain,  and 
broken.  When  the  break  occurs  and  a  renewed 
movement  is  forced  along  a  previous  line  of  break- 
ing an  earthquake  results.  The  mountain  belt 
which  almost  completely  encircles  the  Pacific  is 
receiving  the  thrust  from  the  shrinking  of  the 
earth,  and  for  that  reason  its  mountains  are  rising 
all  the  way  from  the  Southern  Andes  to  the  Ber- 
ing Sea  and  from  the  Kurile  Islands  (in  the  North 
Pacific)  to  the  East  Indies.  With  this  rising 
melted  rock  is  forced  out  here  and  there  in  form 
of  volcanic  cones,  and  by  their  eruptions  and  by 
the  slippings  of  the  rocks  along  fault  olanes  earth- 
quake shocks  are  occurring  throughout  the  zone 
and  may  always  be  expected  to  occur  so  long  as 
the  mountains  continue  to  grow." 

All  this  is  seismology  from  the  standpoint 
of-  geology.  From  the  standpoint  of  astro- 
physics it  is  made  to  appear  that — not- 
withstanding contradictions — there  is  some 
connection  between  earthquakes  and  unusual 
conditions  of  the  sun.  Thus  the  theory  ad- 
vanced by  Professor  Milne  to  account  for  the 
San  Francisco  earthquake  is  that  it  was  caused 
by  the  failure  of  the  earth  to  swing  absolutely 
true  on  its  axis.  This  is  another  way  of  say- 
ing that  there  must  be  something  in  thp  sun- 
spot  theory.  And  Sir  Norman  Lockyer,  di- 
rector of  solar  physical  tests  at  the  famous 
South  Kensington  Observatory,  insists  that 
more  energy  is  coming  to  the  earth  this  year 
than  at  any  time  during  the  sun-spot  period  of 
thirty-five  years.  It  is  now  conjectured  that 
the  toppling  over,  to  use  the  most  graphic 
phraseology,  of  this  earth  is  caused  by  the  for- 
mation of  a  great  mass  of  ice  of  tremendous 
weight  at  one  pole  or  the  other.     That  phe- 


nomenon results  from  the  enormous  difference 
in  temperature  due  to  sun-spots.  The  great 
seismic  disturbances  of  the  year  strengthen, 
therefore,  in  Sir  Norman  Lockyer's  opinion, 
the  axis  theory  advanced  by  Professor  Milne. 
Further  confirmation  is  found,  says  Sir  Nor- 
man, in  the  fact  that  during  the  last  three  max- 
imum years  of  the  eleven-year  sun  spot  period 
there  has  been  more  activity  in  Mount  Vesu- 
vius than  at  any  other  time.  He  is  of  the 
opinion  that  the  eruption  of  Vesuvius  and  the 
San  Francisco  earthquake  are  due  to  a  single 
cause.  .  The  Physikatische  Zeitschrift  sees 
in  the  idea  that  the  sun  spots  are  or  have  been 
causing  terrific  electrical  discharges  which 
affect  the  interior  of  our  planet.  Hence,  if  we 
are  to  be  guided  by  astro-physics  instead  of  by 
geology   in  testing  seismological   phenomena, 


The  heavy  black  lines  on  this  map  show  the  weak 
portions  of  the  earth's  crust.  It  is  along  these  lines  that 
earthquakes  occur.  It  will  be  seen  that  one  earth- 
quake track  extends  from  Iceland  to  Edinburgh.  The 
latter  city  is  actually  built  on  extinct  volcanoes. 


we  shall  agree  with  Professor  Milne  that  earth- 
quakes are  not  caused  by  the  adjustment  of 
the  surface  of  the  earth  to  its  own  reduction 
in  size  or  to  the  process  of  mountain  building, 
but  are  occasioned  by  a  jar  as  the  earth  swings 
back  to  get  true  upon  its  axis.  Yet  Sir  Robert 
S.  Ball,  who,  in  addition  to  being  Professor  of 
Astronomy  at  Cambridge  University  is  a  seis- 
mologist of  eminence,  professes  himself  unable 
to  see  how  there  can  be  any  connection  be- 
tween the  eruption  of  Vesuvius  and  the  earth- 
quake at  San  Francisco.  In  a  communication 
to  The  World  (New  York),  he  declares: 

'The  earth  bein^  a  gradually  cooling  globe  of 
incandescent  material,  covered  by  a  crust  of  badly 


668 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


conducting  rocks,  has  at  every  point  of  its  surface 
a  certain  potentiality  for  these  seismic  displays; 
for,  as  the  earth  slowly  loses  heat,  so  must  it 
slowly  shrink.  That  shrinking  is  not  done  uni- 
formly and  steadily  all  over  the  surface,  but  is 
accomplished  irregularly,  now  in  one  place,  now 
in  another.  A  slight  slip  takes  place.  This  sends 
a  tremor  through  the  earth's  crust  and  if  that 
tremor  is  a  violent  one  we  have  an  earthquake. 
Nor  is  it  hard  to  account  for  the  excessive  vio- 
lence of  an  earthquake,  as  manifested  in  the  over- 
turning of  buildings,  even  though  the  actual  visi- 
ble dislocation  of  the  solid  crust  of  the  earth  is 
insignificant. 

"The  origin  of  an  earthquake  is  at  considerable 
depth  below  the  surface,  say  ten  or  twelve  miles. 
The  pressure  at  this  depth,  due  merely  to  the 


weight  of  the  superincumbent  rocks  and  quite  in- 
dependent of  earthquakes,  must  be  about  thirty 
or  forty  tons  on  the  square  inch,  equalling  the 
pressure  of  exploding  cordite  on  a  hundred-pound 
projectile  when  being  driven  out  of  a  caimon  at 
the  moment  of  discharge. 

"It  can  readily  be  imagined  how  extraordinary 
must  be  the  violence  of  the  disturbance  if  the 
rocks  on  two  sides  of  a  fault*  while  being  pressed 
together  by  forces  like  these,  are  sometime  com- 
pelled, as  happens  in  the  case  of  earthquake,  to 
slide  more  or  less  one  over  the  other. 

"This  starts  vibrations  of  the  solid  crust  of  the 
earth,  which,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  disturbance, 
produce  a  rapid  oscillatory  movement  which,  even 
though  the  extent  be  not  large,  is  sufficient  to 
overturn  the  most  massive  buildings." 


PROGRESS  OF  AN  OPEN  SAFETY-PIN  THROUGH  A  BABY 


The  youngest  patient  on  record  in  a  case  of 
this  type  is  described  in  the  hospital  report  as 
breast-fed,  of  normal  size  and  weight,  and  of 
good  health;  the  safety-pin  was  an  inch  and 
a  quarter  long  and  half  an  inch  across  at  the 
open  end.  As  told  in  the  New  York  Medical 
Record  by  Dr.  B.  Van  D.  Hedges,  surgeon 
to  Muhlenberg  Hospital,  Plainfield,  N.  J.,  it 
seems  that  the  mother  happened  to  bend  over 
the  child's  crib,  whereupon  the  little  one 
opened  its  mouth  and  struck  out  at  the  ma- 
ternal arm  with  its  fist.  The  mother  held  some 
open  safety-pins  in  her  hand.  One  of  these 
instantly  fell  into  the  baby's  open  mouth  and 
was  swallowed  before  a  finger  could  be  in- 
serted to  prevent  the  mischief. 

The  infant  was  at  once  taken  to  the  hos- 
pital and  its  body  subjected  to  an  X-ray  exami- 
nation. The  pin  could  be  most  distinctly  seen 
in  the  stomach,  where  it  was  being  turned  over 
and  over  by  the  peristaltic  action.  The  ques- 
tion of  operation  was  eagerly  debated,  one  of 
the  most  eminent  surgeons  in  the  country  ad- 
vising gastrotomy  without  delay.  On  the 
other  hand,  a  contrary  opinion  was  so  ear- 
nestly maintained  by  another  high  authority 
that  the  physicians  finally  decided  not  to  in- 
terfere surgically,  but  to  watch  the  case  care- 
fully. Elaborate  arrangements  were  made  to 
perform  the  operation  of  laparotomy  at  the 
first  indication  of  trouble. 

For  the  first  three  days  the  only  difference 
noted  in  the  child's  symptoms  was  that  it 
slept  better  at  night.  There  was  np  vomiting,  . 
no  exuiation  of  blood,  no  evidence  whatsoever 
of  any  gastro-intestinal  irritation.  On  the 
fifth  day  the  pin  was  detected  in  the  descend- 


ing colon.  The  hinge  end  was  down.  On  the 
sixth  day  the  safety-pin  had  progressed  quite 
through  the  infant's  body. 

A  safety-pin's  passage  through  the  body  of 
a  child  eleven  months  old  was  reported  in 
The  Journal  of  the  American  Medical  Asso- 
ciation last  year.  A  child' of  eighteen  months 
has  been  known  to  swallow  a  number  of  open 
safety-pins  which  were  subsequently  recov- 
ered. But  this  fresh  case  is,  so  far  as  is 
known,  unprecedented,  as  stated  before,  on  ac- 
count of  the  extreme  youth  of  the  patient 

Nevertheless  it  would  be  a  quite  too  hasty 
assumption,  in  the  opinion  of  medical  period- 
icals, that  laparotomy  would  be  inadvisable  in 
general.  Laparotomy  is  simply  the  process  of 
making  an  incision  through  the  peritoneum 
and  the  abdominal  walls.  The  operation 
renders  possible  such  exploration  as  is  neces- 
sarily antecedent  to  surgical  remedy.  The 
peristaltic  action,  as  a  result  of  which  the 
safety-pin  was  turned  over  and  over  in  its 
passage  through  the  body  of  the  infant,  is  a 
wave-like  motion.  The  contents  of  the  stom- 
ach are  moved  forward  in  consequence.  What 
is  called  peristalsis  occurs  throughout  the  in- 
testinal tract.  As  peristalsis  is  not  in  itself 
unpleasant  as  a  sensation,  it  need  not  perhaps 
be  wondered  at  that  the  infant  seemed  to  feel 
no  pain  from  the  presence  of  the  safety  pin. 
Medical  opinion  is  to  the  effect  that  when 
irritating  substances  are  present  in  the  in- 
testinal tract  the  peristaltic  action  iself  is  not 
only  abnormally  strong  but  at  times  agonizing. 
The  bearing  of  this  fact  upon  the  presence  of 
the  safety-pin  in  the  body  of  the  infant  has 
caused  much  discussion. 


Recent  Poetry 


Books  of  poetry  continue  to  flood,  not  the 
markets,  but  the  editcTrial  sanctums.  The  trouble 
with  most  of  them  is  that  they  reveal  so  often 
mere  poetic  impulse  devoid  of  poetic  ideas.  That 
is  the  criticism  that  comes  to  our  mind  over  and 
over  again  in  reading  the  bards  of  to-day  in  cur- 
rent magazines  and  books.  We  doubt  if  the  poetic 
impulse  was  ever  more  abundantly  manifest  than 
it  is  in  these  days  and  in  this  "country  of  the  al- 
mighty dollar" ;  but  the  mere  impulse  cannot  make 
a  fine  poem,  no  matter  what  technical  skill  and 
melodic  phrasing  may  be  exhibited  in  the  at- 
tempt. This  criticism  applies,  we  think,  to  some 
of  the  poetry  in  Mrs.  Louise  Morgan  Sill's  first 
published  volume,  "In  Sun  or  Shade"  (Harper's) ; 
but  not,  by  any  means,  to  all.  One  of  the  most 
genuine  of  recent  poems,  one  which  Elizabeth 
Barrett  Browning  might  have  been  proud  to 
write,  is  the  following: 

OUT  OF  THE  SHADOW 

By  Louise  Morgan  Sill 

You  did  not  think,  who  blindly  were  forsworn 
In  alien  arms,  that  I  might  come  some  day 
And  greet  you  from  the  first  dawn  of  my  youth, 
Clean  and  unsullied  by  a  worldly  chance. 
You   did   not   dream  once   in   those   hot,   bright 

dreams. 
When  earth  so  madly  called  you  from  the  height. 
And  your  soul  answered,  stumbling  down  the  path, 
That  you  might  wake  one  day,  and  you  might 

crave 

Another  soul  as  fair  as  once  you  were. 
You  did  not  think  to  keep  yourself  withdrawn 
From  things  that  soil,  that  one  day  you  might  look 
With  equal  courage  into  equal  eyes. 
You  did  not  think  of  this  when  self  besought 
The  gifts  of  selfishness,  nor  dared  to  spurn 
The  contumacious  alms  you  paid  your  soul 
To  keep  its  silence. 

Then,  as  morning  light 

Comes  to  a  night  of  tempest — ^thus  you  say — 
I  came.    My  path  led  close  beside  your  own ; 
You  stretched  your  arms  and  plead  with  eloquent 

eyes — 
I  knew  not  then  the  uses  of  your  eyes. 
What  they  had  charmed,  nor  how,  nor  when,  nor 

where. 
To  me  they  seemed  the  eyes  of  chivalry. 
Of  all  that  I  had  loved  in  union  blent. 
They  drew  me  no  less  surely  than  your  arms — 
I  knew  not  then  w)iat  others  these  had  held. 
Knew!     I  knew  nothing!     Maiden  solitude 
Had  never  brooded  deeper  than  had  mine. 
Rapt  in  the  contemplation  of  a  world 
Serenely  good.    Nay  listen,  I'll  not  weep; 
I  am  too  sad  for  tears — their  time  is  past. 

Well,  thus  I  came,  unquestioning;  and  thus 


You  loved  me,  as  a  young  and  saving  grace 
Borne  far  from  heaven  to  lift  your  spirit  up 
And  teach  you   new   philosophies   of   life — 
A  pool   where  you  might  bathe  and  wash  you 

white. 
And  I — God  help  me! — loved  you  as  the  rare 
Bloom  of  my  life,  the  ultimate  good  of  things. 
The  crown  of  all — my  husband;  blushing  even 
To  speak  the  name,  so  sacred  seemed  the  sound 
To  the  chitd-soul  of  the  incipient  woman. 
Then,  passing  all  the  rest,  the  pride,  the  hope, 
The  exquisite  trust,  the  simple,  hidden  faith 
In  worshipping  you — avj  there  I  sinned  indeed. 
For  true  it  is,  in  thinkmg  thus  of  you 
I  thought  less  of  my  God;  a  costly  fault. 
As  later  I  have  learned  in  weary  pain. 
Then,  after  this  fresh  happiness  had  passed 
Into  a  calmer  joy,  one  day  you  paused 
Beside  me,  and,  with  strange-accoutred  words 
That  needed  some  translation  to  my  ear. 
You  told  me  of  the  others  you  had  loved — 
Told  me  the  inmost  secret  of  your  past. 
Told  me  the  ancient  story  of  the  world; 
And  spared  me  nothing,  not  a  single  lash 
Of  the  enscorpioned  whip  that  struck  me  dumb. 

I  rose  up,  you  remember.     It  was  night. 
And  darker  night  within  my  stricken  soul. 
I  rose  and  looked  at  you  when  you  had  done. 
Nor   knew   the  pain   you   smothered   with   your 

words. 
(I  told  you  I  knew  nothing.    'Twas  in  me 
The  ignorance  of  my  virtue,  as  in  you 
The  ignorance  had  been  sin — I  know  not  why.) 
I  looked,  but  could  not  speak.    I  went  away 
To  hide  myself,  to  hide  the  shame  your  own 
Had  put  on  me,  your  wife,  your  second  self, 
Your — there's  the  wound — ^your  very  worshipper. 
From  then,  even  as  you  say    ...    I  have  been 

changed ; 
Yet  you  were  brave  in  the  confessional. 
And  I  not  brave.    I  dreamed  alone  for  hours. 
And  moaned  a  thousand  times  you  had  not  kept 
Your  heart  unsullied  for  my  special  shrine; 
Shut  your  face  out,  cried  often  unto  God 
To  know  why  you  were  you  and  I  was  I, 
Or  some  such  infant-prattling  in  His  ears. 
And  when  the  strain  was  over,  came  out  pale. 
And  trembled  in  your  arms,  and  saw  your  eyes 
Were  full  of  tears  I  had  not  seen  before. 
And  felt  my  heart  slow  melting  against  yours — 
You  cried  out  at  my  kisses,  "they  were  cold" 
I  pressed  you  closer.    Was  it  pity  or  love 
That  surged  into  my  soul?     I  do  not  know. 
Yet  all  these  years  it  has  sufficed;  for  Love 
Has  infinite  vistas,  and  through  aisles  of  stars 
Moves,  humbly,  towards  the  eternal  Altar  Light 
Now  leave  me,  love;  I  weary,  and  would  rest 

The  following  little  poem  has  in  it  a  note  of 
pathos  that  ought  to  appeal  to  any  woman's  heart : 

THE  DREAM-CHILD 

By  Louise  Morgan  Sill 

My  little  dream-child  called  to  me 
Upon  a  midnight,  cold  and  stark. 


670 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


"Sweet  mother,  take  me  in,"  sighed  she, 

"For  1  am  weary  of  the  dark. 
My  little  soul  has  missed  the  way 

Out  in  the  wide  and  wandering  air — 
Oh,  take  me  to  your  arms,  I  pray. 

That  I  may  find  a  shelter  there." 

My  heart  leaped  up  to  hear  the  sound. 

"My  tender  dream-child,  can  it  be 
Only  the  dusk  that  folds  you  round, 

Folds  you  and  holds  you  thus  from  me? 
Then  come!  the  way  is  broad  and  fair 

Unto  my  heart,  my  own,  my  own!" 
But  waking  came    .    .    .    and  only   air 

Swept  past  into  the  far  unknown. 

Another  volume  that  stands  up  somewhat  out 
of  the  ruck  is  Cale  Young  Rice's  "Plays  and 
Lyrics"  (McClure  &  Phillips).  We  do  not  find 
in  it  anything  that  we  would  call  great,  but  the 
following  lyric  certainly  has  a  definite  poetic  idea 
adequately  expressed: 

FROM  ONE  BLIND 

By  Cale  Young  Rice 

I  cannot  say  thy  cheek  is  like  the  rose, 
Thy  hair  ripple  of  sunbeams,  and  thine  eyes 
Violets,  April-rich  and  sprung  of  God. 
My  barren  gaze  can  never  know  what  throes 
Such  boons  of  beauty  waken,  tho'  I  rise 
Each  day  a-tremble  with  the  ruthless  hope 
That  light  will  pierce  my  useless  lids — then  grope 
Till  night,  blind  as  the  worm  within  his  clod. 

Yet  unto  me  thou  art  not  less  divine. 

I  touch  thy  cheek — and  know  the  mystery  hid 

Within  thy  twilight  breeze;  I  smoothe  thy  hair 

And  understand  how  slipping  hours  may  twine 

Themselves  into  eternity:  yea,  rid 

Of  all  but  love,  I  kiss  thine  eyes  and  seem 

To  see  all  beauty  God  Himself  may  dream. 

Why  then  should  I  o'ermuch  for  earth-sight  care? 

As  long  as  a  Union  or  Confederate  veteran 
remains  alive — at  least  that  long — Decoration  Day 
will  have  power  to  appeal  to  whatever  of  poetic 
or  patriotic  sensibility  may  be  within  us.  The 
return  of  the  Confederate  battle  flags  this  year 
gives  to  Dr.  Mitchell  a  splendid  theme  which 
he  has  made  use  of,  with  moderate  success,  in 
Collier's : 

THE  SONG  OF  THE  FLAGS 

On  Their  Return  to  the  States  of  the  Con- 
federacy 

By  S.  Weir  Mitchell 

We  loved  the  wild  clamor  of  battle. 
The  crash  of  the  musketry's  rattle. 

The  bugle  and  drum. 
We  have  drooped  in  the  dust,  long  and  lonely; 
The  blades  that  flashed  joy  are  rust  only, 

The  far-rolling  war  music  dumb. 

God  rest  the  true  souls  in  death  lying. 
For  whom  over  head  proudly  flying 


We  challenged  the  foe. 
The  storm  of  the  charge  we  have  breasted. 
On  the  hearts  of  our  dead  we  have  rested. 

In  the  pride  of  a  day,  long  ago. 

Ah,  surely  the  good  of  God's  making 
Shall    answer   both   those   past   awaking 

And  life's  cry  of  pain; 
But  we  never  more  shall  be  tossing 
On  surges  of  battle  where  crossing 

The  swift-flying  death  bearers  rain. 

Again  in  the  wind  we  are  streaming, 
Again  with  the  war  lust  are  dreaming 

The  call  of  the  shell. 
What  gray  heads  look  up  at  us  sadly? 
Are  these  the  stem  troopers  who  madly 

Rode  straight  at  the  battery's  hell? 

Nay,  more  than  the  living  have  found  us. 
Pale  spectres  of  battle  surround  us; 

The  gray  line  is  dressed. 
Ye  hear  not,  but  they  who  are  bringing 
Your  symbols  of  honor  are  singing 

The  song  of  death's  bivouac  rest. 

Blow  forth  on  the  south  wind  to  greet  us 
O  star  flag!  once  eager  to  meet  us 

When  war  lines  were  set. 
Go  carry  to  far  fields  of  glory 
The  soul-stirring  thrill  of  the  story. 

Of  days  when  in  anger  we  met. 

Ah,   well   that   we  hung   in   the   churches 
In  quiet,  where  God  the  heart  searches. 

That  under  us  met 
Men  heard  through  the  murmur  of  praying 
The  voice  of  the  torn  banners  saying, 
"Forgive,  but  ah,  never  forget." 

Another  successful  memorial  day  effort  is  the 
following  by  a  South  Carolina  lady.  We  take  it 
from  The  National  Magazine  i 

THE  KNOTS   OF  BLUE  AND  GRAY 
By  May  Elliott  Hutson 

Both,  Mothers  of  America,  but  reared  the  States 

apart, 
One  with  the  Winter  on  her  head,  the  Winter  in 

her  heart, 
One  crowned  with  never-melting  snows,  a  grave 

within  her  breast. 
But  in  that  grave  the  dove  of  Peace  had  made  its 

little  nest. 
In  soft,  low  tones  they  murmured  on,  of  joys  and 

sorrows  past, 
And  then  with  gentle  hands  they  touched  a  tender 

theme  at  last. 
One  wore  a  little  tuft  of  gray — gray  with  its  soft, 

sad  hue, 
The  other  carried  on  her  breast  a  knot  of  Yankee 

blue. 

"Why   wear   this  token   next  my   heart?"     The 

Northern  mother  smiled, 
And  stroked  the  fragment  on  her  breast  as  if  it 

were  a  child. 
"In  blue  our  Lord  has  clothed  the  skies,  and  robed 

the  tropic  seas; 


RECENT  POETRY 


671 


From  azure  fields  our  banner  throws  its  spangles 

to  the  breeze. 
In    blue    the    mountain    drapes   her    head,    while 

through  the  mists  and  dew 
Shines,  like  a  baby's,  from  her  breast  the  gen- 
tian's eyes  of  blue. 
\Vhfin,  years  agone,  the  simoon's  breath  smote  all 

our  fairest  flowers, 
When   earthquakes   rent  and   tempests   tore   this 

God-made  land  of  ours, 
When  Maine  and  Massachusetts  'called,  amongst 

the  brave  and  true 
Who  answered  'Here,'  I  gave  them  one  who  wore 

a  coat  of  blue. 
When,   gory-maned,   the  beast  of  War  charged 

through  Virginia's  hills 
With  dripping  blood  that  stained  the  rocks  and 

dyed  the  mountain  rills ; 
When,  bellowing  with  rage  and  hate,  he  shook 

that  bloody  mane. 
And  tore  the  ranks  with  cruel  teeth  upon  Ma- 
nassas' plain. 
They  found  amid  the  mangled  heap  of  victims 

whom  he  slew 
A  soldier,  from  whose  boyish  breast  they  cut  this 

slip  of  blue." 

The  Southern  mother  bowed  her  head,  a  prayer 

rose  to  the  throne, 
For  Christ,  the  Comforter,  to  seek  this  heart  so 

like  her  own. 
Then  lifted  up  her  fair  old  face,  bejeweled  with 

a  tear. 
And  touched  her  bosom  with  a  knot  of  gray  .that 

rested  there. 
"In  gray  our  Lord  has  dressed  the  mists,  and 

wrapped  the  twilight  sea. 
Gray  are  the  ashes  of  the  dead,  gray  is  the  hue 

for  me. 
Like  silent  specters  grayly  swathed,  behold  the 

Southern  moss. 
Gray  was  the  face  that  heaven  turned  on  Calvary 

and  the  Cross. 
It  is  the  tint  of  human  tears,  the  hue  of  parting 

day; 
If  broken  hearts  are  ever  seen  their  color  will  be 

gray." 

A  sob  of  memory  arose,  it  shook  the  Southern 

breast, 
And  lo!  the  timid  dove  of  Peace  was  frightened 

from  its  nest. 
Slow  dripped  the  sad  and  silent  drops,  and  wet 

the  gray  knot  through. 
While  opposite  a  soft  stream  fell,  and  wet  the 

knot  of  blue. 
When  next  that  Southern  mother  spoke,  the  voice 

was  not  her  own. 
The  desolation  of  her  heart  was  echoed  in  her 

tone. 
"When    pealed    from    Sumter's    battlements   the 

War-God's  awful  voice, 
And  men  and  States  were  called  by  Fate  to  make 

the  final  choice, 
I  had  but  one — a  child  he  seemed — my  dead  love's 

legacy, 
The  only  living,  human  thing  that  earth  contained 

for  me. 
I  trampled  on  my  selfish  heart,  I  drove  my  tears 

away. 
And  with  my  own  hands  buttoned  on  my  darling's 

coat  of  gray. 


It  matters  not  the  agony,  the  love,  the  prayers, 

the  pride. 
The  awful  throes  that  racked  my  heart,  for  later 

on — it  died. 
But  when  upon  Virginia's  hills  they  turned  the 

gory  clay, 
They  brought  me  from  a  soldier's  breast  this  little 

slip  of  gray." 

With  trembling,  sympathetic  hands,  and  voice  that 

shook  with  tears. 
The  Northern  mother  quickly  spoke  of  forms  that 

thronged  the  years. 
Of  Jackson,  Lee  and  all  the  host,  whose  glory 

and  renown 
Like    blazing    jewels — set    in    gray — adorn    the 

nation's  crown. 
Of  these  she  spoke — ^then  silently  she  brushed  a 

tear  away. 
And,  bending  forward,  pressed  a  kiss  upon  the 

knot  of  gray. 
The  Southern  mother  raised  her  face,  and  slowly 

over  all 
A  soft  light,  as  from  white  wings  in  their  pas- 
sage, seemed  to  fall. 
It  rested  in  her  eyes,  despite  the  grave  within  her 

breast — 
The  little  frightened  dove  of  Peace  had  fluttered 

to  its  nest. 

One  of  John  Williamson  Palmer's  ballads  that 
failed  to  get  into  his  volume  "For  Charlie's 
Sake"  is  given  below.  It  was  written  during  the 
Civil  War,  the  manuscript  was  handed  to  a  friend, 
and  that  was  the  last  the  author  saw  of  it  for  many 
years.  It  found  its  way,  however,  into  a  volume 
of  Southern  war-poems,  without  the  name  of  the 
author,  and  upon  being  shown  to  Dr.  Palmer  by 
a  friend  was  identified  by  him.  The  ballad,  with 
a  statement  of  its  history,  was  sent  to  Cukrent 
Literature  several  years  ago  by  Ralph  A.  Lyon, 
of  Baltimore,  and  was  then  printed  in  our  pages. 
Dr.  Palmer's  recent  death  revives  the  interest  in 
his  work,  and  we  republish  the  ballad: 

GUERRILLA 

By  John  Williamson  Palmer 

Who  hither  rides  so  hard?    A  scout. 

Just  after  midnight  he  stole  out 

News,  comrades!  there's  his  signal  shout; 

Count : 

"One — two — three."    Three  miles  in  front 
Yankees  in  camp!    Call  up  the  hunt! 
Now  for  the  chase,  the  charge,  the  bnmt. 

Mount ! 

She's    killed,    that    staggering,    foam  -  splashed 

brown! 
Her  rider,  gashed  from  brow  to  crown. 
Gasps  "Forward!"  clutches,  reels,  goes  down — 

Shot! 

"Guerrilla!"  look!  his  flickering  eyes 
Flash  "Forward!"  even  where  he  lies. 
And  the  scout  charges  as  he  dies: 

Trot  I 


672 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


Well,  here's  the  hill  and  there's  the  camp, 
And  there's  the  drowsy  picket's  tramp; 
Our  brave  steeds  sniff  the  smoke  and  stamp ; 

Pshaw  1 

'Tis  but  a  cheer,  a  pltmge,  a  yell — 
Upon  the  horse  and  man,  pell-mell — 
And  then  the  same  old  tale  to  tell: 


See  the  stout  major's  sorrel  fret! 
Lord!  what  a  harrying  ye'll  get, 
As  when  at  Bath — Luray,  we  met, 


Draw! 


Yank! 


Ride!  we've  an  Asht^  in  each  man; 
Charge!  we've  a  Gilmor  in  the  van; 
Strike,  as  a  hundred  Mosbys  can — 

"Guer-r-illa." 

We  cannot  bring  ourselves  into  such  an  en- 
thusiastic frame  of  mind  as  that  in  which  many 
of  the  reviews  of  Trumbull  Stickney's  book  of 
poems  have  been  written,  notably  the  reviews  in 
The  Argonaut  and  New  York  Times;  and  we  can- 
not help  feeling  that  the  pathetic  death  of  the 
author  (he  died  at  the  age  of  thirty)  after  a  life 
of  strenuous  preparation  for  a  great  career  (he 
was  the  first  American  student  to  receive  from 
the  University  of  Paris  its  highest  degree,  Doc- 
torat  es  Lettres)  has  somewhat  affected  the  judg- 
ment concerning  his  poetry.  There  are  in  all  of 
it,  however,  distinction  and  delicacy.  Of  the 
following  poem  The  Times  says:  "To  have  pro- 
duced even  one  thing  so  enchanting  in  form  as 
this,  so  subtle  and  quiet,  yet  so  flowing  and  rich, 
is  to  have  won  fairly  and  completely  the  great 
names — so  lightly  worn — of  artist  and  poet." 

PITY 
By  Trumbull  Stickney 

An  old  light  smolders  in  her  eye. 

There!  she  looks  up.    They  grow  and  glow 
Like  mad  laughs  of  a  rhapsody 

That  flickers  out  in  woe. 

An  old  charm  slips  into  her  sighs, 
An  old  grace  sings  about  her  hand. 

She  bends;  it's  musically  wise. 
I  cannot  understand. 

Her  voice  is  strident ;  but  a  spell 

Of  fluted  whisper  silkens  in — 
The  lost  heart  in  a  moss-grown  bell. 

Faded — ^but  sweet — ^but  thin. 

She  bows  like  waves— waves  near  the  shore. 

Her  hair  is  in  a  vulgar  knot — 
Lovely  dark  hair,  whose  curves  deplore 

Something  she's  well  forgot. 

She  must  have  known  the  sun,  the  moon, 
On  heaven's  warm  throat  star- jewels  strung — 

It's  late.    The  gaslights  flicker  on. 
Young,  only  in  years,  but  young! 

One  might  remind  her,  say  the  street 

Is  dark  and  vile  now  day  is  done. 
But  would  she  care,  she  fear  to  meet — 

But  there  she  goes — is  gone. 


One  of  the  most  successful  of  recent  quatrains 
is  the  following  from   The  National  Magasine: 

LOOKING  FOR  WORK 
By  H.  C.  Gauss 

Twice,  daily,  up  to  Salem's  wharves,  the  patient 

tide  slips  in; 
It  lips  the  thrown-down  granite,  it  lips  the  spiles 

worn  thin. 
And,  asking  sadly  at  the  flood,  "Are  there  no 

ships  to-day?" 
Returns  an  idle  current,  into  an  idle  bay. 

Another  poem  for  which  we  are  indebted  to 
The  National  Magazine  is  this  pleasing  lyric: 

ARABESQUE 
By  Charles  Warren   Stoddard 

Eyes, — whose  every  glance  is  such 
I  feel  it  like  a  velvet  touch; 
Eyes  that  all  my  comfort  slay. 
Yet  grieve  me  when  they  turn  away. 
Eyes  that  flicker  without  fire; 
That  look,  and  burn  without  desire; 
That  seem  to  darken  while  they  beam 
And  dart  a  shadow  with  each  gleam; 
Eyes  that  smoulder  while  they  sleep 
And  glow — like  planets,  when  they  peep 
From  an  unfathomable  deep; 
Eyes  that  wound  for  pleasure's  sake; 
That  languish  when  they  triumph  take; 
And  slumber  most  when  most  awake; 
Eyes  that  blur  and  blind  my  sight; 
That  see  my  pain;  that  know  my  plight; 
O,  thrill  me! — kill  me  with  delight — 
Ye  dark  moons  in  a  silver  night! 

The  following  comes  from  a  new  volume  just 
published  in  England: 

RED  DAWN 

By  p.  Habberton  Lulham 

As   from  fair  dreams  a  maid  might  wake  and 

sigh, 
Fiird  with  distaste  for  day,  she  knows  not  why. 
All  fretful,  at  her  glass,  fiing  back  her  hair. 
And  fiush'd  and  beautiful,  gaze  brooding  there; 
So  did  I  see  the  Maid  of  Morning  rise, 
Toss  the  cloud-tresses  from  half-angry  eyes. 
Fling  back  Night's  coverings  from  her  rosy  knee. 
And  spring  forth,  glowing,  on  the  grey  North 

Sea. 
Then  wave,  and  sky,  and  little  fisher-place. 
Catch  the  effulgence  of  her  flaming  face. 
That  lights  anew  the  beacon  on  the  hill. 
Gleams  on  the  cliff -side  village,  sleeping  still. 
Shoots  through  the  little  storm-crack'd  window- 
pane. 
Flushing  the  toil-worn  wife  a  girl  again, 
Halos  her  baby's  hair,  and,  on  her  man. 
Makes  Rembrandt  glories  with  his  throaf  s  rich 

tan; 
While— crowning  loveliness— the  up-grown  spray 
Falls  like  a  shower  of  rose-leaves  m  the  bay; 
And,  wheeling  o'er  it,  the  bright  sea-bird  shows 
A  flying  flower,  a  wing'd  enfranchised  rose  I 


Recent  Fiction  and  the  Critics 


Frances  Hodgson  Burnett  is  one  of  the  story- 
tellers that  are  born,  as  well  as  made.    Her  latest 
novelette*    is     dangerously    near 


The  Dawn 

of  a 
To-morrow 


being  a  sermon-story,  but  in  her 
deft  hands  it  makes  its  appeal  suc- 


cessfully and  has  captivated  even 
the    most   jaded    critics.     The    message   of   the 
story  is  that  of  most  good  sermons,  namely,  that 
the   real   joy   of   living   comes   from    service   to 
others,  and  from  that  only.    The  hero.  Sir  Oliver, 
is  a  nerve-sick  millionaire  who  has  grown  sick 
of  life  and  determines  to  end  it.    To  do  so  with- 
out revealing  his  identity,  he  betakes  himself  to 
a  cheap  lodging-house  in  London.     On  his  way 
back  from  the  pawnbroker's,  where  he  has  gone 
to  get  a  revolver,  he  loses  his  way  in  a  fog  and 
before  he  finds  it  again  he  comes  across  Glad. 
She  is  a  gutter-snipe  of  twelve  who  expects  to 
become  something  worse  when  she  is  older.    Her 
pluck  and  cheerful  philosophy  arouse  his  interest. 
Through  her  he  meets   Polly,  a  woman  of  the  • 
streets,  a  boy  who  is  a  professional  thief,  and, 
more  important  still,  Jinny  Montaubin,  an  ancient 
and  crippled  ballet-dancer.    Jinny  is  also  a  philos- 
opher, who  talks  the  gospel  of  service  and  good 
cheer  to  the  nerve-sick  man  until  he  forgets  his 
nerves  in  trying  to  relieve  the  distress  of  those  he 
sees  around  him  in  the  slums.    Jinny's  religious 
views  have  a  strong  resemblance  to  some  of  Mrs. 
Eddy's. 

One  hardened  critic,  on  the  Chicago  Evening 
Post,  berates  the  little  book  as  "pabulum  for  the 
sentimental,'*  a  melodrama  with  "decorated  plati- 
tudes," a  somber  hero,  and  a  soothing-sirup  sort 
of  optimism.  But  this  critic  is  in  a  hopeless  mi- 
nority. The  Argonaut  thinks  that  Mrs.  Burnett 
may  hereafter  be  known  as  the  author  of  "The 
Dawn  of  a  To-morrow"  rather  than  as  the  author 
of  "Little  Lord  Fauntleroy."  The  New  York 
Sun  thinks  it  is  as  artistic  a  bit  of  work  as  she 
has  produced  of  late  years,  with  reminiscences  of 
Dickens  and  Scrooge  in  it.  The  Chicago  Tribune 
calls  it  "a  Christian  Science  fairy  tale,"  but  a 
beautiful  one.  It  certainly  has  a  Christian  Science 
flavor,  but  not  so  pronounced  as  to  repel  even 
the  reviewers  of  the  Church  papers  such  as  The 
Living  Church  and  The  Congregationalist,  The 
Bookman  calls  it  "a  simple  old-fashioned  miracle 
play,  set  forth  in  modern  London,  with  the  sure, 
swift  touch  of  a  practised  story-teller." 

♦  THE  DAWN  OF  A  To-MORROW.       By   Frances  Hodg- 
son Burnett.    Charles  Scrlbner's  Sons. 


After  his  brilliant  success  with  "The  Virginian," 
one  might  have  expected  Owen  Wister  to  repeat 
that  performance  with  another 
Lady  tale  of  the  cowboy  West.  He 
Baltimore  has  done  just  as  different  a  thing 
as  he  well  could  do.  Instead  of 
going  again  to  a  raw  new  country,  he  has  gone 
for  his  new  story*  to  one  of  the  oldest  commu- 
nities in  America,  a  small  aristocratic  tide-water 
town  in  South  Carolina,  of  whose  people  he  says : 
"When  slavery  stopped  they  stopped  like  a  clock. 
Their  hand  points  to  1865 — it  has  never  moved  a 
minute  since."  To  this  town  the  narrator  of  the 
story  has  gone  from  the  North  to  help  his  aimt 
trace  back  her  pedigree  to  royalty.  The  society 
he  observes  there,  the  talk  that  he  hears,  espe- 
cially the  talk  about  Miss  Rieppe  and  young  May- 
rant  and  their  engagement,  and  the  contrasts  be- 
tween this  little  community  with  its  refinement 
and  delicacy,  and  an  automobile  party  from  New- 
port with  their  loud  manners  and  ostentatious 
display  of  money,  form  the  burden  of  the  story. 

The  London  Times  is  evidently  surprised.  It 
had  not  thought  Mr.  Wister  capable  of  this  sort 
of  thing,  of  writing  a  "high  comedy,"  cutting 
and  polishing  a  jewel,  moving  nimbly  among  very 
delicate  emotions  and  ideas  without  a  single  lapse 
into  awkwardness.  It  approves  of  "Lady  Balti- 
more" quite  emphatically.  Kings  Port,  the  little 
South  Carolina  town,  is,  it  says,  "a  place  iii  which 
it  is  always  afternoon,  or  autumn;  which  appeals 
with  the  loveliness  of  Rome,  of  Bruges,  of  De 
Heredia's  Cartagena,  of  Aigues  Mortes,  of  all 
places  that  have  'known  better  days.'  Berqant  sa 
gloire  Steinte,  it  sleeps  on  its  drowsy  waters;  and 
the  widowed  remnants  of  its  once  great  families 
live  sweet,  reticent,  ordered  lives,  that  smell  of 
lavender  and  recall,  like  that  scent,  days  dead  and 
gone."  The  comedy  it  finds  deft  and  witty,  but 
it  is  not  mere  trifling: 

"There  is  an  idea,  an  ideal,  beneath  it — ^the 
American  People.  What  will  that  people  be,  if 
ever  it  comes  to  be  at  all?  When  the  South  can 
no  longer  live  in  dignified  poverty,  nursing  the 
memory  of  its  glory  and  its  wounds,  what  will 
become  of  it?  Is  the  North  to  go  on  worshipping 
the  dollar,  rioting  in  vulgarity  and  vice?  Can  the 
two  mix  to  make  a  nation  without  another  ex- 
plosion? These  are  the  questions  which  Mr. 
Wister  asks;  and  we  find  in  his  book  a  larger 
and  a  wiser  patriotism  than  we  had  supposed  to 
be  possible  as  yet." 

•  Lady  Baltimore.     By  Owen  Wister,     The  Macmil- 
lan  Company. 


674 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


Several  critics  see  in  the  book  a  strong  sugges- 
tion of  Henry  James.  The  Springfield  Republican 
notes  Henry  James's  manner,  but  not  his  style, 
and  remarks: 

"How  contagious  the  Henry  James  virus  isl 
Who,  for  example,  would  have  thought  it  possible 
for  the  author  of  'The  Virginian'  to  be  infected? 
Joseph  Conrad  has  succumbed — 'Nostromo*  fairly 
reeks  with  it.  The  author  of  The  Prisoner  of 
Zenda'  is  also  the  author  of  'Quisante/  Mrs. 
Atherton  tries  her  hand  once  in  a  while  at  a  tale 
in  the  Jamesian  vein.  Mrs.  Wharton  is  another 
natter;  she  began  as  a  disciple  'd  is  working 
iier  way  to  an  independent  style,  «i  very  normal 
and  proper  course  of  evolution.  But  Mr.  Wis- 
ter  has  belonged  to  another  galle>  crew.  Shall 
we  presently  see  Jack  London  and  Stewart  Ed- 
ward White  splitting  psychological  hairs  ?" 

But  Mr.  Wister's  tincture  of  Jamesism  "is  of  a 
harmless  sort  and  does  not  impair  the  interest  of 
his  book,  which  is  entertaining  and  perhaps  is  a 
step  toward  a  finer  kind  of  work  than  'The  Vir- 
ginian.' " 

The  Bookman  finds  the  humor  in  "Lady  Balti- 
more" constant,  whereas  it  was  intermittent  in 
"The  Virginian."  Those  who  asserted  that  Mr. 
Wister's  former  book  was  simply  a  string  of  anec- 
dotes, not  a  novel,  will,  it  says,  find  the  new 
work  "absolutely  organic."  The  author  •  "writes 
like  a  gentleman,"  writes  as  if  he  enjoyed  it  and 
as  if  he  considers  writing  an  art  worth  studying 
and  doing  well  for  its  own  sake.  Moreover,  he  is 
not  afraid  to  convey  an  idea  now  and  then  to  his 
readers,  though  the  quality  of  the  ideas,  The 
Bookman  critic,  Mr.  Edward  Clark  Marsh,  finds 
never  profound  and  occasionally  alas!  callow. 
Nevertheless,  "it  is  a  capital  story,  fulfilling  every 
fair  expectation  on  behalf  of  one  of  the  cleverest 
,and  most  capable  of  our  American  novelists." 


The  Dutchman  who,  under  the  pseudonym  of 
Maarten  Maartens,  writes  novels  in  exceptionally 

fine  English,  has  the  critics  guess- 

The  ing  over  his  latest  work.*    Most 

Healers       of    them    admit    that    they    are 

puzzled  and  somewhat  exasper- 
ated; but  most  of  them  also  admit  that  they  are 
very  much  interested,  and  several  of  them  con- 
fess to  a  second  reading.  The  "healers"  in  the 
book  are  many  and  diverse.  There  is  a  great 
bacteriologist  who  is  a  skeptic;  his  wife,  a  poet, 
and,  in  the  end,  a  Roman  Catholic;  their  son,  a 
follower  of  Charcot  and  his  psychic  beliefs;  an 
idiot  boy  and  his  mad  uncle,  both  of  whom  are 
cured ;  the  mad  uncle's  wife,  sound  and  sane,  who 
believes  in  the  efficacy  of  prayer;  the  wife  of  the 


disciple  of  Charcot,  who  is  a  Sumatran  and  a 
beneficent  hypnotist ;  and  a  hard-shell  Scotch  Cal- 
vinist,  a  servant  woman,  who  hates  spiritism, 
Catholicism,  and  vivisection.  Out  of  the  clashing 
views  of  these  various  persons  is  the  story  made 
— ^a  novel  of  opinions,  as  the  London  Times  says, 
rather  than  of  persons. 

The  New  York  Outlook  finds  it  immensely  en- 
tertaining, constantly  witty  and  fascinating;  but 
the  philosophic  purpose  of  the  author  it  fails  to 
grasp.  The  Literary  Digest  can  tell  what  it  is  all 
about,  but  confesses  itself  puzzled  in  trying  to 
decide  what  it  all  means;  but  it  also  admits  that 
the  book  never  bores.  William  Morton  Payne,  in 
The  Dial,  says  he  has  read  with  mingled  delight 
and  exasperation.  The  author  has  a  wealth  of 
wholesome  and  tender  sentiment,  genial  observa- 
tion and  unfailing  humor.  Why,  then,  should  he 
resort  to  such  sensational  devices  and  cheap 
wonders  as  planchette-writing,  table-tipping,  telep- 
athy and  clairvoyance?   Says  the  London  Times'. 

"The  only  question  for  the  critic  is:  Does  the 
novelist,  in  showing  the  interaction  of  these  many 
opinions,  interest,  amuse,  move  us?  The  answer 
to  that  is:  He  does.  He  opens  doors;  he  lets  us 
peep  into  fascinating  regions  of  hypothesis, 
thought,  experiment;  he  suggests  and  questions; 
and  he  takes  good  care,  skilled  novelist  that  he 
is,  to  keep  his  vivid  persons  well  in  front  of  the 
opinions  they  represent.  To  a  further  question, 
whether  out  of  all  this  evasive,  intractable 
material  he  has  woven  a  good  single  piece,  the 
answer  must  be  that  he  has  not.  The  novel  is 
not  strongly  constructed;  our  interest  is  asked 
for  one  character  and  suddenly  shifted  elsewhere, 
and  the  several  stories  touch  each  other  but 
slightly.  That  defect — if  defect  it  be — is  inherent 
in  a  novel  of  this  kind." 


The  author  of  "Ships  That  Pass  in  the  Night" 

has  again   struck  a  popular  vein  in  her   latest 

novel,*  but  there  seems  to  be  a 

®  ,        general  feeling  that  she  has  failed 

D  ht  *  *^  "work"  it  as  it  deserves.  We 
^  are  introduced  to  a  grim  old  lexi- 

cographer who,  with  three  assistants,  is  engaged 
in  constructing  a  great  dictionary.  Upon  this 
scene  of  scholarly  research,  a  young  girl,  very 
much  alive,  obtrudes.  She  is  the  daughter  of  the 
lexicographer,  home  from  school  "for  keeps,"  and 
he  has  a  dim  notion  that  she  will  now  devote 
herself  to  the  dictionary.  But  her  aspirations 
are  stageward  and  she  talks  slang  to  the  scholarly 
assistants  and,  before  they  know  it,  has  charmed 
them  out  of  the  house  and  into  the  fields  and  to 
the  bank  of  a  stream  where  they  fish  with  evident 
delight  under  her  instructions.  The  girl  has  a 
mother  whom  she  supposes  dead,  but  who  has 


*The  Healers.    By  Maarten  Maartens. 
and  Company. 


D.  Appleton 


•The  Scholar's  Daughter. 
Dodd,  Mead  and  Company. 


By  Beatrice  Harraden. 


THE  OTHER  SIDE  OF  THE  MOON 


67s 


simply  deserted  her  etymological  husband  for  the 
stage.  She  turns  up  in  the  next  day  or  two.  Also 
a  young  man  turns  up  from  Australia,  and  he, 
too,  is  very  much  alive.  Things  turn  out  beauti- 
fully. The  girl  reconciles  her  father  and  mother, 
and  one  doesn't  need  half  an  eye  to  see  what  she 
and  the  young  Australian  are  going  to  become  to 
one  another. 

The  critics  find  much  to  disapprove:  it  is  too 
theatric;  it  is  improbable;  it  is* slight  and  super- 
ficial; but  it  has  charm.  "A  highly  agreeable 
romance  suffused  with  graceful  sentiment,"  is  the 


London  Spectator's  phrase.  *Tt  is  a  novel  in 
which  artifice  takes  the  place  of  art,"  says  the 
London  Bookman,  "and  dramatic  situations  are 
made  to  subserve  the  purposes  of  theatrical 
effect";  but  also  "it  is  a  capital  story  written 
with  easy  ability  in  a  pleasant  vein  that  should 
assure  a  very  wide  popularity  for  it." 

The  New  York  Evening  Post  finds  it  better 
written  than  Miss  Harraden's  former  work.  The 
same  lameness  of  vocabulary  is  still  in  evidence, 
but  the  workmanship  is  better  and  there  is  a  more 
definite  purpose  carried  out  to  a  definite  end. 


THE  OTHER  SIDE  OF  THE  MOON— A  PRIZE  STORY 

There  is  something  interesting  to  tell  about  this  little  story.  It  has  just  taken  the  fairy- 
story  prize  at  the  Cologne  Flower  Festival  in  Germany,  though  written  by  a  young  American, 
George  Sylvester  Viereck,  who  is  still  pursuing  his  academic  studies  as  a  senior  in  the  College 
of  the  City  of  New  York,  Two  years  ago,  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  Mr.  Viereck  published  a  vol- 
ume of  German  lyrics,  entitled  "Gedichte,"  which  attracted  favorable  notice;  and  Brentanos  are 
just  publishing  for  him  his  first  English  work,  "A  Game  of  Love  and  Other  Plays."  The  Co- 
logne Flower  Festival  has  become  a  notable  institution  in  the  last  few  years,  and  many  thou- 
sands of  poems  and  stories  are  received,  in  various  languages,  in  the  competition  for  prizes.  The 
fact  that  an  American  college  boy  carries  off  the  fairy-story  prize  this  year  will  give  to  the  phrase 
"American  Invasion"  a  new  meaning.  The  translation  from  the  German  is  made  for  Current 
Literature  by  the  author. 

life  has  despoiled  us  of  the  last  rag  of  idealism 
that  we  begin  to  pity  a  butterfly  whose  gaudy 
wings  have  been  torn  by  relentless  hands.  The 
king  of  the  land  only  smiled,  as  one  smiles  when 
he  sees  another  in  the  pangs  of  a  soul  conflict  that 
he  has  done  with  long  ago. 

The  young  Prince,  however,  did  not  mind  what 
other  people  thought  of  him,  but  wandered  alone 
on  the  lonely  paths  which  his  soul  had  chosen. 
He  lived  only  half  in  this  world.  His  heart  beat 
in  the  great  realm  of  mystery  which  everywhere 
borders  upon  earth  and  yet  is  indicated  on  no 
chart  and  whose  very  existence  scientists  are  apt 
to  dispute.  Ofttimes  he  sat  on  the  seashore  and 
held  to  his  boyish  ear  a  shell,  curiously  fashioned 
and  strangely  colored,  whose  secret  murmurings 
he  tried  in  vain  to  understand.  "Whence  come 
these  voices  and  what  do  they  mean?"  he  asked 
everyone  at  the  court  from  the  kitchen-boy  to  the 
King;  but  no  one  knew  an  answer  to  his  question, 
and  what  the  old  Professor  of  Physics  told  him  he 
simply  disregarded.  For  had  not  he  same  man 
told  him  that  the  earth  moves  around  the  sun, 
which  is  manifestly  absurd,  and  that  the  honeyed 
song  of  the  thrush  is  entirely  due  to  so  many  vi- 
brations per  second — a  fairy-tale  no  child  would 
believe  ? 


Once  upon  a  time,  in  a  kingdom  the  name  of 
which  does  not  matter,  there  lived  a  young  Prince 
who  was  enamored  of  those  things  only  that  pos- 
sess no  real  value  whatsoever.  This,  at  least,  was 
what  the  old  Chancellor  said,  a  dignitary  of  infi- 
nite wisdom,  who  had  well-nigh  completed  the 
measure  of  years  given  to  man.  "A  dreamer"  he 
used  to  call  the  Prince  contemptuously.  But  he  did 
this  only  when  he  was  among  his  most  intimate 
friends.  Whenever  he  prepared  a  notice  for  the 
court  paper.  The  Silver  Bell,  or  for  the  organ  of 
the  popular  party.  The  Little  Drum,  he  never  re- 
ferred to  the  future  ruler  of  the  land  without 
making  a  special  point  of  his  "ideal"  disposition. 
This  he  would  have  done  for  reasons  of  policy 
even  if  the  young  Prince's  only  interests  in  life 
had  been  baseball  or  the  chase.  I  don't  know 
how  it  came  about,  but  soon  everybody  in  the 
whole  kingdom  spoke  of  the  Prince  only  as  "the 
Dreamer."  There  were  in  the  first  place  some 
tremendously  "practical"  young  men  and  the  old 
councilors.  The  young  men  threw  out  their 
chests,  rattled  their  swords  and  told  of  their 
love  adventures.  This  they  thought  mighty  man- 
ly. The  old  fogies  shrugged  their  shoulders  and 
plucked  at  their  long,  white  beards,  but  inwardly 
they  were  green  with  envy.    For  it  is  only  when 


676 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


For  Botany  and  Zoology,  too,  he  showed  but  lit- 
tle interest,  for  he  saw  that  his  teacher  could  dis- 
sect all  animals  and  all  flowers  And  knew  every 
bone  in  the  skeleton  of  a  dog,  but  that  at  all  times 
it  was  the  soul  that  escaped  his  notice  and  flew 
through  the  open  windows.  Whereupon  he  wrote 
a  thick  book  to  prove  that  it  did  not  exist !  Much 
more  eagerness  did  the  Prince  show  in  the  sci- 
ence of  Demonology.  He  knew  by  name  every- 
one of  the  thirty  thousand  devils  that  live  in  the 
sea  and  the  fifty  thousand  that  live  in  the  air, 
and  but  for  one  little  ingredient  he  knew  exactly 
how  to  prepare  the  Elixir  of  Life  and  the  Phi- 
losopher's Stone.  But  of  all  studies  astronomy 
held  him  enthralled.  During  long  nights  he  kept 
watch  at  the  great  observatory  of  the  palace  with 
a  young  page,  his  only  friend,  and  saw  the  con- 
stellations come  and  go.  He  was  fascinated,  not 
so  much  by  the  stars  he  could  see  and  whose 
course  he  might  follow,  as  by  those  he  could  not 
see.  And  when  some  comet  had  disappeared  not 
to  reappear  within  thirty  or  forty  thousand  years, 
his  imagination  followed  it  in  its  course  onward 
through  eternity. 

But  of  all  stars  in  heaven  he  was  most  attracted 
by  one  which  has  turned  its  mysterious,  pallid 
countenance  toward  us  as  long  as  rivers  have  run 
and  men  and  women  have  dreamed  of  love.  But 
whereas  other  heavenly  bodies  show  us  some- 
times one  side,  sometimes  another,  the  moon  con- 
descends to  show  us  only  one.  The  ancient  Egyp- 
tians have  scratched  their  heads  over  this  and  the 
ancient  Arabs.  We  have  invented  wonderful  in- 
struments which  bring  us  nearer  to  the  stars,  we 
have  drawn  charts  of  mountains  and  dales  and 
canals  on  the  planets;  but  no  one  has  ever  suc- 
ceeded in  finding  what  is  hidden  behind  the  other 
side  of  the  moon.  No  mortal  will  ever  know,  and 
the  great  lies  of  science  cannot  compensate  or 
console  us.  The  other  side  of  the  moon  must  ever 
remain  a  symbol  of  all  that  is  wonderful  and  in- 
comprehensible in  human  and  in  cosmic  life.  I 
know  not  whether  it  is  a  fairy  kingdom  that  lies 
there  or  whether  it  be  the  end  or  the  beginning 
of  the  Realm  of  Wonder;  but  this  I  know,  that 
whosoever  can  read  what  is  written  upon  the 
other  side  of  the  moon  has  solved  the  riddle  of 
the  Eternal  Sphinx. 

This,  at  least,  was  what  the  young  Prince  con- 
fided to  his  companion  in  a  sultry  summer  night, 
when  the  moon-rays  pointed  straight  at  him 
through  the  colored  windows.  His  enthusiasm 
carried  the  young  page  away  with  him,  though 
the  latter  was  a  rather  commonplace  boy,  to 
whom  only  the  personality  of  the  Prince  gave  a 
certain  charm,  as  a  strong  magnet  might  for  a 
little  while  draw  a  needle  into  the  circle  of  its 


transforming  power.  Arm  in  arm  they  stared 
one  evening  into  the  starry  sky.  Millions  of 
lights  glowed  and  beaconed  in  the  heavens,  and 
dumb  and  mysteriously  as  always  the  moon 
beamed  upon  them.  But  there  was  something 
in  her  rays  which  seemed  to  draw  the  Prince 
toward  her  as  it  attracts  the  sea,  or  there  was 
something  in  the  Prince's  soul  that  filled  him  with 
a  strange  longing  for  the  lesser  light  that  rules 
the  night,  the  night  that  is  more  beautiful  and 
holy  than  the  day.  For  there  are  some  among  us 
who  were  born  in  the  full  moon  or  whose  mothers 
looked  too  deeply  into  her  luminous  eyes.  Upon 
these,  strange  powers  have  sway  which  others  can- 
not comprehend.  They  love  the  subtile  witch- 
craft of  the  night,  they  sec  in  the  dark,  freeze  in 
the  sun,  and  are  doomed  their  whole  life  long  to 
seek  for  that  which  may  never  be  revealed.  As 
there  are  flowers  which  turn  their  faces  toward 
the  sun,  so  there  are  flowers  of  the  dusk,  moon- 
flowers,  which  cannot  take  their  dream-entranced 
eyes  from  the  silent  mistress  of  the  night. 

The  Prince  was  such  a  moonchild,  and  one  ray 
of  one  of  her  rays  must  have  fallen  on  the  soul 
of  the  boy  who  shared  his  couch,  or  he  would  not 
have  understood  at  all.  "Prince,"  he  said,  and 
shook  his  darkling  locks,  'T  have  read  in  a  book, 
brought  from  a  foreign  land,  that  in  a  far  city 
of  the  West  there  lives  a  mighty  Wizard  who 
has  built  a  ship  t{y  means  of  which  one  can  float 
through  the  air  as  others  cross  the  water.  What 
if  we  two  could  make  a  journey  to  the  Moon?" 
At  this  news  the  heart  of  the  little  Prince  began 
to  beat  like  a  drum,  his  golden  hair  glimmered 
like  moon-rays  imprisoned  in  a  net,  and  straight- 
way, though  it  was  in  the  middle  of  the  night,  he 
went  to  the  bedroom  of  his  father,  the  King. 

The  monarch  was  at  first  very  wroth  because 
of  this  rude  disturbance  of  his  slumber;  but  the 
Queen  soothed  his  wrath,  and  at  last  he  could 
not  help  laughing  at  the  impatience  of  the  little 
Prince  and  promised  to  send  a  courier  at  daybreak 
to  find  this  wonderful  man  and,  if  possible,  to 
conduct  him  immediately  to  the  capital  And  he 
did  as  he  had  promised,  for  he  had  pledged  his 
royal  word. 

How  slowly  the  days  seemed  to  creep  I  The 
first  three  days  the  Queen  packed  twenty-seven 
little  trunks  with  beautiful  laces  and  uniforms 
and  silken  stockings  and  satin  shoon  for  her  little 
boy  to  take  on  his  long  journey.  The  next  three 
days  he  passed  in  continually  talking  to  his  little 
page  and  telling  him  what  wonderful  things  they 
were  going  to  find  on  the  other  side  of  the  moon. 
On  the  ninth  day  his  impatience  had  risen  to  the 
boiling-point  and  he  called  for  his  little  pony  in 
order  to  meet  the  courier  on  the  way.    Finally, 


THE  OTHER  SIDE  OF  THE  MOON 


677 


on  the  twelfth  day,  the  messenger  came  back,  all 
covered  with  dust  and  sweat. 

"Where  is  he?    Where  have  you  got  him?" 

"He'll  be  here  in  a  minute,"  and  the  speaker 
pointed  to  the  clouds.  Scarcely  had  he  uttered 
these  words  when  a  rope  with  a  small  anchor 
descended  just  where  the  young  Prince  stood,  and 
a  big  red  bird  lowered  itself  slowly  to  the  ground, 
and  lo,  from  its  belly  jumped  not  an  old  gray- 
bearded  wizard  with  pointed  hat,  but  a  young, 
smooth-shaven  and  energetic  Yankee. 

"Here  we  are !"  he  said  unconventionally  and 
gasped  the  Prince's  hand.  This  was  such  an 
enormous  breach  of  etiquette  that  the  old  Chan- 
cellor, who  saw  it,  fell  down  dead  on  the  spot 
from  heart- failure,  for  which  reason  he  will  not 
reoccur  in  this  story.  This  incident  somewhat  in- 
fluenced the  Court  against  the  foreigner,  though 
many  were  glad  because  of  it.  Moreover,  they 
thought  it  improper  that  a  young  man  should  have 
accomplished  in  his  short  life  so  much  more  than 
all  the  gray-bearded  councilors  of  the  King.  But 
he  didn't  seem  to  care  very  much  and  asked  a 
million  dollars  for  his  air-ship.  When  the  Lord 
of  the  Treasury  heard  this  he  was  stricken  with  a 
fainting-fit  which  continued  for  seven  days  and 
seven  nights.  But  it  was  the  Prince's  dearest 
wish,  and  so  the  King  consented  to  pay  the  sum 
the  Wizard  demanded  if  they  should  really  reach 
their  goal.  Whereupon  the  Yankee  said  that  the 
cow  jumped  over  the  moon,  and  he  didn't  see 
why  he  shouldn't.  Preparations  for  the  expedi- 
tion were  made  with  feverish  haste. 

The  air-ship  was  in  readiness.  The  Wizard 
left  twenty-six  of  the  little  trunks  behind  with  a 
relentlessness  which  cut  the  Queen  to  the  heart. 
One  only  he  took  along.  Then  all  three,  the  Yan- 
kee, the  Prince  and  the  page,  seated  themselves 
in  the  car  and  were  soon  lost  from  the  sight  of 
the  wondering  populace.  For  several  hours  they 
rose  and  rose,  but  the  moon  seemed  to  grow 
more  distant  the  higher  they  went.  Suddenly  it 
began  to  snow  and  white  flakes  caught  themselves 
in  the  black  curls  of  the  page  and  the  golden  hair 
of  the  Prince.  They  wrapped  themselves  in  their 
mantles  and  trembled  with  cold.  Higher  and 
higher  rose  the  enchanted  machine.  The  air  grew 
chillier  with  every  second.  The  little  page  began 
to  weep,  but  his  tears  were  frozen  on  his  cheeks 
to  ice,  and  hung  there  like  little  diamonds.  Even 
the  Wizard  showed  evidence  of  exhaustion.  But 
the  little  Prince  bit  his  lips,  so  as  not  to  cry.  On- 
ward and  onward  they  were  carried.  Suddenly 
a  stream  of  blood  broke  through  the  tightly  closed 
lips  of  the  young  Prince.  It  fell  into  the  void 
and  stained  with  red  a  white  anemone  that  was 
sleeping  below.    The  blood  of  the  others,  too,  be- 


gan to  flow  from  ears  and  nose.  There  was 
nothing  to  do  but  to  give  up.  They  reached  the 
earth  half  dead,  but  were  glad  to  feel  the  firm 
ground  once  more  under  their  feet.  The  King 
laughed  at  the  misfortunes  of  the  Prince,  and  the 
Queen  made  camomile  tea  for  him.  No  one  cared 
for  the  little  page,  who  managed  to  creep  back 
to  the  palace  in  some  way  and  was  forever  cured 
of  his  yearning  for  the  moon.  As  for  the  Yankee, 
he  was  cast  into  jail,  and  I  could  never  find  out 
whether  he  died  there  of  hunger  or  whether  by 
means  of  his  black  magic  he  reached  his  native 
land  again. 

After  a  while  the  Prince  recovered  from  the 
shock,  and,  though  he  was  more  pensive  than  ever 
before,  his  imagination  was  still  fixed  on  the  only 
thing  that  is  worthy  of  our  thoughts  and  dreams 
— ^the  other  side  of  the  moon.  It  was  in  vain 
that  his  father  gave  him  a  little  sword  most  beau- 
tifully set  with  precious  gems  and  a  strange,  most 
wonderfully  colored  bird  in  a  golden  cage.  The 
sword  he  presented  to  his  friend,  the  little  page, 
and  the  bird  he  set  free.  "Perhaps  you  can  find 
the  other  side  of  the  moon,  dear  bird,"  he  said, 
as  he  opened  the  gilded  door  of  the  cagr.  "I 
will  not  hold  you;  fly  to  your  home  in  Dream- 
land!" This  he  said  half  from  compassion,  half 
in  the  hope  that  the  bird  might  help  him  to  attain 
his  desire,  for  he  had  read  even  more  wonderful 
things  in  ancient  fairy-tales.  And  this  time  he 
was  not  mistaken.  The  bird  opened  its  big, 
parrot-like  bill  and  spoke  thus : 

"Do  you  really  care  so  very  much  to  see  the 
other  side  of  the  moon?" 

"Dear  me,"  replied  the  Prince,  "I  would  give 
my  young  life  for  it" 

The  old  bird,  who  had  seen  many  things  in  his 
time,  wagged  his  head  wistfully:  "But  will  you 
be  strong  enough  to  endure  the  sight?" 

"It  is  my  dearest  wish,  and,  whatever  may  be 
hidden  behind  that  pallid  silver  disk,  I  shall  be 
happy  if  only  I  know  wha    it  is." 

"Well,"  said  the  bird,  "you  have  done  me  a 
great  service  by  freeing  me  from  this  cage,  in 
which  the  evil  fairy  who  sold  me  to  your  father 
had  imprisoned  me.  And  you  must  be  a  clever 
boy,  for  otherwise  you  would  not  understand  my 
language  at  all.  In  fact,  I  am  sure  that  you  are 
thoroughly  conversant  with  Alfari's  great  work 
on  'Fairies,  Genies  and  Demons  in  the  form  of 
Animals.'  However  that  may  be,  listen  to  my 
advice.  Pull  the  most  gorgeous  feather  out  of 
my  tail,  take  it  quietly  to  your  room,  and  at  the 
next  full  moon  turn  it  three  times  in  your  hand 
and  murmur  the  three  words  which  I  shall  teach 
you  now  (but  which  may  not  be  disclosed  to  the 
reader  in  order  that  no  one  may  misuse  them). 


678 


CURRENT  LITERATURE 


then  wait  quietly  and  patiently  for  what  is  to 
come."  He  had  scarce  uttered  these  words  when 
he  disappeared,  and  only  his  shadow  darkened  for 
a  second  the  moon  which  had  broken  through  the 
clouds  at  this  very  moment. 

The  Prince  thereupon  ran  to  his  father,  the 
King,  and  his  mother,  the  Queen,  and  told  what 
had  befallen  him.  Both  were  most  glad  when 
they  heard  of  their  little  son's  wonderful  adven- 
ture, and  at  the  next  full  moon  not  only  the  Prince, 
but  the  whole  court,  and  especially  the  Queen, 
waited  with  feverish  excitement  for  the  miracle 
that  was  to  come. 

The  moon  shone  more  brilliantly  than  ever. 
Her  argent  rays  were  sprinkled  like  a  silver  rain 
over  the  landscape  and  over  the  foliage  of  the 
trees.  In  that  night  young  lovers  closed  no  eye. 
On  the  roofs  of  houses  and  palaces  one  saw  forms 
in  white  garments  moving  restlessly  to  and  fro. 
All  who  were  moon-struck  seemed  to  walk  that 
night.  It  seemed  as  if  the  moon  exerted  all  her 
might  before  her  mystery  was  to  be  unveiled  for- 
ever. 

Upon  the  battlements  of  the  royal  castle,  sur- 
rounded by  all  the  councilors  of  the  realm  and  the 
whole  Court,  the  young  Prince  waited  for  the 
stroke  of  twelve.  And  as  soon  as  the  ancient 
clock  struck,  the  Prince  turned  the  feather  three 
times  in  his  hand,  spoke  the  dreadful  words,  and 
lo!  the  heavens  opened  and  from  the  darksome 
clouds  there  burst  a  radiant  something  which 
made  straight  for  the  King's  palace.  In  less  time 
than  a  swallow  needs  to  whet  its  bill  there  stood 
before  the  Prince  a  luminous  car,  drawn  by  four 
little  moon-calves.  The  doors  opened  and  from 
it  stepped  a  curious  little  man,  who  bore  a  strange 
resemblance  to  the  Man  in  the  Moon.  He  said 
no  word,  but  politely  motioned  the  Prince  to 
enter  the  vehicle.  With  a  beating  heart  and  flush- 
ing cheek  the  Prince  entered,  the  doors  closed  be- 
hind him,  and  with  incredible  speed  they  were  on 
their  way  to  the  starry  sky,  the  land  of  his  heart's 
desire. 

Meanwhile  the  Queen  lay  in  a  fainting-fit,  and 
even  the  King  had  grown  a  little  pale  after  he 
had  entrusted  his  only  child  to  the  little  wagon 
from  the  stars.  The  aunts  and  the  grandmothers 
told  monstrous  tales  of  little  children  who  had 
been  carried  off  by  evil  spirits  and  who  were 
found  the  next  morning  in  their  little  beds  with 
their  throats  cut.  The  ladies-in-waiting  began  to 
weep  and  there  was  a  terrible  confusion.  But 
it  was  too  late.  Hour  after  hour  ran  through  the 
glass,  the  moon-rays  grew  paler  and  paler  and 
the  horses  which  draw  the  chariot  of  the  morn 
began  to  beat  with  their  hoofs  impatiently  on  the 
roof  of  the  sky.     The  Queen  became  hysterical 


and  cursed  the  King  for  having  permitted  the  lit- 
tle Prince  to  go  on  the  journey.  The  King  in 
turn  swore  and  threatened  to  behead  all  his  coun- 
cilors should  the  Prince  not  return,  for  they 
should  have  warned  him  against  confiding  the 
safety  of  the  Crown  Prince  to  four  moon-calves 
and  a  strange  man  from  the  moon. 

The  excitement  reached  its  end  through  the 
sudden  appearance  of  the  Prince,  who  seemed  to 
have  dropped  from  the  clouds.  Now,  of  course, 
everybody  congratulated  him  and  had  a  thou- 
sand questions  to  ask.  But  the  Prince  stood  there 
pale,  with  his  beautiful  curls  all  entangled  and 
his  lips  pressed  together.  He  would  not  even 
make  answer  to  the  King  and  only  asked  per- 
mission to  withdraw  to  his  own  chamber.  There 
he  locked  himself  in,  permitting  not  even  his  bed- 
fellow, the  little  page,  to  enter.  However,  the 
servant  who  made  his  bed  on  the  following  morn- 
ing found  his  pillow  all  wet,  as  if  he  had  wept 
the  whole  night  through. 

After  this  the  character  of  the  Prince  changed 
totally.  He  searched  no  more  for  a  soul  in  the 
fragrance  of  an  orchid  and  the  song  of  the  night- 
ingale. And  no  one  saw  him  ever  again  holding 
communion  with  a  sea-shell  or  following  the 
course  of  the  stars  from  the  observatory.  He 
broke  behind  him  all  bridges  that  led  to  his  for- 
mer castles  in  the  air,  and  when  he  became  King 
he  issued  an  edict  which  by  a  severe  penalty  for- 
bade the  rays  of  the  moon  entrance  to  his  king- 
dom. Of  course,  many  conjecture  were  made  as 
to  the  inexplicable  change  in  his  disposition,  but 
no  one  dared  to  approach  him  on  the  subject  after 
the  jester  had  been  put  to  death  for  a  slight  al- 
lusion to  that  journey  to  the  moon.  He  was  a 
harsh  ruler,  who  drank  much  wine  and  made  his 
children  study  trigonometry.  At  his  Court  one 
pageant  succeeded  another,  and  in  all  these  wild 
orgies  the  King  was  the  most  reckless.  His  old 
nurse  would  not  believe  that  he  found  real  pleas- 
ure in  reveling;  she  saw  the  serpent  that  was 
feeding  on  his  heart.  But  no  one  listened  to  her, 
as  she  was  an  old  woman  of  little  education,  and 
not  even  a  duchess. 

So  the  years  glided  by.  And  one  day  the  King 
felt  that  his  hour  had  come.  He  called  the 
Crown  Prince  to  his  bedside  that  he  might  give 
him  a  last  blessing.  After  all  the  servants  had  been 
sent  away  the  Prince  said :  "Father,  will  you  not 
confide  to  me,  even  on  your  death-bed,  the  great 
secret  and  the  sorrow  of  your  life?  What  did 
you  see  on  the  other  side  of  the  moon?"  Then 
said  the  King,  and  on  his  faded  features  quivered 
a  smile  like  a  breaking  heart:  "May  the  grace  of 
Heaven  save  you  from  as  great  a  disillusion : 
For  both  sides  of  the  moon  are  exactly  alike" 


190; 

The  Parting  of  the  Ways 

'•^m^m^  '^  '^.  f-^-  '^  ^^  -ci^Sio^'' 

34     \ ^....A^    Ai^^t^^if^iL    ^.^-^^^A^     \^.....j'-^    \_..,^J^  ^.....JWiT^. 

'TlfE    GILLETTE'" 

is  ihe  Smoaih,  SanSimry^  Simpie  and  Safe  Way 

No  ragged  edge  to  irritate 

12  blades;  24-  penfeci  cdgBSm 

The  wonderful  blade  that  has  changed  the  razor  world. 
Truthful    letters   from   constant   users  tell    of    the    marvelous    tensJIe 

strcn3a:th  of  these  blades. 
Srnj^le  blades  have  been  used  30,  60  and  up  to   142  times 
Simple  and  durable. 

Tripk  silvtT-ptaU'd  .stl  with  1 2  htiidc3;<i  .■,  ^  ►  +  .  ^  h  ■*,,..  ^  , «.<,.«<.»..»».>»  ^  ><■  i> . «  %  SJQO 

Qu,i(im]:jc  K'>l'-l-l^litEf(l  .-^rl  witJi  1 1  h[»dm  -,-,,, * ...-....*--.  I9i» 

Quftniruplc  rt<>'fl'lil^i'**l  set  T^ith  tj  biadt^  and  monogram.  .  ^  ,  , ..,<...+,,....-  ..h  .  isiOO 

Stiindntid  c-.iETibinulion  scl  with  e^li^vmK  briuh  AnrJ  #>ap  In  IrtpJt  oilw-pliited  hoklen  , .  .  .^ » ^ . .  7^5<^ 

Oihi*r  comhinaikm  sciii  in  silvrt  ami  KfiJd  tip  to. ......  ^ ,.  ^ ,..  ^ .,.  k  ,,....... ,  - .  50,00 

StaDdunL  pAckAj^H  iif  lo  bbdcs.  haviijg  ao  slmrp  ed|£i^  fur  silc  b^  dEl  dc^ileni*  at  tHe  uoi-  fdnv  ' 

ToTna  price  of . .  * , ,  , 5° 

A^k  tia  sae  them  aitif  for  itur  frooA/if,     Write  for  out  speviat  ttiai  offer. 

CILLETTE  SALES  COMPANY,    I  182  Times  Bidg,  New  York  City 


vose 


HAVE  BEEN  ESTABLTStiEP 
Si  YEARS 


and   Lit'    rrceivlng   mnro   fav- 
orable tomiiK  nts  tiMjay  from  an  art- 
Utic  siiLtidpokit  than  all  otber  maizes  comblncrl. 

WE  CHALLENGE 
COMPARISONS. 

By  our  m-y  piiyTmiU  r>l;iM  cm  17  fiiinily  in  nioiSor^ac 
ciiTiimstiiirce^  viia  awu  a  VOSO  pKmo.  W'v  aEl^^w 
a  liht  ral  piie«  for  old  iiistnmn  ut^  in  L>xt;brtiige,  ami 
di'liViT  the  pkiim  in  joui-  Uotise  five  of  i"xpLn?^e. 
Yuu  can  dual  Willi  us  al  a  di.siant  fHjinl  the  sawiti 
a.sin  ItosTorL  t.Xtulujstie,b<MikH, 
tie.,  uiving  full  InfonnaUuci 
maiU  d  free. 

vose    &  SONS    PIANO  CO., 
IfcO  Boylstoo  St.,  Boston,  Mass. 


MENNEN^S 

BORATED  TALCUM 

TOILEX /riJ>OWDER 


The  Freshness  of  Roses 


jiTnllcilmy  Jono  d  >^  art>  Tii»t  nmro  di'li-litful  find 

Trrji>lnn^    l]i;itl  tku  prmlhijUf    lifctlill    ihf  MtMlLu's. 

<iive*  iiiif]ipili;ii£j;ih<l  jMJ-uiv©  TL^tii/f  fjum  Prickly 
Ht^at,  Chafing.  Sunburn  and  till  t^l  n  lrlM<l^|^'-. 

Ku-ryulii  re  u-n]  [n.il  r^'iiUTiihf'fiik'd  by  ]th}  -i<:iiui^ 

fejniiily.    MuiiiU'iiri  f.iv^  oti  ivtiy  hn^.    Svti  tfiii 
5<'U   gf't    tlie  pt'Liuriii.',     F\>r  T-iib  cTtTi- 
ivfjeri*,  at  ly  iisiult  i^5q.    ^;llnt^]e  fitf. 
Oi*-lmrd  Mriiui^n  Co,,  Xc*v\  strtSiK^tf . 


lANOS 


THE 


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To  be  "IT" 


MaKeYoursetfFIT! 

Right  food  n^akes  clear  brain  and  strong 
frames 

One  gains  rjuii  kly  In  fshysical  and  meniat 
sircngih  on  Grape*  Nuts  which  supply  the 
natural  elements  from  grains,  such  as 
Albunic'ii,  Phosphate  of  Pol  ash,  etc.,  which 
tKiturc  use  3  lo  rebuild  worn -out  cells  In 
brain  and  nerves. 

A  si^ientitlr  fact,  easily  proved  by  a  10- 
days^  use  of 


Grape-Nuts 

"There's  a  Reason/' 

PustiJtn   Cfredl   (\»,.    lAd.,    liatik  Cr«ti.  Mkh.,  U.S.A. 


X 


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This  book  should  be  returned  to  the 
Library  on  or  before  the  last  date  stamped 
below. 

A  line  of  five  cents  a  day  is  incurred  by 
retaining  it  beyond  the  specified  time. 

Please  return  prompdy. 


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